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I am a chronic dieter. I have tried every diet that has come down the path at some point in my life. I have done Weight Watchers, South Beach, Atkins, fat-free, TOPS (take off pounds sensibly). I have starved myself, having yogurt for lunch (fat and sugar free mind you), and a salad for dinner…that’s it. I have eaten 6 times per day, I have tried Slim-Fast and diet pills…I have not tried the prepackaged ones such as Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig, only because I could never afford to do them. The cost of most of them is what I spend in a week for my entire family to eat! Did you know that only 5% of dieters maintain their weightloss with most of these programs? They are not lifelong wellness programs, but short term fixes.
The problem that I have found with all of them, is that yes, I can lose some weight in the short term, but as soon as I “go off the diet”, I gain back whatever I lost, plus a few more pounds. It is called yo-yo dieting, and many American women (and many men!) have fallen prey to it. The diet industry thrives on this! You try one, it works for a while, then you try another one, and so it goes….I love the NutriSystem ad, where the woman says, I have gone from a size 12 to a size 2, TWICE! And that is a good thing? A program that truly works, should work for the long haul. You shouldn’t have to do it again.
So, what is the answer? Well, it is different for everyone. Our weight loss, or lack there of, is related not only to what we eat, when we eat it and how much we work out. How we are feeling, stress levels and anxiety has much to do with it as well.
Some of us also have food allergies or sensitivities that play into not only weight loss, but headaches, muscle pain and fatigue. It is important to look at not only the what, when and how of what you are eating, but to examine the finer details of your lifestyle and diet habits.
How do you start to find the way that will work for you? I suggest starting with a food journal. Write down everything you eat, and how you were feeling when you decided to eat it, while you were eating it and after you finished eating it. This will help you to start identifying patterns to your eating. Do you eat when you are hungry, or do you eat because you are bored, sad or lonely? Do you see a pattern of consistently craving a certain food such as bread, dairy or sugar? Don’t worry about calories, fat or carbohydrates, just worry about the what and the why.
After you have consistently kept this food diary for at least 7 days, review it for patterns. Maybe on Monday you ate a big plate of macaroni and cheese because you were bored and within an hour you had a stomachache. Perhaps on Wednesday you consumed several servings of Doritos while watching a movie and later that evening you had a headache. You can then start to see some possible correlations between what you ate and how you felt. For example, the stomachache after noodles can mean you have an intolerance to gluten. The headache after Doritos can be in direct relation to the MSG in the chips.
Once you have looked at some of these correlations, spend the next 21-28 days doing what I call “the elimination diet”. Take your diet back to the basics. Vegetables, fruit, lean meats, rice and oatmeal. I also put eggs in this diet, unless you already know you are sensitive to them. We eliminate gluten, dairy and sugar. After the initial 21-28 days, we can start to add back some of these things a bit at a time, and reevaluate how your body reacts. You may be surprised to find that in many cases you have a sensitivity that you didn’t realize you had, and that by eliminating that thing you start to lose weight and feel better. You keep your journal during this entire process!!
Exercise is the other component to a healthy, happy weightloss and maintenance experience. If you aren’t doing anything at all, start with a 10 minute walk around your neighborhood or workplace, at least once, preferably twice a day. Start to build up on that walk for the first couple of weeks. I also recommend a simple yoga sequence or a class. Do the simple sequence at home at least once a day, and try to participate in a group class at least once or twice per week. In a couple of weeks we add resistance training to your regimen. Your program will differ from anyone elses program, because we are all different!!
What I help you do is stay on track. We start the journal, talk once a week either by phone or in person and email as often as needed. We start working on the plan for the elimination phase and I guide you through meal plans and recipes to keep you from getting bored. We pick put exercise plans and I work with you to keep you motivated and on task. Basically, I act as your personal coach through the process. You will eat real food and use simple, readily accessible exercise programs that will become your lifelong steps to wellness. No more yo-yo dieting, just a personalized, common sense plan to get you on track.
So, if you are interested in getting started on a personalized program, that is designed for you, email me at simplicityquest@gmail.com and we can get started! I hope to hear from you soon….
yogajen
A few months ago, I emailed my husband and said “We have more money than we have ever had in our lives, and I am more unhappy than I have ever been.” I needed to make a change in my life and I needed to do it then.
