Long-Term Goals For Weight Loss

Weight Loss Program Palm Beach Gardens

It makes a different having long-term goals for weight loss. Back in 2008, I coached a team in PGA National’s version of the Biggest Loser.  My team consisted of 6 individuals who participated for the sole purpose of losing weight.  It was an even split of women and men.  Three each.  It was a month long program that consisted of three group training sessions a week and two one-on-one meetings a month with a registered dietician. 

We had each participant keep a daily log of what they ate and record it in an online tracking software.  Our training consisted of a combination of weight training and cardio interval training.  Needless to say, my team won but not by much!  Our team averaged a 20 lb weight loss per person.  These are obviously staggering results.  The effort that each individual put in to his or her weight loss was amazing to see and very rewarding for our team.  We had a big article published in the Palm Beach Post about our incredible results.  Everything was great…the problem was, 6 months later everyone had put the weight back on.

Here is What I Learned about Weight Loss:

• • Long-term dietary change is more about psychology than it is physiology:  While meeting with the dietician absolutely helped my team’s knowledge on what to eat, we did nothing to try to alter each person’s daily behaviors.  Of course, their behaviors changed, but the problem was that they changed too many things and decreased their caloric intake to a point where there was no chance of maintaining the feverish pace they created.  My team simply wore themselves out both physically and psychologically.  The radical changes that they made did little to help them grow and eat well long-term.  It became more about the contest than the original message of changing their dietary habits.
  • Group training is far superior for motivation than training on one’s own:  Working towards a common goal can be a great motivator.  Each individual was in the same boat and they fed off of the effort each person gave.  They realized they were much more likely to go out and exercise on days off from team training if they scheduled sessions together rather than exercising on their own.  Moreover, the fear of not losing enough weight motivated them even more because they did not want to let their team down.
  • Resistance training with intermittent high intensity cardio will beat steady state cardio every time for fat loss:  While I could spend the next half hour citing studies supporting this very notion, it was nice to see it applied in real life.  The fact is training with weights and including intermittent bouts of heart rate elevating cardio will increase EPOC (exercise post oxygen consumption).  In other words, the body’s metabolic rate stays elevated throughout the rest of the day to accommodate for the new physiological stresses placed on it.  This means more calories are burned at rest. 

Here Are Some Of The Musts For Long-Term Dietary Change:

• • Make sure you remind yourself of your goal every day.  Your direction must be crystal clear.  This might mean putting a picture of your skinnier self on the bathroom mirror.In the beginning, make only a couple of behavioral goals.  Too many goals and new habits will derail you.  For example, week 1 your goal is to drink 6 glasses of water a day.  Week 2, you will eat until you are 80% full.  Week 3 your goal is to eat 5 feedings a day.  So on and so forth.In your head, shrink the change. 
  • Make sure you know that you that this goal is not too lofty, and you will achieve it one day at a time, one change at a time.  For example, your days of endless cardio to lose weight are over.  You will adopt a 10 minute a day body weight timed resistance training program.  This is something that is easier to achieve and much less frightening.
  • In line with shrinking the change, create the expectation of failure.  Failure is going to happen, but it will occur en route to your goal, and you will not fail at the mission itself.  The idea is to learn from your failures along the way so you can avoid repeating them later on.
  • Let everyone know what you are doing.  You are much more likely to quit and give up if you are the only one who knows what you are trying to change.  Having your loved ones eat well with you and your friends work out with you will increase your chances of long-term change.
  • Alter your environment to your advantage.  Throw out all your junk food, eat all your meals off of smaller dinnerware like salad plates, and shop only on the outskirts of the super market because all of the processed food is in the middle aisles.
  • Build habits by creating action triggers.  This means planning something out ahead of time and telling yourself when and where you will do it.  This could mean laying out your workout clothes the night before and saying you will work out right after you drop your child off at school. 

The people who make the most impressive changes are the ones who have clear direction, maintain ample motivation, and keep a supportive environment.  I only wish I spent more time reinforcing these goals than yelling at my team to give me one more!