Act Like A 3 Year Old

If you’ve ever spent much time with a toddler, you know they can drive you crazy constantly asking the same question- “Why?” However, if you’re interested in dumping excess body fat and slimming down, some 3 year old behavior could mean the difference between success and failure. 

To succeed at fat loss, you need to discover a burning reason to get fit. The vague, “I want to be healthier”, won’t cut it in the long run. You need to “peel the onion” to find out the real reason you want to change. You need to ask yourself, “Why do I want to dump this excess fat?” over and over again.

Initially, your answer may be that you want to look good and feel better about yourself. O.K. but why do you want to look good and feel better? Then your response may be that you hate how you look and are sick of having no energy and sitting home alone in front of the TV every night. 

When you ask yourself why you want to get out and socialize more, you may realize you're lonely and not confident enough to meet new people feeling the way you do about yourself. Just keep asking “Why?” and peeling the onion. You have to keep digging until you discover your deepest motivation for dumping the fat and getting healthy.

Maybe you are a parent who is too overweight to play with your kids. Maybe you’re sick of being miserable and depressed. Maybe you’re afraid you’ll die early and never get to walk your daughter down the aisle. 

Without that true motivation to remind yourself of daily, you're far more likely to give up on your new lifestyle when you're tired and ordering takeout is easier than preparing something healthy, or when work gets crazy busy and stressful, or when friends discourage your efforts, or you don't feel like going to the gym.

Dig and then dig deeper.

Making the necessary changes in your nutrition and lifestyle will be easier if you can unearth the real root of your desire to be healthy and fit. You'll be more committed to becoming the person you want to be because your motivation will be stronger.

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Is Weight Loss Ineffective And Harmful?

That's the title of an article posted on the University of California, Davis website. The link is below.

While I disagree that weight loss, or more correctly fat loss, is ineffective and harmful, I do think that the focus needs to be on creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle for long-term success.

Ignore the hypey (did I just make up a new word?) title and take a minute to read this excellent article:

Weight-loss focus is ineffective and harmful, study suggests

Facebook Promotes Violence And Death But Rejects Ad For Healthy Living

I recently tried to place an ad on Facebook for my No Pink Dumbbells Fitness Boot Camp. It was rejected with this explanation...

Images that are overly explicit or provocative, or that reveal too much skin, are not permitted. Images that may either degrade or idealize any health condition or body type are also not allowed.

You read that right. The company that promotes a game called "Mafia Wars", where the object is to fight, steal, kill, and grow your criminal empire objects to my ad promoting fitness. Of course, if more people were out being active, they'd have less time to spend sitting on their butts posting on Facebook or playing Farmville or Mafia Wars.

This is the photo I used in the rejected ad.  ====>

Let me just acknowledge that Facebook has every right to refuse to publish ads for any idiotic reason they choose but I have every right to take to my blog and point out how stupid their policy is.

Because they didn't specify, I don't know if my sin was showing too much skin or idealizing a health condition. Either one is ridiculous.

Unless Facebook thinks we're in a time warp and wants to reinstate the Barbara Eden / No Belly Buttons! rule, how is that photo showing "too much skin?"  If Facebook has a problem with navels they need to take it up with Cher; she pretty much single handedly destroyed the belly button ban back in the early 70's.

Seriously, you can see as much or more skin in any underwear ad in your Sunday newspaper and definitely more skin on any public beach.

I do plead guilty to "idealizing any health condition."

I believe that health is preferable to illness. I believe that a strong body is preferable to a weak one. I believe (and research backs me up) that being physically active improves your mental, emotional and physical health in tons of ways and is preferable to being inactive. I believe that having the energy and the fitness level to be able to enjoy a variety of activities as I age is preferable to slouching in front of the TV or sitting on the sidelines.

Our country is drowning in health care costs. Much of those costs come from conditions that are preventable with good nutrition, not smoking and regular exercise. In fact, the top 5 preventable causes of death in this country are...

• Smoking 
• High blood pressure
• Overweight / obesity
• Inadequate physical activity / Inactivity 
• High blood sugar 

All of them can be eliminated or improved through a healthy lifestyle. By trying to pretend that all health is equal, Facebook does its users a disservice and while it prohibits me from "idealizing any health condition", people are dying.

But at least they won't get their feelings hurt by seeing the fit midsection of a faceless women.

Are You Ready To Step Off The Weight Loss Merry-Do-Round? Part 4

For most people, dropping fat and getting healthy is a challenge, especially in non-supportive environments. A sabotaging friend or spouse, a workplace that's consistently a calorie laden minefield or a social life that revolves around food can definitely make sticking to a healthy lifestyle more difficult. An often overlooked (or downplayed) factor in a successful fat loss process is...


Social Support

Find a like-minded friend and exercise together. Create a "Biggest Loser" style competition at work. Ask some of the regulars at the gym if they'd be interested in forming a fat loss group.

If you're a follower of Turbulence Training, make sure to take advantage of the forums; members are extremely supportive of one another and are full of helpful suggestions. If you're not a TTer, check out free forums like SparkPeople or Weight-Loss-Forum.com

Prefer face to face support? Join Weight Watchers or Overeaters Anonymous.

There are plenty of options.

