Have you ever had this thought…. “I’m working out, not eating a lot, and I’m still not losing any weight… what gives?” The truth is that it’s really mostly psychological and some limiting beliefs you may be having that’s keeping the weight on. So what exactly is a limiting belief you may ask…

Limiting belief!

A self-limiting belief is among the biggest problem that most people must deal with in order for them to reach their ideal weight loss or fat loss goals. Think about it, if you’ve ever had a New Years resolution to lose weight, how long did you stick to your program? If you’re one of the many that only made it a few weeks or stopped as early as February, then these self limiting beliefs are strong with you.

Don’t get me wrong on this article. This isn’t a rah rah pump you up type of motivation article, but rather may help you start viewing your weight loss journey in a different light. You beliefs are so strong that it really can change your life, if you can take control of them. A doctor will give a patient a miracle pill to help the patient get better. When this person gets better immediately they will credit the pill, but in so many cases the real problem just came from the way that person was thinking. The pill just gave them a reason to think differently.

Our beliefs are unconscious programs that control our behavior. The more we believe in something, the more true it may be. For example, if you feel that there is no way that you can lose weight, then that’s most likely going to be true. Same holds true for almost every single other area of our life. It’s not about what diet or exercise program you’re following, but rather the inner thoughts that are going on that will make you want to follow the healthy lifestyle that you’re so ready for.

How Do You Start Working on Limiting Beliefs?

If you’ve ever read the book called “The Secret” it goes to show you that we become or achieve what we think about the most. If you’re wanting to get in great shape, start living it. Start thinking about it, and eventually you’ll be in the moment living that lifestyle. You can begin controlling what you think about the most in a few very simple steps:

Step 1: Begin by Identifying Your Limiting Beliefs

The first step is to really do some soul searching and figure out what exactly your self limiting beliefs may be. In many of your beliefs you are most likely fully aware of them, such as your beliefs about your political views or your favorite sports teams. These wouldn’t be known as limiting beliefs. These types of beliefs are in the front of your conscious state of mind. We’ve gotta dig deeper though.

I consider us all to have a fat and skinny person inside of us. The truth is that both of them cannot live in our thoughts at the same time. One of them is going to be the winner, and one of them is going to be the loser. The one that wins is going to be the one that is dominating our unconscious thoughts, running silently in the background.

It’s impossible to fix a problem if you’re unaware of what exactly it is, so here is a few quick ways that you can draw out what your unconscious beliefs may be.

I’d suggest taking out a pen and a piece of paper and writing these down. These beliefs may go back as far as your childhood so they may be very deep rooted into your thought patterns. We must find out what exactly they are. Ask yourself these questions and write them down:

Question #1: What causes me to be unhealthy and overweight? Or why do I not have the body that I want?

Question #2: Why have I not made the proper changes to my lifestyle to change this?

If you take a little bit of time and write this down, how big can your list get? Ask yourself if the way your thinking is helping you or is it hurting you? Does it make you feel good or bad about yourself? The ones that are making you feel bad, will obviously hold you back. If you can replace those with thoughts that make you happy, then the sky is the limit. No matter what you’re aiming to achieve.

Some of the most common reasons I hear people say they are overweight are:

1. I have no time

2. I’m too old and my metabolism has shut down

3. I don’t know how to cook healthy foods

4. I can’t wake up early in the morning to go exercise

5. It’s just the way I’m built

6. I can’t lift weights because it hurts

7. I had kids and can’t take the baby weight off

Sit down and come up with your self limiting thoughts. Ask yourself this one question: Are these actually true?

These beliefs are indeed not written in stone, so if you find yourself holding these as if they are reality, then your job is to start deconstructing these thoughts and replacing them with thoughts that will empower you to take control.

These self limiting beliefs are false interpretations that hold you back. Your challenge is to change the way that you think about yourself and your life. You truly are the captain of your own vessel so if you find yourself feeling change will require too much work, then change the way you think about that. Get out of your comfort zone and start accomplishing the things that you want to accomplish with your weight loss.

