Dropping body fat, gaining muscle, and improving performance require more than a simple knowledge about food, supplements, and working out. Those things are important, but you also have to know something about coping skills. Coping skills are a precise, clearly understood set of rules that one must implement in order to achieve a certain goal. Whenever I lecture about nutrition, I constantly stress the importance of coping skills. People usually respond one of three ways. One response is the blank stare. These people never get the point of the discussion. Basically, it flies right over their head. Another group of people hear the example but do not really understand the importance of implementing these skills. 

Finally, you have the group of people that hear and seem to understand the concept, but choose not to accept it. Their response is usually "I'm too busy," "I don't have time for that," or "I don't have the willpower or discipline."

     Unfortunately, many people overlook the importance of coping skills, and therefore set themselves up for failure right from the start. How many of you struggle every day because you have never been taught these simple skills or simply fail to implement them? Let me use myself as an example of how important it is to understand and implement coping skills.

     For the last sixteen years, I have carried a cooler of food with me to work. Early on I discovered that in order to accomplish my goals for the day, this cooler was a necessity. Every day, I take two breaks during which I eat and return phone calls. One break is from 12:30-1:00 and the other is from 3:30-4:00. Eating takes five minutes, and returning phone calls take twenty-five minutes. Now, look at an example of what happens when I fail to implement my basic coping skill.

     One day about five weeks ago, while rushing out of the house, I forgot my cooler of food. When I opened the trunk of my car and realized my oversight, I knew I was in for a rough day. When 12:30 arrived, I was hungry. I ran downstairs to the deli on the first floor of my building. Because this particular deli doesn't serve low fat food, I had to make a "better bad choice." I ordered a turkey sandwich on whole wheat with a baked potato. By the time I finished standing in line, paying for the food, and eating, it was 1:00. I ran back to my office, and my next client was waiting. Therefore, I didn't have time to return any calls.

      The next problem I encountered was hunger. The food I ate at lunch didn't satisfy me very long. After about one and a half hour, I began to get really hungry. By 3:30, I was starving. Once again, I ran down to the deli with the intention of ordering the same meal. Unfortunately, I began to justify and rationalize eating other things. Something had changed, so I grabbed a bag of pretzels and a banana to go with the sandwich and baked potato. Once again, I finished eating and got back to my office just in time for my next appointment. As soon as I walked in the door, my 4:00 appointment was standing there waiting for me. Guess what? I didn't get to return a single call and now I had twice as many to return! When 6:00 finally arrived, I couldn't leave. After all, I had a bunch of calls that needed to be returned. After an hour and a half on the phone, I finally left my office. Feeling stressed out, hungry, and tired, I began to justify and rationalize once again. I convinced myself that I could skip my workout and make it up later in the week. Feeling pressed for time, I stopped in a local restaurant and ordered a chicken breast and baked potato. When I arrived home, I realized things were not any better. I normally write for two hours each evening to prepare for my radio show, television show, and this newsletter. In addition, I have to submit articles for four different magazines every month.

     Under normal circumstances, I enjoy my writing time. However, on this particular evening, I dreaded it. I was tired, frustrated, and way behind schedule. My day became a series of dominoes that began to fall because one coping strategy (my cooler) wasn't in place.

1. My diet fell apart.
2. My energy suffered.
3. Cravings for other foods surfaced.
4. I missed my workout.
5. My stress level increased.

     Result: I didn't feel that I had an ounce of free time the entire day, and my day was consumed with work and finding food.
All too often people become entrenched in their stressful lifestyle. They believe that the trench they have dug for themselves seems like the best way and view change as adding more stress. For example, many people use the excuse that they don't have time to cook and carry food with them. They view this as a hassle. Let me tell you first hand, I don't have time not to cook. By spending 20 minutes each morning putting together my cooler, I open up lots of free time during my day. By having my cooler, I make it to the gym, get off work in time, have tons of energy, rarely crave other foods, and see the best possible results.

     Many of you are probably thinking that you cannot take two or three meal breaks during your workday because the boss won't allow it. Well, get creative! When I worked at the Institute of Specialized Medicine, the patient load was so heavy that the head doctor wouldn't allow me to eat whenever I wanted. All of us received an hour lunch break every day. I proposed a different strategy. Instead of taking the full hour off, I asked him if I could take three fifteen minute breaks (for a total of 45 minutes a day) and work right through the normal lunch break. He didn't even balk. I got what I needed while he got an extra 15 minutes of work out of me every day. Now, with the numerous meal replacement powders available, getting in a quick meal has never been easier. If taking the time to mix these powders at work is a hassle or if you don't want to draw attention to yourself, just premix the meal and bring it in a Thermos.

     Here's another example of a coping skill. I have to bring my workout clothes with me to work, or you'll never see me in the gym. After fighting rush hour traffic for 40 minutes and finally getting home, the last thing that I want to do is leave the house. Other people have told me that it works better for them to train before work. After a long, hard, stressful day, they are more likely to justify skipping a workout. Another coping skill is to make sure the foods in my cooler taste great. Let's face it. If I bring bland food to work, it is only a matter of time before I begin to look for something more interesting. This is where candy, chips, and other junk starts to look really good. Another key is to make sure that I shop once a week, every week. This simple coping skill allows me to have all the necessary foods available to cook adequate meals. I normally allocate Sunday afternoons for shopping. Immediately after I shop, I usually cook enough food to last me two or three days.

     Another misconception is that certain failures are due to a lack of willpower. If you were a recovering alcoholic, would you go into a bar? Let's suppose that you hadn't had a drink for six months. Feeling a bit empowered, you decide you can handle going into a bar. When you stagger out drunk, you would probably blame it on your lack of willpower. The typical viewpoint in a situation like this is to think that there is something inherently wrong with you as a person. I would contend that your failure had nothing to do with willpower, but rather, you failed to implement the correct coping skills to identify and avoid the bar as a high risk. The moment you saw the bar you should have acknowledged that it was a high risk and should have not gone inside. By implementing the right coping skill or response, you would have been successful. You want to win your show or get in the best shape of your life? Then, why aren't you carrying your food? Why don't you bring your workout clothes with you to work? Why are you still eating out and skipping meals?

     Without knowing it, you implement a lot of coping skills every day. When you get ready for work, you more than likely get ready in almost the exact same order every day. You probably drive the same way to work every morning, and I'll even bet that you leave your house at exactly the same time every day. These are just a few of the coping skills that you have developed over the years that allow you to get to work on time. On the other hand, if you are always late, you have probably never bothered learning coping skills that work for you. These people use excuses like "no time" and "too busy." What they are really saying is that they don't want to learn how to make their daily life more efficient. Building a healthy body depends on your ability to develop coping skills that will help you move toward your goal, not take you away from it.

Top 10 Coping Skills Required for Getting Lean

(1). Shop once a week.
(2). Develop as many great tasting recipes as possible.
(3). Set up training time and frequency that work within your schedule.
(4). Prepare large quantities of food ahead of time.
(5). Carry your food in a cooler.
(6). Learn to say no to activities you really don't want to do.
(7). Avoid alcohol! It's a depressant and usually reduces your desire to train the next day.
(8). Carry a meal replacement with you. (Try Myo-Plex, or Lean Bodies, etc.)
(9). Set up an eating schedule and stick to it. For example, my meal times are 6:30, 9:30, 12:30, 3:30, 6:30 and 9:30. By eating on time, you avoid hunger.
(10). Limit eating out in restaurants to two times a week if possible.