All posts by Mike Shannon

Have you ever wondered how some people are able to maintain amazing bodies while you struggle with your weight?

They make it seem so easy to achieve and maintain results. What do they know that you don’t? When you boil it down, the answer is quite simple.

The missing link between you and your ideal body is your go-to list of excuses.

Start with an excuse and expect to be excused from losing weight. Here are seven excuses that have ensured dieters will fail in their weight-loss attempts before they ever get started.

Excuse #1: I’ve Always Been Overweight
Here’s a little secret: feeling sorry for yourself will not help you lose weight. Quite the contrary. Whining that you’ve never been thin can actually work against you, as you start to see yourself as stuck being overweight. Do that long enough and all you can see in your future is an overweight you. If you’re going to really cut your weight, you’ve got to be able to envision a lighter you.

Excuse #2: I Worked Out, So I Can Eat Whatever
Working out often makes you hungry. That’s a good thing. You just burned a bunch of calories and your body is looking to make up for them. However, just because you burned a few hundred calories doesn’t mean you get to indulge in any and every food you see. And you certainly can’t eat as much as you want.

Excuse #3: I Don’t Have Time to Exercise
Spend a few days documenting how you use your time. Write down each and every thing you do and how long you do it for. You’ll soon notice how much time you throw in the trash with mindless tasks or surfing your favorite social media sites and watching television. Transform those times into workout opportunities and toss the time excuse in the trash.

Excuse #4: Exercise Hurts
Some folks are in pain the day after they work out. If this is you and you find yourself feeling like you just rode a horse for three days straight after a workout, the reason is likely that you only hit the gym once a week or every two or three weeks. To get over that uncomfortable soreness after every workout, you’re going to have to go at it at least three times a week. Yes, you’ll still get sore on occasion, but it’ll be an accomplished sore.

Excuse #5: I Love Junk Food
This may seem a hurdle too large to overcome, but if you’re willing to fight for your weight loss, it can be done. To convince yourself that healthy food doesn’t have to be disgusting, spend more time with health-conscious friends who cook and live healthily. Eat what they eat. You’ll be amazed at the wide range of flavors to savor on a healthy diet.

Excuse #6: It’s No Fun Doing It Alone
Then stop trying to diet alone! Start connecting more often with your healthiest friends and surround yourself with them. When you’re tempted to go off track with your diet or want to skip a workout, call or text your friends for immediate support. They’ll prop you up, remind you of your goals, and encourage you to stay the course. Working out with a personal trainer for added accountability and starting a proper exercise regime will also help you start and stay on course. Exercise is a huge part of the equation when it comes to achieving weight loss.

Excuse #7: My Body Is Delicate
Before you start an exercise routine, it is a good idea to run the idea by your physician. However, unless you have an incredibly rare condition, exercises done with proper technique coupled with healthy eating will not put you at risk for anything but improved health. As soon as you accept the fact that your body can handle much more than you’ve put it through, the sooner you’ll begin to enjoy the gym and push your limits beyond what you could have ever imagined.

Ever wonder what it would be like to open your fridge to find a full week of healthy, delicious food that’s prepped and ready to be eaten? Sure would make sticking with your diet and achieving fat loss a lot easier…

Meal prep is a fantastic way to keep on track with your eating throughout the entire week.

The idea is to plan out all of your meals on the weekend, most often on Sunday, then do the shopping and the prep at one time for the entire week. This day is labor intensive, but then your food is ready-to-eat for the next 6 full days.

Here’s my 5 Step Meal Prep Guide to make your next food prep week really simple:

Step One: Planning

Get out your notebook and pen or pull up a blank note page on your iPad, it’s time to start planning for the week. Here are the questions that you’ll need to answer:

1) How many meals do I need each day?

• Check your calendar for special events
• Consider your appetite throughout the day
• Look at each day separately

2) How many servings do I need for each meal?

