It costs so much more to be unhealthy

Getrichslowly.org recently wrote this fairly obvious yet still alarming article on the price of obesity. Scary.

More than 60% of Americans are at an unhealthy weight, with 33.4% classified as obese. If we continue at this rate, by 2030 half of the population will be obese. 

That's it? Go ahead and read the full article. It's worth the 5 minutes. Well, I guess that's subjective.

It's unfortunate our beloved fitness industry is so hell bent on the mighty dollar that they do little to assist this sad epidemic. Let me just get this rant out of the way now. I know, it's a bit tired and covered repeatedly across the blogosphere. I'll keep it short.

Here they are selling fat burners and appetite suppressants, neither being all that healthy, to men and women who simply lack the knowledge and instruction to get their lives back. Instead of teaching what has been tried and true for centuries, they teach what gets them the most attention and money. McTrainers direct their clients towards the unnecessary machines and (seemingly) couldn't care less about the overall well being of their clients. Women naturally gravitate towards the non-specific and "not goal oriented" cardio classes which do little to build actual muscle. You know, muscle being the necessary component for fat loss (well, diet being most important). I wonder how one acquires muscle? Ladies, you will not look like this if you train like this:

"But I could never do that!"

How do you know? Have you ever truly put forth the effort to find out? I'm able to do things now I never thought possible. I'm excited to see just what I'm capable of. Shouldn't you be too?

Gyms don't sell memberships because of their sweet free weight area, they sell memberships based on how new the machines are, their spa, and how much cardio equipment they have. The more flat screens and built-in fans the better. After all we want to be comfortable while becoming a new person right? I mean we certainly don't want to become uncomfortable and face the real possibility of turning into a stronger person mentally. We learn nothing about ourselves when we are comfortable.

Silly diet programs have men and women obsessing about the number of calories they ingest each day. So how do they help? They create a point system and a line of small portion meals which is comprised of processed garbage. Whether it's the programs' intentions or not, fewer calories than recommended are seemingly always consumed. Too few calories leads to the eventual slowing of your metabolism. Your body holds onto that little energy for dear life. So, due to the processed foods and caloric deficit both men and women often times see little progress and even weight gain. Despair then sets in, and it's far easier to quit then to assess the problem and find a solution. After all, these programs don't teach mental strength. Here's a tip: stop counting calories and throw away your scale. Seriously. Never use that thing again. That causes more harm than good. I'll go into detail at a later date on both subjects. In the meantime go read sites like Mark's Daily Apple and get a better grasp on your nutrition.

I know I should be happy that people are at least attempting to get into shape, but it's hard for me when the root problem is known. That's just me, though. Fortunately there has been a recent strong movement consisting of trainers and coaches, athletes, gym owners, and every day people who are beginning to correct the bad information and get us all on the right track. To those I give daps, and those are just a few examples (all of which are on my bookmarks bar - there are many more). The internet does do good things for this world shockingly enough. It helped me find these people and that information. It was up to me to to apply it.

Forreal.