Now, apart from the negative connotations of the words “biggest” and “loser”, what image does that title bring to mind? For me, it’s those poor people who’s weight (for whatever reason) has escalated out of control, being deprived of food (extremely low-calorie diet) and harried/tormented/tortured (excessive, unenjoyable exercise) all to create a massive calorie deficit. This results in contestants losing a substantial amount of weight in a comparatively short space of time. This makes “good” telly (for those who get off on that, not me, it makes me angry to see people being put through that!) but guess what, it ends up f**king them up even more!
This recent article in the New York Times found that the majority of contestants put all that weight back on again (and more) within 5 years. Also, because the weight loss had been so dramatic, it messed their metabolisms’ up so much, it ran even slower than before they went on the show! This made it even easier to pile on the pounds with less food, talk about a lose-lose situation (or not as the case may be), people then feel failures – like it’s their fault, not that the structure of the programme is flawed.
Now, after over a decade of being in the fitness industry, working with numerous people and doing my own research, this is what I’ve discovered:
• It all starts in the mind! Yes, some excess weight can be attributed to lack of nutritional knowledge, junk food addictions and unwillingness to exercise. I believe that anyone can be a bit chubby or overweight (hello post-Christmas chub!) but to be substantially overweight/obese takes time and it is a symptom of someone not being very happy and/or with low self-esteem.
• Deprivation diets don’t work, healthy, permanent nutritional and lifestyle changes do! We all want a quick-fix, but losing weight, especially a substantial amount takes time – look at it as a marathon, not a sprint. If those pounds took years to pile on, then they should take quite a long time to come off, sorry but it doesn’t make for spectacular telly though!
• The ideal of 1-2lbs per week is sustainable and allows the body to reset its “set-point”. Adam Bornstein wrote a great article “Set-Point Theory: The Fat-Loss Secret No One Talks About” explaining clearly what happens when losing weight and why not to give up when you hit a plateau. Essentially, slower weight loss allows the body to physiologically and psychologically adjust to the new “normal” and not send it into panic mode to get back to what it knows.
• There has also been a study that says doing exercise doesn’t help you lose weight either, it’s all down to diet. How confusing is all of this?? That may be the case, but by doing a balanced combination of weights, cardio, stretching and more daily activity like walking does improve your body composition (greater muscle to body fat ratio – win!). Improved body composition is hugely important, apart from being fitter and stronger, the other health benefits are a reduction of stress and obesity-related diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
• Loose skin is also a problem with a quick loss of a substantial amount of body fat – this can require surgery to remove excess skin. Losing weight slower (and doing a weight training programme), might not totally eliminate this problem but will massively help reduce it by giving the skin something to adhere to (muscles) and allowing it adjust and slowly shrink over a longer period of time.
Next week I’ll talk about creating great daily habits and employing the compound effect to help you become the biggest winner!
These are the kind of things my clients learn when working with me, so contact me “here“or email jackie@age-drop.com to learn more about how I can help you look fabulous, feel fantastic and love the body you are in!
Speak soon!
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