Ten Things to Know about Fat Loss

1.       Consistency is Key: more than any other factor; it is consistency that creates change. In diet and in exercise, those who make small consistent changes create habits that change lives. Nothing will happen without sticking to it day in and day out.

Success isn’t always about ‘Greatness.’ It’s about consistency. Consistent, hard work gains success. Greatness will come…success isn’t overnight. It’s when every day you get a little better than the day before, it all adds up.-Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

2.       Weight loss is different than fat loss: Weight loss will change the number on the scale. Fat loss will change the way a person looks and improve overall health. Reducing caloric intake will cause a weight loss with or without exercise. A poor combination of dieting and exercise can make the number on the scale change without losing any body fat. Exercising without proper nutrition will result in muscle being lost instead of body fat, causing body fat levels to increase, even in the face of a smaller number on the scale. Exercising with proper nutrition will result in reduced amounts of body fat and it is entirely possible to lose body fat without seeing the number on the scale change. It may even go up a little. Learn to balance proper nutrition with exercise to optimize health and reduce body fat.

3.       Toss the scale out: following up on point number two, the scale does not tell a person how healthy he or she is. It tells a person how much gravity has to work to keep him from floating off into space; literally, in the study of physics and the laws of gravity, this is where the concept of weight comes from. Who cares how strongly gravity is in love with you? Pay attention to body fat levels and forget about the scale.

4.       Fat loss is not linear; it is sporadic. Everyone would like to think that once they are on a healthy nutrition program and exercising that the body fat will magically fall off in a steady, pattern able process. It will not. Some weeks a person may lose three or four pounds then it could take another four weeks to lose one pound. Typically, the first half of a person’s fat loss can happen in about twelve weeks. It could take several months or a couple of years to lose the remainder of the weight. If a person sticks with it, and after a year, can look back at a rate of one to two pound per week in that year, that person is doing outstanding.

Victory is not won in miles, but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and win a little more.- Louis L’Amour

5.       Diet is more important than exercise there is no way around this so stop looking. The road to frustration, desperation, and quitting is paved with people who thought they could out-exercise junk food. Eat to live, do not live to eat. Going back to the previous point, beware of any program or product claiming to encourage weight loss faster than one to two pounds per week. It might be possible, but it will not last. That weight will come right back as soon as the program ends or the product is no longer used. The body needs time to adapt to change to make it permanent.

6.       “Your comfort zone is your failure zone. Get into your achievement zone.”- Kip Herriage.  Remaining or doing things that feel comfortable is the surest path to no results. Comfort and results are two different planets; a person can only live in one place. If a person is looking for results then he will have to board the spaceship Change to get there. To paraphrase Bob Marley: if exercise is easy it ain’t worth it; if it’s worth it, it won’t be easy. Change does not come to those looking for comfort.

7.       Most people who exercise and struggle with weight loss grossly underestimate how hard they are working. If it did not leave sweating and out of breath; it was not challenging enough to create change. Hard work yields high rewards. How quickly the body changes will be a direct result of how hard a person works.

We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.-Carlos Castenada

8.       It will take longer than you think or want it to. It took me two years to lose 100lbs. Adversity comes with the process; if it was easy everyone would succeed. In the face of adversity, persistence and patient are vital to success. Fat loss is one of the best opportunities to develop these traits. Keep at it, especially in times when it seems like progress isn’t coming? To overcome adversity and find success one must attack, not retreat from the challenge.

The question is not “will you face adversity?” The question is “what will you do when you face adversity?”-Archie Manning

9.       A person can never go wrong with trying to grow strong. Muscles become stronger under the strain and challenge of demanding more than they can give. Mental strength is no different. The trick is in the approach. Strength is developed in the midst of the challenge, not before it begins and not after it ends, during the challenge. Step into it, not away from it.

“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t do.”-Rikki Rogers.

