The Fat-Loss Mindset – V 2.0 By Josef Brandenburg

I can keep making the nutrition simpler and more effective, but that doesn’t matter if it isn’t applied consistently.  I can keep making the workout programs more potent so you can get better results in the same amount of time, but, again, it only matters if the workouts are done consistently.

I’ve got a ton of “how to” info on this blog (nutrition and exercise), but all of that is 100% worthless if you do not put your know how into action, and if you don’t put it into action consistently.

“Knowledge is not power.  Only action gives you power.”

So, here is a rewrite of one of the most popular articles I’ve written!  It was for the Fitness Expert Network a few years ago.

Success in fat-loss is 99% in your head. Yes, that is bad math because you will not succeed without a good program, BUT if you do not have the proper mindset then you will not apply your plan. This is not to say that you can think your way thin, or anything dumb like that.
As you already know, fat-loss (muscle gain, or whatever else) takes work, a lot more work than just “going with the flow” or letting circumstance, chance, and/or genetics determine how you look and feel.

1.  Respect the numbers:

You’ve got to eat right and stick to your workout program (follow a real plan) at least 90% of the time.

At least 90%.  Not “about 90%”, but at least 90%.

80% is the minimum for maintenance.  If you eat 3 meals a day + 3 recovery shakes for your workouts, then you’ve got 24 opportunities to be “on the plan.”  So, that leaves 2 opportunities to stray from the plan to still make 90%.  Once you hit 3, you are now on a maintenance plan.

A lot of people complain about that.  (I’m not sure what exactly they expect me to do about the way the world is.)  They are miffed at the fact (note, I said “fact”) that 80% seems to mostly just lead to maintenance.  (BTW, maintenance is eventually a goal, but if you do maintenance while you are trying to lose, then you don’t lose, you go nowhere.)

The world is round, if you want it to be flat, how are you going to do that?

2.  In fat-loss you get what you deserve, NOT necessarily what you want:

Almost every day someone tells me, “I’m doing everything right, but I’m not dropping the fat.” CLEARLY, they are NOT doing everything right because if they were, they’d be lean by now.  Either what you are doing is working, or its not.  No psychoanalysis needed.  Fat-loss talks, and BS runs marathons (and most marathon runners still have rolls around their mid-sections).

Take home point: If you are not getting the results that you want, then you’re not doing what it takes to get them – end of story.  Either you need to improve your compliance, improve your plan, or do both (do NOT adjust your plan until you are actually following it).

3.  You won’t always feel like it, DO IT ANYWAY:

Successful people are simply those who do what the failures won’t. Successful people do not want to do it anymore than the failures do, but they still follow through consistently.

You will feel like eating crap, follow your plan anyway.

You will feel like skipping workouts, do them ALL anyway.

You will feel like cheating, DON’T.
Take home point: There will be many, many, many times during your fat-loss program that you will not feel like following your plan – it’s called being human. When it is time to decide between following the plan and getting lean, ignore your emotions and go for the goal – go for the body you want. Go for the body you deserve. Do what you know you must, even though you do not feel like it.

In time, you will condition yourself to be in the habit of doing the right thing. That takes time. And, not only will you look MUCH better in the mirror, but you will also feel great about yourself on the inside. Consistent self-discipline breads confidence, self-respect, and of course, fat-loss.

4.  Have a burning desire:

The reason that successful people can say “no” to the instant gratification of a bagel, or skipping workouts is because they are saying “YES” to something bigger and better than quick, cheap thrills. They are saying “YES” to their vision, their goal – the body they want.

In 1953 Yale did a study of their graduating class, and found that only 3% of them had written goals with plans for their achievement. In 1973 Yale followed-up with the class of ’53, and discovered that the 3% with goals were worth more money than the ENTIRE other 97% combined.

