Tuesday, February 9, 2010
I love challenges. I live for them! Whenever I meet a new client and they have a particular ailment or condition which means that their goals might be harder to reach than for most people, I see it as a new test in my ability to work with a certain population. Someone with chronic shoulder pain or severe arthritis might be a good example of this. However, the biggest challenge I am faced with (and the most common challenge) is convincing people of how weight-loss or body fat reduction works!
One question I get asked from new trainees or people who approach me in the gym asking for weight-loss advice is; "Isn't it just about calories in vs. calories out?" - This is often a reason why people believe they do not need a trainer. "It's a simple case of eating less and doing more"... No.
The law of thermodynamics has caused a HUGE problem in the fitness industry, and it drives me nuts that people are told this garbage by health experts! We are often told how obesity is a condition based on the idea that people are eating too much and moving to little. Whilst this may be the case for some (loosely speaking) how do they account for levels of obesity in poverty stricken countries? It is well documented that obesity and diabetes occur in areas of Africa where others are dying of malnutrition. Doctors have noted how mothers will bring in their sick children who are severely underweight, while the mother herself is overweight. Are you telling me that the mother is eating all the food at the expense of not feeding her child? I don't think so!
Another example I'm sure many have witnessed who regularly visit the gym, is that there are many individuals who are quite out of shape who will be in the gym for 2 hours a day, five or six days a week and never lose body fat. They are restricting their caloric intake whilst following some branded diet and not seeing results! - Incidentally, before the 1950s calorie restricted diets were called "semi-starvation diets" when used in clinical research.
Treating the body as an energy conversion machine is NOT based on science. The body is a highly complex organism, not a calorie converter! Not every calorie you put in your mouth is used the same way in the body. We have known this since the 1940s and any propagation of the former is dangerous.
Learn how to make the correct food and nutrition choices. Learn how to exercise in an efficient and appropriate manner for your needs.
Leave the law of thermodynamics to physicists and you will enjoy full health!