This highlights a harsh reality: losing weight is challenging, but keeping it off can be even harder. Weight regain is common due to a complex interplay of factors. These include biological changes that slow metabolism after weight loss, the challenge of maintaining new habits long-term, life events that disrupt routines, and unrealistic expectations about the weight loss and maintenance process. 

But the common struggle of weight regain can also be your path to lasting change. 

Jonathan’s Story: A Second Chance at Sustainable Weight Loss

Enter Jonathan. 

We take great pride in leaving our clients better than we found them, including more effective habits, routines, workouts, and diets. And, on the surface, that seemed to be the case with Jonathan. He worked with us, lost nearly 20 pounds, and then graduated to a healthier life.

Or, so we thought. 

In January of 2022, Jonathan returned. That weight he lost had come back. Jonathan was frustrated, and we were hurt because we didn’t complete the job.

“I came back to Born Fitness a second time around after having a lot of success with the team in 2020, losing 15 to 20 lbs and then gaining that back over the course of about a year and half. I had really started to believe this narrative that I had failed, that I couldn’t get back to where I was, and that I had lost the ability to take control of my physical health and appearance.”

Everything in our approach is designed to help people build the skills that allow them to adapt to variations in life. It’s not enough for us to help our clients get results — we want everyone to keep their results and know how to react and thrive when everything isn’t perfect or easy.

So, for round two, we focused more on helping Jonathan be where he wanted but without the weight coming back. 

Focusing on Sustainability in Weight Loss. 

This time, we keyed in not just on what was working for him but what was sustainable. It’s the backbone of our approach, but — sometimes, when you’re seeing results — it’s easy to stop and question if the right habits are being built. It helps you ask, “Are we building this for weight loss, or are we building this for real life?” 

Or, more importantly, it helps to speak with clients to understand “What do you think it will take for you to be healthy now and in the future?”

Jonathan had all the tools, but he started to doubt that he could do it again. His perspective might feel familiar to some of you:

“A lot of my fears and lack of confidence stemmed from unrealistic expectations about what will and won’t work for transforming my body and meeting my goals. 

Eventually, I got tired and as I put weight back on, I started to stop trusting my knowledge of what would work for me. In fact, I was expecting this time around to have to make even bigger changes and adjustments to hit my goals after putting that weight back on.”

You’re taught to believe that great results are the byproduct of extreme sacrifices and behaviors. While the most extreme results (think becoming a professional athlete or competing in a bodybuilding competition) require more sacrifice, the incredible results most people desire don’t require drastic changes.

The Power of Mindset Shift in Weight Loss. 

As Jonathan discovered the second time around, a simple mindset shift can unlock incredible results and life-changing healthy behaviors: 

“I’ve come to embrace the fact that making progress was really more about:

1. Going back to the basics
2. Making several small (but key) changes in my diet
3. Being willing to experiment with things that worked for me (so they would stick!)
4. Giving things proper time to see results (to include the inevitable ups and downs)”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Jonathan. 

Your Journey to Sustainable Weight Loss Starts Here. 

If you want help shifting your mindset and finding the type of changes that deliver results and work with your lifestyle, we’d love to help. Apply to our online coaching program here. 

BJ Ward

B.J. holds a B.S. in Health and Human Performance and multiple certifications, including Precision Nutrition Level 1 and BioForce Certified Conditioning Coach. Over his 14-year coaching career, he’s been fortunate enough to coach a wide range of clients. From online clients looking to get in great shape to CEO Nate Checketts (Rhone) and CEO Marcelo Claure (Softbank), and professional skateboarder Sean Malto. Before beginning his training career, he was a sports science lab research assistant.

The post What Happens When You Gain It All Back? appeared first on Born Fitness.

“I never believed I was average, and that alone is a big reason I wasn’t.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger

Perspective influences outcomes. The idea that your mindset plays an important role in your future reality is maybe one of the most underrated elements of human change.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the ultimate example of someone who built a vision for what he wanted to achieve, created opportunities, and surpassed expectations throughout his life.

While it’s easier said than done, success leaves clues. Specifically, the way Arnold approaches situations, obstacles, and challenges is a masterclass in mental preparation, visualization, maximum effort, and mastery.

“No matter what, I had to prove to myself that I’m extraordinary. There is no normal,”  Schwarzenegger told me during an exclusive interview.

The mind is a powerful thing, and Schwarzenegger has leveraged an unbreakable mindset to seemingly create a competitive advantage over the universe. As someone who started with nothing when he immigrated from Austria to the United States, his belief in himself and his hard work has made the world apparently bend to his will — and not the other way around.

What allowed a former Mr. Universe and Olympia to then become a Hollywood movie star and, ultimately, also become the Governor of California?

It wasn’t a motivational talk or a secret shortcut. It was a mindset that has powered everything Arnold has done.

“Always think of yourself as special. And think, ‘I’m going to prove to myself and the rest of the world that I can do it.’”

Even at 72 years old, the Austrian bodybuilder-turned actor-turned governor-turned activist continues to believe there’s more to accomplish — and it’s likely the main reason he continues to break the rules of aging and add more achievements to his resume.

If you’re looking to change your mindset, and learn how to make a vision a reality, here are 8 motivational lessons from Arnold Schwarzenegger on building mental toughness, eliminating the fear of failure, and developing unbreakable habits.

