Since 2002, I have been able to help hundreds of people improve their health, burn fat, build muscle and get into the best shape of their lives. Now, make no mistake about it, a big part of this is our properly designed rapid fat loss interval training program and nutritional guidance. I have done the research for you and trust me when I say, our system flat out works. But, today I am going to share something more powerful; something that must be set in place before you can even start to think about following a fitness program.

So, here it is:

What do you think is the real secret behind my clients and their success stories? Well, if your answer was my aforementioned boot camp training and nutrition systems, then your answer is wrong. Indeed, it is one of the most time efficient and effective programs you'll ever see, but unfortunately it's useless if someone is unwilling to start it AND stick to it, right? So, it appears that the most important component of changing your body is finding the motivation to achieve your goals, and that's the main focus of this article today. I want to explain the exact process wew go through when it comes to identifying who is going to succeed as a training client. It's a "consultation" and three step goal setting process that each one of my clients undergoes before they start working with us.

Before I outline this process, let me just come clean with something. There are a lot of people who think defining real goals with a real plan is a little far fetched, almost useless. They just want the "magic bullet". Right here, right now, no real plan, no hard work.

Unfortunately, these people just don't get it and frankly if you are one of those people, please do us both a favor and stop reading this article and go buy another useless weight loss diet pill or some fitness magazine down at the book store, because I simply cannot do anything for you.

Take no offense, but I can only help people who want to learn and are committed to changing their life. I simply cannot help people who already think they know it all and think they are too good to take some time to figure out what the heck it is that they actually want to accomplish.

The bottom line is that the most successful people out there, and I mean not just weight loss success, I am talking business, lifestyle, etc., are shamelessly goal driven. They know exactly why they want to do something and harness that super motivation to figure out what and by when they want to go about accomplishing that. In addition, they plan and prepare for every possible roadblock they will encounter in their path to success. This is what I want to teach you how to do today, so let's get to it!

Step One- The Why: Why do you want to do this?

This is where it's time to get real. In almost every initial client consult, when I ask why they have contacted me today, here is the typical blanket response that I first hear:

"Well, I guess I want to get healthy and lose some weight."

That is good start, but if you think that's all, you'd be mistaken. There has got to be more to this. Sure, I know they want to lose weight and be healthy, I mean who doesn't, but really WHY do they want to do this? I mean, what is it that's going to get them up at 5 am to get their morning workouts in or take a couple of hours on Sunday to plan and prepare their meals for the upcoming week? It sure isn't "being healthy" because for some reason this just isn't a very powerful motivator for most people (though it should be).

Let's face it: everybody wants to look better naked. Stop giggling, you know it's true and frankly that's okay. Because whether you admit it or not, the desire to improve one's appearance is the most powerful motivator on the planet. You want to feel strong, empowered, sexy AND attractive, if not for a significant other, then for ourselves…but probably a combination of both.

So, after a little more digging, I find out the real reason why they want to do this; I want to pinpoint their past or pain and then establish their current and future ambitions. Some people want to be able to mow the lawn in the summer with their shirt off and not feel self-conscious. Others want to get back into their favorite pair of pants that they haven't been able to get one leg into for the last five years. Others want tighten up their skin, and "see" muscle definition. Then there are those who want to look and feel more attractive to ignite some passion back into their relationships or improve their physical image for work or career. And of course, my personal favorite is preparing for big events that have built in deadlines. Maybe you want to get as lean and tight as possible for you new bathing suit, sitting on the beach during your big Hawaiian vacation. Maybe you or a family member is getting married and you want to "wow" everyone with your new body. Whatever it is, there IS a motivation behind putting in all the sweat equity that comes with our boot camp training. This is the stuff that gets people hyped up and ready to commit to making some real changes.

So, the first thing you have to figure out is your personal WHY. To make this even simpler for you, just answer this question: what are your physical dreams? Once you establish this, everything else is easy.

Step Two- The What and When: What do you want to achieve and when do you want to achieve it by?

So we already figured out the obvious: you want to look better, be desirable and feel healthy! So, now we need to establish what objective goal(s) need to be accomplished in order to realize this personal dream.

