TT Contest Winner’s Secret Ingredient for Fat Loss

Yesterday we learned how men’s transformation contest winner, Charles Hiller Jr., overcame binge eating simply by choosing the right diet to lose 25 pounds in 5 weeks.

Today, Charles lets us in on his secret ingredient for fat loss. By adding this one element to his transformation plan, Charles is now living a healthier, happier lifestyle he and his family can both enjoy.

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CB: How important for your success were the other TT members on the TT forum? Did you benefit the most from motivation, the experience of others, or accountability? Any suggestions on how TT readers can get the right social support in their life? And how did you deal with negative influences, if you had any?

CH: The forum was a HUGE aid for me, I had a place to go where people where going through what I was doing, or were already successful. It gave me a place to see the results of others, and get encouragement for my results.

The one thing besides diet and exercise that was just as important was a support group…

…I had never had this before, and this time I went out and found one, surrounded myself with people that knew what I was trying to accomplish and were there for me. I first noticed the benefit in the forums and how much of a response I would get when I made a post, and how complete strangers where there to offer support. So finding people in my everyday life that would provide the same support was really, in my mind, the SECRET INGREDIENT to the recipe.

Also, at the end of the day when you are lying there in bed, you are ultimately accountable to yourself. Will you fall asleep in minutes with a clear head knowing you did what was best for you that day, or will you lay there trying to sleep beating yourself up over the day’s events?

The biggest thing is really being accountable to yourself, and for your actions. No person, event, or thing should have the power over you to make you not be the person you want to be. In the long run everything that you intake into your body, or do or not do with it, are your decisions and you are accountable for them every day with your health and well being.

I had a few negative people that tried to bad mouth what I was doing, or convince me that I was wasting my time, and when I looked at them and the examples they put out there for the world to see, I knew they were no better, so I just chose to ignore them and go about what I was doing. When I would come across a person that was a positive influence I would interact with them, and have more open discussions about lifestyle changes, and over the course of a few weeks, I found my social life much more satisfying and healthier in general.

CB: Did you start out with a strong belief in your ability? Or was that something you built over time? If so, what were some of the turning points?

CH: I knew I had it in me to make some drastic changes. In my mind I had hit bottom, and knew I had to do something. It was difficult at times, and I had to challenge a lot of beliefs that I took to be true and look at them from a different angle. Once I understood that what I had been doing the last twenty years was not working, it opened my mind to new concepts and approaches.

CB: Next, tell us about your workouts…what was new, what worked best, what did you enjoy, and how consistent were you? Has your attitude towards exercise changed? Any suggestions for beginners out there who are intimidated?

CH: I decided to do the TT bodyweight workouts, I had been lifting weights most of my life, yet it dawned on me that I could not do a pull up or chin up….

…So my mind set was to let me get my body to move on its own and be able to manipulate the weight I had before I started adding more to it. I focused on STRICT form and keeping the TIMING that was presented in the program, and found the workouts to be just as demanding as any I had ever done with weights.

I realized that I could do the workouts anywhere that was convenient and at anytime. There was many a workout that was done in a mechanical room at work when I could slip away for 15-20 minutes between projects.

I like the way my body feels now, and how I have firmness to my muscles even when they are at rest. I look forward to my workouts now, and have grown to enjoy the Interval Training on the bike. I use to hate any type of cardio work. I look forward to being active now, and the example that I am setting my kids.

It is AMAZING how much time I have added back to my life by not being a couch potato, worrying about signing into to some internet game that would take hours of precious time from my day. Besides losing weight and becoming healthier this program has also helped me get my life back.

To the beginner, I say pick a workout and start that day, don’t put it off or plan around it, and JUST MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Once you get started you will find yourself looking forward to it. I would also have to say stick with it, you will have days where you will not want to do your workout, but just take that first step with the warm up and 30 minutes later you will see that you are done and you will feel so much better for doing it and sticking with your workout. I have managed to not miss a workout since I started the process, and I feel really good about accomplishing that.

In the end you will always find time for the things that are important to you. So how important is it to change your body and fulfill your goals?

CB: And finally, what’s next for Charles? How do you plan to keep this momentum going and what recommendations do you have for others who want to make the same permanent lifestyle changes?

CH: Setting ACHIEVABLE goals is what will keep me going.

You need to sit down and make a list of goals short and long, and then be honest with yourself and decide what you need to do make them come true. You need to be honest with yourself and do a root cause analysis. I started to make lists and really think about them.

I wrote down 3 short term goals and 3 long term goals, and then broke it down further to make a list of 3 items for each goal that would help me achieve that goal and 3 items that would hinder that goal….

…From there I built on each list to figure out how to achieve the goals and what to look out for to overcome the hindrances. When it is out on paper it really comes together.

Then I shared my goals with those that I knew could support me, and they helped keep me accountable. A short term goal is to finish the current twelve week challenge, and have just as good results as I did with the mini 5 week challenge. A long term goal is to achieve single digit body fat. I would love to get down to around 215 pounds so I would not have to compete in the heavyweight division in Judo, but just getting back on the mat would be a great start.

In essence our actions will determine the quality of life we will have, so you need to decide what kind of lifestyle you want to have, and start making your actions mimic that lifestyle.

Thank you so much!

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Thank you Charles for being so candid with your weightloss transformation as there were a number of great tips beginners just starting out can really learn from. Keep plugging along and let us know your progress for the remaining 12 weeks!

For other great body transformation stories, please check out www.TransformationContest.com.