Lesson 1: Remove Your Excuses

“There’s an advantage of doing things automatically,” says Schwarzenegger. “I have a routine where you don’t have to think much — if at all. [Routines] are the foundation of a house.”

Schwarzenegger has built his life on habits and routines that have made him a creature of habit and efficiency.

Whether it’s his workouts he used to win Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe — delts and arms one day, chest and back and calves another day, abs every day, and an extra 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise at night — or checking email and catching up on news, Arnold has built-in expectations for his day.

“Add as many of those routine things as possible because you do them without ever thinking about them. This is your daily schedule. Like breathing.”

While this isn’t earth-shattering, his mindset towards creating habits isn’t what you’d expect. 

Whereas you might consider it difficult to build certain habits, that’s where Arnold believes most people go wrong. You can’t label something as “difficult.”

If you think about change as challenging, it’s the first step towards making it harder to adopt change.

“People should realize that I don’t have sympathy for ‘difficult.’ There are a lot of things in life that are difficult,” adds Schwarzenegger. 

“If you want to build routines, you need to change your expectations. Are you going to back off every time something is difficult?”

“Or, are you going to be the person who looks at something that is difficult — or the most difficult — and say, ‘I’m going to go and do it and prove it to myself.’ That’s how you build habits.”

“Don’t ask should or shouldn’t I? You just do it.” 

Lesson 2: Create Energy By Saving Energy

It’s easy to think of a routine as a way to be more efficient with your days. But, for Arnold, it’s so much more than that. 

Routines are designed to require less mental energy and focus so you can have more energy to give to the non-routine aspects of your day. This is why making certain daily experiences is so important. If you’re going to have the energy to tackle the new challenges, you can’t be drained by everyday expectations.

To help you understand the importance of automated experiences, Arnold shared his experiences in politics as Governor of California. 

“When I was Governor, I had fixed funds on what you could spend on certain programs like education. It’s a fixed expenditure. Same for healthcare and prisons.”

“I had something like only 8 percent of discretionary funds. There’s very little wiggle room. But, knowing what is automatic and knowing what is not help you focus,” says Arnold.

Arnold recommends creating as many fixed moments in your day as possible. Then, you have fewer times where you’ll need to dig deep, be creative, and come up with custom solutions. This is good because then you’ll have more energy to dedicate, which means you’ll be more likely to succeed.

Less variation means more focus. The more you can focus on fewer things, the more likely you’re able to create a bigger impact. 

Lesson 3: Add Value With Effort

I asked Arnold about something most people don’t know about him, and he shared his love of art and painting. But, that’s not what stood out to me (even though I was impressed by his painting). It was how he thinks of his time spent creating art for others. 

“Today, it’s easy to go to a store and buy a gift or go to the flower shop and get flowers. You used to go out and pick flowers and put them in a vase. It’s all flowers. But, my mother was in heaven that we made an effort to go out and make the gift.”

Arnold understands that output isn’t the only measure of success. Your effort is one of the most important parts of the equation. 

“You must try to make an effort in everything you do, especially things for others. When you find pottery and paint on that, they know you spent hours on that. It makes a difference. It takes effort and people really like that.”

If you’re working on something, it’s easy to think about finishing the job. It’s something else to think about how you can take a task and put in more effort in a way that makes the final outcome something better or more meaningful, and in turn, that task has a positive impact on your own life.

Lesson 4: Success Follows the Unconventional

According to Arnold, more than 50 years ago, no one worked out in the morning. Gyms didn’t open until 10 am, so the entire structure of the day was based on rules that, as it turns out, didn’t exist for a good reason.

Arnold explained that people used to believe you were weaker in the morning. It wasn’t until he lived with his idol, Reg Park, when he finally decided to break the rules. 

Reg forced him to train early in the morning. Arnold recalls squatting 500 pounds at 5:30 am, and how it changed everything for him. 

The shift helped him remove limiting beliefs about his body. This, in turn, helped him understand that most limitations are self-conceived.

“If you think you can’t do something, you won’t,” says Arnold. “It’s a mindset that starts with ‘don’t be afraid.'”

“If you try to do something different, you might be surprised how much what you thought was a limitation wasn’t real.”

Lesson 5: Turn Visualization into Realization

Arnold opened up about one of the scariest moments of his life:

“Arnold, you’ve been asleep 16 hours. Something went wrong with this non-invasive procedure…you had internal bleeding, and in order to have you not die, we had to open you up.”

In the most powerful moment of our discussion, Arnold shared how his “routine” heart surgery took an unexpected turn and he was faced with a difficult comeback prior to playing The Terminator (once again) in Terminator: Dark Fate.

You might wonder how Arnold responded to such overwhelming news, and his immediate wasn’t what you might think.

“I wake up, I see what’s happening, I’m hearing the doctors, and I’ll I can think is, ‘Wait a minute, in three-and-a-half months, I’m supposed to be in Budapest to shoot Terminator 6. But, they are saying it takes 6 months to recover.’”

While it might seem like Arnold wasn’t thinking about the big picture and overall health, it was — in fact — the opposite. He was visualizing where he needed to be as a way to return to health.

“I always look for motivation. If you have no motivation, then it’s hard to get going under those circumstances. You’re down and you have a major setback. And the vision is what can bring you back.”

“If you have no goal, you have nothing. You have to know where to go. You need a vision.”

