There’s no single factor, by itself, that guarantees success in your pursuit of a leaner, fitter body. You must be aware of all the pieces in the fat loss puzzle, and you need to know, if you’re missing one, which one is it?
As you may know if you’ve been following the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle philosophy, there are 4 fundamental elements to cutting down on body fat and keeping it off for good:
Element #1: Nutrition. What you eat every day is the top priority.
Element #2: Resistance training. To build muscle and strength.
Element #3: Cardio training. To burn fat and improve your heart health and fitness conditioning.
Element #4: Mental training. You must train your mind. You must “program” your brain for success.
And then we have the 5th element: Social support in a group of helpful friends, peers and expert mentors.
The 5th element is like the glue that sticks the other 4 elements together. And 5th element is the one most likely to be missing. Why? Because so many people are are “lone rangers.” And it’s hurting their motivation, drive and results
Yes, you have to take responsibility. You have to do it by yourself, but you can’t do it alone.
How One Burn The Fat Body Transformation Challenge Champion Did it
Like many of our Burn the Fat Challenge winners, Audrey Eickwort, one of our overall champions in the third season of th esummer challenge, looked like a completely different person in her after photo. On the outside, the changes are incredible:
Body weight: 31 pounds lighter
Body fat: 18.1% lower
Lean body mass: 6.6 pounds higher
Waist circumference: 7 inches smaller.
And that was only during the 98-day Burn the fat Challenge contest from the end of May to the end of August. She didn’t wait for the contest to start – her journey began in January, so from the start of the new year to the end of the summer, Audrey had dropped a grand total of 75 pounds of fat and lost 12 inches off her waist.
How did she do it? There’s no question she had all 5 elements in place. However, in her challenge-winning essay, she brought some even deeper insights to the table to share with you.
We were so impressed with her essay that it certainly helped her win first place in the contest. If you take what she says to heart and do it in your own life, it will make you a winner too … whether you take on one of our Burn the Fat Challenge events, or whether a big “win” for you would simply be beating the body fat demon once and for all…
Audrey E and the Not-A-Bummer Summer – When It All Comes Together (Burn the Fat Summer Challenge Essay) By Audrey Eickwort
“It’s cliché to begin a weight loss success story saying, “My life was in pieces before this program.” I know it’s cliché, because I’ve read hundreds of these stories. I spent a decade obsessed with fat loss.
My battle to be thin monopolized my time, energy, and money like a holy mission. I dieted relentlessly, but only managed to look and feel worse with each passing year. I worried I was just too hopeless to write my own happy ending.
A confession: I have enough “before” pictures from unfinished challenges to fill an album. What’s different this time? Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle and the Burn the Fat Inner Circle. I could describe the many obstacles I’ve overcome to finally get here, but I won’t. The hardships I’ve endured no longer define me. I’ve been given the skills and support to stop mourning the pieces of my old life and begin assembling the pieces of a new one.
Knowledge was the first piece.
Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle liberated me from dieting hell. I can’t afford a personal trainer, but Tom was my trainer. The baseline plan fit my life, and it worked. I felt better from day one.
Stress was my favorite old excuse. I run a small business and home-school an autistic son. Money is tight, there are no days off, and my son’s needs are endless. I doubted I could exercise and resist comfort food while so overwhelmed.
I ignored how inactivity, unstable blood sugar, excess fat and illness drained me. The Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle lifestyle promotes resilience against stress. It balances my body, energizes my mind, and boosts my mood. When I’m vibrant, my productivity soars. More importantly, my enjoyment of life soars. Comfort food fed me, but happiness and success nourish me.
Mental programming was the next piece.
Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle taught me to train my mind as hard as my body. I create big goals with reasonable deadlines and visualize success until it’s palpable. I feel myself slipping into my goals like a comfy pair of (size 6!) jeans.
For the first time, consistency seemed effortless. My mind changes, and my body naturally follows. I was no longer at war with myself.
Flexibility is a piece.
Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle supplied the marching orders, but also empowered me to track my results and change course as needed. It planned for days when plans fail. That’s ground-breaking and also essential, because healthy fat loss is a winding road.
When I expected perfection, I was frequently discouraged. When I learned to expect setbacks and surmount them, I became unstoppable. I’ve lost 70 pounds of fat since January.
Community is a piece.
Like many overweight people, I felt self-conscious. Isolation became comfortable. I thought, “I’ll socialize once I’m thin.” A new world opened up when I decided I don’t have to do this alone.
Willpower is great… until it fails. Nobody’s perfect. My Inner Circle friends encourage me when I stumble. They teach and inspire me. They keep me accountable. I don’t have to be perfect, because their support makes it harder to fail than to succeed. I’ll never underestimate the power of teamwork again.
Faith and focus are pieces.
What I’ve accomplished in 14 weeks electrifies me. This challenge restored the courage of my convictions. I have faith in myself again.
