Latest / Cameron's Conversations: The last weight loss podcast you'll ever need. / Episode 102: The Weekly Moan
Transcript
- Cameron: Welcome to Cameron's Conversations. And this is my favourite episode of the week. It's the weekly moan. And I've got the best moaner I know. I've really recruited the best here for this podcast. I've got Louis on as well. If there's one specialist area that would go on the CV, it might be this one. So we've got two moans. We've got a moan each that we're going to run through about things that we've seen online, on social media, and just in general that wind us up around fitness and nutrition. And I'm gonna let Louis lead the charge. think this is off the back of a comment probably on reel at some point. So I'll let you jump in. Louis: Yeah, we'll try and keep this ⁓ this episode as well, it could it could go on all day if we if we let it, but ⁓ we'll make sure it doesn't. ⁓ so yeah, I got a comment the other day on a reel ⁓ and I was talking about tracking calories. Now obviously tracking calories a bit a bit of a contentious subject. ⁓ God knows why. ⁓ but it kind of It grinds my gears a little bit when someone says something like I ⁓ I would do all of this if it wasn't for the fact that tracking calories is just it's so time consuming, it's a proper headache, ⁓ it takes too long and I just can't be bothered. It's like right, okay, well if we look at the facts and I can I can sit here from a position of having tracked every single calorie over the last eight weeks Even though I've been all over the place and having several different restaurant meals and stuff like that. So, first and foremost, I understand that it's a bit of a ball ache at times. But it very much depends on how you do it and your mindset to it as well. If you go in with this whole idea that this is a nuisance, this is a ball ache, there's no point to it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, then obviously, yeah, you're probably not going to last that long doing it. But My argument for it is if it's going to get you to where you want to go, then five minutes a day, which is how long I've spent on my fitness power on average over the last eight weeks, it's probably worth it, isn't it? I would I would say. And it's it really kind of frustrates me that people aren't willing to do five minutes of effort to see, you know, like 90% more progress than what they're doing right now, just because they're just being a bit too stubborn, potentially. Or may or maybe I'm being a bit cynical, classic. ⁓ and they haven't been shown how to track calories properly, perhaps. Okay. I mean, there's all sorts of resources out there. If you wanted to learn how to do it, it would probably take you less than a couple of hours research. So again, it's Maybe it's not the tracking calories thing that's annoyed me. Maybe it's the fact that people like to complain, like me. ⁓ they like to complain about the results they're getting from the work that they're just can't be bothered to do. Maybe it's that. Cameron: Yeah, I actually just checked there whilst you were talking about that. I thought it'd be good check. I have just looked at my screen time, because that's such a really handy to look at. And I've seen what my screen time, so I also have tracked every single day over the last week. And I have spent the grand total of drum roll 23 minutes on my fitness pal in the last week, which means that I have spent three and a bit minutes per day, which. You I mean, you could be brushing your teeth and you could be tracking and that would be, you know, your day. don't know how long you're to brush your teeth for. It must be about three minutes, surely. But the thing is, it's just nowhere near as much time. And look, like if you're new to tracking, are you going to do it in three minutes? Probably not. It's probably going to take you like nine, 10 minutes maybe. But then after like, I would say from what I see with our clients, like I would say after two weeks of tracking when someone's new to it. to get to that point where they're probably going to be like starting to see it shortened down quite a lot where they get really snappy at doing it. They're like, oh yeah, like I just, this is this, this is that, not a problem to do. Like I think there's a little bit of the learning curve at the start, but it really is like 10 minutes a day, which to be fair, if someone said to me, you can drop all that weight that you've been holding onto for years just by starting to track your calories and you can not struggle with it like you have for years and years and years. For 10 minutes a day, feel like that's a reasonably okay investment. I mean, I wouldn't expect to get in great shape without the investment of 10 minutes a day, to be fair, so. Louis: Yeah, exactly. That's my that's my point. And ten minutes a day is like y that's probably the top end, right? As you s as you just said. Yeah, as you just said, it's reasonable to expect maybe when you're first tracking for the very first time, for the in the first or you know, one or two weeks, yes, it might might take ten minutes