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A Proven Way To Increase Consistency With Your Diet & Exercise

 

Do you struggle consistently sticking with something?

Know what you SHOULD be doing, but struggle to consistently do it time and time again?

The diet you keep trying to follow that you have to keep “getting back on track”.

Or the exercise routine you swore this time you were going to stick to, but somehow you’ve told yourself that 6x in the past 2 weeks..

Through coaching thousands of people, I believe consistency to be the #1 MOST important thing when it comes to fitness.

If you cannot do something over and over, there is no chance you will be able to see results.

Whether the results you want is fat loss, muscle building, or just living a healthier life. If you cannot find a way to come up with the tools to do what you are supposed to do, over and over and over again, there will be no progress occurring.

In this article I am going to label out one of the most effective, most responded to ways to create consistency I use with my online coaching clients.

At the end of the day, all of this comes down to psychology. Most people KNOW what to do, eat healthier, exercise regularly, etc.

But, why do so many people struggle for the life of them to do it?

We are going to cover that in this article, and one simple, NOT EASY, but simple strategy you can take with you today to start seeing change.

Let’s open up that brain of yours.

Before I Get Any Farther

 

I have to say this.

If you study psychology, there is something called the Trans Theoretical Model Of Behavior Change (pictured above).

This simply states there are different stages to making a change. Through working with people, as hard as this is for me to accept, some people are simply not ready to make a change to their behavior.

They could say they are, they could swear up and down they want to, but in reality in their head, they are not ready to.

And, even though this is sounding like a bad thing, it really is not. This doesn’t mean you NEVER will be ready to make a change, but you have to be mentally ready first.

A lot of the times, the people that are ready to make a change say things like “ I’m tired of yo yo dieting. I can’t do it anymore”. “ I’m sick of living like this, I need to make a change”.

Point being, as Jordan Syatt discusses in my podcast I did with him , there normally is some sort of fear involved with truly making a behavior change.

The fear of their health. The fear of them not looking the way they want infant of their colleagues. The fear of losing a spouse.

Whatever that fear is, it is not a BAD thing, because it leads them to change.

I urge you to ask yourself if you are truly ready to make a change or not.

I can give you all the tips and tactics in the world, but unless we figure out if you are truly ready, they won’t do anything for you.

Only you will be able to be honest with yourself on that.

Alright, having fun class? Let’s continue to the next section.

Why Do So Many People Struggle With Consistency?

This is the million dollar question.

As I was saying earlier, people KNOW what to do. You probably know you shouldn’t be having 4 glasses of wine a night, with the extra side of bread, oh and on top of the workout you skipped today..

But, really, WHY do SO MANY PEOPLE do this?

Why is our obesity rate higher than it has ever been in the history of the United States?

Why are so many people on blood pressure medication, or better yet buying fat burners from GNC… Don’t get me started.

The answer is actually quite simple when you boil it down.

People choose the emotional in the moment response vs the logical outside of the moment response.

Think about it.

You just got off from a long day of work.

You woke up at 5am, got to work by 7am.

Have the normal stress associated from work.

You get off, sit in traffic for an hour.

You get home, and you’re tired.

You don’t want to go back out and workout.

So, THAT emotion in THAT moment, dictates your actions. So, you say F the gym, I’ll do it tomorrow.

That then leads into dinner.

You are tired, and now hungry because you just worked all day, didn’t really plan your food out, sat in traffic, and get home starving.

So you are now tired, and hungry. This emotion spills over into dinner. You have 2 or 3 servings of the dinner, when you really know one would probably be good enough.

Finally, going into the night. You are now stuffed from dinner, so you are a bit lazy / sleepy. You probably don’t feel the best about yourself because you just stuffed your face, and skipped your workout.

You are stressed from work and your kids.

All of this combined, the feelings in that moment, may lead you to go to the cabinet and get the wine bottle and have a few glasses.

This cycle repeats itself 1, 3, 5x a week.

All of this stemming from, you choosing the emotional in the moment response to a situation vs the logical out of the moment response.

Let’s break it down.

You got home and you were tired. In that moment, all you could think about was being tired. You didn’t wanna go workout, you didn’t want to cook dinner and plan your food out.

