Diane65 has been telling me earlier in this thread that I should be a motivator, and I think its because, you will al be happy to know, that I am extremely unqualified with tremendously extensive experience of not being lean for nearly 20 years. Now that I have gained your utmost confidence in my credentials, lets roll it 
This book is quite an extensive read I have to say. Its about 350 pages of pure text and no pictures. There is so much information to digest, that at times I do lose a bit of patience. But it does all come together in the end by which you will have a clear idea of your nutritious diet, your eating schedules, your exercise program, how you monitor your progress, make adjustments to your diet and exercises appropriately, and setting your goals.
The next chapter focuses on that last item, setting your goals. I can hear JMD1983 saying, well thats obvious! I thought that too. And it is obvious. Set our goal. Right, um, I wanna lose weight and have a body to die for come July. So lets move onto chapter 2, which is on page...hold on, why the hell is chapter 1, which is just about setting your goals, 21 pages long!?!
Having read it, I know why. You're all probably wondering why I am so, er..unchristmassy? Its because of this blasted chapter. Its trained my mind to focus on my goals at least TWICE A DAY! It even has me writing it down on post it notes on my desk, and on my fridge. If I was secretly filmed alone in my bedroom in front of a mirror, and it was released on Youtube, you would see me getting millions of hit as I talk loudly to my self saying things like "Damn you look good" "So you're a badminton champ now, huh, nice trophy" "Wow, great abs" "She is soo going to want to go out with me.."...alright that's too much detail.
I mean that is what this chapter has me doing and its my mantra. End of the chapter, it says put the book down and write down you goals, and visualise your achieving them. It could be to fit into a size 26 jeans, or a dress. It could be for a wedding like Large Marge's previous goals. But it also tells me to write down the intermediate goals too. Have these written goals with you every day. And repeat them constantly to yourself as if it was your daily prayers.
The goals must always be in the positive. Ie. "I am going to look great for my Son's wedding and always will" is an example of a positive goal. A negative goal would be something like "I dont want to be this weight because I look terrible and my doctor says I will have heart conditions". Turn that into "I am going to lose 5 stone. I am going to be so healthy that I'll be able take part in charity runs"...thats the gist of it.
It explains through some scientific experiments with groups of athletes that the power of focusing on their achievements together with training, achieved better results than another group that just trained but did not go through the positive mindset rituals.
Look at all of us on this thread for the last 2 pages. Go on read them again. Notice how many of us are blaming Christmas for setting us back. We all have the tendency to blame our failures on either the environment, circumstances, or events. This chapter obliterates that mentality. Why we need this is because our subconscious mind looks for the easy way out. It needs to be trained, VIGOROUSLY. The chapter lays out an 11 step formula (apparently the most powerful formula in the world, derived by top psychiatrists)
The biggest chunk of the chapter elaborates on this formula. But I'll just list the summary here.
1, Set specific goals
2. set measurable goals (ie body fat measurements, either Bio Impedance scales or Caliper skinfold measurments, very important. This is what I do, I have an Omiron scales and have just b*ght the skinfold caliper on Amazon, waiting for it to arrive. I record my weight every day and my body fat weekly. Also I really recommend a heart rate monitor to train via your heart rate, so much easier to progress your cardio with this.)
3. Set Big goals
4. Set realistic deadlines (remember, it is unhealthy to lose more than 2lbs a week, as anything more than that would likely be body water or even worse, your muscle)
5. Set Long term and short term goals ( from ultimate goal, to 3 month goals to monthly, to weekly targets)
6. Establish the emotional reason why you want to achieve those goals (be passionate about your goals, why you want to achieve them)
7. Make sure your goals are not conflicting. Put all your attention on the number one Goal.
8. Write out an extensive goal list in the form of affirmations.
9. Read your affirmations at least twice a day and always keep them "in front of you" and "on your mind"
10. Read your goals with faith
11. As you read your affirmations, visualise them mentally as if already achieved. (Oh, so it didnt say look in the mirror and make an ass of myself, hmm..just visualise in the mind, right, check)
Like I said, this was one long ass chapter but the result is, I am focussed on achieving my goals come what may. I will, not may, will, come across obstacles that will try to throw me of course. Life is like that, as we all know. But with my newly found will power and passion to achieve my goals, this will help me find a way around those obstacles. Xmas is certainly an obstacle for all of us. But with passion and focus, you can navigate those obstacles. There are times during our exercise where we might feel we cant do more, or just plain give up! By visualising these goals, we can power through our momentary doubts, uncertainties, and weak lapses.
I think tomorrow, I am going to jump around different topics from the book as I want to cover some cool stuff like interval training (anyone tried this with their cardio?)...all I can say its a must. I've been doing interval training for over a week now and can already feel its fat burning effects. I really really recommend you get yourself a heart rate monitor though. Maybe gift one to yourself for xmas
