Panel Discussion: Most Important Component of a Weight Loss Regimen
Weight Loss - What is the most important element of a personal training program to ensure a client drops pounds?
I look forward to hearing from many of our past contributors in the first panel discussion of 2012 - Rick Richey, Matt Schoeneberger, Gabriel GdmFitness Martinez, Eric Beard, Larry Husted, Yusuf Boyd, and dozens of other wonderful professionals.
Moderated by Brent Brookbush DPT, PT, MS, PES, CES, CSCS, ACSM H/FS
This Panel Discussion was originally posted on my facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/brent.brookbush - on January 7th, 2012.
Tanya Roets, January 7 at 8:13am: From my personal experience I would say the most important element is to eat healthy!! Exercise and healthy eating goes hand in hand!!
Brent Brookbush, January 7 at 8:14am: Can you elaborate on what eating "healthy" means? What tips might you give a client?
Tanya Roets, January 7 at 8:21am: To eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, to cut out deep fried food, minimize salt intake, make your food enjoyable. I am not an expert but it works for me?
Catherine D'Arcy Onnen, January 7 at 8:55am: I say no grains, dairy, sugar or processed foods. We eat Paleo and it has seriously worked for us.
Catherine D'Arcy Onnen, January 7 at 8:56am: Just meat, poultry, eggs, vegetables, and in moderation… fruit and nuts!
Ryan Chow, January 7 at 9:18am: I agree with the nutrition part but I find people worry too much about what they're eating instead of how many calories. They're so focused on eating "healthy" things that they lose focus on the most important part: being in a caloric deficit
Jeff Young, January 7 at 9:24am: Diet needs to be looked at/examined from the following standpoints: 1. caloric intake (should the individual be in a deficit, surplus, or balance) 2. food groups (don't neglect any) 3. nutrients (make sure there are no deficiencies) 4. percent of carbs/fat/protein (differs for individuals depending on goals, issues, and other factors) ….if you only examine diet from 1 or 2 standpoints you're missing the whole picture. and if you're an absolutist (one size fits all) then you're misinformed.
Katherine Welch, January 7 at 10:02am: Not all calories are created equally- yes for weight loss you need to be in a deficit, but the quality of the calories is most important. You can eat cheesecake every day and stay under 2000 calories, focusing on the nutritional value of foods is MOST important. You can probably eat more calories of good foods and still lose weight, on an individual basis. I agree with Jeff
Katherine Welch, January 7 at 10:04am: Complex carbs, lean proteins, healthy fats fibrous veggies, limit fruits and sugars to before/after a workout. Focus on the ratios of each macro to make sure your body is getting the fuel it needs.
Vinnie Laspina, January 7 at 10:12am: Diet. Hands-down. Quality of calories, TIMING of calories and consistency.
Gabriel GdmFitness Martinez, January 7 at 10:26am: DIET
Derrick Price, January 7 at 10:35am: If you don't mind me chiming in I'd like to say Behavior Modification has been the single most important element to help someone lose weight for my practice. Understanding the Why someone wants to change allows for us to implement the How (Diet, nutrition, exercise). No Why, no How, regardless of how much of the How we understand and know will work. A lack of intrinsic motivation prevents the client from doing the "right" things they know they should be doing.
Great question Brent, thank you!
Kerry Wolf, January 7 at 10:37am: Eating habits! No fads just common sense. 4-6 small meals throughout the day, portion control, high fiber, protein, veges and watching the fat and sugar intake.
Matt Schoeneberger, January 7 at 10:43am: The entire ball game changes when the demand changes from "Drop pounds" to "drop pounds and keep them off forever." At that point, the dietary changes become less about what is ideal and more about what is sustainable for the rest of the client's life - and that's a heck of a long time.
Equally as important is the relationship the client has with food. Go ahead and prescribe the perfect diet for them and don't address any of the psychological variables and you'll get nowhere fast. If they don't start thinking differently (rational, flexible patterns) and fall into the common cognitive pitfalls, you'll see your old friends "the pounds" coming right back, and they'll bring friends this time :)
Kerry Wolf Matt I totally agree, January 7 at 10:59am. The psychological aspect is key.
Pete McCall, January 7 at 12:03pm: DP is right on the money, it's important to help clients through the stages of behavior change so healthy habits become a reflexive part of a lifestyle and not just something for a short term. Understand the why and then use that as motivation to coach the how.
Yusuf Boyd, January 7 at 12:17pm: Behavior Modification is key but you cannot just focus on the why. The "why" got them to sit in front of you. Now you must first get them to grasp the concept of behavior modification in terms of their LIFEstyle and understand that this is for LIFE. Once that happens everything else falls into place. Most NY resolutions end quickly because individuals do not fully understand that this must be maintained. At the start it's an ordeal but it turns into a beautiful journey once they truly understand. Achieving that understanding takes a lot of time and patience from you as well as them……Just my humble 2 cents
Matt Schoeneberger, January 7 at 1:14pm Yusuf, forever is a looooooong time :)
Maurice D. Williams, January 7 at 1:20pm: Keeping your client consistent with all aspects (nutrition, sleep, cardio, resistance, distress, hydration) of a "weight loss continuum). Helping them to understand that set-backs will occur, but knowing how to get back on track.
