dieting – Page 2 – sassyfitnesschick

Holidays, Food And Guilty Feelings

baby

So I’m writing this post pre Easter weekend. I am assuming that the majority of you reading will have just celebrated it in a variety of ways.

I can’t speak to the rest of the world. but in the U.S. it will involve family and faith and all kinds of tasty foods as well as a plethora of candy.

It is however, now Monday and you may be feeling guilty over your “self indulgence” of the weekend. You maybe feel like you enjoyed those stolen treats out of your kids basket a bit to much.

Heck, I usually have plenty of left over stuff I don’t need to raid their stuff ( and yeah, I still make my adult kids Easter baskets 😉

Seriously, though. I have a deep appreciation for chocolate although now days, it just takes a little for me, to much makes me feel yucky.

Of course I see things circulating on the internet that always make my skin crawl… meme’s that talk about doing certain exercises to “negate what you ate”

For the love of chocolate bunnies, you can’t undo something that’s already done!

Of course, there are things you can do after the fact…..like… move on and get back to your regular routine. Move forward…life as usual… you know, normal stuff.

Did you enjoy your time with your family? Was the food good? Did you have fun watching the kids experience the day? Whatever your day looked like, was it good?

Life is good. It’s meant to be enjoyed. That means there will be times we have celebrations and food and its food we really love ’cause it’s special to that event. Life isn’t about constant restrictions and feeling guilty over what we put in our mouth.

A “diet” shouldn’t ruin our holiday celebrations. On the other hand you shouldn’t use it as open season to just eat like an out of control person because it is a holiday.

Balance. Moderation. Be sensible. It works.

One thing I’ve learned on my health journey that’s been freeing is that the food is always there. The chocolate is there. I don’t have to just drop into the deep end and gorge like I’ll never have it again.

I know I can. I know I will. I just let myself live in those boundaries.

Will I maybe have more than “usual” of food or treats over the weekend?

Most likely, yes.

Will my body let me know it’s not used to it and get back on track ? Absolutely.

That, my friend is how you need to train yourself too.

After a celebratory weekend you should be focused on getting back to what you do ( which is hopefully eating well) .

You don’t have to throw in the towel.

You don’t have to wait till another day to “start”.

You don’t have to feel guilt or beat yourself up.

You don’t have to go to the gym and workout longer or extra hard to burn off calories you’ve consumed days before. ( PLEASE! don’t)

What can you do? What should you do ?

Don’t weight yourself! It’s not “fat” you’ve gained but a healthy dose of water weight. If you need to weigh yourself, wait at least one day before you do. You don’t get “fat” from eating some extra calories for a day or two.

Be thankful for the day you had with friends and family.

Be thankful you were able to enjoy good foods and treats.

Pick right up with your balanced and sensible eating.

Do your exercise ( whatever you do) do it how you usually do. Don’t attempt to push yourself harder ( you may get hurt)

Refocus on your goals and remember living a healthy lifestyle also enjoys room to breathe and enjoy life and get back on track again.

Love yourself. You’re doing a great job.

The key to success is to keep moving forward and staying positive.

I understand this may be a foreign concept to you, but with a little practice and patience, you will learn to implement it into a part of your healthy lifestyle 🙂

Reasons Why You Aren’t Losing Weight

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Weight loss. The thing that one person or the other is pursuing at any given time. Some are easily successful at it while maybe you, are over there struggling and wondering why it’s not working and what you might need to do differently.

There are a few things that you might be missing so let me offer up some ideas. Hopefully, you will find them helpful.

Ready? Here we go.

You aren’t eating enough. Ah boy am I pointing the fork at myself when I mention this one! And women are far more guilty of this. If you’re actively working out and burning off some serious calories and only eating say, the normal “prescribed” caloric content for women ( 1200) then your body will hoard and hold onto fat like a bear going into winter hibernation. Even if you’re workouts aren’t arduous, know what you’re caloric needs are for the day and eat them! It is most likely more than 1200 calories. You should strive to eat plenty of fruits, veggies, lots of greens, lean meats, eggs, nuts and whole foods which will fill you up. Eating adequate and healthy foods will keep you full and you’ll be less likely to binge on junk food.

You’re doing all cardio and no strength training. ok I’m a self professed cardio junkie. I love running. And cycling. And the crazy rowing machine. And all of them together. I love the physical outpouring that goes along with it. I love moving my body. But I’ve also learned the value of building some muscle. Cardio does burn fat but muscle mass burns calories, even when you rest. Lifting weights keeps your metabolism revved. Your plan should be to add some weight work to your cardio activities. You can use machines if you have access or free weights. I always prefer free weights over a machine. Use weights heavy enough you have to work at it.

