We all want it, the feeling of invincibility, that our mind and body can conquer any obstacle lying in our path. This hunger for invincibility is a big reason we invest so much time in our health. We know we must fuel and train our bodies efficiently and effectively to be their best. This is a quest to unlock your body’s full potential. So, what is my definition of this “invincible feeling” we crave? It is Body Confidence. To me, Body Confidence is defined as looking and feeling your best. Not good or great, but your best. At the end of the day, it’s what each of us truly wants.

I know this mindset well since I have lived it my entire life. As an athlete, fitness model, and nutrition expert, my goals have always been clear: discover the tools that will take my and my clients’ Body Confidence to the next level.

You would think with so much information on the market that acquiring this knowledge would be easy. Unfortunately that is not the case. The health industry is full of hype, so it’s difficult to know fact from fiction. I spent years falling prey to the “hype”, like “ground breaking” calorie and carbohydrate restriction diets, “miracle” supplements and “cutting edge” exercise routines, each one making huge promises and each one leaving me disappointed and frustrated.

It puzzled me that there wasn’t a better way to take the food and exercise you love and infuse them into your world, allowing you to permanently reprogram your metabolism and achieve true Body Confidence. Finding this way became my purpose, leading me to create the Venice Nutrition Program and write the New York Times bestselling book, Body Confidence.

You see, I found a better way. My journey brought me to the realization that taking your Body Confidence to the next level is all about the right kind of education. Think of the empowerment you will feel by possessing the knowledge to permanently achieve your health goals. This type of education is what gives the control of your health back to you. This type of education also provides the necessary foundation for you to continually move forward towards your goals without regressing.

The next question is: how do you get the education I speak of? To answer, I would like to share the 3 Step System I created: your Body Confidence Foundation. I have written brief recaps of each step to provide you with immediate insight. The complete explanation on how to master each step is found in my book, Body Confidence.

Step 1 – Knowing Your “Why” – Your reason for Body Confidence

- Anyone can get a result, the real challenge is once you achieve it, how do you keep moving forward? You see, when people get motivated with their health, they work hard, make progress and often achieve their goal. Then, life begins to push back, motivation is lowered (since the initial goal was achieved) and unfortunately the great health result we’d achieved becomes a thing of the past. Regression sets in. Your first step in preventing this from happening is to become very clear on your “Why” - the reason why you want Body Confidence. Try to see your “why” as a safety line – keeping you connected and committed to the process of moving forward with your health.

Step 2 – Developing Your Body Confidence Plan - Your game plan for achieving Body Confidence

- Would you build a business without a plan or a house without a blueprint? Of course you wouldn’t, because you already know the outcome: you’d be bankrupt in a year or your house would fall apart due to a weak infrastructure. So ask yourself, how is your health any different? It’s not. Your health needs a solid plan just like everything else in life that is built for success. Your Body Confidence plan is designed to create internal hormonal balance within your body by developing efficient systems for the 6 main components of health: Sleep, Nutrition, Exercise, Supplements (vitamins, minerals & omega fatty acids), Water and Stress. By focusing on these 6 components, your body will be in balance, which triggers it to consistently release stored body fat, increase lean body mass and launch your metabolism into overdrive. In addition to the results you achieve, you will always have a plan to work from when you fall off. Let’s be honest, we all fall off, the key is how quickly we get back on.

Step 3 – Balancing Your Quadrant – Working your Body Confidence plan into your world

- I look at life as having 4 primary parts: Health, Relationships, Profession and Lifestyle. These four elements together are something I call “The Quadrant”. Once you develop a solid plan, the next step is working it into your world. Too many times we start a health program and immediately begin to neglect the other parts of our lives. Eventually, the other parts of our lives begin to push back and our health takes a back seat. This was a routine I lived for many years, until I realized that I needed to adjust the other parts of my life to make time for my health. Rather than embarking on a 3 month sprint and then falling off, think of this as a cross country run, where you create an evolving balance between all four parts of your Quadrant. Doing this may mean shifting your mindset a bit, but introducing this balance into your life will prevent those long off plan periods, and set you up with a strategy to keep you moving forward.

There you have it: your 3 step system to taking your Body Confidence to the next level. As with everything in life, success is a choice, and so is having a high quality of health. My invitation to you is this: Choose to be your very best, Choose to get educated about your body, and Choose to make your health a priority. The answers and solutions are ready here and now. They’re yours for the taking. Go make it happen!

by Mark MacDonald, Creator of the Venice Nutrition program and author of Body Confidence.