Resolutions?

By: Michael Beiter

I woke up to a DM from two high school cronies. We all played football together.

One of them is a former client; he sent this other dude my way, telling him I could help with his fitness and food.

That message had to wait until I met a current client who has been down 40 pounds since the end of July. He lost three pounds in December, a notoriously tricky month for dieting.

"For the first time in as long as I can remember, my New Year's Resolution is not to lose weight. I've done that, and the confidence I've grown in the last six months has reintroduced me to the world. I'm dating again, setting boundaries at work, and getting positive feedback everywhere I go about how I look. People keep asking me how I did it!" He said.

He learned he could accomplish more with less within a page and a half of notes. Rather than spending four hours in the gym, he spends one and gets another three back to do whatever he pleases, and his results are BETTER. We call that the minimum effective dose.

"I didn't believe I'd ever weigh under 200 lbs again, but as things are going, I'll be there by March." He said that too.

I then went into my stance on resolutions. They don't work, are a waste of resources.

Every resolution starts with the idea, 'I need to be better.' Any underlying presumption that you need to be better is a bad idea for adherence.

You may need to change many things, but going balls to the wall for two and a half weeks every New Year will not get you anywhere.

If there's any resolution I can support, it's 'more of the same.'

This is a sign of someone who found things that work.

My successful clients get advised to keep doing what works until the evidence suggests we need to change. So our resolutions are boring compared to the masses, but our results also whoop the shit out of everyone else's.

Any commitment to working with me involves months and years, not resolutions and short stints.

So, if you're tired of failing resolution after resolution, consider dropping the practice altogether and reaching out. I have a way that works.