People with unrealistic expectations

It’s unrealistic of people to expect to lose weight so quickly. It takes months, if not years, to gain weight. For most it is a slow progression and isn’t really paid attention to until you are 10+ pounds heavier. It’s irresponsible for companies to not highlight the realistic expectation of losing weight in a healthy way. Companies advertise the quick fixes, but studies have shown that diets tend to fail in the end as they are just a temporary fix. The popular diets on daytime TV and magazine advertisements are catchy, but they are not reflective of the true lifestyle change that it takes to lose weight.

I try to encourage anyone around me to do math before they start a lifestyle change. 3,500 calories is what it took to gain 1 pound. If you’ve gained 10 pounds, you’ve eaten an excess of 35,000 calories. A bowl of cereal is approximately 150 calories. You’ve eaten an extra 233 bowls of cereal. Do you realize how long it took you to eat an extra 233 bowls of cereal? It is going to take you that long to lose it. I try to encourage realistic calorie expectations to lose weight. It’s ridiculous for people to target 700-800 calories a day to lose weight (unless that is your end-of-day after deducting HIIT). It won’t work, guaranteed. It’s unhealthy and you’ll burn out. It is not sustainable.

If I want to lose the 10 pounds I’ve gained by eating an extra 233 bowls of cereal and I calculate a lifestyle change of consuming 1,500 calories a day, I should lose 10 pounds in 24 days. But see, it really isn’t that easy. When you factor in what your 1,500 calorie allowance actually is composed of on a nutrient level, the “cheats” you consume and any exercise, it skews the math. Life gets in the way and your 1,5000 target can be difficult to adhere to on a daily basis. If you don’t realistically consider you are going to eat a cookie or two, you are going to fail. If you exercise daily and it becomes a chore to you, you’ll find excuses to stop. If you are on a diet that doesn’t allow, let’s say, carb or sugar, is that how you are going to live the rest of your life? If not, how are you going to adjust your life to accommodate carb and sugar when you are no longer dieting?

My point is that losing weight is a lot more than just picking a diet that is the latest fad or erroneously coming up with a target calorie amount. Do the math, educate yourself and realize that this needs to be a healthy lifestyle change. All things constant, if you eat one less bowl of cereal a day, you’ll lose the 10 pounds in less than a year without having to do anything. Choose to eat healthy and exercise because it is important to you and you’ll find more time to enjoy life.