Fitness Friday: What All Successful Weight-Loss Plans Have In Common

The other night I was lying in bed paging through my husband’s Triathlete magazine. Which means only one thing: I have absolutely nothing else to read.

When, low and behold, amidst the myriad of articles about “shaving time off your swim” and “preparing for Kona” (*yawn*) I found a fascinating article about weight loss. Which is funny to me because, second only to vegans, triathletes are the leanest people on the planet. Why do they need to lose more weight? Are they trying to rub it in our chubby faces?  Aren’t they busy enough with their 5-hour bike rides?

Anyway, I wanted to share a snippet or two from this fascinating article,* because it underscores a few things I’ve been telling you for years. Which means only one thing: The articles I find most fascinating are the ones that support my own opinions.

The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) is a national database of women and men who have succeeded in losing at least 30 pounds of weight and have kept it off for a year or more. Here are four things the members have in common:

1. Daily exercise (doesn’t specify what kind—just exercise)

2. Dietary consistency (maintaining the same eating habits on the weekends as they do during the week—this is critical, because most dieters eat more on the weekends and sabotage their weight-loss efforts)

Let’s talk about number 2 for a minute—dietary consistency. What exactly DO these people eat day in and day out that leads to weight loss?

All different things.

That’s right. Some lost weight on low-fat diets, others on low-carb. Some used Weight Watchers. Some went vegetarian. In other words, their diets were all over the board—they chose a diet that worked for them.

This supports what I told you last week: God made each of us unique. The diet that works for you may not work for me. The key to your weight loss is finding the diet that makes you feel energetic, while at the same time, ushers your body into its ideal weight range. You may not figure that out today. It’s a trial and error process.

3. Self-monitoring (food journaling, calorie counting, regular weighing or measuring)

4. Several failed weight-loss attempts before succeeding. Did that one surprise you?  It did me.  Again, with the trial and error process!

But here’s the point I found most fascinating:

“The combination of ….variety in successful diet approaches and failures preceding success suggests that people succeed in losing weight when they are psychologically ready, and fail when they are not ready…


Real world and scientific evidence indicate that the specific diet that a person uses to shed fat is not especially important to success in the effort to lose weight. 


What’s far more important, it seems, is the motivation level and attitude of the person seeking weight loss. Men and women who are truly ready to commit to a particular weight-loss strategy are almost certain to succeed, regardless of the diet they choose (provided it’s healthy and realistic). By the same token, those who are not prepared to fully embrace their diet are bound to fail, no matter which diet they’ve chosen.”

This supports what I’ve been telling you for-like-EVER: The mental side of fitness is absolutely critical to your results. If there is one key to your success, this is it, baby–Commitment to your plan.

Q4U:  Are you committed to your weight-loss strategy? Are you fully embracing your healthy lifestyle?  If you haven’t done so yet, make a commitment to yourself today. Then tell me about it in the comments. I promise to cheer you on!!!

Well, I ended Phase One–or what I like to call, “How Many Exercises Can I Perform on One Leg or While Balancing on Some Kind of Ball?” Or HMEC IPOOL OW BOS KOB, for short. I have to admit, I got pretty darn good at most of those exercises. And thanks to about a million balance moves, my core is rock hard. It’s still under a thin layer of unwanted fat, of course. But I PROMISE, under that layer of fat, I am TOTALLY RIPPED.

I started Phase Two on Monday. Phase Two is much like the original P90X—lots of weight training, alternating days with plyometrics and yoga. Except P90X2 has me doing it all while balanced on one leg or on some kind of ball—or several balls, all at the same time. There are so many balls involved in this workout. At one point, they expect me to do pushups balanced on 4 medicine balls—It’s like some sort of circus move. To this suggestion, I respond, “hahahahahahaha” and then I drop down to the floor and do some traditional push-ups.

I think in Phase Three, we move to juggling the medicine balls while walking across a tight rope, balancing on one foot over flames.  Kidding.

In all honesty, that’s one of the things I love most about P90X and P90X2—I can modify the heck out of it and still get an incredible workout. I mean, who can do a balance/resistance move like that on the first try?  My husband, that’s who—because he’s just all lean and buff and coordinated that way—he’s a triathlete, after all.  He eats mere humans for breakfast, and then burns them off on his 10-mile run. No layer of fat on HIS core.  🙂

I choose to look at it this way: I have a lot of room to grow in the program. It will be a LONG time before I get bored, that’s for sure. If I ever master that 4-ball push-up move, I’ll post a picture.  And when I can see my six-pack peeking through my fat layer, I’ll post a picture of that, too.  Maybe.

*This post is based on “Race Shape Ready?” by Matt Fitzgerald; Triathlete January 2012; pages 78-80.