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*The title of this post was taken from the Judybats song of the same name*

I have a client who I will refer to as Jane.

When we did our initial consultation, Jane requested that she not know or see what her scale weight was. Historically, I have not seen great results occur when clients prefer to go this route.

In my opinion, it removes a degree of accountability from the equation and can foster a certain sense of denial. Weight loss tends to succeed when we can face the obstacles head on and say “Ok, this is my starting point. Now I know what I’m up against.”

However, Jane did not want to know so I kept a log of her weigh-ins as a reference point. At certain points, she was comfortable discussing whether weight was up or down in relation to the previous weigh in but the door wasn’t always open for this either.

Along the way, we kept the conversation open to what was happening with food. Jane would be forthcoming and say whether she felt that she ate well over the weekend or not and sometimes she would mention that she had been more consistent with making better food choices.

We kept talking about strategies for eating appropriately for the goal and ways to navigate the weekend when the diet has greater potential to get messy.

Since weight loss has been moving at a slower pace than I think either of us wanted, it gave us time to just talk about habits, dietary patterns and maneuvering through life without letting guilt or shame dictate the end result.

Jane would frequently comment that she felt she had a terrible metabolism and poor genetics for weight loss. I would routinely push back against this notion and kindly say that neither of those would win in a battle against the right caloric intake.

And  a few weeks ago, we started talking about food in a different way. Jane had not really been tracking or using a journal but she started to develop a different mindset to her diet. You could see that something was starting to click.

We even started simplifying what a meal could look like so that she could focus on 3 meals set at an approximate amount. She could then change out meals that met the same caloric goal. She opted for some smoothie options for breakfast and started finding places where she could eat smaller portions in her other meals to hit the same numbers also.

She hasn’t been punishing herself with ruthless bouts of cardio and we rarely have a discussion about how much weight she’s lifting, how much she should be sweating, or how many calories she needs to burn in a given workout.

Jane has just been carefully nudging the needle across the spectrum and hit a new low in weight loss last week.

Many people make weight loss more complicated than it needs to be. While Jane’s path looks different than I would have wanted it to look, this was ultimately about what works for Jane, NOT what works for Jason. Jane is married with a family and a job. Her path needs to only make sense to her.

So, while the road has been unorthodox, Jane has found a simple path to success. One that won’t be hindered by the thought of poor genetics or a sluggish metabolism.

She has also found success despite not gluing herself to a treadmill or agonizing over fad supplements and diet trends. Her road to success has been paved through a non-judgmental look at meals, a consistent workout regimen that doesn’t beat her body up and a fresh perspective on what the end game can look like.

Are you ready to simplify your road to success?

 

 

 

Chad Landers, owner of Push Private Fitness, debuts on our show to chat about some of his experiences working with an array of celebrities at his studio. We discuss some realities that many people don’t consider when they think about what sacrifices need to be made to be “camera ready.” Chad and I also talk about how his own training has evolved and considerations for trainers who work with general population as well. To learn more about Chad, check out http://www.pushprivatefitness.com To learn more about your host, visit http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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*The title of this post was taken from the Placebo song of the same name*

I will never be able to overstate this:

If you want to be successful at weight loss and ultimately, weight maintenance, it will not come by accident. You are going to have to plan the majority of this.

That can include some degree of calorie counting/portion downsizing.

It can include a change in how sedentary you are.

It can affect your social and your home life.

You may need to create a food/emotion diary.

You will likely need a support system (this may or may not include friends and family.)

And if you want to hold on to your dream weight, assuming it is a realistic goal, you will probably NEVER be able to fully go back to the way you ate, trained, socialized, etc. before you started losing. Remember that those actions are what created the place where you knew you needed to change.

When Jackie started training with me, she had already been watching the progress her fiance Abe had been making at RevFit. Starting from a place of complete inactivity, Jackie was concerned that perhaps my training methodologies would be more aggressive than she could manage.

For the record, I don’t pride or market myself as an aggressive trainer. If anything, I err to the side of conservative because I’m into training for the long game (the marathon) not the short game (the sprint.)

That’s not to say there isn’t a focus on progression. For those who thrive on sustainable progress, our clients do tend to see better results when there is something of a system in place to gauge increases in strength.

Now that Jackie has a wedding in her sights, she is committed to working the food and training plan to the best of her ability.

When we had our initial consultation, I did see some problem areas in the diet. For instance, she had been adding cream to her coffee without measuring and having several cups throughout the day. This came out to be upwards of 400 calories a day just from liquid intake.

We talked about minimizing the cream intake so she wasn’t completely eliminating but maybe only shooting for 100 calories per day from this area.

Over the last several weeks, Jackie has realized that it doesn’t take much to completely blow a day’s worth of calories without even trying.

