The Four Letter Word That Equates To Fat Loss

Whew-wee…we’ve covered a lot so far and if you’re just jumping in now, then be sure to check out part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of my 9-part interview series with P90X creator, Tony Horton.

Today we’re going to switch gears a little bit and see what advice Tony has for us in terms of diet and  nutrition.

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Craig Ballantyne:    Yeah.  It’s such a simple thing that can be so powerful.  And I’m sure that you guys have seen it, like you said, thousands and thousands and thousands of times – amazing stories of people literally cutting their body weight in half.

Tony Horton: You know Dallas Carter lost 160 pounds.  This girl, Julianne, lost 110 pounds. They – in both their stories;

they didn’t count a calorie;

they just stopped eating junk.

And they stopped eating huge meals.

And they stopped eating before they went to bed.

And the problem with most people is that they have a food addiction, and they’re not willing to admit it.  They have a serious food – they’re addicted to the crap ingredients that is in most food.  And it’s hard to get off.  It’s maybe not as hard as getting off of cigarettes, but it’s really hard.  You know what I mean?

So I tell folks, I say, “Find fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats, and find the spices that make those things taste good.  And find the restaurants that will make the food the way you want it.” I can go into any restaurant, anywhere, and ask for exactly what I want.  I mean, it’s not – I’m not gonna say I’m gonna get the thin crust, whole grain pizza covered in vegetables with no cheese, but I’ll get something close.  I’ll get something close.

And I always tell the waiter – like, people say, “Well, what do you do when you go out?  What do you do when you travel?”  I say, “Put a cooler in the car, plug it in, and then put – you know, PLAN ahead.”  Nutritionists – just like their workouts.

If you wanna have success with your workouts, you have to have a PLAN.  Same thing with food.

You have to have a – if you’re going on a trip and you’re gonna be in a car, and you didn’t pack the – and the night before and put it in your cooler in the car the next morning, then you have not made your PLAN and you have set yourself up for FAILURE.

You’re gonna be starving, and there’s gonna be Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, and Burger King, and Pizza Hut along the way, and you’re gonna make a mistake.  You know?  There are certain rules to success.  I call it the “cycle of success.”

There are certain things that have to be done every day, for you to succeed, for your day to be great.

I’m 51 years old, and ten minutes ago, I was eight, playing catch in my front yard.  I’m 51.  How’d that happen?  The trip is short.  You’d better get your act together.  You know what I mean?  Are you gonna go out like a lot of people, the last 20 years of your life?  And it’s an ugly picture, filled with lack of movement, lots of depression, and too many pills.

Craig Ballantyne:    Those are powerful, powerful points there.  And Tony, you know, seeing you on Facebook and just listening to the last five minutes of conversation there, you’re a true motivator and a very inspirational person.

Now, what is it that – what are some of the things that you have seen in your personal training with clients that has helped people stay motivated?  Obviously just simply knowing to PLAN, planning ahead, keeping it as simple as possible.  What else has really been very successful in helping people that you’ve trained in person and through P90X to stay motivated and stick with the program?

Tony Horton: You know what I learned a long time ago is that – there’s a great article in Time magazine that came out, I don’t know, about five or six years ago.  It was the ten most important trends of the millennium.  And number nine was called “Infotainment.”  And I’m kind of hardwired for that.  I mean, that’s just kind of who I am.  I mean, I was an actor and a comic, and I also loved fitness.

So I could take really dull, hard to swallow stuff and make it more palatable for people through little – like, a lot of my expressions, “Do your best and forget the rest,” “You’re only good at things you do often,” “Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and healthy fats,” you know, “the cycle of success,” “communication,” you know, “meditation” – these are all things that I – that are short and easy to remember and keep you on track.

I mean, I know you have a lot of trainers out there, but the thing is, a lot of trainers and nutritionists and everything – they treat this stuff like rocket science.

Well, the stuff is hard to swallow as it is; and then we’re gonna make it dry and boring on top of that?  Oh, my God.  You know?  The reason why P90X is successful is because Carl Daikeler, the CEO, and Jon Congdon, our president, said, “Horton, go do your thing.  We’ll tone you down if you get too crazy,” you know?

So I was able to just – I mean, I go on QVC and I just act like a clown.  I mean, I just – you know, why make this stuff – it’s – push-ups are hard.  Pull-ups are hard.  Squats are hard.  Cardio sucks.  You know?

I mean, if we’re gonna make it really important _____ giving all the statistics and the range of motion and the Krebs cycle – shut up.  If your client wants that, and if that’s important, great.  If they wanna count calories, then you’re better to show them how.  But other than that, you’d better get a sense of humor.  Get a sense of humor about it, man.  And give people a break.

A guy – I have a friend of mine; she’s brilliant.  Brilliant.  She does Gyrotonics and Pilates.  But she starts working with me, and she doesn’t cut me a break.  She asks me to do things that I physically can’t do, and she looks at me like I’m crazy.

“You’re a trainer.”  I said, “I’ve never done this move before in my life.  I have a learning curve, thank you very much, so I’d like you to be more patient and have a better sense of humor and show me a modified version.”  And if you’re supposed to be so good – those – you’ve got degrees up the ying yang, but you can’t show me those three things?  So that’s important, I think.

Craig Ballantyne:    That’s awesome stuff.  I mean, aside from just being really interesting and motivational to the people that are listening for the fat loss purpose, the trainers – I hope you really paid attention to what Tony just said there.

It was CAREER-CHANGING advice for you.

If you can be entertaining and break things down into very simple concepts from the very – from slightly complex stuff that nutrition and exercise can be, you will help a lot more people.  And Tony – with 18,000-plus fans on Facebook, on your Facebook fan page, you are certainly helping a lot of people.

To discover the rest of Tony Horton’s fat burning advice:

Click here to listen to this exclusive interview

I promise you’ll learn a lot to help you lose belly fat