Lesson 6: Focus on Small Wins (They Add Up)

Once you have your vision, then you need to put in the reps. This is exactly what Arnold, whom many consider the greatest bodybuilder of all-time, had to do in order to recover from his heart surgery. 

“I asked the doctors, ‘When can I get up?’ And the doctor says 3 to 4 days. People don’t die from the procedure; they die from pneumonia and lungs filling with fluid,” recalls Arnold.

“I’m going to be up tomorrow and I’m going to be walking. Get me a walker. And that’s what I did. I went for walks, would lie back down, rest, and then get back up for another walk. I was a fanatic. I built up to 2-hour walks. Then, I traded the walker for a cane.”

Instead of focusing on the end goal, Arnold focused on mini-milestones. Get out of bed. Use the walker. Go down the hall. Go for an hour. Ditch the walker for a cane. Believe in yourself.

The micro-goals were all steps on the way to recovery. And, it worked…just like it has throughout his life.

Within 6 days Arnold was out of the hospital. Just 3 weeks later he was working out with light weights. And, as he promised, three-and-a-half months later, he was on set for Terminator 6. Ready to work like hell.

“The director said, ‘I can’t believe you had open-heart surgery three-and-a-half months ago,’” says Schwarzenegger.

“We all have setbacks, but, if you have a very clear vision and a clear goal, then you put in the reps, you can come back.” 

Lesson 7: Find Your “On Switch”

Despite his success, Arnold isn’t immune to having down moments or aging. But, it’s his ability to adapt and be self-aware that allows him to keep on thriving.

“When I hit 50, I realized I was not able to come back as quickly at 2 am for filming after 2 hours of sleep. So I said, ‘I will never sleep again at night when I’m filming.’ But, I needed something to give me a spark.”

That spark was chess.

“The more chess I played, the more alert I was and able to come to the set fully charged because my mind was ready from all the chess. I remembered the lines 100% and the physical work felt 100%.”

“You have to figure out what it takes to be on. When you have a setback or feel sluggish or mentally tired, you must find a way to recharge.”

Lesson 8: Eliminate Distractions

In the 1970s, Arnold found himself overwhelmed with his bodybuilding career, acting, buying real estate, and building construction. 

“A lot of things came together at once. I was overloaded,” recalls Schwarzenegger.

At that point, Arnold turned to meditation, something he has discussed in the past. For a year, he would meditate 20 minutes in the morning and another 20 minutes at night. Whereas many might find meditation beneficial for its ability to calm and destress, Arnold found another invaluable benefit that continues to help him today.

“[After meditating] all of a sudden, I could focus on one thing. I could do real estate and not be thinking about bodybuilding When training, I wasn’t thinking about acting. I got really focused and learned how to focus, and it made me better at everything I did.”

“Knowing how to focus on one thing at a time has made me better at everything I did.”

Build Arnold-Like Confidence

Arnold’s mindset is built on something we can all possess: confidence. 

That starts by removing your fear of failure.  And visualizing what you can become and not what might go wrong.

Arnold’s confidence allowed him to take chances and push himself to heights no one could’ve ever imagined — except maybe himself.

And, that’s the secret. If you believe something will happen, block out the distraction, prove the naysayers wrong, and focus on habits that will allow you to tackle your big goals – then anything is possible. But, it all starts with your belief. 

“Prove to [the world] that there are extraordinary things that can happen because that’s when they can.”

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post 8 Lessons From Arnold Schwarzenegger For Personal Success appeared first on Born Fitness.

“I’m going to drop 50 pounds.”

“I’m going to run a half-marathon.”

You’re not gonna get anywhere if you’re not lifting something. You need to do it. If you want to change your body, pick up something heavy.

“I’m going to get my high school body back.”

These are common goals – common enough that reading them here surprises no one – but what do they really represent? Change? Yes. But random change.

Maybe you could even call it shotgun change, in that your goal is scattered and unfocused. Maybe you hit it, and even if you do, what does it mean?

Think of it this way: losing 50 pounds is a nice accomplishment. Few people do it. But why not 54 pounds? 48? And that half-marathon. Hey, not many people can run 13 miles. It’s awesome if you can do it … but then what? Are you now considered “fit?” By whose standard?

You start to see the problem. When we toss around fitness goals, they – like muscles hidden by flab — lack true definition. That’s what Kristen Buter found out the hard way. Great intentions don’t mean great results.

Buter found herself in the same situation millions of new moms find themselves – saddled with bundles of joy and a body that’s beaten up from carrying those bundles around and finally pushing them out. Buter has two children. They bring her incredible joy, but also posed new challenges.

“I used to be very physically active before them,” she says. “And I had two very rough pregnancies. When they’re little, life is just crazy. You take a back seat and that first year it’s so hard to get back to a normal life.”

How to Lose Baby Weight (Or Achieve Any Weight Loss Goals)

A few years ago, Buter and her husband found themselves talking just after Christmas. They realized on that holiday break that the kids had been well-behaved and more self-sufficient. And the proverbial lightbulb went off.

“I don’t do the New Year’s resolution thing,” she says. “But we were talking about things we wanted to do in the coming year. I thought,

I thought, You know what, you’ve had such a great week with the kids and they’re so much older now. There’s no point going another year where you feel uncomfortable in your own skin. So I decided this would be ‘the year of Kristen’ where I’d get back to the old me.”

