Tired of starting over all the time? Here’s how to stick to your plan once and for all so you can finally achieve your fat loss goals.

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Life is hard.

Let’s not beat around the bush on this one. It can be totally fun. But a draining, unyielding experience at the same time.

As a result of the twists and turns of the nonstop organized chaos that the various forces of life dump upon us, it can oftentimes lead to complete burn out.

When that happens, it’s easy to let some of our well-intentioned goals and plans fall to the wayside.

In fact, this is common. It happens to all of us––even your friendly, neighborhood fat loss coach (that’s me, by the way).

We’re human. And things pop up and surprise us all of the time (in good and bad ways):

• Kids
• Work
• Family
• Social obligations
• Holidays
• Stress
• Anxiety

All of these factors, and more, can provide quite the obstacles to seeing things through to the finish line.

So today, we’re going to address how to actually stick to your plan that you’ve set out to achieve. I’ll break down a few methods that will help you stay on point, even when you just really don’t feel like doing so.

Let’s get into it.

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Stick to your plan, by actually having a good plan

I’m all about creating that BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). But, too often, you’re led to believe that creating big goals is the start and end point of the goal-setting process.

This is false.

Goal setting is a science. I’ve broken down how to create better and smarter goals in the past. And the basic premise is that you’ve got to create an objective that is actually attainable. Something you can realistically do given your schedule, lifestyle, accessibility and social obligations.

If you’re someone that travels a lot for work and has tons of social obligations throughout your weeks and months, aiming for a goal of six pack abs in like eight weeks might be too much to achieve.

Likewise, just setting a BHAG of “losing belly fat” is admirable. But …

• How are you going to make that happen?
• What behavioral goals can you set for yourself to lose belly fat?
• Do you have a specific weight loss goal in mind, or is it simply physique-related?

You’ve got to ask yourself tons of questions about your goal.

Dive deep into your mindset and your reasoning before you can even begin to try to knock this one out of the park.

Plan your meals ahead of time

The old cliche “Failing to plan is planning to fail” really does apply here. If you are just making things up as you go along and not thinking ahead, you will find it difficult to stick to your plan.

This is something that I preach to my online coaching clients just about every day, and it will make the difference between seeing long term success and falling back into the pattern of yo-yo dieting.

You do not need to meal prep and cook 437 meals for the week on your Sunday.

Instead, I want you to just take a few minutes at the beginning of your week to map out what the week will look like for you. Where are the food traps and obstacles you must navigate around––things like work lunches or dinners and social obligations.

Then, you’ll come up with a plan to help get around those challenges.

Go even deeper and plan out the next few days of eating for you.

It provides a roadmap for how you’ll hit your calorie deficit and protein requirements without getting caught up in the moment playing what we call, Macro Tetris.

Take before photos … and look at them

We all hate our photos. Seriously. All of us. Especially the before pictures.

Okay? So that’s done and you can spare me the whining about it.

Now, grab a picture and take some progress pictures anyway.

My online coaching client, Melissa worked with me for over six months. She lost a total of 10 pounds, despite being unable to walk for about two of those months due to hip replacement surgery.

Now, 10 pounds in six months is progress. Fantastic progress.

Melissa was hoping for more.

Until, I showed her how much progress she made in her measurements and in her progress pictures.

Look at that. It’s over four inches on the waist and the hips that came off. Which means Melissa lost fat and the scale weight reflected improvements in lean muscle tissue.

If she just followed the scale weight and didn’t take measurements or pictures, she would have given up the process and bounced around to another fad diet.

Take. Your. Progress. Pictures.

Understand the consistency is goal, not perfection

Stop with the “go big or go home” mindset.

You’ve been conditioned to think that all workouts should mean “no pain, no gain.” And diets must be miserable and boring.

As a result, as soon as you make a mistake and miss a workout or fall off track of your diet, you think you ruined the entire thing. And that leads to the “ah fuck it” approach: “Welp, I ate more pizza than I wanted to, might as well dive into this pint of ice cream.”

That’s like getting one flat tire and then deciding to slash the other three to make up for it.

Look, you will make mistakes in your diet and your fitness. You will miss days and you’ll totally go off plan (even if you have the best plan ever) and eat more than you hoped from time to time.

This is common. You are human. That’s okay.

Your goal is to limit the frequency of those mishaps and just focus on the long-term goal. Be as consistent as possible.

Chasing perfection all of the time just leads to rigidity and even more mistakes. The path to fat loss victory is to stick to your plan through consistency.

Learn how to bounce back after a setback

Simply put: Never miss twice.

It’s a rule that I give to all of my coaching clients.

When that day comes when you eat a few more slices of pizza and ice cream than you planned, your job is to get back on track with your next meal.

And if you have a well-laid-out plan, like we discussed, that shouldn’t be too difficult. On top of that, if you’ve got a plan that is sustainable and enjoyable and not some crazy fad diet, you should want to get back on plan.

When you miss a workout, make a commitment not to miss the next one. If you slip up on the eating, please know that you are never more than one bite of food away from getting right back on track.

Never miss twice.

Taking this concept to heart is the most important factor you’ll learn to help you stick to your plan once and for all to finally see it through.

Let me help you learn how to finally stick to your plan once and for all … 

I’m here to help you out. 

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Stick to your plan” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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