Individual Motivators

The Protein Shake Myth

If you're drinking shakes, eating bars, hitting the gym, and not losing weight — here's why.

The first question I ask every new patient is simple: why do you want to lose weight? The answer tells me everything about how to work with them. Everyone has a different reason, and finding it is the starting point for everything else.

But sometimes the first conversation isn't about motivation. It's about clearing out bad information.

This Morning's Patient

I saw a new patient this morning — 240 pounds, frustrated, couldn't understand why the scale wasn't moving. He'd been at it for six or seven months. Two to three protein shakes a day. Two to three protein bars. Regular gym sessions. Working hard. Nothing.

I asked him how long. Six, seven months, he said. Lost any weight? No.

I told him to stop the shakes and the bars.

He looked at me like I'd said something absurd.

So I broke it down for him: I'm 30 years older than you. You outweigh me by 50 pounds. Our workouts are roughly the same. I don't touch that stuff. If anything, with my age, I should be heavier than you — but I'm not. Something isn't adding up, and it's not the gym.

The shakes and bars are the problem. They're loaded with calories. People drink them because they sound healthy. "Protein" has a healthy reputation. But a calorie is a calorie, and most people consuming that much protein supplementation aren't accounting for what it actually adds up to.

We started from scratch — what a calorie is, what a carb is, what protein and fat actually do, and which of the popular beliefs floating around out there are simply wrong.

The 19-Year-Old With Knee Pain

Later in the same morning, a 19-year-old came in. She'd put on about 40 pounds and her knees were already bothering her.

Nineteen years old.

That's the kind of thing that sharpens your focus fast. Her joints are still young. Still salvageable. The window to protect them is right now — and losing the weight is how we do it. That became her motivating factor, and we ran with it.

Everyone has one. Finding it is part of my job.

What I Can Actually Promise You

There's no single motivating factor that works for everyone. But there is one thing I can promise across the board: you will feel better.

That's not a sales pitch. That's just what the evidence shows, again and again:

• High blood pressure? Lose the weight, and I may be able to get you off the medication.
• Type 2 diabetes? Lose the weight, and it may be curable — not managed, cured.
• Knee pain? Lose the weight, and the pain often goes with it. No surgery, no injections. Just weight loss.
• Lipid problems? Lose the weight, and the numbers frequently correct themselves.

The answer to a lot of what ails people is the same: lose weight. Not a drug. Not a surgery. Not a supplement. Weight loss.

I'm not going to prescribe you something to fix your knees. I'm going to help you lose the weight so your knees fix themselves.

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