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‘But I don’t really need to change as…I’m only a little overweight’
Not everyone reading this book is overweight. Some are underweight and some are slim but have no energy and bad eating and drinking habits. However, for those who are overweight – and I mean overweight – but have for years been saying things like ‘I’m a little overweight’ or ‘I could do with losing a few pounds here and there’, please let me say what all those you come into contact with are thinking and saying behind your back – you are not a little overweight:
YOU ARE FAT!
Not only are you fat, but as is the way of the world, your character is also called into question, and you can add the words ‘git’ and ‘bastard’ after fat to get a true picture of what’s being said.
I realize that sounds harsh, but until you see things as they really are you will never make the change.
If you continue to make the situation seem better than it is then what possible motivation would you have for change?
I realize that in some cases people saying to you out loud ‘you fat bastard’ isn’t exactly useful, and could have you locking yourself in a room with half a hundred weight of cake and ice cream in order to ‘comfort’ yourself. However, if you are constantly being real about the situation, and if you no longer hide behind things like ‘I’m just a tad tubby’ or avoid looking in the mirror, then your brain will feel more and more frustrated about the current situation and try to do something about it.
When I was at school I was nicknamed ‘Fatty Vale’, and every day I would get picked on for being overweight. My mother and all the people who cared about me said things like, ‘It’s just a bit of puppy fat’, and ‘You’re not fat, just a little tubby’, but with children you get the truth. They tell it as it really is and, yes, I was indeed ‘Fatty Vale’. This constant barrage of verbal abuse led me to go from Fatty Vale who couldn’t run a bath and was always last at cross-country to a person who just 12 weeks later was Slim Vale who not only finished the cross-country course on time, but even broke the school record for that distance!
I was not willing to be called Fatty Vale again and from that point on (when I was 13) until I left school at 15 I was never fat again, and I never got detention for being late after cross-country. As soon as I left school, however, I discovered beer, bar snacks, the kebab shop and video games, and was Fatty Vale again before you knew it. Only this time I didn’t have people coming up to me everyday telling me so; they just did it behind my back.
So please, if you are very overweight – and I mean 20 pounds or more over what you should be – get real with your situation and understand fully what people are saying. You are not overweight, you are not a little ‘rotund’ and you are not ‘big boned’. Use the ‘F’ word – you are FAT! And as such you are at huge risk of developing heart disease, diabetes or one of the other major debilitating illnesses as well as having to live your daily life in a body with little energy that brings you down.
‘But I’m fed up with having to conform…big is beautiful and I’m fat and happy’
This is another excuse I hear over and over again. When all else fails, tell the world the reason why you don’t change is because you don’t actually want to. In reality, all women would love to be slim, and all men would love some definition and at least a four pack – that’s just how it is.
Women love to buy weekly magazines with picture after picture of celebrities with something wrong with them. If Britney gets a spot, or Cameron Diaz has some cellulite, then all of a sudden the world seems a brighter place. I know It’s hard for women to believe, but nowadays men do exactly the same. If David Beckham were to ever get a few spots or, heaven forbid, get fat, most of the men in the country would be jumping for joy. This is because it’s much easier to drag someone else down in order to try to make yourself look better than it is to put in the effort to lift your own world. Many people don’t even do this consciously and there’s no malice involved; it’s just they’ve done it for so long and, given we also have a culture that does it readily, it appears normal.
Fat is Not Attractive
People can say that many years ago, being fat was seen as a sign of wealth and regarded as sexy, and they can even harp on about how in many cultures it still is today, but that doesn’t change how it is in the West here and now. If we’re being frank, and I believe we are, someone who is fat is not as pleasing to the eye as someone who is slim.
In today’s politically correct world, that statement will have some people ranting and raving and reaching for the nearest cream bun, but if we cut through the crap – it’s true. If it wasn’t, then people like Dawn French would be used to advertise the latest Ferrari rather than chocolate! I don’t think anyone could look at Dawn French and say she isn’t a beautiful-looking woman. My point is that if she’s beautiful as she is, she would be stunning if she were slim.
