Are you ready for 2013?  I know I sure am.  There are many people that I’ve talked to recently that have told me that 2012 was their hardest year yet, and in many ways, it was for me too.

The thing about starting a New Year is that if you think about it, for the most part, the only reason anything will be different for you this year is if you make a conscious decision to do things differently…to change.

But change is hard, especially without pain or a good plan.

Right about now, is the time when most people are giving serious thought to their New Years resolutions.  Are you?  What do you want to change this year?

I am going to ask you right now to NOT make a New Years Resolution to lose weight.  Why?  Because they rarely ever work.

That may sound weird coming from a fitness boot camp expert because you are probably expecting me to convince you why now is the time for you to fulfill your lifelong goal of finally succeeding at your New Years resolution to lose weight and why I am the ONLY logical answer to your problem.

But I’m not…and here’s why.  Instead, I want you to think about losing weight differently this year.  I’m not even going to make you an offer to join our boot camp because my entire goal in writing this blog post is to help you in losing the weight you want to this year.   To give you hope.   As a matter of fact, everything I do and teach in camp as far as exercise and nutrition go, you could go and do on your own.  You don’t even need me.  (That’s a risky statement coming from a fitness expert who makes his entire living delivering workouts and educating ladies on nutrition, but it really is the truth.)

Every year it seems like the weight-loss marketers promises are more and more fantastic!  I’m sure you’ve seen the ads, emails and commercials and you know exactly what I’m talking about.

But are they really? Will they really deliver the lasting change your looking for?

More importantly, you’re not just losing money in most of these weight loss scams, but they are also chipping away your hope and that’s what really makes me mad! Many women are ready to give up hope (or have given up already) because they’ve tried and tried without success and feel that’s just the way life is going to be.  This is a life of quiet desperation. It is a miserable trap and it doesn’t have to be that way!

Despite being almost a $1 billion year industry, up to 98% of all weight-loss attempts fail to achieve long-term results in the weight-loss industry. That means only 2% succeed!

So, whenever you hear these outrageous and often unbelievable claims of fast weight loss and all this exciting hype, buyer beware.

The number one target of these weight-loss marketers are women. These are mothers, wives, sisters, businesswomen, homemakers and women who have retired, who desperately want to find a permanent solution. They want something that will get them results,  something they can live with and dare I say enjoy?

So, let’s review the typical scenario:

  • There is an outrageous promise made.
  • Then you’re made to feel like you can’t fail.
  • You feel a rush of excitement and a glimmer of hope.
  • You purchase it.
  • You give 100% all-out effort.
  • You ARE committed.
  • Then you realize the plan wasn’t as easy as they promised and you now have all of these “rules”.
  • You don’t know how you’ll every be able to do this long-term, maybe not even enough to get to your first goal.
  • Wow — maybe I’m not cut out for this.
  • I feel like a failure.
  • Maybe I’m not meant to be thin.
  • I give up.

And then it’s like Groundhog Day all over again and you give up until you are very uncomfortable and then you do it again with the next shiny weight-loss offer that makes a big, big promise.

Does this sound familiar? Maybe not to you (wink wink) but maybe someone you know who has done this over and over and over again.

This hasn’t just happened to some of us. It’s happened to all of us!

I’ve been in the fitness industry now for about 14 years. I learned a lot over this time. Have tried almost everything. The above hype does not work.

I refused to do that! It is a lie! It’s a scam!

Have you ever failed to reach a goal because you felt overwhelmed. There’s too much information and too many things to do and you couldn’t keep track of where you are? Or maybe the diet was over restrictive and you just went crazy?

Instead of attempting a complete lifestyle overhaul, you may need to take one step at a time, focusing on one small objective or habit at a time.

So that’s why I am asking you to NOT make a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight.  It’s too broad…lacks a plan and it just plain doesn’t work.  Instead, focus on a few key habits that you can change that will move you closer and closer and closer to your goal.

In the book “The Power of Less” author Leo Babauta says the only way you’ll form long-lasting habits is by applying the power of less: Put all of your focus on one habit at a time.

I agree with Babauta. Here at Adventure Boot Camp for Women we have “The 10 Habits”. These are high leveraged habits. They are very simple but very powerful.

They will have a huge impact on not only your weight loss but also your performance and your health.

That’s why I use a technique in my boot camp when I coach my clients called “Habit-Based Coaching”.  How does this Habit-Based Coaching work?

There are 10 Key Habits that I believe are the key in creating lasting, weight loss success.  As I said before, you don’t need me to do this and I’m more than happy to get you started by sending you our Adherence Chart which lists out the 10 Habits and helps you to track your compliance in each area.  If you’d like a copy of the Adherence Chart with the “10 Habits” just send Melony (My Super Assistant Extraordinaire) an email to Support@BootCampRocks.com and she’ll email it to you!

You’ll start with the easiest habits first.  Each person is different so what’s easy for you, might be different for someone else.  Pick the easiest habit for you and build on your success from there.

Before you can move onto the next habit you need to have 90% compliance in establishing the previous habits. This is how permanent change is established.

This does a very very important thing, it helps you to focus on the present! It keeps us focused on the one or two things that we can do right now to ensure your success.

The past is behind us, and the future is too far away.

Have a question?

Just ask me! I will be your coach. And one thing you will learn about me is I LOVE WHAT I DO! And I really love “Action” questions. I don’t like “wondering or worrying questions”. They do not focus on the “now”. They focus way to far into the future.

If we take care of the small things (Developing our habits) the big things (Weight loss, health, performance) will take care of it’s self!

Sound good? That’s because it is good! Not only is it a “good way” for you to achieve long-term success it’s the only way!

So, now you know that outrageous claims of dramatic weight loss with overly restrictive diets and poorly designed exercise programs (too hard, too easy, too boring) is really just a fast track to Groundhog Day.

Ring in the New Year safely tonight and here’s to a rockin’ 2013!!!

My best,

Kevin Carrier