Here’s something you’ll find easy to believe: most fitness marketing doesn’t tell you the whole truth—shocker, right? From As Seen on TV gadgets, to hyper-fast fat loss advertisements from the new gym around the corner, to detox programs, we are inundated with information that tells us that transformation is low-effort if we only do what the nice people on the TV screen are telling us to do.

 

The reality is there’s no gadget that solves our problems and gives us Brad Pitt, Fight Club abs. There isn’t a 21-day fat loss challenge program that creates a lasting change that sustainably improves our lives. It’s unfortunate, but that’s reality.

 

Why?—because a gadget is just a gadget, it doesn’t make you use it and it certainly doesn’t help you alter your lifestyle. Detox and challenge programs that end after a short period leave us hanging with sense of completion and that feeling of ‘now what?’

 

Neither gives us what we truly need to sustainably transform our bodies.

 

Neither give us the two most pivotal components of lasting transformation: momentum and consistency.

 

 

Our Friend Nancy

 

Nancy is a great lady that’s a lot like all of us. She has a great family—two kids and a husband—and a good job that provides her a nice living. But she isn’t happy with the current state of her body.

 

A little while back, before life got in the way, she liked the way she looked. Her jeans fit great on her legs and her butt had great shape in them. She had a black dress fit her perfectly and she felt so sexy in.

 

But now she can’t wear those jeans that make her butt and legs look so good. The black dress doesn’t make her feel so sexy.

 

She’s tried just about everything to get back to having the body she used to have. Nancy’s bought the TV gadgets, she’s done the detox programs, and she’s tried the 21-day challenges at her local gyms. And everything seems to go well for a little while. She gets some fast results, but nothing sticks.

 

She’ll drop a few pounds and feel a little stronger, but she can’t keep the weight down after the challenge ends. She ends up right back where she began, and she feels a little more frustrated each time the new, promised fitness solution doesn’t work for her.

 

 

 

Why Nancy Stays Stuck

 

Here’s the truth: the habits that have lead Nancy to gain weight and lose strength weren’t formed overnight and they won’t be defeated overnight.

 

 “Habits are “behaviors done with little or no conscious thought.”

 

That’s the issue that detox programs and short-term fat loss challenges don’t address. They offer a dramatic and unsustainable solution that works in the short-term, but doesn’t address the lifestyle factors that got Nancy to where she is. Sure, these programs offer some great short-term results, but the results aren’t sustainable because the programs aren’t sustainable. They also offer a very pronounced finish line—which is a negative thing for lasting change. It tells the brain, “I’m done, I don’t have to do this anymore.”

 

She got results from the detox program because the protocol had her dramatically cut down on how much she ate every day. Anyone would get quick results from this, but there’s nothing sustainable about only eating a few hundred calories per day and drinking some ridiculous solution backed by pseudoscience.

 

Nancy dropped pounds on the 21-day program because she went from doing nothing to doing something. She got started down the right path, but just as she reached the point where real change could start to happen, the program ended. Sure, she could have stayed on at the gym, but she got that sense of completion we just mentioned. And she also realized that the 21-day challenge was mostly about marketing to her a low-cost, low-risk program to get her into the gym’s door. (P.S. There’s nothing ethically wrong with this as a business practice, it’s just not the best way to help people change.)

 

Neither program helped Nancy regain responsibility of her fitness and her body because neither addressed the habits that created the body she currently has. They didn’t account for change’s true drivers—momentum and consistency.

 

 

Real Change is Step-by-Step Over Time

 

Sustainable transformation requires sustainable interventions. That means little changes, one or two at a time, over an extended period of time. Will it take Nancy longer to get back to having the body she used to have? Yes, it absolutely will. But once she gets it back she’ll be able to keep it because she’s built the momentum and consistency it takes to foster lasting transformation.

 

Think about anything that you’ve ever gotten good at—your career, sports, being a parent, etc. It didn’t happen in 21 days or a month. It took time, consistent effort, and paying attention to what actually works for you.

 

Transforming your body is no different. Start small, make one change at a time, and stay consistent. You’ll build the momentum that transforms your body and creates lasting change.

 

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Ready to make real, lasting change this year?

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