Disclaimer:
Before reading this post, please turn on relaxing spa music and read with the calm, soothing, nice, loving voice I am writing this with.
Thank you.
You may continue.
When it comes to weight loss, we need to be truthful.
Truthful with ourselves.
With those around us.
Honest with ourselves.
Truthful with our health coaches/personal trainers.
Honest with our food logs and the elliptical.
But most importantly, we need to be truthful with ourselves.
We need to accept the TRUTH that most of us eat too much, and don't move enough.
America is the fattest country in the world.
Land of the free, home of the brave, country of the over weight.
Our current generation of children is predicted to die before their parents due to health problems caused by obesity.
Parents allow their children to have not one, but multiple sodas and candy bars each day.
Parents allow their children to eat nutrient-lacking macaroni and cheese each night and justify it by saying "their kid is a picky eater."
Parents allow their children to watch multiple hours of TV and play multiple hours of video games each day.
Kids don't have ADD/ADHD, they are on sugar highs and lack the basic nutrition and activity their bodies require.
(Now, don't get me wrong, I understand there are legitimate health problems and by no means do I claim to know it all or think that every disease is caused by crappy food and laziness. I'm speaking in general terms, and being in the profession I am in, I see a lot of the things I am talking about, thus my vocalization of these issues).
Going back to the beginning of the article, where "being truthful to ourselves" was the main topic before the tangent on childhood obesity, I believe far too many people are not truthful with themselves.
If you are trying to lose weight, you should understand that it takes hard work. It takes dedication. It takes you changing behaviors that you currently do, because they obviously aren't working for you.
True weight loss takes the kind of hard work that kicks your own butt.
True weight loss takes the type of dedication that you actually stick to your commitment to get up early and do cardio instead of making excuses for yourself.
True weight loss takes the changing of behaviors that got you there in the first place.
Behaviors like 'needing' dessert.
Behaviors like 'grazing throughout the day.'
Behaviors like making excuses as to why we didn't make it to the gym.
Behaviors that justify why we ate what we ate.
True weight loss takes adopting the behaviors of healthy people, and making them your own.
(because if you are over weight, the behaviors of healthy people will be different than the behaviors you are currently partaking in).
True weight loss takes self control.
Our bodies will always go towards the path of least resistance.
It's always easier to hit the snooze than go to an early workout.
It's easier to blame the trainer instead of actually doing what they say, and just find a new one who will baby you and tell you what you want to hear.
It's easier to go out to eat, let someone else make a meal for you, get an appetizer and a meal that has 4x's the calories you actually need, eat the whole thing, and then sit back, rub your belly, and talk about how full you are.
It's always easier to get home from work, pop a pizza in the oven, then sit and veg in front of the TV with our bag of extra butter popcorn and a healthy pour of our favorite cheap wine, while we watch the new episode of Biggest Loser.
{Insert internal monologue}
"Good for those people."
"It would be really easy to lose weight if I lived on a ranch like that."
"I could never do that kind of exercise."
"I'm totally going to the gym tomorrow."
But do we get up and go to the gym the next morning?
Oh no.
The bed is too comfy and warm.
I'm too tired.
{no doubt from the crappy pizza and multiple glasses of wine you drank last night}
And the excuses (aka opposite of truth) start all. over. again.
We tell ourselves that it's ok to continue in behaviors that are self-destructing.
That it's ok to sleep in today, because "we'll make it tomorrow."
We tell ourselves that we are "really active" when in reality we are just "busy."
We tell ourselves that if I park farther away, I can reward myself and go get ice cream, because I'm burning calories walking farther.
Congratulations.
You burned an extra 2 calories.
And you ate 432.
We tell ourselves that "it's ok" if I have just 1 piece of chocolate.
We tell ourselves that "it's ok" to have the small bag of chips instead of the big one.
The problem with all of our "it's ok's," is that all of the little things add up to one large number on the scale.
For Example:
If you allowed yourself 1 small little Hershey's kiss, each night for dessert, since each kiss is 22 calories, in one week you would have consumed 154 calories in chocolate.
In one month, those kisses add up to 616 calories.
In 6 months, that is 3696.
If one pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories, you have gained a pound of fat by eating "one tiny Hershey's kiss" each night for dessert.
But since when do we only have just one piece of chocolate as an "it's ok."
We have usually told ourselves that "it's ok" to have the small bag of chips, only 1 cookie because someone brought them into the office, and because my stomach was going to eat itself, I just had to get the fries instead of the salad today.
Let's take one light beer, one 4 oz. glass of wine, or one shot of liquor (not including mixers): it takes almost 500 crunches to burn off the calories from just one!
If we had our 22 calorie chocolate, our 110 calorie little bag of chips, our 220 calorie cookie, and the extra 300 calories in fries instead of a salad, as well as our healthy pour of a glass of wine in one day, that would be roughly 1152 calories.
Of junk.
1152 of disposable, useless, better go to the mall because my skinny jeans don't fit anymore, calories.
What if we add that up for a month?
1152 x 30 days = 34560.
Thirty-four thousand, five hundred and sixty calories.
That is gaining 10 pounds in one month, by telling ourselves that "it's ok" to have a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.
It's not ok.
What happens if we do "pretty good" all week long.
Ate lots of fruits and veggies, did pretty good with portions, went to the gym twice, and only had 2 glasses of wine.
And now it's the weekend.
It's a friend's birthday, there is cake, there is a few more glasses of wine, there are finger foods at every turn.
Then there's Sunday brunch.
Who doesn't love Sunday brunch?
And now we have blown whatever "pretty good" things we have done during the week.
So maybe we aren't gaining 10 pounds per month like that other guy, but the weight just seems to "creep on" and I just can't seem to get rid of it.The simple truth that we need to understand is that:
Weight loss is a cumulative process.
Every little thing you "munch on" counts.
Every time the snooze button is hit, doesn't count.
(well, I guess it counts towards the gaining weight side of things).
This is what 100 pounds of fat look like. Each individual "chunk" is one pound of fat.
Even just a couple of those "chunks" makes a big deal in the size that your pants are as well as the number on the scale.
gross.
If you were to eat only 96 more calories than what you burned for a year, you would gain 10 pounds.
10 "chunks."
96 calories.
That's a hard truth to come to terms with.
But regardless of whether or not we come to terms with it, it is still truth.
I want to challenge you to be truthful with yourself.
Are you really eating healthy, correct portion sizes?
(are you even aware of what you are eating? try writing it down for 1 week and see how it changes your life).
Are you really exercising like you should be to get the weight loss numbers you think you deserve?
(because 10 minutes on the elliptical 1-2 days a week isn't going to cut it).
If you are up for the truth challenge, I look forward to hearing about your results.
