I don’t look for 7 foot bars to jump over; I look around for 1 foot bars that I can step over. -Warren Buffett-
The advice I’m about to give may surprise you. It’s not the regular motivational, rally the troops tone that you are used to hearing from fitness professionals, but it may help lead you to permanent fat loss success. Do I have your attention now?
Derick coaches the class through a Quiktrain session.
Motivation doesn’t last, habits do
Yea I said it! Forget that motivational crap that gets you to over-commit every time you vow to make a total life transformation in the same amount of time it took you to watch the sponsored YouTube add. I have definitely attempted to earn 7-figures in my underwear at my computer for an afternoon or two, yet I still find myself back among the working world. Setting the bar low means succeeding by starting your change with only the habits that you have a high degree of confidence with, staying compliant, and adding more challenging habits as you go. You may not start off by losing a jaw dropping amount of weight but the shift in habits will fuel permanent fat loss as opposed to the fluctuations commonly seen in popular fad diet strategies.
Think like a baby and beat the odds
Back when you were an infant and had your first utterance of something that resembled language, your parents literally lost their shit with enthusiasm and happiness. They showered you with praise, kisses and love and made you perform your goo-goo ga-gas for anyone who cared to listen; not because what you said resembled a monologue from the valedictorian at Harvard, but because you were one step closer to doing something that was ridiculously difficult and they were damn proud of it.
Change of any kind is difficult for adults. We have previous memories of failure to contend with and in many cases, nobody to encourage our successes. In some cases you are breaking patterns that lie deep in your subconscious. So why not do it with baby steps? Start slowly, succeed often, and encourage yourself intensely along the way?
Derick coaches the class through a Quiktrain session.
What you should be doing
Start by taking action on the things that you have an extremely high confidence that you can do 9 out of 10 times and praise the shit out of yourself every time you do it. It doesn’t matter how small. If you didn’t take a multivitamin every day before and you do it for a week straight, congratulate the hell out of yourself and keep on doing it.
Maybe it’s drinking lots of water and choosing not to drink caloric beverages. Do it! Pat yourself on the back until it leaves a bruise. Repeat the process until you begin to see results. You can also check out some of the Quiktrain positive action habits in the list below and start planning your attack.
As time passes, these small victories will not only make you feel good, they will increase what coaches like to call “self-efficacy” (belief in one’s self). With this new confidence, not only will you be ready to tackle more difficult challenges, but you will have mentally-trained yourself to keep them up.
Some of the Quiktrain habits for fat loss are:
- Eat protein with every meal
- Supplement with a multivitamin daily
- Drink your weight in ounces of water every day
- Drink zero calorie beverages only
- Consume starchy carbohydrates in the morning or following a workout
- Eat vegetables every time you eat
- Drink a protein-based recovery drink following your workout
- Eat at least 4 times per day
- Get to bed before 11 p.m.
- Resistance train 2-4 times per week
- Interval cardio train 2-4 times per week
Focus on important but manageable changes to generate and keep momentum
Getting back to the title, if you want to lose 20 lbs. of fat, I’m not saying to shoot for 10. You can set the bar low on your process goals without adjusting the end goal.
You may feel like you are moving slow, but you are actually moving more rapidly in the long term by avoiding complete meltdowns. Obviously the more of these rules you can implement successfully, the faster you will hit your goals.
Make sure you are constantly reviewing progress and pushing your limits. Setting expectations lower is never an excuse to not get results — it is a vehicle for achieving them.
The missing key to your fat loss success.
The number one reason that people succeed or fail in their fat loss isn’t the actual nutrition or training itself, it is social support.
The best thing you can do is surround yourself with people that will appreciate your accomplishments and encourage your goo-goo ga-gas. Get a coach, train with other like-minded people and learn to encourage others.
Can you do it? Of course you can, but whether or not you do will depend largely on the approach you take.
Check out the list of Quiktrain fat loss habits and start today with something you know you can do!
🙂
Derick