Where did you get the idea that losing weight was supposed to be easy?
Who told you a simple equation of calories, points, macros, or cardio was all you needed?
You've been lied to...and I know who did it, marketers.
Now, don't get me wrong, I think good marketers offer a great service.
But, they are never going to tell you what it actually takes.
Example:
YOU DON'T BELIEVE THIS OBVIOUS STATEMENT
Unless you deal with the reasons you've become overweight, you're never going to be successful maintaining a healthy body composition.
But, you protest: "Duh...of course I believe that!"
No, you don't.
How do I know?
Because you keep throwing money into the Weight-Loss Money Pit.
You keep looking for the simplest, easiest answer that requires the least from you.
You want to believe there is is a shortcut. There isn't.
MARKETERS KNOW HUMAN NATURE BETER THAN YOU DO
In our time-poor, high-stress society, facing ourselves isn’t appealing. It feels like work.
We gravitate toward simpler answers.
So, marketers create options for us that look like this:
In light of the above, it's not surprising that most people who lose weight gain it right back.
It’s easier to say “This [one thing] can fix your weight problem” than it is to say “Getting the weight off your body will mean we have to renovate your lifestyle.”
Make sense?
OTHER DOOMED, OVERLY-SIMPLISTIC SOLUTIONS
We could insert countless examples of ineffective approaches to weight loss into the visual above. Here are a few:
Food-math programs (points, calories, macros...), hello Weight Watchers
Convenience programs like Slim Fast, Jenny Craig, or Nutrisystem
Off-the-shelf workout programs, hello BeachBody
Hunger suppressors
MLM programs, and shakes, bars, and supplements
Rx diet drugs
Weight-loss surgeries
Gene or hormone-tinkering plans, etc.
Even professional nutritionists and personal trainers often fit here
If you're looking to shed weight fast, some of the above might work.
If you're looking to shed weight for good, hardly a thing on that list will help, not to mention you'll spend (waste) a lot of time, money, and energy.
Breakthrough weight loss only comes from addressing why you became overweight in the first place.
WHY YOU KEEP FALLING FOR GOOD MARKETING
Here’s the paradox marketers don’t tell you about, and have to distract you from!
PART 1: WHAT MARKETERS LOVE TO TELL YOU -- HUMANS ARE SIMPLE
We all have the same physiology. It’s not like some of us have three eyes, two left feet (no making fun of my dancing), don’t have a liver, have the digestion of an herbivore, or don’t need sleep, exercise, and water.
We all want adventure, romance, and significance. After our basic needs for nourishment, safety, and shelter are satisfied, anything that motivates us is going to come back to one of those three drivers.
Good marketing keeps you focused on those two realities only.
It 1) speaks to what you really want, and 2) convinces you to buy by telling you something cool about a newly discovered gene, hormone, superfood, corrective exercise, bio-hack, or surgery.
Well, there’s a catch.
PART 2: WHAT MARKETERS WON'T TOUCH -- HUMANS ARE ALSO COMPLICATED…
We are really good at making excuses. We make up so many stories in our heads (many that aren’t true) and these stories form the backdrop of an innumerable number of limiting beliefs that hold us back.
We’re ALL emotionally stunted somewhere. Depending on where life asks us to grow, different parts of who we are mature, while other parts of us stay childlike. When the adult parts of us are ready to grow, but the childlike parts are not, we get stuck.
We all have different schedules, capacity, and drive. The difficulty of trying to change while balancing our day-to-day responsibilities, is compounded by our motivation fluctuations, health history, and changing levels of time, money, or energy scarcity.
In short, human physiology and human nature, are timeless (i.e. simpler to understand--easier to market), yet our experiences and responsibilities vary greatly (i.e. they form a complicated puzzle--and no one in marketing wants to touch them).
If you’re a marketer (not a coach), you have to focus on what’s simple, and leave it up consumers to figure out everything else they don't know, and how to adjust all the other levers of their life.
The problem is, addressing the simple and ignoring the complicated creates a cycle of frustration.
STOPPING THE MADNESS
It's not like you can't address what's complicated about your weight-loss puzzle.
If humans were not good at solving complicated problems, we never would have made it out of the stone age.
We’re great at solving gnarly problems…when we put our minds to it.
In contrast to the visual above, here's what Breakthrough Weight-Loss looks like:
Is your life not worthy of creating a strategy like that?
Of course it is!
Think you'll get that at your doctor's office?
Think your average personal trainer or nutritionist can put all those pieces together?
Nope...that requires a totally different skill set.
BEING THE EXCEPTION
The sooner you humble yourself and embrace a different kind of process (a kinder, whole-life, becoming-a-better-you process), the sooner you can change your life.
I once heard business described as a self-development course disguised as a way to make money.
Boy is that true!
Real weight loss, is no different.
Think of it as embarking on a journey to become a better you.
Be ready to dig in and figure out what's blocking your progress, and then make a plan to
deal with it one step at a time.
You do that, and you just might join the 8% of people who are actually successful.
If you want some help not figuring all this out by yourself, I'm here for you.
Here's to having the courage to do what it takes,
Christian
PS. Two-three times a year my wife Nina and I run a program called the Transformational Weight Loss Academy. If you're interested in applying, you can email me at: christian@truewholehuman.com