How I Went From Obese To Lean – Start 2016 With The Right Mindset

Kinobody welcomes guest author, Patrick Tucker, who lost a staggering 110 lbs following the Aggressive Fat Loss Program! *

Hope you enjoy it…

Introducing Patrick Tucker:

110 pounds. That’s how much weight I lost.*

*Results May Vary By Individuals

It’s an extreme number, and for those who don’t know me personally, you may be taken aback by how amazing that number is and wonder how I did it.

But, if you were to ask those closest to me, that number wouldn’t be quite as shocking.

Why?

I’ve been a master of sorts with being able to lose a dramatic amount of weight throughout my life—more times than I can count actually.

Maybe the amount of weight lost all the other times wasn’t quite as impressive, but the point is that I’ve struggled time and time again.

Though, the struggle wasn’t actually in losing the weight.

You see, I’ve been able to lose weight in the past and fairly quickly.

But, I would always reach a certain point where I would give up and immediately begin to gain the weight back that I lost (and then some).

The problem wasn’t with actually losing the weight, instead the problem was with sustaining the weight I lost.

It’s easy enough to lose weight. We’ve all done it.

And, I’m sure most of you reading have had the same struggles as me to various degrees of being up and down with your weight.

So, rather than merely answering the question I get so often of “how do I do it too?” I wanted to go a step further and share with you the mindset I adopted behind not only losing weight, but with actually sustaining weight loss and getting lean and shredded, effortlessly.

And further in applying this mindset, I started to have greater joy, fulfillment, and an unyielding drive in life each and every day.

So, without further ado, I’m going to share with you two simple ways of thinking that comprises part of this mindset, so you too can start 2016 right.

Your Morality is Not Tied to the Foods You Eat

I hear it all the time, and I used to fall prey to the exact same mindset: “If I eat this food item [insert foods like chicken and broccoli], I am doing something ‘good.’

But if I eat that food item [insert foods like pizza and ice cream], then I am doing something ‘bad.”

Though I’m sure most wouldn’t say “I’m a bad person if I eat these food items,” but how we often internalize our decisions after eating particular items unknowingly implies we are.

After the “bad” food item is consumed, we begin to tell ourselves that what we did was wrong. And, what typically follows is regret, internal self-deprecation, and a will to redeem the “bad” we did. Usually it translates to the following days eating way less and only sticking to a handful of foods deemed as healthy, increasing cardio to high amounts, and exerting extreme mental-will power.

But what ends up happening? You get to a point where you’re mentally and emotionally depleted.

Then, the very foods you were disciplining yourself away from consuming are the very foods you turn to.

Only this time, you consume a larger amount. Then afterward you feel the same regretful feelings, and you start the whole cycle over again.

Time and time again people can’t seem to lose weight because they pretty much define their morality by the foods they eat. But, here’s the deal: there is no such thing as “good” and “bad” foods.

Sure, there are foods that are more wholesome and nutritious, but that doesn’t then therefore imply when you don’t eat those foods you are doing something “bad.”

You want to know what makes what you are doing as something that is “bad?”

Context.

If your whole diet day in and day out consisted of only eating ice cream and pizza without restriction, then you surely wouldn’t be doing anything good for your body composition and health.

But, with a well set up macronutrient program like the one offered in Kinobody, which has a daily goal for protein, carbs and fats, you instead are able to budget your favorite food items into your nutrition plan.

You shouldn’t feel guilt with doing so, but you should actually feel quite the opposite. You’ll actually be reaching your fitness and health goals when you budget these foods in that you love.

Not only is this appropriate for your physical health and for diet adherence, but with including these foods every day, it also will elevate your mental, emotional and even social health.

But this is just one part…

You have the foundational knowledge piece down of being able to enjoy the foods you love, but to bring it to life in 2016, you need something more.

This leads us to our next point…

Your Greatest Reliefs Will Follow Minimal Tension

What does a sneeze and making love to your significant other have in common?

In both occurrences at the beginning you feel a sense of minimal tension.

But, sure enough, what follows is a fulfilling, satisfying, and great relief.

From the most basic bodily occurrences that happen each and every day to the most passionate and exhilarating moments of our lives, we often go through life with pushing through tension in order to experience relief.

