What gets you out of bed in the morning?

I remember it clearly.

It was the first day of my new life. My new work.

Work as a personal trainer and coach.

I could barely sleep. I was too excited. But I had no problem getting up at 5 a.m. when my alarm went off.

Of course, this doesn't last forever. No one gets up every single day like this, no matter how much they love their job, their passion etc.

But it makes me think of an important idea.

This idea about being excited. What motivates you to change your life?

I'm sure it's not seeing pics of models on the cover of men's health. Or some big gym sending you a flyer saying "get fit, get healthy!"..

But what will get you to change? What is the catalyst that can drive this difficult transition?

It's not for me or anyone else to know. No one can tell you what will drive you to get up at 5 a.m. and go train, when all you want to do is sleep another hour in a nice warm, cozy bed.

Only you can find that reason that will propel you when you get home from work and you are exhausted and stressed and hungry and just want to lay on the couch and watch sports center.

But what will it be? Is it to be healthy for your kids? And then grandkids? Is it to get lean so next summer you aren't embarrassed to take your shirt off? Maybe it's to prove to someone that you can do it.

The more the reason can resonate with you, the better the chance you will stick with it when things get tough. And they will.

Everyone can start and go a few weeks/months.

This can be tough enough and part of the barrier to being consistent with fitness is the fear of failure. That you will give up eventually. Go back to your old ways. Your will-power will run out of gas.

But if you have a powerful reason, that comes from deep within yourself, you will have much much better odds of sticking to it.

So if you don't know your reason yet or have lost your way, do some soul-searching. See what resonates with you. It may be totally different from the last time you committed to a fitness regimen.

If you're 45 years old and working long hours in a white-collar job, you're motives will be different than when you played high school baseball and wanted to be a better athlete, stronger and look muscular for the chicks. (maybe the last part is still the same)

This exercise of looking within to find what drives you to change into a better version of yourself, is so crucial. It's easy to overlook it. Many do.

Don't be one of them who think they can just will themselves into the gym when they sign up for a year at a big commercial gym. Thinking that because they pay $30 a month that they will automatically go and results will come.

Find what compels you, what drives you. And make this your best month ever.

Brisket Burger

I had the most amazing beef brisket burger today. Just wanted to share that.

How do you fit those types of meals into your eating plan?

One way is to count your macros/calories. If you want to lose fat you eat less than your body needs per day. (or over the course of a week)

The other way is to eat "clean" most days of the week and to have a meal or two one day a week where you go off the normal diet plan.

Either way works. Any diet can work.

For how long?  And will you have a big rebound?

Here's a big concern that no one really thinks about. Ok, you lose 20 lbs. in 6 weeks. Then what? What does your diet become after that? Can you sustain it?

Or do you go right back to where you were before ?

Diet and training are simple yet complex at the same time.

The human body is an adaptive machine. Our body doesn't want to be super lean. It wants to survive, which means having more fat stored up.

We have to constantly work with our body and understand it. The best diet is the one you can stick with and adapt as you go. As you change, as you age,  go through different transitions, transformations, have new goals etc..

The best thing you can do for yourself is to learn to listen to your body.. Pay attention. Write down what you experience. Take notes on what foods make you feel bloated, what foods give you great energy, what drinks give you a headache etc..

What I want to say is this - have that brisket burger. Enjoy it. And don't worry about it. When the meal is over, that's it. It's over. No guilt. No starving yourself for a half a day. Have a plan, stick to it 80-90% of the time depending on your goals. If you want more fat loss then go more towards 90% but you can still enjoy that apple pie or burger or whatever treat you want.

Don't stress about it. Just eat the damn burger already.