To work off the calories in this burger, it will take him at least two week's worth of workouts...think he's up to the task?

HOMEWORK ALERT!! – SEE BELOW

Have you ever played this dialogue in your head when confronted with pizza or birthday cake at the office, or picking up take-out on the way home for dinner?

“…well, I have to mow the lawn tonight so that I guess that will take care of the calories from this pizza”

or

“….I’m going walking with my best friend later so I can have a piece of cake and it won’t wreck my diet”

or

“…I’m going to get a good workout in tomorrow morning, so McDonald’s for dinner tonight is fine”

Sorry to break it to you, but if this is the type of logic you are following, you could be eating yourself into increased jean sizes, flabby arms, and a bulging stomach faster than you think.

Here’s why….

You can never out-run a burger.

Now, you might be thinking…”huh?…out-run a burger???”

Here’s what I mean.

How long does it take to consume the average ‘combo’ meal from any fast food joint?  Well, rather than have you go test this out for yourself, I will just tell you…it’s about 8 minutes or less.

In those 8 minutes, you could have easily consumed over 1000 calories.

Now, if I were to ask you to run full-out, as fast as you possibly could, how many calories do you think that you could burn in 8 minutes?  Assuming that you could actually run full-out for 8 minutes (and nobody I know can do that), you would be lucky to burn 100 calories.

For a more reasonable example, the average moderate intensity one-hour workout will burn about 500 calories.

To burn 500 calories, you would also have to mow the lawn for about 2 hours, or walk for about two and a half hours.

So in order to work-off the calories in that happy-meal you downed in 8 minutes, you would need to run full-blast for well over an hour, mow the lawn for the better part of an afternoon, or take a very, very, long walk.

As you can see, you can never outrun a burger, it will win every time, hands down.

So if you have ever been in the position where you are wondering why you aren’t seeing results, but you are still eating things that you know you shouldn’t, now you know why your body isn’t changing.

Exercise alone will never compensate for a horrible diet, NEVER.  You would have to workout all day long in order to lose fat, tone your flabby arms, and look great in a bathing suit.  And unless you actually enjoy marathon workouts, and you have the time to spend all day in the gym, then it’s about time to really start paying attention to what you are putting in your mouth.

The good news is, this doesn’t mean you have to go hungry.

If you’ve been following a lot of the recent posts and comments, you will notice that the women using the Daily Detox Diet aren’t hungry.  In fact, on this program you will actually be eating more.  The difference is WHAT you are eating.

When you chose the foods that are very high in nutrients, but very low in calories, you can eat so much more of them!  You’ll never be hungry, and you’ll keep your body burning fat all day long.  This is an inherent flaw with diet plans that suck you in by telling you ‘on our diet you can eat pizza and chocolate!’.  They have to resort to such tiny portions that you will feel like you are ALWAYS hungry.  Bad foods are often very calorie dense, so you can only eat a very small amount of them and continue to lose weight.

There are many other flaws with that type of system, but for now, just realize that you are better off eating more, but making better choices.

But as I am sure you know, eating well is, by itself, not good enough if you really want to sculpt and tone your arms.

I’ll talk more about that later.

Until then, stop trying to rationalize your dietary indiscretions.  Make better choices, allow yourself to eat lots of healthy foods, and keep those workouts short and sweet.

Coach Rylan

Your Homework For This Week

Calculate your nutrition data for one day, and post it in the comments section below.

This week I want you to actually sit down and calculate how many calories you are taking in in a day.  This is going to serve a few purposes.  1)  You’ll suddenly become aware of every single thing you eat in a day.  Most people realize that once they start keeping track of what they are eating, they are eating waaay more than they thought they were – a real eye opener.  2)  You’ll learn how bad some foods really are for you.  Though that Denny’s Grand Slam wasn’t too bad once in a while?  Wait until you find out it has over 1000 calories and 40 grams of fat!  3)  You’ll be able to learn the nutritional content of many of your favorite foods, and this will help you make healthier decisions later.  You will find out that some foods that are very filling and tasty, don’t have many calories.  You’ll also find out that some foods that are incredibly calorie dense, don’t fill you up at all.  Once you find out what these are, you’ll know exactly how to plan your meals to ensure you are never hungry, while still allowing yourself to lose weight.

