If you’ve been trying to lose weight, but you’ve found yourself pushing the “reset” button over and over again, you may be wondering when is it time to throw in the towel and just accept things the way they are?  Or maybe, you’ve already thrown in the towel?  If so, then this blog post is definitely for you.

You already know the benefits of being lean:  You’re more confident.  You’re healthy.  You live longer.  You have more independence.  And, dare I say it, you feel sexy!

But what if you’ve tried and tried, but you just can’t seem to make it happen?

It is depressing!

If you try and fail repeatedly at something it starts to chip away at hope. Without hope, you stop trying. You start to get “The Flea Mentality”.

So, what is “The Flea Mentality”?

As you know, fleas have an amazing ability to jump.  It is really quite incredible.  But if you get a flea and put it in a jar and put a lid on it, at first the flea will jump and jump and put forth great effort to get free. But after a while the flea stops jumping.  At that point, you can take the lid off.  Although the flea could jump out at any time now that the lid is off, the flea won’t even attempt to escape. As a matter of fact, the flea will starve to death inside the prison of the  jar with the lid off and freedom very much within the flea’s reach.

So, what I want you to do is to think of this flea the next time you feel like giving up on your weight loss goals.   Don’t ever stop trying to free yourself from the jar.  Freedom from being overweight really is within your reach, whether or not you realize or believe it right now.

Here are the 3 main pieces to the weight loss puzzle – they are the “magic bullets” that everyone is searching for.   I realize that these particular magic bullets are not “sexy” and they don’t promise outrageous claims like “lose 30 lbs in 30 days”, but they work and they’re sustainable for life:

Nutritional Control –This essential principle will account for approximately 70% of your success so it’s extremely important.  The nutritional plan you choose should do three things  a) Improve Body Composition  b) Improve Health  c) Improve Performance.  My recommendation is to find a plan where you don’t take away things or deprive yourself of certain foods…you add supportive nutritional habits and you experience positive dietary displacement.   Putting the priority on getting the good stuff in first (like a lean protein and veggies) will have an amazing impact on the nutritional choices you make after that.  (And remember, you don’t have to be perfect.  Check out one of my previous posts if you think you have to have the perfect diet to succeed.)

Increase General Activity – When someone takes less than 5,000 steps a day they are considered “sedentary”.  They have a much higher likelihood of early death than someone who takes at least 10,000 step a day.  The key here is to find ways to add non-formal exercise to your day.  Like park further away.  Take the stairs instead of the elevator.  Do your own housework.  This increases the daily caloric expenditure which is a big deal over time.

Purposeful Exercise – Finally, not just exercise but “Purposeful Exercise”.   The best type of exercise to help one lose body fat is resistance training. Yes, even for women! The next most effective type of exercise is interval training. And then, if you have time, traditional steady state cardio.

I know you really don’t want to be like the flea and give up.  And, now you have a compass. You know how to point your efforts. You have a map based in science and not marketing hype with outrageous claims.

I know sometimes it is hard to gather your strength together and try again.  So before I go, I’d like to leave you with one last thought:

I know you can do this and I know you can be free.

If you need some help I would love to be your coach.

John