• Consider each family members’ needs
• Check the calendar for guests or visitors
• Look at each day separately

Step Two: Recipes

Now it’s time to translate those meals + servings into actual recipes. Take a moment to consider the produce that is in season and any special requests or food allergies.

1) Find your recipes

• Browse around on your favorite recipe site
• Pull out your favorite cookbooks
• Find your family favorite recipes

2) Focus on a core group of ingredients

• Plan recipes that use similar ingredients

3) Calculate leftover meals

• Making enough of some recipes for leftover meals saves time

4) Make your list

• Narrow down to the exact list of recipes

Step Three: Grocery List

Take your list of recipes and create a grocery list. A few things to keep in mind…

1) Pay attention to recipes that you’ll double or triple

• Make sure to include all ingredients in your list

2) Organize your list into these convenient sections:

• Meat/Seafood/Egg
• Organic Produce
• Herbs/Flavors
• Pantry Items

3) Check your pantry for items that you already have

• Save money by avoiding double purchases

Step Four: Shopping

It’s time to head to the grocery store! Take your list and, if you’re lucky, a helper down to your local market and go through each section item by item.

Step Five: Food Prep

You have options when it comes to the actual prep of each of your meals. Many you’ll be able to fully make right away and pack in the fridge. Other recipes you’ll want to simply do the chopping, measuring and organizing in order to make the meal hot and quick before you plan to eat it.

Which recipes should you fully cook in advance? The truth is that this is really up to you and your schedule. Here’s a good game plan if you don’t want to fully cook everything on Sunday: <ol >

• Fully make the baked goods for the week.
• Chop all vegetables.
• Gather all seasonings.
• Fully cook Monday’s dinner.

Getting into the habit of prepping your meals for the week is a surefire way to accelerate your fat loss results. It’s my goal to help people, just like you, conquer their fear of exercise and clear up their confusion with healthy eating. I know that a healthy life is within your reach – I’ve seen hundreds of my clients before you do it, and I’ll see hundreds after you do it. Today it’s your turn.

I know a lot of lazy people…people who would rather spend the day planted on their couch than anywhere else…who choose take-out over home cooked, every night of the week… who would rather have a root canal than go to the gym.

Sure, I know that we all have our occasional lazy day on the couch, but lately it seems that more and more people are turning laziness into a career.

What about you? Check if the following describe you (or someone you know):

• You are habitually inactive.
• You’d rather be a passive observer than an active participant.
• You’re a master excuse-maker.
• You find shortcuts in order to avoid the long haul.

If that’s you, don’t get down on yourself. There are many legitimate causes of laziness. Here are just a few…

1. Sleep Deprivation: When you’re short on sleep it’s easy to become unmotivated, which quickly turns into laziness. Get a minimum of eight hours of sleep each night in order to maintain enough energy to get you through the day. Some experts even say that ten hours of sleep each night is what you need to function at your best.

2. Caffeine Abuse: Starting your day with a jolt of java may help with your initial alertness, but the dip in energy that takes place a few hours later could be the reason that you become lazy later in the day. Avoid the rush and crash of caffeine and instead rely on your steady supply of natural energy.

3. Bad Habit: At some point being lazy simply becomes a habit. If every night after work you head straight to the couch, it soon becomes automatic and not a conscious decision. Breaking the habit of laziness is actually quite easy. Simply take yourself off of autopilot and make the conscious decision to do something productive instead—like heading to the gym rather than the couch.

4. Inactivity: If your job keeps you in a chair for hours at a time, and you don’t exercise when off the clock, then your body is just accustomed to inactivity. It’s time to wake up your under-used muscles and to reacquaint yourself with the joy of motion. A simple way to get back into the swing of things is to go on a 30 to 60 minute walk either before work or after you return home.

Laziness begins when you ignore that little nagging voice in your head. You know, the one that reminds you when you should take action on something rather than sit by and let the opportunity slip away. Is today the day that you will kick laziness to the curb…the day that you will take action toward achieving your goals…the day that you will listen to that little voice of reason?