Take home point: If you have not already done so, GET UP RIGHT NOW! GO FIND AN INDEX CARD. WRITE DOWN YOUR GOAL. WRITE DOWN THE DATE YOU ARE TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL. WRITE DOWN HOW MUCH FAT YOU NEED TO LOSE PER WEEK IN ORDER TO ARRIVE AT YOUR GOAL ON TIME.

5. NOTHING tastes as good as being lean feels:

100-200 times per day, you will have the opportunity to chose between fat-loss and fat-gain, because of what you choose to eat. Its ALL choice – anyone who says otherwise is delusional.

Do you want to be lean, or do you want to eat those cookies? They are mutually exclusive – one or the other.

6.  Excuses are the MOST fattening substance known to man:

There is a direct correlation between the number of times you say “but,” and the size of your butt or the girth of your gut.  Chances are really good that your fat cells or muscle cells are relatively unconcerned with your explanation of your behavior.  They really ONLY care about your actual behavior.

Take home point: Either you will have excuses, or you will have results. If you mess up, take it like a man (or woman) and let it be a mistake that you made. Do not defend your behavior. Do not make-up a story. Acknowledge the fact that you messed-up, and resolve to do better. It’s not OK, and no sob story can ever make it OK. Just start doing it right ASAP.

7.  There are two pains in life:

Either you will have the self-imposed pain of discipline, or you will have the inescapable, crushing pain of regret.

Discipline weighs ounces, and regret weighs tons (in this case regret is really, really heavy).

Either way, its going to hurt, you get to choose when.

Discipline will hurt a little bit right now, and you have to do it to yourself. BUT, in time, you will have great and lasting pleasure in success – in the body you want. Regret feels good right now. How about TV and a pint of Chunky Monkey, instead of lifting and a dinner of steak and sautéed mushrooms? That sounds great! BUT, in time you will have great and lasting pain – you’ll still be fat (if not fatter), feel terrible about yourself, and be well on your way to heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. It’s your choice. It’s always your choice.

If you want to get THE BODY YOU WANT find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here.

For more health and fitness from Josef check out his new book The Body You Want from A to Z.    

Josef Brandenburg is the 2010, Washington, DC  Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, The DC Fitness Advisor and the Fitness Expert for the PCOS Challenge TV Show. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a FREE copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

Being Negative Is Natural

I am a little weird.  In college I liked chemistry a lot – got lot’s of A’s, did extra problems, etc.

There was only one thing from chemistry that is useful in coaching today, and that is this thing called “delta G” or DG.

Look, chemistry isn’t all boring (There’s an explosion and fire in it for you):

(Bear with me, I’m going somewhere with this and this will be useful to YOU.)

In chemistry one of the important things to find out was if a reaction is spontaneous or not.  This is, if you add two things together will they react (combine and do stuff like hopefully explode!) spontaneously… or automatically.

Like, if you wanted to make water.  Water is H2O.

So, if you take 1 O and add it to 2 H’s, will you get H2O spontaneously (automatically)?

There’s a formula to answer that questions I won’t share ‘cuz it’s very complicated and won’t help the story at all.

What is important is what the formula would tell you.  The number you would get would be DG:

• If DG was a negative number, then the reaction was spontaneous.
• And if DG was positive, then the reaction was not spontaneous.

So, look at that again.  If DG is positive, then the reaction is non-spontaneous, and it requires added energy to happen.

If DG is negative, then the reaction is spontaneous.  It’s automatic.

How This Matters To You

I think that this is a lot like life, and the important things in life.  You know, letting the busy-ness of life creep in, take over and edge out time for exercise is pretty much automatic.  That’s true no matter how much you happen to like exercise, or how important you say that it is for you to be fit.

Being in bad shape, losing muscle, losing strength, gaining fat, finding yourself with a mouthful of junk are all pretty much spontaneous in the world we currently live in.  You don’t need to expend any energy to get yourself tired, fat or in bad shape.

The positive things that you want in life/your body are going to require that you put energy in.  DG is positive.

