The diet and weight loss industry is huge and growing every day. People want to lose weight, get thinner, look better and be healthier. They are bombarded constantly with news of America’s “obesity epidemic” and pictures of young, small-boned women modeling the latest fashions.
Today you can find such solutions as laser fat removal, stomach reductive surgery, super low-calorie diets involving hormones like HCG and sugar replacement products like aspartame cropping up in nearly every processed food product, including most chewing gums.
Laser fat loss example
There is an obsession with losing weight all over the world. You’d expect that with this much interest and investment that the People of Earth would be slim, toned and gorgeous. That’s almost the exact opposite of what’s really happening (go to your local Costco food court if you don’t believe this).
It’s no secret that the majority of people (95% is the figure quoted in Congressional hearings, research papers and books) who lose weight by reducing the amount of calories they ingest (dieting) alone, regain the weight they lost and then some in a matter of months. The term “yo-yo” dieting comes from this phenomenon. What do these people have in common? Dieting alone. No exercise, or very little.
These are sedentary people. Take a look at the photos below – they are MRI cross sections of the thighs of two 70 year-old men. The one on the top is sedentary. The one on the bottom is a triathlete (very physically active).
The National Weight Control Registry tracks 10,000 people who have lost weight and kept it off. The average member of this registry has lost 70 pounds and remained at that weight for six years
There is no consistent pattern to how people in the registry lost weight – some did it with Weight Watchers, others with Jenny Craig or the Atkins Diet. A very small number did it through surgery (that’s very telling with all the promotion about these days for procedures like the “Lap Band”). What is consistent is that, among other things:
1. These people eat fewer calories and exercise far more than a person who maintains the same weight naturally
2. Registry members exercise about an hour or more a day
3. They eat breakfast regularly
4. Most watch less than half as much television as the overall population
So folks, it CANNOT be ignored. You have to exercise if you want to maintain your weight loss successfully. Going on diets is a massive waste of time and money unless you’re prepared to get active and stay active in a pretty big way.
How to exercise to get the best results; well, we can get you lots of good information on that (there is a LOT of garbage out there on that subject so it pays to pay attention).
You could start with the book Fit Lean Healthy, 8 Simple Steps to get you up and running – it’s based on a very successful and time-tested method for getting personal training clients on the right track.
Tracey Thatcher
