FEATURE FRIDAY: Benjamin Brown on Helping People Lose Weight, Getting Healthy, and the Biggest Diet Mistake People Make

As the CEO of BSL Nutrition, a health coaching company, Benjamin Brown spends his time working with clients from all over the world with his Pure Science, Proven Results™ Coaching Process. The proprietary process is a paradigm shift from restrictive behaviors to health freedom by leveraging the science of real-world data, the psychology of behavior change, and the art of coaching.

“It is the convergence of health goals, lifestyle, and sustained success,” he says.

Brown holds master’s degrees in exercise and wellness with an emphasis in strength and conditioning, and in clinical nutrition.

Here, he talks about nutrition, fitness, the biggest mistake people make when trying to lose weight, and something most people don’t know about him.

When did you launch BSL Nutrition?

I launched BSL Nutrition in 2009 as an opportunity to serve individuals at a higher level, beyond just personal training.

Having struggled with digestive issues growing up that conventional medicine couldn’t seem to remedy, I was forced to develop a comprehensive understanding of nutrition and supplementation in order to heal myself. In doing so, I developed knowledge and skills that I realized I could leverage to help others improve their health.

It has since become my mission to take the seemingly confusing and contradictory information around nutrition and fitness and help our clients integrate it simplistically and realistically into their lifestyles.

How do you help people?

At the end of the day, we help highly driven men and women build a better body and create the energy to show up for their families.

Having coached individuals for close to 20 years now, I’ve learned many difficult yet valuable lessons along the way. What differentiates BSL Nutrition is the way in which we’ve been able to take our academic knowledge coupled with real-world experience to develop a unique coaching process called our Pure Science, Proven Results™ Process. This proprietary process is a paradigm shift from restrictive behaviors to health freedom by leveraging the science of real-world data, the psychology of behavior change, and the art of coaching—it is the convergence of health goals, lifestyle, and sustained success.

Ultimately, we help you, the individual, create a roadmap from where you are now to where you want to go while navigating the numerous and real-world roadblocks that are bound to fall in your path. Building the tools to bridge this gap is perhaps the most important way to ensure that you develop the tools and skills to make AND sustain progress while developing the autonomy to become your own best nutrition detective.

 

The biggest mistake I see consistently is people trying to use exercise to burn calories and drive fat loss—relying on high-intensity cardio classes to “burn fat.” This is a mistake and not how human physiology works.

 

What is the biggest mistake you see people making regarding nutrition?

Dichotomous thinking. This is the all-or-nothing thinking that drives us to try every diet imaginable, overly restrict foods for short periods of time, and implement unrealistic eating and exercise behaviors that are ultimately unsustainable.

Because of this black-or-white thinking, it’s not uncommon for people to be stuck in the same yo-yo dieting rollercoaster for years on end, losing and gaining the same 10- to 20-plus pounds over and over again, getting increasingly frustrated that they’re somehow a failure and just need to “try harder” … when in reality, it’s not their fault. Most diets are overly restrictive by nature, which flies in the face of human psychology. Any and all restrictions will always be met with both psychological and physiological pushback, which is why we simply can’t white-knuckle our way to success.

Instead, we need to acknowledge that creating long-term change requires the acquisition of certain behaviors and skills that will drive consistency around food choices, exercise routines, and lifestyle habits …

And this is what we teach our clients so that they can lose the weight while changing their identity and behaviors in the process so that they can keep it off forever.

What about fitness?

The biggest mistake I see consistently is people trying to use exercise to burn calories and drive fat loss—relying on high-intensity cardio classes to “burn fat.” This is a mistake and not how human physiology works.

Exercise is incredible for health and longevity, BUT, it is NOT a good weight loss tool.

Instead, we need to leverage progressive strength training to build and maintain lean muscle tissue—an incredibly valuable organ that is extremely important for overall health, quality of life, and functionality, and certainly the role it plays in fat loss and body composition changes.

What most people don’t realize is that every time they lose weight, especially the faster they lose it, the more muscle mass they lose in the process—especially if they’re not strength training. This becomes especially problematic when/if they end up gaining the weight back—from which they end up replacing the lost muscle mass with fat mass. This further slows down the metabolism and makes long-term weight loss even harder to accomplish.

Strength training is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable things that we can and should be doing for overall health, longevity, and body composition.

You have a podcast …

It’s called The Smart Nutrition Made Simple Show, and we’re just about to hit 200 episodes.

I chop it up with experts in the field about all things nutrition, fitness, lifestyle, and supplements, and ALWAYS focus on infusing real-world and easily applicable ways to make realistic and lasting change.

Do you have a favorite motto?

My grandfather always used to say “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”

Favorite places around Scottsdale?

The Landmark Theatre at Scottsdale Quarter with my wife and kids, Phoenix Mountain Preserve for an early morning hike, Scottsdale JCC for an espresso in the cafe followed by a workout and a steam, Dominick’s Steakhouse for any excuse to enjoy a great steak and seafood, OdySea Aquarium with the kiddos for an escape from the summer heat, and any and all of the golf courses!

One thing people would be surprised to know about you?

I played rugby for the University of Arizona and then men’s club through graduate school, and then had the opportunity to play for the USA in the 2005 Maccabiah in Israel, where we received the silver medal. Also, I played the piano for 10 years growing up and am just getting back into it as an opportunity to encourage my kids to learn.

 

 

 

 

 Benjamin Brown, owner of BSL Nutrition.

 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy Benjamin Brown