Losing the Weight and Keeping It Off

Aren’t transformational stories great? I think it’s incredibly inspiring to learn about someone’s success. When it comes to weight-loss, how many times have you heard about it followed by “and she kept the weight off”?

It’s that second part that irks me to the core. It baffles me really. Think about where such logic comes from. Let’s say a man who’s sixty pounds overweight decides he’s done with his plight. He delves into a real food diet and begins a movement practice. A year later, he looks up to find that he’s a new man, down sixty pounds. This, my friends, is a weight-loss success story.

Then, we ask, “But, can he keep it off?”

The subject “it,” of course, is the extra weight, except now it’s become some personified, external being. For the record, “it” should be understood as him. This didn’t happen to him, it is him. In our weird world, the idea of losing weight seems less remarkable to us than “keeping the weight off.” We think this way, of course, because our entire culture struggles to maintain normal bodyweight, never mind fitness. If you’re wondering why we’re so unsuccessful in this area, I’ll tell you that the answer lies in this notorious second part of the statement: “Jeff lost twenty pounds and kept the weight off!” That’s what they sell you in the infomercials, too.

It’s because our broken worldview sees obesity as a problem with a trick-like solution. When we hear about a new supplement we ask, “Does that work?” What we really mean is does that make the weight go away, not realizing that you can’t live like and be an unhealthy person and have healthy results. In that regard, no.. it doesn’t “work.”

We think of losing weight as a problem solving issue. Our man who’s sixty pounds overweight isn’t stricken with the mysterious ailment we call obesity, he is an obese man. He’s become that through his actions. While that may seem more obvious than what I’m about to say. Consider that the high pedestal we put “keeping the weight off” on is lauded so greatly because when he loses the weight we don’t realize that he has become a man with a normal bodyweight by living like one not a benefactor of someone who unlocked the secret to living like an obese person without the obesity to show for it. Rather, he is at this new bodyweight because it is who he has become with his actions. To anyone who’s paying attention, it would seem obvious, ludicrous, and even stupid to assume he could live like his previous self and still “keep the weight off.”

If you’re confused at all about why your fitness (or lack thereof) is in it’s current state, let me clear it up for you. You’ve earned exactly who you are. “Keeping the weight off” isn’t a trick, it’s being someone who doesn’t have extra weight on. Read that again. And, if that’s harsh, don’t let it be. You get to decide how it’s going to be, but there are no tricks. You’ll be exactly who you are.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach