I stepped on the scale for the first time in about 6 months and logged it into MyFitnessPal. I like data and I like to have some metrics to work with.

In the three years since I declared that I would never go on another diet again, I have lost over 20 pounds.

Full Disclosure: I did have a medical issue that contributed to my weight gain and it was taken care of in 2017.

Since abandoning restrictive dieting, nothing is off limits and guess what? No more issues with binge eating.

I also stopped all of the over exercising.

Now I exercise about 4x per week and sometimes even less than that. Back in the day this would have been unheard of (especially as a trainer because I felt like I should be doing 6 days a week at least)

Over this past 3 years I have learned a couple of important things:

Dieting and restrictive eating is futile
You’ve got to get to the root of the issue and it’s not about the food
Exercise is not the anti-dote to food
We must commit to the process that will produce results and get rid of the 12 week mindset

Dieting and Restrictive eating is futile

Gone are the days of the Grapefruit diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Fried chicken diet, the Hot Fudge sundae diet, etc.

If you were to propose these diets to people these days, then they would rightfully proclaim that these diets are unhealthy and should not be followed.

However these days diets are more cleverly labeled. They may have the word lean, transformation, bikini, etc. in them.

A colleague the other day posted that unless you’re a bodybuilder, you should not be following a Bodybuilding diet. I couldn’t agree more and I also commented that the worst thing that happened was when “coaches” turned bodybuilding stage diets into weight loss programs. Those diets are to peak for one day.

Dieting has a 5% success rate and that’s how the diet industry is able to clear nearly $100 Billion in sales every year. We know that the people gain the most weight in adulthood are the ones who diet and restrict the most. Scientists have known for nearly 50 years the effect dieting has on metabolism and yet we still push this outdated narrative to people.

Diets work for a little while but you will eventually lose more muscle and regain more and more body fat each time.

You’ve got to get to the root of the issue

“How you eat is how you live” – Geneen Roth

She couldn’t be more correct. Geneen Roth teaches that the majority of our food issues stem from childhood wounds and she is absolutely correct. Whether you restrict to have control over your life or you eat because food is a comfort, our food issues are much deeper than “I’m just hungry all the time.”

I believed that the more rigid my diet and the harder I worked in the gym, then I would get what I wanted. If I just got there, then my life would change. Then my life would be what I wanted it to be. *Smh*

Well guess what? I did get there and NOTHING changed except being tired, hungry, and having my metabolism slow down.

I thought if I suffered enough, then I would be righteous and virtuous enough to earn what I wanted. Ugh! Last year at a Live Geneen Roth workshop I had a major breakthrough. I stood up and declared, “I’ve been a member of the church of suffering and today I am leaving the church!”

It finally got through that I didn’t need to unnecessarily make myself a martyr in order to live a productive and full life.

Until we get to the root of our food/exercise issues and begin to work proactively on strategies to work through them, we will continue to ride the yo-yo diet train.

Exercise is not the anti-dote to food

“You guys need to EARN that meal after this class”

As a Group Fitness instructor, I HATE when instructors say this.

It’s also not true. You don’t need to EARN food. You EAT food.

The Fitness industry oversold exercise as the anti-dote to food and now people have this mistaken belief that exercise can cure misguided nutrition. It does not.

Exercise is your tool in getting into better condition (able to recover faster), be functionally stronger, and slow down the aging process.

Compulsive Exercise leads to burnout as well as injury. One of the best things I have learned from coaches such as Scott Abel and 8x Mr. Olympia Lee Haney is that we must exercise to stimulate our muscles and not annihilate them.

I have cut my workouts severely in the past three years. I generally workout for 55-75 minutes, 4x per week and it’s generally strength training because that is what transforms the body.

Results are about committing to the process.

If I had followed a traditional fitness program, then I would have given up a long time ago because the focus in traditional fitness programs are all about how fast one can lose weight and how much you can martyr yourself in the process.

I didn’t get the results the industry loves to praise in 12 weeks, 16 weeks or even 6 months.

It took 3 years.

I refused to diet again and I don’t have time for long drawn out workouts anymore.

I have nothing against challenges and I think they can be helpful tools so you avoid the march to nowhere syndrome. You can challenge yourself, check metrics, evaluate your progress, and review your direction every few weeks.

I did two Nicole Wilkins challenges this year and those did challenge me by getting me out of my comfort zone. It was tough but not ridiculous.

If you judged my results by traditional fitness metrics, then I failed that challenge because I lost a grand total of 0.25 lbs BUT I did to fit into a pair of pants that I haven’t worn in 3 years.

I made a commitment to the process that would produce results. Too often we just focus on getting there and not the process it takes to get there.

Get committed to the process

The process involves: Building habits that support your goals, reviewing your direction and re-evaluating your goals to fit in with your lifestyle.

So many times we become rigid about what our results are going to look like and what our process should look like that we refuse to see that what we are doing isn’t working.

That’s why I love our community challenges because it teaches us to build habits one step at a time that will move us toward our goal. It’s also a good way to find out what does and does not work for your lifestyle.

And one more thing…

The process should involve fun. You should be enjoying getting stronger, feeling better, more energetic, and more confident.

As a trainer, one of my favorite things in the world is watching people progress and realize they are improving. They can do more than they could 6 months ago.

Get off the Scale and Get Committed to something

I don’t care what it is. If it’s drinking 64 oz per day, Walking 20 minutes a day, eating 5 serving of vegetables a day, cutting out sugary drinks, or whatever.

When I worked at Equinox, I loved their Commit to something campaign. It’s so true. Get committed to one habit and go from there.

Next thing is get off the scale. If you need to weigh yourself, then do it once a quarter for evaluation or every six months. It’s one metric. I truly believe how your clothes fit is a better indicator of progress.

Results may not come tomorrow but they will come if you commit to the process that will produce those results.