Without a doubt, the best part is celebrating our victories at the end of the week. If you’re looking for a dose of inspiration take a moment to read this post, the comments, and Celebrate Your Fat Loss Victories

It’s time for my check in…

Scott’s Long Term Goal: Ripped 6 pack abs by April 1st

I achieved all my goals from yesterday thanks to a little butt kicking from Vania. When we went out for sushie I stopped eating prior to feeling full which was a great victory for me. I got close to the full mark but did not over eat… wooo hooo!

Scott’s Daily Action Steps: Eat ‘clean’ and listen to my body so I don’t eat beyond 85% satisfaction with my fullness. Create notes so I don’t forget to do my deep breathing exercises. Do a 10 minute quickie workout from the Unstoppable Fat Loss System and ride the bike for 20 minutes. I play hockey tonight… but that’s nothing that I need to be held accountable to… I definitely won’t miss that.

Next on my list of goals will be to incorporate more stretching into my day.

You can help me by continuing to lay it into me if I don’t follow through with a goal and a little pat on the back is nice too

So how about you? What’s your long term goal? Did you check off all your daily action steps from yesterday? What are your goals for the day? How can we best help you?

ATTENTION!!!

Vicki, please tell me that you’re not going to eat a hot dog today :p The chili should be fine… I love me some chili

Marylin I want to see those measurements!

Vania did you fill in your diary today? Your journey is definitely worth documenting. I can’t wait to read about all your successes this week and celebrate with you.

You all ROCK! Thanks a million for your friendship. It’s priceless to me.

Keeping It Real,

Scott Tousignant

Scott’s Long Term Goal: Ripped 6 pack abs by April 1st

I followed through with everything yesterday except the deep breathing. I totally can’t believe that I forgot. I guess it’s still not a habit because it really is easy to do and doesn’t take much time. I just forget.

Scott’s Daily Action Steps: At this point I’ve already followed through with most of my goals. I’ve done a quick home workout from the Unstoppable Fat Loss System and I did some intervals on the stationary bike for 20 minutes. I’ve been eating extremely well today. We’re going out for sushi tonight and I plan on eating to satisfaction and not stuff myself. I promise not to forget to do the deep breathing exercises tonight.

I guess I could use a little hand slapping for not doing the deep breathing exercises yesterday :p

Now it’s your turn. Hold yourself publicly accountable to sticking with your daily action steps, which will bring you closer to achieving your ultimate fat loss goals.

Keeping It Real,

Scott Tousignant

If you haven’t listened to the amazing 18 minute interview that I did with Tom covering the topic of overcoming limiting beliefs, I recommend that you drop everything and pop it into your mp3 player now. You can download it by visiting Fat Loss Belief System with Tom Venuto and look for the audio player at the bottom of the page.

That is seriously one of the most powerful interviews that I’ve ever conducted, especially considering that it was only 18 minutes long. It’s all content with action steps that you can easily implement.

The thing that I love most about Tom is that he challenges you to grow as a person. Every post or email that I receive from him gets the wheels spinning in my head. His perspectives are always fresh and incredibly thought provoking.

If you want a taste of his style and are eager to put your thinking cap on, I encourage you to visit Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat Blog. It is without a doubt one of the greatest resources out there to help you become the best that you can be.

Here’s some thought provoking posts for you to check out…

Does Cold Weather Make You Store Body Fat?

A New Challenge For 2010: Goal Setting For A Decade

The Truth About Comfort Zones and “No Pain, No Gain”

“Steady State Cardio 5 X More Effective Than HIIT????”

Like I said, I think everyone can learn something valuable from the above posts and if you explore Tom’s Burn The Fat Blog even deeper you will find some very invaluable tips that have the potential to significantly impact your fat loss success.

Like me, Tom keeps it real. There’s no hidden agenda. He’s one of the good guys who is on your side. Rather than simply take a stance on a certain topic such as HIIT vs long duration cardio, or high carb vs low carb he will show you both sides of the debate and provide you with the right kind of information to help you form your own opinion. I told you that his blog posts and emails are thought provoking right???

