Terrorists are aptly named because their tactics are designed to strike fear into the hearts of the people. This fear is often irrational. Many people bide their time suffering anxiety over the next unlikely attack while falling prey to a monster that kills more people every week than those murdered on September 11th. This killer has no hidden agenda and destroys without prejudice. Those who are unfortunate enough to meet this nemesis often suffer prolonged pain before eventually succumbing and “giving up the breath” as death was described in ancient Egypt.

What could possibly be so terrible? In the year 2000, the leading preventable cause of death was tobacco. Only a few decades ago, doctors and priests would smoke during commercials and share their favorite brand of cigarette. Today, there is a stigma associated with smoking because we understand the link between tobacco and death. Unfortunately, there is a new competitor who is rapidly gaining ground. This competitor claimed thousands lives in the year 2000, and was the second leading preventable cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Who is this deadly threat to society?

Poor diet and lack of exercise.

Surprised? Thousands of people die every day due to poor eating habits and lack of regular exercise. The death certificate won’t mention their favorite fast food combo meal or the fact that they would rather watch the latest golf tournament than take a stroll through the park. Instead, one of the many degenerative diseases that have been conclusively linked to nutrition and exercise will stake its claim over another life.

Society spends more time and energy worrying about violent threats than dealing with this leading cause of death. While the popularity of products and services designed to address the situation is growing – in fact, the health and wellness industry is en route to become the next trillion-dollar industry according to economist Paul Zane Pilzer – the rate of obesity, overweight, and conditions related to poor diet and lack of exercise such as type II “adult onset” diabetes is increasing. In fact, adult onset diabetes is now being diagnosed in enough children that most medical professionals simply refer to it as “type II.”

Perhaps one reason why this epidemic is so hard to combat is that people are focused on the solution as a product or service, rather than a process. To quit smoking, many people receive counseling, join groups or follow systems because it’s not as simple as tossing the last pack (the author is one of the fortunate few who was able to stop smoking “cold turkey” but found it far more difficult to overcome his poor eating habits). Overweight and obesity is a condition related to behavior and patterns that have taken years to create, so the notion that some magic product will suddenly undo the thousands of days of programming is absurd. Successful, permanent weight loss is a process, not an event.

During a recent seminar that I conduct, participants explored the concept of just how powerful the mind is and how this relates to losing fat. After a serious of powerful exercises, they were asked to create an action plan based on what they learned in order to successfully lose fat and keep it off. The result of this workshop was seven keys that addressed what most diet programs or weight loss systems do not: the fact that fitness starts inside.

Here, then, are seven keys to permanent weight loss success that start on the inside.

Key #1: Be Positive

You’ve probably heard this one before. It’s a popular cliché. In order for it to work, however, you have to move beyond a catchy statement and integrate this as part of your life. In order to truly “be positive” you must start with an understanding of the mind. Your reality is perception, and perception is influenced by your thoughts. Thoughts create reality. What you think about expands.

A good friend and client of mine was a pilot for many years. After the terrorist attacks on September 11th, he was out of work. He went through a period of extreme grief, pain, and anger. His health suffered. It wasn’t the money that struck such a powerful blow. It was something else, a mistake many people made.

You see, my friend’s reality could be summed up with this statement: “I am a pilot.”

Can you see the danger in this? He defined himself by what he did, not who he was. By losing his job, he lost his identity. In reality, he was there all along, but his ego kept getting in the way of finding his true self. He had to learn how to let go and be himself, and define who he was on his own merits, not by his actions, level of success, or how others perceive him.

Many people who are overweight create the same situation. Most will create the statement, “I am fat.” Of course, the desire to lose weight might exist, but if your definition of self-worth is based on the amount of fat you carry, what happens when it’s gone? If you’ve lived with “I am fat” for months or years, who do you expect to become when the fat is gone? This subconscious fear of losing your identity can sabotage your process.

What we think about expands. If you focus on the fat you carrying, or the difficulty you have losing weight, then expect more of it. Expect more fat, and expect a difficult time losing the fact. On the other hand, if you focus on releasing the fat, on your success and the process, then this is what you will receive more of. The fat won’t go away overnight. However, if you spend just one day eating healthy foods and exercising – even if it’s just taking a short walk – would you consider that to be an improvement? Could you call that a “healthy day” compared to your previous habits? What if you decided to be, “I am healthy,” and give the fat some time to let go?

Be positive means be realistic, and focus on the positive progress. Focus on abundance – get more of what you wish to receive, instead of thinking about what you don’t want.

Key #2: Forgive yourself

Forgive yourself already! ENOUGH!

You are only human. Whatever decisions, choices, or even mistakes resulted in your current position, get over them. Successful people recognize that in life, there are no mistakes or failures. There are simply undesired outcomes that offer a learning experience. Most people operate from the realm of “what if” and live either in the past or the future. You decide that past failures dooms you to repeat these mistakes in the future, or you struggle with the concept of “what if” and contemplate a future that is pure fiction. It doesn’t exist.

Get real. Live in the present. As long as you continue to dwell on your mistakes, you are simply creating elaborate excuses to share. You can continue to beat yourself up, or do something about it. So what if you were a binge eater? So what if you knew you were going to gain weight, but gave in anyway? Those were all choices that happened in the past. You are in the driver’s seat. You have a brain. You also have the power to control it. No matter how difficult it may seem, you can choose to be different. It only takes an instant to change your mindset. Dwelling on the past is only an excuse to delay the process.

The first step is to forgive yourself. Remember that forgiveness is not an event. It’s a process. It takes time. You’ve spent a long time telling yourself you are bad, lazy, fat, ugly, or other nasty things that just aren’t true. You can continue to do the same thing, or recognize that for things to change, you must change. One easy way to do this is to simply stand in front of the mirror several times per day, look yourself in the eye, and say out loud: “The more I love the way I am, the more I am the way I want to be.”

Does this feel silly to you? It’s not. That discomfort you have isn’t because you’re doing something stupid … it’s because you’re not comfortable with you. In fact, the more excuses you make to not do this exercise, the more reason you should. You’ll find that, over time, you will become more comfortable with who you are. Soon, you’ll look forward to greeting yourself. Eventually, you could even learn to love yourself again.

Key #3: Stop making excuses

If you’ve already talked yourself out of the exercise described in Key #2, then you need to read this and go back to it.

Do you feel that bulge in your pocket? No, not the one with your wallet or makeup kit tucked away. I’m talking about the one you carry around with you all of the time.

To learn more about the victim cards we all carry around with us, listen to the fifth CD in my 5-CD Lose Fat, Not Faith Audio program

In a nutshell, everyone faces challenges. It is popular to define ourselves by comparing what we have with someone else, but in the end, you can’t please everyone. I’ve heard every excuse in the book.

“I’m too old.” I’ll show you an 80-year old bodybuilder.

“I just got out of heart surgery.” I’ll introduce you to a man who lost dozens of pounds after quadruple bypass surgery and improved his healthy tremendously.

“I’m too overweight and out of shape.” Listen to my interview with Rob “Former Fat Guy” Cooper who lost almost 400 pounds of fat.

“I’ve had too many children to get a flat stomach.” I’ll show you pictures of women with half a dozen kids who win trophies in figure and bodybuilding competitions.

“I work two jobs and go to night school.” I’ll share the story of a woman who was working full time, studying to become a fitness trainer, and teaching her husband how to walk and talk at the same time (he was recovering from brain surgery) while losing over 100 pounds.

The fact is there are always excuses. Instead of wasting your time and energy finding one that sounds good, why not just admit you’re not up for the challenge? Ultimately, you must make the decision to change. If you’re not ready, then just admit it. Stop feeding us the sad drama and save it for someone else. Find someone else who wallows in their excuses and you can have a grand time exchanging all of the reasons why you’re not going to change. The rest of us, we’ve got a different plan. You see, we all carry the same victim cards, but we’re not going to play them. Instead, we’re going to stop being a victim and get on with the business of doing what we set out to do.