She didn’t know it, but Buter had just stepped in a fitness trap. “Get back to the old me” sounds so tempting, so empowering, so promising. But without a defined plan – a clear definition of what “fitness” meant to her – she had no clear path. And she soon realized it.

“I started doing what I used to do and wasn’t getting the results I got before,” she says. That’s when she sought out help. She found trainer Adam Bornstein from his online writing and then his Twitter account. Even though he was based in L.A., thousands of miles from her native Ontario, she signed on. Bornstein’s first question: What do you want to accomplish?

It’s not an easy question when you are forced to really think about it. Buter had to admit that she really wasn’t interested in dropping a brag-worthy amount of weight or run a half-marathon.

Once she thought about it, she realized she didn’t really know what “fitness” meant to her. Here’s what she discovered: “It’s not so much about weight. It’s about how I look and feel.” That meant focusing on how to lose baby weight, but not hitting a random number goal or athletic accomplishment. It meant total body transformation.

Weight Loss 101: Long-term Weight Loss is Not Starvation

Bornstein adjusted her exercise and eating plan. The biggest shock – and something she still can’t believe – is the counterintuitive act of eating more food to get leaner.

“When I compared what I had been eating to what I should be eating, the difference was huge. Even now, I’m eating more than I ever have before, and I’m smaller, leaner, and tighter than I’ve ever been.”

The glitch? People sometimes forget – or never know – that when you work out, you have to eat to see results. You also have to eat the right things – a balance of protein, carbs, and fats – so a bag of chips doesn’t qualify as “more.” “It changes your mindset,” she says.

“For the last 10 years, I’ve been eating pretty healthy. But I never ate based on whether I’m training or not training. I never thought about the food and how it might affect my workout later. You’re eating to enjoy it, but also for a reason. What is your fuel for?”

This: She works out 4 times a week for about 45-60 minutes because that’s what works for her schedule. But when her schedule changed, it was a shift to 30-minute sessions. The length isn’t what’s important, but the flexibility.

It’s a foundational principle of her Born Fitness coaching program: build a program that meets a client where they are, not sets the bar to something impossible. After all, consistency is one of the highest predictors of body transformation success, so it makes no sense to create workouts that are too long for your schedule or require you to go to the gym more often than you can handle.

Her workouts are split into roughly half resistance training and half metabolic training. This was also new to Buter and helped crystallize what fitness meant to her. Within two weeks she saw and felt results.

She hadn’t lost any weight – which would be a sign of failure to some – but her body was transforming almost before her eyes. “During that first two weeks, I saw a couple inches go and I was amazed,” she said. “I had been working out before and hadn’t seen anything change. To see something fall off that quickly was huge.”

Beyond The Scale: Understanding Weight Loss and Transformation

Buter was experiencing something that few women do because few women engage in heavy resistance and metabolic training. Her body was burning fat like crazy, but it was also adding muscle. Her weight didn’t fluctuate very much, but her body fat percentage was dropping and she began to see muscle definition.

After a little over three months, “bingo-bango, mom’s got a six pack.”

Buter has dropped only nine pounds since starting her new plan, but she’s lost 15 inches of fat and dropped her body fat percentage from 25 to 19 percent. Next stop: 16 percent.

“Right now I’m in my best shape ever,” she says. “More energy, way more self-confidence, better sleep. And when you sleep better you’re in a better mood.”

Buter recommends this style of training for women who want to transform their bodies. But she’s also heard the myth that women are afraid to lift weights because they’ll bulk up. Ladies: it simply won’t happen (for the record, you would have to consume a lot of food – like a bodybuilder or football player – to bulk up from resistance training).

Buter puts it simply: “You’re not gonna get anywhere if you’re not lifting something. You need to do it. If you want to change your body, pick up something heavy.”

Because of all this, Buter is now a rare species: A woman who loves to do the dead lift. That’s not to say she doesn’t have a least-favorite exercise, as well. “Bulgarian split squats,” she says with a laugh. “Though my ass doesn’t hate them as much as I do.”

Is Born Fitness Coaching For You?

The program is not for everyone. To see if a one-on-one approach to health and fitness is what you’re looking for, learn more here. 

The post Mom’s Got Abs: A Practical Look at How to Lose Baby Weight appeared first on Born Fitness.

Mary Beth Eckersley’s story has so many entry points, so many rollercoaster-in-the-dark ups and downs, that it’s hard to decide. But it’s harder still to distill an entire life into “entry points.”

That’s what you come to understand after hearing her story and learning about her total life transformation.

Losing weight is a side benefit. Fitness and diet are all about making the attempt and taking the best possible step forward.

A life is epic. A life has meaning. Mary Beth Eckersley’s life – even just the past 10 years of it – is worthy of examination. Why? Because she’s one of the most inspiring people you’ll ever meet…

Your Past is Not Your Future

Ten years ago, Mary Beth Eckersley weighed 400 pounds.

Okay, technically it was 395, but coming in 5 pounds light doesn’t have quite the same psychological effect as, say, pricing a vacuum cleaner at $395 so you don’t feel like you’re paying $400. At that level of obesity, your heart, liver, and pancreas won’t give you credit for five pounds. For Eckersley’s part, she puts it dryly: “I was exceptionally large.”

