Winning The Weight Loss Battle

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Welcome to the LenDentonThrive Letter, my weekly newsletter focused on helping 50+ Guys lose weight, get fit, and stay fit for life. 

One of the most important, but least understood concepts in men’s health and fitness is the following:

Your weight loss battle is won in the kitchen, not the gym!

But, this is a fact that the U.S. fitness industry, currently valued at $42 billion, would prefer that you not know about. They need you to keep buying their gym and health club memberships.

While the health industry continues to grow, so does the obesity rate in America! According to USA Facts, nearly 70% of American adults are considered to be obese. And the rate of obesity has tripled over the last 60 years!

I’m not saying that exercise and health clubs are bad. I’m saying that they aren’t solving the obesity problem we’re dealing with. They aren’t even keeping up with the obesity rate of growth. We’re falling further behind year after year. That’s clear from the data.

We need a better answer! We need a smarter, not harder way to lose weight and get fit. 

So, I will repeat myself:

Your weight loss battle will be won in the kitchen, not the gym!

Here are three reasons why that’s true:

1 - You Can’t Outwork A Bad Diet

Your current weight situation is 80-85% a result of your diet, not your exercise routine. That’s because of the way your body stores and uses energy. Voluntary exercise (like going to the gym or doing high-intensity interval training) only accounts for around 15-20% of your total daily calorie burn.

I know a lot of guys who like to work out extra hard so they can eat whatever they want. But, this is a losing proposition because that’s not how our bodies work. You burn a lot fewer calories than you think when you exercise. Exercise (and strength training) is the fastest way to build muscle. It’s not the fastest way to lose weight and body fat.

2 - Avoiding Excess Calories is Easier Than Working Them Off

It’s easier to avoid calories than it is to burn them off. Five minutes of good meal planning every morning could help you avoid more calories than you would burn off in an hour or two of hard work at the gym. 

Guys tend to be poor estimators when it comes to calories. We usually underestimate the calories we consume, and overestimate the calories we burn while exercising. Here’s a simple example: your favorite morning pastry or latte might add 500 calories to your daily consumption. It would take 1-2 hours of aggressive cardio to burn that 500 calories at the gym.  

Calorie avoidance is a master move that I learned early in my fitness journey that many guys have never figured out!

3 - The Standard American Diet (aka SAD) 

The typical American eats one of the most unhealthy diets in the world.  We need to break our dependence on the Standard American Diet. (I call it the SAD) This is the “boxes and brands” approach to packaged and highly processed foods we all grew up with. These are factory-manufactured foods that are highly engineered to include hidden sugars and fillers. These are added by the manufacturers to make foods tastier, less expensive…and more addictive! These foods are packed with calories. The SAD is the #1 reason for the obesity epidemic being experienced today by American men!

So what should we do instead? 

To lose weight and get fit fast, I suggest we do two things:

1 - Shift Our Focus to the Kitchen

The first step in successfully solving any problem is to properly diagnose the cause. The reason that we’re overweight isn’t that we aren’t working out hard enough. The real reason is that we are consuming too many calories from calorie-dense highly processed foods. Begin eating more consciously, being aware of what you are consuming. Start systematically eliminating these factory foods and replacing them with fresh farm foods. 

2 - Put Food to Work for Us

What if we could turn the tables and put food to work for us instead of it always working against us? What if our food could help us to become lighter and leaner versions of ourselves? And what if we could do that without calorie-restrictive dieting?

Would that be interesting to you?

This is what I did more than 10 years ago. I figured out how to put my food to work for me. The result was that I lost 70 pounds in 7 months without dieting.

I didn’t go hungry. I didn’t cut calories. Instead, I learned how to make different, better food choices. I swapped bad calories for good calories. I changed out the boxes, cans, and brands that I’d been eating for most of my life for a new set of choices. Not less food, just different, healthier food.

The results were amazing. My weight and body fat went down, while my energy levels went up! And, the same process is still working today, 10 years later!

You can do the same thing in your own life.

I call this process Eating Smarter. I’ve created this simple 1-page guide called “The ThriveLife Guide to Eating Smarter.”

This guide is just a brief overview. If you’d like to learn about how Eating Smarter can help you put food to work for you, then check out these additional resources here and here.

The ThriveLife is my approach to building a healthy, sustainable lifestyle for busy 50+ guys. It’s the smarter, not harder way to lose weight, get fit, and stay fit for life… without crazy diets or grueling workouts! 

When you’re ready for a real and sustainable fitness transformation, here are three ways I can help you:

#1 - Sign up for this newsletter. Every week, you’ll receive tested, actionable tips and strategies to help you build your own customized version of the ThriveLife that fits your needs, preferences, and personal style. And, it’s free!

#2 - For a Do-It-Yourself approach to the ThriveLife, download your free copy of my new ebook: 6 Smart Moves To Your ThriveLife. Just click the button below.

#3 - When you’re ready to join a community of other busy 50+ Guys building their ThriveLives together, check out my new ThriveLife Transformation course. The ThriveLife Transformation guides you through a 30-day transformation process which includes online video training and daily support and assistance through our online community. Join alone or bring your friends. To learn more about the ThriveLife Transformation, click the button below.

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