It’s December 31st. Resolutions fill the air. It’s only natural to want to make changes, and we’ve been conditioned to assign a “start date” to every “project.” Think: first day of school, Mondays, first of month, summer.
But some changes take a bigger shift than one day can signify. We can start a diet on a certain day… but a journey to permanent weight loss has no start date. That’s because every day of the past is part of it, including all those bloomin’ diets and freaky binges and the very sad thirteen Weight Watchers tries where I let some stranger put me on a scale and record my worth.
My own journey to permanent weight loss has been going on for over 35 years. I’ve helped thousands of people on their journeys. And my experience has taught me that we all want real, deep and meaningful change in our lives. But that scares the crap out of us so we opt instead for superficial change.
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One of my clients saw my last blog post. She said, “Pat, you don’t like any of the traditional weight loss formulas, do you?”
No, I don’t.
I don’t like them because they don’t work. Trying to follow them took years of effort and rendered me mind-numbingly incapable of success. When I threw them out the window, things started moving in a positive way in my life.
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Being on a diet usually leads to fixation on the scale.
We are happy when it goes down, unhappy when it goes up, frustrated when it stays the same. (The truth is, any time it stays the same, we are winning, but few of us see it that way when we’re immersed in the struggle of dieting off excess weight.)
Here are some basic facts. The body is made up of fat and non-fat (lean) tissue – this includes bone, muscle, organ tissue, interstitial and connective tissue. All of this lean tissue is mostly water – 73.2%.
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This week, manufacturers of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) announced a “marketing makeover” when they made public their intention to rename the product, which has recently been the target of moms, health advocates and doctors.
I often feel like many of our news sources are mere PR fronts, spewing out traditional viewpoints. My own local newspaper’s story (albeit one picked up from a newswire source) left much to be desired from my viewpoint.
I wrote a letter to the editor but they wrote back saying it was too long! Apparently every viewpoint should be only 200 words! Hmmm! That’s an easy way to limit discussion isn’t it? Especially on a story dating back to 1966.
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The weight loss industry loves to make us feel bad about ourselves.
Born with a wide-hipped bone structure? Bad girl!
Did you diet so much in your teens that, even though you feel healthy and can maintain your weight easily, you still weigh 30 lbs more than those “magic” weight charts in the doctor’s office? Terrible you!
Despite constant dieting, is your waist roughly the same size as your hips so the latest fashion hip-rider jeans just don’t work for you? Shame on you!
I know I never would have lost over 70 lbs., or maintained that weight loss for over 10 years, if I stayed hooked into the diet biz OR bad feelings about myself. It took me a long time to disengage from commercials and advertising that shows EVERYONE with long legs, taut arms, tiny waist, and big boobs. In real life, every body is unique and very few meet the advertising world’s criteria for beauty.
Instead of feeling bad about ourselves, we should feel bad for them. What a boring, pathetic, lying world they depict!
Take note of this new commercial for Jenny Craig where the absolutely beautiful actress Sara Rue talks about not being able to leave the house (oh, the shame!!) when overweight:
The reason this lovely woman is in for a rude awakening (and I hate to see that) is the route she’s taken in order to lose that weight and fit into those “skinny” jeans. My research taught me that dieting is the key to regain. The body is programmed to regain after sudden loss. (If you don’t understand this, see this audio class.)
The very first Principal in the Catalyst Weight Loss System is “Don’t do anything to lose weight that you can’t do forever” because otherwise you are just setting yourself up for regain.
Do you want it now or do you want it forever?
The approach is different.
Here’s what I also learned losing all that weight. Women (some men, but especially women) buy the skinny=happy equation and waste precious TIME, ENERGY and PASSION worrying about it, pursuing it, failing at it, running their lives by it (staying home!) and making u-turns in life.
WE ARE GIVING AWAY OUR POWER BY BUYING INTO THIS MYTH!
Just think what we could do collectively if we harnessed all that energy and passion and used it to care (really care) for ourselves!
What could we accomplish if we didn’t struggle with fat, diets, calories and food?
Isn’t it just a little convenient that we’re too tied up worrying about fitting into our jeans to wonder what Congress is sneaking into that healthcare bill?
Isn’t it convenient that we’re so worried about keeping our jobs that we bend over backwards to please the man at work and, as a result, try to eat stress away?
Once, I heard a Human Resources vice president say, “If you want someone to work their ass off for you, hire a fat woman….”
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You hear a lot about “lifestyle change” today. In fact, most diets call themselves a “lifestyle change”, even Weight Watchers.
I guess it makes customers THINK they’re doing the big job, not the little (short-term) one.
My favorite “lifestyle change” quote was a friend on Phen-Fen who had lost a lot of weight. As she ordered lasagna and whipped four packets of sugar into her tea, she proclaimed “It’s not a diet! It’s a lifestyle change! I feel so different!”
Well, with real change you don’t “feel different”, you ARE different.
Don’t be fooled. My friend’s sad truth is that
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I’m all about living consciously – making decisions with full attention to the moment I’m living in, as well as the way that moment is connected to the future.
When I finally saw the connection between my momentary urges for foodication (medicating through food) and the ultimate result in my body, I changed my weight permanently.
I’m focused on a lifestyle that ends the lease on weight loss and OWNS it instead. I emphasize making my own decisions instead of going with the crowd. I don’t like being a “sheeple.”
I’m convinced accepting the norm, programmed by the media, advertising and fashion industries, means lots of excess weight and fat in our lives.
Soda Consumption is Directly Connected to U.S. Obesity Epidemic
Case in Point: McDonald’s new Sweet Iced Tea commercial where the woman has been sipping tea so long, she’s developed a tan line across her chin.
Yowza!
My first reaction was: “that’s the stupidest commercial I ever saw!”
No one would drink that much, right?
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- I've always said exercise is more important than food control. What do you think? https://t.co/nRyJeKMZ9y
- Before and after pictures are usually complete fakes, and give us the misconception that the "after" picture is the… https://t.co/QUdTrITjeG
- Take a look! Wisdom! https://t.co/zjh6DbmIh9
