Today is one of those reminder days. I am going to remind you of something we have discussed before but is absolutely critical to your continual success when it comes to achieving permanent weight loss. Quite simply permanent weight loss is about two things: math and consistency.
There is no shortage of weight loss programs, strategies, gimmicks and tools all with outrageous claims and promises, and unfortunately most produce very little by way of lasting results. Let’s examine a little further, I generally divide many of the gimmicks and fads I see into two categories: crash dieting and goofy gimmicks. Now many of the mainstream fad diets and weight loss programs all rely on very restrictive caloric intakes or odd caloric manipulations to produce results. It may not seem like it to the average person as our typical North American daily food intake is already so messed up from our overworking, high stress, on the run, convenience life style. As I have said many times before most people are eating too little high quality nutrients and are way out of balance when it comes to the primary macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates and fats.
Now the many weight loss programs that utilize any method of crash dieting are like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The produce great initial results but then like a pendulum swinging the other way have you gaining all and generally more weight back in the end. Quite simply when we continue to under nourish our body’s with either too few calories or volume or incorrect balance we compromise our vital systems such as our immune system and metabolic engines.
Goofy gimmicks are any type of weight loss equipment or generally exercise system. Now I am not saying that many don’t provide some fitness benefits but when it comes to the radical physical transformations they claim I want you to remember what I am going to share with you. I have two friends in California who are in the infomercial business, you would not know them but I bet you have seen their clients. Infomercials are an incredibly costly marketing campaign and as such each individual is carefully selected and trained accordingly. Now each individual will use the product or goofy gimmick as part of their program but they also receive top notch training from personal trainers and specifically individualized nutritional coaching. Those with the best results are selected for the infomercial.
At the end of the day those of us in the weight loss industry understand the simple truth. Unfortunately when it comes to lasting weight loss there are no short cuts and the margin of error for producing results versus not working is very narrow. Unfortunately those few bites of afternoon sweets or simply the family dinner you didn’t measure are enough to ensure the scale never moves and you don’t make it to those skinny jeans. But the good news is that your body adapts quicker than your willpower. The key is to understand that to achieve permanent weight loss is to maintain perfect balanced consistency with your nutrition for the longest period you can, and this is what varies greatly from person to person. Be perfect with your nutrition for as long as you can than take a break. Initially that might only be one day or an afternoon, if you really struggle, but just make sure the next period is longer. As you can begin to string 7-10 days together where you maintain absolute balance and consistency you will begin to see immediate changes in weight loss and inches. The body adapts so quickly and once it really starts to work you will notice that even when you do take a few days off it just continues to do the things it’s supposed to do.
You may not want to believe what I have just told you but over the coming weeks that the scale doesn’t budge or you gain all the weight you lost at the weight loss clinic back I urge you to keep a detailed nutrition journal and see for yourself. After more than a decade and thousands of clients I’ll continue to tell you with certainty that permanent weight loss continues to be about math and consistency.
Note: Doing a quick google search for basal metabolic rate will allow you to perform a general calculation for your BMR. Calories for daily activity must still be added to this result, an average of 50-100 calories per waking hour will give you a ballpark estimate of an effective total daily caloric intake. We have had great success as a starting point by dividing total calories into: about 30% of protein dense foods (beef, pork, poultry, fish, cottage cheese), 50% carbohydrates (with a special emphasis on vegetables and less starches such as rice and potatoes.) and 20% fats. (Only specifically added when not using higher fat protein sources such as beef or pork.)
Core training is the buzz word in fitness these days, I’ve touched on it in previous columns. Previously while snowboarding at Panorama I experienced first hand the significant impact of core training on balance and performance. I was excited and yet very nervous about the trip as I had not been on a snowboard in nearly two years and my father has become quite the avid snowboarder. I couldn’t have dear old dad show me up that’s for sure. Too my surprise my confidence and ability on the snow had improved over my last trip in spite of the time that had passed since I’d last been to the mountains. Core and functional training is really the only possible explanation for this improvement. Core training not only makes traditional strength training more interesting it also produces significant improvement in a very short time.
