“You can avoid reality, but you can’t avoid the consequences of avoiding reality”-Ayn Rand
Thought for the day
Day 77 80% is enough for me!!
Another great sunday morning run done today, and the sun was out loud and proud this morning again!
This great harbour scene was overshadowed a bit by the presence of church goer’s in cloaks at burry port lighthouse having a sermon, or chanting or something really weird, they could have been devil worshippers?!! Who knows, but what i do know is half those people pretending to be christians are usually the biggest sinners in our community, you know them so i say no more!
Anyway, how’s your sunday morning going? Has there been a workout in already before you get on with easter sunday? Have you had a great breakfast packed with vitality, or is it your weekly great british breakfast? Is this a day of rest for you or is it a day when you hit several beers, as easter sunday has come to mean this for a large part of the community.
Whatever your choice, i’m cool with it as long as you keep hitting your 80% target.
80% in school used to mean you were really intelligent, were very at good exams and likely to go on to college and have a very good career.
80% as a goal kicker in rugby is phenomenal in terms of coverting penalty kicks. Johnny Wilkinson and Neil Jenkins are the best of all time, and i would doubt even these great kickers ever achieved this success record!
If you were successful in something, it could be assumed that you were doing things right most of the time, not all of the time as that is impossible, but 80% or more would be classed as being a master in your chosen field.
This 80% i keep going on about is your target with your eating and training. If you can do this, you can see by comparison with everything else, you will be highly successful without a shadow of a doubt!!
I think the problem sometimes is that people often have to go 100% or nothing! You will see some on this site at either remarkable highs, or depressing lows (for a short time only i hasten to add!!). You can see that being perfect is not only impossible, its stupid to beat yourself up for not achieving it or even close to it!
EVEN the so-called masters are not perfect, and don’t achieve perfection, or anything close to it. Their magical number is closer to 80% rather than 100%.
Johnny Wilkinson often said that his pursuit of perfection nearly destroyed him mentally. He has since become a buddhist and now has a different view on life, which he says, has helped his rugby as now he doesn’t put so much pressure on himself. He still has hugely high standards, but doing his best and what comes from that is now enough for him.
Being yourself is often frowned upon but shouldn’t it be encouraged? Your best should and always be enough in my book, and whatever the result, then so be it. You willl be happy, i will be happy and when everyone’s happy, results nearly always go up and up!
Day 76 Debbie does well!
Great to hear from Debbie yesterday who is doing so well, and got me inspired to write an early post today today, just after my early morning run on this saturday. I had the benefit of sun, but realise it won’t be out for long!!
What debbie says is true, and what she is doing now is realising that she CAN actually do it, and WILL actually achieve something special now that she is developing some real momentum in her programme. I will always back someone who tries and all of you who keep on trying, i will support you all the way with all the advice and know-how needed.
What about the easter weekened then? The scarlets may have lost but it doesn’t mean you have to drown your sorrows all weekend?!!
We talked about it yesterday, the dangers of easter weekend hurting your progress over the next couple of weeks, and you battling with it to get it back on track. When you battle with anything, you lose motivation and can be more likely to quit.
This is why most people go from weight loss method to weight loss method, and are doomed for long term failure. It’s easy to ignore the most tried and tested, the most common sense, the most scientifically back way to do it, in favour of faddy weight loss clubs. Of course they will try and talk you into joining their club, but they DO want your money at the end of the day, and if they can use mistruth’s to do it, then of course they will get any underhanded way to get you to join.
Debbie has illustrated the thinking person’s way to do it, and she herself is trying to understand her own body, her own emotions when it comes to fat-loss and is always trying to develop and follow a successful long term strategy. I believe she will be successful as she knows the truth now, and she has been let down by many a faddy system in the past.
When you are developing a system, you have to put your head on the block and say it will work because of A, B and C. I will do that. Debbie has a business called Zahra Sugaring in Llanelli, and is proud in what she offers, and the benefits she offers over other methods. When she does it, she does it well and people come back, that is the sign of a good business. You won’t get debbie saying one thing one week, then the next week something else. She is consistent and proud of her principles.
I try to do that too. You won’t have me on here defending “points” and green and red days because i simply don’t believe they work in the long term. Science and research also backs me up, and that research says that 97% of those who go on such diets put the weight back on and more (5% more in fact each time). Also, i have met lots and lots of people angered and fed up by their lies and “bad science”, in fact its not even science at all!
Have a great saturday, have a great workout if you’re doing anything and catch you tomorrow!
Day 74 Are you onboard?
Here’s an often asked question to get you out of your slumber!
“Haven’t seen you in a while, have you put on weight?!!”
Nothing worse than that question flying at you during the day and seeing your mood nosedive!
You have two possible reactions to that question. Either you go back into your shell and write off the day, the week, the month and eat even more, and don’t move around much.
