Good Morning!
I have been reading more of Timothy Ferriss's book, The Four Hour Body. It is just fascinating, although, not really doable for all people. However, he has some key concepts I think I will take into my own routine, as well as extra resources that may help fat loss in different ways. He has four principles to run with to keep on track. I TOTALLY agree with these principles, and mostly use them with my clients. Here they are:
1. Make it conscious.
2. Make it a game.
3. Make it competitive.
4. Make it small and temporary.
Within these guidelines, I will tell you some of his ideas and some of mine!
1. The best way to make fat loss a conscious effort is through the art of seeing. Sometimes you have to see things to believe it, it is the way we function best, I think. I like using measurements to help my clients see. So, not only may the scale change (or not!), but inches change. Ferriss also suggests the "flash diet", studied by the University of Wisconsin, found that taking pictures of everything you consume, before you consume it, found that people consciously made better choices. It makes sense: you know that the Hershey's bar isn't going to do your diet any good, and as you take that picture of it, it sinks in. And maybe it gives you more confidence in your decision to throw it away. Try it for a few days. Take a picture of EVERYTHING and send it to an invaluable and non-critical friend :)
2. Games are fun! Pretend like it isn't work, it's play!
3. Research states that the fear of loss is more valuable than getting a reward. Take a friend who also has some weight loss/fat loss goals and make it competitive. With a friend, give them a dollar for every time you DON'T hit your weight/fat loss goals and make them do it too! Or find a challenge group online, there are lots out there. Embrace peer pressure!
4. Take baby steps. Make small changes that will create a greater effect on your goals. They don't have to be big, but if you take a few changes in, the result will be greater!
Ferriss took Phil's example in the book and I LOVED it. Phil took his laziness and lack of desire to make a change and WATCHED the pounds drop. I'm not saying this is for everyone, but with fat loss, there is something that makes everyone tick and turns a switch to produce better loss...for Phil, it took inactivity. He made a chart of his current and ideal weight and added his maximum and minimum-allowable weight for each day. He plugged in the numbers of his weight each day and watched where it hit on the chart. Miraculously, it followed his guidelines without him trying to make any changes! He decided that it was a subconscious thing; if he saw that he was close to the maximum-allowable line, he made decisions that day that guided him into loss. They must have been minute discrepancies, but it worked.
Just for fun, download the chart and type in the numbers for yourself: www.fourhourbody.com/phil. It's kind of fun :)
As I am reading this book, I have decided to take some of his ideas and put them in my own routine. I will be charting my own weight on the chart above and seeing if some change makes a difference. Like I said, doing everything he says is a lot. So, will making some effort to follow his guidelines help? What have you found to be helpful in reaching your goals?
On another note, take this quiz from SparkPeople to see if you can tell from these weight loss truths or myths! Have a Happy Friday!
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