Published on July 4, 2016
There’s lots of Rationalizations, Excuses and Denials—a.k.a. bullshit—in weight loss.
I hear it daily.
My favorite, which I’ve already written about it, is “I’m not really that overweight; I’m big boned.” I always get a chuckle out of that one.
My second favorite is a tie between “No matter what I do, I can’t seem to lose weight” and “I can’t lose weight because my metabolism is slow” because I usually hear them together. The ‘slow metabolism’ excuse implies the matter is outside their control when in fact this isn’t true; boosting your own metabolism is possible. And, just as when I hear the ‘big boned theory’ excuse, I nip that crap right in the bud.
While medically, biologically, genetically, an individual might be predisposed to have a chink in the metabolic armor that the next person doesn’t have, when people tell me they can’t lose weight no matter what they DO because of a slow metabolism, 99.9% of the time the real truth is they can’t lose weight because of what they are NOT doing: making the right food choices, using portion control, planning ahead and having meals and/or snacks with them, eating every few hours, drinking a ton of water, getting the right amount of sleep and, hopefully, including some exercise in their schedule a few times a week. Yes, folks, it takes a lot of work to lose weight as well as to maintain weight loss.
I have seen all kinds of clients over the years, all ages, all medical issues, some of course DO have slower metabolisms because of certain medications or treatments they might be undergoing. Can they control the fact that they need to be taking those meds or be undergoing certain medial treatment? No, of course not; and for however long they are under a doctor’s care and following doctors’ orders, they just have to do it, and forget it. They must also, however, focus only on the stuff they CAN control . . . and what they can control, they must . . . 100% of the time. As I tell them, barring unforeseen circumstances or emergencies of course, WHAT you eat, HOW MUCH and WHEN is in your control . . . and that is all you should focus on because when you don’t, you will just gain more and more weight as your metabolism gets slower. Even if you lost ‘only’ 1/2 pound a week, if you started today, by this day next year you’ll be down 26 pounds.
The person who uses the “slow metabolism” argument is using that as a rationale for why (in their mind) they CAN’T, as an excuse for why they WON’T take the actions necessary to get the results they want and is in denial about how much control they do have when it comes to their weight loss goals.
If you’re overweight or obese, get rid of the R.E.D. That color doesn’t look good on you.
Slimcerely yours℠,