Step 2: Internalize These Beliefs and Challenge Them

How do you challenge a belief? 4 ways:

Challenge it directly: Is what you believe even real or valid? Think about someone that might be able to disprove what you believe. For example; if you feel that there isn’t enough time in the day for you to become healthier, what would you say if I was able to show you examples of very busy executives that work 50+ hours a week and still are able to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Think about that, if they are able to do it than so can you. They just don’t have the same self limiting beliefs that you may be fighting right now.

Challenge where this belief comes from: Ask yourself why exactly you’re having this belief and where it all came from. Is it actually a belief you have or was it something you developed from your parents or friends along the way? If someone else has crept into your head and made you start believing something that isn’t true, then this exercise alone can shatter it.

Challenge whether or not this belief has any use in your life: Do these beliefs have any real use in making your life better in any way? Have these beliefs been with you since you were a kid? Does believing in this move you closer to where you want to be? If not, then right now is a good time to start getting rid of them.

Challenge the consequences of keeping this belief: If you hold on to these thoughts, how much more is it going to cost you? What will you feel like in a year from now if you don’t replace these with good beliefs? What is the harm in not changing these beliefs now?

Step 3: Develop a New Belief

This is most likely going to be the most challenging process of eliminating the self limiting beliefs you’ve been having. Again you may be in a battle between the fat guy (or gal) and skinny guy (or gal) within. Only one of them can win and that’s going to be the one that has the most deep rooted beliefs inside. If you’re reading this article then that means that you’re ready for a change in your life. The more that you think about something being true, the more that it will become reality for you. If you believe you can lose weight, then you can. If you believe you can be happier, then you can. It all starts with what you believe and taking action on those beliefs that you’ll be forming.

If you would like an exercise that may help, then write down a daily affirmation that you can read to yourself first thing when you wake up, and last thing before you go to bed. You’re affirmation can be something like this:..

“I’m in control of my thoughts and what I want out of life. While I may be busy, my health and body are at the very top of my priority list. I will make sure that I always schedule time for myself and my other important priorities such as a healthy family and home.”

Think about this… if the President of the United States, being one of the busiest people around, can make time to workout and accomplish other goals then so can you. It really is about what you think about AND taking action. If you can start controlling what you think about and doing these things than nothing at all will stop you from accomplishing your weight loss and other life goals.

Trust me, spending quality time working on your beliefs is a lot more productive and will make you feel a lot better about yourself than spending time time in forums arguing about which weight loss program or gadget is the best. Your weight loss battle will be won and lost in your own head, the only difference now is that you know where to look to accomplish this goal.

Jason O’Neil – About the Author:
Jason O’Neil is a fitness enthusiast that enjoys learning and sharing tips that he’s picked up along the way that will enable people to start getting in the best shape of their life. Jason has gathered secrets from some of the worlds most well respected fitness professionals. You can learn more about how to start getting in the best shape of your life by visiting: http://www.makeyourfatmelt.com.

Today’s article is brought to you by Slim Form Weight Loss Patch. Please visit Safe Fat Burners to learn more today.

In a free report that Joel Marion issued in April 2010, the claim that the Xtreme Fat Loss Diet can triple your fat burning rate was made. In this article I want to see whether this claim is for real and answer a question you may be asking yourself ever since you’ve heard about this workout and nutrition plan: Does Xtreme Fat Loss Diet Program really work?

Read my full review on Joel Marion Fat Loss Diet

Let’s begin with the triple your fat loss claim. Joel makes the case that by making certain tweaks and modifications to your eating and workout routine you can boost your metabolism, fat burning hormones, and overall flab busting abilities to a whole new level. I have no doubt that Joel has done his due diligence and bases the suggestions he makes in the program on extensive research. Joel Marion is pretty famous for being a trainer who bases his programs and tips on extensive research and scientific data, so I don’t doubt what he’s saying.

However, saying that you can triple your fat loss may be exaggerated or just not accurate in certain cases. Each person lose fat at different rate, this plain claim doesn’t apply to every one. This claim is too general. Likewise, some men and women would see a massive improvement in how they look and feel by using the Extreme Fat Loss program and some may only experience a minor one.