You play the diet game and don’t do make it a lifestyle change. No one wants to think they need to always be on a diet. Or that they must live on one. What a total drag. When you’re on a diet you mentally view it as you are “on it” or when you’ll “be off it”. Adapting to the thought of a lifestyle change means you live each day making intentional choices to feed and nourish your body in good ways. This slow, steady process will lead to weight loss that will stay off. Your new focus should be to get the word “diet” permanently out of your vocab and just focus on making good nutrition and exercise choices. The thing that works will be what’s sustainable for you… not what your neighbor does…or what you read in the magazine. What works for you and your body. It will be sustainable allowing you to make it a permanent lifestyle change.

You don’t have a good support system. I’ve been a social media fiend for a long time now posting my athletic shenanigans, my goals, my foods, my struggles. Throwing it out there has not only been something that makes me accountable, it also lets people stop me in the store and ask about how it’s going. To be successful, I believe you need to have a few friends, family or shamelessly use social media to hold you accountable and offer support and encouragement. Find what works for you. Have someone you can call, ask questions of, or who will overall be your cheerleader and hold you accountable.

You don’t have specific goals. One thing that keeps me SO focused in my training is knowing I have an event coming. It puts an element of intensity to it and it keeps me focused on what I’m chasing. When I was losing weight I had specific short term target goals… 5 pounds at a time. 5 pounds was short, doable and easily attainable. it didn’t leave me feeling overwhelmed saying I needed to lose… “30” pounds…in that vague kinda way. You can make specific food or drink goals. Maybe cutting down on sugary drinks or increasing your green veggies. Perhaps it’s just getting off couch each night for an evening walk. Make each thing you strive for specific and take steps to go there. Small steps over times, lead to bigger victories.

You think your morning workout sesh burned a ton of calories. I’ve always been cautious about how I eat after a workout. I know it doesn’t give me open season to eat whatever ( ok maybe after a 20 miler 😉 For instance, doing a 3 mile run, burns a loose average of 300 calories. That can vary depending on size and speed of runner…but close estimating. You can see it wouldn’t take long to easily negate that 300 calories with a “treat” drink at the local coffee shop. Don’t over estimate what you do. It’s important you keep your nutrition on point as you increase your physical activities and monitor your portions.

You aren’t consistent. Personally, I think this is one of the biggest things I’ve seen working with people. They start off motivated, propelled with the excitement of starting, yet as weeks move on I see them slipping back and not doing what they need to do for success. In the beginning it is hard to keep pushing forward because you aren’t seeing results yet and you think that what you’re doing isn’t changing anything. It is crucial you stay committed to your exercise and nutrition. It is consistency that will yield those long term results you want. It’s important to keep moving, every day. There will be times or days that it can’t happen. It’s like that for all of us. You just get back at it the next day. If you make excuses, it becomes easier to fall into that trap. Treat your workouts like any other important meeting you have in your day.

With a careful examination of what you are doing ( or not doing) how you are eating, and what your purposeful exercise looks like, you’ll be moving closer to your goals of weight loss. And one final thought, don’t give up. Just because you don’t “see” results right away doesn’t mean things aren’t happening. Change takes time. Let the process happen 🙂

Tips To Kick Start A Healthier Lifestyle

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Once again another article caught my eye. I’m always drawn to news stories on health and fitness and am usually looking to see if it will tell me something new that I don’t know. I gather tidbits from articles that I find useful and valuable for myself or others and mentally discard the rest.

However, I’m always disappointed when the story leads to telling me this… being overweight/fat leads to health problems.

Like…tell me something I don’t know. Or tell the world something they don’t already know.

This is why the “diet” industry rakes in billions of dollars a year… from people who know that and want to make a change… who hope that the next new shiny thing will be what morphs them into being thinner, stronger, healthier, and more fit.

I may have said this before… once or twice… and if you follow me much you know what I believe…

there is no magic cure or diet.

Can I just make a suggestion here? Throw something out at you? Do with it what you will…

Why not start with not eating crap… to put it bluntly…. and learning to exercise?

Two things. Two points here beautiful people.

Maybe you need to make a list of what you eat, maybe you don’t. You know how you eat and what you eat. You know if it comes more in drive thru bags, boxes, or purchased off convenience store shelves.

Sugar, fatty, processed, high calorie “foods”. These are often what’s referred to as “empty calories” … simple carbs… it’s the stuff you don’t really need.

Cookies, crackers, chips, donuts, muffins, snack cakes, pastries, sugar cereals, sugared drinks, super size fries etc. we’ve been brainwashed to think we “need” to buy, eat, have these things.

We don’t.

All it does is mess with our bodies chemistry, often put us on a roller coaster of hunger, and adds nothing but fat to our bodies… and not the good fat we need.

It’s the kind of fat that grows around our waist and clogs up our hearts arteries and makes us buy bigger jeans.

Really, you don’t need that stuff. Yeah, some of it tastes good, but so does your health. And trust me, when you start intentionally working your way away from it, these food products will have less and less pull on you.

So start there. Don’t go crazy and think you have to go live off kale and nothing else. Start by working to eliminate the crap food from your daily diet.

I’ve talked with people who “just” gave up sodas and they were amazed at their weight loss. No wonder. A standard can of Coke has 39g of sugar… which is 8 teaspoons in a can! Now figure if someone puts away….3,4, 5, or more Cokes a day…. that’s a ton of sugar for nothing but empty calories.

