EXPERT PERSONAL TRAINERS IN BELLA VISTA & BLACKTOWN - Blog

Does Weight Loss Change Your Personality?

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 08:05:34 GMT

Losing weight doesn't only change the mirror, it changes the person looking back. I learned that the hard way when people started saying you've changed, and they didn't mean it like a compliment.

At first, that comment stung because it felt like judgment. Later, I saw something else in it. If I wanted lasting weight loss, I couldn't stay the same person with the same habits, the same mindset, and the same way of moving through life.

Does Weight Loss Change Your Personality? My Honest Take

people told me you've changed after weight loss

One thing I remember clearly from losing weight was how often people said you've changed. If you've ever heard that after making a big change, you know the tone matters. In my case, it often felt negative. It sounded like people were saying I had become harder to like, or less familiar, or somehow less safe to them.

That hit me harder than I expected. I had an emotional reaction to it because I still wanted people to accept me the way they always had. Part of me wanted to say, "No, I'm still me." I wanted the body to change without the rest of my life changing with it.

What I felt was pretty simple:

Hurt
Defensive
Afraid that people only liked the old version of me

That fear can keep a person stuck. I know it did for me for a while. I tried to hold onto the old image of myself because I thought change would cost me connection. I thought people liked me the way I was, so maybe I shouldn't change too much.

Still, over time I had to face the truth. You have to change if you want weight loss to last. That doesn't mean you become a stranger. It means your choices, your standards, and the way you treat yourself can't stay frozen. If they do, the weight comes back, because the old life is still there waiting for you.

The hard part wasn't hearing that I had changed. The hard part was admitting that the change was real, and that it needed to be.

Why personality has to shift for permanent weight loss

I don't think there's a way to lose weight for good without some level of personality change. That might sound harsh, but it feels honest. If my old personality was tied to low effort, low self-respect, poor routines, and a loose attitude toward food and health, then keeping that exact same setup would pull me back to the same result.

Weight loss isn't only about eating less for a while. It's about changing the way I live. That includes things that look like "personality" to other people, because personality shows up in daily habits.

Here are the kinds of things that had to change for me:

I couldn't keep being inactive and expect a different body.
I couldn't keep eating out all the time and act surprised by the result.
I couldn't stay careless about my future and still manage my health well.

This is a simple way to look at it:

Old pattern	What it looked like in daily life	What had to change
Inactivity	Avoiding movement, doing as little as possible	Becoming more active and more willing to move
Constant eating out	Letting convenience decide most meals	Being more aware, more planned, and more intentional
Careless attitude	Not thinking much about long-term health	Taking my body, future, and choices more seriously

The point is not that I became a different human overnight. The point is that my old habits were part of my identity. They shaped how I thought, how I acted, and how I felt. So if those habits changed, other parts of me changed too.

Trying to do all the same things while simply being thinner never felt real to me. It felt like pretending. If I related to people the same way, treated myself the same way, and made the same choices, then why would I expect a different life to last?A different body comes from a different pattern of living.

If my body is different, then something in me had to become different too.

From the "fat and happy clown" to a more serious self

The old role I played to feel accepted

Before I lost weight, I leaned hard into being the funny one. I described myself as a "fat and happy clown," and that wasn't random. It was how I got attention. It was how I got love. It was how I made people comfortable around me, and maybe how I kept them from looking too closely at what I was struggling with.

Humor became a kind of cover. If I could make people laugh, then maybe they wouldn't judge my body as much. If I stayed loud, easygoing, and careless, then I could turn my size into part of the act. That was how I got attention. It also became how I got acceptance.

There was a cost to that role, though. A clown version of me could avoid seriousness. He didn't have to look too closely at his health. He didn't have to sit with fear about the future. He could be fun, distracted, and liked.

That kind of personality can work socially for a while. People know how to respond to it. They know the jokes. They know the energy. They know the part you're playing. So when that part starts to fade, it can throw people off.

What changed when I started taking myself seriously

After I lost weight, I started taking myself more seriously. I also started taking life more seriously. That changed the way I carried myself, the way I thought, and the way I acted around other people.

I wasn't the same careless clown anymore. I wasn't the same. That didn't mean I had become cold. It meant I cared more. I cared more about my health, my choices, and my future. I cared more about whether my behavior lined up with the life I said I wanted.

For other people, that shift can feel jarring. They may not know how to treat you when your role changes. If they always knew you as the easy laugh, the one who never took anything too seriously, then your new focus can make them uneasy. Sometimes people don't miss the old you as much as they miss how easy the old dynamic felt to them.

That was one of the toughest parts for me to accept. I wasn't only changing for myself. I was changing inside relationships, routines, and expectations that had been built over years. Once I saw that, the whole thing made more sense.

Why trying to go back never worked

For a while, I struggled with the change. I didn't fully accept it. Part of me wanted to go back and prove that I was still the same person. I tried to return to that old clown energy because it felt familiar, and because it made other people more comfortable.

But going back came with a price.

I stopped taking myself as seriously.
I cared less about my health.
I drifted away from the mindset that helped me manage my weight.

That's the trap. The old personality can feel warm and familiar, but it may be tied to the same patterns that caused the problem in the first place. In my case, being careless wasn't harmless. It was connected to not paying enough attention to my body, my habits, and my future.

So the change in personality didn't feel random. It felt like a natural result of finally caring. When I got serious about continuing what I needed to do, I became more focused. I became more thoughtful. I became less willing to laugh everything off.

That kind of change is easy to misunderstand from the outside. Someone might say you've become different, when what they really mean is that you're no longer playing the role they knew. Still, that doesn't make the change bad. In many cases, it means the change is working.

