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WHAT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD SAYS ABOUT YOU

In the world of health and weight loss, we hear a plethora of information about what, when, and how much we should eat. But for all this information, the discussion about our relationship with food is non-existent at best. It seems that we live in a culture that is dependent on sound information about weight loss, of which there is none. To be sure, when I say sound information about weight loss, I am speaking of information about weight loss that incorporates information pertaining to your relationship with food. Without this integral piece of information, the changes we may make in the what, when, and how much categories of our weight loss will only be first order changes. First order changes are changes in behavior, not the underlying thoughts, and feelings that support behavior. The failure of this band-aid approach is evidenced by the lack of weight loss success in this country. In order to create second order changes, or changes in the thoughts and feelings that support the behavior of weight loss, we must change not only what, when, and how much we eat, but our attitude toward food. In order to change this, we must first understand it. As we do, we will likely find that our attitude toward food represents not just a pattern in our behavior around food, but our behavior in life in general. That being said, it is not uncommon to find that the way you are around food, is the way you are about many things in life. So let’s explore a few different attitudes toward food, and the ways in which these attitudes affect our lives:

1. THE CONTROLLER: Do you view food as something in your life that can be controlled? Do you depend on your control of food to gain a sense of control of your life? Do you find yourself turning to food to overcome emotions or situations that are not within your control? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you probably do have a tendency to view food as control. People such as this tend to look for things in their life that can be regulated, structured, managed and consistent. When they find these things, they tend to depend on them for emotional stability. What this means is that when that thing in the person’s life is stable, regulated, managed, and consistent, so is the person. But when that thing is not consistent, stable, or controlled, neither are the person’s emotions. People such as this, do not like changes in routine, and have trouble adjusting when plans do not go as expected. Much of what perpetuates this trouble adjusting to changes in routine is the expectation that things should not change unless the person changes them. People such as this, rely on the ability to control things, and can have trouble delegating authority to others, or trusting them with control. Using the relationship with food as a way to feel in control can then predispose this person to eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, or bulimia nervosa. However, perhaps the larger issue is that this person is prone to depression and anxiety, as a life that is dependent on control ceases to have a sense of freedom, enjoyment, or passion.

2. THE DEPENDENT: Do you feel as though food provides comfort for you? Do you find yourself nurtured by food? Do you turn to food when you feel depressed, or rejected? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have a tendency to view food as something to be depended on. People such as this; tend to look for things in their life that represent comfort. This can be in the form of a relationship, a place, a thing, or food. As these things will provide emotional comfort, every time they feel depressed, they will turn to those things. For people such as this, emotional stability is dependent on the availability of these things. As they tend to look for ways in their life to feel nurtured, they also do not like to be in control, and would rather delegate authority than experience it. However, looking to other people and things to fulfill their emotional needs, these people are prone to overeating, and feeling as though their life is without direction, or firm anchoring.

3. THE ANGRY PERSON: Do you feel as though diet plans and weight loss attempts have let you down? Do you tend to find yourself often angry, and looking for a way to vent? Does food provide an opportunity for you to get what you really want when you are not able to in other ways in your life? If you answered yes to any of these questions you have a tendency to be an angry eater. People such as this tend to be angry in life easily, and often experience this emotion predominantly. As they experience anger frequently, they also feel as though life, people, and situations have let them down. As they cannot change any of these situations that have disappointed them, they look for a way to express their anger. In fact, they become dependent on these situations. They may find themselves feeling attached to things in their life that allow them to express their anger. For this reason, they will often stay in relationships that they describe as bad. These relationships allow them to express their anger. Food, to these people, also represents a way to express anger, and they will often find themselves eating when they are angry. Much in the same way that they will stay in a bad relationship because it is a way for them to express their anger, they will also want to maintain their relationship with food. They may ask for help, or attempt to change their eating habits, but they remain attached to the angry relationship they have with food. Because people such as this have trouble letting go of their anger, they are also prone to self destructive behavior and patterns in life.

4. THE LOST PERSON: Do you find yourself trying routine after routine in your weight loss efforts? Do you find that your weight loss efforts go well when you are on a routine, yet things seem to fall apart when the routine ends? Do you often have trouble knowing what food will satisfy you? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have a tendency to feel lost around food. People such as this tend to be unsure not just about what they may want to eat, but about a lot of things in life in general. They tend to do well when the expectations are set out for them, and the routine is implemented for them. But when it comes to developing their own expectations of themselves, or creating their own routine, they falter. They tend to never really be sure about what they want, and their relationship with food demonstrates this. It is almost as if as long as the eating routine satisfies someone else, they are satisfied. But they never really know what satisfies them. For this reason, people such as this are prone to feelings of loneliness, and loss of hope. It becomes difficult for these people to feel confident and sure of themselves as they feel as they don’t understand themselves frequently. That being said, they may also have trouble knowing when they truly hungry or not, and/or differentiating hunger and fullness levels. As a result of this, they can be prone to overeating, and undereating.

Looking at the types above, see if you can determine your attitude toward food. If you can, you are already one step ahead. Typically, when people understand not just their relationship with food, but themselves more clearly, the needed changes are also more salient. Additionally, when you can see that your relationship with food is a component of a larger pattern in your life, the impetus to change will be strengthened. When you do make these needed changes, although they may be challenging and difficult at times, it is important to recognize that lasting change includes changing not just what, when, and how much you eat, but also they way you think and feel about food, yourself, and your life.

Eric Viskovicz is the founder and director of Live In Fitness Enterprises. When it comes to weight loss, Eric Viskovicz is both an innovator and a pioneer. He was the biggest looser and developed his program before others in the industry due to his own struggle with weight loss, and a comprehensive understanding of the way in which the struggle to lose weight can totally envelope a person, Eric was the first person to realize that in order to be successful at weight loss, it needs to be treated in the way in which it is experienced. What this means to Eric is that in order to win at weight loss, a person has to first completely understand himself. This philosophy led Eric Viskovicz to produce the first ever approach to weight loss based on the person’s personality.


What really holds you back: exploring the common barriers to weight loss.

In the field of weight loss, success is rare. However, what is even more rare is an understanding of the real barriers to success. While many studies, questionnaires and focus groups have attempted to identify what inhibits weight loss, unless we actually follow the person and observe him in every aspect of his life, we cannot know what really prevents weight loss.

While many people would consider this idea impossible, this is exactly what a residential fitness camp does. Also known as a weight loss camp, or retreat, a residential program houses the clients and monitors them as much as 12 hours per day. The clients are observed and monitored by fitness professionals during the day as they progress from one exercise component of the program to another. Most weight loss camps also have the clients meet weekly, or twice per week with a nutritionist, and a select few of these programs have the clients meet weekly with a clinical therapist. The clients are provided all of the meals they will need while in the program, and given an apartment style room to stay in. In order to comprehensively measure the client’s progress, and detect any deviations from the menu, the athletic camp will have the clients weigh in every week, and sometimes twice per week. What really separates fitness camps from typical weight loss programs, is that the residential setting allows the client’s behaviors to be monitored all day, every day. What comes out of this monitoring? Watching the client for the majority of every day for 30, 60, or 90 days allows the team of fitness professionals, nutritionist, and clinical therapist to determine what really holds the client back-not just what the client says holds her back.

What this essentially means is that the underlying causes of the client’s lack of success, that she is often not consciously aware of, become evident. Through the close examination of the client in every possible situation, the weight loss camp notices all of the small, seemingly insignificant, deviations in her behavior, that serve as minute indicators of her real personality. The client’s real personality is often that which she does not consciously present to the world, and is often a much clearer picture of the type of person that she is. As clients, and people in general, frequently are very selective in what they present to the world, what is often observed by others is an ideal version of the actual person. In the case of typical fitness programs as oppose to fitness camps, this selective presentation can often mask the client’s real personality, and deceive fitness professionals. Obviously, when this happens, not only is the client in denial about the real causes of her failure to lose weight, but she is also deceiving the fitness professionals. Without having a complete accurate picture of the person they are attempting to help, even very sincere attempts to help her lose weight will be ineffective.

There can be many reasons that the client will avoid presenting an accurate picture of herself to those offering to help her. For one, many clients have attempted weight loss many times, and remain unsuccessful. These repeated failures have resulted in a client who can be very defensive about the amount of pain these failures have caused her, and all of the behaviors she has developed to compensate for this pain. For example, the client would most likely be incredibly uncomfortable telling anyone, even a fitness professional, that she binge eats at home alone, especially after attempting to starve herself thin, or that she has lied about her food intake to family and friends. While the client may be very defensive and protective about discussing her past weight loss attempts and failures, she may also not be fully aware of the reasons she is engaging in these behaviors. In the case of the client who has masked her behavior to the outside world for many years, she has probably also masked her behavior to herself. What this means is that she has lost sight of the real reasons she may be engaging in the self sabotaging behaviors that cause her to fail at weight loss. Clearly, in either one of these cases, the real reasons for the client’s lack of success remain unclear, and untreated.

This is where weight loss camps become invaluable. Because the client is monitored for so many hours of the day, held accountable to the program through weekly weight in, and in the some cases, meeting with a clinical therapist weekly, a truly accurate picture of the type of person she is can be developed. While some clients may continue to attempt to mask their behavior, it is the very comprehensive programs that recognize that through a very diverse approach, the client’s real personality will be clear. For example, many weight loss camps will include many activities that the client would have previously avoided. Imagine, for example, the 44 yr old mother of three playing flag football, kayaking, or doing a three-hour bike, hike, bike ride. Inevitably, all of the person’s fears, insecurities, and avoidances will come out, regardless of her attempts to hide them. When this happens, the team of fitness professionals, nutritionist, and clinical therapist can interpret these behaviors to gain a collaborative understanding of the real personality of the client. Once this real personality is understood, a clinical approach will allow for a thorough understanding of all of the same fears, avoidances, and insecurities that will lead to the client’s lack of success at weight loss. From that point, the team can then comprise an effective strategy to treat the real reasons of the client’s lack of success. Often, this approach means a complete lifestyle change for the client, often including not just her behavior around food and exercise, but also the way she views herself as a person. For the 44 yr old mother of three, out there throwing a football, sprinting and dodging opponents, the experience go far beyond just weight loss.

Eric Viskovicz is the founder and director of Live In Fitness Enterprises. When it comes to weight loss, Eric Viskovicz is both an innovator and a pioneer. He was the biggest looser and developed his program before others in the industry due to his own struggle with weight loss, and a comprehensive understanding of the way in which the struggle to lose weight can totally envelope a person, Eric was the first person to realize that in order to be successful at weight loss, it needs to be treated in the way in which it is experienced. What this means to Eric is that in order to win at weight loss, a person has to first completely understand himself. This philosophy led Eric Viskovicz to produce the first ever approach to weight loss based on the person’s personality.


MAKING SENSE OUT OF WEIGHT LOSS NONSENSE

You’ve been counting calories, exercising diligently, drinking more water, and learning about the “right” foods to eat. You even went to the health food store. As you have thoroughly raided your cupboards of any evil temptations, and thrown away all of the unfinished ice cream containers in your freezer, you stop to wonder: is this really going to work? Pondering that question the absurdity of the attempt to lose weight hits you. Here we are in a society somehow maliciously determined to make ourselves suffer. We create the richest chocolate shakes, the juiciest burgers, the cheesiest pizzas, and the biggest servings of everything. Heck we are the master of the supersize. And then, we create these movie stars, celebrities and public figures that make even Barbie’s unrealistic measurements seem too big. She would have been a 34, 24, 38.

What are we supposed to do? There is even a new diagnostic category in the DSM-IV manual for binge eating. These people have become so addicted to the food they have lost control. If being super-thin is considered “good”, then why do we have all this good stuff? It seems absurd to you as you reach for your last half eaten container of ice cream and toss it on top on the “People” magazine cover with the picture of Angelina Jolie.

It seems fitting that both of those things should go in the trash. After all, you just read an article on the National Institute of Health website that reported that the average mood of people when watching a sitcom was mild depression. Perhaps reading People magazine has the same affect. After all, all those actresses and models look the same. In fact, they kind of look about as plastic as the ice cream that is melting onto Angelina face. If the website also said that eating “fake” foods like every diet food these days, is bad for you, then, it occurred to you that possibly the same bad affect the doctors are warning you about might happen if you are exposed to those “fake” people. And what isn’t fake these days? More than 65% of the U.S. population is currently trying to lose weight, according to the website. When you went to the grocery store, it certainly wasn’t hard to find what you wanted in a diet version. As you piled the low sugar jam on top of the low sugar, low carb bread, you felt as though you had discovered some hidden treasure. Everything came in a diet version. You could even get Ben and Jerry’s chocolate explosion ice cream in low sugar. It even felt like an explosion in your gut as you got so excited and downed the whole thing, only to read the label and discover that the “fake” sugar, aspartame can have laxative effects. That’s when the People magazine came in handy as you were stuck in the bathroom for the rest of the night to predicament you were in. What is going on here, you wondered? No wonder that website also said that we are the most depressed nation on the planet.

As you take a look at your zippy new Nike running shoes staring across the room at you, you think to yourself, no wonder we are all gaining weight, nobody feels like exercising when they are depressed. Or, wait, are we so depressed because we have gained weight? This is all getting so confusing. Good thing that website included a mental health section, thinking about all this weight loss stuff is enough to make anybody crazy. Hey wait a minute, they did say sunlight was good for ADD kids. As you look back at your Nikes, they do seem to be pointing toward the door. Maybe if sunlight helps those ADD kids, it will help make sense out of this mess.

You lace your shoes and step outside, thinking maybe, just maybe you’ll find some answers. You start down your block, and head to the nearest park, if sunshine is good, grass, and trees might be better still. The more nature, the better right?

Then it hits you: the website said sunshine is good for the mental health of ADD kids, yet all those weight loss products never mention anything about health. In fact, neither do the celebrities. And they sure as heck don’t all look so healthy. If Brittany Spears, Mel Gibson, Pamela Anderson, and Michael Jackson are any example of health, we all better pick up our needles and start aiming for the nearest vein. Wait a minute, you stop dead in your tracks. Didn’t that weight loss product Metabolife get implicated in several deaths? Whoever thought getting thin could kill you? The doctor told you to lose weight or else you could die early, but he didn’t say losing weight could kill you. He must have meant that you should lose weight to get healthy, but he sure probably didn’t mean you should lose your health to lose weight. Or your mind for that matter.

