Some day, you may read these words. Some day, when you’re much older, you can look back at the years of your life and laugh or reminisce about your childhood.
These words are written days before you turn six.
Each year that passes brings another evolution of your world and how your mother and I weave through it.
You are full of energy and endless wonder.
You are intensely curious, asking questions about the weather, storm clouds, tornadoes, video games and Legos.
You absolutely love being around other children. Their age relative to yours matters very little, you’re just a social butterfly.
You still love music, and, through the wonders and algorithms of YouTube, you’ve drifted somewhat further from the rock and punk that I exposed you to and the pop and show tunes that you hear from your mother, into some form of techno that isn’t quite danceable but is suitable for the video games you play.
You love fishing with your Papa Al.
You love amusement parks that you get to see with your mother and your Nana.
You love playing in the sink at your Mula’s flower shop where you can concoct your next science experiments.
You love puppy dogs, kitty cats and any animal that you’re allowed to pet.
You still love to play your drum set, and despite not having a single lesson, you’re learning how to find a beat.
You have an insatiable sweet tooth and it’s not uncommon for you to ask for a meal that we make and you barely eat.
You’ve gone from just being a spectator at Dad’s gym to a little boy with big strength when it comes to lifting weights.
You still love your “big brother” Jackson more than probably any child has ever loved a sibling.
You’re only weeks away from starting kindergarten, a journey that neither your mother or I are mentally prepared for.
You are fascinated by science and space and you have your father’s tendency to obsess over things that interest you.
There are times that your mother and I look at you and say: He’s getting so big…because you are, but you’re still our little boy.
Some day, I hope you look back and see all that is done to give you a good life. You don’t really see that now, but someday you might.
Your mother moves heaven and earth for you as any child deserves.
Dad just works and works because it puts food on the table and a roof over our head.
Some day, you may do the same for a family of your own.
But I have to remind myself, you’re only about to be six, not sixteen, and that I’m getting ahead of myself.
So, as we lean in to this next chapter of your life and your childhood, it’s with the hope that starting school where you’ll be away from your mother for more time than you’ve ever experienced, will be a life changing experience.
As these things go, you’ve certainly changed ours.
And in keeping this current with the times, as all of your pet names have changed, I’ll finish this by saying:
Throughout my years as a coach, I’ve connected with hundreds of fellow coaches and health professionals who are looking to expand their reach and serve more people.
Social media gives us platforms to be able to connect with potential clients all across the globe and sell our services and products.
When I was still actively hosting my podcast, many of those same professionals took time out of their day to come on as guests and share their wisdom with my audience (and theirs).
And with each passing year, I find myself continuing to learn more about areas of nutrition and health that I feel would best serve the demographic who seek my help.
As of my last look, the majority of my clients (approximately 70%) identify as female. Within that majority, the age range I serve the most is between 35 and 55.
As a result, I have tried to tailor much of my content (especially on platforms like Instagram) to appeal to that demographic without completely turning away the remaining 30 or so percent male followers or anyone outside of the age range mentioned above.
My fellow coaches who utilize social media are no different. They have an avatar that they want to focus on and their content reflects that focus.
Which is why I’ve been starting to unfollow some of these coaches recently.
It’s not because I don’t trust their information.
It’s not because I don’t like them on a personal or professional level.
It’s because the content they’re promoting does not serve the same people I do, or it may not be helping me grow as a coach.
They have their audience, I have mine, and we each have a place to thrive and create.
Mind you, there are some people I will continue to follow because I like the way they deliver information. I find that there are things I can learn from them.
And, I have always advocated for people to unfollow anyone who makes them feel as if they are a lesser person.
The space you curate on social media should (in my opinion) be a safe place; a place where you feel welcome, where you feel accepted and where you feel you can achieve the best version of yourself.
Curate that space with care.
Unfollow anyone who makes you feel like you cannot achieve the best version of yourself.
Life is too short to waste seconds, minutes, or hours digesting content that no longer serves the person you are today.
It’s also my open invitation to you that if my message and content, in its ever evolving state, is not helping you, I won’t take any offense at all if you unfollow my work as well.
We’re all trying to get a little bit better, in every way we can, every day.
