An Alpha To Omega Experience: The Process of Weight Loss

I was talking with someone the other day about where they were in life. This person really was down on themselves because they were at a crossroad with making some challenging decisions about where they wanted to be in life as it pertain to their career, personal, and spiritual life. We got on the subject of the word and definition of process. The dictionary defines process as:

1. A series of actions, changes, or functions bringing about a result: the process of digestion; the process of obtaining a driver's license.
2. A series of operations performed in the making or treatment of a product: a manufacturing process; leather dyed during the tanning process.
3. Progress; passage: the process of time; events now in process.


In the Greek alphabet the first letter is alpha and the last letter is omega. Which in essence is what a process is. A beginning and a end.

What is a process?

Isn't it just a series of things that have a start, a middle, and an end (in its simplistic form)? A process. Everything in life is a process. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end to everything. Let's look at a few examples to see if this is true!

For example movies and books have the plot, the climax, and then the end of the storyline. Likewise, songs follow the same format as a story unfolds through melody and rhythm. Even life is a process, we are born into this world. We grow and develop, and then return to the earth through death. Everything is based off of the alpha to omega principle.

With that said, in the process there are usually ups and downs, pitfalls and advantages, triumphs and disappointments, wins and loses, and even sometimes plateau moments as well. We go through a bunch of tests that are graded upon rather we grasp a concept. The downside of it is if we fail, we have to repeat it until with grasp it. Most of the times the mistakes that are made are looked upon in a negative manner; however, its the mistakes that helps us learn what or how we should be doing to move through to the next level in order to obtain whatever desire or goal that we have set forth. Life is set up so that we have to accomplish one level before we move on to the next. Even if a person cheats or tries to cut corners in the process, somehow they are forced to either have to start from the beginning and do whatever it was correctly, or they may get lucky and have to just repeat the missing step that was overlooked or taken out. Regardless, there are no shortcuts to this principle.

If one is trying to make a cake. There are certain steps that must be adhered to in order for the cake to come out successfully. However, there are some steps that could be replaced or substituted which would not be detrimental to the outcome, i.e. adding less sugar. Yet if a person was to overlook or omit the main ingredients flour, milk, eggs, and (the most important) the oven- the whole process won't work.

If we agree that life is a journey- a process, that requires us to follow steps to our endpoint, then why is it that when we approach weight loss or our health we view it in a different manner? We try to cheat our way through by thinking that weight loss or even muscle gain is a smorgasbord full of ideas and concepts that we can pick and choose leaving some by the wayside. Yet that is not the case. What we do find is that we leave those by the wayside only to find out that we have to make a U turn to come back and get them after being frustrated time and time again with the same results. Now there are some leeway when it comes to the choice of modalities such as running on the treadmill vs taking a aerobic class, or using body weight exercise/ calisthenics vs machines and free weights, or picking up a sport vs just going for a walk or eating an apple vs eating a banana. All these examples follow under a specific category:

Treadmill and aerobic classes represent cardio exercises
Body weight and free weights represent strength exercises
The apple and the banana represent nutrition

Just like the cake analogy there are things that you have a choice on rather you want to do them or not; however, there are others that are imperative that must take place in order to have a successful outcome. With weight loss and weight management everyone knows that the three concepts listed above (cardio, strength training, and nutrition) must be in place in order for you to get the desired outcome that a person is looking for. Yet, majority of the times, individuals try to cheat the system by picking some of the equation without the other parts (in order to achieve addition you have to have all the parts added up to make the sum correct). Society, especially America, has sold its people a false sense of security when it comes to the concept of weight loss and management. That's why the fitness industry will be a multi-billion dollar industry in the next couple of years due to this concept. They have told us that we can take pills that will make us lose the weight without having to workout, or use some type of equipment for a couple of weeks to make our stomach look a certain way without having to go through the painstaking process. And again, that could be true for a while, but remember in a process if one important step or steps are overlooked usually you have to go back and repeat that step or you have to start from scratch and repeat the whole process. This leads to frustration and the possibility of burn out which results in the individual quitting.

If we were to, in the beginning, accept the fact that the journey to weight loss will be a long journey then I think that more people would succeed with obtaining their goals because they have the right mind frame going in! Here is the foundation for success in obtaining your desired weight loss:

1. You have to have a passion for what you want to accomplish
2. Must be willing to work your butt off
3. Learn from all failures no matter how painstaking they may be

If a person takes these steps and apply them to their weight loss journey, there is no way why they shouldn't be able to succeed and accomplish their goals. Also there are 3 more steps that I forgot to mention:

4. Stop putting strict time lines on obtaining the weight goal
5. Make the goals realistic and obtainable
6. Quit keeping up with the Joneses

The last 3 are very important. As a personal trainer, what I have found is that the majority of people I train or give advice fail to adhere or omit these principles because they feel the need to rush through the process. You should never try to rush through anything. When you rush through you miss out on so many levels. The process only when finished and done right is cherished because you are able to look back and enjoy the accomplishment of it all in its totality (with both the setbacks and lessons learned). Some cases the process itself and the things learned are taken and used in other areas of a person life.

My final thought is this. Look at the metamorphose of the caterpillar. Scientist say that caterpillars have to go through a lot in order to become a butterfly. They say that caterpillars have a long struggle within the cocoon and breaking from it in order to become that beautiful creature that we appreciate and are in awe over. If we take that story and remember it when we are going through the process of weight loss or management then we would approach the whole process differently. We must understand that weight loss is Alpha To Omega-beginning to end. It is a process. We must embrace the fact that during this process there will be a lot of mistakes made, but there also will be a lot of lessons learned. And when its over, when its over you will be just as beautiful as that butterfly.


Personal Trainer and Sports Psychologist Consultant in Charlotte, NC