Posted by Alicia Leeds on Mon, Sep 06, 2010 @ 06:20 PM
Studies have shown that people with a longer history of dieting have a smaller chance of maintaining weight loss than those who diet less frequently. The argument that usually follows is that diets don't work.
A new study from researchers at the University of Sweden looked at the impact short periods of weight gain have on long term weight management and provide the data for an alternative argument. It's not dieting that promotes failure, but weight gain that reduces the chances of long term success.
The study, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Nutrition and Metabolism, has found that a four-week episode of increased energy intake and decreased exercise can cause increased weight and fat mass more than two years later when compared to control individuals.
The researchers capped the physical activity of 18 individuals and used excessive food consumption to increase their energy intake by an average of 70% for four weeks. A separate control group ate and exercised as normal.
The intervention group gained an average of 6.4 kg (about 14 pounds) in body weight, which was mostly lost 6 months later. However, one year later the intervention group showed an increased fat mass compared to baseline; the differences were even greater after two and a half years.
95% of people who lose weight will gain it back. Why? Well, There's the "I've got this under control now so I can eat whatever I want" at my goal mindset, or the "I'll just have one, haven't had this in a long time" rationalization, or the "when are you going to be done with that diet already?" social pressure... among other things like injury, divorce, and job changes. Mostly, people return to their old ways of eating and they give up their exercise plan and fail to maintain the level of healthy behaviors they need to keep the weight off. People often gain back even more weight than they lost, their failure to maintain weight loss compounded by feelings of disappointment, guilt and low self esteem, and they eat even more.
But the argument that the diets are to blame for lack of success in long term weight loss maintenance has always seemed ridiculous to me. (Assuming the diets were balanced, healthy and coupled with exercise.) Why would periods of practicing healthy behaviors be to blame for future failure?
As a coach, I am optimistic that the client who comes to me having lost and gained her 30 pounds over and again will learn something new this time around, and together we create a different approach. Not trying to lose weight again will surely end in failure, so the willingness to keep trying is a prerequisite to success.
Past failures can be a perfect place to look for potential pitfalls; they are a wealth of experience to mine for insight. Past failures can provide future opportunities to modify a program which better suits a client's needs, tastes, and circumstances. Past failures only predict a reduced chance of future success if no new steps are taken. Giving weight loss another try requires a sustainable plan, a lifestyle mindset, and a stronger commitment to a lifelong process.
The message we need to promote is not that diets are bad and don't work, but that binges are bad and don't work. Just because you lost the 5 pounds you gained on vacation or the 10 pounds you put on over the holidays doesn't mean that those pounds don't have a lasting impact on your future health and successful weight management.
Prevent weight gain. Not gaining weight is the key to success.
The "diet" industry gets a bad rap and for good reason. There is an unending menu of false promises, quick fixes and unhealthy slim scams to choose from. Throw pills, creams, celebrity how to and self helps in the mix and you've got a whole lot of "diets" that don't deliver.
But use your noggin. Healthfully decreasing your calories while increasing your Physical Activity will result in weight loss long term. Doesn't it make sense that gaining weight is the reason people are not successful maintaining weight loss?
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Wed, Dec 09, 2009 @ 04:05 PM
Physical Activity plays a key role in long term health and weight loss maintenance. But the calories out side of the equation is often not enough to compensate for the calories in - especially if some of your old pesky eating habits have come back.
Using Meal Replacement Entrees is a very simple way to add structure to your maintenance plan. HMR meal replacement entrees work well because they mix with veggies easily - but there are many varieties of meal replacements to choose from in the grocery store, too. Look for those that will mix with veggies, have 300 calories or less and at least 10 grams of protein. Watch the sodium content (maximum daily intake should be 2400 mg or less) and make sure the total calories from fat is less than 30%.
Achieving Balance Weight Maintenance Tip #4 - Use meal replacement (HMR) entrees as a regular part of your weekly diet plan.
An easy way to incorporate meal replacements is to add them to your established routine. Bringing HMR entrees to the office is easy because they require no refrigeration - you can stock up your desk or file cabinet for the entire week ahead of time. And the bottom line is - it's a lot easier to build a 450 calorie lunch using meal replacements and veggies than it is to eat 1000 calories at lunch with your colleagues and have to hit the treadmill for hours after work just to balance out the day's calories. Using HMR entrees for lunch will save you $$ too, while protecting your weight loss long term.
