Unrealistic Weight Loss Targets Lead to Disappointment
Just found this article, thanks to Google alerts: http://www.helium.com/items/1910494-why-setting-unrealistic-weight-loss-targets-will-only-lead-to-disappointment
I think this is critical-your total goal can be to get to a healthy weight no matter how much you need to lose, but setting unrealistic goals for how long that should take is just a recipe for failure. Small goals-like “I want to lose 5 lbs” with no time limit are much easier to cope with. Then set a new goal for losing 5 lbs. And do it again. Shows like The Biggest Loser, while offering encouragement, are also dangerous in that they set unreasonable expectations for those of us with normal lives. Besides, rapid weight loss is not only dangerous, but makes it much more likely that you’ll just gain it all back. Incremental lifestyle changes and losing 1-2 lbs per week have been shown to be the most successful at losing weight and keeping it off.
Posted by Matt on 08/02 at 02:08 PM
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Finally Getting Back on Track
I’ve been on-again-off-again for a while now. I managed to gain back a bunch of the weight I had lost, but I’m refocusing and staying consistent with exercise, which is helping. Had a 4 lb loss last week, so I’m feeling encouraged this week.
Posted by Matt on 08/02 at 01:40 PM
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Weight Loss Podcasts
I’ve found a few podcasts I like about weight loss, and I’m listing them below. What are your favorites?
No Excuses Weight Loss by Jonathan Roche
Weight Watchers Blogger
Logical Weight Loss
Posted by Matt on 09/17 at 08:58 AM
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Time Misses the Point
In this http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857-1,00.html” title=“Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin”>recent article by Time “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” they state, in part:
The basic problem is that while it’s true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight, exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate the weight-loss benefits we just accrued. Exercise, in other words, isn’t necessarily helping us lose weight. It may even be making it harder.
But, like some others like the LA Times and ABC News, I disagree with the article and their findings.
While the study published in Time does provide evidence from a clinical point of view that exercise may not help to make you thin, I think they’re really missing the point. Among other things, the study, like so many scientific studies about weight loss, completely ignores the emotional component of weight loss in favor of simplifying the calories in/calories out equation. While there may be a factor of increased hunger from exercise, the point is that exercise does increase the calories a person burns during the day. The problem is not the exercise, but the distorted thinking people engage in when it comes to losing weight and the misinformation in our society. What I would have like to see in that study is an additional group who not only exercised, but received nutritional/dietary counseling and possibly even therapy to help them deal with the emotional issues so many of us who are overweight face.
In addition, the math just doesn’t add up. According to several online calculators, my 60 minutes on the elliptical each morning burns an average of about 700 calories. If I exercise an average of 5 times per week, that adds up to one pound per week, or approximately 50 lbs per year! Now, it’s true that if I feel that exercising justifies eating a muffin every day on top of what I’m already eating, I may cancel out the calories, but by understanding nutrition, staying on WeightWatchers and using cognitive therapy methods like The Beck Diet Solution, I can stay on track eating and learn to eat properly for the rest of my life.
In addition to creating a 50 lb deficit for each year, here are some other benefits that I think are crucial, at least for me:
Symbolic
The fact that I get up in the morning and exercise symbolizes my effort towards becoming healthier, and changes my mindset for the rest of the day.
Emotional
Exercising helps emotional eaters like me tremendously. By reducing stress and anxiety, I’m less likely to experience depression which I often self-medicate through food. Exercise boosts endorphins, making me feel better and feel better about myself.
Increase in Energy
Unlike the people referenced in the study, when I exercise, I actually feel an increase in energy for the rest of the day. Rather than moving less throughout the day, I’m more likely to be active and engage in those low-level activities that the study also found to be beneficial.
Clerical
I don’t know if “clerical” is quite the right word, but I respond well to being able to check things off or put something down as an accomplishment for the day. The fact that I get to add exercise to my WeightWatchers tracker means that I’m more likely to also track food for the day.
So, in a very narrow perspective, I think the study and article are technically correct, but I think they’re missing the point and need to study it more in depth. I did like the point that they made about “exercise” being less important than increasing total activity over the course of a day, but for those of us who are chair-bound during the day, I think exercise is a vital component to weight loss, weight maintenance and cardiovascular health. I was also a bit surprised that they didn’t talk about the benefits in terms of maintaining blood sugar levels.
Posted by Matt on 08/11 at 01:52 PM
Emotional Eating •
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Are you Shaving the Bear?
Seth Godin is a well known author, entrepreneur and agent of change, and often speaks and writes on marketing, messaging and brand. His recent post Bear shaving brings up a terrific point on emotional eating:
Example: You have emotional issues associated with eating. You shave the bear by getting bariatric surgery instead of dealing with the issue that caused the problem in the first place.
The bear shaving reference is not only amusing, but points out how we often go to ridiculous lengths to justify and rationalize our behavior to avoid dealing with core issues. I, for one, struggle with many emotional issues, and often end up trying to eat my way through those emotions. The struggle is to learn strategies to deal with those core issues rather than avoiding them by eating or using other avoidance mechanisms.
Posted by Matt on 08/10 at 09:10 AM
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Weekly Check In 8/10/09
Didn’t do all that well last week, but I lost .5 lbs in spite of that. My goal this week is to stay OP the entire week and exercise at least 5 times.
Posted by Matt on 08/10 at 09:05 AM
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Obesity: Calories or content: what is the best weight-loss diet?
Excellent article at nature.com on what makes the best weight-loss diet:
Researchers have randomly assigned 811 overweight adults to low-calorie diets with differing percentages of energy derived from protein, carbohydrate, and fat; participants were followed up for 2 years. All groups experienced modest weight loss and improvements in cardiac and diabetes risk factors. Does this finding mean that clinicians can finally advise their patients on the best way to lose weight?
Posted by Matt on 08/04 at 04:36 PM
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Weekly Check In 8/3/09
Finally back on track, lost 2.5 lbs last week in spite of falling off the wagon over the weekend. I fell down last week and scraped up my knee, plus bruised it a bit, so didn’t exercise much. I’m planning on getting back on the exercise train starting tomorrow.
Posted by Matt on 08/03 at 05:02 PM
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Yet another restart
After struggling for months, I’m still determined to kick this emotional eating and get my health under control. It’s so easy to turn to food when under stress, and it seems to be a difficult addiction to break. Right now I’m having trouble just breaking the cycle for a few days, but I really need to learn to get this under control. It really is a matter of life and death, but the harm sometimes seems really distant and I’d rather eat now than take my health into consideration. I will prevail, though.
Posted by Matt on 07/05 at 07:11 PM
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Weight loss an exercise in dedication
Excellent article at freep.com
After the six-week program I dropped 20 pounds. It is amazing to watch the transformation from one week to the next.
I felt so good when I finished and I realized I still needed to lose more, so I kept up my routine on my own.
Here’s the first video:
Go to the article to view the rest of them. Great work, Mike!
Posted by Matt on 06/17 at 08:57 AM
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Zen and the Art of Fitness-keep it simple
In fact, you can boil it down to two simple rules:
1. Get your body moving on a regular basis; and
2. Eat a moderate amount of real, whole foods (with occasional indulgences).I believe if you stuck to those two rules, and stuck with them for awhile, you’d get fit. Doing one but not the other will result in an improvement in health for many people (not all), but it would be an incomplete health. Do both most days of the week and you’re on your way to health and fitness.
Posted by Matt on 06/16 at 06:56 PM
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Weekly Check In 6/15/09
Finally getting my head around and getting myself back on track again. Each week seems to be a different struggle, and I’m resorting to food for emotional support. Of course, it doesn’t really work but as I’ve mentioned before, my broken brain keeps coming back for more.
Posted by Matt on 06/16 at 04:29 PM
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Weekly Check In 5/18/09
Had another rough week, gained 3.5 lbs. Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more…
Posted by Matt on 05/18 at 08:33 AM
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Weekly Check In 5/11/09
I managed to mostly get back on track last week, only going off program 2 days. I didn’t get as much exercise as I should have because I was getting up early to work instead of workout. I’m planning on changing that this week and exercising every day.
Posted by Matt on 05/11 at 08:13 AM
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Study shows behavior change is crucial to maintaining weight loss-DUH!
Unfortunately, they don’t specify which behaviors were changed, they just mention the techniques for getting the study participants to make those changes.
http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/852571020057CCF6852575B1006C8B75
The most commonly reported behavioural change techniques, which were also associated with the most successful interventions, included self-monitoring (eg, food diaries), instructions to the participant (eg, how to make better food choices), and identifying barriers to success (eg, pinpointing difficult situations).
Posted by Matt on 05/10 at 07:22 AM
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