Calories Are A Useless Consideration for Bringing about Change

Hormones and preconscious triggers run the show. Any fitness franchise or weight loss program which doesn’t mention the hormonal cascades which DICTATE physical change and progress is missing the point entirely.

“Burn more calories than you consume” is as helpful an explanation as “Jeff Bezos saved more money than he spent.” It’s true, but entirely useless information.

I’m amazed at just how popular certain gurus or programs are which fail to mention THE very critical hormonal and enzymatic cascades which DICTATE outcomes. They’re so silent on the subject, I have to wonder if they actually know ANY biology, biochemistry, or physiology.

I’ve been seeing these signs advertising “best workout in the” town, state, country, fill-in-blank here. Not only is this demonstrably false. It’s pointless. Working out hard has no correlation whatsoever with successful fitness. “Best” for 99% of the populace would be 80% of the time spent in Zone 1 with an emphasis on breath work and all of the time spent on form, technique, skill development, and proper body mechanics. Letting people’s postural distortions amplify in order to get them to sweat is part of the problem.

For most of the population, reducing perceived stress is the only thing which will improve their health prospects. We can walk through the specific incontrovertible biological facts on this if need be.

If a hard workout contributes to stress management, great. It can. But it usually doesn’t. Statistics on American populace show that people are chronically overstressed. This means that people should be exercising in a manner which improves resilience and reduces duress. The same should be said about nutrition. If the program ADDS excessive stress, the reason why most people “fail” at it is because of its methodological flaws. They’re actually succeeding at the incredibly flawed program.

Occasionally I see newbie coaches talk about frustration with client compliance: “if they’d just follow the plan, they’d succeed.” Oops. You missed it bro. Coaching IS finding for someone HOW they WILL comply. Coaching is not YOU succeeding at YOUR program while being absolutely clueless on how to communicate with the “difficult” clients. You aren’t a good coach just because you work with high compliance athletes who would be as or more successful without you.

About 9 years ago, I began this practice of drawing the steroidogenesis tree for people so that they could understand exactly why stress and insufficiencies prevent progress. Sometimes I’d chart beta oxidation so they could see really how stored fat is broken down in the body.

But I get it: Bezos spent less money than he made. Just do the same; and you’ll build a similar influential business empire.