Or
You do something about it!! Maybe you tighten up your diet a lot more, realising perhaps that you are eating rubbish too much of the time. You decide to up your exercise, realising that you’re not moving around so much as you used to. These two things are guaranteed to make a big difference. DO NOT let anyone tell you different, yes you can do it!!!
So which one are you? Are you the one in the shell or are you the one who actually does something about it?
Hopefully by now, you use some aggression thats inside you and you get your kit on and you are brave to do something about it. Nothing feels better than going for it, simple as that and every single one of you can do it, it is really within your power and you can achieve anything you want to, as long as, you guessed it, take action to get it done.
Look at cyril this week, cycling for over an hour in the hail stones which caused him a lot of pain, does he “get it”, of course he does and battles through now whatever happens!!
I try to be considerate for everyone, but i do also realise that for a living, i am paid by results. I can be best friends with people, but i still have to cut it and get results for them! I realised that if i get it right for people time after time, i get more work. I am happy with the level of work i have right now, so that is a great sign. When i get it right for people, i also become better friends with them because they respect me more as i told them the truth, not everyone tells you that, especially some magazines and newspapers, as well as faddy weight loss organisations.
I am actually showing you more respect by telling you how it REALLY is!! If it told you the faddy and easier way, then i would hold your concentration for a short period, then when it didn’t work, you would discard me as yet another “cowboy” operator. So when i start with anyone, i give them the option of doing it properly and healthily, or look for someone else to work with. I try to be incredibly supportive, but everyone has a limit!!
So let’s lay it down again, are you eating healthily on the basis its natural so it must be good for you, or are you still eating on the basis “its low in calories” so it must be good for me. Don’t fall for that rubbish. Foods with lots of chemicals will eventually make your health deteriorate if you take in enough of it, natural foods will make your health improve to unbelievable levels, as long as you eat enough of it!!!
So have you finally crossed the line yet, to moving more and eating natural foods, or have you gone back into your shell?!!
What’s it to be, if you decide to do it the right way for the short term, and for a lifetime, you have me on well and truly on your side, if you’re ready to change, i’m well up for it so register by clicking on subscribe and let’s do it!!
Day 72 Keep going!
Jean has raised a valid point in her comments in her last post on day 71. She is on bit of a downer as cyril says, and perhaps it’s understandable due to circumstances.
I have done a survey of many people i train, and asked them how often do they feel like giving up, quitting, feel that the effort is overwhelming etc etc?
The answers i got back didn’t surprise me, especially those who i see at 5am in the morning.
The reality for them, especially in the winter months, there were indeed times when they were questionning what they did, was it really worth it, wouldn’t it be more comfortable to stay in bed, to join a gym, to join a weight loss club, to buy some new equipment themselves, after all they said “they knew what to do by now, as they had been training with me for years”.
Then after all of this, i had the reinforcement i was looking for. The reasons for continuing their training with me ranged from “they wouldn’t do it otherwise, or they wanted to do it the right way, they couldn’t push themselves this hard on their own, they had tried all the weight loss clubs and all it invlovled was losing the weight at all costs, then inevitably putting the weight on again. There were countless reasons, and thankfully most of them inspired me to work even harder at keeping them happy, and looking out for fresh ways to improve them.
I am training another pregnant lady at the moment, and asked why she was carrying on and had done for many years. We often had disagreements when she wasn’t doing her best, but told me that training during pregnancy was now the most important thing she could ever do, as her health and her baby’s health were now the most important thing in the world. Plus she desperately wanted to get into shape once the baby was born.
Back to Jean, she goes on about “people accepting her as she is”? I have made it plain and clear that we accept her “as she is too”! All i would say to that statement is that i really don’t think jean likes being overweight and inactive, so is that her “true self” and really “as she is”? I don’t think so. Doesn’t she want to be a good role model to her grandchildren and keep up with them into old age, surely this is just ONE of many reasons to be fit and healthy?!!
Perhaps the real jean is more like someone who REALLY ENJOYS training and the challenges it brings, and likes doing crazy physical feats at times!
Jean enjoys her food, sometimes has one too many treats and likes to overdo it when like now as cyril says “she is on a downer”!! So, its up to us to support jean when she is down like this, remind her that she is really much better than buying a cheap piece of exercise equipment and staying inside all the time, when she could be outside an enjoying herself.
We all have the same choices, its about how we deal with the cards that are dealt to us that is the vital thing. Looking on the bright side can be a very important trait, and a habit that will save us from going on many downer’s, which often lead to weight gain and loss of the feeling of wellbeing.
So the question of someone quitting is not new to me, but its just another situation for me to help out with, and tell everyone that its natural, and that everyone goes through it. The reason why my retention rate is extremely high is because i expect you to have obstacles and challenges in your way, and if you expect them, through knowledge and experience, we are going to be very well equipped to get over them and come out the other side in terrific shape.
I told everyone yesterday that one of the major secrets to success is keeping going even when everything or everyone says to quit. Little do most people know that ultimate success is just waiting around the corner!