The Truth About Making Diet Changes That REALLY Stick.... - PEERtrainer

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October 04, 2010

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Weight loss has been a big CHALLENGE for me for the past decade or more. Everytime, I took a step, I rather did get more discouragment or negative remarks. To top it, the physical strain and drain of work and the emotional strain of relationships just got me on the fatter side of the scale.

Healthy eating and excercise, together has evolved me to a beter person, physically as well as emotionally. The slightest neglect can get me back to stage 1 and this is a constant fear. But a recent chat with my personal trainer, was just perfect to solves this matter and I would share it with you later on. Now everytime, i look at myself and hold my tummy fat, I say" Stop stressing".

My PT tip..Our body reacts to stress - one of the ways it triggers the adrenocortical glands, which secretes cortisol, Increased cortisol trigerrs increased fat storage especially around the waist( a region everyone sees and says " i am fat"). Stress also triggers emotional eating, again leading to weight...so all in all...Stressing is absolutely a waste of time and a hazardous thing. So learn to appreciate yourself, ur work and Importantly, listening to your body signals..

David, I love your analogy of weight loss to a road. I too, have been up and down all my life in regards to my weight loss. I begin the trip this time with a different mindset just as you have. I am more concerned about my health. My heart does not race; I can get down on the floor and back up again; my cholesterol is under control; and I feel better EMOTIONALLY.

Like you said, this road does not end. I want to be as healthy as I can for the rest of my life. To be healthy, I need to eat right and exercise. Not just for this week, this month, or this year but for the rest of my life.

One change I have made to my life that seems to have really begun to make a difference has been to stop thinking about "weight loss." I have been heavy since roughly age eight (I am forty-seven years old now) and through out that whole time I have fought my weight - saw my life a journey on the road from fat to lean - and all too often back again. Why? Because when I saw myself as on the road from fat to lean, I was still on the "fat road!" Sure, when I was moving to lean, I was moving away from fat, but the road I was on still leads back to fat and all I needed to do to go back there was let myself get turned around. The road I was on would do the rest.

So how to fix this? I got off the road. The new road I am on is from being out shape to being in shape, from being inactive in my life to being active. The weight loss as its coming is merely what I call "collateral benefit" of being on the fit road (sort of the opposite of "collateral damage." And so far its working great.

Benefits from this approach:

1) This road does not end. I will never get to a point where I will be able to say, OK, stop being active. When I have done the diet thing in the past, there has always been a point where I reached a goal and stopped dieting. What did that really mean? Turning around and since we all know the road I was already on, we all know where that eventually led.

2) The feedback I get on what I am doing is unrelated to the scale. Sure, its nice to get on a scale and see weight loss, but when I have been active all week and seen and felt myself getting stronger and my clothes fitting better - the scale diminishes in importance.

3) The feedback I get from the new road is immediate. I have been working out on a steady and organized program for almost six weeks now and it's very cool to see and feel the way I am changing. Climbing stairs without gasping, feeling a bit stronger each workout, running for the bus not just because I have to but because I want to. :)

Anyway, there it is. Hope it helps.

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