Get over the Time Magazine Article, Seriously

Because it’s beside the point. The fitness industry will not lose a buck because of an article…even in Time. So really, all you fitness professionals can stop being so very precious.

Isn’t this about helping people and not your own self concept?

I was content to link a post by Michelle May that aligns with my attitude about the article “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin“.

How about I rename the article? Why Details Won’t Make You Thin. Because that is all anybody is arguing. Details. Physiological details quoted from research studies won’t make you thin. Hello.

Everybody says, to succeed you must make “fitness” a part of your lifestyle.  Yet nobody seems to know what the term lifestyle means any more than there can be any clear definition of fitness. Just words.  It’s just vague psycho-babble. And since there is no where else to go they dwell on details.

Which is the problem. Too many people are starting with the details because they are being led to believe that is where perfection lies.  Starting with the specific is just so very wrong, folks. You will never see the big picture.  Always start with the general before proceeding to the specifics.

Because if you think you can succeed in such a goal as fatloss with compulsively detail oriented thinking just think about where COMPULSIVE behaviours have gotten you.

Let me be clear here. I am NOT saying that the answer is to start with the big picture and slowly move toward obsessing about tiny details. Obsession is obsession and no matter how long it takes you to arrive at it’s still an unhealthy grasping.

I actually just read a post in a “health” blog about dwelling on details the message of which seemed to be “most of you better not be obsessing over details. There’s only a few of us purists who can handle it!

Hey, exercise won’t make you thin. A hammer won’t make you thin. I typed it in and nothing exploded. Tools don’t make you thin. It’s the work you do with them that produces results. And it is possible to do good work with the latest computer driven woodworking tools OR the most primitive chisel as long as you KNOW HOW TO USE THE  TOOL…and you have a steady vision of that which you wish to accomplish.

Exercise can be one key to long term body weight maintenance. Exercise can be the key to long term failure to maintain healthy body weight.

But if anyone thinks that a Time magazine article is going to empty out the mile long row of treadmills at the local YMCA then I ask, where have you been?

Instead of getting defensive perhaps the fitness industry should be asking why there is a mile long row of treadmills at the local YMCA and why there are people obsessively pounding away on them in the face of NO results. Perhaps the fitness industry should worry about it’s clients and not about itself.

I have developed a rule that I use everyday. I simply ask myself a question and answer it as honestly as I can. With no judgement. I just look at it and give the the first natural answer that comes.

“Did the things I did today have more value to others than they did to me?”

That is what I want to accomplish. I don’t ask myself that because I think it is a moral obligation or because it “sets me above”.  I ask myself that because that will mean that I do MORE rather than less. Self profit means that we seek to do that which is most expedient. It’s a cost benefit analysis. That one simple rule guarantees that I do not seek the expedient route and thus what I do has more value in general, including to myself. But I am not as interested in building a career as I am in growing a human being.

As long as I do that, why should I care about a Time magazine article?

As far as my reaction to it I don’t need to rebut it because I have been writing about my opinions on this all along. I’ll start with the reference to Michelle May’s post:

• Why I don’t care about the Time article – Michelle May
• What is Training People? (EricTroy’s Blog at GUS)
• Misconceptions Abound (EricTroy’s Blog at GUS)
• Its A War Not A Battle (EricTroy’s Blog at GUS)
• Fitness: All-Encompassing Means Paralyzing?
• Fitness as a Goal (gustrength.com)
• Attitudes about Health and Fitness
• More on Attitudes about Health and Fitness
• The Paradox of Choice
• So Many Gyms, So Many Programs (gustrength.com)
• Guilt and Exercise Don’t Mix
• Self Control:  Not all it’s Cracked up to be
• It’s a Process

When the fitness industry gets all upset about an article in a magazine that they feel differs or contradicts them, from my perspective, it seems as if they are operating under the delusion that people care, ultimately about their knowledge of science or obscure physiological facts. Their self perception about their “knowledge” is a big part of their self concept. Threaten someone’s self concept and you will get piss and vinegar every time.

Many people will listen to you based on their perception of your knowledge base.  For a while at least until that knowledge fails them.

Knowledge in that way is a double edged sword because in today’s fitness world many individuals use knowledge before experience.