You shake your head, losing weight shouldn’t come with a warning label. Neither should the people we look to as healthy. As you approach the park, you think to yourself, since when did the focus on health get lost with all the weight we are supposed to lose? Something moving quickly to your left catches you eye. As you turn your head, you see your neighbor’s daughter racing across the grass with the reckless abandon only a six year old could know. Now that looks healthy. You think back to when you felt that energetic. It must have been 10 years since you bothered to break into a trot. And that was only to snatch the last chocolate chip cookie from your husband’s hand. What the heck, you decide to give it a try. You gingerly take a few steps. Hey this doesn’t feel so bad, you think, impressed with the little bit of spring in your step. Maybe you haven’t lost it after all these years. This actually doesn’t feel too bad, and you stretch your stride out a little, then a little more, and before you know it, you’ve crossed the grass. A little sign posted on the fence catches your attention. It’s a brochure for a 10K race in your neighborhood. Something tells you to take a look. 10K seems far, actually 10 of anything athletic seems daunting. But wait, it supports leukemia. That seems noble. Those poor kids with leukemia go through a lot more than running a 10 K you think. And there’s a walking division. Now either the sun has really gotten to you, or you are actually considering doing this. Well it doesn’t come with a warning label you laugh to yourself.

And it does seem to make more sense than spending endless hours comparing low carb, low sugar, high protein, zero calorie, and “lite” versions of everything food item known to man. Or was that chemical item known to man? Your head spins with the thought.

At least this $25 entry fee supports a charity. That a heck of a lot more than any of those diet products can say. And you never know, this running stuff just might catch on, you think to yourself as you take down the number and head off across the grass again. Compared to the weight loss efforts you’ve been trying, maybe this health stuff isn’t so bad. And that website was right, the sunshine did help your temporary case of ADD.

Eric Viskovicz is the founder and director of Live In Fitness Enterprises. When it comes to weight loss, Eric Viskovicz is both an innovator and a pioneer. He was the biggest looser and developed his program before others in the industry due to his own struggle with weight loss, and a comprehensive understanding of the way in which the struggle to lose weight can totally envelope a person, Eric was the first person to realize that in order to be successful at weight loss, it needs to be treated in the way in which it is experienced. What this means to Eric is that in order to win at weight loss, a person has to first completely understand himself. This philosophy led Eric Viskovicz to produce the first ever approach to weight loss based on the person’s personality.


Weight Loss 101: Overcoming Shame

Weight loss should make us feel positive right? After all, we are going to look better, so we should feel better right? Well, not always. How we feel is inexorably linked to what we do. In this sense, what we do is often a much more clear indicator of how we feel than what we say. While we may say we feel fine, what we do may not indicate that we feel fine. For example, we may show up at our jobs, proceed to live a “normal” life, appear happy, and then go home and binge eat. Do we really feel fine? On the surface, maybe. But what lies underneath? How do we really feel about the things we do that we do not share with others? When we do these things, how do we feel about ourselves? How do we think those around us would respond if they knew the truth about the things we do?

Thinking about questions such as these can be overwhelming as, often, the tendency to avoid shameful emotions has kept many of our behaviors out of the realm of conscious experience. What this means is that we do these things unconsciously, without really registering an emotional reaction to them. Yet the shame we feel about these things that we do continues to affect us, often causing us to continue these behaviors. In a vicious cycle, we act in one shameful way after another, all the while perpetuating our sense of shame and keeping it out of our awareness. For example, let’s say that you have a secret that no one knows about you, and this secret is kept even from your husband. While you may not ever allow yourself to think about how this secrecy between the two of you affects you, and further, what he might think of you, when you do begin to think about it, the feeling becomes overwhelming. Not coincidently, a few years into the marriage, you also find yourself sneaking food, and overeating when he is not around. These shameful acts represent the way that you feel about the original secret. They also create more shame as you now have two secrets to hide from your husband. As this cycle unfolds, the shameful behaviors can create a contagion around us, making us feel like a shameful person.

This explains why binge eating can be so difficult to treat. The sense of shame the binge eater feels both remains under the surface of her awareness, and becomes a part of her identity, incorporating itself into other behaviors. The more this happens, the more the person feels and identifies as a shameful person. She may begin to see herself like other shameful people, who do not deserve to be treated well, cared for, or consequently, treat others well. Shameful people do not treat themselves well, but they also do not treat other people well. As the sense of shame becomes more powerful, the person may have trouble trusting care, but also behaving in ways that demonstrate care for others. At the root of this is a person who does not believe that she deserves to be treated well, by herself, or others.

Clearly, what remains under the surface cannot be treated. Overcoming shame then, depends on the ability to bring all of these behaviors into our conscious awareness. Essentially, we have to take out our emotional trash, and in doing so, become open about the things that we are shameful of. We will need to find one trusting person, such a counselor or therapist, to disclose the things we feel shameful about. The reason we may want to consider a therapist over, say a friend or family member is because it is the therapist’s responsibility to be objective, whereas our friends and family members do not have this responsibility. What this means is that we may fear their reactio0n much more, be more tied to it, and also may not receive a balanced response from them as it is colored by their own subjective feelings toward us. Choosing your mother for example, may not be the best choice if she has her own psychological issues, such as a need to see her daughter as perfect. Therefore when you disclose what you are shameful about she may be overly critical, judgmental, or demeaning. As you may imagine, this response is not going to alleviate any sense of shame, and in fact, may increase it. However, when you can discuss what you feel shameful about and receive an objective response, a different thing happens: your shame loses power over you. These shameful things lose power over you as they no longer exist under the surface of your awareness. What this means is that they lose their contagious ability to affect other behaviors, thereby halting the vicious cycle of your behavior acting out your unconscious material. Additionally, you will be aware of all of the things that make you feel shameful, meaning that you now have the power to change them. Not only will you feel more accepted by yourself and those around you, but also, less likely to binge eat.


WANT TO LOSE THE WEIGHT?

ASK WHY YOU HAVE IT NOT WHY YOU CAN’T LOSE IT.

“It’s my hormones” “My problem is carbohydrates” “I have a food allergy” “I can’t eat white flour or sugar, it makes me fat” Sound familiar? We have all heard excuses such as this to explain why someone has not lost weight. And if any of them were true, presumable the person using these excuses would no longer be heavy. If the problem is your hormones, then you fix that, and you will lose weight. Simple enough right? However, we look at the person, and they clearly haven’t fixed the problem. That’s because that wasn’t the problem in the first place. The reason that person can’t lose weight is because she has not figured out the problem, probably because she is not looking in the right place.

Ultimately, when we sit in front the plate of food in front of us, when we lace up those running shoes and head out the door, when we get honest with ourselves, it is us. We are the only reasons we are heavy, and we are the only reasons we are going to get un-heavy. As much as we would like to find these answers outside of ourselves, and will assuredly spend a good amount of time looking there, we may as well be throwing our energy down the drain. We probably have already thrown a good amount of money there on any number of diet programs that promised results through some sort of magic pill, routine, blood test, or nutritional program. Let me put it straight, any program that did not focus on YOUR part, that is: what you are doing that you are surrounding yourself with weight, that you are avoiding relationships, that you are isolating, that you are terrorized about being thin and receiving attention, or that you are in denial about YOUR part of weight loss, is misguided from the start. At best these programs are ineffective, at worst, they are damaging. Let me sell you false hope in a bottle, then we can talk about how bad you feel that you have not only trusted me, only to be misguided again, but also how angry you are that I have taken advantage of your desperation to lose weight, and used it for my personal gain. Oh, and we can also talk about how much more of failure you feel you are that you have once again failed at weight lost. Sound like a good idea? Hopefully you said no, and more hopefully, you felt angry at the presumptuous suggestion.

Because it is a presumptuous suggestion that I have the ultimate cure for your weight problems. I have no idea why you eat what you eat, why you don’t exercise enough. Maybe you don’t see yourself as an exerciser, maybe exercise seems like a chore to you, maybe it was forced on you as a child, maybe you have abuse in your past and you become frightened about the idea of being thin. Who knows? You could have the “perfect” diet from 9am to 3pm, only to turn the evening into an all out eating contest, maybe you have trouble finding validation for yourself and food is the respite, maybe you are acting out a previous trauma by punishing yourself with food. Again, the reasons why you have not lost the weight can be as numerous as the ways you have found to prevent yourself from losing weight. The surface answer, “I am just lazy”, I don’t buy, and nor should you. Just lazy is a remedial explanation for not being where you want to be in life. The difference being that just lazy people do not want to be anywhere else. In that case, their weight is perfectly comfortable for them. Just lazy people also do not spend inordinate amounts of money trying to be “not lazy”, aka, losing weight.

Somehow desperation to lose weight, and just lazy don’t fit together. So do not fool yourself, if you really are just lazy, you wouldn’t be trying to lose weight. Obviously there is something else going on. And no quack selling weight loss in a bottle, pill, or program is going to fix it. The truth is, you are the only thing that is going to fix it. But, that being said, you are not going to fix it, unless you know what “it” is. That is, WHY you have to have the weight. Your first answer, “I don’t”, is not true. Clearly you do, because you are putting it there. You, being an intelligent person, must have a reason for doing this, otherwise you would not be doing it. So get honest, and start asking, what does the weight do for me, what does it keep away from me, what does it hide, what does it allow me to give voice to, what does it prevent from happening? Probably you don’t have answers for many of these questions. That is a good starting place, and at this point, you should not have answers. The important thing is to ASK WHY. The difference between asking, and explaining is willingness. If you are explaining to me why you have the weight, you are not willing to really look. If you really knew why you had the weight, guess what, you would not have it.

Weight loss is not a road riddled with hurdles and setbacks, it is a road thus far riddled with avoidances and excuses, mostly that we put there. Where there should have been willingness, there was resistance, where there should have been acceptance, there was judgment, where there should have been tolerance there was fear, and where there should have been self reliance, there was lack of responsibility.


HEALTHY WEIGHT TOOLS FOR PARENTS

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY

In today’s demanding world, the idea of play being important can seem counterintuitive to success. To be sure, play does not seem to have direct measurable impact on the bottom line. Yet, for parents, the idea of play can take on a different meaning. With the addition of children, the context of play is changed drastically, as it is often realized an integral part of a child’s daily life. It is typically around this time that we hear of “play dates”, “play time”, or “scheduled play.” Parents often realize that when children play, they seem to be more relaxed, better equipped to handle stresses or emotional upsets, and in general more sociable.

In terms of maintaining a healthy weight, and reducing the risk of developing any negative habits around food, the benefits of play are unmatched.

There are several reasons for this. In terms of healthy weight maintenance, several factors need to be in place, such as, a sense of competence, an ability to weather emotional distress, an ability to negotiate conflicts and power struggles, an ability to cooperate and form alliances, and an ability to concede with grace. Essentially, these qualities describe a child who is very socially competence. When a child is socially competent, his sense of self is derived from the relationships that he forms, and the emotional satisfaction that they bring. This results in a child who not only views relationships as safe, but also supportive in the case of uncomfortable feelings. A child such as this will turn to relationships in times of need, and will leave these relationships feeling better.

However, when the child does not develop a healthy sense of social competence, they way that he views relationships can jeopardize his ability to maintain a healthy weight. When relationships are not viewed as safe or supportive, the child looks for other factors in life to gain a sense of comfort, the first of which is frequently food. Where relationships are lacking, food becomes a dependable ally, offering a reliable source distraction from the emotional distress of unhealthy relationships. A lack of a social competence can result from a child who has either not been given enough time to play, has not had the opportunity to play in supportive environments, or whose play has been complicated by competitive factors. All of these situations can happen very easily when parents are not aware. Team sports, physical education classes, and league sports can all have the tendency to emphasize competition over cooperation. While all parents want their child to do well in sports, and become excited when they see their child shine, the difference between being supportive and creating undue competitive pressure can be difficult to determine.

Looking at both sides of the coin, both approaches emphasize success, however, one does not tolerate any deviation from success. When we say that a parent is supportive, he both encourages his child to succeed, but also encourages his child to cooperate. In this sense his is supportive both positive performance, and social competence. Sacrificing social competence, and therefore winning at all costs, would not be part of this approach. Therefore, winning can be important, but not when it infringes on the rights of others, and creates relationship friction. A child supported in this way feels successful, and socially competent. Succinctly, he enjoys doing well as much as he enjoys making friends, and leaves this situation feeling as though relationships are a source of support. This child is not likely to turn to food for comfort, as comfort is found in the relationships he experiences both with his parents and with his friends.

On the other hand, the approach of undue competitive pressure, places winning the competition above winning friends. Any example of this is the parent who easily becomes angered when his child fails to make a crucial play in a game, despite making an effort to do so. Another example of this is the child who is told to neglect the rights of others to win, or even hears subtle messages that he should avoid sharing to garner more glory for himself. The first scenario creates a child who feels that he is never good enough, while the second scenario creates a child who feels as though his deserves more than everyone else. While the first child will suffer relationship distress with his father, the second child will suffer relationship distress with his teammates, as they will resent his “all about himself approach.” In either case, the child’s sense of social competence will be disrupted, and he will fail to view relationships as safe or supportive. This child is at high risk for turning to food for comfort and distraction from the emotional distress he experiences from unhealthy relationships.

Taking all of this into consideration, as a parent, it is not difficult to see the importance of emphasizing healthy play environments for your child. The difficulty may be in determining exactly when to push your child a little more in the direction of success, and when to simply offer support. Bearing in mind that success never imposes on the rights of others, and never sacrifices sportsmanship, can be a helpful barometer for parents. But also, as a parent, who knows his child better than anyone else, remembering that your child should never feel as though winning is more important than feeling good can help determine just how to be supportive. Lastly, keeping in mind that the purpose of sports has always been enjoyment and fun, and not frustration and disappointment can help parents understand the importance of play.

Eric Viskovicz is the founder and director of Live In Fitness Enterprises. When it comes to weight loss, Eric Viskovicz is both an innovator and a pioneer. He was the biggest looser and developed his program before others in the industry due to his own struggle with weight loss, and a comprehensive understanding of the way in which the struggle to lose weight can totally envelope a person, Eric was the first person to realize that in order to be successful at weight loss, it needs to be treated in the way in which it is experienced. What this means to Eric is that in order to win at weight loss, a person has to first completely understand himself. This philosophy led Eric Viskovicz to produce the first ever approach to weight loss based on the person’s personality.


