Today I was asked, “What do you do when a friend asks you for advice on losing weight?”
Here’s the honest answer, “I largely ignore the question and try to change the topic or deflect it away any way I can.”
This is just from my experience, but 99% of the time the person in question does not want to lose weight, they want to weigh less…
These two things (losing weight versus weighing less) are very, very different.
They don’t want to change, they just want to wake up with a great body…
Obviously, this isn’t something I can help with.
The other problem is it’s usually not just their diet that needs to change, or even their lifestyle, it’s their entire way of life that contributes to weight gain. So, it’s their entire way of life that needs to change in order to see lasting weight loss.
And from my experience, entire ways of life don’t change via free advice.
In this scenario, the best I can do is lead by example.
But more often than not, their assumption is I have some trick I use, or it’s just my genetics, but the truth is, it is my entire way of life.
Truth be told, if I really wanted to help people lose weight I would increase the price of Eat Stop Eat to 100 dollars per book. Far less people would buy it, but those who did would be invested heavily in making a change in their lives. They wouldn’t just read about fasting and weight training, they’d actually practice it.
Remember, losing weight and keeping it off is a commitment to a new way of life, it’s not just a diet and some exercise.
-BP
