When losing weight seems impossible...

justinsgym

You’re overweight, you’re frustrated, and nothing seems to be working. I get it. As you might expect, I’ve seen some incredibly discouraged and emotionally drained people. I have seen the look of pure and utter disappointment as those black lines dance around the scale, taunting you, making you wait, just to reveal a number that screams failure - sending all of the previous week’s efforts spiraling down the toilet. “Sorry big guy, maybe next time”. It’s like on the Biggest Loser when the contestants are forced to stand there for what seems like 30 seconds, shirtless, while everyone just stares at them, and the scale dances around playing that same sequence of beeps over and over and over. We all know a commercial is coming, but we still watch in anticipation. A whole show, centered around that one statistic. A whole country, centered around that one statistic. Weight loss. But what are the underlying factors that contribute to weight loss and weight gain? And who gets to decide what’s most important? The answer, of course, is you (whether or not you realize it).

Weight loss is virtually unpredictable. With the highly individualized and intricate nature of the human body, how can we even begin to set an expectation? Is an NFL quarterback right on target with every throw? Does an NBA basketball player hit every shot? Of course not. There are so many internal mechanisms that contribute to each individual outcome response that if one is just slightly off, it could alter the entire movement. What about the outside factors? The pressure, the stress… that whole psychological component that often seems forgotten. Now think about weight loss. It’s all there. So how do you manage it? And how do you even begin to attack a problem that has no clearly defined solution? It certainly isn’t easy and that’s why the point of this article isn’t to tell you what you should be doing (there’s enough of those out there), but to help you think about what you are/aren’t doing. It’s possible that you aren’t in control of your own life. Maybe we can fix that. This article is about you.

If you’re reading this article, you’re likely trying to lose weight, or have tried, with or without success, in the past. So let’s start here at the beginning: For whatever reason, you decide that today is a new day, the day that you’re finally going to take your life back. We’ve all been there before. So, what is YOUR first step? Do you join a gym? Do you rope your coworkers into a new revolutionary diet that your cousin’s sister’s brother-in-law tried? Do you google “weight loss pills”, “healthy recipes”, “personal trainers” or maybe “why am I fat”? Do you start by going for a walk? There’s definitely no shortage of information out there. And there’s no right or wrong answer. Just a lot of individual difference. Let’s come back to the NFL player for a second. You can have perfect mechanics all the way up the chain, but if you have a poor release, can you ever really be successful? Ask Tim Tebow. The same applies here. If you hire a trainer and don’t change your diet… how far can you get? If you eat well and exercise, but only sleep 4-5 hours a night… how far can you get? Are you setting yourself up for long-term success by continuously improving and taking that next step forward, or are you jumping into something half-heartedly, reaching a plateau, and saying “well that didn’t work”? Think about it…

From my experience, consistency and accountability breed success. You have to be willing to work (and I’m not saying this lightly) on those “mechanics”, those underlying factors that will ultimately determine whether or not you succeed. No basketball player made it to the NBA without learning to dribble first. So, why not start with the fundamentals? – Diet and exercise.

Flowchart - http://pioneervalleyfitness.com/profiles/blogs/when-losing-weight-seems-impossible?xg_source=activity

As you can see from my chart above, it tends to get complicated pretty quickly. And trust me when I say that it gets much more complex and technical than that! As I stated in the opening paragraph, you get to decide what’s most important and where you need to make the biggest adjustments. So let me ask you this again…are you actually in control of your life? Are you making healthy choices that are sustainable? Are diets sustainable? Weight loss pills? How about sleep deprivation? Do yourself a favor and forget about that number on the scale and focus on consistency. Start to eliminate potential reasons why you’re not losing weight by working towards consistent, healthy, choices and maintaining accountability through proper education and growth. Simple as that. Learn from your mistakes, challenge yourself to make better decisions, and continue to grow as you take those next steps forward. You can’t become an elite athlete without practice and constantly working on the fundamentals just like you can’t reach your weight loss goals without working on the findamentals. Those guys never stop studying, learning, and refining their skills. If you try and cheat your way to the top by taking the easy way out (i.e. diets, pills, quick-fix approaches), you’ll end up right back where you started. You can ask A-Rod about that one.

This article wasn’t intended to provide the answers and doesn’t claim to; it was intended to evoke the questions that can ultimately lead you down the path to success. That’s what taking back control of your life is all about. One step at a time.