Well, from a logistics standpoint and keeping things as cost effective as possible, there are three popular ways to track your "look better" progress, in order of importance from least to most important:

1.) Scale Weight: This is by far the least important goal, but it gives a number that's worth tracking. Though body fat percentage would be a much better method of tracking progress, it is simply too inaccurate on a small scale and too costly on a large scale. The key is to taking your initial weight before you start and then not weighing more than every 2 weeks. I have found most people to do better with tracking their weight every month. There are simply too many variables for controlling your body weight and the natural fluctuations based on diet (and for women, their menstrual cycle), means the less frequently you do this the better. If the scale is just too de-motivating for you in general, then just skip this one altogether. The 3 little numbers on the scale are not that critical…the following two markers are far more important.

2.) Dress/Pant Size: This is probably the most simple and effective unused method of tracking whether or not you look better. I think it's safe to say that if you are dropping dress and/or pant sizes that you will be looking better, right? Your best bet is to also select one dress or one pair of pants that you really want to get into since that is the true end goal in mind. I tell my clients to assess how they are fitting in their preferred dress/pant size tracker on a weekly or bi-weekly basis as clients follow our training program. Be sure to stick with this piece of clothing, so you are not confused by different manufacturers and their size variations. There's nothing more empowering than to feel yourself fit better and better into your favorite clothing.

3.) Digital Pictures: Pictures don't lie, that's the bottom line. If you want the truth, what better way than pictures? This is of overriding importance. Taking a before picture is essentially you telling the whole world that you are ready to change and that you are ready to do whatever it takes to make those changes. The key is take pictures wearing exactly what you want to look your best in. Maybe the jeans you're trying to fit into, maybe it's a sleeveless shirt and tank top that you want to wear during the summer. And if you want to see your abs, then you best believe that you need to take pictures of your midsection to track how much more definition you get. Take a front, side, and rear view picture and be sure to note the exact conditions in which the picture was taken (lighting, distance from camera, time of day/week, etc.) to be as accurate as possible in your assessment. These "before" pictures will become your trophy shots of your past life and are an absolute must if you really are serious about getting results that count. We tell our clients to take new pictures either bi-weekly or monthly until they reach their goal(s).

Step Three- Plan and prepare for roadblocks: What are the big obstacles that will prevent you from having the success you desire? What has contributed most to past failures?

Now that we know what you want to accomplish, it's time to plan and prepare for any obstacles that might get in your way of getting the job done based on your own personal schedule.

In general, the number one thing I hear is that people are too busy and tired and don't have enough time to get their workouts in or make healthy, nutrition friendly meals.

Well, I don't care how busy you think you are, there is always hidden time throughout the day and week that can be freed up if your re-prioritize. Again, think back to why you wanted to do this in the first place and then examine what's most important to you. Make your workouts and your meal times just like work appointments, non-negotiable deadlines. Either you make the appointment or you don't. And if you want to keep your job (or get your dream body) then you better make that appointment. One more thing for you on being busy. You don't need any special whiz-bang fitness gimmicks. You've got everything you need built right in…your bodyweight. There are amazingly effective bodyweight workouts that could take only a few minutes a day to complete. Problem solved.

Another big obstacle is alcohol. People like to drink and unfortunately alcohol is about as detrimental to burning fat as it gets. Again, what's more important to you, looking sexy or getting hammered? The choice is yours. Remember, once you achieve your goal(s), alcohol can be added back in with moderation. But understand something, low to zero alcohol consumption is needed if you want to look your best year round and that's a fact. Don't give me that garbage about having just one-drink-a-day. Quit sabotaging yourself and grab your water bottle.

Lastly, many people deal with boredom eating or emotional eating. Boredom eating means just that, eating to fill up dead time when you have nothing better to do. The best way to deal with this is, you guessed it, to do something! Find an active hobby to keep your mind off of eating when boredom takes over and you can easily beat this trend. Emotional eating describes the use of food to cope with stress or to reward for accomplishment. Food is not unlike drugs or alcohol in this regard, it can be very addictive. There is no quick fix for emotional eating other than avoiding trigger situations (bars, parties, etc.) and trigger foods (starches, sugars, fast food, etc.) in the short term to break bad habits.

At the end of the day, whether your roadblocks are very unique to you or fall within the realms of what I see everyday with my training clients, the key is to be honest about them and to plan and prepare for them. And that's where social support and accountability come into play. The clients who have had the most success with us have undergone their transformation with the support of other friends or family members. This is so critical, especially since most of the poor food and drinking choices that sabotage one's progress occur on the weekend, when most people hang out with their loved ones. If they are committed with you and your goal to get fit and look better, you can put yourself in a much better position to realize the success you desire and deserve.