Why should I know Michael Matthews?

“A sensible recommendation: if you’re overweight and don’t exercise, you shouldn’t eat a bunch of simple carbohydrates every day.”

“Always set goals and be looking to improve. Don’t just try to stay the same, because things tend to either get better or get worse.”

“Cardio can enhance fat loss in two ways—burning calories and speeding up your metabolic rate—but that’s it.”

“Discipline is doing what you hate to do, but nonetheless doing it like you love it.”

“Eat less energy than you burn to lose fat.”

“Insulin tells the body to stop burning its fat stores and instead absorb some of the fatty acids and glucose in the blood and turn them into more body fat… but that’s not what causes you to get fatter over time—overeating does.”

“Lift hard and heavy, get sufficient rest, and feed your body correctly.”

“Nothing seems to improve self-control in all aspects of our lives like exercise. Even five minutes of low-intensity exercise outdoors is enough to improve your mental state. If you want a willpower quick fix, exercise is it.”

“Overweight, sedentary bodies don’t deal with simple sugars nearly as well as lean, physically active ones do. ”

“Research shows that when blood sugar levels are low, we’re more likely to give up on difficult tasks, vent our anger, stereotype others, and even refuse to donate to charity.”

“Simply thinking about people with high levels of self-control—self-control role models, if you will—has been shown to increase willpower.”

“The silver lining, however, is that good behaviors and moods are contagious as well. If we hang around people who are generally goal-driven and happy with high levels of self-control, we too can “catch” these traits.”

“You’re as tough as you think you are, and you can exert as much self-control as you think you can.”