Your Best Size and Shape has a Specific Weight

When someone says they want to lose weight what they’re really saying is that they want to change the look and shape of their body.

Weight loss itself isn’t much of a goal without a specific look that you think it’s going to produce.

In reality everyone that wants to lose weight is really after a specific look.

This simple thought experiment will prove my point.

Imagine an alternate world where weight didn’t add up to size…

In this world imagine someone who is 100lbs overweight, pretty big gut, big butt and big legs, flabby arms and just big all over.

Now imagine they lost 100lbs but their body stayed the same size but simply weighed less. In this imaginary world somehow dieting made you lighter without making you smaller. So your body could weigh 100lbs less but stay the same shape and size?

In this world do you think anyone would be concerned with weight loss? Ever? Not likely.

What they would really want is a way to change the size and shape of their body.

This thought experiment is to show you that ‘weight loss’ isn’t the goal, but rather changing the shape and size of the body is.

It just so happens that in the real world weight and size and shape are all connected, and we all have a specific weight range where we will look our best.

John

The only way to gain weight is to EAT BIG!

If you go to the diet book section of your local book store you’ll find dozens of books with their specific theory on how to lose weight. You’ll find explanation about blood type, parasites, ‘toxins’ (this one drives me nuts…well they all do, but especially this one), glycemic index, hormones, broken metabolism, and all kinds of genetic issues and bad food choices.

So here is an experiment you can do to prove to yourself that weight gain and weight loss is simply calories in vs calories out, and all of this other stuff is meaningless.

If I want you to gain 5 pounds over the next 10 days how would you do it?

Would you?

1) Carefully read through the blood type diet book and eat any of the three blood type diets that weren’t outlined for your type?

2) Read through the book about toxins and parasites and try to get as many parasite infections as possible and fill your body with ‘toxins’ (which by they way they never explain what the eff a toxin is)

3) Try to eat in a specific pattern that wasn’t ‘favorable’ for your fat burning hormones?

4) Try to actually ‘damage’ your metabolism so you were stuck in a mode of storing fat (I can’t even imagine what this would be or how it would be possible)

ORRRRR

5) Would you just eat as much food as possible every day until you gained the requisite 5lbs?

If you answered anything besides 5 please leave this blog and never return, because it’s clear you’ve lost your mind and long since lost your grip on reality.

John

Some people in your life might try to sabotage your weight loss success.

If you’ve decided to lose weight and announced this decision to various friends and family you’ve likely been faced with mixed reactions.

This is because the idea of weight loss hits at a very deep emotional level for just about everyone. This is because it’s a conscious decision to change your body.

Which could also be taken as a open admission that you’re not currently happy/satisfied with your body…otherwise why the hell would you be trying to lose weight.

I think it’s perfectly fine and normal for people to want to strive to change the look/shape of their body. After all, it’s your body, so it’s your right to choose what you’d like to do with it.

When you tell someone you want to lose weight and you get a less than favorable reaction, it’s more than likely that they’ve got a body weight and self perception issue that is causing the negative reaction. It’s not that they’re really don’t want you to lose weight, it’s that if you’re successful it will somehow make them feel worse about themselves.

This is something you need to be aware of if/when you ever set out to lose weight and are looking for some social support.

Choose the people you tell wisely.

I like to call it ‘recruiting your weight loss team’. Some people will be very supportive, while others will be a drag on your progress and make you feel lousy about trying.  If this ever happens just realize that their negativity is not about you, it’s about them.

If you are in the middle of a weight loss program,  I suggest taking an inventory of everyone who is positive and supportive and those that are a drag and negative about it. From there you can either cut back the amount of time you spend with the negative people, cut them out completely, or if they’re really important people ask them to support you no matter how it makes them feel cuz it’s important to you.

Weight loss is tough enough, having anyone around you that is trying to sabotage it will make it almost impossible. It’s your job to be aware of who the likely saboteurs might be and insulate yourself from them.

John

For Most of us a lack of Thyroid Hormone is NOT the cause of weight gain.