The same principle applies with how we view and execute our plans within our fitness journeys.

Think about the traditional nutrition and weight lifting approach that’s out there.

They have you eating 6 small meals a day and training 5-6 days a week. With eating so often, even if you were to fit in foods that you love, by the end of the day you experience no sense of relief.

Why?

When you only have, let’s say, 1800 calories to consume, evenly spread out through 6 meals, you’re looking at a merely 300 calories to consume at each sitting!

That’s an extreme amount of tension to experience, and for what?

Even if you do make it to the end of the week and drop a couple of pounds, it’s no wonder that most people ultimately give up and gain the weight back.

The amount of tension that is experienced is ultimately not worth the little relief.

Further, look at these weight lifting plans.

You go to the gym for countless hours, nearly every day during the week.

You’re experiencing a great physical tension, and for what?

With these typical programs, all the extra tension you are experiencing aren’t even giving you the body composition results that you are after.

Instead, you constantly feel sore, tired, and physically and mentally taxed.

I opt for a different method and a different mindset.

Instead of thinking you need to experience great tension in order to receive a small relief, realize that you can experience minimal tension and receive a great relief.

When you choose to intermittent fast and push your first meal back 4-8 hours after waking up, you will feel some tension.

But, what follows is a great relief.

Each and every day, you get to experience the relief—or better put, reward—of enjoying yourself over large and satisfying meals of the foods you love.

Having 2 big meals is much more of a reward than having 6 small meals spread out throughout the day.

When you’re tempted to cave in those early hours in the morning because you feel like you’re too “hungry,” tell yourself that you are capable of going through some minimal tension over the duration of a few more short hours because you have a relief and reward awaiting you.

And, the best part: you get to experience this reward each and every day.

Also, sure enough after only some days of fasting, you’ll no longer experience the same hunger pangs as when first transitioning.

The same point goes for training. With having a minimalistic approach with an emphasis on strength, you don’t experience tension in remotely the same way as traditional training approaches.

Instead of there being an ongoing tension of forcing yourself to slave away endless hours at the gym every week, the tension with a minimalist program is in the time you’re actually not at the gym.

You are tense because you look forward to going to the gym.

You could say it’s even more of an excitement because with only 3 days a week of training, you are refreshed mentally and physically in between workouts.

And, with the focus being on progressive overload and strength, you’re looking forward to setting a new personal record over last week and getting stronger.

Training your mind to remember that you will have daily reliefs and rewards following only minimal tension, you won’t have to focus your energy on some far away weekly “cheat” meal, or wait to see the scale go down to experience a sense of relief.

That’s the problem with most approaches, the amount of tension outweighs the greatness of the relief.

With intermittent fasting and training 3 days a week, in starting this new year, you can remind yourself that you don’t need to wait until a future date to experience relief because each and every day you’ll experience it, and to a great degree.

The End Result

When you are applying these two points to your mindset, you are forcing yourself to not only look at health through the lens of just merely the physical.

Overall health is not just defined by the foods you eat and what you do with your body.

What’s often failed to be considered is also mental, emotional, and social health.

Instead of prioritizing one aspect of health over another, balance is what’s of utmost importance.

Adopting these ways of thinking will promote a greater mental health because you won’t exert an extreme amount of will power and feel taxed and drained because of restrictive food choices and excessive exercise protocols.

Your emotional health will be elevated because you won’t feel guilt due to eating a particular food item or because you missed a workout, but instead you’ll feel freedom and joy as you will be adopting a healthier relationship with food and exercise.

And, social health will skyrocket because you’ll never have to turn down an outing with family or friends again due to feeling like you’ll eat something you shouldn’t or you’ll eat too much food—even when dieting.

Ultimately, Greg’s advice is spot on.

When you make your body composition goals a secondary priority and instead focus your time and energy on how you can make the daily experience of life as balanced and enjoyable as possible, there’s no way you won’t reach your goals.

Forget end goals.

You’re on a journey.

A journey of learning how to enjoy life every day. Over time, the byproduct of that joy will continue to become a stronger, athletic, and shredded physique, and you’ll never need to worry about sustaining weight loss ever again.