If one thing can make a big difference imagine if you cut out other stuff too. Depending on how much of these simple carbs show up in your daily food allotment you might have to take slow baby steps eliminating a thing or two at a time… but do it.

Your body will thank you… your improved health will be a huge reward for you.

Now the other part…exercise. I’m kinda big on that now days. Mainly because I have enough of a track record now to preach like crazy at you regarding all the benefits of it.

Mental clarity? Physical strength? Weight loss? Amazing lab results? A body that’s reshaped? Learning to set and achieve goals? Reduce your risk of heart disease? Gain energy? Improve memory? Gain strength and flexibility? Sleep better? Increased confidence? Mood improver?

Am I selling you yet ? 😉

So here’s the deal. Find something you think you can stick with, that you like, and do it.

I hear all the time from people… “It’s great you run but I don’t like running!”

I get it… running is hard and its not for everyone… if you don’t like it…don’t do it… but for heavens sake find something you do like, or think you could learn to, and get after it.

Do it every day. Make no excuses to not do it. Put it on your planner like you do going to lunch with a friend or any other appointment. Don’t play the martyr role and place yourself on the back burner of life.

You… your health… is worth it… I hope you get that …really.

It needs to be up there on top of your list ’cause I’ll tell you, no one else is going to put your health up there and make you get stuff done.

So here’s the kicker. Here’s what I learned a few years ago when I was scrambling trying to get my feet under me and get on this fitness journey…

when I started daily exercising ( and I mean daily… I accepted no excuses from myself to not get it done) I liked how I felt when I finished. I liked the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction of doing it. I loved how clear my mind felt. I even liked being tired from it ( no endurance in the beginning for sure)

Before the scale had barely changed. Before a visible muscle had appeared. Before I ever thought about running or lifting or riding a bike like a crazy demon….

I loved how I felt when I finished.

And when you start exercising and feeling good about yourself for doing it, you start taking more of a look at what you are stuffing in your face and evaluating it.

Is it worth it? Do I need it? Do I feel better without it?

And as you keep on eliminating that crappy food you don’t really need and make a commitment to daily exercise, somehow, the weight slowly and steadily will begin to come off.

You gain a new confidence in yourself. You start to look at what you do and how you eat in a different way.

It’s a process. But if you start with these two points, I’m pretty sure you’ll find yourself on a path to success… and skinnier jeans as well 😉

What Shape Is Your Diet?

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“So, what do you eat?” It’s one of a few common questions I get sometimes. What the seeking person wants to know or might be asking is “tell me how to eat. Give me a plan/structure ’cause what you’re doing, it seems to work for you.”

First, I personally abhor structured diets that tell me what I have to eat, how much and when. This is probably why I tossed all that nonsense 8 years ago when I started my crazy adventure.

Even when I work with people I don’t make a meal plan for them. Why? They need to learn how to eat and how to make their own plan work. I want them to know and understand their body and how to listen to it.

Second, how I eat is what works for me. My nutritional needs will be different on several levels. My natural daily metabolic needs as well as what I need athletically will influence my daily diet.

Therefore, I can’t just give someone a blanket “this is what I eat” and expect it will work for them too.

There are some things I do that I think are applicable to anyone and can lead to personal success.

I eat healthy 90% of the time. Meaning, I try to eat real foods as close to their natural form as I can. Of course, I leave wiggle room for those treats that make life fun or don’t make me feel restricted and deprived. This approach has worked for me and I believe has kept me successful.
I drink lots of water. It’s my primary drink ( followed by coffee of course;) I don’t drink alcohol or sugary drinks of any kind. Well, only Gatorade after intense endurance workouts, but that’s a bit different.
I eat when I’m hungry and I eat enough to satisfy my hunger but not make myself feel to full.
Veggies or fruit take up lots of space on my plate at all my meals.
I get 3 meals in and depending on my athletic load that day, healthy snacks as needed.
Protein is a major thing for me at all meals and snacks to support muscle growth and maintenance as well as it doing a fine job keeping me feeling satisfied and not hungry.

And depending on my training schedule and what type of workouts I’m facing for the day, will determine what my nutritional needs are. Obviously, some days, I will require more calories than others.

See how I can’t just make a blanket statement to someone telling them what to eat?

The first step ( I believe) for anyone, is knowing yourself. Be the best student of your body you can. Know what foods make you feel good and healthy. Know what your activities are and how you need to nutritionally support them. Learn to listen to your body and it’s natural signals for hunger and when it’s satisfied. I’ve learned what foods make me feel energetic, satisfied, help me athletically and help me build a strong body. It’s been a learning work in progress.

Make it your goal to eat real, whole foods and allow opportunities for the little treats in life you love ( in moderation)

How else can you make a winning eating plan for yourself that will lead to long term success and sustainability?

