How Do People Become Overweight?
For quite a while now I’ve wanted to write about weight and the issues surrounding people’s weight, but have been putting it off. I found myself avoiding writing this piece for a number of reasons. This article tackles issues that are hard for people to admit to, affect some of my own family & friends and if I’m being honest meant having to face up to some of my own problems, having been clinically obese in the past. It might be upsetting or controversial in some ways, but I hope this will be helpful to those who have a weight problem or at least help you understand people that do.
If you’re lucky enough to have a healthy relationship with food, some of what I’m saying won’t make sense to you, it might even seem bizarre, but it will hopefully help you to understand those that do have issues with food a little better.
My Personal Journey
I was morbidly obese in my late teens and early 20’s prior to becoming a Personal Trainer. So overweight and unfit that on a hot day walking down the street a woman felt it necessary to stop her car and offer me a lift. I went from gladly taking her up on her kind offer, to losing over 5 stone (32+kg), getting very fit, becoming a personal trainer and then cycling 4400km unassisted across Australia.
In my experience I’ve found that there are at least 5 main types of people who are overweight: Over Eaters, Emotional Eaters, Binge Eaters, those who Don’t Know they’re overweight and those who Don’t Care about being overweight. I should point out that there are plenty of people who maintain a slim figure but also struggle with some of these issues.
Anyone who is overweight will be a combination of these types, identifying which one is dominant will be key to getting in shape. I’m an over eater with occasional elements of emotional eating and for a long time didn’t know how overweight I was.
Over Eaters
An over eater is someone that finds it hard or impossible to get full when eating. They don’t generally feel full no matter what type of food they eat, whether its complex carbs or high in fibre for example. They may never feel full no matter how big a quantity of food they eat, they can still feel hungry even when their stomach literally can’t fit any more food in.
They usually eat fast but eating slowly doesn’t help. They may not necessarily even enjoy the food they’re eating. An over eater can be eating a meal but may be thinking about their next meal or dessert and gets little satisfaction or enjoyment from food.
I struggle with this constantly, can easily eat a massive amount of food if I wanted to and am rarely satisfied after eating. I do occasionally enjoy food but usually only the first few mouthfuls then it becomes bland and uninteresting. I usually think about what I’ll be eating next by the end of a meal or snack.
Do you often really look forward to eating something, eat it then realise you didn’t enjoy it and are still hungry?
Working with Over Eaters
This type of client is normally very good to train and get good weight loss results as they will follow and stick to a healthy food plan I give them. This is because food isn’t that enjoyable to them and can easily skip unhealthy options when shown how to make the right choices.
They will generally follow and stick to a goal orientated exercise program and will respond very well when they start getting results, thriving on the new clothes they can wear and positive comments from others.
Keys to Success for Over Eaters
- Preparing and planning meals in advance is vital
- Low carb meal plan works very well
- Can still eat large portions of protein
- Being strong-minded and having skills to make right food choices
- Generally respond very well to results and positive feedback
In general I find over eaters are almost always men.
Emotional Eaters
An emotional eater generally loves food and can feel full. Portion size isn’t usually the reason an emotional eater is overweight. They use food as their reward, punishment and stress coping mechanism in their lives.
They might eat high fat & high sugar foods to reward themselves when happy or achieved something positive. They might have a bar of chocolate after the gym for example, or celebrate the end of the working week with take-aways and alcohol all weekend.
They will eat high fat & high sugar foods to lift their mood when sad, the stereotypical eating ice-cream after a break up of a relationship for example.
In extreme cases might subconsciously punish themselves, when they receive negative comments, receive bad news or make a mistake in their lives. Eating fast food after getting negative feedback in work or not fitting into an old pair of jeans.
The Stress Factor
Stress of any kind is the biggest trigger for them to eat unhealthily. Having a heavy workload or stressful job is the biggest culprit for an emotional eater being overweight. This can then be used as an excuse to eat unhealthy food in regular large quantities, especially in the evening (which is the worst time to eat unhealthy food).