While this list is not comprehensive or exhaustive, here are ten reasons you may have trouble consistently adhering to your diet:
1.Your Deficit Is Too Aggressive. Let’s assume that your body needs 2000 calories a day to maintain current weight. Theoretically, anything you consume that totals less than 2000 calories, done consistently, will result in fat loss (I’m not taking into consideration calories expended which will be another topic). You may be very motivated to drop fat quickly so you aim for an aggressive deficit (let’s say 30%) to achieve results faster. That takes you from 2000 calories of intake to 1400. While the scale does reward your efforts, you also may find that you are more irritable, your workouts aren’t as effective as normal, your recovery from workouts is not what it used to be, your sleep quality is suffering, and you can only manage to hit 1400 calories a day during the work week. By time the weekend rolls around, you’re consuming close to 3000 calories on Friday and Saturday because you feel like you need a break from the diet train. These are some indicators that perhaps 1400 calories is too low and you need to push the number higher. In doing so, it may slow down your rate of fat loss but it’s easier to adhere to in scope of your current lifestyle demands.
2. Your Deficit Is Too Conservative. On the flip side, a similar individual also needs 2000 calories a day to maintain current weight. This person has tried aggressive dieting and was unhappy with how the plan went (see above). They elect to go for a smaller deficit (let’s say 10%) and that has them shooting for 1800 calories a day. While they don’t have any of the negative effects of the aggressive diet approach, the scale is moving at a snail’s pace and they need a bit more instant gratification to make the journey seem “worth it”. A small reduction below the 1800 calories may be enough to do the trick.
3. You’re Not Getting In Enough Protein. It is arguably the most satiating macronutrient plus it has the added benefit of helping you build, recover and maintain muscle after working out. If you’d like some very loose ranges, smaller indviduals may benefit from a range of 100-120g per day and those in larger bodies may benefit from a range of 130-150g per day. If you can’t quite reach the lower end, just aim for “close enough”. As you’re dieting, hunger tends to be the factor that can make or break dietary adherence. Consuming adequate protein may help. Bear in mind that sources do matter. In other words, you may find consuming 30g of protein from a grilled chicken breast more satisfying than 30g of a premixed protein drink. Both give you quality protein but one may help reduce hunger pangs better than another.
4. You’re Not Getting In Enough Fiber. Similar to protein intake, improving your fiber consumption can also help with reducing feelings of hunger and improving feelings of satiety. Also, like protein, sources do matter. The goal with fiber is to not only to get enough of it (think 10-15g for every 1000 calories you consume on a daily basis), but to keep the sources diverse. That can mean fibrous vegetables (leafy greens and cruciferous veggies) and fruits (berries are a good choice) as well as legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains. If your current fiber intake is low, go slowly with increasing it to minimize GI distress. Drinking enough water to move waste through the system can help.
5. Your Sleep Quality Is Suffering. There is a strong correlation to a poor night’s sleep and increased food cravings the next day. If you’re struggling to stick to your diet plan, improving your sleep quality, sleep habits and overall sleep hygiene can be a big help. This may include reducing caffeine intake and reducing alcohol intake to help the process. Women in the menopause transition may struggle with sleep quality due to night sweats so if you’re one of these women, talk to your endocrinologist or trusted OB/GYN to see if they can make recommendations to help.
6. You’re Training With Too Much Intensity. While not everyone has the same reaction to exercise, for many, an increase in expenditure may also be met with an increase in hunger. As you turn up the intensity of your training, you may also find yourself ravenous after workouts. This may play into the fact that your deficit is too aggressive (see point 1) and can be a recipe for dietary disaster. Try reducing the intensity of your training and see if that makes a difference in hitting your intake for the day.
7. You’re Not Being Patient Enough. No one has a perfect diet and if you play the numbers as closely as you can, you stand to lose one pound of fat per week “IF” you create a deficit of 500 calories per day. Not everyone can do that. As a result, fat loss may occur at a slower rate than you’d like and that can be discouraging for many people. Remember to listen to your body, to the best of your ability, and manage your intake based on the demands of your life. If you have a higher stress lifestyle, a more conservative approach to diet and exercise (see points 2 and 6) may be a more strategic route.
