If you’re even mildly paying attention, you’ll have come across a headline, book, podcast, commercial or some unsolicited “advice” from a friend telling you exactly what and when you need to eat (and/or not eat), how to exercise, which supplements to take, how to sleep, etc. All you have to do is follow their protocol and you’ll lose the weight, feel better, cure a disease, be in the best shape of your life, and walk on water. Plenty of success stories, testimonials, google reviews, before and after transformation pictures are easily found to prove if such and such program worked for them, it can work for you too! And, unfortunately this works to convince the masses.

With a multitude of “proven results” from seemingly contradictory claims, what exactly is working? One program claims you can eat enough carbs to put an elephant into a coma, while another says that simply walking down the bread aisle will knock you out of ketosis. One doctor says you can live with a pack of wolves, eating only meat, while another says anything other than consuming vegetables will give you cancer. One coach says cardio is king (gag!), while another says you should only move if it’s to pick up another weight. Supplement recommendations are all over the place. And, if you aren’t intermittent fasting, you obviously don’t care about your health. 

This is all very confusing.

You do your best to take time to consider all the input from everything you’ve read, heard, seen, and try to put together that “perfect” program that works for you. You’re positive this is going to be successful. You can see the headline now…Woman Drops 100lbs in 6 Weeks Going Strict Carnivore, Eating Only Meat Scavenged from the Pack of Wolves She Runs with While Fasting on Sundays!!

That headline is very appealing… how could it NOT work?

Well, probably because each individual program works for a reason — be it, specific macros, calorie counting, intermittent fasting, cardio or weight training regimens, etc. Hobbling together a program you think will work is probably the best way to get lost in the hype of one thing or the other. Soon you’ll find your inclinations for the feral way of life waning. Or that fasting on Sunday’s interrupts your new Zoom drinking party. 

So, what’s the point?

As a Health and Performance Coach, I’ve been privy to working with 100’s of people during my tenure in the fitness industry. All different. All wanting some result they saw on TV or in a magazine. All thinking it’s just a matter of fitting the right pieces in place and you’ll be an IG BootyStar. Well, I’m here to tell you that , YES, it can be that simple, but rarely ever is. Very few people follow through on the simplest things. 

It’s not about willpower. It’s not about sacrifice.

It all comes down to figuring out WHY you want to be the END result you seek. Most people I’ve dealt with come to me because they want to lose weight, but being thinner is rarely the reason they want to lose the weight. There’s generally a much deeper reason which is harder to uncover or admit to themselves, and certainly their coach. It’s generally something along the lines of wanting to look good naked so they can be attractive to their spouse who has lost an attraction, or they received bad results from their doctor and if they don’t change their ways, they’ll die long before they see their kids grow up.

Heavy stuff.

So, how do you lose 100lbs? By being honest with yourself and finding the real reason WHY you want to change your life. Revisit that WHY every time you want to stop or give up. To paraphrase the celebrated Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl; “if you know your why, you can bear almost any how to get you where you want to be.” So be clear in your intention because the story we tell ourselves is more powerful than you think. At the end of the day, we are the stories we tell ourselves. You want a better life, tell a better story.