You just wanted to lay there and eat whatever the F you wanted.

Keep this scenario in mind.

Let me give you another.

Your kid wakes you up at 2, 4, and finally 6am.

You are now dragging a** to get into your regular routine.

You normally take 10-15 minutes to cook breakfast, but all you can think is how damn tired you are, so you say screw it and skip.

Running late as it is, you don’t pack and bring your normal lunch or gym clothes either. You say you will get something around work, and come back home and grab clothes later.

Lunch time comes, you are STARVING because you skipped breakfast. Now all you can think about in that moment is how tired AND starving you are.

This leads you to go get lunch and probably eat enough for the size of a small village.

You don’t feel the best from the big lunch and being tired, so you just go home instead of going straight to the gym like you normally do.

You see? This scenario too, all you thought about was the emotional response in the moment of being tired and hungry.

Learning how to take yourself out of the moment you are in..

This is where the unlock can come.

“Live In The Moment”.. Yeaa

All you ever really hear is how you life is too short, you need to live in the moment.

You need to enjoy every moment as it comes.

Well, I am here to offer my two cents on that for what it is worth.

Yes, every moment counts, and shouldn’t be taken for granted..

But, when it comes to building consistency and doing what you know is right, living in the moment should be the last thing on your mind.

I am not the biggest religious guy, and I am not sure if you are or not.

But one thing I do know is what a lot of the talk about is how you cannot give in every single temptation that comes your way.

If you gave into every single temptation out there, I guarantee there would be a lot more crime, and a lot more chaos in this world.

Guys, fitness is no different.

Let’s dissect here.

In both examples above, you gave into the emotional in the moment response of being tired, hungry, stressed, etc. Which led your decision making being based off of that emotional response.

Then, that decision led you then feeling even worse about yourself.

You gave into the emotional temptation, you now feel bad about it. This creates bad self efficacy, and leads you to believe you can’t do something, or can’t stick to something.

Which then creates this cycle in perpetuity of you being inconsistent.

Do you want to know the way to work through this?

Take yourself out of the moment, give yourself 5 minutes to think about WHAT DECISION IS GOING TO MAKE YOU THE MOST PROUD 4, 8, 24 hours from that moment.

That, is truly where the magic comes into play.

Keeping with the scenarios above.

If when you got home from work, even though you were tired and hungry, if you took yourself OUT of the moment, and thought about what decision was going to make you the most proud looking back on that moment..

I bet it would go something like, still going to the gym even though you were tired, and still taking the extra 5 10 20 minutes to cook a healthy dinner, and stick to your nutrition goals.

That would make you a lot more proud than saying F it, laying on the couch, over indulging on dinner, and flushing it down with wine.

But when the emotion / temptation pop up, people don’t think about that, they can only see what it is front of them, being the feeling of tired, hungry, stressed, etc.

That is all that is on your mind and all you are thinking about.

I implore you, and I mean implore you, to take yourself out of the moment, and think about what decision you make will make you the most proud.

Is this easy? Hell no.

This is hard. This takes a lot of mental effort. This takes a lot of practice. It won’t happen over night. It won’t happen after a week.

It is hard to look past the initial temptation of feeling stressed and looking at what decision is going to make you the most proud 4 hours from right now when you are feeling stressed.

If it were that easy, we wouldn’t have the highest obesity rate we ever had, and people wouldn’t be on such crazy amounts of medications at such a young age.

It is going to take a lot of effort from you. I am telling you this not to sell you on something, or to make you sign up for coaching with me, none of that. If I was this would be an awful way to do that.

I am telling you because I want to set you up for success. I want to give you the real environment you will be heading into, so you know what to expect.

So when you go to try it, and realize it is a bit hard, it is normal.

But just like riding a bike, or learning to become the skill of whatever your job is, the more you do it the better you get.

You will build the skill of it. You will build the confidence to know no matter what is thrown your way, you will be able to remain consistent.

Newsflash, yes this is how you see progress in your fitness journey… But this is how you actually change your life.

When you can get in control of every emotion you have, and remove yourself from that emotion to then make decisions based on what you know is right, that is your unlock.

It is not to say having the emotion is a BAD thing, we are all human, we have emotions.

