Weight: 225.4 (-5.8)
Fat: 34.7% (-2.5%)
Meals: Not available
Exercise: Light Cardio (Treadmill 32:00 WL3 - 302 calories, 1.89 miles)
Pictures: Front/Side/Back
Three posts in a row is enough negativity methinks. Hopefully you've got the message by now: the odds of losing weight are very thin although very few people really seem to acknowledge this fact. Or they do realize how difficult it is but somehow this diet, this exercise plan, this time is different.
Weight loss isn't about wanting it badly enough. Your willpower isn't the key factor in your success. The difference between achieving your goals and failing yet again is not in your ability to push yourself harder and harder. Staying positive isn't enough, nor is believing in yourself. The best of intentions won't help you reduce your fat or put on muscle.
I believe the vast majority of weight loss plans fail for one simple reason: failure to change.
I know, I know, we all promise to change when we start a new diet plan. With every intention, we vow to eat smaller portions, to eat more vegetables, to work out at least 3 times a week. We buy expensive equipment because spending that kind of money will convince us that we need to justify the expense by actually working out. We insist that gym membership is going to get used this time and that we'll go twice a week for as long as we have it. And this time I mean it!
I've made the same promises myself. I have to change. I can't live like this any more. It's too important. I have to stick with it. I must do it. I will do it. No more excuses.
So why do we end up failing to change? Take your pick:
Enablers
Do you live with a girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse that also struggles with weight? Or maybe you spend a lot of time with a parent, child, close friend or even your coworkers? Chances are, you're enabling each others behavior. You want to eat better but it's really difficult when you're with someone who can pig out. You want to exercise but your enabler wants you to spend time with them. It's very difficult to make serious changes to your lifestyle if those closest to you reinforce your bad habits.
If you truly want to improve your life you have to seriously examine these relationships. Are you prepared to eat alone? To prepare your own meals? Is your family willing and able to support the same changes to their lives? Are you willing to distance yourself from some relationships that are unhealthy for you?
Priorities
Every time I've tried to lose weight in the past I've tried to add diet and exercise to my list of priorities. Do you know anyone who doesn't have a longer To Do list than they know what to do with? I certainly don't and I'm no exception to the rule either. Trying to add things to my schedule, workouts or planning and preparing meals, was difficult at best. And the first things to go when I simply had no more time.
I can't stress enough that if you don't prioritize your lifestyle change, you won't accomplish anything long-term. You will always return to your normal state of being. And if that normal state of being doesn't include those changes in eating and moving, they're not going to stick around.
Ask yourself what you're willing to give up when you take this on. If you're not willing to let go of a hobby or some responsibility so that you can focus on your weight, then you're not changing your priorities.
Pushing too hard
I want to lose 60-70 pounds, at least until I start putting muscle on. That's approximately 227,500 calories. My workout today burned 302 calories. With no changes in my diet or metabolism (intentional or otherwise) it would take me 754 days or more than 2 years of working out every day to take that off. If I take the weekends off, that number goes up to almost 3 years.
Who wants to wait that long for results? That's a lot of work for a very slow weight loss. So I try to change the calorie deficit. I starve myself by dieting, a 500 calorie deficit. I'm hungry but now I'm using up 803 calories a day. Now I'm looking at 284 days or more than 9 months.
Still anxious for results I decide to work out twice a day! We're up to 1,103 calories per day now, which brings us back down to 207 days or almost 7 months. That's still forever... I can always cut my calories down another 500. And at 142 days, about 20 weeks or almost 5 months to get to my goal of 165 pounds, I'm going to lose about 3 pounds per week. If all goes according to schedule I'm going to lose 6 pounds in the first two weeks.
Holy crap. With a thousand calorie deficit, or roughly a meal's worth of calories, and two 30+ minute workouts a day, I'm going to only lose 6 pounds in my first two weeks. If everything goes according to plan. Because pushing yourself that hard is very likely to make it even harder on yourself. Your body adjusts to that kind of drop in calories by slowing your metabolism down. You're eating the same amount but suddenly that 1000 calories deficit is down to 900, 800, 700... who knows?
You're miserable. Hungry all the time, and so worn out from your workouts you can't do much else. Digging deep into your willpower you press on. And then the pace of your weight loss slows. Instead of losing 3 pounds a week now you're only losing 2. And you have to keep this up for 6 more months?!
To keep going you allow yourself a little extra food here and there, mostly really calorie dense stuff like sweets. You skip a workout or three. With your lowered metabolism, suddenly your weight is staying the same or even going back up, even though you're still working out and starving yourself. What's the point of going on now? Obviously you're just meant to be fat. It's your body type.
Goals
Every list of fitness goals I see, starts off with "I want to weigh X pounds". We push ourselves to meet that goal by changing our caloric intake and adding cardio or strength training to our schedule. We push ourselves to meet that goal.
A few of us actually reach that goal. A lot of us don't. But those that do reach that goal now set a new goal to keep that new weight. Of course with the motivation gone or reduced, old habits creep back in. I refer to this as the finish line mentality. I saw the finish line, I worked hard to get there and cross it, and now the race is over. When the race is over you stop running so damn hard.
I don't think that setting goals is in and of itself a bad thing. But I think too often we set a goal and change our behavior to meet the goal. The key to success is not in changing our behavior to meet a goal, but to make changing our behavior the goal and losing weight is the reward for doing so. Weighing in shouldn't be the determination of where we are in meeting our goal, but an indication of changes that we may or may not have to make to our behaviors.
Conclusion
When I created this site I had to pick a "Slogan". I felt a bit cheesy when I typed out "Body Transformation requires Life Transformation". But the more I work on this site and on myself, the more I believe this is true. Without making serious changes to your lifestyle, the way you view food and activity, you will not be successful in changing your weight or your shape. Successful dieters and exercisers are the ones that change their lives to accomodate a new way of living.
Those people who lost a bunch of weight and kept it off? They changed their lives. They made fitness one of their primary goals, sometimes even changing professions. They don't fight cravings every day, they don't dread working out, they don't stress about trying to squeeze fitness into their lives. It's just a part of them now.
It's very possible to lose weight. Changing the way you eat can be done. Finding ways to be more active is doable. But it's a serious commitment. If you aren't willing to make major changes in the way you live you will find it very difficult to make changes in your body, and find it impossible to make them permanent.
Remember, it's not about willpower, wanting it badly enough, or even a superior plan. You have to be willing to accept major change, and commit to transforming your life. Start asking yourself tough questions. How important is this to you? Are you willing to make sacrifices? What are you ready to give up to achieve this? If you can't ask yourself these questions, or you aren't sure of the answers, you may not be ready. Don't give up, but accept that you might need some time before you're able and willing.
