Health Goal Update for March 30, 2009 (Blog)

[Erin Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Erin Pavlina's blog:

Health Goal Update for March 30, 2009

[AuspiciousEight]

Woohoo! Go Erin!

[smileytrysh]

I am also 'battling the bulge' and find that yes, there is a mirad of information out there. I have found for me that eating less, and especially not at night, is the biggest thing. I can exercise all I want, but if I'm eating too much my body hangs onto it. I wish you luck in the weeks to come!

[daolover]

I don't know if your gym (or any gyms in Vegas) have any of the Les Mills Body classes- but I've taken Body Pump, and LOVED it. It focuses on high reps, low weights and for the entire hour you're moving, lifting and sweating! They also have other varieties such as Body Jam which is dancing, and another one (the name slips my mind at the moment) that is like a body boot camp.

The Body Pump class uses dance/techno music (think high bpm) and for each song played you do one exercise per song. You do repetitions for each song- the entire song. The idea here is that you're getting cardio and also strength training, but with low weights. You can obviously use heavier weights if you can handle it for the entire time- but I totally recommend visiting a class and even trying one out to see if you like it.

Good luck, and congrats on the move to being healthier! I'm already fairly healthy, but sometimes, you just get into a rut and have to kick yourself in the ass a few times to get moving quickly and steadily.

[Erin Pavlina]

Oh that's weird. I just saw a sign at my gym this morning about Les Mills Body Classes coming back. Weren't there before, but coming back now. neato. I might have to check it out.

[Lucky13]

What worked for me was ashtanga yoga up to 3 times per week. It is quite hard core but you can get used to it (I am 43 years old). I am now very healthy and slim (not so before).
I also eat lots of good fats (fish oil, freshly ground flax, coconut oil, raw olive oil, raw nuts, butter, etc) and none of the bad (trans fats such as margarine, also almost all processed foods contain trans-fats, I also avoid highly processed vegetable oils such as canola oil, sunflower oill, etc). Fats are essential for your metabolism to function at an optimal level. If you are avoding fats, your body is deprived of fat soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids and other nutrients and it will hold onto weight.
I avoid grains and sugars and eat lots of cooked and raw veggies and organic meats. Grains and all the carbs tend to increase your blood glucose levels which in turn increases your insuline levels. If you constantly have high insulin levels in your body, your cells will become insuline resistant which leads to diabetes.
Carbs also switch off your leptin (hormone responsible for appetite suppression). Ever notice how you can't just eat a small amount of pasta, it has to be a whole bowl? A lot of people are addicted to carbs and it is a vicious cycle. No wonder they are often called comfort foods, they are a bit like a drug.
I also never eat or drink anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup (all sodas and most processes food), as this is especially dangerous to your health, it causes diabetes among other problems.
I also use a lot of spices such as turmeric, cayenne, marjoram, cinnamon, garlic etc, they tend to speed up metabolism, improve digestion and ward off disease.
A lot of people will not do well on raw veggies because to digest them you need to have a healthy bacterial flora in your gut. The good bacteria will digest the fiber in the veggies. If you don't have the good bacteria, your gut will not be able to properly digest raw veggies. Most people don't have good gut bacteria because of too much carbs, sugar and processed food in their diets which causes Candida overgrowth and kills good bacteria.
I think all of us are different, some people do well on vegetarian diets, others don't. I was always miserable and sick on vegetarian diets. I was also sick on low fat diets.
Hope this helps

[Andrew Brunelle]

I'll tell you what worked for me. I cut out sugar, white flour, and bananas completely and I also ate few whole grains and concentrated on eating healthy fats and proteins. I lost about 15 pounds this way. But that was all I really had to lose. I'm 6'1" and 170 lbs. I exercised somewhat, but I have a condition that limits my exercise. So I cut calories. I ate good calories, but limited myself to less than 1500 a day and I still eat that way today, but since I have no more weight to lose, my weight has stabilized nicely.