‘But that’s shallow – beauty comes from within.’ Yes I agree, and in an ideal world people would be able to see the inner beauty in everyone. However, having been fat and suffered from severe psoriasis in the past, I know first hand that most of the world isn’t like that.
They say personality goes a long way, but in some cases it can never stretch that far!
And talking of personality, it’s not just coincidence that you often see ‘fat and jolly’ people. We have to make the best of what we’ve got, and if your external shell isn’t what the world likes to see, you tend to develop more of a personality. This is why some models seem to have had major personality bypasses. They haven’t had to develop that side of themselves to attract people; often they just need to walk into a room and people come running.
I know it’s not fair and I know it shouldn’t be this way – but it is! I didn’t make the rules and neither did you, but if you’re in this ‘game of life’ and you want to get the best out of it, we have to accept some of them. There is of course one huge advantage when you have been overweight and then lose it: you end up with a slim, trim body and a personality!
If people genuinely thought being overweight was a good thing then they would actively encourage their children to overeat and get fat, but if you ask any parent if they want their child to be slim or fat, they opt for slim every time.
This is not just for health reasons but also so that they’re not picked on by their peers and have the energy to really enjoy their life.
Those people who say, ‘I’m fat and happy’ may well be just that, fat and happy – but this doesn’t mean they’re happy because they’re fat. It also doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be a damn site happier if they were slim. If you feel there’s nothing you can do about a particular situation, like being fat in this case, you have no real alternative but to try and justify why you are the way you are. Because no one wants to look as though they are weak-willed jelly fish who cannot control their eating, it seems easier to say, ‘I’m happy the way I am, I don’t want to change.’ But the reality is that’s a load of old tosh as everyone who’s fat, regardless of what they say out loud, would love to wake up in a slim, trim, energy-driven body. It’s only when they have exhausted all other possible ‘excuses’ that they come out with the ‘I don’t want to change’ line; after all how can anyone possibly argue with that? If they don’t want to change and are happy as they are – good for them! But in truth they are not as happy as Larry as they are, despite what they say; they would love to change. The saddest part about the ‘I’m fat and happy line’ is that the person saying it has almost resigned themselves to a life of ‘fat’. They have no doubt already ‘tried’ God knows how many diets and are now convinced they’re beyond hope. This leads to a need to justify why they are not doing anything about their weight and health, ‘I’m fat and I’m happy’ usually being the outcome. If you are fat and genuinely think it’s beautiful and are genuinely happy, then I for one am happy for you –I don’t believe you, but I’m happy for you. The fact is, though, if all was well in fat land you wouldn’t be reading this book. I know what it’s like to be fat and I know what it’s like to be slim – and guess what? Give me slim any day!
‘But It’s All Down to the Magazines’
Some people even have the gall to blame the glossy magazines for being overweight and unhealthy. They claim if it wasn’t the pressure to conform they wouldn’t rebel and eat. What amazes me is the people who bitch about these magazines buy them all the time. I know this may sound stupidly easy but if you think the magazines are causing your problem – don’t buy them! But they do prove my theory that fat is not the new black. If it were, we wouldn’t have pictures of nice-looking bodies on the front covers of magazines, we would have fat people. People like to look at attractive people – that’s just how it is.
But the main reason why ‘big isn’t beautiful’ is because when you’re big you just don’t feel beautiful – you feel fat and bloated, you can’t move as you want; you can’t wear what you want and you don’t feel as sexy as you want. There is nothing beautiful about a life spent feeling that way and with disease hanging over your head.
‘But I have an injury so…I can’t exercise’
You must have heard them (you may even be one them) – people who say the reason they got overweight and unfit was because they sprained their foot, knackered their elbow, broke their leg or damaged their ligaments, and so the list goes on and on. However, in order to have an injury so severe that it stops you from doing any kind of exercise you would need to be in a Christopher Reeve situation. Actually, that’s not even true. One of the many things the truly remarkable Christopher Reeve did for the nine years of his life as a paraplegic was to make sure he exercised whenever he could. His exact words from his inspirational book Nothing Is Impossible are, ‘I’ve also found the self-discipline to exercise when I don’t feel like it…’ Remember these words if you’ve ever banged on about how you can’t exercise because of whatever.
