Healthy High Achiever Blog

This is a discussion of epic proportions! (only slightly exaggerating)

Here is my last post on this subject.

Your lifestyle is responsible for how you perform, the way you look and feel and whether you’ll achieve your goals in life, business or sport in a healthy and successful way.

Your lifestyle holds THE greatest promise for your health, your energy and fitness, and your success.

The challenge is, lifestyle represents one of our two greatest emotional stresses (how we think and how we live) because there are so many factors that influence it, some within our control and most, out of our control. Influenced by so many overwhelming ways, it is easy to get exhausted and make choices that are less than empowering and result in overweight.

Because we’re living in such a frenetic state, most of the time, we think that changing our lifestyle is hard, mainly because we don’t understand how. We don’t have the lifestyle skills that you hear me talking about all the time on this blog; the performance lifestyle skills that healthy high achieving people have.

These lifestyle skills are not obvious, they require learning and practice if you want to get proficient yet the result are obvious. You live at or near you ideal weight all year round, you exercise for fitness and you have the energy to achieve your goals in life business and sport without the distraction of having to deal with weight and health issues all the time.

It’s why you see fitness, health and well pro’s say over and over again… "it’s a lifestyle". They have learned and mostly through lots of trial and error.

Most people though, have not learned the lifestyle skills I’m talking about and that’s the reason why they go from weight loss, diet and exercise program to yet more weight, diet and exercise programs … to lose weight! They are always losing weight trying to deal with the most obvious symptom of an unsuccessful lifestyle.

We have literally been trained to go on weight loss, diet and exercise programs to solve what appears to be the problem… "overweight". Going on fat loss and weight loss programs, are how we’ve been trained to look at lifestyle change.

Today, it’s become vogue and routine to enter a fitness challenge or transformation challenge when we want to make a change. I think fitness challenges and weight loss challenges are great, they provide the opportunity for people to join others in making major improvements.

Essentially you get a lot of help from your friends, and nothing is more exciting than to get social recognition for making changes in your life. ~ John Allen Mollenhauer "JAM".

My friend Scott Tousignant is doing something like that right now with his 21 Day Challenge, for Unstoppable Fat Loss. He is enabling people to journal their actions to build new healthy habits over a three week period of time, that will hopefully last a lifetime, guided by daily interviews with lifestyle and fitness experts.

I have another friend Rob Poulos who’s doing something similar with his Fat Burning Furnace System for fast and permanent fat loss.

I point these guys out because they are myth busters and I know their weight loss programs are rooted in successful lifestyles practices.

But here is where the ground breaking discussion starts…

There are two ways to look at transformation and I’m going to suggest that neither one of them is the defacto way to change. The reason is, one takes more awareness and skill than the other (your lifestyle) whereas the other (a weight loss, diet or exercise program) requires more intensity and dedication for a period of time…

1. A healthy, successful lifestyle, is the way you live most of the time. When you focus on your ability to perform well by managing your energy, the quality of the food you eat, your activity levels your focus etc…, to maintain your quality of life in the process of achieving your goals, your lifestyle will promote health and success.
   
 
 
 
2. A weight loss, diet or exercise program is designed to challenge you and take you to the next level. Although when it comes to weight loss, it’s usually about getting back to what would be normal or natural, if you were to have a successful lifestyle. Diet and exercise programs are breakthrough periods as you strive for greater levels of excellence and development, and are not the way you live all the time.
   

You build challenge periods into your lifestyle depending on your objectives, but you don’t try to make the challenge your lifestyle. People try to do this all the time and it doesn’t work.

By their very nature "programs" are challenging, because you are essentially changing your whole lifestyle overnight to achieve a desire result. It means radically changing your routine and you have likely attached some emotional or social consequences to not sustaining changes for a least a period of time.

The rally cry is "it’s not weight loss program it’s a lifestyle" but what’s really being said is "go on my program for life" and that’s not a successful lifestyle.

Healthy, successful lifestyles are not as challenging in the sense that you have to accomplish an objective by a specific period of time, yet a lifestyle can be challenging nonetheless, because unless you see your lifestyle as the key to achieving a real goal in your life, your business or sport that inspires you to live in the best ways possible, it’s just easy, today more than ever, to get caught up in unhealthy, unsuccessful lifestyle practices.

The opportunities for poor lifestyle choices are everywhere!

So what’s the solution? A healthy successful lifestyle or a weight loss, diet or exercise program? 

The solution is to learn how to live a healthy successful lifestyle (what we call a Performance Lifestyle in this community), and then challenge yourself in various ways at various times, to take your lifestyle to the next level. For starters that may mean, going on a weight loss program, but then that will change to diet and fitness challenges that will help you eat even better, or take your fitness to a whole new level. There are challenges of all kinds but these are the two most common, of course, it’s because most people are overweight.

