Author: jleenaarts

A couple of years ago, I was reading a post from a fellow coach (whose name eludes me at the moment) and they were talking about how to address and compliment their fat loss clients. 

There was a leaning towards the belief that they would no longer congratulate their clients for fat loss success. 

I’ve tried my best to understand and appreciate where that belief comes from. 

Here are some factors to note: 

Not everyone loses fat in “healthy” ways (they could be struggling with disordered eating behaviors)

Not everyone loses fat intentionally (they could be ill)

Not everyone who loses fat is comfortable being recognized or congratulated for doing so. 

Some people may comment: “You look great!” when they see that someone has lost weight which can imply that they didn’t look great when they weighed more.

Sometimes fat loss occurs because someone has been shamed into it 

Over the years, I’ve tried to accept and understand my own place in this conversation. I’ve always been a fat loss coach and I know more about fat loss now than I did sixteen years ago when I first got certified. 

Perhaps it’s that increased knowledge that allows me to step back and ask: Am I making this client better or worse by helping them lose fat? 

In consideration of that, there are changes I’ve been leaning towards over the last few years:

I’ll no longer tell a client they “look great” when they’re successful with fat loss. I may tell them they look strong or they look happy or they look confident (or all three) because I want them to feel and embody those attributes regardless of what the scale says.

I’ll no longer post before and after transformation pictures. I’ve not done this often in my career but I would rather acknowledge someone’s efforts with the recognition that they’ve lost “X” amount without a concentrated focus on their actual physique. If a client of mine would like to post before and afters on their own, I’m perfectly okay with that because it’s a decision they’re comfortable with respective of their place in the conversation and how they want the world to see their efforts.

I’ll never assume a person in a large(r) body is coming to me for fat loss. Some clients come to me having already worked through disordered eating practices. Many of them need to focus on how their body can get stronger before ever considering being in a smaller body. This is one of the many positives of strength training: focus on what your body is capable of now rather than resenting it for what it’s not.

I’ll continue to be mindful of what demographic digests my content. I essentially have two different types of fat loss clients who come to work with me. The type that has no history of disordered eating behaviors and the type who does have that history. Different tools and approaches have different outcomes and assumed risks depending on that individual. I’ll remain mindful and upfront that if I think an approach has a greater risk of lapse or relapse that my audience is aware of it.

I will never stop educating myself on more tools and perspectives. I’ll never know as much as I want to know to service all of my clients in the most comprehensive and effective way. Learning what I can not just as it pertains to larger or smaller bodies but BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ individuals also provides me more depth, insight and nuance to how I can help beyond what I know about nutrition.

Ultimately, it’s an open door conversation that the client takes the lead on. I can’t be the best coach I can be without knowing how they want me to approach dialogue about their bodies.

I do feel that much like you would applaud someone who has put forth diligent effort on a work project, when someone elects to put the work into themselves, some degree of recognition may be what helps them keep going.

I congratulate momentum.

I congratulate small wins.

I congratulate non-scale victories.

I congratulate mindfulness and awareness.

We’re all finding ways to improve who we are and what we are and our place in this world.

The conversations we have about our bodies are personal, sensitive, and always changing.

A special thank you to all of my clients who give me the space to grow as their coach.

(Photo courtesy of AllGo)

Last week, I had a lot of things to do.

It was a week where a holiday (New Year’s Day) was on a Monday which left us with 4 days of the work week left (not including a short shift we have on Saturdays).

Each day, I would tell myself what needed to be done and I normally am pretty good at being productive.

But what I found was that I was wasting a lot of time.

I’d get on Facebook or Instagram or YouTube and just vanish down the vortex and lose track of time.

I know I have a tendency to do this but sometimes it’s difficult to catch myself.

As I looked towards this week, I brought back a tip I had used in the past to remind myself that other tasks take priority over social media scrolling.

So, I blocked off the time in each day where I knew I’d be on our training floor, as I knew that certain tasks couldn’t be accomplished during that time.

I forecasted ahead which days I would be exercising and blocked off an hour for those days.

Then, I picked the days and times that would be used exclusively for studying (I’m taking an exam in the Spring that I need to be ready for).

I know that each day has the potential to throw me a curveball, but just like setting a doctor’s appointment in the future, if the activity is blocked off, I know what I’m responsible for doing during that time.

Then, I can give myself a breathing window, if I need it. If I find myself drawn to hop on social media, I just have to remind myself, THIS is when I train, THIS is when I study. Social media can wait, it just won’t be done during those times.

I know that my schedule looks different than yours but I also know that what we don’t prioritize for ourselves will get prioritized by someone else. I can’t control everything but I can control some things.

So, follow my lead if you need it, schedule your workouts, schedule your self-care times, schedule your reading/studying, schedule your pedicure/manicure, get it in stone.

It’s not a fool proof plan to keep you from backing out, but it’s better than leaving your day to chance.

(Photo courtesy of Jessica Lewis)

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been in heavy marketing mode for “Fat Loss Simplified”, and the group began on January 1. 