THREE PILLARS OF WEIGHT LOSS

When you think about weight loss, my guess is that you think of hard workouts, burning muscles, and a lot of sweat. But is weight loss all physical? Sure, to lose weight, you have to be able to tolerate repeated physical intensity, but what about emotional and relational intensity? Do intense emotions and intensity in our relationships affect weight loss? Even a rudimentary understanding of weight loss will answer this one. What do most of us do when we feel bad, or have an argument with someone, or get dumped? We eat, plain and simple. Each one of these situations represents some form of either emotional or relational intensity, and clearly, if we do not have a plan for managing intense emotions or relationship friction, guess what we will continue to do.

But having a plan is only the first step. Just like with physical intensity, we can have a plan for our exercise program, but the likelihood that the plan will have meaning to us depends directly on our ability to understand it. So, in the case of emotional and relational intensity, we not only have to have a plan to manage them, but we have to understand why they are happening. What this essentially means is understanding what situations can cause you to experience intense emotions, and similarly, what circumstances in relationships can cause you to experience intensity.

So let’s talk first about a plan for weight loss that includes managing emotional and relational intensity. When we think of managing intensity, it is important to clarify the meaning of this. Managing intensity is not about diverting from it, it is about tolerating it. When we divert from something, we make an attempt to avoid it, disguise it, or in some way, disengage from it. On the other hand, when we tolerate something, we control our response to it. Tolerating something allows us to experience the effects of something without the effects causing us to change our behavior. Essentially, we will not do anything different as a result of the intensity. Instead, we will continue with all of our daily activities, relationships, interests, hobbies, etc. When our emotions hit the boiling point, we will not look for the solution in the bottom of the ice cream container.

Emotions boiling or not, tolerance allows us to continue on with our lives, and our weight loss plans, uninterrupted. Putting things succinctly then, diverting from intensity causes us to interrupt our lives, and weight loss efforts, whereas, tolerating intensity causes us to continue on, without interruption. What provides the necessary foundation for tolerance, is a firm conviction for the things in your life that matter to you. Whether this is a passion, goal, hobby, your sense of honor and morals, or your desire for weight loss, you will not waiver from these things when they have significant importance to you. The more importance they have to you, the more protection against emotional intensity they provide. To be sure, focusing on what matters in your life, puts things back in control, and supports tolerance. A large component of this foundation for tolerance then, is the feeling that things are in your control. As you will see when we explore understanding the causes of emotional and relational intensity, often, it is the feeling that things are out of control, and therefore, focusing on what is in your control provides a powerful antidote for emotional and relational intensity.

So what does cause emotional intensity? To answer this, it is first necessary to define emotional intensity. Emotional intensity is the experience of our emotions rising to the point that they affect our thoughts and behavior. Emotions can come and go, and frequently, we do not notice them until they have risen to the point that they change the way we are thinking and acting. We may not notice if we are a bit blue on Monday, but we will notice if we can’t get out of bed on Monday. So when our emotions have risen to this point, and they jeopardize our behavior, and weight loss attempts, the second part of learning to tolerate them, is understanding why they are happening. We must know what things in our lives are causing us to feel the way we do. Perhaps we are feeling abandoned, rejected, invalidated, futile, useless, or worthless. Whatever the case may be, we will only understand it, when we can ask, what is happening that I am feeling this way? As past experiences always create emotional imprints that can then be reactivated, the answer is almost always in your history. Maybe you felt this way from early on, and this particular experience is simply pouring salt on an old wound. The key to managing intense emotions, and consequently, weight loss, lies in a thorough understanding of yourself, your experiences, and your tendencies. When you understand these things about yourself, you will also understand the events and situations that can cause you to experience emotional intensity. This understanding will automatically reduce emotional intensity as it will provide an answer to the question of what is causing me to feel this way. Clearly, when you understand what is causing you to feel the way you do, it is much easier to tolerate this feeling, as you can change either what is causing you to feel as you do, or at least, change your response to the things that are causing these feelings. When it comes to weight loss, this is of pivotal importance.

Also of prescient importance in the world of weight loss, is the understanding of relational intensity. Understanding relational intensity is much the same as understanding emotional intensity in the sense that early relationship experiences cause relationship imprints that can then be reactivated in later relationships. When this happens, we experience relationship intensity. However, relationship intensity differs from emotional intensity in the sense that emotional intensity portends to emotions that cause us to feel out of control, whereas, relationship intensity portends more to the feeling that we are not getting our needs met. As we are social creatures, we enter relationships because we have social needs. However, within the context of social needs, we are all unique in the sense that everyone has slightly different needs. Some people have a higher need for control, some for recognition, some for compliance and acceptance. Whatever the case may be, we can have early relationship experiences that contribute to, and perpetuate, these needs. When this happens, essentially, relationship imprints will be created, causing us to react to any relationship that approximates this imprint. Simply stated, if we have always felt rejected, and thus, have a high need for acceptance, we will react strongly whenever we again, feel rejected. Again, the key to relationship tolerance, and weight loss lies in understanding your relationship history, needs, and tendencies. Once you understand these things, it is much easier to change them, or change the way you react to them, thereby reducing the relational intensity. So just as with emotional intensity, the ability to tolerate relational intensity is directly related to the understanding of it.

But before any of this understanding can have any benefit for you, you have to first get your head out of the refrigerator, and into understanding yourself. As long as you are nursing your emotions or relationship distress in a bucket of ice cream, you are going to continue to feel out of control and at the mercy of your emotions. If you want to change this, you have to start looking for the answers in your understanding of yourself. When you do this, you will not take back control of your emotions, but you will also take back control of your weight loss.


The Three Requirements of Changing Consumer Behavior

Many years in the field of weight loss have taught me several things about people. As you know, people come in all shapes and sizes, and with all different types of personalities. While these personalities always illuminate themselves over time, what becomes clear, is the person’s behaviors around exercise, food, and lifestyle habits. One of the habits is what they buy. For the person who is attempting to lose weight, what they buy is incredibly important. If the person comes to the gym and works out like a maniac, but then goes to the grocery store and buys cookies and ice cream, her weight loss attempts are going to be sabotaged. Even when I may become aware of this, and confront this issue with my client, if I do not know why my client is buying the cookies and ice cream, I will not be able to help her change her behavior. Therefore, more than anything, why they buy the products they do is the real issue. Because without an understanding of why someone does something, it is difficult to change it. And, as we know, in order to lose weight, several things about the person will have to change.

In researching why people make the purchasing decisions that they do, several experts in the field have weighed in on the issue. Studies conducted by researchers at Harvard University have been watching the purchasing habits of consumers for many years. While the previous understanding was that people purchase products largely as a result of price, or brand recognition, actually, the decisions people make are influenced by many other factors. In attempting to delineate what these factors may be, the researchers posted an identifiable nutrition score on several products at the Hanneford grocery store chain. This scoring, developed with the help of several nutritionists and registered dietitians, use a rating system for all of the ingredients in the products evaluated. This system gave positive values for ingredients such as fiber, protein, and complex carbohydrates, and negative values for ingredients such as sugar, trans-fats, hydrogenated fats, and preservatives. Each product was given a rating from five stars for very healthy to one star for unhealthy. The scores were posted right on the front of the products. When consumers were given the opportunity to view this information readily, their purchasing decisions changed drastically. When the healthy products were priced exactly the same as the unhealthy products, consumers favored the healthy to unhealthy versions two to one. Interestingly, when the healthy versions were priced higher, that ratio went up: the consumers favored the pricier, healthy products more. On the other hand, when the healthy products were priced less expensively than the unhealthy products, the reverse was true: the consumers favored the less pricey, healthy products less. It seems that the increased price lent credibility to the healthy scoring rating.

From this study, and others like it, we can ascertain that consumers will readily purchase healthier products when the information is readily available. However, there are several other parts to this story. Not only was the information readily available to the consumers, it made sense to them. The ratings were done on something that all people can relate to, which is health. Had the ratings been done on something such as environmental impact, the results may not have been the same. To be sure, similar studies on consumer behavior have revealed that the “greenness” of a product does not significantly influence consumer behavior. Much of the hypothesis done has pointed to the fact that why greenness matters remains unclear to the average consumer. As there are several ways to rate greenness, the relative importance and impact of this information had been not clearly disseminated to the consumers who may purchase these products. On the other hand, the amount of information that has been published on the negative health effects of trans-fats, hydrogenated oils, and sugar has provided an a very clear reason as to why this matters to the average consumer. So in looking at the ratings of the variety of purchases they were considering, the reason as to why this information matters had already been established.

The second part of this story was that the “right” choice, was just as easy for the consumers to make as the “wrong” choice. Had the wrong choice involved going to another store, the consumer’s behavior might have been different. This explains why, when consumers are given the choice to say, purchase alternative energy sources, such as wind power, they may hesitate. The right decision involves moving to another energy provider, and is therefore, is not as easy for the consumer to make. However, when the right choice involves no more effort than the choice, consumers will readily make the switch. What this tells us is that when consumer’s decisions involve making more effort, regardless of the reason, they typically will not change their purchasing habits.

What this tells me, in terms of weight loss, is that if I want to change the purchasing habits of my clients, I have to do three things: tell them why this information matters to them, make the information readily accessible to them, and make the right choice as easy as the wrong choice.


The Risks and Benefits of Weight Loss

In the area of weight loss, the risks and benefits of behavior change is probably one of the most overlooked topics. The assumption that practically all people fall prey to, is that, change will bring only benefits. Precluding this assumption is the underlying belief that moving from a position that is not desired to a position that is desired will bring only positive results. In the area of weight loss and fitness, people often do not seek help until they are very desperate for it. In this case, the desperation they feel about getting better, misconstrues their understanding of the process of change. Because they feel as though they must get better, they incorrectly believe that the desired change will make everything better. This avoidance of the understanding of change, and the risks inherent in it, jeopardizes success, in that, it is very poor preparation for actually carrying out the process of change. Additionally, the sense of desperation, and apparent willingness to “do whatever it takes” can often cause people to focus only on the positives and avoid addressing the risks within the process of change. Indeed, avoidance of the risks of change is the same thing as avoidance of the resistance to it. However, people are frequently seeking help for weight loss because they cannot handle these things. Failure, to address the risks of change, and therefore the resistance to it, leaves them poorly prepared for it. Inherent in any change is some resistance, and it would be unrealistic to assume that all people are really ready to change. Therefore, addressing the risks and benefits of the process of change is a very important component of weight loss.

When people address the risks and benefits of weight loss several things occur. Primarily, they feel better prepared for what they will be facing. Feeling better prepared through being educated as to what the process of change entails increases the feeling of safety about it, and decreases feelings of fear about change. In addition to this, acknowledging the risks of change will allow people to hold a more realistic perception of it. This realistic perception will help to ameliorate the possibility that weight loss is expected to solve every aspect of a person’s life. Lastly, clearly understanding the process of change, and the potential for risks along with it, will increase the likelihood that a person will embark on future change in her life. So let’s look at how to address the risks and benefits of weight loss:

Addressing the risks: The risks of change represent all of the potential reasons that you may not want to change (i.e. your resistance). These are all of the areas of your life that will be affected by the change you desire, that you may not be prepared for. As these areas of your life are things that you are very familiar with, and bring a sense of comfort and safety to your life, you may be very unwilling to change them. The risk of the change you desire, is that, you will have to also change these areas of familiarity as well. What this may mean for you is that you will temporarily feel uncomfortable, and unsure of yourself. In order to address these risks, you should begin by educating yourself as to the process of change. This begins with a general understanding about what change represents. Because every person has a characteristic structure and balance to their life, change in one area will undoubtedly lead to change in another area. This would be true of any change in any area of your life. For example, if you decided to but a puppy, you may have to give up some hours of sleep to feed, clean and walk the puppy. You may also have to give up on some hours of work to return home to walk it, as well as the money that it may cost. In addition to all of these things, the puppy would also impact your family life, and potentially may interrupt time with your friends. When you take on the task of losing weight or getting fit, this change will affect many areas of your life in ways in which you may not be able to predict. Again, you may need to sacrifice some time from your work in order to make time to exercise. You may also need to make changes to your home life as you will be taking time from this in order to exercise. This change may also affect your relationships, especially if you find that there are some people in your life that do not react positively to it. Once you have a general understanding of the ways in which change could affect your life, you should then educate yourself about the potential impact this may have on you. For a time, you may be uncomfortable in the process of change. This will occur because areas of your life that were comfortable and familiar to you will be changed. This is an expected part of the process of change, and will continue until you find new areas of your life that are comfortable and familiar. In this process, it is imperative that you understand that the risks of change are a normal part of the process, and are temporary.

Addressing the benefits: The benefits of change represent the ways in which your life will be positively affected by the change. However, the benefits of any change may pervade to other areas of your life, yet this is not a guarantee. While the benefits of any change can be ensured in that specific area of your life, they can not be ensured to positively affect any other area of your life. In the field of fitness and weight loss, people may incorrectly assume that once they lose weight, everything in their life will be better. For example, they may believe that weight loss will make them more attractive and therefore will lead to the relationships that they want. Again, there is no guarantee that losing weight will improve any other area of your life than your weight. It is a possibility, that weight loss will improve other areas of your life, however, you may also realize that these other areas of your life are also in need of change. Therefore, in addressing the benefits of change, it is important to understand exactly what benefits can be anticipated from the desired changes. For example, by looking at where your weight is now, and how that weight impacts your cardiovascular capacity, blood pressure, body fat percentage, and health ranking among other individuals in your age class, and contrasting this information with where all of these scores will fall once you are at the weight you desire, will help to qualify the benefits of the desired weight loss. In extrapolating and understanding the benefits of your desired weight loss, and understanding that other areas could potentially be improved, you gain a more realistic perception of the process of weight loss.


THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT IN WEIGHT LOSS

One look at Eric Viskovicz, the owner of Live In Fitness Enterprise, a residential bootcamp in Marina Del Rey, CA and you would think he spends hours in the gym. With an 8% bodyfat, he looks shredded from every angle. It is no surprise he has been a fitness model, and guest appearance on over fifty television shows. Yet many of you would be surprised to learn that he was, at one point 50 pounds overweight. Struggling with an eating disorder for three years, Eric’s weight would go up and down, even as he was working as a personal trainer. During this time, he did spend hours in the gym, and taught all of the right information to his clients about food and exercise. He just didn’t apply any of it to himself. So when you ask Eric what is the most important ingredient in weight loss, he won’t tell anything about nutrition and exercise. Instead, He will tell you that the key to weight loss, is understanding yourself. The first, and most important, piece of this is acceptance.

According to Eric, acceptance is about acknowledging that you have a problem with food. Whether you have a clinical eating disorder, disordered eating, or even just eating issues, healing starts when you can admit it. When you do, Eric continues, you become willing to accept help for your problem. Essentially you are willing to look at all the ways in which your eating has affected your life, and caused you to lose sight of your goals. This, according to Eric, is the part where you really begin to understand yourself. You begin with a look at your attitude, are you positive or negative most days? Do you tend to go through life angry? Do you look at situations and predict the worst possible outcome? Answering questions like this will cause you to really look at your overall attitude honestly.

From this point, Eric asserts you are ready to then explore internal dialogue. This, Eric states, is what you say to yourself, that you do not say out loud. It is what you will say to yourself when you look in the mirror, and also what you say to yourself when you look at that fudge brownie sitting in front of you. Are you using negative words to evaluate yourself in the mirror? Are you criticizing yourself? Calling yourself names? What you say to yourself becomes your identify, coloring the way you feel about yourself. This often has a profound impact on what you are going to say to yourself when the fudge brownie is staring back at you. If you feel bad about yourself, you may tell yourself you CAN NEVER have the fudge brownie. Or, just may tell yourself that you’ve already failed at weight loss, so you might as well have the fudge brownie anyway. You may even promise yourself that you will start your diet tomorrow. What the case may be, what you say to yourself when you are looking at a food you want with characterize your relationship with food. Exploring this, and understanding how what you say to yourself affects what you ultimately end up doing is an absolute necessity in weight loss. When you are willing to do this, Eric says, again, you are ready to accept help.

Now, for Eric, comes the next step, you have to have a goal. In accepting help, and being fully willing, you have to be ready to look at your goal. Do you have a goal? What does it look like? What are you doing? Who is around you? When do you want to accomplish this? What steps are necessary to get there? You may not have a goal, and according to Eric, that is ok, you just have to be willing to find one. The willingness is the key, Eric reminds us.

The last step, Eric says is understanding your personality. Everybody has a unique personality, and Eric defines this as “The characteristic pattern in which a person approaches the world.” This pattern, Eric continues describes how the person handles their life, responsibilities and expectations, relationships, and especially their relationship with food. Do you tend to be more concerned with others than yourself? Do you tend to take things on with an all or nothing approach? Do things have to be perfect for you to feel ok? Does your life feel kind of empty? Are you looking for a goal in life? Again, answering these questions is a way to understanding your own unique personality. For Eric, understanding your personality will help you to understand the reasons behind the patterns in your life. Then, according to Eric, you must be ready to accept help for this. Whether in the form of clinical therapy, a support group, or a counselor, the key, again, is the willingness to accept help.

Once you have gone through all of these steps, Eric asserts, you are on your way to weight loss. And it is not until you have achieved this understanding that the weight loss will last either. To be sure, Eric has seen his share of weight loss ups and downs, and as a personal trainer to many celebrity clients, such as Jessica Biel, Matt Grant, Bette Midler, and Ben Moody, he will tell you that the first, and most important part of weight loss, is first understanding yourself. And in order to do this, Eric contends, you must be willing to accept help.


THE IMPORTANCE OF PIZZA IN WEIGHT LOSS

It’s Friday afternoon, you are leaving your office after a long hard week, and you are looking forward to a much needed break. As you begin your drive home, you are thinking about being home, relaxing, and maybe even rewarding yourself for all of the hard work you have done. Maybe it even occurs to you that you are feeling as if you have earned it. Surely everyone deserves a reward every now and then you think. As this thought crosses your mind, you pass by a Pizza Hut, that seems to be calling your name. With your eyes fixated on the big red and white sign, you car appears to be steering itself into the driveway. Before you realize it, you have devoured several slices of the delicious deep-dish pizza, and as a feeling of guilt washes over you, it occurs to you that this does not feel like a reward.

As with most rewards, the tendency to go overboard with pizza, or any food for that matter is everpresent. While we have all used food either consciously, or unconsciously as a reward at some point, we have all probably also abused it as well. As you can see from the example given above, without a conscious awareness of what we are doing, this tendency becomes magnified. Much of the reason for this is due to the fact that when we are not aware of what we are doing, we are at a loss to change it. As you can see from above, the reality of our actions does not occur to us until after we have already done them. Clearly, at that point it is much to late. It is usually then that we feel overwhelmed with guilt. The difference between using something, food or anything else as a reward, and abusing it, is being consciously aware of what we are doing. With this awareness, we are armed with the power of choice about what we do. This of course, enables us to evaluate our decisions, negotiate for what we want, and leave the situation feeling satisfied. This sense of choice applies to everything we do, and in the area of weight loss, becomes invaluable.

Applying a sense of choice to foods, we are able to evaluate every decision we make, weighing the impact of what we want to eat, against where we want to be. If we want to eat a hot fudge sundae, yet we want to fit into that pairs of pants currently collecting dust in our closet, we are going to have to make some serious choices. The reason this choice becomes so important is that without evaluating it clearly, one of two things will inevitably happen: we will either avoid the sundae, telling ourself we can never have it, feel deprived, and end up overdoing it later, or we will avoid thinking anything, and just have it anyway, without thinking about it, and end up overdoing it, and feeling guilty. Avoiding both of these negative situations then becomes dependent on our ability to think clearly through the decision making process. Obviously, we can neither avoid the sundae totally, or have all of it right now, as neither one of these choices satisfies both of our wants, ands goals. So, we are going to have to be able to negotiate with ourselves for both these wants and goals, and look for a third option.

When it comes to pizza, third options come in many slices, pardon the pun. We can either have less of the dangerous deep-dish version, reducing the total caloric impact of it, or we can come up with a healthier version. That is just what California Fresh and Fit has done. Offering tasty, yet surprisingly healthy versions of the foods we love is what this company specializes in. Imagine pizza that is fresh


The Importance of Identity in Weight Loss:

In weight loss as in any life change we undertake, the sense of identity with which we define ourselves becomes both the central aspect of what we de-construct and what we re-construct. In this way, the change process itself involves a de-construction of the parts of ourselves that are not moving us in the direction we want to go. These parts represent the barriers that stand in our way every time we want to change something about ourselves. On the other hand, the re-construction of the parts of ourselves involves building on and elaborating the parts of ourselves that are able to move us in the direction we ant to go. Typically we experience these parts as frustration when we fail to make the changes we ant to make. So in the process of change we are always both deconstructing and reconstructing our identity. What this means in terms of weight loss, is that there are ways of being, feeling, and thinking that may no longer be a part of our identity as we lose weight. As we recognize the loss of these things, we may feel temporarily out of sorts, and confused with how to be in the world. Without becoming aware of this dynamic, we may inadvertently resist weight loss, without even really knowing why. Therefore, without making the topic of identity evident and something that we discuss, we may struggle with weight loss. In order to position ourselves as effectively as possible for weight loss, we then need to consider both the things that will no longer be a part of our identity, and the things that will now be a part of our identity. In the process of re-constructing our identity, we may be both building on aspects of ourselves that are already there, as well as adding in new things, that previously have been foreign to us. Again, this process needs to be something that we are both aware of and that is discussable for us. When it is, our identity serves to support our weight loss, and also becomes the foundation from which can generate goals, pursuits, passions, and a sense of purpose. As we know, all of these things are very important parts of weight loss, however, it all begins with the foundation of an identity to support it!


The Environment For Change

While there are many factors that combine to make the fitness experience beneficial for people, and no limit to the types of classes that can be taught, the underlying factor that all of these classes have in common is that there is the expectation of change. Whether you are attending the class to improve your cardiovascular fitness, lose weight, or to learn a new skill, you are probably expecting to be changed by the experience. As well as the your expectation, the instructor also has an expectation for the ways in which the class may change you. She may be hoping to impart an understanding of a specific skill for you, or she may be hoping to enhance your understanding and experience of physical fitness intensity levels. Whatever the case may be, both you and the instructor will have a preconceived expectation as to the ways in which the class will offer change. In this case, there is, of course, the danger that these expectations will vary to the point that neither expectation is met. For example, if you have an expectation that you will learn about heart rate levels and the appropriate intensity at which to be training, while the instructor has an expectation that the class will teach you how to perform beginning to intermediate core work, both you and the instructor will have trouble meeting these expectations. Without clarifying these expectations then, you may leave frustrated, and the instructor may also experience frustration attempting to teach you. The discussion of the expectations for the class then becomes an integral issue to creating the environment in which change will occur. More clearly stated, both you and the instructor have to agree on exactly what the change will be.

Once the agreement on what the change will be is ensured, the process of defining how change occurs then becomes the necessary topic. Similar to the way in which the assumption that there is agreement on what the expectations of change will be, there is an assumption that there will be behavior change. However, the topic of what behavior change is, or how it occurs, is frequently overlooked. While behavior can occur for a variety of reasons, it can also change for a variety of reasons. Identifying what these reasons are, and how they will impact behavior is a central concept in the topic of behavior change. Further, implicit in the understanding of behavior is it’s connection to identity. It is impossible for behavior to exist when it is not attached to a sense of identity. What this means is that any behavior that is not attached to a sense of identity will not last. In changing behavior then, the topic of identity must also be discussed. Essentially without changing identity, we will not be changing behavior. In talking about identity, it is imperative to discuss all of the factors of your life that are a reflection of your identity. Topics such as what you d for a living, where you lives, what type of people you surround yourself with, what activities you enjoy, and what associations, clubs or groups you are involved in. Each one of these areas of your life will be a part of your identity. This discussion then might also include the impact this identity change will have on these factors. As your life structure is supported by and a reflection of your identity, a change in this identity will cause a change in this life structure. For example, you may define yourself as someone who is very financially successful, and therefore works sixty hours per week to earn the amount of money that you determine defines financial success. As you begin a group exercise class to lose weight, and begin to shift your identity to someone who values your physical health, you begin to eat healthier and exercise, yet become very frustrated that you are having trouble fitting your exercise and meal planning into your sixty hour per week schedule. In this case, you have begun to shift your identity without becoming aware of all of the aspects of your life structure that are supported by this identity. What you will then experience is resistance.

Resistance is your natural desire to avoid change. Resistance can happen in any area of your life where change is required. While there can be many emotions related to resistance, the underlying component of resistance is a desire to avoid the unfamiliar. As you typically have attachments to what feels comfortable, these things tend to represent security. Even negative behaviors, because they are familiar can represent security. In this sense, any attempt to change behavior becomes an attempt to tolerate that which feels insecure. In the example given above, asking yourself to change your identity from someone who values financial success over health, to someone who now values health over financial success, is a way of asking yourself to feel less secure through financial success, and more secure through health. There may be many reasons you are resistant to this change. Without discussing these reasons, your resistance will remain hidden to you, and to the instructor as well. In this case, both you and the instructor can experience frustration as you may fail to change.

In creating an environment for change then, there must first be an agreement on what the expectations of change will be. Essentially, is the class being taught to increase or improve a specific skill, incorporate the experience of exercise into your life, or to achieve a targeted goal. From this agreement, there must then be a discussion of what behavior change is. Essentially that behavior is a reflection of identity, and in order to change behavior, it is first necessary to change identity. Lastly, the topic of resistance must be talked about. What resistance is, the natural occurrence of it, and that resistance is linked to what we define as secure.

From this point, there are several steps that preclude the actual behavior change itself. These steps are as follows, establishing safety, addressing boundaries, structure, and expectations, addressing risks and benefits, and addressing contra-indications. We will discuss all of these steps in the following articles.


The Biggest Loser: Reality or Fiction?

While most of us probably don’t here a drum roll when we step on the scale, our hearts are probably pounding. As the numbers seem to dictate the way we feel about ourselves, in the case of The Biggest loser, they literally dictate the lives of the contestants. When the contestant doesn’t make the required weight, she could be sent home, only to confront the weight loss battle once again, alone. While for the rest of us, we won’t be sent anywhere, yet we may find many ways to imprison ourselves for our shortcomings on the scale. Is either one of these approaches successful? Certainly not for those who don’t make the weight. But what about the weight loss camp approach that the Biggest Loser uses? Are weight loss camps in general effective? Let’s explore this question a little further.

In the field of weight loss camps, there are many similarities to The Biggest Loser. All of these programs employ a residential setting, requiring the client to relinquish control of their lives, allowing their schedule, diet, and in many ways, their way of thinking to be entirely controlled by the camp. The client’s daily lives are at the mercy of the trainers, nutritionists, and coaches at the camp. Certainly, many of the clients recognize that in many ways their lives were already out of control, and something very drastic needs to happen in order for the weight to be lost. For many of those at The Biggest Loser this harsh reality can either be relieving, or incredibly frightening. While the admonition that things need to change is not the issue, the technique employed to facilitate this change is. All weight loss camps do, to some extent, remove control from the client. Clearly in doing this, the client has to surrender to this approach and accept that her previous approaches to weight loss have not been successful. This acceptance can be very helpful in fostering the client’s willingness to accept help. Watching The Biggest Loser, it is painfully obvious that the contestants have to accept the direction of the trainers, without objection. According to the trainers, in order for the client to change, she must do exactly what the trainer says. If she does, she will be successful. Clearly, the contestant must trust the trainer implicitly, and in many ways is told not to listen to her own voice. To be sure we have all heard the contestant on The Biggest Loser objecting to the exercise, and are frequently critisicized, demoralized, or indoctrinated. While this approach may increase ratings, is this really the way to encourage someone to change her life?

