However the will to change, is often permeated by self doubt, feelings of inadequacy, inability to get over the start line, and many other factors that most people don't immediately think about, when they have an "ah ha" moment about themselves.
One of the biggest killers of progress is procrastination.
If you want something badly enough you'll start now, not at some pre-defined point. Procrastination shows lack of willing, and more often than not it will be the undoing of people.
So assuming you've now made that choice to start changing your physical health, it's time to see what problems you can avoid on the road to success.
I will split this into two distinct sections. Diet and Training, so we can see how factors, (some similar, some differing), influence these two main cornerstones of physical change.
DIET
Diet is something many people who are obese, overweight, or even just slim with poor definition, struggle with. One main reason for this is they don't know much about what they eat, or what it does to them, so changing things can seem befuddling.
One main reason people want to change their body composition through diet, is they can get an inferiority complex when they watch TV, read magazines, surf the net, or listen to the radio, and hear, read about, or see people who are the pictures of model health. Some just slim and curvy, some athletic with what looks like the skin of a Grecian God or Goddess.
This will often make them want to look the same.
However there are almost certainly three distinct roads the dieter will travel, in order to facilitate their dreams.
1. The starve yourself thin approach.
Eating little to none at all, or eating then forcing themselves to throw up, and hiding it from those who care about them.
This is something NOBODY MUST EVER DO. Long term effects include Anorexia, and could also damage the bodies Metabolism, and worse case scenario DEATH.
2. The I will do this all by myself approach.
This is healthier in some respects, but unless the individual reads a tonne of science, diet books, and applies common sense etc etc, they WILL fail, almost as sure as "Eggs is Eggs", because to think cutting a bit of Fat out, having smaller portions, eating a little more Vegetables, skipping Breakfast etc etc, is the answer, will certainly yield little to no significant results, which harm the dieters mindset, and potentially make them stop, eventually, (with what I see as a sure fire probability of 95%+), leading to regain of any lost weight.
3. The community or expert approach.
Almost always works best, and is better than either 1 or 2. Joining boards like this yields better results. Talk to people who know something about dieting, whether it's from a learned standpoint, a personal standpoint, or both. It's free advice, but you DON'T have to follow it.
Communities can also be a place to log your efforts. If you make your success and failures public, you have nowhere to hide, but at least you'll get support off others.
The paid for expert is a good route to go, but always make sure you check their credibility. A piece of paper with their name on means nothing, if they are qualified with a poorly thought of organisation, so do your research on that organisation first, and shop around for people with good reps, and good prices.
Never pay money to someone for advice unless you trust them, and don't be hasty to take advice off people you know, who mean well, again unless you trust them. Sometimes their love and / or care, can be something that hurts your chances of body composition change most, when their ignorance is a problem, some people will never see until it's too obvious.
Also be aware, paid for advice only works when you make it. Some diet advisors may come to your house, and throw out the rubbish you have been told to avoid, but they can't stalk you at the supermarket, putting things back on the shelf and guilt tripping you, or ringing up every 2-3 hours, to see if you were naughty, and slipped off plan, nor can they force feed you healthy food under duress.
Remember in that situation help others to help yourself
A big part of dieting is planning.
Many people think if they follow basic guidelines, like 5-6 small meals a day, 2-3 hour spaces, 5 portions of Fruit and Veg a day, plenty of water, etc etc that it's workable.
It sometimes isn't, and other factors like working times, important family occasions etc etc, mean sometimes good plans are hard to stick to.
In such instances.
1. Don't skip meals if eating times are thrown off course.
2. Never double up on Calories. If meal 3 isn't eaten when it should be, don't have 2x the calories with meal 4, it affects negatively your bodies way of dieting, and it promotes slapdash habits.
Another reason people fail is not having back up plans.
Example You are scheduled to have a business Lunch, or a meal out with family.
Do you
A: Tell yourself it's a rare occurrence, so you can eat what you like, it won't hurt this once, even if the menu is mostly full of food, you know you shouldn't be having.
B: Find out where you're going in advance, and plan your meal better, to avoid the worst of what's on the menu.
C: Choose the venue yourself, selecting somewhere with a reasonably beneficial menu.
If we look at those options, we see this.
A: Is wrong. A: makes you think it's okay to slip up, like you're that strong in your own mind, you can atone easily, and become a complete master of your own mistakes, as if they won't be allowed to take control of your efforts.