Key #4: Make it a lifestyle

You’ve heard this one so much you probably don’t even pay attention to it anymore. The idea of a lifestyle change has become a cliché. Sure, we all want to avoid the yo-yo diet plan and make something permanent, but few people really take the effort to learn how.

Are you one of those people dead-set in making a difference, so you strap on your shoes, load your refrigerator with nothing but chicken and broccoli, then put on your blinders and focus 110% for twelve weeks until you reach your goal?

What happens after that?

Most people celebrate. They eat a lot. They take a break from training.

A few weeks later, they are back to square one. Instead of feeling great, they talk about how great it felt. Instead of looking terrific, they tell old stories like grandfathers in rocking chairs, “I remember when I could see my shoes and not my belly when I’d look down at my feet.”

It’s great to have focus and to take on the challenge and really pursue it. But have you stopped to think about what happens after?

Are you training and dieting for a few weeks, or for life?

Let me ask you this … if it’s for life, can you imagine yourself eating the way you are eating from now until you are six feet under with a bouquet of flowers above your head? If not, it’s time to change.

You see, living healthy doesn’t have to be about diets and horrendous workouts. It can be about fun. I still recall the first time I set down the barbell and put on a pair of running shoes. Several people wrote me, horrified at the thought of how my muscles would wilt and wither from the rigors of training for a half marathon. How could I give up the admirable iron game for some lousy 13-mile run through the woods? What was I thinking?

The truth is, I’m beyond the need to compare my self-worth to the depth of my abdominal cuts or the girth of my biceps. I’m in this for life, and that means having fun. While I enjoy grabbing rusty dumbbells and slinging them around as I grunt, groan, and sweat like I’m taking an indoor shower, there’s more to life than weight-lifting. That’s why I like to ski, jog, and do other activities as well. I make it fun. And you know what? I can do fun. I don’t have to always have a workout sheet and a pen to stay in shape. Sometimes all I need is a good pair of shoes, two hours of free time, and the good green earth to make my rounds.

The same is true for nutrition. Live a little. Experiment with healthy recipes. Understand what “better bad choices” and “portion control” means. If I want some cheesecake, I might order a slice and split it with my wife and daughter. You’ll catch me eating a slice of pizza on occasion, and even sipping on a glass of red wine. The key is moderation. I don’t have to count the days until my diet is over because I’m focused on the process, not the end result. Learn to get out of the finish line and into the race. You’ll enjoy it more.

Key #5: Listen to your body

“Jeremy, I can’t finish my cardio workouts because I get dizzy and nauseous when I do them first thing in the morning, but I can’t eat food because they said I have to have an empty stomach to burn fat.”

“Jeremy, I know I need a ton of protein, but I just can’t seem to get it down. I get ill eating so much protein. How will I ever build muscle?”

These questions are common, because instead of listening to their body, many people are giving up their power by following the current trend or diet program. Your body has built-in mechanisms that can teach you a lot about what you are doing and if it is working. A healthy person knows when it is time to eat, because they get hungry. A healthy person also knows whether or not they require protein. These instincts are built in, but the S.A.D. diet (Standard American Diet) is so loaded with processed food that has no counterpart in nature, it’s no wonder the signal is getting lost.

What happens when you are next to a busy intersection with a constant buzz of cars going by? Eventually, you will tune out the noise. It becomes part of the background. If you are standing next to a deserted road, however, the occasional car whizzing by will attract your attention. You’ll be “in tune.”

The typical diet is so loaded with salt that it completely nullifies your sense of taste. When you try to eat something that is low salt or salt-free, it tastes bland and disgusting. You reach immediately for the salt shaker or at least grab a bottle of Mrs. Dash and cover it with herbs and spices.

Try going without added salt for just four weeks. This is an experiment I experienced first hand, as did my wife, and so do many of my clients. The first few weeks are not fun, because everything is so dull. Then, just like a smoker who has stopped sucking on smoke for a few weeks, something amazing happens. Slowly but surely, your taste will return. Suddenly, you become aware of the subtle flavors in vegetables, fruits, grains, meats, and other foods that just tasted like salt and seasoning before. It’s an amazing experience, if you let it happen.