Money was not buying the happiness that society professes it will. We still weren’t making tons of money, but we, between us, were making a comfortable living, spending little time at home, and spending most of the time stressed out, tired and depressed. This change would cut our income in half. Although I would still be teaching yoga and working on marketing some products I feel strongly about, but for the short term, it would make a difference in our standard of living. I took the leap! You can read back at some old posts to see the progression!
This morning, I ran across an article that we should all read at Joyful Hope.
Our internal happiness and our external self are not related! You can be the most beautiful person in the world to others, but unless you feel that way about yourself, you don’t see it. You can have great wealth and be miserable, or you can have little financial wealth and be internally very happy. Now of course there is a minimal standard of material wealth that we need in order to survive in this country. We need to have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies and clothing to wear. Beyond that, it is all “luxury” to much of the rest of the world.
So what really buys us happiness? Working on our internal selves through self study, yoga, meditation, walking, reading…whatever helps you to find that peace within yourself to love yourself and to let yourself be loved by others. It is so important to remember how wonderful we each are! In our own way, we each offer so much to the universe…once you start to love yourself, you will be amazed at what will start to manifest in your life!
Have a great Friday!
yogajen
p.s. Thanks Freda for hooking me up with this article….
There is more to losing weight than eating right and working out. Unfortunately, our emotions play a huge role in our ability to shed those unwanted pounds.
Recently, I gained about 5 pounds, while working out 2 hours a day, and eating relatively well. It was due to stress and turmoil in my life. I was working to much, and worrying about whether to continue my job or leave it. Stress raises the level of cortisol in our bodies, making it harder to shed the weight.
I am working on getting through a couple of books right now, that I am hoping will help me figure out how to balance stress with losing weight. I easily have at least 20 pounds that I need to shed, but I have been battling for a few years now. Even while teaching 7 yoga classes a week, walking for an hour a day and lifting weights 3-4 times per week, I have been unable get rid of it, so I am looking at the reasons other than eating and working out that are causing the problem.
I am reading <a href=”Integrative Nutrition
Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want
The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person
I also just received today The Complete Artist’s Way: Creativity as a Spiritual Practice
Although not a book about losing weight, it is a book about finding yourself, getting back to, or finding the artistic side of yourself in a spiritual way. When we force back our spirit and follow a path that is not natural for us, we feel sad and helpless, which makes losing weight and being happy extremely difficult.
So, with these four books in hand, I will begin to work through the next 3 months and see if I can clear out the dust that is in my head, uncover the reasons why I am holding onto this 20 pounds that I don’t want, and read, journal, walk and practice yoga….finding myself….
yogajen
If you want a horse to run fast, you put a carrot in front of their nose. Money has often been called the carrot that keeps people working hard for long hours. A rabbit is the “carrot” that they put in front of dogs to get them to run.
When we think about getting fit, we need to identify the “carrot” that will get us moving and keep us moving. Start to think about what your carrot might be!
I have a couple of carrots that I use at different times depending on how I am feeling about working out that day. When I am teaching a class, my carrot is looking forward to helping others feel wonderful when we finish class. When I am getting ready to go out and run, my carrot is the next race that I already signed up for, and need to make sure I can finish!! When I am preparing to do any type of fitness activity, the carrot is the way I FEEL when I am done!
There are many days I don’t want to work out. There are many days when sitting on the couch, watching TV or putzing around on the computer would seem to be a much better idea. Then I think about how I feel when I sit around, versus how I feel when I get in a decent workout, whether that be an hour of YogaPower or an awesome ChaleanExtreme workout, or a calming Yoga Booty Ballet DVD taking the time to do something physical everyday is an important part of my life.
Today, I was off work, and took the day to complete some tasks I had been putting off. I decided to ride my bike everywhere today, and to focus on quality foods. I got in a few miles of biking and lots of greens! You can fit fitness in during your regular activities if you take the time to work out a plan. There is also the 10-Minute Trainer program, which you can do in pieces when you have time. It is an awesome workout, with my favorite guy, Tony Horton. You won’t be disappointed if you pick it up.
It is important to spend some time doing physical activity everyday. Figure out what your carrot is? I work out because______________________. Then repeat it every time you are balking at getting out there…..
I work out because_____________________________________________________.
