Why we need to shift our focus to the long term

A few years ago, I coached a guy through an 8-week transformation competition. This guy ended up losing 26kgs in 8 weeks, and, ultimately, won the competition and a good sum of money.

In the midst of our celebrations, I realized something that changed the course of my career, and in turn, my life.

I hadn’t helped this person change.

In fact, I’ve potentially put him in a worse positition then when he started.

Now that the competition is over, now that the pursuit of winning a substantial amount of money, now that the end has come, how could I possibly expect this person to continue the deprived eating plan and brutal exercise program he was doing?

All I taught him was that to get results, you’ve got to commit 110%, train your pants off every day (often twice per day), put yourself in a large calorie deficit (eat substantially less food than your used to), have no cheat meals, and mentally push yourself through the pain for 8 weeks.

But life isn’t like this.

Stuff happens.

We get busy with work. The kids get sick. We get injured. Life isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t (and shouldn’t) revolve around our exercise regimes.

I hadn’t taught him any skills for the long term. No-one, and I mean no-one, could possibly continue the same exercise and eating regime given in a transformation competition for any longer than a couple of months.

So what happens then?

What happens in 4 months when the meal plan has become so boring and deprived that you can’t possibly stick to it anymore? What happens when you go on holidays? What happens when that massive work project is due, and chicken and broccoli is the last thing on your mind? What happens when that niggling knee injury plays up, and it all just seems too hard?

Let’s reverse engineer the mindset of fitness facilities and personal trainers encouraging transformation competitions and meal plans.

They are selling the thought of quick results.

They are selling the “magic bullet”.

And they are selling it because they know people will buy it.

They know that promoting 26kgs of weight loss in 8 weeks is so much sexier than losing the same amount of weight over 2 years.

Everyone wants quick results.

However, what they don’t promote is the 7 out of 8 people who start one of these programs, and end up gaining back all the weight they lost, plus more.

7 out of 8.

Although that statistic is staggeringly high, we are all still willing to ride the hampster wheel of “short term solutions”. Hoping that this one will work, but knowing deep down it won’t.

Knowing deep down that what you actually need, is a coach to teach you how to change your eating and lifestyle habits.

This isn’t my personal vendetta against these programs.

It’s just fact.

They do not work over the long term.

You simply don’t learn how to eat. How to incorporate daily physical activity. How to understand portion sizes when you’re at a cafe. How to learn how to listen to your bodies inherent hunger and fullness cues.

All you learn is to white-knuckle your way through a program for 4 or 8 weeks, follow the generic meal plan, and train really hard every day.

Now, if you can see yourself never having chocolate again, or never enjoying wine, or training really hard everyday, and continuing to do this in 10, 20 and 30 years time, more power to you. These programs are exactly for you.

If you’re not one of the above, and you want to enjoy treats, alcohol, dinners with friends and family without having to restrict or count calories, or just simply not going to the gym every day, these programs aren’t teaching you these foundational skills.

And this is where a habit-based approach, which focuses on the long term, works.

A habit-based approach teaches you not just what to eat, but how to eat. Why you’re eating. And how that impacts your overall results.

Imagine dramatically reducing your portion sizes by simply learning how to eat correctly.

Imagine feeling fuller for longer by learning how to create the perfect meal.

Imagine not feeling bloated, fatigued, and bored but still eating the foods you choose to eat.

And imagine experiencing long term results, and never having to diet, or enter a transformation competition, or follow another meal plan again.

All of this information is completely free in video form on our Facebook page. Start sifting through the information, apply it to yourself, and become your own coach.

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