These things are keeping you from losing weight… (it’s a long list)
According to the internet, these are some of the things keeping you fat and/or unhealthy:
Eating after 8 PM
Eating before noon
Doing cardio after you’ve eaten
Doing steady state cardio
Doing HIIT cardio
Drinking plain water
Eating too few calories
Eating meat
Not eating enough meat
Fruit
Vegetables
Sugar
Carbs
Fats
Non-organic food
Working out too hard
Your cortisol levels
Spiking your blood sugar
Hormones (not sure which ones, but they’re the problem)
Tracking your calories
Not tracking your calories
Your gut microbiome (if anyone can actually explain this in English, I’ll buy you a pony)
It gets a bit confusing, huh?
What ARE we supposed to do?
What’s left?
In a country where 40% of people are obese, why, you know, on earth, would we be making this more complicated than it needs to be? I’ll tell you exactly why.
Because most people on the internet aren’t in the helping-people business; they’re in the attention-getting business. And saying that you’ve cracked the code on weight loss or health and it’s a secret that only you know gets attention.
Why do they want attention? Because it pays really well to say that you’ve come up with the unique solution that’s keeping people stuck. And, in my humble opinion, preying on people’s fears, insecurities and desires for your own financial gain is the lowest form of humanity. But, it’s the world we live in and complaining about it does about as much good as telling my 3-year-old to calm down when he’s having a tantrum. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t do any good.
The worst part? All of this noise creates doubt where it didn’t need to be and actually contributues to people staying stuck. Because if we don’t really trust that what we’re doing works, it’s really hard to stick with it. So we are constantly stopping and starting again. Which is, honestly, most likely the reason we actually can’t lose weight. So what do we do instead?
Well, we need to be better informed. We need to know what actually moves the needle. To help with that, I made a full podcast episode debunking some of the most popular fitness, nutrition, and weight loss myths (including the ones listed above).
And, here’s the deal: it’s actually quite simple. It’s not easy, but it is simple. There’s no right way to do this, but the thing that people lack is sticking with something for long enough to know if it works for them. Because most things will work, but they’re not going to work overnight or even in a week or two. So, instead of continuing to guess what the “real problem” is, just start doing something and give it enough time to see if it actually works. And if, after several weeks of being consistent, it doesn’t work, then you can try something different.
But the real problem with our weight loss is that the person in our mirror can’t stick with something long enough to see results. And it’s easier to blame our circumstances than to look in the mirror and face that reality.
This should be simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple.
If you want to learn more about it, check out the podcast where I dive even deeper into the topic.