10.   Wishing the process would be easier is a frustrating and pointless waste of time. It does not get easier

because of wishful thinking. Day-dreaming will not get the job done. It is action, and action alone that is the instigator of change. Do you want results? Then get up and do something! Even if it does not initially work as well as planned, some action is always better than inaction. No one ever changed by sitting around thinking about it.

A dream does not become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.-Colin Powell

Perplexing Plexus

Every few years a product comes along that claims to revolutionize weight loss. Typically, these products are sold by “Ambassadors” instead of in stores (I wonder why?) These ambassadors swell with enthusiasm over this new and exciting breakthrough. “Hurray”, cry the masses. Finally, something delivers results without efforts and a monthly supply will only cost the equivalent of a small car payment. Over the last year and half that product has been Plexus, after Plexus World Wide burst on to the scene in 2011 and has rapidly gained in popularity.  According to PWW’s website, there are ten reasons why a person should use Plexus to aid in weight loss. Number one states,

The Plexus Products contain Alpha Lipoic Acid, Chlorogenic Acid, Garcinia Cambogia, Whey Protein, Green Lipped Mussel, Aloe Vera, Bulgarian Rose Extract, French Lavender Extract, and Grape Seed Extract; proven ingredients that address key areas of vitality and weight loss.[i]

I am not even going to address the other nine reasons that the website claims for using Plexus. Let’s just stop right there. After all, if a person does not understand what she is putting into her body, why on earth would she do it? Due to a distinct lack of research, I am not going to address Green Lipped Mussel, Bulgarian Rose Extract, French Lavender Extract, and Grape Seed Extract. I will not speak, positively or negatively, to the validity of the claims about these particular ingredients. There simply is not enough scientific research to form any opinion about the quality or safety of these ingredients. In situations like this; buyer beware. 

In Plexus products the ingredient Cholorgenic Acid comes from the presence of Green Coffee Extract. I have written about GCE before, so for the sake of brevity, will not be discussing it here. If you want to know the details of my thoughts on this sham of an ingredient, click here. Of all the ingredients in Plexus, Whey Protein is by far the best researched, and my thoughts about it can be found here. I will say that the inclusion of whey protein is a positive. But it alone is not enough to justify using Plexus. I won’t be discussing whey protein any further today. I will focus on the qualities of Alpha Lipoic Acid and Garcinia Cambogia, as these two supplements are currently purported as being effective for aiding in weight loss.

Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is an antioxidant and naturally occurs within food such as yeast, liver, kidney, spinach, broccoli, and potatoes. It is thought that ALA works, in cases of medically diagnosed deficiencies, to restore Vitamins E and C to healthy levels. There is also some preliminary research suggesting that it may help repair damage done to the nervous system by diabetes. ALA’s connection to weight loss comes from two circumstances: within the body it does play a role in the break down and digestion of carbohydrates for use as energy by the organs. There is also a small amount of evidence that ALA does in fact increase weight loss if taken in a dosage of 1800mg per day for up to 20 weeks. However, these findings have only been verified in obese diabetics. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest a weight loss benefit for anyone who is not both diabetic and obese.[ii] Those who meet these qualifications should consult a doctor before considering ALA as there is the potential for negative interactions with some types of diabetes medicines. For the diabetic, the combination may lead to blood sugar levels becoming dangerously low. The bottom line with ALA is that any evidence or claims suggesting a link between use and weight loss is mostly anecdotal and has weak research verification. Buyer beware.

Garcinia Cambogia is probably a more recognized name associated with weight loss. Excellent, now, what is it? Unsure? It is a plant found in tropical countries, and its fruit contains the chemical compound hydroxycitric acid. At one time, concentrated forms for hydroxycitric acid were sold in a weight loss supplement called Hydroxycut. Hydroxycut did not use Garcinia Cambogia as one of the source ingredients for hydroxycitric acid. However, in 2009, the ingredients that contributed the hydroxycitric acid were removed from Hydroxycut following an FDA investigation that resulted from multiple complaints of seizures and liver problems, including rhambdomyolysis, associated with the use of Hydroxycut. Although not present in Hydroxcut, the FDA issued a warning against using Garcinia Cambogia as weight loss supplement, citing safety concerns, due to its similarity to those ingredients. At the moment, there is not enough research suggesting Garcinia Cambogia plays any prevalent role in accelerating weight loss.[iii] Buyer beware.

