What The Diet Industry Doesn’t Want You To Know

I get asked about diets a lot! Which ones are the best to follow and what’s my opinion related to several of them. The best advice I can give you related to diets is to stay away from them! Coming from someone who has made a living in the fitness industry and from teaching people how to loose weight effectively, this might seem laughable, however, there’s actually a lot of validity in that statement.

We live in a generation where everyone is looking for the “quick fix”. Nobody wants to wait anymore…. for anything. That much has become evident in our every day lives. We have drive thru’s and credit cards and “buy now, pay later” and “30 minutes or it’s free”. The same holds true when it comes to weight loss. Diet programs are promising results of up to 15lbs or more a month at ridiculously expensive rates and all you have to do is buy this pre packaged food or take these weight loss pills that contain so much caffein they’ll have your heart racing and keep you up all night. However, the attractive girl in the smart looking business suit says, “it worked for me” and promises results and you’ve been on just about every diet out there already so why not just give this a try? After all, if you could just loose 15lbs in one month, that would solve all your problems right? Never mind the ridiculously high price tag this new diet comes with, you’re just dying to fit in those old jeans from five years ago. Heck, celebrities do it all the time and the evidence is front page magazines so why can’t you do it to?!

I see these clients all the time, in fact, I’ve probably been there myself many years ago. When we want to loose weight, we want it gone yesterday. My best advice to you is to stay away from anything that promises you “fast” and “effective” weight loss. In reality, are we capable of losing 12lbs-15lbs a month? Yes. However, you would have to start a very restrictive diet to achieve those kinds of results. Let’s say you’re successful at staying on that restrictive diet and achieving that maximum weight loss of 15lbs. Couto’s to you. Now comes the hard part. How do you plan on maintaining that weight loss? You see, whatever you do to loose that weight, has to be something that you can accept doing for the rest of your life. That’s right, THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. The reason being, is the minute we stop doing what we were doing to achieve those amazing results and revert back to our previous lifestyle, we immediately begin to put the weight back on. Not to mention, extreme caloric restriction can lead to slowed metabolism, dizziness, anemia, depression and moodiness, hair loss, trouble concentrating, loss of menstrual periods and potential other side effects.

What about diet’s with pre-packaged foods? Here’s the thing. Pre-packaged foods, while made for quick and easy consumption, come full of preservatives and have very little, if any, nutritional value whatsoever. While they are intended to take the guess work out of nutritional planning, you really need not worry because you’re not getting any. Nothing beats fresh fruits and vegetables that you can buy from the market yourself or lean cuts of meat. We need real, whole foods to sustain us and bring us back to robust health. However, I’ve seen people who would rather mix together a concoction of pre packaged powder because it has “zero calories” than reach for a banana because it has 90 calories. One is offering us nothing in terms of nutritional value while the other is. In fact, preservatives can have a severely negative effect on our long term health, effecting digestion, causing headaches and nausea in some individuals, and potentially containing cancer causing additives.

Several diets (not naming any names) promise you weight loss by cutting out certain food groups over an extended period of time. For one thing, I never recommend cutting anything out of your diet if you plan to be successful. Unless it’s sugar and even then, I have certain reservations about cutting that out completely as well. If it’s something I firmly believe, it’s that diets based on restriction are destined to fail. While we must be mindful about how often we are consuming foods that have no nutritional value in them, it is ok to indulge in them once in a while. However, looking into this further, diets that promise weight loss by eliminating carbs from your diet or other food groups are, in my opinion, unhealthy. Why? Because carbs are an essential macronutrient that we need to survive! Not to mention the obvious, they’re yummy! Also, if we understand basic mathematics, we understand that by eliminating a whole food group, of course we’re going to loose weight. Especially such an important food group at that! My question again is, is this sustainable over the long term? Are you never going to eat carbohydrates again? Protein? Sugar? Or whatever it is you’re choosing to eliminate from your diet. More importantly, is it healthy? I would rather my clients understand the difference between a good carbohydrate and a bad carbohydrate so that they can make healthy, informed decision.

Fad diets are everywhere. The diet industry has become a multi-billion dollar industry because believe me when I say, they are designed to fail. They are designed to keep people coming back. There is nothing wrong with your will power or you as a person. You have simply been misinformed.

Everybody wants to know what the secret to long term weight loss is. The secret, is that there is no secret. Looking good and feeling great is not an overnight fix and people need to stop having that expectation. The truth is, when we speak in terms of healthy and sustainable weight loss, people should strive for no more than 2lbs a week. If you are a larger person, than perhaps slightly more, however, generally speaking, I like to aim for no more than 2lbs. I know this might seem like drastically less than what some people were hoping for, however slow and steady wins the race. We have to take into consideration the measures we are willing to take to get the weight off and then afterwards, what we are willing to do to maintain it. The work doesn’t stop once we have reached a level of fitness that we are happy with. In fact, this is where most people struggle. Remember, whatever you do to loose the weight, has to be something you can accept doing for the rest of your life.

My approach to weight loss is basic. No secrets, no pills, no pre-packaged foods. Perhaps that’s why some have a hard time buying into it, because we’ve been hard wired to believe there’s some magic potion or secret or quick fix out there that we haven’t figured out yet that’s going to do it for us. Long term, sustainable weight loss lies in lifestyle changes. No diets. That means working out 3-4 days a week. No excuses. Is it going to be a chore at first? Probably. Heck, there are days where I still struggle to get my butt moving. I’m only human after all. But I do. Believe me when I tell you, it does get easier, especially when you start to see changes in your body. It’s extremely motivating. I’m not going to tell you to diet. Instead, I’m going to invite you to look at ways to make healthier choices. Can you cut out sugary drinks in favour of water? Can you eat a salad every day? Can you snack on healthy treats except on occasion when you’re REALLY craving something or going out with friends. Can you cut down on your alcohol consumption? Can you stick to primarily chicken and fish and cut down on your red meat intake? Can you eat less processed carbohydrates?

The statistic is that our bodies are made up of 10% genetics, 10% training and 80% what we eat. What that means for you, is that you will never out train a poor diet.  Here’s the thing though, you don’t need to make all these food changes at once. Start with a few of them while you’re getting your exercise in and I promise you, if you’re consistent, you will see results! Notice I said, consistent because consistency is key! The number one reason people quit is because of a lack of perceived results. So let me be honest, there will be days when you do “mess up” and eat the whole bag of chips. That’s ok. It happens. Remember, we’re making lifestyle changes. That does not give us permission to have a bad week or to beat ourselves up over. We pick right back up where we left off, making healthy choices and getting our exercise in. Also, accept the fact that there will be times when the scale does not reflect the effort you felt you put in that week. It’s ok to be frustrated. It happens to the best of us, believe me! But that doesn’t give you permission to throw in the towel. Try to keep in mind when this happens (and it will occasionally) that the number on the scale is just one way to measure your success. Have you dropped inches in places? Do your clothes fit better? Are you capable of lifting weights you never thought possible? Running distances you never considered before? These are all indications that you are not only loosing weight but that your strength and cardiovascular health are also improving. Heart health is also vitally important, no pun intended.

You’re on a journey to becoming a new you.  You’re journey is individual to you and it’s unlike anyone else’s. Enjoy the ride.