There Are Two Ways to Lose Weight

I would characterize a lot of what I do as weight management.

Weight loss goals can vary. For some of my clients, the goal of losing weight is to better their life and health, whereas I have others who do so for sport. I even have people who want to gain weight, usually because they want to be stronger or for aesthetic purposes.

For those who are looking to lose weight for their health, or who may just be looking for a big change in their fitness, there is an important distinction one must understand:

There’s a difference between dieting and losing weight as a lifestyle change, and dieting and losing weight aggressively for a goal. The time tables vary greatly, as do the speed of results, but both are equally valid approaches. I say this upfront because you must go into your weight loss with the right expectations.

Lifestyle Changes

The "weight loss as a lifestyle change” idea gets thrown around all too often without proper context. I do believe we should always aspire to be doing better in our everyday life and it should be reflected in our actions. But to lose weight progressively as a result of a lifestyle change is much different than planning a short term weight loss where the goal is purely changing the number on the scale.

With this approach, I won’t be asking you to very strictly measure your food. Instead, I’ll give you strategies to help you become mindful of your portions, we’ll keep a food diary (at first), but I won’t necessarily recommend calorie/macronutrient counting, or even weighing all of your food. I want you to learn bigger concepts, and to learn to read how your body feels. This takes time and longer term, you will become a better person for it. In the short term, however, it’s important to have your expectations aligned with the reality of dieting this way.

These are realities to losing weight this way:

·  It sometimes means slower weight loss for those already at a healthy weight. Those who are overweight will lose weight quickly at first, but it will eventually be a bit more measured.

·  You will inevitably hit plateaus, and they may last a while. You will have to do work to figure out how to overcome these plateaus.

·  You have very low risk of ever rebounding to your old weight.

·  You will create new healthy lifestyle habits, improving not only your overall physical health, but also your mental health and quality of life.

Aggressive Plans

You’ll always move more quickly with shorter term weight loss plans (or “diets”) simply because the parameters of the plan are a bit more aggressive in nature. They mean to accomplish a very clearly defined goal that is tied to numbers or some measurable performance marker.  

They are profoundly effective. I am of course speaking only to safe, responsible programs here, and nothing that is drug induced or depriving in a dangerous way.

What are some of the reasons you’d lose weight like this? You’d be trying to do any of the following on a shorter timeline:

·  You’re trying to “reset” your body and clean the palate. Some would call it a “cleanse,” but it’s really just a fresh start.

·  You’re trying to lose a stubborn amount of weight.

·  You’re trying to “transform” your physical appearance quickly.

·  You’re trying to lose weight for performance reasons.

·  You find that you just do well with a disciplined, strict approach.

When losing weight this way, you’ll have to measure what you take in, be it portions, calories, macronutrients. Whatever the metric is, it must be measured. This isn’t always the case for “lifestyle changes,” and it’s the reason why aggressively dieting works the way it does.

It’s important to know that this is not always meant to be permanent. The idea of permanence is flawed anyway, but the real key is that these plans get you to where you want to be and from there, you can manage. I don’t think most people would care to spend their life measuring everything on a food scale or traveling with measuring cups. That’s why these plans should not be something you do “forever.” Most people WILL burn out eventually. It’s the reason people "yo-yo" when going off a temporary weight loss plan or “diet”: they may have pushed themselves too hard and tried to maintain an impossible standard.

Here are some realities to losing weight this way:

·  You’ll move much more quickly in the direction of your goals.

·  There will be more sacrifice.

·  You’ll learn a tremendous amount about yourself and grow mentally.

Overall, neither one of these plans is inherently more difficult than the other as it ends up being very personal. I would wager that lifestyle changes are a little more difficult to make depending on your level of malleability, but they exponentially increase in ease and happiness as you go through your everyday life.

The main reason I took time to write this is because I want to make sure everyone understands what they're getting into whenever they choose the path that they do to lose weight. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with either one, but they all present unique challenges. 

If you have any experiences to share, I encourage you to comment below or send me a message sometime. I always like hearing the journey of others. 

Be well,

Mark