Why Your Weight Loss Suddenly Tanked Like The Economy -- And How To Fix It (Part 2 of 3)

In the first installment of our three-part article we described a scenario that was frighteningly familiar to the all-too-many of you who have suffered the frustrations of what many call "Yo-yo" weight gain/loss. (If you haven't read part 1 yet, click here before you continue.)

I want you to know that I'm writing this for all the good-intentioned people out there who have tried their hardest to achieve weight loss -- people who have literally pushed themselves to the limits that their bodies and their spirits could take. You know who you are. I applaud you and respect your courage and your will. You are exactly the kind of client I have the most personal training success with, because unlike many others, you are clearly motivated and committed to doing what it takes to make a change.

So please don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way... I don't blame you 100% for losing a bunch of weight only to gain it back even worse than before. Hey, you put in the sacrifice to lose it in the first place.

Bottom line -- the reason you constantly experience the "yo-yo" roller coaster of weight-loss as we described last time is this...

You're ignorant.

You're confused.

You think you know what it means to live a truly healthy lifestyle, but as much as you may believe you've learned about fitness, YOU JUST HAVE NO CLUE AT ALL.

You really tried. I know. I'll say again - for as many times as you may have ultimately failed at this - you are exactly the kind of person who has the most potential to succeed. Because you've already proven you have the guts to take action and make big changes to the way you live in order to attain a goal that really means something to you.

It's just that you took the WRONG actions.

You listened to the wrong people, watched the wrong TV shows, read the wrong articles and books, got taken by the wrong infomercials.

And you got greedy for something I call "fake fitness". You got addicted to losing the wrong kind of weight.

"Jason, what do you mean 'The wrong kind of weight'? That's just silly. I set out to lose weight, and I did (at least at first). I wanted to get slimmer and I did (at first). How can that be wrong?"

They told you you'd be losing fat. THEY PROMISED YOU YOU'D BE LOSING FAT.

But they "effed" you. They "effed" you real good. Because they knew that all you really cared about was losing "weight". They knew you'd let the scale be the final judge of your fitness.

All that "weight" you lost at first - especially the first few days? Guess what? It was mostly water.

That "weight" that seemed to keep coming off early on, but slowing down later? It was mostly muscle.

Did you lose fat too? Yeah, probably.

But at what expense?

By following the kind of "fitness" program you read about in part one of our story, you basically turned your body into a FAT-ATTRACTING-SUPER-MAGNET.

That's what I call "fake fitness".

Here's your first mistake:

YOUR GOALS SUCKED!

You didn't care about fitness. Not really. You cared about "weight loss".

And just weighing less does not necessarily mean you've become more fit. Damn what the "BMI idiots" say about it. Just look at where your "weight loss" got you in the long run.

Plus, "losing" anything sends your psyche the wrong message. Our human nature is to hold on to things. We don't like to lose things. What we like is to achieve things, to win things. We like to GAIN things. So obviously "weight LOSS" shouldn't have ever entered the conversation when you set your goals.

In my experience, placing too much importance on "weight loss" has a trickle down effect that screws up EVERYTHING when it comes to getting truly "fit".

Here's your second mistake:

YOU'RE AFRAID OF MUSCLE

Admit it. You're so irrationally afraid of "looking like a bodybuilder" that you relegated the single most important part of your exercise program to the bench. It's an ignorant way of thinking -- and it's been proven wrong both by science and in the trenches for years -- yet people still follow this false "logic" by running for hours on a treadmill like a bored hamster on a wheel.

You can't just run the fat off your body! (Unless you plan on running forever.)

You have to beat it off your body with iron and steel!! (Then maybe take a quick run home, just to enjoy the spoils of victory!)

Who wins in the end? The one who runs? OR THE ONE WHO FIGHTS! Yeah, I thought you'd start to see it my way.

"Muscle IS metabolism!" You failed because you don't understand the importance of that statement and how to use it to your advantage. When it comes to lifting weights, there is everything to gain and nothing to fear.

Guys, you are in control of how big you get! Muscles do not grow huge and bulging overnight. It takes months and years. YOU WILL NOTICE BEFORE YOU TURN INTO A FULL BLOWN GIANT-MUSCLED FREAKAZOID!

And ladies, please understand your female bodies don’t produce enough testosterone to build the bulky muscles you see in bodybuilding ads. Testosterone is the key hormone for putting on muscle mass, and women just don't have enough of it (unless they are injecting it or just ridiculously hormonally imbalanced.) Weightlifting makes women strong, not huge. Don't we all agree that a strong woman is a sexy woman?

