What About The Other 23 Hours?

I know, you probably wish your personal trainer could be by your side for 24 hours a day. Especially when the munch button is on the, "ON" mode and your head tends to mess with you and your personal trainer isn't standing at your refrigerator guarding your every move and keeping you from slipping.

Like, for instance, you are out with friends on a Saturday night and you want to a deep fried onion and a margarita. You sit there and struggle internally and don't know how to control yourself and wish you trainer was sitting next to you PLACING your order

Boy, now that would be ideal wouldn't it? But we all know that is not reality.

The big question of the moment..the Million Dollar Inquiry... The QUESTION OF THE DAY

What about the OTHER 23 hours. You know, that time that you AREN'T with that Hero of yours.your trainer.

What then?

Many things will start to happen once you begin a true lifestyle change; beginning the process to lasting weight loss. Your munch button will seem out of control and to be perfectly honest with you, your head will begin to mess with you as you are craving the foods that you take out of your daily eating routine.

As a personal trainer, I try to instill healthy eating habits into my client's eating plan and prep them for that lifestyle change. It's common to get those cravings for the junk we love so much and it's common to love the motivation to eat right when your trainer isn't by your side motivating you. At some point in the future, I will write a bit about the Addictive nature of those 'junk foods', but hear me sayTHEY ARE BAD.

One way I help my client's stay on track when I'm not around for the rest of the day is I encourage them to keep a health and fitness journal. This journal documents the journey to reaching your health and fitness goals. It also consists of the thoughts, feelings and all those emotions that we go through as we struggle to lose the weight and try to stay focused. With respect to actual eating habits, the journal also chronicles what a person eats and drinks (in detail) throughout the day, the portions, where they ate, and what time of day they ate.

It is CRUCIAL to keep this journal because sometimes we need to find the emotional triggers that make us overeat or slip up. This tool can also be a great deterrence, helping to keep you busy and out of the kitchen.

Not to mention, if you aren't losing the weight and you tell your trainer you are following their program to a "T", your personal trainer can look through the journal and perhaps find a few things that may be the culprit as to why you didn't hit your target weight loss for that week.
There's one more reason why this journal is so helpful and has helped my clients so significantly. If you ever start to gain the weight back and not make this a permanent lifestyle change, you can go back and be able to read what you went through during this process, and then also be able to read the victorious emotions you went through as your lost the weight and saw the beautiful results as your body changed thereby giving BACK the motivation to get BACK ON TRACK.

 

 Nine times out of ten, once a person reads the struggle they went through to lose the weight, they don't want to through that again, and they get back on track and use the tools I gave them for this lifestyle change.

Don't ever resolve that being overweight is just the way your body will allow you to be. No person has to be overweight and accept it (except of course the few individuals whose doctors have diagnosed them with physical ailments that add pounds for other medical reasons). The Basic Lifestyle Change..It Is Something You CAN overcome for good!

When my clients are at a point and they are ready to give up because their munch button is messing with them and I happen to not be present, I take them back to the first time we talked. I revert them back to the answer that they gave me to one of the first few questions I ask any person (see my early article about Picking a Personal Trainer) who seeks out a personal trainer to assist them in weight loss. I go back and I ask that individual, "do you remember when you came to me and answered why you wanted to lose weight and make this a lifestyle change?" We review that very important answer and discuss it further. Many times the answer is as simple as; "we just need to go back to basics".

Listen, food is good and many people are emotional eaters. Staying focused and getting on track is something that is very difficult for some people and coaching you and guiding you through those moments is something you don't get without a personal trainer when you attempt this on your own. A good personal trainer is someone that can help you through this and you also have 24 hour access to your trainer.

This leads me three other ways I help my clients stay on track those OTHER 23 HOURS.

1. I am constantly encouraging my clients to use the internet. This VAST information resource can answer just about any health and fitness question you may have. From blogs, to forums, to client testimonials, like the ones you can find on some of my websites, these are all useful tools to get you 'thinking' about your own lifestyle change.

There is an important element of connection that anyone on this life path, can use from reading the thoughts and experiences of others. As well, like you find on my websites, there are resources like health and fitness blogs, that can offer a real wealth of information about almost all topics that you would be interested in. The big issue here get ONLINE, and start using your computer as one of your tools for change.

2. While many trainers would shy away from this idea, I believe that having an OPEN line of communication to your trainer, IN THOSE other 23 hours, is important. Yes, believe it or not I've actually had clients call me when the late night cravings begin and they are ready to dive inside the refrigerator. A good trainer would be willing to, within reason, stay on the phone with you and talk with you through this moment to get your mind off of the craving. As well, it would give a chance for some reasoning with the client, so their mind can get focused and back on track.

These are the ways that I, as a trainer, help my clients learn to view food differently as I train them through this process. This is the kind of personal attention that you should seek from your personal trainer, but that goes back to my last article about picking a personal trainer.Part two of that series is coming in the next months.

For now, know that I've even had clients call me from restaurants and ask me what they should order because they can't stay focused and their will power is low that day, and I will work with them as best I can. Staying focused in those OTHER 23 hours requires having some type of open line of communication with someone that can be your pillar when you are feeling weak.

This is my passion, this is what I do and I welcome those phone calls. Failure; the incessant gaining and losing; that stuff is NOT fun.

It can be STOPPED FOR GOOD and so for that and other reasons, I'm part of my clients' support system those other 23 hours. This is what you should be keeping at the front of your mind as you plan out your other 23 hours.

Another method I find is useful are constant affirmations and reminders. This is an essential part of this process, as it helps to keep you focused during those stressful 23 hours.

These kinds of 'reminders' are very new, and come in the form of subscription downloads of elements like Health and Fitness Podcasts (easily downloadable to your ipod for 'at-your-convenience use), Fitness Affirmation Text Messages (delivered daily to your mobile phone), as well as other mobile downloads to keep you motivated throughout the day. Many of these services are soon to be available through my website and others, and I will talk more about them in a future supplemental article.

Remember, weight loss is or can be a struggle. That is a simple fact. I agree you are RIGHT. It's not easy and that's why having a personal trainer by your side to assist you in so many different ways through the 1 hour (or longer)  is CRUCIAL. Having a plan to keep yourself ON TRACK, and with your eyes on the prize for the OTHER 23 HOURS is priceless!

I understand the emotions you go through during this process as I was once there myself. Only part of this process is physical, that part that puts you and I in the same room, as your personal trainer. The other, and possibly MOST important part, what you get from trainers like myself, for when we AREN'T around; the foundation for the emotional strength to make that next 23 hours til we meet again.

TO YOUR HEALTH!