I’ve been discussing nutrition and weight loss for over 20 years now. During my conversations I have covered a range of strategies: paleo, the Zone, Atkins, vegan, whole food plant based, Weight Watchers, Slim Fast and the list goes on. Let’s make this less complicated.
We all know the simple truth about weight loss: to lose weight we must eat fewer calories than we burn. It’s a simple concept, and most of us have tried some lifehacks that should lead to weight loss. Those lifehacks are that we exercise more, eat healthier than we used to and skip an occasional meal.
As a Lifestyle Medicine physician, I would like to assure you that these lifehacks do, in fact, work. Yet, something is amiss because our population is getting heavier, not healthier. Let me share with you a story that I think illustrates the challenge we all face.
For most of my life I was in fairly decent shape through a combination of diet and lots of competitive swimming. During medical training, two big changes happened: my lifestyle became very sedentary, and my dietary habits became very unhealthy. I finally decided to reclaim my health, and I joined a run group.
While I joined the run group to train for a marathon, I found that I needed the social connection to others even more than I needed the marathon training. We joked around that “we ran so we can eat,” and we found ourselves at restaurants twice per week after runs. During this time my running improved and, at first, my weight dropped steadily. Then it stopped changing, and it got stuck on a plateau.
My quest for faster running times led me to run with a different set of runners. I was surprised to learn that they did not go out to restaurants very often after runs. When I joked that I ran so I could eat, they said, “We eat so we can run.” I learned from them. Not only did my running get faster, my weight started to drop again.
I joined the run groups to get into shape. Yet, it was the social connection that kept me coming back to the groups. In response to group expectations, I adopted certain behaviors. To put this into the language of behavior change, we tend to do what our people do. Or, stated another way, we change in the context of relationships.
The second group of runners provided me with accountability and a reality check. When we try to do something challenging like lose weight, we tend to be more successful when we surround ourselves with people who have established healthy habits. We respond to accountability and encouragement. That’s why the African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Reach out when you’re ready for that accountability that makes change happen. You CAN with Candid! I’m here for you!
-Dr. Joe
Photo by Total Shape on Unsplash