How weight loss changes relationships and daily life

When a person loses weight and changes how they live, relationships often shift too. That's not always dramatic, but it is real. People around you may not know how to respond anymore.

They may wonder:

Are you the same person?
Should they treat you the same way?
Can the relationship keep running on the same habits and jokes?

Those questions come up because weight loss often changes more than appearance. It changes routines. It changes priorities. It changes what you say yes to. If I don't want to eat the same way, go out the same way, or ignore my health the same way, then my social life changes with it.

That's why I don't buy the idea that nothing else needs to change. If all the interactions in my life stay the same, and all the patterns stay the same, then I can't expect an ongoingly different result. Lasting weight loss asks for a new way of relating, not only to food and movement, but also to myself and to others.

Different body, different life, different way of being.

That doesn't mean every relationship falls apart. It means some dynamics need to adjust. Some people come with you easily. Others struggle because they only knew one version of you. Either way, the change is bigger than the scale.

Why I now take you've changed as a compliment

I see that phrase differently now. When someone says you've changed, I no longer hear an insult by default. I hear evidence that something moved. I hear proof that I didn't stay stuck.

If someone told me I was exactly the same as I was 10 or 20 years ago, that wouldn't sound flattering to me. It would sound sad. I don't want to be frozen in place. I want to have grown, learned, and sharpened parts of myself over time.

That shift matters beyond weight loss. A healthy life should change how I think, what I value, and how I treat myself. If my body looks different because I live differently, then of course my inner life changes too. Why wouldn't it?

What changed in me wasn't fake. It wasn't a performance. It was a response to taking my life more seriously. That kind of change is not a loss. It's growth.

The change is for the better

The biggest point for me is simple. Weight loss changed my personality because it changed my life. My body became different because my habits, thoughts, drives, and standards became different too.

That kind of change pushed me toward better things:

More care for my health
More respect for my future
More honesty about how I was living
More self-awareness about the role I used to play

I don't think the goal is to become perfect. The goal is to stop pretending that lasting change can happen without deeper change. My body reflects how I live. So when my body changed, it made sense that other parts of me changed with it.

The old version of me had ways of coping, performing, and fitting in. The newer version of me is more serious, more grounded, and more willing to face reality. That's not something I need to hide from anymore.

Change was always part of the point

Weight loss didn't only alter my size. It changed how I saw myself, how I showed up, and what I was willing to keep doing. Once I accepted that, the whole process made more sense.

So when I hear you've changed now, I don't flinch. I hear the truth in it, and I know that change was never the problem. Staying the same was.

Be inspired by Jeff's understanding, passion and experience of Hypnotherapy especially in areas of the human mindset, changing behaviour and building motivation.

Find out more about Private Clinical Hypnotherapy Sessions with Jeff here.

Keep up to date with our latest content on Hypnotherapy and Weight Loss Coaching by:

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The Most Important Skill For Weight Loss

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 04:30:45 GMT

Quick Answer:

The most important skill for lifelong weight loss is not discipline — it’s the ability to re-engage after falling off track. It is building momentum, not perfection, that is what keeps people lean and healthy over the long term.

The Most Important Skill For Weight Loss

Most people think lifelong weight loss comes down to discipline. I don't.

In my experience, the real skill is getting back on track, again and again, without letting setbacks turn into long detours. The journey never ends, so lasting success depends less on perfection and more on staying connected to the process.

Why you should listen to me about weight loss

I personally know what it's like to lose weight and then face the bigger challenge, keeping it off. I lost 30 kilos about 25 years ago, and staying lean since then has taught me far more than the initial loss ever did. That's also why I became a trainer, life coach, therapist, and hypnotherapist, because I wanted to get better at helping people not just start, but keep going with their weight loss journey.

What I've learned is simple:
- Short-term efforts produce short-term results.
- Lifelong results need staying power.

A lot of people know this cycle well:

Lose 5 to 10 kilos
Drift off track
Regain it
Start over later

I've seen people lose the same 5 to 10 kilos five or ten times. Add that up, and they've done a huge amount of work. If you could take away those breaks, a lot of that weight loss would have already stuck.

via GIPHY

Falling off track is normal, not failure

Life doesn't pause for health goals. Work gets busy. Families need attention. People get sick, change jobs, move house, go on vacation, or simply run out of mental space. So I think it's unrealistic to expect a perfect run for the next 10, 20, or 30 years.

What matters is not whether I fall off track.. because you will.
What matters is how long you stay in the game.

Lifelong weight loss isn’t about never slipping. It’s about re-engaging fast.

That's the part most people miss. They think the answer is finding the perfect eating plan or training plan. But those plans have to change as life changes. What works during active weight loss may not work six months later. What works in one season of life may feel impossible in another.

So when people ask me who the most successful person I've worked with is, I struggle to answer. Even though I have helped people lose 20, 30, even 50 kilos, I don't see their journey as "done." Their story keeps going and they're still in it, and that matters.

Momentum matters more than discipline

The best way I can explain this is through momentum.

In physics, an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Starting from a dead stop takes more energy than building from even a tiny bit of movement.

That's exactly how weight loss works.

Think about driving toward a red light. If I come to a full stop, getting moving again takes effort. If I keep crawling forward, even very slowly, it feels much easier to pick up speed. Health habits work the same way.

That is why I try to never let go completely of living healthy. Even a tiny bit of momentum helps. A short walk, one decent meal, one workout that isn't perfect, all of that keeps me in motion.

When you stop everything and say, "I'll get back to it later," you usually restart only after things feel awful. That's a pain driven cycle.. one step forward, two steps back. Over time, that gets exhausting.

via GIPHY

faqs

What is the most important skill for lifelong weight loss?