Recently, she had been watching her calories throughout the day because she knew she would be going to a restaurant that evening. She had a rough idea of what she wanted to eat before she got there but she decided to pull out her calorie tracking app shortly after being seated.

As is the case in many restaurants, the bread basket arrived immediately and she dove in for a roll. She tracked the calories and to her surprise, that single roll was nearly 200 calories. So, Jackie did the strategic thing and started looking at what she could still eat on the menu that would keep her in line for the rest of the day.

While this may be something of an extreme scenario, it shows Jackie’s willingness to adhere to the plan to see her goals. She won’t have to do this forever and in the grand scheme of things, the bread roll wasn’t going to be the downfall to her diet on a weekly scale.

However, many people fail to look this closely at their diet. They assume that their mental math is good enough and then question the results when the scale doesn’t change week after week.

To clarify, there are many people who can succeed at weight loss without counting calories like Jackie. Some can lose weight just by eliminating snacks, decreasing liquid calories, or stopping at one serving instead of two.

If you’re not losing, you may need a more diligent look at your intake. It is absurdly easy to get it wrong and why so many people get frustrated with the process.

But in Jackie’s case, she is extremely motivated to lose body fat and to do it in a way that is reasonable while she gains a better understanding of what will work for her and, most importantly, how to keep the weight off for good.

Jackie, your journey has barely started and you’ve already got a massive piece of the puzzle solved.

 

 

It was a disservice to the public that it took me this long to get Pat Flynn on the show but I think you’ll agree that once you dive into this week’s episode you’ll say it was worth the wait. Pat and I discuss the pros and cons of generalization, specialization and the importance of finding your why on your health/fitness journey. This is an incredible episode. To learn more about Pat’s work, check out http://www.chroniclesofstrength.com and http://www.101kettlebellworkouts.com To learn more about your host, check out http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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*The title of this post was taken from the LL Cool J song of the same name*

There is a frustrating dynamic that has been occurring in the health/fitness industry for decades. Maybe it’s always existed.

There is a side that promotes moderation, consistency, sustainability and realistic outcomes.

There is another side that promotes fear, extremes, shame and short-term outcomes.

I would love to tell you that one side is always right and one side is always wrong so that you can make a more educated decision and have only one path to success.

But that wouldn’t be honest of me, would it?

I will say that I thrive on the side of the former (moderation, consistency, etc.) and less on the latter.

I would be remiss if I didn’t say that I haven’t been persuaded by the latter.

For instance, depending on your social media channels of choice (or even late-night infomercials of choice) it’s easy to find outlets to convince you of things like: carbs are bad for you, that only one style of exercise is superior for fat loss, that the toxins you consume are keeping you from your ideal weight, and so on.

Let me try to clear all of this up now. None of the above is likely true.

What I can say is that using the aforementioned examples: you may be eating more carbs than you should be (and that could be forcing you into a surplus of daily intake), there is no style of exercise that is superior for fat loss (but there is a style of exercise that YOU can stick with consistently over time and progress with) and toxins are likely not your problem (see my line above about caloric surplus.)

I have yet to find a nutritional boogeyman. Meaning, the only foods that I think you should fear are the ones you are allergic to and the ones you can’t control i.e. “trigger” foods.

I have yet to find damning evidence of toxic build-up in the body that keeps you from losing weight. Maybe some internet guru has convinced you that your metabolism is broken and if you *buy now*, their supplement can fix it. They can force you to remove said toxic foods from your body thereby getting you to eat significantly less than you currently do and you’ll lose weight. You can then credit the miracle supplement and the toxic foods you’ve removed for your sensational weight loss efforts.

…Cue eye roll.

For some people, dietary lessons in the extreme can be a launching pad to better and more sustainable efforts. For the majority, they foster a misunderstanding of how our bodies work and keep the perpetual cycle of loss/regain, loss/regain, happening time after time again.

Stay critical of what you see and read.

Stay flexible on the approach that adapts best to your lifestyle.

Stay forgiving of yourself when things don’t go perfectly.

Stay the path and strive for consistency over most everything else.

And if someone tries to convince you there’s a big, bad wolf to be afraid of…maybe it’s your source of information you should be running from.

By the way, say “Hello” to my online client, Michael, who despite living in New York has been seeing some incredible progress with 25lbs down so far by following much of the advice from above.

He is the host of the excellent The Man Who Lost 200lbs podcast and an exceptional coach in his own right. Darko Botic joins me this week as we talk about our similar motivations for releasing podcasts for public consumption, how we are both aiming to inspire and educate and we also delve into our respective darker pasts to a place where we felt we had something better to offer the world. Darko’s story is unlike many you will ever hear. To learn more about him and to subscribe to his podcast, visit http://www.darkobotic.com To learn more about your host, check out http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review

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*The title of this post was taken from the Simon & Garfunkel song of the same name*

When Casey Robinson and I first connected, it was a phone call with her inquiring about my services. We have some mutual friends who were clients at the time and Casey thought I might be the right fit for her needs.

