New Year Weight Loss here we go! It’s January and they’re at it once more.

The magazines are churning out the same old articles rewritten for 2020, the supplement companies are in full force with detox plans and the fitness industry is coming up with offers for you to join their shiny gyms packed with facilities and lots of classes to attend. It’s the same every year. The same. Nothing changes. In fact, sorry I’m incorrect. This year we have Veganuary (Oh Lord! Spellcheck didn’t even correct that!) Well at least that means I don’t have to go into an explanation as it must be mainstream.

I searched for detox and weight loss tips and found 26 tips to help us but I’ll wager nothing I read is anything you don’t already know. Here are a few examples…

• Drink more water
• Eat more vegetables
• Cut back on sugar
• Cut back on carbs
• Exercise more
• Walk 10,000 steps every day

I could go on and on but there won’t be one thing I list that you don’t already know and it is lists like these that make people like me (if I choose to promote their worth) look like idiots. What do you want to pay a trainer or coach for help for? It’s all common sense stuff and all you need to do is have the willpower to stick to it right?

So why do you always fail?

Or why do you never ‘maintain’ the initial weight loss you initially achieve?

There is nothing that makes me happier than when I sit with a potential new client and they tell me they are thinking about their long term health; that they are willing to invest time and effort in order to achieve a life that is full of energy, confidence, strength, fitness and happiness. A life that is pain free without medication and an expectancy to reach a minimum age of 100 years old! That’s when I know I’m sat with someone who’s got a chance, someone who might actually achieve a six-pack without even chasing one!

Over recent years I’ve come to despise the current approach to Weight Loss & Fitness. It is a shambles and a con and it largely delivers no return for the little work you are expected to put in. We see many phrases designed to entice us like…

• Drop a Dress Size in 4 weeks
• 6 Week Body Transformation
• Rock Hard Abs Whilst Still Enjoying Takeaways
• A Six Pack for just 20 Minutes per Day
• Big Biceps in a Month

Yes you may achieve some of the above if you stick rigidly to the instructions set out in the detailed plans but I can tell you now 100% that the day the programme finishes you will be sliding back to your old self faster than you can order a Pizza Hut delivery lying on your settee watching reality tv. Unless you are a movie star or athlete needing to make weight for a film or competition those plans are of no use to you.

Why? Because you want LONG TERM results. Movie stars and athletes look 100% great for a short period of time but you want to look 70-80% great ALL of the time yes?

All of these plans are a farce that are focused on short term misery and deprivation which asks nothing of you to challenge your inner self or purpose in this world.

None of these plans ask you to question the life that got you to the state you are in before you started. None of them are interested in where you see yourself in ten years time and none of them educate you about your physical and mental health. And if that sounds a bit spiritual then you’d better get used to it because I tell you now, you won’t achieve anything from your effort unless you are prepared to work on self development too!

I tell you something else about these quick fix fitness programmes; they’re easy! Yes, easy! Getting up at 6am to go for a run or hit the gym followed by a scam powder juice that tastes like garbage, a salad for lunch, followed by a low fat, low carb, low whatever ‘sensible’ meal in the evening and finally another scam powder juice that tastes like garbage before bed six days a week for six weeks is easy! EASY! Anyone can muster up the willpower to stick to this scheme for 1-3 months because there is an end date, and it is on that end date you are set free! Free to do all the things you used to do and because you know you have achieved it once, well you can achieve it again. Tell me something though – just how easy is it to achieve again? If you don’t know yourself then it’s not difficult to find somebody who has lost a ton of weight but regained it all and more within five years.

Personal trainers who showcase their success stories are ten a penny but the job they have often done, any old monkey could do. Instructions to jump up ‘n’ down followed by burpees, press ups and god knows what else followed by instructions to have a Dry January is the easy stuff. Get any of those trainers (if they have even been in the industry long enough) to show you their success stories after five years and it is likely to be a worse picture than the one that initially came to visit them. I am very confident in saying that.

LONG TERM WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESSES ARE AS RARE AS UNICORN FARTS.

You know what’s not easy? What is difficult? Facing up to the fact you need to make some wholescale changes to your life that are permanent.

Facing up to the realisation that you need to look at the bigger picture and your lifestyle. We all know those standard fat loss tips and every one of them is correct but we have to study WHY we don’t stick to them. It is not a case of willpower. Willpower is a very interesting topic if you study it and the most significant point I’ll make about willpower is that it is not an infinite resource. For example, if it’s taken you all your willpower to get to the gym four days this week, you probably will run out of willpower to stop drinking wine every night or whatever else it is that is your weakness.

Just like strength in the gym which doesn’t last all day – neither does willpower!

What is challenging is facing up to the real issues centred around why you are failing to adhere to the 26 weight loss tips which might be…

• Exercise 3-5 per week, EVERY week for the next 50 years.
• Vastly reduce alcohol consumption for the rest of your life.
• Vastly reduce sugar consumption for the rest of your life.
• Stop watching so much television and scrolling social media.
• Get to bed by 10pm every night.
• Read books that will help you develop all areas of your life.
• Visit a counsellor to work on those issues you know are unresolved.
• Get rid of your loser friends.
• Meet new people to expand your circle socially and professionally.
• Quit your job that you hate.
• Start the business you’ve always wanted to.
• End the toxic relationship you are in.
• Forgive those you still carry hatred for.

That’s the challenging stuff! Facing up to that lot is what will give you a fighting chance of achieving a six pack that’s here to stay. That’s the stuff ‘they’ don’t tell you about because that’s uncomfortable to hear. Best to do the things that let you pretend you are making a difference like going to Weight Watchers or joining a soulless corporate gym for £15.99 a month, then when you fail you can lay the blame on their advice or your lack of willpower. But, I’m afraid…

IT’S ALL DOWN TO YOU! YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO YOU…

and if deep down you know that you are only going to achieve long term success by addressing those issues, then addressing those issues you must!