Weight Loss: is faster better when it comes to losing weight?

I recently received some feedback from a nutrition coaching client, basically saying he was expecting more of a boot-camp, intense style to the 6-week nutrition coaching group I run online through our gym. Despite the fact that he’s made some pretty significant changes in his fitness and nutrition habits over the last year, and particularly in the last month with nutrition, I got the feeling he was looking for more immediate and/or jaw-dropping results in 6-weeks.

Can you get body composition change results like that in a short time? Is it really possible? Yup. You can absolutely achieve a pretty significant change in your body in 6 weeks if, and only if, you’re ready, willing and able to do what it takes. But, and this is a pretty huge butt (oops – not that kind!), it’s not easy, and for most people who have other priorities in life, it’s not really worth doing what it takes to achieve weight-loss/fat-loss results really fast.

When it comes to weight loss: is faster better?

While some of my coaching clients do achieve seriously amazing transformation-like results in just 6-weeks, I put a huge emphasis on the long-term success of my clients. (<- awesome example – this transformation was over a few years!)

I did a whole bunch of the on-again, off-again years myself and I know how frustrating and miserable it can feel. Either you’re on a diet feeling good and motivated or you’re off a diet, feeling like you are a total failure with no willpower.

Unfortunately, most people are more excited about diets before actually starting them. Low calorie or restrictive diets generally give people short-term hope… usually followed by failure.

Generally speaking, you probably don’t hear the word ‘diet’ and think happy, fun thoughts. When you’re about to start a diet or you decide to implement any type of nutrition change, you’re not thinking sand, sun, champagne and friends. Sure, you might be excited about the way you’ll look and feel later {hope}, but you also know the next 21 days, 30 days, 12 weeks, etc. will include lots of restriction, food boredom, and maybe even loneliness.

There are about 6 million reasons super restrictive diets don’t work for most people in the long run, but today let’s talk about how you can get out of your own way and figure out a solution that works for you long-term. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if you knew you didn’t need need to embark on some suffer-train diet for several months to get the results you want.

Are you looking at your diet within the context of the rest of your life?

If you’re looking for jaw-dropping results fast, you might not realize just how much you need to sacrifice in order to get there. You probably have to give up a lot of your favorite things… and I’m not talking about just food.

If you want to get lean or go from lean to super shredded in a short amount of time, you have to be ready, willing and able to put a plan into place that likely includes measuring your food, sleeping a lot and spending a bunch of time in the gym.

My client who thinks he would benefit from a hard-ass coach and boot-camp style diet/fitness regime is currently leading an overall healthy lifestyle. He started a business recently and has two young kids. He works a lot on his own business and helping out at a previous job. He prioritizes date night every week with his wife and loves hanging out with friends and family. Keep in mind date nights often involve nice dinners with rich foods and wine…and weekends away involve beers outside on the lake.

I asked my client if he feels ready for a super-intense plan given his priorities in life right now. It wasn’t a knock on him or his family, actually probably quite the opposite. I understand where he’s at and I know I wouldn’t give up time with my family, date nights with my husband, or evenings with Josh, in order to get a bit more lean.

Here are a few questions I posed.

“Would you really prefer having to pack a Tupperware of food for almost every meal? Do you really want to implement a rule you can not have any beers with friends on the weekends or bread from the bread basket at a restaurant while you’re on a date with your wife? Do you think that would work for you right now?”

It’s important to take a more than moment of self-reflection and think about what you want and why you want it. Look at your life and priorities and decide what you’re actually ready, willing and able to do right now given your situation as a whole.

Weight Loss and Life Balance

I think {and hope} I helped my client now see that his priorities are actually a-ok and it’s not ‘giving up’ at all if he is still, as he says, eating super-healthy and hitting the gym often. This is actually pretty huge considering he wasn’t training at all before that and didn’t pay much attention to food choices.

I know it can feel like you’re giving up when you decide to trust a process that is different than you originally pictured. However, this is actually where the magic happens. Yup, even for type A persons like us business owners tend to be.

For this client, I encouraged him not to feel like he’s giving up on anything just because he didn’t meet some super-high expectations he set for himself. Instead, we talked about what he can implement right now to help him keep moving in the right direction. It might be as simple as continuing to drink more water, eating slowly and stopping at 80% full. At least, for now.

Success breeds success and even small steps in the right direction are going to be huge in the long run. In order to get crazy lean or revolutionize the way you are eating, something my client originally thought he wanted to do, it takes a lot of work. And time. Time you have to steal from something else you are currently doing.

Unfortunately, deciding you want to get shredded doesn’t buy you any more hours in the day.

I love this post from Precision Nutrition about the cost of getting lean. If you’re tired of feeling like you have to give up everything you enjoy to start getting results, I encourage you to embrace where you are at in this season of your life. Do something to keep moving forward instead of deciding you are a weight-loss failure.

Are you buying unhealthy lunches at the cafeteria every day? Can you bring lunch three times a week or choose a healthy option from the cafeteria twice a week instead of the burger and fries you currently eat? Are you drinking two glasses of wine every night? Can you cut that down to one? What if you start making tortilla pizzas on Friday night instead of getting take-out pizza? Keep track. If you’re doing your new habit check it off on the calendar every day. Start seeing yourself succeed and go from there.