But conversely, we have never been as unhealthy, or unfit.

We long for the look of a cover model but don’t really do much about it or we try and try but to no avail.

We buy into the latest fat burning supplement or fitness FAD that is going to TRANSFORM us in just 28 days…without us having to put much effort in.

These companies are making so much money from us with this.

They have us hooked on HOPIUM!

Reliant on the drug of OPPORTUNITY. Hooked on their products with the expectation that the NEXT ONE will deliver on it’s promise.

Have you fallen for this? I know I have.

By 2022 the global dietary supplement market is estimated to be worth over 250 billion dollars. It’s no wonder we can barely walk, drive or even sit down for a brew without some kind of dietary supplement, exercise craze or new magic herb being crammed down our throat.

But what if I was to tell you there was a way…

But it required a bit of effort, some focus, commitment and some consistency?

If you want to improve your health, don’t buy into these new schemes and trends that are nothing short of scams.

Here are five habits to improve your health and fitness.

1. Drink More Water

The human body is made up of about 60 percent of water!

You need  WATER!

We use it for digestion, nutrient absorption, circulation and much much more. It not only helps muscles and organs but it also makes your skin look younger and clearer! I don’t know any supplement that can promise AND actually deliver all that!!

Another bonus is when you’re hydrated with water you suppress hunger and it can also prevent the temptation of drinking the wrong fluids like fizzy drinks, cordials and juices.

These are more than often riddled with sugar, high in calories and have very little nutritional value.

Things are improving out there with zero sugar this and zero sugar that but be careful as even with flavoured waters and juices, a lot of them can have as much sugar as ordinary coca cola.

2. Go For a FAT Option

One of the oldest mistakes in the book is avoiding fats! Yeah yeah, I get it…saturated fats, especially in abundance aren’t particularly good for you. However, there are also other natural healthy fats to be taken in and the benefits are quite surprising to most!

As well as other factors like protecting and functioning your organs, muscle growth, nutrient absorption, lowering your cholesterol and reducing the of the risk of heart disease…. it also burns FAT!! And stubborn fat too! It has twice the amount of energy as a carb and should not be over indulged but most certainly needs to be implemented into your diet.

Get some FAT  down you!

3. Sleep More!

Who doesn’t want to sleep more?

The benefits of sleep are unimaginable! Especially considering you literally just lie there and close your eyes!

There have been multiple studies that show people who got more sleep had improved lifestyles, more energy and overall better health.

Also, you are likely to burn more fat with a decent amount of sleep in comparison to the lack of sleep which has been proven to burn more muscle than fat.

Performance and fat loss are all well and good but there are other reasons why it’s absolutely crucial you get your hours in.

It prevents stress, depression and reduces inflammation – this isn’t just about recovering from being sore from the gym.People who get less sleep have higher inflammatory proteins which can cause heart disease, strokes, diabetes and a lot more.

4. Eat More Fruit & Veg

Sounds obvious right!?  Well, you will be surprised!!

Even with the NHS’s 5 a day in everyone’s face, the past few years people aren’t having enough fruit and veg.

Vegetables really are a miracle food. They cure disease, reduce the risk of hundreds of health conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease as well as so much more. They even reduce the risk of cancer. They’re also nutrient-rich and low in calories. The ideal food right?

A big problem is a lot of non-veg lovers have a lack of imagination. People tend to find veg boring and often relate it to rabbit food etc.

Just because you add veg it doesn’t mean you sacrifice the meals you love and have a plate of dry raw carrots.

Vegetarian/plant-based food diets have an amazing result with fat loss and increased health. However,  I don’t  believe it’s the lack of meat getting these results, it’s the increased amount of fruit and vegetables.

You don’t have to become a rabbit or a vegetarian, just add some blooming veg into your meals! Dress them up and add some flavour!

5. Exercise

An obvious one! But most of us don’t do it.

Why is that??

The issue we see is that people don’t know what they are doing and are intimidated in big gyms when alone, therefore they don’t enjoy exercise and end up giving up before results start to take effect.

It’s not all about getting to the gym and using a treadmill three times a week either. You need to train your body in different ways with variety in order to keep your brain engaged.

