Insulin, in an oversimplified nutshell, is a fat storage hormone. Too much sugar in the blood? Not a problem, unless you are a diabetic and unable to produce insulin, because insulin removes excess sugar from the blood. This is a good thing, because excess sugar in the blood can cause heart disease, renal failure, blindness, and it can prevent healing of simple injuries like blisters to the point where gangrene can develop and amputations become necessary. Not a good thing! The “dark” side of this hormone is that it converts and stores excess calories eventually as fat. The reason that the low carbohydrate diet works is because there is usually not enough sugar in the blood to “wake up” the pancreas to send out insulin. But before you go sign up with the Adkins diet, know this: a low carbohydrate diet is a LIFE LONG COMMITMENT. Many folks who got off the low-carb diet put all the weight back on and a whole lot of then some. Why? Because the body can become hyper-sensitive to carbohydrates. Another drawback of the low-carb diet is hair loss! If you want to reduce carbohydrates, that’s okay, but be reasonable, and know that it is a commitment.
Now I’d like to turn my attention to addressing one of the main problems with eating out, and that is the dreaded “Is there something wrong with the food?” question that the waiter asks if you leave anything on your plate. Talk about triggering “mom-speak”! However, there is a solution if this is an emotional trigger for you. Ask for a to-go container when you order your food, and as soon as your meal arrives, move at least half of it into a container. Even if you know that you can’t take it with you, because the whole point is to avoid the emotional trigger that might get pulled when you leave food on your plate.
As for me, I am continuing to do weight bearing exercise as well as working out on the Elliptical, but I’m unhappy to report a 1.5 lb. weight gain. I’m not bothered by this, because I am still losing body fat, another .5% since last week! My goal for next Saturday is 153. I know I should be happy with a reduced body fat percent, but I want progress in BOTH areas, darn it!
Shedding Stuff Can Lead to Shedding Weight
Forgive me for this really long blog, but I did not have time to write less (in the words of Benjamin Franklin in a letter to a close friend).
As strange as this may sound, sometimes getting unwanted clutter out of our lives helps with weight loss. I like to “purge” my belongings about every two or three years, and it was time. I have a lot of storage space in my house, and I found things that I’ve not seen for a while, things that needed to be let go. I’ve spent this last two weeks going through closets and cabinets, packing books, dishes, clothing and other unwanted items into boxes. It was garage sale time! A friend wanted to sell some things, too, so we decided to have the sale in a parking lot closer to town rather than at her home or mine, since we both live in the country, which is really too far to get much traffic. And so I moved about six Jeep-loads of stuff into a storage unit across from the parking lot where we would have the sale. Yesterday was the first day of the sale, and I found new homes for about half of my stuff. If the amount of stuff I’ve moved out of my life is any indication of how much weight I’ll lose, then I will not only get through this plateau, but I should be sliding quickly into home base – my ideal weight goal!
I am still “stuck” at 154.5, but I decided to check my body fat loss to see if I was really stuck or if something else was happening. I bought an Omron Fat Loss Monitor, the kind you hold in your hands, and I have noticed a decrease in body fat, but I’ve not done the calculations as to how much body fat I’ve actually lost. So, here are the numbers: my weight went from 158.5 to 154.5, a loss of four pounds, but my body fat percent went from almost thirty-five percent to thirty-two percent, which equates to a loss of six pounds of body fat! Since my goal is to lose twenty-five pounds of body fat, I am most definitely on the right track, and in reality I’m not on a plateau at all! This revelation underscores the importance of exercise and working our muscles. I gained two pounds of lean muscle, which is fine by me! I guess moving all packing and moving all those boxes, several times in fact, really did help me.
As promised, here is a simple list from the National Weight Control Registry that provides five things successful losers (I prefer to call these people “ideal weight achievers”) do to maintain a healthy weight:
1. They eat breakfast everyday – this is extremely important as this is the time when the body decides on whether to conserve or splurge on energy. If the body decides to conserve, guess what it will do – it will burn fewer calories. If it knows that you will provide it with ample nutrition for the day, it will burn more calories. Our bodies are very, very smart, and they will do whatever it takes to survive. Notice that I used the phrase “ample nutrition.” If you eat food with very little nutritional value, like doughnuts, bagels, or other high-carb, low nutrition foods, the body will also rebel. It needs vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, not just calories, in order to function best. The best food? Fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats. And don’t drink your calories – this means NO sodas, none, zippo, nada, and limit your juices to about eight ounces per meal.