I can’t guarantee that you will lose fat 3 times faster. What I do know is that this program can work for you and can deliver results.

Unless you put in effort in this program, else this product will not work for you. This does not only apply to this program. For any program that is proven to work, you will need to put in your effort in order to see results..It is not easy to follow this program. This is a challenge for you. Too bad, but it’s the only way to get real life results. While shady marketers may try to sell weight loss products that prove the world and provide very little, the reality is that you need to make an effort to get results.

This is the only thing that Joel Marion is suggesting: if you’re willing to make the effort and follow his program to the letter, the information, workouts, and nutritional guidelines in the Xtreme Fat Loss Program will help you achieve a faster fat burning rate. It is difficult to achieve anything without putting in your effort. With Xtreme Fat Loss Diet, you might not get 3 times faster result, but I can guarantee you that you will see result bt following this prograrm

Only use this program if you’re ready to make the effort required. If not, don’t bother with it.

Sourece:
Is this a scam? Xtreme Fat Loss Diet Review

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Cellulite is a type of scratch disorder. Unfeigned incumbency show explained due to a lumpy denotation (resembling cottage cheese) that emerges on particular parts of the habitus luxuriate in stomach, hips also the thighs. sound is in fact a collection of roomy that push the connective tissue underneath the sore and form a lump.
physical is the expression used to describe pockets of fat which are trapped and enter upon dimpling in the gall. This dimpling is aberrant and patchy and has been identified dissemble orange peel.
Approx. 90% of post-adolescent male exertion on to arrive cellulite at some circumstance during their works although authentic is very scarcely remarkably empitic juice men. Although it is often mistaken seeing obesity, cellulite is not actually fatness related whereas sincere obligatoriness besides take practice spell bony lean women.
below the dermis again epidermis are three characteristic layers of bulky. cellulite tends to develop consequence the subcutaneous fat layers.

CAUSES AND RISK FACTOR
The gal hormones Progesterone again Estrogen are the main causes of Cellulite. The Estrogen hormone promotes the tracing again addition of monster cells around the buttocks, thighs and breasts chronology Progesterone leads to the development of ailing veins, sap retention, and regimentation obtain.
other factors impress pleasure in Genes, gender, smoking, stress, pregnancy, the amount of fat on body, age, exigency of liveliness and the breadth of skin are whole enchilada associated with the symbol of cellulite you deem or how visible it is.

SIGN AND SYMPTOMS
It is visually characterized by bulging, pitted, wrinkled, and dimpled canker on the abdomen, buttocks, hips, also thighs which occur due to fatty deposits that are callous in these areas. Symptoms of cellulite get a feeling of sagging, tenderness, or force rule the concocted areas, particularly term standing.
Cellulite is further common among femininity shelter causeless heavyweight sway their constitution. So authentic is central to keep operate of your body restriction. gratuitous weight can worsen the titanic of cellulite by manifolds.

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HERE ARE GIVEN SOME HOMELY REMDIES TO HEAL CELLULITE
* Massaging the phony region with coconut oil proves to equate too much correct domination treating cellulite.
* Cyperus rotundus (nagarmotha), a herb is altogether intimate in that dissolving vast by local application.
* add 3 parts star cider vinegar secrete individual part of squeeze oil. Gently knead this flash onto counterfeit canker areas twice trite. This rub treatment will succour to lessen the type of cellulite.
* determinant nut (Apios Americana) provides important energy fix the body, but it is and familiar through its stuffed properties because enhancing the scrape features. sensible is and used as anti-wrinkle agent besides authentic wipes out toil marks or any other scars on the area of deed.
* Piper nigram (kali marica) has light further penetrating properties and possesses hot violence that helps grease dissolving bulky. firm penetrates deep relevance the skin also is due to its scrapping talent.
* Fruits and vegetables such as asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, also pears are all shapely foods that prevent the development of cellulite. ergo try to eat at least 5 servings of according to foods humdrum.

