My Body Tutor : No More Excuses

Just like bodies in motion stay in motion, when we get into a rut, it becomes easier to stay in a rut.

When we fall into the habit of overeating or eating junk when we’re stressed, it gets easier to repeat that behavior.

One episode of late night emotional eating can lead to a whole week of late night emotional eating.

When our brain is under stress there is a vicious cycle that gets created. In a study of chronically stressed rats the brains atrophied in the areas of decision making, while becoming overly developed in the area of habit formation.

Scientists note that behaviors can stick more quickly in stressed animals than in the controls, and worse, the stressed animals can’t shift back to long term thinking, rational behaviors when that would, of course, be the better approach. <— A.K.A. a vicious cycle.

This might explain why when we’re under stress we abandon all that we know – and all that we consciously want to do, and fall back into old habits.

Scientists note that we’re lousy at recognizing when our normal coping mechanisms aren’t working.

Our response is usually to do it five times more, instead of thinking, maybe it’s time to try something new. <— A.K.A. the definition of insanity –> Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.

So, even though eating junk doesn’t really help us feel better, we can’t stop ourselves from continuing to do it. Why? Because we’re used to doing that when we’re stressed. It’s simply how our brains are wired to act when we’re under stress.

Although stress is a huge killer, it’s also necessary for us to survive.

Fortunately, we no longer stress about what our ancestors did.

Our bodies have the most complex systems on Earth.

What’s the benefit of our brain being prone to habit formation anyway?

Perhaps to help shift as many behaviors as possible over to automatic pilot so we can better focus on the crisis at hand.

And even if the crisis at hand is our boss yelling at us or our kids being disrespectful – if we feel stressed, we’re stressed. Perception IS reality!

What do we do???

Besides, taking a vacation and changing up our routine for a bit which can rewire our brain there is also a big opportunity for us to change…

IF we plan ahead what we’ll do before we’re stressed.

If we do that, it’ll increase the likelihood that we’ll actually start doing it when we’re stressed. Lucky for us our new behaviors will become a habit more quickly as well!

Our biggest opportunities for growth are always when we’re most uncomfortable.

Here are 5 ideas for you to use next time you’re stressed:

1. Listen to music.

2. Gather a few favorite emails and read them when you’re stressed. Be sure to save them all in one place so they’re easy to get to.

3. Get up. Take a big deep breath and go for a 10 minute walk.

4. Read a juicy gossip blog that might make you feel otherwise guilty for doing so. (We’ll feel way less guilty reading than eating!)

5. Call your favorite person.

Pick one and try it next time you feel stressed.

Though it might be feel uncomfortable at first (doing anything different, especially when we’re stressed WILL feel uncomfortable), if we focus on just doing it the very next time we’re stressed, it’ll be a tad easier to do it again.

If we look at each stressful situation as an opportunity to create new habits (and it is), it makes it less daunting.

And if you don’t like the ideas above (totally fine by me) it’s worth thinking of other ways you can calm yourself down. The key, of course, is to think about what we’re going to do…before we get stressed.

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It’s so easy to just say, “Eat less!” The critical and often neglected part of losing weight is the mental aspect of it. The psychology of weight loss.

Most “experts” ignore it because it’s way easier to just write articles with top ten lists telling us what foods to eat and what foods to avoid. C’mon now. We’re better than that!

For the most part, we all know what to do! It’s about actually doing it day in and day out. That’s the hard part! There are reasons why we can’t stick with it, though. MyBodyTutor will help you understand those reasons to ensure you stay consistent which guarantees YOU results.

There’s a story about a guy who attends a weight loss seminar, and complains to the keynote speaker that, despite trying everything, he can’t lose weight.

“You’ve tried everything?” asks the speaker.

“Everything,” the guy replies.

“What were the last hundred things you tried?” asks the speaker.

“Well,” the guy admits, “I haven’t actually tried a hundred things.”

“Then what were the last twenty-five things you did?” asks the speaker.

“I haven’t tried twenty-five things, really, either,” the guy responds.

“So how many things have you actually tried?” asks the speaker.

“Well,” says the guy, sheepishly, “maybe five or six.”

When Greg first signed up, he told me he had tried everything and nothing worked. Naturally that excited me. It’s always fun to see if MBT is as effective as I believe/know it is.

What happened?

After a week of working with him he wanted to quit! And remember before Greg started, he had told me that no matter what he’s done in the past, he couldn’t lose weight?

I was astonished.

You know why?

In our first week together, we LOST 3 pounds!

This is truly fascinating to me…

But this is all part of human behavior. This is what keeps me so interested in this game.

I love exploring the psychological reasons behind our actions. After all, it’s ALL psychological.

Let’s talk about cognitive dissonance. This happens when we have two conflicting desires. For example, smoking. It is well known that smoking cigarettes can cause lung cancer yet every person I’ve ever met wants to live a long, healthy and fit life.

The uncomfortable tension caused by these two opposing ideas is known as dissonance. As humans, we look to get rid of this uncomfortable feeling. This is known as dissonance reduction.

The only way to get rid of this uncomfortable feeling is by a) quitting smoking b) denying that people actually get sick from smoking or c) justifying and rationalizing.

For example, a smoker could rationalize their behavior by believing that few people get sick from smoking, it only happens to people who smoke more than they do, if smoking doesn’t kill them something else will, they’ll quit next year or they only live once and they deserve to smoke.

In essence, they either need to take action (quit smoking and get whatever help they need <—- this is very hard!) or they need to make themselves feel better by rationalizing their smoking – which is what most people do (<—this is much easier and that’s why most people do it).

Knowing this, let’s talk about why Greg who has “tried everything” to lose weight, and finally did with MBT, wants to quit the program.

I’ll tell you why:

F.E.A.R.

It comes down to either fear of change, fear of failure or fear of success.

Everything he says boils down to fear.

There’s an old saying that I love:

“The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”

In this case because Greg actually succeeded, he realized he was going to have to change for the long term. And unfortunately, real change is uncomfortable.

He got scared.

Because deep down, Greg wasn’t ready to really change. He didn’t think MBT would actually work. So he wasn’t prepared to let go of emotional eating.

In his mind, he needs to emotionally eat and he can’t imagine life without doing so.

His success made him fear the change.

So now, Greg is coming up with all sorts of excuses because he really doesn’t want to change. His main excuse is that it takes too much effort to submit a feedback every night.

Interesting.

Because he wants to change – but sorta doesn’t want to change – that’s causing a lot of dissonance or tension or discomfort (whatever you want to call it).

He has to get rid of that discomfort somehow…so he’ll find anything and latch on to it so he can ease the tension.

(Ahhh yes…submitting a feedback is a pain in the butt and it takes effort. Yes!!! Whew. Now I can rationalize my excuse – and not feel as bad and quit the program so I don’t have to change…because I’m really scared to change.)

The real problem ISN’T that it takes effort to submit a feedback. We make time for what’s important to us.

The real problem is that he doesn’t want to actually change. He rather just talk about changing. (We’ll work on this.)

Instead of criticizing or shaming him like so many people out there would do (because it’s the obvious and easy thing to do), it’s far more effective to help him understand his own behavior. (Shaming or criticizing never leads to long lasting change.)

Fighting human nature is silly.

Instead, when we understand what’s going on around us, it makes it a lot easier to call it what it is and move on.

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Let’s face it. It were easy to change, people would do it.

It’s the daily and personal accountability, support, coaching, and guidance combined with our proven program and system that helps the change occur.

Got a question about the MBT program? Feel free to message me.  I read and reply to every email. I live for your success!

Maybe it’s my fault.

Maybe I led you to believe it was easy when it wasn’t.

Maybe I made you think my body was already like that, and I didn’t build it in the kitchen and gym meal by meal, workout by workout, day by day.

Maybe I made you think that every day I live is easy – without any temptations.

That my body was built because I’m unemotional.

Maybe it’s my fault that you didn’t see that failure gave me strength.

That my pain, was my motivation.

Maybe I led you to believe that my body was a God given gift, and not something I worked for, every single day of my life.

Maybe I destroyed the game of getting healthy and fit.

Or maybe…you’re just making excuses.

This video (safe for work) inspired this post 100%.

I wonder if it inspires you as much as it does for me?

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You know MyBodyTutor is a 100% money back guaranteed, right?

Why? Because I know our program works. And if doesn’t work for you, simply ask for your money back. It’s as simple as that. You have nothing to lose!

He had a dream…

But so do you. So do ALL of us!

Here’s one of my favorite quotes:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

Ohh, this hits me. It hits me real hard!

I’ll tell ya, it’s easier to sit on the couch and watch life on TV as opposed to actually living life. It’s much easier to remain the way we are, and hope and wish.

Why? Well, if we hope and wish, we don’t have to face any rejection or failure or discomfort.

We can just hope and wish!

Sure, that’s fun.

But it gets old fairly quickly.

The problem is, after a while, even the most non self-reflective person, will see through their own bull secretion. And that hurts.

BECAUSE when there is a disconnect between our desires and our actions, unhappiness ensues.

Deep down we all have a story. We all have desires. We all have wants.

We all have dreams.

And that’s my question to you:  What is your dream [fname]?

Sit with it for a few minutes. Sit with it for a few hours, if need be.

I’ll ask you again though.

What is your dream?

And, if we’re brutally honest with ourselves, we’re either working towards our dreams, or maybe, we’re burying our dreams…

Actually, here’s the question I REALLY want you to ask yourself:  What do I get to avoid in my life by carrying this extra weight?

Questions are powerful. The right questions can change the way you think, see and react to things for the rest of your life. Questions can change your perspective. Seeing things in a different light IS what a breakthrough is.

So, I’ll ask you one more time…what do YOU get to avoid in your life by carrying the extra weight?

Talk to me.

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You know what hell would be? Seeing what we could have accomplished if only we had put forth the effort. BUT consistent effort is very hard to maintain. That is why having a system of daily accountability, support and a way to monitor and track your progress is critical.

Ready to get your dream body? I’d love to help you! Learn more by cl-cl-cl-clicking right here.

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Who won?! First off, the word was tangled. Every now and then I like to offer prizes in my emails because it’s fun. It’s fun for you and me. This was by far the biggest response I’ve ever gotten. Emails were coming in rapidly for hours after I sent the email. I even got a few emails this morning!

Anyway, the winner is…. drum roll please…. Melisa W. from North Carolina. You know who you are. She replied back almost instantly. Melisa won a brand new…shiny $50 gift card to iTunes. Thanks for playing!