Here's your third mistake:

YOU ATE LIKE A BIRD, YET STILL BECAME A HIPPO.

Yeah, I know that was a low blow. "Isn't this supposed to be the Positive Charge blog?"

Listen, sometimes you need to shock yourself into finally "getting it". Sometimes you need to feel like an idiot before you finally stop using the same terrible strategies.

I'm not even gonna elaborate too much on this one:

If you consistently eat an amount of calories that is too far below your body's needs, you will suffer a long-term drop in your metabolism. The fat WILL get harder to keep off, and when it comes back, it will come back FASTER.

In part three, we'll tell you how to fix these mistakes, so next time, all your hard work will really pay off.

Why Your Weight Loss Suddenly Tanked Like The Economy -- And How To Fix It (Part 1 of 3)

"My weight loss plan was working perfectly."

Armed with your 1300 calorie diet, your hour-a-day cardio routine, and your no-carbs-after-4pm rule, you threw yourself into your weight loss plan with all the enthusiasm and dedication you could muster. You even used the weight machines once in a while if you were feeling good after that hour on the elliptical.

"It's all about calories in, calories out!" That was your mantra. If you just kept burning far more calories that you were consuming every day, that 85 pound weight loss goal would be a reality! You were giving up whatever foods were necessary and pushing your body as hard as it could stand.

It was working. In the first week you lost 10 pounds! The next week, 8 down. Then nearly another 10 by the end of the first month!

"This is almost too good to be true."

Emboldened by your skyrocketing weight-loss totals, you decide that as great as this is, more would be even better! Sixty minutes of spin class turned into ninety. 1300 calories dropped to 1200. Hey, whats 100 calories a day? Especially when you hit another 7 pounds off the scale this week and 5½ the next. The scale was the only critic that mattered - and the scale was saying good things.

Still, you couldn't help but think... Even though the weight loss numbers were impressive, they were down from what you had been losing at the start. It was a bit confusing that you were working harder, eating less, yet losing weight slower. But why?

"I think I figured it out!"

It seems logical that since you're a lighter person than you were a few months ago, you're just not burning as much calories during your cardio. You're carrying around less weight, so you're body isn't working as hard. Right? So of course you need to step up the cardio even more! You decide to squeeze in a second workout on days you don't have work. Your family would understand.

By the same token, a lighter body needs less calories, doesn't it? When you started with 1300 calories a day, that was almost 40 pounds ago! Chopping off that 100 calories obviously was not enough, you thought. Doctors say 1200 calories is a bare minimum for your gender, but you decided you could get by for a while on 1100. Just until you hit your goal.

The scale is judging you. But now its verdict is only 2-3 pounds every week to ten days.

"I'm still losing weight, but..."

This so called "fitness lifestyle" is getting really hard to maintain for you. Your energy is not where it was after the first month. You're feeling more stressed and less focused. You had to skip your workout today because of another headache.

You want that ICE CREAM, DAMMIT! Just one bowl!

But, no! You've come so far with your plan. You can't just quit on yourself. Maybe you just overdid it. Maybe if you just went back to your original plan, you would see better results again. So it's back to 1300 calories and 60 minutes on the treadmill, no carbs after 4pm.

It's a week later, and those extra 200 calories a day haven't made you feel all that much more energetic. Sixty minutes on the stairmaster isn't much easier than ninety, either. But you think to yourself: "This is the routine that had me losing 10 pounds a week. This is the routine my body liked best." Right?

"I gained weight?!? How is this possible?!?"

Somehow, your weight went up a pound. You're doing the same things that had you losing 10 pounds a week a few months ago. What if you tried that fat burner pill. Or that fat blocker pill? Or that 5 day, juice and pepper detox thing?

It's ridiculous, isn't it. How did you gain weight? Yeah, you finally broke down and snuck those french fries on Wednesday - but on Thursday you made up for it by skipping breakfast.

You start feeling that none of this is worth it -- that this is the start of ALL those pound you lost coming right back. You've seen it with others. They're gonna come back faster and heavier than before. You can't understand why it isn't working for you.

"Am I just meant to always be fat?"

The answer to that question is "no". You have the desire and the commitment and the physical ability to do it. Of that there is no doubt.

But there are some real good reasons that your weight-loss bubble burst, and the state of your physical fitness is now in recession.

In Part 2, we'll examine the mistakes that caused this situation, so that you NEVER, EVER make them again...