It’s not about discipline or having the perfect plan — it’s about maintaining enough momentum that getting back into it doesn’t require starting from zero. The most important skill is the ability to quickly re-engage with your health goals after falling off track.

Why doesn’t discipline work for long-term weight loss?

Discipline works by forcing yourself to continue. But life — illness, stress, travel, family — will always interrupt your routine. No one can force themselves through years of routine without breaks. The goal is to make those breaks as short as possible, not to eliminate them.

How do you maintain momentum when life gets in the way?

Keep something going, even at a snail’s pace. A single short walk, one healthy meal, or a reduced workout is enough to preserve momentum. It’s far easier to rebuild from a slow crawl than from a complete stop.

via GIPHY

What should you do differently when getting back on track?

Don’t assume you need to return to the exact same plan that worked before. A stale approach can lose its spark. A small shift — a new activity, a different eating window, working with a coach — can provide the fresh energy needed to build momentum again.

How do you measure success over a lifetime?

Success isn’t about perfection. If, over the course of 20 years, you’ve been in the game longer than you’ve been out of it, you’re ahead. The goal is to stay engaged more than you’re disengaged.

How I stay in the game for the long term

For me, the goal isn't forcing myself to follow one plan forever. It's finding ways to plug back in when life interrupts me. Sometimes that means changing the plan instead of repeating the old one.

A stale plan can lose its spark. New energy often comes from a small shift, not a total overhaul.

Here are the habits I come back to:

Keep something going, even at a snail's pace.
Change the approach if the old plan has lost its mojo.
Get support from a coach, friends, or a support network.
Expect interruptions, so they don't knock you out for months.
Measure success by re-engagement, not by perfection.

The skill that changes everything

If there's one idea I want to leave with you, it's this: discipline isn't the main skill.

The main skill is getting yourself back into motion.

If you stay in the game more than you're out of it, year after year, you are moving forward. That's how lifelong weight loss becomes real, not through perfection, but through momentum.

If you want support with that process, I offer online and in-person weight loss consultations through CatalystPHD in Sydney. I've worked with hundreds of clients from all over Australia to really help them move the needle and stay committed in the long term to their weight loss journey. Click here to organise a chat.

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Are You Being Hypnotized Without Realising It?

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 03:40:57 GMT

How Hypnosis Works & How to Take Back Control

Your thoughts, habits, cravings, emotions, self-beliefs, and automatic behaviours are constantly shaped by hypnotic suggestions that you don’t even notice. These unconscious influences are what drive your daily decisions, mood, and motivation.

In this article, we explore how hypnosis actually works on the subconscious mind, how advertising, environment, and self-talk silently program your behaviour AND how you can take back control of your trance.

You’ll learn how to:

recognise and break free from everyday hypnosis,
reprogram your subconscious mind, and
consciously choose the ideas and beliefs that shape your life.

Let's dive in...

#Hypnosis #SubconsciousMind #SelfHypnosis

How Does Hypnosis Actually Work?

So today I want to explain how hypnosis actually works.

How does the mind become so captivated by an idea that your life starts to change because of it?

Here’s the key: HYPNOSIS IS ABOUT SUGGESTION

It’s about suggesting an idea to the mind. When an idea takes root in the unconscious, it runs on autopilot.

A skillful hypnotist quiets the conscious mind - the part that questions, judges, or blocks things - so that the subconscious can open up to new ideas.

Once the conscious mind relaxes, those ideas sink in and start working in the background. That’s why people describe hypnosis as feeling effortless - because the suggestion becomes automatic in their everyday thinking.

What Does the Placebo Effect Teach Us About Hypnosis?

The placebo effect is the perfect example of everyday hypnosis.

You take a pill, and before it’s even had time to enter your bloodstream, you already feel better. Why?

Because the moment your mind believes this will make me feel better, your body reacts as if it’s true.

That’s hypnosis - a suggestion accepted by the subconscious that creates a real biological change.

It’s not just mental. Hypnosis actually hijacks your biology.

That belief can release endorphins, lower pain, or shift your chemistry long before any drug could do it.

That’s how powerful ideas are.

How to Know That I Am Being Hypnotized?

If We’re Being Hypnotized, How Do We Stop It? You’re being hypnotized every single day - and you don’t even notice.

We’re surrounded by suggestions: advertising, conversations, social media, even the colours and brands around us.

Every day, thousands of little cues slip past your conscious mind and speak directly to your subconscious.

You see an ad for food and suddenly feel hungry. You scroll through your phone and feel inadequate without knowing why.

We’re swimming in a sea of hypnosis.

Because hypnosis isn’t just something that happens in a session - it’s any moment an idea bypasses the conscious mind and starts influencing how you feel or act.

If We’re Being Hypnotized, How Do We Stop It?

So how do you stop being hypnotized by everything around you?

You don’t stop it - you become aware of it.

When you bring something unconscious into your conscious mind, you take back the power it had over you.

That’s why awareness feels freeing - because it untangles the suggestions that were quietly steering you.

Every time you see through an old pattern or belief, you’re undoing hypnosis. You’re making the unconscious conscious.

How Are Words and Ideas Used to Hypnotize Me?

Words are powerful - because words carry ideas.

And ideas are what hypnotize us.

When you hear a word like “happy,” your body releases serotonin. When you think of something painful, stress hormones flood your system.

So words don’t just describe - they create emotional and biological change.

That’s why you have to be careful with the language you use and absorb. Every word is an idea that either strengthens or weakens you.

And those ideas, over time, hijack your psychology and even your biology.

You’re always in a conversation with yourself - and that self-talk is hypnosis in real time.

Who Has Control of Your Hypnosis?