She had all the baggage that goes with that kind of weight: Lousy diet, no fitness, low self-esteem, the works. At her age – then 45 – she knew that when it came to her long-term health, it was quite literally do-or-die time. She made some changes and she dropped 100 pounds.

Wow. Huge, right? That’s like losing a set of Michelins. That’s worth celebrating. And yet … Eckersley didn’t feel as triumphant as she thought she would.

For one thing, she’d plateaued and couldn’t seem to drop any more weight. For another, deep down she knew something no one else around her knew.

“My weight loss was half-assed,” she says.

“It happened, but it felt like a lie. I wasn’t eating healthy and I was still lying to myself. ‘I’m making healthy choices.’ No, you’re not. I reached a point in my life where I really had to look at who I was and what I was doing.”

That moment of self-honesty – what addicts call the moment of clarity – was one of the biggest in Eckersley’s life because it finally got everything out there.

“Part of being exceptionally large is that you still blame other things,” she says. “It takes a while for you to come to that honest realization that, yeah, you’re fat. You need to do something about it. It’s truly affecting your life and you need to fix it. No one will fix it for you.”

The problem? “I knew I had to move forward but had no idea how to do it. You know how you can get stuck in a too-much-information-and-don’t-know-where-to-start kind of thing? That was me.”

She shopped around for a while, followed some fitness folks on the internet, and finally signed up with trainer Adam Bornstein for Born Fitness online coaching in May of 2012. All was well. She was ready. Now she had the coach she needed. Then, as she describes it, things “went sideways” three months later.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“One of the worst emails I sent I had to send to Adam because I’d finally made it to the point where I wanted to fix my life and now I had this on my plate,” she says. “But Adam sent me the best response anyone could’ve sent,”

Today we get stronger.

The Only Choice: Live

Mary Beth and Adam decided to work together through all her treatment. You rarely hear of people who exercise through chemotherapy, but Eckersley was resolute.

“I decided I’d face breast cancer with the best possible attack plan I could and be as positive as possible. I did small workouts. For some people they might not even qualify as workouts. But if you have a port in your chest and are doing chemo for a year, it’s a workout.”

At the gym, she would warm up on a spin bike. The first time she tried it, she lasted 10 minutes. Eventually she worked her way up to an hour and a half. When the really hardcore chemo started, a friend would stand beside her so she wouldn’t fall off the bike.

She found a rhythm with treatment, which repeated 3-week cycles. Week one: Your body is inundated with drugs. Week two: Your body gets rid of the drugs (“You can’t do anything that week,” she says). Week three: You heal, then start over. Her workouts ran the same cycle.

“Every cancer patient should be given the opportunity to be in a gym,” she says. “It really does make a difference in your treatment and how your body can process the drugs and refresh itself afterwards. For me, it was huge. It doesn’t matter how fast you go as long as you keep moving. As long as you’re moving, you’re moving forward.”

As exhausted as she felt on chemo – and she literally felt physically done – she’d force herself to climb on that bike. And always, once she warmed up, she got that pleasant surprise; she felt like doing more.

She’d do some floor work, crunches, maybe a half-plank and some light kettlebell work. “Exercise gave me a positive place to put the stress,” she says. “And physically it gave me more strength and stamina to deal with the next treatment.”

Success is Part of Life…If You Pursue It

Today, now 55 years old, Eckersley is a cancer survivor. She’s also dropped another 100 pounds. “I’m 30 pounds away from where my doctor would like me to be, 170. I’m half the size I was.”

Her message is simple: Anything is possible. You can change your life. When necessary, you can fight for your life. The key is making the choice to start. And it is a choice, she says, no one will do it for you.

Most importantly, you shouldn’t let the fact that you may be obese keep you from getting out and doing the work. Take Eckersley’s advice and start slow. But start.

“When people see someone who’s really large, they say, ‘Oh, they should just exercise.’ Well, you can say that to a woman who’s 180 pounds. But say that to someone who’s just over 400 pounds? You can’t.

You can’t say, ‘This is a burpee and this is how you do it.’ It’s not gonna happen.. You don’t have the reaction time. It’s embarrassing for you and you could hurt yourself. So you need to find the space that lets you learn that reaction time, learn how to get up off the floor safely and without being embarrassed.”

Bornstein helped by offering encouragement along with the exercises and healthy eating plan. She used her own bodyweight to start. She’d use a wall for support and go slow. Then she moved up to using a table. Then floor work. She did her very first half-squats while holding on to a TRX suspension trainer. Now those days are a memory.

“I wrote Adam a note yesterday,” she says. “For the first time in my life I did a squat with a 20 pound kettlebell and did figure-eights with it around my legs. I thought, This is cool. I have proper form and I have the strength to DO this.”

As the saying goes, you can’t out-train a lousy diet, and Eckersley had to change her eating habits as well. Bornstein helped with that, but during her cancer battle, she found an unlikely ally: Chemotherapy. And no, not because it made her feel sick and unable to eat.

It forced her, amazingly, to eat healthy foods. “If I ate something that was made with chemicals, it tasted disgusting to me, like a filthy ashtray or a science experiment. I ended up with a bizarre craving for spinach. I couldn’t get enough of it. Even though chemo is the nastiest thing in the world, it gave me clean eating that my body craved. So I ended up with an appreciation for clean eating that I never had before.”

Once she beat the cancer, however, the crap-food-cravings returned. Those aren’t easy for anyone. By then, however, Eckersley had been able to make new food rules like “no drive-thrus.”

