The Fat Burn Revolution (5 page)
Read The Fat Burn Revolution Online
Authors: Julia Buckley
Problems can range from people trying to tempt you with your favourite sugar-loaded snacks or trying to persuade you to join them in a booze-up, to attempting to make you feel guilty for taking
time out to exercise, to disputing your need to make changes, even to trying to discourage you by saying you’re unlikely to succeed.
You certainly wouldn’t be the first to come up against all of that and more. I hear about it all of the time. People are often shocked by the opposition they face from people who they
thought would totally understand that they’ve had enough of being dragged down by excess body fat.
The problem is other people haven’t been riding your train of thought, they don’t know about all the agonising that’s been going on in your head.
A lot of people simply don’t like change, especially in other people. They are usually scared of what it might mean, they like you just fine the way you are after all. Which is nice. But
it’s not them who has to live with your flab on their body is it?
Sometimes their motives will be complex, possibly to do with their own body issues or personal insecurities. Maybe they have their own excess fat to contend with, and maybe that’s part of
the reason why seeing you set off on a fat-busting mission is upsetting to them. Or they might simply not realise that their behaviour is making it difficult for you to stick to a plan that is
going to improve your life. With time they’ll get used to the new you and when they see the fantastic difference the changes make to you, they may even join you.
get real
Yes, it would be lovely if everyone around you was wonderfully supportive and applauded all your fitness training, never offered you any fattening food and gave you tons of
encouragement. But that’s not what tends to happen in real life, so it’s not what you should expect to get.
Expect people to try to tempt you with poor food choices. Anticipate that they will try to talk you into doing other things during your exercise time. Presume that sometimes people will
attempt to make you feel guilty about the changes you’re making. When you know that’s how it’s going to be, you can plan how to deal with it.
share your reasons
Explain in as much detail and with as much enthusiasm as you can muster what getting leaner and healthier means to you. Go through your list of reasons why you’re
following the Fat Burn Revolution and talk about how it has already made you feel better. Let them know you would value their support and lay out in very simple terms what they can do to be
supportive. Things that may seem obvious to you may not be so apparent to them, so spell it out. Even if it makes no difference, at least you’ll know you tried.
own it
Always remember that it is totally up to you what you eat. You are an adult and no one can make you eat or drink anything you don’t want to. Your body is entirely your
own and if you want to exercise to get it into better condition you should feel completely free to go ahead and do that.
Making healthy lifestyle changes in the midst of unsupportive people can be tough, but sticking to the Fat Burn Revolution despite objectors is great training to build up strong
‘willpower muscles’ that will help keep you on course through the inevitable ups and downs life will throw at you.
be direct
Make your healthy choices and don’t invite unhelpful comments from others by intimating that you’d rather be doing anything else. If someone offers you something
to eat or drink that you don’t want, turn it down politely, but not apologetically. Say something like, ‘No, thanks’ or ‘Thanks, but I’m not hungry.’ Do not
say things like, ‘Oh I really shouldn’t’ or ‘I can’t I’m on a diet.’ Because what do you think their reaction is going to be if you say the latter? Even
if the food does look tempting, you don’t have to say it out loud. Use the same principle if someone tries to talk you out of exercising with offers of doing something else instead.
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upport is great when you can get it, but always remember that you, and you alone, are the only person who can take action to achieve the fat loss
you want.
Hopefully I’ve said enough to convince you that the Fat Burn Revolution will get you leaner, fitter and healthier. But, as I mentioned, the programme is just a map, it is down to you to
make a firm commitment to follow it.
Everyone would like to have a great body, but not many people are ready to make the commitment and take the consistent daily action it takes to get into shape. But get your mind in the right
place and you will make it happen.
Before you start punching the air declaring your absolute commitment to the Fat Burn Revolution, let’s have a quick look at what commitment really means.
Some people set goals and then simply sit around fantasising about how great it will be once they’ve achieved them. That is definitely not what commitment is. Commitment is about getting
the job done. I want you to get excited about the results you will achieve, but I also want you to be in no doubt that if you do not do the workouts and if you do not support those workouts with a
healthy diet, you will not get those results. The fat will absolutely stay on your body and in all likelihood continue to expand if you don’t take action. You have to take action, repeatedly
and consistently. Don’t ever let fantasising about how wonderful it’s going to be when you reach your goal distract you from what you need to do in order to get there.
Dreaming of a flat stomach? I will show you how to make it a reality if you consistently put my advice into action.
One of the reasons I urge you to take Before photos at the beginning of the programme is to help you to enforce that commitment. At times when you feel like missing a workout or are about to
make a poor food choice I want you to look at that photo and remind yourself of the reality and the commitment you’ve made to change. You are not going to get the body you want by wishing for
it really hard, or imagining it really vividly, or by sitting around thinking how wonderful everything’s going to be once you’ve got it. You are going to it get by consistently making
good choices and taking action – on days when you feel like it and on days when you don’t.
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ontrary to what you may have read in self-help books, new research shows that regularly picturing yourself achieving your dreams could actually
make you less likely to achieve them. People who do this tend to crumble when they hit obstacles because they are not mentally prepared for the effort and determination they need in order to get
the results they want.
When you think about it, it is simple human nature to expect things to be easier than they end up being. We all do it. How many times have you misjudged how quickly you could get a project done,
or been late for something because getting there took longer than you expected? Everyone falls into the same trap, all the time. Shedding fat and getting into shape is definitely no exception.
However, your imagination can still play a part in helping you achieve fat loss through the use of visualisation techniques.
visualisation techniques
Visualisation techniques have become an established element of sports psychology. There is a lot of evidence to show that athletes who vividly imagine themselves putting in
outstanding performances are more likely to achieve the result they want. (Visualisation is also used in addiction therapy, where people imagine themselves dealing with situations where they would
previously have indulged their addiction.)
What sportspeople are doing is visualising the process of achieving their goals rather than focusing only on the end results. They are not kidding themselves that they’ve already got
there, but getting their minds mentally prepared to do what needs to be done.
Think about the aspects of following the programme that are likely to present the biggest challenges for you. Will it be turning down offers of fattening foods? Not snacking on processed junk?
Getting out of bed and exercising early in the morning? Or when you arrive home from work tired and hungry?