Exercise is great for mental health and a huge stress reliever. Gym memberships are even prescribed by GPs to people who suffer from depression.

So if you are going to train, pick something you’re going to enjoy. Something that will last.

A great way to enjoy exercise is to do it in a group format where you have challenge yourself against others, whilst having a laugh at the same time. Very similar to what we do here at Forever Strong.

Aim for around 3 session per week which challenges your body with resistance added.

I have known my friend since we were in middle school (for those that remember middle school) so we go back a long way. She is as fit as a fiddle but just can’t shift that weight around her problem areas.

She is the queen of Boxercise, Zumba, Body Pump and all those other super cool sessions that most gyms run these days. Yet she is still super frustrated that these problem areas are there, will not budge for love nor money and she is almost resigned to the fact she will have to accept her lot in life.

I asked if she had tried strength training…….I got a blank stare as though I had just spoken a foreign language

“I don’t want to be big and bulky” came the reply.

I realised that I had just hit on the biggest problem with women and strength training.

Strength training for women has had a bad rap for years. Ever since I was a lad, watching Thin Lizzy on breakfast TV get her thing on in dayglo lycra, bouncing around advocating aerobics I have heard the negatives of strength training for women:

It makes you huge like those body builders.

Let me tell you those women that look huge have devoted their entire lives to trying to look like that. What makes you think training a few times a week without eating to get huge will make you look like they do. I would hazard a guess they have had to go through pain, the majority of their income and sacrificed their social lives to get to that point. Not to mention they MAY have taken the odd substance you can’t buy in the shops. Trust me, you won’t look like that with simple strength training.

It won’t tone your muscles like lifting lighter weights

Lifting lighter weights for lots of repetitions doesn’t tone your muscles in the way you understand tone. Losing weight will provide you with the toned look you are after. Lifting lighter weights lots of times WILL provide you with strength endurance. The irony is that you require strength first before you attain strength endurance.

When you lift weights you get STRONGER muscles, not necessarily BIGGER muscles. Strength training improves the speed at which the muscle speaks to the brain and vice versa, making your movements more efficient. If you lift weights and eat to lose weight, you will get STRONGER, move more efficiently and become more TONED.

It isn’t as good as cardio for losing fat

Popular consensus seems to be that you need to do cardio to lose weight/fat and this is the best method to adopt. You only need to observe the streets in January to see this (New Year’s resolutions and all that).

This is also the message that the massive, ‘low fee’ chain gyms tell you. The reason being is that they have invested heavily in rows and rows of cardio machines that you see people toil away on then day after day, week after week. These gyms can get away with hiring a low paid attendant to monitor it whilst raking in the cash.

Go back a year later and you will probably see different people (as the others gave up) who are built the same, doing the same thing, achieving the same results (going nowhere fast).

Sure, cardio can be used to help shift body fat but I would argue that strength training does a better job of it, due to the high energy demands placed upon the body for recovery following the training session (this is known as Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption or EPOC – but enough of that science stuff).

What you need to know is that the demand for energy from the muscles also increases your metabolism in general following repair.

This means that your body will continue to burn more calories for DAYS following your strength training.

What you put in your mouth as way of food has a greater impact than either cardio or strength training but that is a story for another day. Just be aware that cardio is not the be all and end all for fat/weight loss and that strength training will not only help lose fat but it will have you moving better and enable you to carry out more daily functions, which I go into below.

The majority of the reasons you hear hitting on strength training are utter nonsense!

• Lifting weights will not hurt your back. Lifting weights (or any other object for that matter) incorrectly will hurt your back.
• Neither is bad for your knees. In fact, stronger connective tissues and tendons may relieve joint pain.

I can point to hundreds of studies printed in reputable journals that advocate the benefits of strength training for women.

3 Reasons Why Women Should Strength Train

However, I realise you don’t have all day and you certainly don’t want to read my ramblings as I drone on and on about these so called benefits, so I have picked out 3 very important reasons why women of all ages should conduct some form of strength training each week.

