I’ve been putting a whole lot of thought lately into a pair of statements that I’m finding myself repeating time and again:

You should skip training with the same level of consternation that you would consider skipping brushing your teeth or bathing. Sure you might do it from time to time, but you would also put considerable effort into avoiding it. (In regards to getting into shape.) You don’t need a recreational change. What you need is a lifestyle change.

I’ve been accused of lacking empathy towards those that are out-of-shape. Those that have struggled to lose weight repeatedly and it just doesn’t “come easily”.

The problem is - it never comes easily. Not for anyone. Sure, it may appear to come easily to someone who is already in shape, but it’s not actually easier at all. The same laws of thermodynamics that apply to them also apply to you. The difference is that they have a level of entrainment that you lack. A level of what you might recognize as “conditioned response”.

You see, the story of Pavlov’s Dog actually has quite a bit to do with getting into shape. Neural plasticity happens to impact everything in your makeup. It’s not just practicing lifting weights repeatedly so that you are more entrained to do that lift. Every repeated activity you do throughout any given day is “practice” of that activity, further entraining you to do that activity better and more efficiently - EVEN IF IT IS TO YOUR OWN DETRIMENT.

The rub here is that the time to form “a new habit” as it were, has been measured to be approximately 10 weeks. That means doing something you’re not necessarily comfortable with, and doing it repeatedly, time and again, for 10 weeks straight, before it begins to be assimilated into who you are. That by no means makes you an expert at that new skill. It just means that whatever it is, you’re now doing it out of habit now rather than out of a more willful, concerted effort. For someone that is just starting out, 10 weeks seems like a LOOOONG time. In the grand scheme of things it certainly isn’t, but for someone desperate to lose weight and get in shape, it seems like a lifetime, when they’re wanting to check the scale every day, or even multiple times a day.

It gets worse too. If you’re doing a program like “Starting Strength” (as my wife is just doing now), I would say that you shouldn’t really expect a whole lot of change until you exit the “beginner” phase and move into “intermediate”, which conveniently will take about 3 months. That’s 3 months of being in the trenches, working hard, and seeing very little results other than that you’re lifting progressively heavier weights.

Now, that’s not strictly true. Sure, it’s entirely possible that you’ll drop some fat in that time. But the scale shouldn’t reflect that, because you need to be gaining lean mass during that time too.

This might be the single hardest thing to impress upon my own wife - understanding that during the next 10 weeks, the goal is not to lose weight. It is getting strong, and entraining herself to where lifting those weights is a normal part of her everyday life. After that? THEN we can look at what it takes to lose weight. If she drops some fat as a side effect, great! That just shouldn’t be the primary goal coming out of the gate.

I’m not lacking in empathy. I do truly feel bad for those that feel like they are stuck, but it’s not impossible. The problem is unrealistic expectations. Society onslaughts you with a message that you can drop tons of fat in a short amount of time. The reality is that if you attempt to go that path, and even experience a measure of success, you will do it at the expense of your ability to maintain that change. You see, unless you make an active effort to conserve the muscle mass you have today, you will lose it. Your body doesn’t care about your appearance, or how tight your pants fit. It only cares about keeping you alive. If you deprive your body of calories, but don’t apply progressively increasing stress to your muscles and feed it sufficient protein to do repairs, your body will start breaking those muscles down for fuel. That’s just the reality of it.

That’s without even bringing diet into the equation much, because that’s where fat loss actually happens. I’ve seen the phrase “fat loss happens in the kitchen!” mis-used as an excuse not to exercise as well. Our society is super-hung-up on convenience and speed when it comes to food, and the market is saturated with “healthy” quick meals that actually aren’t healthy at all - but they know if they put a few key “healthy” words on the box, people will buy it.

This may be the harder part of the “lifestyle change” for some people. Making the switch to eating “whole” foods instead of processed ones. By “whole” I mean eating an apple versus eating apple sauce. Eating an orange instead of drinking orange juice. The more a food is processed down in to tiny bits (perhaps I should use the word “pulverized food”?), the easier it is to over-consume that food, and the less your body has to work to digest said food. Not to mention the fact that the impact on hunger is hugely different between the two.

I’ve also been accused of “hating” running/cycling/elipticals/rowing/etc. I don’t hate cardio or running. I think they’re great exercises, and there’s a lot good to be had from doing those things. Heck, my own brother-in-law is a rather accomplished runner, cyclist, and has even competed in triathlons. But for the person that’s starting out behind the 8-ball already, it seems to me that it is folly to restrict calories, and then go out and do a bunch of cardio. You’re taking your own ability to burn fat, and then reducing it over time. The cardio is only going to burn ~100 calories for every 1 mile traveled by foot anyway. That’s not a whole lot when you start doing the math.

So that’s my personal opinion on matters. A commitment to changing the way you live your life has to happen. It’s going to take time, and the initial return on that investment isn’t going to be great. 3 months from now you may be in some great routines, but the scale is going to tell you that you’ve not accomplished much. If you’ve got your expectations set accordingly though, you can continue to make great strides towards setting things right.

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