:Obesity Information for all

People that I meet now don’t know that I was ever obese. I am by no means a small woman…my shoulders are broad, I have been told I am “athletic”, but no one thinks I am fat anymore. I, of course, will always see myself as “used to be obese”. I wear it like a baggy old shirt from my previous life.

And, I don’t tell many people either…I keenly remember the bitter pain of someone telling me how great their life is now that they have lost 100+ pounds…and the agony of thinking it can never be me. However, every once in a while I tell someone, because I think it will be a positive experience. Not a moment to brag…but more a moment to say, “I know your pain, I have lived it, and you can find a way out too.”

The most interesting part of this story is that so many people, from my old life, don’t recognize me. If you have followed the Biggest Loser at all, you have heard the contestants saying the same thing…they walk down the street and people don’t recognize them. That seems to appeal to people - more than the “feel good” points, or the “new wardrobe”…the idea of they could be a new person…is remarkably powerful.

It makes sense - we are miserable in our bodies, the prisons we have made for ourselves, and maybe, there will be a time when no one will remember it, when it will just be a thing of the past. It can be. No, never easy…you know it. We didn’t get big overnight, and we won’t get smaller and leaner overnight. But you can do it - look all around you. Move more, eat less…you can do it. No expensive diets, or pills, or even surgery…just move more and eat less - TODAY. Tomorrow, you can do the same thing…and the next day.

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The concept behind the Power of Ones is very straight forward. Do little things repeatedly…and they add up to big things…in our case, pounds lost, hundreds of them. While I would love to take credit for such a brainstorm, the only thing I can accept acknowledgement is the catchy Power of Ones phrase. In fact, this concept of doing little things has been around since the dawn of human kind.

In the May/June addition of ACSM’s journal (American College of Sports Medicine) ,

Nutritionist and Exercise Physiologist, Dr. Stella Lucia Volpe, writes about ways to help individuals adhere to exercise programs and changes in diet. She stresses that big changes are hard to implement and even harder to maintain…and instead, finding evidence in the research, that smaller bouts of intense exercise are easier to accomplish and have possibly better health benefits. Additionally, making a small change in diet…cutting back instead of cutting out, can be maintained…an example she uses is eating ice cream out of a coffee cup instead of a bowl. Sure, maybe you go back a couple of times in the beginning, but research shows that over time, you will eat less.

What does this mean for us? For those of you that have been practicing the Power of Ones in your life, you are seeing the results. No, not the huge lottery winning results that we all love to read about…instead, the losing 100 pounds of weight results. One of my readers, OM (to protect his privacy) has lost over 50 pounds since April…a steady, and safe 1-2 pounds per week. And this while living dorm style with 6 other overeaters and non-movers! It can be done and he is proof. SR has gone down 3 sizes and in her words “hasn’t been this small in years.” These two people are examples of applying the basics, over and over. It is easier to do, and more successful in the end.

Another interesting article in the ACSM journal is on the social undermining phenomenon for eating and exercising. In short, it demonstrates that those closest to us are often the ones that give us the most resistance to changes in our eating and moving. Statements like, “you would rather work out than be with me” or “just one bite, I made it just for you” can put a lot of pressure on us to stray from our focus of eating and moving better. AND – to be clear, our loved ones are usually not trying to hurt us or derail us in any way…but the results can be the same…a missed movement session or 1,3,10 extra bites that effect our goals. Finally…in this same article, the authors stress that those individuals that have support systems in place…friends that they move with, or talk about eating strategies, or trainers or coaches to discuss their challenges with are 60% more successful!

So find friends/coaches/trainers to help you…and chose small changes to make big and PERMANENT differences in your life.

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When we are moving along our weight loss journey…going from obese, possibly morbidly obese, to normal sized…we have a lot of decisions to make.

Some days…it is just about putting the right things in our mouths and moving in a way to get our metabolism going.  ON other days, we have bigger decisions to make.

What size do I want to be?

What size CAN I be?

Who am I when I am not this fat woman?

We all are heavy for our own special reasons…and to change that…permanently, we all have to answer some of these questions - and we all have to make the decision: that we are NOT fat.

