Hey There,
I thought I’d split these up for you in categories of mindset, nutrition and exercise. I know
it’s tempting to skip the mindset stuff and try to find some good workout and
nutrition nuggets but I suggest you get that stuff down first and build from
there. Also, I didn’t put them in a specific order of importance; just read
them all and pick what fits in your life.
Mindset, Motivation and Taking
Control
- Have a clearly defined and focused goal – pick the one most important thing that you want to
accomplish with your body and don’t sell yourself short. Maybe you want to
lose 50 pounds but you feel like 30 is more reasonable. I say screw the 30
pounds and aim high for the 50; don’t sell yourself short and who knows,
if you don’t reach 50 maybe you reach 45. That’s still better than the 30
you were going to start with. - Focus on one goal or portion of your goal at a time. When you set goals for yourself it’s important to
focus on one thing at a time. I can’t tell you how many people I meet that
say they want to burn fat, build muscle, get stronger and run a faster
marathon. Pick one thing for the near future and focus all your attention
on that goal. Similarly, you may be someone with a big long term goal like
50 pound weight loss. Maybe you’re starting at 240 pounds and you want to
get to 180 pounds. A good marker to focus on first is breaking the 220
mark and get to 219. - Share your goal with someone who gives a crap! – To be honest with you most people don’t. Some might
say they do but most actually don’t care at all or want to see you fail.
The best way to tell if someone really supports you is if they:
- Join you on your journey
- Attempt a similar goal for themselves
- Make similar changes to you to help you
I don’t care what anyone says.
Saying, “Good job keep up the good work you can lose that weight. Excuse me while I eat this pizza in front of you and watch American idol instead of
exercise,” is not real support.
- If they don’t REALLY support you then keep them out of
it! – Sharing your goals with people who don’t support you is a recipe for disaster. Anytime you tell
someone who doesn’t support you that you are trying to lose weight, they
will share their opinion with you and it will never be something helpful.
“You’re trying to lose weight? Don’t
do that do this instead (insert some BS diet advice about cutting carbs or
doing this cleanse that their friend’s, cousin’s mother is doing.)”
- Find people who are trying to do the same thing as you
for accountability – I must say that I am extremely proud of the community and accountability we have built in our Rock Your Body Bootcamps and it’s a major reason why
people are so successful with it. If you don’t know someone who can be
accountable to you then be accountable to someone else first and get them
involved with what you’re doing. They say that one of the best ways for a
recovering alcoholic to stay on track is to help another recovering
alcoholic stay on track. It’s the same with exercising and eating right. - Plan ahead –
every night before bed or after dinner take five minutes to plan out when
you’re going to work out tomorrow and what you’re going to eat during the
day. - Make a plan B –
sometimes life gets in the way. Keep some meal replacements in the trunk
of your car if you can’t get what you planned for lunch or breakfast.
Every month, I send my bootcamp clients at-home workouts with soundtracks
and videos to do at home in case they miss a workout. - Stop making excuses –
if you gained 30 extra pounds over the last 10 years it’s your fault and
you’re responsible for losing it. It helps to have a program and game plan
mapped out to help you but it doesn’t do anything unless you do it. - Always be honest with yourself – always be asking yourself this important question
during the day “Is this bringing me closer or further from my goals?” - Measure your progress – it’s the only way
of knowing if you’re getting closer or further from your goals. There are
so many ways of measuring the progress your making. It mostly depends on
your goal but here are my favorites for fat loss.
- Photo comparison (my favorite). Photographs don’t lie and can often
reveal things from a perspective the mirror can’t. Every week or two weeks take
a picture of yourself in minimal clothing (girls in a sports bra and panties or
bikini, guys in boxers or shorts) and compare photos. From one week to the next
you may not see a major difference but comparing week 1’s photo with week 8’s
or 10’s photo can be motivating.
- Your clothes. Sometimes the scale isn’t playing nice with us but for
some reason our clothes are a lot looser. If this is the case there is a good
chance you are adding lean muscle but burning fat.
