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.