A few years ago I took my kids up to the gym with me on a Sunday to prepare myself for the week ahead.
While I was in my office I could see my kids out of the corner of my eye weighing themselves and writing down how much they each weighed.
After they each wrote down how much they weighed, they ran out into the gym area and began to run around, do jumping jacks, they did some lunges, they even tried to do some chin ups and push ups. After about 2 minutes of doing this and tiring themselves out, they ran back to the scale and weighed themselves.
I watched as they wrote down the results.
Once they caught their breath they ran back into the gym and started their exercises again. They did their routine again for another two or so minutes until they were worn out.
They went back to the scale and weighed themselves again.
Then they came into my office and said, “Daddy, it doesn’t work. We have been exercising and we still haven’t lost any weight”!
I laughed and said that isn’t exactly how it works. I tried to explain how real fat loss works and after about 30 seconds of me talking they lost interest and went back to playing in the gym. Kids!
Unfortunately the social media and the fitness/supplement industry has taught us that weight loss can happen in a matter of days and/or weeks.
How could it not be true, it happened to (insert a celebrity name)?
We don’t know what that person went through to lose that weight and we don’t know if it will be sustainable.
You and I know the truth, right? Fat loss comes from consistent effort over time. Yes, we can lose a few pounds in a few days by restricting our carbohydrate intake but that only happens because for every gram of carbohydrate we eat, we store 3 grams of water.
When we eat less carbs we store less water, when we store less water we weigh less.
Fat loss comes from reducing our energy consumption (amount of food & drink) and increasing our energy expenditure (amount of movement). Increasing movement and decreasing the amount of food and drink we consume over time will shrink our fat cells and decrease our body weight.
Keep putting in the work.
Don’t be like my kids and expect to see a change in a matter of minutes. LOL