Check out our Recipes and Tips pages for lots of great HMR recipe ideas - and be creative - your weight depends on it!
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Mon, Nov 30, 2009 @ 12:29 AM
Managing your weight successfully means balancing calories in and calories out every day. But days become weeks and weeks become months and so - not only do you need to find balance each day - but you need to balance out the days of the week and the weeks of the month.
Remember that the calories you overeat today will still be with you tomorrow - and it may take several deficit days to balance out your week. Don't eat the cheesecake and the brownie and the ice cream and the pie just because you are starting over tomorrow!
Keeping accurate records will help you achieve Weight Maintenance Tip #3 - SOONER is Better!
If you have a high calorie day (or weekend or week!), make a plan to have a calorie deficit day as soon as possible. You can achieve this by adding more PA, more Fruits and Veggies and more HMR meal replacements to your plan. The sooner you get back to your healthy lifestyle the better.
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Tue, Nov 03, 2009 @ 09:46 PM
Successful weight maintenance is a matter of balance. Calories in- Calories out. But if you have lost weight in the past only to put it all back on and then some - our new BLOG feature can help.
Achieving Balance is a weekly post with a Weight Maintenance Tip designed to help you keep your weight off!
Write down these weekly tips and try them. Embrace a new approach to maintenance including more of the strategies you used to lose weight in the first place.
Achieving Balance - TIP #1
Do some type of Physical Activity every day. Make it happen. If you can't fit in a full work out or a 45 minute walk - do 10. Just 10 minutes. Every 10 minutes is a 10 minute walk away from the slippery slope.
If you want to be different you have to be different. You can do it.
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 @ 05:57 PM
I have said it plenty of times and I am saying it again 'cause it's a need to know statement, "If it's there, you will eat it!"... and by "you" I mean "I" (I will definitely eat it).
Some of us can be fooled some of the time. But we are only fooling ourselves when we bring the cookies home from work "for the kids". The kids don't care. They didn't even know the cookies were there.
When we have momentum around our healthy lifestyle - especially when we are losing weight - we don't even think about bringing the cookies into the house. But when our momentum slows... "Walk on by" becomes "I'll just look", which morphs into "just a little taste" and finally "pack me a to go container"!
It's a weight management chicken or egg! Which comes first the cookie or the rationalization?
It doesn't matter. If it's there you will eat it and it doesn't matter why you brought the cookies home.
What does matter (to your successful weight management) is that you employ some simple skills based on the original need to know statement and its derivatives.
If it's there you will eat it. So make sure that fruits and vegetables and lean proteins and whole grains and HMR Meal Replacements are there. (By "there" I mean wherever you are.)
If it's not there you can't eat it. So make sure that the cookies are not there and the cake is not there and the BBQ ribs are not there and the cheeseburger is not there...this could take a while... but you get the point.
Here's the foolproof need to know - if you are not there you can not eat it. Translation? Stay out of the office snack room when you know your boss has brought the cookies!
When you are struggling with your weight don't set yourself up for failure by creating or frequenting environments that put your resolve to the test.
Graduate from knowing "if it's there you will eat it" to really living by it. Calculate the calories on the whole box of Triscuits before you put them in the cart. How many calories does the whole container of Ben and Jerry's have? Can you afford 1400 calories of Chunky Monkey today?
One last thing... "if it's there, you will eat it" is how we survived as a species. If you are eating it, you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing. There's nothing wrong or abnormal about you (and by "you" I mean me). But we live in an a culture where high calorie high fat food is everywhere. So to be successful with our weight management we have to create our own safe "there" where we can be - and eat it, too!
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Mon, Sep 21, 2009 @ 08:09 PM
In maintenance it can be really difficult to remember how much you have accomplished. If you have a slip, you may forget all the things you are doing today that were new for you not too long ago.
Learning to appreciate your accomplishments is a sure way out of the "all or nothings" that plague a lot of us in maintenance. To lose weight, you stuck to your diet - but in maintenance - the decisions feel like constant negotiations. And they are! But making a bad decision for lunch doesn't ruin the day or the week or the month. A 1000 calorie lunch is a 1000 calorie lunch. Too many calories - yes... but not the beginning of the end and not a reason to go overboard either.