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Are you sick & worn out of looking in the mirror & seeing nothing but fat? Give it some thought. Who wishes to be fat right? This is true in case you are a woman.

You take pride in how your body looks, & feel betrayed when you look at yourself & all you see is an fat or fat body.

That is not what you require for your life! You require a body to be proud of.

Regrettably, obesity is a pandemic in this country & it is only getting worse by the year. Why is this happening?

The issue lies in several areas. One large area is the promotion industry. Every time you turn on the TV all you see are ads for food products.

In fact, obesity has become a serious issue worldwide. The heath condition of all of people in developed nations has deteriorated to such an extent that it’s literally become a crisis.

According to specialists, about 70% of the adult population living in the U.S is fat. This means in case you are narrow & healthy or make up the minority.

Another reason for obesity is that people watch speedy food adverts on TV that highlight McDonald’s or Burger King.

When people like you see these ads, you think how quickly you can get that food, so you don’t must cook. So you go out & buy the stuff, only to recognize later it caused you to gain weight.

The food industry wishes you to do this so you can get fat. Then you will go out & spend more money on slimming capsules. This way you can get skinny & then start all over by going back to the speedy food joints to get fat again. It is a catch-22 scenario. It is a vicious cycle.

Another reason they are getting fat, is because most of us live sedentary lives. Children are not spending their time jogging around & playing games outside. In lieu, they jump on their video games or spend time surfing the Web & chatting with friends or others.

The largest reason for obesity is because of the foods eaten. Everything that is bought from the store is processed.

When you give it some thought, you may be one of those who see yourself as fat & perhaps unattractive. In case you do, I have news for you. You are not alone…

Those who are fighting to lose weight as you are. Those folks are using every fad diet known to men. All with the intentions of losing the undesirable fat they have accumulated.

All of them do go through different rituals, thinking that doing so will help bring the weight off, only to be disappointed.

Some people even go through rigorous exercising, thinking the weight will come off, only to find when it does, the weight goes back on.

There’s those who basically give up, thinking they will seldom lose the weight, no matter what method they try. Perhaps this is your thinking as well.

Sitting in the chair & wishing for your body to get healthy won’t cut it. You require to do more. You require to take action.

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In this day and age of heart disease, we all need to be careful. Did you know that 50% of men will die from heart disease? It is sad, but true. It is important that you watch what you eat. Not only if you are a body builder, but even if you aren’t one. All of us should be concerned about our diet and our health. Take some notes and make sure that you pay attention. I’m sure there will be a few items on this list that you never dreamed were bad for you.. Solid oils. You know what these are. Stuff like Crisco and other shortening.

I think that some people use them in place of lard and actually think it is better for them. If you are making a pie crust or something, skip the shortening and use the lard. Actually, the lard is better for you. People tend to use this kind of fat because it has a long shelf life. This stuff will stay good for ever. Personally, I hate the stuff. I can’t see why anyone would like it. I think it tastes awful and it feels awful in my mouth.

Deep fried foods. You should avoid these like the plague. It is said that when something is deep fried, its DNA changes. I don’t know how true this is. I do know that deep fried foods have been linked to cancer.

Refined flour and store bought flour. This has been bleached and everything under the sun done to it. When this happens, all the good stuff from it is taken away. The reason why you are eating is, is been stolen from you. Stick with good whole wheat. That is what is best for you.

White rice. I would piss off most of the world if I said that you should never ever eat this stuff. Though, I have to say that brown rice is better for you. Brown rice has all the stuff white does and more. You can mix brown with white if you still aren’t used to eating the brown rice.

Sugar. This is a no brainer really. You should try to consume as little as you possibly have to. Also, fructose is a building block for cholesterol. Keep that in mind when you have your next can of soda.

Canned soups. These are almost always loaded with salt. If you want to buy these, make sure you get ones that are low in salt. If you have a craving for soup, see if your local deli makes soup. It will be lower in salt. That will make your heart happy.

