Today, we will start exploring the physiological reasons why diets don’t work starting with our good friend the calorie.

Everyone has heard advice like “eat less and move more” or “its simply a case of energy in vs energy out”

This advice is well meaning, but it is also very misleading and wrong

Nearly all conventional diets and weightloss regimes are built on these premises.  We have been told for years that we just need to consume less calories than we burn.

To eat a healthier diet and to move more IS very good advice and I am not going to start arguing against the laws of thermodynamics, but the way we have been going about it is just plain wrong and the whole equation is far more complicated than the simple throwaway line of eat less and move more.

Most of these roads lead to a strong focus on Calories, but

• Calorie counting is fundamentally flawed
• Calorie is NOT a calorie anyway

The weight loss and diet control market is worth US$72 Billion annually in the US alone.  So, how can it be that we are still losing the battle of bulge? 

According to the WHO 39% of the world’s population is either overweight or obese and the numbers increase every year.  This leads to cardiovascular disease, Type 2 Diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and some cancers

The double whammy is there are still cases of malnutrition where someone can be overweight but still not getting sufficient nutrients to be healthy

There are lot of conflicting stats out there but it is generally considered there is a 95% failure rate.  There is a tendency for people to consider that “I failed my diet”, but we prefer to think that "95% of diets fail people".

So what are some of the reasons for these alarming statistic?

The first big issue is where people have unsustainable diets that do not fit into their lifestyles; the 2nd is that people go off the rails (or more to the point it is what they do when they go off the rails) and thirdly, people try to change everything at once.

In this episode we discuss each of these factors and provide practical advice on how to lose weight and keep it and start answering your most frequently asked questions.

Episode 1 Introduces Balanced Choice to the world with your host Mick Spiers.  Balanced choice is a new weekly nutrition, fitness, and health podcast designed to give busy people practical advice on how to take back control of their lives.

Our mission is to address the vast amounts of misinformation in the marketplace about nutrition and fitness.  We will break down complex topics into simple terms and give practical recommendations on how to achieve sustainable weight loss (how to lose weight and keep it off) and to improve your nutrition, fitness and health.

In Episode 1 we will introduce the concept and format of the show and the types of topics we will address in future podcasts.  These include everything from why all diets fails (and what you can do about that), discussing key topics such as different types of diets (Keto; Intermittent Fasting; Low Fat; Low Carb; High Protein) and other key factors such as stress; sleep and hormonal impacts to weight control.

The podcast will have a few different styles from educational solo shows covering specific topics through to interviews of guest hosts that are either experts in their field or just everyday people with an interesting story and journey to share.

Episode 1 also introduces our host, Mick Spiers.  Mick is a busy executive, dad and husband who (like many) has had troubles with weight and health throughout his life.  But, here's the thing, Mick has managed to master all of that and has now achieved sustainable weight loss and fitter, healthier and happier than any other time in his life.

Mick will delve back into his past and share the story of his journey so far and start introducing some of the mistakes he has made in the past and what he has learnt along the way.

Mick is now 48kg (106 lbs) lighter than he once was and he has now managed to achieve a fit and healthy state with sustainable healthy habits.  Along the way he has become a certified nutrition coach and personal trainer and a competitive obstacle course racer competing in the Spartan World Championships for his age group.

The episode rounds out with a quick list of some of Mick's most important lessons, each of which will become topics of future podcasts.