- The scale (this can be tricky). When measuring yourself on the scale
it’s easy to get frustrated with the constant fluctuations. Because your body
can weigh 2-8 pounds heavier from the morning to the night, you have to be VERY
consistent in measuring yourself in the exact same factors. If you measure
yourself on a Monday every week, but one Monday you measured yourself first
thing in the morning and the next you measured yourself after dinner, you will
get very different numbers. Even if both times you measured yourself after
dinner, you may have had a different dinner and/or drank different amounts of
water and/or did/didn’t go to the bathroom as much. All of these things are
factors. Best thing to do is measure yourself only once a week or every two
weeks at the exact same day and time.
- No more stinkin’ thinkin’. Always think
positive thoughts. Negative thoughts bring negative results. - Read other peoples success stories. Read
a chicken soup for the soul book or look through body transformation
stories and testimonials online. Good ones you can check out are The ones
at Transformation.com or Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Nutrition, Food and Dieting
- Monitor what you’re eating – you need to
keep track and reflect on everything going into your mouth. Don’t skip
this step. Just by tracking and reflecting on what you eat everyday
will help you reduce your intake. It will give you an honest idea of how
much you are really eating and it will show you where you need to make
changes. There are a few good ways to do this:
- Paper and pen. You can start just by writing what you eat down as you go
but if you do this, you need to write what you’re eating before you eat it and
not procrastinate. It’s easy to just say I’ll write it after or I’ll write it
all down when I get home but you need to be diligent and specific and write
everything before it goes in your mouth.
- An online personal journal. You can use a website like, myfitnesspal.com, fitday.com,
sparkpeople.com, myfooddiary.com or vitabot.com to keep track. This is easy
because it has built-in food databases with all the nutrition facts of whatever
you’re eating. This especially comes in handy with produce and fresh meats
because they don’t have a nutrition facts label.
- A public food journal via blogging. Having a blog is awesome and fun and
can be exciting to share what you’re doing with the world. The best part is you
can get tons of comments of encouragement (you bet your ass I’d be commenting
on it), especially from friends and family.
- With a camera. Keeping track of everything you eat through photos is fun
and can help you reflect on the portion sizes you’re eating.
- Don’t just count calories. Calories are
important and you do have to be in a calorie deficit to burn fat, but they
shouldn’t be your primary or only focus. Increasing the amount of fiber
you’re eating and decreasing the amount of sugar your eating are important
measurements as well as measuring your water intake and decreasing your
liquid calorie intake. - Measure your portions. For some foods you
can’t just “guesstimate” how much you’re eating. If a bowl of cereal is a
1 cup serving size, don’t just poor the box into a bowl until it looks
like how much you want, take out a measuring cup and pour exactly a cup
and do the same with your milk. This is especially important with very
calorie dense foods like nuts and meats and condiments like oils,
dressings and nut butters. If you’re eating something that doesn’t have a
set measurement for portion size or a label depicting the amount of
calories for a serving size or you’re eating out or at a friend’s house
(like at a restaurant, with meat, produce or homemade recipes like mashed
potatoes) use your hand as a measuring tool. For fats like nuts or oils, 1
portion is the size of two thumbs from the first knuckle up. For green
produce, it’s a serving the size of two fists. For starchy carbs and
fruits, a serving is one fist and for protein like dairy or meats, it’s
the size and thickness of the palm of your hand. - When you eat, just eat. Stop using food as a multi tasking tool. Don’t eat your
meals or snack while watching TV, driving or on the computer. Sit down for
10 minutes and just eat nothing else. It really doesn’t take more than
5-15 minutes to really eat a meal. You drag a meal out with other tasks
and you don’t pay attention to the amount of food you’re eating. - Don’t go to extremes. You don’t have to completely cut out carbs or go
vegetarian or go fat free or completely eliminate grains and dairy from
your diet. Don’t go to extremes (especially if you’re just getting
started). You’ll end up having an extreme rebound or binge. If you want to
make a change, take a step or two everyday in the right direction. Habits
come from repetition. - Make eating an experience. People are so
busy these days that they don’t stop to enjoy the process of a meal.
