Ignorance assures dieting failure. Each day at the gym, I watch good-natured trainers
show members five to ten different exercises on the machines. I glimpse at women
puffing away as the trainer counts, “Eight, nine, come on, you can do one more!
Great, 11!”
I trust these women think that they are on the way to weight-loss heaven, but they
rest deceived. I’ve watched these women for almost two years now, doing these
exercises in earnest. Yet their body shapes are still the same, and some have
actually gained weight.
This lack of physical change, over the span of two years while consistently
exercising, is an obvious indicator that the women have not modified their
nutritional intake. The women’s deception lies in the belief that they can change
their bodies through exercise alone, without modifying their diets.
Even trainer Bill Phillips coaches in Body for Life that “by accepting the fact that
optimal nutrition is just as important as exercise—you will be one step closer to
achieving the level of success you rightfully deserve.”
Likewise, personal trainer Mike Davies has one standard for determining when a woman
is committed enough to changing her body shape to attain her desired results. Davies
notes that the woman “actually changes her nutritional habits over a period longer
than six weeks. Many women will work out and do cardio but never change their
nutritional habits, therefore getting far less results.”
Yet day after day, month after month, I watch women at the gym retain the same shape
and percentage of body fat even though they stay on the treadmill and stair climber
for 45-60 minutes at a time. Their shape does not change because their diet goes
unchanged.