If you have $200 to spend at the mall and you spend $250 - do you spend the rest of the day buying everything in sight - only to vow to start sticking to your budget tomorrow (or next week, or after your birthday)? If so - you know that when the first of the month rolls around, the details of your splurge will show up on that 4 page credit card bill! Don't be surprised if they cut you off, too!
I can't tell you how many times I have heard, "I'm an all or nothing gal"... Move past that. Maintenance is technicolor even though it would be easier to see our food choices in black and white.
You eat the cheesecake at lunch - ok. But you still have the rest of the day to practice your healthy behaviors. You haven't jumped off the calorie cruise - just hovered over the edge. You can pull yourself back! Try a conversation with yourself that goes something like this, "Hey - that was really delicious cheesecake - and even though I didn't plan to eat it - it was there. It was there, so I ate it and that's perfectly normal. What can I do now to turn the day around and minimize the damage done to my calorie budget? Hmmm. The kids have a game later - instead of sitting by the sidelines, I will walk around the field a couple of times. It's been a long time since I had a piece of cheesecake - wow - come to think of it - I have done a really good job sticking to my healthy lifestyle plan for a year now. I'm going to get right back on my plan - I am going to go home and make my favorite HMR 120 chocolate shake with extra cocoa..."
It's OK if you slip. It's OK if you have a high calorie lunch. It's NOT OK to use a piece of cheesecake as a launching off point for your bottomless binge or spend a day beating yourself up.
Don't forget how far you have come. Don't forget all the good things you have learned to do for your health. Give yourself a pat on the back (even if you had cheesecake for lunch). And then get out and go for a walk!
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Mon, Jun 22, 2009 @ 08:22 PM
So you have lost some weight - maybe a lot of weight...you have a pretty good routine going...but...the last couple of weeks you have had a nibble of this and that, it was raining so you missed a couple days of PA and aaahhhmm, boy, a nap would be good right about now...
It happens to everybody. The scale creeps up. A pound this week, a pound last week - no worries - you tell yourself - I can lose it easily - just like I did before...
WARNING WARNING WARNING!!! Cue sirens and red flags waving... This is how you gained weight in the first place. Little by Little. A piece of pizza here, a bite of cake there, and... a few too many mornings hitting the snooze button.
NOW is the time to STRRRRETCH! Yep. Do what you think you can't do. Do what you've never done before or try something again - maybe you'll like it this time.
Need ideas? Join a yoga class, or water aerobics, or rent a kayak. Hire a personal trainer (or call the Personal Coaches at Full Life for tips). Mix the HMR 500 Chicken Soup with HMR Entrees - Chicken Pasta Parmesan and Mushroom Risotto. Add more vegetables. Buy a food processor and make a mousse out of the HMR 70+ shake. Make delicious HMR 120 shakes with fat free sugar free jello puddings and freeze them for an hour or a day. Buy a vegetarian cookbook and try a new recipe. Visit a farmers market and sample a vegetable you have never tried before. Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and have your fruits and veggies delivered fresh from the farm.
When you decided to lose weight you welcomed change, pushed yourself out of your comfort zone. Now it's time to do it again. Be uncomfortable and you will grow. There's always something more you can do, learn, be. Find a way to go furtherr.
Long term health and weight management is not a destination, it's an ongoing journey... keep moving, push yourself and STRRRETCH!
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Tue, Apr 21, 2009 @ 01:22 PM
I was at the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday. It's one of my favorite yearly rituals, standing along the sidelines watching the runners come in...and the event never fails to deliver. As soon as I see the first wheelchair racer come around the corner onto Boylston with just seconds to go, I tear up.
It's not just that I admire the sheer grit it takes to run (or wheel) for hours on end - after training for months on end...it's something about knowing that those who cross the finish line have had to find solutions every day to overcome the challenges they faced to get here.
It's kind of a cliche to say that weight management is a marathon and not a sprint - but it's actually marathon after marathon after marathon. You don't ever get there - you're never done with weight management. There's always another choice to make, another snack to eat, another meal to create.
There are days when I feel fed up with the whole thing. When it would feel a whole lot easier to just order in - or be a couch potato with a season's worth of Will and Grace. Sure. Lots of days.
