It’s time for some uncomfortable reading about your ongoing unsuccessful weight loss quest.

I put a lot of “stuff” out there about nutrition and health. I also put some stuff out there about weight loss. Why? Because that’s what a lot of people approach me for, it’s what people want; a formula for weight loss, because although you’ve read that formula twenty billion times on google and instagram in its various different guises, it isn’t sticking and you can’t seem to achieve what you want with it. People want to hear an athlete talk about what they eat and how they stay in tip-top shape so they can do the same. They approach me thinking I’ll give them some ten step programme et voila, the journey will be complete and they will be a whole and fulfilled person immediately.

But it’s all bullshit.

You heard me. The stuff I put out about weight loss and nutrition is completely meaningless.

Why?

1. It only works if you fucking do it in the first place.

If you want to lose weight, as I’ve said above, all the information is out there. Yes, there’s some conflicting advice and calorie counting doesn’t equal health, but on a very basic level, if you want to lose weight, control your portions, it will work. If you don’t do that, it won’t work.

2. Weight loss is NOT the solution to all your problems.

People come to me saying that what they really want is to get fit and feel better and look a bit better in the mirror. You have this wishy washy idea in your head that is headlined by “IF I LOSE WEIGHT I’LL BE A BETTER PERSON” and that simply isn’t true. While you think that achieving some kind of aesthetic exterior will somehow enable you to find your self-worth and go out there and just boss everything you want to achieve in life and that everyone will love you if you have a six pack, what you’re missing is the massive internal void created by your shitty lifestyle.

3. It’s just a teeny weeny part of performance.

This is performance coaching. If you want to go speak to someone who just focuses on numbers on the scale, fuck off to weight watchers (or Slimming World if you’re a cheapskate). YES, I believe nutrition is integral to human performance – because formula 1 cars don’t go anywhere without the right quality and amount of fuel – but if your entire narrative is based on your weight, you’re missing the point.

Paladin Principles

At the Wonder Clinic, I do performance coaching with a difference. I not only focus on your attitude and your psychology, likewise we don’t just look at the physical factors. What I do is ask you what you want. Then ask you why. Then ask you what you need to get to those goals, those feelings, that vision.

Business, sport whatever it is you want to achieve in, you have to broaden your horizons and understand what’s really letting you down.

It isn’t how you look, it isn’t the car you drive, it isn’t how much muffin top you have over your jeans. Legit nobody cares about that.

What’s letting you down is your faddy, shallow approach to life and business and sport. You’re wrapped up in the external features of yourself; how you look to others. You’re obsessed by the fact that if you change your “image”, somehow success will be attached to that.

It isn’t.

Success is attached to a deeper understanding of your own values and consistently working to those. It isn’t even about trying to better yourself by 1% every day as some programmes will have you believe. It’s about living a life which is TRUE TO YOU. Nobody else.

The programme I coach by, is the paladin principles. These are the foundations you need to be able to tackle anything. They are what give you resilience in business, sport and your personal life. If you’re not focused on keeping these sharp and well-oiled, then everything else will crumble around you. When you’re focused on how you appear to the outside world by maintaining your eyes on the scales and your jeans size all of the time, you’re letting all that is meaningful disappear; you are essentially throwing away your opportunity for success and fulfilment, which in my opinion are the same thing. Success to you, should be what gives you fulfilment.

And what are those principles?

1. GoalSMASHING – A properly formed and refined process for setting goals and following through to keep you focused and ensure you ACHIEVE THEM.
2. Mindset – setting your values and setting up your life to reflect them.
3. Nutrition – looking after your physical and mental self through the fuel you put in the tank.
4. Physical fitness – looking after your physical and mental self through the power of movement so your body can withstand whatever you throw at it.
5. Self-health – understanding the need for down time, peace and space for the mind to allow inspiration, new ideas and renewed enthusiasm for your cause.

Not sure how well you’re doing with the above? Easy fix. Go take the Super Human scorecard, see how you score and get your FREE tips to get started on improving your foundations NOW.

And for chrissakes stop blaming everything on the fact you should have lost twenty pounds by now. You maybe could have, but you didn’t sort the rest of your shit out first. Do better.