Take Charge Counseling and Consulting Services

“It’s a matter of pure physics!”  That’s what my physics professor used to say.  He meant: “There is no getting around it.  It is a law.  It cannot be broken.”

This might sound like a strange introduction to the topic of weight management, but I believe it is very pertinent.  Allow me to explain:

The First Law of Thermodynamics (Conservation) states that energy is always conserved, it cannot be created or destroyed. In essence, energy can only be converted from one form into another.  Food provides the body with energy, which is measured in calories.  This energy cannot be created or destroyed.  When food (potential energy) enters the body, it is converted to other forms of energy.  One form of energy that food is converted to is kinetic energy; the energy of movement or work (movement, cell division, growth, etc.)  Another form of energy is thermal energy; the energy of heat.  If some of the energy delivered in food is not needed at the time of consumption, it is converted to potential energy, which we know as body fat.

When we speak about losing weight, we are really speaking about losing body fat, or potential energy.  The only way to rid the body of fat (short of liposuction) is to change some of that potential energy (body fat) back to either kinetic energy or thermal energy.  The only way this can be accomplished is to reduce the amount of calories (potential energy) entering the body or increase the amount of kinetic/thermal energy used by the body (the most common way to do this is exercise) or both.  When this happens, the body must then use the potential energy in the form of body fat to convert to kinetic and thermal energy to keep the body alive.

So when it comes to losing weight, it is truly a matter of pure physics – adjusting the amounts of energy to reduce the potential energy which has been converted to body fat.  It is as simple as that.  Consume less calories or burn more (kinetic/thermal energy) and thereby reduce the potential energy on the back side of the equation.  There are no short cuts and one cannot break the laws of physics.

Are you with me so far?  Good.  The problem is that many folks believe that they are somehow breaking the laws of physics.  They believe that somehow their bodies have found a way to produce energy out of nothing.  I can’t count the number of clients who have tried to convince me that they are somehow breaking this first Law of Thermodynamics.  Recently I talked to a lady who weighed 240 lbs.  She attempted (in vain) to convince me that she was consuming 1800 calories per day and somehow continuing to maintain her 240 lb body.  Doing the simple math, I was quickly able to show her that she was consuming at least 2640 calories per day – (and that minimum would only be possible if she was practically immobile all day long).   She told me she was fairly active, walking every day.  This meant that she was more likely to be consuming 3100 calories per day, or more.  How can I prove that?  It is a matter of pure physics.

1800 calories cannot sustain more than approximately 163 lbs.  You can do the math.  It is truly a matter of physics.  In order for 1800 calories to sustain any more than this, even in the most sedentary lifestyles, is simply impossible.

Think of the implication of truly believing that she was consuming 1800 calories per day.  She was frustrated, upset and ready to give up.  Furthermore, her faulty belief about how much she was consuming spawned another pesky faulty belief: “No matter how little I eat, I simply can’t lose the weight.”  And another: “My metabolism must be really screwed up.”

The real culprit, once she figured out how to calculate it, was that she was in fact consuming 3100 calories per day on average and calling it 1800.  Sound like a stretch? Hardly!  In clinical studies, participants typically underestimate the amount of calories they are consuming by 50% or more.  Don’t believe me?  Come in and see me and I will show you how to do it for yourself.

The point I am making is that one, simple, faulty belief can make all the difference.  This woman was putting in all kinds of effort, she simply believed something that was completely false.  Once we got the energy equation correct, the fat began to melt away.

Hence was born the idea of Pure Physics.  This phrase represents to me the fact that faulty beliefs can lead to something that is essentially as silly as believing that I can somehow defy the Law of Gravity.  I am in the business of correcting faulty beliefs that stand squarely in the way of getting from where we are now to where we want to be.  I am in the business of eliminating the frustration that inevitably occurs when we maintain faulty beliefs about the things we want to change.  And there are a plethora of faulty beliefs that maintain the problem of being overweight, most of which can be summed up by understanding that losing weight is truly just a matter of pure physics.

Stop is soon for a free consultation.  I would love to tell you all about it!!

In Diet, It's Calories That Count

Study compared range of menus

By Elizabeth Cooney Globe Correspondent / February 26, 2009

"Dieters who had the best record of attending counseling sessions lost 22 pounds." Dr. Frank M. Sacks of the Harvard School of Public Health

"This is the basic underlying tenet of Pure Physics.  Check out the linked article on the study (above) that appeared in the February 2009 New England Journal of Medicine.  This finding completely supports the efficacy of the Pure Physics approach."

Pure Physics Articles

• How Much Fat Can You Burn?
• Anatomy of a Mistake
• Calories Count