* Learn to eat three kinds of foods at meals. Obviously, the bigger variety of foods you eat, the more vitamins, minerals and nutrients you consume. Learn to experiment with different foods at each meal. Include plenty of veggies and fruit.

* Choose foods in their most natural states. Foods in their natural state or lightly processed have more nutritional value and less sodium, trans fats, and other non-healthy ingredients.

* Think moderation. Make a strong foundation of healthy foods, but don’t deprive yourself of things that are enjoyable to you too. Stop thinking of foods as good or bad. Think of moderation and if you enjoy something ( like an occasional coke or whatever your poison is) it can fit into an overall nutritionally strong daily diet. You may be surprised though, that in time, when you start eating good food, you can lose the taste for certain foods you once found appealing.

Teach yourself to not just eat, but to learn to eat better. Look at a stronger, daily nutritional plan as a way to love and respect your body.

Making small daily changes will get you on the road to healthy, balanced and successful eating and living an overall healthier lifestyle.

Tell me, have you learned about yourself? How to feed your body in a way that supports your life and daily activities? What tips or tricks can you share?

Band-Aids And Weight Loss

bandaids

I’m going to rant ok? Get a little outspoken and tell you what’s on my mind.

Say what? I do that all the time?

Well then we’re good to go!

You may, or may not have heard the FDA has given approval on a new weight loss device. Basically, it’s a tube implanted in your side, to your stomach, and three times a day you have to empty food from your stomach to prevent calorie intake. It roughly limits or cuts 30% of calories consumed.

All I can do is wonder if it will contribute to possible eating disorders when someone knows they can eat food and then vent it out the side of their stomach avoiding excess calories. Like a new kind of bulimia.

Hear me out. I’m not opposed to someone who is obese and needing to lose a great amount of weight having a surgery if that’s the only option for their health.

My mom had gastric by pass surgery so I have a working knowledge of the how’s and why’s people go through such a drastic decision.

Sadly, I’ve seen many people go through these surgeries and eventually wind up almost back where they started.

Why?

Without being counseled and changing their behaviors and mind set towards food they will naturally gravitate back to what they know.

Their mind and behaviors haven’t changed even though their bodies can now only accept a small amount of food.

Without an understanding of their relationship with food and the “whys” of what makes them reach for it there won’t be a change.

I know before these surgeries patients are often encouraged to attend psychological classes to help them deal with the weight loss and how it will impact them, as well as nutrition classes to understand more about healthy eating.

These are optional and many forego attending.

With obesity at staggering numbers in the U.S. many are seeking some type of surgery to “fix” the problem.

Adult Obesity in the United States.
According to the most recent data released September 2015, rates of obesity now exceed 35 percent in three states (Arkansas, West Virginia and Mississippi), 22 states have rates above 30 percent, 45 states are above 25 percent, and every state is above 20 percent.

My concern with this (new) surgery or some of the other existing ones is that it’s a Band-Aid.

Without dealing with underlying issues and how food affects that person and their reasons for reaching for it and the “whys” of why they over eat, the surgery is a Band-Aid on deeper issues.

Just knocking the weight off isn’t always the problem.

I would also include any other magic potions and gimmicks on the market today. They are simply a Band-Aid to the deeper issue.

Food, for many, is a crutch, an emotional support system, a friend, a comfort, a soothing satisfaction to a hurt or weary soul. It’s eaten out of boredom, loneliness, fatigue, habit, and needs that might not even be known.

I’m not saying that there aren’t many who go through this process, gain a deeper understanding of themselves and why they do what they do, are successful in weight loss and maintain a healthy lifestyle because there are.

But there are a vast majority that won’t. They will slowly and steadily revert back to what they’ve always done without a mental change taking place.

The surgeries, shakes, drinks, pills, powders, and any other method will not have lasting success without addressing the deeper issues at hand.

If you are considering any of these procedures, please be sure and attend the recommended classes, educate yourself, and most importantly, seek to understand food and it’s role in your life beyond being fuel for your body. Exercise is also so crucial and important in the process after surgery and needs to be approached in a slow and steady way.

Taking practical steps will help you towards your goals of health and wellness in mind, body and spirit 🙂

Food Isn’t A Reward

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I heard it again the other day… it makes me twitch… it makes me feel sorry for people… it makes me wanna shake them… I refrain.

What is it you ask that evokes such emotion in me? I shall tell you.

Hearing someone say…. “well, I ate to much yesterday so I really need to put in some extra work out time”

Maybe around the holidays you start seeing these cheesy meme’s pop up with various treats on them and if you ate whatever treat you have to do so many specific exercises to work it off. Often there’s the slogan “Negate what you ate!” over it.

Nonsense.

These thoughts make me nuts.

First of all, you cannot work off what you did the day before. You can get up and start over and keep moving forward.

OR do you flip it with thoughts like this… ” I worked out really hard today I deserve this!” or “it’s been a hard day, it’s my reward”

We have to stop looking at food as a punishment and reward system. We need to stop treating exercise as a punishment for our bad eating behavior, like it’s a necessary chore to be done so we can eat or so we can reward ourselves with food.

