Several ago, I had a friend who relentlessly pumped me for information on diet and exercise. She wanted to lose weight very badly. She would constantly ask, “Please just tell me what to eat and drink and I will do it. Tell me what exercises to do and I will do them.” She was obviously desperate. I knew she had been on every diet plan out there and that she did lose weight on each plan. I also knew she always gained it back. I knew I could get her to lose weight, but I also knew that if we did it the way she wanted me to do it, by telling her what to eat without understanding the why’s of what to eat for weight loss and optimal health, she would gain it back. Her pleas were not pretty. Desperation never is.

Years later, I saw her at an event in town. She looked great. I mentally recalled how she had siphoned information from me. I decided to use her old technique to learn of her success. I asked her what she is doing specifically to look so good. I asked her what specific exercises she did and how many sets and reps of each. I asked her how much time she was spending exercising every day and how often and at what time of day. I asked her to be specific about what she is eating and how much she is drinking as well at what time of day she is doing her eating and drinking. In short, I was reminding her of when her highly focused attention to often senseless detail camouflaged the big picture.

I was happy for her but I wanted to magnify the point made years earlier that there is not one specific plan that is going to work for all people. Yes, many diet plans do work. Many are sensible. What tends to happen however is that once the structure of being told what to eat, without having your brain involved in the process, is weight gain. She confided to me that our conversations had made a difference in her life and that one day while alone in the confines of her own thoughts, it finally ‘hit her like a rock in the head’, her words not mine. Once she realized she had to get real, use her brain, and stop looking for the magic bullet of a special food or particular exercise, things began to take shape in her own mind.

You see, what this friend had done was combine many of the principals of the time instead of just one or two gimmicks. She instituted daily exercise adherence, portion control for all meals, protein at each meal, more water, less sugar, less alcohol and a few other time tested principals for weight loss at that time.

That was several years ago. Several years ago, science was not as advanced on best practices for losing weight as it is today. Fortunately, she lost the weight – but it took a long time because much of the then current information called for difficult behavior changes such as reducing portion sizes, and eliminating much. Today we know better. Losing weight is less about portion control and more about what we eat.

Congratulations to my friend for hanging in there and smartly combining all the principals of the time to lose the added weight and most importantly keep the weight off. She was one of the savvy ones who used the difficult to implement behavioral practices of the time to lose weight.

Luckily, today science has advanced considerably in what we know about the body and how it utilizes fat best. Fortunately for me, I have many more ways in which to help clients become healthy fit and lean. Thankfully we no longer have to embrace only difficult behavior changes like my friend did, that is, the hard way – a rock smack right to the head – knocking sense into her and giving her a will of iron. Weight loss advances now offer more than simple practices of exercise and eating behavioral adherence. Science has told us much over the last few years. And that’s good news for those aiming to lose weight quicker.

In my next post, we’ll take a look at some of the advances in science and see how you can quickly and easily implement those changes into your own weight reducing routine. One final thought. Weight loss is not about denial of foods, but in finding the foods you may eat in abundance! I like to call this “Eating Like You Mean It!”

Stay connected as I review common practices that keep people from losing weight. And guess what, they are not what you may think!