The very first thing to do when you want to lose weight

For years I’ve struggled with my exercise and diet, beating my head against the wall and frustrated at the lack of results I was getting.

After years of study and practice, I uncovered the brick sitting on the brakes of my results. Go through the list below and see if any of these ring a bell.

• I’m too tired to exercise
• I’ll start my diet officially next week
• Not today, I had a bad day at work
• I'll exercise after this
• I just need to unwind first

Do you find yourself having such thoughts?

Are you putting off exercise and diet?

If so, you're in the same situation I was stuck in for years. Let me share with you how I finally beat this and became lean.

Why do we procrastinate?

• Why is it so hard to get results, when others seem to breeze by?
• Why do we keep making excuses and never seem to launch into our plans?

Those are the two questions that will reveal what we need to do to succeed. What you will find is that daily fatigue and tiredness is the main culprit. It's the main reason we put things off and don't succeed.

Checklist to see if tiredness is a problem

• Feeling hungrier than normal
• Cravings for sweets and junk foods
• Eating too much of the wrong foods
• Wanting to just ‘rest’ and do it later
• Staying up and engaging in "just 5 minutes more"
• Procrastinating and putting things off

If you got more than 2 on the checklist, then tiredness is likely a problem and progress will be very difficult, unless you follow the protocol below.

The Flip Side: Energy

• Imagine if you suddenly became an energetic person.
• Imagine all those excuses and reasons you give yourself have disappeared.
• Imagine how easy it will be to take control of your life and achieve your goals

Notice how when you become energetic, you automatically engage in the activities that get you results. You eat healthier, exercise more, and do all the important things that get you results. This is also the secret all healthy and successful people share.

• With energy, you can achieve almost anything..
• With out energy, even the simple task of making a sandwich or going for a walk feels hard.

But can you become energetic?

Many people wonder, like I used to, if its even possible to become an energetic person.

The answer is: of course.

The breakthrough concept that I discovered is that we all are Energetic at times and Tired at times. Energetic people simply are energetic more often than tired people.

So an energetic person would be energetic for 75% of the day
While a tired person would be energetic only for 25% of the day.

All you have to do is increase things that give you energy and decrease things that drain your energy. Do that until you have above 50% energy, and you can join the ranks of energetic individuals!

The Simple Change

So how do you go about getting rid of tiredness and becoming energetic? Here's the most important change you will want to make:

To gain and energy and reduce sleep you need to Improve the quality and consistency of your sleep. And the most critical step to do so is by having a fixed bed time.

How to improve your sleep

1) Find your Wake Up Time

What time do you need to wake up?

Take your wake up time and subtract 8 hours.

That's your optimal Bed Time. Write it down.

2) Set your Electronics Cut-Off

Next, you need an electronics cut-off time.

Start with 30 to 60 minutes before bed.

When is your electronic cut-off time going to be? Write it down on a sticky note.

3) Set an alarm

Set the time in stone by creating nightly alarm or reminder for the electronics cut-off time with a message like “Healthy People Sleep Well”

4) Make it a habit

When you catch yourself falling off, and going to bed late, just keep going back to it. Every time you get back on your horse, you will strengthen the habit, and after about 21 it will fully lock-in

Time to get serious

If you’re serious about losing fat, being healthy and achieving your goals then you must create this new habit. Out of the dozens of habits I’ve personally created in my life, this is the most important. It has brought me more results in more areas than you can imagine.

Read our Sleep Guide if you want to completely optimize your sleep.

Have you tried following a bed time routine before? What results have you had?

Please share in the comments.