I’ll spend the next 8 weeks providing as much information and value as I can to those members in efforts to help them unlock, crack or “hack” their individual codes to fat loss. 

One thing I’ve been consistent about is that there is nothing sexy about the work that needs to be done. 

It’s difficult. Especially if you want it to work. 

Think of it like relationship/marriage counseling. You know something is amiss and now it’s up to you to fix it. You don’t just show up and expect everything to be fine. The challenge, of course, is that the relationship is the one you have with yourself (well, mostly). 

So, I’m going to go against the grain of what you’ll see a lot of posts claiming to offer. You know, that “new year, new you” crowd. 

Because it might be a new year, but if you’re not careful the same old you is going to stampede and stumble all the way across it. 

Hi, I’m Jason, professional stumbler. I’ll be your guide on this trip. Strap in. 

I’m going to side step the food challenges, detoxes, kickstarts, and resets and just ask you a question: Are you happy? 

I don’t care what you weigh.

I don’t care what you eat.

I don’t care if you plunge in cold baths, or you drink lemon water with cayenne pepper to flush out your toxins from the last 30 days of diet debauchery. 

Are you happy? 

Do you get to the end of your day and pause to think: I feel really fulfilled right now. My life isn’t perfect but I’m grateful, I’m happy, I’m content, I’m GOOD. 

Because if you’re not saying that, then what are you doing to change that? 

Exceptions to be given to those of you who are taking care of someone who may not be in this world much longer, or maybe you’re grieving the recent loss of a loved one, or maybe you just lost your job or a long term relationship just ended. 

Those traumatic experiences aside: are you happy? 

What I’m not insinuating is an aloof, oblivious take on life. I’m not asking you to do somersaults and cartwheels through every occasion (it would be entertaining, though).

You can be both happy with life and itching to improve it.

You can be happy with life and striving for better within that life.

You can be happy with life and still hold yourself accountable towards protecting and maintaining that feeling.

Happiness isn’t about capturing perfection.

It’s about the comfort in knowing that you have gifts which surround you of love, and health, and friendship and opportunity. Some people have little of those privileges.

My hope for you, is that in 2024 you acknowledge, accept and embrace happiness in your life.

I hope it sets a fire under you in the mornings to make you ache for more and to take those closest to you on that journey with you.

Hardships will come, struggle is inevitable, and some days you’ll have to work at it more than others.

I believe, those are the situations that make you appreciate happiness more.

So, thank you, to all of you readers who were along for the ride in 2023. Let’s see what 2024 has to offer.

(Photo courtesy of Allison Ewing Photography)

Earlier this year, I was inspired to create a group coaching program. I took that inspiration from a course I was taking on social media content and saw the way that a short-term group could have themed modules on different aspects of a given topic.

I spoke to a friend and fellow coach about his group coaching program knowing that he had been running one successfully for a few years now and it helped me shape my thoughts about how to make one of my own.

I ran a soft launch from mid-October to mid-December this year and I was very pleased with how it turned out. I knew that in consideration of U.S. holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, fat loss success could be challenging during this time of year.

I took two approaches to that:

1-If the tools provided in the group could help people lose fat during this time of year then they could work at any time of the year.

2-Even if someone weren’t in place to put the tools in motion during this time, they could revisit the modules at a later date when life wasn’t so stressful.

The soft launch gave me the feedback I needed to make the launch official for January 1, 2024. Coincidentally, that falls on a Monday which makes me laugh a bit because “everyone wants to change on Monday” and “everyone wants to change in January”.

So, I wanted to pull back the curtain on what you can expect from the group for those who have an interest in joining.

Each week, we have a Zoom call running roughly an hour in length covering a new module. If members can’t make the call, they will be recorded and uploaded to watch later on. All members have lifetime access to the private Facebook group so they can get the content as needed.

There are weekly check-ins where I can monitor and provide feedback based on the member’s goals and the group is there to provide support and encouragement along the way.

The modules break down like this:

Week One: Mindset

Week Two: Tracking Options

Week Three: Macros & Deficits

Week Four: Exercise

Week Five: Support Systems & Food Environment

Week Six: Stress Management & Sleep Hygiene

Week Seven: Supplements, Hydration, & WWJD (What Would Jason Do?)

Week Eight: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, & Wrap-Up

One thing I have to impress is that it does require work. Yes, you can probably just “show up” for the calls and find value in the program but if you want to not only change but have those changes stick, then the course requires you to put in work.

Fat Loss Simplified is not a fat loss challenge and it’s not a contest. There is no first or second place prize. One of the best things that happened in the soft launch was that none of the members discussed their fat loss progress with each other. I saw this as a benefit because it allowed each member to succeed on their own merit without comparing against someone else.

The regular price for the program is $159/mo for two months. I’m running a promotion through the end of 2023 where you can join for $129/mo for two months. My vision is to run this program approximately four times each year so if you don’t make it in for the January-February group, you can join in the April-May group when it launches.

