MYST 159: Three Ways to Fail

Okay, time for the ugly truth.

Most people who start a weight loss program do not succeed. And those who do reach their goal weight regain eventually regain most or all the weight they’ve lost. So with that in mind, let’s give you three guaranteed methods to find failure in your weight loss journey.

I mean, if most of my listeners will eventually fail, let’s get it done quickly!

If you enjoy this, excellent! But it is not the key to success.

Three Definite Methods to Fail on Your Weight Loss Journey

1. Rely on exercise alone to force the weight loss.

If you need to lose weight, you probably were not really into exercise much, and you really enjoyed eating. Is that a fair description? Well, while exercise has many very positive health benefits, you really cannot rely on it alone to get you to your goal weight. I talk about this in greater detail in MYST 84, but the bottom line is that weight loss happens in the kitchen. Fitness happens in the gym. You cannot out-exercise bad eating habits.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t exercise. On the contrary, I want everyone to increase their activity level, and how you choose to do that is your choice. But I am saying that if you don’t get your eating under control, and if you don’t have a reasonable calorie budget, the exercise is only going to cause frustration when you do not make the progress that you expect. You will eventually quit.

 

This is a great activity, but it alone won’t help you succeed.

2. Set a hard “due date” for success, especially if that due date is connected to a wedding, vacation, graduation or any other life event.

If you absolutely need to lose 50 pounds before your wedding, anniversary, birthday, vacation–whatever the special event–and you are closer than 52 weeks away, you are setting yourself up for a disaster. Most people cannot lose faster than 1 pound per week. It’s faster in the very beginning and much slower at the end, but overall, it’s 1 pound a week. If your event if 16 weeks away, you can realistically expect to lose 15-16 pounds. That’s it. Setting a 50 pound goal for an event that is happening sooner than 52 weeks is going to greatly increase your stress, because you simply can’t consistently lose as fast as you want. And stress will slow,  stop or reverse weight loss. I talk about anxiety and weight loss in MYST 102  and general stress and it’s effect on weight loss in MYST 138. 

If you need to lose weight for a big event, count the number of weeks, set your rate for 1 pound per week, and your goal is the number of weeks before the event. Will that be as much as you want to lose? Probably not. But it is a more achievable goal. And successfully losing that amount is better than trying for an unrealistic goal, and failing to achieve any loss at all.

3. Follow a diet. Any diet.

I don’t care what “diet” you choose, if it is not the way you intend to eat for the rest of your life, you are choosing a temporary eating plan, and any successes you experience will also be temporary. Any weight that you’ve lose will return (quickly) when you return to eating “normal” food.

This is especially true for any diet found in a book, on a magazine cover, or talked about on a television show.
Those “diets” are created and published for only one reason. It is not designed to help you lose weight, but rather to entice you to buy the magazine, book or supplement.

And if the diet in question is found in a book or magazine and the author is either a celebrity, or the guest or host of a television show, and they are talking about the diet, you will have more success simply flushing your money down the toilet.

But maybe the diet is not in a book or magazine. Are there any other clues that it is a waste of time an money? Yes, and here are the clues:

  • It requires that you buy “special weight loss foods” from a friend/relative/coworker.
  • That friend or co-worker wants to show you how you can make money by selling the product.
  • If any of these words (or anything similar) are found on the label or description of the product or plan: “Cleanse”, “Detox”, “Metabolism Jumpstart” or “Metabolism Booster”

  These will not help you succeed!

Okay, let’s make one thing clear. While I am serious about everything I said, I am confident that most or all of your have chosen a good method of weight loss. I am also confident that you will lose weight, reach your goal and stay at goal. You come back to this show each week because you are committed.

But this information is for you to share with others who may not be as experienced as you. I hope you are able to help your friends find success. (And tell them about this show!)

Photo via UnSplash by Maarten van den Heuvel (Runner), Scott Webb (Weights) and FreeStocks (Supplements)

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over

work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!

All images are Creative Common Zero

MYST 146: Exercise on Purpose

The US has a problem. Well, it has many problems, but a major health problem is that as a whole, we are overweight. Why are we overweight?

We eat too much and we don’t exercise. And most of our exercise is “exercise on purpose”. But what happened to “accidental exercise”? If we learn to add accidental (also known as “incidental”) exercise, we will help enhance our weight loss progress. This is not the magic bullet for weight loss, but it is another piece of the puzzle.

 

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How are you going to add accidental exercise to your day?

Here is a link to the episode MYST 84 that was mentioned in this show.

Photo via Pixabay, by hfossmark

Resources:

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/cwc/american-labor-in-the-20th-century.pdf

https://www.statista.com/statistics/244922/us-fitness-centers-und-health-clubs/

https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity

http://time.com/3688002/obesity-in-america-photos-from-the-early-days-of-a-national-health-crisis/


Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over

work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!

