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Habits Through Short and Long Term Goals

Published
by
Cathy
on September 12, 2008
in Make 1 Change and Weight Loss and Maintenance
. 0 Comments

In 2001, I lost 147 pounds from RNY weight loss surgery.  I tried Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, staple in my ear, you name it and I did it.  While these diet programs can be successful, with a 147 excess pounds, losing at 1-2 pounds a week was too big of a feat to consider.  My long term weight loss and fitness goals to lose 147 pounds felt like trying to climb Mt. Everest.

Whether through the assistance of an an organized diet plan, the tool of weight loss surgery, or undergoing on your own, it is important to set short term and long term goals.  If you set weekly goals and monthly objectives, you will experience success and better able from losing sight of your goals.

Adjust your mindset from “I’m going to do this until I reach my goal” thinking to permanent health and active lifestyle habits.  At first, setting habits can feel awkward and even burdensome.  Once a habit is created, you are able to go on auto-pilot and they become second nature.  You can’t imagine your life without a particular behavior habit.

So, how do you make changes that last?

To make changes that last and turn into habits, you need a plan.  Any changes and goals worth having are worth writing down in a plan.  To create your plan, here are five steps to lasting change that will turn into habits.  After each step, I’ve listed an example for you in making your own plan.

1.  Identify an area(s) that you want to change.  (I want to lose 25 pounds.)

2.  Ask yourself three questions about each area:

a.  Why do I want to make this change?  Name it!  (For my health and to feel better about myself.)

b.  Is it a good time to make this change now?  (Yes!!)

c.  Do I have support to make this change?  What is your system of support?  (Yes, my spouse or significant other, my support group members, my best friend, friends, family, my coach.)

3.  Choose one or two things you will do to accomplish your change.  Select a maximum of one or two things.  Why?  Remember, less is more so you don’t get overwhelmed and throw in the towel.  This will avoid taking on too much in trying to switch things in your life too abruptly.  (To lose 20 pounds, I will eliminate simple sugar and refined carbs, walk four days per week.)

4.  Start slow.  Changes that turn into habits occur in small steps.  (I will replace fruit for the simple sugar and refined carbs food choices.  I will start walking three days per week for 15-20 minutes.)

5.  Write down your reward system.  (When I lose five pounds, I will download five new songs on my MP3 player to enjoy while I am walking.

Write down your plan.  Without a plan written in a journal, your computer, or a note posted on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror, your changes are merely a wish list.  To put your plan in writing is the equivalent of planting flowers in soil for them to grow.

To make any change, it requires personal commitment and motivation.  There is no external hocus pocus magic.  The magic exists in you.  When your motivation lessens, review your plan.  Fine-tune your plan if necessary.  When you wrote your plan, remember why making these changes are important to you.  Renew your commitment to those changes so they become habits.  Renewal of your excitement and enthusiasm will return when you continually review your plan.

Look at the changes you want to make right now as an opportunity to grow and improve your life.  Embrace change as another way you are growing in your self-improvement and personal growth.  All of us like autumn when the trees transition and change colors. Consider changes that you want to make in the same way. The changes you’re planning for today will be the habits that are second-nature before you know it.   Just by making your plan using the five steps, you’re on your way!

The ultimate goal of weight loss success - HABITS!  It’s about creating positive habits.  Living healthy is nothing more than your mindset.

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach

It All Counts

Published
by
Cathy
on September 11, 2008
in Weight Loss and Maintenance
. 1 Comment

When I’ve gone to the large warehouse discount stores, I’m always amazed at the long lines of people waiting to get a free sample of brownies, cookies or some other new food item.  Some of these lines have people waiting 20 minutes for a mere bite of a brownie??!!  Every bite counts!  Clearly, the idea that “it doesn’t matter because it’s free” is a real concept, and one that many dieters live by.  It’s just a bite, right?  How bad could it be?  Right?  Eating just a few bites or a taste here or there can add up to over 100 calories which translates into extra pounds over time.  Plus, this taste or bite, what does it trigger?  Do you tend to eat more from those tastes or bites?