Sticking with the hormone theme we’re going to discuss thyroid hormone today based on a request from Lillea.

I’ll try to knock this out in a way that makes sense without leading to more questions but rather leading to at least some sort of understanding.

Thyroid hormones T3 and T4 are released from your thyroid gland (located in your neck) and they affect all cells of your body. They basically tell the cell what pace to work at (this is a very unscientific term but you get the point)

Too much thyroid hormone and your cells start working overtime, this can lead to a whole host of problems including irritability, restlessness, anxiety, hair loss, muscle aches, intolerance to heat, weakness, tremors, hypoglycemia, and many other symptoms, one of them being weight loss.

But any weight loss effect you might get from being hyperthyroid isn’t worth living with the other effects.

In short, it would really suck!

The most common cause is an autoimmune disease known as “graves disease”, a less common cause is an inflammation of the thyroid gland (there are also other even more rare causes that aren’t worth discussing here)

Hypothyroid is the reverse (having low thyroid output) which may also be caused by an inflammation of the thyroid.

Some of the symptoms are fatigue, depression, cold intolerance, muscle cramps, poor muscle tone, osteoporosis, weight gain, water retention.

In summary, hypothyroidism would also suck!

The point being that hormonal manipulation to cause weight loss (in this case thyroid hormone) is likely not a viable option considering all of the other issue it could present.

If you feel like you have a weight problem because of an underactive thyroid this can easily be tested for, and you would likely have many other symptoms as well.

With that said, underactive thyroid is rare and in most people’s cases they’re perfectly healthy and simply eat a bit too much.

So if you REALLY think you have a thyroid problem I suggest doing some simple google type internet research first and then booking an appointment with your physician to get yourself tested if you seem to have the signs and symptoms of thyroid deficiency.

BUT if you make it all the way to getting tested don’t be surprised if your levels are perfectly normal and that most of your signs and symptoms weren’t due to thyroid deficiency but rather an inactive lifestyle.

John

The Battle For Weight Loss Happens In Your Mind.

Yesterdays post seem to resonate with some people, I know I got a higher amount of emails than normal, and I’m sorry if I ruined your dining experience (I’ll leave the name out but you know who you are!) seriously I wasn’t intending to make you feel like you should stop enjoying your pizza

So to the issue. Weight loss is largely a matter of mind over matter. Most diet and fitness marketers will avoid this truth because it is a difficult concept to both sell and accept, but it is the truth.

Anyone who has successfully lost weight can attest to the mental effort that is required. I’m not saying that it is the toughest thing you’ll ever do in your life, but it’s not as easy as some make it out to be.

And the battle is more subtle that you might think, it’s not a matter of dealing with ‘cravings’ or hunger pangs, or even habits of eating at a certain time of day or with certain people.

For many of us it’s a challenge of our belief systems and who we think we really are and what we deserve.

Here is a very powerful quote I heard from someone who was kind enough to share their journal notes with me about their weight loss progress which perfectly illustrates that BELIEF is really at the root of weight loss success or failure:

These were two negative beliefs that she had about herself:

1) “I’m not good enough to lose weight”

2) “I will be lovable when I lose weight”

Put the two together and you get:

“I’m not good enough to be lovable”

How much does that suck?!

With this kind of belief system it will be next to impossible to lose weight. These types of beliefs (no matter how they came about) need to be worked on and changed into a positive a proactive belief (easier said than done, but very doable nonetheless).

This isn’t exactly ‘fun’ work to do, but for some of us (probably most of us) this is where our lack of weight loss success is rooted.

Failing at weight loss isn’t because you haven’t found the right mix of carbs to protein, or the right supplements or workout, it’s that you don’t yet believe you DESERVE weight loss.

So how do you change that belief?!

well…you must work on changing these beliefs, you can do it on your own OR…

…(onto my shameless plug)

Getting to the root of your belief system is part of what we do in my weight loss coaching program. If you want to get off the starting line and make weight loss happen once and for all drop me an email and we can discuss if you’re ready to take the next (or first) step.

John

P.S. Email me at john(at)adoniseffect.com