Real Weight Loss Doesn’t Require Belief
The fitness and nutrition “industry” sells supplements, workouts, workout equipment, diet programs, functional food items, magazines and just about anything else they can pin a weight loss, health or muscle building claim on. They are trying to sell you complex systems to believe in.
The industry is selling you dozens if not 100′s of rules and systems you need to follow to lose weight.
But if you go to a scientific conference about exercise or nutrition you’ll see a much different story being told. This is because there is a massive divide between the information that you see and hear on the news stands and websites compared to the real scientific information coming out of academic labs.
The scientific answer to weight loss is simply less calories in vs calories out.
No matter what you hear anywhere on the interweb or anywhere else the answer for weight loss has been and always will be the same. LESS calories.
But how often do you hear this as the answer in the mainstream media? Probably not much.
Or at least you’ll hear it in a convoluted way that involves special ingredients, and special metabolic issues, and meal timing, and carb cycling and protein percentages and timing, and elaborate workout systems and devices and on and on.
This is where the disconnect comes in between science and industry. Sometimes science comes up with an answer that is sufficiently complex enough to build an elaborate product around so marketers can sell you an expensive item.
Other times (as with the case of weight loss) science proves a very simple answer (less calories) which leaves marketers with virtually nothing to latch on to for a good sales pitch. <– really how can anyone make money selling you the answer “less calories”?
This is the current state of affairs of the nutrition and fitness industry divide, and I can’t see an end in sight. Some of you will figure it out and accept the answer, and some of you will refuse to believe it’s this simple and constantly search for more complex solutions to your weight loss question. <– and most likely waste a lot of money along the way trying these things out.
Believing in something doesn’t make it real or true (Just as a child’s belief in santa claus doesn’t make him real)
So believe what you want for weight loss, but that belief doesn’t change the truth which is always the same; and that is less calories in than out.
John
4 Responses to “Real Weight Loss Doesn’t Require Belief”
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November 12th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Where’s the buy now link for eating less calories? I have got to try this out!
LMAO
November 12th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
John,
I dont think many will disagree with the notion that one must eat less calories to lose weight. However, the energy balance equation only DESCRIBES weight loss/maintenance/gain. It doesn’t tell us WHY we eat above it. For example, I do think it’s very important to discuss the significance chronic stress has on insulin through high cortisol levels, causing one to be hungrier as food is partitioned for storage, and less to active tissue. It is also irresponsible to ignore the effect of dropping leptin levels as weight loss proceeds, or how certain macronutrient ratios provide better satiety than others.
November 12th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Hi Joshua,
I’m sure there is credibility to your comments, but I have found that most hunger, want/need for foods, types of foods is mostly phycological – the mind in my opinion is the biggest barrier to weight loss,( of course our social environment in terms of food is another story) – I have discovered this through short term fasting.
Please note: I am not a scientist or expert in this area, so my comments have no credibility
November 13th, 2009 at 9:05 am
John,
No matter how many people agree with a certain claim, it does not make it true (the very definition of the fallacy of appealing to common practice or popularity). It is the inability of somebody to disagree that makes something valid (the very definition of validity).This is to say you can agree with any claim but you cannot disagree with any claim. It’s damn near impossible to argue with the calories in/calories out approach to weight loss. Belief doesn’t have anything to do with the truth.
Great post.