Committed to Weight Loss: Are You Really?

Committed to Weight Loss Are You?

What does commitment mean? According to Merriam-Webster:

a :an agreement or pledge to do something in the future a commitment to improve conditions at the prison; especially :an engagement to assume a financial obligation at a future date

b :something pledged the commitment of troops to the war

c :the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled a commitment to a cause

For me, it means acknowledging the importance of something and scheduling your life around it.

Here is an example (and I don't want to get into a religious discussion). Back in the early 1970's when I was growing up, there weren't many stores open on Sunday. Most people were committed to going to church. Many businesses opened later (if at all) and often closed early. The biggest reason for this was many Americans went to church. It was important. We scheduled our Sundays around going to church.

Some people say they are committed to walking a mile a day. Every day they put on their shoes and get up and go walking. Then one day it rains. One person opens the door and says, “That's too bad, I was in the mood to walk today.” The other person opens the door and sees the rain, and puts on a raincoat and grabs an umbrella. One person knows how important walking is, and schedules their life, and make a arrangements to keep it at the top of their priority list.

I recently went to Washington DC to speak at a podcast event. My hotel was about a mile from the event. It was between 35-50 degrees during the days and evenings. I had someone who was also at the event so we split the hotel bill. I explained I was a Step Bet, and I needed to get 9922 steps per day. I wanted to let him know that at night I may be doing laps around the hotel by walking in the hallway or using their exercise room. He suggested we walk to and from the event every day. This made making my daily goals easy. I still had to walk a bit at the hotel, but for a small amount of time. Step bet is an app where you put money in, and you have to hit your step goals for six weeks. When I started there were 598 people, three weeks in and we are down to 450 people with $23,920 that will be split by the people who hit their goal for six weeks.

Typically we hear the word commitment in regards to a relationship. When you are in a committed relationship, you don't go looking for another one.

With weight loss you are committing to a lifestyle and you don't go looking for another one. You are committed to eating different foods, and you don't go looking for others.

In the same way that “cheating” can devastate a committed relationship, cheating on a diet can devastate any progress you have made.

When Does Five Minus Two Equal Zero? Weight Loss Math

You are committed five days of the week. Monday through Friday you are committed. You've been focused for a few weeks and you are down four lbs. Then the weekend comes and you are busy, and you start eating fast food, you grab some cookies and desserts. You can be good for five days, and in two days on the weekend wipe out all your progress leaving you with zero.

I have got under 220. I'm a 217 lbs. This is partially due to staying committed. I'm eating right, exercising, and I got help by being sick. That leads me to my next topic

Why Do You Lose Weight When You Get Sick?

The real reason for losing all of this weight is dehydration. I know for a fact that being sick also requires an increased need for water. When people fall ill they do not drink enough. Water is a vehicle for every chemical action that occurs in the body. It is really important for healing and staying hydrated (obviously). Water is lost through excessive sweating when you are ill. Your body temperature runs high during a time of illness thus increasing your water loss. You need to drink an abundant amount of fluid during your illness and you will see little to no weight loss. I think that if one could make themselves eat more and drink enough during an illness they would be able to actually gain a little weight. It kind of works weird, huh? When there is a time that benefits us to eat a little extra we do not feel like doing so. When we want to eat more we really should not, but hey, that is life. -source

When you are sick, it is normal to lose a bit of weight as you’ll generally consume fewer calories, and less fluid, than you would normally consume to maintain your weight. If you are ill for more than a few days, this can be a marked weight loss. Sick for a week, it might be as much as 4-5 pounds. Sick longer and you should really be speaking with your doctor, not your personal trainer. Before we go any further, you should know that approximately half of the weight you’ll lose when sick is fluid weight, so you can expect to gain back about half of what you’ve lost within a day or two of recovering. Being sick is not a way to lose weight. That’s just dumb. -source