Common Excuses
Emotional eaters are experts at making excuses and mostly do it subconsciously. The common ones being:
- “I didn’t have time to cook something healthy”
- “There wasn’t anything in my fridge so I just had a toasted sandwich”
- “I’d a crazy week in work so needed a glass of wine with my dinner all week”
If you’re an emotional eater you’ll know them all very well and usually stick to a couple of your favorite comfortable excuses that you’ve justified in your mind. Anyone can make excuses but not everyone takes them. What are your favorite excuses?
Shops sell fruit too you know, an apple will keep just as long in your cupboard as bread…. A salad takes just as long as a sandwich to make, even a convenience store sells fresh premade salads and they cost less than that pizza…
An emotional eater that’s very overweight knows they are, but usually refuses to weigh themselves, normally underestimate their weight and always hates getting their photo taken.
Personally I do sometimes eat emotionally to lift my mood when I’m sad or very stressed, usually chocolate. I beat it 4 out of 5 times though and have found waiting 10 minutes a good help. Also never having treats in the house forces me to go to the shop and I rarely have the time for that.
The Selflessness Problem
Chronic emotional eaters seem to put others first a lot of the time, take on too much in their job, have difficulty delegating or take on the problems of others. This puts their own health and happiness at risk and they need to learn to look after themselves and be a little more selfish to get and more importantly stay in shape.
You can still work late when you’re slim…., you can still be an agony aunt for your friends when you’re fit….. You’ll still meet that deadline if you go to the gym…. A 1-hour workout is just 4% of your day and most of my clients would only exercise for a half hour.
They are generally excellent at their profession and excel at whatever they do, why can’t you do this with your health?
Working with Emotional Eaters
This type of client finds it harder to lose weight, as you’re either happy, sad or stressed every hour of every day. Being determined and motivated enough are key to succeeding and I’ll discuss this in detail further on.
Keys to Success for Emotional Eaters
- Need a very good support system from friends, family members and trainer
- Training with a friend or in a group helps keep focus
- Supportive housemate or partner is essential
- Following a structured meal plan works well
- Reward meal in their diet each week is essential
- Body Slim Course or Weight Watchers type of food plans work well
- Reward with new clothes, equipment for hobby, nails done etc. instead of food
Finding something that’s motivating enough and then being determined are essential to get in shape. However, a large turmoil in their lives like a breakup, losing a job or financial problems etc. can knock them back and the person needs to be mentally strong to get and stay in shape.
In general I find overweight women are mostly emotional eaters.
Binge Eaters
A binge eater is similar to an over eater in that they can eat a lot of food, however unlike over eaters they usually love food and can feel full. Binge eaters often feel that once they had a small piece of something bad, they might as well go the whole hog and eat badly for the rest of the day.
Other examples are: they feel they might as well eat the entire cake after having a slice, if they’re going to eat fast food might as well order several meals, they might find it impossible to resist gorging themselves on cakes or chocolate and have several in one go. Personally I don’t binge, but can understand it.
The Yo-Yo Cycle
A typical binge eater is someone who yo yo’s on diet after diet, loses a pound then gains a pound. They’re really good for 3 or 4 days then binge the next. They then generally feel guilty afterwards and try to make up for it by doing yet another fad diet or over exert themselves while exercising.
They usually but not always don’t enjoy exercising, but use exercising as their way to punish themselves and/or compensate for binge eating. There are similarities to bulimia, however unlike bulimia there is no attempt to make up for the binge with vomiting.
Characteristics of Binge Eaters
Binge eaters usually weigh themselves too often, sometimes obsessively. A binge eater whether they’re overweight or in shape, usually hates getting their photograph taken but can then also obsess about getting their photo taken when they haven’t binged for a period of time. Binge eaters may also have an underlying sugar addiction and this can be compulsive. They usually eat fast, however eating slowly can help them cut down. In extreme cases they may eat in secret or alone. Stress is usually the trigger to binge.
The Industry’s Cash Cow
These types of clients are where gyms, diet groups etc. make most of their money. They join gyms, sign up for courses, buy DVD after DVD, buy lots of home equipment and will try any new diet. They don’t usually go for Personal Training or if they do its usually not for that long, as they soon move onto the next fad diet or exercise regime.
