Two New Rules to Help You Finally Get Over the Weight Loss Hump

No one who succeeds with any diet and exercise program does so through will power, discipline, and plain old fashioned grit. That just isn’t reality. People succeed because it’s easy for them. Their bodies are structured to succeed, to easily proceed with diet and exercise programs. They succeed because they start at a catching point, instead of in no man’s land, where most of you live (no offense). All you have to do to reverse your trend with diet and exercise is get to the catching point first.

Each morning, I wake up early before my cases begin, and I work on this blog. My friend Jon presses snooze 4-5 times every morning and can barely get to work within 30 minutes of his start time. Jon and I are structured differently. I don’t feel like I can’t wake up. In fact, I wake up automatically before any alarm goes off because of the way I am built. I literally have no idea what Jon feels like in the morning because my brain and organs aren’t structured like his so I don’t feel what he feels. As a result, I may be tempted to say, “I wake up early because God has made me a supreme human being with will power, determination, and guts to succeed. I choose to work hard and resist the urge to sleep because I am strong.” Sure that would make me feel good, but really – I just wake up.

So the same applies to dieting and fitness. I know the smiley in-shape people love to tell themselves (and everyone else who will listen) that they have been successful because they possess will power, strength, focus, and so on and on, but the truth is that they don’t resist the urge to eat or be lazy any more than I resist the urge to sleep in. Honestly, are we to believe that these people who go to the gym 6 times/week, drink smoothies, tan, surf, and smile feel miserable? They do not, because at some point in their lives they got over the hump, and now it’s fun. The point of The Catching Point Transformation Program, actually, is to show you how to adjust your body so that diet and exercise will be as effortless for you as waking up early is for me. Here are two tips to help you get to that trans-formative point.

Don’t start over

Imagine that you are a collector of rare coins, and you hope to one day have a collection of all of a certain series of coins. They are hard to come by so you can’t just walk into a store and buy the whole set. What you would do, then, is always keep the idea of your collection in the back of your mind – and collect coins “in chunks” as the opportunities presented themselves. For example, if you had a vacation, you might take a day to travel to a certain location that is known to have coins of your type and buy a few. Conversely, if you had two busy days at work you wouldn’t worry about the coins, but you would keep the coins you have collected in a safe place, and continue to add to them. You would not say, “Well, I had two busy days at work and I couldn’t add to my coin collection, so I’m going to throw all my coins out and start over.” You would add to your collection in chunks, as your life allowed. Same thing here.

Invoke the “do nothing” clause

People who succeed at anything take a few lumps, have a few down days, take a few days off, and then they keep going. To be clear, though – I’m not saying push through it. I’m saying come back where you left off. This is where the “do nothing” clause comes in to play. Each time you start to feel that darkness creep in, vow to do nothing for 24 hours. Don’t make any decisions one way or the other, don’t workout, don’t recover, and don’t even think about your fitness program. Just literally stop in your tracks and do nothing. After 24 hours return to the program and decide what you want to do.

Remember, we are all human beings with the same anatomy and physiology. We are all capable of accomplishing our fitness goals. As has been so famously said, “Pursue progress, not perfection.”