I’m Jennifer Nicole Lee, a fitness Expert, Author, and Lifestyle Consultant. My inspirational weight loss success story has been featured on Oprah, CBS, Inside Edition, Fox and Friends, and The Big Idea, where I lost over 70 lbs after the birth of my second son, leading me to be crowned Miss Bikini America, with countless mag covers. I know that I can help you achieve amazing results too in your life, fitness and career! As I always say-whether you believe that you can or you cant, you are correct! “Crack the Code: Unlock Your Fat Burning and Weight Loss Potential”-if you would like to read the entire book, please visit http://www.jnlbook.com

I prepare the mind for the fantastic health improvements that lay ahead because I believe in this one main point: health starts in the mind and then flows to the body. You must be 100% ready to be committed in making healthy progress in order to see and keep results. And sometimes it is we who sabotage our own successes because we are not mentally ready and committed to sticking to our wonderful lifestyle. In order to loose those unwanted fat pounds, you must start with your mind.

A close friend of mine already sabotaged her weight loss potential by saying to herself, “Why lose weight? My skin will only be flabby if I lose the amount of weight that I want”. She had already set herself up for failure by pre-determining that she was not going to lose weight. Another client of mine once claimed that she wanted to lose the weight but was afraid of all the remarks from her close ones and how it might effect her family. I told her that she would only be adding quality to her life, and not taking away from it, and that these new healthy changes would actually be helping her family as well. Start by asking yourself, do I have a healthy mind, or a mind that will thwart my efforts? Am I my own friend, or my worst enemy? If you answered yes to the latter, well we first need to clean your “mental” house.

Here are my top 7 strategies:

1. Have a Crystal Clear Vision of What You Want to Achieve I have heard it so many times: my clients come to me and cry “I’m sick and tired of being over weight!”, or they will complain “I have no energy and I’m tired all the time”. This will not help you! We all know what we want to move away from. But what do we want to move towards? This is where our main focus needs to be in order for us to have weight loss success from now on. We all take a “Before” picture of ourselves, but we still need to have an “After” image of what we want. Envision what you want to achieve. See the new you and imagine what it would feel like to be that new you. Take out your journal and write down what you want to achieve and what you want to move towards and how you are going to do it. Picture yourself with limitless energy, being able to handle your daily tasks, your job, and still having enough steam left over for your children and your personal life. How will it feel to put on a swimsuit and feel great about what you see in the mirror? Imagine weighing yourself and loving the number that you see. Start to relish the afterburn of your morning workouts. You have to know, understand, and want what you are moving towards to, and say goodbye to what you are moving away from, in order to be able to have diet success and maintain it!

2. Clean Out Your Mental House Stop putting yourself down. That unfriendly little voice inside your head needs to be silenced now and forever. That super critical alter ego of yours needs to know that you are the boss. So what if you gained 5 pounds on the family vacation cruise? That does not make you a “fat pig”. Rather than beating yourself up by complaining, instead compliment yourself by saying something like “Yeah, I did have that chocolate chip cookie for desert. But I didn’t have 3 of them like of would of done before.” Stay focused on your objective and stays positive. Don’t let the negativity get you down or blur the vision to your destination! Stop whining and take more control over your actions and your life. Stop playing victim. It doesn’t help you or the other ones around you.

3. Treat Yourself With Respect It is that simple, but we don’t do it. If you had a best friend who you loved with all your might, would you give them a fat laden artery clogging fried cheeseburger with fries, or a crisp and fresh garden salad topped with marinated grilled chicken? Yes, you would give them the salad. But why don’t you do this to yourself? Most likely because you don’t treat yourself with the respect that you should. Think about this: your mind and body are temples and you need to treat them as such. Why would you put something dirty and of no value in a sacred and special place? So start respecting yourself and treating yourself right. You deserve better than processed fast food with little to no healthy nutrient content. Also, you deserve to chisel out at least 50 minutes every other day for a weight training session with a touch of cardio at the end. Remember, you are the most important person in your life. If you can’t help yourself, than how can you help others? It all begins with you!

4. Be Creative Being healthy is a process, a journey, not a one time event. Fitness and health is going to be your new lifestyle. Therefore we need to make it fun and interesting with variety. Ask yourself, “What are my favorite foods and the exercises I love most?" If you answered Italian food, then go out there and buy a low fat low carb Italian cookbook and learn how to remake over your old favorites. And if you love to play tennis-join a tennis club or hire an instructor who will help you strengthen your back hand or give you a better edge on your game. If you love nachos, be creative and re-invent the recipe using low fat ingredients rather than the real stuff. Just open your mind to new and different tools and use them as a bag of tricks to help you fight the war on fat. And by being creative, you will make it fun, refreshing, interesting, and there will never be a dull moment in your new healthy life.

5. Make Fitness Your Top Priority It is a rock in your life. If your car breaks down, exercise. If you get a job promotion, exercise. If you have a heated discussion with a loved one, exercise. No matter what happens-stick to your routine! Of course we all will have bad days and get off of our diet, but when that happens refocus yourself, look at your compass, and get back on track! And prepare to be tempted. This strategy of “thinking five steps ahead” will allow you to win at the game of fat loss. You know that you have to attend your family’s barbeque dinner with non stop servings of hot dogs, potato salad, and sugary deserts. So be smart and execute your fitness plan: munch on a crispy apple before the barbeque, this will fill you up cutting the edge off of any uncontrollable hunger pains that might set in while you are there. Then opt for the grilled chicken breast with no bun, a side salad, and a fresh grilled ear of corn. You put fitness first and you were still able to enjoy your family’s social activities without ending your fitness goals!

6. Set Yourself Up For Success I hear a lot of my clients and good friends claim that they don’t have time to exercise. I personally don’t believe in that excuse at all! We all can find at least 10 minutes here or there to break a sweat. Simple everyday habits can make big changes in your life. As I like to say, “Small hinges swing big doors!” Small habits like placing your running shoes at the foot of your bed to go running in the morning, or having a gym bag in the car in order to exercise after work will help you. Stock your fridge and pantry with the latest guilt-free snacks and treats. Low carb, low fat foods are tasting better and better. Everywhere you go and no matter where you are your healthy habits will follow you, so it will be almost impossible to not stick to your plans and reach your goals.

7. Compel and Coerce Through Pain Yes, pain CAN be your friend! I said that my technique to losing the fat and getting in shape would be painful (although not in the way that you think). I created my success through constantly reminding myself of what I looked like before and the pain I experienced when I was at my heaviest. Take your “Before” picture and put it somewhere where you can occasionally see it when you need to feel that “pain” and that desperation to get you motivated. When you feel your motivation and desire weakening-glance at those pictures and remind yourself of the pain/frustration/anger/sorrow/darkness that you felt when you were at your unhealthiest. To make yourself take action, you have to be willing to harness that pain by looking at it straight in the eye. This is where your power and supremacy over your future decisions will come from. Pain will be your friend because you will learn how to use it. This was my method that lead me to my weight loss achievements: Look at my Before Picture Remember how I felt to carry all that extra weight around Remember how I was treated differently when I was heavier Remember the confidence I started to experience when I felt stronger.

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