In the past couple weeks my company has received numerous requests for our personal training services, as we usually do.  Most people want to lose weight, tone up, get stronger and so on. 

While most are very clear on their goals and understand what they must do in order to achieve them, there are others who go the other direction. 

These individuals are totally unrealistic, ignorant or completely BSing themselves on how and when they can expect to attain results with their fitness program. 

I thought I'd share with you a couple examples to show how NOT to go about things. 

The first is a lady by the name of Veronica.  Veronica wanted to lose a bunch of weight so she could look good when she visited her sister (who is 50 pounds lighter than her) and as my assistant put it, wanted to "go on a vacation with her and search for boys." 

Sounds like a plan...however there's a big problem. 

The vacation was scheduled for the end of August and Veronica wanted to lose over 30 pounds in less then a month.  Big red flag, but we went ahead and tried to set her up with a trainer anyway.

Well, to make a long story short, she refused to work with the first trainer offered to her because she was a female.

Thought the second one was unprepared when speaking to her over the phone.

And when she met with the third trainer...thought the workout he put her through was "too easy" and wasn't hard enough.  Well, unless these workouts helped her lose 3 pounds at a time...NO workout was going to be good enough for her and there was no pleasing this woman...Period. 

This became even more obvious when she sent me a looong email, saying she wasn't happy with my trainers and my assistant was "snippy" with her when all she did was wish her the best because we didn't have trainers left for her (which was true)

The second client was by the name of Annie.  Annie too wanted to lose weight...about 75 pounds or more.  Nothing wrong with that.  That's a great goal to have, but again...there's a problem like Veronica.

Annie was a busy med student and thought our 30 minute workout aka the "Power 30" program was a good fit for her. 

Well, unfortunately I don't think she read the page very carefully. 

While the program IS for people who are busy, it is NOT for individuals who have to lose a significant amount of weight like Annie's situation or are not used to very intense exercise.

So to summarize, she too sent me an email saying my company was unprofessional because we were trying to sell her our more "expensive 1 hour programs." 

But in reality, she just couldn't afford us.

Jim Coughlin has Weekly Emails on Motivation, Fitness, Health and Maximum Success for You! Jim's weekly tips will inspire you unlike ANYTHING you'll read on the internet today. And they're free. Sign up right now. Name Email

Now the reason I'm telling you this is because I feel it is not only important to have goals - but also be realistic on how you will achieve them.

If you're like Veronica, and you want to lose 30 pounds in 30 days, you're not being honest with yourself. 

How long did it take you to gain 30 pounds...Did you gain it in 30 days? 

Don't think so. 

Why put yourself through that kind of agony.  Sure, you may have an important event in your life coming up like Veronica's, but that has nothing to do with your body.

If you're trying to lose 30 pounds in that short of a time period, you're not setting priorities in your life and you're not planning properly.

It doesn't matter if you're 30 pounds overweight or 100 pounds overweight, you're expectations to lose weight should still be the SAME in either situation.

If you are to follow an intense exercise routine of progressive stength training and consistent cardio conditioning with a healthy nutrition plan, you should realistically expect to lose 1-3 pounds of fat per week.  Anything more than that is NOT healthy and will do your body much more harm than good.

Now if you're in Annie's situation, you must also prioritize and adhere to what someone tells you - without being stubborn in the process. 

Our company gets dozens of requests a week for our services.  Sure, we're a business and yes, we're trying to make money. 

But we're also trying to keep it by offering potential prospects the best possible program for their situation.

So we would be doing Annie or anyone who has to lose 75 or more pounds a DISSERVICE if we were to offer ANYTHING other than our "Total Body Makeover" or "Sculpt & Strengthen" programs...and that's a fact.

If you can't afford a personal trainer, that's understandable. 

But again, you must prioritize. 

Your health should be numero uno on your list.  So if you REALLY want to lose 75 pounds or more, I'm quite certain you can make a couple sacrifices in your life to be able to make it happen and afford one. 

Well, that's all for now...Stop BSing yourself and start getting real with your goals, otherwise...it just ain't gonna happen for you.

Yours in Total Fitness & Maximum Success,

Jim Coughlin