Personally I find this type of client tougher to motivate as they get great results at the start then binge in a week, month etc… and can cancel or fail to show up for sessions after binging – through guilt. Occasionally they can be the most regular of clients as they initially use Personal Training as their punishment for binging.
Breaking the Binge Cycle
Patience and constantly changing the type of training sessions gets best results with this type of client and if they can stick with personal training for more than 8 weeks, it is possible to break the cycle of binging.
Keys to Success for Binge Eaters
- Reward any extended good behavior with new clothes, equipment for hobby, nails done etc., instead of food
- Not having unhealthy food in the house really helps but requires support from people they live with
- Sometimes a final massive binge to kill off that “old you” helps – binge until completely stuffed and feel ill
- Write down how they feel or better yet record on film how they feel after binging
- Restart the next day with renewed determination
- Look back on the note or video when next tempted to binge
- Reducing the size of the plate you use
- Using a blue plate can help (blue is not appetizing to the brain)
I grew up in a generation were you were told to finish everything on your plate and given the guilt trip of “think of the starving children in Africa” etc… You don’t need to eat everything in front of you; it is ok to throw food out. Set a precedent, deliberately don’t finish your next meal and throw some of it out!
Exercise Balance
I constantly come across binge eaters and they usually exercise too much. They binge on food and/or alcohol then force themselves to exercise every day for hours on end and never get their body fat down. They get frustrated and can’t understand when they haven’t the perfect body.
I usually tell binge eaters to exercise less and to spend more time planning, shopping and preparing for their meals. Doing one day less exercising and instead using the time to plan the next week’s meal, go shopping for the ingredients and then making and refrigerating healthy meals, will mean they are less likely to binge on bad foods the following week.
Skip exercising and go shopping, it’s much more important to get a whole weeks food right, than 1 hours exercising. Also, not working the same muscles in the same way and having rest days, are as important as the days you train in my experience.
A longer term exercise goal of a 10km run, a half marathon, adventure race, cycle race etc. can extend the length of times between binges but the binge can then sometimes be extended after the goal is reached too. Ideally trying to break the binge cycle once and for all is the best option.
A holiday or Christmas break, where they binge for several days/weeks can knock them back and I find it vital this type of client exercises while on holiday or over the Christmas break etc… to stay on track. I find binge eaters evenly split between men and women.
Unknowingly Overweight
Someone who’s unknowingly overweight is simply unaware that they’ve gradually gotten into worse and worse shape. Or if they do know they’re overweight, they don’t realise how bad it is. They usually have little knowledge of nutrition or what food is good or bad to eat in general.
I for example, had no idea about food or nutrition and would have crisps and an energy drink almost every day for breakfast and thought it was perfectly fine.
My Wake-Up Calls
I definitely didn’t realise the extent of my weight problem until I couldn’t fit into clothes and actually left the Army Reserve in disgust, as they didn’t have a formal uniform big enough to fit me. I can remember being 21 and the officer made us run up a couple of flights of stairs with our kit on, this nearly killed me and I was the only one who collapsed was very nearly sick and needed help to stand up after 5 minutes lying on the ground.
This was a big eye opener and probably the initial trigger point in the start of my transformation.
The Woman Who Offered Me a Lift
Another realization I had was while backpacking in Australia in 2003. I arrived at a small town and was walking from the bus station to my hostel when a woman stopped her car and asked if I was ok and needed a lift? I was struggling so badly to walk with a backpack a few blocks, that a woman felt it necessary to stop going about her business and see if some guy walking down the street needed help. When would that ever happen? Would you stop? I must have been in a bad state. I took her up on her kind offer.
I can also remember not knowing why (initially), I was having very bad chaffing on both my inner thighs. I soon realised my legs were so fat that as I walked the hairs on my thighs rubbed together and eventually the friction burned the skin away leaving them raw.