If you have a leg injury, do some upper-body exercises. If you can’t move your arms, move your legs. If you can’t put pressure on your joints, go for a swim or jump on a trampoline. If you really can’t move anything without being in pain, do some deep-breathing exercises and cut down on your fuel consumption. After all, you wouldn’t put the same amount of fuel into your car if you weren’t using it as much as usual, would you?
There isn’t any reason on the planet why anyone should become unhealthy or overweight just because they have an injury. I’ve seen people in wheelchairs whacking tennis balls over nets and shooting basketballs into hoops, and I’ve seen people with no arms running marathons. In fact, I’ve seen people with no legs running marathons with prosthetic limbs.
Whatever the injury, it shouldn’t be an excuse for not achieving your health and body-shape goals. Look at someone like Tanni Gray Thompson, a truly remarkable and superb athlete. Losing the use of her legs didn’t stop her training and getting the rest of her body super-fit, so much so that she has, at the time of writing, won an incredible 11 gold medals for Great Britain at the Paralympics. What’s your excuse?
Then you have the, ‘But I used to…’ gang. You know, the people who tell you how much sport they used to play; how they used to run all the time and how they used to always be in the gym. But so what? Used to means Jack! You can spend your life living in the ‘what I used to be able to do’ world, but that’s not going to change how you look and feel today.
The truth is most people can usually exercise with an injury, no matter what the situation. There is always a way if the person is committed. Instead of looking at what isn’t possible because of the injury, people should focus on what can be done.
‘But you’ve got to live…you could get run over by a bus next week’
That’s true – but don’t you want the week to be nice before the bus comes along?
For every action there is always a reaction and every action you take today has a knock-on effect which will determine your tomorrow. People who are overweight didn’t get that way one day; it took many months and years of consuming too much of the wrong kinds of foods and drinks and not moving their bodies very much to get that way. It’s all very well and good living as if there’s no tomorrow and saying, ‘the bomb could go off tomorrow’ or ‘I could get run over by a bus tomorrow’, but what happens when it doesn’t and you don’t? What happens when you eat and drink junk every day, get fat, unhealthy and lethargic – or all three – only to wake up and find that tomorrow very much did happen and it’s here to face today? I used to make the excuse that ‘Anything could happen tomorrow, so why not just indulge’, only to find that ‘tomorrow’ always happened and I would still have to face it as a fat, unhealthy bastard!
Yes, you may get run over by a bus next week, but what about today? Don’t you want to feel good today? Don’t you want to be able to wear what you want today? Don’t you want to wake up with energy and vibrancy today? Don’t you want to feel light and slim today? Those people who say they are eating and drinking junk because they are ‘living for today’ or because the bomb could go off tomorrow seem to have missed the irony. It’s all about today, and the only way to create a much better today is by understanding that there is a tomorrow. Unless you keep an eye on tomorrow it’s going to come up and bite you on the bum, and that could be one hell of a bum!
This excuse, like all of the others, is total rubbish.
Nobody, when they are tucking into a cream bun and a large Coke, is ever thinking, ‘The only reason I’m doing this is in case something happens to me tomorrow.’ If you really thought tomorrow wasn’t coming, the last thing on your mind would be, ‘Yippee, how much junk food can I stuff down my gullet today?’ Your only focus would be on finding the people you love and telling them how you feel.
‘But Jason, life is too short.’ I agree, life is too short, and unless you change it will be even shorter! It’s also too short not to live your dreams; it’s too short to live feeling sluggish and overweight, hating the way you look and feel; it’s too short to be scared to get into a bathing costume; it’s too short to hit your head on the pillow every night hoping things will be different tomorrow; it’s too short to wake up every day with a junk-food hangover; it’s too short to collapse at the end of the working day with only enough energy to slump in front of the TV for hours on end – YES, LIFE IS TOO SHORT – so stop saying, ‘I could get run over by a bus tomorrow’ because that’s not why you eat and drink rubbish or don’t exercise – it’s just another excuse.
