Never give UP!  Simple, but true.

For at least 22 years I have been obsessed with what makes some people successful, and others not.  The common denominator every single time is, the ones who succeed never give up their dreams.

Abraham Lincoln “failed” for years to get elected to a higher office.  He nobly suffered the ridicule of being called a backwoodsman, an ape, a rail splitter, an uneducated man. His secret for success?   He never gave up or lost sight of what he believed was his destiny and went on to change the world for millions born, and millions yet unborn.

Milton Hershey “failed” for 10 years, going bankrupt several times.  (Anyone see the irony of choosing Hershey as a health example . They do make some dark chocolate products.)

Both never gave up on their dreams, because they believed in them.  That was their secret.

Believe in your dreams and never give up on yourself.  It’s just not an option.

Me speaking at the Working Mother’s Congress, NYC

Last night I had a dream, truth be told, it was a nightmare.

I was speaking to an audience and no one was paying attention, the worst fear for a speaker, besides nobody showing up. There was an unruly group towards the back, so I went over with the intention of motivating them. They started crying and one of them ran out of the room.

It gets worse. I walked toward the front to get the audience back and one of my mentors, Tony Robbins, was setting up to speak next. He totally snubbed me and proceeded with his presentation. I collected my materials and left with my tail between my legs. That’s when I awoke, sweating, horrified, depressed.

I rationalized, it’s just a dream, but you know how dreams can mimic and become reality. I felt like crap.  Have you ever had a dream that just seemed real?

I got up and knew I had to do something, or I’d wallow with this ill feeling. I got dressed, jumped in my car and drove. I stopped in a local town, got my bands out of my trunk, and did my be PK IGNITE workout, in the driving wind and pelting rain. I felt my blood flowing, muscles pumping, the passion returning. I was on fire, alive, awake……not dreaming.

PK IGNITE, my new workout, brought me back to reality. It did what it is supposed to do, help me start my day by being my best self.

Try to start every day with this workout, or one like it, so you can have a great day. Otherwise, that little voice, a bad dream, or negative self talk will stop you from being your best.

BTW- You can’t think yourself out of a bad mood, stress, or depressed state. You have to move your body to increase your heart rate, which helps your brain release those feel good drugs.

Wake up

Can you guess why Joan can’t lose weight and get heathy?

We get more of what we focus on.  For years I’ve been coaching people to create a vision for their health. Something they want and why.  My vision when I was 21 was to look good in a white t-shirt and jeans and feel confident walking in the mall. That was the beginning of my health journey.

Today I still create visions, like to meet Dr Oz, write a book, create an online club, speak for fortune 100 companies. They’ve all come true because I identified what I wanted, why, and set a strategy to make them happen.

Recently I was at a Tony Robbins event, who’s one of my mentors. 3 years ago I created a vision to meet the NY times best selling author and weight loss expert, Jorge Cruise, seen on Oprah and the Dr Oz Show, and ask him to be a mentor. I sent him emails; no response.  That vision finally came true at the Tony Robbins event.

Create it, and you’ll get it. Great things are meant for us. We just have to plan them.  Create your vision today and send it to me. Leave it in the comments below.  When you write it, it’s real.

Jorge Cruise and me

Every time I coach a client, I learn something new. Usually it’s about a nutrition technique that helps them eat healthy throughout the day, their favorite part of  a workout or new move, or a thought or belief that helps them stay focused.

I spoke at an office in NY recently and I asked a young girl who wanted to lose 60 lbs why she wanted to lose the weight. She said because she wanted to look better and have more confidence so she could motivate others to be healthy. A great goal that takes the focus off herself and helps her serve others with her healthy lifestyle.

So, Iwant to ask you, what works for you? What do you do that keeps you healthy and fit, or helps you refocus or stay focused? What if a child was asking you this question. What would you say to a child to motivate them to be healthy? Leave a comment below.

Here are some interesting studies on habits:

“One study from Duke University estimated that habits, rather than conscious decision-making, shape 45 percent of the choices we make every day.”

“Habits aren’t destiny — they can be ignored, changed or replaced. But it’s also true that once the loop is established and a habit emerges, your brain stops fully participating in decision-making. So unless you deliberately fight a habit — unless you find new cues and rewards — the old pattern will unfold automatically.”

So lets identify our bad habits by identifying the “cues” that may activate and “bad” habit loop- i.e. overeating to feel better. Here are some:

• a stressful phone call
• a demanding boss
• children and teens being difficult
• too much to do with too little time
• setting an overwhelming health goal

When we react to these cues, we may overeat or skip a workout because of the reward; feeling better by eating comfort food or getting more free time or rest in lieu of exercise. The truth is, we feel worse when we eat poorly and skip exercise.

So, how do we create healthy habits?  We can start by re-interpreting what the cues above mean.  Here’s an example:

Instead of focusing on how much you have to get done and how little time you have to do it, focus on how you can do a great 5 minute workout that will tone your muscles and increase your metabolism, and how taking 5 minutes to plan your menu will greatly decrease the possibility of choosing poor foods.  This will be your cue for creating a healthy loop when you are stressed, and the reward will be, how good you feel.

Life is a matter of how you interpret everything that happens to you. How will you interpret the next stressful situation in your life, so you can create a healthy habit?  Leave your comment below (on the website).

Here’s the Times article >

Club members, click here for recipes, workouts, menus & videos > http://peterkfitness.com/club/5-minutes-to-fitness-club/

The picture above was sent to me by a new health coaching client before our first session. She says she’s tried it all but nothing has “clicked”.  Things “click” when we are ready to hear the click. Clicks go on around us everyday; often we’re too distracted to hear them.