Let’s look at another approach. Live-In-Fitness, in Marina Del Rey, California is a weight loss camp, that in many ways, is similar to The Biggest Loser, but there are some very clear distinctions. Live-In Fitness uses a residential approach where the client’s schedules are dictated by the program, their meals are prepared for them, and they are, for all intents and purposes, relinquishing control of their lives to the program. However, Live-in-Fitness has taken a different approach. Recognizing that it is a lifestyle change that the client needs to make, the program does two things: it encourages the clients to find the real reasons for their weight gain in the first place, and it utilizes a program that is designed to be incorporated into the client’s life. These real reasons for the client’s weight gain are the underlying emotional reasons for the weight. To this end, all of the trainers are highly educated in the psychological underpinnings of weight gain. Weekly meetings with a clinical therapist help the clients themselves uncover the mentality behind their weight gain. Staff meetings consist of in-depth discussions about what are the real reasons the client may not be making the weight. In the case that the client doesn’t make the weight, she is not thrown out of the program, instead, she is called on the carpet. What this means is that the Live-In-Fitness staff, consisting of the client’s coach, nutritionist, and clinical therapist meet with the client to get to the root of the problem. These meetings are anything but recriminating. They are supportive and encouraging, but do not accept anything but the client’s best effort. Live-In-Fitness staff simply will not allow the client to cheat, and will continue working with the client until success is attained. It is this approach that encourages the never to give up on herself, and never to offer anything but her best effort.

From that point, Live-In-Fitness staff helps the client incorporate the program into her life. This may mean learning to shop in a healthy way, learning to order healthy choices from a restaurant, and healthy cooking classes. The program also involves the incorporation of sports, outside exercises such as hiking, biking, kayaking, running sand dunes, and beach boot camps. This approach represents a cornerstorne of the Live-In-Fitness approach. That is: that exercise can be fun. The fact that the clients are not just encouraged to have fun, but taught how to make exercise fun, may be one of the most striking differences between Live-In-Fitness and The Biggest Loser. To promote the incorporation of this into their home life, the clients are also instructed to go back home, try out what they have learned, and return back to the program for additional support. In fact, many clients return simply because they enjoy the experience so much. While this may be the measure of success, enjoying the experience might also be one of the biggest differences between the Live-In-Fitness approach and the Biggest Loser.


TAKING BEHAVIORAL TRAINING FOR WEIGHT LOSS TO A NEW DIMENSION: A WEIGHT LOSS CAMP APPROACH

While much has been written in the field of weight loss in general, and specifically behavioral training for weight loss, what the majority of approaches share is the association between the thoughts, feelings and behavior. Certainly these programs have enjoyed some success for those who have ascribed to their beliefs, however, the amount of money spent on weight loss programs in this country evidences the disparity between the success of these approaches and a successful approach for the problem of weight loss. Despite the amount of research and time that has been spent on the development of these programs, we are still without a successful approach. In thinking about what a successful approach might mean, we can begin with what these programs in general, have been lacking.

While these programs do give a considerable amount of attention to managing the psychological responses associated with thoughts, feelings and behavior, what the majority of behavioral approaches for weight loss fail to focus on are the underlying reasons for the psychological state the person is in. What the person is left with is a failure to understand the reasons for the psychological condition she finds herself in. As the psychological condition that a person finds herself in is a byproduct of her underlying psychological patterns in general, without uncovering these patterns, the psychological condition will continue to appear. In order to uncover these patterns, the person will need to not only, expose them, but also identify the underlying causes for them. While psychological patterns can take on many forms, the underlying causes for them are frequently not obvious. Therefore, in order to uncover these causes, the person will need to be observed more closely than typical behavioral training approaches allow. To do this, the person will need to be observed in many different settings, environments, and groups of people. Clearly, the only way to do this, is to utilize a weight loss camp program, that requires that the person live on sight. From this focused approach, a comprehensive understanding of the person begins to emerge. As all of the facets of the person’s personality arise in the many different settings that she is exposed to, behaviors, characteristics, and traits provide indicators of the underlying reasons for the person’s behavior. The weight loss camp approach then can offer not only behavioral training for weight loss, but also an understanding of the root causes of her behavior. In this way, the person is provided not just the understanding of the underlying reasons for her psychological responses, but also, management tools for them. There are many reasons weight loss camps may be more effective in treating the rising problem of weight loss.

To begin, let’s assume that the client has no previous experience with behavioral training. In this instance, the person may have a very limited understanding as to the value and efficacy on this approach. To be sure, most people who look for solutions to their weight loss problems have already looked, unsuccessfully, for solutions. Inherent in this search, is the ultimate hope that there is some magic cure for the predicament they find themselves in. As each new attempt promises to finally offer solution to their problem, yet fails to deliver, the hope that there is a magic solution is strengthened. As this hope is strengthened, and the litany of tried and failed attempts accumulates behind them, the sense of desperation about this situation escalates. This desperation clouds their judgment to the point that almost any approach, regardless of how safe, or unrealistic, it may seem, appears attractive to them. Certainly we have seen many approaches of this nature. The grape fruit diet, juice fast, stimulant weight loss pills, and carb-blockers, are just a few. As the person continues to search for the next new diet plan, or pill, to offer solution to their problem, she exposes herself to undue amounts of incorrect, and faulty information. This exposure only adds to the confusion that the person suffers, and makes subsequent decisions about weight loss all the more confusing.

The combination of confusion, desperation, and repeated failed attempts, results in a person who is not only reticent to try yet another promising approach to weight loss, but also, will almost certainly sabotage her own success. As she has searched unsuccessfully, and has yet to find a solution to her problem, as evidenced by the fact that she is still searching, she is likely to hold a negative view of almost any approach, and in her determination that this new approach will fail as well, will act to ensure that it will. In this situation, if she has yet to understand the underlying causes for both her feelings, and her behavior, she is likely to avoid taking responsibility for behavior, and instead act to shift the responsibility to the approach itself. Blaming the approach for her lack of success not only moves her further from success, but also does nothing to expose the underlying dynamics that are contributing to this lack of success.

In using a fitness camp, then, these underlying dynamics are exposed and defined as the framework from which the person’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings are determined. As these dynamics are rooted in the person’s past, they cannot be avoided, and the responsibility for them cannot be shifted elsewhere. Instead, as the weight loss camp collaborates with the person to develop an understanding of these dynamics and the role they play in her attempts at weight loss, the interplay between the underlying causes for her behavior thoughts and feelings, and their management becomes much more clear. As this understanding increases, it not only gives value to the behavioral training approach itself, but also continues to illuminate the person’s particular response to this approach. In this way, the weight loss camp helps to increase her understanding of behavioral training, but also, her understanding of herself. The psychological state that she finds herself in can now be seen as a byproduct of the psychological patterns that color her life.

As these patterns developed very early on, and often in response to early parenting experiences, they can now be understood as adaptations to the stresses that were experienced in this early period. These adaptations, albeit unhealthy, were a way for the person to survive. At that particular period, they were needed, as the resources for handling these stresses that the person had at that particular time were overwhelmed. However, these adaptations are no longer needed as the person is not experiencing the stress that she experienced at the time these adaptations developed. Additionally, she is now much better equipped to handle these stresses, as her resources, both psychologically, and otherwise, are much more developed. The comparison of the child that needed these adaptations to survive, and the adult that no longer needs them, is a very powerful place from which to begin behavioral training. Often, in understanding the reasons for these underlying psychological patterns, and beginning to see them as necessary adaptations to stress, the weight loss camp approach will allow the person to take responsibility for them, as they are no longer seen as negative behaviors, but merely adaptations to stress that were needed at the time, and are no longer necessary. As they are no longer necessary, and also, are seen in a much more objective light, taking responsibility for them, and accepting the behavioral approach to begin to change them is a much easier process. Additionally, in understanding that it is these underlying psychological patterns that are the framework from which the behaviors, thoughts, and feelings are determined, the weight loss camp, also provides understanding for the behavioral training that will be used to address these behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. Therefore in understanding how this behavioral training will work, the acceptance of it is fostered. As previous attempts have failed to give understanding as to their efficacy, often because they were not, inherently effective, when behavioral training in a weight loss camp setting is used, the person not only understands the efficacy of this approach, she experiences it. As she begins to understand the underlying reasons for her behaviors, thoughts, and feelings, and consequently, understands the development of these early psychological patterns, the effects are instantaneous. Bringing clarity to any situation that has not been previously understood, inherently provides relief. Through the weight loss camp approach this relief not only reflects the understanding of herself, but also, the understanding as to why her problem of weight loss has been, up to this point, unsolvable.


REGULATE YOUR SUGAR, PROTECT YOUR BRAIN

As the weight loss advice of the day seems to be rampant with suggestions about lowering your carbohydrate intake, avoiding sugar, and keeping your blood glucose level stable, we are given several reasons why all of these suggestions are good for us. We are told that, for example, lowering our carbohydrate intake will decrease the amount of insulin our body produces, thereby staving off any risk of insulin resistance. Or, experts say, by keeping our sugar intake to a minimum, we are encouraging our bodies not to store the sugar, potentially leading to weight gain. What we are not told, however, is whether or not these changes will affect us in other ways. While all of the advice sounds good theoretically speaking, will there be any drawbacks to a very low carbohydrate diet? Am I really going to notice if my body is producing less insulin? Physically maybe, but what about mentally? Is it true that blood sugar level affects the way we think? Anecdotally, we can all attest to the fact that we get cranky when we are hungry, but is there more to this story? To answer this question, let’s look at the most recent research.

Alzheimers disease is widely regarded as a brain disease that is degenerative in nature, and results in a lack of orientation, poor judgment, memory impairment, and motor and language disturbances. It is comprised of both a genetic and environmental component. As there to date, has been little that can done to control the genetic component of this disease, much of the research has centered on the environmental contribution to the development of the disease. Factors such as sleep, exposure to toxins, previous history of disease, and exercise, have been looked at. Recently, however, new research that suggests a link between dangerously low blood sugar and dementia in older patients with type 2 diabetes has caused us to look at the role blood sugar levels play in not only in affecting the way we think, but also, in ensuring the health of our brains.

Older patients in the study whose blood sugar fell so low that they ended up in the hospital were found to have a higher risk for dementia than patients with no history of treatment for low blood sugar, known medically as hypoglycemia.

Having uncontrolled diabetes is associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease and other age-related dementias in elderly patients.

Several other recent high-profile studies have raised similar concerns.

Researcher Rachel Whitmer, PhD, of Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., says understanding the impact of blood sugar on cognitive function is older patients is critical. "We are in the midst of an epidemic of type 2 diabetes and we are going to see more dementia than we have ever seen before as these patients age," she tells WebMD. "We really have to get a handle on the role of glycemic control in this."


Blood Sugar and Dementia

The study included 16,667 patients with type 2 diabetes enrolled in a northern California diabetes registry. The average age of the patients at study entry was 65.

Whitmer and colleagues examined more than two decades of medical records to determine whether the participants had ever been hospitalized or treated in a hospital emergency department for hypoglycemia.

Symptoms of hypoglycemia can include dizziness, disorientation, fainting, and even seizures. Mild to moderate episodes often don't require treatment, but severe episodes can lead to hospitalization.

None of the study participants had a diagnosis of dementia when they were enrolled in the study in 2003. Four years later, however, 1,822 of the more than 16,600 patients (11%) had been diagnosed with dementia.

Compared to patients with no history of low blood sugar requiring treatment, patients with a single episode of hospital-treated hypoglycemia were found to have a 26% increase in dementia risk.

Patients treated three or more times for hypoglycemia had nearly double the dementia risk of patients who had never been treated.

Clearly, studies such as this one cause us to think about the affect of blood sugar on the way we think, and the overall health of our brains. With the influx of low-carbohydrate diets, and nutritional advice to avoid sugar, we might be sacrificing the health of our brains, for weight loss. While certainly weight loss is an admirable goal, and needs to be encouraged, there needs to be balance, particularly, when it comes to the way blood sugar levels affect our brains.

Adopting a pattern of balance between carbohydrate, protein and fat is the best way to ensure appropriate protection of your brain. While popular weight loss programs have strayed from the accepted balance of 50% carbohydrate, 30% fat, and 20% protein, by suggesting carbohydrate intakes as low as 20 grams per day, or less than 10% of total caloric intake, there are obvious health risks to this approach. In fact, common complaints of many people who ascribe to these low carbohydrate diets include dizziness and forgetfulness, also symptoms of hypoglycemia. Taking these symptoms, along with the recent research into consideration then, gives support to the role balance plays in nutritional intake. Not only is balance an effective way to lose weight, as many of the participants of these low carbohydrate diets quickly regain the weight, but also an important part of protecting the health of your brain.

The study appears in this week's issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.


Online Fitness: Making Fitness Accessible

“I just don’t have time to go to the gym” “I can’t afford a personal trainer” I’m already home, and don’t have the energy to go to the gym”. These among others are all the excuses we’ve all heard. We have probably used these many times ourselves. The truth is, changing habits and patterns is hard. While we all know exercise is good for us, that isn’t always enough reason for us to choose to do it. Often many other factors get in the way of our choices. This is also the case with our choices in terms of the foods we buy. A recent study on consumer behavior revealed that in order for people to change their purchasing habits, here things have to be true: the new choice cannot be any more expensive than the former choice, the new choice cannot involve any more effort than the former choice, and the reasons for the new choice must be understandable and applicable to our lives. What does this mean in terms of our exercise choices? Essentially, whatever we do with exercise cannot require anymore effort, or expense, than what we were doing before, and the reasons for this must be readily applicable to our lives.

This is where online fitness programs emerge as the most likely candidate as to what will change our behavior. As these programs can be followed from anywhere the internet is accessible, the require no more effort, in terms of time spent in the car driving to the gym, than what we might have been doing previously, or expense, in terms of money spent on gym memberships or personal training. As far as the reasons for doing these programs? Leave that up to the personal trainer that appears live on the screen. While this person not only embodies what is possible with a little hard work, he also walks you through the exercise program, showing you exactly why each exercise is performed in the way it is. For many people, this simple understanding of biomechanics and the results it brings is enough to change their behavior. Once you understand that in order to develop the legs you want, or the buns you want, you have to perform squats or lunges in just the right way, getting you to do it isn’t nearly as difficult. Especially when it only requires you to turn on your computer.

