Why do so many people fail at losing weight?
Is it because they are lazy? No.
Is it because they are addicted to food? No.
Is it because they aren’t good at exercising? No.
Failure at weight loss stems from a few main factors:
- People don't truly understand the risks of being overweight. Why do most want to lose weight? Most would say to look better. Looking better certainly is a benefit of losing weight, but this shouldn’t be the sole reason to lose weight. There is a 1000 pound gorilla in the room and it’s often ignored. Being overweight for a long period of time kills thousands of people each year. Thousands of studies have show and proven without any doubt that losing body fat will improve and lengthen your life. You must give yourself a picture of the dangers of being overweight. Knowing the dangers of being overweight is tremendous motivators to not only lose fat, but to keep it off.
- People don't commit to permanent lifestyle changes. So many people think of a "diet" as something temporary. When they are on a "diet" they restrict themselves so much that they are miserable. Sooner or later failure is inevitable because of the unreasonable demands of most "diets." Some of these diets force you to only eat certain foods (e.g., no carbs, special soups etc…) you, like myself, have probably tried them before. The key to losing weight long term is to make gradual lifestyle changes you can stick to forever.
- Most individuals are not provided the truthful facts of losing weight and becoming healthier. With the conflicting information in the media, and all of the different lose weight quick fad diets, it’s understandable why so many people really don’t know the truth about losing fat and keeping it off long term.
- Most people don't understand they are constantly either gaining fat, or losing fat. There is no in-between. Some people justify binging or giving up because they hit a small road-block. This isn’t an all or nothing game. if you ate an unhealthy lunch, you go ahead and eat an unhealthy dinner since you already "messed up" the day. Or you say, I’ll start eating healthy on Monday since I’ve already eaten poorly this weekend. Every person at times eats too much. The successful people will not let a road bump completely derail their entire lifestyle change. If you are not implementing positive lifestyle changes and losing weight, you are gaining weight. Again, there is no "in-between."
- Most people don't realize what they consume each day. So many overweight people eat thousands of extra calories and fat without realizing it. It’s tough to know if you are gaining weight or losing weight each day unless you are keeping an eye on what you’re consuming