8. You’re Comparing Your Results To Someone Else’s. Your neighbor Karen stops over and tells you she’s lost 20 pounds in 3 months by following such and such diet. You like Karen, and you’re somewhat envious of her results so you try the same diet to find that you only lost 6 pounds in 3 months because the diet was either a) too restrictive b) contained too many options that you don’t like to eat c) didn’t make you feel great during the process. As a result, you abandoned the diet because you couldn’t replicate Karen’s results. The fact is, we are all very different and different approaches to eating food affect each person in very different ways. My wife can’t eat dairy or gluten but I can. If we were both trying to lose fat, our diets would likely be very different in appearance (not to mention serving size). Focus on what works for YOU and not how diets affect others.
9. Your Expectations Are Not Aligned With Your Efforts. Every person I know who wants to lose some degree of fat wants the weight off yesterday. They know what to do, they know how to do it, they just don’t do it. This can be for a host of reasons, many of which are listed above, but the fact remains that for a lot of individuals they are either not consistently eating in a way that complements their goals or they are not training consistently in a way that complements their goals. Just showing up at the gym doesn’t mean you’re doing the right things and just switching from pizza to salads doesn’t mean you’re consuming fewer calories.
10.You Have Too Many Competing Interests. Consider that you may have a full-time job, you may be a parent, you may have challenges in your marriage/long term relationship, and/or you may be a caregiver for an ailing family member. Fat loss may be more of a stressor than you can handle right at this moment. On the flipside, some people use those stressful situations as motivation to focus on what they can: diet and exercise being a couple of those scenarios. As always, know thyself. You know what you can manage and what you can’t. You have to determine when/if it’s appropriate to put your foot on the gas or to pump the brakes.
If you’re trying to make steps towards polishing up your diet to either A) feel/perform better or B) change your physique, here are five simple-ish things you can do immediately to help.
1-Aim for 20-30g of protein in each meal. Protein is not only the macronutrient that helps you build and recover your muscles but it tends to be the most satiating macronutrient as well. It can help reduce feelings of hunger throughout the day regardless of whether you’re mostly sedentary or you have a more active lifestyle. If you’re not sure what that amount of protein looks like, consider that the average Greek or Icelandic yogurt in those 5oz cups has approximately 15g of protein in them. Some brands boast even more per serving. If you open up the palm of your hand, that’s also a relatively close approximation of 25-30g of protein when looking at meat products such as chicken breast or steak. If you need more exact numbers, a food scale can be helpful for weighing meats/seafood. Bear in mind, that some sources of protein can be significant sources of fat as well so that will need to be considered against your personal needs/goals.
2-Add one fruit or one veggie to each meal. While one could make the argument that many of us are “plant-based” by definition, if you live in the domestic U.S., those plants may be unevenly weighted in starchy carbs: breads, rice, potatoes, etc. You can upgrade the vitamins and minerals in your diet by reducing some of those starchy carbs and picking at least one fruit or vegetable to have in its place. There’s a reason why you hear people say that you want to build a rainbow with your plate: The more color you see, the better off you’re likely to be. You don’t have to go overboard. A breakfast of eggs, toast and bacon can be upgraded by reducing the portion of toast and adding some spinach or mushrooms to your eggs.
3-Add 8-10oz of water to each meal. Many of my clients struggle to get enough water in their day. Use your meals as a cue to add 8-10oz of water as well. If you’re not sure if you drink enough water, try using the urine test: You’ll know if you’re getting enough when your urine is somewhere between clear and light yellow in color. Try not to add too much water to the end of your day. This may cause you to wake up in the middle of the night to pee, disrupting your sleep quality.
4-Having a treat? If you’ve followed me long enough, you’ll know that I don’t demonize foods. There is no good or bad food. There are, however, foods that you may have an allergic reaction to or foods your body doesn’t tolerate well. If you’re electing to have a tasty treat, consider sharing it with someone. I don’t know what it is for me personally, but I get far more joy sharing a dessert with my sons or with my wife than if I just eat it by myself.
5-What about alcohol? If you’re someone who chooses to imbibe, feel free. As we continue to learn more about alcohol and its effects on the body, studies show that there are little to no health benefits in its use. It’s still a known toxin so the least amount you can use, the better. My wife and I are both bourbon fans and we’ve curtailed our use from 3 oz an evening down to 1.5 oz. The adage still applies: drink responsibly if you choose to include alcohol in your diet.
None of this information is sexy and it won’t make the headlines of your newspaper. That being said, the basics still work incredibly well…
One of the upsides to raising a child in a gym (and around the gym environment) is that they see it as a given norm.
That it’s normal to move your body, that it’s normal to make it routine and part of life just like going to school, brushing your teeth, etc.