All images are Creative Commons Zero.

MYST 139: Get Obsessed!

What is an obsession?According to Merriam-Webster:

According to Merriam-Webster: a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling;

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V):

  1. recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress
  2. the thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems
  3. the person attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts, impulses, or images, or to neutralize them with some other thought or action
  4. the person recognizes that the obsessional thoughts, impulses, or images are a product of his or her own mind (not imposed from without as in thought insertion)

Sounds bad, right?

Not always.

Measure and record everything you eat!
Measure and record everything you eat!

Photo via Pixabay, by StevePB.

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!

All images are Creative Commons Zero

MYST 120: Preventing Your Success

Do you have something in your menu that is preventing you from finding success?

Do you use this?
Do you use this?
Is this part of the problem?
Is this part of the problem?

Photos via Pixabay.com by 422737 (sugar) and StevePB (Coca Cola)

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. And you can read his really nice, contemplative blog. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen.

MYST 116: Diet Vacations

You measure your food. Log it. Track it. Compare it to your budget. Eliminate one item so you can have extra of something else. And you’ve been doing this for months? Years?

Take a vacation!

Do you do this daily? Are you getting tired?
Do you do this daily? Are you getting tired?

Photos via Pixabay.com by mozjagrebinfo.

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. And you can read his really nice, contemplative blog. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!

MYST 108 Myths 1

Weight loss myths, scams, quackery and food-woo. Many, many bogus ideas are floating around (read Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest if you want some examples) and I will explain four different topics in this episode. This will be the first of many myth episodes. I won’t release all of them at once (I don’t want to excessively bore you) but from time to time, I will publish future myth episodes.

This show: High Fructose Corn Syrup. Drinking enough water. Eating Late at Night. Specialty Salts.

Is this healthy?
Is this healthy?

References:

Sugar:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/myths-vs-facts-10/slideshow-diet-myths

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/high-fructose-corn-syrup/faq-20058201

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/is_high_fructose_corn_syrup_bad_for_you

Water:

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/Gyn/ObgynClinic/8GlassesWaterMyth.pdf

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/water-for-weight-loss-diet#1

Eating at Night:

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000895.htm

http://www.webmd.com/diet/myths-vs-facts-10/slideshow-diet-myths

Salt:

http://www.infobarrel.com/The_Healthiest_Salt

Pass the Salt (But Not That Pink Himalayan Stuff)

http://www.webmd.com/diet/myths-vs-facts-10/slideshow-diet-myths

Photos via Pixabay.com by LoggaWiggler.

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. And you can read his really nice, contemplative blog. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!

 

MYST 105 What I Don’t Want To Do

We all have tasks in our lives that we would rather avoid. That is human nature. But no matter how we feel about some activities, if we ignore them, the problem does not go away. That means we need to face up to what must be done. Even if we really don’t enjoy it.

Fix-it Projects Never End!
Fix-it Projects Never End!

Photos via Pixabay.com by StevePB.

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. And you can read his really nice, contemplative blog. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!

All photos published on Pixabay.com are licensed under Creative Commons Zero

 

MYST 104: The Horrible Morning Ritual

Should you weigh yourself every day? There are good reasons to perform daily weights. But that habit has some possible negative consequences. Is it worth it?

I think so. Listen and find out why.

The hard truth!
The hard truth!

Photo via Pixabay.com by Mojzabreginfo.

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. And you can read his really nice, contemplative blog. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!

All photos published on Pixabay.com are licensed under Creative Commons Zero

MYST 103: Busting a Plateau

Weight loss is hard enough and then to make matters worse, suddenly you stop losing weight! You are doing nothing different–still eating the right amounts and continuing to exercise. But now the scale will not move! What can you do? Make a change!

Have you tried yoga?
Have you tried yoga?
Start lifting weight.
Start weight lifting.
How accurate are your food logs?
How accurate are your food logs?

 

 

I mentioned that I added my references for my episode on controlling anxiety. You can find them here.

Photos via Pixabay.com by TessaMannonen (yoga),  Janeb13 (weight lifting), Mojzabreginfo (logging food).

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. And you can read his really nice, contemplative blog. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!

All photos published on Pixabay.com are licensed under Creative Commons Zero

 

MYST 101 Diet Disasters

What are you going to do when–not if–you have a diet disaster? How are you going to move beyond the realization that you made bad choices and move towards success?

This bus is moving toward it's planned route. What are you going to do when your personal diet-bus crashes?
This bus is moving toward it’s planned route. What are you going to do when your personal diet-bus crashes?

Photo via StockSnap.io, by Alex Wong.

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. And you can read his really nice, contemplative blog. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!

All photos published on StockSnap.io are licensed under Creative Commons Zero