Much of her eating is now based on a simple change in attitude she learned from Bornstein.

“Now I remind myself that I’m worth a healthy meal. That I have the right to prepare a healthy lunch or dinner. A lot of the reason so many of us are overweight is that we have no confidence in ourselves. We don’t think we have any value. Now I see the value in myself. Now my lunch bag is filled with vegetables, protein bars, hummus, and fruit.”

It’s underselling it to say that Eckersley has a new life. Or that she is a walking inspiration not just to people who want to lose a lot of weight, but fight through a cancer diagnosis. It’s a matter of making your decision. Asking for help. And fighting every day.

“Even going through chemo I managed to get healthier and fitter than I’ve ever been in my whole life,” she says.

“Now my goal isn’t to lose weight. I want to be healthy and stronger. Losing weight is a side benefit. It’s all about making the attempt and taking the best possible step forward.”

The post Real People, Real Results: The Total Life Transformation appeared first on Born Fitness.

People just love playing word games with themselves and each other. When you work in the health and fitness industry, you often encounter the word “change.” You could argue that it’s the most common word you hear.

“I want to change.”

Do it because you can do it. It’s your life, your health, you don’t want to not try.

“I need to change.”

“I’m afraid to change.”

“Why is it so hard to change?”

Change in habit. Change in physique. Change in health. Change in mindset. Change is hard for a lot of people because admitting you need to change is admitting failure.

In other words, you were wrong.

Now there’s a word, “wrong.”

Some folks have a serious problem with being wrong. You can also add that change is all sorts of unpleasant words, from “painful” to “intimidating” to “[insert preferred profanity here].”

Simple words dictate our actions, and that explains the lack of change we see again and again. People start, people quit. Some never start at all.

If you’ve had a hard time getting the change you want – in habit, physique, health, and mindset – it’s time you met Lindy Cunningham and her husband, Chad. She’s thirty-two, he’s thirty-one. They have a two-year-old son and live in Nashville, Tennessee.

Not long after their son’s birth, they decided together to make some changes.

Lindy wanted to dump the baby fat and get back to her pre-marriage weight. Chad wanted to gain weight and get back in shape; he’d had a recent bout with mono and had lost 30 pounds.

They found trainer Adam Bornstein through his Twitter feed and eventually signed on so he could guide them to two very different goals, though both would be based on eating better and exercise.

Like most folks, they were jarred by the sudden change – adjusting their eating style, upping activity, logging workouts. But both of them had been athletes in high school. They stuck with it.

They changed.

Chad found it amusing that he had a harder time gaining weight than Lindy had losing it. Six months passed. Their son grew. Their bodies changed. They found change – or dedication to change – to be a good thing. Lindy was 5 pounds away from her goal weight.

Then everything changed.

Falling Down and Getting Up

On a ski getaway in Jackson Hole in January 2013, near the bottom of a long run where several trails filtered together, Lindy hit an ice patch or caught an edge – no one is quite sure – and she fell. She slid to the edge of the trail and hit a signpost, back-first.

“Nothing crazy,” Chad says. “Nothing fast. It just happened.”

“It” was a life-altering moment: Lindy had a burst fracture in her C5 and C6 vertebrae, which is technical terminology meaning the bones in her lower neck shattered and damaged her spinal cord.

She was paralyzed from the armpits down.

Lindy sums it up this way: “Being young, being married to someone I was just crazy about, having a baby, being close to a six month goal when it happened, the only word that touches it would be sorrow.”

Lindy, however, would not stand pat on that word. She had lung function, so she didn’t need breathing help. Her brain was fine, as well. That made everything else a work in progress, and a goal to strive for.

She has impaired arm function – her biceps work, but her triceps run at about 10 percent. Her finger dexterity is sketchy, but she can grasp things.

In July 2014, after 18 months of almost daily PT, she graduated to walking therapy assisted with harnesses. But no one knows if she’ll ever truly walk again.

“Who can tell how many thousands of hours she’s worked just to get to that point?” says Chad. “Or earlier on, to eat with an adapted fork. I don’t have anything to compare it to.”

But an interesting thing has happened in the last year and a half. All those negative terms we attach to change are still there, of course, and always will be.

Find Your Pulse

It turns out that Lindy’s approach to a new and difficult daily life isn’t all that different from the approach she first took to lose her baby weight and get results. And that fact alone has made a monumental difference not just to her own well-being, but the mindset of everyone around her.

You can hear the marvel in Chad’s voice as he describes it all.

“From the whole time it happened, the moment I found her, to the hospital, to now, Lindy’s never freaked out, never panicked. She was always good. She’s been kind and pleasant and positive and hopeful as you could ever want someone to be. She has bad days and bad times like anyone, but every day she works really hard, she’s good to whoever’s helping her, she’s nice to all her doctors and therapists and nurses. She does what they say and tries to do anything she can. She tries to help other people who have her injury. She tries to make the absolute best of it which for me and everybody else around her makes it doable.”

Lindy, true to form, deflects credit.

“How you approach a spinal injury depends on where you are in your life at the time – how are your relationships, etc. Fortunately, at the time I was surrounded by so many wonderful people. There was an incredible outpouring of love, support, and encouragement. That made it easier than a lot of people have it.”

Part of that support came from the man, who, despite her accident, still finds himself as Lindy’s trainer.

