Calories don't make you fat.

I mean, technically, yes, over consuming calories will lead to weight gain but that's not actually the issue.

Imagine taking a hammer and smashing your hand with it and then blaming the hammer.

Technically, the hammer broke your hand. But wouldn't you take a moment to assess why you decided to hit your hand with a hammer in the first place?

And if the hammer isn't the problem, then the hammer certainly isn't the solution.

You see where I'm going with this? It's about to get deep and introspective so if that's not your thing.. you can stop reading now. :)

In fact, mindset work and personal/faith development are common topics around these parts so if it's not what you want to be reading then I suggest you unsubscribe.

Anyway, it's not about calories.

Let's stick with the hammer analogy for a second.

Imagine if 70% of the population were consistently smashing their hands with hammers (why 70%? Because that's how many overweight people there are).

And all anyone ever talks about is hammers.

You need to try this other hammer instead. You need more discipline around your hammer. You need to have more willpower with your hammer. Your hammer is dirty.. just try clean eating, I mean hammering ;).

And every single year, $80 BILLION dollars is spent trying different hammers (that's how much money the diet industry makes every year last time I checked - I'm betting it's more now).

And every single year, we get sicker and more overweight. Something isn't adding up.

Wouldn't it make sense if someone took a step back and asked the question... why is everyone hammering their hands all the time?!

This is my biggest gripe with diets.

We're all so obsessed with calories. How to control them. How to monitor them. How to have more discipline and willpower with them.

We come up with new ways all the time on how to control calories, and yet, we just keep getting sicker and more overweight.

And no one stops to ask the question as to why.

Why do we continue to over indulge on calories all the time?

It's not about eating clean. It's not about having more discipline and willpower.

We need to stop addressing symptoms and get to the root of the issue.

Symptom control is what dieting is all about.

You want freedom? You want lifelong results?

Get to the root of the issue.

WHY do you over indulge?

Maybe it's part of your family history and you only felt loved when you finished your plate so you developed a habitual desire to eat everything in front of you.

Maybe food was the only thing that felt safe. (I've personally been there. Food was my best friend). 

Maybe you felt unworthy and or unlovable and used food to hide. Or as a form of punishment. (Been there, too - that's another story for another day). 

Maybe you never learned other ways to cope with emotions and food was always predictable and comfortable.

You think that controlling calories will fix those things?

We have decades worth of research that clearly indicates it will not.

Humans all want the same thing...

We want to belong. We want to be loved. We want to be admired, respected, valued.

We often over indulge because we're missing those things. Food can be an easy outlet to fill a void.

Calories are not the problem.

In a food environment that is built for comfort and convenience, it becomes even more important to get to the root of the issue.

Most people don't want to go there. It's scary down there. It's vulnerable.

Which is why most people will continue to pump money into a diet industry that keeps them gaining weight and feeling worse about themselves.

Which leads to a worse relationship with food and more dependence on dieting.

It's really messed up.

But sure.. let's keep blaming calories.

How's that been working for us so far?

There's nothing that makes me happier than when I have a client who finally opts out of that way of thinking.

When the lightbulb moment happens and they recognize how they've been using food and how it's been serving them.

They recognize that another diet was never going to be the answer.

And they start doing the internal work with me to create true freedom.

No more food guilt. No more food obsession. No more food punishment.

That's when the physical results that they pushed so hard for happen as a byproduct because they're working from the inside out. 

And they happen rather easily.

Because addressing the root cause will always be more effective than symptom management.

I know not everyone is ready for that kind of work.

However, the longer you avoid it, the longer you're going to struggle.

You can buy another hammer or you can learn why you keep hammering your hand and how to stop it.

Always a choice.

Later tater,

Mikey