A new episode of my podcast, A Mind for Fitness is now up. In this episode, I talk about how to tell when you need professional help with weight loss. A good topic considering many people are going to try to lose wight at the first of the year. Hope you enjoy!
It’s the day after Christmas and I have a week to go before the new year. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were absolutely filled with abusing myself with food. And again, it is one week before the first of the year. It’s a week that I could enjoy all those foods I thought I had been missing out on. But I have decided not to do that. I have decided to get started on my weight loss goals before the new year.
Why have I decided to do this? Well, the simple truth is I am sick of unhealthy food. As many of you who frequent my blog know, I am a big proponent of a low-carb, high-fat diet which included scheduled cheat days. Cheat days are for both health and psychological reasons. And through this method, I have lost more than 60 pounds. However, during this season, I have just had too many high-carb foods and I can feel it in my body. I feel sick and am having a difficult time thinking clearly.
Being sick like this has brought one thought into my mind. That is: I cannot believe I use to eat like this all the time! When I was over weight, most of my meals were largely made up of carbohydrates and it did not bother me at all! Now, I can really feel it after just one full day!
So I am back to the diet that makes me feel and look great! My challenge to you is to start early too! You do not need to pig-out this week just because it’s a week before the new year. Start now! It’s worth it!
There are four keys that help open up the door to ultra successful at weight loss.
Key One
The first key is to pick a plan or program. Of course you want to pick a program that is reasonable. You cannot pick the “I eat jelly donuts all day long” plan. Unless your goal is to put on massive amounts of fat. That said, there are many good programs out there that will help you lose weight. Check the link below to get the program I used to lose 64 pounds!
Key Two
The second key Is to follow that plan. Follow it as closely as you possibly can. Don’t cheat. If the program is 25 carbs a day, then consume only 25 carbs a day. You cannot blame the diet if you do not follow it.
Key Three
Monitor to see if what you are doing is working. This is where one has to be honest with him or her self. If what you are doing is working then keep going. However, if the plan is not working, then stop and implement the fourth and final key.
Key Four
The fourth key is change. That is to say do not be afraid to change if what you are doing is not working. Out of the four, this last one seems to trouble people the most. People just do not want to change plans.
There are two reasons for this. The first is due to the fact that changing plans (in the minds of many) is an like an admission of defeat. However, that is not true.Changing plans does not mean that a person has lost. Instead it means that a person is strong. It means that a person is flexible in their approach. It mans that a person is on the track to being successful.
The second reason is change for many means complete abandonment. But like the above misconception this is also not true. Adjusting a plan slightly is also a change.
For example, let’s say you were on a diet that allowed 40 carbs a day. You do not have to drop the whole plan. Just drop your carbs a bit and see what happens. But always remember to monitor your weight and don’t be afraid to readjust again.
Follow these four steps and pretty soon you will go from this
To this
In this episode, Ean gives advice on how to deal with people who want to see you fail. Also, goal setting for success.
http://amindforfitness.libsyn.com/dealing-with-people-who-want-to-see-you-fail
Letting others know that you are attempting to change your eating habits can be challenging. This is particularly true for those who have extensively yo-yo dieted. Speaking from personal experience, I would often keep my diet a secret from my family and friends. Why? Because I did not want to publicly fail–again. It is embarrassing to let everyone know you are trying to lose weight only to have it not workout. However, letting people know you are changing your eating habits is a great technique that will help you make a permanent change. Here are two reason why:
Getting Help
If you do not let others know that you are on a diet, there is no way they can help you. In fact, not letting others know can lead to some unavoidable compromises. For example, a client of mine neglected to tell anyone that he was going on a low-carb diet. when he went over to his mothers house for his regular Saturday-family meal, he found himself with no low-carb options.
Of course, his family may not have adjusted their eating plan according to my client’s needs. But it does give them the option to help rather than hinder.
Gives You an Out
Letting others know about your dietary changes gives you the upper hand in case you find yourself presented with high-carb temptation. What do I mean by this? Let’s say a friend invites you out to lunch, and he offers to pay. But he wants to go to a place where there are not a lot of low-carb options. If you have not told him about your dietary change, then asking to go to a different restaurant could seem a bit rude. However, if you have told your friend, then you can say something like, “That sounds great, but remember I had mentioned that I’m on a low-carb diet. I’m really serious about being healthy. Could you help me out by going to a restaurant with more low-carb options?”
In Closing
There will always be people who want to see you fail. That is to say, there will be people who do not want to help you even if you have told them about your dietary changes. For example, your friend might be inviting you to lunch because he wants to insure your failure. However, those who want to see others fail normally act indirectly. Letting others know about your dietary needs puts the responsibility on them. They either have to be honest with their desire to see you fail, or they have to acquiesce to your dietary needs.
Out of work late today.Now I’m rushed. I still have to think of what to get for dinner and a host of other family chores as well. So here is the question: Do I go to the gym or not?
I could feel the weight of the excuses piling up. To blow off working out would be easy and understandable. There is always tomorrow, right? But I had to decide: Was I going to make time or make excuses?
It’s easy to let life run over the top of you. And the truth is there is always an excuse to not do what needs to be done. Whether it’s working out or staying on a healthy eating plan, there is always an excuse to do the wrong thing.
