The Lifestyle Change That is Weight Loss

Anyone who has experienced the challenge of lasting weight loss will say that effective lasting weight loss is a lifestyle choice and change. Just perusing the stacks of publications on nutrition and fitness, one can be overwhelmed with the variety of information available and not all of it is effective. The biggest question for anyone that is looking for lasting weight loss is “what program will work for me?” Not every program is for everyone, there is not “one size fits all”. However, it must be noted that any lasting weight loss requires a lifestyle change. Just following a program for a limited amount of time and then falling back into old habits after goals are reached is a recipe for failure.

Weight Loss IS a Lifestyle Change

Up until now you are thinking, who are you and what do you know about weight loss? The answer is very simple, a lot. I have had weight challenges for a good part of my life. And unfortunately due to my specific body type, I am more susceptible to weight gain than some others. Of course the more common diet here in the United States does attribute to that weight gain and in our modern age we spend more than 8 plus hours a day sitting. Compare this our ancestors who had to hunt and fight for their food, or even a century ago where more people did physical labor for jobs.

I have had a lot of experience with weight gain and weight loss. It’s the old yo-yo effect where there were periods where I lost a lot of weight and then only to put it back on. Finally, in 2013 there was a moment of clarity. Knowing quite well something didn’t feel right, climbing stairs put me out of breath or that my knees were starting to hurt should have been the great indicators. I joined a health club and took advantage of some of the free training and nutrition guidance available to members. This was the true wakeup call so to speak, I realized at around 5’ 10” was at my heaviest of 293lbs, this wasn’t just fat, this was obese.

Upon joining the health club, I entered this three-month challenge that the club was promoting at the time on how much weight could be lost in three months. With the challenge, I received some complimentary training and nutrition sessions. This was when I met my first trainer who was a retired NFL player who was working as a trainer and I had no idea what he had in store for me.

My first training session showed me how out-of-shape I had become. Those first few training sessions were brutal to say the least. Many times during these sessions I clearly remember thinking to myself “when I take all this weight off, I am never putting it on again”. At the time I compared the training sessions to medieval torture chamber or United States Marine new recruit boot camp. For as much as I hated these sessions I saw some results and continued to move on with them no matter how much I hated them because I did know I was doing my body a good thing. The trainer covered the physical part of the program but with any weight loss program there are at least two parts.

After my first few sessions with the trainer I met with the club’s dietician. She was a wonderful person, very personable, understanding and showed a real interest in helping me on the correct path. The first week she wanted me to log everything I ate for the week. Upon completing this, adjustments were made to what I believe was an acceptable diet. This was not the case, she showed me the downsides to the processed food and the over intake of carbohydrates. With her guidance she indicated the downside to the more common American diets and how to eat properly. She helped me down the path to a low carb very clean whole foods diet that is low on sugar and carbohydrates. During our sessions she would always stress that effective weight loss is a marathon and a lifestyle change. At some point I would reach my eventual goal, but just because I reached that milestone does not mean that I could go back to the bad habits that contributed to the weight gain. This is the point where a lot of people’s weight loss programs fail is they believe that it’s a temporary program to reach a specific goal. And it is hard because people find it hard to change particularly when they fall into bad habits that give them a good feeling.

Speaking from experience, effective weight loss IS lifestyle change and through all the sweat, tears and soreness. There is a positive result through all the hard work, and is a perfect example of how true hard work will have positive results. With the trainers and the dieticians help, I was on the path for the better and in less than a year I lost around 60 plus pounds. I have to admit, after all this work I feel much better and the results speak for themselves.