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#123 - 7 "Secrets" From People Who Never Regain the Weight
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Only 1 out of 10 people who lose weight will keep it off longer than 5 years. They aren’t special. They do a few things most people don’t. In this episode, we break down exactly what those things are so you can use them too.
- Why most people regain the weight within 1–5 years — and how to avoid becoming another statistic
- The 7 key habits successful weight loss maintainers have in common (and how to start building them today)
- How to design a lifestyle you actually enjoy so the results stick for good
- The mindset shift that makes getting back on track after a setback easier than ever
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Transcript
Introduction to the Fit-ish Project
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome back to the Fit-ish Project with your host Lathan Bass where we make fitness and health simple for regular people like you and I. We have a weekly episode as we usually do coming at you this week before I get into this if you can leave a review continue to share this with other people and get this information out to the people who can use it the most I do really appreciate that.
The Importance of Sustainable Weight Loss
00:00:25
Speaker
The topic this week, I wanted to talk a little bit about sustainability. Not so much just the weight loss and the whole process of doing that, but being able to sustain that weight loss. and and we're talking about weight loss the reason that i talk about this so much is because it is the basis of what most people want most people want to feel better they want to look better and they want to improve their health and live a long life in the simple act of getting yourself to a body composition or a body fat level where you're not carrying around tons of extra body fat solves all three of those problems and so that's the reason that i talk about weight loss so much
00:01:06
Speaker
It's one thing that you just focus on and it solves so many different other issues. And when it comes to weight loss, lots of people don't actually have a weight loss issue. Like most of the people who try to lose weight will actually be able to lose a significant amount of weight.
00:01:21
Speaker
But most people really struggle with keeping that weight off. And when you look at the statistics, it's not very good for the amount of people who are actually able to sustain that weight loss long term. And that is what my whole message has been about. That's what this podcast is typically about. It's being able to lose weight, but also keep that weight off for a extended period of time, hopefully for the rest of your life so that you don't have to deal with all these issues that come with carrying around all this extra body fat and just not feeling great, not liking how you look, the low confidence, not being as happy as you could.
00:01:54
Speaker
messing with the quality of your life, taking years off your life, all those different things.
Lifestyle Changes for Lasting Weight Loss
00:01:58
Speaker
And so when it comes to weight loss, and when it comes to sustainability, oftentimes, you'll hear people say, make it a lifestyle. And I say that term all the time.
00:02:06
Speaker
But I think that it's really important to take a closer look and realize what that actually means. Like, what does that actually look like? What are some action steps that you can do? What are some things that you can incorporate into your everyday lifestyle that are not only going to help you lose that weight, feel better and look better, but be able to sustain those results for a lifetime and thankfully because of science and because of other people who have been successful with weight loss we can actually look at these things and nail down what are some of these things that these people who have been able to lose weight and keep it off for a long period of time what do these people do i've been sharing my experience with you guys about how i've been able to do it but i think it helps to also look at trends and look at patterns of what other people are doing and then find some of those things
00:02:52
Speaker
that those successful people have done and find ways to implement them into your life in a way that makes sense and a way that helps you to be successful long term. And so with this podcast today, I wanted to talk a little bit about that.
00:03:06
Speaker
When we're talking about the stats, so what do the stats actually say about weight loss when it comes to being able to lose the weight and keep it off for good? And a lot of times you'll hear people like on social media, they'll say things like diets don't work or weight loss is just a lost cause. Like these things are really impossible or it's completely genetic. Like you don't have control over these things.
00:03:26
Speaker
In the stats, they they aren't very good, but I think there's a lot of reasons for that. and I'm going to get into some of the reasons as to why people really struggle. And then ultimately, we're going to give you some solutions and some skills and some habits that you can actually incorporate so that you can be one of these people who...
00:03:41
Speaker
loses the weight and keeps it off for good because I've been able to do it. I've been able to help several people do the exact same thing, lose lots of weight and keep that off for good. And so there is a formula to it. It's not always easy. And there are things that you have to do and habits you have to build and time you have to invest in order to be able to make this a true lifestyle and keep that weight off and improve your health and all those good things that we want.
00:04:05
Speaker
but it is possible for sure with the right approach.
Health Benefits of Losing 10% Body Weight
00:04:08
Speaker
And so when you look at the statistics, when we define what does weight loss actually mean, and a lot of these studies, what they define weight loss as is losing 10% of your body weight in most of these studies. And so you think about that a person who weighs 150 pounds, if they lose 10% of their body fat or 10% of their body weight, excuse me, they're losing 15 pounds. If you weigh 250 pounds,
00:04:30
Speaker
That'd be about 25 pounds lost. If you weigh 300 pounds, that'd be 30 pounds. If you weigh more than that, then it'd be in between that like 30 and 40 pounds of weight loss. And so that's not nothing. And that 10% is relevant for a couple of reasons, because we know that if you lose 10% of your body weight, if you have excess body fat, you are going to increase numerous health outcomes for yourself. And so as you take away that body fat, you are increasing decreasing your risk of a lot of major diseases like cancer, like heart disease, like diabetes,
00:05:03
Speaker
You're lowering your blood pressure, which is a good thing for all of your blood vessels and your heart. That's going to be healthier. You're improving your sleep. When you lose weight, a lot of people who are overweight, they have trouble sleeping and they have trouble with getting a good quality of sleep. And we know that sleep is a super foundational piece of just good general health.
00:05:23
Speaker
If you're not getting good sleep because it's affected by how heavy you are and you can't breathe very well you're waking up you have sleep apnea, that's obviously going to affect not only the quality of your life, but the long-term health of your life as well.
00:05:35
Speaker
As you're losing weight, you're getting better mobility, less stress on your joints and your internal organs, which is a good thing. And the big thing is just the quality of your life improves. As you're starting to drop some of that weight, you're just able to do more things. You have more energy. You're able to enjoy activities. You're not always thinking about your weight. You're more confident, all those different things that we want to have.
Challenges in Maintaining Weight Loss
00:05:59
Speaker
And so when we look at the numbers, people who try to lose weight, it's like eight out of 10 people who actually attempt to lose weight are successful in losing that 10% of their body weight, somewhere around that number. And so again, most people, they don't have an issue with losing the weight.
00:06:13
Speaker
They have an issue with keeping the weight off because when you start to look at the longer term numbers, so within about a year, people will start to gain some of that weight back. And so 10 to 20 ish percent of people can keep that 10% off for more than a year, which again, is not great as far as numbers go.
00:06:32
Speaker
And so when you break this down, if 10 people try to lose weight, and they're successful in losing 10% of that body fat, or body weight, excuse me, they've lost 10, 20, 30 pounds, one or two out of those 10 people are able to keep that weight off for at least a year. And when you start to look at it further, when you start to look at like three years or five years, that number starts to go down quite a bit.
00:06:56
Speaker
I thought would look at some different ways in which people go about losing weight to see if there was any differences here. And so when you look at people who just do it through like lifestyle, exercise, behavioral change,
00:07:07
Speaker
the rate is a little bit lower. When you start to look at people who do it with surgery, their success rate is a little bit higher. And I think there could be a couple of different reasons for this. Like if you're somebody who goes into surgery, you're making a really, really big commitment here. And I think people who really go head first and they dive in and they really commit to this process, they end up having a really,
00:07:27
Speaker
they have a much better chance of making this be a long-term successful thing. And so people who do it with surgery, they typically have a little bit higher success rate. And then when you look at things like GLP-1s, which are becoming more popular now, people who use these drugs, they're successful in losing the weight. But if they don't stay on these drugs, then they gain the weight back typically at a similar rate of people who just use lifestyle and diet and those sorts of things. And so I think the take-home message here is that Weight can be lost, but a good majority of people will gain that weight back within one to five years.
00:08:04
Speaker
A huge reason for that, which I'm about to get into some of those reasons for that regain, is that a lot of things that people do, they just really aren't sustainable type of things. And they don't focus on the foundation of building new habits, of building new mindset, of incorporating or working towards a new identity.
00:08:23
Speaker
And so when we look at some of the reasons why people regain weight, there's three main categories.
Hormonal Influences on Weight Loss Sustainability
00:08:28
Speaker
And so these are things that you just need to be aware of if you want to make sure that you're one of those people who's able to lose that weight and keep it off for good and be able to sustain those good results that you're able to get. And so the first group that we have is physiological reasons. And so when you go to lose weight, your hormones will start to adjust. And for lack of a better term, they start to sort of fight back because when we think about your body,
00:08:53
Speaker
Your body doesn't necessarily want to change a whole lot. It enjoys that homeostasis. And when it goes to change, it is usually pretty slow to change. And so when you start to lose weight, when you start to eat in a calorie deficit and give your body less food, it will start to react a little bit by messing with your hormones. And so there's two hormones called ghrelin and leptin. And these hormones control how hungry you get and how often and then also how full and satiated you are after you eat.
00:09:18
Speaker
And when you start to lose weight, these hormones will start to increase. And so in simple terms, that means that as you start to eat in a calorie deficit, you may notice that you are more hungry more often and you're less satisfied and satiated after meals.
