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Don't fool yourself - crash dieting and "marathon" gym sessions simply don't work. Your body was never meant to be fat. And getting it back in shape is easier than you think... |
You Do Not Need Supplements
By Will Brink
Supplements? You don’t need them. Bet you never thought you would read that coming from me, did you? Let me qualify that statement: Does a person need supplements to achieve the basic goal of losing weight? No, no they don’t.
Can supplements help the process? Can supplements potentially speed up the process? Can supplements potentially offset some of the negatives? Can supplements help optimize the effects of exercise and diet? The answer is yes in all cases.
The problem, however, is that I see far too many people under the impression that the next whiz bang “cutting edge” weight loss supplement is going to make some huge difference to their appearance, while their diet and workout are put on the back burner or set low on the priority list.
They are constantly looking for that one supplement that’s going to make all the difference while they ignore their nutrition and training. I see it all the time, and frankly, it’s frustrating.
As far as supplements go, start with the basics, like a good multivitamin, a source of essential fatty acids (EFAs) and a high-quality protein powder post-workout, then add additional supplements over time depending on your goal, be it weight loss, endurance, strength, etc.
Bottom line: The shotgun approach many people take with supplements rarely works, wastes money, and adds complexity and confusion.
I love supplements. I take a dozen or more supplements every day of my life. I have designed them for supplement companies, spoken about them at various conferences, been involved in publishing research on supplements, and built my career on them; so I am not some anti–supplement zealot by any means.
However, I do speak with people all the time who take a long list of supplements (many of which have been shown to be totally worthless), but have diets that are poorly thought out and exercise programs that are a joke. Don’t be one of these people.
Yes, the correct use of supplements can assist with maintaining your metabolic rate, prevent muscle loss, and suppress appetite, as well as have other effects conducive to losing weight. Make no mistake about it, supplements such as “fat burners,” protein powders, various herbs, and others, can have a substantial effect on fat loss if used properly in conjunction with a well thought out nutritional and exercise plan.
However, it’s a topic that must be researched by each person to decide what is appropriate for that person to use, which is why I wrote an e–book that covers the topic extensively.
Psychology 101
This is not really a tip per se, but an overall assessment of the psychological aspect of why people fail at long-term weight loss. In many respects, the psychological aspect is the most important for long-term weight loss, and probably the most underappreciated component.
Studies that compare the psychological characteristics of people who successfully kept the weight off to those who regained their weight, demonstrate clear differences between the two groups.
For example, one study that compared 28 obese women who had lost weight, but regained the weight that they had lost, with 28 formerly obese women who had lost weight and maintained their weight for at least one year, and 20 women with a stable weight in the healthy range, found the women who regained the weight:
• Had a tendency to evaluate self-worth in terms of weight and shape.
• Had a lack of vigilance with regard to weight control.
• Had a dichotomous (black–and–white) thinking style.
• Had a tendency to use eating to regulate mood.
The researchers concluded:
“The results suggest that psychological factors may provide some explanation as to why many people with obesity regain weight following successful weight loss.”
This particular study was done on women, so it reflects some of the specific psychological issues women have. But make no mistake here, men also have their own psychological issues that can sabotage their long-term weight loss efforts.
Additional studies on men and women find psychological characteristics such as “having unrealistic weight goals, poor coping or problem-solving skills and low self-efficacy” often predict failure with long-term weight loss.
On the other hand, psychological traits common to people who experienced successful long-term weight loss include “an internal motivation to lose weight, social support, better coping strategies and ability to handle life stress, self-efficacy, autonomy, assuming responsibility in life, and overall more psychological strength and stability.”
The main point of this section is to illustrate that psychology plays a major role in determining whether people are successful with long-term weight loss. If it’s not addressed as part of the overall plan, it can be the factor that makes or breaks your success.
This, however, is not an area most nutrition programs can adequately tackle and should not be expected to.
However, the better weight loss programs do generally try to help with motivation, goal setting, and support. If you see yourself in the above groups that failed to maintain their weight loss long term, then you know you will need to address those issues via counseling, support groups, etc.
Don’t expect any weight loss program to cover this topic adequately but do look for programs that attempt to offer support, goal setting, and resources that will keep you on track.
Debunking the “Proprietary Blend”
Many people have looked at the label of some supplement only to be baffled by the “proprietary blend” the product lists. The proprietary blend is an endless source of confusion for those who actually do read the labels and are attempting to figure out exactly what is in the product and how much of each ingredient exists in the formula they are considering.
A "proprietary blend" might be used in a supplement for one of two reasons:
a) to prevent the competition from knowing exactly what ratios and amounts of each ingredient are present in the formula. This prevents the competition from copying their formula exactly (commonly referred to as a "knock off"); or
b) to hide the fact the formula contains very little of the active ingredients listed on the bottle in an attempt to fool consumers.
Sadly, the latter use is far more common than the former. Buyers see a long list of seemingly impressive ingredients listed in the "proprietary blend," very few of which are there in amounts that will have any effect.
This is commonly referred to as "label decoration" by industry insiders, such as yours truly. So how does the consumer tell the difference? They can't, or at least they can't without some research and knowledge, which the scam artists know few people have the time and energy for.
Although there are a few tips the consumer can use to decide if a product with a "proprietary blend" is worth trying, no one, not even me, can figure out exactly how much of each ingredient is in the blend or in what ratio of each is contained within the formula, hence why the honest and not-so-honest companies employ "proprietary blends" so often.
Thus, we have something of a conundrum here, and conflict between a company making a quality formula—and attempting to protect that formula from other companies—vs. the company simply looking to baffle buyers with BS.
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