Don’t make burning fat or building muscle any more difficult than it needs to be. If you’ve ever tried to improve your body composition to improve your health or confidence, but still don’t find yourself where you want to be, you may have made some common mindset mistakes that are covered below. The Bible says to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). Our mindset can be a great strength, but if not careful it can also be something that gets in the way if not consistently renewed.

By the time you’re done reading you will be aware of the most common mindset mistakes that you might be making and learn how to overcome them on your way to a stronger and more confident body. We’ve helped hundreds of people get in the best shape of their life over the last 5 years through Inside Out Strength, and I’m excited to help you save time, energy, and frustration by overcoming these common mindset mistakes.

Mistake 1: Unrealistic Goals

Let’s clear the air right off the bat - it’s very difficult to lose fat and build muscle simultaneously, especially if you have some type of athletic or exercise background. The exceptions of this are if you are new to strength training, have had a long time away from strength training, have a lot of fat to lose, or you are getting some extra help from anabolic steroids. Most people set goals that are way too ambitious when it comes to losing fat and gaining muscle. This happens either by setting unrealistic goals or timelines that go beyond your body’s natural abilities, or by setting a goal of fat loss and muscle building at the same time. The saying goes if you try to catch two rabbits at once you won’t catch any.

Strategy to overcome the mistake: Choose ONE goal of either fat loss or muscle building at a time. Conservative goals for muscle building would be to gain 0.25-0.5 lbs of muscle per week, and for fat loss to lose 0.5-2lbs of fat per week. If you try to stretch above these ranges, you risk gaining more fat with your muscle or losing more muscle with your fat.

Mistake 2: Getting Bored

Most programs work, however most people don’t stick with a program long enough to see results. Have you ever found something that worked pretty well for yourself, only to jump to something ‘new’ that so many other people were finding success with? As mentioned in mistake #1, true fat loss or muscle growth takes time. Most people are seeing results at an appropriate pace, but because they get impatient (or set unrealistic goals) they feel the need to switch things up in hopes of accelerating the process. When this happens, you might feel more productive but you’re actually setting your progress back (more on this in Mistake #5 and #6)

Strategy to overcome this mistake: Commit to yourself ahead of time that as long as you are still seeing progress, that you will continue to follow the plan that is working for you (even if results aren’t as quick as you’d like).

Mistake 3: More Is Better Mentality

You don’t need to workout more than 3x/week to get extraordinary results. Even 2x/week is often sufficient if you’re strength training with enough intensity. In our personal experience and working with hundreds of clients, 3x/week of strength training is the sweet spot for muscle growth and fat loss while following our Inside Out Strength Protocol - no extra cardio required. We see so many people think that working out 5+ days a week, cutting their calories way lower than they should be, and adding in extra cardio sessions is required for accomplishing their goals. Often this just leads to a less sustainable approach that will leave you feeling hungry, low on energy, and on the brink of burning out or cheating when your willpower finally runs out.

Strategy to overcome this mistake: Nail the basics first: 2-3x/week of real strength training, take a daily walk, and consistently hit your calorie and protein targets. Anything above this is often not really helping you achieve your goals any faster, and often does more harm than good.

Mistake 4: Focusing On Short-Term Results

How attractive are the programs that promote losing 30lbs in 30 days? As you’ve already learned in Mistake #1, this isn’t even realistic for most people that aren’t obese, and it’s definitely not sustainable. While it’s okay to chase some ‘quick wins’, the desire for big wins week after week will only leave you discouraged and cause you to default to program hopping (Mistake #2) or trying to add more to speed up results (Mistake #3).

Strategy to overcome this mistake: Prioritize setting realistic long-term goals over more aggressive short-term goals. If you know you have a big event coming up that you want to look good for, give yourself enough time to actually achieve it without extreme measures.

Mistake 5: Subjective Over Objective Mindset

There are a lot of emotions involved with setting out to lose weight or build muscle. Focusing on objective data over your feelings is always a good idea (especially when you’re cutting calories and overly hangry). If you don’t ever track your strength progress in the gym, weight/body fat percentage, and calories that you’re actually consuming - you’re making it very difficult to know what’s actually working. If you get frustrated because you’re not losing weight or gaining strength, but you’re not tracking any kind of data, you’re setting yourself up for failure (or at the very least frustration) from the start. 

Strategy to overcome this mistake: Choose the measurables that are most important for you, and make sure you have a way of tracking them. This could be as simple as weighing yourself daily, logging your workouts, and tracking your calories to know how much you’re actually consuming.

Mistake 6: Focusing On The Outcome Over The Process

Losing fat and building muscle is a long game. If you only focus on the outcome, not the progress you’re making, there will be days (and sometimes weeks) of frustration. When you fall in love with the daily process (consistently hitting your workouts, target calorie goals, daily walks, etc), the results will always take care of themselves over time.

Strategy to overcome this mistake: Become the type of person who falls in love with the process. When you do this, the timeline is less important and you’ll set yourself up to grow mentally and physically through the journey. 

Mistake 7: Doing It Alone

Not only is losing fat and building muscle a long game, but it’s a lonely game too. If you don’t have someone encouraging you and going through the process with you, it can feel like you’re on an island at time. These feelings are multiplied even more when you throw in parties, celebrations, and any other social events or people in your life that put extra pressure on you. It’s easy to start to feel guilty for wanting more out of your body - as if there is something wrong with pursuing a better version of yourself. There’s nothing wrong with getting started on this journey to a better body and better health - just don’t make the mistake to assume you’re strong willed enough to accomplish your goals on your own.

Strategy to overcome this mistake: Surround yourself with people that will encourage you, support you, and keep you accountable. That may be a family member, friend, or gym or community that you need to join.

We help men lose 10 lbs of fat and build 10 lbs of muscle in the next 10 months. If you’re ready to build a body that you’re confident in, click here to chat with one of our coaches.