The Trigger Moment
I usually meet this type of client after they get a rude awakening from a bad comment, photograph, poorly fitting clothes, a health scare, having difficulty getting pregnant or becoming single after a long relationship etc.
This type of client is generally easy to train and gets fast results. This is because like with me, most of the time it’s just a case of changing their bad habits and educating them on what food is ok to eat and when.
Keys to Success for Unknowingly Overweight
- Highly motivated after their wake-up call
- Eager to follow an exercise regime
- Will follow a healthy food plan
- Willing to put their health and wellbeing first
- Listen, learn fast and work hard at their diet and exercise
- Low carb meal plan works well
This can be more difficult if they have an underlying overeating, binge or emotional eating problem too, but will still see big results if strong minded. I find men are mostly unknowingly overweight and these are my favorite type of client, if this is you – we have to meet.
Don’t Care Overweight
This is someone who’s overweight, realises they are and is perfectly happy to be. If an adult is happy at being overweight, that’s their choice and it’s not for me to say whether that’s a good or bad thing. Being happy is probably the most important thing in life and if as an adult they genuinely are, then that’s great.
Personally I can’t relate to this at all, as I was never happy with being overweight and would be a little envious of those that are. I had little or no confidence, found it near impossible to attract the opposite sex, had started to develop blood sugar level problems and found others paid no attention to me when overweight.
The Shocking Realization
I only realised this part after losing weight quickly while living in Australia then returned home to Dublin and could instantly see people listened to and noticed me? It was sub conscious on their part I’m sure but the difference was astounding. People didn’t notice an overweight me walk into a room, queuing for drinks or step aside walking down the street, but seem to notice a slim me? You could argue that this was because my confidence increased but that’s taken a very long time to and isn’t right at all yet either!
When They Do Seek Help
I rarely come across this type of client, as they’ve no motivation to lose weight. On the occasions that I have had this type of client, it’s because they had a health scare or sudden realisation after a break up.
One client that sticks in my mind, had recently become a father, was having health problems and was told by his Doctor that he would be lucky to see his sons communion if he continued the way he was. Thankfully this was the motivation he needed and he had fantastic results quickly and as far as I know is still exercising and in shape.
Weddings do sometimes motivate this type of person to lose weight but they generally go back to their old eating and exercise habits after the wedding. However, finding an exercise, type of class or sport the person enjoys, can at least improve their fitness and they do usually continue this after the wedding.
Enablers
An enabler is a partner, family member or friend who subconsciously encourages or enables a person’s bad eating habits. It’s generally done out of love or affection for the person and is not meant in a malicious way.
An enabler for example will go to the chip shop on their way home from work for the person. Will bring home an extra bar of chocolate to someone on a diet because they are having one themselves and think it would be rude not to. Will suggest going to the pub instead of the gym as the person trying to lose weight had a bad day at work etc.
Some enablers however can do this maliciously, as by buying the person that bag of chips or 6 pack of beer means they get to have the same too.
My mother was sometimes an enabler and I can remember one occasion ringing her in the sitting room from my bedroom, to collect a fast food delivery from the front door and bring it up to me. We lived in a small house; it’s utterly outrageous, when I think of it now. Unbelievably lazy and really embarrassing to admit, I hope I had the flu or something at the time, but don’t remember. Anything she did was out of love and I have absolutely no one to blame but myself for being overweight. I didn’t become really overweight until I was probably 19.
If you’re looking to lose weight it is vital that you identify any enablers in your life and explain to them that you need their help and support to succeed. This may involve arguments further down the line but hopefully they understand.
Feeders
A feeder is a usually a partner, sometimes a family member or occasionally a close friend that consciously or subconsciously feeds someone’s bad habits. This is done by literally providing the food or by constant negative comments or actions, which will force the overweight person to emotionally eat. A feeder is very dangerous and is not doing it out of love – it is all about controlling the other person.
A feeder usually has very low self-esteem and may have many other issues. They try to ensure their partner, family member or close friend becomes completely reliant on them.
Thankfully feeders are rare, however a person looking to lose weight cannot succeed with a feeder in their lives. Do you know someone that constantly makes sly hurtful remarks or comments to you?