I’ve personally been a subscriber of Tom’s newsletter for well over six years… maybe even seven. It was actually the first newsletter that I had ever subscribed to and his book Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle was the first ebook that I ever purchased. I often sit back and think of how grateful I am for whatever forces pulled me to Tom’s site that day.

BFFM is not a diet book for everyone. If you do not enjoy paying attention to the details or counting calories you will have a difficult time sticking with the program.

But here’s the kicker… I’d still recommend that you read Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle even if you aren’t going to count calories or stick to the program. Why? Because I want you to use it as an educational tool.

BFFM does a phenomenal job of educating you on the science of nutrition and even the science of diet. Even if you don’t plan on following BFFM you will get a lot out of the mindset component of the book as well as have a deeper insight into nutrition.

Investing in Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle for educational purposes rather than “Hoping that this is going to be the diet that finally helps you lose your stubborn belly fat” is a mindset shift in itself.

If you ever purchase another diet book again, I highly recommend that you take the approach of education instead of wishful thinking.

I’m keeping it real here folks! It’s really difficult for me to make this sound un-hyped because I’m one of Tom’s biggest fans and will be for life. He’s taught me more than I could have ever hoped for. Not just in terms of fat loss… but in life.

If you prefer hard cover books and you are looking for some great advice on how to stick to a diet or workout program, I highly recommend that you grab yourself a copy of Tom’s book The Body Fat Solution: Five Principles for Burning Fat, Building Lean Muscles, Ending Emotional Eating, and Maintaining Your Perfect Weight

You will not find any hype or gimmicks in this book. The Body Fat Solution has got to be one of the most refreshing approaches to fat loss out there.

And it’s pretty darn cool to see that Tom uses Angie and I as an example of the power of spousal support on page 207 of The Body Fat Solution.

Here’s a video review that I did for The Body Fat Solution last year when I received an autographed advance copy from Tom.

Last, but certainly not least… if you have been looking for an incredible support community full of amazing and caring people to cheer you on, as well as in depth articles and interviews on the most important topics in the area of fat loss, I recommend Tom’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle.

I’ve been busy listening to several of the interviews where Tom shares some rare gems that I haven’t heard many people discus before. I love his no B.S. approach and his total honesty and passion for helping others. I’ve got my mp3 player loaded up and looking forward to listening to more of Tom’s audios while I go out walking this week.

If you are already a follower and fan of Tom Venuto I would love to hear from you. Take a moment to share your thoughts and let us know the one thing that he has taught you that has made a positive impact on your fat loss and your life.

Have yourself an awesome day!

Keeping It Real,

Scott Tousignant

I’m sure that one of the thoughts that crossed your mind was, “What kind of liquid potion or magic pill is Scott going to try to sell me?” After all, releasing unwanted body fat takes plenty of hard work.

No worries… I’m not trying to sell you a hyped up miracle in a bottle. I’m trying to ’sell’ (not in the monetary way) you on an idea, an approach,… a concept that can have a dramatically positive impact on your life.

Yes, releasing unwanted body fat takes hard work and effort. But the approach that we will be sharing with you will help you effortlessly put in that effort during your workouts and preparing healthy meals.

This “Naturally Thin” approach will bring a great deal more joy to your fat loss journey and significantly reduce the instances of guilt that’s associated with not following a certain program to a ‘T’.

Note: This approach is not for everyone. If you are a hard core bodybuilder or someone who really enjoys getting down to all the fine details of nutrition and fitness and has no problem sticking to diets, this approach may not completely resonate with you. But at the same time, in a way, you are actually applying the principles that we will be discussing.

I’m sure that you are wondering, “What’s all this talk about living naturally thin?” Allow me to explain…

I recently contacted my friend Marna Thall (Some of you may know her by her maiden name of Goldstein). Marna is one of the motivational experts that I interviewed for the Unstoppable Fat Loss audios.

Marna’s website is called Thin Within and covers issues such as emotional eating while empowering you to live a life free from dieting. Marna’s website has recently received a makeover and is looking fantastic!

The reason that I contacted Marna was to unite with her in an effort to help spread this naturally thin approach as I believe that it’s an approach that you may be craving and an approach that will resonate with you.

Marna and I will be conducting regular podcasts to discus the naturally thin lifestyle and provide you with action steps that you can immediately implement into your day.

Our first podcast, which you can listen to and download by clicking on the audio player at the bottom of this post, is an introduction to the naturally thin lifestyle. The action step is to simply have an open mind as you begin to embrace this lifestyle.

Before you go thinking that I’m against dieting and counting calories, let me assure you that I’m not. Allow me to share my reasons for embracing this naturally thin lifestyle and uniting with Marna.

I have a bit of a natural body builder mindset in me. I think that’s what makes partnering with Marna so awesome because it’s like having two different worlds coming together.

I do believe that it’s a great practice to monitor and record your calories for two weeks so you can have a fairly accurate idea of how much you are consuming throughout an average week instead of just guessing. This is often an eye opener for many people, which is why I highly recommend going through the process.

After all, no matter if you are living the naturally thin lifestyle or following a diet program, calories do matter and it’s important that you have an awareness of your calorie surplus or deficit.

I believe that my background in health sciences as well as the application and education of a variety of diet programs has made it possible for me to embrace this naturally thin lifestyle.

First of all, I’m one of the 2% of the population who is able to stick with a diet program and follow through to the end. I’d say that my education in Sports Psychology has played a key role in this. I’m also among the small percentage of the population that gets a thrill out of manipulating calories and working out in an effort to sculpt my body and burn fat.

I have learned a lot by applying the information from a variety of diet books over the years. I think that’s key. To use diet books as an educational tool rather than viewing them as, “The solution that’s finally going to help you burn your stubborn belly fat.” This only leads to an “End all, be all” approach, which can be very unhealthy.

I have taken something from nearly every book that I’ve read. Even the most outrageous books have some sort of lesson in them.

I believe that it is important to educate yourself when it comes to nutrition and diet. I will continue to read new diet and nutrition books and explore different views and philosophies. I’m certain that there’s enough material out there to keep me busy reading for life.

I’m very open minded when it comes to nutrition. I respect the opinions and views of most nutrition philosophies even though I may not actually follow through with their recommendations. Some views just do not resonate with me while others are much too harsh. But they have their place for the right people and I can respect that.

I haven’t followed a ‘Diet Plan’ for the past two years. I’ve been following the naturally thin lifestyle without even realizing it. I now effortlessly eat well. I don’t need to read labels or count calories. All the years of applying the information that I’ve absorbed has made eating well become second nature to me.

I look at my wife Angie who is basically the living definition of a naturally thin lifestyle. Angie has followed only one diet program her entire life. That was a time when we created a fun little challenge for ourselves to get in tip top shape.

Other than that she lives naturally thin. She’s very active and she’s a mindful eater who listens to her body. She doesn’t restrict herself from eating some junk foods that she enjoys and she rarely over-indulges when she does eat junk food.

I wish that I had Angie’s control at times when it comes to just eating two cookies instead of the entire box. But I believe a big part of it is that she gives herself permission to treat herself daily because the majority of her day is made up of eating really well. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve heard Angie say, “I’m stuffed!” This is Angie’s “Way of Life”.

In my opinion this is what living naturally thin is all about. It’s a way of life and a mindset. This is what we will be discussing in our podcasts. How to create a naturally thin mindset to help you overcome issues such as overeating, binge eating, emotional eating in a natural and fun way.

I for one am really excited to be sharing this kind of information with you and I’m really looking forward to all the amazing conversations that I will be having with Marna during these podcasts.