One of the reasons food journaling or food logs are so useful is that the under reporting of what we eat, versus what we actually do eat is common. In fact, just eating an extra 100 calories per day could add up to 10 pounds gained in a year. The problem is, it’s difficult to keep track of what we nibble when cooking, cleaning up, eating food off of other people’s plates, sampling at the grocery store, or even grabbing a piece of candy from the communal bowl at the office - unfortunately, it all counts.  Tastes, bites, and mindless eating all lead to excess calories and excess weight.   A simple nibble or two a day could mean the difference between weight loss and weight gain over time.

An important tool in losing weight is to utilize some sort of food journal.  It can be on line, a fancy journal designed to record food and exercise, or just a small note pad to write it ALL down.  If you journal what you eat, it is hard to include foods that you know aren’t healthy choices.  It can be used as a deturrent to not eat those foods or to disregard the day entirely when you make those choices and start journaling again the next day.  We don’t like to acknowledge to ourselves or others, and see it written down that we ate something that isn’t on our food plan or healthy.

So what’s one of the best ways to lose weight through a food journal?  Eat what you actually  SAY you eat.

Here are a few suggestions to avoid the “nibble” trap:

Be aware of your “trigger times.”  When are the times that certain foods seem to call your name.
Stay away from key “taste areas” such as the kitchen, grocery store samples or a buffet table.
Avoid leaving candy dishes or bowls of chips and other foods out.
Skip free samples at stores, and stop yourself from picking from other people’s plates.  You aren’t a dog, don’t eat left overs from others’ plates.
Limit sodas, juices, and other high calorie beverages.

How much can those little bites and tastes add up to?  Here are a few for you to remember:

PASSING THROUGH THE KITCHEN–

4 tablespoons Haagen-Dazs Butter Pecan Ice Cream: 155 calories, 11.5g fat, 10.5g carbs

5 Lay’s Classic Potato Chips: 40 calories, 2.5g fat, 3.75g carbs

1 Oreo Double Stuf cookie: 70 calories, 3.5g fat, 9.5g carbs

10 Rold Gold Classic Tiny Twists Pretzels: 65 calories, 0.6g fat, 14g carbs

A handful of Quaker 100% Natural Cereal (granola) with oats, honey, and raisins: 109 calories, 3.5g fat, 18g carbs

A handful of Cheerios: 28 calories, 0.5g fat, 11g carbs

A handful of trail mix: 174 calories, 11g fat, 17g carbs

1 Hershey’s Kiss from the candy bowl at work: 25 calories, 1.5g fat, 3g carbs

A handful of raisins: 86 calories, 0g fat, 23g carbs

EATING WHILE OUT AND ABOUT–

4 wheat crackers: 76 calories, 3g fat, 10g carbs

A slice of brie cheese: 189 calories, 16g fat, 0g carbs

2 heaping handfuls of movie theater popcorn: 168 calories, 13.5g fat, 9g carbs

1 bite of a hot dog at the ball game: 48 calories, 3g fat, 4g carbs

WHILE COOKING OR CLEANING–

Crumbs at the bottom of a bag of Pepperidge Farm Nantucket Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies: 140 calories, 7g fat, 18g carbs

The slices/edges of pie or cake that are trimmed before putting it away so that it looks neat and even: 86 calories, 5g fat, 9g carbs

A spoonful of Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough while making cookies: 32 calories, 1g fat, 5g carbs

One spoon of just the chocolate chips: 80 calories, 4g fat, 10g carbs

Peanut butter on a knife while making a sandwich: 95 calories, 8g fat, 3.5g carbs

Whipped cream off the beaters: 52 calories, 5g fats, 1g carbs

EATING OFF SOMEONE’S PLATE–

2 forks full of chocolate cake that you would never order - but will gladly eat when someone else does the ordering: 117 calories, 5g fat, 17g carbs