Fat Loss Simplified was a way for me to distill and condense 16 years of coaching into an 8-week course that gives you every tool I believe someone will need to approach fat loss with the best strategies for success without having all of the noise that contributes to topic.

I’m very proud of the finished product and I’m very grateful to the members who were part of the soft launch who helped me flesh the details out.

If you’re interested in joining, sign up before the end of the year to lock in the best price.

See you there!

I’m not sure what it is but it seems that every year since 2020 has its own elements of being completely surreal. 2023 was no exception just in its own unique ways.

This year, family health took priority over a lot of other things. Both my mother and my wife had circumstances come up which took a great deal of time, attention, travel, prayers and well-wishes, and a total of four surgeries between them.

This required me to be away from work more than I’m used to but it’s great credit to my staff, Coaches David and Nick, for holding the studio down in my absence. It also is credit to a very patient and understanding community who knew that family comes first when it comes to what life throws our way.

Also, in some bittersweet news, Big Rocks Nutrition folded officially this year. Those who followed the work I was doing with that business under the caring eye of Dr. Spencer Nadolsky may know that his Sequence platform was acquired by Weight Watchers earlier this year and that required that we shut down the doors to BRN. It was an absolutely awesome experience and I can’t thank Dr. Spencer enough for the opportunity. He was a great guy to work for and the team of coaches that I got to work side by side with are the cream of the crop. A big loving shout out to Coaches Rachel, Michelle, Alja, Jenny and Sarah and of course, our man behind the scenes, Dan. Much love to you all. I know that Spencer will do great things with WW.

As I pull together my annual list of things you may have missed, here are the Top 5 articles of the year on this blog:

1. A Letter To Terry
2. Sean’s Song
3. Nine Years Later…In Sickness And In Health
4. Sympathy For Britney
5. Longevity (According To Gram)
   

I was a featured guest on the Good Vibes Wellness Podcast with host extraordinaire, JD Roberto. You can check that episode out HERE.

This was also a year where I tried to focus more on my continuing education. I picked up two more certifications, both of which through Girls Gone Strong and now hold those certificates as a Menopause Coaching Specialist and Women’s Coaching Specialist. I can’t speak highly enough of this organization.

In addition, I picked up continuing ed in Dr. Jake Linardon’s Binge Eating Essentials For Health Professionals and I worked with Brianna Johnston through her Grow & Scale course for Instagram content and services.

As a result of the latter, I began pushing my online services more this year than in previous years. It allows me to work with people who aren’t geographically close to RevFit and it helps me broaden my own experience as an online coach. That work then led to the release of “Fat Loss Simplified”, an 8-week online group coaching program. I’ll be speaking more about that in next week’s post.

Since there was so much happening with family, continuing education and work, I made a conscious effort to slow down my own book buying because I couldn’t catch up on all the books in my office I still had left to read. I finally conquered that mountain this year. I officially have no more room for books in my office and the picture you see below is nearly all of the 1200+ books I’ve acquired and read/listened to over the last 15 years.

I love the process of reading, to actually hold a book in my hands and go cover to cover, even though I rarely take notes or highlight key passages. I’m just along for the ride and I’ve been that way since I was a kid. Now that all of the books have been read, I can start to buy new ones again and filter out/donate the ones I won’t read a second time.

As I’ve done in previous years, here’s every book I consumed in 2023.

1-The Artist’s Way by Jane Cameron

2-Transforming #1 by Ron Smothermon

3-Corporate Rock Sucks by Jim Ruland

4-In My Own Words by Mother Theresa

5-The Laws Of Thermodynamics by Atkins

6-Stone Of Tears by Terry Goodkind

7-Blood Of The Fold by Terry Goodkind

8-Temple Of The Winds by Terry Goodkind

9-Mark Fisher’s Book Of Fitness Business Secrets by Mark Fisher

10-Soul Of The Fire by Terry Goodkind

11-Faith Of The Fallen by Terry Goodkind

12-A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins

13-The Gloaming by Melanie Finn

14-The Shredded Chef by Michael Matthews

15-The Power Of Positive Fitness by John M. Rowley

16-Not On Our Watch by Don Cheadle and John Pendergrast

17-Resistance, Rebellion and Death by Albert Camus

18-Some New Kind Of Kick by Kid Congo Powers

19-Healthy For Life by Dr. Roy Strand

20-There Was A Light by Rich Tupica

21-The Listening Party Volume 2 by Tim Burgess

22-Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg

23-Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

24-In The Garden Of Beasts by Erik Larson

25-You Just Need To Lose Weight by Aubrey Gordon

26-Dawn by Octavia E. Butler

27-Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler

28-Imago by Octavia E. Butler

29-The Producer by Dunstan Prial

30-Faust’s Gold by Steven Ungerleider

31-Anything You Want by Derek Sivers

32-Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck? by Seth Godin

33-Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

34-Zen and the Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

35-The Book Of Stretching by Bob Doto

36-A Very Irregular Head by Rob Chapman

37-The Protein Book by Lyle McDonald

38-Punk Paradox by Greg Graffin

39-Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever

40-Slayer: 66 2/3 by DX Ferris

41-Death March by Edward Yourdon

42-The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien

43-The Vagina Bible by Jen Gunter, MD

44-Just As I Am by Cicely Tyson

45-Natural Solutions For Digestive Health by Jillian Teta and Jeannette Bessinger