Having the emotion is okay, but the more you can detach yourself from that emotion, and NOT let it impact your decision making, that is how you change your consistency issue.

Final Thoughts

Know this may have been a lot to think about.

I hope I was able to paint good enough pictures for you to follow along, and realize what is going on.

I work with a lot of people. This one simple, not easy, but simple mental shift of truly thinking about what decision is going to make you the most proud OUTSIDE of the current moment you are in, literally has changed peoples lives.

Not just their fitness journey, but their entire life in general. Marriages, relationships, work settings, parenting, you name it.

I am not here saying I am a psychologist, but I have just seen this one mental shift make seismic differences.

Guys I implore you to try this. And try it for real.

Do it today. There is going to be something that happens to you today that makes you want to say F this I don’t wanna track my calories, or I don’t want to get this workout in.

Give yourself 5 minutes to detach yourself from that particular moment, and think about what is going to make you the most proud when you lay your head on your pillow at night.

I promise you the more you can center your thoughts around THAT, the more change will come into your life.

Let me know if you give it a try, and how it works out for you.

Again it will not be easy, but I promise you with all of my heart, it works.

I wouldn’t be writing this 2300 word article if it didn’t, trust me.

Reach out to me at coacheric@ericrobertsfitness.com if you end up trying it. Let me know how it goes, would love to hear it.

If you are interested in coaching with me, and allowing me to guide you through this process and be your support system, head to the link HERE to fill the form out to see if we are a good fit.

Really look forward to hearing from you after this one. Give it a full week of trying. What is a full week to change the rest of your life?

-E.

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ERF 037: Does Fat Loss Have To Be Your ONLY Diet Goal?

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The word “diet” has a connotation with only fat loss. When people think “diet”, they think you HAVE be wanting to drop some lbs.

It can also be kind of concerning thinking that well if and when you hit your fat loss goal… what next? Just revert back to your old ways? 

I am here to say fat loss does NOT have to be your only goal. 

There are periods where you can have a goal of , yes I am saying it , maintenance. 

There are periods of time you can focus on even building muscle!

I cover all things related to what your “diet” can look like, and why in this podcast.

Let me know if you enjoy it. Talk soon. -E. 

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ERF Q&A 031: Are You Eating The “Right” Amount Of Food To Lose Fat?

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It can be confusing or frustrating when it comes to your diet.

You are “dieting”. You are trying to watch what you eat, and attempting to cut back on sweets or sodas.

But, you don’t truly know if what you are doing is working. 

Yea you have made some changes to your eating habits but, are the changes you made actually going to make you lose fat?

I cover this topic in depth in this new YouTube video I just put out.

There are signs that tell you if what you are eating is actually leading to fat loss.

There are certainly things that come with being in a calorie deficit, which we know is, the only way to lose fat.

So if you can know these things, then you can be better educated on if the amount of food you are eating is actually going to lead to you losing weight.

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ERF 034: How To Deal With Boredom / Emotional / Binge Eating

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During these unprecedented times where everything is closing and we are forced to self quarantine.. It can be very easy to lead down a bad path with your food.

Due to this, I recorded this podcast for all the people who are stuck home, and may fall to boredom / emotional / or binge eating, because it all comes back to the same principles.

If you struggle with boredom eating while you are stuck home, and your kids are driving you crazy, on top of dealing with your work, spouse, etc.. This podcast is for you. 

Hope it helps. -E.

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ERF 033: COVD-19, How To Keep Yourself Healthy From The Corona Virus

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As we have bought up all the toilet paper (Which I don’t know why but), how can you actually keep yourself healthy?

How can you be sure you can DECREASE the chance of you getting it, but also, INCREASE your ability to fight it off if you do get it. 

Your immune system plays the biggest role here. Toilet paper and hand sanitizer is cool , but , keeping your immune system healthy during these times is critical.

Listen to this weeks podcast to be sure you and your loved ones are ready. Stay Safe. -E.

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How To *ACTUALLY* Boost Your Metabolism

 

Do you have a slow metabolism?

Better yet, do you LOOK at a cookie, and gain 27lbs?

What about just struggling to LOSE weight, but have no problem GAINING it?