Not only do many of these programs demonstrate how each exercise affects your body, but they also demonstrate how to use the exercise to determine the amount of calories you burn and what that equates to as far as weight loss. For example, you may learn that a well-rounded strength training circuit, performed for one hour burns approximately 400 calories. Then you might also learn that in order to lose one pound of fat you have to burn 3500 calories. Click on another link and you might then learn how many calories are in some of the foods you love. Now you are on your way to being able to calculate how many calories you need every day, how many you need to burn every day, and how many are in the foods you love. See how this works? A little understanding goes a long way, and all you had to do was watch the screen and follow the instructions. No driving, looking for parking, fighting for gym space, watching muscles heads grunt and pose in the mirror, no beauty queens parading around in overly revealing clothes, and no membership fees. Instead, just a pleasant evening at home, with your new best friend the computer, learning how easy weight loss can be!


ONLINE FITNESS CLUBS: THE WAY TO SUCCESS

Who we hang around says a lot about the type of people we are. While some prefer to spend time with friends shopping or going to the movies, others join book clubs. On the other hand, some people prefer family to friends, and tend to focus more on activities within the family as oppose to those outside of it. Whatever the case may be, those who we associate with often impact the way we see ourselves. So take a moment and look around. Are the people you spend the most amount of time with examples of where you want to be? Are they living out the principles and values that you aspire to? Are they doing the things you would like to be doing? If you want to be fit, you might ask yourself are the people you hang around with fit. If the answer is no, you might consider re-allocating your time. While your friends may be “trying to lose weight”, so is 65% of the current U.S. population. Trying to lose weight is, as we all know to well, not the same as being successful at weight loss. Certainly, it is not the same as being fit. Where fit people exercise consistently, and often participate in sports or events (5K, 10K and marathon races, bike races, or triathalons), people who are trying to lose weight often struggle with consistency. Additionally, where fit people generally eat healthy, and do not abandon their entire training program if they fail to for one meal, or even day, people who are trying to lose weight often view nutrition slipups as catastrophic setbacks that derail their entire program.

One salient truth we know about groups of people is that the more time we spend in a group, the more we adopt the beliefs, values and behaviors of the group. If you spend enough time with people who give up on weight loss, you will to. Looking at the differences then between those who are fit, and those who are trying to lose weight the distinct beliefs, values, and behaviors of each of these groups are elucidated. For one, fit people believe that weight loss is possible. They are living examples of this belief. Even if they never struggled with weight loss per se, they did have to work to move from unfit to fit. People are not born fit, so in order to, say, play basketball for 30 minutes, one would have to work to build cardio-respiratory capacity, muscular strength and endurance, balance and agility, along with all of the other skills needed to play basketball. The point is that fit people believe that it is completely possible to do these things, perhaps because they have done them, or perhaps in order to do them. Whatever the case may be, the do not question the ability to lose weight. For those trying to lose weight, the belief that weight loss is possible is something that is clearly up for debate. The numerous amount of books on weight loss is a fantastic example of this. It seems as though the current belief is that in order to lose weight a magic bullet must be found. It is as if, weight loss cannot occur without this magic bullet. To be sure, many people who are struggling with weight loss often believe that their bodies are somehow different from those who are fit in their capacity to lose weight.

In terms of values, the differences between fit people and those who are trying to lose weight, are must easily understood when they are centralized to the treatment of the body. Fit people place a high value on treating their body well, and while the definition of well may vary, they are not neglecting the condition of their body. For some this may mean pushing their bodies to the extreme, for others this may mean keeping a well balanced program. Conversely, people who are trying to lose weight tend to neglect their physical condition. Often they are much less aware of their physical state, physiological condition, or nutritional needs. Where a fit person can tell you how far and how fast she can run, or what level of yoga she can do, often those trying to lose weight have no idea how to position themselves physically. Additionally, fit people can tell you approximately the amount and type of food they need to do the things they do, whereas people trying to lose weight what often struggle with what they really need, and jump from program to program frequently.

Clearly, the behaviors of fit people vs. people who are trying to lose weight are different as well. Fit people exercise consistently, people trying to lose weight exercise sporadically. Where a setback, such as an injury, or unexpected life circumstances, may cause a fit people to change activities, they will not stop exercising. However, people trying to lose weight may exercise to lose the weight, and if it doesn’t work, they will stop. If they don’t see themselves as fit people, they will not continue to exercise.

So how do we change this? Well the first step is that we have to begin to see ourselves as fit people. We must do what fit people do, and therefore, we must be around fit people. One way to do that is to join an online fitness club. Why online? It is immediate access. As most online fitness clubs consist of a professional offering workouts, suggestions, advice and tips, and members offering support, camaraderie and connection, they are available at any time. Blogs are posted by members as forums where questions can be asked and answered, workouts are accessible 24 hours a day, events are scheduled, and most hours of the day, there is somebody else online as well. Surrounding yourself with people who are doing what you aspire to do can go a long way in the world of weight loss.


MANAGE YOUR EMOTIONS TO MANAGE YOUR WEIGHT LOSS

While the concept of emotional eating is not new to the field of weight loss, the task of managing emotions is a common struggle not foreign to all of the typical uncomfortable positions that people experience. However, it seems that this concept is something that continues to plague us as much as we continue to avoid it. This avoidance is evidenced by the number of people who attempt to solve these discomforting emotions through measures external to them. Buying a new car, moving, changing jobs, relationships, or weight, are all case in points of this misguided method of solving a core problem. While these methods may provide some temporary relief, the blindness around what really plagues us continues to pervade our lives. We simply carry on, distracting ourselves from the emotional condition we are in, seemingly unaware of the ways in which we are impacted by the world around us. We may not realize how we are affected by the moods of those around us and how this in turn, then affects the way in which we interpret the world around us. When someone close to us makes an angry remark, we “Catch” this emotion, often unaware that we did. We then experience this anger, again, unaware that we are, and this causes us to read anger into future events in our lives. An angry remark of a friend or coworker may cause us to interpret the following conversation with our significant other as demeaning or critical. We may then repeat this demeaning and critical response to someone else, again perpetuating the cycle of negative emotions. In this way, emotions can be contagious and create a snowball effect in our lives. All the while, we may remain oblivious as to the effect this emotional contagion can have on us. That is until we find ourselves staring into the refrigerator wondering why we can’t seem to find solace there.

So let’s try a quick exercise: Begin by keeping a daily log of your mood. To do this, set a timer at three hour intervals. At each interval you will simply jot down your mood. Are you elated, bored, depressed, excited, anxious, angry, dejected, or irritated? Try to be as specific as possible. Continue this log for one week, and at the end of the week, count the number of times you reported each emotion. For example, you may have written “bored” 20 times, while you only reported “happy” 5 times. Whatever the case may be, take notice of the emotional contagion that has been happening around you. Once you have this information, you can then identify patterns that are occurring in your life. Are you finding yourself irritated at the same time, or place every day, or around the same people? Is there something that has been consistently causing you to feel happy? Identifying the patterns that are related to your moods will allow you to become more aware of not just your own emotional condition, but the way it is impacted by the world around you. From there, it is all up to you!


MAKING AN EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT IN YOUR FUTURE: THE CASE FOR FITNESS CAMPS

With the economy in the toilet, many people are rethinking the case for economic investments. What we used to know as “safe” investments seems no more as we see banks failing and stocks plummeting. Many people aren’t even in the position to make an economic investment as unemployment rates skyrocket. So with all of this economic turmoil, we found ourselves in a unique situations where we may reconsider where we allocate our investments. Many people have reported trading expensive luxury items such as SUVs, boats, and RVs, for family time, or time with friends. Others have also reported spending more time outside, exercising more, and enjoying nature more. These things are what we call “emotional investments” as they result in positive feelings, just as an economic investment is purported to result in a positive cash flow. Just as a stock may pay dividends, these economic investments do as well, as the more we do these things, the more likely we are to continue doing other things in our lives that result in positive feelings. It is no wonder that during times of economic crisis, the amount of people running has risen. For example, the Trans-America race, a 64-day stage race from Los Angeles to New York City began in 1929, during the Great Depression. Additionally, in the months following 9/11, the amount of people joining running clubs and events rose significantly.

So with the current economic downturn, what a better time to join a fitness camp? Fitness camps are a wonderful way make an emotional investment in ourselves. They begin with a supportive environment that accepts the person as they are. Everyone from morbidly obese to experienced athletes are treated the same. What this means is that each person is given the same prescription: empowerment.

The way that fitness camps offer this empowerment? They start with a thorough fitness assessment of the person. By measuring the person’s body fat, fitness age, and VO2 max (or cardiovascular capacity), they can develop an exercise program that matches the person exactly where they are. This way, they are not over-faced or intimidated by the exercise. When a person is appropriately matched to the exercise program by the fitness camp, not only are they much less likely to quit, but also, the exercise becomes much more enjoyable.

This is another way that fitness camps offer empowerment. By using games, outdoor activities, and customized programs, they show the person that exercise can be something they look forward to, as oppose to wanting to avoid it. In this way, the fitness camp gives the person a tool to bring empowerment into their life in a very effective way. Whether it is throwing a football, scoring a goal in soccer, or biking further than they though possible, the fitness camp experience shows a person another side of herself that is strong, resilient and positive.

The more this strong resilient person emerges, the greater the sense of identity as an athletic person becomes. As the fitness camp helps reveal this to the person, he or she begins to act more like an athletic person. The tendencies to overeat, or eat incorrectly dissolve, the feelings of intimidation about exercise lessen, and the desire to quit early evaporates. The longer the person stays at the fitness camp, the more they feel like an athletic person.

Not only does a fitness camp help a person identify as an athletic person, but also become as educated as an athletic person would be. By incorporating informational lectures on nutrition, physiology, exercise programming, and injury prevention, the fitness camp experiences leaves the person with a very comprehensive understanding of how weight loss actually works. The more a person understands this, the more empowered they feel.

Part of this empowerment is also related to the neurological response that is created by exercise. Each time the fitness camp puts a person through a workout or run, the levels of serotonin (the feel good neurochemical) rise and epinephrine (the fight or flight neurochemical) fall, leading to a calm, yet energized state. Along with this, levels of dopamine, the neurochemical that regulates sleeping and waking cycles becomes balanced. This is evidenced by the many anecdotal reports of better sleep with exercise.

Over time this all adds up to a person who has just earned a significant dividend on her emotional investment. This dividend comes in the form of understanding how to effectively develop an exercise program, feeling and identifying more like an athletic person, and having the knowledge of an athletic person. In today’s economic times, that is an investment worth making!


LOSE THE WEIGHT; LOSE THE ATTITUDE

As a licensed clinical therapist, specializing in weight loss, eating disorders, and addictions, I see a wide variety of emotions and thoughts. While it is often not difficult to differentiate negative thoughts and feelings from positive ones, it can be a bit more challenging to see the ways in which negative thoughts and feelings affect us. In terms of weight loss, negative thoughts and feelings can be particularly damaging. For one, negative feelings, such as contempt, hate, envy, and greed, can cause us feel negatively not only toward others, but also, toward ourselves. Clearly, when we feel negatively toward ourselves, we are much less likely to make positive health choices, such as exercising regularly, and eating healthfully. Negative feelings toward ourselves also make us much less enjoyable to be around, often leading to destructive relationships, and the inability to accept the help of others. Obviously this can present a critical problem when it comes to weight loss. If we are attempting to accomplish anything that we have not done before, especially weight loss, we need the help of others.

While negative emotions will make it difficult for us to accept the help of others, negative thoughts can also make it difficult for us to make positive health choices. For one thing, negative thoughts result in negative feelings, making healthy weight loss behavior much less likely. Negative thoughts, such as blame, projection, avoidance, and denial can also make it very difficult for us to see our part in the challenge of weight loss. It is unlikely that we will see our part in anything if we are busy blaming someone else for our lack of success. Or, if we our accustomed to projecting our own faults onto others, we are going to have trouble accepting that they really belong to us. When this happens, making life changes, such as weight loss, becomes impossible, as we do not see the negative thoughts that are actually holding us back. If we do not see what holds us back, clearly, we can’t move forward.

As we begin to recognize the importance of our thoughts and feelings on the way we attempt weight loss, it can be challenging to accept and change these things about ourselves. However, when we experience the sense of accomplishment that comes with weight loss, it all becomes worth it. To help you along your quest for continued weight loss success, we will begin exploring some negative thoughts and feelings, and the effect they may have on our weight loss attempts.


NEGATIVE THOUGHTS:

Upward Counter-Factual Thinking: Upward counter-factual thinking is essentially wishing things could be better. While wishing things could be better is not, in itself, a bad thing, it is when this wish inhibits our ability to recognize the positive aspects of the way things are. For example, losing five pounds in one week is a great accomplishment, however, if your desire to lose ten pounds in one week negates this accomplishment, you are likely to feel let down by your five pound weight loss. The reality of the situation is that a five pound weight loss in one week should clearly be celebrated. If we were to engage in the opposite of upward counter-factual thinking, which is downward counter-factual thinking, we would be realizing that our five pound weight loss could have been less than five pounds. In this case, your five pound weight loss would seem like much more of an accomplishment, resulting in positive feelings about yourself. When upward counterfactual thinking becomes a habit, clearly, nothing will ever be good enough. Feeling as though nothing will ever be good enough of course makes it difficult for us to try, as the results don’t seem to lead to any positive response. This situation is akin to being raised by a negative, critical parent. This type of parenting style often results in a petulant, obstinate child. When we treat ourselves this way though constant upward counter-factual thinking, we are also likely to behave like a rebellious child, avoiding being accountable to our weight loss program.

Upward Social Comparisons: Upward social comparisons, like upward counter-factual thinking, involves a wish that things were better. In the case of social comparisons, the wish results from a comparison of ourselves to another person that we view as somehow better off than us. For example, that five pounds that we lost last week will be compared to another person’s ten pounds, and will lose value to us in the comparison. Not only will our accomplishments lose value when we constantly compare them to other’s, but we will lose value as well. Now, some social comparisons are normal, but in the case of upward social comparisons, they result in feelings of insignificance and worthlessness. The majority of this is due to the fact that the comparisons are not balanced. Comparisons can be both upward, or downward. As downward social comparisons involve seeing the value of our accomplishments in comparison to other’s, such as realizing that not everyone has accomplished what we have, they result in feelings of self worth and valuation. Obviously, the problem arises when we engage too much in either type of comparison. Where weight loss is concerned, upward social comparisons can cause us to feel as though we will never measure up to other’s accomplishments. When we feel this way, we are likely to avoid trying, and frequently, give up on our weight loss efforts.

