“Ultimately, it’s not a very sexy
solution to tell someone to eat less.
Nobody is going to get out their wallet
and say, ‘Yes! Let me pay you more
money for telling me to eat less!’”
But there is far more to his comedic
ethos than just the biology of weight
loss – it’s about understanding the
foundations of health and happiness,
and the release of his much-anticipated
Not a Diet Book: Lose Fat.Gain
Confidence. Transform
Your Life, is testament
to that.
“I think health is
about how you feel
on a daily basis,
and that’s not just a
physical thing, it’s
self-esteem as well.”
Beyond food
In his view, the end goals
of weight loss should notbe
to have minimal body fat and a
visible six-pack, which for most people
results in a joylessly restrictive or
disordered relationship with food,
but to feel good in your skin and
not let how you look hold you back
from anything.
But shedding kilos is far more
psychologically complex than just
telling someone to eat less and move
more, which he discovered through
years of training clients.
While it does come down to the
fundamental relationship of calories
in, calories out, humans are emotional
creatures, and food is an immense
source of pleasure and comfort when life
isn’t going so well.
“I would ask my clients, ‘What’s going
on at home?’ They would tell me that
work wasn’t good, their relationship
wasn’t good. I was in a position where I
didn’t have to be a rocket scientist
toseewhy perhaps they
wereovereating.
“I’m not a therapist,
I’m not a relationship
counsellor, but
people really need
to weigh up all
of these things.”Insecurity
James has no shame
in calling out social
media nonsense and
debunking prevalent myths,
and it’s the media landscape that
he believes is in need of a dramatic
shakeup. How different the world
would be if we were all bombarded by
the glorification of attainable body
standards.
“What the internet has done is
allowed us to compare ourselves to the
top percentile of physiques. All your
progress should be about you, not some
stranger who you don’t even know.
“No one else around you gets a pay
cut for putting on weight, apart fromthese people that you follow. People are
actively following hundreds of people
that need to stay in good shape for a
living. That’s messed up!”
It’s refreshing to hear that even with
this understanding, and being a broad,
brawny rugby player-turned-personal
trainer with half a million followers,
James still isn’t exempt from body
image battles.
“Everyone is insecure and anyone that
tells you they’re not is a flipping liar.
Sometimes I’m pinching my fat in the
mirror, and I have to have really critical
conversations with myself to find that
voice of reason.”
While those feelings of insecurity
might be a natural part of the human
experience, interestingly, he doesn’t
want those feelings to be the fuel that
gets you to the gym.On the plate
For so many people, the primary
incentive to exercise is to slim down or
burn off yesterday’s indulgence – a guilt-
ridden belief system that doesn’t stack
up against the science.
As James explains, fat burning and
weight loss doesn’t happen in the
gym, it happens on your
plate.‘all your
progress
should be
about you,
not some
stranger’