This week, there's apparently an election.

Do you know anything about it?

Haha - I love sarcasm. It's my favorite.

I'm getting bombarded with multiple texts a day (from both sides) and my hope is it will die down after Tuesday.

Meanwhile, it's "Delete and report junk" :) 

We won't know exactly who our next president will be until Tuesday night, or possibly Wednesday. (I'm not an election expert, so I don't know). 

Will we find out Wed morning at 1AM? 2? 4? Or will we find out as early as Tuesday night?

Which leads me to ask...

Want to know EXACTLY how long it will take you to lose body fat?

If you want to know the answer...

You're in the wrong place.

No one can precisely tell you how long it will take.

Sure, we can venture a best guess but that's not super helpful.

Even if I know every single minute detail about you and I can control everything around you and you remain 100% compliant...

Even then.. I won't know exactly how long it'll take.

Because the reality is... your body is going to respond when it responds.

You can't force it. You can't predict it.

The bigger issue is this...

Even though you may not like me for saying it...

And if you want to unsubscribe or block me or whatever, I'll understand...

But... it's your inability to operate without a timeline that is holding you back.

I'm going to call you out...

If I said to you... I can snap my fingers and grant you the body of your dreams with a sustainable lifestyle to maintain those results and a healthy relationship with food and total confidence in yourself and how you look and feel...

However, it'll happen 2 years from now.

You'd probably nod your head and say yes. - "I'll take that deal!"

Your words would say yes... but your actions would tell a different story.

Because you'd still operate as if everything had to be done tomorrow.

You'd still get frustrated when the scale isn't down after 1 week.

You'd still beat yourself up over one poor decision.

You'd still set arbitrary timelines like needing to lose X pounds by X date (for a vacation or wedding or whatever).

How do I know?

Because I literally ask that question all the time.

Here's a typical exchange that I have on a consistent basis:

Them: I'm struggling to lose weight. My body just isn't responding to anything.

Me: When was the last time you evaluated what you do now and even addressed your relationship with food and exercise?

Them: Um, never.

Me: Do you think maybe that would help?

Them: Yes but how long would that take?

Me: What's your ultimate goal?

Them: I just want my body to reflect all the hard work I'm putting in. I want to get rid of this fluff I'm carrying around. I just want to feel confident in my clothes and to stop obsessing all the time about what I'm eating or how I look. I don't want my kids to have the same issues with food that I do so I want to set a better example for them.

Me: That's great. So what if that ultimate goal took you two full years to accomplish. Would it be worth it?

Them: Absolutely. I've been struggling with this my whole adult life.

Me: I get it. I know how frustrating that is. So it seems to me like you know what direction to go, you've just been afraid to do what's necessary.

Them: Yes, I know. I need to make some small shifts. But how long do I need to spend in maintenance before I can lose fat?

Me: ...... mark their email as spam (just kidding)

But do you see the cognitive obstacle that exists?

The gap between thoughts and actions.

What's the rush??

If you've been trying to diet for decades.. why can't you just take the time necessary to prime your metabolism to actually respond the way you want it to.

If it takes 6 months to "unlearn" what you've been doing, it takes 6 months.

If those timelines aren't cool with you, that's fine. Then stop lying to yourself.

Stop saying you want sustainable results. Stop saying you care about health. Stop saying you want to set a better example for your kids.

Say.. I want results right now and I don't care how I get there and I don't care what poor behaviors or obsessions I model for my children.

At least that would be honest.

You see, when our words and actions don't align... we have two options...

1. Change our actions to match our words or
2. Change our words to match our actions

So you can either buckle up and truly treat this as a lifelong pursuit.

Or you can change your words to match your current actions.

Continuing to say one thing and do another is a frustrating, vicious cycle.

Optimizing your metabolism and "unlearning" what you've always done will take however long it takes.

Usually with my 1 on 1 clients, we're able to get them leaner, stronger, and feeling a million times better through that process anyway.

Obviously, if you're going to do it on your own, you run the risk of not knowing what to do. But the concept remains the same...

It will take however long it takes.

Losing fat will also take however long it takes.

You may need 4 weeks to lose 10 lbs. You may need 10 weeks to lose 10 lbs. You may need 12 weeks to lose 10 lbs.

It depends on what you're doing now and how you need to make shifts. Completely "revamping" what you're doing will give you that initial success, but it won't stick.

Besides...

Does it matter though? If you're willing to allow this process to be a forever process then who cares how long it takes?

Your need for deadlines and instant results is costing you more time, energy, and money in the long run.

Now, that doesn't mean we just fly aimlessly.

With my 1:1 clients, we set expectations and explain the phase we're in and why we're doing it.

It helps to know the purpose and how we monitor the effectiveness of something like metabolism optimizing or a targeted fat loss phase.

However, I'm not going to say... in this fat loss phase you're going to lose EXACTLY 12.5 lbs in 12 weeks.

That would be ridiculous.

We're going to see how your body is responding and then we can adjust from there.

Sometimes that means shortening the fat loss phase because we are seeing progress faster than expected. Sometimes that means going a bit longer.

It depends on the individual response.

The underpinning that makes this all work so well is knowing that what we're doing is setting the foundation for LIFELONG results.

Not 30 day results. Not 90 day results. Not even 1 year results.

We want 100% confidence that the results I create for my clients are sustainable for LIFE. Period. The end.

That's the filter.

That's what makes my process so effective...

Of course, you can keep trying to do things the way you've always done them...

And hope for a different outcome.

Or you can realize that if you just embrace the long game, you'll never worry about deadlines or arbitrary numbers again.

You can operate with freedom and comfort in pursuing your goals.

Always a choice.

All the best,
Coach Mike

PS - If you invest less than 14 minutes, I reveal some real-world solutions on how to start seeing a difference TODAY with your weight loss. The top 3 reasons you may be weight loss "resistant" are right here.