Why do new year’s resolutions usually fail? Why do you start with guns blazing on January 1st, but by February, you’re losing motivation, cheating on your diet, skipping workouts, and slipping back into old patterns? John LaValle, a master trainer of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) suggests that we should take a closer look at the meaning behind the word “Resolution.” Being derived from the word “re-solve,” it really means “to solve again.” And isn’t that exactly what happens? You solve the same problem again and again, year after year?

You know what I’m talking about… That 20 pounds you lost last year, and promptly gained it right back… you are now resolving to take it off again aren’t you? The very nature of the word resolution implies gaining it back again.

Suggestion: don’t make resolutions. Set SMARTER goals.

Resolutions aren’t real goals. They’re more like wishes, and wishes are wishy-washy. A wish becomes a goal the moment you put it in writing. When you write your goals in a certain way, following scientific principles of success psychology, you’ll skyrocket your chances of getting what you want this year… and keeping it.

One of the most tried and true methods for goal achievement is the SMART goals formula. If you searched the net for SMART goals, you would probably find a dozen different variations on the SMART goal acronym. Here’s my version of SMART goals, along with a little extra to make them even SMART-ER.

1. Specific. Set goals with clarity. Your mind does not respond well to vague generalities. If you say your goal is to lose weight and then you lose one pound, then you’ve reached your goal. Is that what you really wanted? Get clear. Be precise. Be specific.

2. Measurable. Set goals that can be quantified in measurable units such as pounds, body fat percentage, lean body mass, inches and clothing sizes. Performance goals can include strength (lbs or kilos lifted) and repetitions completed. Don’t forget to include health goals as well, such as blood pressure and blood lipids.

3. Accountable. Set goals you can be held accountable to. First be accountable to yourself by using a weekly progress chart, a daily nutrition diary and a training journal. Then double your motivation with external accountability and submit your results and journals to someone else who will hold you to your commitments.

4. Realistic. Set goals that are attainable and maintainable. If you lose two pounds of fat per week, you are doing awesome. 30 pounds in 30 days sounds great in the advertisements, but it is not typical, and rapid weight loss is likely to consist of muscle and water, not fat, and is nearly impossible to maintain.

5. Time Bound. Set goals with deadlines. Time limits are highly motivating. With no time limit, there is no urgency for completion. Set goals for daily workouts and nutrition, weekly weight and body composition and 12 week changes in weight, body fat or measurements. Set long term goals as well for one year, five years and even beyond. For all time periods, be certain that your deadline is realistic.

Now we add some motivational ooompf for this year by making your goals even SMART-ER!

6. Emotional. Goals give you a direction, but strong emotions are the propulsion system that drives you in that direction. Build up a burning desire by focusing on the emotional reasons why you want to achieve your goal. Connect your goals to your values. What’s most important to you about reaching your goal? If you reach 9% body fat, or whatever is your target, what will that do for you? What will your life look like then? How will it make you FEEL?

7. Reviewed often. Resolutions fail because they are casually set once at the beginning of the year and easily forgotten. Stay laser-focused by writing and reading your goals every day. Repetition is one of the keys to re-programming your mental computer for success. Use the goal card technique. Write your single most important body or fitness goal on a small card, then carry it with you every where you go, reading it several times a day.

S.M.A.R.T.E.R. GOALS is a simple, memorable formula for goal setting and goal getting. It may not be new, but then again, there are no new fundamentals. Methods and tactics may change, but scientific principles of success never change. And don’t forget to make your goals even smarter this year. A goal that’s not strongly desired and kept in front of you every day will be forgotten. Stay focused, eat right, train hard and expect success!

“A goal that is casually set and lightly taken will be freely abandoned at the first obstacle.” – Zig Ziglar, Motivational Speaker

Your friend and coach,

Tom Venuto, author of

Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle

PS. Remember, goal setting is just the start. Goal ACHIEVING requires a nutrition and training plan. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is the most comprehensive fat loss program of its kind because it teaches you every element necessary to succeed: nutrition, cardio training, weight training and “mental training” (goal setting and mindset).

Learn more about the Burn The Fat program HERE

Learn more about our Burn The Fat Inner Circle community HERE

About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting his Burn the Fat site.

That’s why the passing of another decade can feel like a wake up call as much as a fresh start: Looking at the technological wonders that surround us in 2010, I can’t help thinking it feels like science fiction.

In fact, modern technology is one of the reasons why some people have succeeded at body transformation while others have failed.

I’m still in awe of the web. The satellite navigation system in my car amazes me every time I drive. I can store a library of books in a device that fits in my pocket. It blows my mind that we can speak to each other face to face through the internet live on video. That’s straight from Star Trek! And those are just the everyday little things.

The cover story of the January 2010 National Geographic magazine is titled, “Merging Man and Machine” – it’s about bionic limbs. Richard Branson’s company, Virgin Galactic just unveiled spaceship two and is preparing to launch civilians into sub orbital space flights.

It’s the greatest time to be alive in all of human history! Unfortunately, today’s modern conveniences have brought a dark side upon us.

Rising obesity has paralleled the march of technology. The chair-bound, desk-job, computer, car, elevator, television based society of today is helping to make millions of people fat and lazy.

Our current way of life is less than a century old, yet our biology hasn’t changed in tens of thousands of years. Our bodies were designed to move and work, not sit and click.

We’ve become spoiled. Complacent. Dependent. And we are paying a price for it. We are fatter than ever before in all of human history. More than two thirds of Americans are now overweight. One third are obese.

People are dying because they‘re too fat.

Ironically, none of our new technology can solve our body fat problems. There’s no easy way. No pill. No machine. No drug. More knowledge isn’t going to help. We already have most of the answers. We know more about the human body than ever before. But it’s all academic.

The problem lies in the doing. You have to do the work – in the gym and in the kitchen. Hard work.

We are a quick fix society. It’s partly human nature, but technology is making us more impatient. We can have products delivered to us with one click and even do it from our cell phones. We have instant downloads, movies on demand, and drive through coffee shops. We get our food made and delivered in just minutes while we are sitting in our cars, and it’s still not quick enough. The internet is blazingly fast, but most people will abandon a web page in seconds if it hasn’t loaded. It’s no different with fat loss. We want six pack abs yesterday.

Simultaneously fighting the pull of human nature and the convenience of new technology is no easy task. But there is a solution: Future Orientation.

The most successful people in the world today are those who have a long term perspective. They plan 5-10 years in advance and beyond. They know how to enjoy and live in the present moment, but they take action and make decisions based on their future vision.

The passing of another decade makes you take stock of yourself and your achievements, or lack thereof. “What did I accomplish in the last 10 years? Am I a better person today than I was in 2000?”

If you don’t like the answers, then it’s time to finally get serious about your future because the next 10 years are going to fly by even faster than the last 10 as the pace of life and society gets even faster.

To succeed in the new decade, think beyond new year’s resolutions. Think beyond the 12 week fitness goal. As you write your goals this year, don’t stop with 3 month or even 1 year goals.

Project yourself into the future: 3, 5 and 10 years from now. For each point, dream, fantasize, visualize: if your body, your health your physical performance were perfect in every way, what would that look like? Describe it in vivid detail.

With our ingrained penchant for quick fixes, we often overestimate what we can achieve in the short term and set unrealistic deadlines on our short term goals. But the flipside is that we often underestimate what we can achieve in the long term, so we set our long term goals too low. Do you realize that people have gone from broke to billionaire in 10 years? In this internet age, some have done it even faster.

My challenge for you this year is to start thinking about your body and your life with the same type of creativity that has led to our greatest technological advances:

Not the same thoughts as yesterday. Not just positive thoughts. just bigger thoughts. NEW THOUGHTS! Creative thoughts! Inventive thoughts! From new thoughts will spring new goals, new actions and new achievements.

Fitness goals should not take over your life, they should enhance every other part of it. So take this opportunity to achieve balance by setting long term goals for every area of your life – health, fitness, finances, career, relationships, experiences, travel, possessions and spiritual growth.

Most people didn’t set any goals 10 years ago. They’re among the masses who are in the same place today as they were a decade ago.

Some people only set short term goals, so they accomplished a few little things, but then stopped, as if a goal were a final destination rather than a stepping stone along a path. Other people set goals but didn’t follow through on them. They forgot that goal setting and goal achieving are two different things.

Don’t fall into these traps.

If you need coaching in the goal setting process – from the daily and weekly baby steps to the long term goals and dreams that span a decade – read chapter one of Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle. If you already have it. Now is the time to revisit it.

If you don’t own a copy yet, you can get your own copy of the program HERE

Most people make resolutions. Some people set well-formed goals. But long term goals are the goals that almost everyone forgets to set.

If you didn’t do this exercise 10 years ago, do it now. If you do, I guarantee that in 2013, 2015, 2020, you’ll not only find yourself living at a whole new level, you’ll find yourself living in another world – one of your own creation.

Happy New Year!

Tom Venuto, author of

Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle

PS. Remember, goal setting is just the start. Goal ACHIEVING requires a nutrition and training plan. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is the most comprehensive fat loss program of its kind because it teaches you every element necessary to succeed: nutrition, cardio training, weight training and “mental training” (goal setting and mindset).