2. They weigh themselves at least once a week – our weight can be likened to our bank balance, except in reverse. We would never want to be overdrawn at the bank, nor would we want to be overfed at the dinner table, and the best way to keep track of our spending behaviors is to keep an eye on the balances. Eating too many calories is no different than spending too much money: both will get you into trouble.
3. They exercise for approximately an hour every day – an hour seems like an eternity if we think of spending an hour running or an hour on a treadmill, but if we add up the many types of exercise we do in a day, it’s not so daunting. How many times per day do you walk up a flight of stairs? How many steps do you take per day? How much time do you spend vacuuming the house? Even walking up and down isles in the grocery store count. Whatever you do, do it consciously and do it as briskly as possible, and do as much weight bearing exercise as you can too. Building muscle burns body fat.
4. They reduce the amount of television time to less than ten hours per week – I suspect the biggest reason for this to be a sign of success is two-fold: less time sitting on the couch and less time for mindless eating. People who spend a great deal of time in front of the TV also eat in front of the TV.
5. They restrict calories and often follow a low-fat diet – that is, they restrict their calories to their ideal weight calories, but a low-fat diet does NOT mean eliminating fat. Our bodies need fat for several reasons, and the biggest reasons are that it makes food taste good and it helps us feel full. Ah, but everything in moderation, folks. Also, low fat usually means high sugar. Look at the difference in the carbohydrate content of normal salad dressing versus low or fat-free salad dressing. High sugar content is by far worse, especially if the carbohydrates are from high-fructose corn syrup.
Next week, I will briefly explore the reason behind why “fat-free” is not good for us. That is, the topic will be about the good and bad of insulin: the hormone released from the pancreas that removes the sugar from our blood and stores it, ultimately, as adipose tissue – another word for FAT.
As strange as this may sound, sometimes getting unwanted clutter out of our lives helps with weight loss. I like to “purge” my belongings about every two or three years, and it was time. I have a lot of storage space in my house, and I found things that I’ve not seen for a while, things that needed to be let go. I’ve spent this last two weeks going through closets and cabinets, packing books, dishes, clothing and other unwanted items into boxes. It was garage sale time! A friend wanted to sell some things, too, so we decided to have the sale in a parking lot closer to town rather than at her home or mine, since we both live in the country, which is really too far to get much traffic. And so I moved about six Jeep-loads of stuff into a storage unit across from the parking lot where we would have the sale. Yesterday was the first day of the sale, and I found new homes for about half of my stuff. If the amount of stuff I’ve moved out of my life is any indication of how much weight I’ll lose, then I will not only get through this plateau, but I should be sliding quickly into home base – my ideal weight goal!
I am still “stuck” at 154.5, but I decided to check my body fat loss to see if I was really stuck or if something else was happening. I bought an Omron Fat Loss Monitor, the kind you hold in your hands, and I have noticed a decrease in body fat, but I’ve not done the calculations as to how much body fat I’ve actually lost. So, here are the numbers: my weight went from 158.5 to 154.5, a loss of four pounds, but my body fat percent went from almost thirty-five percent to thirty-two percent, which equates to a loss of six pounds of body fat! Since my goal is to lose twenty-five pounds of body fat, I am most definitely on the right track, and in reality I’m not on a plateau at all! This revelation underscores the importance of exercise and working our muscles. I gained two pounds of lean muscle, which is fine by me! I guess moving all packing and moving all those boxes, several times in fact, really did help me.
As promised, here is a simple list from the National Weight Control Registry that provides five things successful losers (I prefer to call these people “ideal weight achievers”) do to maintain a healthy weight:
1. They eat breakfast everyday – this is extremely important as this is the time when the body decides on whether to conserve or splurge on energy. If the body decides to conserve, guess what it will do – it will burn fewer calories. If it knows that you will provide it with ample nutrition for the day, it will burn more calories. Our bodies are very, very smart, and they will do whatever it takes to survive. Notice that I used the phrase “ample nutrition.” If you eat food with very little nutritional value, like doughnuts, bagels, or other high-carb, low nutrition foods, the body will also rebel. It needs vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, not just calories, in order to function best. The best food? Fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats. And don’t drink your calories – this means NO sodas, none, zippo, nada, and limit your juices to about eight ounces per meal.