I suppose there is some argument on the other side though. I mean, if you keep eating and drinking rubbish and end up as big as a house, the chances of a bus actually being able to run you over would be pretty slim!
‘But I can’t because…I’m too old’
Too old for what exactly? Too old to buy some fruit and veg? Too old to peel a banana? Too old to go for a walk? Too old to push some vegetables through a juicer and drink it? Or too old to live?
The truth is that if you believe you’re too old then you’re right, and if you believe you’re not too old you’re also right.
I’m not saying that the years don’t take their toll. As we get older we often genuinely can’t do what we used to be capable of, but it doesn’t mean for a second we are washed up and on the scrapheap. Age is just another excuse, which once again is simply based on fear – the fear of taking the leap from settling for what we have to making life an unbelievable adventure.
Two ladies in their sixties attended one of our Ultimate Health Weekends. Having read my first book, Slim 4 Life, a few months earlier, they had decided to get up and, as one of the chapters suggests, Get Busy Living. In the time since they had read the book, and, more importantly, acted upon it, they experienced not only an increase in physical energy but found their worlds expanded by the day. On this particular weekend they played ‘net-football’ on the beach at 7am; swam in a cold, but beautiful lake first thing on a Sunday morning; climbed an enormous height up a pole onto a platform where they then attached themselves to a Zip-Slide and slid James Bond-style down a mountain; completed a 50ft high-ropes assault course; ate and drank pure live foods; and joined in with everything. I know people in their thirties who wouldn’t have the physical or mental energy to do that.
It’s not about your chronological age, it’s about your mental age, i.e. how youthful you are in the mind and how much zest and spirit you have for life.
I met a young man on holiday and asked if he wanted to come ‘wake-boarding’ with me (this is like snowboarding but on water with a boat pulling you along). He seemed unsure, so I told him that if he had done any snowboarding or skateboarding it would be an advantage. His eyes lit up and he explained that skateboarding was his passion. When I asked if he still did it, he said, ‘Oh not now, I gave it up as I’m getting too old to do that sort of thing.’ I asked him how old he was, and he was 29! He thought it looked silly for a 29-year-old to be on a skateboard. Who gives a flying 360-degree jump?
You cannot possibly let your thoughts of what other people may think of you dictate how you live your life.
If I want to skateboard at 99 let alone 29 then I will! Stopping physical passions cause people to ‘age’ before their time.
When ex-veteran Ray Sheriff jumped from an aeroplane with the Red Devils on 18 September 2004 he was 84, and he was blind! He was just one of ten men aged between 79 and 85 that made the jump in order to commemorate the battle of Arnhem. He has made the jump in the same place, on the same date, every year since he was 70. Ray lost his sight in a German mortar attack in World War II, but being blind and 84 years of age isn’t enough to produce one ‘but’ from this amazing man.
Life begins at 40…or 50,60,70,80 or whenever you want it to. Life begins when you say, ‘That’s it. I’m no longer going to sit and be a spectator of life – I’m going to get off of my backside and live a little.’ It’s when you aren’t willing to settle for a mindset which falsely tells you ‘you’re too old’ or ‘you’ve had your time so it’s time to sit back now’. We are on this planet for a short enough time as it is; the last thing you want is to tell yourself you’re too old for anything.
Some people don’t think they’re too old; they think that they’re either too overweight or have battered their inner organs so much that it’s just not worth making the change as it’s too late. But the human body is one of the most rejuvenating survival machines on the planet and no matter how much we’ve battered it over the years, the second we give it the opportunity to heal, it will do everything within its power to make optimum health possible. No matter how ‘old’ you are, or what condition or conditions you have; if you supply the body with the right tools – ‘live’ foods, drinks and physical movement – it will do whatever it can to breed life and vitality to your body and mind.
‘But I’ve tried juicing and…it’s such a hassle!’
Before I get on to why this excuse doesn’t wash, I want to stress that THIS IS NOT A JUICING BOOK! Yes, juicing will play a part during the 14-day programme. The chances are, once you start to live, feel and see the difference juicing makes, you will continue well beyond that time. However, the main focus of this book is to show you how to drop the bullshit excuses.