Learn more about the Burn The Fat program HERE

Learn more about our Burn The Fat Inner Circle community HERE

About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting his Burn the Fat site.

Body Building Revealed by Will Brink is a new and comprehensive program on how to build muscle and get lean. At the heart of the BBR system is the e-book of over 600 pages of quality information that forms a powerful bodybuilding system. There are also a number of bonuses and access to the members area.

The author, Will Brink, is a genuine sports nutrition and supplementation expert, with all the credentials to prove it. His clients as a trainer include an impressive list of top name athletes as well as SWAT and Navy Seal special operation teams. To read more on Will Brink and the BBR system click here: Bodybuilding Revealed Review

The fact is that anyone who’s been working out for any length of time knows that your efforts in the gym will largely go unrewarded if you don’t eat and train correctly.Many experts say that if you’re trying to build lean muscle as much as 80% of your end results are down to correct nutrition and rest – NOT training!

Will explains in depth how to train, which supplements to use and which to avoid, how to do your cardio to retain lean mass, whilst still losing body fat, and pretty much everything else you could ever need to know to gain muscle. He also teaches you how to put together your own muscle building diet as the pro’s do.

All this information comes with an invitation to join Will’s inner circle which includes free personal coaching. You will also get a boatload of diet planning tools and a whole lot more. It’s really wonderful stuff. To read more on Will Brink and the BBR system click here: BBR Review.

It is easy to praise such a great guide to bodybuilding but if there is anything wrong with it, it is the enormous amount of information within the monster 630 pages which can seem daunting – just as well it comes with a great glossary and index. I can’t recommend it enough.

Click here for more information on Muscle Building Programs.

It will help you to get more from your gym workouts, strengthening your muscles and burning fat.

CLICK HERE for your free report

Expensive wellness programs, diet pills and gym membership are not necessary conditions associated with quick weight loss patterns. Other than a good diet modification that would involve the reduction of caloric foods, establishing a quick weight loss exercise pattern will work wonders.

Much of the average middle age population spends a majority of their time in non-aerobic activity that is unhealthy to the heart and circulatory system, but also contributes to problems with obesity. Because of a very busy lifestyle there is little time left for activities that would burn down fat, therefore you have to be inventive and come up with something adequate. Some quick weight loss exercise moves when included in a daily program will help one develop a good physical shape.

One of the most important places to begin when starting a quick weight loss exercise program is the night before. Ensure you are getting enough sleep each night. An effective program will not function to your benefit if you are too tired to accomplish your quick weight loss exercise plan. Start by going to bed early enough, so that the first day you are well rested and physically prepared to begin your program.

Write down the details of the quick weight loss exercise routine indicate the amount of time for every exercise and the specific efficiency. Analyze weekly activity and try to increase the practice time for each individual quick weight loss exercise. For example, in the first week, you may wish to take a brisk 15 minute walk every day, in the second week increase this to 20 minutes and so on until you reach a climax that you are comfortable with.

Effective quick weight loss exercises include brisk walks (make sure to swing your arms as you walk, it helps burn extra calories), running and jumping jacks. If you have the space, outdoor activities such as handball or basketball are also excellent quick weight loss exercise solutions that will get burn more fat at an increased heart rate. If you are embarrassed to work out in public, you can run up the stairs in your house several times, this is an excellent cardio-exercise that will quickly burn calories.

In addition to your quick weight loss exercise program, you must make sure you are modifying your diet. Hunger is usually more intense after working out, and you have to find a way to keep your distance from high-caloric foods. On such cases, stick to vegetables and fruits instead of going for the much longed for carbs.

If you’ve watched the show, Bill and Jim Germanakos are the Twins who lost over 160 pounds each in just 8 months (over 20 pounds a month). Bill won the grand prize, but what I think is most amazing is that Jim got eliminated from the show in Week 5 after losing 53 pounds, went back home to his job as a police officer, and ended up losing another 133 pounds on his own at home!

My friend Ron Douglas was at his house last weekend and he told me that during that time he even LOST 8 pounds while on vacation on a cruise ship.

That is truly remarkable and just goes to show what you can do when you put your mind to it and get a little motivation.

Speaking of motivation and cruise ships, here’s the deal… Bill and Jim are having a 60 day weight loss challenge starting this month.

Sign Up Here.

They will be taking a group of people by the hand and teaching them the behind the scenes secrets they learned as they were losing up to 10 pounds per week. You will get all the resources and education they have, plus you’ll get their step by step 4-week blueprint for permanent fat loss. They call it their trademark Rapid Action Metabolism (RAM)System.

Everyone will be a winner in this contest, but the grand prize will be a Caribbean Cruise vacation with Bill and Jim. Plus, there are some additional great prizes which I will reveal in my next post.

Sign Up Here.

