A Very Very Uncomfortable Truth

According to the CDC, in just over 15 years, obesity in America increased by 39%. Severe obesity about doubled.

In that same period, social media became every day, weight loss shows gained popularity, and fitness tracking technology exploded onto the scene. Deterioration of health and fitness ACCELERATED.

I’m not sure what else to say. It's not enough to say that the gimmicks don't work. The gimmicks are WORSENING our outcomes. I have been preaching sustainable lifestyle shift for longer than that 15 year period of time. And I’ve seen sustainability work while every sexy fitness trend has failed. I’ve coached sustainable. I’ve known it. I’ve lived it.

No guilt. Every popular voice is telling us the wrong things and we are listening. Intently. Our compliance is high. We are executing perfectly according to the food pyramids which indoctrinated us. We are living very tightly to our clinicians’ recommendations. We are abiding well by the popular shows, influencers, fitness trackers, exercise equipment, and franchises.

​People aren't failing. People aren't weak. People aren't refusing advice. People aren't struggling with self-control and willpower. People are doing exactly what popular voices tell them to do. And we are getting the precise outcome which the methodology reaps. Severe obesity DOUBLED. DOUBLED! People, wake the f up. More than 2 out of 5 Americans are obese, and that wasn't true 20 years ago. The commonly-accepted beliefs are clearly ineffective. 
...
So maybe...
think differently?

---

Who is this Jillian Michaels lady?

The bartender who obtained ONE personal training certification, never logged one single day of real coaching experience, was never mentored by one renowned coach, then became a celebrity with a 99% fail rate among clients?

Never heard of her.

There are many problems with the fitness industry, like any industry. A unique attribute, however, is that the more unqualified and wrong the person is, the more “right” outsiders think a piece of advice is.

If your students are pissing blood, regain more weight than they lost, and die, the general public clamors for your fame. It’s pretty cuckoo. Over its 17 season run, The Biggest Loser only worked with 204 candidates; and 2 of them died... in their 30s.

204 candidates is fewer clients than a full time coach will have overseen by year 5. I don’t have any peers who killed two 30-something clients by year 15 or 20.

Some friends of mine have chirped back that the show “raised awareness.” But according to the CDC, the only thing that happened among Americans during that show’s run was a DRAMATIC rise in obesity. DRAMATIC. Faster than any period in human history. SEVERE OBESITY DOUBLED.

Don’t get me wrong. You do you. If you have zero experience and love to workout, it’s cool. Be famous. Have your million follower social media accounts. But please know that you are a strong contributor to the problem. There is this thing called Exercise SCIENCE. Exercise SCIENCE doesn't give a rip about one fit person's opinion, no matter how famous that person is, no matter how fit that person is.

For the layperson out there, find PRACTICAL changes. We MUST ignore the noise of popular opinions, devices, equipment, and programs in the health and fitness world. Combined, they are all having a profound and lasting impact on worsening the outcomes for everyone. A 40% increase in the obese population in less than a generation is arguably THE greatest existential threat to mankind. Please, just find sustainable lifestyle steps. Take the steps. Ignore the noise.