The same people who say it takes too long to make a juice and clean the machine don’t seem to have the same misgivings when spending God knows how much time cooking bacon and eggs and cleaning the pan!
Once again, it’s all about priorities, and anyone can easily find the time to juice if they want
It’s hardly the most difficult process. All you need to do is pop a few fruits and veggies into the juicer and push down. How flipping tricky is that? Even cleaning the machine is hardly back-breaking work, is it? I mean, all you have to do is rinse a couple of parts and spend about one minute (if that) cleaning the filter part – so big deal. Most juicers will now even go into the dishwasher, making juicing life even easier.
Millions of people all over the world would kill for the opportunity to have the liquid fuel contained within fresh fruits and vegetables feeding every cell in their body. These are people who often walk 20 miles a day to find water. Somehow I don’t think they’d moan a great deal if they ‘had’ to juice the finest fruits and vegetables from around the world.
Juicing can be super fast – if you know what you are doing.
In reality, it shouldn’t take any longer than 10 minutes to make a juice and clean the machine. Like anything new, juicing takes a short while to get the hang of, so don’t throw in the towel after just one attempt. No matter what, you will be juicing for at least 14 days during the programme, so even if you ‘hate juicing’ you can easily do it for 14 days.
‘But it’s hard for me because…I’m on the road all the time!’
It is true that travelling makes it tricky, but don’t think for a millisecond that you can’t eat healthily or even do this programme when ‘on the road’. Again, if someone said they’d give you a million pounds if you could find a way to eat healthily while ‘on the road’ – you’d soon find a way. It’s not that you can’t eat healthily when on the road; it’s that you won’t. It hardly takes a great deal of preparation to eat an apple on the go or to throw together a decent wholemeal sandwich for the journey; and there isn’t a hotel or restaurant where you can’t find something healthy to eat. After all, you can get fish, veg and salad almost anywhere.
I was once in the company of a man who had just written a book on weight loss and how easy it can be. Someone asked him, as politely as possible, why, if it was all so easy, he was himself, well, fat. He went on to try to explain that it was harder for him because he lived in Spain! Now why on earth living in Spain prevents you from eating well is a mystery to one and all, but this just proves that if someone wants to try to justify their eating they will say anything, no matter how ludicrous it may sound.
If you are ‘on the road’, instead of instantly saying, ‘But I can’t because…’ ask yourself an empowering ‘but’ – ‘But what could I do to eat healthily while I’m away?’ You will find that by asking that question, you will instantly give yourself a good chance of finding an answer. Remember, there is always a way if you stop the BS excuses and ask the right questions.
‘But I can’t even start because…I don’t have the energy’
On the surface this may appear true for many people. You may have bought this book because you want more energy. However, a lack of energy is no excuse for not getting nutritionally and physically fit. After all, how much energy does it take to pick up a piece of fruit and eat it? How much energy do you need to put some fish and veggies in a steamer and turn the knob? Even going for a long walk hardly requires the raw energy of Linford Christie, now does it?
You may not have enough energy to do various things you want, but eating well is not one of them. Once again, it’s funny how the same people who don’t have enough energy to prepare good food seem to find enough energy to get off the sofa and hit McDonald’s or find their way to the pub!
The irony is that the lack of physical movement is a major cause of lethargy.
I will cover this point in greater depth later, but people who go to the gym will know that if they feel tired and hungry at the end of the day but somehow muster the energy to get to the gym, when they leave they’re less hungry and less tired than before they went in. Why? Because by moving their body they have given a good blast of oxygen to their cells and have cleaned out a lot of the dead cells that have built up during the day. This leaves the person’s system feeling lighter and their mind clearer, and gives them an overall feeling of increased energy. On top of that, because they’ve given their body a good dose of two of the primary human needs – oxygen and water – they are now less hungry.