Leftovers from your kid’s Happy Meal at McDonald’s:
10 fries: 53 calories, 2.5g fat, 6.5g carbs
2 bites of a McDonald’s Cheeseburger: 80 calories, 3g fat, 9g carbs

LEFTOVERS–

2 bites of cold Pizza Hut Hand-Tossed Cheese Pizza: 77 calories, 2g fat, 11g carbs

3 forkfuls of beef chow mein: 68 calories, 4g fat, 3g carbs

DRINKS–

A sip of beer: 24 calories, 0g fat, 2g carbs

A sip of Tropicana Orange Juice from the carton in the fridge: 28 calories, 0g fat, 6.5g carbs

A sip of soda: 25 calories, 0g fat, 7g carbs

It all counts.  Make what you eat count toward your weight loss and health.

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Back On Track Facilitator

Cost of Obesity versus Weight Loss Surgery

Published
by
Cathy
on September 10, 2008
in Weight Loss and Maintenance
. 0 Comments

I read this article and wanted to share it with you along with my own personal experience and opinion at the end of it.  The investment in yourself, your health, and your behavioral health is always the best investment you can make.  Please check out my comments at the end…….

OBESITY SURGERY IS COST EFFECTIVE?

Source:  Wall Street Journal.

A study just published shows that you get your return on the investment in WLS within two to four years in medical cost savings. Ha!  Two to four years?  Try a return on the investment within days from having my surgery.

Most people going IN to weight loss surgery are racking up medical bills from their co-morbids, and WLS seems like it would just stop most of those bills, right?  It does, for most (present company is not really included):

The cost of the most common type of weight-loss surgery, which typically runs between $17,000 and $26,000, is offset within two to four years by medical cost savings, according to a new study.

The findings, published in the September issue of the American Journal of Managed Care, may increase pressure on health-insurance companies to cover gastric bypass surgery. Some insurance plans specifically exclude weight-loss surgery, despite medical evidence of its effectiveness as a treatment not just for obesity, but also for related conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure and sleep apnea.

“The most cost-effective treatment for obesity is bariatric surgery. If you do that, within two to four years, you will get your money back,” said the study’s lead author, Pierre-Yves Crémieux, a health economist and principal at Analysis Group Inc., an economic consulting firm in Boston. “We have identified the break-even point for insurers,” he added.

Some policy makers and analysts are likely to question the findings because the study was paid for by Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon Endo-Surgery unit, a maker of surgical devices and instruments used in weight-loss surgery. Dr. Crémieux said he stands by the study’s integrity and added that the company “has been totally hands off.”

The findings will interest employers and insurance companies, but the main concern has always been the safety and effectiveness of the surgery, said Susan Pisano, a spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group in Washington. “I don’t know if these results would be replicated in other populations,” she added.

The journal’s co-editor in chief, Michael E. Chernew, said the study addresses an “important and controversial” issue for his readers, including medical directors of insurance companies who make coverage decisions. He said the study was carefully scrutinized by independent reviewers who requested a series of manuscript revisions. “I won’t deny that I would rather this be funded by some other organization, but there is no bias in the methodology,” he asserted.

Each of 3,651 severely obese patients in a large claims database who underwent surgery was matched to a control subject who didn’t have the surgery. The patients were matched for age, gender, geography, health status and baseline costs. The patients were predominantly female with an average age of 44 years. More than one-third of the patients had hypertension and many had high cholesterol, diabetes and other conditions.

The analysis covered six months of presurgical evaluation and care, the surgery itself and, on average, about 18 months of postsurgical care, including costs incurred from surgical complications. Some patients’ postsurgical claims were tracked for up to five years. Costs included payments for prescription drugs, physician visits and hospital services. Claims were monitored for obese patients who didn’t have surgery over the same period.