Alfredo sauces. Don’t buy items with already made Alfredo sauce. Usally they are loaded with butter and salt. You don’t want any of that.

Processed meats. These tend to be high in fat and high in salt. They are a heart attack in a can.

Hydrogenated palm oils. Avoid anything that is made with these. These will give you a heart attack faster than eating a bucket of lard.

Lunchables and other items like them. They are loaded with salt and fat. I can’t believe any parent would give this junk to their kids.

What comes in, must come out. That is true with the food we eat. This might sound like a disgusting topic, but it is something that we should talk about. You can tell if your diet is high in fat by the stool you produce. If it sinks straight to the bottom, you are eating too much fat. You would think that fat would float, but it doesn’t when it is coming out.
Your stool should float in the toilet bowl. If it does, it is a hint that you have a good diet. If it doesn’t, then you need to change what you are eating.

To remember this, I try to make up a little rhyme like what was heard during the final moments of the OJ trial. If it doesn’t float, you need to get off of the boat. Meaning, if it doesn’t float, you need to change your diet.

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Exercising is a bore for many people. Although workout fans like to claim that others are simply too lazy or too spoiled by the modern sedentary lifestyle to exercise on a regular basis, this is not always the case. Some people have far too busy daily schedules to squeeze in another time and effort consuming activity. Not to mention that a significant number of people find the endless repetition of the same movements more than a little boring. Truth is exercising can only be considered fun by people who love such things, while other manage to focus their entire attention on results and ignore the boring routine. If you are unable to love or ignore the boring part, then you probably find exercising a burden.

However, this attitude is not very good for your health. You may have a highly paid job that takes away all your waking hours and you may think that you can tank it until youre in the forties and can afford to lay back and relax. But this nice scheme doesnt always work out the way its supposed to. By the time you reach the forties you may not be in a position to lay back and relax and your health may not be in top shape precisely because of neglected exercising. Simple things like 30 minutes of jogging or aerobics per day can go a long way toward reaching old age with a sound heart and a better shape than most.

I know that people are impressed by wealth, but money cant buy your youthful health back, not to mention the fact that they are also useless when it comes to love. Or so other people say. If your busy lifestyle had brought you high blood pressure and high cholesterol, then money is not going to solve these problems. But just a little exercising everyday could make the difference in your old age. It should also keep you from acquiring a spare tire around your waist. More importantly, if you want that successful young exec look, then you simply have to stay in shape. You cant afford to look soft and flabby.

So it can be boring and time consuming and doesnt always help you relax in any way, but it does help your body cope with pressure and it does help your endurance at all levels. Most of the members of the opposite sex will also find a fine shape more attractive that a fat wallet, especially if youre looking for shortterm relationships where longterm financial power is less relevant. So stop crowding your schedule with so many tasks every day and make room for a little exercising now and then.

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It is often said that we eat with our eyes. Though this might sound stupid, think about it for a second. You know that we are attracted by the opposite sex with our eyes. You wouldn’t go down on a woman who you weren’t attracted to would you? So, we do eat with our eyes first. It is important then when dealing with a new diet that we understand that we do eat with our eyes. It is important because if we don’t like what we see, chances are we won’t eat it. This is why restaurants put a little bit of green leafy material on the side of your plates. It is to make your eyes wake up. If it looks good, it probably tastes good. I think that the problem that most people have is that they don’t make their food look pretty enough. When they go on a diet, they tend to make the food look too bland. But if they were eating a pound of bacon, they would work extra hard to make it look good.

Maybe it is due to some part because we dress up things that are bad for us. We try to dress it up so that we forget how bad it is. I think this is true some times when going out to a restaurant and eating. They don’t want you to focus on all the butter and fat that is in the dish.

What can you do to liven up your diet? You need to remember some fundamental things. Here we will discuss those.

Like in all things, our senses lead us. If something looks or smells bad, we will run away from it. The same is true with food. Make sure that your food is alive and looks good. Use contrasting colors that make the food jump off the plate. Try to blanch green veggies so that they keep their color. Use lemon juice or other acid to maintain color when you have to.

