“So I’ve been dieting for two days and I haven’t lost any weight!“
I had this question sent to me this morning on Facebook.
Now, I’ll attest that not too long ago, I would’ve simply laughed this off as a person that “clearly doesn’t get it,” and that doesn’t understand losing weight is a lifestyle, and NOT a diet.
BUT to be honest this isn’t the first time I’ve had this question proposed to me; I’ve had people ask why after one week of working out they haven’t lost any weight, why after 1 month of working out they still have flab or why after losing 50lbs they don’t look the way these models look.
And it’s really not these people’s fault.
Why?
Well, major media loves to show these mind-boggling transformations to sell a service or product-it’s a business-but some of these claims of “30lbs in 30 days,” “supermodel figure super fast,” “the Victoria’s Secret diet,” etc., have flooded people’s minds and they believe that if they eat a few “superfoods” and do these “special workouts” they, too, will have a banging body.
Hell, at one point in time I believed it, too.
AND… that sucks
I mean don’t get me wrong, I’ve been in the fitness industry for nearly 15 years and I’ve seen some amazing transformations in just a 12 week time frame but even I admit they are few and far between.
Most of the impressive transformations that I’ve witnessed, or coached, were over the course of at least a year, if not longer.
NOT 1 day, 1 week or 1 month; but at least 1 YEAR.
The media loves to show people that with “this super duper awesome fat melting fat burner” you’ll go from fat, single and hating your life to a sex symbol doing your morning run on the beach with your supermodel partner next to you.
$hit… I wish.
The truth is, that transformations take time…and longer than you think. <== Buzzkill of an answer, I know.
The models you see on magazines have YEARS of a LIFESTYLE with good genetics.
I’m in no way saying that you may not be one of them or that you can’t do it, I’m saying to accomplish what took these people YEARS to accomplish in only three months isn’t going to happen.
Your current situation with your weight or body fat is a result of the decisions you made and the lifestyle you created, and not to be snarky, you didn’t gain that weight in three months so don’t expect to lose it in three months.
Some Transformation Truths
Ok so if you go to major media websites or magazines you’ll WILL see some amazing transformations and some of them are pretty legit BUT there is always a story behind them.
An example I ran across the other days was a guy that gained 15 pounds of “legal” muscle in 8 weeks.
The guy that gained all that “legal muscle” (a.k.a the lack of steroids) in 8 weeks was a former bodybuilder that stopped training for a period of time to drop weight FOR a triathlon. His before pic was taken right after the race when, let’s face it, you don’t look buff or sexy. Afterward, he went right back to his old way of eating and training, then… boom, 15lbs. Let me just say that muscle memory has a big role in how fast you can gain muscle back after a period of abstinence from the weights.
If you’re concerned about weight loss ads being legit just google “Bigger Faster Stronger Photo-shoot” on youtube and you’ll even see a photographer do the before and after edits for supplement magazines in this documentary.
Am I Hating?
No, I’m just stating a reality that has been grossly exaggerated and has misled a lot of people. We now have three camps of people who comes to these transformations:
One person thinks that you CAN look supermodel ready in 30days – these people are the ones that are a bit more naive reaching out to me heart-broken because they were sold or led to believe, and the results they bought weren’t the ones they were getting.
The second person thinks that all workout transformations are lies and no one can do it – can we say cynical?
The third person takes these stories with a grain of salt. These are the people that have been in the game a long time and have seen these trends come and go.
The reality is that the transformation that you have in your head is going to take you longer to get there than you think OR-what is very common for weight loss-when you do get to that specific number that you have you in your head, you don’t look the way you thought you would look.
Think of it this way:
If you wanted to make a million dollars, you have a few ways to go about it: Work harder or win the lottery. Technically, both ways can make you a millionaire but a number of the people that win the lotto don’t have the lifestyle habits to manage it and end up going bankrupt soon afterward.
You can apply that same example to looking like a bikini or physique athlete.
Not To End On A Bad Note
I have personally worked with some clients that have made some amazing transformations in a short period of time (take a look at our success stories tab at the top for a few), and it is actually a compliment when I have been accused of having some of them Photoshopped. <=== I’m actually flattered by that and always tell those people to just speak with the client in person and see if they feel the same way.
What I’ve seen with people that make the best transformations, is that every new week or new month they look better than they did the previous month, they were more motivated and inspired to keep going and eventually they go where they wanted to be.
AND… (my favorite part)
They maintained it! They developed the habits and designed their lifestyle to keep their results to where it was not as much of a struggle for them as it was getting there in the first place.
Transformation is transforming you as a person, NOT just your body, but your mind as well.
In Health and Awesomeness,
Travis Merritt, BS, CPT, (and other letters behind the name) is the Owner of Rowlett Transformation Center in Rowlett, TX.
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