The study showed that insurers fully recovered the costs of laparoscopic surgery after 25 months. Laparoscopic surgery is a less-invasive version of gastric bypass with an average cost of $17,000. Between 2003 and 2005, the break-even point was reached in 49 months for traditional bariatric surgery, which carries an average cost of $26,000. The study didn’t address gastric banding, a rival procedure.

Health economist Eric A. Finkelstein sounded a skeptical note. If the control group had “one really bad outcome, such as a heart transplant, that alone could be enough” to significantly change the results, he said in an interview. Several years ago, Dr. Finkelstein published a similar study using a different methodology, which suggested a 10-year return on investment on weight-loss surgery.

Dr. Finkelstein said that over time he has come to believe that the “return-on-investment” analysis of weight-loss surgery is “misguided.” This economic metric isn’t used to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of treatments for cancer or heart disease.

Okay, as always there are many differing opinions of the “return-on-investment” by the professionals.  You know what they say about opinions!  LOL!  For me, I didn’t qualify for weight loss surgery…..having diabetes, sleep apnea, and other co-morbidities, I didn’t even qualify for a consult.  Geez!  I had to obtain a second loan on our home.  For me, it was a small price to pay for purchasing a second chance at life and buying my health.  How many sick or terminally ill people would pay any price for their health or a second chance at life?

So, I can talk about the “return-on-investment” since I paid for my own surgery IN FULL.  Not a single penny was contributed by an insurance company.  I am very qualified to discuss the return-on-investment since I wrote the check!  The return on my investment is tremendous.  I lost 147 pounds, haven’t taken a single diabetic medication, no longer have sleep apnea and have a quality life that I would have the surgery annually if I needed to in order to have the life I have today.

The return on investment is far greater than the ups/downs of the stock market, the ups/downs of the interest rates and even the real estate market.  My investment in myself and my health is an investment that pays off to the maximum every single day.

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Back On Track Facilitator

Weight Loss Surgery Olympian Champion

Published
by
Cathy
on September 9, 2008
in Motivation and Inspiration
. 0 Comments

As the Olympics have ended, I miss watching them and the features on the athletes.  It was so inspirational to hear the stories of the athletes.  Every day people doing extraordinary things.  The commitment, dedication and challenges overcome they live every day is phenomenal.  I lookforward to the next Olympics and seeing in action the inner strength each of them possess to be their very best.

If there was an Olympics for weight loss surgery patients, it would be touching and moving.  Each of us have been morbidly obese and went through all the challenges and hits to our self-worth that experience does.  As we made the decision to have surgery, the surgery, and the post-op journey is special and unique as each of us are yet we share the same commonalities of being a weight loss surgery patient.  As we’ve had surgery and reinvented ourselves and our lives, it is the equivalent of our Olympic champions.

How do they do it?  How do they keep their motivation and commitment?  Of course, much of it comes from within.  The highest achieving people have their own coaches.  Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, the majority of CEOs of companies, Olympian athletes and the most successful of us have coaches.  A coach is your partner to walk with you on the path from where you are now to where you want to be.

Coaching is not as expensive as many think.  How many diets, cardboard food and expensive diet supplements have we purchased?  Did they work?  No!  Coaching works because it is all about you and not some program or supplements.  Coaching is the very best investment you can make in yourself.  After all, you are worth it!!

You can achieve your highest dreams, goals, aspirations and live your best life.  You are your own Weight Loss Surgery Olympian Champion.  It is inside you!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Back on Track Facilitator

How’s Your Day?

Published
by
Cathy
on September 8, 2008
in Self-Comforting & Self-Nurturing
. 0 Comments

Sometimes do you wake up and feel “off” or in a funk?  Do you label the entire day thinking that it is going to be one of THOSE days?  Last week, I did.  Then, I caught myself.  Whether I have a great day or one of THOSE days is up to me.  The type of day you’ll have doesn’t depend on someone else.  It is entirely up to you.

You have the power and control to determine your day.  Okay, yes, sometimes it is more difficult than others.  You are stronger than any external circumstances that can happen to you.  You are the boss of your life.  No other person, emotion or situation is more important or holds control over you.  Plus, emotions and situations pass.  What is important and empowering is what you do with them.  Do you turn to food to cope and take the edge off?  Do you sit with the uncomfortable feelings and situation and allow them to pass without the self-medication of emotional eating?

Today, make the decision to make it a day of loving yourself and those you care about.  Start off by doing something for yourself.  Enjoy a cup of coffee in your favorite chair, swing in your porch swing (my personal favorite), read a book, give yourself a great big hug or anything that is special to you.

Next, show someone in your life how much you love them.  You can tell anyone how much you love or treasure them.  Create an opportunity to tell the people in your life you love them, you’re thinking about them, and they are important to you.

I’m having a great day!  What about you?

Believe in Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Back on Track Facilitator

If You Fall Off…..Get Right Back On!

Published
by
Cathy
on September 5, 2008
in Weight Loss and Maintenance
. 1 Comment

Have you made less than healthy food choices lately?  Have you regained some of your lost weight?  Do you feel as though you’ve fallen off your horse, gotten off track or broken down on the highway of weight loss success?  If so, what are you doing about it?  You’re probably thinking about it and talking about it.  However, WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?

Get back to the basics.  Are you doing the basics every single day that made you successful in the first place?  Consistency and persistency are what creates momentum and weight loss success. Especially when you are trying to get back on track, being consistent and persistent in ditching the habits that you’ve gotten into that are causing weight regain and moving forward with health habits to get that regained weight off.

One of the major contributors to regaining weight or stalling a weight loss is returning to the old habits that made you heavy to the point that you needed weight loss surgery or lose weight.  What old habits have you fallen back into?  Are you eating more carbs?  Are you grazing?  Are you drinking with your meals compromising your satiety?  Are you still exercising and at the same frequency and level you were when you initially lost weight?  All of these habits play a huge part in weight regain or stalled weight loss.  All you have to do is ditch them and do it differently with healthy habits that promote weight loss.

It isn’t easy to throw aside the old habits, however, it is a must in losing weight and maintaining it.  You can’t graze on M&M’s throughout the day on most days and lose weight.  Your habits equal your success (or lack of success).  There’s no way around it.  We are and our bodies are a result of what we do and our habits.

So, if you’ve fallen off, get right back on and go for it.  Get back to it.  You did it before and you can do it again.  Start Now!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach

Where Do You Spend Time at the Grocery Store?

Published
by
Cathy
on September 4, 2008
in Nutrition
. 0 Comments

When you grocery shop, were do you spend most of your time?  Do you spend your time going up and down the inner aisles or hang out around the outer parameter?

When shopping, spend most of your time and budget in the produce and meats section and avoid the inner area.  The bulk of the processed (also known as high-calorie, lower nutrition) foods are.

A great weight loss strategy is to minimize your time and money in the inner aisles (can we say Peanut Butter Captain Crunch and frozen pizzas??) and focus on the produce, meats, dairy, whole grain breads and complex carbs which are kept on the outside of those processed food aisles.

Another idea of whether to buy an item is to check out the ingredient list.  If you don’t know what the first few ingredients are or need a dictionary to find out what an item contains, don’t buy it.  The ingredient list on produce, meat and dairy are very simple and obviously, those are the healthiest choices you can make.

Have a list AND stick to the list.  Make your list at home for the items that you need.  At home, you can leisurely take inventory of the items that you need.  In your own home, you aren’t in the environment of the grocery store and the temptations that lie in wait for you.  Something may look good in the store but that doesn’t mean you need to buy it.  The marketers of products at the grocery store have strategies to encourage impulse purchases.  They’ve spent time and research in knowing how to appeal to our impulse buying tendency.  Don’t succumb to those marketing strategies.  Know what you need and stick to your list.

