Reality Check from Someone who's Lost 110lbs! (and keeping it off)

Look people. Losing fat ain’t easy. Let me say this again. Losing fat AIN’T easy. I routinely have people ask me what my secret is, how did I lose over 110lbs., and other various spins on the same questions. When I tell them I did it the old school way they lose all interest. Nobody wants to hear they might have to sweat and not be able to eat Skinny Cows twice a day. It suprised all of us to find how many people are looking for a magic bullet or they are looking for someone to tell them how simple it is. For 95% of us, losing fat is hard. It takes lots of work, saying no, making sacrifices, and learning a whole new way to live. That stuff is hard and never let anyone fool you.

[In order ] to lose the fat. You have to:

1. Eat healthy foods forever; not just when you are losing weight. Sure you’ll get a little wiggle room when you reach goal, but we eat just as healthy now as we did when we were losing. Personally, I only eat more of the good stuff and have an occassional splurge.

2. Exercise HARD. Sorry, but if you want to look good you have to work out like you mean it. Sure, beginners don’t go gung-ho and walking is a great way to get STARTED. In the end, though, you are making a committment to moving for the rest of your life. You gotta strength train and you gotta get off the couch. As we all say, leave it all in the gym.

3. Quit using your stress, family, friends, co-workers, the melting ice caps, and that kid from fourth grade who called you fat give you reason to continue in self-destructive behaviors. Get over yourself so you can start living the life you want. You’ll always have stress and struggle so just learn right now that eating a cheeseburger doesn’t pay your bills or make your kids behave.

Normal Chaos

You have probably heard it said by someone wanting you to repeat a monotonous activity that "practice makes perfect." As many times as you and I may have heard this, it is quite simply not true. Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes consistent.

If you practice something at a high level of performance, it will reinforce that same level of performance. On the other hand, if you practice an activity over and over in a substandard manner, you will do little more than reinforce this substandard level of performance.

You have probably dealt with people or organizations that consistently perform at an unprofessional, impolite, and substandard level. Like me, you probably wonder: How did things ever get so bad in this organization? The answer is simply that mediocrity has been going on for so long, and reinforced so deeply, that it now seems normal.

Human beings always seek their own level of comfort. You have probably heard about prisoners who are finally released after spending many years behind bars. Then, more often than you would think, these individuals will go out and do something stupid, get caught, and get sent right back to prison. After years of counseling within the prison system, psychologists have determined that some inmates become so accustomed to living within prison walls, that it becomes their comfort zone and, on a subconscious level, they prefer it to life in society with you and me.

So much of what we do in our personal and professional lives is done out of habit. If you will consider your morning routine as you get ready to go to work, you will realize that dozens of things happen in a mindless habitual fashion. This is a powerful tool if you use it wisely, because we can control our habits if we will simply become proactive and choose our own course of action.

Anything we do for 21 days will begin to become a habit. This means that, on the 22nd day, something will seem strange or out of place if you do not follow the routine you have established.Excellence can become a habit. Chaos can become a habit. And mediocrity can become a habit. The process is inert. It does not care at what level you perform. Our minds simply want to reproduce that with which we are familiar.

As you go through your day today, remember: You are currently a product of yesterday's habits; but take heart, because tomorrow will be a product of the habits you form now.