And, on top of that, being that I’m involved with the partners on this project – as a valued subscriber of mine you will get a special discount and early access to this program before it’s even released.

If you want to finally get motivated and take control of your health, look out for the next email from me (over the weekend) which will have the special VIP link with all the details.

Sign Up Here.

–Bill

When people are depressed, they often overeat and gain weight. Eating temporarily makes them feel better, but they often feel worse shortly thereafter, and end up eating even more, which just starts the cycle over again.

People who are stressed, like those who are depressed, often overeat. I’ve experienced that first hand, gaining over 30 pounds in a couple of years during a series of major family and career disasters. Even after the stress is gone, the pounds are still there, and so are the bad habits you picked up when times were tough.

Social pressures can cause you to overeat too. From the favorite aunt who claims you don’t love her if you won’t have another slice of pie, to the subtle and not-so-subtle pressure from overweight friends to be more like them, to the impossible standards for acceptable appearance projected by the media, we’re surrounded by social signals that encourage us to overeat.

Fortunately, it is possible to break out of all of these emotional traps and set the stage for a healthier, slimmer future. In their new guide, titled “TruthAboutDiets.com – The Rapid Action Metabolism (RAM) Fat Loss System, Bill and Jim describe how they did it, and show you how you can do it too.

Let the “WeightLoss Twins” and their Rapid Action Metabolism System help you finally lose weight for good. Get the full story at http://the-truth-about-diets.info.

Proper diet and nutrition. You’ll need to change the way you eat to succeed. But we’re not talking about some kind of unpleasant, temporary way of eating that you’ll abandon as soon as you hit your weight loss goals. We’re talking about switching to healthy, tasty foods that crank up your metabolism while they satisfy your appetite.

Exercise and Strength Training. Yes, you will need to get more exercise. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to have to be spending all your free time in the gym, heaving around large weights and grunting. While you’re going to have to add some structured exercise sessions to your life, the plan will also show you how much you can benefit from adding simple lifestyle activities to your daily routine.

Behavior modification. There are patterns and relationships in your life that have contributed to the bad shape you’re in today. To ensure that the lifestyle changes you make are permanent, the System shows you how to change these patterns and relationships.

Support and attitude. If you’re going to be successful at making lasting changes in your life, you need to be psychologically ready to change. You need the right attitude. You also need a support system in place to help you get back on track after the inevitable feelings of doubt and deviations from the system.

Let the “Weightloss Twins” and their Rapid Action Metabolism System help you finally lose weight for good. Get the full story at http://the-truth-about-diets.info.

Their new system is called “The Truth About Diets,” and is jammed with secret tips, advice, menus, motivational information, and everything else you need to know to take off the pounds and keep them off permanently. All you need to supply is the motivation to follow in the footsteps of these fine gentlemen.

To give you a taste of what their system offers, and get you off to a quick start losing weight, Bill & Jim have posted some inspiring videos, and are giving away copies of the 2-week fat burning diet plan they themselves have used to lose up to 10 pounds in a single week. Inside the diet plan you’ll find:

• 3 simple dietary changes that will cause you to burn fat fast
• 5 great lunch recipes you can enjoy without feeling guilty about what you ate
• Dinner recipes that are not only quick to prepare, but rev up your metabolism at the same time

Between their success on the show and their actions since then, Bill and Jim Germanakos have already inspired thousands of people to lose weight and keep it off. Let them do the same for you.

Let the “Weight Loss Twins” inspire you to lose weight and get fit at last. Watch the videos and get your free copy of their 2-Week Fat Burning Diet Plan. Visit http://the-truth-about-diets.info now and transform your life.

Their new system is called “The Truth About Diets,” and is jammed with secret tips, advice, menus, motivational information, and everything else you need to know to take off the pounds and keep them off permanently. All you need to supply is the motivation to follow in the footsteps of these fine gentlemen.

To give you a taste of what their system offers, and get you off to a quick start losing weight, Bill & Jim have posted some inspiring videos, and are giving away copies of the 2-week fat burning diet plan they themselves have used to lose up to 10 pounds in a single week. Inside the diet plan you’ll find:

• 3 simple dietary changes that will cause you to burn fat fast
• 5 great lunch recipes you can enjoy without feeling guilty about what you ate
• Dinner recipes that are not only quick to prepare, but rev up your metabolism at the same time

Between their success on the show and their actions since then, Bill and Jim Germanakos have already inspired thousands of people to lose weight and keep it off. Let them do the same for you.

Let the “Weight Loss Twins” inspire you to lose weight and get fit at last. Watch the videos and get your free copy of their 2-Week Fat Burning Diet Plan. Visit http://the-truth-about-diets.info now and transform your life.