So, who’s actually in control here? The answer might surprise you.

All hypnosis is self-hypnosis.

A hypnotist can’t force you to do anything. They can guide you, relax you, offer suggestions - but you decide whether to accept them.

If someone resists a suggestion - if they’re cynical or closed off - nothing happens.

But if they allow themselves to engage, to imagine, to feel, then the subconscious takes over and makes it real.

So no one else is controlling your mind - it’s always you.

And once you understand that, you can start deciding which ideas to let in.

How to Choose Which Ideas Hypnotize You

Once you understand how suggestions get planted, you can filter them.

You can start letting in the ideas that strengthen you and shutting out the ones that disempower you.

That’s the real skill - not avoiding hypnosis, but directing it.

You can consciously choose which ideas take root in your subconscious.

You can nurture the positive ones and shine light on the negative ones so they lose their power.

The more awareness you bring, the more control you have over what’s programming your life.

How Do You Take Control of Your Trance?

Every idea you dwell on, every emotion you replay, every image you focus on - they’re all suggestions.

So if you’re going to be hypnotized anyway, make it intentional.

Use your thoughts, language, and imagination to hypnotize yourself into the person you want to become.

Let the ideas that support your growth take root, and release the ones that keep you stuck.

And that’s what it means to take control of your trance.

If you suspect you are being hypnotized and it's affecting your eating habits and motivation to lose weight, book in a complimentary chat about a Hypnotherapy session with Jeff here.

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Are Cheat Meals Good Or Bad For Your Diet?

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 22:59:23 GMT

WHAT ARE CHEAT MEALS?

A cheat meal is often used in reference to a diet plan where someone allows themselves to indulge in unhealthy foods or drinks for a meal or day as a break from their strict eating regimen. The idea is that taking a time off from the strict diet will help prevent boredom, increase motivation, and make it easier to stick to the plan in the long run.

However, the concept of cheat meals has been criticized as promoting a toxic mindset towards food and dieting. It suggests that the thing you are doing, the diet plan, is something you don't want to do and need to cheat on. This can lead to feelings of guilt, pressure, and stress when it comes to eating, which can ultimately lead to a negative relationship with food and a lack of motivation to stick to the diet.

HOW CAN WE BALANCE OUR EATING?

Instead of cheat meals, it's important to adopt a mindset that promotes a healthy, balanced relationship with food and eating. This means focusing on eating in a way that nourishes your body, provides energy, and supports overall health and wellness, without restrictions or guilt.

If you are tracking your food intake and monitoring your calories, it is natural to have some days where you consume more calories than others, and that's okay. The key is to find balance and not become too strict or too loose with your eating habits.

One of the reasons people might feel the need to cheat on their diet is because the whole thing has become too restrictive. When we put too much pressure and stress on ourselves, it can be difficult to maintain a positive relationship with food and dieting. This is why it's important to choose a diet plan that promotes a healthy, balanced relationship with food and eating, without restrictions or guilt.

HOW CAN WE MANAGE OUR EATING AT SPECIAL EVENTS?

It's also important to remember that life is about balance and enjoying yourself. If you have a family event, a birthday or a wedding, for example, it's okay to indulge in more food or drinks, as long as you don't completely lose track of your goals. It's all about finding the balance and being conscious of your choices, even when you are indulging in a bit more.

The key to success in maintaining a healthy lifestyle is staying in the game and keeping yourself engaged over the long-term. If you're feeling the need to cheat on your diet, it might be a sign that your approach is not promoting a positive relationship with food, your body, and your overall health. Instead, it's better to find a diet plan that is flexible and allows for some indulgences, while still promoting balance and healthy habits.

ARE CHEAT MEALS GOOD OR BAD?

Cheat days can be tempting and seem like a good idea, but they can ultimately promote a negative mindset towards food and dieting. It's important to focus on finding a diet plan that promotes a healthy, balanced relationship with food, without restrictions or guilt. This way, you can maintain a positive attitude towards eating, while still enjoying the occasional indulgence. The goal is to find happy balance with your eating and consistency long term to create a healthy and lean lifestyle.

Be inspired by Jeff's understanding, passion and experience of Weight Loss especially in areas of the human mindset, changing behaviour and building motivation.

Find out more about Private Weight Loss Coaching Sessions with Jeff here.

Keep up to date with our latest content on Hypnotherapy and Weight Loss Coaching by:

Subscribing to our YouTube channel here.
Following Jeff on LinkedIn here

3 Types Of Exercise & The Best Workout For You

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 06:44:39 GMT

There are 3 types of exercise training that you can do at varying intensity levels to help you achieve your health and body transformation goals. Today's blog focusses on the 3 types of exercise and the best workout for you, so you can direct your training towards being sustainable long term and deliver the best returns on weight loss, muscle building and increased energy and fitness levels.

Our Psychotherapist, Weight Loss Coach and Personal Trainer Jeff Laurence shares his perspective on how to train, based on the success he has had in his own health journey and the learnings he has had over the years helping others become fit and healthy as well.

Jeff covers:
- 3 benefits of working out for the body
- The 3 types of exercise that you can do at varying intensity levels.
- The best workout that you can do to reach your fitness and health goals.

This video will help you to understand how important it is to exercise with variety and consistency to in order to achieve your body transformation goals. It will also empower you to build a healthy relationship with movement that will benefit you both physically and mentally, helping you to find the energy, health and physique you are looking for.

Let's get into it...

So broadly there's three key aspects to think about when working on your body.
We're 1. building muscle, 2. gaining fitness and 3. losing fat.