2. They weigh themselves at least once a week – our weight can be likened to our bank balance, except in reverse. We would never want to be overdrawn at the bank, nor would we want to be overfed at the dinner table, and the best way to keep track of our spending behaviors is to keep an eye on the balances. Eating too many calories is no different than spending too much money: both will get you into trouble.
3. They exercise for approximately an hour every day – an hour seems like an eternity if we think of spending an hour running or an hour on a treadmill, but if we add up the many types of exercise we do in a day, it’s not so daunting. How many times per day do you walk up a flight of stairs? How many steps do you take per day? How much time do you spend vacuuming the house? Even walking up and down isles in the grocery store count. Whatever you do, do it consciously and do it as briskly as possible, and do as much weight bearing exercise as you can too. Building muscle burns body fat.
4. They reduce the amount of television time to less than ten hours per week – I suspect the biggest reason for this to be a sign of success is two-fold: less time sitting on the couch and less time for mindless eating. People who spend a great deal of time in front of the TV also eat in front of the TV.
5. They restrict calories and often follow a low-fat diet – that is, they restrict their calories to their ideal weight calories, but a low-fat diet does NOT mean eliminating fat. Our bodies need fat for several reasons, and the biggest reasons are that it makes food taste good and it helps us feel full. Ah, but everything in moderation, folks. Also, low fat usually means high sugar. Look at the difference in the carbohydrate content of normal salad dressing versus low or fat-free salad dressing. High sugar content is by far worse, especially if the carbohydrates are from high-fructose corn syrup.
Next week, I will briefly explore the reason behind why “fat-free” is not good for us. That is, the topic will be about the good and bad of insulin: the hormone released from the pancreas that removes the sugar from our blood and stores it, ultimately, as adipose tissue – another word for FAT.
The Dreaded Plateau!
OH, NO! I hit the Plateau! Ah, but this is a good thing. I bought a DVD course on Nutrition Made Clear from The Teaching Company some time back, and I learned that when we hit the dreaded plateau, meaning no progress with weight loss, it means that the body is adjusting to the change. For the most part, our body burns glucose for fuel, but when we embark on a change in lifestyle (notice I did not use the phrase weight loss – the brain hates to lose anything, and it will cling to homeostasis for as long as it can), it takes awhile for our bodies to adjust to the use of a different fuel. For example, I want to burn body fat, but since the body normally burns glucose it will take a shift for my body to begin to burn fat. Heck, if it needs a week to learn a different trick, that’s fine with me! My brain has been trained to comply fairly quickly, because it knows I am relentless, but it still takes time for my body to make the shift to burning fat.
This week I spent a total of five hours on the Elliptical machine, and I kept up my commitment to drinking at least sixty-four ounces of pure water a day…well, for the most part. I have to admit, this is not always easy, but if I want to flush out the body fat, I know how important the water is in doing just that! I suppose if I visualize the water cleansing my body of the free-floating body fat that I just loosened up from exercising, like rinsing food off a dish, that that it will help me drink more. (That’s not really how it works, but it’s a good visualization for me.) It will also help if I visualize the body fat that does NOT get flushed out finding its way back into the fat cells, like little fat rats going back to the hole in the wall. Okay, now I’m really wanting that water! Scat, you fat rats!
Last week I promised to write a bit more about programming changes. Anything that disrupts the craving for excess food will work, as long as it is used consistently. For example, if we are looking for emotional nurturing, we can find another surrogate other than food: a soft blanket, a teddy bear, certain music, anything that will give us that feeling that we want. Food, for overeaters, is never about sustenance; it’s almost always about nurturing. Is overeating ever really about nurturing? Do the resulting shame, pain, and guilt we feel afterward make us feel better? I DON’T THINK SO! So, we might be able to say that overeating is more about punishing ourselves for something rather than helping us feel better. Now that’s a deep question: What are you punishing yourself for?
Today, find a surrogate for emotional eating, something that is truly good for you. It could be as simple as taking several deep breaths each and every time the craving surfaces. Remember, what you really want is to FEEL better, and overeating always backfires.