00:09:33
Speaker
There's some solutions and things that you can do in order to help to slow this down. But this is something that is a part of losing weight because again, your body doesn't necessarily want to change. And so some things that you can do as your hormones start to shift a little bit is make sure that you're not crash dieting, which is why I'm so against doing this in such a strict way. Because if you try to just cut your calories way down, those signals are going to be even higher. And it's just going to make it really, really tough to maintain But if you can do this in a slower, more methodical way, you're not going to have such extreme signaling from those hormones that are causing you to just be crazy hungry and not be full or satiated all the time. Some other things that you can do is just making sure that you're prioritizing quality foods in your diet. So eating lots of protein, lots of fiber so that you feel full and satiated and you're not hungry all the time.
00:10:22
Speaker
And also prioritizing other things that affect your hormones. So making sure that you're getting enough sleep, because if your sleep is bad, that's also going to start to affect hormones in different ways. You have more cravings, you're eating more, you're not as satiated and managing stress.
00:10:36
Speaker
When people get very stressed out, they typically turn to food. And so Making sure that not only are you on point with your diet and the things that you're doing in the kitchen, but also making sure that you're taking care of some things outside of the kitchen as well with sleep and stress management and just how you're living your life. Because all these things culminate to make weight loss a little bit easier or much harder. And so making sure that you're focusing on those things to help you out a little bit.
00:11:03
Speaker
Another physiological thing as you start to lose weight is your metabolism does start to slow down a little bit. And I've talked about this on other podcasts, but as you start to lose weight, you are becoming a smaller, more efficient version of yourself. And so you don't need quite as much energy.
00:11:17
Speaker
And so the calories that your body used to need, it doesn't need all those calories. And this is why people run into plateaus and things like that. So When you're doing it in a very extreme way, you can have bigger effects on your metabolism.
00:11:29
Speaker
And the other thing too is, as I mentioned with the crash diets, if you're doing this too quickly, you're going to end up losing a lot of muscle mass. And we know that muscle mass plays a big role in how fast or slow your metabolism is. So if you're losing a bunch of muscle mass because you're crash dieting and losing a lot of weight, you're also setting yourself up for a really tough time down the line because now,
00:11:49
Speaker
as you start to lose weight you may be dropping weight very quickly but then you get to a point where your calories are just so low and you don't have that muscle mass and you just it's hard to stay at such low calories for a really long time and so as you start to add some of those calories back and eat more now you're struggling because your body doesn't need that many calories anymore because you don't have that muscle mass You don't need all that extra energy. And so people start to regain the weight. and Slow and steady, making sure that you're focusing on things both with your diet, but also outside of your diet as well to make this process a little bit more smooth.
Combating Modern Lifestyle Challenges
00:12:25
Speaker
The second group of things in... reasons that people regain weight is environmental. And so if you've ever heard heard the term obesogenic, it's a term that I've been hearing more and more. In a nutshell, our environment right now isn't really set up to help you be healthy and fit. And so if you are not making a conscious choice to make your environment more conducive to being healthy and fit, it's pretty easy to slide the other way. And if you look at most of our society, that is what most people do. Most people don't exercise on a regular basis
00:12:56
Speaker
most people eat a highly processed diet and don't eat lots of whole foods. Most people live sedentary lifestyles. All those things make it easier to gain weight and to be unhealthy.
00:13:07
Speaker
And so you have to start making conscious choices about what your environment looks like. So we're working out with people who share similar goals, going to a gym that you enjoy, making sure that you keep quality food and snacks in your house. All those sorts of things are just little choices that you can make to make being fit and healthy easier. I always say make the healthy choice the easy choice.
00:13:27
Speaker
And that is something that you really have to be conscious about, because if you don't, things aren't set up in your favor in order to get to those outcomes that you want to get to. And I think this one here is only going to get.
00:13:41
Speaker
more and more important because we are a society that loves convenience and as technology continues to improve and things continue to just get easier for us, it's only going to become that much harder to be active and to make sure that you seek out the right choices. Like we have things like Uber Eats now where you can have your favorite food delivered straight to your door without doing anything besides lifting your thumb.
00:14:05
Speaker
We have Netflix and thousands of hours of Movies and social media and all that stuff that keeps us glued to screens where we're just not being active. So we're more sedentary. if Most of jobs are more sedentary than they were years ago. And so, again, there's just so many different factors now that make it much easier to eat more and move less.
00:14:25
Speaker
And so you just have to be very aware about that and start to make choices that set you up to make things a little bit easier for yourself. The third group or the third reason why people really struggle to keep that weight off is behavioral stuff. And these are things that you can control. But again, you have to be very conscious about these things.
00:14:44
Speaker
A lot of people, when they get into weight loss, they just do a lot of very unsustainable things. And I get it. You want to get the weight off as quickly as possible. And so people jump into the strict diets. They jump into the workout routines that are crazy and just have them burning tons of calories.
00:14:59
Speaker
But a lot of those things just end up backfiring because they aren't sustainable. And then as soon as people fall off from those habits, they return to what they were doing before they started, which typically were not very good habits. They weren't really working out. They weren't really eating well or paying attention to things. And so they go from zero to 100.
00:15:14
Speaker
back to zero and we know exactly where that leads people and that's why um such a big proponent of doing this in a slower more methodical way so that you can build a solid foundation of habits that don't feel so extreme and don't feel like they're take so much willpower or take so much of your time they're just things that you can start to fit within your lifestyle and start to just get better at over time and then they just kind of mesh within your way that you live and it's just become something that you do rather than feeling like a struggle all the time Another thing that starts to happen. And so let's say that you are a person who takes this in a better approach, like you're more slow with it, you're more methodical, you're focused on doing things the right way.
00:15:53
Speaker
After a while, a lot of times people will start to slip. And what I mean by that is like, let's say that you actually are doing this the right way, you're tracking food, you're weighing yourself regularly to make sure that you're just keeping on top of like, if you're trending in the right direction, you're planning out your workouts,
00:16:09
Speaker
You have a good program that you follow. You have a good routine. You walk regularly. You meal prep. You're doing all these things. You're developing all these skills and you're doing all the things that you need to do in order to lose weight.
00:16:21
Speaker
But as people start to continue on this path, maybe life gets a little bit busier. Things get stressful. Other things come up. And some of these behaviors, some of these habits, they start to slip.
00:16:32
Speaker
And so the things that people use to see that weight loss to have some success, they start to slip and they start to revert back. And I see this with clients all the time, like life starts to get a little bit busier and they aren't meal prepping as much or they aren't getting as many steps in or they aren't planning out their workouts. and these things become kind of a slippery slope because as you start to have one thing turn into another thing, turn into another thing, and pretty soon you're not doing any of the behaviors that helped you to lose the weight.
00:17:01
Speaker
And so again, we need to make sure that we're paying attention to these things in the way that you're actually able to lose the weight. Those are a lot of the same things. Those are a lot of the same skills that you are going to use to keep this weight off, which I'm going to get into in the next part, talking about what some of these things actually look like.
Strategies for Long-term Weight Maintenance
00:17:17
Speaker
And then the third thing about like just behavioral change and why it becomes really hard is that people develop what's called diet fatigue. So if you have a lot of weight to lose, like you were somebody similar to me and like you had hundred pounds to lose or even like 50 pounds to lose more than a hundred pounds to lose, that is going to take more than a year.
00:17:37
Speaker
With that being said, sometimes people get what's called diet fatigue because as I just mentioned, you're trying to implement a lot of new things. You're trying to develop a lot of new habits. You're tracking food, you're weighing yourself, you're working out, you're developing things and all that stuff takes effort. It takes time, it takes energy and it just takes a little bit more out of you mentally when you are trying to lose weight.
00:17:58
Speaker
And so if you're doing that for a year, two years, three years, maybe longer, people start to develop what's called diet fatigue. And then again, they start to slip. And so with that being said, it's not a bad idea to spend some time just maintaining weight. a lot of people look at plateaus as these really bad things. But I just think of plateaus as you are just practicing maintaining your weight because If you're doing this the right way, you're not meant to be in a calorie deficit for your entire life. Most of your life should be spent just maintaining a similar weight.
00:18:28
Speaker
And so think of that more so as practice. And I think of it, that maintenance phase as more of a momentum phase, because let's say you have 100 pounds to lose, and maybe you don't lose that 100 pounds in one single shot, it's very unlikely that you will lose that continually at the same pace until you get to that goal.
00:18:46
Speaker
I know for me, like I went through different levels of losing 75 pounds and then kind of maintaining, then I gained a little bit back, then I lost 20 pounds, maintain a little bit, same thing. And so when you have big goals, you have to understand there's going to be, it's going to kind of like a stairway.
00:19:01
Speaker
So like you go up and then you're kind of flat for a little bit and then you go back up, then you're kind of flat for a little bit. So it's not a bad thing to actually be maintaining weight loss or maintaining because it gives you some time to really solidify those habits and you start to get used to what it takes to maintain the weight and to be at that certain level.
00:19:19
Speaker
And then as you are at that level, you give yourself a chance to kind of step back a little bit. It's not quite as draining or mentally taxing as being in a diet all the time. And then When you feel good about it, then you can start to dial it back in, maybe take it to a new level where you can lose another 20, 30 pounds or so. And so don't think of those plateaus or those maintenance phases as you're wasting time or you're going backwards or you're doing something wrong. Those are actually an important part of the process.
