Just when you think it’s gone away, the season of the heavily marketed “quick fixes” is upon us with swimsuit season around the corner. It’s easy to spot on social media; unscrupulous supplements companies, psuedo-“coaches” and newly anointed “nutrition experts” sell whatever cleanse or detox or “quick start kit” to help you shed the extra lbs you may have packed on over the Holidays.
Believe me when I say I completely understand the emotional pull to get a “head start,” a push in the right direction, a “reset” or whatever it takes to get you started on your path to weight loss.
But is that path maintainable? Can you see yourself juice fasting for the rest of your life to maintain that loss, or sucking down overly priced shakes on a daily basis, now and forever? What about the endless BS supplements that MLMs want to sell to you? Will you take those forever, believing that there’s a special formulation in that shake or bottle that’s keeping you lean? If the answer is yes, then don’t bother reading on.
I also believe that rapid fat loss plans sometimes have a place in our lives. Take for instance, fitting into your wedding dress, tightening up for a photoshoot, or looking great at your 10-year High School reunion. Generally, that type of fat loss is temporary, or at least meant to be. In which case, go read Lyle McDonald’s Rapid Fat Loss program and see how it’s possible to use actual food (not shakes, pills, or gimmicks) to shed the fat, and fast.
The same is true with exercise programs. Gyms get an influx of new members in January and attendance tends to peter out by March (I get to see this first hand as a trainer at a commercial gym).
During the post-Holiday season, gyms and studios also entice you with low-priced offers to try more strenuous exercise programs like CrossFit, boot camp classes, hot yoga, kettlebell circuit classes, and so on. They figure you’re desperate to burn it off- and now.
Don’t get me wrong, while there’s nothing wrong with following advanced fitness programs, there’s also plenty right with simpler, cheaper, and less strenuous programs.
As much as I enjoy very challenging workouts, not every single workout needs to leave you dripping in sweat or totally trashed and in search of a masseuse. It’s perfectly fine to do low intensity work when you’re feeling a little under the weather. If your body wants to crank out some moderate steady state cardiovascular activity without dripping buckets of sweat, you’re still doing a whole lot better than if you had done absolutely nothing.
Along the same lines, not every workout in the weight room needs to translate into the requisite day-after (or two days-after) muscle soreness. Bodybuilders popularized workout splits that might have them in the gym 6 days a week, but beginner trainees can see results with as little as 2 to 3 times per week full body workouts.
As with your nutrition program, pick a training format that you can see yourself doing for a very, very long time.