Our son, Sebastian, has been completely exposed to the gym since he was born.
It’s the only job he’s ever seen me work and, on a given week, Marissa brings him with her for her own workouts: This is how Mama takes care of her body.
And ever since he was old enough to walk, Sebastian has played with dumbbells, kettlebells, weight plates, battle ropes, push sleds, you name it.
On a handful of occasions, he’s seen other children in the gym lifting weights as well. This, of course, sparks the interest that if they’re doing it, he wants to be involved too.
It is fascinating to watch children lift weights, even without cues of how it should be done.
Children are inquisitive, intuitive, and they’re learning how to move their body in space to run, jump, climb, fall, etc.
As Sebastian has grown, he’s tried lifting heavier weights on his own: from a 15lb kettlebell to a 30lb, and a 30lb to a 40lb.
Last week, when he was at the studio, he walked into our hex bar (we call it a trapbar) which, as it was loaded was 105 pounds, didn’t get it off the ground but he did get some play out of the right hand side.
I told him to step outside of it, so I could replace the 25lb plates with 10lb plates and he could give it another try.
After the switch, Sebastian stepped right in, wrapped his hands around the knurled grips, got himself set and pulled the bar straight up.
He was shocked.
I was shocked.
I grabbed my phone and opened up the camera: Sebastian, do it again.
We got footage on that one.
I’ve rarely seen him that impressed with himself. After that, he wanted to conquer every weight in the gym.
There’s a lesson I’d love for you to take from this.
Stay curious about how your body moves.
Find ways to move it.
Stay patient with weights you’ve never been able to lift before and start small to build your strength up.
This applies to how you approach your relationship with food as well.
Make small changes and watch them compound into big movers in your food plan.
Remain curious.
If something works, understand why it works so you can replicate it.
Shortly after Sebastian lifted 75 pounds (as pictured below), I loaded the bar back up to it’s normal 105 and he gave it another try. This time he nailed it.
There’s a lesson there about momentum and motivation too.
So, when you have motivation and you have momentum, stay the course.
Now, Sebastian can’t wait to get back to the gym. He knows what his body can do and he wants to repeat it.
Routinely, I’m reminded by my clients that lifting weights has more to do with what happens outside the gym than what happens inside of it.
I will forever be inspired by clients who get closer to their fat loss goals.
Or, clients who gain the muscle they hope to.
Or, clients who break their previous records on heavier lifts.
In the midst of that inspiration, it can be easy for me to forget that other areas of life improve when we get stronger:
-Going up and down stairs with a load of laundry gets easier
-Carrying bags of groceries from the car to the house isn’t tiring
-Getting up and down off the floor takes less time (or isn’t painful)
-Being able to push yourself up and out of the bathtub is possible
-Playing with your children/grandchildren doesn’t wreck your body
Part of this is because the confidence you gain from lifting weights transfers to confidence in other areas of life.
And, one of my favorite fitness industry quotes, normally attributed to Mark Rippetoe: Stronger people are harder to kill.
I have a client who has been with me for several years and this client has always been, pound for pound, one of the strongest in our gym.
Recently, we were discussing that strength and the journey we’ve been on together and I know that there’s something far more important to that client than what we do in these four walls.
Their spouse struggles with an illness that will continue to affect their physical and mental health.
And my client realizes that the strength they gain in here will have a direct benefit in helping to take care of their spouse as the illness progresses.
At my personal strongest (based on the heaviest weight my body has ever lifted), it wasn’t that particular weight that mattered.
It was the fact that I could lift my father’s dying body after he was diagnosed with cancer.
Mind you, by that point, his body was a fraction of the weight I lifted in the gym.
But one area of strength had a direct correlation to strength elsewhere.
Look around you…
There is no area of your life: personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, and social where you have the luxury of being weak. Every area of your life which matters most to you requires strength.
How much strength you gain is up to you, your preferences and your genetics.
I recognize, after 20+ years of lifting weights, that for all of the benefit that being strong gives me, it’s a gift to be able to hold my sons, it’s a gift to be able to hold my wife, it’s a gift to be able to perform a physically demanding job.
And somehow, my clients give me a daily gift, in not only seeing them increase their personal strength but to hear their testimony of how that strength carries them through life.
You’ve got one body.
Use the gift.