By removing the additives, preservatives, refined sugars, processed grains, and other artificial components of your diet, you can start to sense your needs for protein and carbohydrates as well. I don’t follow the traditional “slab of meat at every meal” bodybuilder diet. I know it’s popular, but I choose to listen to my body.

I’ve force fed pounds of protein and the end result might be a little more muscle mass, but it also leaves me staring at a block of steak wishing I was somewhere else and hoping I never have to taste a bite of meat ever again. That’s not living … it’s dieting, and I’d rather live healthy than diet miserably. So, I stay in tune. If I crave protein, I eat it. If not, I might just have a vegetarian dish. I listen to my body.

If you have the most energy on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, go for it. If you’re one of those who feels dizzy and weak, then listen to your body. Stop worrying about what “they” say about an empty stomach. Instead, get some food, let it digest, and then get to work. Whatever fat-burning benefit you might have from training on empty will be negated by your lack of energy. Add some fuel and then push down on the accelerator and go full throttle. In the end, it’s calories that are king, not whether or not you time the meal before or after your workout.

If you thrive on high protein and lower carbohydrates, that’s great. Personally, I get extremely irritable when I reduce my carbohydrates and get sick of eating protein when I raise my protein intake. So instead of giving up my power to the almighty diet, I listen to my body. I figure it knows what it wants. Of course, the trend is that you have to cut carbohydrates to lean down, so I made certain I lost 35 pounds and cut down to 7% body fat while eating 300 grams of carbohydrates and 90 grams of protein per day to prove that, first, you can lose fat even with carbohydrates in your system, and second, it doesn’t take pounds of meat and tubs of protein powder to maintain a muscular physique. The proof is in the pudding!

Bottom line, get comfortable with you. Stop ignoring your body. Listen to it. If you find that your “splurge meals” are making you sick, think about the message your body is giving you and decide if you are going to continue it week after week, or if it’s time to take off the training wheels and grow up. You don’t have to have pizza every week to enjoy life.

Key #6: Control your rewards

You’ve heard it before.

“Have a free day. Eat cheat meals.”

It sounds exciting, doesn’t it? For several days, you focus on ultimate discipline. You eat perfectly “clean” and don’t deviate from your diet … not even a little bit. But that’s because you have a great motivator … the promise of a day or meal where you can literally go “no-holds barred” and eat anything and everything in sight!

If you start to feel a twinge of guilt about your plans to assault the nearest buffet, you can simply flip to the pages of your favorite book and reassure yourself with the claim that this meal is necessary because it will boost your metabolism. It’s okay. Have it all. Chow away. Stuff yourself. You earned it, and it won’t make a difference, right?

Well … maybe, and then again, maybe not.

Cheat meals, free meals, reward meals, or whatever names you choose serve their purpose. I know that I would not have jumped headfirst into my first physique transformation if I did not know I could dive back into my binge habits once a week. And it worked … for awhile. I stuck to the program and was losing weight.

As time progressed, however, I noticed a few disturbing trends.

Monday to me was simply a countdown to the day I could eat anything I wanted. I was obsessed with it. Sure, I was eating clean throughout the week, but I could barely focus on anything else other than the idea that one day I would be going crazy. When that day came, I would actually plot out a course through the city so I could hit as many fast-food and donut joints as possible. We went to buffets and then hit the store and bought pounds of junk food to bring home and consume before midnight.

I realized that this wasn’t control. It wasn’t even reward. It was addiction. I thought back to when I quit cigarettes. How did I do it? Did I stop smoking six days out of the week, and then have a day where I smoked as much as I possibly could?

My body was giving me a few clues as well. I would feel bloated, disgusting, nauseous, and would often get sick after a free day with a cold or sinus infection. I felt like I spent the first half of the week recovering from the last day and the next half barely holding on to make it to the next splurge festival.

That’s when I decided it was time for things to change. I did not want to remain a slave to food. I could not imagine going on like that for the rest of my life, but this was supposed to be a permanent change, right? So I put my foot down.