Slim Chance
I was filming a documentary-style programme for Channel 5 entitled ‘Fat Families – Slim Chance’. One of the mothers was a massive 27 stone (378 lb/171.5 kg) in weight and she was just 27 years old. Even worse, her daughter was 141/2 stone (203 lb/92 kg) and she was just 9 years old! As you can imagine the mother – Michelle – had a suitcase full of excuses, but one excuse she couldn’t make was she didn’t have enough time. Time was one thing her entire family had plenty of. She didn’t work and rarely left the house. In fact she hadn’t even been to the supermarket herself for over 4 years! The first time I saw her I said, ‘Right, we’re going shopping to get some healthy stuff in.’ Immediately it was met with a ‘but I can’t, because…’ response. She claimed she couldn’t go because she was tired and had a bad back. This is what I call a ‘double but’. The more ‘buts’ a person has the bigger the health and fitness problem, and, of course, the bigger the actual butt!
Now if I thought she had had a back so bad that she really couldn’t move then I would have left it. However, I’ve been in this business long enough to know that anyone that size didn’t get that way without a million ‘I can’t, because…’ excuses. The fact is that if at the end of the shopping trip someone had been there to reward her with a cheque for £100,000, she would have been skating round the aisles.
It’s sad that most people will get excited about money but very rarely about their health, yet without health, without the confidence that a vibrant and trim body gives you, as I’ve already pointed out – you’re poor.
‘But What About M.E.?’
I realize that some people do have a genuine reason to feel lethargic; in particular I’m talking about M.E. and CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Not everyone who has been diagnosed with M.E. or CFS genuinely has those conditions; many just have a lack of physical fitness and mental drive. However, for those who genuinely have these conditions they are certainly very real and drinking a few freshly extracted juices isn’t going to cut the mustard. But again even those genuinely with M.E. and CFS don’t have to let their illness control every aspect of their lives and having M.E. or CFS doesn’t mean you can’t do anything to help the situation. The biggest problem with those with M.E. and CFS is that they tend to say, ‘But I can’t as I have M.E.’ before they say anything else. This often leads to a state of helplessness and a brain which in the end refuses to seek possible ways to improve the situation.
There is NO QUESTION that no matter what the disease, if the person DOESN’T SMOKE, drinks very moderately, EATS WELL, has a positive outlook and does their best to do as much exercise as they can, as well as seeking out as much good air and sunshine as possible – THEY WILL FEEL BETTER than if they didn’t make any changes.
The truth is even if you have been diagnosed with either condition and you want to improve you must, like everyone else, stop the ‘buts’ and do everything within your power to help your situation.
‘But what’s the point…I’ll never look like Jennifer Aniston’
Yes, and I’ll never look like Brad Pitt, but so what? It’s not about looking like someone else, or being like someone else. It’s about getting a better body shape for you and being a more vibrant you.
When I was fat and covered from head to toe with psoriasis, I used to look at people with good physiques and clear skin and dream of being them. What I was wishing for was not to be them, but a slim and clear-skinned me. I’m not exactly the best-looking biscuit in the barrel, and I certainly don’t have a true six pack or a perfect body, but I’m a slimmer, trimmer version of my former self. I have the energy I need and I’m as happy as pie with it.
You may never look like Jennifer Aniston or Brad Pitt, but then neither will Jennifer or Brad. It’s no secret that magazine pictures of glamorous celebrities are not exactly the real deal. Some of the best make-up artists, photographers, lighting experts and airbrush wizards have all played their part in making them look incredible. Don’t get me wrong, Jennifer and Brad look good with a capital G and of course genes clearly played a part in this, but we should never want to be other people – we are all unique and we should always embrace that.
Never lose you. You are unique and you should ALWAYS want that distinction.
‘But I don’t need to change because…compared with most I’m doing OK’
One of the biggest mistakes people make is to compare themselves with other people in order to gauge their own success. But are they comparing themselves to people who are at their peak mental and physical condition, or to the masses who are suffering from overweight, lethargy and ill health, and who may end up with heart disease, cancer and an unfulfilled life?
Feel Like an Instant Success – Hang Around with Losers!
The easiest way to feel like a good tennis player is to hang around with people who can’t play as well as you; the easiest way to feel slim is to hang around with people fatter than you; and the easiest way to feel extremely healthy and full of energy is to hang around with people who are ill and can’t move!