Cognitive Distortions: Cognitive distortions are distortions of thought that often occur instantaneously as a result of our interpretations of events in our lives. For example, if a fellow employee fails to smile at you, you might automatically conclude that she is angry with you. The reason that this type of thinking is called cognitive distortion is because we make these conclusions without any evidence to prove that they are true. In this sense, we are making conclusions based on our perception of the situation, not reality. When we do this, we will automatically find justification for our conclusions, further causing a divide between our perception and reality. Often, this type of thinking can lead a person down a very negative road, colored with a variety of negative sentiments about himself. As you can imagine, negative beliefs and feelings about yourself increase the likelihood of negative behaviors. When you feel bad about yourself, you are going to look for a way to find some relief for this feeling, in the form of food, avoidance, denial, or isolation. When it comes to weight loss, all of these behaviors can deter success, and place the person in a position where she is less able to access the ego strength needed to make positive health changes.


While these negative thoughts can have profound effects not just on your weight loss attempts, but also your life, it is important to realize first, the ways in which they are affecting you, before you can change them. As this awareness can often be painful, it is probably not as painful as watching the numbers on the scale climb upward. Gaining control of those numbers, and gaining control of the way you think can seem very challenging, and at times, insurmountable, however, the rewards are always worth the work. In fact, while I have seen an array of negative and positive thoughts throughout out my work as a clinical therapist, one I have yet to see, is regret about losing weight.


KIDS, SELF IMAGE AND EATING DISORDERS:

WHAT EVERY PARENT NEEDS TO KNOW

If you, as a parent, have had an eating disorder, and therefore are concerned about your children also suffering an eating, you are wise to be so. The percentage of parents with eating disorders who have a child with an eating disorder is 85%. Much of the reason for this staggering statistic is the fact that recovery from an eating disorder is a daily process. Just ask anyone who has had an eating disorder, and they will tell you that they can be triggered at any time, and in order to maintain refrain from engaging in the behaviors of the eating disorder, they have to be constantly vigilant. Essentially they have to be very careful about how the view the relationship with food and the role it takes in their life. Not only do they have to be vigilant, they have to recognize how easily these triggers can affect their perception of themselves. Now just imagine how difficult this is, and multiply it by 100, and that may approximate how challenging it can be to not let your food issues affect your child’s perception of food, or herself. Much of this can be explained by the tendency of those with a history of an eating disorder to polarize their sense of self around their weight.

Any sense of self that is based exclusively on one thing, or polarized, is unhealthy. But this is especially unhealthy when it comes to body image. If your child’s sense of self is determined completely by what she weighs, how she looks, or what she can fit in to, she will begin to depend almost solely on that aspect of herself to feel good. The result of this is that her acceptance of herself will teeter on whether or not she meets her particular ideal body image. Days she does not weigh what she wants, or fit into the clothes she wants, will be fertile grounds for depression, anxiety, and yes, using either restriction of, or dependence on, food to feel better. When the only thing that makes your child feel better is how she looks or what she weighs, she is going to obsess and fixate on it. Obsessing and fixating on things will make them more bound to emotion, and therefore, more powerful. If she thinks she can change how she looks, she will begin to restrict food, or purge it, and when she gets tired of that, and feels out of control, she may begin to binge.

When this happens, any focus on her weight, food intake, or behavior around food, will add fuel to the fire. If this cycle continues long enough, the child will lose her sense of self outside of her body image. As she looks more and more to her weight and body image to feel good about herself, she will lose sight of other factors that can determine her sense of self, or make her feel good. As her parent, you see her sink lower and lower into depression, and develop more obsessive behaviors around food. Thinking that she will feel better if she loses weight, that becomes your focus as well. When this occurs, the relationship between you and your child can begin to revolve around food and weight as well. Clearly, this only exacerbates the problem. As your child has no way to feel better other than trying to attain a specific, probably unrealistic, body image, she needs to learn how to feel better in other ways.

This is where you, the parent come in. To help deconstruct your child’s exclusive focus on weight and food, you have to help her see herself outside of her weight. What this means is to help her identify other factors that represent a positive sense of self. Stop and think for a minute. What is your daughter really good at? Is she a talented artist, musician, student, or athlete? Whatever it is, it is important to begin to bring this part of herself to light, and make it a more evident measure of success to her. For example, let’s say that your daughter is extremely intelligent, as evidenced by exceptional grades or standardized test scores. Remind her of this, emphasizing in what ways this can help her in terms of her goals. Avoid comparing her scores to others, and instead link her scores to her goals. Yes this means she will have to determine goals other than weight loss. This can be very healthy for her to begin to see herself outside of her weight loss struggles. Once she has these goals, helping her see her signature strengths, that are defined by her successes, such as test scores, can help her on begin to increase her focus on these goals.

As she focuses more on these goals, and you help draw her attention to her successes and strengths that pave a path to these goals, she can begin to allow these things to be larger determinants of her sense of self, and as this occurs, she will begin to feel better about herself in general, and probably adopt healthier eating habits. Succinctly, by focusing less on her weight, she will be more likely to eat healthier and maintain a healthy weight. A positive byproduct of this is that your relationship with her also becomes less tied to her weight, and healthier as well. What parent doesn’t want a healthier relationship with her daughter, especially when it means she has a healthier relationship with food.


IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT THE WEIGHT

When you watch a show like the Biggest Loser, the idea that it is not all about the weight is a fallacy. Because for the contestants, it is. If they don’t make the required weight, they are in the best cases, sharply judged and recriminated, and in the worst cases, sent home. Their weight becomes the paramount measure of success. However, there is something strikingly familiar about this type of thinking.

If you think about it long enough, it might hit you. This is exactly the way people with an eating disorder think. For those with an eating disorder, whether it be anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder, their entire evaluation of themselves is based on what they weigh. It is this polarized thinking that underlies all eating disorders, and not only is strongly linked to the cause of the disorder, but also the maintenance of it. For those with an eating disorder, they may not be sent home, but they will always punish themselves for not making the weight. But is it really fair to say that the thinking of the Biggest Loser show is so similar to that of an eating disorder, that it actually promotes it?

To answer this question, let’s explore the similarities between the mentality of an eating disorder, and that of The Biggest Loser. Watching the show, it is clear that there are certain foods the contestants are supposed to eat, and certain foods that are “forbidden”. This type of dieting represents one method of regulating calories, and recent research conducted at Oxford University shows that one in five women diet this way. However, the same research also showed that 75% of those with bulimia nervosa diet this way. That is a staggering number. It seems there is an undeniable correlation between dieting this way, and either causing, or maintaining bulimia nervosa.

If you are familiar with the show, often the most exciting episodes are the days that the clients weight in. On the show, these weigh ins are once a week, and can be very emotional. Does weighing yourself frequently make you more likely to have an eating disorder? While the answer to that question may be hard to find, but we do know this: people with an eating disorder weight themselves more than the rest of us. To be sure, the majority of the general population of women weigh themselves less than once a week (67.5%), but the majority of women with bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder weigh themselves at least once a week, and more commonly 2-3 times per week (82%, and 84%, respectively). If this numbers don’t convince you, perhaps this will. The same research that revealed these numbers, also found another correlation. The greater the number of binges, for either those with bulimia, or binge eating disorder, the greater the number of times these people weighed themselves per month. Again, it is hard to deny there is a connection between preoccupation with the numbers on the scale, and perpetuation of an eating disorder.

If these statistics haven’t swayed you, and you still think that it might be an exaggeration to say that the focus on weight loss that is portrayed on The Biggest Loser leads to an eating disorder, maybe you need to reminded that it is not just the focus on weight loss we see on show that is the problem. The problem is that the show portrays only one way to measure weight loss. This is very similar to those with an eating disorder, in that, there is only one way to measure their self worth. The unbalanced thinking is both unhealthy, and diagnostic of an eating disorder. But it is also incorrect. There is not just one way to measure weight loss, and there is not just one way to measure self worth. Let’s look at another approach.

Live-in-Fitness, a weight loss camp in Marina Del Rey has the same goals as The Biggest Loser, they very much want the client to lose weight. But these people take weight loss to a science. They can actually tell you not just if you have lost weight, but exactly where the weight came from. How, you ask. They use a method called hydrostatic weight assessment, also known as an underwater body composition analysis. Affectionately called “the dunk”, clients are submerged underwater to measure the amount of water displacement, which indicates the percentage of muscle to fat, as muscle displaces more water than fat. Not only will this test tell you exactly how many pounds of fat and muscle you have, but also how many pounds of water you are holding. Broadening the perspective on weight loss this way can often reveal why it is not all about the scale. The reason for this: in the case where the numbers on the scale do not change, often they do change in the dunk test. For example, the client may weigh in at the same weight from one week to the next, yet in the dunk test, she may have gained 2 pounds of muscle and lost 2 pounds of fat.

Why is this important? For a number of reasons. Primarily, the client’s thinking about herself. If she is fixated on the numbers on the scale, she is more likely to become fixated in the same way someone with an eating disorder does. The dunk test offers another way of evaluating herself. Secondly, clearly the dunk test is a more accurate assessment of the client’s weight. The test can tell you exactly where every pound is coming from. Lastly, and in many ways the hallmark of the approach at Live-In-Fitness, the results of the dunk test give the staff at Live-In-Fitness all the information they need to adjust the client’s program to achieve the desired results. There is no guessing here, the trainers are experts at adjusting the client’s exercise to build more lean muscle, burn more fat, or even build less lean muscle and burn more fat. To do this, there is another assessment they use.

Called a V02 max test, the hoses and mask that the client is required to wear may look a little daunting, but the test brings the science of weight loss into the gym. What is revealed through hoses and mask you wonder. Exactly what heart rate you should be working at to metabolize fat. Not only that, the test tells you your true maximal heart rate. While any trainer can tell you your “estimated” maximal heart rate by subtracting your age from 220, it is an estimate. And guessing is not in the vocabulary at Live-In-Fitness. If it were, the results would not matter so much to these people. But the staff at Live-In-Fitness treat the science of weight loss like a surgeon treats surgery. They want to know they exact amount of weight lost, and from where, and most importantly why? This “why” is often answered through the V02 max test. Especially in the case where the client is not working in his optimal heart rate zone, he may not be metabolizing fat correctly, which can explain dunk results that show minimal decreases in fat loss.

Does this sound like a more balanced approach than the drum role heard before the client steps on the scale in The Biggest Loser? If not more balanced, it should certainly sound more comprehensive. What it offers the client struggling with weight loss is not only a more balanced perspective on weight loss (ie: why it is not all about the scale), but a more balanced evaluation of herself in general. While this is not only preventative in avoiding an eating disorder, it is incredibly effective. Effective in more ways than one as well. For the woman struggling with weight loss, who has never understood the value of building muscle, the experts at Live-In-Fitness can show her exactly how lean muscle effects weight loss. Of course this not only gives her an understanding of the science behind weight loss, it gives her another way to measure her success. When she begins to see why lean muscle is important she may not only see why it isn’t just about the scale, but she may also see herself as an athlete. And both of these things will be incredibly effective in the world of weight loss.


FIVE WAYS TO STOP A CRAVING

As we all know, cravings can derail a program about as quickly as an injury, and worse yet, send us plummeting down that slippery slope that leads to giving up. While we may think we will “have just one”, we all know what usually happens. Five or more later, we are filled with guilt and regret. Then of course, we eat more. But before we say adios to our weight loss program, let’s try some simple ways to stop those cravings before they stop us.

DO NOT ISOLATE: Isolating is a hallmark of self destructive behavior. All forms of drug addiction, overeating, and even suicidality happen in isolation. Additionally, most people report greater frequency and more intense cravings when they are alone. Therefore rule number one to stopping a craving, is to stop the isolation.

INCREASE EMOTIONAL TOLERANCE: People who have struggled with cravings and overeating often have very limited emotional tolerance. They tend to overreact to intense emotions by avoiding, denying, and yes, feeding them. When they do, they often increase the amount of negative emotions, as the behavior involved in overreacting to emotions are usually self destructive. The longer this continues, the lower the amount of emotional tolerance becomes. Pretty soon any negative feeling leads to the cookie jar. To increase emotional tolerance then is to learn to sit through these intense emotions without engaging in damaging behaviors. Each time a person can do this, the level of emotional tolerance increases. Eventually, the practice of overcoming intense emotions becomes more habitual than the process of overeating.

INCREASE SELF CONFIDENCE: It is not news to anyone that overeating will not help your self confidence. The question is what will? People who struggle with cravings and overeating typically have a lot of doubt and shame about themselves, and as we all know, we tend to eat in relation to the way we see ourselves. If we see ourselves as “ugly or disgusting”, we will eat in ugly and disgusting ways. In order to stop eating in those ways, and stop those cravings, we have to increase our self confidence. Next time you have a craving, recognize that you are not feeling confident, and take a moment to think about when you do feel confident. Now go do whatever makes you feel confident.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY: Loss of control is another hallmark of overeating. This is evidenced by the fact that people often experience feelings of regret and guilt after overeating. Presumably if they had control, they would not choose to do things that cause these feelings. In that sense, overeating can also be viewed as a temporary lack of responsibility for oneself. For a short period of time, we fail to take responsibility for our behavior and may later explain our binges as a result of other causes, such as emotions, stress, lack of sleep, etc. What we do not see is the reality that we neglected to take responsibility for ourselves. Taking responsibility would mean choosing, and fully owning that choice, to do something. The result would be then explaining our binges as something we choose to do. Given that perspective, most people would not choose to overeat.

GAIN PERSPECTIVE: The final step to stopping a craving is stopping ourselves long enough to gain perspective. Cravings can have an obsessive quality, making us fixate on the desired food. When we do this, we fail to see the situation clearly, fail to consider the other aspects of our lives that will be affected, fail to consider the other positive alternatives, and for all intents and purposes fail to evaluate the situation accurately. Looked at in this way, cravings are akin to impulse buys: they are poorly considered choices, often made out of desperation, which may offer short term excitement with a long term consequence.