So when you're building muscle you're actually breaking down the tissue getting micro-tears in the tissue and getting the body to heal that tissue afterwards is actually where you get gains. To build fitness you're getting the heart and lungs pumping and to burn fat it's just about using energy. Depending on how you train and what you do will determine how much muscle is rebuilt and how much fitness is gained and fat is lost.

So obviously 1. pure strength and bodybuilding workouts are going to be the ones where you build the most muscle and 2. pure cardio workouts are going to be the ones where you're going to build the most fitness and then you can do 3. functional workouts where you're kind of doing both and this is a good way to sort of upgrade your overall fitness on all of them. Your muscular fitness, your cardio fitness and your fat levels.

So the two different ways you would do it is either easy or intense.

The more you put into it the more you get out of it. That being true though people can kind of dismiss the value of just doing easy steady state stuff. Everything has its value.

For anyone to say 'oh this is the best and this is the way you should do it and everything else sucks' is just being ignorant.

The reality is everything has its place, everything has its value depending on you know where you're at with your training but also it all has different training effects as well. I don't think anything should be discounted, I think it's good to be fit and able to do everything. There's no good reason not to and again your body sometimes needs an easier pace and sometimes if you've been going hard it needs to be do some active recovery. It's always appropriate at some point, everything.

So this doesn't mean to not try and get results from workout to workout. You should try and get as much as you can out of every workout. But just not to have this this pressure and this need to get results for every single session that it needs to be the best one ever. This kind of thing is setting up a condition for you to run away from.

The best workout is... the one that you actually do. And then that begins to create some momentum and then you can carry that momentum through and then start to build even more on top of that.

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4 Reasons Why Exercise Helps Weight Loss

Sun, 16 May 2021 23:46:17 GMT

If exercise is less important than diet for weight loss, is there any point in working out when trying to lose weight? THE ANSWER IS YES! In today's blogpost we answer the most commonly asked questions on why should you exercise to lose weight so you can finally achieve the weight loss results you are looking for.

Even though fat loss is all about calories in calories out, exercise doesn't really burn that many calories - If you've ever done a burpee you'll know that it seems like quite a lot of energy, but it only burns about half a calorie - which means 100 burpees is only worth 50 calories and a banana is 100 calories.

This is not so great if you're trying to lose weight so you might be asking "What's the point of exercise if it's so much effort and not much return?" and that's a good question.

Today I'm going to go through four reasons that I believe are the main reasons why you want to focus on exercise for weight loss, or fat loss even.

Let's get into it...

1. Improves Energy Management

There's something about the combination of eating right and exercising. They work together in a way that really empowers the body to be more efficient with using energy and it works on a level that probably no one fully understands but it makes a big difference to be doing them both together well.

Let's not get too worried about how many calories that a particular workout actually is burning but let's focus on the fact that combined with good eating it makes a huge difference in energy and stress management that the body faces when under a low caloric intake.

2. Improves Metabolic Function

All of your body systems become more healthy and are being used in a way that's firing them up, making your body familiar with how to use them. Reminding your body they need to be efficient.

All of your systems like your digestive system, your endocrine system, your cardiovascular system - all these things add to the process of building muscle and losing fat. When these body systems are working well all of your weight loss efforts are going to be empowered.

3. Increases Basal Metabolic Rate

The more muscle you have versus fat the higher that your basal metabolic rate is.

Your Basal Metabolic Rate is how many calories you burn in a day just by doing nothing, just keeping 'this machine' (aka your body) on burns a certain amount of calories. Your eyes blinking, your heart beating and even digesting food all that requires energy (calories).

But muscle is active tissue and it requires energy to be used to activate it whereas fat is lazy it just sits there weighing you down.

You can see how the particular workout you've done and how many calories were burned in that workout is secondary in the big picture to things. If you're burning 100 calories more per day for the next year because of have a greater amount of muscle that adds up a lot of extra calories you can enjoy and it may be more than that depending on how much muscle you build and how efficient your systems are based on all the training you've been doing.

But this is about improving the metabolic functions and that's again hard to measure but absolutely true and makes a massive difference over time.

4. The Overall Improvement In Wellness And Health

The fourth reason I'm going to promote exercise for is actually the improvement in well-being and feeling great that you get from feeling strong and confident and healthy and how much that motivates you to do more in your everyday life. To get out there and play with your kids or get out there with your friends or just genuinely be more motivated to achieve your full potential.

All those things are again very hard to measure but over the course of a week, a month, a year how much more calories are you burning as you engage more with life based on the extra wellness that you have that uses more energy yes.

This is not a short-term idea - This is based on when you're doing these things consistently how much of a difference that makes in your life and that's much greater than how many calories you burn.

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The Facts On Fat Loss & How To Burn It

Mon, 03 May 2021 00:11:44 GMT

With all the misleading messages out there on how to lose weight fast and the best fat burning diets, we clear up all the confusion with today's post so you can learn why you're not losing fat and how you can achieve the body transformation you desire.

Our Psychotherapist, Weight Loss Coach and Personal Trainer Jeff Laurence shares the 4 fat loss mistakes that he is constantly correcting people on so they are clear on the best way to reduce fat and how to get shredded.

Jeff also shares a tried and trusted fat loss tips that will move you to burn fat fast and achieve consistent fat loss results.

We'll cover:
- The weight difference between fat and muscle and how this affects weight loss outcomes on the scale.
- How fast is too fast when losing weight? How to know if fluid or muscle loss is influencing your results.
- Explanation of the calorie deficit approach to weight loss and how you can execute a healthy approach to weight loss
- Where the Weight Loss industry disguises 'weight loss' with muscle or fluid loss which is detrimental to your healthy weight management efforts and maintaining your fat loss results.

Let's get into it!

Starting with the 4 main misconceptions of fat loss that I'm always being asked about.