Here’s how to do it.

1)  Record everything you eat, in their exact quantities for one day.

2)  Dig out the ‘Diet and Nutrition Tracker’ program in your Go Sleeveless package.  The instructions included in this program will take you step-by-step through how to calculate and record your nutritional intake.  It also has a pre-made spreadsheet all set-up for you to log everything and do your calculations.

3)  Post the following in the comments below for one day’s worth of eating:  Total calories consumed, total fat consumed (in grams), total protein consumed (in grams), and total carbs consumed (in grams).  For those who really want to go the extra mile, tell us how many grams of sugar, fiber, and saturated fat you consumed as well.

For everyone who posts this info I will personally check out your nutrition summary, and offer some guidance on your diet (but you must include your age and weight for me to be able to do this properly).

There are 4 steps you must take if you want to be able to achieve limitless weight loss.

You might be thinking that you have somewhat of a ‘set-point’ when it comes to weight loss.  That set-point is also known as the sticking point.  It’s that point that no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get below it.

For me, it used to be about 180lbs.  My weight has fluctuated wildly since my teens.  At my heaviest I was about 230lbs, and my lightest in my adult years has been about 160lbs, but for many many years, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to get below 180lbs.

I would diet like crazy, calculating every gram of food I ingested, sticking to my meal plan with and almost obsessive-compulsive mentality.  I would work my ass of in the gym everyday, and I would get up at 5:00am to log another 30 minutes out on the road, desperately trying to run off a few extra pounds of stomach fat.

But guess what?

It made no difference.

Eventually I would get frustrated, and just as I would nearly start to see a pay-off from all my hard work, I would self sabotage.  I would give up on exercising entirely for a couple weeks, or I would let my diet completely fall off the rails.  I was convinced that I was just destined to be a certain weight, and that, genetically, I had no control over this and should just accept it.

But I stumbled across something in my later years that allowed me to blast through my sticking point almost effortlessly.

I dropped through the 180lb mark without even breaking a sweat (figuratively speaking).  The change seemed almost effortless, and so simple, but it made all the difference in the world for me.

And here’s the secret…

It’s called the law of ‘Secondary Gains’.

This is something I picked up in my studies of sports psychology, hypnosis, and other mind-body areas that I have a passion for, and here’s what it’s all about…

There is ALWAYS a benefit to your current situation AND, subconsciously, the benefit of your current situation outweighs the benefit of what you are striving for.

Let me explain…

Let’s say you are overweight by 20lbs, and you desperately are trying to lose this extra weight but you are having no success.  What the law of Secondary Gains states is that you subconsciously perceive their to be MORE benefit to remaining 20lbs overweight than the benefits of losing that 20lbs.

For someone this might mean that they subconsciously perceive that if they are 20lbs lighter, that they will no longer be the ‘fat friend’ and therefore might be shunned by their peers due to ‘competition’.  This is not an uncommon fear, and although it might not sound rational, it doesn’t have to be.  In your mind, if you feel that you will be more widely accepted and apprecaited at your current weight, there is little chance that you will be able to successfully lose weight and keep it off.

I can’t tell you what the secondary gains for you personally are, this is something that you will have to discover for yourself (and I’ll tell you how to do that in a moment), but you must first realize that your subconscious mind is an incredibly powerful thing, and you must not underestimate it’s influence on your physical appearance.

When I have worked with clients that run into this wall where they can’t seem to get anymore resutls, I often do this exercise with them to help them determine their secondary gains.  We then establish meaures to neutralize them, allowing them to move forward in their goals.  The results can be incredible!