Immediately after the accident happened, Bornstein was interacting with Chad offering support and trying to find answers. And within a week of hearing the news, Bornstein wrote a bog post about her accident – ending with the hashtag “#BelieveInLindy.” It went viral.

Suddenly there were fundraisers. T-shirts. Posters. A Facebook page and endless hits on social media. And the Cunninghams found themselves buffeted on a wave of incredible and constant positive energy.

“It was a rallying central theme, what everyone circled around,” says Chad. “It was a really big deal for her recovery. Something like that helps you move forward, head towards something, and try to make things better.”

Bornstein still acts as a trainer and motivator, culminating in the Cunningham’s visiting Los Angeles when they were finally able to spend time together, after 2 years of interacting without ever meeting face-to-face.

Lindy’s workouts are a little different, of course. Each day, in fact, is one long workout. But Lindy says that one piece of advice from Bornstein stands out from the rest.

“Be strong and be relentless.” she says.

“That translates really well into a rehab situation. Do it because you can do it. It’s your life, your health, you don’t want to not try. You have to do everything you can to get the max, you know?”

As if that by itself isn’t enough, Chad puts her effort into even clearer perspective.

“You have to understand, the injury is like a nonstop 24/7 assault on your body between therapies and the sicknesses and infections and skin problems and urinary issues. It’s something all the time. To be able to work through all that and stay positive, it’s impressive.”

“For spinal cord injuries, so much of it is an emotional and mental battle,” Lindy says. “What Chad and I have discovered is we have so much to be thankful for. I’ve had positive results in my therapy and I’m learning to walk again. There’s so much joy to be had and things to look forward to.”

Their two year old son is a big part of that. “He’s an inspiration point for Lindy,” says Chad. “We laugh a lot.”

Building Unstoppable Motivation

Now … take a pause.

Let’s let some of this sink in.

First, we state the obvious: Lindy Cunnigham’s tale should serve as an inspiration to all, especially those perfectly mobile humans who use word games to get in the way of discovering real, positive change.

Second, and less obvious: Finally admit what’s really holding you back.

It’s not a word or collection of words.

It’s an emotion.

A corroded piece of consciousness. Fear? Resignation? Self-loathing?

We’re not regressing into word games just now. All people have their reasons and the real tragedy is allowing those reasons to rule. You can change.

Do it because you can.

Be strong. Be relentless.

And #BelieveinLindy. Doing so means that you believe in the power of you. 

What’s Your Story?

You have something amazing within you. Whether chapters have already been written or the book has just started. If you’re ready to write the ending, learn more about joining the Born Fitness Family.

The post The Unstoppable Force of Change appeared first on Born Fitness.

—

A few people have asked me why online coaching? They see that I have plenty of knowledge, experience and motivation of my own, so what am I getting from it? Given it’s not the first time I’ve been asked, I took an hour or two put down my thoughts.

Regular readers will know that I am currently working with Adam Bornstein, one of the industry’s leading authorities on all things health and fitness. What you likely don’t fully appreciate is the extent to which we are working together.

Sure, it goes without saying that I get good advice from Adam on diet, nutrition, exercise programs and the like. But to great joy, I am also finding that Adam’s interests, knowledge and experience reach far beyond simple (are you kidding?) health and fitness. Frankly, it’s much more like having a life coach in your corner, one that just happens to be a health and fitness expert!

Here’s what I am loving most about working with Adam so far:

• He cares. Not simply in the way that any good practitioner cares about their client; Adam cares like his very life depends on it. He cares like I am family. He cares way more than he probably should. He cares so much, that I can’t tell if I am a client or a friend; of course, I am very much hoping it’s the latter at this point.
• Perspective. No matter what the situation, no matter how bad things seem, no matter how much I whine, complain, question, wonder, worry, ponder or stress, Adam brings immediate perspective. A perspective that is ultimately grounding, filtering out the noise and providing clear, actionable guidance on the topic at hand — seemingly, no matter what the topic.
• Positivity. In the great many exchanges I’ve had with Adam, I have yet to receive a message that is not steeped in positivity. And I am not talking random motivational quotes or showering me with a tirade of simple superlatives; Adam’s energy flows sanguine from a genuine belief that he can help me, and, more importantly, that I can be helped! Of all things, this has been the most uplifting part of our work together, for without belief, progress often seems all but impossible.

My early work with Adam was in the context of Getting Shredded: a shared, group experience that started with the express goal of getting as lean as possible. And it worked. However, that program has since grown and evolved into a full-fledged community where members can work together with Adam toward either getting lean, or gaining muscle. This is yet another example of how Adam works tirelessly to help as many people as possible; he quickly recognized that as the community goals diverged, a different approach was needed to keep people moving forward.

[Eds note: The Getting Shredded Community is no longer accepting new members. For other group coaching style opportunities, click here.]

So what now?

For me, it’s continue with the personal coaching. Since reaching my shredded goal, I want to start adding muscle to my frame, and to do that, I’ll need help. Help with the programming, help with the diet and help shaping the vision and belief system that is necessary for transforming both mind and body.

-Paul T.

Is Born Fitness Coaching for Me?

Don’t sign up for a program before you know. Born Fitness coaching offers free consultation calls for anyone interested. For more information you can sign up here.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Why Born Fitness Online Coaching appeared first on Born Fitness.