Our podcasts are going to be kept under 20 minutes to make it easier for you to schedule them into your day. They will also be available for download so you can listen to them while you are being active instead of sitting at your computer.

Take a moment to download our first podcast to your mp3 player and go get active while listening to our introduction to living naturally thin.

When you finish listening to it come on back and share your thoughts with us. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Have an absolutely amazing day! Remember… today you are one step closer to achieving your fat loss and fitness goals.

Keeping It Real,

Scott Tousignant

If you haven’t celebrated your small victories from last week yet, please take a moment to do that now by visiting Fat Loss Successes Last Week

If you are unfamiliar with how we run our daily accountability here’s the details:

1) Share your long term goal
2) Let us know if you followed through with your daily action steps from yesterday
3) Let us know what your daily action steps are for today
4) Let us know if there is any way that we can help you.

As usual I will take the lead and have you follow up in the comment box below.

Scott’s Long Term Goal: Ripped 6 pack abs by April 1st

I had a great weekend and followed through with my daily action steps. I took the weekend off from training as planned and was active with my family. We had a lot of fun swimming yesterday among other things.

I ate really well all weekend long which is always a great victory worth celebrating. I satisfied my chocolate cravings on Saturday night with 6 Oreo cookies. This was planned and the rest of my day went well. Although there are still plenty more Oreo’s left I don’t feel the temptation for them right now. The deep breathing exercises have been going very well and are quickly becoming a habit as it’s a part of my day that I really enjoy.

Scott’s Daily Action Steps: Today I will do a 10 minute quickie workout and ride the stationary bike for 30 minutes. My toe is beginning to get better and I’m hoping to get back to some 10 minute body weight cardio by the end of the week. I will spend 10 minutes performing deep breathing exercises and practice mindful eating where I eat to satisfaction rather than over indulge. I will consume more fruits and veggies today as well.

Just knowing that you are reading this post is help enough for me. It’s been great accountability for me and I appreciate you checking in.

Now it’s your turn to hold yourself publicly accountable to achieving your daily action steps. Go for it!

Keeping It Real,

Scott Tousignant

This is something that we will be doing every Sunday here at the Unstoppable Fat Loss blog and I believe it’s one of the key ingredients of a successful fat loss program, which is often over looked and neglected.

Learn from the setback. Celebrate the fact that you are more prepared to handle this obstacle in the future. Continue your journey of self growth.

I chose this picture because I believe it’s a very suitable representation of a typical fat loss journey. There is no straight path for achieving your goals. Even when it may appear that you are ‘off track’ you are actually still “ON TRACK”.

Even though you may face obstacles that you have to go around and over, you can still reach your final destination. I believe that it’s these “DETOURS” that make this lifelong journey worth while.

An analogy would be a recent trip that Angie and I went on. We could have easily taken the straight forward route to our vacation spot and arrive there within 3 hours, but instead we decided to take the back roads and pass through small towns that we had heard of yet never took the time to pass through.

Although this added about 6 hours to our trip it was the most memorable and magical time spent during our vacation and now we have new destinations that we would love to visit in the future.

One thing that amazes me is how you can focus a great deal of attention on what you’ve done wrong, how you always seem to sabotage yourself, and how you’ll never achieve the body that you desire… yet you spend very little time acknowledging your achievements.

This is all about to change for you. The Unstoppable Fat Loss blog is now a place where you can voice your successes and give them room to flourish. Bring life to your journey.

I guarantee that your successes greatly outweigh your setbacks. It’s time to prove to yourself just how great you’ve been doing.

I’ll begin by celebrating my small victories and I look forward to sharing in your celebration in the comment box below.

Scott’s Small Victories This Week:

Well that certainly felt great. I really did have an awesome week now that I look back on my achievements.

Now it’s time for you to set aside some well deserved time to celebrate your victories and share them with us here. After you share your victories let me know how you feel afterward.

What a great way to wrap up the week and look forward to the incredible week ahead of us.

