Dear Matt,

Thanks for all your e-mails. I have read some and it all seems very interesting. However I haven’t yet purchased the copy of the 4 Wks fat loss, purely because first I haven’t really started yet, secondly because I have so many books at home incl. the 6 weeks abs diet, but never really do or follow any of it.

I do sports and I do go the gym, but I also love food, I love cooking it and eating it and I just convinced myself that life’s too short for not to be doing or eating what one likes.  

However even though I’m not really over weight and in good shape and health I do have roughly 3% more cholesterol than I should have.  I know that I will come back from my vacation with an extra couple of KG’s, this is inevitable as the Family chains me to the table when I go back home to Sicily, and that’s really why I had signed up to the 4 weeks fat loss after reading about it on Men’s Health.

Perhaps from reading this e-mail you could give me some advice on how to keep up and to stick with a program?!  My aim is to get proper ripped come December.

 I look forward to hearing from you.

 Thanks and kind regards

 Pepe

Matt's reply to above email

Hi Pepe,

A lot of what you’ve talked about – is about basic goal setting and what you REALLY WANT. A lot of people say they want something – but in reality they don’t really want to make the changes necessary to get to their goal.

e.g. You say life is 'too short not to do what you want' and then you say later you want to be 'Proper ripped in December'.  You can't have both

I find that people who are lean / ripped maintain their regime despite of who is around them. We’ll do a bigger piece on getting your mind right for change and sticking to goals but briefly I’d suggest you do the following;

Establish your goals – using the SMART  (Specific principles – they are simple and perhaps often over looked as being a little old fashioned – but they work!

Make sure you are firmly committed to your goal – ask yourself why, why, why until you get to the real reason you really want to get there.

e.g.I want to be ripped because;

I’ll look better, why – because I’ll be less fat,

why is ebning less fat important

because I’ll have more confidence,

why will that help, because I lack confidence etc.

You get the picture – you’ll get to the bottom of why you really need that goal – it might be as simple as I’ll be more attractive and get more action in the bedroom! – doesn’t matter and does not need to be politically correct – just your own pure motivation.

Next you need to get to the stuff which will get you there – and little daily things which need to be in place – this I call ‘skill power’ it’ll beat will power any day of the week – and you need to have it in place to succeed,

It’s in short called preparation.

Where will I train each day – where will I eat, when will I make my meals to take to work – is there any where near work which will do in case I get caught short. What equipment will I have at home to do my pm training.

Who could I team up with – ?

Tell your friends, tell your work mates – let everyone know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Surround yourself with people who will help you succeed – if your mates are fat ditch them! Lol.

But seriously you want terrorists out of the picture when you are trying to build a new body and new set of habits – they lurk everywhere.

Dude on holiday – why don't you train more? – get some running shoes, a body weight circuits – get the book convict conditioning. Get fit on holiday.

Ok enough of a rant now.

Hope this helps

Matt