When someone joins my personal coaching program, one of the first things I ask them to do is to describe exactly what their body is going to look like once I help them reach their goal weight. I ask them to do this in writing – not over the phone, and here’s why…

Deeply imbedded negative thoughts are what cause us to have difficulties in any weight loss or health enhancement program – in fact, our past failures can almost always be traced back to negative thoughts that we didn’t even realize we had.

Most of our negative thinking comes out when we write things down on paper (or on the computer).

I challenge you to write out 10 brief descriptions about how your body will look in 30 days if you were coached by someone like me – someone who knows exactly how to transform the human body no matter what stage of the game you’re currently at.

Go ahead, take a moment and write out what your face would look like, what your arms would look like, what your legs and your butt would look like – would your skin look different, would your muscles be tighter, would you be leaner – detail everything, then come right back.

Did you do it?

Make your list now before reading any further – I want you to walk away with some profound knowledge of yourself when you’re done reading this article.

OK, now that you have your list, let me show you something that you can use to judge whether or not you’ve been causing yourself to fail in your attempts to lose weight and keep it off.

Here are some examples of statements that a good friend of mine used to have before he and I began working together – statements that were literally holding him back from success:

Face-more chiseled features, no double chin, no doughy jowls or puffy cheeks, no bags under the eyes.

Other than improved facial shape, I really have no complaints at all about my face, hair, eyes, nose, ears.

Neck-no double chin or “wattle”

Chest-no gynecomastia (womanly breasts), muscular instead. Look, ma, I can see my ribcage and pectoral muscles instead of a soft mattress of flab.

Arms-hard sinewy curves instead of soft breadsticks. Seeing veins and muscles instead of smooth fat.

Abdomen-are there really abs hiding in there? They’ve never made an appearance in 50 years! It’d be nice to have a tight waist not uncomfortably sliced by too-tight underwear.

Legs-less of a conical shape, more elongated and solid. Although my calves have always been rather large and firm-my best body part, next to my brain.

Buttocks-less sag, more form

Back-could be a lot less hairy, would be nice to see a “V” shape instead of a truncated pyramid.

Can you see why he might have had a few troubles in the past reaching his goal?

But I’ll let you in on a little secret – this guy is in great shape now and enjoying life more than ever, and he’s a pleasure to speak with each week in our coaching calls.

Now here’s a list from a woman who recently completed one of my coaching programs – this list was written out after our first session together – watch how positive every statement is:

WHAT MY BODY IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE