Calories have become a perfect target for diet book authors and gurus alike to play on the emotions of those who struggle with weight.  In the typical diet book and health blog world, calorie (and any mention of counting them) is met with an illogical amount of hostility.  It has become one of the greatest sources of confusion in the world of fat loss and has undoubtedly led to much frustration for those looking to shed pounds.  Rest assured you are not alone if you are befuddled by the whole thing…

Since 1989, when I started in the fitness business, I’ve seen dozens of diet supplements burst onto the scene, sell into the multi-millions, only to drop off the map and end up buried in the graveyard of fat loss products (that we now know never worked in the first place). The shelf life is usually a year or two – three if they’re lucky – before the FTC sues or the product dies a natural death as the novelty wears off. They’re promptly replaced by “the next big thing” … an African cactus, a berry from the Amazonian rain forests, an ancient Asian tea, an herb from the Himalayas… sound familiar? There’s always an exotic story that hooks people again, isn’t there?

If I told everyone who walked into my offices that if they exercised 30 minutes a day they’d double their weight losses, I have no doubt that no one would so much as blink, and many a gym shoe would be sold. Yet when I tell people that in order to double their losses they’ll need to spend no more than 3 minutes a day keeping a food diary, I might as well be putting needles in their eyes given the pain and anguish I regularly see flash across their faces.

Everyone has heard the commercials at least once. Sensa, the miracle supplement that will help you lose weight without resorting to a diet! Trainers and doctors have been inundated with questions about the supplement for years. Now, thanks to the FTC, the advertisements have stopped. Sensa marketing has been put on hold until the company can provide some evidence that their product works.

“Do you believe in Paleo?”  (or, insert Atkins, Pritikin, the Zone, South Beach, etc.) It’s a somewhat loaded question to those of us who work in the fitness business. Do I believe it exists? Like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy? But that’s not the real question I’m being asked. The question is really,  “Do I believe that someone should eat this way?” And while my answer is a definitive “maybe”, I think the “Paleo, Atkins, South Beach” question misses the point; because it doesn’t answer what the REAL issues are that prevent ANY eating plan from working…

You want to stop drinking soda or eating potato chips (or, insert other indulgence you know is not helping your fat loss endeavors), you sincerely do. But you’ve tried so many times, and while you may have enjoyed some short- lived success, your attempts at change never seem to last long. It’s like there’s a mysterious magnetic “pull” drawing you back to your old ways – it’s like a groove you slip right back into.  That’s the bad news about the power of habit. The good news is, there’s a secret to breaking bad habits and it’s right here in today’s post.

Since this is the first Burn the Fat Blog post of the year, I sat down today with the intention of writing a list of the top 10 fat loss tips for the year, based on everything that we’ve learned from experience and new research from the past few years. But as I started writing about tip number one, it dawned on me that this one point was so important that it deserved to be highlighted in a post of its own. (I’ll come back to the rest of the tips later). This is the one absolute requirement for weight loss, and it’s something you’ve heard of before. However, there’s one critical distinction about this familiar advice that you might not have considered – and this 1 thing makes all the difference in the world…

Self-improvement speaker and author Earl Nightingale described attitude as “The angle or bearing, including actions, feelings and moods,” from which you approach a problem or situation. That’s a great definition.  I like to say something similar; that attitude is the “lens” through which you perceive and respond to your world. Although attitude is mental, there’s no question it affects your life in very physical ways. In fact, the wrong attitude can sabotage even the best-designed nutrition and training plan.

I recently took part in the Elite Body Seminar, where I was interviewed by Jim Katsoulis, a hypnotherapist and fitness coach who, rather than just training clients in the gym physically, he specializes in using psychological techniques to change behavior, achieve goals and build excitement, passion and confidence in the process. Because of our mutual appreciation for the focus on the mind and motivation aspect of health and fitness, I was pleased to participate. My readers as well as many journalists have often told me they are interested in how I’ve stayed motivated to train consistently for 30 years straight without ever taking more than 1 week of unplanned time off. Below is my answer when Jim asked me how I personally motivate myself. This seemed like an ideal way to kick off the New Year since so many people start off gung-ho in January and often lose steam in a matter of weeks.

I’ve been writing blogs and articles about fat loss and fitness on the Internet since 1999. One of the most popular newsletters I ever mailed was sent out six years ago, right around the new year. My email box blew up. I never received so much response. This was before social media when getting that much personal engagement was a big deal.  What created such a response? I wrote down my 20 predictions for the new year. I said…