00:19:51
Speaker
Finally, getting into, all right, so now you understand that, yes, it is somewhat difficult to lose weight and keep it off. But again, difficult does not mean impossible. And I think when you really approach this in the right way, you can be one of those people that loses the weight and keeps it off for good. And so let's get into some of these actual solutions, because a lot of this, I think you really have to understand and dig a little bit deeper into, okay, what is the issue and why do so many people struggle? But then when you know some of those things, you can watch out for those things. But then ultimately we need some solution. we need some action steps.
00:20:23
Speaker
And so let's get into that. There was a study that they did and they took a huge group. I want to say it was like over 4,000 people who had lost an average of 73 pounds and kept it off for over five years so a really good group and then they asked these people they looked at what are the things that these people do like can we find some trends within these people to see what it is that they have done to lose this weight but keep it off for good and there was a list of seven to eight things that these people did that most people who lost weight and didn't keep it off did not do
00:20:58
Speaker
Some of these will seem extremely obvious, like this first one that I'm going to get into. And then some of these may actually be like, oh, like I didn't think about that. And so think about these things. And if you're somebody who does want to lose that weight, keep it off, you want to be able to maintain those good health and fitness results that you get.
00:21:16
Speaker
Think about how you can implement some of these things into your lifestyle on a regular basis. And so the very first thing is they just stay active. It was said like 85% of these people engage in regular physical activity, which makes sense, right? The more active that you are, the more calories that you burn, and it makes it a little bit easier.
00:21:33
Speaker
It's a lot easier to maintain your weight if you're able to eat 2,500 calories, 2,800 calories than it is if you're only able to eat 2,000 or 1,800 because you don't really live an active lifestyle. And so being active, not just in the gym, but also outside the gym, you're going to burn excess calories.
00:21:51
Speaker
Along with this, I think there's a big mental part that a lot of people maybe don't think about quite as much when it comes to living an active lifestyle. But when I talk to a lot of people, they will be like, if I'm on my exercise routine, it makes it much easier for me to be on my diet and vice versa. Like if I'm eating really well, it makes it easier for me to get in the gym.
00:22:11
Speaker
Some people will get into this kind of all or nothing mindset of like, okay, I'm not really getting in the gym. So then why would I focus on my diet? Or i got in the gym. And I've been being really consistent. So I don't really want to feel like I'm working backwards by making certain choices within my diet. And so being on point or just being kind of dialed in with both diet and nutrition can kind of play off each other and help you to stay more consistent.
00:22:36
Speaker
I think that this is one of those situations, though, that you really have to treat with some nuance, because I've also seen this backfire with some people as well, because you'll also have some of the people that'll be like,
00:22:46
Speaker
well, I exercise really hard today, so I get this 1500 calorie dessert, or exercise really hard today, so let me go smash six plates at the buffet. And the thing about it is that you have to find a good balance of this. I think in general, if you're pretty active, if you're exercising quite a bit, then you understand that you do have a little bit more flexibility when it comes to food and those things.
00:23:07
Speaker
But the studies also show us that people are really, really bad at predicting and trying to figure out how many calories they are burning through exercise and also really bad at knowing how many calories they're actually consuming.
00:23:21
Speaker
And when you look at it, like when you look at the numbers, typically people, you aren't burning as many calories as you think through exercise. I know that your fitness watches will tell you differently, like it'll tell you you're burning a thousand calories in a workout.
00:23:33
Speaker
I can almost guarantee you that you are not burning a thousand calories in an hour workout. Exercise and fitness watches and things like that, they can overestimate by as much as 90%.
00:23:46
Speaker
And so when you think about it, your watch tells you that you just burned 500 calories, it could be closer to 250 calories, 200 calories, something like that. And so I don't ever get super obsessive about the numbers and especially like on fitness watches and things like that. I think of all exercise as a bonus to burning extra calories. So I don't ever go into it with the mindset of like, oh, I did this certain amount of exercise, so now I get to treat myself for this. Because I think you can get into a really bad headspace about trying to trade exercise for calories in the kitchen, and it's just not a good strategy to get into because the amount of calories that it takes to burn off
00:24:24
Speaker
certain amounts of food, it's just, it's not a good trade off. Like if you eat a piece of cheesecake and that cheesecake is in order for you to quote unquote, burn that off and exercise, you're going to have to exercise for two hours or more.
