I get a lot of questions from friends, family, and even strangers about different fitness trends they hear of, and whether or not that will boost their health. Honestly, if you're a gym junkie, people probably ask for your advice or opinion all the time. I get questions on diets, different exercises to "lose the fat from this area of my body", or various workout plans that people are selling on the internet.
I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a nutritionist, dietician, or even a strict dieter (which you'll find ironic shortly). It's always interesting to me to see what people are ready to accept and believe as fact and how they let it dictate their lives. It also doesn't surprise me to see all of the confusion as to what's best, as every diet out there has people singing its praises and every Instagram Personal Trainer posts five #Transformation pictures a day of the people that did their "12 Week Beach Body" plan. I don't blame anyone for being confused, because everyone wants the best, and with everyone claiming that their diet/workout plan is THE best, knowing what actually is can be tricky.
I heard a coach named Jerzy Gregorek, in an interview with Tim Ferris (host of the Tim Ferris Show), say that the secret to dieting isn't the diet itself, but the person disciplining themselves to following the diet strictly. I couldn't agree more.
I find that a majority of people don't achieve their goals because they don't discipline themselves to following the plan that will get them there. They get tied down and bogged down because they want a shortcut. They don't want to make the sacrifices and take the time to put effort.
This could be a factor of our instant lifestyle that we live every single day. Text messages, Netflix, phone calls: everything we desire is usually a click or brief second away.
Fitness, however, will never be that way. It takes a long time to see the results you want. It takes sticking to a training plan, and following a diet. For some reason, when we abandon the plan after 3 weeks because we haven't lost 5lbs, we blame the plan and not our dedication to it. For a majority of people, that's the only thing that holds them back. They don't need some super scientific approach to training or dieting (to start at least), they just need to commit to something.
Diets and fitness programs don't succeed because of the food choices or exercise selection, they succeed because regimented planning and progression. They work, because if you stick with them, the progress and effect is highly predictable. They just require discipline. They require that you follow the guidelines and the rules and don't break them. It doesn't matter if it's Paleo, Keto, Atkins, or the Whole 30, all of them work if you follow them and keep yourself accountable to them. The same applies to fitness plans. They work if you do.
Hopefully, in a roundabout way, the answer to the question "which plan is THE best plan" is a little more clear. THE best plan is to STICK to A plan. Any plan, just follow it strictly (unless it's that "crazy wrap thing", that's a total sham).