The 2 Pillars of Fat Loss Success

There are 2 key pieces to the puzzle of losing fat. I don't care what your weight goals are; these two things are universally applicable. They are:

1. Knowledge

2. Action

Let's quickly see why each one is so important.

1. Knowledge - You need a plan to follow. If you choose a diet that you think will work and start losing weight without knowing what you are doing, you may not lose weight. You can even lose weight and seriously injure yourself!

2. Action - Knowledge is only half the battle. You can know everything there is to know about weight loss, but if all you do is sit around a Lays barbecue, you will never lose any weight.

It may be a bit extreme, but weight gain is consistent. Did you know that only 5% of people who achieve their weight actually keep it? And that's for people who are disciplined enough to gain weight!

That's why I believe that the most important step in losing fat is to write down your goal of losing fat every day.

Here's a quick crash course to write your SMART goals. In this way, it's important to write your goals in the present tense. It may seem silly at first, but you get used to it, and it works better.

In particular. Common goals would be something like "I lost weight" (remember to write it now) or "I lost 100 pounds." The specific goal is "I lost 8 pounds by the end of this month."

The next four letters will tell you what elements make a specific goal.

Measurable. Make sure you can track your progress either by scale or by measuring your body fat percentage. Looking in the mirror and seeing that you are losing weight may be motivating, but it does not depend on your measurements.

Can be achieved. I'll be blunt. Losing anything more than two pounds a week cannot be achieved. If so, you don't want to do it because losing weight is too dangerous.

Realistic. Just as attainable, but different as it is more to your attitude. If the diet you choose requires you to stop eating pizza completely and not go a day without seeing the delivery man for the past month, this may not be a realistic goal.

One question to ask yourself: "Do I believe I can achieve this goal in my lifetime?" If the answer is yes, you have a realistic goal.

Right on time. It's okay to achieve the goal all the time. But it's important to have goals that you can reach in the near future. For some of you, this may mean monthly goals, and for some of you, that may mean weekly or even daily goals.

When you set a time limit for yourself, it gives you an instant sense of accomplishment.

Look at these statistics again: only 5% of people who are disciplined enough to achieve their weight goals actually maintain their weight.

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