00:24:37
Speaker
And that's just not a, that's not a long-term battle that you're going to win. And that's not a really good headspace to get into. It just creates a really weird relationship with food and people can get into. like just bad eating disorders and the way that they think about food and exercise. And then it becomes one of those things where exercise isn't even enjoyable and you're doing it for the wrong reasons. And so I think, yes, you want to acknowledge that you want to be fit and active because fit people, healthy people are active people, but you also want to understand that it's not just a sole reason to be active so that you can lose weight or eat more food. Because again, I just think that's not a great long-term strategy or mindset for most people.
00:25:15
Speaker
The second thing that these people did is they ate lower calorie, more nutrient dense diets, which is pretty obvious. people who lose weight and keep it off, they have a pretty decent understanding about foods and like calories and macros and things that they should be eating more of and things that they should be eating less of.
00:25:34
Speaker
They understand that this is all just a math problem. Once you understand how much your body needs as far as calories and proteins and things like that, you can really start to look at this stuff more objectively and try to find things that fit within those goals. And so A simple thing that I tell everybody and that I've talked about multiple times on these podcasts is just to eat more whole foods. and When you're eating more whole foods with an emphasis on protein and fiber and fruits and vegetables and things like that, you are naturally going to start to eat less calories overall.
00:26:04
Speaker
You're going to be more full and satiated. And it's much harder to overeat on these foods than it is on the highly processed stuff. As I mentioned multiple times, I'm still a fan of including other things in moderation, but your base solid foundation of the meals that you eat and the foods and snacks and things like that should come from Whole Foods if you want to make this easier and make this more of a long-term thing.
00:26:27
Speaker
I found that the more that you can start to shift your focus towards those things, it just becomes easier to do this. I'm a person who feels like I've made a pretty good progress on being able to eat in moderation and not overdo it with more processed foods or going out to eat or things like that.
00:26:44
Speaker
But I know when I keep those things in my house, like when I have a lot of that stuff around, it's just really easy to start to eat a lot of calories. And so make your focus the whole foods, but then also sprinkle in some of those other things in moderation. That way it's a long term sustainable strategy.
00:27:00
Speaker
Number three on this list is that these people would eat in a consistent way and follow similar routines. And so what that means is that you you're not all over the place when it comes to your eating habits.
00:27:13
Speaker
A lot of us are busy. a lot of us are stressed. And if you're trying to wing it or do this thing on the fly, it just makes it really difficult. But if you can eat in a similar manner, like you're eating at the same times, you're eating quite a few of the same meals and same snacks, it becomes easy to be consistent and it becomes easy to build with the habits that you need to build.
00:27:32
Speaker
Having some sort of plan, whatever that looks like for you is helpful. And so some people will do this through like intermittent fasting. So like they only eat twice a day, which if that's something that you can do for the longterm and that works really well for you and makes it easy for you to manage your calories and you like that style of eating, then that could be something that you can do.
00:27:51
Speaker
Myself, I've talked about how I calorie cycle. And so Monday through Thursday or Sunday through Thursday, I typically eat a little bit less calories because I know when the weekend rolls around, if I want to do something more socially, like I want to go out or have some drinks, I know that I've kind of budgeted some extra calories for that event.
00:28:09
Speaker
And that is something that has worked really well for me. i know other people, they just eat literally like the same things over and over for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or they just meal prep all their meals. They have some sort of routine that they have found that works really well.
00:28:21
Speaker
And so there's no real one size fits all. I think it's about finding the thing that works well for you that you can easily repeat and that you also enjoy. One thing that I struggle with in seeing other people try to do is when they try to do something like keto or carnivore or something that's a little bit more extreme, because I know that for a majority of people, that's not going to be a good long term strategy.
00:28:43
Speaker
For some people, they may eat that weight 365, That's their thing. That's their jam. They love eating in a keto lifestyle. They love eating low carb. They love eating carnivore. And if that's what they prefer, then by all means, go for it. Like they feel good.
00:28:57
Speaker
Their health is good. and that works for them, then go for it. But for most people, that's not going to be a long-term strategy. So you have to have some sort of foundation that you default back to. So if you do one of these diets, like let's say you do carnivore, you do keto, but then your default is just eating trash most of the time, then as soon as you stop keto or carnivore because you just don't want to do it and it's just not sustainable and you go back to your default, you're going to gain the weight back.
00:29:23
Speaker
And so you have to make sure that this style of eating, this eating routine and this eating pattern that you're using is something that you can do most days pretty consistently and be good at it and find it enjoyable because long-term success is linked to adherence. And so if the diet that you're following the way that you eat is something that you can do and stick to, you're going to be successful.
00:29:46
Speaker
If it's not, and you don't have any sort of foundation, you're not going to be successful. And so this one is really important.
