Lean Bodies Consulting

Kind of an odd statement isn’t it? “It’s simple, but it’s not easy.” Of course, I’m referring to the issue of fat loss and getting in great shape. It’s simple, but it’s not easy.

To clarify a bit …

Conceptually it’s simple - meaning the ‘how to’ is pretty straight forward. Practically, it’s not so easy. Meaning the application, discipline, self control, etc., isn’t easy. So we could say that physiologically it’s simple and psychologically it’s not easy. Make sense?

I want to focus for a minute on the ‘not easy’ part. More people simply MUST accept this. There is a reason … many actually … for why more people aren’t walking around with enviable physiques. It’s not easy. There’s a reason so many people are yo-yo dieters, gaining and losing the same 10 pounds year in and year out. It’s not easy. There’s a reason why people start a diet, and then quit, only to restart. It’s not easy.

You have to accept this if you want to have long-term success in taking control of your physique … and even your health for that matter.

There is a price to pay for getting in shape. It’s not free. It has a cost associated with it. whether that’s not being able to eat 8 cookies whenever you THINK your body is specifically telling you it needs cookies (it’s not by the way), or having to get to the gym when you don’t feel like it. Actually, the gym tends to be the easy part for most people. It’s the nutritional discipline that is the issue for most.

The question you have to ask yourself is, ‘once you realize there’s a cost, are you willing to pay it’? It’s another way of saying you’re going to have to make some sacrifices if you’re serious. If you’re not willing to, then stop complaining about not making any progress and looking the same all the time.

If you want to adopt an attitude that it’s always okay to cheat or be lax with your eating, then you’re going to look the same. Food will always be there. You want it today? It’ll be there tomorrow. The next day too.

it’s a mistake to have this ‘tolerance attitude’ that says ‘hey, you cheated again; it’s okay. It’s not a big deal”. And you’re right, it’s not a big deal … UNLESS you start complaining about not making any progress.

This is supposed to be hard. The sooner you accept that reality, the better off your chances of being successful. However, ‘hard’, isn’t a bad thing. It’s all in your outlook. Similarly, hunger isn’t a bad thing - unless you think it’s a bad thing. If you always associate hunger with bad feelings, whining, moaning, whoa-is-me complaining, than yeah, you’re not going to be so happy are you? However, what if you shift your thinking? What if you decide to welcome the hunger? What if you decide to associate hunger with good things - like perhaps the fact that eating in a deficit is necessary for fat loss and clearly eating less than your body wants is going to make you hungry. So two plus two equals hunger being a possible indicator that you’re on the right track.

Again, it’s all in the mindset. Choose to enjoy the process and you can’t fail. Choose to whine and complain, justify and excuse, and you can’t succeed.

Getting lean isn’t supposed to be easy. Accept it.

Read that all again.

Follow Up Blog Post #1
Follow Up Blog Post #2

Saw this on another fitness-related blog and had to post it. Only a few words, but they carry a very big message.

2 days can erase 5!

I hope the message there is clear - weekends can kill your fat loss.

And another important point while I’m at it:

Nibbles and extras can also ruin your fat loss. In isolation they might not mean much and can be classified as ‘little’, but little + little + little is no longer little. In the end, these little nibbles here and there DO in fact add up and CAN put the brakes on your progress.

Be mindful of what goes in your mouth.

So everyone seems to be talking about the recently published diet study where low carb vs low fat diets faced off to determine what, in the end, is superior.

I had planned to comment on this one myself, but this morning I came across a blog post by Craig Ballantyne, that encompasses my thoughts pretty well. So, in light of that, I’m just going to copy and paste his comments here.

A new low-carb vs. low-fat diet has come out, and the Dr. Atkins camp is claiming victory, although the low-fat camp of Dr. Dean Ornish is crying foul.

I often hear how well someone did all day long, but then while making dinner they snack on upwards of 500 calories of their kid’s treats, or other processed carbohydrates they have lying around the house. The little things can add up to big time problems.
So take a good long look at everything you eat. And all of this can be avoided if you follow rule #5.

My bottom line? They both work. Barring some basic truths and requirements - correctly set calories for YOU, adequate protein and omega-3 fat intake, both low carb and low fat diets can and do work.

I find myself addressing this very issue repeatedly in correspondence with clients, so I thought I’d just put my thoughts in one place.

When I say the scale lies, you probably say something like, “I agree.” However, do you really? If you do agree, then whatever number pops up on the Random Number Generator will have little to no effect on you, or how you feel right? If you don’t agree, whatever number pops up relative to the last time you checked will either have you singing for the day or moaning doom and gloom.

Now, I won’t go off on a tangential rant about the scale here a I’ve already done that in my Beware! Rant About The Scale post from a ways back. But I do want to post, what seems obvious I know, a simple reminder.

The scale is information. That’s it. What does it tell you? It tells you what you weigh that moment you step on it. That’s it. It tells you nothing else. It doesn’t tell you anything about the composition of your weight. It doesn’t tell you if you’ve lost fat, gained muscle, or if simply your body’s water balance has fluctuated. It just gives you information, and most importantly, information without any context, is useless.

Doing an honest assessment, I think most of us, when we’re dieting for fat loss are after a ‘look, more than we’re after a weight. The problem is that we tend to associate a look with a given weight, and this isn’t necessarily the case. I can’t even count how many people I know who’ve found themselves smaller than they were in times past (based on clothing sizes), yet are heavier. If you focused solely on the scale, well, this is bad news right? However, clearly if clothes fit better, you’re smaller, you’re leaner, you’ve lost fat. And if you’re all these things AND heavier? You’re fortunate enough to be carrying some new muscle. Don’t complain!

With my clients I have them check in officially at two-week intervals. As part of that check in, they submit their bodyweight that day as well as a number of girth measurements. Now, here’s my point today …

More importantly than the fact the scale doesn’t give you any information on what is happening with your fat and muscle which are slower changes, it also doesn’t tell you anything about day-to-day fluctuations in body water.

It could just so happen that you caught yourself on a ‘high’ day in terms of body water. If you did a little experiment on yourself you could see this in action. If it were not true, you’d basically weigh the exact same every day and any change would be a slow decrease. There’d be no upward blips ever. Weigh yourself daily for two weeks and watch how untrue this is. You’ll see weight fluctuating up and down by a few pounds over the course of the two weeks. Of course, over time the trend should be downward.

Now I tend to not recommend weighing very often because I think people are too obsessed and affected by the results of the stepping on the scale. So, my goal is to break this over time - again because as mentioned earlier, the scale is just information and information without context is useless.

However, in some cases I’ll ask people to weigh themselves daily and submit those numbers to me as well at the end of two weeks. Why? Mostly so that they can see what’s happening and see that bodyweight fluctuates a lot. What if on the biweekly day a person’s weight was 150lbs. And let’s say two weeks ago it was 150.5lbs. You might think, “Meh, only 1/2 a pound lost”. But how do you know that person didn’t weight 148 the day before? Very possible. They just happened to catch themselves on the high day.

Daily weight fluctuations are normal. They are not indicators or success of failure. Changes in sodium status, how much water you’re drinking (low water intake promotes water retention), hormonal changes associated with menstruation, glycogen status, etc., all affect bodyweight.

My point is simply to not put too much stock into what the scale says TODAY. It probably said something different yesterday and will say something different again tomorrow. Worry about what you’re doing - sound nutrition, training, and cardio. From there over time your bodyweight will take care of itself.

If you want, experiment with daily weigh ins for yourself so you can see this in action. If you’re a client of mine, I especially want you to keep this in mind. Focus on trends, not absolute numbers.