If you read my newsletters on a regular basis you will more than likely hear the same lecture over and over about achieving weightloss and keeping it off. I try to stress to everyone three major components that will make or break your success rate in your quest for weightloss achievement.

Dedication, calories in calories out, and no excuses are the three major components needed for a successful program to lose weight and keep it of.

But this month I am going to add another component for you and that is your own reality. What is real in your life for you. And again we will call this your own lifestyle reality. Now this is nothing new in fact it is probably the newest craze out there "Fit your weightloss program to your lifestyle". The problem is many people don't. They get on programs that our unrealistic to their lifestyle and their goals.

I have been wanting to do this article for along time because I have seen the problem for along time and now I have a little time to address this. What has prompted me to do an article like this is the reality show "The Biggest Loser". Like most of you when it first came on I started watching not for maybe the same reason as some of you but mainly because this is my job and I love watching other personal trainers do their thing.

I loved the show mainly because it was sending out a message that look you have to work in order to achieve results. That is a message that I thrive on when getting people to exercise. Not only at the time am I worried about weightloss but I am also concerned about your health, your heart and your lungs especially. The Biggest Loser was also sending the message of dedication and no excuses, again something that I truly believe is needed in order to have success at losing weight.

As I watch the Biggest Loser season by season something started to change for me with that program and I started realizing this is heading in a bad direction. One of the first scenarios that happened was one of the contestants working out so hard that they threw up. That sent a chill down my spine. Then as a trainer I started to notice bad form in the contestants along with the fact that they were running on treadmills to the point of exhaustion, losing form and creating a environment that was unsafe for them meaning at any time they could lose control and fall which could cause a fatal injury. Another lifting weights that were obviously too heavy for them which could cause a injury.

In the meantime everyone is raving what a great show this is and of course as we all know the program is a major success. What everyone see's and why it is so successful is that people get on the show lose a tremendous amount of weight and life is good. The dream that all overweight or people with weight problems dream about. And that's when I knew I had a problem with the Biggest Loser.

Let's break this down little by little. The Biggest Loser is a reality tv program. A tv program is created in hopes that it will draw millions of viewer which in turn brings big time advertisers which in turn brings money to the network that is hosting the tv program. But not only is money coming from the advertisers but also in the sale of DVD's, Memberships and anything else that the Biggest Loser can sell to make sure you lose your weight. This is all fine and great except for the fact that that even though this is a reality tv program this is not true reality. And actually at this point it is sending out a bad message as to how to go about losing weight the safe and effective way.

And now you are saying well Marcia how can you knock a TV program that is doing so much for overweight people and changing their lives forever. And my answer to that is because what I see is not a safe and effective way to lose weight and in the long run the majority and I mean majority will not be able to maintain the weightloss of what the Biggest Loser is portraying and that really concerns me.

I really believe that the true reality hit home for me when the one contestant was to have suppose to run a marathon and didn't. That's when the biggest loser started making everyone run a marathon or run/walk a marathon. They took a hit on that one so they had to start damage control. Also the fact that many of the contestants started gaining thier weight back. Again the power that be of the Biggest Loser had to step and correct this problem.

Please try to remember certain aspects of the biggest loser. The people who are losing tremendous amounts of weight are first being monitored constantly. They have no other job but to lose weight at this time. They also have signed contracts stating that they will not devaulge what goes on behind the scenes or the could pay a hefty sum of money for damages. And believe me those contracts are ironclad. Again stressing these contestants have nothing else to do but be on this program working out 4-6 hours a day and on strict diets. Anyone who works out 4-6 hours a day on a strict diet will lose weight. I get complaints when I need you to work out 1 hour a day, so ladies what makes you think you will be working out 4-6 hours a day without a problem? Again I can gurarentee you that the Biggest Loser powers that be had to get some of these past contestants and put them back on some type of program to keep them from gaining their weight back in front of the public, because if that was to happen the ratings would go down and sooner or later the tv program would be facing cancellation. When the press started releasing to the public that past contestants were putting their weight back on, the Biggest Loser powers that be had to step in again. Which meant they had to go in and start monitering certain contestants from the past in order to keep that weightloss off. In the future you will find many of the reality stars of today will be the child stars of our past meaning they are being abused and used to keep the ratings up.

In the where are they now episode you saw that some kept off the weight. Sure the did because first of all some of them are still working out 4-6 hours a day. You saw where Erik Chopin the one winning contestant gained his weight back and Bob went to visit him and said we will get you back on track. The media was all over that. And the Biggest Loser Executive have got to make that happen, not for Erik sake but for the shows sake, and that would be the sad part for me in this. This is not a game this is someone with a weight problem. It's not a contest. It's someone's life. This is not about losing 100 pounds in 3 months and being the first to do it. This is about taking time to develop a realistic lifestyle plan fit for a individual to be able to handle their weight problem for the rest of their lives.

Guys you need to put the Biggest Loser into prospective. Watching the biggest loser for me is like my grandma watching General Hospital. While some things are true to life, its not life its a TV program and you need to put it in that catagory. The show does have it's share of good advice and tips but other things are just not what people would do in the real world.

I do love the fact the the Biggest Loser preaches you can reach anything you want if you work hard at it. I totally agree with that, but it has to be done in a safe, healthy and realistic time frame manner.

When you start a exercise program you need to start with the basics. If at anytime you cannot talk or you lose form, or your body just does not feel right doing that specific exercise then STOP!!!! Killing yourself is not the answer to success. Being smart about what you can handle in your exercise program will lead to your success.

Pushing yourself to the next level is different then killing yourself to get to the next level.

Remember any game plan for losing weight and keeping it off has to be looked at in the manner in which you feel you can handle this lifestyle for the rest of your life. If the plan is only a temporary plan of full force only then once you lose the weight you go back to your regular lifestyle or a lower version of what you have been doing then you are in trouble. If you are working out 3 hours a day, lose the weight and go back to 1 hour a day, what do you think will happen? If you work out 1 hour a day and cut back to no exercise after you lose your weight again what do you think will happen? Same with your nutrition plan. Ok so you cut your calories back to 1200 and lose a ton of weight. Now you shoot it back to 2000, what do you think will happen? You cut certain foods out completly lose weight and then add those foods back in. What do you think will happen? That's why I will stress for the 100th time slow weightloss is the best weightloss. Also I want to stress again finding your right caloric intake for you is important. If you drop your caloric intake too low you are only teaching your body to live off that many calories and adapt to that. Why? Wouldn't you rather take the time to find the correct caloric intake where you can lose a pound or two a week and still keep the calories up? Work from up down, just don't go down and starve yourself.

A plan you can keep for life that is the plan you need to execute in your life. Taylor made especially for you.

Ok so now you have your four components-dedication, calories in calories out, no excuses, and a realistic lifestyle for you. Success is right around the corner if you make those components the foundation for losing weight. It may be the longer road but it will be the one that last.