There are countless books, articles, websites, Facebook posts and products all saying ‘Try this and you will look and feel great!’
If it was that simple we would all be walking around looking and feeling our best. Buying into the ‘quick fix’ is only going to provide a temporary solution. It does not address the problem to begin with.
Let me use weight loss as an example. As someone who has been fit and slim as well as 70 pounds heavier, I can tell you there is no quick fix for successful weight loss and maintenance. Yes, you can purchase a product that will help you lose weight, however, that product works temporarily. It is neither a long term solution nor necessarily a healthy one.
The average Canadian woman requires 1,500 to 2,200 calories each day, with about 1,800 calories being the norm.
For men, this number is on average 700 calories higher. This recommended caloric intake is for basic bodily functions including brain function. Your daily calorie requirements depend on your age, gender, height, weight and exercise level.
The safest and lowest amount a woman is recommended to reduce her daily caloric intake to be 1,200 calories and furthermore this is for a woman who is short and sedentary. A pound of weight equals 3,500 calories and muscle and fat weigh the same, therefore to lose one pound of weight you need to reduce your caloric intake by 3,500 calories. This can be accomplished through eating and drinking less, through physical activity or a combination of both. It is simple math.
Currently, in our community, there are products for sale that limit your caloric intake to as low as 800 calories a day! This is almost 40 per cent lower than what a short, sedentary female requires for proper bodily function.
Limiting your caloric intake that much is taxing on your system and it can have damaging effects on your organs. The body will not differentiate between fat and muscle when you cut calories to that point and will cannibalize itself.
Our skin is our biggest organ and will not be able to keep up with this kind of weight loss either. Limiting your caloric intake to 800 calories per day will equate to weight loss but it is by starving yourself and you do not need an expensive product for that. Once you start to take in the required calories to maintain your new weight you will start to gain the weight back and sometimes even more because you taxed and stressed your system so heavily.
Setting a goal requires you to be uncomfortable and not for two months while you try the newest, quick fix but for sustained periods throughout your life.
If you want to save up for something you need to change spending habits, often abstaining, to make the required savings. If you want to be fit and healthy, you need to educate yourself on whole food nutrition and get physically active making healthy living a way of life, not something you are trying out before you head to Mexico!
Getting up at 4 a.m. and sweating your butt off at the gym before you head to work, saying no to after work drinks, running in the rain, prepping healthy food for your week ahead on a sunny, Sunday afternoon and choosing water over pop are examples of pushing through discomfort.
Creating a healthy mind and body and accomplishing the goals you set takes hard work and perseverance. There is no quick fix. This is why the next time you see someone you admire you should ask them, “How did you get comfortable being uncomfortable?”
Nicole Cournoyer is the general manager of Anytime Fitness.