But being successful managing my weight is about doing it anyway. Knowing that I won't cross the finish line if I don't do the work today. I have to dig deeper for the reasons why - and when all else fails- I bribe myself.
Not with food!
...I treat myself to the movie I have wanted to see, the book I have wanted to read, a massage or a manicure. (It's a new pair of shoes if I really have to sweeten the deal!)
Truth is, there are no adoring (tearful) crowds cheering any of us on to the end of another day of vegetables. But you know what it took for you to take that walk today. You know how much you had to plan for your 5 servings of veggies and fruits.
You have to be your own coach and cheerleader - but you know the best part? You win every time!
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Tue, Apr 14, 2009 @ 09:23 PM
Too much matzo, too much ham.
Chocolate eggs and Peeps and... Damn
Who ate all the macaroons?
I did.
Too much whiskey, too much wine
Go without me - I am fine
When will I get out of bed?
Summer.
Devil smiles, and angel sings
One in each ear, questions ring
Chocolate bunny? Chocolate shake? WW---Do?
You Know.
Chop the carrots, peel potatoes
Time to wash the grape tomatoes
Hup two three four... shake it off
Let's Move IT!
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Tue, Jan 27, 2009 @ 05:01 PM
Ask the Expert
Question of the Day:
Q. I constantly think about food and am always fighting with my mind over wanting foods. I recently have reached my goal weight but cannot seem to control my overpowering urge to eat everything in sight. Any suggestions?
A. This is a great question! It speaks to the common misconceptions that when you finally lose the weight ...
#1 - You can eat whatever you want, or
#2 - You will feel so great (cured, enlightened) that the goodies you loved will no longer appeal to you
Well, the truth of the matter is that it takes a very long time to establish lasting healthy habits - and maintaining weight loss is even more challenging than losing it for most of us. And, for some of us, those food cravings never really go away...
The good news is that you can still learn the skills you need to manage your weight with commitment, dedication and practice!
So, what do you do when that out of control feeling around food starts to happen and you are determined to keep the weight off (this time)?
#1 Practice - MORE is Better! More of the good stuff that is. Make sure that you are eating enough throughout the day to stay full. Have plenty of fruits and veggies, low fat dairy and lean proteins and whole grains. Use HMR shakes as meals and snacks - especially when you are on the go...a 240 calorie double chocolate shake could save you hundreds of calories at the coffee shop! I'll say it again, STAY FULL!!!
#2 Eat often. Eat Often. Every couple of hours. As soon as you let yourself get hungry, your ability to make healthy choices begins to decrease. The hungrier you are, the more out of control you will be. If you are hungry, you will eat and you will eat what's there and what's there in America usually makes us gain weight.
#3 Create Supportive Environments by adding in the healthy stuff. Have plenty of fruits and veggies cut up, cooked, peeled, sliced and ready to go at home, in the car, at your friend's house, at work, in your bag...Never leave home without snacks. HMR 70+ puddings are a great snack option you can mix right in the packet. Bring food with you to social events, Edible Arrangements are awesome (and you can easily make a do it yourself version with BBQ skewers and cut-up fruit).
#4 Create Supportive Environments by taking out the unhealthy stuff (realize that even some healthy stuff should be removed if it's a trigger food for you!) Don't expect to be superwoman. If the cookies are not there - you can't eat them. Keep it that simple. Peanut butter is healthy - but not if you eat the whole jar in a sitting. Be realistic and throw away - or give away (food pantries and homeless shelters) - the foods that don't work to support your goals.
#5 Give yourself a break by staying out of places and situations that do not support your weight management goals. If you're a fast food junkie, don't expect that you'll be able to order a salad every time you drop in McD.'s...so don't go there! Choose different restaurants - or better yet - figure out new ways of interacting socially that don't center around food!
#6 Be Physically Active Every Day!
#7 Focus on the positives. Make a list of the foods you can eat and experiment with new recipes, reward yourself for the little things like having all your veggies this week. Put on your favorite new clothes and tell yourself how FaB-U-Lous!!! you are.
Be patient and consistent. Tolerate your feelings of discomfort. You are learning a new way of life and change is hard. Forgive yourself if you make a mistake, move on, try again. Look at every experience as an opportuniity to learn something new about yourself.
Congratulations on reaching your goal weight! You are doing an awesome job! Keep up the good work!