Brent Brookbush, January 7 at 2:28pm: Great conversation and posts from all… I I love the comments regarding calories… Definitely the key to weight loss. Thank you DP, Pete, kerry, Matt, and Yusuf for chiming in about behavior modification. I like to refers to this as the final frontier of fitness. Given the people who have chimed in thus far I am surprised nobody has mentioned exercise. Research has shown regular exercise to be the strongest predictor of long-term weight management. Thoughts?
David Jackson, January 7 at 3:08pm: Having gone through the most major portion of my weight loss regiment, I say diet has less initial impact on weight loss than does making sure you get to the gym 3-5 times a week totaling 6-15 hours a week depending on commitment level of the individual. Creating a habit of going to the gym without fail and having a complete routine that incorporates all muscles in a weight lifting setting along with cardio every time is what made the difference for me. The first two months were the worst motivation wise and is probably the biggest hurdle the personal trainer needs to help their client overcome in my opinion. Once I was on a routine and doing it because that is what I do, then I started worrying about diet modification. E first thirty or so pounds flew off of me in the first couple weeks just from the daily gym time.
Joe Stankowski, January 7 at 3:17pm: compliance. the best training program/nutrition plan is worthless if not applied. on the other hand, even poorly designed plans that get done have at least some chance of success.
Brett Grossman, January 7 at 3:59pm: All of these answers have been great! I believe one of the greatest things we(trainers) can do to help a client burn fat or any other goal for that matter, is help them learn to believe in themselves. All too often are people skeptical of success or afraid of failure. First, figure out what their self-image may be, what they want it to be, and then develop their strength to attain those goals. Hard work and consistency will provide for the results, but helping them realize what they want to become and building up their mental strength to attain those goals is what will determine the extent of their success.
David Jackson, January 7 at 8:16pm: Brett, I think you hit it on the head.
Brent Brookbush, January 7 at 8:46pm: Nice Brett… If I can infer that you're putting in a vote for a "supportive environment"…. there is definitely a ton of research to support that.
Gabriel GdmFitness Martinez, January 7 at 10:47pm: As a trainer our most important job is to prescribe over the counter fat burners in extremely high dosages so that our clients can see results from their workouts. I usually tell my clients to take double the recommended dosage so that they can burn max calories!
Yusuf Boyd, January 7 at 11:43pm: Brent,
I agree that the research shows regular exercise to be the most consistent but you have to get them to "regular" first. What that research doesn't account for is that those individuals made a choice to modify their behavior… ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Brent Brookbush, January 8 at 8:25am: Hey Yusuf, I agree… my point was more about exercise as an important component to weight loss. If you read the first 20 posts on this conversation you would swear that we were talking with nutritionists and psychologists…. and we're not. Most the individuals who follow my page are personal trainers, athletic trainers, physical therapists, etc…. I do not disagree that diet and motivational psychology are extremely important, just wanted to "throw in a vote" for the importance of what we do in our careers: exercise. As far as choice…. well, I think it is more complicated. There are several factors ranging from goal development, to resources, to the nature of the physical activity itself.
Yusuf Boyd, January 8 at 10:45am: Yes, exercise is very important! Since that's what we all do to some degree, I assumed everyone knew it was important & we were discussing the other important factors. Guess the old saying applies…assume & make an a** of yourself. Ha! In dropping lbs, PROPER exercise is the most important followed by a well-balanced diet. In order to do those though, modification of behavior is necessary….thanks for inviting me in, it's always lovely to hear other view points, it helps us all grow!
Jonathon S. January 8 at 10:53pm: DIET. But like DP said, client has to make the choice to modify their behaviors and adopt a permanent lifestyle change. Otherwise, it's just an endless loop of disappoint and frustration. Having been on the other side of the spectrum at one point, a personal training program (to a certain extent) will not be sufficient to ensure weight loss without diet modification.
Brent Brookbush, January 9 at 9:32am: Thank you to everyone who participated in this discussion. This is definitely one of the best panel discussions we've had in a while. I will post this discussion on the b2cfitness.com "trainer's forum" in the next week so that this information is readily viewable and the conversation can be continued indefinitely.
Brent Brookbush, January 9 at 9:35am: I posted a "panel discussion inspired" myth from my book "Fitness or Fiction" today regarding exercise and weight loss. I hope you enjoy the bit of research to add to this topic. I will post some more research based info on diet and motivation as the week progresses. Thanks again everyone.