[SusanSlattery]

When I first started working out nothing happened for almost a year, though I felt a lot better physically and mentally. I finally gave up on the scale and just weighed in once a month to keep tabs on it... I was 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed just under 140. A little chunky looking--just a little. Not happy.

But I just kept going. Treadmill walking, then jogging, then with encouragement, some running. I did the little circuit of nautilus machines at the gym. I liked the pullups (it was an assist machine) and a lot of the leg machines. I got a bit into free weights.

A year or so went by. One day, someone said to me, "Susan, have you lost weight? You look like you have."

I shrugged. "I don't know... I guess my clothes fit a little better." I went downstairs and got on the scale in the locker room, and wow, I was 123 or something like that--I remember it was a big drop.

So upstairs I asked the fitness director at the gym about this. She shushed me, and pulled me into her office and closed the door. "You have lost weight," she said. "You look great. But please, we never tell people this... it takes at least a year to change your body." She explained it's like your body wakes up and gets with the program. "Okay, so this is the new order of things..."

Of course I freaked out. I can never stop exercising! She said the good news is once you break that barrier, you can flab out again and get back in shape in about three months.

And I've done it, so I know. Stayed real close to 124 or 125 for 12 or so years, then got a full time job. Walked the dogs, went to work. Put on 12 pounds. Right back to the high 130s. Joined a gym and lost about 10 in 3 months, just doing long cardio, intervals once or twice a week, and one short (35 minutes) really intense workout once a week. I did a little nautilus circuit a few times a week.

Then I started P90X. So I'm around 128 now, but I've got what Tony calls "guns" and that means ARMS. Like I can SEE my triceps.

It all takes time. Enjoy the journey, and every pound along the way, Erin... if you stick with it, it will fly off you almost instantly, I guarantee.

[cinnabar]

I'm so excited!

He also suggested that my body issue is the manifestation of an authority and power deficiency. In other words, to help me learn authority and power, I have an overweight body, and to begin to solve the problem by increasing my authority and power instead of just tackling the weight itself.

I felt this like a thump in the chest when I read it. *whew* I think someone's trying to tell me something, here.

Also, just the other night, I had a dream about myself... I felt very natural and good, and was concentrating on the background where it felt like my HS was lingering. Not until yesterday afternoon did it hit me that I was slim in my dream!

I'm very inspired right now. I think I'll go swimming at the gym tonight, when I'm relived from baby-duty!

[NDavid]

Good for you Erin!! It's always good to get advice and ideas from experts but at the end of the day -you gotta be your own personal trainer!

[singer]

I started losing weight after I decided to (1) stop randomly following different programs (2) figure out what works (and what doesn't work) for me and (3) sticking with it.

What works for me: (1) sticking to a no-junk diet (2) exercising about an hour per day (3) keeping a food and exercise journal and (4) counting calories like a maniac. The first couple of weeks of journalling were pretty eye-opening - the basic diet was fine, but I was eating far too much.

What doesn't work for me - (1) maintaining a healthy diet but not counting calories.(2) eating six "little" meals instead of three larger ones (3) "listening" to my body. I love food, and my body (bless it) is a gourmand - always wanting to eat more than optimum for losing weight. I had to learn to ignore that.

Down 26 pounds, about 10 to go. Your enthusiasm for your new exercise regime has inspired me to step up mine and get back to the strength training.