1. It will improve your physique without you having to focus entirely on it

So many women worry about their physiques and how they look. This is not a bad thing by any means! However, women will restrict themselves from a whole host of enjoyable real life activities, foods and treats in the attempts to look great in the mirror.

Strength training has huge benefits for your physique that you may be unaware of. Firstly, your muscles will burn more energy when repairing themselves and afterwards too when they are stronger.

This will result in a greater amount of fat burned without actually having to do anything other than eating intelligently. Secondly, you can focus on something else other than what the scale weight says. You will start to count how many repetitions you are able to do in any given exercise or how long you can work without needing a rest. This will give you a much needed mental break from worrying about the fat loss.

So long as you eat consistently well, strength training will result in burning fat without thinking too much about it. That doesn’t mean you can eat what you want and lose fat. I am saying you can focus on something else instead and have the benefit of losing fat at the same time. How cool is that?

2. It will help you move better, reduce risk of injury and increase bone density, therefore, minimising the risk of osteoporosis

When someone strength trains, the process strains the muscles. These strains cause micro-tears in the muscle fibres, which the body repairs to withstand the same stress should it happen again.

When this happens the muscle comes back stronger and more efficient. It is more capable of doing more and withstanding stress, aiding in the prevention of injuries.

What people don’t know is that the same happens to your bones. Strength training also causes tiny little micro fractures in the bone, which are repaired to withstand the next bout of stress. The result is more dense, stronger bones. The stronger bones will be able to withstand the rigours of life more and will offset the risk of osteoporosis as you age.

The end result is you age beautifully and are able to get the most out of life, regardless of your age.

3. It will make you feel like a bad ass

Close your eyes for a second and imagine taking that jar of peanut butter off your other half as he struggles to open it. You grip tightly, strain a little and open it pops…

Obviously, he loosened it for you! Either that or you are stronger than he is. How cool would that be?

Or, you are in the gym in a group class and you are blasting the guys off the floor with how much work you are able to smash out. Strength training consistently will make you stronger than most of the nation (including guys).

I have indicated that strength training will help you to move better, be resistant to injury, allow you to do things you were previously incapable of and it will help you look great in the mirror. Imagine the confidence that would give you! What else could you do in life if you were brimming with confidence and feeling like a bad ass?

Bonus
It will inspire other women to improve also!

Despite many women now taking part in strength training, it is still seen as a guy’s activity. However, take a look at those ‘normal’ women doing it and see how fantastic they look.

How easy they move and how they are able to do superhuman feats normally reserved for men, such as moving furniture around the house, mowing the lawn and changing car wheels (sexist I know – tongue in cheek though).

Seriously though, think of all those shopping bags you could carry!

The simple fact is that strength training is good for you for a whole host of other reasons that I have previously mentioned such as improving posture, improving movement efficiency, making you look great in the mirror as well as many other health reasons too.

You could do all of those things and you could have all those benefits….if you strength train.

All you have to do is release those pre-dispositions.

The more women who do it, the more exposure to strength training women will get, which will lead to even more women doing it.

This means, even more, women moving, feeling and looking great. It is a circle of inspiration.

Be one of those who inspires others whilst being a superwoman bad ass at the same time!

What an amazing thought.

That and the thought of having a boatload of super strong chicks walking around mowing my lawn and changing my car tyres does it for me.

Take care and speak soon.

Gaz

You see, my friend wants to be Skinny. She has a perception of perfection with regards to her body.

Physically she cannot attain this ‘perfection’, but she craves it anyway.

My assessment of her is that she is super fit and can outpace the majority of the men in circuit sessions, she is extremely dedicated and is constantly looking for ways to improve.

She has energy in abundance! She is a mother of 2 (or 3 if you count the dog, which is her little baby) and runs her own business. Both kids have 3 or 4 classes a week, which she also attends n support of them and she will drop whatever she is doing at the drop of a hat to go and help someone.

She is an amazing person and mother, and 99% of people would love to have half the attributes she has.

The issue is she wants that 1% that she can NEVER have.

She wants something that is physically impossible as she is born of a certain body shape but desires what is advertised as sexy and what is socially perfect in terms of female physique.

My question to her, although I have not asked it yet……is why?

At this point, I turn to myself for some hard learned lessons.

