STOP

1. listening to your friends

The difference with people who hang out with friends that uplifts them instead of those who try to bring them down to their level is the advice they get from them. Let’s be honest for a moment, how many friends do you have that have the same passion as you do? Who share the love of training, dieting and having the pain lasts a little longer from a great workout? Yep, not many, if any. So first things first, you probably are the one helping them so keep going. If some of them are trying to keep you from going at the gym because you are “too much” or that they want you to absolutely taste those brownies and “have a life”, gently and kindly go on with the regular schedule.

2. Listening to yourself

As if you didn’t have enough of your friends, you may start doubting yourself. You start believing some of your excuses and theirs. It’s fine, and it doesn’t make you a bad person, but ask yourself if you like those brownies more than the goal you have. Just let it be. Remind yourself of your daily goal, make a list of what you should do to get it. Read it daily. Take the necessary actions to get to it, one day at a time.

3. Comparing yourself...

To whatever fits your ideal. A goal must be a reasonable one. Everyone wants to look like a fitness model, but no one is ready to do what they do, sacrifice their comfort zone for what they want to become. I get these request so often but when they hear the truth, they always seem to settle for less.

4.watching TV…

Especially the news. Where the fuck is Ebola? You better watch yourself, it will be the worst flu season of the last thousand year. You can’t trust the police anymore so who the hell are you going to trust? You just found out that there was a big plot with the local politics and the construction companies to give out jobs to whoever bid the most, bypassing the regular working Joe’s. Kim Kardashian’s butt exploded in someone’s face in the making of a sex tape. Kanye west is in love with himself and thinks he is god’s gift to woman.

Where am I going with all this? NOWHERE and so are you by watching and following the latest crap the media wants to feed us. They are the bearer of bad news. In between these special reports, they get these specially designed commercials to make us crave shit. They want you to consume, buy, spend your money to buy things, to impress people, your friends. Buy things we don’t need, eat crap and feel like shit so that you keep watching their negative speeches and feel more depressed and helpless. So that we keep watching their crap and wait for them to give us the solution to the world’s problems. Problems that might never come. They never do most of the time. They spread fear for people to consume and buy, because it feels good to buy and to eat crap, it lowers cortisol. It’s as simple as that.

All you need is your family, immediate friends and live now. Tomorrow is never a sure thing, yesterday is done and gone. It is so cliché, but true.

5.waiting…for the right moment

It never comes. And who said it was the right moment?

6.Doing something because others do…

That’s not the problem in itself, the problem lies in expecting the same results. how many times did you try something that a friend tried expecting the same results? I think we all did. How many of us wanted to by that freakin’ Bowflex thinking “if that guy could do it, I can”. The best are the supplement ads in magazines.

 

 

 

 

Like all the commercials on television, they pay big bucks to get your attention. The one thing you can understand is this. If you don’t do you homework, as in eating a fair amount of protein, get plenty of veggies and fat, and if you are really serious about it, you should be taking fish oils, a great multi vitamin and some magnesium, NONE of the greatly advertised specialized supplements will work.

7.Counting calories

The age old question. Calories count for almost every one and could be a baseline, a starting point to keep track of. Without being to anal about it, it could give you some kind of overall picture of the current state of affairs and how to progress from that point. If you like to keep a close eye on your caloric intake throughout the day, it does not make you a bad person, not at all. Just don’t be the party pooper who always warn people about their food and caloric intake.

Should we count calories? Again, without being anal about it, use it as a baseline, but after many years of trying to apply some of the calorie notion, it doesn’t work and it often back fires. Look at weight watchers, they have finally admitted that their method of calorie counting that they have used for so many years does not work. It gives a false sense of control.

Never underestimate the power of homeostasis. The body requires balance. If on a calorie deficit for too long, the body will adapt to it in many possible ways, the same goes for excess. Don’t forget the fact that none of us have the same lifestyle. So it could all be going well and suddenly, two or three sleepless nights could throw you off balance and start a cascade of uncontrollable events, a downward spiral. Maybe the fact of keeping count of your calories can help you during those times, but I don’t think one should stress about it.

8.weighing yourself everyday

 I call it the OCSJ a.k.a. Obsessive compulsive scale Jumper. They get up in the morning, go to the bathroom , and weigh themselves, recalling the groundhog day movie. Weighing yourself everyday is like psychological warfare. Every day your body goes through different hormonal changes due to stress, training, diet, environmental stress and toxins to name a few. Your body responds to that by holding or losing  water. You get up one morning thinking that the last few days were awesome training and diet wise but the scale shows a couple pounds more. Thinking that all the effort was not successful, you give up and say that it was not worth it. But the added pounds are not necessarily a fat gain.

This is where the scale can mentally be demoralizing. I use the scale as a tool. I only rely on bodyfat to know if it was real results or not. If you lost bodyfat and weight on the scale, it’s fine by me. If you lost weight on the scale but didn’t lose fat with my calipers, no good. It means you probably lost some lean mass. The scale is not a very reliable tool to measure your progress, keeping track of your bodyfat is.

9. Thinking you need to lose weight at all costs

People who aim at losing fat will sustain their weight loss for longer periods and be healthier in the process. Times have changed. Its not all about a number on the scale. You are not that number. When you want to buy a car, you look at numbers, your budget, the mileage, the expense. Your body requires the same attention when you go on a new trip (read plan or goal). You have to look at the whole picture, not only the digits on the scale.

10.Stop reading and get back at the gym!