You can’t lose weight, even if you think you can

That’s right. You can’t lose weight, even if you think you can.

I’m not telling you this. You are telling yourself this.

I see this a lot, initially, with clients. On the surface, they are saying that they want to lose weight or that they are committed to losing weight. But despite this, they are still searching, even if just in the background, for the key supplement, the key piece that is missing, which if they take, will make all of their weight loss troubles go away.

So, despite outwardly saying that they think they can lose the weight, their internal dialog and self-talk doesn’t think they can. If it did, they wouldn’t be searching for the solution. Do you do this as well?

I see this with people diet jumping and constantly switching their training programs, but it is most prevalent with supplements.

Here’s the bottom line…

Stop Giving Your Supplements the Credit

Take credit for your own hard work and success – Please.

Let me preface this with one thing before we go one. I think supplements are great. I use (a heap) of supplements everyday.

But I use them to supplement my efforts. I know that what I get when I reassess my body composition every two weeks or when I look at my training log at the end of the month is due to my hard work and effort. The supplements give me an extra 10-15% of my results (not 90-100%).

When you start taking credit for your own success when it comes to changing your body, here’s what is going to happen….

 

Better Results

You’ll get better results because you will be focusing on doing and not searching for the solution. There is nothing that you can take that will trump your effort and dedication (Tweet This). NOTHING. I know, I’ve read a lot of research. When you stop searching and dive in, full on, to your diet and training program, amazing things are going to happen. When you become responsible for your results and decide what the tape measure reads is because of what you did or did not do, and not because you are a non-responder, that is when you are on the brink of incredible results. This is what author Steven Pressfield calls Turning Pro.

Turning pro is free, but it’s not easy. You don’t need to take a course or buy a product. All you have to do is change your mind.

I want you to go Pro. It is liberating and exciting.

 

Greater Satisfaction

You’re going to be more satisfied with the results that you get because they will be yours and they will be founded on hard work, not empty promises. No weight loss supplement is going to deliver on its promises, because the promises in the weight loss industry are ridiculous (Tweet This)! The truth is that no supplement is going to drive your fat loss results, only you will (Tweet This). I’m telling you point blank. There is no herb/compound or combination of herbs/compounds that will actually give you a significant amount of weight loss that you will feel good about if you are looking for the solution (it could actually hurt you).  Here’s an example. Earlier in the year, a study was published about the efficacy of a particular fat loss supplement. This product contained pretty much everything you would expect to see in a weight loss supplement – caffeine, raspberry ketones, bitter orange, cayenne pepper extract, etc. A number of obese people were put on a 500 calorie per day deficit, attended three 60 minute bootcamp training sessions a week, and were given this supplement every day for 8 weeks. At the end of 8 weeks, the people dieting and taking the supplement lost an average of 6.4lbs of fat. People that did not take the supplement but who were also put on a 500 calorie diet and attended the bootcamp sessions, lost 2lbs of fat.

We can draw two conclusions from this:

1. The weight loss diet and exercise program they were put on in this study was either not good, or no one followed it, as losing 2lbs in 8 weeks is terrible.
2. The weight loss supplement helped with weight loss (it works!), but it didn’t work any miracles.

If you start taking credit for your own progress, and stop thinking that a weight loss supplement is going to work miracles, you will be a lot more satisfied when it is over. If you start taking a supplement, while thinking you are going to lose 14lbs in 4 weeks by using it, and at the end of a month you have lost 3lbs of fat – you’re going to be pretty disappointed. But if you take responsibility for your efforts, dedicate yourself, and work to generate 2lbs of fat loss per week by your own efforts, and then you can get an extra half of pound of fat per week from your fat loss supplement, you’ll be pretty happy with 2.5lbs of fat loss per week (Note: I would say that half a pound of fat per week is a lot to get from a fat loss supplement – that is about what the study showed per week of fat loss).

Ray Lewis is famous for saying “Effort is between you and you.” This is a great quote because your weight loss success is always between you and you – and it has little to do with whether or not you pick the blue or red pill (Tweet This). If you want that extra edge, take a fat loss supplement (or other supplements to support your efforts), as long as you know that all you are getting is an extra edge. Eating the meals that you planned, hitting the intensity targets you need to while training – these things are all about effort – and it is all up to you, not what a company is able to bottle up and sell you.