Tools Are NOT The Answer

Today's newsletter comes from a client conversation a few days ago.

Chatting over Zoom I commented my client was looking healthy and even a

little leaner than before.

She took the compliment, knowing that it was coming from a good place

and especially relates to recent health scares and subsequent surgeries.

And there she was looking ready to take on the world through my computer

screen.

She told me that while she had lost weight, that wasn't necessarily her

intention, all she had done was make small changes in her behaviour,

especially her food choices.

Changes so minor she barely felt the change, which lead to a very slow

change in her body composition.

ie her bodyfat levels reduced gradually, and her muscle mass that she

works hard for began to show.

I forget her exact words, but she said that instead of going on a diet,

she simply ate in a way that better supports her body

And instead of following the media, she followed the signals from her

own system.

I told her she needs to write a book. Because what she had done is

precisely the message that the world needs to hear.

What I summarised in a paragraph could be expanded out to 300 pages,

I'll provide a foreword and she'll be a best seller with a TED talk and

everything

My client is also a pharmacist.

And as we laughed about the simple, not easy truth of body composition

change and better health, she expressed her frustration at the rise in

GLP-1 medication usage.

While I am confident anyone on this newsletter using the GLP-1 meds such

as Ozempic & Mounjaro is doing so responsibly and for the right reasons,

I'm also sure we all know at least one person who is not.

And it's this irresponsible usage that causes my client, and all my

peers in the health & fitness sphere concern.

We know, and I am preaching to the choir here, that my clients story of

small changes over time is the key to sustainable change.

It's about habits, and the development of better habits.

However, for a percentage of the population who are extremely obese,

simply changing their diet and adding in some exercise is extremely

difficult.

It can happen, there are a couple of SocMed accounts that are lads going

through just that, check out Ethan Bernard as one such example.

People who get this way often do so through no fault of their own, it's

usually a parental issue growing up.

In these cases a GLP-1 medication can get them started, and as their

weight comes down, we can work on better habits and introduce exercise.

But for the recreational user, those using for simple aesthetics, this

is the problem and the danger group.

When GLP-1 meds are viewed as being a solution rather than merely a

tool, then we see people developing health problems.

Most of the problems are malnutritional in nature, a poor diet that

stays poor but merely reduced by the medication.

From my reading of the science behind GLP-1 medications and their

mechanisms, it seems a person on these meds needs to up their protein up

to 4x the normal in order to provide enough amino acids to maintain

muscle, never mind any extra needed for recovery from exercise.

I guess the point I'm making is that tools, all tools and that includes

GLP-1 are just that, tools to do a job.

They're not a crutch.

And without the rest of the tool kit, or a competent tool user, the tool

on it's own is of limited use.

To quote an old buddy who is ex forces on training: "arm the man, don't

man the arms"

This means skills and attributes come before tools.

So if body composition is something you are concerned about, then

looking at what you currently consume is critical so you can make slow

and gradual changes to that.

This precisely what several of my clients are doing with Chat GPT, they

using that to track their food intake and many are surprised at how much

more they need to eat to reach their protein & calorie goals.

This goes for the ladies as much as it does the lads.

It's not always quality that needs to improve, but also quantity.

But, like our hero at the start of this story, make small changes over a

long term.

And this time next year you'll be looking back satisfied by your progress.

And not stuck in a cycle of yo-yo bullshit.

Simple

Not easy

--

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net