If your answer was yes to any of those questions, especially the cookie one, this article will be for you.

Whether through age, through previous diet history, through lifestyle change, your metabolism has gone down hill.

You don’t burn as many calories, you really don’t eat that much food yet still gain weight.

No need to fear, Eric is here.

I am going to teach you how to increase your metabolism the RIGHT way to see results.

And no, this will not be an ad for some fat burning pill with a promo code at the end.

Just real science that you can take and implement today to help start seeing results.

What Actually Is Your Metabolism?

It is funny, people will be quick to blame their metabolism for their lack of fat loss..

But when I ask them to explain to me what metabolism actually is, they cannot quite speak with the same conviction.

I cannot teach you how to increase something without actually knowing what it is first.

In the simplest of words, your metabolism is simply the sum of all chemical processes going on in your body at any one time.

At any one point in time there are millions of processes going on inside your body. Your heart beating involves your metabolism, your eye movement reading this, digestion of the food you eat.

Anything that is allowing you to live and breath right now, is apart of your metabolism.

Now that you have a basic understanding of what metabolism ACTUALLY is, you can have more context when Sally from the gym complains how hers is just SO SLOW.

Now let’s look into what components play a role, and how we can use them to your advantage to speed up your metabolism.

RMR, Resting Metabolic Rate

Your RMR, or resting metabolic rate, is the most practical component of your metabolism.

Some people use BMR, basal metabolic rate, but that is literally when your body does NOTHING but lay in bed and not even more..

I mean, you at least gotta blink or something right?

So your RMR is what we can use to begin to talk about how your metabolism works.

These are the calories you burn when you stand up and get out of bed. Your brain processing and thinking as you read this. Everyday life things.

What can go into your RMR? Super glad you asked.

Lean Body Mass

Your lean body mass plays a roll into what your RMR is.

This is can be how much muscle you have. Also, Your muscle to fat ratio.

This can also be how tall or short you are.

Taller people, like myself, burn more calories than those who are shorter. We will talk more on this when we get into gender as well.

Depending how tall or short you are, you can have differences in bone mass, and in overall total body expenditure. 

This can lead to a difference in how hard your body has to work to maintain itself.

Muscle Burns More Calories.. Kind of.

One BIG thing I do want to briefly touch on is the fact that more muscle can lead to an increased metabolism.

Now, this is 110% true.

The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn. Absolutely.

BUT, the amount it does is minimal.

For every 1lb of muscle you add, you burn an extra 6-10 calories a day, at most.

So if you added 10 lbs of muscle, you would potentially only burn possibly 60 more calories a day.

Is it more? Yes. Is it so significant you should listen to someone selling you something crazy about building tons of muscle to boost your metabolism?

Nope.

Now you should clearly be building muscle, but it isn’t a justice to you go to go and eat pizza and ice cream.

Do it for health reasons, for strength reasons, increased bone density, all things that build you up.

Rather than worrying about it tearing your fat down. That will be done mainly through diet anyway.

Click HERE to find out how many calories you should be eating to lose fat.

Gender

Here we are, the forever war between girls and boys.

Who truly started cooties? One will never know.

Anywho, yes, men normally burn a bit more calories than women.

But that is not some magical fat loss potion.

It is just science.

Like we said earlier, taller people have more energy that their bodies have to use.

There is more blood to be circulated, takes more energy to go up and down steps, more bone mass to them, etc.

Men are typically taller, so they typically burn more calories.

We also just said the more lean body mass / muscle mass you have, you burn more calories.

Again, men typically have more muscle mass / lean body mass to them.

Both of these things lead to a higher metabolism, because again it is just more work their body has to do.

I coach mostly women, and trust me when I say, you all are much more bad ass than us men could ever be.

So you win.

AGE

Oh boy, Age.

This one is the crutch of many individuals wanting to lose weight.

They claim they are not 18 anymore, so their metabolism doesn’t work like it used to!

I am here to tell you to STOP using this excuse as to why you cannot lose fat.

Does your metabolism slow as you age?

Yep. Sure does.

BUT, first and foremost it is usually lifestyle based, not solely because you got older.