1. How Can I Turn Fat Into Muscle?

What's critical to understand is the fact that muscle and fat are two separate things that we're working on here.

If you've ever heard someone say turning fat into muscle, that doesn't really happen, it's that you build muscle and you lose fat. Those two things happen separately.

2. How Can I Lose Fat In A Certain Area?

You can't spot reduce fat, fat just comes off wherever it comes off. You can't choose which body parts to lose the fat from.

So if you want to lose five kilos from your belly you might have to lose 10 kilos and then those five just come off when they do.

So you just got to keep losing that fat to get it to come off where you want it to come off.

Obviously with muscle gain that is a spot specific thing so unlike the fat you can choose where you want to build those muscles depending on what muscle you work out.

3. How Fast Can I Lose Fat?

To lose fat it's actually a matter of calories in and calories out

So if you consume 2,000 calories a day but you only burn 1,500 then that extra 500 calories are going to go into your fat stores stored away for later. But then if you burn 1500 and you only eat 1,000, then those 500 are going to come from those stores and then every day really when you think about it is a new opportunity to not eat more than you burn.

So if you're actually maintaining your hydration levels and you're maintaining your muscle or growing it but you're just losing fat it's gonna happen pretty slowly. You actually can't lose that much fat that fast.

There's 7, 700 calories in one kilo of fat.

When you look at someone's normal diet the truth is they have to be in roughly a 1,000 calorie deficit every day, or more than that, to lose a kilo in a week. And so anyone who's losing more than a kilo in a week my first assumption is well you've lost muscle or it's some fluid fluctuations because most people are not in a thousand calorie deficit a day.

4. I'm Eating Well And Training Hard - Why Aren't I Losing Weight?

One thing that's important to realize is actually the weight of muscle versus fat and just if you have a look at this image here you'll notice how much of a difference there is between the weight of both of them.

The industry kind of uses that term "lose weight" and of course stepping on scale makes us think weight equals fat but it doesn't.

Weight fluctuations mostly come from fluid from day to day but then if you lost 5lb of fat and gained 5lb of muscle you'd look pretty different but you weigh exactly the same so that's something to keep in mind.

So on that point we're going to be talking next week about how muscle and exercise in general actually works to burn fat so if you want to stay notified about that subscribe and hit the notifications bell so you're the first to know about that.

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Start Exercising With 1 Simple Shift

Mon, 26 Apr 2021 02:47:58 GMT

If you've stopped training and have been struggling to restart with training and getting back into a workout routine then today's blog is exactly what you need to hear - the secret to getting back on track with your training.

Start exercising again with 1 simple, foolproof strategy that will help you build a training routine that you can stick to, one that you won't want to quit.

'Falling off the wagon' is simply an opportunity to reconfigure your training program to include much more engagement and fun to prevent you from relapsing again and ultimately helping you to achieve your weight loss and fitness goals.

Today's blog covers:
- How to look at 'falling off the wagon' with training in a positive way (growth mindset) and how to build your own workout motivation
- The importance of not putting too much internal pressure on your workout routine as this will make it difficult, uninspiring and likely to cause exercise burnout
- One simple strategy to rebuild your workout routine in an engaging, fun and rewarding way that you won't get tired or bored with. He takes the negative pressure off your training and empowers you to build your own interest and ability in achieving results that you can keep.

This MUST WATCH video (and blog) will help you to finally build a workout routine that you can stick to, which will improve your health, increase your fitness and help you to achieve your body transformation RESULTS that you can maintain.

Let's get into it.

You can't get a positive result with negative energy

Putting too much pressure on what you're doing, it just kills it.

You're trying to achieve something amazing for yourself, you're trying to improve your life BUT you're just dragging your arse through the whole thing. You're not going to keep that up.

To make sure that this process happens the solution here is to experiment and play with the process. Just slow down and choose something that's appropriate for where you are now and what I mean by that is to have something that's not creating any tension inside of you.

Don't put yourself under too much tension

I was working with a lady recently, and I was talking about this idea of choosing something that doesn't cause any tension inside of you, no matter how little that is. And I said to her okay what about 10 push-ups once a week? It seems a bit silly but at the end of the day for someone to say I don't have time to do that we all know they're taking the piss, everyone's got time for 10 push-ups once a week.

So that causes no tension. Will I be able to keep it up? Yes you can keep that up.

So she wanted to do something every day and I said okay so 10 push-ups, 10 squats, 10 sit-ups every day that's it. That's it. Does that cause any tension inside of you? And she said no, no I have no trouble with the idea of doing that.

But then asks is it effective enough? Well, what does effective mean?
We're saying it's effective to to be able to start to get some momentum that's effective , so damn the results that you may or may not get. This is not about that yet, it's about starting to build a routine and build an identity and belief in the fact that you can do it.

And then I said to her okay what about 20 reps, do you think that you could keep that up?

And she was like no that causes tension and even she even said like it sounds silly but it does, I don't feel right about that and I was like sweet. All good.

That's where you need to start now. And you know what, by the end of that the week by the end of the fortnight she's going to still be doing it. She's not gonna do that for six months and just be like yup this is all I can do. When you've been doing it for long enough you're ready to do more.

And when you're ready to do more, do more. If you're not ready don't worry there's no rush and that's what we do we play with it.

Where is your point of tension? Where can you start?

So now, ask yourself - What am I ready to do? Try something and stick with it. Later on, you can add more on and then you can try something else and you add it on and then you just go with what feels right to you at the time. This is the best way to build a long term exercise plan that you can stick to.