That might sound like psychobabble…but hear me out.  We all have beliefs that we carry about ourselves and the world around us.  For those of us that are obese, (or were) we carry a belief that we are big.  Many of us, fail to see HOW big we are…often times for years at a time.  Some of us carry a belief that we are fat - though again, we may fail to see how obese we have gotten over time.  NONE of us carry a belief that we are a normal size…and that truly inhibits us as we move towards being a normal (average) size.

Don’t get me wrong…normal is not a standard of acceptance…in this case, it is a perspective.

What size clothes do you wear?  Currently the average American woman is a size 14 with a 34-37 inch waist, and the average American man has a 35-38 inch waist.

At size 28, I was…well, not a size 14, and frankly, I had never been a size 14 in my entire adult life.

So what business did I have deciding that was normal sized?  It was an essential part of my journey.

You see - if I continued to be a fat woman, losing weight…I would always be a fat woman.  Sounds redundant…but think of the consequences.  If I saw myself as ONLY a fat woman…no matter how much weight I lost, I would still be fat.  Not until I saw myself (my belief system) to be a normal (averaged) sized woman…that I could actually become that woman.

THAT is the decision we have to make…each of us.  Not to lose weight…that goes without mention.  But to decide to be something completely different.

My friend, Mandy Evans, helps people to breakout of their limiting beliefs.  I enthusiastically recommend you check out her site.

Essentially, think of something want that you feel only a miracle could bring to you…and then ask yourself why you can’t have it.  THOSE are your limiting beliefs.

I couldn’t be normal sized, because I am a big girl.  Why can’t I be normal sized?  Because I am a big girl.  There wasn’t even room in my thought process to be lean and strong…just to be a less-fat big girl.  Now…at 5′8″ and 190 pounds, and currently wearing a size 12-14…I am averaged size…but still bigger than a hollywood starlet.  But, I am AVERAGED sized…NO LONGER a big girl.

What if, you could be something different?  What would you be?  Think on it a bit…

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To many, those words can start a fight. There are literally HUNDREDS of people on the internet insisting they have the best way to lose weight, or the fastest way to a thin belly, or the quickest fat loss program out there. Many sites, or books offline, will state that if you eat this food, or perform that exercise, you will suddenly lose weight like never before.

For those of us who are obese, or have been obese, just overweight for many years of our lives…we have been the primary target of all that advertising. We have, as a demographic, spent billions of dollars following the claims and promises of one ad or another…desperately looking for that BEST, FASTEST or QUICKEST way to lose weight.

Unfortunately, there have been few significant changes in the science of weight loss. The bottom line remains: losing weight equals burning more calories than you take in. In other words, eat less, move more. What many of us have bought into is that someone has new information to make it EASIER to lose weight. What if someone actually did…and what if it was FREE? Furthermore, what if we had all heard of it, in most of the success stories we ever heard or read about, but we just didn’t realize it?

Think about it - What would make losing weight easy? If we could eat what we wanted - yes? Actually, if we could eat WHATEVER we wanted - yes?

What if we could eat whatever we wanted - and we just learned to moderate the massive quantities we had eaten…you know 2-3 slices of pizza instead of a whole pie, or 3 scoops of ice cream instead of the whole half-gallon?

In fact, if you could still eat cookies or cake or chocolate or sweets, AND still lose weight - and not have to take pills or powders or go to a gym - wouldn’t that be the EASIEST way to lose weight in the world?

Now - I am NOT saying that you can eat the same way, and move the same way and have a different body; many would call THAT insanity. What I am saying is that you can still eat your favorite foods, if you are willing to cut out a bite of them, here and there, and if you are willing to walk a bit more, here and there.

Really - if you just cut out ONE bite of a candy bar, every day (About 50 calories) and walked about 500-750 feet more every day (if your weight is over 200 pounds), you would lose about 10 pounds in a year. JUST ONE BITE LESS? Just 2 laps around the grocery store more? Yes - really.

You see, people who have lost weight, and kept it off did one thing consistently…they made small changes daily. Just little things, like one less bite of candy bar and a little bit more walking, make a difference. That is what makes the Power of ones the EASIEST way to lose weight, EVER.

Free - easy - start losing your weight today.
www.obesityfreeforlife.com

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With the weight loss industry bringing in BILLIONS of dollars a year - it is obvious that people are profiting from our desire to lose weight. It is understandable for someone to charge for counseling or coaching…for that requires active participants to invest time and energy into the process. It remains startling, and frankly, disconcerting, that people continue to charge people for the INFORMATION regarding losing weight.