Also, put on your blinders when it comes to standing in line to check out.  The snacks and candy are those impulse items that are waiting to be picked up.  When it comes to waiting in line at the check out areas, have tunnel vision and make it a habit not to make any purchases in those areas.

Stick to your list for your calorie and monetary budget!  Your weight loss and finances will thank you!!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach

What Do Your Repeatedly Do?

Published
by
Cathy
on September 3, 2008
in Weight Loss and Maintenance
. 0 Comments

I have a decorative stone in my home that has the saying “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle

Are you still using food to solve emotional issues? Is that what you repeatedly do?  Healthy behaviors  create healthy habits so you do not use food as an emotional band-aid.  If you engage in unhealthy behaviors such as eating junk, grazing, eating fast food, or eating refined carbs as one of your main food groups, your body size and weight are going to reflect those habits.

It is actually very simple, if you want a strong, healthy normal weight and body size, you are what you repeatedly do so adopt habits that reflect the body that you want.  It is a bit of a cliche but we are what we do, we are what we eat.

When you set goals, you are shaping the process of success. That means deciding what characteristics, like commitment and dedication, you need in order to reach your targets.  The determination of success is staying committed to your goals when times and emotions are raging.  It is easy to stay on track when things are going your way.  The real commitment to your goals is reflected when you’ve had an argument with your spouse, your kids are behaving less than you’d like, you have a conflict at work, etc.  If you hang tough and don’t emotionally eat no matter what, that determines success in reaching your weight loss goals.

What strategies do you have in place to counteract the old habits of turning to food each time you get stressed or want to emotionally overeat?  As we know, you are going to have more stress in your life and more opportunities to emotionally overeat. Might as well plan NOW for how you can handle the next situation more successfully!

Remember, there is NO NEW FOOD! How many binges does it take to solve work, financial and family stress?  Food really doesn’t solve anything and creates even more problems.  Turn to yourself, not food to solve your problems and ease your emotions.  Food holds NO power.  You hold the power to to deal with emotions and situations in a healthy way.  You don’t need food from emotional eating.  You are all you need!!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach

Diabetes, Weight Loss and WLS

Published
by
Cathy
on September 2, 2008
in Weight Loss and Maintenance
. 0 Comments

Before I had surgery in 2001, I was diabetic.  I was on oral medications and injections.  It was awful.  Being dependent on diabetic meds, pricking your finger multiple times a day to test your sugars, and the possible consequences of diabetes were petrifying to me.

There were many factors that caused me to make the decision to have weight loss surgery.  The emotional and physical limitations to my life were among the top reasons.  Another factor was my diabetes.   I spent Christmas the year before in the waiting room of a hospital with my best friend.  Her husband was having a kidney transplant from being severely diabetic.  He was on dialysis and had many of the effects of diabetes.  It was in the waiting room reflecting on my life and how horribly unhappy I was that I decided to seriously consider having weight loss surgery.

More than 20 million Americans have type 2 diabetes and most of them are overweight or obese.

People who lose weight soon after a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes have better control of their blood pressure and blood sugar, and are more likely to maintain that control even if they regain their weight, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online in Diabetes Care, the American Diabetes Association journal.

This is the first clinical study to show that benefits remain even if patients regain their weight. The study followed more than 2,500 adults with type 2 diabetes for four years. Those who lost weight within an average of 18 months after diagnosis were up to twice as likely to achieve their blood pressure and blood sugar targets as those who didn’t lose weight. Those benefits can prevent diabetes-related heart disease, blindness, nerve and kidney damage, and death.

“Our study shows that early weight loss can reduce the risk factors that so often lead to diabetes complications and death,” says Dr. Adrianne Feldstein, MD, MS, the study’s lead author, a practicing physician and an investigator at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore.