per day. But that is rapidly gonna decrease. W because you're gonna eat similar meals, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, yeah, I spend five minutes a day on my fitness pal. Cameron: Yeah, 100%. Louis: And sometimes that's just because I've left my phone open on the app. Cameron: I was literally waiting to say that. know when I cook, a lot of the time, I will leave my fitness pal open whilst I cook, because I'm maybe just gonna come back to it, know, leave my phone on the worktop. So that's probably slightly skewed numbers as well. I probably don't even spend as much time as that. I was trying to have a look, and you can see in the last four weeks, the longest I've spent on my fitness pal on any given day is eight minutes. So yeah, there you go. Louis: So I yeah, I guess I don't know, it just frustrates me when people moan about stuff and then they're not willing to actually put in the effort to try and change. Maybe that maybe that's me being not sort of empathetic enough, I don't know. But honestly i it it does rub me up the wrong way. Cameron: Yeah. I think in a way though, it's kind of a good thing because I think sometimes, like, I think as coaches it's a funny balance, like, and I think any of our clients will listen to this. We do joke or grumpy old men, but we are actually very nice and kind to our clients and we often are, on the other side I often say this, in coaching I probably spend more time pulling clients back who feel like they need to do more or beating themselves up or putting too much pressure on themselves than actually pushing them. Although there is absolutely a time to do that. And as a coach, we aren't doing our jobs if we don't push people at times. Like that's a reality. We can't just say like, someone like, is like, ⁓ I'm just not gonna bother tracking for 10 days randomly. We wouldn't be doing our jobs if we're like, no problem, Lou, you just do whatever you want and like regain two kilos. Like that would be silly. But I think sometimes as well, it can be good to hear that bit of honesty. It's like, yeah, it's gonna take you 10 minutes a day when you first start for two weeks, then six minutes a day after that. Like that is the cost of losing weight. Like that's gonna be the price you pay. Like, if you're not willing to pay that, cool, but you just won't get anywhere. In the same way that if you want to learn to drive and you're like, yeah, but I don't want to do driving lessons, great. You're just not gonna ever pass your test. Like, you're not gonna pass your test. And if you book a test and try it anyway, like as in a bit like if you go on holding, you want to feel a bit better and you've made absolutely no effort, unsurprisingly, you're gonna go into that test and you're gonna be like, so what's a steering wheel? Like, you're not gonna get very far with it. So I think it's exactly the same. Louis: Yeah, good luck. Hmm. Yeah, choose choosing the alternative that is obviously worse because it involve it but but it involves less effort but it obviously makes you feel worse. That's the thing that frustrates me. It's like why are you not willing to put that effort in? Like, is it because you don't know how to do it? Is it because you don't know what's on the other side maybe? You know, blah yeah, all of this sort of stuff, but I don't know. It just r i I read that comment and I was like Cameron: that I have for him. Louis: Shaking my fist at the screen. Cameron: Yeah. I know. The thing that really bothers, this is me getting on the scribe as well. like when someone's like, but like it's easy for like you to say I'm so busy. And I'm like, I have clients with like four kids, full-time jobs, and are like running about daft. And I have no idea how they do it. Like I have so much respect for them because they're so busy. And like they're generally absolutely swamped. And then you've got someone being like, oh, but my situation's special. Like I definitely can't do it. I definitely don't have six minutes a day. And I would be stunned if you looked at their screen time and you didn't find eight minutes to spare there. There is no way that you couldn't find a few minutes from reading the news or faffing about on Instagram or whatever. mean, it's so easy to scrape that time back. Not very glamorous, but I'm sure if you sat on the toilet and did your tracking then every day, there you go. That's you sorted, right? That was your tracking time. Literally, there you go. I'm not necessarily suggesting that, but. Louis: Exactly. Cameron: Like it's so easy to do whether you're like on a commute or you're sat on the sofa, because like I sometimes do this as well. Like I usually have TV on and like if I'm or something if I was doing any of my last bits, because I usually track ahead, but if I've got a couple bits to add from the day, like I might pick it up then, or I'll maybe be sat on the sofa in the morning when replying to messages and quickly do it between that. Like it really doesn't take that much effort. So that's my gripe is like people are like, ⁓ but I'm so busy. I'm like, I have so many clients who