[sarah786]

I also discovered that listening to my body doesn't work. About 4 years ago i started reading all this stuff about how its not right to follow a diet, one should just listen to their body... and i gained 8 pounds. the 6 meals thing doesn't work for me either. I either end up eating a bit too much at one of the meals or even if i don't, I'm never full. I'm never hungry, but never full either. What works for me is letting myself be hungry sometimes.. it doesn't kill anyone and eating either 2 or 3 meals per day with no snacks in between. It allows me to enjoy those meals more, and eat more of what i want to eat. And I hate when people say that eating 2 meals a day will put you in starvation mode... it really doesn't. I think a lot of people in today's society are too afraid to let themselves be a bit hungry once in a while. Unless you have a health problem, it won't kill you. If the 6-meal plan works than great. If not... try something else. Its not the only option.
I also decided to get back on track. My weight had gotten more than its ever been. Since January I have lost 15 pounds. 10 more and I will have reached my goal weight. Even these 15 pounds seemed so unattainable at the time, and it feels great to be fitting into clothes that were just sitting in my closet because I could no longer fit into them. Also what helps motivate me is I have realized how much easier it is too maintain weight than lose it. So whenever i want to go overboard... I ask myself, would I want to lose that? Good luck to everyone! Sincerely hope you all make it to your goal weights! =)

[Sentient]

Has anyone else out there tried a bunch of different “expert” ways to lose weight and finally decided to figure out what works for you? What did you discover and how did that work out for you?

I think almost all the expert diets (the ones based on hardwork, not magic pills) work very well. It's just a matter of selecting which one lifts you up and energizes you and which ones feel like a total drag.

There are (almost) universal underlying principles to weight loss. When was the last time you saw someone show up to The Biggest Loser and just not be able to lose weight? If you know the principles and you execute them well you can make it happen. Problem is, there is too much info out there and it's hard to know what's really important and what's not.

I think people that go it on their own have the potential to be embarking on something great. You learn what your limits are, you see them expand, and you get a really intimate knowledge of how you function. It is awesome and truly inspiring to get in touch with your body. Record keeping of inputs and outputs is great for this.

Unfortunately, more often, people choose "their own thing" because they don't have the willpower to see something through. Tinkering with everything obfuscates which variables are important and how your body is reacting. It opens the door to making excuses when you don't get your results. Given human nature, this is often exactly what a dieter wants..they secretly expect themselves to fail, but at least they can now blame it on something else

Now is time for the advice no one will listen to If you have chronic or joint pain, study up on body alignment. Pain should not exist and in 90%+ of situation is only because you've pulled your joints and and spine out of alignment. Egoscue, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, etc are all different philosophies for correcting this. However, don't just accept that pain is a part of working hard. It most definitely isn't. Not if your body is in alignment at least...otherwise it's a sure bet.

[liamona]

Originally Posted by Sentient

I think almost all the expert diets (the ones based on hardwork, not magic pills) work very well. It's just a matter of selecting which one lifts you up and energizes you and which ones feel like a total drag.

I kind of agree. I just think that low-fat ones doom you to failure, because you feel deprived all the time.

My diet is very similar to Lucky13's, especially in the fat department. I love eating a high-fat low-carb diet, because 1) I'm almost never hungry between meals 2) It really minimizes sugar cravings and 3) I don't feel deprived because I know that I can have something rich and fatty whenever I want to.

It's liberating to be able to do something for hours, without feeling hungry or thinking about food. However, after being pretty strict for a few months in order to shed some excess weight gained from eating holiday sweets, I now allow myself to have something "bad" like a piece of cake or some cookies once in a while (like once or twice a month). I never allowed myself to cheat in the past, so when I fell off the wagon, it was too hard to get back on again.

The other nice thing is that I have steadily losing weight while doing minimal exercise (like walking the dog every other day).

[Lucky13]

I agree. I feel low-fat diets cause you to overeat carbs and sugar which are basically calories without nutrients.
Without proper fat your body can't even make necessary hormones.
I think our bodies were desiged mostly for hunter-gatherer diets which consisted mainly of meats, vegetables, nuts and some fruit, and almost no grains. Humans started eating grains only in the last 500 generations, not everyone can handle them well.

[liamona]

I used to be able to digest carbs quite well (i.e., without gaining weight), until I destroyed my digestion and ruined my health by trying to eat a low-fat diet and started consuming lots of processed soy.