You eat less overall, eat less protein, your lean body mass decreases, your activity level goes down.

If you have been following thus far, those things are key factors when it comes to how your metabolism works.

Second, the amount it decreases is almost next to none per year.

Good thing for you is, however much is does slow down, this can pretty much be reversed.

Through proper strength training, well thought out nutrition, and losing body fat, you can pretty much reverse that aging process.

Click HERE if you want to contact me about possibly coming up with a plan for you to do just that.

Genetics

Yet again, another thing people look towards to pin the tail on their fat loss scapegoat.

I debated whether I wanted to go into this or not, because if I give you a reason to quit, most of you will.

The truth is, genetics plays a HUGE role in your metabolism.

It affects obviously your gender, your height, your lean body mass, all of these things.

A lot of it again is lifestyle based, but there are just cases of genetics winning no matter what.

If you are a 5’5 male out there reading this.. You aren’t making it to the NBA.

Just not gonna happen.

Some people have the perfect genetics for bodybuilding. 

Here’s the thing, we are talking about fat loss here, not professional basketball or professional bodybuilding.

So, even if we say your genetics are the worst ever.

Why would you not still do EVERYTHING you can to make the best of them.

To increase your lean body mass. To do proper strength training. To eat healthy.

Regardless, that is a great idea.

So, don’t use genetics as a crutch either. This is fat loss here we are talking about, not stepping onto the court or a body building stage.

TEF, Thermic Effect of Food

Protein protein protein.

Protein is the #1 macronutrient I see missing in the average individuals diets when I go through my initial nutrition coaching evaluation.

Protein should be a staple in ANY fat loss diet. Let’s talk about why and how it helps boost your metabolism though.

Let’s talk practical application first.

Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, meaning it will fill you up and keep you full the longest.

This then means if you are not hungry, and stay full, you tend to not eat at much.

Then leading to eating less calories aka being in a calorie deficit.

Which is the only way to lose fat.

It also is the only macro nutrient that can help build and maintain muscle / lean body mass. Which as we know from above, helps with boosting your metabolism.

There is also something called the thermic effect of food.

This basically just means how many calories your body has to burn digesting food.

Protein has the highest thermic effect of food. Meaning when you eat protein, your body has to burn more calories to digest it. Just because you ate a chicken breast.

Obviously you can see how, if you make your diet high in protein, all day your body is burning more calories digesting it, as opposed to if you were eating carbs or fats all day.

TEA, Thermic Effect of Activity

This picture was just absolutely hilarious, so I had to use it.

Okay so thermic effect of activity.

This is basically just the calories you burn through exercise and or movement through the day.

And before we get any farther, NO your fit bit or apple watch tracking your calories is not accurate.

It actually over estimates by 50%. Click HERE to find out why.

Okay, moving on.

Strength training I believe is the most important for long term fat loss.

This will increase your lean muscle mass, increase your lean body mass, and with the right diet decrease your body fat.

This will have the biggest impact on boosting your metabolism long term.

It will burn less calories than cardio in the short term, but long term will allow you to burn more.

More importantly, will KEEP the fat off, without having to do hours and hours of cardio.

Because I’d rather watch grass grow than do hours of cardio.

Next up would be said spoken cardio.

Whether LISS or HIT, low intensity steady state or High intensity training.

Both can be beneficial and both can have their benefits.

Not only physical, but mental and emotional as well. Which I would argue is maybe a bit more important for most people.

It is not very high up on my list as far as importance of boosting metabolism, but it certainly plays a role.

The last would be NEAT, and that is the Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.

Now don’t worry, big word, but it just means all of the stuff you do throughout the day that is not dedicated exercise.

Walking into the grocery store. Brushing your teeth. Scratching your head.

People VASTLY underestimate NEAT when it comes to fat loss.

This is why counting steps became so huge. Shooting for 8-10k steps a day is an amazing way to increase NEAT.

Eventually leading you to move more, and increase your metabolism.

Park farther away at the store, walk around the perimeter of your house 5x, take the stairs no matter what.

I strongly urge you to not be one of those who underestimate how much getting 10k steps can help your fat loss journey.

Supplements / Metabolism Boosting Foods

So, I HAVE to go into this, but keeping it very brief.