are super busy. Like sure. Like it's easy for me to say, because I'm 31, I don't have kids, et cetera, don't have those responsibilities. But like when I look at all my clients who track and they have like kids, super, super busy jobs out the door early and they can manage it. I'm like, really? Like what's your excuse? But that's just social media, isn't it? That's ⁓ our first moan. My moan is about cortisol. So the amount of content that I sadly get pushed from usually to be fair, an influencer in Louis: Hm, yeah. Cameron: pretty good shape, who's talking about how they've gone on like a cortisol diet or they changed the foods they eat to reduce cortisol and then they show this like dramatic transformation and you just know it's absolute nonsense because that is not how it works. Like you cannot say, because it simply doesn't work like this physiologically, that stress stops you losing body fat. We do know that people who have really, really high cortisol levels do tend to, when they lose weight, have a slightly lower percentage come from body fat. ⁓ That tends to be the case. There's a minor difference, and they might see a small drop in rate, but it is so insignificant. It's one of those classic, when you look at it in the real world scenarios, it doesn't make that much difference. It's a little bit like when people are under-slept. when you look at the amount of fat mass they lose, they're at slightly more risk of losing lean mass. But as soon as someone exercises or trains, you can mitigate that risk, right? That's really limited. But you have so many people online right now who are like, ⁓ I just dropped my stress levels. And I'm like, well, that's gonna be so useful for most people. So just quit your job, sell coconuts on the beach, get rid of your kids, sell your husband, like all of these things, and your dog too, of course. and that should solve all your stress and all of a sudden weight loss will be so easy. Like it doesn't work that way at all. It's just nonsense and it's, what it is, is it's trying to sell people a silver bullet to make them think that actually like, ⁓ it's not because you're just overeating and it's not because actually you snack or you go way over your calories on the weekend. It's trying to give people a silver bullet to think that they can do all of those things. and actually they resolve the stress that'll sort it. But A, resolving the stress is very difficult and it's not practical in real life. Stress is part of life. And B, like it doesn't actually work that way. So it's just a complete scam, but it winds me up so much because I see so much of it at the moment. Louis: Yeah, the ⁓ the marketing they go into is is phenomenal though, you know? Selling it Cameron: ⁓ yeah, mean the marketing quality is great. We should probably, I mean you're really good at marketing, to be fair, your content's very good. I should probably learn something from it. Like maybe I need to learn more for better marketing skills. Like I cut out stress and this is what I look like now. I'm like, did you know? It wasn't anything to do with the fact you've been strength training for years and you've dropped four kilos and you're already quite a lean person. Like that definitely has nothing to do with it. Louis: Yeah, it's good. Yeah. The other thing as well, and this happens w like way, way, way more often than you realise, and you only have to spend, I don't know, like if well, if you're in the right like cesspit of the algorithm like I am, in terms of in terms of nutrition ⁓ content, you only have to spend sort of ten minutes before you start seeing different influencers saying exactly the same script. Cameron: Ciao! Louis: selling exactly the same product and they've obviously just been given a script to to say like, you know, are you feeling this, this, this and this? Which are gonna be like such broad symptoms anyway, that anyone and their dog would be like, Yeah, I feel those things. ⁓ okay. Buy this thing. And it'll f it'll solve your problems and potentially world hunger all at the same time. It's yeah, it's just a bit ⁓ I don't know. Frustrating. Frustrating that we we've got to a stage where that's still happening ⁓ and people are still getting con by it. ⁓ I I wonder whether or not in the future ⁓ we're gonna get to a stage where that doesn't work anymore. I d I don't think we are, sadly. I think there is always gonna be people who are susceptible to that sort of stuff. Cameron: I think as well the problem is like we talk about this a lot is like it's really easy to convince yourself like it's easy to convince yourself you're tracking accurately but if you review the last 60 days how many weekends off did you have of tracking? Okay well had half of them off if not more. Okay well every time you have that weekend off I know you think you go over your calories by 400 but you're probably going over by like 1600. Like, it's just the reality is a little, I will often say this, like not in a mean way, but like the reality is often a little bit harsher than we think it is. Like when people are like, ⁓ yeah, I just did a weekend off