4 Steps To Limitless Weight Loss and the Law of Secondary Gains

Answer these following questions….

1)  What is the BENEFIT of NOT changing your current situation.

2)  What is the DETRIMENT of NOT changing your current situation.

3)  What is the BENEFIT of changing your current situation.

4)  What is the DETRIMENT of changing your current situation.

Take some time and really think through these four questions.  This is not something you want to answer as if you were writing a quiz.  Take some time and do some serious personal interrogation to get down to the real deep reasons.  This can be life transforming if you take the time to do this right.

What do you do once you have found the answers to these four questions?

Once you have come up with your answers, you will probably have a few light bulbs go off in your head.  This exercise can be incredibly humbling and revelaing as well.

Now you should have some insight into a few deep-rooted thinking patterns and behaviors that are keeping you trapt in your current body.  What you must do now is take some steps to correct these patterns and you will start to make incredible progress.

Sarah’s Example

I worked with a young woman named Sarah (not her real name) who was desperately trying to lose weight, and as soon as she would get within 15 lbs of her goal, she would completely fall of the rails.  She would quit exercising and starting drinking a lot of alcohol and consuming sweets in the middle of the night.  She also would have a family gathering each Sunday for dinner, where there was always a lot of really rich food that she felt unable to turn down.

She said to me that she felt ‘compelled’ for some reason to let go of all the progress.  Of course, within a week of this new behavior, she would realize what she was doing and try and correct it, but by that time the damage was already done and she spent the next couple weeks just trying to get back to where she started.

I sat down with her and had her do this exercise.  It was difficult for her to do, but she was determined to make the change, so she swallowed her pride and went for it.  Her results were very eye opening.

She confided to me that she secretly had a fear that if she reached her goal weight, she would start attracting a lot of unwanted attention from men, and since she was in a commited relationship, she found this very uncomfortable.

Additionally, she also said that whenever she would start making some progress, her family would make comments about her looking too skinny and try and force feed her at the family gatherings.  She would try and eat healthy, often bringing her own foods to the get-togethers, but she would get harassed so much by her grandparents and cousins that she would just give in and eat what everyone else was eating.

She also said that she was getting so stressed from school, that she was using alcohol and sweets to stabilize her mood and help calm her down.

As you can see, there were distinct benefits for her to continue the behaviors that she was so desperately trying to put an end to; she would avoid unwanted and uncomfortable attention from men, she would avoid harassment and embarassment from her family, and she had a coping mechanism for stress and anxiety from all her school work.

We spent a lot of time going through the rest of the questions, and I had her write a very extensive list with all the reasons why eliminating these negative behaviours would benefit her.  I instructed her to read this list every morning as she awoke, and every night as she want to bed.  I had her carry it with her everywhere, and when she felt compelled to stray from her program, I had her look at this list again.

I also had her listen to the Effortless Fat Loss Self-Hypnosis program and Subliminal Sleep Tracks each day for six weeks to help re-program these negative thinking patterns.

And finally, I had her take steps to combat her fears that she was experiencing.  I instructed her to speak with her family members individually, and explain to them why she needed their support, and how they were making it difficult for her to achieve her goals.  I had her explain that what she was doing was, in fact, very healthy, and that they needn’t be concerned for her, and would that she would be happy to assit them in making healthier food choices.  This shut them up in a hurry!

She also started meditating daily for stress reduction, and this helped emensely with her cravings for alcohol and sweets.

And finally, I had her do some serious thinking about her fear of attention, and she came to realize that it was a result of her years spent being overweight and all of the negative attention she got in high school.  Once she learned that people no longer looked at her as overweight, and that the attention was not negative, it no longer bothered her.

While this took a little work on Sarah’s part, I am happy to report that she was finally able to reach hear goal weight quickly and easily within 6 weeks of implementing these changes.

Your Homework:

Regardless if you have hit that wall, or have it it in the past, this exercise is helpful for EVERYBODY!