I could hear the words coming from behind, but I wasn’t sure if they were directed at me.

“Hey, bro. Why do you work out so hard?

I stepped away from the trap bar, turned around, and acknowledged the trainer to my left. He was leaning against the wall, talking to me while looking up at the TV.

“You’re always in here working like crazy. Why do you do it?”

I looked at him with an emotionless face and told him, “Why not?” Not wanting to be interrupted, I let my one-word answer suffice and went back to my deadlifts.

I remember being frustrated that day. It’s the type of negativity that I try to limit, but I was irritated; I was surprised by the oddity of the question, and bothered that it was even asked at all.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been so upset. Maybe my reaction was overblown. But the one thing that I now know is that I gave the wrong answer.

The Day It All Changed

I can’t tell you how difficult it’s been to write this blog, let alone put everything into context. But I feel an obligation to try.

I haven’t thought about that interaction with the trainer for about six months, but tonight it found its way into my head.  It all started with an email I received from Chad, one of my online clients.

I was walking back to my office when I saw the message waiting for me. The subject read: “Thoughts and prayers for Lindy.”

I swallowed hard and was afraid to open the email. I had the same reaction as when I wake up in the dark of night convinced someone is in my house—an awkward mix of nervousness, anxiety, and fear.

Call it a gut feeling. Call it intuition. But I knew something was wrong.

It was just a day ago I was emailing Chad. He was on vacation with his wife Lindy, another one of my online clients.  Lindy has a special charm. She’s the type of person that emails you videos of her baby Beren, and has goals like “Lose baby weight and survive the Zombie apocalypse.”

Chad and Lindy were on a ski vacation, and he was joking about how they’d gone a little lax on their diet because they figured all the calories they were burning on the slopes would even things out. I told him that it’s vacation and that he should enjoy.

Actually that was my last word, “Enjoy.”

I finally opened the email. Chad’s message started in the worst of ways: “I hate to bring you this awful news…”

Chad wanted my help. Lindy suffered a serious injury in a ski accident, and had multiple spinal fractures. She was life-flighted off the mountain for emergency surgery.

I read the words over and over, as my tears landed on my iPhone. It hit a little too close to home. I remember a similar message in the form of a call from my brother just a few years ago, letting me know that my father was taken by flight for life after a skiing accident.

I kept reading, only being able to process the important pieces.

“Odds are against her ever walking…”

“Or holding her baby…”

“I don’t know where we will go from here…”

When I was done, I sped home to hug my wife. I told her I loved her. And then I took my phone, wrote to Chad, gathered myself and filmed a video for Lindy.

The Importance of Strength

The video was short and simple. There’s not much you can say to someone when they are at the start of a new journey that will be tough and arduous. But that’s what I viewed it as; not an end or a beginning—just a new journey. A new challenge. And that’s what I wanted to share. My message ended with the most important reminder:

“You take care, you get better soon, and you stay strong.”

Strong. The word had new meaning now. For years I’ve seen how building physical strength can help improve mental and emotional strength. I’ve even documented how lifting weights changed my entire life, saved me from injury and doubt, and served as a beacon of hope for so many people in the darkest of times.

But now I believed that in this moment, few things were more important than strength. I was convinced that if Lindy stayed strong, that everything would be ok.

After thinking about it over and over again, I know that Lindy will be ok. I’ve already seen what she can do. How hard she works. And the type of incredible human being she is. The accident changes none of that. It only creates a new challenge.

I know that she will push on, fight, and create happiness. That’s just who she is. And she can do it because she’s strong. I’m not naïve. I know many challenges and hardships—physical, mental, and emotional—wait ahead. And while I don’t know what her future world looks like, I do believe that it will be ok as long as she continues to stays strong.

Why Do You Workout?

Two hours after I sent the video to Chad, I received his response:

“Lindy’s day is made. First goal identified: Holding [baby] Beren.”

I’m writing this now not because I wanted to share a private story, but because I want you to help Lindy build her strength.

One day ago Lindy was perfectly healthy and making the most of her life. She was active, doing what she wanted, and taking the most of her opportunities.

One day later, things have changed. But her spirit has not. Her desire has not. And a will to create the life she wants still burns within her.

That’s why I believe she will hold Beren. That’s why I believe in Lindy.  She represents the mindset that I would wish upon everyone. No matter what: Do everything in your power to build the life you want.

I stayed up all night thinking about Lindy. Praying for her, and believing that she will hold her beautiful baby boy.

As I’ve tried to process everything that’s happened, the story with the trainer popped into my head. At first I was upset at myself for thinking about such a random event. It didn’t make sense. But I felt like my mind was trying to tell me something; a lesson that I could take forward and share.

Why do I train so hard?

The answer: I do it because I can.

It’s the same reason I love my wife, I love my family, and approach everything with an unbridled passion and optimism. I do it because I can.

I refuse to use Lindy as a cautionary tale. She is a story of motivation, inspiration, and strength. And that’s why I want your help.

Do you believe in Lindy?

If so, share this message with your friends. Comment on this post and share your thoughts. Spread the word on Twitter with the hashtag #BelieveInLindy. She is reading and listening. Let her know that you believe in her as much as she believes in herself.

My hope is that our strong belief—combined with her own strength—will help Lindy hold her son Beren. Why? Because she can.

Make it Count,

Born

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Do You Believe in Lindy? appeared first on Born Fitness.