(Pictured below, our Richard B., 83 years young, making easy work of 245 pounds)
On Father’s Day, I remember the man who did it best who left our world in 2011.
On Father’s Day, I celebrate the two boys I have: Jackson (15) and Sebastian (5).
On Father’s Day, I think about lessons I was taught, lessons I chose to learn and lessons I wasn’t prepared for.
I think about how my father worked to support his family.
I think about how incredibly selfless he was.
I think about how my father modeled kindness, respect, integrity and unconditional love.
I think about how I’ve modeled the same and how often I failed to meet the mark.
My father always forgave me. It was never a question of right or wrong, it was a matter of: If you know better, DO better.
I’ve been a father for 15 years, I’ve been fatherless for 12 of those years.
I say fatherless because I no longer have his physical body to hold but I do have his spirit and his memory to guide me.
I cherish his memory because my father allowed me to see his strength and his sensitivity.
I was never raised to not show emotions, rather to feel what I needed to feel, and most importantly, to heal what needed mending.
I’ve advocated for mental health over the last 20+ years because it saved my life, in no small part because my father stood my side and was relentless in his search until he found the help I needed when I needed it most.
I champion mental health support so much that I’ve impressed the importance of it on my staff of coaches, all young men who recognize when their own mental health needs attention.
It’s not lost on me that the coaches I work with are technically young enough to be my sons.
Which makes my paternal instinct kick in even more; not because they don’t have fathers of their own but because I believe no man can have too many positive male role models in their lives.
To that: I give thanks to all the men in my life that I take advice from, who I listen to when they speak lovingly about their families, who I watch when they make the time to care for their physical bodies, and to those who are not afraid to cry, to show fear and hesitation and to be the best versions of themselves that they can be.
I know not every man grew up with a good father, nor did every woman. I am deeply sorry for that.
I know that I have not always been the man that my father raised me to be, and I am deeply sorry for that too.
On Father’s Day, I was reminded that my father, in spirit, still routinely takes me by the hand to say: This is the path to go on…and I can lead you there.
When was the last time you told yourself (or someone else):
“I would have…but I didn’t have time…”
Last week, I made a post on Instagram about where my time goes in “typical” 24 hours.
By typical, I mean, what happens on a standard weekday that is more normal than abnormal.
It looks something like this (all figures have been rounded up):
I average 7 hours of sleep (this leaves me with 17 hours in a day).
My morning routine: grabbing coffee, checking emails and texts, reading for a few minutes, and getting ready for work takes about an hour (I’m down to 16 for the day).
I spend approximately 7 hours on the training floor of my personal training studio (this leaves me with 9 hours).
My commute to and from work each day takes roughly an hour (this leaves me with 8).
I usually leave the studio for lunch and between the time it takes for my commute to and from, ordering and eating lunch, I’ve spent another hour (this leaves me with 7).
My workouts take just under an hour lately and I train 4x/week (this leaves me with 6).
When I get home from work each day, I have roughly two hours of time to spend with my family. This includes dinner, any downtime we have to catch up, and getting ready for bed (this leaves me with 4.)
I call these last four hours my miscellaneous time. It’s when I’m mindlessly or purposefully scrolling my computer or phone, running errands for work, responding to client messages, doing video check-ins for online clients, creating content for the internet (like this blog) and any continuing education I might be working on.
Generally speaking, these four hours happen in the middle of my work day or they make up the time around any of the aforementioned time slots.
What would I do if I needed/wanted to make time for something else in my life? Let’s say: 30 minutes of guitar lessons once per week?
I would likely have to remove something from that “miscellaneous” time so that I could carve out 30 minutes of lessons. That’s assuming that I don’t have to drive somewhere for those lessons, which would add a commute I didn’t factor in.
What I can’t do, is add to the twenty-four hours. All I can do is subtract from what’s there to add something else in.
By most accounts, my days are busy and running through a breakdown of my day helps me understand where and how I’m either wasting time or could potentially be more efficient.
There’s a common sentiment that if you “don’t have time”, that it’s less about time and more about priority. You’re simply prioritizing certain tasks and demands over others.
That’s mostly true as many of us can be quite driven when it’s necessary.
Sometimes, we need to break down the snapshot of our average days (like I did above) to be objective and say: HERE is where I can make time for that thing I’ve been trying to accomplish.
Yes, we all have 24 hours. We just don’t have the same 24 hours.