Do you see how twisted it all is?

Food shouldn’t be used as a reward and we shouldn’t have a view that exercise is punishment for us.

Yet, it is a common thought for way to many people today.

Food should be used to nurture and fuel our bodies. It should be enjoyed and savored in a reasonable way.

When we over eat or binge there can be a tendency to maybe think we can alter or change what we’ve taken in. We feel bad about what we’ve done so we do things like extra hard or extra long workouts to balance it out. Or we excessively cut our food intake.

Or we THINK we are balancing it out.

We have a distorted view of exercise that it’s a punishment we must endure ( ok, in all fairness, in the beginning you might feel that way 😉

But it shouldn’t be something you churn out to feel ok about having food.

You don’t have to make apologies for having food to nourish your body.

You don’t need to punish your body if you’ve eaten more than you think you should have.

You don’t have to resort to extreme restrictions of food if you over did it at a meal.

Do you see how binging/over indulging/ followed by “must do” exercise to feel better about our choices can become a vicious cycle?

Let’s face it. Food emotionally comforts us. For some of you it’s wine/alcohol or soda. Regardless, we have to stop using it as a reason to comfort ourselves.. or as a reward system.

Whatever the thing is we medicate ourselves with.

You may have never thought of it like that, did you? That “thing” we reach for when we’re stressed, overwhelmed, feeling lost or having a bad day. It medicates our hurts, anxieties and emotions. It calms our stress. It feeds whatever is in us that hurts, is angry, tired etc

Becoming aware of the pattern in your life is the first step to successfully altering your behaviors around it.

Abusing yourself with to much food or drink and then seeking to “atone” for what you’ve done by killing yourself with exercise is disjointed thinking at best.

Nor, is it nurturing to your body.

Practicing a moderate approach in our lives brings health and wellness, but it’s not without some work and discipline.

Learn to develop the practice of viewing exercise as movement for your body that brings health, wellness, and mental clarity. If you have goals beyond that, you will obviously need to increase your game.

Learn to approach all foods in balance and moderation . If you feel the need to over indulge or you are heading to the pantry for a feeding frenzy, try and remove yourself from the situation, that often can break the plans you have. It let’s you regroup and refocus. Or try calling a friend, going for a walk, or any activity to distract you.

Perhaps have some goals written out that are easily accessible will make you stop and ask yourself if it’s really going to be worth it… because after the rewards or indulgence… we will always mentally feel bad for allowing ourselves to go there.

With practice, mental awareness and a bit of stubborn determination, you can break the cycle of over eating/rewarding with foods and abusing exercise.

Have you ever found yourself in this cycle? What tips or ideas helped you break away from it?

The Biggest Loser And The Biggest Lies

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Weight loss. It seems to be on almost everyone’s list. Whether it’s those last nagging 5-10 lbs or 100lbs.

There’s one thing everyone probably feels the same on… they want the weight gone and they usually want it gone fast.

Instant gratification. Instant results. Look lean overnight. No flab. Fit. “Toned”.

It just doesn’t happen. You don’t get fat over night and you won’t get thinner over night.

Enter shows like “The Biggest Loser”. A game. A competition. Winner takes all prize money and the claim of winning… not to mention a smaller body than what they started with. Shows like this tell us lies about healthy living. They tell lies about what you need to do to have a level of success in becoming more fit.

Sadly, I’ve always viewed it as a show gambling with peoples lives. I always wondered what the real health effects could be to those who participated. Some of these people are well… huge… and they have them doing so much hard work and doing it like… a zillion times a day with a huge calorie deficit. What consequences could they suffer ?

The show also shows us some lies I believe we’re led to believe about weight loss.

Well interestingly enough an article just came out this week that I’ve been following…and can I say …. I have a lot of thoughts on it? Perhaps you’ve seen it on TV or the internet.

I mean… my two cents worth… but some of the things trouble me.

I’m certainly no “expert” or “professional” but I do view weight loss in a sane and practical manner. It’s worked for many and also people I know and have worked with.

The article overall was pointing out that the contestants metabolisms had slowed because of the extreme process they put their body through losing weight ( no surprise there) and that nearly all had gained their weight back ( and a few gained back more weight) the article cited that their bodies basically fought to get back to an ideal weight and that’s why they were gaining the weight back.

Ok… I do believe that we all have a weight “zone”. That is a place where our bodies are naturally, and biologically meant to be. It explains why you might think you want to weight 150… and you’re at 155… and you work like crazy to achieve that number… but without constant, rigid, determined discipline… you will go back to 155. YET…. it’s probably easier and more sustainable for you to stay and hold that weight than it is at 150 because your body might be naturally designed, biologically, to be at the 155 weight.

Personally, I’ve found that to be true. As an athletic person I’ve realized I have a weight that I see when I’m in heavy training. I’m super lean and don’t ever have to think much about what I’m eating ( no, I don’t eat whatever, I still eat healthy) I realized when I’m not in heavy training ( like running 40-50 miles a week) by body naturally went back to where I was before heavy training. It’s a weight that I stay within 5 lbs of one way or the other. I don’t stress over it and I don’t think much about it. It’s pretty sustainable for me… meaning I don’t have to rigidly control my eating or exercise in unhealthy ways to stay there.