How To Break The Cycle
It doesn’t matter why someone is overweight or what type of person they are. Anyone can get in shape. Being big boned is a myth and yes genetics and some medical conditions have a huge effect on how easy it is to get in shape, but if someone didn’t make the wrong food choices they wouldn’t be overweight.
I want to reiterate that point, anyone can get in shape. Your genetics and some medical conditions have a huge effect on how easy it is to get in shape, but if a person had a good diet and exercised they’d be slim.
It’s About The Journey
Losing weight isn’t necessarily about the number you reach, it’s about the journey to it. For example if I have a client that was 25 Stone and has lost 5 stone so far. They will feel amazing, they’ll be in the best form of their lives and will be full of confidence, smiling, have new clothes, full of energy and will be beaming. They will still be overweight however.
The very next person that comes through my door on their first day meeting me could be 20 stone and feel terrible about their body shape, have little or no self-esteem, wear clothes they don’t like or fit and be very unhappy. And yet, they are both 20 stone?
What’s the Difference?
They are both physically the same, but emotionally and psychologically they are worlds apart. Losing weight isn’t about the weight or body fat % you’re at. It’s about doing something to change your self-image and emotional state and how that makes you feel. It’s about the daily or weekly rewards and boosters to your state of mind, that you get from the sense of satisfaction knowing you exercised to the best of your ability, knowing you worked hard at your diet, knowing you didn’t take the easy option when you could have.
The improvements to your self-image will come from the positive comments others give, the new clothes you can now wear, knowing you don’t have to dread social situations anymore because you “can’t find anything to wear”, being able to tangibly see how much fitter you are, being able to attract the opposite sex more easily, having more confidence, being the head turner at your Christmas party, feeling sexy for your partner, being able to play football with your kids, living long enough to see your kid get married, losing those man boobs, being able to wear something other than black, being able to go to the beach on holidays – the list is endless.
Being fit and healthy feels great, getting there is hard work sometimes but it is so worth it.
Dealing with Setbacks
You will of course have bad days, days where you slip up or didn’t do as well as you could have. You’ll have lots of “Fat Days” where you feel bloated. If you’re taking steps to get in shape and are having a few setbacks, it’s no big deal.
Your options are to get back on track again and make more progress or start moping around and spiraling back to where you started or worse. Was that a nice place to be?
Was spending hours finding something to wear that fit you and you felt comfortable in, fun? When overweight you usually only have a few items of clothing that you wear. I used to spend ages trying to find something to wear and pretty much always wore the same huge rugby or soccer jerseys, as they were the only things I felt comfortable in.
Understanding Comfort Eating
I believe that people who go back to their old bad habits do so because it is a familiar comfortable feeling not because they liked being overweight. I think it’s because you’re familiar with the feeling you get from comfort food, it’s an instant fix of sugar that lifts your mood for a few minutes and you usually know it will. It’s a familiar feeling you’ve known for years and are accustomed to.
Eating healthy food can be just as nice, sometimes nicer but there’s some uncertainty, you’re not sure it’s going to satisfy you so you reach for the familiar junk foods.
It’s a bit like listening to a sad song when you’re feeling down. Why do we want to feel worse? Why do we not listen to a happy song or look at some photos of a time when we were happy? I think it’s because listening to that song will guarantee a familiar feeling that feels “safe” even if it’s a negative feeling. Anyway it’s something to think about…
Comfort food might taste good for a few minutes but being fit and healthy feels great all the time.
Setbacks can be made up, never focus on the days you slipped up, focus on all the others you did well. Every day since the one you decided enough was enough, is a day in the complete and utter opposite direction to the one you were headed. Slow progress is progress nonetheless.
The Key to Losing Weight
There are plenty of tips and helpful recourses available to anyone who wants to lose weight. In my experience pretty much every diet that’s ever been invented works, a lot aren’t realistic to stick to but they all essentially work. Some diets work better than others but they all essentially work.