So, if all this is true about Alpha Lipoic Acid, Garcinia Cambogia, and Green Coffee Extract, then what can be attributed to the success stories purported by the manufacturers of Plexus? After all, is it not entirely possible that legions of stay-at-home moms, excuse me Ambassadors, could be smarter than the MDs, PhDs, licensed dietitians, and fitness experts like myself? What is going on? After all, Plexus did its research, didn’t they? There is this study they talk about. 

Beyond unsubstantiated claims about ingredients, herein lays another problem. Plexus only has one study; conducted and paid for by Plexus Worldwide Inc. For perspective, webmd.com references 163 reviews of ALA, 877 reviews of Garcinia Cambogia, and 172 reviews of Green Coffee Extract, from which it draws its conclusions and that I have sourced for this article[iv]. The study by Plexus Inc. has not been published anywhere. It is only referenced within various marketing tools used by Plexus. Hey, my friend Mr. Skepticism just walked into the room. He typically shows up when companies make claims about products and research, yet, are unwilling to publish it respected scientific journals for scrutiny by their scientific peers. As far as I am concerned, there are five keys to validating research. Failing this one is an immediate red flag surrounded by flashing neon lights.

So where is this weight loss coming from? I would suggest it’s the placebo effect; in the case of weight loss supplements a person takes a product, weight loss results, and the success is attributed to the use of the new supplement. This can happen even when the majority of evidence would suggest that nothing should happen. The suggested use of Plexus is to mix the powder into 11 to 17oz of water and drink in the morning before breakfast. If needed, the drink may be consumed later in the day or before every meal to help curb appetite.[v] Ironically, so can plain water; for a few decades now, dietitians and other licensed health professionals have been suggesting people drink 12 to 20oz of cool water before meals to help curb appetite. Cue the music from the “Twilight Zone,” it’s getting eerie around here. Both a weight loss supplement manufacturer and licensed dietitians suggest drinking before meals to help curb appetite? Did I mention that water is free at restaurants? Or that staying properly hydrated, especially around meal time not only helps to reduce caloric intake, but is a key component of the human body functioning properly to lose excess body fat? In my humble opinion, good-old fashioned H2O is the most underutilized nutrient when it comes to weight loss.

Weight loss is the result of creating a caloric deficit; the body is using more calories than it is consuming. It does not happen any other way. Could the use of Plexus aid in creating a caloric deficit? Sure, if it makes a person feel full faster resulting in fewer calories consumed, then yes, it may work. But does it work for the reasons that the manufacturer claims? That is doubtful. Is worth the $75-150 per month that some people admit to spending on the stuff? Not in my books. I think I will keep my money and go buy new clothes. Actually, I won’t. I am a guy. I’ll go buy a new fishing rod instead. Maybe next month I will give my 401K a little extra padding. Personally, there are far better uses for my hard earned money.

Anyhow, I suspect that a person could achieve the same result by drinking a glass of water and, most importantly, exercising enough will power and self-control to put down the fork, close the mouth, and back away from the food. Now, if I can find a way to bottle and sell that kind of will power, well, then there will finally be a weight loss supplement worth buying. But, what do I know? I have just lost 100lbs and kept it off for sixteen years. I did not hear of Plexus until about six months ago.

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[i] www.plexusworldwide.com/products

[ii] http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-767-Alpha+Lipoic+Acid+ALPHA-LIPOIC+ACID.aspx?activeIngredientId=767&activeIngredientName=Alpha+Lipoic+Acid+(ALPHA-LIPOIC+ACID)&source=2

[iii] http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/garcinia-cambogia-weight-loss?page=2

[iv] http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/default.aspx

[v] http://www.plexusreview.com/how-to-use-plexus-slim.html