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How To Win The Mental Game Of Losing Weight

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 23:56:51 GMT

Sticking to a diet is a mental battlefield. In today's post we're going to talk about how NOT to screw up your diet or your training or any other aspect of the weight loss journey. I will take you through one simple mindset strategy for weight loss success so you can overcome the mental obstacles and consistently make the right decisions to give you the weight loss results you are looking for.

Our Psychotherapist, Weight Loss Coach and Personal Trainer Jeff Laurence shares insights on the TRAPS our mind creates to throw us off our diet with solutions and tips on what to watch out for so we can overcome these diet obstacles, stick to the diet and finally talk ourselves into successfully losing weight.

We'll cover:
- Common distortions of the mind that derail our diet efforts and screw up your diet success - A simple solution to overcoming the traps that your mind creates so you can stop screwing up your diet and start winning the weight loss game
- 3 commonly distorted behaviours that you need to know so you can be powerfully prepared to stay on track with your diet and get the weight loss results you deserve

Let's get into it:

You give yourself that permission to ease up a little, to do only that little bit less.
I'd be okay with a little bit less results, I'm doing so well right now.
Give it an inch and then it takes a mile.

What I want to do is give you one simple solution and then go through three key things that are commonly distorted but if understood properly they can be utilized as powerful tools to keep us on track.

introducing the traps of the mind

To get the gratification of the problem behavior the mind finds a way to make it okay.

This happens a lot with training and eating as well, where it's just like there's a high element of self-deception.

It's always framed in a way that's like 'you deserve this' and 'there's a program out there that's the perfect program that's going to inspire me and keep me going and keep me getting results' and then we keep searching for that one program and as soon as it gets a little bit hard 'oh well the program must be wrong' or the other one is 'it shouldn't be so hard'. Look why shouldn't it be that hard?

We're living in fantasyland here if you can just eat chocolate and you should be allowed to.

But ultimately that is all just distortion.

The challenge is what it is.

The amount of work and the difficulty of it is what it is and letting yourself be victimized by any of that stuff is just fighting reality and it just doesn't lead to consistency it doesn't lead to staying engaged with it.

Every time you sort of flick back and start trying to justify why you're not doing something, cut that out that's not helping.

Because it is what it is and we're just gonna just get to work.

How to overcome the distortions

So this is the solution here is to accept the challenge and see it as a journey where we're learning and growing and applying ourselves and seeing things accurately so that we don't buy into the distortions.

And understand where they are and where you're gonna typically find yourself lying to yourself.

If we know what those challenges are, if we know what those distortions are and we know we can say 'I'm not going to buy into that one'. You know that they're going to come up when you see it coming then it doesn't have the same power because you don't buy into it it's like 'yeah okay I know that one, I know that little trick'.

You know when you get tired you start saying 'oh it's okay you deserve it'. Wanting some comfort food. You see it coming from a mile away and you say 'don't try and give me that one again I know that is not where I'm heading that's not where I want to go'.

This is difficult to the degree that you buy into the BS it really is.

It only has the power that you give it, really it only has that. And the more that you think 'yeah I think I do believe that, I think I do deserve it', it's like then you're giving your power away. You're making it harder.

Look enjoying eating too much from time to time is not a sin but that's enough, don't justify it, because then you're giving it power.

three commonly distorted derailments

So now we're going to go through the three commonly distorted things that throw us off track.

1. Change your relationship with the scale.

That one is important. I know there are some programs out there that say don't look at the scale and it messes with your mind, it's a horrible thing and just look away from it.

But I think it's not about running away from these things, I mean most of the time when someone says to me that they've come in to want to make a change - what was the turning point? A lot of the time it's that they looked at the scale and thought 'oh I really have to change'. That was the trigger. It has a lot of power. There's something that's really really positively powerful in how it can be, to just go don't look at it, don't look at it. It's not about not looking at these things it's about looking at them right, looking at them in a way that helps you know.

I'm saying look at it and go and then make a big drama about what it is.
Just look at it and say 'yeah that is it, it is what it is. What is it telling me? What do I need to shift here?' It's feedback.

Changing the way you think about it not not thinking about it that's never a good idea. We can't change something if you're not thinking about it, you're not paying attention to it. And there's a lot more I could say about how to do that and I'll go into that in a separate video but that's very important to do that.

2. Changing your relationship with your goals

I think the word goal sets up kind of a pass fail thing, it has a little bit of pressure attached to it.

Instead I like to think of them as directions and intentions.

This is where I'm heading, this is where I'm going, this is what I want to create in my life.

There's no timeline on this, there's no deadline. And you can say I'd like to achieve this around this sort of time because there's no pressure you don't have to do it by any particular point.

When there's pressure these distortions start to come in. Start to mess with them because we don't like to have pressure on us to 'oh you must do this by this point'. We want to run away from that stuff, so don't create an environment that you want to run away from and distort. That's no good.

3. Being aware of the motivational dip

There's been books written about this by Seth Godin and it is a very powerful piece to understand this thing called the motivational dip.

At the beginning of anything there's a lot of motivation there, there's a lot of energy. Yes I'm making this change and it's happening and then that's when it sort of leads to this all or nothing approach which you know in and of itself is a distortion and leads to just being burnt out by the whole process and that you want to run away from.

The important thing to understand with the dip is that after that initial phase there is, no one gets out of it, it happens within sort of the first three months usually but it could be more could be less but the point is at some point YOUR MOTIVATION will go down.

It's not a matter of whether hopefully it won't and if I get enough results then it'll just keep going. No it won't there will be a dip right. And then in that dip - how you pull yourself out of that? -> that is everything.

And then the thing is this doesn't just happen once, this happens consistently. Consistently you will fall off the motivational peak. You have to be conscious enough to know that that will happen and when it happens how do you pull yourself out of it? You've got to be prepared for that and that whenever you hit a dip action plan out of the dip.