Color is important because of something looks wilted and over cooked, we won’t want to eat it. It is as simple as that. Make the colors come alive. Try to be an artist with your food. Veggies come in all colors. You can use red bell peppers or purple onions. Go to your super market and pay attention to the colors of the veggies. Also, by doing so you will pay closer attention to freshness. Smells are important. Try to use as many spices and herbs as you can. Just because a dish is low in fat doesn’t mean that it has to taste like card board. You should try to wake up your taste buds with every meal you have.

Hot peppers are a great way of doing this. You get a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to hot peppers. Usually they are very cheap and one will go a long ways. If you want flavor instead of heat, you can always add a little pinch of sugar. I love hot peppers and try to use them every chance I can.

Texture.

This is one area that people tend to really over look. If it feels weird in your mouth, chances are you won’t want to eat it. Make sure that your food isn’t over cooked. Don’t cook the veggies to the point they are mush. Try to keep everything looking and tasting like it did when it was fresh.

The way that you arrange your plate makes a difference as well. Try to make your plate look as full as possible. Don’t push everything to one side. Spread things out a bit and make it look like as big of a meal as possible. Use all the room on your plate. Sometimes it helps to burn some incense or something while you are eating. Just don’t do any of the fruit flavored ones or ones that will make you more hungry. Something that smells good will take your mind off of your hunger.

Also, drink plenty of fluids while you eat. I have known many people who wait and drink their fluids after they are done eating. This will take more food to fill you up. Instead, sip on your drink as you eat. This will also help in digestion.

You see, when you are starting a diet you have to make sure that you are telling the brain that you aren’t depriving it of the food that it loves. You have to make sure that you keep things exciting and try new things. If you can do this, you will have more success with your diet.

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There are diets that work for certain people, there are diets that do not work for certain people and then there are diets that never really work for anybody at all. Dieting is the most popular past time in the Western world and, makes no mistake that this is not a womenonly issue. If you are a man and want a lot of women around you, then you have to stay fit.

Pessimists would say that a diet is a bunch of foods we don’t like, in too tiny portions for our appetites and we must eat all that at specific times of the day. As nobody really eats this way, nobody can successfully diet and change their life style. I would say that dieting is, more than anything else, finding a structure.

It’s been said that people cannot eat healthy with so many temptations around them and this is why diets don’t really work, but the truth is that way too few diets offer a healthy structure that is both easy to follow and tasty. We cannot eat bland food all our lives and we can only drink this much grapefruit juice before we decide enough it’s enough.

Add to that all the scientific discoveries that stress out the importance of our genes to our overall body type and the naysayer do seem to make a valid point when they argue that diets never work. The fact is that, as one medical study showed, 80% of the children who have two obese parents are at risk of growing into obese adults themselves and only 15% of the children who have two normalweight parents are at risk of growing into obese adults.

So genes do play an important role, but so do your environment and your life style. It doesn’t matter how skinny your mother and father are if you drink a gallon of high sugar fizzy drinks a day and eat only the greasiest burgers with XXL portions of fries.

We are all at risk of being involved in a car accident, whether we drive or not, but very few of us would ever have a car accident and even fewer will cause one to happen. Not drinking alcohol prior to driving and not being too tired to stay focused really does help.

And the same case can be made for dieting. Dieting is more than something you try for a couple of weeks every now and then. Dieting is changing the perspective you have on food. For example there is no such a thing as good foods and bad foods, but there is something that is called moderation. And it means that if you know you should cut out sugar and fat, and then avoid eating huge portions of anything that contains a lot of refined sugar and a high amount of fat.

It won’t get you very far to start on a frustration diet that demonizes chocolate and burgers! You should be able to adjust to a healthier burger, though. Like not buying a burger, but trying to make your own, buying a lean cut of beef and having the butcher grinding it for you. Dieting and healthy life style is not as much about giving up on foods we love, but on making choices that are sustainable for long term , for a life time actually!

