[Insert picture of woman laughing alone with salad.]
I’m one of those genetically blessed people who never worries too much about being overweight. Don’t hate me. Because it weighs so much on many minds (Folks!), I’ve read a lot of science on the subject, beyond my studies as a Trainer. It’s important not just for looking good — by the way, you can look good with extra weight. Although sometimes people can be healthy at any weight, body coposition is related to health and longevity (CDC). And since we are DeathSlayers, it shall be challenged.
What a Trainer Can Do
When you start training — if your goals include gaining muscle and/or losing fat — we take information about you, plug it into some equations and get estimates of what your body needs — both in terms of calories per day, and the macronutrients, or “macros” they should come from. These are the carbohydrates, fat, and protein you need. It is just an estimate, and you can adjust based on your needs and intuitions. Beyond that, we are not dieticians, and if you have access to one through a doctor, you should do that. Please read our disclaimer before you go on. This article would go way too long, but here are some principles I’ll write more about later:
Fat and Sugar are Addictive
There are numerous studies showing that the brain/body of rats responds to sugar and fat binges like little junkies. They can measure changes in the brain, including the production of opiates and dopamine — juices that makes you feel good. Sugar alone causes a blip, fats alone give you a buzz, but the combination of sugar and fat together? Oh wow! Your brain lights up like a christmas tree.
The real rats in the food industry figured out that low-quality, high pleasure food makes lots and lots of money. Bringing us nutritious food for low cost, not so much. So, it’s not entirely our own fault that, according to the CDC, 70% of Americans are overweight, including about 40% who are technically obese.
It Really Is Just Energy In, Energy Out
Millions of pages written about food and diets, and it really comes down to that. You gain energy from food, and most of the extra gets stored as body fat. The body always adapts to whatever you’re doing. Excess food becomes the new normal., as does less movement than our ancestors. Never in 99% of our history as a species has it been possible to just reach out and grab food we like without hardly doing anything for it.
Changing the Energy Balance
So, you have to move more and eat less to change your body composition. We all know that. But it’s not quite that simple. One of my professors said something I will never forget: the only exercise that really works for weight loss is the “plate push.” Push away those extra or unhealthy foods. We have to change our energy intake. Movement helps by keeping our metabolism higher, but it is a relatively small part.
Just being alive all day burns about 2/3rds of all your calories for the day. Exercise, digestion, and just moving around generally are the rest. We have to figure out a way to change our eating patterns and trick our bodies’ adaptation process to our advantage.
Why Diets Fail
It’s very simple: your body is not stupid. We evolved as a species to survive feast and famine. During feast, our body stores the extra. Even when you get used to the extra calories, your body hoards it. Now, when your calorie intake starts going down for a long period, your body goes into yellow-alert and re-routes power to the shields. Your metabolism slows down, and remember, your metabolism is 2/3rds of your energy burn.
Is it possible to lose weight and keep it off?
It IS possible, but it will take change, and change is hard. It will also take compassion for yourself, and acknowledging that our food system is designed for profit, not nutrition. To change we need to discover new eating patterns (don’t call them diets) that sustain us and make us happier and healthier.
Two things I recommend right off the bat for a client is to just start monitoring intake. Download an app like MyFitnessPal or others, and start scanning labels of stuff you eat. Just do it for 3-5 days to get a baseline, mixing up weekend and week days. No judgement, don’t change anything, just record. Secondly, just before you get something to eat, ask yourself “why?” Am I really hungry? Does my body need more fuel? Or could it be boredom, anxiety, depression, distraction, habit? That is the beginning of what is called mindful or intuitive eating. More on that later.
One more thing, for the movement part of the equation, consider getting a smart watch or fitness tracker as I talk about at the link. I truly love mine.
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