Diets in the long run usually fail as they generally don’t teach the person realistic long-term healthy eating habits. Take the cabbage soup diet for example. Do you think drinking cabbage flavored water, instead of eating a burger and chips will make you lose weight? Of course it will. The cabbage soup diet is like most diets out there and is a calorie restricting diet but in a days or in a weeks’ time, you’re going to eventually go back to your old eating habits and will probably end up getting more out of shape than before.
With my clients I try to educate them to make the right food choices, help them with finding the right motivation, give them the resources they need and share my experience to achieve lasting results.
Losing weight essentially comes down to:
- Motivation
- Determination
- Knowledge
- Time
1. Motivation
Finding the right motivation is key, something big enough that’ll get you out of bed at 6am to exercise, something that motivates you enough to spend an extra few minutes making a healthy meal when you’ve had a long day.
A motivation that’s not time based, like a holiday or wedding. A motivation that’s time based gives you the subconscious excuse to go back to your old routine once it’s over. The motivation should be about you and not to please someone else. It’s got to be a decision for you to change your life for the better and stop putting others ahead of you – put yourself first.
You’ve never heard of anyone that lost weight and felt worse have you?
Benefits of Being in Good Shape
- Improve your self worth
- Improve your confidence
- Improve the view you have of your physique
- Increase your mood and energy levels
- Improve your health & wellbeing
- Change your life for the better
My motivation to lose weight was a combination of being sick of having low self-esteem, not fitting into clothes and not attracting the opposite sex.
Goal Setting Tips
Goal setting is essential to staying motivated but don’t get caught up in the weighing scales, body fat % or clothes sizes etc. If you miss a goal, reassess and reset it. Never focus on the one or two goals you missed, focus on all the ones you reached, but avoid making excuses.
One tip that I sometimes use is to measure an overweight person in a unit of measure that they aren’t used to. For example if you’re used to kilograms, weigh yourself in stones & lbs. That way it’ll just be a number getting lower and you’re less likely to get caught up in it.
My Motivational Technique
Anyone who follows my Facebook page will know that one of the motivational techniques I have is by using bags of sugar to motivate clients as they lose weight. Telling someone they lost a kilo this week is good but giving them a bag of sugar to hold so they can tangibly see and feel how well they did, works much better. When they lose 5kg or more I make them wear the extra weight in a backpack while they warm up, they always leave the studio feeling great and I try to time it at the end of the week so they’re motivated over the weekend.
My Inspiration: Cycling Across Australia
When I got fit I remembered back to meeting a cyclist in a hostel in Australia who was cycling from Perth to Sydney, it was the same weekend the woman gave me a lift as it happens. I remember thinking how is that even possible? I never got to speak to him more, as I had to leave the room as he smelled really badly. But it stuck in my mind so when I got fit, I wanted to see if it was possible.
It began to inspire and motivate me, so in April 2009 I set off from Perth alone and on my bike. 4400km and 6 weeks later I finally made it to Sydney. It was a great adventure but was pretty grueling and really taught me that anyone can do anything if you’re motivated enough.
2. Determination
Determination to get in shape and stay there, all boils down to how much do you want it? If you’ve finally reached the point where you’ve had enough and are really truly ready to put your best effort into getting in shape – then you can’t fail.
Remember pretty much every diet that’s ever been invented works and will stop you gaining weight. Pretty much every exercise regime or sport will burn off the existing body fat you have. The only thing stopping you getting into shape is your determination.
The determination to make a salad instead of a pizza, to go to the gym for 30 minutes on the way home after a long tiring day, to stop yourself moaning about not having any clothes to wear and doing something about it.
My determination came from hitting rock bottom and I was determined to lose weight. I knew I couldn’t stay the way I was. Cycling across Australia there was no way I was going to fail. My determination was too strong. I hurt my knee on the 2nd day couldn’t stand out of the saddle for the entire 6 weeks and for the 1st week was cycling with one leg at an average speed of 9kph. Your body may tell you, you can’t do something but if your mind is strong you’ll show your body you can do anything.
