Weight loss is not a physical problem. It’s psychological.
This is what's stopping your long term success.
“I’ve reduced my calories by 500 calories a a day” Sarah said to her friend Bianca.
April on the Gold Coast brings the perfect weather, blue skies, a dissipation of the summer humidity and an ambient 25 degrees.
With it, comes better playing conditions for playing beach volleyball.
And it’s on the court I was confronted with a conversation between two women on losing weight.
I stand silently on the side, observing rather than joining in. But as the conversation continued about eating less, without mention of food quality it became harder to contain myself.
As the conversation moved to the ‘best type of exercise’ for weight loss I couldn’t help joining in.
I jumped in, mindful of my propensity to mansplain.
It was the briefest comment on weight loss, an attempt to be at the same level in the conversation, to break up the idea cardio was best for weight loss.
As they discussed a range of exercises, Bianca made note of her move from Pilates to more intense exercise to support her weight loss journey. Which actually may have a positive effect.
We went for lunch after volleyball. It was far too hot and I didn’t have much of an appetite after filling up with Brazil nuts, water and a few jelly sweets.
At lunch I watched how the calorie restriction method failed in real time.
I come in peace as I discuss weight loss. It’s emotive.
The conversation about calories remains true to an extent. Yet, at the same time it just doesn’t hold up.
It’s not just that the calorie restriction failed today. It’s more about why.
Real life conversations.
Even on the Gold Coast where flat whites flow and your social status is measured by your ability to turn up for the 5am run, these are the daily conversations that are present.
Here comes the mansplain.
Or better in my view, as an expert in lifestyle support for success in weight loss that improves metabolic health, and alongside medicines.
These stories are commonplace whether you’re in Australia, the UK or the USA. And they’re built upon layers of misinformation, misunderstanding and product marketing in the modern world.
So I judged. We all do.
But this article is written for a different perspective on what they could do.
I come in peace.
Here are the problems I see.
Calories are a problem. But this simplification prevents long term success.
Not understanding the impact of exercise on weight loss (which is limited)
Focusing on weight loss rather than the underlying goal that is trying to be achieved (e.g. the flatter stomach or the diabetes remission. These are also not the root cause goals. The root cause is an entire article in itself).
Ignoring health in the journey for weight loss
Setting oneself up for failure and piling on the personal pressure.
Why it’s psychological.
It’s not just a physical or physiological problem. The psychological aspects are underlying.
1. Understanding.
Education and learning about the science of weight loss. Yes it can seem overkill.
But doing the same thing over and over, that isn’t giving results, requires a deeper understanding into why.
Especially when it comes to nutrition. That type of food you eat will impact;
hunger and time for feeling full
What your body can do with the nutrients it is being fed
Whether it contributes to potential inflammation
How it contributes to overall health
Ability to sustain healthy eating or a move towards predominantly healthier forever, because it’s about the long term
2. Mindset and Belief
The mind needs training for the long term, and slow success. This comes through understanding. And it’s patience for doing the right things over and over, in small amounts.
Because that’s the consistency that’s needed. It’s not the diet. It’s your life.
In the context of this article, culturally, through a variety of means we have normalised a number things. Here’s a few examples:
Deep fried foods
Fast food restaurants
Talking about calories, instead of understanding the value of a calorie.
Eating cereal for breakfast
Extremes of exercise; training for a marathon or nothing.
Exercise as an individual endeavour (a recipe for repeated failure of consistency)
Eating 3 full meals a day
Focusing on weight loss rather than the actual goals (e.g. Bianca wants a flatter tummy and a bigger bum - I’m not endorsing this, it’s just what her actual goal is).
Even consultant physicians presenting on weight loss on the Gold Coast talk about only about weight loss injections, as the alternative to calorie counting.
And that being the only alternative. Dietitians, nutritionists, personal trainers and exercise physiologists are excluded from the doctor training.
What is required, includes the principles of (woo woo) manifestation. The embodiment of what it is you want to be today.
Belief that you are already in the state that you are trying to achieve, without achieving a state of delusion.
To change the identity of who you are.
Take a specific weight: 100kg for any of us.
How close do you identify with this weight? If you’re within 10kg of this, this will likely feel familiar to you.
For a person of 65kg this is going to feel wildly unfamiliar. If that person was 100kg this would be a wild change from their physical identity.
Identity matters.
You will subconsciously move towards your identity. How do you change your identity that the weight you aspire to is your normal?
3. Mental health
During my coaching programs in helping patients to achieve better long term health, healthy ageing and achieve fatty liver and diabetes remission I worked with many female patients.
After 6 month programs there were typically two clear paths they would follow.
For those who have engaged well, and are highly motivated, a personal trainer to better support their transition from cardio focus to weight bearing was a common outcome.
The second more common outcome was a recognition for the need for mental health support.
Not because they’re depressed.
Not because they have a mental disorder.
But because their engrained behaviours that make it so difficult to change their mindset and beliefs, and ultimately consistency in the goals one is trying to achieve.
So often there are traumatic experiences or engrained teaching that requires the support of skilled practitioners to go deeper in to the past.
To identify the cascade of events that have led unhelpful patterns of behaviour today. So they can be broken, and re formed.
A health coach can only go so far, and sometimes a psychologist is going to be more powerful.
We haven’t talked about the physical or physiological factors.
This includes food quality in detail, satiety (feeling full), focusing on metabolic health and body composition instead of weight loss, the impact of GLP-1 on weight loss and health culture.
We spend so much time researching the right foods, the right exercise, the best routines.
But underlying that is our brain. What drives all of our decisions is the brain. The conscious and unconscious decisions. Don’t forget to consider your brain.
Your internal self is the most powerful part of achieving your health goals.