I started with only allowing myself one or two reward meals per week. I called them reward meals because cheating is not what I was doing … I planned them, and deserved them. After several weeks of this, I noticed a significant change: I was no longer desperate for those meals, I was enjoying my healthy meals more, and when it was time to have a reward meal, I didn’t “waste” it on junk food or fast food … I’d go to a nice restaurant, sit down, and truly savor it.

Then I began to focus on my portion control. I was still over-eating that one meal, and I would feel like I had a hangover for the rest of the evening. So I made a pact with myself that I would never eat so much that I couldn’t have my other meals that day … in other words, even with a reward meal, I’d control my portion sizes so that I was still ready to eat again after a few hours.

This is when I suddenly found myself in the driver’s seat. The food was no longer in control, I was. I still enjoy pizza, ice cream, and many other treats. But now I control my rewards. I don’t have to go overboard. I don’t have to use one meal as an excuse to jump into a pattern of binge eating for the rest of the weekend. I can decide, ahead of time, what and when I will enjoy my reward, and then eat just enough to satisfy my psychological craving without going overboard. I switched from a free day festival (like smoking a carton of cigarettes) to controlled indulgence (like enjoying a nice cigar).

Here’s some final points to consider …

1. People are 250% more likely to suffer a heart attack after overeating
2. Most of the people I know who successfully lose weight and keep it off control their rewards and do not have a splurge meal
3. Your metabolism takes more than a day of splurging to kick into high gear … you are better off having a planned week of eating more calories, but from healthy foods

Key #7: Consistently refocus goals

This last key is perhaps the most important.

When I was digging through some old documents, I came across my original goals list. This was in 1999 when I began my fitness journey.

My main goal was to reach 40” and I made a little side note, “if possible?”

Imagine that. A 44” in waist and I wasn’t even confident that I could lose four little inches.

After my first 12 weeks, I did not have a 40” waist. I had a 38” waist. I blew past my goal. So my new goal became a 36” waist, which I new was my limit because I was “big-boned.” 36” gave way to 32” and at 6% body fat I was able to slip on a pair of 30” jeans … over a foot (30 centimeters) had been trimmed from my waistline.

Goals can change, and that’s okay. Constantly refocus your goals. You may be capable of more than you imagine or currently allow yourself to be. Some of my goals that I created after learning the power to transform include running a half marathon and starting my own business, both of which I have accomplished and neither of which I would have thought possible in 1999.

To refocus your goals is to learn who you are. Maybe you thought you could lose 40 pounds of fat in three months, only to discover you lost 20. That’s fine. Set a new goal to lose 20 more over the next three months. Maybe you thought you would never bench press more than 100 pounds, but just did 110 last week. Great! Set a new goal to bench press 150 pounds. As you learn your limits (or rather, how to move past them) don’t be afraid to set your goals higher.

Don’t make the mistake, however, of falling into the trap of not having goals. This is what many people do … “When I reach 150 pounds, I’m going into maintenance.” That is an excuse to settle, and settling means going backwards and ultimately falling back into your old patterns. By consistently raising the bar, you are able to remain fit. Fitness is about action and movement, not about complacency and “settling.”

If you want to live a fit and healthy lifestyle, you must realize you are not on a journey to trim fat or increase your running speed. Ultimately, you are in pursuit of greatness.

Conclusion

These points that were created by people just like you have illustrated that permanent weight loss success is a process, not an event. It relates to the people you interact with, the mindset you adopt, and your core beliefs – even how willing you are to transform them. Studying these points is not enough. You must internalize them and take action. Only then can you become the journey to become your best.

To learn more about the victim cards we all carry around with us, listen to the fifth CD in my 5-CD Lose Fat, Not Faith Audio program

About the author:

Jeremy Likness is an internationally-selling author, motivational speaker, and health coach. His unique coaching services have assisted people around the world with losing hundreds of pounds of weight. Jeremy is the author of "Lose Fat, Not Faith: A Transformation Guide" To learn more about Jeremy and his unique form of coaching from the heart, visit: www.naturalphysiques.com/hire or call Jeremy direct at 1-888-472-2829 (770-456-5580).