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How to overcome EXCUSES to workout

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 06:58:04 GMT

Trying to overcome workout excuses that make us skip our workouts affects us all.

Whether you are an Athlete, Gym Enthusiast or total Fitness Beginner, the chaos of life will give you plenty of reasons why to miss your workout and give up on training.

Today we're here to talk about how to stop making excuses for working out and we delve into 3 strategies on how to stop making excuses to miss your workouts so you stop skipping training sessions and you get the weight loss and body transformation results you deserve.

Let's get straight into it:

1. Stop Blaming External Circumstances

There are always things going on in life. There is always some party coming up, the kids are sick or work is busy. Always that kind of thing going on.

We've all got little time, everyone's busy, everyone's got it hard - so having that be the reason why we don't do anything means you'll never do anything.

The reality is there's always things in life that you can change some things you can't, but the truth is there's a lot more that you can change than we typically think.

I think we were sort of taught in this culture that you know if the outside world would only be a certain way then I could get things going on. But the truth is the world is as it is and it's not going to change anytime soon. Life is becoming more and more chaotic as we go on so we're going to have to learn to rise to that occasion and handle the chaos, the external circumstances that are going to change and they'll probably worse at some point compared to whatever they are now.

What are you going to do just quit? No we can't do that, that's not going to get you long-term results and letting go of your health goals and everything that's making you feel fit, strong and confident is not going to help you show up better in those circumstances.

You can always just take on a new perspective and just start moving forward. That's a big part of what we're going to get into throughout our journey here on this channel and anything else we've got how to take control of the things that we can in our lives very empowering process.

2. Keep The Momentum Going

Sometimes you're just not going to want to do it. It's going to be hard and the last thing you want to do but you do it anyway, and that doesn't mean flog yourself and destroy yourself and you have to do it so hard all the time, it just means you do something.

You have the power to make some change somewhere, absolutely. Even if it's the tiniest little bit.

A key solution that I've found makes a big difference is to choose something have sort of what they call a 'Minimum Effective Dose'. Something that you're going to be able to do even under high stress situations. And as we take control of one tiny little thing it starts to grow and we can nurture that change in behaviour and grow it. Then you're actually getting the results you want and this is how it can really last.

3. The Harder It Is The More You Get Out Of It

They say that sometimes the workout that you don't want to do is the most important one because it builds your discipline and commitment. It's just something that happens on the inside. When you do it even when you don't want to the commitment becomes stronger.

Everyone seems pretty comfortable with the idea that the harder you work out the more you get out of it - you've got the Olympic athletes and bodybuilders - the harder the workout is, the bigger, stronger and fitter they get. That's what's like on the inside too. The internal struggles that we go through, the harder it is the more you get out of it. And I think as long as you are connected to that then the suffering has a purpose and it has something that is inspiring in it even though it sucks and sometimes it does.

Think to yourself: "It's making me stronger I was feeling weak and down but I'm doing it anyway" and then you come out the other end of that with a sense of confidence and pride.

The more pride that you have for how hard you worked to get through it and how you did it even though you didn't want to really empowers the process.

Really a key to be consistent is to do it even when you don't want to do it because then you've got that commitment and that discipline growing. The harder that it was for you to do, the easier it's going to be for you to do next time because you know last time that sucked but ... now this is easy.

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EXPERT PERSONAL TRAINERS IN BELLA VISTA & BLACKTOWN - Blog

Does Weight Loss Change Your Personality?

Does Weight Loss Change Your Personality? My Honest Take

people told me you've changed after weight loss

​Why personality has to shift for permanent weight loss

​From the "fat and happy clown" to a more serious self

​Why trying to go back never worked

​How weight loss changes relationships and daily life

​Why I now take you've changed as a compliment

The change is for the better

Change was always part of the point​

The Most Important Skill For Weight Loss

Quick Answer:

The Most Important Skill For Weight Loss

​Why you should listen to me about weight loss

​Falling off track is normal, not failure

​Momentum matters more than discipline

faqs

What is the most important skill for lifelong weight loss?

Why doesn’t discipline work for long-term weight loss?

How do you maintain momentum when life gets in the way?

What should you do differently when getting back on track?

How do you measure success over a lifetime?

​How I stay in the game for the long term

The skill that changes everything

Are You Being Hypnotized Without Realising It?

How Hypnosis Works & How to Take Back Control

How Does Hypnosis Actually Work?

What Does the Placebo Effect Teach Us About Hypnosis?

How to Know That I Am Being Hypnotized?

stay in the loop

If We’re Being Hypnotized, How Do We Stop It?

How Are Words and Ideas Used to Hypnotize Me?

Who Has Control of Your Hypnosis?

How to Choose Which Ideas Hypnotize You

How Do You Take Control of Your Trance?

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Are Cheat Meals Good Or Bad For Your Diet?

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3 Types Of Exercise & The Best Workout For You

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4 Reasons Why Exercise Helps Weight Loss

stay up to date

The Facts On Fat Loss & How To Burn It

stay up to date

Start Exercising With 1 Simple Shift

stay up to date

How To Win The Mental Game Of Losing Weight

introducing the traps of the mind

How to overcome the distortions

three commonly distorted derailments

stay up to date

How to overcome EXCUSES to workout

stay up to date

Why personality has to shift for permanent weight loss

From the "fat and happy clown" to a more serious self

Why trying to go back never worked

How weight loss changes relationships and daily life

Why I now take you've changed as a compliment

Change was always part of the point

Why you should listen to me about weight loss

Falling off track is normal, not failure

Momentum matters more than discipline

How I stay in the game for the long term