Stop Renting Weight Loss - patbarone.com

Ever have one of those weeks when the timing is just OFF?

Missed connections. Rescheduled appointments. Frustration.

Then, my son had a car accident. No injuries – WHEW! Lots of details take my attention. I make space for it.

Then, the internet goes down!

And doesn’t come back with simple fixes. Hours on phone with Earthlink.

Internet still down. More hours on the phone with Earthlink.

Extreme frustration!

I plan an escape. Off to the pool to work on editing audio recordings for my next educational product.

As kids we had the energy to play all day.

As kids we had the energy to play all day.

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Here in the U.S., we’ve just celebrated Independence Day. Freedom of thought and speech are huge cornerstones of our country’s government, but do we really use those freedoms?

Thinking for ourselves is so important… after all, we are people, not sheeple! Although I mindlessly followed the crowd of yo-yo dieters, procrastinators and the denial-prone for many years, I realized it forced me into a decidedly unexciting existence: overworking, never complaining, stressed and unhealthy. Uncle Sam might have been happy, my boss was happy, my doctor was happy as I marched with my little white prescription to the pharmacy… but I was not.

We are people, not sheeple!

We are people, not sheeple!

Huge amounts of money are spent every day in an attempt to get us to think one way or another.

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I love this quote by Bill Gates:

“If I’d had some set idea of a finish line, don’t you think I would have crossed it years ago?”

I differ from many weight loss experts since I’ve accomplished permanent weight loss. I learned my lessons down in the trenches, instead of in a book, and my experiences smashed many of the widely accepted tenets of weight loss.

Jogger

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Thanks for all the comments to the “Sick & Tired of ‘Food Decisions?'” post! Emails and tweets abounded. It was great to hear from you!

The quest for permanent weight loss MUST eventually become non-diet weight loss. Our willpower sooner or later deserts us. In fact, willpower was not equipped for long-range quests. In other words, diets have to morph into intelligent, sustainable lifestyles in order for the change to last. Diet mentality, on the other hand, has us yo-yo-ing our weight and repeatedly coming back for more dieting.

Feeding the body when it is not hungry builds more fat.

Feeding the body when it is not hungry builds more fat.

Many of the themes I heard from reader responses were from diet mentality and clearly centered on controlling food or controlling behavior with food, rather than focused on real needs. Let’s have a look:

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For anyone living under a rock, Geneen Roth’s new book “Women Food and God” is a New York Times bestseller recently featured on Oprah. I first studied Geneen’s ideas on intuitive eating and breaking out of diet hell many years ago.

Here’s an idea from the new book that had great impact on me:

love life without the story,

you without your past

 

Wow – all that past … just gone.

All those stories … obliterated.

All that baggage … dropped at the airport and left on the conveyor belt of life.

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In the past few years, McDonald’s has taken a hit to their reputation – from movies like “Food, Inc.”, “Fast Food Nation” and “Super-size Me.”

Now, they are out to improve that “unhealthy” reputation.

On March 3, 2010, they announced that Weight Watchers would promote and endorse several McDonald’s meals as healthy options for weight loss. If Weight Watchers ever had a serious reputation, it was gone that day.

BoyBurger

Now, another layer of PR has appeared with McDonald’s seeking to convince consumers of their financial importance to their communities and to the farmers of their state. Recently, an insert into a Wisconsin newspaper made many interesting claims. I particularly like the “returned nearly 45 cents of every dollar earned to the local economy.” – Translated, that means they paid their workers less than half of what they earned and more than half was profit.

They listed the following as purchased from Wisconsin farms:

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Talk about a “Food Decision” wall!! I hit it hard this week. Take a bit of fatigue and add several last-minute twists to a schedule that was a tad too tight in the first place, and all of a sudden food decisions become hard. I found myself saying, “I don’t want to DECIDE what to eat. It’s too much work. I just want someone to make dinner miraculously appear for my family and me.”

FoodDecisions

My clients describe this place of indecision and frustration a lot! Today, women work so hard in their careers and have so many additional responsibilities PLUS they are often expected to also fulfill the traditional “wife” duties of social planning, intra-family communication, scheduling, housework and meal planning/preparation. Overscheduling is a way of life. It can be a huge burden to carry.

The Food Decision Wall is that point when there’s nothing in the house to feed the kids except raw carrots and dog food and you’re seriously considering which would be more nutritious. It’s when you scream, “I NEED A WIFE!” It’s when you KNOW the best possible solution is to grab the phone for … FAST FOOD DELIVERY!

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If you watched the Oprah segment about the Geneen Roth book, Women Food and God, you may have seen some changes in the popular talk show host.

I certainly noticed change. Since I am deeply involved with the real change necessary to lose weight permanently, I’ve often prayed Oprah would get it.

The most important part of the show for me was when Oprah admitted she had shamed herself when she ran the January 2009 magazine cover of her “skinny” and “fat” selves.

"Skinny" and "Far" Oprah! Magazine Cover

I remember how much that magazine cover bothered me, especially the headline “How did I let this happen again?” Those words told me she had been living in an unconscious state during her weight gain.

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