Scale It Down

The weight loss industry is one of continual reinvention that bombards us regularly with a deluge of new gurus, no fail diets and trendy exercise routines. As loyal followers, we faithfully run out in droves to buy the latest books and videos in a desperate search for magic bullet answers. Sometimes we read the books and watch the videos and sometimes we don't. And there have been times when we actually made an attempt to follow the advice being given - for a while, at least. But most of the time, we end up adding yet another edition to a vast collection of weight loss wisdoms and wizardry. Why is that? The answer is simple:

In theory, we understand the value of information being fed to us but in practice, we have problems applying it to the way we live and fine tuning it to who we are.

This is the proverbial crux of the matter and what Lifestyle Fit is all about - figuring out how this wealth of weighty info fits into our own work schedules, daily habits, food preferences, exercise tolerance, social/family needs and dare we say, personal likes and dislikes? How is exactly the question to ask. It is a task of personal tailoring, and you and only you, knows what will fit and what won't.

Before you can tailor your fit, you have to reconsider the objective - your goal. Most likely, you've always set your goal to lose weight. And that's exactly what's happened time and time again, just that. "I want to lose weight", is a partial goal, an unfinished thought that left unattended repeatedly brings you back to square one. Losing weight is not an end, but a beginning to an ultimate goal.

In the Art of Exceptional Living, noted motivational speaker Jim Rohn describes how to create the ultimate goal: Set the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them. Read it again, slowly - Set the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them. Did that sink in yet? Read it aloud, one more time - Set the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them. In other words,

Set your goal for weight control because it will make something of you to achieve it.

Weight loss is the road you take to your final destination, weight control. As you come to understand this you will see it is the journey you take in getting there that will make something of you to achieve it. When you begin to charter its course a new approach to weight control will evolve into a revised system of doing things you find acceptable and applicable to your own life.

More on Goal Setting

Fat Mentality - you either have it or you don't. Life long Battle of the Bulge veterans do. People who adore and celebrate food, definitely do. Anorexics live in fear of getting it. Thin people, and we mean those who've always maintained normal weight levels, don't - and find it extremely hard to grasp onto the concept of fat mentality to begin with. Those of us who do have it, like to think we were born with it. The jury is still out on that notion, but the truth in living with it is very real and must be addressed.

Our fat mentality directs our thoughts, cravings, emotions and approach to food - not to mention our downright love for it. Because food is so important to us we have a natural inclination to celebrate, console and convene with it. Our fat mentality believes that losing weight means we'd have to give up our love of food. This is the negative force that is responsible for our constant diet detours. The mere thought of moving into the Kingdom of Thindom paralyzes our fat mentality - because there's no way in hell it wants to relocate to a place where fries and chocolate aren't thought of fondly.

What ensues is a defense mechanism, which shields us from any behaviors that threaten our fat mentality's very existence, especially when it comes to following the advice of weight loss professionals. Many of them insist that the only way to successful weight loss is by taking on the ideals and habits of a healthy eating well-exercised thin person. Translation: we can't be thin unless we banish our fat mentality forever. The problem is, not everyone wants to become a healthy eating well-exercised thin person in the first place.

What many of us would like to be, is a pizza eating thin person - like the thin people you see grazing at fast food restaurants, who don't always take a pass on office goodie trays, partake in an occasional appetizer, and know how to eat cake without gaining weight. This is a person our fat mentality can live with. Tell yourself you need to find new ways to eat the foods you love and control your weight, as opposed to never having them again in order to lose weight and wonderful things begin happening. Your fat mentality goes into motivational overdrive working for a new found common good.

When your fat mentality understands and believes that weight control is achievable with your love of food in hand, it will stop associating pain to the thought of losing weight. Weight loss will become the process that brings you to weight control - a place where you can maintain your weight and still eat the foods you love.

With control as your goal and your fat mentality on board for the ride, you have now arrived at the vantage point - designing your own road to weight control. Now is the time where you begin picking and choosing what weight control tools and ideas you want to use and begin personally tailoring them to cohabitate freely with your lifestyle and personal preferences.

There will be things you'll have to improve upon, alternative options to consider and new choices to make, which may have derailed you in the past. This is why it is so important to avoid negative shutdowns when they occur. A negative shutdown is what you do when you hear or read about a weight loss principle that doesn't sit well with you, for example: "…fries and pizza don't go with exercise". You get so annoyed at the thought of not eating fries that you shutdown from any good info presented and promptly dismiss all thoughts of exercise from that point on. Sort through the turn-offs, look for ideas that appeal to you and modify those that need it (in your opinion) whenever possible.

Now is also the time to banish the yeah-butts and box up the denial files for good. One dieter told me she, "…didn't like salad". What she was really saying was that she didn't like salad and therefore, (yeah-butt), she wouldn't be successful at losing weight. Somewhere along the line she decided that losing weight meant she'd have to eat foods she didn't like, (classic denial file), and that was a sacrifice she wasn't willing to tolerate. Get rid of all those nasty going-on-a-diet-demons and focus on what you will.

The foundation of your design should start with the basics: calorie awareness, exercise considerations and a wealth of food choices. Calorie awareness provides the tracking system you'll need to account for the foods you are eating. Become aware of calories, because it is calories that determine the fluctuation in your weight. At the onset, you will be counting them, but only until caloric content becomes intuitive - and it will. Decide what your daily intake should be and make the numbers work for you. The bottom line when it comes to exercise is, you can lose weight without exercising. You can also feel better, lose faster and eat more if you do exercise. Do some research and consider trying some new forms of activity. If you absolutely can't stomach the thought, make walking a priority. Finally, creating a wealth of food choices supports the very changes you're trying to make. The point is to restock your kitchen with: any and as many healthy foods you can tolerate, lower calorie alternatives to the foods you are accustomed to eating, (if approved by your taste buds), and all the new ways you can come up with to eat your favorite treats. Remember, Prohibition is over - there's no reason why you can't have cookies and chips on the shelves now. Make the right drink choices too. Soften that 64 oz. blow with sparkling waters and decaffeinated versions of diet pop, teas and/or coffees. And don't forget that water is the best and cheapest weight loss accelerant around!

The design of your road will lead you to a personal weight control system, which is exactly what pizza eating thin people have been following along. Up until now, this concept remained foreign to how we dealt with weight problems, even though we are system oriented for doing numerous other things. How you go about parenting, managing money, handling domestic chores and so forth, developed into a system for the way you do things. Systems become habit when you do them without hesitation. Once you put your weight control system in place, good food and fitness routines will follow and habitually prevail.

Personally tailoring a weight control system can be confusing and difficult at the start. One of the top comments I hear in my weight control groups is that some of their best ideas come from talking to others who are working toward the same goals. I wholeheartedly agree, because they give me new ideas all the time too.

For those of you who would like some additional help in putting together your Lifestyle Fit, the materials and methods used in my group programs are available on an individual basis as follows:

Lifestyle & Preference Questionnaire
Brainstorming Consultation via Phone
Road to Weight Control Plan
Follow-up Support via E-mail

These services are available on a separate and packaged basis with fees ranging from $50 - $200. If you would like more information, please email me in confidence at: scaleitdown@ameritech.net