If you’ve read some of my past blog posts, you know how I feel about the thousands of fly-by-night fitness and nutrition ‘companies’ out there.  Many are less than honest and some can even be harmful to your well being.  I am very picky about the companies that Dave’s Press affiliates with.  At Large Nutrition was the first and is one of THE premiere supplement companies on the market today.  Premium quality products at great prices with impeccable customer service.

Now, in addition to At Large Nutrition, Dave’s Press is now affiliated with FitDay.com and Bodybuilding.com!  Two more fitness industry leaders that I have personally experienced.

FitDayhas everything you need to stay on track and achieve your goal. Track your foods and get feedback on your calories, carbs, fat, protein, and nutrition. Plan your weight loss and monitor your progress. Track and analyze your activities, metabolism, weight, moods, measurements, and more!

Bodybuilding.com has one of the largest, if not THE largest, online supplement store as well as one of the most popular fitness communities online.  It has built a great reputation for very reasonable prices and very quick delivery.  I’ve used them on a number of occasions and have been nothing short of impressed with their service.

In starting Dave’s Press, I never expected to make money from the endeavor.  All I want is to help others find success in health and fitness.  There are some costs associated with running the site and it would be great if those costs could be covered through affiliate sales.  If you enjoy the articles posted here and you are looking to purchase supplements or Fitday’s services, I only ask that you do so through Dave’s Press by clicking on one of the affiliate banners.  It would be much appreciated!

It is estimated that the success rate of dieting is between 2%-5%.  I know that may seem like a morale crushing statistic but all is not lost!  It makes sense that if you know WHY most diets fail then you know HOW to avoid the pitfalls and can increase your chances of success, right?  If you’re walking through a minefield your chances of making it through unscathed are slim but if you have a map of where the mines are located your chances of successfully crossing are greatly improved.

The health and nutrition industry is a multi-billion dollar per year industry and it is largely unregulated.  When you add those two things together you can count on the circling of the vultures.  It seems like you hear of a new, whacky diet everyday and people fork over their hard earned money in hopes that it “can be the one.”  There are some really bizarre diets out there and I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be bizarre to be effective.  You don’t have to eat cotton balls or sedate yourself so you won’t eat.  Yes, those were actual diets.

So why do most diets fail?  Is it the diet or the person?  In my opinion it is both.  Here are few reasons why most diets fail and it is my hope that with knowing these few reasons you may increase your chances of success.

Ok, so…yeah…the title is a bit deceptive but for those of you that are looking for a quick fix, you really need a reality check and hopefully this it.  If you really read the title then you may have realized I didn’t say anything about losing weight being fast!  Can you lose a lot of weight quickly?  Most certainly but the likelihood of you keeping that weight off is inversely proportional to your chances of keeping that weight off in the long run. 

What I mean is the faster you lose the weight, the less likely you are to keep it off.  This statement comes from personal experience and not from a scientific study.  Take a look at my completely made up graph that I dreamed up:

Completely Made Up Graph

There are anomalies.  There are some people that have dropped massive amounts of weight, quickly, and kept it off.  However, for the sake of this article we aren’t going to delve into how they accomplished it. 

If you are wanting, or needing, to lose a lot of weight and keep it off, here are a few pointers that may help you in that journey.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you’d probably agree that my main focus has been on weight training.  While going through my past posts, I found myself thinking, “well what about the kids?”  Maybe not in those exact words but I realized I have neglected the family aspect of fitness and nutrition. 

Growing up in my home, I can’t say that physical family activities were a number one priority.  When I was in elementary school, I used to always tell people, “My mama is a great cook!”  Now, combine the lack of physical family activity with “my mama is a great cook” and you get an overweight teen and an obese adult.  At least that’s the way it was in my case.

So what can you do as a family that is both fun and helps promote physical fitness?  “Fun” is the key here.  As a family, if you are trying to promote physical fitness and it isn’t “fun”, it ain’t gonna stick.  Hopefully these ideas will make something that can be very boring for your family both fun and healthy!

I’ve now been following the TNT Diet which I outlined in this article.  It is a very low carb diet (about 40 grams or less per day) with an emphasis on quality protein and fats.  Here is my update after the first week.

As with most low carb diets, you can expect a period of  adjustment to the low carb lifestyle and this has been no different.  Even though you try to prepare yourself, it can still be difficult.  If you can make it through it, you’re ready to start burning the fat.  Me?  I made it through it.  I was extremely exhausted for the first few days which led to some grumpiness that my wife certainly didn’t enjoy.  However, this was all gone by this past weekend!

I’m starting to get into the groove with my food preparation…boiled eggs, green veggies, salmon, chicken, steak, cheeses, real mayonnaise, almonds, avocados…it really is a good choice of foods for me.  I will be honest and admit that I do miss the occasional splurge on lower GI carbs like brown rice or potatoes but I have been able to mix up the allowed foods to keep it interesting.