Watching too much TV could be the reason you struggle to lose weight – but NOT because of the inactivity it promotes…
(Please read this to the end as it could change/save your life)
We’ve all seen the stereotypical couch potato. They spend their time slumped on the sofa, watching TV, and piling on the pounds. Most people WRONGLY think the weight gain is caused by the slothful inactivity that TV promotes. Not true…
The inactivity of watching TV does contribute to weight gain, BUT this is only a small part of the story. There is a much bigger reason why TV helps you pile on the pounds. First, let me explain this…
Exercise
The human body is amazingly efficient. You can do all sorts of activities whilst burning a relatively small amount of calories.
According to the Harvard Medical School, a 150lb person would burn 28 calories watching TV for half an hour. Compare this with various other activities…
- Sleeping – 23 calories per half hour
- Reading – 42 calories per half hour
- Cooking – 93 calories per half hour
- Wiring and plumbing – 112 calories per half hour
- Shopping with cart – 130 calories per half hour
- Walking – 149 calories per hour
- Jogging – 223 calories per half hour
Most activities, with the exception of sleeping, DO burn more calories than watching TV. However when you consider that one pound of fat contains 3500 calories, it’s not that big a difference. There is only so much walking and jogging you are going to do in a week.
In comparison, look at the amount of calories that are contained in some popular snacks…
- Oreos (each) – 50 calories
- Doritos 1oz – 140 calories
- Can of Coca-Cola – 144 calories
- McDonald’s fries (medium) – 330 calories
- Chocolate Croissant – 440 calories
- KFC Chicken Sandwich – 482 calories
- Big Mac – 560 calories
- Cheese Whopper – 711 calories
- Pringle’s 6oz can – 840 calories
When comparing the 2 charts, it shows that only a small amount of snacks require a lot of activity to burn off.
For example, you need to walk for half an hour to burn off 3 Oreos.
You need to jog for one hour to burn off the calories in a chocolate croissant.
It’s NOT inactivity that’s the problem. Want to know the REAL reason why TV makes you pile on weight? Read on…
Why TV makes you put on weight
It’s down to programming, and I don’t mean TV programming. It’s down to programming your mind…
TV constantly bombards your brain with adverts. Take note of them when you next watch TV.
They often promote food, greed, and worry. This is a BIG recipe for gaining weight.
Look at the food adverts. Are they advertising healthy natural foods such as fruits, vegetables and meats? Hell no. It’s all snacks, chocolate, fizzy drinks and ready meals. Through repetition, advertisers normalise these snacks and convenience foods as THE eating choices to make.
And they also use hypnosis…
Hypnosis
Advertisers are hypnotising you to trust and want their products. Most people don’t realise this is happening, but take a look in your kitchen. How many products do you have that advertise on TV? There are many thousands of products that don’t ever advertise on TV, but most people only trust the ones they see on TV. They seem safe and familiar.
Most of us are subtlety swayed to buy these products through years of repetition and cajoling on TV adverts. This is bolstered through hypnotic principals. Here’s how they use hypnosis…
You may have heard me say this before – a hypnotic trance is a natural state of mind. It occurs when we’re “zoned out” from our conscious world. It is a daydream type state of mind. This happens when we’re driving, engrossed in a book, and watching TV.
Yes, you often slip into a light hypnotic trance when watching TV.
Then what happens? Highly persuasive adverts repeatedly bombard your brain whilst you’re in this suggestible state. You may not be paying attention, but it’s all going into your subconscious.
Advertisers
Advertisers convince you that you need their products. They are rarely natural healthy items – there’s less money in that. A producer that advertises knows there is more money in a sugar and water fizzy drink than in a natural fruit drink. A sugar and water drink is much cheaper to produce, yet they will command a similar price. Producers need to brain wash you into believing it is better in order to convince you to buy vastly inferior products for the same price.
Look at the price of Sunny D. It cost’s about the same as fresh orange juice. However it contains only 2% concentrated fruit juice (not even fresh), which is bulked up with water, sugar and various nasties. Sadly, advertisers have convinced many people to buy this instead of natural fruit juice. They have appealed to kids who pressure their parents into buying a “cool” version of fruit juice. Do they care that it provides virtually none of the health benefits? Apparently not.
Are McDonald’s burgers really the best burgers you can buy for the money? I’d wager that if I brought someone from 100 years ago who hadn’t seen their adverts and compared it to one of my home made burgers (which are far cheaper and healthier), they’d pick mine every time.
In fact there are probably burger places near to where you live that produce tastier, healthier, and cheaper burgers than McDonald’s. McDonald’s are NOT master burger makers – they are master advertisers.
Final thoughts
TV influences your thoughts and actions A LOT. If you’re spending several hours per day watching TV, then your are receiving loads of negative influence. This will come out in your thoughts, habits, and choices.
The sugary, salty, over processed snacks and foods will be normalised to you. This is because you see them all the time. They feel safe and familiar. The truth is that the vast majority of them are 
very cheap to produce since they are stuffed with sugar, salt and chemicals. This keeps their costs low, but your weight high. Here’s why…
These products contain very little nutrition, but lots of calories. This leaves you craving for more because they don’t feed you properly. This leads to overeating calories, but with poor nutrition. That’s a real lose-lose situation for you.
Switch off your TV and find other things to do. At the very least mute it and look away when the adverts come on. Only then can you begin to free your mind and make proper choices as to what foods you should really be eating. Once you’ve got it out of your head that these are the foods you should be eating, you can finally lose weight once and for all.
Time to fight back! Want to reprogram your subconscious mind to make healthier food choices?