I expand my comfort zone daily. Whether I’m confronting a limiting belief or fighting for one more rep, I know progress means tolerating moments of uncertainty. I can endure these moments. The rewards are worth it.
I believed I couldn’t do many things, because I’d never done them. My mindset was, “I’ve tried nothing, and it’s not working. It’s hopeless!” Now I ask, “How will I overcome this obstacle?” I am positive, and that makes me powerful.
I lived with purpose and intensity every day of this challenge. I bled Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. I visualized myself winning and asked, “What did the winner do today?” Whatever my answer, I did it.
I gave myself the gift of unconditional commitment for 98 days. My devotion elevated a summer project into a defining experience. I’ve enjoyed moments of clarity, joy, and triumph I’ll cherish forever.
Balance is a piece.
I played hard to win, but I can’t control everything. When I saw my peers’ outstanding accomplishments on Day 49 and realized my best efforts might not be enough… it hurt.
I desperately wanted to win, but I was already using every healthy peaking strategy in the book, pushing my body to the limit and eating only for fuel. In spite of myself, I considered resorting to unhealthy strategies.
This was my biggest test and greatest opportunity. It forced me to draw a line in the sand. Who is the new me? Is my progress merely cosmetic? What do I really value anyway?
I feel proud saying I lost every ounce the right way. I value my health & happiness, and I trust this program. Therefore, I dream big and work hard, but balance comes first.
Whether I place 1st or 101st, I am victorious. I adore how my new body looks and feels. I’ve earned every pound of freedom. I entered this challenge to win and discovered I’m already a winner.
I’ve lost weight before, but Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle transformed my body and my spirit. I am vibrant. I am resilient. Obstacles no longer immobilize me. I feel confident and connected to my deepest values. Those are enduring rewards. My fat loss will also endure, because this time I built my house upon rock.
Sum it Up
I’ve imagined writing this essay for 10 years, and now I’ll complete it: I dedicated heart and soul to this challenge, and I finished.
When knowledge, belief and action come together… when people come together… the sum is greater than the pieces. My happy ending is merely the beginning. The skills I’ve mastered here are adaptable to any goal. My ability to create success feels unlimited.
What’s coming together now is the rest of my life. Thank you Tom and dear Inner Circle friends.”
###
As you can see, transforming your body requires changing every aspect of your lifestyle.
Diet alone wont do it. A proper diet, even a diligently kept calorie deficit will only make you lose weight, not necessarily body fat; not necessarily adding lean muscle; not necessarily improving body composition.
Dieting by itself could turn you into a “skinny fat person” – smaller, fitting into smaller clothes, but still looking mushy and flabby when the clothes come off.
Training alone won’t do it. Think you can cardio your brains out and force the fat to go away? Think again. You cannot out-train a bad diet – it’s entirely possible to be doing hours of cardio a day and still eat yourself into a calorie surplus and increased body fat.
Positive mental attitude alone won’t do it. Lets see how fit and lean a person can get by chanting affirmations, meditating, visualizing, and reading “The Secret”, when they fail to change their behaviors and lifestyle.
It takes a total lifestyle change – a change of habits, behaviors, thoughts, emotions, environment and your social circle of choice – to make a body transformation and keep the change.
So the “bad news” is you have o let go of the search for 1 magic bullet, make changes in every area of your life, and only then will you have earned… and deserved the body of your dreams.
The good news is, making these changes is easier and simpler than ever now that we have cracked the code on what it takes to achieve an extraordinary body transformation. It’s a formula. There are specific elements that go into achieving a great body with great health, and you now know what all 5 of them are.
Even more good news – there is a shortcut, of sorts. In almost every individual – probably you too – there is one area that’s lacking. One element that’s missing. Everyone knows about dieting. Everyone knows about working out. Almost everyone even acknowledges the power of the mind today…
But what about support? Are you surrounded by people who encourage you, motivate you, challenge you, push you and uplift you when you’re down? Or is it the reverse: are you surrounded by energy vampires who emotionally drain you, criticize you, peer-pressure you and tell you all the ways “it can’t be done.”
If you don’t have the right environment, including the right people around you, if you don’t have the support you need, the odds of your success are greatly diminished, even if you have the right nutrition, the right training and the right mental attitude.
Until now, you were on your own and possibly out of luck if your social circle was full of pessimists, critics and saboteurs. But there is a place where you can plug into a charge of positive energy every day and get the support you need.
It’s the Burn the Fat Inner circle website and support community, and if you’ve been following our newsletters and reading about our success stories and champions, you’ve seen real world, real people proof about how powerful this can be.
If support is your missing piece, you’re just a mouse click away from having both a powerful program and a powerful support community – the Burn the Fat Program, and Burn the Fat Inner Circle. Click Here And Learn More
Train hard and expect success!
Tom Venuto,
Founder, Burn the Fat Inner Circle
Author, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle
Leave A Comment