Mental programming

Are your friends and loved ones sabotaging your fitness progress without even knowing it? They might be, and it’s not because they don’t care about you. It’s because they do care about you and they value the patterns they share with you. I have talked to many people who are very fired up about their fitness goals and have every intention to make wonderful progress, only to go back home or out with friends and have that motivation sucked out of them.

When your family offers you that cupcake after you have told them you are trying to get fit, it’s not usually malicious. It’s just that you used to say yes and enjoy it with them. They know your patterns and often just act them out on autopilot.

Sometimes friends, coworkers and family may sabotage you on an unconscious level when they offer you fattening foods, because they have failed over and over in their own fitness goals, and it would make them feel better about themselves to see you do the same. Again, this is typically not intentional. They usually don’t even know they are doing it.

Occasionally however, coworkers and friends (or enemies) will sabotage you on a conscious level. They do this

Excuses are often the biggest reason for the size of your butt. I have heard them all, ranging from “I’d like to exercise, but I just don’t have the time” to, “I have tried it all, but nothing ever works.” There is always a “but” stuck in there somewhere when folks with big butts are trying to explain why their butts are so big.

Your “buts” are based largely how you were raised. You learned somewhere that excuses make life easier for the moment, but in the end, they just grow your hind end. You also learned that buts are a handy way of passing the blame onto external factors instead of accepting the responsibility for your own butt. Until you get rid of your buts, your butt won’t get any smaller.

Using “buts” are also a way to keep you within your comfort zone. Staying within your comfort zone often means staying within the parameters of your identity. Everyone has a certain way they see themselves, and and this mental picture or “mind’s eye” controls all your conscious and unconscious actions, keeping you that way. Even if you do get results with a diet or fitness program, but your mind’s eye hasn’t changed, the “buts” come back and so does your butt. This is the reason for the diet yo-yo. Change your mind’s eye and you will stop this yo-yo once and for all.

There are many techniques I teach to my X Gym members about changing their minds eye, and some of the best ones are in my book, Cracking Your Calorie Code. One of these techniques is

You’re Only as Strong as Your Peer Group

If You Have a Big “Butt”, You Probably Also Have a Big “But”