Humans have got to be the strangest animals by far ever placed on this earth.  We literally will keep returning to things that hurt us or do not work, without learning, b/c we perceive a benefit.  Take diets and fad exercises for example.

     Diets- I hear this often “Well, I was on this diet and it worked great but then I gained all the weight back.”  Well then, my dear, the diet did not work.  It failed you.  If you bought a TV and it only worked for a year, would you praise the TV for working?  You probably even bought a 2-year warranty to protect your investment.  Does your body not deserve the same care?  Learning to eat properly is the way to go.  Beside, why would you listen to your hair dresser about nutrition?  Would you listen to your mechanic about advice on hair care?

     “I loved taking xxx workout class and I lost a lot of weight and then I got injured.”  Ok, exercising in general increases your risk of injury.  However, it is well known and documented that some formats are not good for your body, or that you need a base fitness level before jumping in.  You might have seen some weight loss from your super high intensity classes, and that’s great.  Were you aware of your body composition?  Was it fat mass you were losing, or were you losing muscle as well?  When you lose muscle and fat then your body fat percentage doesn’t change and you are just as unhealthy you just weigh something different.

     I want…  well, I’ve said it before- my dads famous phrase: want in one hand and shit in the other and see which one gets full faster.  Want all day. What are you doing to achieve your goals?  And not just in a fleeting way, yet for life.  Another thing I hear frequently is “I know what to do, I just need to do it.”  Whenever someone tells me this I’ll ask a series of base level fitness and nutrition questions to see if you really do; I have discovered that likely the answer to that is no, no you don’t. Likely you have a small compilation of thoughts based on the anecdotes of others, and that aren’t individualized for your goals. My next question is always this “If you know what to do, then why aren’t you where you want to be?” And maybe it’s simply motivation.  And that’s the one thing I cannot give you.  If you don’t care enough to change your habits I cannot make you. You might retort “I care!  I just don’t have time/money/space/knowledge…”  but in reality you’re just shitting in your hand.  Don’t have time?  Likely you actually have time. A one hour workout is 4% of your day- a half of a made for TV movie,  the time of one reality show, how long it takes to bake a nice tray of chicken, rice, and vegetables for dinner so you can exercise while it’s in the oven. A 30-minute workout-which can be quite effective- is about 2% of your day.  If you actually do not have the time then make time before you run out of time.  Don’t have the money- my services start at $20 for an hour to learn about how to exercise.  If you talked to me for an hour, every two months, and we talked about nutrition and I made suggestions on what exercises you would need that’s $2.5/week, or $.35 a day.  $20 roughly 3 Starbucks drinks, one cab fare round trip, 3 beers plus tip, 2 fast food meals, 2.5 packs of cigarettes…you see where I’m going here.  Space?  If you have enough space at home to lay down in the floor you have enough space.  Knowledge? That’s my job.  So ask again, do you want it or are you shitting in your hand?

     I can’t tell you the amount of times I have given hours of my life to someone who “cares and wants to change” for them to never come back, and instead post on Facebook “OK, what diets work for y’all?”  You are just shitting in your hand dear reader.  Diets don’t work.  There is no ten-minute workout that you can do daily that will give you a flatter stomach.  Unless you’ve consulted a professional, you’re just wildly swinging in the air hoping to hit a home run.  Be cautious of your “professional.”  Is the person you’re speaking with actually qualified to be giving you the advice you seek?  Question everything, and if they can’t answer it then they’re a charlatan selling you snake oil.

     My purpose is not to coddle you, and say that “oh, it’s ok…you’re beautiful. Whenever you’re ready.”  Health doesn’t care about how pretty you are.  You can be an unhealthy supermodel. My purpose is to say every step forward, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction.  Slow and steady wins this race.  Often people just don’t want to hear that they have to put in the effort to get what they want.  Sometimes, rarely, it is truly that someone has tried everything or truly does not have the resources and to those people I apologize.  Do what you can to get to a point where you can take care of yourself, or see a doctor if you truly have tried everything.  Most people who have tried everything though have grossly missed the one thing that is proven to work, time and again. My purpose is to inspire you to take that hard look and say “Am I actually doing what it takes to get what I say I want, or am I just blowing smoke?”  Flapping your jaw burns calories, but not enough to make a difference.