A common MYTH is the idea that
…with enough effort…,
it is possible for everyone to be able
to reach the same goals.

However,
not all goals are reachable
for all people.

The existence of this Myth tends to be overlooked or forgotten when it comes to weight and what our bodies can accomplish.

As a result of this blindness or memory loss, overweight or obese people are wrongfully perceived as morally inferior and weak and lazy. Efforts to Diet become internalized “attempts at redemption.”

Our culture contains an enormous Diet Industry. This is a particular form of economic and commercial activity involving the marketing of food, equipment, and drugs etc. as well as the marketing of information, and services from “experts”.

The term Diet Industry “Experts” involves a wide range of information givers, which includes “successful dieters”; trainers; dietitians; nutritionists; therapists, doctors and other medical professionals; hospitals; drug companies; scientists; educators; authors; publishers; journalists; politicians; and various organizations of all types, including “health care” organizations.

Unfortunately, a close look at the Diet Industry shows that even successfully following any Diet, … even those diets that we choose to call: a “Lifestyle Change”, a “Way-of-Eating” Plan, a “non-diet” plan, … doesn’t really bring us a permanent Solution for long-term weight-control.

However, long-term weight-control has never been a requirement or even a primary goal of the Diet Industry, nor the motivation behind it. Any study of the Diet Industry shows that it is a “triumph of capitalist success in selling promises to desperate people”.

One of the ways the Diet Industry sustains itself is by subtly connecting people to “ideals” of body-weight – even though those ideals are unattainable or unsustainable for the vast majority of the population.

 A Yorkshire Terrier and a German Shepherd are both black and tan, and they both are of the same “species.” That doesn’t mean one can become the other’s size and weight – “if they just try hard enough!”

We are not all the same.
We do not all look the same.
We cannot all look the same, no matter how hard we might try.

This such a difficult concept to get people to understand and to remember.  It is the OPPOSITE of the lie that our Culture tells us every single day. The Diet Industry, in particular, would like us to keep believing that if we just do the right things, each of us can wake up one day with a Body that looks like a fashion, fitness, or other advertising model who is pictured online, or in magazines, television or movies. 

 It is important for each of us to understand and remember that this is a MYTH.
Although this might be true for a VERY small percentage of people with the right genetic makeup, it is simply not true in general. It is simply NOT TRUE for almost Everyone. 

We need to rise above this MYTH. In order to find peace, we need to ACCEPT our own genetic, physical, psychological, cultural, and behavioral differences. We each need to learn how to live with our own self, and to be happy with the specific body that each of us individually has.

 
Frequently, weight-loss frustration comes
because
one keeps expecting to see flowers
long before the seeds have been sown.

Learn More About this at:

How Long Does Losing Weight Take?  

Why Diets Fail - The Salt/Water/Waste Issue

Why Count Calories?

 
As stated in my previous article: Why Diets Fail - The Salt/Water/Waste Issue, Diet-related weight loss has two distinct stages: first, the loss of phantom weight, and second the actual loss of excess body fat.

The loss of phantom weight lasts for about two weeks. It consists primarily of a reduction of undigested foods, fluids, and stools inside the gastrointestinal tract, but almost no actual body fat.

The first stage: phantom weight loss, can be anywhere from 5 to 20 lbs., depending on one’s starting weight, diet, and colon health. However, after the first stage, even though one is still consuming the exact same diet, the quick scale drop ends and the “magic” is over.

The second stage: permanent loss of body fat, is where we get what we are ACTUALLY going for. How long that stage takes depends on many factors, beginning with the amount of fat one needs to lose and ending with one’s age, height, gender, ethnicity, occupation, rate of metabolism, personality type, the quality of sleep, physical activity, diet composition, and climate, together with some additional factors.

There is a way to estimate the time it will take to lose excess fat weight instead of using the common “3500 calories equals 1 fat lb Theory”.

 We can estimate how long we can expect an effective weight loss diet to take, by using the following formula:

1. Excess fat = Current weight minus Desired weight minus Phantom weight
   
   
2. Fat loss duration equals Excess fat divided by Daily fat loss
   
   
3. Total diet duration equals Fat loss duration plus Two weeks

• Current weight. Weigh on a reasonably accurate scale the first thing in the morning, in the nude, after urinating, before eating or drinking anything.

• Desired weight is the target “normal” weight.

• Phantom weight loss is determined during the first two weeks of one’s diet. This weight is incredibly self-deceptive, because no matter how big as this number might be, for all intents and purposes it is nearly meaningless to true weight (i.e., fat) loss.

• Excess fat is the only realistic measure of one’s weight “problem.” That is the number one wants to lose, and losing it requires quite some time. One’s excess fat is determined by subtracting one’s phantom weight losses and one’s desired weight from one’s current weight.

• Fat loss duration is the number of days one must remain on a lower calorie diet until attaining one’s desired weight. People who start a weight-loss diet with unrealistic expectations will probably stop consistently following it, long before that diet has a chance to prove itself, one way or another.

• Average Daily fat loss. To establish this number as accurately as is possible, one will need to stay on a fat reduction diet for at least 14 to 28 days (two to four weeks or longer) after completing the first two week phantom weight loss period.

        This is because of:

(a) the low resolution of consumer weight scales;

(b) day-to-day natural weight loss fluctuations;

(c) the propensity of weight loss to slow down somewhat as the body adjusts to reduced calorie intake; and

(d) inevitable lapses in one’s daily caloric intake.

To properly estimate daily fat loss, wait until the weight number taken AFTER the first two weeks, drops at least 5 more lbs, and divide this number by the number of days it took to lose there. .

...... If one doesn’t see any measurable weight reduction for this period, it means that the diet being used, is too generous for that person’s particular rate of metabolism, and that person will need to reduce caloric intake even more......  Whatever the diet or food plan, as long as a person consumes less nutrients than their body expends for energy and structural metabolism, fat loss … over time …. is just as certain to occur as sunrise and sundown.

• Total diet duration. It’s important to realize that the total diet duration will probably be longer than one’s most conservative estimate, because Real Life continues to happen, diet or no diet.

Here is an Example which uses the above-stated formula:

1. 200 lb Current weight … subtract 150 lb Desired weight (50 lbs)…subtract 7 lb Phantom weight… equals Excess Fat of 43 lbs.
   

2. Excess Fat (43 lb) divided by Daily fat loss (.14 – see Hypo below) equals Fat Loss Duration of 307 days.
   
   Hypothetical example of daily fat loss - 4 lb total net weight-loss during the four-weeks AFTER the first two week (phantom weight-loss) period. Divide 4 lbs by 28 days (4 weeks) results equal approx .14 of one lb per day.
   
   

   Fat loss duration (307 days) plus two weeks Total weight-loss diet duration 321 days
   
   Pursuant to this formula, starting the diet on January 1st, at 200 lbs, and correctly and consistently following that diet for 321 days (45 weeks), one could expect to reach 150 lbs by the end of November:

Below is a comparison of the use of the above-stated formula to the standard THEORY used,..." A 3500 Calorie Deficit equals a one fat lb loss" :

45 weeks losing 43 fat lbs equals weight-loss of approximately 1 lb per week.
would indicate that one’s actual dietary - (caloric) - deficit for that entire period of time would have been approximately 500 calories a day.

 It is very important to REMEMBER however, that even the “right-for-you” weight-loss or maintenance diet fails unless it truly is consistently and patiently followed correctly.