The Secret Sauce to Body Transformation
People come to me, often looking for the “secret sauce” of what’s going to get them results.
I’ll tell you what is missing from all the lists above and is truly the “secret” when it comes to losing fat, gaining muscle, staying healthy, and just transforming your body.
Are you ready for it?
The secret to transforming your body: Consistency
Consistency is the hard part.
What makes consistency hard?
It’s rarely the knowledge of what to do.
It’s not necessarily our desires.
I’m pretty sure we all want to look or feel somewhat better.
It might be how we prioritize those goals – although if pressed, you might say your health is pretty damn important "goal."
So if it’s not what to do, our desire to do it, or whether or not we think it's important, then what is it?
The weak link with any body transformation is: Our Mindset
Here are 5 examples of how our minds sabotage our consistency.
1: “ I worked out hard, so I deserve to eat this snack.”
That snack ends up being double the amount of calories you burned during your workout.
2: “I’ve been working so hard. I don’t know why I’m not seeing progress.”
This is after 4 weeks of effort. After 4 weeks, most people wouldn’t notice progress, even if there was some. Here's the thing, sometimes, it takes, GASP, 8 to 12 weeks of focused effort before your body starts to realize – “Hey, this human is doing something different. Let’s adapt,” and that’s when you actually *start* to see some progress.
3: “I like eating too much. It’s not worth it.”
Who said you had to stop eating? Sure, if you’re trying out for My 700-lb Life, that might be different, but if you’re trying to change any aspect of your health and you think the only way is to completely deprive yourself, then that’s a mindset problem, not a “you can’t eat” problem.
4: “Everything I do, doesn’t work.”
Doubtful. What I usually find is, you haven’t found a a strategy that works for you... or you don't know how to change those subconscious blocks that are holding you back from being consistent. Usually people give up before their body has really had a chance to catch up with what they’re doing.
5: “I don’t have enough self-control/willpower.”
No one does. And the people who do, eventually burn out. If you’re relying on willpower or self-control as the way that you will change your body, I'm sorry to inform you, you’re doing it wrong. Don't get me wrong, you will need "some" willpower. But you don't have to be perfect and you should only need it in small spurts.
What you need are habits. Habits are mindless and automatic. If every day you need to summon willpower or self-control for every food choice or workout you have, you’re not going to last very long.
These things are literally just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how our minds mess with us.
And the problem becomes if we've tried and failed at changing, we try to soften the blow by saying, "I don't care." But the truth is you do care, but feeling like a failure and judging yourself is a lot worse, so we justify it.
We talk ourselves into giving up, when it’s the exact moment we should double down on our efforts.
And most heartbreakingly, we give up before we even begin.
We let fear determine our actions, or inactions, instead of hope for who we are and what we’re capable of achieving.
It’s time for a change.
Listen, I spend a lot of time learning techniques that will help people, in a variety of situations.
If you want a Free Primer Course on Habit Change, click on this link or the picture below.
Let me know how else I can help you.
Cheers,
J. Damien