Answer the four questions I listed above.  Take some time and really think about this and put some serious effort into it.  Once you come up with the answers to these questions, post them in the comments section below.  Don’t worry, you don’t have to put your name if you are embarassed about your answers – put please remember this is a supportive and encouraging environment.  We are here to help each other, so please don’t be shy.

Once you have the questions answered, I want you to list the steps that you will take to ensure that you can blast through your negative programming from the past and move on to new and incredible things for yourself, and your body.

This process will launch your forward and I am excited to hear about what you learn about yourself!

Coach Rylan

Want to share your cooking style and get your recipe published in the next version of the Daily Detox Recipe Book?

Keep reading….

First things first, thanks for all the emails regarding the private personal training.  The first three spots were snapped up within about half an hour so there seems to be more of you wanting me to train you one-on-one than I had expected.  With that being said, I am happy to open up two more slots for those of you who couldn’t get in.

If you are interested in online personal training with a completely custom training program designed just for you, by me, then email me right away.  It’s first come first serve, so if you want in, don’t delay.  Make sure to put ‘private training’ in the subject line, and email me at rylan (at) adonisfitness (dot) ca – this is my private personal training company.

Next order of business is last week’s challenge:  Congrats to all who participated.  And an extra special pat on the back to all of you who took the time to encourage your fellow participants and offer support.  This sense of support and community is something I really want to foster here.  Don’t be afraid to post in the comments section, but just know that I have a zero tolerance for any sort of derogatory remarks made to or about another Go Sleeveless reader.  This is a safe and positive place, and I will not let it be brought down by any sort of childish negativity that can sometimes spring up in other blogs and forums.

And lastly, this week’s homework….

This week’s homework comes in the form of a cooking challenge.  When I left home for university I was the world’s worst cook.  I couldn’t make anything that didn’t come out of a box.  And when you are trying to lose fat and keep in shape, eating things from a box is a train wreck.  This changed out of necessity, and now I consider myself pretty well equipped in the kitchen.

Most of you know that I have provided over 50 recipes in the Daily Detox Recipe Book, and I have personally used every single one.  In fact, that’s the reason why I chose many of those recipes – they are my favorites that I refer back to time and time again.

But, variety is the spice of life, and we all have different tastes, so here is what you must do for this week’s challenge…

I want you to post one of your favorite healthy recipes in the comments section below. If you don’t have one, then I want you to look through a few cookbooks, find something that is healthy, and try it out.  Once you have sampled the results, post up the recipe and your review of it.  If it was great, then let is know, and if it was a flop, then that’s important to know too!

I will select one or two of the recipes to include in the newest edition of the Daily Detox Recipe book, and give you author credit in the book.  In order for this to happen though, they must meet my standards for being a healthy recipe (low saturated fat, low sugar, high protein, low or no starch, – basically all the things I talk about in the Daily Detox Diet).

You CANNOT use anything from the Daily Detox Diet, and try to make something you don’t think your fellow readers will know about.  In fact, I encourage you to try and find a new healthy recipe and try it out for the first time.

Each week my wife and I try and use at least one new recipe for dinner each week.  Sometimes more, but at least one each week.  Some we have once and never have again, but sometimes we come across a great new healthy recipe that then becomes part of our usual repertoire.

Eating healthy and losing weight can be incredibly tasty; I don’t know why so many people think they need to starve themselves and sacrifice flavor in order to ‘eat right’.

This will be a great way to have exposure to a variety of tastes, and I am really hoping that we get some recipes of Indian, Spanish, and other ethnic backgrounds to try out.  Thanks Ladies, and keep up the excellent work! Now get cookin!

Coach Rylan

This is such a dirty and misleading marketing ploy – these 100 calorie snacks.

Want to find out why even 100 calories of this stuff can put your fat loss progress to a grinding halt?

Check out this post on 100 calorie snack scams.