Well, my new book, Lose Weight & Feel Great is officially launched and I’m happy to say it’s doing even better than expected. The feedback and support I’ve gotten has been overwhelming. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, the easiest way to do so would be Amazon. I definitely appreciate the support. I’d just ask you to leave a positive Amazon review if you feel it deserves one!
For as long as I could remember people have wanted to “pick my brain” at parties and events. Many feel the need to confess their nutritional struggles to me. I guess it comes with the territory. Now that I “wrote the book” on weight loss, the questions are at an all time high.
Here is an example of a scenario that has actually occurred several times. I’m at a party and someone comes up to me and says, “Hey, I’m working really hard at the gym but I’m not losing as much weight as I would like. What gives?” My initial thought is, “Well, how much weight were you expecting to lose?” I don’t say that though. Instead, I try to listen to the frustrated voice in front of me. As the disappointed individual reaches for her third handful of party mix, the conversation continues.
There are many factors at play here so I’ll just try to drive a few points home. The first is that fat-loss is very much a multi-pronged approach. You can’t just “exercise hard” and expect the weight to come flying off, especially cardiovascular exercise. In fact, studies show that most people who perform cardio only replace the calories they’ve burned with some extra food. They overestimate how much they burned on the treadmill and underestimate the calories in the extra slice of pizza. And cardio makes you hungry!
Yes, exercise is a very important piece to the fat-loss puzzle but here are some others. Some of these are severely overlooked.
- Sleep quality
- Stress levels
- Hormone levels
- Diet – Duh!
Most people underestimate how long it will take to lose weight. It might have taken 2o years or more to put on but if it’s not gone in 3 months, they’re ready to quit. I’m a big believer in the tortoise rather than the hare approach. Slow and steady wins the race. Always. Rather than trying to lose 30 pounds, focus on losing 1 pound 30 times. Or better yet, focus on the habits that will facilitate losing 1 pound 30 times.
At TBBC, we definitely encourage more of a lifestyle change. With that said, it’s OK and effective to go through shorter sprints where you dial things up a bit to gain some momentum.
Billy Hofacker – Owner & Transformation Coach at Total Body Boot Camp – BS, CSCS