Playing the long game

6 weeks to your best body yet. Summer fit in one month.

Ever seen these marketing ploys?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Within the fitness industry, they’re rampant these days and to be quite honest, they’re probably not going anywhere anytime soon.

Without going too in depth as to why they exist, it’s pretty easy to see why they’re successful. Think about it— for years you’ve been trying to get that dream body, those six-pack abs, tighter butt, stomach etc, and then you hear that someone can do it in just six weeks not to mention the so-called transformations they have on their website that says it’s attainable?

WHERE DO I SIGN OVER MY BANKING INFO!

Don’t worry, I’ve fallen prey to these marketing tactics as well. It’s why I bought magazine after magazine of Men’s Health looking for that quick summer body with a tagline similar to “lean abs yesterday.”

The hard reality though is that these transformations need to happen in a lot longer terms than just six weeks. It probably takes more than 12 weeks. If you want it to last, for the rest of your life, this is just the reality!

My mentor Jason Phillips puts it eloquently by saying that, “you didn’t get yourself into this mess overnight so you can’t expect to get out of it overnight either.”

For me, it’s taken the better part of two years. These photos aren’t months apart, they’re two years of hard work, counting macronutrients with hills and valley, successes and yes, failures.

This isn’t to say that your desired transformation is going to require two years, a year or more to actualize but it is a suggestion that you play with the long-game in mind rather than the short game. The United States has one of the best track records when it comes to losing weight. It’s not hard. People understand this, so why do they have one of the highest obesity rates if not the highest in the world?

Because they are constantly jumping on and off the “dieting” merry-go-round. People looking for quick changes go on a short-term diet, create success for themselves and then instantly return to their previous lifestyles and they are back at square one only months later or worse.

It’s why I don’t recommend diets like the ketogenic diet unless you’re willing to eat that way as a lifestyle approach.

At the end of the day, if I told you I could drop 20 pounds off of you in six weeks but that you would have gained it all back and maybe more in 12 weeks, would you hire me as your nutrition coach?

I hope not.

What about if I told you we could drop 20 pounds off of you in three months but worked together after to ensure you were able to increase your food without gaining unwanted body fat?

Now we’re talking.

Dieting and nutrition, whatever you want to call it, is a long game not a short game. We’re after a lifestyle transformation, that just might happen to give us a physical transformation. It won’t be fast, it won’t happen overnight, but it will be sustainable.

It will give you a true version of yourself.