There is no way I can sustain the heavy training I do for a marathon or when I was ultra training, all the time. No matter how much mentally I might want to do it. Naturally, that kind of exercise will keep me pretty lean.

Same with contestants on this program. They worked them out 3-4 times a day. They worked out for 7 hours a day, every day. One man reported burning 8,000-9,000 calories a day.

Do you see a problem here ??

Without this high level of calorie output, something will give.

Then, you take people who have been in a pretty deprived environment of all things they’ve loved… involving food….. you restrict them in crazy ways… they are hungry all the time….

then when the show is over…. they go back to their life… and here is what I believe ( and again, just my own thoughts and opinions)

you can put someone through the paces of losing weight by exercising them hard and drastically cutting calories, but if there isn’t a mental change with food… we’ve got problems boys and girls.

If they haven’t learned to build new positive habits to replace the negative or if they don’t have an understanding of WHY they eat… we’ve got problems.

People don’t weigh hundreds of pounds without there being deeper issues and problems that need addressed. If there hasn’t been behavioral changes they will go right back to what they know and what feels comfortable.

Yes, they all probably have some metabolic issues now due to what they put their bodies through. But when you gain back hundreds of pounds, that is an eating issue. There is no way someone’s “ideal” weight is 400 lbs. or 300 or whatever. You don’t get to that weight without eating food…and a lot of it.

So when they go back to old eating habits, and aren’t exercising in the insane way they did during the show… the writing is on the wall… and when they’ve been taken so far in the rapid weight loss direction ( because it’s so fast and crazy) their body will respond and start adding weight back on. Call it our bodies survival mode kicking in.

The article does say they are encouraged to exercise at least 9 hours a week and monitor their diets to keep the weight off. This is certainly sane and practical advice…but they have to do it.

This now becomes their responsibility…. and if they have the same negative habits in place or aren’t strong enough in new ones… they will slide back.

One contestant talks about how two treats can turn into a 3 day binge. Binge eating will obviously lead to a return of weight.

One man is only eating 800 calories a day in the “real” world. 800! Talk about messing with your metabolism.

Ok.. I will just say the whole article kinda left me with my mouth hanging open. One mans workout “routine” after the show….. was nothing short of brutal… workouts all through out his day…hours… and with hardly enough food to support all of his exercise. No wonder his body didn’t want to give up fat.

I’ll tell you what troubles me most over this whole thing….well there’s a couple things….

First, I’m worried that overweight/obese people will see this and say… “well, see I’m just meant to be this way because it’s natural, biological” and try and justify it…kinda like the new “I have a thyroid disorder” reason for not being able to lose weight or being heavy ( and for the record… I have thyroid issues so I can say that.) I’ll say it again… no one is biologically meant to naturally, and in a healthy way, weigh hundreds of pounds.

The BIGGEST thing that got me in that article?

this line….”the only way to maintain weight loss is to be hungry all the time.”

Really? Really????

Why on earth do you think people fail at it? They hate being hungry! I hate being hungry. We aren’t meant to walk through our days miserable, hungry, and constantly thinking about food. The next meal. The next thing we can put in our mouth.

That is disordered thinking.

We have a life to live and it shouldn’t be focused on when we can consume our next meal, or being so hungry it’s all we can think about.

I lost weight slowly and steadily over a period of a couple years. I didn’t starve myself. I ate food. I learned to eat the right amounts of food. I didn’t walk around hungry ’cause I’m not into that kind of sick pain 😉 It’s what has kept me successful… and others too who do this… you eat to lose weight and you don’t live in a state of being hungry.

Again, I’m certainly not some expert but I think this article and the show in itself reveal a few things .

Slow, steady weight loss is what is required for it to be sustainable and lasting.
Fueling our body with adequate and healthy foods with purposeful exercise is really the only way to achieve those goals of weight loss.
You are not on a time frame to make it happen. Live your life one day at a time, seeking to make good choices, forgiving yourself for not so good days and continuing to take steps forward.
Don’t quit. Know that things are going on even if you can’t sometimes “see” anything.
Without changing our negative habits, and understanding our relationship with food and why and when we eat it, lifestyle change will be hard.
More isn’t always better. This is a huge lie. The extreme measures people went through show us that exercising for hours during the day and drastically reducing our food will contribute to metabolic issues and our bodies will fight back against these things.

If you are working to lose weight remember there are no quick fixes or extreme measures to permanent success. There are no magic pills, potions, drinks or elixirs to make you thinner. (use that money to buy good food!) Putting on weight takes time, and taking off weight takes time. Don’t buy into overhyped lies that try to tell you any different.

So dear readers, have you read the article on The Biggest Loser contestants? What do you think about it? Do you ever think such extreme measures are successful? What has helped you be successful in weight loss?

