Diet, diet, and diet!
How many times have you heard it?
The answer to a sleek, toned physique is all in the diet.
Well as it turns out, the answers to your questions about how to get and stay in shape are indeed found in the acronym, D.I.E.T. It’s pretty amazing actually when I looked at the word the other day and suddenly saw all the main components of a successful physique transformation program in the word “diet,” right down to the order of importance! Let’s take a look:
D: What does the “D” in Diet stand for? The first answer from many people is “Desire.” And they’re half right. But the correct answer is “Discipline.”
Everyone has the desire to look great (and be rich etc. etc.) but for the majority of people that’s where it ends. They never do anything about it, they never take any action. And desire without action is simply dreaming.
But a desire to achieve a goal, when combined with consistent action to move toward that goal becomes discipline. And discipline combined with the next three factors, simply cannot be denied.
In my opinion discipline, the ability to have faith and stay the course, day after day, no matter what, is the #1 success factor in physique transformation.
I: The “I” is for “Information” and is the second most critical facet of a successful physique transformation program. This is where many of those who start their fitness journey quickly lose their way. All the discipline in the world will do you no good if the information you have leads you down the wrong path.
I had a guy walk up to me in the gym recently and he said, “You look great! What do you take? No matter how hard I work, I never change.” When I told him the secret was in his diet and not his training, he just looked at me kind of funny and went back to do his next set. His information says he just has to train and take lots of supplements. His information is wrong!
You can rest assured that a surgeon, whose skill is often the difference between life and death, did not begin to learn his craft by reading Brain Surgery for Dummies. His skill is the result of the technically sound and proven information he received on the elements required to master a particular skill.
It is so important that you have the right information before you start your physique transformation program. The right information sets a solid foundation for you to build upon, and gives you a thorough, correct grounding in the art and science of physique transformation.
Yes, it takes more time to do it right but that’s simply the way it is. The wrong information, so easy to come by from a well-meaning but misinformed mass media, like starvation diets and non-stop cardio or an Atkins’ Diet, does indeed produce quicker results, but is like a sand castle; it goes up quickly and requires little skill… but comes apart nearly as fast.
E: “E” stands for “Education.” Now with the correct information at hand, this is the process where you actually take the time to understand and learn your craft. And this is where the next group of hopeful aspirants to perfect physiques fall by the wayside. When they realize the physique transformation process requires focus, effort, understanding and time to produce results… they quit. When they find out that they’re expected to get “A” diet scores every day, well who wants to go back to school again? They’ve been there, done that! There surely must be an easier way, right?
In physique transformation work, as with most things in life, the path to success is not realized through pills, potions, miracle contraptions or 5-minute a day solutions to lifetime problems. The path to long-term success is always built on the foundation of education.
Think about it; in the business world, the more educated you are the more money you generally make. Your level of education and your degree of physical labor is almost always inversely proportional.
Physique transformation mirrors this pattern. With little or no education in the art of getting lean, most people result to sheer, brute force. They exercise themselves into oblivion because that’s what they think will get them in shape. Invariably, they burn out. Had they taken the time to educate themselves to the task ahead, they would have learned how to accomplish twice as much, with half the effort. That is the essence of education, maximizing results with a minimum of effort.
T: Last in order of importance is ‘T’ for “Training.” This is where you actually start to apply the education you have worked so diligently to acquire. In many ways it’s the easiest of the four steps. Because expertise is often effortless.
In the gym, the physique transformation expert is often the one that subconsciously pisses people off. First off, she looks great! But she invariably spends much less time on the treadmill or the stationary bike than the ever present cardio queens, who seem to be permanent attachments to the machines they’re on.
In the weight room, he doesn’t lift as much weight as the big boys. And he’s finishing up his workout while the “hard-core” boys are still on the 20th set of their first body part! The proper application of knowledge is indeed, power! Power to be in complete control of your metabolism… Power to understand how to harness that metabolism to work for you instead of against you… Power to know that you can make dramatic changes to your physique in just a few months time. And make it look near effortless.
So there you have it: D.I.E.T.
It is the answer, after all.
Start now. The 2014 spring and summer seasons are right around the corner. Will you be one of the ones to pull out the bathing suit and hear the words “scary hot!”
