The Biggest Weight Loss Mistake People Make Every January
The Biggest Weight Loss Mistake People Make Every January
It was nearly a decade ago when I reached out to my friend, a personal trainer, to pick her brain. I was desperate for some insight or industry secrets on what to do with my body. It felt like no matter what I did, I kept holding onto belly fat, yet the entire rest of my body remained scrawny. WTF was going on??
This was well before I became a trainer myself. I read fitness magazines, went to yoga and boot camps, tried Pilates, cleansed, and bought all the packaged organic foods. I felt like I was in a never-ending battle with my body, and I was tired of it.
What my friend told me shocked the hell out of me. She said, “Your problem is you don’t eat enough.”
WHAT?!
That went against literally everything I thought would be my issue. Yet, when I hired her for a few months, I saw the biggest change in my body than I had in years. I started to look less weak while losing belly fat. It was wild!
I see something similar happen with people I’ve trained, except when they have a lot of excess body fat, what is usually happening is multiple binge episodes during the week. Many days consist of roughly one meal, which the body then makes up for by eating everything in sight another day. Our bodies starve, metabolism slows down by reducing muscle and saving fat, and then holds onto extra calories when it can.
Personally, I’m a fidgeter, so when I do get extra calories I tend to move a lot more, which in nerd speak is something called NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) that burns a significant amount of calories. That said, it’s easier to see on my body what’s happening to other people with just how little muscle most of us carry. Basically, just because someone is bigger than me, doesn’t mean they have more muscle, because a lot of times I’m moving significantly more weight in the gym than they can handle.
Because I know this, I am very much against someone trying to lose weight before they build muscle. As we go into the new year, many people will confuse weight loss with fat loss. Weight is just a number on the scale that, in addition to fat, includes bone, muscle, water, and organs. What we want is fat loss while also growing muscle tissue to give our bodies a more sculpted look, strengthen joints, increase metabolism, and improve skin elasticity, to name a few benefits.
This is surprisingly hard advice for people to accept because it flies in the face of what’s commonly done. Yet, it’s what actually works.
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