Not letting this happen is a matter of realizing that one must make the time to do the things that keep one healthy. In fact, sometimes you have to fight for the time.
We all need help. Whether it is help overcoming a craving or finding the motivation to workout, we all need help. The question is: When should a person seek professional help?
Reason One
This question is relevant to me for three reasons. First, I am the kind of person who needs help on a daily basis. Although, I rarely need professional help. Most of the help I need to stay on my weight-loss journey comes from the books I read and the podcasts I listen to. These seem to be enough, generally speaking, to keep me focused. And I can tell you, when I do not have these influences, I find myself slipping back into old habits very quickly.
Reason Two
The second reason is there was a time I did need professional help. It was only a few months ago. What was my problem? I had lost the motivation for working out. It did not matter how many podcasts I listen to, or how many books and articles I read. Even my favorite T. V. shows about losing weight were not helping. I would start a workout, and about five minutes into it I would give up. I lost my drive.
The good thing is I knew I needed help. So what did I do? I contacted an NLP practitioner. Within just a half-hour I was back on top of my game.
Reason Three
The third reason is I see people all the time who need professional help and refuse to get it. This became evident to me when I got to know a barista at a local coffee shop I frequent. Because I am there so often I have gotten to know many of the people in the shop on a personal basis. On one occasion, this barista asked me what I did for work. I told her I was in the health and fitness industry.
Over the years I have gotten to know her and her story. She is severely overweight and has had many health problems associated with her obesity–including serious ones! Of course, she asked me for advice. And I gave her some, the type of advice I do not mind giving out for free. I told her to cut back on her carbohydrates and other such general information. But, I also let her know that she needed to come and see me on a professional basis in order to really see change. However, she never has taken that step.
I see her quite often and she is always telling me about the latest diet she is trying. Is she ever successful on any of these programs? The answer is no!
I rarely talk to her anymore about her ongoing struggles. Now, whenever she tells me she is starting some new fad-diet, I simply smile and nod and tell her that I hope it works.
Will she ever see the results she hopes for? Not likely. Not without help. Will she ever get the help she needs? Well, it does not look good, but I always hope she will come to her senses.
Get The Help You Need
So here is my question to the reader: What kind of help do you need? Perhaps you only need a small amount of motivation that comes from listening to podcasts and reading books on the subject of weight loss. Or are you the kind of person who may need some professional help? How can you tell the difference? Well, is what you are doing working? If it is, then great! But if you find yourself constantly yo-yo dieting, or needing some extra coaching, then don’t fool yourself–get the help you need!
Closing
Advanced Weight Loss Resources is here for you. Whether you need coaching or specialized diet programs. Please contact us and get the help you need. It is worth your time to improve your health.
Low carb eating in our house is often exciting and fun! This was a dish my wife and step daughter made. It is a cheese burger with a low-carb bun and a side of cauliflower salad.
The actual burger has been cut in the center to make room for an egg.
The bun was made from a mixture of eggs, almond flour, and flax-seed flour.
The cauliflower salad was a heated dish which included cheese and bacon! Two favorites in my house. In my opinion, this tastes way better than any potato salad.
This was truly an amazing meal and ever so satisfying. So my question for the readers is: What is your favorite low-carb meal? Please share in the comments below.
Here is a low-carb chicken dish that I make for my family form time to time. I don’t really have a name for it though.
It’s real simple. I cook about four chicken breasts in butter along with some salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.
In another pan, I steam a few heads of broccoli, one small zucchini, a yellow squash, a red pepper, and some mushrooms.
When everything is done, I chop up the chicken into bit-size chunks and throw it in the veggie pan.
Finally, I add about 1/2 a cup heavy cream and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. I simmer until it is a thick blend and not soupee.
Hope you all like. If you try it, let me know what you think.
It’s interesting how many old ideas about losing weight and working out are still floating around. Of course I’m not here to talk about every one of them. That task could fill book after book. However, I did hear one recently that I thought I would address here.
I had an unexpected cheat meal. It happens and I could have avoided it, but it was with a friend and I did not want to miss this particular get together, and I also wanted to eat the food that was being served.
The good news is I knew about the meal a few hours a head of time. So what did I do? I worked out like crazy! I seriously punished myself before I went to eat. As a result, I felt good about the meal and it did not affect my weight at all.
A few days later I was addressing another group of friends and telling them the story I just told you. One of my friends tuned and said to me, “You should have worked out after so you could burn off the meal.”
“Working off” a meal is just a bad way to look at it. It’s outdated. It is one of those things that sound logical but does not stand up under the latest in scientific scrutiny.
When you work out before a bad meal (particularly resistance training), your muscles need glucose to repair themselves. This means when you eat a high-carb meal, your muscle cells are competing with your fat cells for the sugar in your blood. If you work your muscles hard enough, they will win the contest. This is why you want to work out before you have a cheat meal.
That said, working out after a bad meal is not going to hurt anything and it is better than not working out at all. However, working out after is an attempt to correct damage that has already happened. You are trying to mobilize fat storage which is much more difficult than preventing the problem. Preventing the problem is what happens when you work out before a bad meal. Your muscles soaks up the glucose before your fat cells can take them.
There are many other old and bad ideas that people still believe. Let’s here some that you have heard in the comment section.
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