Now Just DO IT!!
yogajen
http://www.paths-to-fitness.com if you are interested in a personalized plan!
How do you prioritize your day? I am reading a really interesting book right now called “The Joy of Not Working- for the retired, unemployed and overworked”. The ideas in the book are outstanding and I recommend it highly! Here is a link to the book:
One of the biggest lessons I have gotten out of what I have read so far, is that we spend to much of our day doing things that don’t challenge us or excite us. We spend so much of our time on a quest for money, that we forget to live our lives! The book doesn’t say you shouldn’t work, it just helps you to put into perspective “the job” vs “the life”.
As part of my “life coach” training, I have put together a life wheel. This life wheel helps us to determine where we spend our time and energy, so that we can figure out where we need to adjust and reprioritize our lives. It encourages us to evaluate “where we are at now”, so that we can figure out “where we want to be”. Would you like a copy of the life wheel? Send an email to simplicityquest@gmail.com and I will get it right off to you!!
Get ready to take control of your life…
yogajen
When I arrived home from teaching yoga tonight, I discovered that I had no dark leafy lettuce and no salad dressing. I try to eat a salad everyday, so was wondering how to go about it, without going back out in bitter cold, windy weather.
My husband had bought a bunch of iceberg lettuce in bags, because it was really cheap at HyVee over the weekend. I usually am not real excited about iceberg because it doesn’t have a whole lot of taste, and is basically just water with no nutritional value. But, since it was all that was available, I had to make do.
I remembered the dressing my grandma used to make when I was a little girl. She would buy a head of iceberg lettuce and cut it into big chunks. The dressing was made with miracle whip, milk, a bit of sugar and some salt and pepper. I loved that dressing, and I never had a better salad than the one that grandma made.
I pulled the ingredients all out and made just enough dressing for my little salad. As I sat and ate iceberg lettuce with grandma’s dressing on it, I had fond memories of hanging out at their trailer house, walking around in the garden and wandering about with grandpa looking at the trees in his yard.
I remember walking in to the house, the smell, where all the furniture was, I even remember the color of the kitchen cabinets. The trailer is gone now, replaced by a double-wide, but the memories will last my whole life. Wonderful memories of wonderful grandparents, who I was lucky enough to know until I was almost 40 years old!
As I look towards my own kids having babies, I hope that I can create those same fond memories for them, that I have of my grandparents ….
have a wonderful evening!
yogajen
In January, our oldest daughter told us we would be grandparents! At first a bit concerned, she is young, and then thrilled, as she and her significant other begin to make plans that include this new little life.
In February, an ultrasound showed some strange things. A follow-up a couple of weeks later confirmed that indeed growth had stopped and a miscarriage would be iminent. Our daughter decided that letting nature takes its course was the best route to take, so the wait began. Some intermittent bleeding began, but she continued to work and go about her days.
This morning around 9:30, the call came from her that I had been dreading. She was at home, the bleeding quite heavy and she was in the worst pain of her life. I dropped everything in my hands and got in my car to go to her house. When I arrived, she was on the couch shaking from the pain. Seeing your child hurt that badly is terrible…how I wished it could have been me instead, but it wasn’t and we needed to deal with the moment.
I made an executive decision that the emergency room would be the best bet. Her doctor was not available until noon, and this was pain that needed to be dealt with now. We got in the car, told her BF to meet us there, and drove to the hospital. The nurse there was awesome, explaining everything and working through the IV and blood draws in a most professional manner.
They gave her some morphine to help her through the pain, and some other pain medications to take home. This will heal the physical pain, and she will be fine…the emotional stuff will take some time. This was the saddest day. They can tell you that you will lose the baby, but until the day actually comes, I don’t think it is real. Watching your child go through first physical pain, then knowing the emotional pain that will follow is so difficult.
She is a strong person, and I know that they will come through this, and have babies in the future. I know that this pregnancy will be in her mind always as she goes through her life.
These sad days make the wonderful days seem even that much brighter. On the day when she gives birth to her first child, it will be the most wonderful day….
yogajen
Wanna learn how to make money with your blog, or just how to blog better? I am going to try it out!
I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.
It covers:
- The best blogging techniques.
- How to get traffic to your blog.
- How to turn your blog into money.
I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.
Cool site I found this morning where you can put your events!! See the yoga schedule at
Have a great Friday!!