Even in that call there were several things I picked up on. I could sense a fair amount of self-doubt, apprehension, concern over whether or not she would feel comfortable exercising here, etc.

And while Casey has been with us for a little over a year, we’ve watched little bits of progress move her across the spectrum.

She lost some weight initially, plateaued and then was in something of a holding pattern for several months. Along the way, she was gathering little bits of information and strategies from all of the videos I post in our Facebook closed community and from many of the articles I’ve written.

From time to time, she would ask specifically about certain strategies and methodologies and go back to the drawing board piecing together things she felt would work best for her.

And then a shift happened.

We reconvened on her goals and where she wanted to put her focus. She wanted to spend time working on a heavier traplift and start putting some different dietary philosophies to work.

Next thing you know, her strength is coming up and her body weight is coming down.

The fact that she is getting stronger is not a big surprise.

Truth be told, neither is the fact that she broke past her weight loss plateau.

The real magic behind the shift in Casey’s results has come from her changed mindset.

“What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson?”

I asked her: What’s been working?

Her response: I track every single thing I eat. I was tracking before but I wouldn’t track something if it wasn’t a full serving size. I also wouldn’t always track alcohol. Now, I track it all. If it goes in my mouth and it has a calorie, I track it.

I even give myself room to splurge a little on the weekends. Sometimes I’ll be going through a week and remind myself “Oh, I get to have that (insert food reward here) on Saturday so I can wait until then.” Many times, I’ll get to the weekend and even though I have enough calories left in my day to have the treat, sometimes I just choose not to.

(And this is the best part)

“It’s not that I can’t have that [food], it’s that I choose not to.” 

For Casey, fine-tuning her diet mentality to what fits and what doesn’t has given her an improved understanding of where she can be flexible and where not to.

Having watched Casey inch further along the spectrum from where she started to where she will eventually be has been just as much of an education for me as it has likely been for her.

But it seems to me, that she has the toughest part conquered now: her mind.

“Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson.”

Back on episode #58 of our show, Christian Finn made his debut with us and for a long time it was our most downloaded show ever. He is still comfortably in the top three so I had to bring him back on because the listening audience loves him. We pick a handful of myths from his 2017 book “Sugar Makes You Fat & Other Diet Myths Debunked” to discuss but there is so much more to read once you order your copy. To learn more about Christian’s work and to get your copy of the aforementioned book, visit http://www.muscleevo.net To learn more about your host, check out http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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*The title of this post was taken from the band of the same name*

When this post is released, it will be the day before my son Jackson’s tenth birthday.

10 years.

It’s such a milestone that I haven’t quite wrapped my head around what the last decade has been like.

I know it’s been a whirlwind and I wrote about much of it when I dedicated this post to him last year on his 9th birthday.

So, what’s so different in the past year?

Well, as many of you know, Jackson has autism and we gauge progress in a very different way as one might with a typical child.

He does speak more, which is one of his greater challenges.

He might even routinely say a full sentence if he feels the need to get his point across to you.

He’s still one of the happiest children I’ve ever known and he still loves to dance and sing (more on that later.)

Ah yes, he is now a big brother to Sebastian.

And much like his mother and I assumed, he’s mostly indifferent to having a baby around. Jackson tends to work in his own world and doesn’t worry too much about what is going on with those around him.

But when Marissa and I ask him to engage with Sebastian, he’s always very loving, very affectionate and very kind.

I credit his mother, Megan, for raising him to be this sweet boy who knows how to be a caring big brother.

And while there have been some adventures in seeing if Jackson would take to sports, it would seem he’s more like me than we thought. He favors music over most anything else. Over the last month, he’s been taking voice and piano lessons which he seems (at least for now) to be very much attentive to.

He does have his moments of being very shy around people until he sees his reflection in a window or mirror. Then, all bets are off. He’s probably going to start dancing or scripting some moves from a video or movie he’s seen somewhere. He is quite the little ham.

And this is just a small tribute to my little king.

Jackson, I write these words in hopes that some day you might not only read them but understand them. You have always been this unerringly bright light in a world that tends to forget what that can be.

To see your growth and progress year after year makes me so proud to say “I’m HIS Dad.”

I love you big boy. Happy 10th birthday.

 

Mike Howard returns after his immensely popular episode (#64) and we continue our conversation about mindset success. Mike has a phenomenal attitude towards getting the psychology of progress right for you. Rest assured, this will not be the last time he is on the show and I have no doubt this episode will make you a fan if you weren’t one to begin with. To learn more about Mike’s work, check out http://www.leanminded.com To learn more about your host, visit http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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