WRONG. Most people who adopt that attitude start to fail. I mean how many dieters have you heard of just have one piece of Chocolate now and again, instead of ending up eating 10, or 1 Cookie, instead of ending up eating 4 or 5?
People who diet and stay strict from the get go are rare. Mistakes will happen, it's how learn from them that counts, but inviting more slip-ups to occur via a casual attitude to certain situations, is flirting with failure.
B: Is better, for when you don't get to pick the venue, so you know what's best, and what to expect.
C: is the best option. You control the venue you control your eating.
Another problem people have with dieting, is the thought of it being tedious.
How many times can a Salmon Fillet, and a few Spears of Broccoli look appealing? How do you avoid the diet tedium? I mean bad food looks so good to many doesn't it. Soft Chocolatey Cakes dripping with Cream. Doughnuts with oozy fillings. Meat with hot creamy Curry sliding down it, it's enough to try a dieters patience to the limit.
Broccoli, Asparagus, Lentils etc etc don't do that do they? They don't dribble, oooze, melt in the mouth, or any of those things many bad foods do. Heck they excite most people probably as much as re-arranging their sock drawer. Yeah you could drizzle sauces and such like on them, but most of those would be fatty and off limits, or guilt in a jug.
The better food is also often more expensive, or less filling. An 800 calorie meal might make you feel sated, a 300-400 calorie one might not, which can make you wonder if you can last another 2-3 hours, before ingesting some more food. You can, but it's hard to believe that sometimes when you don't feel full.
Dieting doesn't need to be that way though. Many people can cook these days, nice nutritious meals that may have low Fat cream, or healthy Oils like Olive oil, or light sauces, that compliment your food, or are mixed into the overall end result.
Many books and websites of reputable note, do offer ways to eat moderated calorie foods, that don't look same old same old, and can appeal, if the usual Meat and Two Veg approach doesn't always get your senses dancing with delight, the moment you look at it.
Another problem the dieter faces is temptation.
The supermarket is a haven for temptation, and spare money feeds temptations needs, like a bullet in a gun. No bullet no firing capability.
So how does the dieter avoid slipping unwanted food into their shopping?
One way is to always pay with money.
Money self regulates, cards don't as much.
As an example, this is how you might help yourself buy only what you need to buy.
1. Take an old shopping receipt, and add up the cost of just the food you should eat. Don't include the bits of rubbish you're trying to avoid.
2. Allowing for small price fluctuations week in week out, give yourself a maximum cash surplus of say $10-$15 or £10-£15, and then when you try to sneak rubbish into your shopping, you'll have difficulty when your restricted money allowance, means either putting back that tub of Ice Cream, or that box of Cereal. Hmm decisions decisions.
Another thing to look at is what I will call the Praise Addiction.
Ever seen someone trying to lose weight, notice they are looking thinner and then getting praised by family, friends or work colleagues? Nice for them isn't it, that people care.
However if enough people say it, some dieters will become so used to it, if it happens enough times, they might expect it to happen that often and for a long time.
Subsequently when it starts to happen less, that could feel mood deflating, as if people no longer care about your dieting success, and lost inches.
In reality it's probably not that at all, it's about whether one person is going to tell you 3-4 times every week how much better you look. They may find doing it too often will either seem annoying to the dieter, become a bit embarrassing for the dieter, or make them look like a creeper.
So the fact they noticed in the first place, doesn't automatically mean they stop noticing when they stop commenting. If they're good people they will not be people who only care about you, when you give them a real reason, they will care for other reasons too.
Finally, if any of these help you then perhaps you could be well on your way to the diet and body changes you're looking for.
So you think you might want to do some sort of physical training as well, then this next section will help you too.
TRAINING
Starting a training programme is a very often daunting thing.
Do you go jogging a few times, join a gym, use home video exercises?
Well lets explore the pitfalls and mistakes, people make that can stop you achieving physical results through training, and see ways to help yourself get more out of your body.
Home Training
Can be a very useful thing, if you get your own equipment, or use recommended exercise systems, as can be discussed on forums like this one.
The problem is too many people make too many wrong steps and fail.
Buying pointless objects off the Television often is a waste of money, and these things get used a few times, once or never, and gather dust.
The reason being, they just won't help you. People who sit down, expecting Electronic Belts to help them get results are deluded, and not serious to their efforts. The same could be said for plastic Chest manipulators, Thigh stimulators etc etc.