Anyone who tells you you can take a pill to burn fat, run.

Run far, far away. After you laugh at them.

Also anyone who tells you to eat a certain food because it can boost your metabolism ( besides protein we learned because science not because some marketing ad ), run even farther.

Seriously, anyone who tries to sell you on a fat burning pill or metabolism boosting food, they are doing just that.

Trying to get your money and sell you something.

No other way around it.

Let’s put an end to it one person at a time.

Final Thoughts

So, as you see, nothing here is sexy.

I can’t go sell you something some product from any of this.

Nothing is about doing this ONE trick to start boosting your metabolism!

Or eat this food or do that workout to boost your metabolism!

Because in 100% honesty, it is quite simple.

Move more, optimize your lean body mass, keep protein high, and you will increase your metabolism.

It would be just down to science at that point, your metabolism would HAVE to increase to keep up with the work you are putting on it.

Focus on things you can control, things that will give you the biggest return on the change you put in, and I promise you will see change.

Though I would love to hear, what is the craziest thing you ever heard or read to increase your metabolism?

It is always great to hear what fitness marketers can come up with these days.

I hope you enjoyed the article, learned something, and can take it with you to start using your metabolism to your advantage.

If you have any further questions leave them below, or feel free to reach out to me at coacheric@ericrobertsfitness.com.

If you are interested in seeing if we are possibly a good fit for coaching together, head to the link HERE!

Talk soon.

-E.

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ERF 029: Cheat Meals, Diet Breaks, Re Feeds, Sustainable Eating

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It is not about sprinting to the finish line, then “maintaining” after that.

When have you ever seen someone do an all out sprint, then just maintain after that… They are damn tired and exhausted. Why do you think dieting Is any different?

Honestly, chances are, if you need a “cheat day”, your diet is too restrictive to stick to long term anyway. 

Listen, A. you should be able to work your certain foods into your diet plan. 

B. Diet breaks and or refeeds can and SHOULD be used within a fat loss plan. 

Why? Because that is what sustainability is. You are not going to diet for the rest of your life are you (at least I hope not)? 

They can help lead to long term SUSTAINABLE ways to eat healthy. 

Give the podcast a listen, and if you need help with your plan, feel free to reach out to me, would be happy to help. 

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ERF 026: Know What To Do, But Just Aren’t Doing It?

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Everyone KNOWS what to do.. But why aren’t most people doing it?

A bunch of things, but one glaring one, is self efficacy.

You don’t believe it is possible. You don’t believe what you are doing is going to get you to where you want to be.

If you don’t think it is going to matter if you track your calories or not, well then of course you aren’t going to track your calories.

If you think whether you workout or not you aren’t going to see fat loss, of course you are not going to workout. 

“How can I lose fat?” should be “What can I do to remain consistent  to a plan for a long period of time?”.

And to me, the first step is to believe what you are doing is going to get you to where you what to be.

This podcast dives into self efficacy and getting that belief that you CAN do it and it IS possible. Let me know what you think.

-E.

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ERF Q&A 022: Fight Hunger On A Diet

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Diets fail for two main reasons, you either get hungry or tired.

Some will say time, but that isn’t a valid reason. That’s an excuse.

Getting hungry on a diet can lead you to obviously over indulge, not stick to it, and not see results.

Now, SOME hunger is okay.. And almost a sign you are in a deficit.

And no, I am not saying starve yourself to lose weight. 

When that hunger inevitably does come about, there are tools you can use to ensure it subsides.

1. Protein. Getting around 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight is CRUCIAL for fighting hunger while on a diet.

2. Micronutrients / Veggies / Food Volume. Loading up on low calorie foods can fill your stomach up, satisfy your body, and allow you to stay in a deficit.

3. Size of deficit. You HAVE to be in a calorie deficit.. But how aggressive is up to you. If you are too aggressive, and the hunger is too high.. Then decrease the amount of a deficit.

4. Meal Timing. And no, this is not to speed up your metabolism. This is to make sure you stay full and satisfied throughout the day, so you don’t over eat at night.

These are the bookmark version of what I cover in this podcast. 

Check it out if you need some help with your New Years Diet.

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