Hi everyone,
Today, I have simply been too sore from training to do a workout. Yesterday, I teamed up with Stephen Bell from Ironfit for a Training session, and he made me do hypertrophy training for a change (an evil ploy I think). Anyway, I willingly followed his lead and, as a result, today I am in a world of PAIN! I did exercises I haven’t done in years and in multiple high rep sets. My triceps are so sore I can hard move my arms – eek! I WILL have a workout up this week, but I need to get rid of THESE DOMS, plus the residual DOMS in my calves from Sunday’s killer session! 😐
Now onto today’s topic.
You know how I like to keep training uber simple? Well, fat loss should be no different. The problem is, in order for “the industry” to keep making money, it has to make you believe there is some secret, complicated formula to fat loss. While there is a formula, it is neither secret or complicated; it is actually very simple. The problems arise when we start thinking it’s complicated, perceiving difficulties, or we are sucked in by the mountains of BS out there. The amount of contradicting information does nothing but make people chase their tails and constantly feel like a failure – therefore ensuring they keep searching for “new” solutions etc etc. This whole process makes me angry because many people now hold all these false or exaggerated beliefs about fat loss that quite simply make the whole thing worse. For example, you know things are bad when someone comes to you for fat loss and exercise advice (assuming they have done so because they know you have the knowledge and experience to advise them), yet they start arguing with you when you try telling them how simple the formula is:
Eat Less, Do More (in a nutshell).
The issue is not the formula, the issue is your belief system, inner thoughts and feelings that ultimately govern your success at anything – including fat loss.
While I can’t prevent the reams of BS out there, I can show you a better way…
You know when you tell yourself “I can’t have” or ” I shouldn’t do” something (usually in relation to edible treats), and you end up wanting it all the more … usually leading to an epic fail in that day’s diet regime or what ever it is you are trying to give up … well, the answer is STOP telling yourself what you don’t want and START focusing on what you DO want and how you SHOULD behave. This also applies to you telling yourself you “hate exercise”, or that something is “not working”!
This is a huge factor in reaching your fat loss goal (or any goal). Something as simple as changing your vision from thinking about FAT (whether it be fat loss or fat gain) to visualising yourself being successful at eating healthy, feeling satisfied and getting leaner, will soon have you adopting the correct behaviours to match your thoughts. If you are always telling yourself “I’m getting fatter” or ” I really need to lose weight”, this is the mindset you will get stuck in. You are less likely to ever feel successful at losing fat if your focus, thoughts and feelings are centred around FAT!
Just STOP thinking about fat at all! Imagine yourself being the body composition or weight that you want and reinforce those feelings each day with growing confidence, feelings of success and love for yourself.
A couple of months ago I began feeling “fat” (not actually fat, but you know … thicker) and I was not happy about it. I felt puffy and I began to focus on FAT LOSS again. Trying to cut down on my calorie intake, increasing my cardio and being overly aware of how I looked. All this did was make me more and more obsessive about it and no matter what the efforts were, I seemed to sabotage my own efforts to reach goal (because I started gaining weight). However, in the last few weeks I did an experiment; I started telling myself “I am 58kg” (when I was actually 61kg). I started feeling how I wanted to feel (tighter, a little leaner and super confident in my own skin). Guess what happened … I ended up 58kg and feeling exactly how I wanted.
It works!
This is not about living in denial of your current reality, but it is a healthy (both mentally and physically) method to feeling less stressed and more confident about your efforts. What benefit is there from focusing on what you don’t like?? NONE! Let thoughts and feelings towards FAT go! Exchange them for more positive, loving thoughts and feelings towards yourself and good things will manifest. Quit letting yourself be limited by your past behaviours and start new ones today!
What have you got to lose? 😉
Cheers
Marianne