The Power Of You

I was chatting with my client at our weekly meeting when she told me she had thought of contacting me last year, then again, recently. This is when she reached out to me in response to my announcement of taking on a client.

She was tired of where she was at and was ready to start making changes in herself, the biggest one being to lose weight.

She had a question that she wanted to ask me, something she had wondered about.

In her battle of start a diet, get discouraged, quit, feel guilty, go back to old patterns and habits ( ’cause those are comfy for all of us) her question was…

“What made you “get it” ?”

She was asking what had clicked in me and been the turning point that I kept on going, didn’t quit and give up and walk away from doing it. How had I kept at it and lost weight ( and kept it off)?

What made me do it and more importantly, stay with it ?

I wish I could say I told her it was some special, magic thing I did. I wish I could just write out the instructions to making everyone be successful who sets out to do it.

I can’t.

You know why ?

The desire, the want, the need, must come from deep inside of you. You have to hunger for that change.

You have to want it badly enough for yourself that you’re willing to make the sacrifices required to get there.

Sacrifices of time and energy, changing behaviors and habits, making yourself uncomfortable, have a willing attitude to be molded into someone different, patience with yourself as you stumble, fall, and get up again, and a tenacious spirit that refuses to give up. Honestly, you even need a practical mind that knows it’s a process that will take time and it won’t be instant gratification.

You have to be at the point where you know you want to do it for yourself because you’re simply tired of where you are and want things differently. Yeah, just let that breathe over you for a second.

The secret is: you have to want it badly enough to do things differently and you have to really, truly, want it for yourself.

My client, is at that point. I think she has all the right elements in place to slowly, steadily move forward and make positive life changes for herself. She’s learning about food and feeding her body appropriately and at the right times. She’s learning to listen to her body. She also knows it’s a slow process and she’s willing to invest the time to reach her goals. We will continue each week looking at new habits and replacing the not so good ones with better ones. It takes a little time to rework ingrained habits in your life, but it can be done.

So there you go. No magic secret. No gimmick or potion.

The “thing” that got me going, made me start and not quit… well.. that came from within me.. just like it needs to come from within you.

I don’t want to call it “will power” cause that’s so subjective and fickle. Our will power can be gone in an instant. It can be gone in the face of chocolate cake or a lazy morning you don’t “feel” like working out.

No, it has to be something deeper and more powerful. A force to be reckoned with.

That force is you.

Nothing is more powerful than the human mind when it determines to take on something and conquer it. Nothing is more powerful than your mind conquering the limits of your body… nothing….

You’ve got everything in you … you just need to harness it and let it out.

Everything-you-need-is-already-Inside

Getting Serious About Weight Loss

weeks of fitness

Goals. Resolutions. Plans. Ideas.

Where are you with yours a few weeks into the New Year ? Are you one of the many who has determined that weight loss and fitness will be what you finally achieve this year?

Sadly, many will start with the best intentions but quickly give up when their plans are a bit lofty and to restrictive, determining it’s to hard and give up.

Please don’t quit. Isn’t it more productive to have small forward movement than none ?

When I chat with people I often hear some… denial ? About how they eat ,what they eat, and how much they eat.

Trust me, it’s easy to disillusion yourself. Or there is some joking about it… about not eating well…. as if poor eating is a fun game.

Can I say this ? If you’re serious about weight loss, you need to be serious about what you eat.

Kinda just let that breathe over you for a second.

What kind of body have you built? What kind of body do you want to build ? And I don’t mean like… building a competition body or anything like that… although if that’s what you want you need to set goals to get there.

I mean do you want to lose some fat? Do you want to build muscle? Strengthen your cardio system to be able to do daily tasks without getting out of breath ? Do you want energy to keep up with your family and do things with them ? To achieve those goals means getting serious about what goes in your mouth, and how much of it.

Getting serious means taking a hard look at your eating habits and patterns. A study of your eating habits as it were. What triggers you to eat when you aren’t hungry? What foods do you reach for ? Do you know how to stop once your hunger has been satisfied or do you keep eating because it’s there or it tastes good ?

How do you nourish your body ? Is it with junk type foods? High fat? Sugar? Alcohol ? Fast food ? Over eating?

Or is it with healthy, colorful, flavorful life giving food to build you up in the best way possible ? Foods that will give you energy and vitality?

veggies

Listen, you won’t just snap into changes overnight. You will struggle and rebel against changes you want to make, know you need to make, it won’t come easy.

But…. you are more than capable of doing it.

One day, one moment at a time.

I guess it might sound pretty basic but if you’re gonna make changes you need to assess what you’ve got to do to start making that happen.

May I suggest a long heart to heart with yourself ?

Look at how you eat, when, how much etc. if it’s not a meal time look at snacking or eating when you aren’t truly hungry.

What or how do you feel that makes you reach for food ?

What foods do you reach for ?

