In my opinion, the fitness industry has done everyone a disservice by touting quick fixes, supposedly magical supplements, diet plans, and extreme exercise programs. The idea is, if you eat or take [fill in the blank], you’ll have the body of your dreams in [fill in the blank] amount of time.
I actually got a random text (it’s on my phone still so I can post it) It says, “Clayton! (they don’t even know my name) – We guarantee you’ll lose over 90 pounds in less than 6 weeks.” Hmmm. Well since we know it would mean the removal of body parts to make that happen, it’s another scam. The point is, this crazy stuff is out there.
That’s why whenever I speak with someone who’s interested in starting a program, we have a discussion about their goals. If the goal is weight loss, we determine where they are today and how much weight they want to lose.
They’re almost always surprised when I pull out my calculator and tell them how long it’s going to take. For example, the average rate of weight loss for a woman who weighs 150 pounds — and follows a well-designed exercise and nutrition plan about 80% of the time — is .75 pounds per week. That means 20 pounds of weight loss will take approximately six months.
Six months?!?
Yep. This is an important exercise to go through since the fitness magazines and infomercials have led us to believe that you can lose that much weight in a month.
Well, you can, but not in a safe, healthy, and sustainable way. Have you seen the stories about how almost all of the contestants on “The Biggest Loser”‘ have gained all the weight back and then some? That’s because exercising for 12 hours a day while essentially starving yourself will work for a while but there is a point of diminishing returns.
There’s a saying I’ve been using a lot lately: “Perfection is the enemy of progress.”
A much better approach is to take imperfect action. Take a simple task you’re confident you can do — like making your meal a little better than it was yesterday — and do it. Or, Take the stairs more to help hit your calorie goals. Do just a little more of everything good to move the needle forward.
1% better every day.
You’ll be amazed at how all the small wins add up.