On the other hand others dwell on experience and undermine the importance of knowledge.

There would not be a question of the relative value of each if the fitness industry instead focused on THE most important part of the equation. HOW MUCH YOU CARE.

In the end, what keeps people coming back to you is showing them that you give a shit. That it is not about YOU.

Why I don’t care about the Time article “Why exercise won’t make you thin” | Michelle May

Once again Michelle May and I are on the same page:

Why I don’t care about the Time article “Why exercise won’t make you thin”.

Related GUStrength’s Blog posts:

Guilt and Exercise Don’t Mix

Self-Control:  Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be

Hypothyroidism Diet and Training for Weight Loss | Leigh Peele

Image via Wikipedia

It needs to be stated right off the bat that this is a very large topic and couldn’t possibly be covered via one article. The goal of this article is the following:

• Give you a base understanding of what hypothyroidism is
• Give you an understanding of what hypothyroidism isn’t
• Give you a base understanding of the current best options for testing
• Provide my opinion of the best course of action for fat loss if you have a thyroid problem

Continue Reading >> Hypothyroidism Diet and Training for Weight Loss | Leigh Peele.

Fish Oil May Help You Burn Fat…

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But Not THAT Much Fat!

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

www.BurnTheFat.com

At least a half a dozen human studies and more than two dozen animal studies have been completed in the last 10 years which suggest that these omega-3 fatty acids found in fish may help you lose more fat. However, the fat loss benefit is not as much as some people want you to believe…

Continue Reading >> Ground Up Strength: Fish Oil May Help You Burn Fat….

The Metabolic Syndrome

by Elena Citkowitz, M.D.

The metabolic syndrome is made up of a constellation of abnormalities that increase the risk for developing diabetes and possibly for coronary artery disease.

Many studies have shown that the metabolic syndrome increases the risk for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) (heart attack and stroke) and type 2 diabetes (formerly called adult onset diabetes). But controversy exists on many levels: Does the constellation of metabolic abnormalities that constitute the metabolic syndrome provide any more predictive value than does the risk entailed by each component separately? If the concept of the metabolic syndrome is productive, what is the best definition? As the definition includes some measure of obesity, how is that condition best determined? If waist circumference is thought to be the best measure of obesity, what values should be applied to different ethnic groups? If ethnic-appropriate values are agreed upon, what is the best method for measuring waist circumference?…

Continue Reading >>

Ground Up Strength: The Metabolic Syndrome.

Self Control: Not All It’s Cracked Up To BE

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More and more, everyone is learning that “diets” don’t work.  Sure, people drop weight on diets but they fail to make a lasting change.  I don’t need to go into this, you know all about yo-yo dieting.

Despite this there are still plenty of judgemental folks  (who probably wouldn’t know a problem if it bit them in the ______) who will say stuff like, “jeez, what ever happened to old fashioned self-control”.

Talkin bout thin people

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In two past posts I discussed some of the misconceptions about how naturally, lifelong thin people eat and behave:

Instinctual Eating

Hunger is a Physical Feeling

I still think that it is a tad idealistic to think that thin people eat “instinctively” but, Michelle May, in this new piece, echoes some of the ideas, or at least the general gist of them, that I presented there. But while I presented it from the viewpoint of a naturally thin person, Dr. May has the vantage point of someone who has been overweight and conquered it.

I’m not sure that it has much to do with thinking like a thin person but it does provide a great deal of insight.

Ten Things You’ll Never Hear Thin People Say

Maybe you’ve heard phrases like instinctive eating, intuitive eating, or normal eating to describe someone who manages their weight effortlessly. Just how do you recognize this increasingly rare individual? One way is to listen to what they say–and don’t say.

Here are the Top 10 things you’ll probably never hear them say…

10. I think I’ll have a pizza. I deserve it!
9.  I can’t eat there; they don’t have anything I’m allowed to have on my diet.
8.  I’m totally stuffed! But since I’ve already blown it, we might as well stop for ice cream on the way home.
7.  Thanks for making me a birthday cake, but unfortunately, I’m all out of points for the day.
6.  One more trip up to the buffet and I’ll have eaten my twelve dollars and ninety nine cents worth.
5.  Hey, the calorie counter on this treadmill is broken! How am I supposed to know when I’m done exercising?
4.  My boss is such a jerk. I’ll show him! I’ll eat an entire bag of Doritos all by myself!
3.  I’ve been craving a piece of cheesecake all weekend. I wonder if I could make a healthy substitute by stirring some Stevia into 2 teaspoons of fat-free cream cheese and spreading it on a rice cake?
2.  OMG! I was supposed to eat 17 minutes ago!

