Mindset Archives

How To Achieve Permanent Fat Loss


Finding motivation in things that seem so mundane is not always easy, but as my dad always said breaking something big into smaller bit size pieces always helps. Then once you have done something successfully it seems easier to do it again and before you know it you look back and wonder why it seemed so hard before. Focused action pushes forward to success like nothing else, and success is something that brings more motivation.

Understanding the motivation cycle to reduce your body fat percentage:

  1. Need for change:  We all have needs as human beings and we all have different reasons and ways that we would prefer to do something. Many times in the “fatloss workout” world the idea is that “your need” is a cookie cutter and they have the exact thing that is needed. Well developing your “why” is very important in discovering your need in reducing the amount of fat you have.
  2. Drive or Push:  Once you have your need or reason why and are committed one hundred percent to it then the drive to do the action will be in place.
  3. Action:  This is the actual doing part, whether that be walking, cycling/biking, hiking, swimming, jogging. But if that all sounds to complicated then simplify it by simply increasing the amount of daily activity that you do. There are plenty of weightloss books out there that can give you many, many idea’s on what you can do in order to achieve an increase in caloric output. But let me try and illustrate how simple it is for someone to “increase” their activity. For example sake we have a person that sits on the couch all day long only getting up to use the restroom and to get food and water. If they simply added one thing to their day such as walking down to the post office, the store, or around the block this would be an increase. Once that doesn’t seem so bad they could add something else that seemed reasonable until they achieving the desired goal.
    Now the other half of action is the caloric input and there is plenty of resources out there that deal with this so for brevity sake I will just mention that the right kind of foods coupled with increased activity can produce a result a lot bigger then you think. Also rather then reducing the amount of food just simply find some way to get more of the healthy stuff in you.
  4. Achievement:  Once your drive and activity give you the result your looking for, it will continue to drive you to continue do what is working, and tweak what doesn’t seem to work.
  5. Satisfaction:  This stage is when you can look in the mirror and smile because all your hard work has paid off. Again the old saying holds up that success fuels more success and that holds true when you go from a fat belly to a flat belly.

Developing your fatloss health plan:

After reviewing the above steps in what makes a successful fat loss plan you can then make it personally yours, custom fit for your situation. As you put together your plan consider what your “why” is, that underlying reason for making a change. Once you know that then your set to find those things that you enjoy and that increases your activity.

Less empty calories:

If you are someone that puts a lot of empty calories (cake, muffins, cookies, junk food, etc.) you might look at ways to cut that back and replace it with something else healthier. So for example if I am someone that eats fast food five days a week I might try to cut back to four days and pack a lunch for the 5th day. I might choose fruit juice over soda pop.  If I am someone that eats 200 cookies a day I might try to cut it back to 190. OK so that last example might be a little extreme but you get the picture. Again small consistent changes is what wins this race not the quick things that you stop doing three days later.

Working Your Plan:

It’s important to note that the source of your motivation may change over time and as those needs change and your life changes it’s good to keep this cycle of motivation in mind and then you can tweak your plan accordingly. Something that might be the case for you, as it was for me, that while jogging or running and really enjoying the results that it is giving you and then injure a leg or ankle, you have to rethink the activities. So take up something like golf or maybe gardening, just something that doesn’t use the injured leg. The main point here is to reassess where you are in the fat loss motivation cycle and keep the activity level at what you had or moving up so your action doesn’t slow down to a complete stop.

Now admittedly it is really tough at times to keep your mind and body in sync after a big set back. Whether that set back be an injury or some other unseen element in life, simply go back to step one and look at how your motivational needs have changed and what really drives you NOW at this place in your life. We are dynamic people and that means we have to give ourselves some flexibility in everything we do to avoid getting stuck.

My hope is that this idea of motivation, whether it be external or internal, breaking it down into steps can help in making this race to loose fat one that you can win. Please leave a comment; I am interested in your thoughts and idea’s. And thanks for stopping by to give this a read I really appreciate it.

Working to be motivated,
-Nick

Related Blogs

Show the love; Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Technorati
  • StumbleUpon
  • Google Bookmarks
  • BlinkList
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot

Related Posts:

Is It Possible To Gain Weight But Lose Fat?

lose fat

Your goal should be to lose fat not weight!

With all the information that you see in the main stream literature about how to lose fat, most people will say that gaining weight is the one thing you want to avoid.  So bear with me when I start talking against the main stream.  The statement that you can gain wait and still lose fat is absolutely true.  And actually it is something that you might want to try to do.   Now you might be asking “how in the world can you say that” since this premise goes so totally against conventional wisdom.

If you lose fat, you gain muscle.