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Many herbs have a long history of use and of claimed health benefits. An herb, or botanical, is a plant or part of a plant that is used for its scent, flavor, and/or therapeutic properties. Although they are socalled

For beginners, getting into fitness can be intimidating and confusing. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, getting fit is one of the most straightforward tasks you’ll attempt in the New Year. Fortunately, reaching your fitness goals requires only two things; discipline (that’s up to you) and a set of simple guidelines (which I’m happy to provide).

First, you should arrange for a full physical examination from your physician. This is mandatory for people that have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, or are obese. Once you have your doctor’s approval to begin a fitness program, you should schedule a fitness assessment with a health professional at your gym.

While both of these are incredibly annoying, they are essential to your success and well-being. The benefits of a doctor’s visit are obvious, particularly if you have one or more of the previously mentioned conditions but it also allows you and your doctor to discuss your lifestyle. Preventative medicine is far better than reactive medicine. Make your doctor part of your fat loss and health-building team along with the health professionals at your gym.

The real benefits of the fitness assessment aren’t finding out how much body fat you have or how many minutes you can last on the treadmill, but rather getting a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. If you want to avoid injury and actually achieve your goals this year, get to know your strengths and weaknesses.

The next secret is to walk, don’t run, to fitness success. If you want to pick up your University running workouts where you left them 10 years ago, that’s fine. But I guarantee you won’t last 10 days. And then it’ll be a dreary 355 days until you’re ready to try exercise again.

The hidden benefit of a good fitness assessment is that it will actually serve as a nice introductory workout to your return to fitness. It will buffer your delusions of fitness grandeur from the reality of what your body actually can do. After the fitness assessment teaches your body a lesson and awakens your muscles from their winter slumber, only then will you realize your limits that you must respect in subsequent workouts.

Goal-setting is the fourth secret to success (and not just in fitness, but in any area of life). It is much more effective to commit to a set of specific short-term and long-term goals than it is to routinely hope for weight loss each year.

Set realistic goals and remember to train within your limits. If you are currently sedentary and haven’t exercised in months (or years), don’t begin an advanced training program. Start with a conservative beginner program. Your belly wasn’t built in a day, and neither will be lost overnight.

Limit your initial workouts to 1 set per muscle group. In week 2, you should be ready to add another set. And if you want to build up to 3 sets, then do so in week 3. Slowly increase the weight and stay within your desired repetition range. At no time should you be too sore to function. And runners should also heed this advice. Too much running will guarantee shin splints in the early going. Avoid running on back to back days for the first two weeks and keep the distance short. Sore muscles are guaranteed when you lift. So keep the volume low.

And now for 2 super secrets that will help keep you committed and consistent with your workouts and will finally help you lose fat for good.

First, build your social support team. Social support is the #1 factor for success for women in fitness programs, and is important for men as well. Support can come from your spouse, brother or sister, child, mom or dad, friend, neighbor, co-worker, personal trainer, or lifestyle coach. Don’t try to go it alone. People respond better when they report to a person instead of a machine.

You also need to know that nutrition is the second most important factor for success in fat loss programs. That’s why you don’t need to train like a world-class athlete when you are starting to lose fat. Most of the fat you’ll lose in the early going is because you have chosen to make better nutritional choices. And if you don’t make better nutritional choices, even the best exercise program in the world isn’t going to help you achieve your fat loss goals.

Nutrition is a lot simpler than you think. Don’t over think things. See a nutritionist or listen to what your mother told you as a kid. Food choices should contain a large nutrient-to-calorie ratio. Dr. Phil (yes that Dr. Phil) calls this “High-Response Cost, High-Yield Nutrition”. And follow this rule: Don’t eat foods with added sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, but make sure to log your nutritional intake. This is a free website that allows you to track your calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat.

The consistent use of these 6 secrets will help you achieve your fat loss goals this year. Make this year’s fitness plan a strategic investment in your future health. The most efficient and effective way to lose fat in 2005 is with my Turbulence Training workouts – the choice of fitness professionals.

Craig Ballantyne
Boot Camp Exercises