In a day, write out foods that are healthy, good for you foods and then the “other” foods. Make a list… which list is longer at the end of the day. You might track this for several days. Make sure you also add in all sugary drinks, alcohol etc

Determine ( on the not so great category) where you can begin to make small gradual changes. For instance, if you’re a big soda drinker and have maybe 3? a day you might try cutting it back to two for a week, then down to one until you’re weaned off or save them for really special treats. Although by that time you might find them to be to sweet for you once your body has adjusted to not having them.

In the healthy section look at how you can continue to improve and build on healthier foods.

Where can you add more veggies ? Choose a healthier snack? Pass on vending machine “treats” ?

To move forward you must be serious with yourself on your eating. Understand your food triggers.

Take a critical look at the foods you eat. Can you make healthier substitutions for some things ?

Asking yourself some hard questions and making small gradual changes will begin to move you forward on your health and fitness journey.

start today

Diets And Your Relationship With Food

Oh boy. Here we go.

New Year and the diet industry is gearing up to guilt you into needing their products. You are being bombarded with all the reasons you need to get on their wagon.

Oprah now basically owns Weight Watchers and her commercials have been going like crazy. Her mantra is to make “2016 the year of your best body”.

I’m certainly not against that mantra… I mean… I want to be better this year than last year. I’m down for another year of my best body.

I can still be stronger, leaner, more fit. I just don’t plan to go about it with all the hype and diet products to achieve it.

Coming up this week is a new TV show called “My Diet Is Better Than Your Diet”. I’m wondering if it will be the awful train wreck that “The Biggest Loser” is which also had it’s season premier this week.

I just have to wonder why it’s still around. I read a story on it the other day that the contestants workout 6-8 hours a day on about 1,000 calories or less. A gerbil eats more.

I’d say all of that is insane but I don’t even know it that’s the best word to describe it. People will tune in and watch as a form of “entertainment” forgetting these are hurting, desperate and needy people who have been brought to this point. They have vast amounts of weight to lose.

The fail rate (that they don’t tell you about) is tremendously high.

Why? Because there haven’t been key important changes made.

Namely this… and it’s true for those on a reality TV show, or you my readers, and true of myself before I figured it out a few years ago.

There is this missing piece… and it’s crucial for permanent, life changing success.

If you don’t get your relationship with food right, and in the right place in your life, you will forever battle it. It will control you.

If food is more important to you than losing weight to be healthy and energetic then it’s time to look at it’s role in your life.

I firmly believe that food is not the biggest issue as is the reasons behind what drives someone to eat beyond what they need to support their lives and feed their hunger.

Sometimes ( and often) there are hungers and needs deeper than our appetites.

Loneliness. Boredom. Pain. Feelings of failure. Loss. Need. Lack of love. Acceptance. Routine. Emotional needs.

Mindless, empty eating, we use to try and fill aches, pains, and other issues in our lives.

It’s why I don’t think these shows will ever really work. It’s why I’m troubled over the “quick fix” surgeries that can rapidly drop pounds, but it’s not addressing the real reasons a person eats so much food to be in that place to start with. If that person doesn’t make a mental shift and get food in it’s proper place, they will continue with the same behaviors and attitudes that made them fat.

The underlying issues need to be recognized to turn it around, to make food be what it is, enjoyable, life giving, but also controlled and managed appropriately. Food is much of a dangerous drug for someone as cocaine is to another.

This is why 6-8 week diet plans will fail. And good intentions will go down the drain and you’ll console yourself with food again. It’s why patients who have weight loss surgery will regain weight they lost and be able to eat as much later on after surgery as before.

Years ago I figured out some of my triggers. I realized I had grown up in a family of emotional eaters. It was weird how I clearly saw it one day and called it for what it was in my life.

It wasn’t overly controlling for me ? But in my mom and grandmother it was very easy to see. They were both considered morbidly obese. I could look back at times and see how food was used for more than nourishment. It was often used as a form of comfort. The more you ate, the better you would feel, right ?

My brother had struggled with it too.

Now I am able to identify it in myself when I see it going on. Only now I ask myself questions and question why I’m eating? Why am I doing what I’m doing? How am I feeling ? What emotions are propelling me to go to food ?

Trust me… this was a huge step in my health and fitness journey.

So yeah. Let’s make 2016 “the year of our best body” but let’s decide first to get real with some things in ourselves that hinder us from moving forward to that goal.

If I offer any humble suggestions to you in this it would be….

*Pay attention to why and when you eat ( beyond meal time)

*Question yourself. Really, you can. Ask those hard questions. What is making you eat at that moment? Are you truly hungry? How are you feeling?

*Look at your family. Your childhood one and the one you have as a grown adult ( married etc) what are the eating patterns and habits? How is food used ? For more than nourishment?

*Do you eat when you are out by yourself ? In the car? Drive thru’s? Is it a habit ?

*Do you eat alone at night? In front of Tv? How much “mindless” eating do you participate in?

*What hurts you inside? Do you use food to soothe your emotions ?

This is a place you can start. Understanding your relationship with food and taking a hard look at things like this can really help you move forward in your health journey…mentally and physically =)