Secret Ingredients To Fat Loss Success 

What do you think the keys to fat loss are?  Are there any secrets to long-lasting weight loss?  Is there a secret workout program everyone sticks to or some fancy diet?  Read on to discover the secret ingredients to any successful fat loss program.

by Ed Scow, NSCA-CPT (aka The Fit Dad) - Fitness and Nutrition Expert to the true superheroes - busy Moms and Dads! and Author of Fat Loss To Go

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.” Muhammad Ali 

I think it’s pretty safe to say that since you’re on this site you want to lose fat. 

You probably know how important a quality, intelligently designed workout program is as well as fat loss nutrition for someone who wants to get rid of that extra flubber. 

I also preach the importance of social support for fat loss, and how for many people it’s the missing ingredient when it comes to permanent fat loss, but there’s something else that is just as important as social support. 

I believe that having enough desire and determination are just as important as having the proper support. 

Desire is a tremendously powerful and important factor when dealing with fat loss, or truthfully anything else that you want to achieve. 

Tom Venuto, who is a fat loss and bodybuilding expert, puts it this way, “Desire is unexpressed talent, unfulfilled potential or an underperformed function calling out, and seeking expression or improvement.   It’s that higher voice within you saying, ‘Hey, you’re more than this, you’re better than this, and you deserve it, so get moving and go get it!’”. 

Or put another way, Alexander Graham Bell said this when talking about desire and determination. “What this power is I cannot say, all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in the state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.” 

You must have your mind in the proper place if you want to succeed with your fat loss goals.   You must have desire.   You must have the want to truly go out and get it and achieve your fat loss goals.    I can’t say that strongly enough or in enough different ways. 

Just saying you want to 'lose fat' is not enough.   There’s no “oomph” behind that.   If your desire is not strong enough, you will never accomplish your goals.   As a matter of fact, you’ll probably quit the first time you don’t feel like training or the first time you’re asked if you want desert. 

Not only do you have to have desire but your desire must to be a burning desire. 

It’s got to be something that if you don’t accomplish you will be sick.   You will feel you let yourself down.    

Your desire has to be strong enough that you will crawl out of bed before the sun comes up to do your training if that’s the only time you have to get it done. 

Your desire has to be strong enough that you will say “No” when everyone else is going up for seconds at Thanksgiving dinner or when you’re standing in the checkout line at the grocery store and that Snickers bar is calling your name. 

Lack of desire is one of the major reasons the majority of people out there fail to lose fat (following a poorly drawn out fad diet or believing the lying, deceiving supplement advertisers are the other reasons).   They say they want it, but they’re not willing to go through with some of the sacrifices they know they must make.    

You’ve got to decide right here and now that you want it and proclaim it to everyone. 

In my Fat Loss To Go program, I go into detail about goal setting and how important it is.Well this is equally, if not more important than goal setting because what good is a goal if you don’t have the desire to back it up? 

Or what good is the best fat loss program on the market if you don’t have the voice deep down inside telling you to go through the entire thing and see just how much fat you can lose? 

I can tell you for a fact, they’re worth absolutely nothing and if you don’t have the burning desire to lose that fat once and for all, return this manual and I’ll give you your money back.   I’m serious about that. 

You will reach obstacles along the way…trust me on this.   Some may be in your face obstacles and others may be tougher to figure out.   You may encounter yourself being pressured into cheating a little by a friend or loved one.   You may have a bad day and just want to splurge on some ice cream or beer.   It doesn’t matter what it is, but mark my words you will encounter obstacles and they may make you feel like you want to quit following this program and give up. 

Oftentimes your enthusiasm and motivation to change will dry up when these obstacles present themselves, but you need to prevent that from happening.   You need to keep your desire burning throughout this program if you really want to succeed. 

The best way to keep your desire ablaze is to identify what these obstacles may be ahead of time and figure out ways to combat them.   This will go a long way in helping you achieve your fat loss goals. 

A study from way back in 1987 investigated why people give up with their fat loss goals and they came up with the following reasons. 

1.       Low initial commitment to change  

2.       Diminished sense of self-efficacy – belief in one’s ability to change. 

3.       Use of self-punishment rather than rewarding strategies  

4.       Depressive or pessimistic thinking patterns  

5.       Lack of consistent self-monitoring 

6.       Difficulty dealing with set-backs. 

7.       Failure to use effective habit changing techniques. 

8.       Paying attention to the wrong things. 

What are your obstacles going to be?   Write them down right now.   Don’t wait until you’re done reading this because they won’t be fresh on your mind.    

If your spouse is going to be an obstacle, write it down and deal with it.   I don’t mean you need to hire a hit man and take your spouse out “Sopranos style”.    Just let them know how important it is to you to lose this fat and that you need their support. 

Or, if you know yourself well enough that the holidays or summer barbeques will be obstacles, write it down and figure out how you’re going to deal with it.   Maybe you need to eat a healthy meal before you go to your social event so you’re not hungry when everyone else is gobbling down the pies and cakes. 

Just figure out whatever you need to do to overcome those obstacles before hand so that you can keep your desire red-hot.   I don’t want you to flounder when something difficult comes your way.   I want you to be as revved up then as you are when you begin this program. 

I’ll leave you with one last quote from Michael Jordan regarding desire, determination and overcoming obstacles.   “Obstacles don’t have to stop you.   If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up.   Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” 

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The preceding article was written by Ed Scow, aka "The Fit Dad". To learn more about Ed's story, click here.