Last week, an old friend of mine from high school--who I recently re-connected with through Facebook--asked me about a popular diet / weight loss regimen being promoted on the internet. Since I thought that he was considering the routine for himself, I reflexively launched into am e-mail rant. You see what blogging can do to you? It turns out that he was asking on behalf of a client or friend who asked him about it, so I thought I would reproduce the exchange here.
This is an issue I used to deal with time after time when I trained people in the gym. They would bounce from one diet program to another, gain weight / lose weight like a yo-yo (typical) and get frustrated, never knowing why they were seemingly doomed to fail. More time than not, they blamed themselves (I got off the program, I did this or that wrong...) for failing rather than the program, but they returned to the same approach again the next year, either on the exact same diet regimen whatever was the "newer, better" diet program being promoted that year.
Since we are about to enter beach season in most parts of the country--which means the thoughts of young men and women nationwide turns to how well or poorly they will fit into their swimsuit / bikini--I thought it would be a decent public service to share our exchange here.
Anyway, the conversation goes something like this.
My friends question:
Have you ever heard of "The *** ******* *******" diet/workout ? I just ran across it today and the info-mercial was just too long but they do seem to have stirred up a lot of attention...
My response:
Oh boy, where to begin?!? (THIS IS A FORMAL RANT ALERT)
I'm going to try to be nice to Mr. *** ****** of **** ** **** *******, but I'm afraid I'm going to fail. It strikes me as "sizzle" salesmanship in a world starving for steak.
He plays into the same myths and fallacies of dieting and fat loss that doom most (90% percent) to failure while at the same time positioning himself as "not like all the others" with the pitch that there is some sort of miracle pill (he uses the "15 minute miracle" on his site) or drill that will make this effort easy on them. People love to hear that, unfortunately, it's BS.
- Lose 42 lbs. + 10 inches in 45 minutes per week (says FAST and EASY to the buyer)
- Lose 60 lbs. + 8 dress sizes on 45 minutes (says FAST and EASY to the buyer)
People unfortunately move from one diet to the next, one fad program to the next and have initial success early when they are somewhat motivated and excited only to FAIL later. And the sad part is, when they fail, they blame themselves for the failure NOT THE PROGRAM OR FAD DIET.
The basic premise is WRONG. Fat loss and changing lifetime habits is not easy, IT'S HARD.
People don't get FAT in 15 minutes, but they want to lose weight in 15 minute.
He says lose fat, not weight by eating the right foods, the right amounts at the right time. Sounds OK so far.
He trashes fad diets and programs as doomed to fail and snake oil salesman. I'm just afraid he might be one himself.
His method of sales is the success of both he and his wife. Anecdotal and we don't know the specifics of HOW they gained the weight in the first place and how they lost it. I'm going to assume they gained it the way most do, by not being conscientious about activity level and sound nutrition.
What bothered me the most was, I could find nothing on his site or independently that mentioned his education, credentials, certifications in fitness or exercise science. The narrative was he figured this stuff almost by accident.
I hope not, or I've wasted a lot of time and effort over the years.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Especially true in fitness and weight loss.
Don't sell/buy EASY, it's not EASY. We live in a microwave, point and click generation that wants results fast and easy.
Our metabolism and our bodies physiology and responses to diet and exercise on the other hand have been developed over hundreds and thousands of years. This disconnect (IMO) is the reason for most of the failures.
It's HARD--at first--to change bad habits that have crept in subtly over years and years. Once the results kick in it becomes easier, but requires near constant maintenance and vigilance. But it takes TIME and PATIENCE, which nobody wants to hear. But then they wonder why they keep on failing.
Google Art Devany, Dr. Fred Hatfield (nicknamed Dr. Squat because the was the first man to squat over 1,000 lbs.).
Both are more on the "it's not over-eating, it's under-activity" that causes obesity and it's the activity (muscle building) end of the equation that fad diets neglect. BECAUSE IT'S TOO DIFFICULT FOR THEM TO PACKAGE FOR MASS MARKETING.
I included a couple of DeVany's pubs. The Evolutionary Fitness is pretty good. It might change how you view the term "Diet".
I'll also attach a presentation I used to go through with clients in the gym that borrows heavily from Dr. Hatfield's work (with permission) with the International Sports Sciences Association.
I would have guessed you would gravitate more towards a Crossfit workout type guy from a programming standpoint. You were an athlete, were there any fat guys on the wrestling team? I know some of the stuff that used to go on back then in terms of training make me cringe when I think about it, but still...athletes are fit, they get fat after they retire when they stop working hard.
HARD WORK, my favorite two four letter words.
I feel much better (THIS CONCLUDES THE RANT PART OF THIS MESSAGE)
Copy of the Nutritional Guidelines Notes I used when I worked with clients in the gym:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/28421895/Eagle-Article-Nutritional-Guidelines
Here is Art De Vany's website:
http://www.arthurdevany.com/
The articles I sent to my friend contain some copyrighted material so I don't want to reproduce them here, but Art puts out some great stuff on nutrition and fitness. His site and materials are well worth checking out. Dude is 70+ years old and in great shape, a Jack LaLanne with a huge brain.
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