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How to Give Up ANYTHING for 6 Months

How to Give Up ANYTHING for 6 Months

I was chatting to one of my personal training clients this morning. This client has lost over 40lbs and has changed his life. He’s reached a point where he is happy with his weight and body composition so he trains with me to improve his fitness and maintain his weight.

There is one problem. He likes a few drinks….

how to give up anything for 6 months

When I say he likes a few drinks, I don’t mean he’s an alcoholic – he just likes having a few beers. The problem is, those few beers can be one or two per night, plus 4-5 on a Friday and Saturday. Every week. If we are being generous, it’s an extra 5000 calories per week, which when you are lean (like he is), the extra 5000 calories are a bit of a diet nightmare and will soon see the weight creep on again.

He is really active and eats well, but YOU CAN’T OUT-TRAIN A BAD DIET.

So far, his weight hasn’t gone up, but I know with that amount of drinking it will do eventually, so I needed a solution.

I don’t want him to stop drinking altogether – he enjoys it and I believe health and fitness should be part of your life, not dictate your life. Also, having him ‘cut-down’ his drinking is pointless – I know after one or two he would get in the mood for a drink, have a few too many and then feel crap afterwards about having something to drink. I don’t want his experience of working with me to be a restrictive, negative one.

Plus, I don’t really like half measures – it’s like low fat anything. It’s not the same.

The solution I had for him was simple – give up drinking for 6 months.

The conversation went like this…

      Me: “This drinking is going to see you back to 15 stone soon, you know that?”
      Him: “Yeah, I know. I’ll have to cut down my drinking on the weekends”.
      Me: “No you won’t, you’ll have to stop drinking for 6 months. It’ll really help you out”.
      Him: “F**k off! I could never do that!”
      Me: You could – I didn’t say 6 CONSECUTIVE months did I?

And so I outlined the plan….

How to Give Up ANYTHING for 6 Months

My client will only have a drink every other week. This effectively means that for half the year, he has given up drinking. It means he can still enjoy a drink and be a sociable guy because it’s not an outright ban, but it also means he isn’t fighting the inevitable weight gain that comes with the drinking.

On his drinking weeks he will only have a single drink per night in the week. Additionally he has an extra training session and eats extra-well, meaning we negate some of the effects of the booze.

Give up anything for 6 months in practice…

So now you know how to give up anything for 6 months, take this approach and broaden it to your life – what negatives could you give up for 6 months of the year? I have done my no sugar weeks so have first hand experience of the process (by the way, I bought this book for a client of mine who wanted to quit sugar and she raves about it).

A week really isn’t that long so the levels of willpower and discipline don’t have to be monk-like, so you can start your week with a positive mindset – it’s only 7 days!

sugar tax, how to give up anything for 6 months

Do you drink fizzy drinks? Eat too many cakes? Eat chocolate every day?

Just drop them for your life every other week. It’s not that hard, I promise. It links well with the article I wrote on effective goal setting. It’s about breaking things down into very short term goals. A week is short term enough for many!

Of course to give up anything for 6 months you’ll need some will power and discipline, but soon enough it’s not that hard. You will quickly make peace with the fact that it’s only a week to wait and the truth is, if you can’t go a week without your vice, be it booze/chocolate/chips etc, you have bigger problems than you realise!

For most of us who aren’t athletes or fitness models, healthy living is about moderation, but that is on both sides of the coin – unfortunately many people are fat because they want too much of the good things in life without earning them!

So, know you that giving things up isn’t as hard as you thought, take the lesson on how to give up anything for 6 months and put it into practice!

By the way, I’ve now started a VIP email list with discounts, offers, tips and news. You can subscribe at on my homepage! Click here to sign up (blue box at the bottom).

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HoylesFitness

Owner of www.hoylesfitness.com. Personal Trainer, Father and fitness copy writer. Working hard making the world fitter and healthier!

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