So the answer is both, but know this, your lifestyle determines your health and success. If you have an unhealthy lifestyle then a weight loss program will inevitably reinforce your problem.

What’s the key to health and success?

The key is learning how to optimize your lifestyle for health and higher performance to achieve your goals. That means developing a successful lifestyle…learning how to live, better. This is not common knowledge. When you do, you’ll find that it is relatively easy to lose weight, to improve your diet and take your fitness to new levels.

It’s allot easier to achieve your goals in life, business and sport, when you’re fit and powerful, but how can you be either if your lifestyle is driving you down hill?

When you don’t have to work so hard… when you don’ t have to overcome the downward trending effects of overwhelm and exhaustion that prevent your body from responding quicker; when your lifestyle is rockin’, challenging yourself successfully will become a regular thing in your life.

And given the world we live in, you don’t have to live like some purest to have a healthy successful lifestyle. But that’s a discussion for another time.

What doesn’t work is this:

a) Going on a weight loss program that is not grounded in healthy, successful lifestyle practices for the express purpose of weight loss

b) When you attempt to make your weight loss program… your lifestyle! This is what keeps people trapped. It’s why people are unsuccessful at really changing their lifestyle for the better, because they are addicted to tactical methods for weight loss, which if they stop, will only result in causing the most obvious symptom that they wanted to eliminate to begin with, overweight, to return. 

Low carb, high "animal" protein dieting is the perfect example of this… and there are others.

Action steps:

• Take advantage of my friends Scott Tousignant and Rob Poulos, and other great programs like Turbulence Training by Craig Ballantyne. You can get all their links over at www.FitforPower.com. I endorse their programs because they are committed to helping you do it right!
  

• At the same time, get into a Performance Lifestyle that works for you, not against you so that you’ll be far more successful taking your healthy and success to the next level. This key is your lifestyle. I have a new training coming up in September that will help you learn how to change your lifestyle successfully, not once, but any time you need to for better results. 
  

For right now…

1. eat a nutrient rich meal today,
   
2. take a power nap when you’re tired, and
   
3. workout for 10 minutes.
   
4. learn from every experience,
   
5. quickly ditch the guilt if you make a poor lifestyle choice
   
6. and keep moving forward towards goals worthy of your time and energy.
   
7. …

Live Like a Pro!

JAM

John Allen Mollenhauer is the founder Performance Lifestyle Solutions, the better healthier ways to achieve your goals in life, business and sport. As a former worn down workaholic turned Healthy High Achiever, John Allen (aka “JAM”) will teach you how to Live Like a Pro, optimizing your lifestyle the way athletes do for better results. He is the creator of the Healthy High Achiever - Unleash the Full Potential of Your Lifestyle to Perform, Look and Feel Better!

I was reading a post by my good friend Scott Tousignant, who publishes the sites, Unstoppable Fat Loss and The Fit Bastard.

He titled his post, "The Lifestyle Approach To Fat Loss Is A Bunch Of Crap!"

He is a very passionate guy and when it comes to fat loss and fitness challenges, I pay attention to what he has to say. That said, I don’t always agree with everything he has to say. To that end we are going to debate this via webcast in early August.

Go there and read it…

Here is the post that he made recently on the Unstoppable fat loss blog.

My initial thoughts to you, then my response to his article…

The funny thing is, we are saying something similar. Maybe even the same thing at times, and this opens up the debate… it’s not one or the other… a Lifestyle plan or fat loss, fitness program, I think it’s both. Particularly because if your lifestyle has gone awry, you must get your lifestyle back on track, before you’re going to be successful in any fat loss or fitness challenge or sustain the results.

We need a lifestyle plan for optimal health, energy and fitness and to live at or near our ideal weight all year round. Once you get really masterful about lifestyle, and have been through enough diet, fat loss and fitness programs, you eventually can change your lifestyle and create new routines for yourself, on the fly, as you get feedback on your ability to perform. Symptoms like weight gain, after all, are the result of overwhelm and exhaustion, for some, fatigue.

But until that point, a lifestyle plan AND either a fat loss or fitness program to challenge yourself will serve your needs. One reinforces the other.

Keep in mind, that Healthy High Achievers don’t view lifestyle in terms of fat loss or fitness "goals". We see our goals as those things we want to achieve in life, business and sport in a healthy way (at or near our ideal weight) and most everything else as an objective in the process. That way, we don’t make more out of fitness and fat loss than they need to be, or obsess. This is a powerful point of view that makes a big difference.