One of the easiest ways to feel ‘OK’ or to feel successful is by comparing yourself with those people who aren’t doing as ‘OK’ as you. But just because you are doing ‘OK’ compared to them, it doesn’t mean for a millisecond that you are actually doing OK.
That’s a Bit OFF!
It’s like the slim…ish person who hangs around with people who are larger than they are – it’s what I call the ‘OFF’ (Obligatory Fat Friend). Sure, compared to their fat friends they seem to be doing ‘OK’ on the weight and health front, but just because they are slimmer than their friends it doesn’t mean they are not fat! It simply means that compared to them they are doing ‘OK’ and compared to them they are slim. But if you saw them on their own or up against some people at the peak of their physical fitness they would look fat and instantly feel that they weren’t doing that ‘OK’ after all.
In the area of health it’s so easy to feel good compared to most people. Heaven knows all you have to do is hit the gym a couple of times a week and eat a few pieces of fruit and you’re already doing more ‘OK’ than most. But this may be nowhere near what you need for you to get the body of your dreams and energy levels you crave.
The only person you should ever compare yourself to is you. Only compare yourself to how good you can be in a particular area of your life, not how great you are compared with other people. You know what you are capable of and you know exactly what is needed for you to feel successful. Success cannot be gauged by money or even body shape; success is doing whatever it takes on a daily basis to truly live as opposed to exist. You can be slim and feel like a failure or overweight and feel like a success. Being a success is not the end result: success is a daily feeling; it’s based on whether you feel you have done what it takes today to get your best tomorrow at the same time as enjoying the present. It’s about hitting your head on the pillow at the end of the day feeling proud and fulfilled – that’s true success.
We all have a choice and we can spend our lives doing just ‘OK’ or we can decide to step up a level and finally do what it takes to get the body and energy levels which will enable us to truly excel. It’s up to you, but there is no way you would have bought a book entitled ‘Turbo-charge Your Life’ if you really thought all was OK with being just ‘OK’. I don’t want to be just ‘OK’ and neither do you. Don’t settle for comparing yourself with others in order to gauge your own success; always strive to be the best you are capable of being in any situation. You may or may not be overweight or particularly lethargic, but I can guarantee when you do the 14-day programme you will find that you push yourself to your next level.
‘Where’s My BUT?’
You may feel I haven’t addressed your ‘but’ (so to speak!), but to be fair we could be here for the next 100 pages trying to counter each one. Rarely do people have just the one ‘but’. The minute you come up with a solution to a person’s ‘but’, up pops another, and another. But…‘it’s too cold’, ‘it’s too hot’, ‘it’s too wet’, ‘it’s too dry’, ‘I’m working’, ‘I’m on holiday’, ‘the kids are on holiday’, ‘the kids are at school’, ‘it’s a weekday’, ‘it’s the weekend’…and so it goes on and on and on.
The general rule I have found is the more ‘buts’ a person comes up with, the bigger the butt they tend to have, and the more unfulfilled their life tends to be.
The reality is you can ‘but’ your way through the next God knows how many years, BUT if you do that, you’ll never have the extraordinary life you deserve. You will also never feel the joy of what it’s like to wake up every day in an energy-fuelled, slim, trim healthy body. You’ll never experience what it’s like to be the very best you can be, to live at your true potential every day. If you ‘but’ your way through life you’ll always wonder what could have been.
It doesn’t matter what decade of life you are in, how lethargic you are, how much money you have or don’t have, how fat or thin you are, how many children you have, or whatever other ‘but’ you can come up with – anyone can change and get a body and daily life they are proud of.
‘But My Story Is Different’
Unfortunately, some people have what they consider very big ‘buts’, buts which go way beyond ‘I haven’t got the time’ or ‘It’s in my genes.’ The sort of buts which they believe no amount of ‘positive thinking’ could possibly help with. Your particular story of why it’s different or more difficult for you may well be moving, disturbing, painful and, on the surface, justified. However, if you want to move forwards, one thing must be clear:
