Chris (aka Sparta), a client of Born Fitness, decided to get serious about weight loss because his wedding was only six months away.
Nothing motivates you like a hard and fast deadline. Sparta was incredibly driven; he crushed his workouts and dove headfirst into a food-tracking app (something that works well for him).
When Sparta's initial weight loss slowed, it slowed some more. For nearly six weeks, there was no change on the scale.
Don't Trust Activity Trackers.
To begin, he realized he couldn't depend on fitness trackers. Numerous people (including Sparta) rely on such methods to estimate the maximum daily caloric intake while still maintaining a negative calorie balance.
Since activity trackers are notoriously unreliable, relying on them to regulate daily calorie intake will likely result in overeating and subsequent weight gain.
According to a study published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine, energy expenditure (calories burned) estimates from several wrist-worn devices were found to be inaccurate by 27.4–93%.
The Fitbit Surge gave the "most accurate" calorie burn reports in the study, but it still overestimated actual burn by 27.4 percent. Yikes. (For reference, estimates for the Apple Watch were off by about 40%.)
Time to get honest (with yourself)
Additionally, a mental shift occurred in Sparta. Coach Natalie encouraged him to take a step back and focus on the habits holding him back. He quickly became aware of the fact that he was lying to himself.
"I was trying to justify my poor eating habits. Somehow, I could always find an excuse for binge eating, whether it was because it was "rare" (Narrator: It wasn't) or because it was a "special occasion." I realized that I eat when I'm bored and that, being naturally lazy, I tend to choose the path of least resistance.
Sparta and his future wife worked together to keep each other honest. He also adjusted his routines from before COVID (when he would prepare meals to take to work) to accommodate his new work-from-home schedule, such as limiting the number of times per week he ate out.