New post on -- Weight Loss

There is no end to the publications, workout videos and miracle pills out there espousing their own weight loss programs for just 3 easy installments of ...blah blah blah. The truth of the matter is that losing weight is a simple matter, at least on paper. Rather than spending all of your money on the latest fitness magazines that claim to give you the "10 secret foods to give you a flat belly," or “15 new exercises to get rock hard abs,” why not instead rely on the most potent tool at your disposal: your common sense (which also has the added benefit of being free).

For the vast majority of us, losing weight is an aesthetic and health-related goal. We are not training to take down Ussein Bolt's world record, get Ronnie-Coleman-huge, or win more gold medals than Michael Phelps. This being the case, we are less in need of the hard science of fitness and nutrition in order to meet our goals. There is really only one thing that you need to know and everyone already knows it: in order to lose weight, caloric output must exceed caloric input.

What does this mean for the everyday overweight individual? It means that you need to determine the right combination of diet and exercise that will achieve this goal. The problem with relying on pre-made programs is that they will not necessarily work for everyone. The aforementioned Phelps notoriously eats upwards of 3500 calories for breakfast because he goes out and swims 5 miles a day. For those of us who work a 9-5, spending that much time exercising is a pipe dream so eating that kind of breakfast is probably not a good idea.

The key is learning to read your body properly and adjust accordingly; if you are serious about losing weight you will need to be fairly stringent in limiting your calories. Everyone knows this, but due to the proliferation of eating disorders experts walk on eggshells and preach the dangers of not eating enough and starvation diets. While this is not wrong, it provides easy excuses for folks who are in no danger of being able to count their ribs. Mastering calorie intake is not easy and it requires the discipline to cause yourself a little discomfort. In no way is this a suggestion that you should be giving yourself hunger headaches by truly starving yourself. The old mantra is a good one, "Eat to live, don't live to eat." In other words, eat when you are hungry, but only enough to keep your engine running. If you are carrying extra weight your body will use it when
it needs to.

The other part of your diet is eating well, another area where common sense is a great guide. Has anyone ever gone to a restaurant and debated whether to order the grilled fish or the buffalo wings because they truly didn't know which one would be better for them? For the most part people are equipped with the knowledge that they should eat a variety of foods to keep a balanced diet and not eat too much. Any time you are choosing what to eat simply consider what your common sense tells you---it's as simple as that.

Exercise is even more goal oriented and thus open-ended. While consulting an expert can be helpful for learning specific exercises and avoiding injuries, or for motivation and drive for that super tough workout, reading your body and using common sense is just as effective in determining the most effective way to exercise. If you are tired, get more sleep; if you are very sore, take a rest day; if you are hung over; don’t go out drinking 10 beers and 3 shots of tequila the previous night; if a particular exercise hurts (and not in the good way) stop doing it. These are things that seem so obvious and yet when we are inundated with programs and guides and suggestions, many times we think that our bodies should be able to handle more or less than they can. People achieve the best and fastest results when they rely on their own bodily awareness as their programs are then custom-fit to their personal needs.

There is one final aspect that is in fact crucial to the success of losing weight over the long term, also accessible through common sense. The human body is a truly marvelous machine---consider how quickly it adapts to new stimulus. Anyone who has ever lifted weights has experienced the surprise felt when after a few weeks you are able to do 10 reps with a weight you could barely lift before. However this ability makes weight loss that much harder. If you begin an exercise regiment running 2 miles at 6.0 mph on the treadmill as your body gets used to this effort it will begin to burn energy more efficiently (read: you will burn fewer calories). Your body must continue to undergo new stresses in order for you to continue to lose weight. That new stress does not have to come immediately and can take the form of running the same distance faster or the same speed longer. It can also take the form of trimming more calories from your diet. The point is you need to mix it up and continue to keep your output higher than your input. Change is a good thing.

Losing weight is one of the hardest things to do which is why it is so rewarding. Learn to trust your own instincts; nobody can do it but you. So make your goals reasonable, stick to them and don’t quit...and as one of the all time greats once said:


"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger