You can’t out-exercise a poor diet any more than you can eat yourself thin because if weight loss began in the kitchen, then all we would have to do is eat real food, create a slight caloric deficit and voila, the excess weight would inevitably disappear.
Since that almost never happens, what’s going on?
If weight loss doesn’t begin in the gym, and it doesn’t begin in the kitchen, where does it begin?
It begins between the ears.
Oh, I know that doesn’t sound nearly as sexy as the latest fad diet or as much fun as a newly discovered secret. Still, nonetheless, it’s an absolute fact that sustained weight loss begins and is maintained by what’s between our ears; in other words, it’s a function of our thoughts, behaviours, habits and beliefs.
No two people have the same view of the world any more than two people live identical lifestyles. When it comes to losing weight, what works for you will be unique; there’s no singular solution for the multitudes.
Naturally, there are the great, immutable laws that must be followed, but within those contexts are countless distinctions and finding those particulars that best work for each of us requires thought, knowledge, and understanding … the exact opposite to the canned, one-solution-fits-all garbage advice that we get from much of the fitness and weight-loss industry.
So, how do people lose weight and keep it off successfully?
Ultimately, it’s accomplished through mastery. If you want to lose fat and improve your body composition, you will need to know how to master weight loss and health … there is no other way.
And what exactly is health mastery?
If you’ve ever observed a master craftsman, an accomplished musician or someone highly skilled in any task, you can’t help but notice that everything they do is done with absolute certainty and precision. There’s minimal effort, no indecision, no flip-flopping from one idea to another, no hoping that the eventual outcome will work. They simply know what to do to achieve the result they desire.
Well, the same rules apply to mastering your weight, fitness and health, and it begins by learning what works best for you; that’s the key.
Therefore, it’s up to us to understand the broad strokes of what it takes to eat a healthy diet, what it requires to get sufficient exercise, what it takes to get a good night’s sleep, and finally, and no less important, what do we have to do to avoid living a life of chronic stress.
Health begins between the ears. We wouldn’t expect to master any skill without investing the time and effort to understand it, so why would we think that weight loss – perhaps the most difficult challenge we’ll ever face – can be achieved in any other way?
True mastery in anything always begins between the ears.