I love seeing “after photos.”

You know, those jaw-dropping body transformations.

Like the guy who changed his beer belly into a six pack.

Or the girl who traded her muffin top for a boy short ready booty.

Big time body transformations are awesome.  Unfortunately, they are also few and far between.  Sure, anyone who walks into a gym and does even a little work will lose some fat, tone some muscles, get stronger, and feel better.

But very few make those head-turning, “holy smokes!” changes in their bodies.

Today I’m going to share the secrets of those people who succeed in big-time transformations.

My main man Tony Robbins has a saying: “Success Leaves Clues.” If you ask 100 people with an amazing set of before-and-afters, I’d bet big money 95% of them took the same route to get there.

So… Here are the 7 things all successful body transformations have in common:

Body Transformation Secret Number One: The Right People

You MUST start surrounding yourself with the right people if you want a mega-change in your body.

A personal trainer I know says that your weight is an average of the five people you spend the most time with.

A study from Harvard found that hanging out with fat people is enough to make you fat.  The wrong people in your life are almost certain to drag you down.  (Maybe not right away, but they can wear anyone out)

This happens because of something called “cultural para stimuli.”  Victor Starling came up with this theory after experimenting on cats.

Starling took half of the cats in the study and performed brain surgery on them.  This surgery made them act in bizarre and self-destructive manners.  Then he put them in with the rest of the cats.

What happened?  Did the crazy cats try to act like the normal cats?  Did the normal cats ignore the crazy cats and get on with their lives?  Nope.  ALL of the cats started acting crazy!

Look at the self-destructive behavior of your friends and family.  They eat too much.  They’re lazy.  Their lifestyle sucks.  Do you pull them up or do they drag you down?  Most of the time, it’s the latter.

Your mission: Ditch the lazy crazies and find some like-minded companions for your transformation.

Body Transformation Secret Number Two: Set A SPECIFIC Goal, With A Deadline

Deirdre Reid set a goal of losing half a percent of body fat per week for 8 weeks. Here’s her picture:

Deirdre went from a size four to a size zero in less than 8 weeks by following the Wold Fitness Ripped Plan.

See, “losing weight” isn’t a goal.  (And it’s better to focus on inches instead of weight anyway.)

A goal has to be measurable, have a time frame, and there has to be a REASON.

The power of a goal with a deadline is most obvious in bodybuilding and figure competitors.  They KNOW they are going to be on stage in a teeny swimsuit in just 16 weeks, so they don’t cheat on their diet, they don’t miss or half-ass their training, and they stay focused.

Your Mission: TODAY sit down with a pad and pen and set a specific goal with a deadline.

Body Transformation Secret Number Three: MEASURE!!

Everyone who has made an amazing body transformation has gone through a period of measuring their food and calculating calorie and macronutrient breakdowns.

This is because measuring raises your awareness of what you’re REALLY putting in your body.

You don’t have to do this forever.  Just two weeks of keeping a detailed log will provide you invaluable knowledge to carry you through any body transformation.

And this is really cool – as a fitness coach, I can tell you that absent anything else, measurement improves results.

Wrapping a tape measure around your waist every Friday afternoon will keep you on track better than hopping on a scale every morning.  I promise.

Your Mission: Start keeping a food log.  Write down everything you eat for just 3 days.

That’s it for today…

Stay tuned to get the rest of my secrets to an amazing body transformation.

WARNING: Two of them are DEFINITELY not politically correct.