And the irony isn’t lost on me that if time management is where you struggle, you might not even find the time to work this process for your own benefit.
Several years ago, I had a guest on my podcast, (it may have been Amy Kubal, RD) and we were talking about the two most problematic areas of a diet that we see most often.
If memory serves, I think it came down to alcohol and cheese.
Let’s talk about alcohol.
Many of my clients enjoy their drink of choice. For some that’s beer, others might be liquor (like my wife and I) and others like wine.
I find wine to be the most unique of the bunch primarily because the flavor profile changes so quickly once you open a bottle.
Those changes typically provide the motivation to finish a bottle on the same night that you open it and rarely ever consuming it beyond the second day it was opened.
The average bottle of wine is between 500-700 calories.
Let’s split the difference and say 600 for conversation’s sake.
I’ll use the example of a hypothetical adult woman who would like to lose some weight (fat) and still be able to consume wine.
This woman calculated her daily caloric intake and believes she needs to be at 1600 a day to lose fat at a moderate (not fast) pace.
She also would prefer the flexibility to consume a bottle of wine each evening (not uncommon).
That leaves her with 1000 calories for food.
If I were in her shoes, I would want to keep protein intake relatively high and I’ll set a target of approximately 100g of protein per day. That will take up about 400 calories.
She now has 600 calories left for fats and carbs.
I really don’t like to see very low fat intakes for the purposes of hormonal health, and the health of the skin, hair, nails and gut motility. I’ll set fat at no less than 20% of the daily total. That means 320 calories or no less than 35g of fat per day. The remaining 280 calories would come from carbohydrates and that breaks down to roughly 70g of carbs per day. This would qualify as a low(er) carb diet but not ketogenic.
Assuming that the initial total of 1600 calories is accurate for fat loss and is accurately accounted for, our hypothetical client has a blueprint for wine consumption, decent protein intake, and a manageable remainder for carbs and fat.
Is it ideal? No. But it can work for the purposes of fat loss.
I would love to see this same person cut the wine intake by half (or more), which would look like 300 calories for alcohol and 300 calories to put back into carbs and fats.
The fact of the matter is that alcohol is a known toxin and it simply has little nutritive value. I won’t belabor that.
If you identify as our hypothetical client, my most affectionate suggestion is that you reduce your consumption by as much as you believe that you can. Rather than consuming a bottle a night, try splitting it with a friend/loved one or seeing if you can spread consumption out during the week (one day with, one day without, etc.)
Ideally, I would love to see you consume most of your diet via whole, minimally processed foods: plenty of lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and some poly/monounsaturated fats.
If having a serving or two of your favorite alcoholic beverage helps you stay adherent to your food plan, remember that calories rule the roost. Hold yourself accountable to not only what you drink but what you may potentially consume via food when you drink as well.
Also note that this post isn’t “just” about alcohol. Many of my clients abstain from alcohol but would love to be able to fit in a cookie a day, a serving of ice cream a day, etc. You can use the same principle as we applied to the bottle of wine: take a given portion (say a 500 calorie cookie) and work it off of your daily total.
There are a lot of effective methods for fat loss. This article aimed to give you clarity and options for success.
Author’s Note: If your alcohol consumption is becoming problematic, please consider abstinence, Rational/SMART Recovery, a support group, a counselor/therapist with background in substance use or try working with an app like Sunnyside.
Over the last couple of years, you’ve likely heard about the popularity and increase in use of obesity medications.
While the medications themselves are not new and variations have been around for decades, some names are coming up with greater frequency due to how effective they are and in who is getting access to them.
As one might imagine, everyone has an opinion (including myself) and I wanted to compile some thoughts here as a way to approach their usage from the most considerate and respectful place possible.
Allow me to start here with a bit of background on myself. I own a brick and mortar personal training facility where I’ve worked with individuals of all body types for the last 14 years. I also am an online nutrition coach where the last year and a half has given me the greatest exposure to clients who take these medications.
Here is something I’d like to pose to all of the coaches who may be reading this article. I’d like you to think about every person who you’ve worked with who came to you for fat loss and was either A) unsuccessful at losing fat or B) losing fat and keeping it off.
I know that’s a loaded statement.
Sadly, there are coaches in this industry who think that an individual’s ability to be successful at fat loss is due to lack of motivation and/or lack of willpower. The kind part of me thinks that they just need to spend a bit more time working with a greater variety of people so they can develop more understanding and empathy to change their minds.
