I’m getting ready to head out on a cruise tomorrow with Angie and the kids along with a bunch of other friends. I can’t wait. I’m not at my goal body fat percentage that I wanted to be for this trip, but I’m still pretty darn happy. In the situation that I’m in leading up to this trip, I know a lot of other people would be starving themselves right now and spending hours in the gym trying to burn as many calories and lose as much weight as possible before they leave. Not me…

I simply stuck to my nutrition and workout routine. I’m not one for crash dieting or over training in order to get results. I do things that I’m going to stick with. Yesterday I worked out on Chest and Back and today I worked out on Biceps and Triceps. They were my scheduled training sessions from The Fit Bastard Year Of Workouts. Tomorrow is my scheduled day off which is perfect because we will be spending it on the plane and in transit.

I didn’t do any cardio at all yesterday because I played hockey in the evening. Today I woke up and went for a brisk walk on an empty stomach. So nothing extreme here. I’m eating what is laid out in The Every Other Day Diet Plan for today. I’m not reducing the calories any further and I’m not eating like a rabbit all day long either.

I received an email today from someone who read one of my recent posts on perfection and fat loss. They said, “It sounds like you are just trying to appeal to the average Joe who doesn’t want to workout.”

When I say that you don’t have to be perfect, I don’t mean that you don’t have to eat natural and nutritious meals or workout. Far from it. The more consistent you are with your training and healthy eating, the better results you will get. But you don’t have to be perfect every day.

There are people out there that believe that you have to eat perfect every day and workout 7 days a week 52 weeks out of the year. These are the same people who are plagued with injuries, are fatigued, get sick a lot, and are generally unhappy even though they may be somewhat thin. Does that sound perfect to you?

Then there are many people that I’ve seen who eat incredibly well and workout consistently for 4 to 6 weeks and then have a terrible day of eating and because they weren’t perfect they say to themselves, “Here I go again. I always seem to sabotage myself.” That’s not sabotage. That’s life. Give yourself some breathing room. We’re not striving for perfection because it doesn’t exist.

But you do have to workout and eat well consistently if you want results. Now I love exercise. I’m a confessed fitness nut. But I know that the majority of people out there are not. If that means that I’m trying to appeal to the average Joe than that’s fine with me. But I’ve got to tell you, I’ve seen a lot of average Joe’s and Jane’s transform their bodies into something pretty frickin amazing and they didn’t have to be perfect to achieve those results.

Having been a personal fitness trainer for over a decade I have come to understand that most people ‘hate’ working out. There are even some clients that tell me this before every single workout. And they curse me while I’m beating them up with the intense workout. So why do they do it if they hate it?

For one, they love how they feel afterwards when the workout is done and they love how their body and life has changed as a result. Second is the support and accountability. I show up at their house to train them. They value my time and I make sure they stick to the program. I also offer loads of support and am there to help them at a moments notice.

So I do understand that most people don’t enjoy working out all that much and the thing that turns people off from sticking to their program is that they believe it’s a lot harder than it actually is. You don’t have to workout every day and you don’t have to eat perfect every day.

I also know what it takes to drive a person to do something that they previously did not enjoy. Although many of my clients may not enjoy working out, I certainly know what it takes to get them to do it and stick to it.

If you want to achieve fat loss success in 2008 you are going to need to include all of these components into your program; Mindset & Motivation Training, Support & Accountability, Healthy Nutrition Plan, A Variety Of Weight Training Methods, and A Variety Of Cardio Methods.

When I was on my brisk walk today, I was listening to the high energy incredible content interview that I did with Kevin Gianni for the Unstoppable Fat Loss program. He mentioned how at one point he was working out like crazy and still was gaining weight and put on fat. It didn’t take him long to pin point his problem. His nutrition sucked. So it just goes to show that you can work your butt off and not get the results that you desire. Don’t try just to do one or two of the components that I listed above. Include them all.

I want you to do 3 things today that will bring you closer to your fat loss goals. I don’t care how small they are. One could be to just go out and purchase a notebook to use as a journal. It’s time for you to continually take steps forward and look towards your bright future.

Have a totally amazing day!