Do you ever marvel at some people's uncanny ability to make the simple complex? To make the straight forward anything but? A ten-minute task into a two-week saga?
I meet these people every day. Please stop sending them my way. They are the woe-is-me brigade; The Brothers (and Sisters) Grim. (The real Brothers Grimm were two German dudes who published a bunch of folk stories and fairy tales about two hundred years ago; that's for those of you who aren't as old as me!)
Yep, some people spend their whole lives making stuff more complicated than it needs to be. Relationships are a soap opera. Careers are messy and problematic. Getting in shape is a perpetual roller coaster of losing and gaining. Finances are a daily money melodrama. If you didn't know better, you might think some people actually revel in the drama and attention.
In Australia we have a curious creature known colloquially as the 'Drama Queen'. They are both male and female and their natural habitat is everywhere, unfortunately. They are the poster boys (and girls) for the art of complication. They are another cousin of the Energy Vampire.
I'm all for dealing with genuine complications and the tough stuff that life throws at us, but I'm not for making things more difficult than they need to be or making a mountain out of a molehill. (So 1963, that expression. I love it)
When people come to talk to me about getting in shape, I will invariably give them some highly complex and extremely scientific advice:
Move a bunch more, eat a bunch less. Get yer heart rate up. Get a bit sweaty. Do it consistently. See ya next time.
It's very simple, but people still don't do it. That look of disappointment on their face is hilarious. They think I might let them in on some little-known scientific weight-loss secret, give them a shortcut perhaps, a pill maybe, wave my magic wand, or pull a six-pack out of my hat.
"Okay, here it is Mr. Smith. Put in fewer calories than you expend and you'll lose fat. Do it for long enough and you'll lose a bunch of fat. Too complicated for you? Taking notes? Should I talk slower? Any questions? Mr Smith, where are you going? Mr Smith? Come back here fatty."
The problem is that we don't actually want simple. We want painless and effortless. Simple isn’t always painless or effortless or easy.
Article comments
1 - Doug Hunter
I don't think the world is as simple as you'd like to make out. Saying losing weight is as simple as taking in less calories than you output is as helpful as saying to run faster simply take longer strides at a quicker pace. Neither is particularly helpful to slow, fat people.
The problem lies in the bodies ability to control it's own energy levels outside of conscious manipulation. An average person burns a couple thousand calories a day. Running, walking, or moving a mile burns 100 calories on average. For the vast majority of folks this means their natural metabolism is by far the greatest source of calories burned. Let's look at a real life example of how this might work using the same example you did.
A sedentary person is running a 50 calorie/day surplus on a 2000 calorie diet and decides to take your advice to drop the extra poundage. They target their lunch soda and an afternoon cookie dropping their intake to 1500 and for good measure decide to take a mile walk every morning. If life were simple this'd mean a 550 a day calorie deficit ending with results as you explained.
The likely reality is much more complex. As soon as the body quits receiving it's usual calorie load it's going to change its metabolism to deal with the oncoming 'famine'. The body can survive on much less than the 1950 cal/day it's been burning so it quickly turns the energy down to 1550/day eliminating the majority of the gains from the diet. Although the extra exercise does put you at a decent deficit, the lower metabolism strips you of your energy essentially making life miserable as you slowly grind out a pound or two loss a month. Since you've got 50 to go and the lack of energy is affecting your work performance, relationships, and the increase cost of healthy food is straining your budget your initial motivation gradually wains and you return to your previous ways. Only this time your body is a bit smarter, to 'save' you from the next famine it'll throw a few extra pounds on your midsection and respond even quicker to the decreased calories next time. Welcoime to the real world of the yoyo diet. It is still relatively simple, it's just the progrnosis isn't all that great.