Achieving arm tone doesn’t have to be an uphill battle for you. Unfortunately for me, It was an uphill battle.

And the most difficult part of the whole arm tone war was an unstable level of motivation. Despite all my efforts, I could not stick with a program for a very long time.

Sometimes the disappointment would be so great that I would jump ship all-together. And a jar of cookies would become my consolation.

But I had a wake-up call and came to the conclusion that this type of mental lifestyle was not going to get me the sexy arms I so desperately wanted.

So I searched high and low for a method that would allow me to stay motivated indefinitely. And I’m happy to say that I found said method. It was created by David Burns M.D. and in my opinion is the best thought modification system out there. Central to his method is the elimination of cognitive (thought) distortions.

So without further ado, here are three distortions you should avoid so that your arm tone motivation never fades:

1. Perfectionism distortions. If you see things as black or white then you have this distortion. For example, if you have to have a perfect workout or no workout at all then you suffer from perfectionism. Don’t sweat the small stuff and always keep moving forward despite minute setbacks. In other words, focus on general patterns of improvement.

2. Over-generalizing distortions. Just because you haven’t been successful today doesn’t mean you can’t be successful tomorrow. You simply haven’t found the right approach. Yet with this distortion, you assume that your past failures will keep on being your future failures. The key here is to keep on trying new things with a fresh outlook.

3. Mental filtering distortions. Make sure to always give yourself credit for the smallest of achievements. With this distortion you hardly focus on the positive and prefer to focus on the negative. If you have a test, for instance, and get 99 questions right and 1 wrong, you focus on the one you got wrong!

If you do not avoid the above cognitive distortions, arm tone will keep on eluding you. You have to achieve constant and lasting motivation in order to stick with an arm toning program.

And remember that the fastest path to sexy arm success if through rapid action. So don’t let this information sit in your head for too long, take action now!

Katherine Crawford M.S., a Harvard exercise expert and recent arm fat sufferer, is an expert on exercises for flabby arms for women. Discover how to get toned arms right now by exploring her blog on arm flab.

categories: weight loss program,weight loss programs,fitness,weight loss,health,women,beauty,wellness,exercise,metabolism,nutrition,psychology,motivation,eating disorder

If you eat lots of sugar and you want to get rid of arm fat, you’re in for a very tough ride. Unfortunately, a high sugar intake will make your insulin levels sky rocket. And high insulin will block your body from burning arm fat.

Perhaps you think you may be addicted, but aren’t sure. After all, many people are addicted to many things they aren’t even aware of. Thus, a little introspection is required. Think about the following questions to help figure out if you’re addicted:

1. Does it seem impossible to stop having sugar? Do you keep on consuming large amounts of sugar despite the best of efforts to stop? If so, you may be addicted. At this stage, it’s very common for the brain to have undergone some changes that make rejecting sugar extremely difficult.

2. Do you feel horrible when you don’t have sugar? This is called withdrawal! If your head hurts, if you get extremely vivid cravings and if your mood goes up and down in the absence of sugar You are withdrawing

3. Have you developed the ability to generate complex reasons as to why you are NOT addicted? If you consistently come up with detailed arguments in defense of not being addicted, then you may be addicted. This is denial at its max.

4. Can you ignore the risks? If you can ignore the risks of continual sugar consumption despite having a serious health issue, then we have some serious work to do. Having excessive amounts of sugar is NOT healthy, and you need to accept this.

5. Do you use sugar to compensate for other negative aspects of life? Are you in a bad or abusive relationship? Are you bothered by negative emotions? Do you use sugar to offset the above? If so, you may be addicted.

Are you skeptical that sugar addiction even exists? I can assure you that it does. Extensive studies done on rodents have shown that sugar addiction causes the same cerebral alterations as drug addiction. Moreover, hospitals routinely use sugar as an analgesic when performing surgery on infants (i.e., circumcision).

The main factor here is honesty. Are you addicted? If so, overcoming the addiction will be critical if you want to get rid of arm fat. Otherwise, both your arms and health will suffer. If by now you know you’re addicted, then please seek professional help. There are many methods of therapy that work for a wide variety of people. Don’t give up!

So many women focus on finding the perfect arm workout, the perfect supplement or the perfect diet. And many times, said women actually burn out before even getting started because they are trying to find that perfect solution.

Unfortunately, perfection, by definition does not exist. And let’s suppose for a second that the perfect program did in fact exist. Do you have the willpower to stick with it week in and week out, month in and month out?

If you didn’t have some type of mental framework in place, this would be very hard. It’s not easy for us to stick with something for extended periods of time. If it were, we would all be ultra successful.

So what’s the answer to this problem? Again, there is no best answer here. Mainly because our psychological makeup is so complex. And answering this question within the space of an article is beyond my abilities! Nonetheless, there are some tactics you can use to win the flabby arm war:

1. Visualize the positive of doing, not the negative of not doing. If you constantly flagellate yourself into taking action, be careful, very careful. This type of technique may be effective in the short run, but in the long run it will eat away at your motivation until your reach a tipping point. Instead, visualize all the positives of taking action to get rid of that arm fat. This way you WANT to get moving, and don’t feel like you HAVE to get moving.

