COMPARISONS
MY STORY
It may seem logical to some to look at what a certain person is doing to get the same results they have attained. For example, a huge, lean bodybuilder will have several younger people looking up to him wondering how he got there, what he did or what his “secrets” are.
I’ll tell you now, drugs or no drugs, the secret is years of consistency and hard work.
Now in the age of social media, before, it was magazines and movies, people are getting overwhelmed with seeing shredded, super sexy, muscular people, and hope to be like them. We try to get all the information we can about their programming, diet and supplementation and expect to look like them in a short period of time leading to failure, frustration and a poor connection to diet and exercise. What is overlooked, are a few critical components, such as the fact that the person they are striving to be like is probably an athlete. They get paid to train and eat a certain way, they live that lifestyle daily. They’ve also been working very hard towards looking the way they do for a very long time. They don’t have your job or lifestyle and just go to the gym a few times a week and watch what they eat for the most part. They don’t live the average life that you live. Genetics are a big component to their success as well. There are lighting techniques for photo shoots, they typically have smooth waxed skin, and are rubbed down in oils and tanning sprays for “the ideal look” that’s being sold to you and probably making you feel hopeless.
These athletes that the average person strives to look like are not typically in a healthy range of body fat. Females lose their menstrual cycle at a certain point during extreme dieting and constant workouts, this is the body’s natural response communicating that you are not healthy enough to carry a or birth child at the moment. Men’s testosterone levels go down when getting into mid-lower single digit body fat %, it’s harder to gain or maintain strength at a very low boy fat %, hormones get out of whack, thyroid, estrogen, testosterone, insulin all down regulate, stress hormones typically elevate, leaving you in a nasty hole that is hard to get out of unless you have the knowledge and experience to do so. Not to mention that most who attempt to get down to a low body fat % don’t have the metabolism to back it up. Meaning, if you haven’t built up your metabolism with years of understanding diet, building muscle through resistance training, and attempt to take that body fat down when you typically only eat 1500 calories, you will end up starving yourself to lose fat. If 1500 calories aren’t working, 800 calories won’t work either. You have got to rev that metabolism up over time, then start taking away calories… This require tremendous patience and faith in the program.
I always get into the conversation, whether it be with friends, in a consultation, or with a new client about what they should be eating. That information is usually replied with “Well what do you eat? How much do you eat? How many carbs do you eat? What times do you eat?”. Now I am a 6’3”, 220lbs lean active male. If you are say, a 5’6”, overweight, inactive female, or even a 6’3” 220lbs inactive overweight male, then why would you want to know how, what or when I eat?!?! You need to find what’s best for you, and stick with it.
Lastly, I’d like to point out that what is attractive to most people, is a person that radiates health & confidence. This comes from primal instincts such as seeing a healthy woman to bare children, a strong healthy male to provide and protect or to procreate with. That healthy, strong and confident person doesn’t need 6 pack abs to be attractive.
Stop comparing yourself to those that have been walking the path for much longer than you, and focus on your first steps towards that better, stronger, happier and healthier version of yourself.