Cooking can be a great ACTIVE experience and makes the meal much more
appreciated. Try making a new recipe twice a week, then sit down and
really enjoy it.
Exercise and Fitness
- Less quantity and more quality. Don’t just
try and workout for a long time. Try to do more work in less time.
Especially with your cardio. - Don’t just burn calories. Get better. Don’t
do an activity repetitively just to burn calories. Every time you repeat
an activity try to do it better than the last time.
- lift heavier weight
- do more repetitions with the same weight
- lift more or do more repetitions in less time
- try a harder variation (one armed one legged, imbalanced, different type of
weight like a kettle bell or medicine ball.)
- Stay active outside of your workouts. Non
Exercise Activity Thermogenics (N.E.A.T) is a great way to increase your
daily calorie expenditure and it’s extremely easy to do. Here are some
awesome ways to burn way more calories outside of your workout.
- Stand up as often as possible.
- Take the long way. Park far from wherever you’re going and walk.
- Lift random stuff. See how many grocery bags you can carry in one trip.
- Do more cleaning or chores. Instead of sitting on the couch watching TV.
- If you’re sitting for a long time, stand up, do some squats and stretch
every 5-15 minutes.
- Strength first. Cardio second. Both burn calories, but one builds your metabolism,
makes you stronger and makes you look better while the other one….for the
most part……just burns calories. - You can’t out train a bad diet. Exercise is for making you fitter, diet is for making
you thinner, both make you look better, but only when combined. - Focus on movers, not shapers. Tricep kickbacks, crunches, leg extensions, bicep
curls, side raises etc. are not going to “tone” the target area and are
not going to burn significant calories or strengthen your body. Big
movements like squats, pushups, thrusters, lunges, rows etc. will get you
stronger and burn way more calories. - Don’t do abs on your back. Crunches and sit ups are the least affective
abdominal exercises for actually improving your core strength and making
your stomach flatter. Start with plank variations like holding a plank or
push up position, mountain climbers, hand marches etc. then progress to
standing exercises like slams or cross body chops. - Go fast.
High intensity training at a fast pace increases your resting calorie burn
for hours after your done with your workout.
Miscellaneous
- Keep it simple. You’re not stupid. You can
decipher whether or not what you’re putting in your mouth is bringing you
closer or further from your goals. Eat real food and eat less food and
you’ll do fine for the most part. When it comes to your workouts, master
the basic moves and continuously increase how much you lift, how many
times you lift it and how fast you do it in less time. - Stay consistent. You’re
not going to lose 30 pounds overnight. Take steps in the right direction every
day, retracing the steps from the day before while adding new ones as you
go. - Toughen up. Losing
weight is hard. It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would
be skinny. Stop looking for the easiest path or the easy way out. Instead
find what’s uncomplicated and simple, and then put your hardest effort
into it. - Stop being lazy. Take
the time every night to plan the day ahead. You can sacrifice a little bit
of TV time to improve your life. - Make time for self improvement. You are lying if you say you don’t have time to
exercise. Seriously. You just need to make the time. Spend equal time
exercising as most people do making excuses not to and you’ll be fit in no
time. - Live a little.
What’s the point of having a great body if you don’t enjoy it? Stress
makes you fat. Relax every once in a while. - Play.
Do something physical that’s fun. Go for a jog with a friend just to chat
and hangout while doing something active rather than to workout. Play with
your kids. Go swimming at the beach. Play catch or Frisbee with your
spouse or kids. ANYTHING!
Most of all, stay motivated and keep
moving,
Mike Salvietti
P.S. Like these tips? Which ones
were your favorites? Hit the facebook “like” button and leave a comment below.
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