Next week we’ll look at the habits of people who achieve and maintain their ideal weight. The easiest way to get what you want is to find someone who already has it, and then find out how he or she got it.
This week I spent a total of five hours on the Elliptical machine, and I kept up my commitment to drinking at least sixty-four ounces of pure water a day…well, for the most part. I have to admit, this is not always easy, but if I want to flush out the body fat, I know how important the water is in doing just that! I suppose if I visualize the water cleansing my body of the free-floating body fat that I just loosened up from exercising, like rinsing food off a dish, that that it will help me drink more. (That’s not really how it works, but it’s a good visualization for me.) It will also help if I visualize the body fat that does NOT get flushed out finding its way back into the fat cells, like little fat rats going back to the hole in the wall. Okay, now I’m really wanting that water! Scat, you fat rats!
Last week I promised to write a bit more about programming changes. Anything that disrupts the craving for excess food will work, as long as it is used consistently. For example, if we are looking for emotional nurturing, we can find another surrogate other than food: a soft blanket, a teddy bear, certain music, anything that will give us that feeling that we want. Food, for overeaters, is never about sustenance; it’s almost always about nurturing. Is overeating ever really about nurturing? Do the resulting shame, pain, and guilt we feel afterward make us feel better? I DON’T THINK SO! So, we might be able to say that overeating is more about punishing ourselves for something rather than helping us feel better. Now that’s a deep question: What are you punishing yourself for?
Today, find a surrogate for emotional eating, something that is truly good for you. It could be as simple as taking several deep breaths each and every time the craving surfaces. Remember, what you really want is to FEEL better, and overeating always backfires.
Next week we’ll look at the habits of people who achieve and maintain their ideal weight. The easiest way to get what you want is to find someone who already has it, and then find out how he or she got it.
Mindful Eating
To begin with, I want to congratulate myself on attaining 154.5 this morning, in spite of having a bit of a setback with the weight work. I’ve had trouble with the discs in my neck for years, and I knew from past experience that a commitment to chiropractic care during my start-up phase would be, in the words of Martha Stewart, a good thing. Well, let me tell you! I found the super-duper-est chiropractor. By that, I mean she worked my spine and my neck so well I couldn’t do my weight work this week. Not because I really couldn’t; it was because she told me not to. And I listened. I also knew from past experience that I did not want to strengthen the muscles in my back and neck UNTIL the discs were aligned properly. The Doc worked on me four times last week, and hopefully she will give me the green light to resume my workout with Joyce when I see her again on Monday.
Okay, since I couldn’t work out with weights, then what did I do to achieve my goal, you ask? First let me say this: I don’t overeat in general, so reducing my “normal” calorie intake would cause me to lose lean body mass, which I don’t want to do. I only want to lose body fat. For me, the best way to do that is up the exercise ante and to reduce or eliminate non-normal calories, like mindless snacking. Yes, I can get caught up in mindless snacking. I KNOW better than to put anything on the coffee table while I watch TV or even read. The key to stop mindless snacking is to make it mindful; that is, pay full attention to what you put in your mouth, and while you’re eating don’t do anything else. Be MINDFUL.
Last week, I promised to chat about childhood programming around eating habits. The number one programming that most of us have imbedded in our brains is this: Eat everything on your plate. The reasoning behind this seemingly innocuous line of neural code can vary from “think of the starving children in (fill in this blank with your favorite third-world country),” or “Mommy will love you if you eat everything on your plate,” or “You have to eat everything on your plate if you want dessert!” I say “seemingly innocuous” because, as young children, we are not yet able to judge the soundness of what we are told. I never did get, “Eat everything on your plate. Think of the starving kids in China.” How is eating beyond satiety going to help them? I actually asked my dad that once, but only once.
Let’s take a reality check. How do you feel when you leave food on your plate? Do you feel like you’re wasting food? Well, eating more that your body needs is still wasting food. It’s not like money. It’s not like you can use the extra stores of fat to accommodate you when you get hungry. In other words, eating two days worth of food in one setting will NOT prevent you from being hungry for two days! Extra food is converted to fat, and it actually does the opposite of what it supposed to: it slows us down vs. gives us energy. (Not sure about that? Trying running a 5K with a fifty pound backpack on, but turn it around so that you carry it in front like obese people do.) In fact, extra fat is not only useless, it is dangerous! For those of you who have a BMI in the overweight category (see www.idealweightcoach.com for the ranges), you have a thirty-five percent greater chance of developing dementia. For those of you whose BMI is in the obese range, you have a seventy-four percent greater chance.