[Sentient]

Eesh, liamona. Sorry to hear about the digestion problems. Though, on the bright side it sounds like you learned your lesson. People cure all sorts of things through good diet, so hopefully you'll be back on track in no time. I second you Lucky13 too on the too low fat diets. When you cut out the EFA's(Essential Fatty Acids) all hell breaks loose within your body.

Some people like low fat, like all the raw people doing 80-10-10. Personally I fail on it everytime. But it doesn't matter. As long as you feel great and you're getting results that's all there is to it right?

It's cool to see everyone's different approach. There are the people who just sort of make the right decisions and let time do the rest. Then there are the type A's (I easily fall into that category) that love the structure of a program, measure their calories, fat, carbs, protein, bodyfat, and muscle gains.

Nothing wrong with either approach. For many people currently doing the former, the latter would defeat the purpose. It would become a neurotic unhealthy relationship with food. The whole reason many are working through this is to rediscover that connection with what nourishes them and to stop hyperfocusing on something that has come to define them.

For me personally, I really like seeing the direct results of what I do with my body. I absolutely love that thanks to my training log I know I was able to do an extra interval during cardio. I like the fact that I drank on Saturday night and it showed up in my measurements on Sunday. I now *know* what alcohol does and how it interacts when I consume it with a meal. I could ramble forever about how I've gotten in such good touch with my body. However, I think this approach would be nightmarish for someone it's inappropriate emotionally for.

I suppose it is true - go with whatever lifts you up and energizes and avoid whatever drags you down. Of course, just be honest with yourself. No being lazy and saying "uhh, this energizes me" when you full well know you just don't want to put in the work

[liamona]

Originally Posted by Sentient

As long as you feel great and you're getting results that's all there is to it right?
<snip>
I suppose it is true - go with whatever lifts you up and energizes and avoid whatever drags you down.

Yes, absolutely. It's all about finding what feels good. I often think to myself, "I like feeling thin." When I was starting to lose weight, and my thoughts tried to focus on parts of my body I wasn't happy about, I would immediately shift and think about a part that was. Like my hands, my feet (especially the top of my toes!), my elbows and knees. My ears. Another thought-shift is to think about "fat" areas in a nice way—the parts (like the butt) tend to have some good quality you can focus on. In my case, I think the skin is smooth and soft.

I've also found it's helpful to focus on all the functions my body carries out successfully without me having to think about them. It's miraculous, really. This is a good way to shift into being grateful for the condition my body is in, RIGHT NOW. When you think about it, there's more right with your body than wrong! If it can get these millions of other functions right, well, then it's simple for it to maintain an ideal weight too.

[MsCappuccino]

After a lifetime of weight battles and following every single diet known to humankind, I discovered I had a gluten problem (gluten from wheat, barley, rye and oats). Within the first 5 months of going strictly gluten free, I lost nearly 50 pounds.

It might be worth it to get tested for gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. If you haven't already had food sensitivity testing, then it would be a good idea to see if you are sensitive to the following foods (which could cause quite a bit of inflammation in the intestines and make proper digestion and metabolism difficult): wheat, corn, dairy (it is in most processed foods), eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, legumes, oranges, soy, yeast.

You can also get a non-invasive test done to check your intestinal fat absorption; it is a good measure of how well your intestines are with absorbing fats and nutrients. I think the testing lab is still at www.enterolab.com where they explain everything much more eloquently.

I hope you find the root of your problem. Best of luck!

[Sentient]

Originally Posted by liamona

Yes, absolutely. It's all about finding what feels good. I often think to myself, "I like feeling thin." When I was starting to lose weight, and my thoughts tried to focus on parts of my body I wasn't happy about, I would immediately shift and think about a part that was. Like my hands, my feet (especially the top of my toes!), my elbows and knees. My ears. Another thought-shift is to think about "fat" areas in a nice way—the parts (like the butt) tend to have some good quality you can focus on. In my case, I think the skin is smooth and soft.