The not so kind part of me thinks that maybe they’re just assholes. (I might be right on both accounts).
The fact is, even I can admit that clients have come to me for fat loss and have been unsuccessful with their goals and that could be for a host of reasons: 1) They didn’t resonate with my approaches 2) They had too many competing interests for their goals 3) They just “weren’t ready”, etc.
Many coaches start in this field because of their own fat loss transformation story.
Take Joe Trainer who identifies as being the “chubby kid” who was bullied in high school and college, got sick of the insults and shaming, found the gym, lost XXX pounds, looks fit as can be, and wants to bring everyone else to the Promised Land because discipline, hard work, motivation and persistence got him to the body he wanted.
That’s not my story and while there is certainly nothing wrong with discipline, hard work, motivation and persistence, what Joe Trainer conveniently forgets to share with people is that while he was working on having the body of Adonis he was young, he was single, he was only responsible for a car payment and he had no kids.
Joe Trainer also likes to forget that there is a significant genetic/biological component to an individual being overweight and while, yes, some people can grit their teeth and grind their way to the body of their desire, MANY people will NOT be able to take this approach.
As my friend and mentor, Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, has told me (paraphrased): In a perfect world, all it would take is a diet and exercise intervention and everyone would get their desired results. We don’t live in that world.
As a coach, I might (and do with frequency) come across an individual who struggles with depression. While I know that there can be mood-lifting benefits to a healthy diet and that exercise can be tremendously beneficial for mental health, I would NEVER tell someone to give up their Prozac because superfoods and kettlebells can cure their depression. All of these interventions can play nicely together to allow someone to live their best life.
Of note, many people pursuing fat loss elect to have bariatric surgery. What is not commonly discussed is that a significant portion of those individuals regain weight even after the tremendous success of that surgery. And why is that? Well, the surgery may have decreased the size of their stomach but it didn’t change the brain.
And what drives the decisions for what we eat and don’t eat and whether we decide to move or not move? The brain.
Which is why, even with the initial success of the bariatric surgery, many patients also look to obesity medications to help them keep the weight off.
At it’s simplest function, obesity medications help reduce hunger. They do more than that, of course, but this is the way I’d like you to think about it.
As a coach, I’ve had clients swear to me as the day is long that they are consuming XXXX amount of calories religiously and they can’t lose fat. Now, I may know that there is no way they can defy the laws of physics but I’m also not going to run around calling people liars either. That’s not good business (or good peopling).
It’s my job to understand if and where underreporting is happening and to try my best to help clients get the right energy deficit to see results.
The medications, essentially, force the deficit.
So, what are the downsides? There are potentially several. Cost, availability, side effects like nausea or dizziness, and the consideration that many people may have to stay on the medications indefinitely (albeit at smaller doses).
The sad fact is, in the U.S., medications of many varieties are terribly expensive. My mother has Type I diabetes and insulin shots certainly aren’t cheap. Perhaps some of these things will change over time as more options become available but right now, if insurance does not cover the cost of obesity medications, it could be cost prohibitive.
The other problem is that many people who do have discretionary income are able to pay for the medications out of pocket simply to lose some vanity weight. That demand shortens the supply for those who actually NEED the medication.
The other concern is that, with dramatic fat loss, comes the potential for dramatic muscle loss as well. This, of course, is not good. If you currently take these medications, please start (or keep) lifting weights. Your body will thank you.
And this is where I think many coaches need to realize their place in the discussion.
Just because someone elects to take an obesity medication doesn’t mean they don’t need to learn healthier lifestyle habits, the importance of resistance training, the importance of a high(er) step count, having productive coping skills, or how to make nutritious food choices.
Remember: the medications force the deficit. Everything else that matters for improving one’s health still may need support and interventions.
Unfortunately, many coaches view obesity medications as a threat to their income. It isn’t. It’s a complement (just like an antidepressant).
The other thing to note is that these medications will not ever go away. They will increase in efficacy and availability and likely with fewer negative side effects. The sooner we (as a collective whole) can respect their place in the discussion, the sooner we can embrace our client’s needs to utilize them.
This article is not meant to diagnose or replace the advice of your physician. If you believe you are or could be a candidate for obesity medications, please consult with a general practitioner for more information.
Jason Leenaarts 