For most people, trying to go it alone is hard. It's good to have someone to be accountable to and someone you can reach out to if you hit a rough patch.

Social support can mean the difference between success and failure so it's important to be selective.

Choosing a teammate or group:

* If you need to talk someone into joining you, ask someone else. You do not want a partner who expects you to be their motivator. Each person needs to be self motivated. Some days you might boost your partner's spirit or talk her down from the Dairy Queen drive-thru. :-) Another day, s/he might get you moving when you just feel like collapsing in front of the TV. The point is to be supportive of each other but both people must be committed to the process for their own reasons. Otherwise, it won't work.

* If you join a group, make sure its members are positive and who are interested in helping you find solutions to the challenges you encounter. If you find yourself in group sessions that are simply whine-fests about how members hate their bodies or how hard it is to eat healthy or exercise, find another group fast.

Ultimately, getting fit and dropping fat is up to you. No one in the world can help if you're not ready but if you are ready, social support can be a lifeline when things gets challenging.

Are You Ready To Step Off the Weight Loss Merry-Go-Round? Part 3

The last two days I wrote about taking small nutrition and exercise steps to get you started on a new healthier lifestyle. A lifestyle that will help you drop fat, increase your energy, reduce your risk of many diseases and keep you active and independent as you age. You will not enjoy long-term success, however, without also addressing...


The Mental Component

First of all, you must absolutely know that you can succeed, regardless of how many times you were previously disappointed with your results.

Remember, this time you are focusing on small steps that you absolutely can accomplish. You will then build upon your successes. You will not be overwhelming yourself mentally, emotionally and physically with drastic diets or hour long cardio sessions. You can do this!

Second, you must dig deep for the most compelling reason that you want to lose weight / get healthier.

The more passionate you are about the "why" and the more emotion attached to your reason, the more likely you will reach your goal.

As Les Brown says, "Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way."

What is your compelling motivation?

If you had a parent who died when you were young, you may want to make sure that you're around for your child. Maybe you're sick of feigning disinterest and feeling left out when your friends do physical activities. One of the men on the Turbulence Training forum decided to get fit after his son asked him why he had "boobies."

Keep asking yourself why you want to get in shape. Keep digging. Go past the superficial answers like "I'm sick of being fat" or "I hate my thighs." You may very well hate your thighs and be sick of being overweight but will those reasons keep you on track when you feel like throwing in the towel?

If you need help discovering your compelling motivation, go here to check out this earlier blog post.

Are You Ready to Step Off the Weight Loss Merry-Go-Round?, Part 1

The sad fact is that if I set up a website and promised people they would lose 30 pounds in 30 days by doing nothing other than taking my special fat burning pill, I'd have tons of orders. In fact, I could probably charge $100 for a month's supply and still be drowning in customers.

Everyone wants effortless. Effortless riches, effortless weight loss, effortless nutrition, effortless fitness. Well, it's time for a reality check.

Fitness, good nutrition and fat loss take effort. I'm not talking about revolving your entire life around working out and eating right. However, a healthy, fit body will not come in a magic pill.

If you really want to drop fat and keep it off there are certain things you need to do. Some, if not all, you've probably heard before but never really committed to them (or you wouldn't be reading this). So, hang in there with me for the next few days.


Dump the diets and quick fixes.

In people's minds, diets are finite. They have a beginning and end; you don't follow them forever.

What you need is a lifestyle makeover. Good nutrition and regular exercise are not just things you do until you look good for your wedding or class reunion or until you fit back into your smaller clothes. At least not if you have any interest in maintaining your svelter self.

If you're unwilling to make some long term changes than stop reading right now. You're either not ready at this time in your life (which is OK but you should acknowledge that to yourself and quit beating yourself up and wasting money on scams) or you're looking for a quick fix and I ain't got one.

The short-term mindset is what often derails people. They make sweeping changes that are overwhelming and which, sooner or later, lead to a poor choice or a binge. Then they figure they blew it and just give up.

If you overslept and woke up late for work one day would you just throw in the towel and never go back? If you made a parenting mistake, would you decide you're a total failure and put your kid up for adoption?

No one is perfect. Some times we make poor choices. Trying to massively overhaul your life in one fell swoop is a recipe for failure with most people.

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." - Henry Ford

If you are a "failed" serial dieter or someone who has "succeeded", only to regain the weight, start again more intelligently.

If you currently eat fast food almost every day, don't try to eliminate it totally starting tomorrow. Decide to limit yourself to x number of times a week; something that is a challenge but that is also doable for where you are right now.

If you are a second helping guy or gal, cut back to one or at least wait 20 minutes to see if you are truly still hungry before eating more.

If you're a total couch potato, don't start spending hours exercising (you shouldn't spend hours working out anyway but that's a topic for another day) but do commit to exercising for x number of minutes for x number of days a week.

If your regular routine is coming home and downing a few beers or cocktails, limit yourself to a specific number.

Small changes will make a difference, mentally, physically and emotionally. You won't lose 30 pounds in 30 days but you will be forming better nutrition and exercise habits and creating a healthier lifestyle.

Let me be clear. As you progress on your journey, you will need to continually improve your nutrition and to challenge yourself physically but making it a process rather than a one day makeover will be far less overwhelming.

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