As a teenager, I was overweight. People used to tell me that it was ‘puppy fat’ and that I would grow out of it. The problem is, I wasn’t a puppy and when I grew up I was still fatter than I wanted to be, which really got me down. No matter what I did, I couldn’t shift it and this became extremely frustrating.

When I turned 16, I joined the Army. I thought this would end my troubles and get me super lean. Only it didn’t. I spent the first year of my Army career on what we called ‘remedial PT’, which is extra exercise sessions due to not being able to pass the minimum standard required.

Not only was I overweight but I wasn’t strong enough either.

As you can imagine, this added to my frustrations and struggles. To compound the issue, I was one of only 2 guys on this extra training, which brought ridicule and torment from the other lads.

Eventually, through hard work and commitment, I passed the test, allowing me to progress with my Army career. This solidified the need to be lean and strong. This episode of my young life fuelled my fire and my desire to be strong, muscular and shredded.

In my late teens and as I went through my 20’s, I flirted with strength training and dieting. I wanted to look like these models you see on the front of cover magazines, as I believed that this was ‘perfection’.

Using the latest and greatest ‘diet secrets’ and ‘advanced training formula’s’, which promised to give me amazing progress in 28 days. I also spent a small fortune on supplements that again, promised to work wonders on my belly fat.

Unsurprisingly, none of this worked and I soon lost motivation to stick with a plan for any period of time and I could never really get to where I wanted to be. This continued for years.

Being in the Army, I was fit. I could run all day and played sports, but that wasn’t enough for me.

People would tell me that I looked fine, that I didn’t need to lose weight. But these people were not me. These people were not feeling my frustrations. They did not understand my struggles, my wants and my desires.

Before I knew it, I was in my mid-thirties. I looked at myself one day and said to myself ‘right, it’s now of never sunshine. Get your backside in gear and do something about it’.

So I did.

I decided that this time would be different though. I don’t know which switch I flicked inside my head, but I decided that I would go out and search for real information, from credible sources on how to make a difference and how to shift this layer of fat which had plagued me since the time when I could remember.

A long story short, this is exactly what I did. I scoured books, sought out people who knew their thing and gained as much information as possible to make things work. And work they did.

I lost the most amount of fat I had ever lost in my life and I felt great. Once I got there though, I decided I would ‘bulk up’ and proceeded to put quite a bit of fat back on in the process.

Thus started a period of time where I yo-yo’d up and down with my fat loss in an attempt to look like one of these cover models you have seen on the front of popular men’s magazines.

In 2012 I got in great shape, but couldn’t maintain it and so the cycle continued

In 2014 I cracked it! Not only did I lose the fat but I also managed to pack on muscle (in my late 30’s) without piling the weight back on.

As a result, I decided I would go even further and diet down so that I was ‘shredded’! In March 2015 I got to a really low body fat percentage. A BOD POD machine (an extremely expensive and complicated machine which is apparently very accurate), informed me that I was 6% body-fat.

I had finally achieved my goal of what I always told myself I wanted from being a young lad. Almost 3 decades down the line, having crossed many hurdles and trod many false paths I had achieved what I wanted.

I should have been over the moon right? So why wasn’t I?

When I looked back at the path I had travelled, I recalled the recent years.

• The time I spent counting out each shell of pasta to ensure I got exactly 400 calories in that meal.
• The arguments with my long suffering wife as I demanded that I needed a separate meal otherwise fat would bolt itself to me
• A number of social occasions I missed out on because I didn’t want the temptation to drag me in and steer me from my dream goal.

I looked back and realised that this is not what I wanted at all. I never wanted to be the uncompromising Ogre who was difficult to live with. I didn’t want to sacrifice the time I had with my friends and family and I certainly didn’t want to be chained to the Kitchen as I turned 40.

But this is exactly what I had turned into, and it was my obsession with attaining what I thought was perfection and something that didn’t really matter when it came down to it.

• Was I going to get a modeling contract, which would set me up for life? No.
• Was I competing at physique competitions where there were thousands of pounds on the line? No.
• Was I trying to attract members of the opposite sex? I hope not as I am happily married. And even if I was free and single, how many women demand that the guy MUST have a muscular, shredded body? Not too many really.

It was only when I got to the top of the mountain, did I realise that it was not my mountain at all.

It was the mountain built in my mind by all the influence I had assimilated throughout my life. Through the media, my own insecurities and what I thought other people wanted of me, I had created a beast which I was not actually in control of.

It was at this time that I realised that it was time to let the beast go and concentrate what was actually important.

Sure, I wanted to be lean. But not at the expense of my life and those I hold dear.

I wanted to look great in the mirror and feel great moving around. But not if it meant that I would never get out and about to appreciate those feelings.

It was only when I asked myself these questions did I realise:

• Why did I have to be so lean?
• Why did I have to sacrifice friendships and miss out on fun stuff?
• Why did I believe that I had to look perfect to gain respect from others?
• What was it I was trying to achieve from it?
• What was it I was willing to sacrifice to get there?

It is the answers to the why and the what that made me realised:

That the media was telling me what I should look like, not what I felt great looking like.

My inner demons had driven me to obsession and I am sure I am not only with this.

It took me the best part of 18 years to realise those inner demons were not actually worth listening to in the first place and that I had much better voices in my head, with the potential to carry me much further and leave me much happier.

It took me that long to realise that I did not have to chase perfection at all.

But then what is perfection anyway? If you listen to the media you will see that it is stereotyped.

Everyone seems to have different ideas though but it all boils down to what you are willing to accept when you look in the mirror.

I am now able to accept a body that is not ‘perfect’ and still be ultra happy with the results.

Now don’t get me wrong. My story is not one of extreme change from really ‘big’ guy to Mr Universe. My change was comparatively small from an outsider’s point of view, but inside, the chasm was huge and it had remained huge for decades. This is what made this so significant to me.

Some people will say I was stupid or silly to quest after such things. In hindsight, they are probably right. But at the time, I was not to be swayed and it was only much later in life have I realised that perfection is not possible, nor is it even required.

Today, satisfied that I look great without the need to be super shredded, I now have more energy, I have more time to spend with friends and family and I am no longer chained to the kitchen preparing my next meal (or seven) or stopping myself from going to a restaurant because I can’t control what is being served to me.

I realised my why and my what for, and I am comfortable with that.

I now work with others to try and get them to understand their why.

Sure, I am all about helping people transform their lives to reach a goal they want. But it is a goal they have stopped, considered and asked themselves ‘the why’ many times before they agree it is worth chasing and WE set off towards it.

Why don’t you ask yourself your reason why….

I must go and ask my friend her why because I am letting her down by not doing so.

Speak soon, Gaz

How did all your previous attempts go?

Maybe some of them were good and you had success..

Others maybe bombed altogether?

I have seen many people come to our gym feeling stuck with their health and fitness and not knowing which way to turn.

Stuck at the same place with regards to their weight and fitness for years and every attempt at the next, latest craze usually ends in further failure.

One of the main reasons for this is that they don’t have a plan beyond the first few weeks….and everything works for a few weeks.

They don’t know how to effectively approach things to make it work for sustainable success.

What we like to do is strip the plan back (if they even have one) and get them to follow a set simple rules.

Here are a few of the rules we cover with our gym members:

Don’t just rely on exercise to help you fight the fat

So many people come to me and explain that they need exercise to lose the fat they are carrying.

Although exercise is an important part of the process, it is not the main contributing factor.

Have you ever heard ‘abs are made in the kitchen’?

Maybe you are not after ‘abs’ but the term implies that nutrition plays a MASSIVE role in fat loss.

For example, you can burn anything up to 400 calories in a typical 60 minute gym session.

It takes around 3500 calories to burn a pound of fat.

That would mean that you would have to do 9 hours in the gym to shift a pound of fat.

A Starbucks loaded latte with a few trimmings will be around 500 calories.

A chocolate brownie will be around 400 calories.

Therefore the most effective way to lose body fat is to eat in a calorie deficit (less calories than your body needs) by planning out your meals and then supplement it with quality resistance training.

Don’t rely on exercise whilst still eating a poor diet.

You may as well give up now if you do.

Get some quality sleep

Sleep is massively underrated.

Your body recovers and repairs itself when you sleep.

This means that the better quality sleep you get and in the right amounts, the more focused, the better prepared and the more motivated you will be to tackle the struggles in your life…which includes getting in shape.

If your body is well rested then it will be more effective in losing body fat as well as making you more focused and determined to carry on.  It will also allow you to train harder and make better decisions (meaning you eat less junk).

Pick up, push and pull heavy objects

I don’t really want to get into the science of all this stuff.

It can get complicated enough as it is, without adding further complexity.

Lifting weights essentially damages the muscles (in a good way). The body then repairs the muscles to withstand the stress applied to it next time.

This improves your lean muscle, which in turn burns more calories and increases your metabolism.

Hence, you burn more calories at rest and following the weightlifting period for anything up to 72 hours.

There are other advantages to lifting weights too:

• Your core strength will improve greatly, improving any old back injuries and limiting the chance of further injuries.
• You will find everyday activities easier such as lifting the shopping around, playing around with the kids
• I have even been told by some gym members that their golf has improved due to the increased power and core strength.
• It also helps improve bone density, especially good for ladies who are over 35…

This is to name just a few benefits to your everyday life.

Lifting weights will also go a long way to help give you that lean physique with all the curves and bumps in the right places.

It will definitely get rid of the saggy bits!

Consistency is Key

Everyone is after the quick fix these days.

That magic pill that will take them from zero to hero in just a few short weeks.

Let me tell you from years of failing with this mindset that it simply doesn’t exist … unless you take drugs to help you of course.

What I am going to say next isn’t sexy and it sure as hell won’t sell many programmes….but it will get you long-term results.

You need to stick at the workable plan.

Base it on the points above and stick at it for at least 80% of the time for 6-12 months.

A few small steps may not seem like much progress, but those same few steps taken again and again and again over the space of a year will get you much further down the road than you have been before.

Progress of 1 lb of fat loss per week is considered good progress, however, I see so many people disappointed with this.

My question to them is ‘what if you lost 1 lb per week for 52 weeks straight’?

That’s around 4 stone in weight.

If someone offered to guarantee that you could be 4 stone lighter a year from now I am sure you would take this.

These are just 4 of the simple but effective rules we follow at Forever-Strong.

Our approach is all about helping people to get leaner, fitter, healthier, more confident and comfortable in their own skin….Forever!

Although we get results fast, we focus on the long term and want you to be in the best shape of your life for the rest of your life.

Before I knew any better, I focused almost entirely on the scales and that I had to lose a few stone.

Over the next few months I became obsessed with the scales. That little digital display with a number that doesn’t actually mean that much at the end of the day, suddenly became my world.

I had specific weigh in days but found myself jumping on the scales almost daily; sometimes a few times a day!

Even though I would do this, I would dread the moment as the numbers flashed on the scales and gauged the rest of my day on those little numbers.

If the numbers went down, my day was amazing. If the numbers stayed the same or went up then my day was ruined.

I would always question the reading when it wasn’t in my favour too:

‘I’ve been good lately so my weight should be down…’

This was a bad place to be.

Over time and with lots of study, I have realized how to over come this obsessiveness.

The biggest factor of this has been with my mindset and how I approached the whole fat loss / weight loss plan.

Although I have learned to curb my ‘eagerness to weigh myself, there are others out there where stepping on the scales can still be a traumatic event, so I want to show you how to use the scale to your advantage.

What I have here then are 4 things you have to know about the relationship between your body and the scales

#1 Fat loss will not always go down….be prepared for this

Here is the bottom line that I feel most people don’t understand fully.

You will not lose weight steadily every single week!

The body is complex and just doesn’t work like that.

Be prepared for some weeks to see the number stay the same ….or even go up a little.

This is where most people fail. They are unprepared for this and give up as a result.

What you should look to do it track your net loss over time.

For example:

If you lose 1 lb per week for 5 weeks and then in the 6th week you put on a pound then you are still down 5 lbs from the start.

Play the long game and you’ll win.

Stop thinking quick fix and short term.

