Exercise without diet = no meaningful weight loss

Perhaps to a lot of people this seems pretty self-evident and of course everyone is different but one thing is definitely certain: Unless you have some sort of medical problem, there is a good chance that you became fat because of bad eating and drinking habits.

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Now I am not going to try to lecture anyone and I am not a professional. However, a very close friend of mine is a $500 an hour semi-celebrity personal trainer, and we talk about stuff like this. I have also seen results in my own life.

I was very athletic in my teens and early 20's. I also had good genes so even after I moved to Thailand and exercising outside became near impossible thanks to the fact that this country has the temperature of a sauna turned up to 11 with 1000% humidity, I still managed to at least look fit.

I had continued my habits of drinking excessive beer that i picked up, like most people do, in college. None of this affected my physique until time caught up with me. It happened slowly because it is not like I have too much beer and pizza over a weekend and then suddenly weigh 200 lbs, it takes years. In my late 30's, my metabolism could no longer keep up with my diet habits.

At this point, i was going to the gym on a regular basis, like nearly every day. However, i was still getting fatter despite the fact that I was very strong. I think you know what I am getting at here.

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_{I don't know if you were listening but i did more than 1000, i can barely lift my arms}

Even though i was benching 250 I was still drinking 12 full-calorie lagers per day (I owned a bar at the time and was our best customer) and eating just whatever the hell i wanted. I had muscles, but you'd never know it by looking at me, i just looked like a fat drunk. I was dedicated to the gym, sometimes i would go to the gym AFTER drinking but the fact of the matter remained, until I changed my diet, i wasn't going to SEE a noticeable difference in my appearance. At my peak, i was at 106 Kg and not a pretty 106 either.

It's 75% diet , 25% exercise

I challenge you to find a trainer that thinks differently. Exercise definitely is important, but if you are keeping your old bad habits in your diet, you aren't going to see results.

There are many reasons why this is true and the obvious one is that (at least for me) full flavored beer (my weakness) clearly has no nutritional value. However, I enjoy beer and I am not going to stop drinking it... So i simply switched to a low carb one almost exclusively and cut out carbs as much as possible - nothing crazy, i just try to eat less bread and rice, and almost never have ANY sugar in my diet unless it is naturally occurring in something like fruit.

While there is no "one size fits all" method a generally accepted rule is that you should really watch your carbohydrates and especially try to avoid processed sugars. I know this seems obvious to many people but yet so many don't do it.

Here's a couple of success stories of people I know in my own life.

Me

I started at 106KG (near 230 pounds) in February of this year. I made a conscious effort to eat as much meat as possible and avoid rice and bread. This isn't to say I avoided all carbs, because there is a lot of information out there to suggest that this is a bad thing. I got a gym membership and my only transportation is a bicycle - which of course takes longer but you know, exercise.

I almost never consume any sugar and I haven't had a coca cola (or anything like it) in years. I still drink almost every day, but i have San Miguel Light or if they don't have that i will drink some spirit with soda water and a twist.

I stick to this... it is part of my every day routine even now a mere 7 months later.

I now weight 85 Kg (187 lbs) and while i strive to get to 80, it seems as though I am stuck here and honestly, that is fine.

If you don't drink alcohol, i would imagine your results could happen even better / faster... Alcohol was / is a part of my life i am unwilling to give up... sue me.

My friend Andy

Andy can dispel any stupid nonsense of being "too old" for weight loss. Andy, about a year ago, tipped the scales at 125 Kg (275 lbs) and is in his early 60's. I did not know him at that time but he showed me pictures and his face and neck were huge. He used the "too old to exercise" thing as a crutch but liked to play golf. Instead of getting the cart, he decided that he was going to walk the course and I don't know if you are aware of this, but 18 holes of golf is a LOT of walking. He did this for 2 months without changing his diet and maybe lost a kilo or two, but it wasn't really anything noticeable.

Later he did what really sent his weight loss into overdrive. He too, stopped drinking full-flavored beer and began avoiding sugar and most carbohydrates. Here we are a year later and Andy is down to 90kg (around 200 lbs) and he did this without ever doing ANY exercise other than walking on the golf course. Yesterday, at the bar where we were both drinking at, Andy said he wants to get into the gym. He wants to take it to the next level.

Andy really takes pride in his accomplishment and honestly, he should be proud of that. He could have just kept on being a fatty but he wanted a change and although it took time, he has achieved it. It's awesome that now that he is down to a healthy size (he is quite tall) yet he still wants to improve.

The wonderful thing about fitness is that you tend to want to achieve more and I think that is kind of the point: There is no finish line in fitness.

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I wanted to write a few more stories but I think this is already too long to the point where very few people are going to read it all.

One thing that I do want to point out before i wrap this up is that if you diet, at some point you NEED to incorporate at least moderate exercise into your diet. This is because when your body decides to go to its "reserves" to burn you in lieu of food in your tummy, it doesn't differentiate between muscle, fat, and even bone. You need some exercise (and for me it was weights) so that your body knows "oh, this muscle is off limits, we need that... let's head over here and take out this fat crud." Obviously is it significantly more complicated than this but that is how it has worked for both me, Andy, and pretty much all the clients of my $500 an hour trainer friend.

I think most of the people I know are dissatisfied with their physique in one way or another and everyone loves guilty food, but once you train yourself to like "the right things" it is actually a lot easier than you think.

Just remember to make changes in small, manageable steps. Crash diets and "New Year, new me" gym memberships rarely work.

I can't speak for everyone - but i can speak for myself and Andy

_{ps: I tried to publish this in Steempeak but it simply wouldn't work. if anyone wants to help me with this, it would be appreciated}