Keeping It Real,

Scott Tousignant

I’ve noticed that some of you have been slacking in reporting your daily action steps and letting us know if you are staying on track. Is it a time issue? Does it just slip your mind? Are you off track and afraid to share that with us? Is public accountability something that’s just too uncomfortable for you?

Scott’s Long Term Fat Loss Goal: Ripped 6 pack abs by April 1st

I followed through with all my goals yesterday and feel incredible for making this such a fantastic week. The accountability has been awesome. The hardest thing for me to remember is the deep breathing because it hasn’t become routine for me yet. I am really enjoying the 10 minutes when I practice deep breathing exercises so I’m sure it’s going to become a new positive habit soon.

There was about 10 minutes yesterday when I was really craving chocolate. We were picking out a movie to bring home and watch with the kids and I thought it would be a great treat. Then Angie mentioned that we would be popping popcorn and sprinkling a new white cheddar powder on it. It’s one of the healthiest powders that I’ve seen.

Well that was enough to make me forget about the chocolate bar and the cravings quickly disappeared. That felt great!

Scott’s Daily Action Steps: I take the weekends off from exercise. The weekends are times to be really active with the family and I’ll probably go for a walk with Angie. I will continue to eat smart this weekend. Right now I’m not craving any junk but I think I will treat myself to a chocolate bar tonight. I’ll also do my deep breathing exercises before I go to bed.

So, what’s your long term goal? Did you follow through with your daily action steps yesterday? What are your daily action steps today? How can we help?

Let’s make it a ROCK’n day!

Keeping It Real,

Scott Tousignant

Scott’s Long Term Goal: Ripped 6 pack abs by April 1st 2010

I met all of my daily action steps yesterday. Yee Haw!!! I avoided all the temptations at the hockey game and allowed myself to have a few of Shayne’s nachos dipped in cheese.

When it comes to nutrition I’m definitely not striving for perfection. I’m not following a diet at all. I’m following a much more natural approach that I will be discussing in future blog posts. It’s an approach that has really resonated well with me and it’s the approach that Angie has been following all her life.

Yes I even did my deep breathing exercises!

I’m posting this a little late in the day and have already met most of my goals. I have completed a quickie workout and 20 minutes on the stationary bike. My toe is starting to feel a bit better and the swelling is going down a bit.

I’ve been eating very well today and my main nutrition goal is to focus on eating to the point of satisfaction rather than wait until I feel full. As usual I prefer to eat as little man made food as possible.

Keep holding me accountable to meeting my daily goals. It’s really had a big impact on my week.

So let me know what your long term goal is. Follow it up by letting me know if you met your daily action steps from yesterday. Next share today’s action steps and let us know if there’s anything we can do to help you.

Get ready for an awesome weekend!

Keeping It Real,

Scott Tousignant

If you don’t know the drill here it is; First state your long term goal so you are reminded of what you are aiming for. Next let us know if you achieved your daily goals from yesterday. Follow that up with what you want to achieve today. And then let us know if there’s anything that we can do to help you in your journey.

Scott’s Long Term Goal: Ripped 6 pack abs by April 1st

I followed through with all of my daily goals from yesterday and am extremely proud of myself for doing so. The most important one was avoiding the beer in the dressing room after my hockey game last night.

For the past few years I’ve been the only one in the dressing room who didn’t drink beer after hockey. I was very proud of that fact and didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. For some reason this year I decided to “Live a Little” as some people say. (That’s a post for another day). This season it’s been common for me to have 3-5 beers after a game like everyone else. Well it certainly took a toll on me. My body does not handle alcohol very well at all. It makes it way too easy for me to store fat and incredibly difficult to put on muscle. I’d say it has a pretty big impact on my testosterone.

Anyhow, I made a good step last week by only having one after the game and last night I didn’t have any at all. I feel great about that. It wasn’t easy considering that I blocked a shot with the toe of my skate causing it to crack, cave in, and jam my big toe and a few others. I’m in a great deal of pain today and find it difficult to walk. If there ever was a night where I wanted to ‘numb the pain’ with beer, it was last night.

