Gym Convo: People Don’t Get It

By: Michael Beiter

I talked to one of our clients after our workout this morning. She is about one-third the size of where she was at her heaviest.

She showed me a picture of an unrecognizable, 220 lb plus woman and said:

“This was where I began. Interestingly, I’m losing sympathy for people struggling with this stuff as things continue. They lob excuses for why they can’t do what I’ve done. They walk around willfully ignorant of what they’re eating or drinking and wonder why year after year they get fatter and their health deteriorates.”

This client has never been a big drinker, but she went along when her friends recently asked her out. She had a hard cider beer and quickly logged it into MyFitness Pal. Once she learned one beer had nearly sixty grams of sugar, she sent it back and chose to have a lighter option and only one at that.

“I used to drink six of these things in one day! Now, I’m thinking about the little ring in MyFitness Pal going up with everything I consume. I see food as a combination of macros,” she said.

I replied:

“Good, that means we’ve done our job. We never pitch that in the beginning when people are starting because it turns them away. Nobody wants to change their relationship with food to an objective one.

As coaches, we know the whole time that if they are going to be successful, they will have to start seeing things as you do, scientifically, with counting. One of our country's biggest problems today is the lack of awareness surrounding what we consume. The government is reviewing new food labeling techniques, including black box warnings for high sugar, salt, and processed options.

Still, ultimately the responsibility is on the consumer. Poor Diet is the number one killer in our country, and you can do something about that or play the victim. The choice is up to the person, which is the hardest thing to see: when people won’t make better choices for themselves. It’s tough to observe.”