And the number one thing you’ll never hear an instinctive eater say…

1.  I’m on Day 3 of the new Bahamas Cruise Diet: Phase I (14 days): I’m-gonna-fit-into-this-bathing-suit-if-it-kills-me Starvation.  Phase 2 (8 days): Order-as-many-entrées-as-you-want-followed-by-a-show-then-belly-up-to-the-Midnight-Chocolate-Buffet Binge.  Phase 3 (2 days): I’ve-gotta-lose-the-eight-pounds-I-gained-on-my-cruise Starvation.  Maintenance Phase: What-the-hell!-We’re-not-going-on-another-cruise-until 2013.

Alright, I’m exaggerating a bit here but you get the point. People who eat instinctively don’t usually diet, but that doesn’t mean they eat perfectly. They occasionally eat for pleasure or convenience even if they aren’t hungry. The difference is that they are less likely to struggle with frequent emotional eating or mindless eating. Instead, they trust their instincts to let them know when, what, and how much to eat.

We were all born to eat instinctively–just imagine a young child saying any of those ten things! For countless reasons, many people “forget” how to use their own internal cues of hunger and satiety to guide their eating. They eat when they’re sad, mad, glad, bored, or stressed. They eat because they paid for it or because it’s free. As a result they gain weight, but instead of going back to instinctive eating, they go on a diet, driving them even further from their own ability to know what their body really needs.

The good news is that you CAN relearn to trust yourself to eat without deprivation, guilt, or bingeing. While it may seem too good to be true, we’ve worked with countless people who have done exactly that–and you can too!

Eat Mindfully. Live Vibrantly!
Michelle May, M.D.

And now I want some Doritos.

You can read more of May’s articles at GUS: Michelle May

Lean People and Endurance Capacity

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“Having high endurance capacity is decidedly un-thrifty. During evolution, food scarcity was only one of several challenges to survival and reproduction. It is entirely conceivable that individuals with high running endurance would have a selective advantage (e.g., predator avoidance…these same individuals would have traits favoring resistance to obesity. Our results therefore imply that leanness and high physical activity levels may have resulted as a byproduct during natural selection of high capacity for running endurance. Paradoxically, exploring the mechanisms interconnecting endurance and leanness may be the key to combating obesity.”

-Colleen M. Novak, et al.

Fitness: All-Encompassing Means Paralyzing?

Cover of The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

So in the last post I presented the talk by Dr. Barry Schwartz regarding “The Paradox of Choice”.

Also of late I have been speaking about having  specific goals in our training and making specific choices about the direction our training should take.

If you read my piece on the concept of fitness you’ll see that I don’t think much of the word. Yes, I use it on occasion for brevity or convenience but depending on your perspective it’s either to vague or too all-encompassing.

Don’t Eat So Fast!

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In a number of posts recently I have tried to make some observations about thin people. This is not science by any means. But that does not mean that these types of observations cannot be supported by science.

In my post, Instinctual Eating, I stated that thin people tend to eat more slowly.

It just so happens that I frequently tell my son not to inhale his food. I tell him he shouldn’t do this because it’s bad table manners. I also tell him that it is unhealthy to stuff your face so quickly. What I don’t tell him is that “this will make you fat”. That is, however, in the back of my mind.

No, I don’t believe that a tendency to eat too fast, alone, will make you fat! I do believe that this is part of a pattern of unhealthy eating that can lead to being overweight.

I recently picked up on this article by Tom Venuto about a Cornell University Study that tends to support some of my observations.

Speed Eating and Fat Loss: Diet Advice Your Mom Was Right About All Along

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

www.BurnTheFat.com

A new study just published in a recent issue of the journal Obesity has revealed that thin people eat very differently than heavy people at all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants.

Researcher Brian Wansink and his team from the Cornell University Food and Brand Laboratory observed diners at 11 different Chinese buffet restaurants across the United States.