2. Stay objective when you fail. Every time you fail, imagine that you are scientist in a lab. Never let your emotions tear you apart. NEVER. Instead of internalizing the hiccup, analyze the EXTERNAL factors that led to the misbehavior. This approach will keep your willpower nice and strong.

3. Understand that motivation isn’t instantaneous. Nobody has oodles and oodles of motivation on demand. Many times, even the most successful people have to start moving regardless of how they feel in order to get motivated. If you feel like doing nothing one day, and this will happen, simply start going through the motions!

4. Never let criticism get you angry. There are extremely critical people in this world that have no issue with vocalizing their every thought. Do not let said critics destroy your flabby arm resolve. Instead, deconstruct the criticism and define every element in it. Once you define the elements, most criticisms are found to be baseless.

Nothing in life is both rapid and easy. The faster results come with more effort. In any case, most flabby arm failures are directly related to an inability for sustaining long term motivation. Anybody can start the arm fat race, but few can finish. So make sure you implement these effective strategies TODAY!

Sugar addiction exists, trust me. And it’s in your best interest to avoid it at all costs if you want to maximize your arm toning. Beating ANY addiction is no walk in the park, but you can do it.

How do we know that sugar addiction exists? First, sugar acts as a powerful painkiller in newborns. Second, rodents demonstrate alterations in dopamine receptors when given high intakes of sugar. The same type of alterations you see with drugs. Third, naxolone-a drug used to combat drug addictions-temporarily mitigates sugar addictions.

So let me ask you the million dollar question, do you think you are addicted to sugar? There are two effective ways for determining this. First, is your emotional state dependent on your sugar intake. Second, are you coming up with complex and detailed reasons as to why you are NOT addicted as you read this paragraph? Be brutally honest with yourself

The main issue with sugar, is that it prevents your body from secreting arm fat burning hormones. And without said hormones, your arms will never get toned. Period. So without further ado, here are 4 things you can start doing today to kick that addiction out the window:

1. Start using sugar substitutes. Although they won’t give you an energy high, sugar substitutes will definitely appease your sweet tooth. And they don’t taste like they used to. Remember that strange aftertaste diet sodas used to have? Stevia, an all natural herbal substitute, is my top choice.

2. Loose leaf yerba mate taragui. More popular than coffee in south America, yerba mate is the most powerful craving killer I have ever found. Just make sure you keep on eating even though you aren’t hungry. This will prevent you from bingeing once the effect wears off. And be patient because it takes about an hour for the tea to take full effect.

3. Lifting weights. How is lifting weights related to sugar cravings? Because it increases your hunger a lot. How does increased hunger help fight a sugar addiction? The type of increased hunger you get from intense weight lifting readjusts your palate and makes average-tasting foods much more palatable.

4. Cognitive therapy: hands down the best method I’ve found for modifying emotional behaviors, cognitive therapy is a form of psychological treatment that has been proven time and again by peer reviewed research. The best do-it-yourself resource? Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns M.D. Unlike most self-help books and motivational speakers, this book will show you how to change your emotions for the long haul.

Overcoming sugar addiction is no walk in the park. And there are a lot of forces working against you. Especially, the food industry. But if you want to maximize your arm toning, you have to tackle this monster head on. And remember, there are many tools at your immediate disposal that can help you win the war. The key is to apply this information now and not later. Do not wait, take action!

Getting arm tone took me a very very long time. Thus, arm fat haunted me for a large portion of my life.

The most frustrating part of the whole arm tone process was ever-changing levels of motivation. No matter how hard I tried, I could not maintain a high level of focus and desire for extended periods of time.

At times I would feel so unmotivated that I would simply ditch the whole effort all together. How did I pat myself on the back? With cookies galore!

One day I had a wake-up call and realized that if I couldn’t figure out a way to stick with a program for the long run, I would never be able to get sexy arms. And I also knew that this motivational “yo yoing” wasn’t sustainable.

So I searched high and low for a method that would allow me to stay motivated indefinitely. And I’m happy to say that I found said method. It was created by David Burns M.D. In my opinion it’s the best thought modification system out there. Central to his method is the elimination of cognitive (thought) distortions.

So here are 3 thought distortions you need to avoid today so that you can have motivation tomorrow:

1. Black and white distortions. If you are a perfectionist, you most likely suffer from these distortions. If you have to do something perfectly or not at all, then you see things as black and white. Ironically, if you ignore perfectionism and lower your standards you’ll get better results.

2. Over generalizing distortions. This one is based on the faulty assumption that if something happened to you in the past it will keep on happening again and again in the future. You may tell yourself, for instance, that since you haven’t been able to lose weight in the past you will never be able to lose weight in the future and every program out there simply won’t work for you. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

3. Mental filtering distortions. Make sure to always give yourself credit for the smallest of achievements. With this distortion you hardly focus on the positive and prefer to focus on the negative. If you have a test, for instance, and get 99 questions right and 1 wrong, you focus on the one you got wrong!

If you do not avoid the above cognitive distortions, arm tone will keep on eluding you. You have to achieve constant and lasting motivation in order to stick with an arm toning program. With the above tips in mind you are now one step closer to sexy arm success!