46-The Strongest Shall Survive by Bill Starr

47-The Ruined Map by Kobo Abe

48-Life and Death On The New York Dance Floor by Tim Lawrence

49-The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

50-Rational Recovery by Jack Trimpey

51-Menopause Coaching Specialist Certfication Textbook by Girls Gone Strong

52-Kaboom by Matt Gallagher

53-Dead People Don’t Lose Weight by Michael Cruickshank

54-Portfolio Life by Daniel Corbett

55-Woe Is I by Patricia T. O’Conner

56-It Came From Memphis by Robert Gordon

57-The Body In Action by Sarah Key

58-The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield

59-Consolations by David Whyte

60-Anatomy Of A Breakthrough by Adam Alter

61-Immune by Philipp Dettmer

62-How To Write, Speak And Think More Effectively by Rudolf Flesch

63-Why Calories Count by Marion Nestle

64-Drift by Meredith Paige Nejame

65-The Diabetic Muscle & Fitness Guide by Phil Graham

66-Rememberings by Sinead O’Connor

67-GGS-1 Plus by Girls Gone Strong

68-Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guralnick

69-GGS-1 Coaching by Girls Gone Strong

70-Rich As F*ck by Amanda Frances

71-The Menopause Manifesto by Dr. Jen Gunter

72-You Are A Badass At Making Money by Jen Sincero

73-Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist

74-Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty

75-Twenty Thousand Roads by David N. Meyer

76-No Excuses by Brian Tracy

77-The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy

78-Deskbound by Kelly Starrett

79-Success Is A Choice by John C. Maxwell

80-Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish

81-The Woman In Me by Britney Spears

82-Everything Fat Loss by Ben Carpenter

83-A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Managing Ourselves by Ari Weinzweig

84-Men In My Town by Keith Smith

85-Chop Wood Carry Water by Joshua Medcalf

86-Stay Fanatic, Vol. 3 by Henry Rollins

87-A Good Man Is Hard To Find & Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor

88-Awakening The Heroes Within by Carol S. Pearson

89-The Last Diet by Shahroo Izadi

90-The Teachings Of Buddha

91-Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski

92-Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman, Oliveier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein

93-The Power Of A Note by Sheena Leedham

94-Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra

95-33 1/3: The Geto Boys by Rolf Potts

96-33 1/3: Uptown Saturday Night by Patrick Rivers and Will Fulton

97-33 1/3: Homogenic by Emily Mackay

98-33 1/3: In On The Kill Taker by Joe Gross

99-33 1/3: Transformer by Ezra Furman

100-Jeff Buckley: In His Own Voice by Mary Guibert & David Browne

101-Maldoror by Comte De Lautreamont

102-Mystery Train by Griel Marcus

103-Grit by Angela Duckworth

104-Start With Why by Simon Sinek

105-Making It Home by Teresa Strasser

106-Long Road by Steven Hyden

107-If Not Dieting, Then What? by Dr. Rick Kausman

108-(R)evolution by Gary Numan

109-Bunnyman by Will Sergeant

110-Constructive Living by David K. Reynolds

111-Getting Better Bite By Bite by Ulrike Schmidt, Janet Treasure, & June Alexander

112-All I Ever Wanted by Kathy Valentine

Every day, (literally) EVERY day, I receive an email (often multiple), or a Facebook/Instagram message from someone reaching out to help me build my business.

What they typically offer (or say they offer) is based on speed and reach.

They want to send me 10-20 new leads every month, or blast emails out to hundreds of thousands of potential clients or help me grow my Instagram account by 5-10k followers as long as I’m willing to pay whatever the service costs.

Every day I receive these messages, there is that little twinge in me, to maybe, just maybe, take them up on it. Because what they’re selling is hope and potential.

The problem is, I’m coming up on 15 years of business and I’ve been advertising my services for free on social media for about 7 years now.

I don’t want 10-20 new leads every month of people who may never sign up and know nothing about us.

I’d much rather have 1-3 new leads who were referred in to us by currently happy clients.

I don’t want hundreds of thousands of people to get an email blast about us. I want the people who have some connection to us to read our updates, or catch up on this blog or stay in the loop with the success of our clients.

I don’t want speed. I want effectiveness.

If you’re trying to lose fat, every day you are bombarded with jaw-dropping transformations, slick new supplements, the diet du jour that your neighbor Karen is currently doing or whatever bullshit Joe Rogan peddles on his podcast.

Which means that no matter how good things are going for you, every time you hop on social media there is inevitably someone who is getting to their goal faster and you’re inclined to think: Maybe I’m doing the wrong thing and I should do what they’re doing.

And this is part of what keeps people stuck.