The negative things that you generally do not want are pretty much going to happen to you regardless. DG is negative.

It is easy and nearly automatic to get off track.  It is easy and nearly automatic that life will present you with ample opportunity to (that you will later tell in a story called an excuse) veer off course to the body you want.  And, then, when you get to the body you want, life will provide ample opportunity for you to get rid of it.

The negative stuff is automatic.  Life will provide far more than you ask for as long as you are alive.

The positive stuff takes work, effort, diligence, choice, struggle and discipline.  That you must provide.  Pretty much none of what you really want it is automatic.

Getting the body you deserve.

Would You Like A 2^nd Shot At Getting $200 in Cash With No Strings Attached?

If so, then click here.

To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here.

You can also pick up a FREE copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

Check out his new book The Body You Want from A to Z.

Josef Brandenburg is 2010, Washington, DC  Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, The DC Fitness Advisor and the Fitness Expert for the PCOS Challenge TV Show. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have.

Breaking News: Michelangelo’s David Comes To Washington, DC For A Month

Have you heard that Italy is sending Michelangelo’s David to visit Washington, DC for a month?

The historic museum trip has 3 generous sponsors that provided free food unfortunately.

This brings up an important point:  How To Make The Body You Want last forever.

After you’ve cleaned up your diet, worked hard in the gym/ and/or at home, disciplined yourself to be consistent with all of the other demands on your time and energy, and navigated the myriad of obstacles and setbacks that are sure to come up, you will arrive at the body you wanted when you started.  Most people think that this is the end of the road.

No.  No.  No.

The conscious or unconscious belief that most people have is that eating better and exercising regularly is something that you do until your clothes fit again (or your arms are as big as you want them).  Then, after you look and feel the way you want to, then you can go back to what you were doing before you got in shape.  (Occasionally people will say this in a sentence, but usually they will demonstrate their belief with behavior.)

The way you used to eat and the way you used to exercise (or not exercise) was the problem. If you go back to your old lifestyle, then you will also go back to your old body.

The 3 Skills You Must Have To Make The Body You Want Last Forever

#1.  Learn how to come out of a spin: Just in case you weren’t aware, you are human.  That means that you are most definitely going to fall off the wagon at some point.  Maybe you’ll have to work 80-100hrs a week for a while, you’ll have a major family tragedy, get pregnant, or something else will get you off track.

The  common response to realizing that you’ve messed up is, “see, I always do this.  I messed up again.  I don’t know why I just can’t ever seem to keep it up.  I always fall off the wagon.  I don’t even know why I tried in the first place, I’m just a screw up.  I should just give up and stuff my face…”

I know how that feels, and I have most certainly been there too.  It’s not a good place.

People who are successful long term and people who fail long term have one thing in common:  They both fall off the wagon.

People who are successful long term and people who fail long term have one important difference too:  The successes pick themselves up ASAP, refocus on where they want to be and get started back there; the failures wallow in misery and spend their energy insulting themselves.

#2.  Start with the right attitude: Getting and keeping the body you want is a 3 step process:

• Step 1:  get it.  Do what it takes to get what you want.
• Step 2:  find out how many carbs you can eat, and how little exercise you can do to keep it.
• Step 3:  when you mess-up, reset, go back to #1

This is not a quick fix.  This is a new life.

#3.  Learn how to cook: Most people cannot cook period.  They only way that most people (or restaurants) can make their food taste good is by making it unhealthy – extra sugar, high fructose corn syrup and trans-fats.

Healthy food can and should be good food too.  Investing a few bucks in a good cookbook, and some time in learning how to cook will pay huge dividends in life – more energy, less fat, more muscle, and you might even impress somebody special in your life.

Here is my new favorite cookbook:

Josef Brandenburg is 2010, Washington, DC  Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, The DC Fitness Advisor and the Fitness Expert for the PCOS Challenge TV Show. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a FREE copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

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