I’ve been training people for almost 15 years, and though exercise can accelerate weight loss and make you look and feel good both on your journey and when you get to your weight goal, I can guarantee you that shrinking the stomach and revealing a sculpted body is all about nutrition.
The good news is that it’s NOT about eating perfectly 100% of the time, but it IS about being transparent with your intake, and being intentional about discovering what drives you to eat what and when, and how much.
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Then it’s about practicing simple Kaizen – the wonderful Japanese word for “constant, steady improvement.” Slowly change your standards for yourself, and you’ll change your tastes for certain foods, as well as your very relationship with what you eat – which defines the too-often forgotten WHY you eat what you eat.
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You shouldn’t be surprised to hear the following by now, but that whole aforementioned process starts with a food diary. Research has proven 2.5 times greater weight loss for those who write down what they eat vs those who don’t. Isn’t it wonderful? There’s a blatantly simple (but not always easy) daily activity that more than doubles your weight loss efforts, if you just do it. Isn’t that what everyone is looking for? A magic bullet of sorts. Maybe this magic bullet isn’t sexy enough for us, but the fact remains that we’ve discovered it. The very act of writing your food intake down spurs an awareness in people that changes our actions and yields an average weight loss 2.5 times greater than those who don’t! These studies were done in controlled environments, but the experiment continues to this day in real life. Which group do you want be in? Group “B” with X weight loss, or group “A” with 2.5X weight loss. The choice is yours.
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Now, if you choose to be in the 2.5X weight loss group, you must remember: record the good AND the bad days. In fact, it could be argued that the MOST important days to record are the bad ones. Don’t deny your mistakes. Remember that bad food choices do not make you a bad person and there is no need to try to run from or hide your food decisions. What you put in your mouth affects your physical body, not your morality. This may sound obvious, but it’s an easy misunderstanding to subconsciously adopt – a misunderstanding that will no doubt impact your willingness to face your food choices, which then negatively impacts your ability to change your food choices. Instead, acknowledge and learn from the things you consume that don’t produce the body you want. The best sports teams and athletes in the world spend more time analyzing poor performances than they do their best performances. Why? Because it’s those bad days that need the most understanding and effort to change, if you want to stay on top!
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So start today. Get to know yourself so you can improve yourself. You’ll be glad you did.