tracking, but it wasn't too bad. usually what's not too, I would say not too bad for most people is a thousand calories over their normal target. I think that's what most people will end up there or more. I actually think that would be fairly moderate for some people because like we talk about this a lot, if you go for a meal out, like what's the average calories from a meal out? People think it's a thousand. The average is probably closer to 16 to 1800. Sometimes more if you drink, but people don't necessarily want to hear that, but a starter might be 400, 500 calories sometimes. be three to four hundred if it's quite small. Then you've got a main which could be anywhere from eight thousand eight thousand eight hundred to twelve hundred eight thousand maybe not eight hundred to twelve hundred and dessert could easily be five hundred six hundred calories plus a couple of glasses of wine boom there you go two thousand four hundred but you still had breakfast and dinner that day. So a lot of the time I think it stems from that is like sometimes we don't want to face reality of our eating behaviors are far more out of line with our goals than we think they are because we live in quite a calorie dense environment. mean like speaking to a client about this who went to a place for like a milkshake, don't know if was like two, is it five guys? Do they do milkshakes? Louis: Yeah, yeah. Cameron: Yeah, and they were saying that the milkshake was like 1200 calories or something like that and they thought it'd be like 500 because they'd left some calories spare and it was just one of those mistakes, right? They just didn't track ahead but kind of planned it and ahead of time like, I'll leave 500 calories and they're like, oh my god and like people don't realize like and most people have a burger and chips before that, you know. Louis: Yeah, I mean those don't get me wrong, the five guys' milkshakes, sensational. But but anything that's around twelve hundred calories in the form of, you know, a dessert is gonna be sensational, right? ⁓ but yeah, there's so many calories ⁓ in in things and we don't we we underestimate it massively, probably just to like keep our little brain sort of happy and be like, Yeah, I'm not doing too bad. It's like, well, probably add you know, two and a half thousand calories more than you should have done today, but yeah, yeah, not too bad. Cameron: Yeah. And then maybe some days about camera and you just have 1500 more. And then you end up being 4,000 calories more. And then you realize that you're missing half your tracking during the week. Like this is why I think so much of it. And this is even in people that calorie track and people that don't, it can just be like, oh, but I was pretty good this week. I only went for one meal out and one lunch out. Like that's what they, because they're not tracking, there's not even that level of awareness. So that's what they feel. They're like, well, I only had one meal out. And it's like, yeah, but if you're a smaller female, and I know I have clients right now who might be down. on 14, 15, 1600 calories, right? If you look at that and you go for that meal out, well that meal out might be 2,000 calories. That is one and a half times your daily calories right there. So it's really easy to get stuck in a loop of feeling like you're eating quite healthily quote unquote with the odd meal out and actually not making much progress. Then you throw in the like, I always joke about this, but like the classic coffee and cake or you have a hot chocolate and a cake, right? And you're like, ⁓ wow, like I didn't go over, I just had this. It's like, but that slice of cake was quite big. It was 500 calories and the hot chocolate was 250. maybe 300 because it was like one with cream and marshmallows but again it's way more than we think I think that's where it stems from isn't it it's like we want a silver bullet because sometimes the truth is a wee bit harsher than we like but yeah sadly selling your dogs and your husband and whatever is probably not gonna solve your weight loss problems I mean it might cause less stress but yeah I don't think that's the solution probably not Louis: Yeah, probably not. Wouldn't recommend. Cameron: I don't know if that's the advice I'd be giving them a one-to-one check-ins. I'd be like, right, so this week, guys, what we're going to sort out is this, right? Kids, get them down the coal mines. Like, they're off. That's it. But yeah, I think that's definitely my moan is like, that is so misleading. So that was our weekly moan, guys, our favourite topic of the week. We've always got plenty of ideas. There's a few more popped into my head. So for another week, hopefully you enjoyed listening to that and listening to grumpy old men who are only in their thirties, but we'll gloss over that. and if you are interested in one-to-one coaching then jump into the show notes there is a link to my whatsapp there and if you are interested in future topics and have any suggestions you can also pop me a message there too otherwise have a great week and speak to you soon Louis: Cheers guys.