These are my top tips for getting home weight training basics.
1. You should purchase a decent weights kit, with a locking or clip system. Don't buy Dumbbells and a Dumbbell Tree. Nice easy storage, but no flexibility of product.
A weights kit will contain usually two small hand held bars, (to make your own dumbbells), and a Bar, (to make your own barbells). They will usually also have some sort of instruction literature, to help you see things you can do and what to do.
They are also customisable, and allow you to buy more weight for them, if you need to.
Home Gyms are pretty much often a bane to set up, dismantle and owing to the size of different muscles, many might at some point give you adequate stimulation, but not necessarily everywhere on your body.
2. If you choose therefore, to buy other more specialised equipment other than handheld stuff, your options could be thusly.
2a. A good Bench, with a facility to rest your Bar on, and preferably with an angled back rest, to give you differing ways, to stimulate things like Chest and Arms, and provide variation, incase you might get a little less bored of the same old things.
2b. A Squat Rack
2c. A small Treadmill or Exercise Bike.
You shouldn't really need any more than that, for specialised equipment, and you can then save more on space.
If you choose such weight / equipment purchases, go to a shop and ask for try before you buy terms, or at least get to inspect the equipment you want.
Buying online is sometimes cheaper, but things like returns policies, and contacting the "faceless corporation" type of businesses, makes it harder to get customer satisfaction if you don't feel totally satisfied.
Always be aware though, that training at home is NOT risk free, and an instruction manual DOES NOT guarantee you will be safe, or get your technique right, and often telling you individual exercises, how to perform them, and what they do doesn't help you set a routine up that's right for you.
Books can also help you to train at home, but are not risk free, even if they are written by one time legends, and have plans to follow.
Boards and communities like this one, can be a source of advice, or even maybe paying a home trainer just a couple of times, to show you what to do, and then you can get on with it yourself can benefit you, but as explained in the diet section of this literature, know their rep, know their accreditation, and don't pay for people with outmoded or poor advice to give.
If you choose to go for the Video / DVD route of training, and just want some Cardiovascular stimulation, then these are the ones to avoid / go for.
1. Avoid like the plague ones that are claimed to be a "celebrity workout", usually featuring some chippy, chirpy TV personality, or falling star. These will almost definitely have a PT on there showing the TV star what to do.
These are almost certainly designed, to increase or maintain said persons persona or limelight potential, and their bank balance.
2. Media that features PT's or sporting people, who may have worked on TV, and usually feature members of the public interacting on the video, give you better value for money, as the person should know what they're doing / talking about, as they have a sporting or training background.
Yes it could be argued, they're in it for the money too, but they're more likely to care about you when they do it, rather than themselves.
3. Videos like Tai Bo, or other dance / martial art based exercises disciplines, are often pretty good, and can be very energy consuming.
If you choose to do Cardiovascular exercise on equipment, change the settings and make it interesting for each new week or each new session, or use a TV or music to help you zone in.
If you choose to run or jog outside make sure you have the right training clothes, and don't settle for the same route. change it sometimes to keep things interesting, as many people run the same routes possibly losing the benefit if the route's too flat.
If you choose to go to a Gym, you need to know certain things.
Location, atmosphere, price, facilities. Don't be fooled by Gyms offering you the world, if they can't deliver on service or are too expensive.
Also, when you go to Gyms, get some basic tuition, and don't just mess about on the equipment, as you'll get nowhere fast.
You can always ask for newer programmes after a bit, or even when you get more confident, and knowledgeable, just change them yourself, to stop yourself possibly getting bored, and also you can always take portable music devices, if certain things like Cardiovascular equipment becomes quite tedious to use.
Some people like to use Training partners, but whilst it can be good way to get more motivated, there are setbacks to doing this method, which could be problems getting a workout in if the partner is late, or doesn't show, or issues with their training wants and yours.
The main problem you will get is that a lot of people won't support, or care much about your training wants, because they may not want to live like that.
That's where support communities happen, and boards like this give you the chance to be around people who help, support, and keep you in the zone, so you feel more ready to keep tackling your needs, and not giving up.
Remember if you want it you CAN have it, but it takes time, patience and perseverance, but for people who do that, they CAN see results, when they do it right.
Hopefully if you follow some of these basics, and get yourself started, you can be well on your way to success.
Don't wait for your goals to happen, stick with them, and you can have what you want, if you put the time, education, and right principles into it.
Good luck
.
Boss
