This is once again mostly for newbies, but is certainly valuable refresher information for you old hands, too!

1. Doing the diet PERFECTLY and the exercises PERFECTLY is not necessary if you are just beginning your efforts. Doing them to the best of your ability is the goal. See, trying to do them perfectly is playing a game you cannot win, and perfectionism is much more a character flaw than a virtue. That’s because the perfectionist always ends up quitting. As soon as something is done less than perfectly they start over. Soon enough, starting over becomes useless and they just plain quit.

2. The best book ever written on diet and exercise,(in my opinion) other than Body for Life, is “The Zone” by Barry Sears. His thesis that we are designed to eat good protein and vegetable and fruit carbohydrates is basic and good nutritional science and it meshes nicely with BFL theory. As Sears says, by eating right and following his dietary road map you can lose weight permanently, reset your genetic code, prevent disease, achieve maximum physical performance and enhance your mental productivity. The book is still available some places, even though it was originally published way back when, and my copy shows a copyright date of 1995.

3. How to cross the abyss, right out of the book, Body for life!

A. Make the decision to change.
B. Identify YOUR reasons to change and write them down.
C. Focus on your future vision.
D. Dream of what you would like to achieve in twelve weeks.
E. Transform five of those dreams into goals by giving them a deadline, a way to measure them, and writing them down.
F. Identify three unauthorized patterns of action that hold you back and write them down.
G. Identify three new patterns of action that will help you rech your goals and write them down.
H. Read what you’ve written first thing in the morning and again at night each and every day of your 12 week Program.

Followed religiously, this 8 step plan will keep you from forgetting your food, failing to eat your meals, skipping workouts, and cheating on your diet during the day. If not followed, soon enough some if not all of these problems will begin to erode your challenge results.