What is the right diet for me?

[scotty51312]

What is the best diet?

Over the past few years I've done hundreds of formal fitness/diet assessments and probably hundreds more not so formal. The question that seems to keep coming up is "what is the best diet for me?"


When I started my first job as a trainer I was hyped to say the least. I'd spend extra time away from the gym writing meal plans for clients including TDEE, Macro's, total cals etc. In less than 3 months I was so frustrated with almost every client I had. I had done the math, put in extra work, contacted my clients 3 times a week other than our normal sessions....what was I doing wrong? Surely the years of effort I put into my knowledge of how to eat/train wasn't all a waste?

What were the missing variables that i hadn't accounted for? The answer was in a prospective client that I sat down for an assessment (fancy talk for me selling a training package). During this interview I dug a little deeper than I normally did for this fairly overweight female. Half way through she broke down into tears and proceeded to tell me about her struggle with opiate addictions over the years, how every time she got clean she put on another 10lbs of fat untill there she was...32 years old 5'5 210lbs, 50% or more BF


So, what did I take away from this? Eating is an addiction! That may sound like an idiotic statement...of course its an addiction we have to eat to live. But hear me out...addiction boils down to habit. We are hard wired to repeat the same process to achieve what our brains interpret as pleasure or happiness. I was under the impression that everyone was blessed with the same willpower to just do what they know they need to do. It wasn't until i looked at overeating and eating the wrong stuff as an addiction that I began to have success.

The method

If I told you to give up what makes you happy.. what would your response be? Tell me to f*$K off right?
What if i told you to keep doing what makes you happy but I'd just like you to try doing something new as well...that doesn't sound so bad right? So for me the only step is

Don't take away...add..

Eat what you want and how you have been. But promise me you're going to eat a bowl of plain oats every morning. Not that difficult of a task. After two weeks of that... still eat what you want...but I want you to have a properly prepared green leafy vegetable once a day...and so on and so forth.

The word "diet" has become so synonymous with "taking something away" or "denying ourselves what we want" The very concept has failure written in it.

Add physical activity. Not just the gym or working out. Not everyone can easily get to the point of where you and I are...meaning feeling great after a workout. One of my most successful clients repeatedly thanks me for turning him into a golfer...his wife on the other hand hates me. But he's lost 100lbs in 2 years and other than his normal training regiment he walks and carries his clubs for 36 holes of golf a week instead of watching tv for 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday morning.

So the bottom line is adding enough good food and adding enough healthy activities will slowly push out the bad while the willpower, that you and I may have been blessed with, develops in them.

Food for thought when talking to those who are just starting on their fitness journey. Thanks for reading my rambling thoughts.

[bignath4607]

See this topic has annoyed me all my life when i see these obese people crying on tv wondering why they are 30 stone plus well number 1 that weight didnt f*cking appear overnight did it number 2 swap that cake or choc bar or whatever sugary substance your feeding in your fat face for something like most of us here eat and guess what you wont be a mess number 3 it aint rocket science and im sh1t at maths but if your burning off more calories than your recommended intake guess what you wont end up in that situation
Anyway rant over

Sent from my iPhone using Forum

[scotty51312]

A part of me feels that way too.. but unfortunately obese people aren't going to respond well to it. I feel almost obligated to help wherever I can.

[NACH3]

Very well written Scotty! I learned something new in that looking at it from a different point of view as you had too! It is an addiction, it is habitual, but it can change... Being a PT I am still learning the ins and outs of this ever changing industry(a great thing)... Thanks for sharing this as I've been thinking of other ways to handle clients/friends/family - it differs a lil bit from each other in that one is paying for your motivation and knowledge and the others are family(but we do them both b/c we live to help others succeed!

Great rambling post

[scotty51312]

Very well written Scotty! I learned something new in that looking at it from a different point of view as you had too! It is an addiction, it is habitual, but it can change... Being a PT I am still learning the ins and outs of this ever changing industry(a great thing)... Thanks for sharing this as I've been thinking of other ways to handle clients/friends/family - it differs a lil bit from each other in that one is paying for your motivation and knowledge and the others are family(but we do them both b/c we live to help others succeed!

Great rambling post

Thanks Nach. It gets rough sometimes having to invest yourself personally but maintain objectivity with those we're trying to help. I'm sure you know that though

[NACH3]

Thanks Nach. It gets rough sometimes having to invest yourself personally but maintain objectivity with those we're trying to help. I'm sure you know that though

Right... & no doubt it gets tough(time, life in general) but keeping others happy, healthy also helps keep myself and others around me happy and healthy too, it's a good circle(when balanced correctly) . Good stuff...