They hop and hop and hop from one thing to the next without fully being invested in any of them.

They’ll dip their toe into the pool of “hope and promise” without diving all the way in.

To be fair, not every option out there is worth working through and certainly, in my case, not every salesperson soliciting their service to me can provide me with the success I want.

With fat loss, if you want lasting success, you need to not only work but be patient and continue to tweak and refine, tweak and refine.

With owning a business, if you want lasting success, you need to not only work but be patient and continue to tweak and refine…

The best marketers know how to find your pain points to get you to “Buy Now” and you know just as well as I do that just because someone found your area of vulnerability doesn’t mean they can provide you a solution.

Be fully invested in yourself and to lovingly steal the words of one of our coaches here at the Rev, Nick Morton: “You have to be willing to bet on yourself.”

Because maybe what you need less of is what worked for someone else and what you need more of is the confidence and belief that you have all the tools you need, you just need to use them.

When I knew I wanted to start my business, all I could really think about was helping people do two things: lose fat and get stronger.

It seemed pretty simple.

I’ll just open up my doors, assume that people like me/trust me enough to start training with me, and I’ll get them results.

Simple.

Except reality was nothing like that.

I didn’t live out the “Field of Dreams” sentiment that: If you build it [they] will come.

Yes, I did get clients and yes, they liked me and trusted me enough to get their business, and yes, many of them saw results.

But what I found out early on was that most people needed something more.

Fact is, you can open up any fitness magazine and find a workout.

You can pick up any diet book at your local bookstore or online and lose fat.

It’s just not the same as having a place where you’re expected to show up and be accounted for.

It’s not the same as having guidance with form or to have someone modify your workout around every ache and injury.

It’s not as “simple” as calories in, calories out, macros this, intermittent fasting that…

It’s altogether more complicated.

When you start to dig further, it’s all the things we encounter in life that distract us or disturb us, enrich us or traumatize us.

So, some of the most impactful conversations are the ones where clients will pull back the layers to show you that illness happens, death happens, grief happens, infidelity happens, addiction happens, incarceration happens, lapses and relapses happen, job losses happen and divorces happen.

I’ve watched all those scenarios unfold.

On the flip side, you experience new relationships, beautiful marriages, the birth of a child, personal bests in strength training, new lows of fat loss, and the redefinition/rebirth of confidence in people.

They don’t teach you this in certifications.

You won’t be prepared for it with your degree in exercise science.

You find that periodized workouts look great on paper and mean very little when you have an overworked, overstressed mom who just wants to feel better and can barely make it in for two workouts a week.

You find that meal plans work fine when someone likes rigidity and can work from home but they don’t work so hot when someone travels all the time and can’t fathom eating the same meal two days in a row.

Coaching (in this industry) is part knowledge of exercise, part knowledge of nutrition, part psychology and part business logic.

It’s looking at a person and saying: I know you can do this and I have the tools to help you.

It’s offering your hand every time they stumble to say: I’ve got you. I’m not abandoning you. But you can‘t abandon you either.

It’s bringing people into your office, box of Kleenex in hand because you know they’re going to need it, and sometimes you are the safest ear they have.

It’s part of the reason that several years ago I started to share my own stories: my pain, my struggles, my misgivings and the path I took to get to the other side.

Because when you can show people that you’re human, they’ll show you the sides of life that make their lives so challenging. You won’t see it in a food journal or a workout log.

Macros won’t fix it and neither will an upper-lower-upper split.

Keep your “door open”, keep your heart open, keep the conversation judgment free.

Coaching, done right, won’t just change your client’s lives, it will change yours too.

And to the person who brought me this: Thank you. People like you are the reason that all the effort is worth it.

Rumor has it…I’m turning 48 tomorrow. Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way:

1-It’s a boring topic to discuss, but the older I get, the more the quality of my sleep matters. Do all you can to prioritize consistent, restful sleep. 

2-I’m fortunate that every day I have an opportunity to do a type of work that I love. If you don’t love what you do, at least allow it to provide you a style of living and downtime that you do love. 

3-I don’t believe that life gets markedly less stressful or less busy. I think successful/happy people have better tools to manage stress and have excellent time management. 

4-You can do without a lot of things in life but your health isn’t one of them. Make sure you’re keeping up with routine, annual bloodwork. Be proactive.

5-We don’t live a life that affords us the luxury of being weak, not in mind or body. Nurture strength in yourself.

6-I’ve made an insane amount of mistakes in my life. Many of which could have killed me, left me destitute, or leveled my business. I’ve also spent a great deal of time, money, and effort on self growth to repair those mistakes. This work is invaluable. If you’re able, keep putting the work in on yourself. 

7-As technology continues to evolve, don’t lose sight of actual human contact. No amount of self checkouts and automated services can replace a warm body and warm voice to connect with. 

8-If you don’t want to rely on things like willpower and motivation to get you to your goals, make promises to yourself that you can actually keep and reduce temptation by any means possible. 

9-Some relationships in life are meant to be outgrown. If you find that certain people in your life empty your bucket more than they fill it, that’s probably a sign. 

