“Losing weight and being healthy is as simple as exercising MORE and eating LESS! Calories in versus calories out!”

How many times have we heard this statement?

While it does have merit (math does, indeed, matter) it’s not quite that simple. If it was would our western society have the highest obesity rate in recorded history?

The math equation is a terrible place to start if I’m being totally honest. Telling an overweight or obese person to crunch numbers like a fucking CPA is almost always recipe for disaster.

Why?

There are no structural lifestyle adjustments, habit formations OR sustainable change elements implemented.

Telling someone to eat less and move more for a negative calorie balance at the end of the day, week, or month WITHOUT building their custom action step path is dubious.

We don’t suffer from a KNOW HOW problem in our industry today. We suffer from a GIVE A SHIT problem of managing other human beings with compassion, empathy and patience.

Lifestyle change is hard. Straight up, one of the hardest things to do out there is to lose weight AND keep it off.

We suffer from quick fix mentalities. We suffer from all or nothing over actions. And we suffer from unrealistic expectations.

But isn’t that what your clients want?

To lose 30 pounds in 30 days!! Even though it took them a decade to put that fat on in the first place?

(the typo makes this even better)

I want to be 100% pain-free this week! When in reality they haven’t moved their body meaningfully in years.

And of course, I want to see my abs and be RIPPED for summer in just 6-weeks. When in reality, they are burned out, broken down, hurt and 50 pounds away from seeing an ab, let alone a six-pack.

It becomes very hard NOT to push our clients into advanced programming strategies both from a training and nutritional standpoint. It’s sexy, it looks like it will “work” better and quicker.

But this is the equivalent of giving a kindergartner AP Calculus homework and wondering WHY they are struggling with reading the first equation let alone completing the entire assignment.

Communication is key here. Setting the standards for goal attainment in a step by step action plan. Smart, sustainable AND effective results that are gained and maintained for a lifetime.

That’s the way I communicate it to my clients.

This broken down into a 4-phase action plan (simply) looks something like this:

**Cycling between 1-4 as road blocks present

See, without the base at Phase 1, Phase 2 will not have the ability to become as successful.

Same goes for any jumping between phases.

The stronger and wider you build the bottom of the pyramid, the taller it can potentially be built. That’s also MATH.

So in the end, as a coach, don’t think for one second that you’re doing your clients a disservice by monitoring their sleep, increasing their water intakes or having them implement a few minutes of mindful breathing and/or meditation per day for “fat loss” goals.

These are the action steps that are necessary to do what it is we do vocationally…

CHANGE FUCKING LIVES FOREVER!

I’m in the business of changing lives, so are you.

I don’t want to put just a few pounds on someone’s bench, or have them get beach ready with veins in their abs. That shit is cool, but our WHY as Pain-Free Performance Specialists is to:

Make every aspect of our clients lives better. Give them the mental and physical tools to be their best self, and to perform optimally in all aspects of their lives.

As a partner, as a parent.

As a business owner, as a community member.

A stronger, happier, BETTER version of themselves.

So yeah, not as easy as calories in versus calories out. Never discount your professional expertise and worth when it comes to QUALITY programming and client management.

-JR