Getting in shape happens gradually and takes weeks to see visible results and unfortunately life gives us distractions and opportunities to make excuses hourly. Anyone can make excuses but not everyone takes them. Only by being determined can those distractions and excuses be overcome.
3. Knowledge
Once you’ve got the right motivation and are resolutely determined to get in shape, knowledge is your next important step. There are many ways to get help and learn how to lose weight and get fit. Some work better than others but all are better than continuing the way you were.
There are countless books, online articles, exercise clubs, sports, gyms and personal trainers out there that can help, my advice would be to choose a busy or popular one. Lesser-known or extreme diets, well established personal trainers that aren’t busy or run down gyms for example, should be steered well clear of.
If you’re thinking of going “on a diet” remember this – there is no diet that will do what healthy eating does.
Budget shouldn’t come into it, there are many cheap alternative forms of exercising, free or affordable information on diets and most good personal trainers should offer a free assessment where they explain how to get in shape.
My Learning Journey
I used a Personal Trainer when I decided to lose weight, looking back he wasn’t very good at all but it still was enough to get me started. Spinning classes were what I loved and burned off the existing fat I had. I remember my first ever class, I couldn’t stand up out of the saddle and had very little resistance.
My First Gym Experience
I can remember going to the gym for the first time when I was about 18, I was too shy or embarrassed to ask the fitness instructor for help and I nearly killed myself running on the treadmill. I can remember walking/running for 20 minutes almost dying and at the end of the workout the machine tells me I burned 300 calories and that that was a can of cola. I can remember thinking I had 1.5 litres of cola that day and what a waste of time running was. I soon gave up.
Had I known that it wasn’t the actual exercise that was important it was the raising of my metabolism, which was the important part. It’s not about the 1 hour you work out that’s important it’s the 23 hours where you do nothing and your metabolism is raised that’s much more important. Even an hour of very intense interval training I might burn 800 calories however in the next 23 hours my now high metabolism will burn almost 2500 calories. Knowledge is essential.
A low carb & high protein diet was what helped me to stop putting on weight and I still stick to it to stay in shape. Interval training is what burned off my existing fat and released lots of endorphins that feel great.
4. Time
Given a long enough timeline I believe you can achieve almost anything in life. It might be slow progress but if you stay motivated and determined you’ve the potential to achieve almost anything. Give time, time.
If you’re overweight chances are it’s been for a long time, losing the weight could take a long time too. My big belly and those man boobs weren’t built in a day, getting rid of them took time too. Remember it’s not about the end number you get to; it’s the journey to it. It’s about doing something about changing your self-image and emotional state and how that makes you feel.
For me it took a year to lose over 5 stone, it sounds like a relatively short time but when losing weight it seems like it’ll never come, patience is essential.
While cycling across Australia I’d planned to do it in 42 days and thankfully was able to achieve that. However I’d planned that if I crashed and broke a leg etc. I would stay wherever I was, recover and then continue. My primary goal was to get to Sydney, getting there quickly was a secondary goal but if things changed I was willing to adapt my schedule, you should too.
Conclusion
If you’ve taken the time to read the whole article, thank you. There’s probably a book in there somewhere. You’ll hopefully understand I’m trying to help others get in shape as I know being fit and healthy feels great. I’m not trying to apportion blame or give excuses. I just wanted to share my experiences in the hope that it inspires or at least starts the ball rolling for someone who’s overweight.
I by no means know everything and am probably wrong about lots of things but to date, this is what I’ve learned. If you know anyone that might be helped by reading this article please feel free to share it on your Facebook page or email it directly to them.
There are many underlying reasons why someone over eats or binge eats etc. From their genetics, to their childhood experiences, to a traumatic event, to a sugar addiction, but no matter the cause there is a solution.
You may never fully get over that underlying cause, but you choose what to eat and when to exercise, external factors may influence them but it’s essentially your choice…
If I can go from being so unfit that walking down the street a woman felt it necessary to offer me a lift, to getting fit and cycling 4400kms across Australia, anyone can get in shape. I’m in no way exceptional, I’m just determined when I put my mind to something I want bad enough, you can to…
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