I’m a pretty laid back kind of guy. Not too much really bothers me. There are some things that do, though. I’ve said many times that there are people in the fitness industry that have a lot invested in making this all seem very complicated, especially when it comes to diet. I want to assure you of something: It isn’t. In fact it’s very simple. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it is simple.
A few weeks ago on a very popular podcast (and one I usually love), a “celebrity trainer” was interviewed and said such things as:
– – calories don’t matter
– – fat-free milk is one of the worst things you can drink but whole milk is fine
– – eating ice cream is fine as long as you have it with full fat whipped cream to blunt the insulin spike
Just a quick response here:
1. Calories do matter if you want to lose weight.
2. There is no difference between fat-free and whole milk other than the amount of fat.
3. Do I even need to talk about this one?
He said some other things as well but I think you get the idea. Now maybe you’re someone who wants to lose a little weight and you’re not sure how to do it then you turn this on. What do you think?
“This is impossible. I’ll never understand how all this works. I can’t remember all of these rules!” At this point most people go into information overload, shut down and then some of them buy his book.
I would actually be fine with all of this if it was necessary. If you really did need to know all of these things to lose weight, well that’s just how it would be. The problem is that this doesn’t have to be very complicated at all. In fact, the vast majority of the time it is very simple. As I said before though, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Let’s get one thing out of the way first:
Calories matter.
If someone tells you they don’t, that’s great because you know you don’t have to bother listening to them any longer.
Here’s another thing you need to know. Low carb diets work. You know what else works? High carb diets, low fat diets, and high fat diets. You can lose weight eating breakfast. You can lose weight not eating breakfast. You can lose weight eating after 8pm. You can lose weight not eating after 8pm. You can lose weight eating chocolate covered ants. You can lose weight not eating chocolate covered ants.
Do you understand what I’m trying to say? There are lots of ways to do this! The important thing is to do it the way you can do it!
Now, let’s be honest for a second. If you want to lose weight you do need to make some changes. What I’m saying though, is the changes you make should be ones you can do and it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Let’s just say you have desert after dinner every night. It’s something you enjoy and look forward to and you’ve been doing it for years. You know, however, that if you want to lose weight you probably shouldn’t have desert every single night. Well, wouldn’t there be progress if you had desert just every other night? Or had a smaller portion of desert every night? This is just one small example but this is how good habits are built and this is how progress in made! Little by little over time!
Doing it this way makes it sustainable and also has a much better chance of being permanent. We all know someone who lost some weight and then put it all back on don’t we? That’s probably because they didn’t focus on their habits. They did something extreme all at once and then stopped. What good is that?
Here’s an easy way to get started.
First, take an honest and unemotional look at your habits. (Please take a special look at the words honest and unemotional! I put them in italics and underlined them for a reason.) Try to find one that you feel is holding you back from your goals and that you feel you can change.
Next, be honest and unemotional (there’s those words again)with yourself and think about how much you are 100% willing and able to do. Using the desert example you can choose to have desert fewer times per week or choose to make your desert smaller. Either one is fine. Either one is progress. It is key here that you feel confident in your ability to be at least 90% successful with what you choose.
Third, go for it! Practice your new habit for about two weeks or until it becomes a part of you and when it does, pick another one.
Before you know it, you’ll have made three, four or five changes that could have a huge impact!
Once again, this shouldn’t be complicated. Make it easy and I know you can be successful!
Let me know what you think and if you need any help getting started drop me a line at MitchRFitness@gmail.com.
Have a great day!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Lean Eating Coach, FMS
2861 Grove Way in Castro Valley
510-754-7113
I Help People Discover Their Strength!
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