There are 3 stages that you must go through in order for you to reach your goal long term.
The first stage is the Weight Loss stage, the second stage is the Transformation stage and the third stage is the Maintenance stage.
I’m going to use somebody who would like to lose 3 stone as an example to explain the principle behind the stages of transition. So let’s say that this person is starting off at 13 stone and they want to get down to 10 stone.
In order for them to go from where they are now to their goal weight, we know that it is going to take a certain amount of time and in my experience typically this will take most people around 6 months.
In order for them to lose the 3 stone, we know that for them to get to 10 stone they will need to make certain changes. Would you agree that your body right now is a direct reflection of what you do daily?
The first thing we need to change is our nutrition, we need to implement the 40/30/30 rule and we need to look at hydration, the ideal amount of water you should drink on a daily basis is 1 litre per 50lbs that you weigh, so if you weigh 200lbs (14 stone) then you will need to drink 4 Litres of water per day. How much water should you be drinking per day?
The second thing we need to look at is the exercise and you should be exercising for a minimum of 3 sessions per week. 1 session per week will not cut it, you will need to start to get your body moving regularly and start to get lots of mobility through your muscles and joints.
The last thing is your behaviours, so behaviour change is vital; it’s the psychology behind all of this stuff. In the most basic of terms it’s down to something called your subconscious and conscious mind. 98% of what you do and what you have in your life right now is based on your subconscious mind, it’s the thing that makes your heart beat 100,000 times per day it’s the thing that when you get up in the morning have a shower get ready for work, eat breakfast and drive or walk to work and do your job.
Most of these activities are done on autopilot, you no longer have to think about the processes of doing this stuff you just do it naturally, that’s your subconscious mind controlling that. 2% of what you do on a daily basis is conscious, things you remember to do.
Like if you have an appointment somewhere, which is outside your ordinary pattern, you will have to write it down on your calendar and remind yourself and start to think about where you are going.
Now when most people try and lose weight they try and do it consciously, they say things like “starting from Monday I’m going to start to diet and cut out the biscuits, crisps, chocolate, wine, takeaways and start to take the stairs at work instead of the lift”. (Now I’m going to be really generous and call it Friday but normally it’s a Wednesday) By Friday then, most people normally turn round to their partners or family and friends and say I’ve been so good this week I deserve a little treat, that Friday night treat rolls into Saturday then into Sunday and then into Monday.
On Monday we have this internal battle with ourselves where we say I have already ruined this week I’m going to start again next Monday. It’s called the next Monday syndrome and I’m sure you have gone through that before.
The key thing in order for you to get from where you are now, down to where you want to go is to put yourself in the frame of mind, as though you have already achieved your goal and what I mean by that is not sitting there wishful thinking saying “I wish I was 10 stone, I wish I was 10 stone.
” You’ve got to do the things you would be doing at your goal weight and if you were sitting here reading this book at your goal weight, guess what you would be doing? Eating 40/30/30, hydrating your body, exercising regularly and consciously thinking about doing this stuff as apposed to what you are doing now.
When most people get down to their goal weight, what do they do? Well most people who reach their goal stop and put all of the weight back on. How many times have you done this?
This is called yo yo dieting and yo yo dieting is a psychological thing, which a lot of people don’t really understand, here is how it works;
Imagine that your subconscious, conscious mind and your body is where you are now, we are going to put our conscious mind where we want to get to and start to do the things necessary to get to our goal and therefore our body will also reach our goal weight.
Once our conscious mind and body is at our goal weight, most people think they have achieved their goal, they flip back to subconscious or autopilot which is still at their original weight, therefore their body realigns with their original weight and that’s why most people yo yo diet.
The key thing to long term fat loss, which is what all of you want is; for however long it takes you to lose the weight you want to lose, you must do the same thing for the same amount of time to change your subconscious behaviours.
The longer you are at your goal weight the longer it changes your subconscious behaviours to be in line with your conscious mind and body. So if you stop halfway your body will realign with the subconscious mind. The key thing is to follow it all the way through to the end until your subconscious is in line with your conscious mind and body.
That’s when you have achieved your goal because that’s when your subconscious mind acts and behaves at your goal weight. This is when I say to my clients during the maintenance stage you must make it part of your lifestyle, you must start to make this all be part of the person you want to be and the person you might want to be is full of energy, full of confidence, can wear whichever clothes that you want to wear. For this to happen you must make exercise and eating healthy part of your new identity and that’s how long term Health is created.