Weight Loss Personalized

I’ve collected anecdotes and stories for you this summer, mostly of how friends and family and others have lost weight and how they eat to stay at their desired weights. After you read through these, send me an email if you have a personal method that works for you.

A neighbor lost 30 or so pounds by not eating starchy carbohydrates before dinner. So he says no to pancakes, bagels, bread, doughnuts, pizza and more, then enjoys some with dinner.

A recent story in the New York Times states emphatically that the real reason French women don’t gain weight is not that they can’t, but that they WON’T. They refuse to overeat. In other words, they will themselves to stay at their ideal weight. And, they don’t use getting older as an excuse for getting bigger.

One friend was counting calories daily and eating 2100 calories a day. For a guy who’s 6’1” that doesn’t sound like enough calories. Plus he’s an avid mountain biker and weight-lifting enthusiast. His personal doctor advised him to up his calorie intake to 3000. (That’s more like it.) And he’s losing the last stubborn pounds. For him, it wasn’t about how many calories, but rather the type of calories. He’s eating more meats, poultry, and fish, and lots more vegetables and fruit.

At an outdoor mountain wedding dinner, a friend and I were commenting on the terrific cupcakes that the Snowbird kitchen baked up for the party. He took a couple bites. Then he put his fork down and stopped eating. I had to know why. He said he had eaten enough food for the meal, and he finds it painful to eat too much. I was wowed. He was a naturally thin person who knew instinctively how to listen to his stomach and could feel the “stop eating” signal. Yes, he is thin.

An Alabama doctor discovered his tuxedo no longer fit just before a big event. He started on an interesting diet – “if it tastes good, spit it out.” It worked.

One amazing sign at a public market kiosk in Boston: “Boston Fried Bread.” People weren’t standing in line to eat fried bread, although I know it is wonderful. Here in the West we call it sopapillas or Indian Fried Bread. At the State Fair it’s called Funnel Cakes. No matter what it’s called, it seldom belongs in person’s stomach for weight loss success.

Printed on the front of the menu at the famous old Tic Toc Diner in New York City: “Eat Heavy.” I can’t tell you the history of this amazing suggestion. The food wasn’t that heavy, but perhaps it was in times gone past. The food was good, though.

In the movie, “Eat, Pray, Love”, the heroine claims she stopped stepping on the scale to avoid early morning self loathing. However, she continues to eat and eat and eat. (And we watch her do this!) Too bad she doesn’t use her new-found self awareness to eat mindfully. But then again, it’s only a story.

Folks have been asking me just how effective HCG is for weight loss. When a person takes the shots, they’re put on a strict 500 calorie a day diet and told to exercise religiously. The results are comparable to a starvation diet – a person loses lots of weight fast. Proponents claim the program prevents muscle loss while it increases the loss of body fat. Here’s the problem: I’ve never known anyone to keep the weight off. Even the “poster” models for the advertisements. When the severe diet and the shots end, a person rebounds and most of the time gains back the weight they lost plus some.

If you’re stuck on a weight loss plateau or aren’t seeing the results you want in losing weight, try these strategies:
1. Weight yourself first. For the next week, avoid eating all wheat products. You may need to read the labels on cereals and processed foods. At the end of the week, weigh yourself again. If you lost more than just a couple pounds, wheat could be keeping the weight on. I wouldn’t call this an allergy, but more like a wheat-sensitivity.
2. Do the same with dairy the next week. Weigh and then don’t eat any dairy or milk products for a week.
3. If you eat soy, as in soy shakes and tofu, then the next week, do the same with program with soy.
Sitting is fattening. Even if you exercise regularly. New research indicates this is serious. I experienced this as I’ve been writing my new book on Glycemic Index Snacks. After 3 months of sitting hour by hour at the computer I was packing on weight and flab in my middle area. I think stress also contributed. Yuck. It just isn’t fair. I do some form of Pilates, hiking, or yoga virtually every day. Now that the bulk of my book is completed, I’m moving more during the day and my middle is back to normal. If you have a desk job, be sure to move around. Wiggle. Stand up when you talk on the phone. Set the timer on your phone or computer to ring after an hour of sitting so you can stand up, stretch, and walk around. During your break, take a couple flights of steps to rev up your energy-burn factor. Don’t be a sitting fat duck.

One of our sons moved downtown and had to park his car several blocks away from his apartment. Then he and his wife got a dog. Between walking the dog and walking to the car, they both lost their extra pounds and look terrific. Their challenge now is to keep the pounds off since they left the big city for the burbs.

Now that summer is almost over, write a weight loss affirmation for yourself and your situation. This is the key way to get started. Stay with the positive. In other words, don’t write. I’m losing weight, but rather “I am now a naturally healthy and thin person. I weigh (insert your ideal weight) and I do what thin people do.” Then let the power of your affirmation unfold and present to you the method and techniques to use to reach your goal.

All the best,

Lucy Beale, author
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Glycemic Index Weight Loss Version 2
The Complete Idiot's Guide Glycemic Index Cookbook
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Well on a Budget
www.Lucybeale.com, http://lucybeale-weight-loss.blogspot.com/