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Touchline • Issue 15 • 11
Weight loss is a multi-million dollar business. Hardly a single
issue of Cosmo will go by without a new method for losing
“those unwanted kilos” being splashed on the cover next to
articles about “wild new sex positions”.
The net result of this constant search for a new angle has led
to so much white noise that it has become almost impossible to
understand just what is the most effective way to stop scaring
small children when you take off your shirt at the pool.
Sports science seems to pump out a new study every day that
realigns the basic notion of what will get you fit. Even in the
same edition of Men’s Fitness you might find contradictory
reports of the best way to look like a Greek god.
Most people who hit a certain age have that moment when they
are spurred into action. It might be a photo where you look like
Santa Claus on his day off, or the panicky expression of an old
friend who barely recognized you since you stacked on 20 kilos.
Or it might just be a pair of pants that have moved from “snug”
to “sausage wrapping”.
OK, so motivation engaged. But what next? Do you start a fad
diet like Dukkan? Go to a dietician? Go to the gym? Lift weights?
Take up running? Zumba? Pilates? Free BASE mountaineering?
The choices you are faced with are endlessly daunting. It is
enough to kill your fledging will to succeed there and then.
These sorts of articles tend to start with the very comforting
thesis that it is simply a case of energy in vs. energy out. If you
expend more energy than you consume, then your body will turn
and eat itself. Hey presto, weight lose. And this is true.
But how you do make this transfer effective, efficient and
lasting? That is where things get confusing.
TORCHING
BODY FAT
BY TIMOTHY MOTTRAM
FAILURE