The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch

This is a quote from Jim Rohn, business mogul turned philosopher.

"The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch."

If you are reading this, I'm sure you're not the kind of person who is just sitting on the couch and watching TV instead of working out.

Me neither!  But ok I do watch some TV, like Real Housewives of New York!  And have you seen Bethenny's abs? No surprise, of course, that she's a natural foods chef…

I digress…

I'm sure everyone reading this is eating right and working out at some level.  I'm sure if you're reading this you are probably doing a lot, in terms of working out and eating right.

The question is, at what level?

But I think a lot of people are doing the workouts and food at 50%, and envying and watching the people who are doing the workouts and food at 90-100%.

I grade food logs on 3 different levels:

Level One: Read Eat This, Not That.  Follow it 90% of the time.  Drink diet beverages instead of sugary beverages.

This gets you off the bench and into the game.  If this is a step up from where you are at now, you'll see results just from this.

Level Two: Cut out fast food, sugary junk food, and other processed junk food completely.  Eat protein with every meal.  Follow that 90% of the time.

Level 2 food + good workouts will enough to get rid of the muffin top, flatten your stomach, and make you lean and hot enough that you'll be stoked about summertime coming and the clothes coming off.

Level Three: Read Eating Clean by Tosca Reno and Eating for Life by Bill Phillips.  Eat just food you can get in the meat market, fish market, produce section (vegetables and fruit), brown rice, quinoa ect.  Eat small amounts of good fats like Fish Oil and Avacado.  Drink water, and only water.  Follow that 90% of the time.

This is where we start to get rockstar.  Combine Level 3 eating with really kick ass workouts and you can create a body that turns heads.  Another one of my clients last night told me that now she's getting compliments every day about how much leaner and fitter she's looking – that could be you.  You could be emailing me and telling me how many compliments you are getting.  I get emails like that all the time (which is the best thing ever).  Don't you want to send me an email like that?

Where Are You At?

If you find that you are at level 3, but only 50% of the time…  

You'd actually be better off eating Level Two 90% of the time.

Food is a game.  I'd rather have you win the Level 2 game than fail the Level 3 game.

The discipline of sticking to one of the games 90% of the time is the most important thing.

And just so you know, I grade food logs just like in school: 90% is an "A", 80% is a "B", 70% is a "C" and anything below that doesn't pass.

Now don't get all high school flashbacks on me.  I don't care what kind of grades you got in school, or even what kind of physical shape you were in in school.  Your food journal grades are totally different.

Your food journal grades are totally new.

Get good grades on your food journal, and everyone will just assume you used to be the head cheerleader or captain of the football team.

Seriously, I've had so many clients that were soft and round all their lives, and if you met them now you'd think they were always the skinny-fit-hot-girl and the athletic-ripped-strong-guy. 

Your Current Habits Have Earned You the Body You've Got Now

If you're doing Level Two at 60-70%, that's great.  You're healthier, leaner, hotter and fitter off than most of America. 

But to get to the next level, you're going to have to take it up a notch. 

Try going from Level Two 60-70% to Level Two 80%.  

It's not that big a jump.  It's a small jump.  But it will add up to better results every week.

The trick is, to commit yourself to it – body and soul.

Say you are going to do it, say what level, and say what percentage of the time.

I'm not asking for 100% of the time.  It's not necessary.

Which ever level you are at – get a good grade.  Seriously, you'll get better results sticking to Level One for real than half-assing Level Two or Three.

By Josh Hillis

Josh is the author of the ever-popular fat loss e-book: The Stubborn Seven Pounds

If you've already completed The Stubborn Seven Pounds, take it to the next level with one of these two programs:

"I've seen more results in 6 weeks training with Josh than I saw in the previous two years working out on my own" -Stephanie Weis

Josh has been featured in USA Today and The Denver Post.