10-I think the conversations about younger generations not being committed to quality work and effort are overstated. If you want the younger generation to do and be better, show them where they have purpose and allow them to show up for themselves. It’s not a perfect process, it’s a worthy one. There are plenty of people of my generation and older who care little to nothing about self worth, growth and values. 

11-Other people’s opinions DO matter but the opinion that matters most is the one you have of yourself. 

12-Don’t ever stop learning, don’t ever let complacency win. Even if you can’t afford to buy a new book or take a new course, there’s a library close to you with free resources to help you. Use it. 

13-No one ever prepared me for how deep and profound losing my father would be. As of this writing, he’s been gone almost 13 years and sometimes that loss is harder now than it was back then. 

14-If you weren’t lucky enough to have great parents and they did not “raise you right”, if you’re an adult who can work and pay your bills, you have an obligation to right their wrongs. 

15-On that note, trauma is a very real thing whether it’s “Big T” trauma or micro-traumas that add up over time. Spend the time to find a quality therapist who can help you manage and heal that trauma before you bleed all over people who never harmed you. 

16-Whether you diet or you don’t, your body will always perform better if you feed it higher quality food. You don’t have to be perfect, just find ways to improve from less nutritious to more nutritious. 

17-With rare exception, if your diet has a name, it probably won’t work for you long term. And if you’re of the lucky few who is an exception, please don’t make the mistake of assuming that because it works for you that everyone else should be doing that diet as well. That’s like assuming we should all be performing the same job just because you found one you’re good at. 

18-I’m not a card player but I do know this: You’ll never have a winning hand if you keep playing the victim card.

19-When was the last time you looked someone in the eyes and told them you love them? Scratch that, put this list down for a moment and do that.

20-I own a business that thrives through word of mouth referrals. If you’re a current or former client of mine who has referred family or friends to us, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. You’re the reason we can keep the electricity on and I can pay my staff.

21-Life is too short to be unhappy. Life is too short for shitty cookies. Life is too short to not surround yourself with people who remind you that you are loved, appreciated and respected.

22-You can be in disagreement with someone without being disrespectful to them.

23-Time and again, I have to remind myself that if I find myself wanting to judge someone for their choices, there is a very good chance I’m allowing myself to cast stones from a glass house. If you don’t want those stones to land your way, this reminder can help.

24-I support my family by coaching others: either via strength training or nutrition coaching. At risk of taking money out of my own pocket, some people need a therapist more than they need a personal trainer/nutritionist. If you can afford both, by all means, do so.

25-The more I learn, the dumber I feel. I’ve spent more money on continuing education in the last 3 years of my career than I have in many years prior combined. No matter how many certifications I get or letters I can add to the end of my name, I will never feel like I know enough.

26-Music heals a lot.

27-Drink more water. Drink less caffeine and alcohol. That doesn’t mean you can’t have them. I love my coffee and I love my bourbon. But the latter two pale in comparison to my water intake. If you’re into the numbers, it looks something like: 100 oz of water a day, 10 oz of coffee, 2 oz of bourbon.

28-This year marked the first year I started to get into hiking. Wow. I missed out on how beneficial this is. I don’t know much yet and I haven’t covered enough mileage to be commended for it but the “green therapy” of being outside on those trails, to climb across massive rocks (without being a ‘rock climber’) and to take that deep belly breath of outside air is unlike anything I’ve experienced. I’ll be doing more of this in the future.

29-Sometimes it’s not what you hear, where you hear it, or who you hear it from, it’s “when” you hear it that advice (which you’ve likely heard a bazillion times before) actually has the appropriate impact. Make sure you’re listening.

30-On that note, a little piece of advice I heard this year which I desperately needed to hear and apply was this: “Everything is energy”. You have a choice in deciding if you want that to be positive or negative energy. It applies to relationships, finances, and personal health.

31-Express gratitude wherever you can: “Thank you for holding the door open for me”, “Thank you for loving me”, “Thank you for sharing that with me”, “Thank you for your friendship”, “Thank you for not judging me”, “Thank you for accepting me.” I continue to marvel at people who are in a constant state of gratitude and I strive to be more like them.

32-I’ve never been poor but I’ve often been broke. Being broke is a painful reminder that priorities are not in alignment with values and goals. This applies to having a broken spirit as well.

33-I’d like to thank Dr. David Deckert for saving my life literally and Dr. Collin Myers for saving my life figuratively.

34-It’s mind-blowing to me that businesses don’t openly cater to members of the LGBTQ+ community or to BIPOC. I won’t disparage another business further but I will say that their loss is our gain. At RevFit, whether as a face-to-face or online client, those individuals will always be welcome with us.

35-As a component to that last thought, every day someone takes their life because they don’t: A) fit in B) are not accepted for who they are C) are bullied for who they are. Your words matter. How you raise your children to speak to those around them matters. It could be the difference between someone living and dying.

