When I sit prospective personal training clients down for a goal assessment interview I’ll ask them in-depth about their goals. This helps me determine what steps are going to be needed in order to get from where they are to where they would like to be. Then I also determine whether or not they are committed enough to their own goals.

If they aren’t committed, I turn them away. Why? Because I can teach the top strategies for losing weight, getting strong and looking great. But strategies only work if the person works. If they aren’t committed, it’s like they are telling me “I’m not going to do what I need to do.”

Maybe the timing just isn’t right. That’s ok. Come back when you really are ready to make the changes necessary.

Even when a person is committed, change presents challenges that may be unforeseen. But for every problem, there is a solution and having been a personal trainer for over 15 years I’ve got a couple worth sharing.

One of them is quite simply preparing your food in advance.

One of my newer personal training clients posted this picture on his Facebook page.

I can already tell he’s going to be very successful 🙂

You see when it comes to transforming your body, though I think building strength is more important to the total transformation (I’m talking about gaining muscle, strength and getting “I got this!” levels of confidence) but when it comes to burning fat, your diet is going to be a bigger factor.

And when it comes to dieting, often what fails is your ability to apply whatever your diet may be to whatever your situation is. With something as major as the food in our lives (much of our day revolves around food), there are all sorts of obstacles that get in the way.

You’re running late and/or are incredibly busy with personal or professional obligations so no time to make the healthy choices. Sound kind of familiar?

So we cave to convenience by going to a drive-through or getting some other kind of fast food, and in doing so we sacrifice a bit of our health with it each time.

But a way to combat this is to simply be proactive about it. When it comes to nutrition, simply prepare meals that abide by the rules of your nutrition program for the week in advance. It helps to dedicate Sundays and Wednesdays to this.

A trait common amongst successful dieters is that they eat the same healthy meals on repeat. So you don’t have to make 10,000 different kinds of food on Sunday. Just make one or two things in bulk and pack it into individual Tupperware containers. Then you simply pack what you need with you for the day. You can freeze them and save them for a later day too.

Believe me, you’ll be a lot less likely to cave to convenience if you have your Plan A is already conveniently with you.

Eric Moss is a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen more common during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey, is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville and Parsippany New Jersey.