The Role of Mindset and Support Systems
00:29:52
Speaker
the fourth thing on the list which i know i've mentioned on some other podcasts is what they call self monitoring and essentially this is just finding ways to hold yourself accountable and so a lot of people who lose weight will spend some time tracking food they will do daily or weekly weigh-ins they will track their steps they will track their workouts in some form they're just finding ways to measure metrics that they know are going to help them make progress or sustained progress and so the ones that i just mentioned are big ones that a lot of people do so tracking food in some sort of way tracking steps to make sure that you're staying active tracking your workouts to make sure you're getting stronger and making sure that you're getting in the gym daily weigh-ins to make sure that you're trending in the right direction and again this doesn't mean that you need to hyper focus on these things or get very like neurotic about these things but as long as you're keeping those things top of mind and you're focusing on these things you can make sure that you're trending in the right direction
00:30:45
Speaker
Let's say you're weighing yourself, you weigh yourself three times a week just to make sure that you are staying in a relative good range. And you start to notice that that is creeping up. Well, that's a good sign that you can catch that early and you can start to get back on track with some of those habits that you want to be doing. So for example, over the summertime, typically I'm doing more things social and that scale starts to creep up a little bit.
00:31:07
Speaker
And so once that scale tips a little bit and I'm up like 10 pounds or so, I'll be like, okay, I need to rein it back in a little bit. Let me track my food for four weeks, six weeks, cut a little bit of body fat.
00:31:18
Speaker
get back to where I feel comfortable rather than if I'm never tracking that stuff, I'm never looking at food, I'm never weighing myself, I'm never tracking any of my steps. I don't really know if I'm trending in the right direction, if I'm maintaining, if I'm where I want to be. But when you can actually start to look at those things,
00:31:35
Speaker
you can make objective decisions and you can make sure that you're not digging yourself in a hole. So three months down the line, you step on the scale and that scales up 25 pounds and you're like, oh crap, like now what? You know, now I just feel like I've wasted a bunch of time. I feel like I've dug myself in a hole.
00:31:49
Speaker
And a lot of people, when they hit those certain points, they let that turn into this big downslide and they go backwards and it just gets worse and worse. So when you can stay on top of these things, it makes it a little bit easier. The old quote that people say with like sports and things like that, stay ready so you don't have to get ready.
00:32:05
Speaker
That's kind of how I think about this. It's much easier to just ride that momentum and stay on the train than it is to fall off. If you've ever fallen off out of working out for a while and then you go to get back in shape,
00:32:17
Speaker
getting back in shape sucks. like It's not very fun. But when you stay in shape, when you stay in relatively good shape, it's pretty easy to maintain. Like in all honesty, when you're working out, you know, two, three, four times a week, you're walking a decent amount, you're eating a fairly decent diet, like it's pretty easy to stay in shape once you're in shape, but getting in shape, or losing the weight isn't that easy. And so you need to make sure that if you can just stay on top of those things and not let yourself downslide dig yourself into a huge hole, it makes this process a little bit easier.
00:32:47
Speaker
Number five on the list, there's a few more. Number five on the list is they have a high sense of self-efficacy. Basically, they believe in their ability to stick with it.
00:32:58
Speaker
This is something that I've noticed in a lot of the people that have lost a good amount of weight is they just, there's this moment that they hit where they just have this total buy-in that what they are chasing is possible.
00:33:10
Speaker
A lot of people that I talk to, I can tell when I'm talking to them, they actually don't believe that they can lose the weight and keep it off. They don't have the confidence because a lot of people have tried things in the past that just didn't work. Like they tried certain diets, they fell off, they tried to lose weight, or maybe they did lose weight, they gained it back.
00:33:26
Speaker
They tried this diet and that diet, this training program or this training program. And so they just don't honestly believe that they're able to do it. But once you hit that point, once you do this in a sustainable way and you see that, oh, I actually did lose 30 pounds and I did this in a way that's sustainable.
00:33:41
Speaker
I did this in a way that fit my lifestyle. I did this in a way that I can actually see myself keeping up for the rest of my life. Then you actually believe it. You buy in and you don't treat this as such an all or nothing thing.
00:33:52
Speaker
And once you have that high sense of self-efficacy, you don't let one little slip up turn into this big spiral effect. Like you slip up, you learn from it, you get back to it. You also show up when things are hard.
00:34:03
Speaker
You keep those small daily promises to yourself because you believe in this process and you believe what you're doing is important and you believe it's going to improve your life. And as you start to do all those things, as you start to just continue to show up when it's hard and keep those promises to yourself, you start to create more of that self-belief and it turns into this nice feedback loop of you keep the promises to yourself. You continue to see that progress. You continue to believe in yourself more.
00:34:28
Speaker
You continue to raise that confidence level up. And then you're just, you you kind of get to this point where like that snowball gets big enough and it's rolling down the hill that there's no stopping it. Like that momentum is just going.
00:34:40
Speaker
And this is the moment that I always look for when I'm working with clients, because I know as soon as they hit this, like I can just tell there's a different energy about themselves. They start to talk about themselves differently they start to look at themselves differently they usually start to get a little bit more consistent they start to become more of a problem solver they start to seek out solutions rather than excuses and it's a really good point because again once i know that somebody has hit this point right here i don't ever worry about them backsliding like they may have some setbacks they may have some challenges but ultimately once you have that self-belief and you know the path in order to get there you're going to get the results that you want to see it's just a matter of time
00:35:17
Speaker
So that one is also a big one. The next one on the list is they have some sort of support or accountability. This is, i think, kind of obvious, but I think a lot of people don't use this as much as they could. And so it's easier to do things when you have other people supporting you. This is the whole reason that people work out in groups.
00:35:34
Speaker
They find a coach, they find a trainer, they find a workout partner, somebody that can help to hold them accountable, but also support them because this is hard. Being in a spot where you're trying to lose a lot of weight is not very easy.
00:35:44
Speaker
And so when you can put yourself in an environment, put yourself around friends and family who support you or a spouse who supports you or a friend who supports you, it makes this whole process easier. On top of that, a lot of people do well when they have social pressure.
00:35:58
Speaker
And so you've heard of peer pressure. Well, you can use peer pressure in a good way. When you know that you have to report to somebody, when you have somebody who's holding you accountable, when you want to make that person proud, when you want to show up and do the things that are not only going to help you, but also put you and make you look good to somebody else, that is a big motivator for a lot of people. And so use that to your advantage. And on top of that, when you have some of this support, when you have some of this accountability, you don't let those one little things turn into big spirals because you have that support.
00:36:30
Speaker
Something gets hard, you have a setback, you regroup a little bit, maybe you talk to your coach, you talk to your friend, you get a little bit of support, and then you just get right back on it. And so having some sort of accountability, having some sort of support is important. And it's something that a lot of these people who have been successful do.
00:36:47
Speaker
And then the last thing, as I mentioned at the beginning of this podcast, is they embrace it as a lifestyle.
Coaching and Support for Sustainable Habits
00:36:53
Speaker
There's really just a small handful of things that you need to do most of the time And you're able to maintain your weight, be healthy, be fit.
00:37:02
Speaker
And once you identify those things, it's literally just a matter of just doing those things consistently. So like if you manage your calories where you're not eating too much, eating too little, you eat solid amount of protein, you stay active, lift weights couple times a week, get some steps in.
00:37:17
Speaker
Like that's 80 to 90% of being able to keep these results. It's really that simple. Like once you develop those habits and you know those things that you need to check off and you need to do,
00:37:27
Speaker
That's really all it is. And so it's just a matter of learning to do these things, not only when it's easy, but also sometimes when it's stressful, also sometimes when you're busy and just being able to build those habits up and really embracing this as something that you want to do and not just something that you have to do.
00:37:43
Speaker
Because again, once you get to that point where it feels like a natural part of your lifestyle, you want, like you're going to get to that goal that you have. You're going to be able to get all those results and see the progress you want to see.
00:37:55
Speaker
not just get there, but be able to stay there. And I think obviously that should be the end goal. And so all that to say, this is not an easy process. It's a fairly simple process, but if it was that easy, there wouldn't be 70% of people who are overweight or obese who really struggle with this and who try to lose weight.
00:38:15
Speaker
The weight loss industry wouldn't be a multi-billion dollar industry that people want help with. There wouldn't be so many people who struggle and who are low confidence and who aren't as happy as they want to be. If it was that easy, it's simple, but it's not easy. And so starting to embrace this as a lifestyle, focus on building those long life habits and doing so with a growth mindset. And so like not beating yourself up, having some patience, focusing on consistency, having a little grace as you work through this, because again, if it was that easy, everybody would be walking around.
00:38:46
Speaker
fricking chiseled and muscular and lean, but that's just not the case. And so it takes time and finding those things that work for you, but also realizing that success leaves clues and using some of these things talked about in this podcast and figuring out ways to incorporate that into your lifestyle and with your goals can absolutely help.
00:39:07
Speaker
With all that being said, finding accountability and doing this in a way that makes sense. It can be easier to do it with somebody else, which is what I help people do with one-on-one coaching. So if that is you, you want some help with this stuff, I'm always here to help people who really want to change with that. The link is in the show notes, but I appreciate you listening and we will see you next week.