I think education is a big component that gets missed. I always ask my clients to keep a food diary for a few days. I remember one woman who could tell me to the calorie what she ingested each day.

Why?

Because everything she ate came out of a packet!

After some re-education she went on to achieve her fat loss goals, and is now maintaining beautifully.

Another road block that creates frustration is the way our bodies change, including metabolism, as we age.

How many women know that after they go through menopause their estrogen now comes primarily from their body fat, and that their body will hang onto said fat for all it’s worth?

Managing fat loss in these circumstances requires a different approach compared with someone younger.

BTW just love those Twitter posts, keep them coming

Live long. Live well.

Rick Rakauskas

The trick is to change one thing, make this change a habit and challenge yourself to change one more thing; until you do reach a fitness lifestyle.

Some people are able to go from an all sedentary and crap-food eating lifestyle to a training and clean-food eating one almost over night – it took me a couple of weeks as I read one of the greatest fitness lifestyle books around – others need to make that transition more gradually.

The important thing is to be aware of your actions, aware of their consequences. If you can look at a serving of French fries and think “clogged arteries” while the salad next to them say “health and vibrance” it’s already a victory – to the junk-food addict that is, I can’t remember when I last had one fry to be honest.

Know that by walking 20 minutes to the store for a bottle of water is better than driving the same distance in 5 minutes to get a soda.

Start with the little things. Ask yourself what your role model would do in a given situation, what he/she would say if they saw you make the wrong decision … that helped me resist a whole bunch of cakes and other junk!

Or our last trick we were walking past a coffee bar yesterday in the center of a Mall, and my husband said “want a cappuccino and a cookie, they’re small”. I just looked at him and said :”175″. He was a little puzzled at first, then it dawned on him and we walked away. 175 lbs is his next goal and by simply saying that one number, I can remind him of it in any social setting rather than make him feel uncomfortable by reminding him he’s “on a diet” as no one will understand our code. Of course, he’ll throw back a “140″ at me if I fell weak over some dessert too!

It took me a few months of altered lifestyle to add another component: fasted mornig cardio. Even when I get to my goal weight, I’ll still keep that part in, preferring to drop all other cardio instead. The morning routine is simple: walk outside, regardless of weather.

EODD, since you mention that Scott, is great. I’ve used the Lifestyle Plan so far, because it’s “convenient” and “comfortable” – no challenge! OK, so it’s a little tougher with the Extreme Plan, mainly because it doesn’t fit the 7-day week and we end up with “burn” days on weekends when most others overeat, and a “feed” day in the middle of the week, so what? It’s another way of challenging the mind and inner strenght. I’ve switched to the Extreme Plan, and I’m staying on it the time it takes to get to 140lbs, but I’m not doing it forever. I will go back to the Lifestyle Plan, even the basic Primer at times like vacations away (planning to go to France in a couple of years, if we can find a trusted place to board our “zoo” of 2 cats and 2 dogs!).

In as far as nutrition goes, I’d say EODD is a program you CAN follow as a lifestyle, because it has three variations you can adapt to your training/resting schedule. It’s basically the only “diet” book you’ll ever need as far as planning goes. Add some good cook books, and you’re set.

Training is the same thing. Even the top guys, the competitors, don’t do one thing all year, or all their lives. They have leaning-out periods with one type of training/nutrition, bulking fases with another training/nutrition plan, and time off! Even a guy with 8-pack abs has a slice of Christmas cake with loads of cream and jelly – but where he differs from the coach potato is that he hasonly one slice, and he goes to the gym even if it is Christmas!

That’s where the fitness LIFESTYLE idea fits in, in my opinion. It’s not one set plan or program forever, it’s a mindset; a way of balancing your few temptations you succumb to, with the 95% clean and healthy lifestyle choices fitting your plan of the moment.

I agree with you %110. All my clients here and read about is how a Lifestyle change is what you need to reach your goals? I teach MY clients that your body adapts to what you are doing, so to really reach your goals you need to change your “Lifestyle Change” at the time that your body adapts to your workouts. I am glad that someone will speak there mind about this issue.

Thanks, Dean Milam NASM,ACSM
Anytime Fitness

I plan on discussing the issue in a series of audios with my fellow fitness professionals as well as some of my readers who want to voice their opinion on the topic.

Thank you “Fitness Guy” for adding to the discussion.

The point that I see people missing from my blog post is that I do indeed believe that there has to be a lifestyle change. A TRUE Lifestyle program as I state.

I just believe that the traditional lifestyle approach gives everyone an ‘out’ if they are screwing up. There’s nothing to hold them accountable to.

Lifestyle changes in terms of reducing stress, organizing your time, de-cluttering your life, reducing the man made crap that you put in your body, getting your butt up off the coach, ect, are all very important and I will be going into great discussion with John Allen Mollenhauer in a live webcast debate on this topic.

The problem that I have is when people are looking for one single diet or workout program that they can follow for life.

If it’s going to take your entire life to lose the weight I think you better reconsider your approach. I for one do not want to diet for the rest of my life.

A true lifestyle change allows you to reach your goals quicker, holds you accountable, forces you to step outside of your comfort zone, makes things a whole lot more fun, encourages you to constantly and consistently improve as a person, and promotes change.

Don’t be afraid to set a big goal and go after it. Just go after it with everything that you’ve got. It’s time that we begin to expect success from ourselves.

That’s one thing that I do when I begin a new program each month. I am certain that I will achieve great results from each program whether it’s for fat loss, muscle building, flexibility, mindset, or breathing.

These are my points of view. I may not be 100% on the same page as many others, but I can see at the core of the issue we really are.

Lets keep the discussion rolling!

Scott Tousignant

“I will lose a pound a week, I changed my lifestyle”

You are right, I really do agree with you but there is also a vast majority of the population in North America that has not even gotten off the couch during the TV Writers strike, these guys need to make some basic lifestyle changes BEFORE they could have the confidence in themselves to push their body and mind to the limit.

Thanks for the ass kickin post!

An example that bridges your response with my message would be Jon Benson’s Every Other Day Diet Plan…
http://www.EveryOtherDayDietPlan.com

In the program Jon teaches a way of eating, but there are 3 different plans to follow. For a beginner or someone who wants to ease into the diet and achieve a fair amount of weight loss there is the Primer Plan.

For someone who wants to kick it up a notch there is the Lifestyle plan. And for those people who really want to kick it into high gear there is the Extreme plan.

I followed the Extreme Plan when I wanted to accelerate my results, but then settled back into the lifestyle plan once I achieved my goal.

You can have a way of eating as a lifestyle, but you need to manipulate it depending on your goals. For the every other day diet you would manipulate the amount of food that you are consuming and the carbs,as well as the timing of the carbs.

So yes you can have a way of eating for a lifestyle, but you will not follow the exact same eating pattern for life. You manipulate it based on your goals.

Man I’m loving this discussion

Scott Tousignant