The ONE thing that finally worked…

The ONE thing that finally worked: 3 Short Lessons to Help You Achieve Your Fitness Goals

The ONE thing that Finally Made Weight Loss Work for Me

I stumbled across a reddit thread that really grabbed my attention. Somebody asked, "What was the ‘one thing’ that finally made weight loss work for you?" And this question had 5,400 replies (and counting).

Some of the answers involved environmental changes or changing how they prepared their food:

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• "Pouring snacks into little ramekins to eat them. Suddenly I ate a normal amount of snacks."
• "I meal prepped my typical amount of food and instead of putting it in 2 containers, I spread it evenly in 4 containers. I forced myself to only eat 1 container per meal and tricked my brain into thinking it was my normal amount."
• Others changed what they ate:
  • "Found a salad I actually really like. Sounds dumb, but I’d never craved a salad before, and having one I actually liked meant I strung together a solid few weeks of eating a lot of lettuce – it snowballed from there, because I actually felt good and then started craving feeling good."
• Some had a more holistic approach that involved reevaluating their relationship with food, hunger, and discomfort:
  • "Realizing it’s a lifestyle change NOT a diet."
  • "Embrace the suffering. Expect that you’ll be breathing hard and uncomfortable when you’re doing cardio, expect that you’ll be sore after you lift, and expect that you’ll be hungry when you’re restricting your intake."
• Others used apps to track their calorie intake, which made them realize just how much they were eating:
  • "Using an app to track everything I ate. I realized a lot of ‘healthy’ things I was eating, in the quantities I was eating them, were a lot more calories than I thought. Just cutting down on certain foods did the trick."
• And some succeeded thanks to an initial push with medication:
  • "Saw a doctor about my type 2 diabetes. I weighed over 300 lbs and also had coronary artery disease. I qualified for diabetes medication that also helps control appetite. Started tracking calories and exercising."
  • "Semaglutide"

3 Short Lessons We Can Learn

These responses can be grouped into three main lessons:

Lesson 1: Success is Moving from Failure to Failure Without Losing Hope

The toughest part of getting healthy is not losing hope when some strategy you try doesn’t work out. I bet for each person who shared their answer above, they tried dozens of different strategies to try and get fit. Hell, I bet they tried most of the things that worked for other people, until they found the one that worked for them. What we can learn from this is that "hope is the warrior emotion that lays waste to cynicism," and it’s okay to have hope that each failed attempt means that’s one less strategy to need to try in the future.

For example, if you’ve tried Keto five times before and you can’t stick with it, congrats! You found the diet that doesn’t work for you. If you can keep that "beta test" mentality of "I’m going to see if it works for me," you might just find the first domino to fall for your journey!

Lesson 2: Beware the Charlatan

Spend enough time on social media, and you’ll eventually encounter health and wellness charlatans. These are the folks who tell you they alone have the one solution to all your problems. They often have a villain for all of the world’s evil ("it’s sugar! It’s carbs! It’s X ingredient!"). And sure enough, once they’ve fear-mongered and scared the crap out of you, they provide hope to you with their expensive, unregulated supplement or foolproof system. As you see in the examples above, there’s no "one size fits all" solution to this stuff. Every human is a unique weirdo with different baggage and triggers and traumas and experiences that make certain solutions a homerun and other solutions will be a nonstarter.

You can read more about how to spot and avoid charlatans in my past essay here: "How to not go crazy online."

Lesson 3: All Stories of Getting Fit Have 3 Boring Commonalities

Although all of these "one thing" solutions to getting in shape are different, they all do have a few similarities. The good news is that none of these things are revolutionary, proprietary, or fancy. Getting fit down to literally 3 things: Eating the correct number of calories for your goal weight, Getting some form of physical movement, and making these two things part of a lifelong lifestyle adjustment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these three lessons can help you achieve your fitness goals. Remember that hope is the warrior emotion, and it’s okay to have hope that each failed attempt means that’s one less strategy to need to try in the future. Beware the charlatans, and don’t be afraid to try different approaches until you find the one that works for you. And most importantly, keep in mind that all successful stories of getting fit have three boring commonalities: eating the correct number of calories, getting some form of physical movement, and making these two things part of a lifelong lifestyle adjustment.

FAQs

Q: What is the one thing that finally made weight loss work for you?
A: The one thing that worked for each person is unique, but common themes include making environmental changes, changing how they prepare their food, and having a more holistic approach to health and wellness.

Q: Is there a one-size-fits-all solution to getting fit?
A: No, every human is a unique weirdo with different baggage and triggers and traumas and experiences that make certain solutions a homerun and other solutions will be a nonstarter.

Q: How can I make exercise a part of my lifestyle?
A: Find ways to make exercise fun, beneficial, or necessary. This can include joining a walking/running club with friends, trying temptation bundling, or simply making a goal to exercise for 10-15 minutes a day, three times a week. Remember that it’s okay that you don’t love exercise – we’re not designed to love exercise! We’re designed to survive in times of scarcity, not thrive in times of unlimited abundance.