| Not long ago, one of the members of my
health club poked her head in
my office for some advice. Linda
was a 46 year old mother of two,
and she had been a member for
over a year. She had been working
out sporadically, with (not surprisingly)
sporadic results. On that particular
day, she seemed to have enthusiasm
and a twinkle in her eye that
I hadn’t seen before. "I want
to enter a before and after fitness
contest called the “12 week body
transformation challenge." I could
win money and prizes and even
get my picture in a magazine."
“I want to lose THIS”, she continued,
as she grabbed the body fat on
her stomach. “Do you think it’s
a good idea?” Linda was not “obese,”
she just had the typical “moderate
roll” of abdominal fat and a little
bit of thigh/hip fat that many
forty-something females struggle
with. “I think it’s a great idea”
I reassured her. “Competitions
are great for motivation. When
you have a deadline and you dangle
a “carrot” like that prize money
in front of you, it can keep you
focused and more motivated than
ever.” Linda was eager and rarin’
to go. “Will you help me? I have
this enrollment kit and I need
my body fat measured.” “No problem,”
I said as I pulled out my Skyndex
fat caliper, which is used to
measure body fat percentage with
a “pinch an inch” test. When I
finished, I read the results from
the caliper display: “Twenty-seven
percent. Room for improvement,
but not bad; it’s about average
for your age group.” She wasn’t
overjoyed at being ‘average’.
“Yeah, but it's not good either.
Look at THIS,” she complained
as again she grabbed a handful
of stomach fat. “I want to get
my body fat down to 19%, I heard
that was a good level.” I agreed
that 19% was a great goal, but
it would take a lot of work because
average fat loss is usually about
a half a percent a week, or six
percent in twelve weeks. Her goal,
to lose eight percent in twelve
weeks was ambitious. She smiled
and insisted, “I’m a hard worker.
I can do it” Well, indeed she
was and indeed she did. She was
a machine! Not only did she never
miss a day in the gym, she trained
HARD. Whenever I left my office
and took a stroll through the
gym, she was up there pumping
away with everything she had.
She told me her diet was the strictest
it had ever been in her life and
she didn't cheat at all. I believed
her. And it started to show, quickly.
Each week she popped into my office
to have her body fat measured
again, and each week it went down,
down, down. Consistently she lost
three quarters of a percent per
week – well above the average
rate of fat loss – and on two
separate occasions, I recall her
losing a full one percent body
fat in just seven days. Someone
conservative might have said she
was overtraining, but when we
weighed her and calculated her
lean body mass, we saw that she
hadn’t lost ANY muscle – only
fat. Her results were simply exceptional!
She was ecstatic, and needless
to say, her success bred more
success and she kept after it
like a hungry tiger for the full
twelve weeks. On week twelve,
day seven, she showed up in my
office for her final weigh-in
and body fat measurement. She
was wearing a pair of formerly
tight blue jeans and they were
FALLING OFF HER! “Look, look,
look,” she repeated giddily as
she tugged at her waistband, which
was now several inches too large.
As I took her body fat, I have
to say, I was impressed. She hadn’t
just lost a little fat, she was
“RIPPED!” During week twelve she
dropped from 18% to 17% body fat,
for a grand total of 10% body
fat lost. She surpassed her goal
of 19% by two percent. I was now
even more impressed, because I
had only seen a handful of people
lose that much body fat in three
months. You should have seen her!
She started hopping up and down
for joy like she was on a pogo
stick! She was beaming… grinning
from ear to ear! She practically
knocked me over as she jumped
up and gave me a hug – “Thank
you, thank you, thank you!” “Don’t
thank me,” I said, “You did it,
I just measured your body fat.”
She thanked me again anyway and
then said she had to go have her
“after” pictures taken. Then something
very, very strange happened. She
stopped coming to the gym. Her
"disappearance" was so abrupt,
I was worried and I called her.
She never picked up, so I just
left messages. No return phone
call. It was about four months
later when I finally saw Linda
again. The giddy smile was gone,
replaced with a sullen face, a
droopy posture and a big sigh
when I said hello and asked where
she’d been. “I stopped working
out after the contest... and I
didn’t even win.” “You looked
like a winner to me, no matter
what place you came in” I insisted,
“but why did you stop, you were
doing so well!” “I don’t know,
I blew my diet and then just completely
lost my motivation. Now look at
me, my weight is right back where
I started and I don’t even want
to know my body fat.” “Well, I'm
glad to see you back in here again.
Write down some new goals for
yourself and remember to think
long term too. Fitness isn’t a
just 12 week program you know,
it’s a lifestyle - you have to
do it every day - like... forever.”
She nodded her head and finished
her workout, still with that defeated
look on her face. Unfortunately,
she never again come anywhere
near the condition she achieved
for that competition, and for
the rest of the time she was a
member at our club, she slipped
right back into the sporadic workout
pattern. Linda was not an isolated
case. I’ve seen the same thing
happen with countless men and
women of all ages and fitness
levels from beginners to competitive
bodybuilders. In fact, it happens
to millions of people who “go
on” diets, lose a lot of weight,
then “go off” the diet and gain
the weight right back. What causes
people to burn so brightly with
enthusiasm and motivation and
then burn out just as quickly?
Why do so many people succeed
brilliantly in the short term
but fail 95 out of 100 times in
the long term? Why do so many
people reach their fitness goals
but struggle to maintain them?
The answer is simple: Health and
fitness is for life, not for "12
weeks." You can avoid the on and
off, yo-yo cycle of fitness ups
and downs. You can get in great
shape and stay in great shape.
You can even get in shape and
keep getting in better and better
shape year after year, but it's
going to take a very different
philosophy than most people subscribe
to. The seven tips below will
guide you. These guidelines are
quite contrary to the quick fix
philosophies prevailing in the
weight loss and fitness world
today. Applying them will take
patience, discipline and dedication.
But remember, the only thing worse
than getting no results is getting
great results and losing them.
1) Don’t “go on” diets. When you
“go on” a diet, the underlying
assumption is that at some point
you have to “go off” it. This
isn’t just semantics, it’s the
primary reason most diets fail.
By definition, a “diet” is a temporary
and often drastic change in your
eating behaviors and/or a severe
restriction of calories or food,
which is ultimately, not maintainable.
If you reach your goal, the diet
is officially “over” and then
you "go off" (returning to the
way you used to eat). Health and
fitness is not temporary; it’s
not a “diet.” It’s something you
do every day of your life. Unless
you approach nutrition from a
“habits” and “lifestyle” perspective,
you’re doomed from the start.
2) Eat the same foods all year
round. Permanent fat loss is best
achieved by eating mostly the
same types of foods all year round.
Naturally, you should include
a wide variety of healthy foods
so you get the full spectrum of
nutrients you need, but there
should be consistency, month in,
month out. When you want to lose
fat, there’s no dramatic change
necessary - you don’t need to
eat totally different foods -
it’s a simple matter of eating
less of those same healthy foods
and exercising more. 3) Have a
plan for easing into maintenance.
Let’s face it – sometimes a nutrition
program needs to be more strict
than usual. For example, peaking
for a bodybuilding or fitness
contest requires an extremely
strict regimen that’s different
than the rest of the year. As
a rule, the stricter your nutrition
program, the more time you must
allow for a slow, disciplined
transition into maintenance. Failure
to plan for a gradual transition
will almost always result in bingeing
and a very rapid, hard fall "off
the wagon." 4) Focus on changing
daily behaviors and habits one
or two at a time. Rather than
making huge, multiple changes
all at once, focus on changing
one or two habits/behaviors at
a time. Most psychologists agree
that it takes about 21 days of
consistent effort to replace an
old bad habit with a new positive
one. As you master each habit,
and it becomes as ingrained into
your daily life as brushing your
teeth, then you simply move on
to the next one. That would be
at least 17 new habits per year.
Can you imagine the impact that
would have on your health and
your life? This approach requires
a lot of patience, but the results
are a lot more permanent than
if you try to change everything
in one fell swoop. This is also
the least intimidating way for
a beginner to start making some
health-improving lifestyle changes.
5) Make goal setting a lifelong
habit. Goal setting is not a one-time
event, it’s a process that never
ends. For example, if you have
a 12 week goal to lose 6% bodyfat,
what are you going to do after
you achieve it? Lose even more
fat? Gain muscle? Maintain? What's
next? On week 13, day 1, if you
have no direction and nothing
to keep you going, you’ll have
nothing to keep you from slipping
back into old patterns. Every
time you achieve a goal, you must
set another one. Having daily
and weekly short term goals means
that you are literally setting
goals continuously and never stopping.
6) Allow a reasonable time frame
to reach your goal. It's important
to set deadlines for your fitness
and weight loss goals. It's also
important to set ambitious goals,
but you must allow a reasonable
time frame for achieving them.
Time pressure is often the motivating
force that helps people get in
the best shape of their lives.
But when the deadline is unrealistic
for a particular goal (like 30
pounds in 30 days), then crash
dieting or other extreme measures
are often taken to get there before
the bell. The more rapidly you
lose weight, the more likely you
are to lose muscle and the faster
the weight will come right back
on afterwards. Start sooner. Don't
wait until mid-May to think about
looking good for summer. 7) Extend
your time perspective. Successful
people in every field always share
one common character trait: Long
term time perspective. Some of
the most successful Japanese technology
and manufacturing companies have
100 year and even 250-year business
plans. If you want to be successful
in maintaining high levels of
fitness, you must set long term
goals: One year, Ten years, Even
fifty years! You also must consider
the long term consequences of
using any "radical" diet, training
method or ergogenic aid. The people
who had it but lost it are usually
the ones who failed to think long
term or acknowledge future consequences.
It's easy for a 21 year old to
live only for today, and it may
even seem ridiculous to set 25
year goals, but consider this:
I've never met a 40 or 50 year
old who didn't care about his
or her health and appearance,
but I have met 40 or 50 year olds
who regretted not caring 25 years
ago. Copyright 2005 Tom Venuto
Tom Venuto is a certified personal
trainer, natural bodybuilder and
author of the #1 best selling
diet e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed
The Muscle. You can get info on
Tom's e-book at: http://www.burnthefat.com.
To get Tom's free monthly e-zine,
visit http://www.fitren.com |
