The 90-10 Rule for Fat Loss
When we think diet most of us would think restriction, sacrifice and denial.
We can safely say by now that habits win the race in the long-run.
Skip breakfast and you will face a problem. Likewise by not taking enough sleep, and exercising for a minimum of three times a week.
If you were a nutritional and exercise beginner you would be best to start by chipping away at one of these per week.
You will yield great results if you stick to working away at implementing habits one by one. This is definitely a long-term and successful strategy. Bottom line it works.
One of the key habits in any health and fitness programme is to implement a 90-10 rule.
What exactly does this mean?
Well as top body transformation expert Tom Venuto, author of the Body Fat Solution, states that your fat loss efforts are like a pressure cooker if you try and stick to it 100 per cent of the time. Underneath the pressure of denial and sacrifice reaches fever pitch and eventually you blow. The lid flies and the plan becomes rail-roaded.
This is not your fault. You do need to plan for the 10 per cent though.
Any plan will work if you a) maintain a calorific deficit and b) keep it at 90 per cent compliance leaving you the 10 per cent to slip away, deviate away or let the lid off the pressure cooker.
Here are a few basic ground rules before you give yourself a ticket to demolish a whole pizza washed down with a gallon of coke and topped with a strawberry sundae ‘cos you earnt it’.
In 99 per cent of the cases I deal with you haven’t even come close to earning it.
Firstly you need to track exactly what you are doing. If you are following a plan, are you following it 90 per cent of the time. You will need to write and record your efforts on paper, measure your portion sizes (if you struggle with losing weight) and write down if you exercise that day or not. A journal is a great idea.
The devil is in the detail now.
3 meals a week over the course of 7 days is 21 meals. Stick to the rules for 19 of these meals and you are on course scoring 90 compliance.
If you hit the gym 3 times a week for 4 weeks you can afford to miss 1 workout in that month.
If you skip breakfast for 2 mornings (or deviate outside of what is laid out for you) then great stuff you are on course.
If you set out the simply record your food intake for 3 days a week over the course of the 4 weeks then you can afford to miss 1 or two of these days.
Anything can be measured according to this principle.
You may notice Oprah falling flat on her face again with her diet and finally admitting that she doesn’t want to be lean and would rather be ‘healthy, lean and strong’.
She blamed a low-carb diet for her failures. The only thing was that her skipping meals, ploughing into 2-300g of carbohydrate on the odd day is not following a low-carb diet.
Her compliance was rock-bottom and the overriding reason for her failure. It is like taking a recipe for apple pie and making rhubarb crumble with it.
You have to earn your 10 per cent and plan for it. If you know that your night out with your partner is on the cards for Saturday then factor this into your week. This is particularly the case if you are on a fat loss programme.
Outside of this you have to work hard. The odd biccie here and there does hurt. You have to earn the right to cheat. Is it tough – yes. Are the results worth it? Of course.
Get in, get out. Do not lumber around trying to lose body fat. Set a deadline, a specific date to work towards. Measure, stay strong, keep tough, have a support system in place and be accountable to someone.
If on the other hand you want to try and implement a habits based approach go ahead. This works well too.
However, if you think you can wing it without a plan. Think again.
John Lark is a Fat Loss Specialist. Visit his web site and pick up Free Report – The 7 Most Effective Ways of Burning Fat at his web site www.john-lark.com
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