I came across it by accident reddit thread that really caught my attention.
Someone asked “What is the ‘one thing’ that made your weight loss finally work?”
And this question had 5400 answers (and growing).
Some of the responses included changes in the environment or changes in the way food was prepared:
“Pour snacks into small ramekins to eat them. I suddenly ate a normal amount of snacks.”
“I prepared my typical amount of food and instead of putting it in 2 bowls, I spread it evenly across 4 bowls. I forced myself to only eat 1 container per meal and tricked my brain into thinking that was my normal amount.”
Others have changed what they eat:
“I found a salad that I actually really like. It sounds silly, but I’ve never really craved a salad before, and having one I really loved meant I strung together a solid few weeks of eating lots of lettuce – it snowballed, because I actually felt good, and then I started craving it good.”
Some took a holistic approach that involved re-examining their relationship with food, hunger and discomfort:
“Understanding that it’s a lifestyle change, NOT a diet.”
“Embrace the suffering. Expect to breathe heavily and awkwardly while doing cardio, expect to be sore after lifting, and expect to be hungry when you restrict your intake.”
Others used calorie-tracking apps, which helped them understand how much they were eating:
“Using an app to track everything I ate. I realized that many of the “healthy” things I was eating, in the amounts I was eating, had a lot more calories than I thought. Just cutting back on certain foods did the trick.”
And some have succeeded thanks to an initial boost with medication:
“I was seeing a doctor for type 2 diabetes. I was over 300 pounds and also had coronary artery disease. I have qualified for diabetes medication which also helps with appetite control. I started tracking calories and exercising.”
“Semaglutide”
Some have prioritized physical activity over focusing on food:
“Finding a hobby. I binged because I was bored. Coming home from work to sit on the couch would make it easier to eat like shit… now I just go and do something I love so eating doesn’t bother me.”
“Walking. Proof I lost 45lbs in 7 months just walking every night around my neighborhood. It was free and easy, I walked rain or shine even through snow storms. Now I have a treadmill and walk inside but the feeling is still always as great as in the beginning.”
As we go through this list, reading thousands of comments from people thinking about the ‘one thing’ that changed their life, and how different many of them are, we can draw some fascinating conclusions.
3 short lessons we can learn
LESSON 1: “Success is moving from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill.
The hardest part of healing is not lose hope when some strategy you try fails. I bet every person who shared their answer above has tried dozens of different strategies to recover. Heck, I bet they tried most of the things that worked for other people until they found one that did for them.
What can we learn from this: “There is hope warrior emotion that destroys cynicism”, and it’s okay to hope that every failed attempt means it’s one less strategy you have to try in the future.
For example, if you’ve already tried Keto 5 times and can’t stick, congratulations! You’ve found a diet that isn’t working for you.
If you can keep it ‘beta test’ mentality “I’m going to see if it works for me,” you might find the first domino to fall on your travel!
LESSON 2: Beware of charlatans.
Spend enough time on social media and you will eventually come across health and wellness quacks. These are the people who tell you that only they have it one solution for all your problems. They often have a villain for all the world’s evil (“its sugar! It’s carbs! It’s X ingredient!”).
And sure enough, after scaring you and scaring you to death, they give you hope with their expensive unregulated supplement or flawless system.
As you can see in the examples above, there is no “one size fits all” solution to these things. Each person is a unique freak with different baggage and triggers, traumas and experiences that make some solutions a starter, and other solutions will not be a starter.
You can read more about how to spot and avoid charlatans in my previous essay here: “How not to go crazy on the Internet.”
Which brings me to my third point!
LESSON THREE: All recovery stories have 3 annoying things in common!
While all of these solutions to achieving the “one thing” form are different, they all have a few similarities.
good news? None of these things are revolutionary, proprietary or fancy.
The training came down to literally 3 things:
- Getting the right number of calories for your goal weight
- Getting some form of physical movement
- Make these two things part of a lifelong lifestyle adjustment.
Losing weight is not magic. It’s math and behavior change.
As I cover in mine weight loss guidescience has settled on this.
Any diet can work if it puts us in a caloric deficit. we have coaching clients who are vegan, others who use Keto, some who count calories and others who do intermittent fasting.
Our ability to turn dietary changes into a lifestyle we can live with is how we achieve success, and that looks different for everyone.
Speaking of lifestyle changes, most of the answers above also involve finding ways to make exercise a regular part of life.
Remember: it’s okay not to LIKE to exercise. We weren’t made to love exercise! Especially if it’s an activity we don’t really enjoy! We are designed to survive in times of scarcity, NOT to thrive in times of unlimited abundance.
So how do we make exercise a part of our lifestyle?
We have to find ways to make exercise fun, useful, or necessary:
- Fun: join a walking/running club with friends, give it a try temptation bundling.
- beneficial: fall in love with getting stronger and more confidence and how much better you feel after exercising.
- Required: pay for the coach in advance, park at the end of the parking lot, bike to work.
Remember that hope is a warrior’s emotion.
We humans are incredibly adaptable creatures that are capable of change.
Keep trying different strategies, beware of charlatans and don’t forget the basics!
And very soon one day, you too could share the first domino that fell and changed things for you.
-Steve
###