This study, my own personal experience along with thousand of weight loss surgery patients I’ve worked with show that weight loss is an important component in diabetes treatment and prevention.  With this study it now appears there may be an important window of opportunity following diagnosis where some lasting changes can be obtained if people are willing to take immediate steps toward lifestyle changes.

Whether you lose weight by diet and exercise, join an organized diet program or having weight loss surgery, the positive impacts extend to improving your health in substantial ways including diabetes.

For the complete article, check it out at:

http://www.itnewsonline.com/showprnstory.php?storyid=6013

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach

Small Choices-Big Differences

Published
by
Cathy
on August 29, 2008
in Weight Loss and Maintenance
. 0 Comments

One of the benefits to weight loss surgery is that it gives you big differences in losing more rapidly than through other dieting programs.  I lost 26 pounds my first month post-op.  Woo Hoo!  That was so much fun.  Of course, it slows up as we get further post-operatively and closer to our ideal weight.  The choices we made were limited imposed by the newness of our surgery but the differences were huge.

Now, if you are further post-op, small choices still make big differences.  Enough 1+1+1’s equal big numbers thus big differences.  If you haven’t quite reached your goal.  Let’s say you are 50 pounds away from your desired goal and are a couple of years or longer post-operatively.  Those pounds will probably come off slower and require more of a consistent chain of healthy choices.  If you make consistent healthy choices, however small you think they may be, will result in your weight loss of 50 pounds.

Examples of small choices could be rather than have a larger portion of a complex carbohydrate in a meal, make it smaller and eat more protein; eat two bites of protein for every one bite of vegetable, complex carb or fruit; instead of eating a large dinner and small mini-meals throughout the day, spread them out equally through your day for sustained sugar levels, energy levels and minimize hunger.

For exercise, adopt a no-give philosophy of exercising a minimum of 20 minutes per day.  For that minimum of 20 minutes, aim for 30-45 minutes of cardio including strength training.  If unable to make that time commitment, your 20 minutes no-give could be something as simple as walking in place or anything that constitutes activity.

As you go through your day today, you are creating many of the circumstances which you will live tomorrow.  If you eat a plate of cookies, you’ll wear them tomorrow!  If you pass up eating the cookies, you will carry the same or less weight on your body tomorrow.  It is all in the small choices you make.  Small, positive choices and actions today bring greater value and rewards as you move forward not only in tomorrow but in your future weight loss success.

You cannot instantly wake up and lost 50 pounds to your weight loss goal or lose those regained pounds.  However, you can have a significant and dramatic impact on where you will be tomorrow and the day after and the day after.  By making a healthy choice by not eating the plate of cookies or even one cookie, that is a success.  That success will create a momentum for successes today and into tomorrow and on.  Making an unhealthy choice can set you up to cycle through unhealthy choices that compound on themselves.
You cannot change where you already are.  Yet you can have a significant and dramatic effect on where you will soon be.

After easily maintaining my weight for years after my surgery, I had a major life transition and regained some weight.  Yes, I got it off but it was so much harder than the first time around.  I couldn’t tell you of the temporary fix of all the food I ate to regain that weight.  I sure can tell you about the challenge of losing those regained pounds.  Was it worth it?  Of course, no.

Make choices today that set you up to build and create momentum.  You cannot instantly change your circumstances. You can, however, instantly change the direction in which you’re headed.  The small choices you make today you will enjoy not only today but tomorrow.

You’ve heard the saying that nothing tastes as good as thin feels.  Unfortunately this has become a bit of a cliche but it is true.  Food is fleeting.  How long does it take you to eat that cookie, bag of chips, or other food choice?  That “enjoyment” (if you want to call it that) is very temporary.  But the feeling of overcoming the head hunger, the emotional eating trigger to eat something lasts a long time and the results are long-lasting as in smaller body size, lower weight, healthier body, and a feeling of well-being and sense of control.

Set yourself up by the choices you make to plant yourself firmly and resolutely in the direction of your weight loss goals and life dreams. For where you choose right now to go, is where you will soon be.

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach