4 surprising things not to worry about if you want to become healthier and lose fat…..
1. Calorie counting…….. Ask anyone who feels good about the healthy habit they have created around food and see if they calorie count……I don’t think you will find one that is truly happy about their relationship with what goes in their cake hole!
2. “Cardio”- did you see anyone get in great shape on a treadmill or cross trainer….nope…… most of them just wish they could get that hour back! Grab that resistance band, your trainers and use the best tool you have… YOU!
3. Doing more exercise- different to becoming more physically active. Most people need to start with physcial activity. I actually had a client just do more physcial activity for the first two weeks before I gave her “exercises” to do. Why because she needed to oxygenate her blood, reduce nutritional stress and move more, before we worry about how many squats she does in 1 minute.
By the way she has lost inches everywhere and is now training(3 weeks in)…because she is ready to get the most from it!
4. Taking supplements……. Yep what is the point in taking alkalising salts if you still drink coke! Why take a greens drink if you drink coffee, eat haribo and go on a sunbed every day!
Not what big gyms, supplement companies or faddy diet books want to hear…..and in some cases the truth is , some people do need to supplement, exercise more and watch their calories. BUT these are not the people who want to improve their health….they tend to be the ones who want to improve performance in competition.
What should be a priority……
I think the number main priorities for fat loss or any goal are emotions/mindset/sleep/stress.
They all seem to tie in together.
People fail to see that they are more than just a physical body and by not understanding that they tend to focus on the physical side of things- like more training, less calories ect but they fail to see ( most trainers do this from experience as well ) that physical change comes from your mind and crating a why…. around doing what you do.
Two important things:
1) Stress management and resulting hormone balance
2) Water
As coaches at our personal studios and our fitness camps, I insist that Mike , Liam and I help clients to change habits by giving them certainty and removing prediction.
Sure we cannot be certain that of every single event…no one can…..
But we have a system that works and is flexible and thus is successful.
As humans are we the only species who think about the future all the time?
Our brain works on prediction, it is impossible to predict the future and so when people do that it puts them under stress/threat.
An industry pal and my mentor Dax Moy, wisely told me that the truth is that the answer will depend on what state of stress / what part of their brain we are living in.
Someone with no stress, a very happy outlook etc will likely easily smash hard sessions often and find it easy to eat clean food therefore THAT’s most important.
Someone with huge self-esteem issues, stress etc living in a state of flight or flight will do better with more focus on mindset coaching, threat removal, breathing work etc. THAT’S coaching!
From my point of view, good coaching is about meeting someone where they we not having a set agenda for everyone. From a clients or general public perspective it’s about reducing stress and improving lifestyle and support these with efficient exercise and nutrition.
So don’t worry about the first 4 things…..focus on
1) Stress management and resulting hormone balance
2) Water
Before you go any further.
Matt 🙂
