The secret to weight loss is really no secret at all. It’s not written in a special tablet stashed away under lock and key. You don’t need to know a secret handshake to learn it. It’s quite simply – compliance.
Oh, the big “c” word. With
a barrage of advertisements claiming to have the miracle pill or cream that
will allow us all to lose weight without making any lifestyle changes, no
wonder the big “c” word has become so obsolete, or maybe even, a forbidden
word. Does that mean you have to starve yourself on less than 1,000 calories a
day to see weight loss? No. Does that mean you have to eat only asparagus and
fish and drink only water? No. That’s not what compliance means. Compliance
means setting your goals, establishing the plan, and executing the plan. Quite
simply, compliance means being true to yourself, being in compliance with what
you have set out to accomplish – for yourself.
Let’s put it this way.
Say you want to lose ten pounds. While it would be nice to place a time frame
on those ten pounds, you really have no control over the speed of reaching what
is really an outcome goal. What you DO have control over is your compliance to
reaching behavior goals. Behavior goals are those daily accomplishments brought
about by what you decide to do or not to do. Maybe a behavior goal is to keep
those most tempting sweets out of your house, in hopes of helping you lose
weight. Sure, you may have thrown them away on day one of your nutrition plan,
but if you go out and purchase an ice cream cone just because it is only one
ice cream cone. Then guess what? You fell out of compliance with your behavior
goal. That one cone may not seem like a big deal, but maybe in that same week
you ate another of those yummy cones, or maybe you went out to eat and decided
to have a cheat meal. Then, maybe you decided to eat cookies instead of the apple
and Greek yogurt that was on your nutritional plan. You see, once you decide to
fall out of compliance with your goals once, it becomes easier and easier to
fall out of compliance repeatedly and more frequently in a short period of
time.
The sad thing is we then
begin to justify our lack of compliance. “Oh, I’ve been doing so well. I can
have the ice cream cone. Oh, I only had one ice cream cone this week, so I can
have a cheat meal. Oh, I just had an ice cream cone and one cheat meal this
week, so I’ll have the cookies instead of the apple and Greek yogurt – this
time.” Isn’t it always just “this time”?
Are you a numbers person? I’ll put it like this: It takes a deficit of around 3,500 calories
to lose a pound of body fat. I focus on body fat here because as a fitness
nutrition specialist, my goal is to help you keep healthy, hard-earned muscle and
lose weight through fat loss. To create a deficit, you can either consume fewer
calories than your body uses in a period of time or use more calories through
physical activity or employ a combination of both. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll
say you need a deficit of 500 calories a day to lose a pound of fat a week.
Through diet and exercise, you make that deficit when you are completely
compliant with your plan. If you have a low-fat ice cream cone, you’re looking
at about 180 calories consumed. Then, you had a cheat meal at a restaurant,
which could very easily and realistically run anywhere from 900 to even 2,000
calories, because let’s face it. If you’re going to cheat, you are going to do
it right and not skimp. Finally, you have the cookies instead of the apple and
Greek yogurt. The cookies might be portioned to about 200 calories, and the
apple and Greek yogurt combined might be around that same caloric value;
however, that apple and Greek yogurt wouldn’t spike your blood sugar and,
therefore, insulin like the cookies. Furthermore, the protein and fiber in the
Greek yogurt would keep you satisfied much, much longer than the cookies,
preventing you from later overeating and falling out of compliance, again.
Back to the calories –
180 for the ice cream cone + a minimum 900 calories for a cheat meal (not
counting any special adult beverages consumed at that meal) = 1,080 calories
not in compliance with your nutritional plan. That’s almost a third of your fat
loss for the week! Then you wonder, a month later, why you haven’t seen the
scale move much, if at all. Or, stepping away from the numbers (which I
prefer), you don’t see a change in the mirror or in your clothes. It is because
those “just this times” have added up and slowed your progress down by a third!
The above scenario is an
over-simplified example. There are many other ways to fall out of compliance
with your plan. Maybe you have decided to drink more water and let go of a
diet-soda habit, but you’ve decided that one a day isn’t too bad. Well, before
long, that one-a-day soda turns into two-a-day quite easily. Maybe when you
cook your meals, you grab an extra bite here or an extra nibble there. They all
add up, and if you’re trying to lose weight, those “just this times” or “isn’t
too bads” or “it’s just a nibbles” can thwart your weight-loss efforts.
Fat loss, and even
healthy weight gain when needed, is multifaceted. Your progress depends on your
past dietary history, your activity level, your medical history, how you view
food, and most importantly, how you view yourself. If you deem yourself worthy
enough to make healthy lifestyle changes, then complying with a nutritional
plan individualized for you comes much easier. Sure, you don’t have to like
what your body looks like; you don’t have to like the feeling of a waning
energy level or decreased health. You do, however, have to love yourself enough
to give yourself a chance, a chance to see results, to look better and to feel
better. Setting goals and finding the right nutritional plan is a wonderful
first step, but frankly, it is not enough. If you want to see progress,
progress that is sustainable rather than quick and fleeting, then you have to
be consistent – consistent with compliance that is.
Find the support you need
to help you remain compliant. Maybe that support comes in the form of a spouse,
a friend, a colleague, a workout partner, or, of course, a nutritional
specialist who can set you on your nutritional plan and guide you in staying in
compliance. Then, remind yourself throughout the day, every day, what you truly
want. If you truly want to reach your goals, then stay true to your plan. Be in
compliance with yourself.