Posted by Michael Donelly

Read this if: You seem never to be able to put on muscle or to lose weight, or if you are confused about  the diet/health information out there and what is worth reading.

What you can gain: The body you always wanted

Cost: Minimal financial outlay but significant behaviour modification

So many people see money as the measure of success, but what use is money without health? So you can pay for your liposuction and triple bypass operations? Health is wealth without a doubt and unless you are one of the unfortunate people who have an irreversible disease there is plenty you can do to put your health in order. Ok, not everyone wants to be a fitness nerd but contrary to what we all believed at 14, there is nothing cool about being out of shape.

I am no doctor. I am just a normal guy like you, but I have been through my learning curve and gone from fat to fit and stayed there. Benefit from my mistakes. Here is some of the advice I can give based on advice I got from others and my own trial and error.

Information Sources

Even if you have the will to get in shape, there is so much information out there on the internet, most of it bad. Who do you trust? There are a few information sources that definitely should not be trusted:

• Studies paid for by a party interested in selling a product.
• Studies that showed doing one activity caused another effect. These studies are often flawed because the people who do the activity have other common behaviours which influence the outcome of the experiment. For example people who don’t eat potato chips are often from a wealthier background. Their wealth can also play a part in their health via better education and medication. This skews the results of these studies producing false conclusions.
• Doctors who are paid by product suppliers to promote a product.
• Doctors who cannot even keep in shape themselves. Why would you listen to them?
• Product suppliers who are telling you the amazing benefits of their product, and quoting studies that show them in a good light, but ignoring the studies which don’t.
• The US Food and Drug Administration. Their advice is based on very old and flawed studies. Ignore their Food Pyramid, it’s completely upside down. If you follow their advice you will become obese and diabetic.

So those are the bad guys. Who are the good guys?

• Independent advisors who are not selling products.
• Check web discussion boards for guru recommendations like great books or great trainers.
• Avoid anything that sounds extreme. Dieting is bad and will just make you depressed, tired and weak. People rebound eat when their diet is over and usually end up even more overweight. This is called yo-yo dieting. “Dieting” and “a healthy diet” are not the same thing. Avoid pills and potions. These will just make you sick in the long term and you will become dependent.
• People who are older and still look great. Ask them what they do and DON’T eat and how they keep in shape. In my experience it’s more about what you should not eat than what you should that makes the difference.

Get Started

I have found not only in health and fitness but most aspects of life the first step is the hardest. Inertia is the enemy. We are too tired or too lazy, or we want to watch some TV program, have prior obligations or we are even afraid or embarrassed. None of these are good reasons not to pick up the phone or to pick up a self help book and start reading. “Just do it”, is great advice. No time like the present. Start today! Do it now! You get the idea. It’s not hard once you get going and after a short time you will wonder what kept you from it all this time. Take that first step. It’s easy.

If you are particularly lazy, find a personal trainer who comes highly recommended and who can keep you motivated. Make sure they are able to advise you on what constitutes a healthy diet and they keep a watchful eye on what you eat. Don’t lie to them or lie to yourself about what you ate.

Keep at it

The second stumbling block is keeping going once you started. After a holiday break or a few days of binge drinking you may find yourself back at square one; too lazy to get back into the routine. Avoid this at all costs. Make sure before you go on holiday you already have the next session booked with the trainer. If you work out on your own then try to get a couple sessions in while you are on holiday to keep the routine going. Once you stopped for a week it’s harder to get back into it. If you binge drink or binge eat make it one day per week. This will help you abstain the rest of the time as you can look forward to your weekly dose of indulgence.

Finally, here is a little inspiration to get you started: