The two most dangerous points when you diet

T holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are dangerous points when you're just beginning to diet, and the day you decide that you've lost enough weight and now it's time to maintain is another dangerous point.  (The maintenance part will be a LOT easier if you follow my program, mark you - but I"ll get into that in another post.)

But the two *most dangerous* times  in a dieter's regime is during the first four weeks of the regime, and right after those first four weeks.

During the first four weeks
You know what I'm talking about!  You've cut back on your food, you're working out 3 times a week and biking or jogging every day.

Yet every day you step on that scale and it hasn't moved..or it will be down one day and back up the next.

And you're getting madder and madder and finally you say, "To hell with it, I can't lose weight, so I'm not going to bother."

But you just need to be patient.

In order to lose weight, your body must achieve a state of caloric imbalance and then it must stay in that state.

It takes at least a week for the state to first be achieved...and if you eat too many treats on a Saturday or something such that that state is disturbed, it will delay your weight loss by a couple of days.

What you must always remember is that even if you're not losing weight during these first four weeks, you are actually getting healthier. You are losing some fat (if you're working out - with even light weights) because the fat you're losing is replaced by muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. And once you get those muscles, the weight will start to come off quicker because muscles burn calories quicker than fat does. (Which is why when you're fit and have a toned body and are maintaining, you can eat all the foods you love in decent-sized portions, and not gain back the weight you lost.)

This is why I advise my clients not to step on the scale for the first 4 weeks of their new diet/exercise regime. It will only drive you crazy. As long as you cut back on your food - you don't have to cut out all the foods you love, you just have to cut back! - work out 3 times a week - and go for a walk or a bike ride every day, you will be losing weight. How much weight you lose will depend on how old you are, remember. If you're young you'll probably lose 2 pounds per week, if you're old or have a slow metabolism - 1 pound.

But hell - that's a loss of 52 pounds in a year.

Now, the second most dangerous point in your new diet...is when you step on that scale for the first time after those 4 weeks are up, and see that weight loss. You will be so happy.

But you'll also think - "If I can lose this weight while eating breakfast, lunch and dinner, I will be able to lose more weight more quickly if I skip breakfast and lunch and just have dinner."

And this is not true. It may seem to be contradictory, but you will actually take longer to lose weight if you cut out breakfast and lunch, because your body is going to go in starvation mode, and deliberately slow down weight loss.

So you must eat breakfast and lunch. Small portions. And you must eat supper. And you can have dessert of a couple of cookies after dinner, or maybe half a candy-bar. If the hunger pangs hit late at night - a banana or some piece of fruit.

But whatever you do, you must eat those three meals a day - or five small meals. Do not skip meals!

This is important during your entire diet plan, and it is also important when you're in the maintenance phase. Since you've never skipped a meal, you will be able to continue your "new lifestyle" easily, with just the addition of an extra portion of this or that...and mebbe a whole candy bar for dessert instead of half of one.

So be patient, and you will achieve your goals.

Your winter sport - bowling

I went bowling on Saturday, the first time in maybe a decade, and I really enjoyed it. So much so that I intend to make it my winter sport, once it gets too cold to bike.

You get a good workout with bowling - if you're mobile of course. (Otherwise, swimming will do.)

You have your throwing hand, but your other hand and arm gets exercise as you hold the ball preparatory to throwing it, and both your legs will get exercise - albeit the tops of your thighs more than any other muscle.

I didn't do very well, points wise, it must be said - barely broke 100 each time. But this I blame on the shoes that I had to rent from the alley. They didn't slide, so my release point was always awkward.

I ordered some $30 shoes on Ebay, and they should be here by next Friday. Until the advent of winter, I'll be playing 3 games every Saturday, and once winter comes, probably more often.

From where does the weight come off first?

Depending on how overweight you are, you won't be able to tell from where the weight is coming off as you use it.

Let's say your 100 pounds overweight. You lose 10 of those pounds (over the course of 3-4 weeks), and you really won't be able to tell where the weight came from, as it'll come from everywhere.

Of course when you're 100 pounds overweight, you don't care where the weight comes off from first, you just want it to come off.

By the time you've lost 20 pounds, you'll be able to fit into a size-lower pair of jeans...

Of course, if you want to work on specific areas, and add some weight training to target that area, you can direct to some extent where weight will come off in addition to the overall weight loss.

For example, if you have "widows weeds" underarms, and target them with tricep curls, you can firm them up in a month or so.

Biking will work on your legs; situps, leg drawups and so on will work on your belly.

Don't worry about where the weight is coming off from - just be aware that it's coming off and you'll be healthier because of it.

Instructions are relative

I have to correct myself on one piece of information I've been given.

I've been telling folks that there's no need to cut out on your favorite desserts - cake, cookies, etc., or sugared drinks - Pepsi, etc., just cut down on them, add weight training and walking to your regime, and that after 2 weeks, you'll have lost a pound or so - after that caloric imbalance has been established.

And this is true....for people under 40.

But remember that once people hit 40 - well, when women hit 40, with guys it might take til 50, the metabolism, however slow or fast it was, slows down even further.

So if you're over 40, do not despair if you have gone your 2 weeks and see no measureable loss of weight - or see a weight loss in the morning, only to disappear by evening since you have drunk water and milk and coffee throughout the day.

But if you've been following a weight training regime - even with the lightest weights, you will see an improvement in your muscles - if no other proof than that you started doing 5 military presses with 20 pounds on a barbell, and after 2 weeks you're up to 8 repetitions or even 10. Your strength is increasing, your muscles are increasing - and as you continue to work out and increase those muscles - that weight will disappear.

So stay patient, stay with the regime. You will see results.

Don't try Sensa

I've long seen Sensa ads on various webpages that I visit - I had no interest in the product and I was sure most folks would realize it wouldn't work as advertised....

But then I thought...people see these ads, think, "They're spending so much money, it must work" and will try it.

Don't.

All Sensa is is "flavor enhancers" designed to make you feel fuller quicker.

Well, water will do the same thing.

So will success. There's nothing like seeing those first 5 pounds come off to make you realize that yoiu can do this, you're on the right path, no artificial drugs or unneeded operations need apply.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2RKKY12UBZTGC/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B002KJ6IV4&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=#wasThisHelpful

is a link to Amazon's page selling Sensa - the reviews of the product. 5 5-star reviews? I wonder if  Sensa is paying to get the reviews they want?

Take a look at this page also. It debunks Sensa...so it can offer Saffron Extract.

Do your research on that if you need help curbing your appetite.
http://www.reinventingaging.org/diet/sensa/sensa/

Be Proud of Your Accomplishments

I have a client, a teenage girl who is a 100 pounds overweight. Lives at home. I've just started working with her. She's been biking for a couple of weeks. She lives on an incline, so she can coast down the hill to start her bike ride, but she has to bike up the hill - and biking up a hill is a helluva lot harder than coasting down it, aas I shouldn't need to tell you.

Well, yesterday, she did a 3-mile bike ride, and then, for the first time, managed to bike all the way up the hill to her house.  That is quite an accomplishment for someone who is as out of shape as this girl.

So she goes into the house, and her dad asked her how far she'd ridden, and she said, "Three miles."

And he dismissed it. "Oh, that's nothing. That doesn't accomplish anything."

And she was quite hurt. She didn't say anything to him about it, but she poured out her heart to me this morning.

I had to be very careful in my response - I felt like telling her to tell her dad to drop dead, but of course I didn't. One musn't criticize the parents when working with a teenager!

I just reaffirmed to her what she already knew - that she was getting fitter, that biking 3 miles and then non-stop up a hill was a great accomplishment - something she could not have done a couple of weeks ago. It was only going to get better from here.

I also pointed out that parents didn't always mean to be mean (there are some verbally abusive parents out there, as well as neighbors, schoolmates, etc, but I think this guy didn't mean to be mean, he just wasn't thinking.  In fact, I might have a word with the mother - she's who hired me to work with her daughter - and suggest that she tell hubby to be a bit more supportive, no matter how slight he thinks his daughter's accomplishments are!)

Accomplishments are relative. Back when I lived in a town that had flat areas to ride and no damn wind, I was biking 10-15-20 miles a day no problem. To someone like that, biking 3 miles a day is a bit of a laugher. But when you consider that this girl could not even do that two weeks ago - it is a great accomplishment and I was very proud of her. 

What does 2 pounds a week come out to?

Subconsciously, when you're dieting, you may expect to step on a scale each day and see it drop by a pound each day. One morning you weight 200 pounds, for example, the next morning you expect to weigh 199 pounds but it still says 200. Yet you've eaten your small portions and had no snacks...why haven't you lost a pound?

Well, it's because you can't lose a pound a day - not healthily,anyway. What you are losing is a quarter of a pound here, a quarter of a pound there, so that by the end of seven days, you will indeed have lost 2 pounds. (AFTER your body is in the Caloric Imbalance phase which doesn't come until about two weeks after you've starting cutting back on food portion size and drink, and started exercising more.)

Patience is the bane of anyone trying to lose weight. You must be patient. You must not get discouraged - or angry - if you've "dieted" for a week and see absolutely no result. As long as you're following my program - eating smaller portions, weight training, and biking or walking or jogging - you are getting results.

First off - you're not gaining any weight, right?   (Although, during the first 2 weeks of the program, you will gain a couple of pounds. Why? Because since you're exercising, you're building muscle, which weighs more than fat. So you may be losing fat, but for the first two weeks it's replaced by muscle. But as you get to that state of caloric imbalance, the fat burns off and/or is turned into muscle (I won't go into muscle...fat and muscle are actually two different things, one doesn't turn into the other...but for the sake of what you need to know, just accept that it does! "Same difference" as the saying goes.)

So be patient. Give yourself at least 4 weeks of following my program before you step on the scale for a second time. (The first time of course would be the day you start the program. You must know your baseline.)

If you follow my program and have not lost any weight in 4 weeks, then visit your doctor to see if there's a medical issue.