36-If a book about health/dieting becomes a bestseller, approach it with caution. Most of these books succeed because they have great marketing behind them, NOT because they are scientifically accurate. The things that have been “proven” to work for improving health and dieting successfully without losing your mind in the process are unbelievably boring. It’s really hard to sell millions of books when the best you can offer someone is: drink more water, have a good movement practice, lift weights, eat mostly nutritious foods, reduce your stress, hire a therapist, and get quality sleep. That’s it. That’s the “hack”. Everything else is noise…and noise sells.

37-Yes, some people will treat your kindness as a weakness. Be kind anyway.

38-You don’t need another diet, you need much more effective coping skills.

39-These days, it’s easy to grab a tripod and your phone and take a great picture. As often as you feel it’s appropriate, hire a professional photographer. This was one of the best things we’ve done for our family in quite some time.

40-I try my hardest to find the silver lining in everything. The worst events that have ever occurred in my life all have a silver lining to them. They all have something positive to be gleaned from them, even if the experience itself was painful or traumatic. If there’s any wisdom in growth and maturation, it’s trying not to be the cause of those events.

41-If no one has told you yet today, I’m proud of you. Keep making the little steps towards the goal you’re aiming for. Speed doesn’t matter, momentum does.

42-If you surround yourself with “yes men” and people who are simply around to agree with you, you’ll never grow. Find people (and hold them close) who can offer a different perspective and understand why they see things through that lens. You won’t appreciate growth if it’s handed to you on a silver platter without one lick of resistance to stand in your way.

43-It’s not just life that changes, it’s everything in our lives. You don’t raise your teenage children with the same tactics as you did when they were in preschool. You don’t perform your job after 10 years with the same skills you had when you first started. You need new skills over time for a better marriage, a stronger body, and for managing your self talk. Expect change and prepare for it.

44-Many of the fitness professionals you follow struggle with the same things you do: depression, anxiety, negative self talk/body image, etc. They may have found a way to use exercise and food as an outlet and tool for self improvement but they’re still struggling. It’s helpful to remember that we’re all human, we all make mistakes, we all find self-management challenging and we’re all trying to get a little bit better each day.

45-Is the grudge you’re holding still worth it?

46-Having a standing appointment for a monthly massage can be a game changer for you. Find a therapeutic masseuse and schedule the next year out. You can thank me later.

47-I’m very fortunate to have survived the patch of my life where I thought suicide would win. Not everyone is that lucky. If you’re struggling, shoot me a message at jason@revfittherapy.com I’m not a therapist and I will still encourage you to find one but I at least want the opportunity to tell you that: I’m proud of you for being here, we need you to stay in this world, and let’s get you some help so that you finally have some hope.

48-Everything I have in this world is because other people have given me the opportunity to thrive and succeed. I have accomplished nothing of merit by myself. This should speak volumes about the importance of your support system. Thank you to everyone who has stood by my side over the last 48 years.

(Photo credit of Allison Ewing Photography)

I know, I know, it’s that time of year when most people are showing their gratitude to the people, circumstances and opportunities in their lives.

I’ll be no exception this week. Gratitude is something I always have to keep front of mind for myself: when life is good and especially, when life isn’t as good as I might like.

As we lean into the week of Thanksgiving (for those who celebrate it), it’s always that gentle reminder to me to be grateful for all that I have: my family, my work, my health, my friends, my clients, (who are often one and the same), and to have a roof over my head and food on our table.

A little over a month ago, I fired back up my “gratitude journal” and I’m doing it a bit differently than I have in the past.

I try to do it first thing in the morning, on the Notes section of my phone, while I’m drinking my coffee and preparing myself for the day ahead.

I list three things I’m grateful for and I try my very best not to repeat anything I’ve said before. I’m sure that I’ll duplicate something along the way but if the easy thing is to say: “I am grateful for my wife”, I try to be more specific and list what I’m grateful for at that moment. So, it may be something along the lines of: “I am grateful for the medical care my wife has to guide her health.”

I won’t give this process more credit than it’s due. Is it transforming my life and making sure I never struggle or view the world through a lens of pessimism? No. It’s not a flawless practice.

But it is a way to start my day off positively before too many obstacles get thrown in my path. It allows me to be grateful for little details and big changes. It’s a grounding and centering practice to remind me that no matter how difficult things might get, there are always so many things I need to focus my gratitude on.

Just like all of my clients, I am constantly striving to find places to improve my own life, my attitude, my blessings and allow that to affect how I treat myself and how I treat others.

Thank you for being a part of that big picture with me.

And a little something I’m very grateful for? Well, you’ll see it below.

(Photo courtesy of Allison Ewing Photography)

Navigating the health landscape can be dicey, even for those of us who make a living being involved in it.

There’s an old joke and I’ll use “fat loss coaches” as the subject to highlight my point.

How many fat loss coaches does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

One to screw it in and the rest to say: “I could do it better.”

I recently saw a lengthy post by a fellow fat loss coach and it was a frightening reminder of how tone deaf many of us in the field can be.

