diets – Erika Helsinki Body Therapy

Low carb, 5:2, the alkaline and blood type diet, bullshit “detoxes & cleanses” (Forever, Juice+, Cambridge etc), paleo……. you name it.

None of them are ‘good for’ you and most likely only make you gain weight afterwards.

But here’s the secret as to why “they work”:

YOU

ARE

CALORIE

DEFICIT.

If a diet makes you lose weight, it’s simply because your body is burning more than what you’re eating, no matter what the method

Some of you may have tried eating a shit ton of vegetables once and noted that you can in fact eat more and lose weight. This is true, because vegetables are not calorie dense foods

[a kilogram of carrots = 410 kcal, whereas

a kilogram of vegetable oil = 8,115 kcal]

Which also makes them a great food group to have when you’re trying to lose weight (on top of the fact that they’re packed with vitamins).

So STOP giving shitty diets credit, when in fact it’s nothing to do with

what you eat

but rather

how much energy you consume (vs. burn)

Then there’s what I hear all the time… “I know what I need to do to lose weight, but…..”

Yep yep. There’s just one thing that might come as a shock to many - even healthy eating does NOT guarantee weight loss. Shocking, right? It’s definitely a wise idea to make your eating habits healthier and include a lot of colour in your diet, but……. too much of any food can make you gain weight. I remember watching this documentary when I was young on a morbidly obese woman who did not understand why she was dying because of her weight… seen as she had 52 (!!!) oranges a day. They’re healthy, right?? This is an extreme example, but just let me tell you

that in 52 average oranges

there are 3,796 kcal and

884 GRAMS of sugar

That’s close to a fucking kilogram of pure sugar!!!

So yeah, fruit is not bad for you

as long as you have it in moderation

just like anything else

There’s a BIG problem if you follow diets that others have made for you without knowing anything about your general eating habits and preferences

And the problem is that you’re not going to be on that diet for the rest of your life, so it WON’T WORK [here’s why]

So the solution?

Learn what’s in your food

Start tracking your calories today by downloading MyFitnessPal

And no matter what you eat,

if you stay under your average needed calories you will lose weight.

(Check how many you need here)

You can achieve anything you want. Just decide you're going to do it, and figure out why you want to do it. Then go get it!

Good luck!

Ever lost weight quickly? It's OK if you've been

a) really ill or
b) been on a proper binge -> your body is bloated due to excess fluids -> you're losing the excess fluids fast.

Any other occasion (like a fad diet)? This is where it gets scary - because it will never work in the long term.

If you lose a lot of weight initially, you must ensure your lifestyle habits are radically changed directly following the rapid initial weight loss.

See, that's what it is - weight loss - not fat loss. And there's a massive difference.

Rapid weight loss 95% of the time results in you ending up heavier than you ever were before. And this is due to the muscle mass lost in the progress (meaning slower metabolism). Anyone saying you can lose a lot of fat and not muscle tissue in a short space of time is bullshitting you. This is a scientific fact.

There was a woman who came to me at the gym the other day asking about personal training and bragging that she can lose up to a stone in a week, easy (my reaction certainly wasn't WOW). I then asked if she's prepared to change her eating and drinking habits for good with a bit of help, and the answer was negative (all the regular excused; "I can't [you can] because my social life depends on getting drunk twice a week"/"I don't have time to cook [yes you do]"/"I can't cook [yes you can]"/"I don't like cooking or preparing meals [that's just being lazy and a big part of the problem]"/"My husband eats takeaways every night so I must as well [no you don't/how about the healthier options and smaller portions?]"/"I have to eat chocolate and cake every night" [unnecessary emotional eating] and other invalid reasons).

It was desperately obvious she wasn't ready for a real change - and consequently because of that I wasn't interested in training her as a private client. It's also obvious she'll continue yo-yo dieting = getting bigger every year. I truly hope she doesn't keep going like that forever, because it is frustrating seeing people voluntarily (yes, voluntarily) suffer with their weight.

There's one important message everyone seeking a positive long term change in their body composition must internalise:

Personal training doesn't give you motivation. You must have it first. Don't even think about radically changing your body composition for good if

1) you can't see beyond tomorrow (unless you're seriously ill or significantly change your everyday activity levels) or

2) are not ready to change.

Personal training can "only" give you the tools to change your life. For good. But you must want it first.

P.s. I do personal training differently from many others - I sell results, not exercise sessions. Not all PTs will provide you with anything but exercise - and that's fine - but not my cup of tea :-)

/Erika Helsinki

Tag: diets

The secret behind EVERY successful diet

The No. 1 reason for weight loss failure