Getting healthy is relatively simple; eat great, move your body and direct your thoughts toward what you want. Simple, but not easy because the mind gets in the way. If you don’t look and feel the way you want, there’s nothing wrong with you. Just go back to the basics:

• Move your body today, in a way that feels good, for at least 5 minutes. Smile while doing it.
• Choose one or two super foods that will give you energy and vitality: salmon, green tea, almonds, kale, quinoa, beans
• Direct your mind to focus on what you want most today. Don’t wait and don’t let yourself get distracted.
• Bonus- Help someone else get what they want today. Serving others with genuine compassion will help you serve your self.

You have something special to accomplish. Get your mind and body ready for it.

• How strong (both physically and emotionally) I AM and WILL become
• My form
• How GREAT (both physically and emotionally) I’ll feel after I’m done
• It’s so early (5AM) and I am barely awake and haven’t had coffee yet. I go on automatic pilot and know deep in my my mind that “this is good for me”. After about 5 minutes or so, I start to feel the benefits of working out and tell myself “good job! Proud of you for getting up and doing this!”
• I have a world map and I put pins in all the places I’ve been. Once I become lucid, I start to think about where else in the world would I like to go? And the travel planning begins.
• I used to try to think about how I was training in order to feel a sense of accomplishment (i.e. finishing a long endurance race, etc), but then I realized I wasn’t living in the moment. So, now I really just think about the exercise itself, how it makes me feel doing it (stronger, etc), and that way I really “experience” the exercise.
• I try and think about only positive things (although sometimes that can be hard). I love how I feel after every workout and that really is what motivates me the most! Then I can sit down and plan out my day and decide what needs to get done.

Thanks to everyone for sharing!  Have a great day and make sure you maximize the outcomes of your workouts.

I received several emails in response to yesterdays post about the story we tell ourselves. I could tell what they were doing with their bodies when they wrote the emails. Let me explain;

Today I was reminded about what I already knew. In fact, I was born with this natural ability, and so were you. It’s called “state”.  This happened at the end of a 15 hour day.

We were shown a war scene from the movie Braveheart.  Then, all the men were asked to stand up in a room full of 2000 people and scream as though we were going to battle. As though an army was coming to rape and kill our wives and children. Can you imagine how fast we stood and screamed with a determined might. Every man in that room, at that moment, was ready to die for what he loved and wanted most. I entered a state of absolute power and certainty, that no one would take from me what I valued and wanted most. I felt alive and powerful like I haven’t felt in forever.  Do you think at that state of body power I could resist a f***ing cookie?

Can you imagine the state your body would be in if you summoned that power from your body on a daily basis, especially when you were deciding what and why you were eating? I don’t mean the next time someone asks you to share a brownie you body check them into the refrigerator .

Manage your state by managing your body and you will never need will-power again. The sheer force and strength of your body will drive your behaviors, stop you from overeating and make sure you exercise to make your  body even more powerful.  You don’t have to be a man to experience this. As a woman you can summon your masculine energy when you need it to serve you.

Think about the last time you  thought someone you loved was in danger, your child, your lover.  Were you sitting slouched, head down, looking at the floor, your muscles sagging on your body, thinking, why does this always happen to me?  No, you were probably standing, muscles clenched, eyes focused, mind locked in and determined to do what you had to.

Again, what the hell does this have to do with health and losing weight?  I know you get it.  Start using your body power now and manage your “state”. Here’s how:

• The next time you do my band workout, play a powerful song, then direct your mind to think about who you love most.
• Now, imagine you must become your most powerful to protect that person.
• As you pull on the bands, breath deep, contract your muscles, engage your mind and build your body power.

Every workout is an opportunity to strengthen not only your muscles, but your body. I created my 5 Minutes to Fitness+ workout using primitive human movement patterns. You’re body and mind will respond when you summon this power you have that lies dormant. Use it everyday to stay focused, determined.

The answer is yes.

You know you need to get between 6-8 hours of sleep per night as an adult and most kids and teens need 8 to 12 hours per night.  But why is sleep important? There are so many reasons but lets focus on weight loss.  When we sleep our bodies regenerate and replenish from the day. Also, when we don’t get enough sleep we can be irritable, tired, moody, unable to focus and physically in pain. The result; we may eat more to try and feel better.  This is documented by research.

Case study: I met with my health coaching client, Susan, recently, who tracks all of her food, workouts and sleep patterns.  She noticed when she doesn’t get enough sleep, she doesn’t lose weight.  It happened twice in one week. That’s an eye opener. So, she can be doing everything else right, but if she’s not sleeping enough she is sabotaging yourself. She’s lost over 70lbs and she will make sure she gets enough sleep to continue her journey.

Start by trying to get just 1 hour more per night, don’t watch TV in bed and avoid caffeine after 2pm.  Nighty Night

I have 3 clients who wanted to lose  weight. They all had the same problem.  They were not eating enough.  I realize it may sound crazy, but eating too little will slow down your metabolism and cannibalize your muscle.

All 3 clients, one in her 40′s and the other 2 in their 80′s, all lost weight when they did the following:

• Found out their BMR using the tracker
• Ate the amount of calories the tracker told them by following menus > (dinner menus coming soon)
• Did 20 minutes of my band workout, 5 times per week
• Kept a food and workout diary
• Reported in to their coach, me, via health coaching sessions

Want to master your weight and take control of your health? Start with the tracker >

Send me your tracker food and workout log this week.  I’ll take a look and give you insightful  feedback.

Not a club member? Join here and get your tracker > or sign up for Health Coaching with Peter K.