Anyone and everyone who has been obese, especially morbidly obese (more than 100 pounds overweight) knows the struggle, the pain and the effort that goes into trying to lose weight. Actually - men and women who have been overweight or obese know the challenge of even THINKING about losing weight. Often times, it takes every bit of energy we have to stay focused on the new diet of the day…and the bitterness of PAYING money to buy special food and a new book on the RIGHT way to lose weight seems…exploitative at best.

The science is pretty darn clear - we must decrease our calories and increase our movement if we are going to lose weight. That result is seen in every research study done…the challenge for researchers and weight loss professionals, including doctors, counselors, nutritionists, trainers, etc. is helping clients to stay focused on the simplicity of that concept.

Most of us, who have struggled, possibly a lifetime with obesity, know that food creates a buffer or a distraction for us…it helps us out of our current pain. Yes, we are clear on the pain it creates long term…but now, in this moment, we hurt so we eat. Sometimes that moment lasts one candy bar or one ice cream cone…sometimes it is 1,2,3 pizzas, or 5 different stops at a burger joint; sometimes it even lasts for days or weeks, leaving us in massive despair.

If you really want to lose weight…if you want to change your life and really get obesity help, EVEN if you are considering weight loss surgery, you will need to accept that to lose weight you need to eat and move differently that you currently are. The GOOD news is that the information is free…it can be, if you just look for it. You are looking for sites that give you free strategies or help on HOW to eat less and move more. If you want to pay for support, whether a personal coach or daily emails that will help you to stay focused, that is your call. But the INFORMATION on how to lose weight - how to eat less, move more, slowly and safely, is out there. And it should be FREE to all who want it or need it.

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I think a lot of people have the feeling that “life will be better when…”

When I lose weight, when I get married, when I get this job, or that promotion, when I get better, when I blank, blank, blank; THEN I will be happy.

Losing weight doesn’t solve every problem I have ever had. I still have many of the same ones…but I don’t have 100 + pounds that I have carry around and deal with at the same time. Believe me, that helps.

Try to stay focused on just eating less, moving more and taking on your other challenges one bit a time. You can do it.

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The Body Mass Index (BMI) , or Quetelet index, named for the mathematician Adolphe Quetelet who created it in the 1800’s, was designed as an measure of a population and not as a means to measure individuals. It is only a statistical tool that merely indicates adiposity (degree of fatness). Based solely on height and weight information, it fails to account for varying proportions of muscularity, fat, bone, water weight, or one’s level of fitness. Competitive athletes frequently measure obese due to there increased muscularity and weight, in relation to their height. Furthermore, the various classifications of Starvation /Underweight /Normal /Overweight /Obese /Morbidly Obese have been found to have wildly varying health benefits across numerous epidemiological studies.

Unfortunately, the “war on obesity” and the excessive media focus upon this “war” has shown the limitations of such an arbitrary measure. Repeatedly, we are being inundated with the message to get our BMI down to a “normal” level (18.5-24.9) or else risk the dire consequences. Yet, in study and after study, researchers continue to be confounded by what is called the Obesity Paradox; most fat people actually live longer than thin people! In 2006, the American Heart Association reported that “obese” cardiac patients were more than TWICE as likely to survive hospitalization and invasive surgery then “normal” patients…this was taken from a study of over 130,000 heart disease patients.

This Obesity Paradox is not just being seen with heart disease…it has also been reported with dialysis patients. “Obese” patients are more likely to survive than their smaller counterparts. As it turns out, patients with kidney disease, often present with malnutrition, called Kidney Disease Wasting, and the obese populations within this group actually fare better due to increased reserves! In fact, there are many areas where the “obese” are showing to have greater survival rates – possibly due to a protective benefit of fat as we age; cancer, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and even type 2 diabetes.

What does this all mean to us? Should we allow ourselves to get fatter and fatter – and fell guilty about it? That is not a question I can answer for anyone but myself. I know that I feel better at certain weights than others. I also know that I will never be “actress thin” in a safe way…therefore, accepting my body as I am, and living within it each day is best I can advise for myself or anyone else.

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