I’m sure glad that I didn’t go that route and obviously it’s not necessary. I came home, iced it, and cuddled on the couch with Angie instead. You know how us guys are… we’re big sucks So Ang had to deal with my pitty party

I can’t believe that I nearly forgot to follow through with another one of my goals which was the deep breathing exercises. I forgot it on Tuesday and was set and determined not to forget yesterday. The plan was to do it before bed. Well with the throbbing foot I got distracted.

I was laying in bed and thinking about today’s post and the people who didn’t check in yesterday and was thinking of how proud I was of myself for achieving my goals for the day when I remembered that I had forgot to do the breathing exercises.

That’s when Marylin’s voice popped in my head. She called me out yesterday because I didn’t follow through with that goal and she knows how important it is to me. I wasn’t going to let that happen again.

So I spent the next 10 minutes relaxing and doing the deep breathing exercises. It took my mind off my foot and really relaxed me. It’s amazing how you can actually feel the oxygen rush go to your brain when you perform exercises like this and you are very relaxed.

I believe that most of us are shallow breathers and don’t realize the impact that this has on our body. That’s why it’s such a big part of my long term goals this year and beyond.

My experience last night demonstrates the power of accountability. I could actually visualize what Marylin would write to me today and I really didn’t want to get called out two days in a row for not achieving one of my daily goals.

Take advantage of this opportunity no matter how uncomfortable it may seem to share your goals publicly. We’re here to support you in this ongoing journey of health and fitness. Together we can all achieve incredible things.

It’s time for you to check in. What’s been going on with you? Are you achieving your daily goals? What are you focused on achieving today? How can we best help you in your journey? Take the time to share your answers in the comment box below and experience the power of public accountability.

Keeping It Real,

Scott Tousignant

Scott’s long term goal: Ripped 6 pack abs by April 1st (no joke)

I reached all my daily goals yesterday except for taking the 10 minutes to relax and focus on taking deep breaths. I can’t believe that I actually forgot to do that. I should have read my daily goals before I went to bed.

Scott’s goals for the day: I’ll be riding the stationary bike while on a conference call and I will follow that up with a 10 minute quickie workout.

Once again I will focus on natural foods, but my biggest nutrition goal is to not have any beer after my hockey game tonight. I got into a bad habit with that this season and it’s time to eliminate it and replace it with a better habit.

Hold me accountable to these goals and give me heck for not following through with my daily goal from yesterday of focusing on deep relaxing breaths.

OK, now it’s your turn!

Linett, how was your fitness class? Did you drink 5 glasses of water?

Meredith, did you stay off the computer after 3pm? Did you make it to the store to buy healthy breakfast and snack foods?

Cat, did you follow the eating plan? Did you start your food journal?

Vicki, did you stick with the nutrition plan? Did you manage stress better?

Marylin, did you stick to your eating? Did you take care of all 4 mini workouts? Did you drink 4 liters of water? Did you go to bed on time? Did you do yoga/meditation before bed and have a restful sleep?

Marc, did you stay under 1800 calories? Did you run yesterday?

Pattie, did you strength training in the am, run for 45-60 minutes, follow the food guide, use a food journal, call your ‘health coach’ to sign in, and weigh in for the BL?

Vania, did you Exercise drink 8 glasses of water, have 4 or 5 healthy meals, keep your nutrition in accordance to your goals, keep a calorie deficit whether it be by eating less or exercising more, prepare foods in advance, get up at 6 am, and write down all your progress in your diary?

Gail, did you add 40 minutes of cardio after each weight session, walk 60 minutes along the foreshore in the evening, not consume alcohol, consume between 1000-1200 calories, drink 3 litres of water, do the 100 squat challenge?

Jesse, did you workout and drink water?

Cheryl, did you avoid binge eating yesterday?

Alright, let me hear from you. Share your comments in the box below.

Keeping It Real,

Scott Tousignant