When fat loss and fitness become the goals themselves, this changes.

Here is my response….

I would love to debate this publicly Scott, as I think everyone would benefit from the lifestyle plan / fat loss - fitness program debate, if you are up for it and think it would benefit others as much as I do. By the sound of your article and interview, it sounds like you are.

Hey Scott,

As you may have suspected, it was inevitable that you were going to prompt a debate from me on this one. I think this lifestyle / fat loss program debate is one of THE most important subjects when it comes to developing an elite body… fat loss and fitness, health and success

Glad you got the conversation started here. As a Fit Bastard reader, I wanted to share my thoughts and in the end, what being "unstoppable" means to me.  

"The Lifestyle approach to "fat loss" is a bunch a crap!"

I agree BIG time, and disagree BIG time with that statement, but I think I know where you are going with it…

The truth we share; if you are going to take charge of an out-of-shape body, you have to take things to the next level. You have to challenge yourself to create a new "set point" and go into a period where you raise the bar on the quality of the food you are eating, your activity and training levels. This promotes personal growth and development, fitness and… fat loss. 

Scott, you are one of the best in the business of helping people with fat loss. 

I am the best in the business when it comes developing a health and success promoting lifestyle… getting your lifestyle working for you, not against you by making the lifestyle shifts that make the difference. 

In a Performance Lifestyle, we refer to "Challenge Periods"; if you want to loss weight and significant amounts of it, YOU WILL during a challenge period, not to mention develop new levels of personally powerful, confidence building fitness. It only happens when you challenge yourself.

To that end, that’s why I promote the Fit Bastard, and other select fat loss and fitness programs. I agree with you; as you said we have to mix it up to "challenge our bodies in new and unique ways."   

But you know, overweight is the most obvious symptom of a poor lifestyle so we have to be careful not to discount or cloud the subject of lifestyle one iota.

A poor "Lifestyle" is the reason why someone has to lose significant amounts of weight to begin with.

It depends on what kind of lifestyle you have.

A "traditional lifestyle" causes the overweight condition. If, for example, you are living a life of moderation in everything (which is a failing proposition), you ARE coping out.

The traditional "moderation in everything" lifestyle is an impotent approach to life… when you are all caught up consuming stuff that’s really consuming you and your energy, like junk food and junk TV and so much "convenience" that you don’t have to move your deconditioned body… you look around and you think it’s normal to be that way; it’s not. Don’t get me started! 

But if you live like athletes do, this a very different deal; not to mention a better quality of life.

YOU, already have a great "athletic" lifestyle so when you challenge yourself, you’re going from great to even better. That you don’t have to strip off mounds of pounds is because you have a "Lifestyle plan"; a lifestyle approach to fitness… I would think that’s why you are successful at challenging yourself!

So let’s clarify… I think your point is, if you think your going to push to new heights living on a never-ending fat loss or fitness program "for life", that idea IS a bunch of crap. Amen brother! 

That is NOT a successful lifestyle.

But to say that a lifestyle plan or lifestyle approach to fat loss is a bunch of crap, is where I take debate; it depends on what kind of lifestyle you’re living.

BTW, the "purpose" of our lifestyle is not to lose weight. When we change our lifestyle, fat loss is usually a benefit because we’re living better, and this symptom lessens. The point of changing our lifestyle is to achieve our goals more successfully, in a healthier way.  

I for one, do the same thing that you do, which is to challenge myself with a new fitness routine or "program" that raises the bar every couple of months; but "for me" those challenge periods are not back to back, they take place when I’m ready to go to the next level.

Like you, I have a lot more going on in my life than fitness and I don’t need to be ready for the beach all year round or the Olympics for that matter.

My lifestyle is optimized, it is athletic, health and fitness promoting so I can sustain success. It also enables me to maximize the results I can achieve in any challenge period.

I think the reason most people are unsuccessful with  fat loss or fitness programs, of any kind, is because they have poor lifestyles underlying their attempt.  Suffering from overwhelm and exhaustion, for some fatigue, will STOP you in your tracks despite your good intentions and desire to succeed.

No lifestyle plan, means you are STOPPABLE! 

Living non stop on weight loss or fitness program’s and without a successful lifestyle to fall back on, is very challenging.

I know you are not saying don’t have a healthy or successful lifestyle, but I have to debate the "Lifestyle approach" "Lifestyle Plan" semantics in your article, because a lifestyle fitness plan is required if you are going to be successful with fat loss and fitness.

When we don’t have a lifestyle plan or strategy, we ARE relegated to weight loss programs for the rest of our life, which I know is not something you do or advise anyone else does; but that IS what most people are doing.