Okay, so how can we “disrupt” or “rewrite” our habitual eating habit? First and foremost, be aware of its existence. Then use a disruptor to stop the automatic behavior either before or during it. Disruptors can range from simply yelling “STOP” to snapping a rubber band on your wrist as soon as the habit begins to assert itself. For me, I found the rubber band to be the most beneficial. Each and every time I experienced the “need” to finish everything on my plate, I snapped the rubber band. I made a conscious choice to leave at least twenty percent of whatever was on my plate, on my plate. Twenty percent is not set in stone; it’s just what I chose. At first, I had to get up and throw the extra food in the trash right away, so I wouldn’t be tempted. But after a while, I actually began to notice when I was full, and I no longer let what was left on my plate to determine that for me. The programming in our brains MUST be congruent with our goals, or we will falter and eventually fail.
Next week, we’ll explore some other tips to help us reprogram. Until then, practice leaving food on your plate, if that is your downfall. And remember, your mother will still love you!
Okay, since I couldn’t work out with weights, then what did I do to achieve my goal, you ask? First let me say this: I don’t overeat in general, so reducing my “normal” calorie intake would cause me to lose lean body mass, which I don’t want to do. I only want to lose body fat. For me, the best way to do that is up the exercise ante and to reduce or eliminate non-normal calories, like mindless snacking. Yes, I can get caught up in mindless snacking. I KNOW better than to put anything on the coffee table while I watch TV or even read. The key to stop mindless snacking is to make it mindful; that is, pay full attention to what you put in your mouth, and while you’re eating don’t do anything else. Be MINDFUL.
Last week, I promised to chat about childhood programming around eating habits. The number one programming that most of us have imbedded in our brains is this: Eat everything on your plate. The reasoning behind this seemingly innocuous line of neural code can vary from “think of the starving children in (fill in this blank with your favorite third-world country),” or “Mommy will love you if you eat everything on your plate,” or “You have to eat everything on your plate if you want dessert!” I say “seemingly innocuous” because, as young children, we are not yet able to judge the soundness of what we are told. I never did get, “Eat everything on your plate. Think of the starving kids in China.” How is eating beyond satiety going to help them? I actually asked my dad that once, but only once.
Let’s take a reality check. How do you feel when you leave food on your plate? Do you feel like you’re wasting food? Well, eating more that your body needs is still wasting food. It’s not like money. It’s not like you can use the extra stores of fat to accommodate you when you get hungry. In other words, eating two days worth of food in one setting will NOT prevent you from being hungry for two days! Extra food is converted to fat, and it actually does the opposite of what it supposed to: it slows us down vs. gives us energy. (Not sure about that? Trying running a 5K with a fifty pound backpack on, but turn it around so that you carry it in front like obese people do.) In fact, extra fat is not only useless, it is dangerous! For those of you who have a BMI in the overweight category (see www.idealweightcoach.com for the ranges), you have a thirty-five percent greater chance of developing dementia. For those of you whose BMI is in the obese range, you have a seventy-four percent greater chance.
Okay, so how can we “disrupt” or “rewrite” our habitual eating habit? First and foremost, be aware of its existence. Then use a disruptor to stop the automatic behavior either before or during it. Disruptors can range from simply yelling “STOP” to snapping a rubber band on your wrist as soon as the habit begins to assert itself. For me, I found the rubber band to be the most beneficial. Each and every time I experienced the “need” to finish everything on my plate, I snapped the rubber band. I made a conscious choice to leave at least twenty percent of whatever was on my plate, on my plate. Twenty percent is not set in stone; it’s just what I chose. At first, I had to get up and throw the extra food in the trash right away, so I wouldn’t be tempted. But after a while, I actually began to notice when I was full, and I no longer let what was left on my plate to determine that for me. The programming in our brains MUST be congruent with our goals, or we will falter and eventually fail.
Next week, we’ll explore some other tips to help us reprogram. Until then, practice leaving food on your plate, if that is your downfall. And remember, your mother will still love you!
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