Weight loss programs often have big claims. Understand the “science” behind weight loss, and you will focus on the achievable ones.

The key is to try not to simply accept or reject the “claim”, but to see what kind of program is most scientifically viable and therefore capable of fulfilling your claim. To understand weight gain and weight loss, we must understand that the body actually has a three-sided energy equation …

… there is ENERGY IN (what we eat), ENERGY OUT (what we use in activity) and ENERGY STORED (the layer of fat in the body is solidified stored energy).

The first mistake most people make is to only consider energy input and output in their theories of weight loss programs … so they simply try to eat less or exercise more to affect their weight. Whereas, it is very important to shed some light on the third side of this energy equation – and that is “stored energy”!

What happens in the body of someone who is fat, overweight and out of shape? Too much input for all the wrong reasons, too less production through a less active lifestyle, and therefore too much storage (i.e., excessive fat accumulation).

Now let’s look at an important scientific factor that is not visible in this equation but that most dramatically affects all weight loss programs … the psychology of the mind!

Many people believe that the mind makes the body crave food and hate exercise! But the mind does not thus directly affect the input and output of energy … it is very important to understand this.

Actually, the mind affects the third element: energy “storage problems.” A mind that subliminally perceives the external environment in which we live as difficult, hostile, threatening, etc. sends signals to the body that fat stores need to be strengthened in the event of sudden or future crisis needs. And an obedient body responds!

It automatically adjusts its behavior, creating a desire for energy input and creating hatred for energy production. This is why our behavior seems involuntary, out of control. And that is why our weight loss programs seem unsustainable.

Now just listen to this piece of logic and your doubts about how to lose weight quickly will evaporate … the right weight loss programs are the ones that will help the mind send the right signals to the body! Thats the secret.

That’s why diets and pills don’t work … they can’t change the mind’s view of life. But exercise is one thing that can really alter our mind’s perception of threat and turn it into an assertive attitude.

How? When we set ourselves a physically challenging goal, when day after day we physically do whatever it takes, and against all odds, we reinforce in our minds its ability to conquer the environment. A strong dose of action taken as a daily challenge has a mind-strengthening quality, more than just a body-strengthening quality!

Even among the exercises to perform, it is better to choose one that in itself is not threatening and natural, since if the mind sees the exercise itself as too exhausting or threatening, the purpose is defeated. That’s why the world of long-term fit people is so full of those who have chosen walking, the ultimate natural and non-threatening exercise, among all weight loss programs.