Well simply put, your muscle weighs up to three times more then fat per inch.  Thus you will actually gain weight if you are doing any muscle building activity while you are working to get into shape.  And as you watch your muscle firming up the fat reduction will take care of itself. We all know that muscle is the key to keeping that fat burning machine going at all hours of the day, not just when you are putting concentrated effort into getting rid of the excess fat.

To say “lose fat” is more accurate then “lose weight”.

If you answered “no” to the question “is it possible to gain weight yet lose fat?” then it is very important you realize the difference in these terms and what is behind them.  If you know the difference it will help you to correctly size up some of those claims on how to lose fat that are going around in the internet fitness world.



Related Blogs

Show the love; Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Technorati
  • StumbleUpon
  • Google Bookmarks
  • BlinkList
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot

Related Posts:

Weight Loss vs Fat Loss: Should It Really Matter To You?


A
t first weight loss and fat loss seem to obviously mean the same thing so why even discuss it, right! Well on the surface these terms seem alike but when we dig a little deeper we see it’s not that simple. In the world of weight loss dieting and exercise it seems cut and dry, but the reality is these two terms are very much different. Knowing the difference will really help for you to define your own goals and put the claims that other people are making in their proper place.

Weight loss:

If you say that you’ve lost weighted can really be certain that this is going to get you into the shape that you’re looking for. It’s like saying it’s wet outside but by that statement you can’t tell if it’s raining or the sprinkler is watering the lawn. When it comes getting into shape you can take your clothes off and loose weight according to the bathroom scale but you’re not any closer to the real thing. On top off that you can loose other things that will give you a false sense of accomplishment, namely water and muscle. In short, the term “weight loss” doesn’t tell the whole story and shouldn’t be trusted.

Fat loss:

This is a key term, especially these days with so much information out there. Fat loss is exactly that, getting rid of fat and it accurately states what should be happening when you are trying to get into shape. People that are using this term are truly in the “know” when it comes to this subject and I encourage you to start training your brain to substitute it for “weight loss” in your vocabulary.

Why is this important, well when you are losing weight you can be losing muscle which inch for inch weighs more then fat, some say three times more. Thus the statement of losing 20 pounds of weight in two weeks is a phrase that really means nothing. Any person that claims they can loose 20 pounds in two weeks don’t factor the loss of water and muscle, and losing muscle hurts long term success in fat loss. So when we step back we see that this kind of thinking really changes the context of some of the claims you may hear.

Soooo…!

So the question is what can you do in order to know if your getting the results our looking for, namely fat loss. Well if your cloths are starting to get loss your on the right track but if you are loosing more the a pound or two a week then you are most likely losing more then fat in the number that is showing on your bathroom scale. You might be asking why I say this, well most people do not pack on the fat at 10 and 15 pounds of fat a week so why should they expect them to come off that fast. The human machine just doesn’t have the ability to do that unless your a world class athlete, but if that was the case loosing fat would really be the focus it would be the side affect.

In my humble opinion, dropping lots of fat really fast is simply not that healthy or productive for your long term success. I say this because I have an aunt that would gain a lot of fat and then when she reached a certain point she would get really motivated to eat right and exercise a lot, thus dropping a lot of fat in a matter of of weeks. But as soon as she got down to the size she wanted she would some how loose motivation and momentum. The fat would start coming right back but what was worse is the fact that more fat would return then when she originally started to working on losing it. With that said, our focus shouldn’t be to simply loss fat but to rather target fat at a steady, consistent pace that builds lean muscle. And we all know that lean muscle burns fat very well.

Three simple things you can do to target fat:

Go for a walk– this is by far one of the best ways to ensure that your body is burning fat and not muscle or anything else. Walking is what I like to call the slow, clean burn, plus when you find a walking buddy it can be a lot of fun.

Light weight lifting– don’t have a set of dumbbells, no problem, simply fill some gallon jugs with water or sand and use them to add some resistance to get those muscle working. Also it is key to push your muscle slowly and controlled.

Look at your food– Choose foods that promote muscle building since muscle is the fat burning engine, thus more muscle equals a lot more success for you.

What this all comes down too is finding something that you enjoy doing that increases your activity level and when you start looking at targeting fat and not just loosing weight you never know where it might take you. This focused direction really changes everything just as focused light in a laser can cut steal. And my hope is that after reading this you can start to envision and sculpted the body you really want.

Please leave a comment; I am interested in your thoughts about this idea that fat loss can be weight loss but weight loss can not be a guarantee of fat loss. And thanks for stopping by to give this a read, it means a lot to me.

Looking from a new perspective,
-Nick

Related Blogs

Show the love; Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Technorati
  • StumbleUpon
  • Google Bookmarks
  • BlinkList
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot

Related Posts: