I’ll tell ya. I can people watch all day sometimes. Thankfully, in NYC, it’s very easy to do that. My favorite type to observe is the gym goer who insists on a smoothie for ‘energy’ before they exercise.

As soon as they’re done exercising 30 minutes later, they’re ’starving’! So, they get themselves a wrap.

Well, 60 minutes after the start of their exercise journey, 1000 calories has been consumed.

Let’s break it down: 30 minutes was used to eat and the other 30 to exercise. Interesting…

Trading 1 hour of our time in to exercise for 30 minutes so we can burn 200-350 calories only to consume 800-1000 calories isn’t worth it, at all.

Sure, it’s worth it if you want to feel good.

However, if you want to change the way you look –> this trade of time and calories for less time and more calories is not a good one.

If you’re exercising to change how you look it’s imperative to realize this.

You can run for 2 hours, be dripping in sweat, have burned 1200 calories, however, if you go grab a milkshake – you’ll have been better off not exercising in the first place.

THE reason why you see people in the gym over and over – looking the same again and again – is because they’re eating too much.

Are you exercising to change the way you feel or look?

No matter what, exercise will make us feel good! But if you’re exercising for weight loss make sure that you’re not the smoothie and wrap eating type or else you’re wasting your time.

By the way, did I mention the benefits of exercise?

Exercise is a key to happiness – which after all, is what it’s all about. Research shows that people who exercise are healthier, more energetic, think more clearly, sleep better, and have delayed onset of dementia. They also get relief from anxiety and mild depression, comparable to medication. And not surprisingly, exercisers also perform better at work.

Of course, there’s more to it than simply eating less – or else we’d all do it. Behavioral change is extremely hard, and if you don’t have any accountability, it’s almost impossible to make that happen. Consider MBT – we’ve helped 100’s of people throughout the US and world get the body they want via our proven methods and system.

The hardest word in the world to resist is…(drum roll, please) FREE!

We love free. We can’t get enough of it. Give someone a free piece of crap, and they’ll take it. Actually, they’ll wait on line for it!

Give someone free food and not only will they wait on line for it but they’ll get all their friends, and they’ll all wait in-line together!

Let’s explore why we have such a hard time resisting free food.

We’re hard-wired to like sweets. Give a baby something sweet and they’ll like it over something unsweetened.

Now give anyone a combo of sugar, fat and salt and that becomes irresistible. And I mean that in every sense of the word.

Our brain loses its ability to regulate itself when we eat a combo of sugar, fat and salt. As humans we’re programmed to focus on the most ‘rewarding’ stimuli – because back in the day we actually had to worry about surviving.

But the combo of sugar, fat and salt (pick anyone of your favorite unhealthy tasting foods and snacks) has a pull on us. It literally overrides our brain’s natural ability to regulate itself.

There in lies the true problem.

Give me a bowl of broccoli and I’ll feel full.

Give me a bowl of cookies and I can keep eating them and eating them and eating them and eating them and eating them and eating them and eating them and eating them and eating them and eating them and eating them (You think I’m kidding?) – no matter how much I already ate!

We lose our ability to feel full when we eat irresistible foods.

If you put a plate of cookies in front of me, it’s going to be very hard for me to focus on anything else.

Why?

Well our dopamine (chemicals that make us feel good) levels are rising in anticipation of the reward. We can’t stop thinking about it…or can we?

Our brain works like that, unfortunately.

Now without having to pay for it – which is an act that makes you stop and think, “Wait do I really want this?” we lose that precious time to choose.

There is nothing in our way. The floodgates are open!

So, besides me telling you the obvious to avoid situations where there is free food, we can fight back and have a game plan.

In fact, having a game plan is the most important strategy.

Most of the time we’re either going to a party, or a work event or some sort of planned function – that we can prepare for. The key is to mentally prepare for it.

1. For example, if you’re going to your friends house who makes the best chocolate chip cookies – decide before you go how many you will have – if you decide it’s really worth it. Mentally rehearsing what you’re going to do before you do it is a great strategy. Because when we mentally rehearse we’re thinking with our long term, rational mind.

When we’re tempted we’re thinking with our short term, irrational mind.

Whether it’s shooting a basketball and seeing the ball go in before you shoot, or envisioning what you’ll order and eat, they both help a lot.

2. Finally, do not teeter. Do not waver. If someone put a plate of cookies in front of you right now (for those unexpected times) choose immediately.

“No! I don’t want this. It’s not going to make me feel good. It won’t make me look better or feel better.”

“If I eat this now, I won’t feel good about myself later and tomorrow!”

But the second you start to entertain the idea, you’re going to lose. Never negotiate with yourself.

It can’t be a negotiation. It has to be a quick decision.

“Nope! Not for me!” “It’s not a part of my plan!” Next thought…

Imagine watching TV and a commercial comes on that’s tempting you in an uncomfortable way – what would you do?

Change the channel!

You can do the same. Think about something else. Talk about something else. Snap a rubber band on your wrist.

So today and this week remember: change that channel

P.S. I understand how just writing the word c-o-o-k-i-e can stimulate us. That’s why it’s important to think about something else. Anything else! It doesn’t matter. Change that channel. Here, how about you watch this video (safe for work). Next time someones puts food in front of us that’s tempting I think we should all laugh at it like this!

I’ve heard every excuse as to why a human being can’t exercise. Heck, I’ve used a bunch of them to rationalize my lack of working out too!

But when we make time to exercise, as opposed to finding time, it’s impossible to miss a workout. Because we made time.

I don’t care as to when you exercise. I care as to if you exercise.

However, some of us are apparently busier than the busiest people in the world because somehow we can’t – even though they make time to exercise each day.

So this inspiration is dedicated to those who need more time. Since we can’t create more time, we need to get more done with less time.

Sounds good right?

Did you ever hear of the zone or flow? The zone is often said when athletes are on fire. For example, it felt like Michael Jordan was often in the zone. He wouldn’t miss a shot for a span of 10 minutes.

When we’re not thinking about anything else in the moment but the task at hand we’re in the zone.

Chances are:

-You have a lot of goals/tasks/to-do’s floating around your head that need to get done
-You never know if you performed (i.e., you won or lost)
-You have the tomorrow disease. “If I don’t do it today, I can always do it tomorrow!”

Performing at our peak takes getting into the zone or flow — with one distinct, clear goal that lets us know if we succeeded.

Here’s how we know if we succeeded or not —>

-If I accomplish X in Y minutes/hours, I win!

-If I don’t accomplish X in Y minutes/hours, I lose!

Psychologically giving our selves a win/lose scenario gets us going and performing!

The losses also give us feedback on what we can do to win in future scenarios. (i.e., not check email every 5 seconds, stop visiting Facebook, not reading xyz blog until we finish the task at hand, etc.)

So the question is how do we get into the zone in our every day life?

-Choose something you want to get done or start getting done in the next 5 minutes. (It can be as simple as cleaning the kitchen floor.)

-Set a timer

-GO!

You = in the zone!

Use the above model to tackle all sorts of stuff/goals/tasks/projects

We all love games! Make it a game. Keep track of your win/loss record.

And you’ll be performing ridiculously more.

Or, you can just perform the same amount you currently do, and have a lot more time…

time for…exercise!

Of course, a lot of our stress comes from the gazillion things we need/want to get done. If we can get more done, we’ll be less stressed and be less likely to emotionally eat.

Try it.

On your marks.

Get set…

Go!

I hope you acted like the person you really want to be yesterday. If not, that’s okay. That’s what today is for.

Baseball is in full swing and pretty soon the World Series will be here.

Speaking of baseball Jason Werth hit a two-run, walk off home run in the bottom of the 9th to give the Philadelphia Phillies a 7-6 win over the Washington Nationals yesterday.

Of course, in a 7 to 6 baseball game like yesterday you don’t win by a home run. You win because before the home run, you scored five runs. And you win because before the two-run home run, you limited the other side to six runs. The home run was merely the last event.

Winning by a walk off home run is equivalent to seeing that man or woman at work talking about how they lost 35 pounds.

The last event has a huge impact for people.

But what I want you to realize is that although there’s more glory near the end of the game, there’s way more leverage at the beginning of it.

If you’re doing the right things in the first place (and we certainly are) *consistently* we’ll get that home run at the end!

But what so many people forget to realize is that there is no such thing as an overnight success.

It’s just that the glory is near the end of the game.

Losing weight is never about a hammer hitting plate glass. It’s never about winning by a walk off home run.

You have no idea what those people do to lose weight. I can assure you though that seeing them at work talking about their success is the last event.

Losing weight is almost always about the accrued power of a thousand meals, meals that accrue, morsel by morsel until your body is ready to change, starting a downward trend.

Hockey legend, Wayne Gretzky said, “100% of the shots you don’t take don’t go in.”

In other words, you gotta take the shots but even before you can take the shots – you gotta get in the game.

In other, other words: every healthy meal, every healthy choice, every sacrifice, every compromise – puts us in the position so we can actually win by a home run!

As I say, your body never lies. I’ll also say this:

Life is like walking through snow, every step shows.

Batter up!