We’ll call the coach “Joe” to protect the uh, innocent.

Joe starts his post off by stating that weight loss drugs make people fatter. He then opts to bolster his argument by stating that the doctors who prescribe them don’t get to the root cause of problems, they only look for medicinal drugs as a band aid to offering a true solution. In addition, many doctors can flat out be wrong and this error in judgment can be the difference in cases of someone living and dying.

Sound harsh?

Let me push back on this and state that: No, weight loss drugs (the ones which are very popular in use right now) make people leaner. That’s precisely why they’re in such high demand. If they didn’t work, people wouldn’t want them. They not only make people leaner but they can aid in reversing Type II diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They are literally life saving medications.

Is he right that doctors don’t get to the root cause of problems? Perhaps some don’t. Assuming that every person with M.D. or D.O. after their name is the all knowing expert in all things related to the body is short-sighted. No medical professional is perfect and many of them seek out areas of specialization because the human body (and mind) are so incredibly complex. So, yes, it stands to reason that the doctor you’re working with (no matter how long you’ve worked with them) may not have every possible solution to what ails you.

If a patient comes in complaining of pain, it can take a series of questions from nurses, to P.A.s to M.D.s to try and pull together enough information to solve a problem.

Is the process foolproof? No.

Is the first line of defense for a problem the best option? No.

Sometime it takes trial and error and bloodwork and scans and specialists to be involved to get to the root cause of anything. Sometimes, the best option is a medication which may (or may not) be helpful. I should also add that every medication (no matter how much research is behind it) has a risk of side effects. Then again…so does cough syrup.

Let’s move on.

Joe then goes on to explain that weight loss medications are nothing more than “magic pills.” They work to suppress the appetite, meaning you eat less food which equates to fat loss. He then lets the narrative spin that if you remove the medication that you will regain the weight. And why? Well, because you didn’t actually change your behaviors and that if you would just follow these simple tips of: gaining more knowledge about how fat loss works, adding more protein to each meal, strength training 2x/week for 30 minutes, drinking more water and oh yes…learn about portion sizes and macros then you basically don’t need the medication.

Oh.Boy.

May I sidestep this for a few? I promise to come back to it.

I’d like you to think about depression for a moment.

Perhaps you struggle with it or you know a friend who does. In this case, medication may be warranted and advised. Of course, other factors in their life could contribute to improvements in depression such as exercise and a mostly nutritious diet. That being said, medication may still be what allows this person to live their best life. Sometimes, it may take the right medicine at the right dosage and some trial and error may be needed. However, antidepressants are not only socially acceptable but medically acceptable and you generally can appreciate that if the medicine is working then it stands to reason you may be on it indefinitely. In other words, no other interventions can have as dramatic of a positive effect as the medication itself and if you remove the medication, the depression will come back in full swing.

Now, let’s get back to our weight loss medications.

Hormones influence how we eat, as does our environment, and our stress levels and our sleep habits. A person who has struggled with their weight for most of their life may be faced with more environmental challenges than the person next to them. Maybe trauma, neglect or poverty has influenced how they eat.

So, can a “simple” intervention of strength training, a nutrient rich, “protein-centric” diet, hydration and more knowledge about fat loss help someone reach and maintain their goals. Absolutely!

But what happens to the people who just can’t make the pieces fit? Are they broken? Do they just lack willpower and motivation? Do they just need to hustle harder?

Think about that person with depression again. Wouldn’t life be simpler if they just smiled more often and could cheer the hell up?

Sorry, Joe, I know you meant well but you were way off base with this one.

Fact of the matter is this: weight loss medications are game changers and they give hope to people who have bounced from coach to coach to diet to diet who have all but given up on their goals because of weight stigma, fat-phobia, coaches who have little to no empathy, and decades of negative self-talk that they might never be able to succeed.

The weight loss medications can’t solve every problem though. Those who can take them DO still need to strength train, and they DO still need to drink plenty of water and they DO need to be more aware and conscious of nutritious foods and portion sizes appropriate to the bodies they want to achieve and maintain.

What the medications do successfully is help people achieve a deficit where they have previously struggled to do so. The medications will not make obsolete the help of a good strength coach or a good nutrition coach, they just make achieving the deficit easier to do.

These medications, as powerful as they are, don’t come without potential side effects and for some people those side effects are more pronounced than others.

One of my clients (who recently started one of these medications) said to me: This medication is life changing. Now I know how skinny people think.

I asked her to clarify that statement.

She said: I never understood how someone could just walk away from food on their plate. Now, the medication makes me want to eat healthy food and I don’t feel like I’m broken anymore. For years, I just thought something was wrong with me.

And Joe (knowing you may never read this), this is what hope can feel like. It’s not simply a “magic pill” (or shot to be more accurate), it can take someone from four medications down to one. And, there is a really good chance they may need to be on the weight loss medication long-term, just like our friend with depression.

So, rather than shame people for taking it and accusing them of short cuts, embrace them, support them, coach them and watch them thrive.

(Photo courtesy of Julian Wallner)