I've also found it's helpful to focus on all the functions my body carries out successfully without me having to think about them. It's miraculous, really. This is a good way to shift into being grateful for the condition my body is in, RIGHT NOW. When you think about it, there's more right with your body than wrong! If it can get these millions of other functions right, well, then it's simple for it to maintain an ideal weight too.

Crazy. What a beautiful, awesome perspective shift. Why have I not heard this before? It's such a great point.

I've learned a ton from reading this thread and everyone's stories. I'm probably about a year out from officially beginning to help others with their weight issues. I'm definitely passionate about it, but too much hammer, not enough finesse. I feel like there are two paths to helping people here. You can throw them in and have them sink or swim and then let them become completely overwhelmed by what they're actually capable of and how powerful they truly are. Or, you can use a more inviting approach and help them uproot and change the viewpoints and perspective that aren't serving them anymore partly through actions, partly through socratic questions that lead to greater awareness. I'm sure it will be a while before I fully grasp the power and appropriate applicability of both.

I have an overabundance of knowledge already for sure, but of course while the info itself is a huge barrier for most, it's hardly the biggest one. Being able to shift and manage your perspective like you point out above is just really inspiring and so important. These stories and points are extremely illuminating.

Thank you for sharing! It makes me happy to be able to acknowledge you for such a great contribution!

..also to Cappucino...I have heard insane stories about eliminating Gluten..including a case with a psychiatrist friend where she had a down syndrome child she was treating. After eliminating Gluten, the symptoms stopped...and she had to change her diagnosis. I'm happy to hear you had such great success and you're feeling better!

[lifetimelearner]

I never thought I would say this
but I love -
Weight Watchers
the reason being is that you can go online and calculate your points
and it so easy !!
I have been to 3 weigh-ins and have lost 12 lbs
you can do raw or just veggie weight watchers and do fine

[Erin Pavlina]

I've done WW and I liked it. I just found myself eating junky food because it came out of a box and the points were easy to tabulate. Weighing and measuring gets old after a while. But maybe i could do it again and just make healthier choices.... hmmm.

[squeakywheel]

Thanks, Erin, for sharing Steve's insight into your body issue being an authority and power deficiency. Last fall, when you read for me, I asked you what my weakest link was in respect to Truth/Power/Love. You said Power and Authority. Weight is one of my biggest issues. I've begun to realize that it's not really directly about the food or the exercise or anything like that. Being able to see how "exercising" my power and authority can help me to release the weight is very helpful. Love you guys!

[lifetimelearner]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

I've done WW and I liked it. I just found myself eating junky food because it came out of a box and the points were easy to tabulate. Weighing and measuring gets old after a while. But maybe i could do it again and just make healthier choices.... hmmm.

I know what you mean about the junk food Erin
I battled with that for awhile
now with all the great recipes
it's easy to do veggie and fruit dishes and calculate the points

so far the weigh-ins have been okay
I am going with my sis and we support each other
I have been having some weird reactions to losing the weight so I hope I don't sabotage myself !

.. and the lady that runs the meeting is a 'nut' case so in other words she makes the meetings fun

[Clarissa Alverson]

Erin,

Like you say, everyone is different, but since you asked, I will share what worked for me. I had tried a lot of different things, but only half-heartedly. I have too many things going on to be able to spend any significant amount of time counting calories, or making special meals, and I don’t really like to exercise unless it’s fun. You might say I’m a low-motivation dieter. But about a year and a half ago I started successfully losing weight by doing two things. One, I focused in on dinner as the meal to aggressively manage, and two, I weighed myself every morning and I let the number on the scale dictate how I ate that day.