Our lifestyles, over time, enable us to live at or near our ideal weight… all the time, but the "challenge period" is required to take things to the next level, and we need this from time to time. If getting closer to elite fitness, and a beach body is your objective, bottom line, you have to challenge yourself.

I think that is what you are saying.  Is that right?

I’m saying that if you don’t have a lifestyle reinforcing your health (energy and fitness) and your success, you will hop from program to program and this is a chaise-your-tail way to live and not a true lifestyle, maybe not even an enjoyable one for many. Depending on your lifestyle it can be down right crappy.

What I know to be true about you is different. Let’s clarify.

I for one, even though I live a Performance Lifestyle, don’t want to be challenged non stop. I sometimes need extended periods of the status quo, but because my lifestyle is naturally athletic and based on sound fundamentals, the status quo doesn’t promote significant weight gain.

Sure I’ll gain a few, when I’m not challenging myself, but that’s normal. Weight fluctuates, especially if you factor in time periods of great stress. Stress of the wrong kind, has that affect. I am going through one of those periods right now and I’ve gained some weight, even though I live incredibly well.  

The funny thing is, we are saying something similar. Maybe even the same thing, and this my friend opens up the debate… it’s not one or the other, I think it’s both!

We need a lifestyle plan and fitness / fat loss programs to take things to the next level, that’s what being truly "unstoppable" means to me. 

I would love to debate this publicly Scott, as I think everyone would benefit from the lifestyle plan / fat loss - fitness program debate, if you are up for it and think it would benefit others as much as I do. By the sound of your article and interview, it sounds like you are. 

PS, I could lose a few pounds, so as soon as I’m ready, I think I’m going to challenge myself.

PPS, I’m soon going to put myself through 8 weeks of your  Fit Bastard workouts. Yeah.

John Allen Mollenhauer is the founder Performance Lifestyle Solutions, the better healthier ways to achieve your goals in life, business and sport. As a former worn down workaholic turned healthy high achiever John Allen (aka “JAM”) will teach you how to Live Like a Pro, optimizing your lifestyle the way athletes do. He is the creator of the Healthy High Achiever - Unleash the Full Potential of Your Lifestyle to Perform, Look and Feel Better!

In Train not Drain part 1, you learned what happens when you subject a body under major stress to the stress of high intensity training.

I want to emphasize the point that I love high intensity training and espouse all of it’s benefits; that’s why I used terms like "warranted hype".

There are so many benefits to high intensity training there are too many to list; not the least of which is this - 4 minutes of high intensity interval training is equal to about 1 hour of regular low intensity aerobic training. And it is great for conditioning and fat loss, because of a principle called EPOC. More on that later, but for now just know that it’s the workout that keeps on working for you.

For busy people that’s a big deal.

Here are some examples: I was at a local gym when I did these, but the truth is, you can do a high intensity workout anywhere, at home or outside.

  The principle of the 4 minute workout was discovered by a Japanese researcher named Tabata. Doing more than 4 minutes can have additional benefits, but not if your body is in a depleted state, overstressed.

We don’t need a research study to figure out what happens when you subject a depleted body to high intensity training. It can have a destructive "catabolic" effect. In other words your body will break down, not build up.

If you ever wonder why your body is not responding to your training its usually because your body is in a depleted state, overwhelmed and exhausted, for some, fatigued.

The Performance Lifestyle formula solves this dilemma in a successful way. When it comes to training, here are some key tips to keep in mind…

1) If you are not seeing an anabolic "building" effect, from your training, it doesn’t mean you can’t engage in high intensity training.

Just remember you only need 4-8 minutes of high intensity training. Then it is all about "recovery". Subject yourself to too much training and you are working against yourself.

2) If you are feeling strong, for sure, engage in high intensity training, just remember more is not always better. What matters is what you can recover from successfully. That’s how you gauge a successful plan.

3) Reduce uncomplimentary stress, if you want to begin training more.

4) If dealing with a great deal of stress, switch gears to a less intense form of exercise to get your energy back in balance or greatly reduce the duration of your training.

The thing to keep in mind, especially today, is recovery. It’s the key to success.

More to come on this fascinating subject to come.

JAM

John Allen Mollenhauer is the Founder of Performance Lifestyle Solutions, the better healthier ways to achieve your goals. As a a former worn down workaholic turned Healthy High Achiever John Allen (aka “JAM”) will teach you how to Live Like a Pro; how to look, feel and perform better optimizing your lifestyle the way athletes do. Achieve your goals in life, business and sport and take your life to the next level!

Learn more at www.PerformanceLifestyleSolutions.com