After all, you want the weight off for a long time yeah??

#2 There are more ways to track fat loss than just with the scales

All too often we get fixated on the numbers of the scale that we forget the bigger picture.

There is often a reason WHY we want to lose 2 stone and it isn’t because we simply want to lose 2 stone.

It is often something along the likes of wanting to feel better, or look better in clothes or have more energy.

Because of this, we should look at all levels of progress to measure success.

Here are a few others I suggest you use.

Mirrors : How do you look in the mirror compared to before..pretty simple

Pictures : Take progress pictures as you go in the same room, clothes, stance, lighting etc (front, side and back). This will give you a great visual of how it is going.

Tape Measures : The tape doesn’t lie. I have seen a few of my own gym members lose only a few pounds but several inches around the waist and hips. This has meant they fit better into clothes and feel great.

Clothes : I have just touched on it. I often get messages saying how gym members are now into their old jeans or in a dress that fit maybe 2 years ago. This is much more important to the person than a few pounds on the scale.

Feeling/Energy : How are you moving around each day? Are you able to focus more at work? Are you seeing mid afternoon crashes anymore? How are you sleeping?

These are all great indicators of progress and whether you are seeing success.

Again, this can be difficult to measure, but you can certainly feel it within yourself.

#3 Progress is progress….1 lb per week is great for sustainable fat loss

So many people see the adverts on the TV or magazines and think they have to lose 5 lbs per week EVERY WEEK or else they are a failure.

This is simply not the case and I advocate that 1 lb per week is great progress.

Disagree?

Look at it this way.

If you lost 1 lb per week for 28 weeks that would be 2 stone.

6 months may seem like a long time away but if I was to say that in 6 months you could easily get 2 stone off and keep it off, I think you would take it.

Also, what people do not take into account is that when resistance training, it is likely that muscle will be gained.

Muscle is more dense than fat (it is not heavier). This means that you can fit more muscle than fat into a certain volume.

In real terms this means that you can gain muscle AND lose fat without realizing it as the fat may be masking the muscle.

This muscle growth plays havoc with the scales, resulting in no move at all or MAY even go up.

Play the long game… the tape measure and pictures will solve this puzzle better than the scales by the way.

#4 Your body changes daily….understand this

The body is extremely complex. I have said this before.

It changes on a daily basis and will not weight the same each day. After all, you do different things everyday.

You drink different things, you eat different things, you conduct different activities…why should it stay the same?

To that end, don’t expect to see the same numbers.

What I advise is that you weigh yourself in the same condition each time. i.e. first thing in the morning, naked after going to the loo).

• Same time period. Whether this is weekly or bi-weekly. Keep it to the same day each week and the same time of day. You will weigh different at different times of the day so factor that in.
• Weigh yourself in the same clothes….quite simple really.

An example being:

• I weigh myself on a Thursday first thing in the morning at home on my own scales after going to the toilet.
• I then have a hectic morning, have a big lunch and then pop into town.
• It is winter so I have a few layers on.
• I pop into Boots and they have a set of scales there. I decide to jump on.
• I have broken all of the rules above and guess what………I WEIGH MORE!!!
• As a result I give up my healthy eating and go and pig out……my progress is ruin anyway right???

This happens to so many people.

Oh, and just to finish…if you have had a bad day or a bad weekend then the absolutely last thing you need to do is step on the scales.What else do you think it is going to read other than what you don’t want to see.

Remember that bad days will usually lead to an increase in water retention and therefore some excess weight.

Don’t worry though as this weight will shift in a couple of days and you will be back to where you were before.

What I have resorted to with some of our members is to ban the use of scales altogether. Changing mindsets on how to approach fat loss and measure it with things that actually matter, rather than concentrating on the digital scale that actually matters little in the grand context of things.

Think about it for a little while….what do the scales matter to you?

What does fat loss matter to you?

What will it do for you in the long run?

What will it enable you to do?

How will it make you feel to fit into your old clothes?

Or have more energy than before?

Or being able to focus more at work and crush the day?

If these things are improving then what does a digital reading that doesn’t actually give you a true reflection of fat loss actually mean?

Think on it….