I started out at 150 (if that seems low to you, keep in mind I’m only 5 feet tall), and if I weighed in at 150 or more, that was a day to seriously restrict my eating. For me, restricted means I can eat whatever I want for breakfast and lunch, except no dessert nor any heavy fats like cream sauce or cheese, but dinner must be a small snack of about 150 calories max (I just guess on the calories--usually it’s a piece of fruit or small bowl of oatmeal or a low-fat smoothie). If I weighed in at 149, I ate moderately, meaning anything I wanted for breakfast or lunch, and a small-portioned normal dinner, but no desserts. If I weighed in at 148, I ate anything I wanted all day long. Over time, I saw 149 and 148 more often, and 150 went away. Then I changed the rule and 149 became the new trigger to seriously restrict, and 147 became the ‘eat whatever I want’ number. The really cool thing about this is that if you achieve your low number, you get rewarded, but if you overindulge in your reward, you have to pay the price. Soon, you start evaluating everything you eat in terms of “Is this worth it?” because you know it will affect the next day’s restrictions.

It took me about 9 months to lose 11 pounds with a new target weight roughly every three weeks, but I believe if you lose it slowly, it will stay gone. I actually misplaced my scale for a couple of months this winter, ate everything I wanted while it was gone, and didn’t gain a single pound back. If you lose too quickly, your body will go into “famine” mode and try to store and conserve every single calorie that goes through your digestive tract. We are evolutionarily programmed for that.

Good luck to you with it!

[straysweeper]

In October of 07, I hit a threshold and joined 24 hour fitness, and got a personal trainer. I used the trainer for about 6 weeks, until I wasn't comfortable with the expense any longer. However, I kept my appointments and learned to enjoy my body's power. I never lost much weight, but I figure I gained muscle to offset the fat loss.

A week before Christmas of 07, I again decided enough was enough as I wasn't doing much since I stopped the trainer, and wasn't reaching my goal. So, I drove to walmart, and bought MP3 Player, went home and loaded some music, and went to the gym for an hour. I also set the goal to go for at least 6 days straight.

I kept this up for the next 5 to 6 weeks. 5 days a week, Hour Each time for Cardio. I went from 234 to 217 in this time. I was focusing on the method I read about in Slow Burn from Stu Mittleman. One thing I learned was warm ups and cool downs being as important as the workout.

I hope someone finds this useful, good luck!

[HCDorset]

for me two things have been important:

1. find some exercise you love. If you hate the stairmaster or whatever you will not want to exercise on it and will find ways to avoid it. For me I love swimming so was able to do that a lot and enjoy it. Eventually I took up running too. Maybe try a few different things and do more of what you enjoy, or if you get bored easily have a few to pick from each week.

2. As someone else said - it takes TIME. Lots of it. And this requires an attitude shift. Personally I lost about three stones (40+lbs?) over an 18 month period by regular swimming, walking and a more sensible diet (like less cake, alcohol - obvious stuff not a complex formula)

Personally I've become wary of anything you have to spend a heap of money on - there can be guilt associated with making the time/money investment and failing to show up/get results. We all know moving more and eating more veg and less fat is a healthier choice.

I too have found that having trained my body NOW if I want to lose weight it happens much faster (compared with the 1st time i did this in a major way). So I've been a bit slack over the Holiday period but went running and swimming and ate a little less and could see a big difference in how my clothes fit/muscle tone in just a week (i don't have scales at the moment ;-) ). I'm guessing this is because my body is used to this process now.

So my main suggestion would be to love whatever you are doing fitness and diet wise as a lifestyle choice and just trust the weight loss will slowly but surely follow.

Another thing no-one has mentioned explicitly is that when you are overweight EVERYTHING is a much bigger effort - you have so much weight to carry around and it's harder to get moving, and things like aches and twinges after exercise seem to go with the territory. After a few months of exercising as you say you will feel stronger and more energised hopefully and this makes a big difference to how much exercise you can handle.

Our bodies are amazing ;-)

best of luck with your fitness goals and other shifts to feel great about your amazing body.

You talked about dreaming yourself thin - do you feel you have truly given yourself permission to lose weight on a deep level ?