Why “shortcuts” are taking you further away from your goals

If something sounds too good to be true, chances are that’s exactly what it is.
Jamie WilkinsonJamie Wilkinson
Jamie Wilkinson

We all want results! Not only do we want them, but we want them as quickly as possible with as little effort as possible. If that means throwing £35 quid at a tablet with a cool name or a tea that your favourite Insta influencer advertises, you better believe we are going to take that risk, with the hope of finally winning the mystery fat loss jackpot.

“Surely some of them work?” “They can’t just sell them and lie through their teeth?... Can they?” “But my friend took them and got amazing results in only 4 weeks” The most brutal assessment of the fat loss supplement industry is that ‘they don’t care about your long-term results’ if anything they would love it if you become completely reliant on their products to get you to where you want to be because the second you revert to old habits or substitute those 200 calorie meal replacement shakes for actual food again, the chances are you will find yourself back at square one desperate for another six weeks of diet shakes and hunger pains.

Why do some people get results taking them?

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1. The Placebo Affect. If you go to your local shop and spend £50 on fat burners you have made a transaction with the mindset that you want to lose weight. You have invested in yourself and know exactly how long that tub of fat burners will last. (e.g. 4 week supply) When we pay money for something our approach and dedication increases. We don’t want to waste our investment, so we start thinking of other ways to make the most of our tablets for the 4 weeks we are taking them. We start eating better, we start going to the gym, we start walking more, we order fewer takeaways, we drink more water, all of a sudden, as if it were magic, the scales begin to drop, you feel amazing and you can’t believe you hadn’t tried these tablets out sooner.

Was it the tablets? or was it the exercise, increased step count, improved nutrition, fewer takeaways and overall healthier lifestyle? 99% of all fat burners are simply caffeine tablets, they will (very slightly) increase your bodies core temperature, which will burn ever the tiniest amount of extra calories (not enough to make a substantial difference). Caffeine is also an appetite suppressant, so those who can tolerate higher levels of caffeine per day may find it useful for keeping hunger at bay.

My advice if you like using caffeine this way, ditch the expensive pills with a jazzy name and swap them for simple caffeine tablets, or even better just have a nice coffee instead. Just make sure you don’t have any caffeine later than 2 pm as it has a 10-hour half-life and consumption after this time could affect sleep quality.

2. The company creates rules where weight loss is impossible to avoid. “Want to lose weight? Take one of our shakes for breakfast, one for lunch and a dinner of no more than 500 calories.” I’ve seen this on the back of so many meal replacement shakes, but how does it guarantee fat loss? Easy... you are starving yourself. A shake will have around 200 calories, you have one for breakfast, one for lunch with a 500 calorie dinner, you are consuming less than 1,000 calories per day! this is criminally low and potentially devastating to your long-term health. Losing weight in this manner is in no way sustainable, but those who try their best to stick to the plan will certainly lose plenty of weight. As the numbers on the scales drop, hunger and cravings will increase before the inevitable ‘eat everything in sight binge commences’ in these circumstances, it’s normal to regain all of the original weight lost as well as a few additional pounds for your trouble.

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The worrying part is that people still view the results from the shakes and tablets as positive, a few months down the line they will remember the weight they lost, the jean size they dropped and think maybe they should give it a go again, but this time they will keep those pounds off. They forget about the hunger, the nights they missed socialising with friends and feeling like crap! because they think that there is a shortcut out there that can help them get to where they want to be.

The harsh reality is there are no short cuts, there are no magical pills that melt body fat. These companies will always prioritise money first, customers second and the more people out there who are confused about how to lose fat and are desperate for results, the more they can charge and the more people they can attract.

If you would like to learn more about a long-term sustainable approach, that gets results and will drastically change your body shape, I would love to have a FREE chat with you. Head over to www.one2onefitnessni.co.uk and send us an email and we can talk about getting a plan in place for you.