In the field of weight loss, there are many hurdles to be overcome, and cravings are only one small part of the bigger picture. While they are a normal part of everyday life, they may have led to significant setbacks on our way to weight loss success. However, following these five steps will help keep cravings in a manageable category!


FIVE RULES TO IMPROVE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD

“What was disrupted in the relationship, needs to be repaired in the relationship”

1. DON’T FEAR FOOD:

We as a culture have a very strange relationship with food: on the one hand, we love it, on the other hand we are afraid of it. Eating and food can bring a tremendous amount of pleasure, yet not when we feel out of control around food. So many of us struggle with the concept of enjoying the comfort and nourishment that food offers, and learning when enough is enough. This is too bad, because when we do this, the relationship with food becomes very tense, and enjoyment is replaced with fear and trepidation. Let’s put fear in it’s place, and start enjoying food. To do this, learn to notice when your relationship with food feels out of control. You regain control by walking away, and doing something that brings control back to you, like going for a run, calling a friend, doing something you feel good at, or asking for help. Yes, I said asking for help. When you do this, contrary to most people’s belief, you do bring control back to yourself. Remember the thing you are trying to gain control over is yourself, and your choices. The trick is realizing that food can’t get you to do anything, that power belongs to you. Once you can understand this, there is no reason to fear food anymore, and all the reason to start enjoying it again!

2. DON’T COMPLICATE FOOD:

It is amazing how complicated our society has chosen to make food! We have taken a very simple concept, and very successfully confused it to the point that most people are willing to try any program as long as it promises weight loss. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that many of these programs just make no sense. Nobody can live on juice forever, or measure everything they put it their mouth. How about just learning to eat when you are hungry, and stop when you are not. Instead of reading every new diet plan, or celebrity advice, just learn what you are hungry for. Start with this: eat breakfast, don't skip meals, avoid “fake foods that have no nutritional value, don't over eat, and try water instead of the massive consumption of sugary drinks that make up 20% of our caloric intake. Is it really rocket science or are we looking for an excuse? Complicating food is one way to avoid simply doing the work of eating when you are hungry, and stopping when you are not. If you are busy looking for the next magic pill, you are putting your efforts in the wrong place. Stop looking for a shortcut, and just get busy. When you get to your goals, it is all worth the effort.

3. WHAT FOODS ARE RIGHT FOR YOU?

There is no one right way for everyone. How can one way of eating serve all of us? This is where you as an individual need to take responsibility and figure out which way of eating is best for you and your goals. Yes, I said take responsibility. Don’t make anyone else responsible for what works for you. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard unsuccessful dieters say, “That diet didn’t work for me”. My response is always the same, “You didn’t work for you.” This is where you come in, to take the time and energy necessary to experiment and find out what works for you. You will not always get it right but that is part of the process. Allowing yourself to try and fail is what it takes to learn what works, and doesn’t work for you. So don’t be afraid of taking responsibility, it can be incredibly rewarding to learn how to fuel you body to feel the best. That’s where you are your own best guide. You already have all the tools necessary to know what foods make you feel good and what foods don’t. I may have heard a lot of excuses, but I have never heard anyone say that they feel physically great after eating a greasy cheeseburger.

4. FOOD IS FUEL NOT AN ESCAPE:

Food has become an escape. Stop running away! Don't hide in your food. Food is fuel and not a solution to anything other than giving your body nutrients. I love chocolate like anyone else, but it's not going to change my situation. Eat to fuel yourself not avoid your life’s woes. Put your needs in the proper place. If you're having stress, that need belongs in the therapist’s office, not the refrigerator. We all need an escape at some point-there is nothing wrong with that-but food is not the answer. If you don’t need therapy, maybe you just need to find a passion that puts your mind at ease. This could be running, playing a sport, playing an instrument, listening to music-the possibilities are limitless. But you are not going to see any of these possibilities if you head is in the refrigerator. So stop hiding in your food, and start looking around, you might be surprised what you can do when you open yourself up to new options!

5. STOP AND ENJOY YOUR FOOD:

Stop eating in your car or at your desk. Take the time to enjoy your food long enough to figure out what you are really craving. Not only is mindless eating a huge contributor to weight gain, but also, keeps you from truly satisfying your cravings. Without satisfying your cravings, you are much more likely to overeat later. We all know this one…if you tell yourself you can’t have something, you are going to want it later. So slow down, think about what you really want, and enjoy it. To do this, and stop the cycle of mindless eating, don’t pair eating with anything else, such as watching TV, surfing the internet, or driving.

Happy eating!


ENVIORONMENTAL DYNAMICS OF WEIGHT LOSS

When was the last time you stopped to consider if your environment supports or hinders your weight loss? For that matter, when was the last time you stopped to consider the impact your environment has on you at all. For many people, the impact the environment has on them goes largely unnoticed. Especially when we have a myriad of responsibilities and expectations, we may find our lives just too busy to take the time to stop and consider these things. It is the age old mistake of failing to notice the forest through the trees. However, the impact the environment has on how we think, feel and act is astronomical. Perhaps nothing illustrated this more clearly than the famous Stanford Prison Project, where a randomized selection of people were chosen to live for 3 months in a virtual prison. Half of the group were assigned the role of guard, and the other half were assigned the role of inmate. The affect this environment had on the study participants was very telling, even to the participants themselves. Many found themselves acting in very angry, deceitful, even abusive ways. In the words of one of the participants, “I never thought I would act like that, I just couldn’t stop myself from being angry.” What we can learn from studies such as this is that we clearly underestimate the ways in which we are affected by the environment around us. Often, we assume that people’s behavior will remain consistent across a variety of environments. This assumption is what is referred to as “the fundamental attribution error” and can account for a large degree of misconception about human behavior.

When we make this error, and fail to account for the impact the environment has on us, we remain blind to the underlying dynamics of our behavior. We may find ourselves struggling with our dislike of our job, for example, all the failing to recognize that although the job offers advancement opportunities, great pay, and great location, there is no validation or recognition for our efforts. Clearly, without being validated it is difficult to engender feelings of pleasure with anything, especially a job. Likewise, if those around us give little attention to our efforts, we may struggle with the desire to continue pursuing our passions. In both of these cases, when we are not aware of how the environment affects they way we feel about something, our attitude toward it will remain a mystery to us. As every person is comprised of a unique blend of needs and wants, the specific way in which the environment affect each individual will be very different. While some have a need for validation, others have a need for challenge, and yet others, a need for acceptance. While determining just what these needs are can be very challenging, the way in which the environment supports or negates these needs is not so. But in order to do so, we will need to slow down and separate ourselves from of environment long enough to absorb the full impact it has on us. Start by asking yourself, what things in my environment make me feel positive about my goals or passions, and what things seem to make me feel negative about it? Now go further by asking yourself, “What is it about those things that make me feel positive; what do they offer?” and “What is it about those things that make me feel negative; what do they offer?”

Answering these questions can begin to increase your understanding of your needs and wants, and how they may be supported or negated by the environment.

In terms of weight loss, the affect the environment has on us is again, often overlooked, and very profound. While we may be toiling away with our weight loss efforts, if factors in our environment do not result in positive emotions, we will struggle. The important understanding is that with weight loss, the positive emotions need not be directly related to losing weight. What this means is that an abundance of people cheering on our weight loss will not compensate for an abusive relationship, causing us to experience anxiety, fear, and shame. Instead, these overwhelming negative emotions will cause us to doubt ourselves, feel as though we are not worthy, and perhaps, that we do not belong. Operating from this fragile emotional framework will make anything but negative behaviors very challenging. Often, these negative behaviors can be both avoidance, as in reticence to reach out for help, and self damaging, as in overeating, bingeing, drinking or drug use. In either case, the behaviors reflect the emotional reality that is created by the environment we find ourselves in.

Clearly then, without considering the factors in our environment that can result in negative emotions, our weight loss efforts will feel like an uphill battle. In this sense, the ways in which we structure the environment to either support or sabotage our determination to lose weight will make the difference between whether or not our attempts to lose weight will feel overwhelming, and not possible, or challenging, but not impossible. So think again, what factors in your environment cause you to feel positive? And how much time to engage in these things? Now, what factors in your environment cause you to feel negative? And how much time do you engage in these things? Perhaps it is time to do a little restructuring. Whether it be weight loss we want to achieve, or any other significant life change, we are going to need to start with enough of a positive emotional framework to weather the inherent challenges of any change. So while you are factoring the amount of calories you need to burn, or what foods you are going to eat, take a little time to consider what other activities you are going to do, people you are going to see, and things that you do, and the effect they have on the way you feel. If you are like most people, you want to lose weight to feel good. However, let’s not forget that we gained weight because we didn’t feel good. Now it is time to fix that.


Change your life: Change your shape

“I thought once I lost the weight, I would feel so much better”. A common misconception in the world of health and fitness, this sentiment leads many people who otherwise would be successful at weight loss down a slippery slope. As they may have used their weight as a sole evaluation of themselves when they were heavy, they incorrectly assume that all they will need to do to feel better is to lose the weight. What the obvious oversight of this belief is that no one single factor in life can determine one’s happiness. Just as no one person, house, car, or event, can ensure happiness, no amount of weight loss can either. Quite to the contrary, the exclusive focus on weight simply distracts the person from all of the other distressing factors in her life. While this distraction may have provided some relief during times of stress, eventually, all of those distressing life factors will be felt when there is no other distraction.

This is why weight loss can be both uplifting, and frightening. Adding to this fear is the false belief that all that is needed to feel better is weight loss, and the resultant denial of distressing life factors. Denial of anything, but especially distress only causes it to gain power over the person, adding to the distress. What this means for the person trying to lose weight and keep it off, is that without attending to these distressing life factors, the weight will surely return. As the person used the weight, and all of the behaviors that maintained it, to avoid feeling distress in other areas of her life, she will eventually use it again when the distress reaches a level that is intolerable. This may result in a weight loss that is maintained over the short term, but not the long term. Clearly short term weight loss is not a goal of anyone, and only serves to complicate long term weight maintenance.

Complicating the matter of long term weight maintenance is one thing, but the false belief that if one changes her shape, her life will change, also confounds any sort of real change. It is as if the person is hoping for a magical transformation where one factor of her life will magically make all of the other factors of her life better. While wishing things were better is fine, the reality is that in order for real change to occur, all of the factors of the person’s life that are standing in the way of this change need to be uncovered. This is, of course, why denial is so profoundly devastating in the quest for change. Specifically, in the world of long term weight loss, denying all of the distressing factors of one’s life that are being avoided through the use of food is a recipe for failure.

Essentially, without changing her life, the person’s weight will not change over the long term either. Because in order for weight loss to be maintained, the person has to, not only, become aware of all of the parts of her life that the use of food has helped her to avoid, but also, reconfigure these parts of her life to support weight loss. Succinctly stated, she needs to recognize the ways in which her life is structured to support weight gain, and restructure her life to now support weight loss. This may mean exploring all of her relationships, activities, and environmental factors to determine in what ways these things may be contributing to her inability to maintain weight loss. In this process, she may find that, people who she thought were supporting her, may actually be holding her back in ways that she was not aware of. Or perhaps more likely, she may have been in denial about the ways these people were affecting her. Often, people will deny the ways in which they are affected by others for fear that attempts to change these things will increase the amount of tension, or distress. Obviously, this form of denial perpetuates the problem, and in many cases, makes it worse. While the person may be aware that there is tension between her and others, she may not be making the connection that this tension is reinforcment of her need to use food to soothe herself. In this case, if she does manage weight loss, the tension will remain, which means the reinforcment of her weight gain also remains. Clearly, this example is like putting a bandaid, where antibiotics are necessary. Without changing the underlying factors of the person’s life, and therefore, making systemic changes, the behavior around weight loss will not change over the long term because the system creates the behavior. In order to change the behavior, and lose the weight, the system has to change. Change your life, and your shape will change, not the other way around.

In order to accomplish this, a much more comprehensive approach to weight loss must be employed. As typical weight loss approaches involve the use of a diet, or exercise program, completed with the help of a dietitian, or a personal trainer, they do not attend to the factors of the person’s life that are perpetuating the behavior around weight loss. While a personal trainer and dietitian are invaluable in achieving weight loss, they are not qualified to address the distressing aspects of the person’s life that have been avoided. This is the role of a clinical therapist. Where a personal trainer will provide the guidance and structure necessary to construct an exercise program to support weight loss, and the dietitian will provide the guidance and structure necessary to construct a nutrition plan that supports weight loss, the clinical therapist will help the person become aware of the ways in which her current construction of her life may be contributing to her inability to achieve long term weight loss, and construct a life that supports it instead. In this way, the person can not only learn the necessary tools of weight loss, but make the necessary life changes of weight loss as well. Weight loss is, after all, a life change, not a behavior change.


BASIC BIOMECHANICS: THE FIRST STEP TO INJURY PREVENTION

As you know, the path to weight loss in rife with many stumbling blocks. Life stresses, boredom, lack of motivation, lack of time, incorrect information, all of these things can deter progress. For the most part, these things are preventable. However, one hurdle that many people view as not preventable is injuries. We tend to assume that getting injured is just one of those things that can happen, and is sort of inevitable. Often, when it does happen, we feel as though there is nothing we can do. This is frequently the point that most of us will give up. Although we may ask ourselves what went wrong, often, we are at a loss as to why the injury happened. While we may have some ideas, such as not stretching enough, not warming up properly, or just an accident, one of the things we fail to consider is our biomechanics.

Biomechanics basically means the mechanics of how we move. Looking at the body as a machine, biomechanics studies whether or not all of the parts function properly. Essentially, do all of the muscles work they way they are supposed to? Inherent in this question, is a framework for understanding the way a human body moves most efficiently. Within this framework, there are a couple of key elements. The theory is that when each of these things is achieved, the body will move as efficiently as possible, and risk of injury will be significantly decreased. Further, with a failure to achieve these things, the risk of injury increases. With greater deviations from these things, the risk of injury becomes larger. Clearly then, injury prevention is dependent on understanding this framework and thereby decreasing risk as much as possible. So let’s take a look at what these factors are, and how we achieve them.

MEDIAL TO LATERAL BALANCE: Basically this means side to side balance. To understand this concept, imagine a line drawn down the center of your back, beginning at the top of your head, down you spine, continuing through the center of your hips, and ending right in between your feet. Looking at yourself from behind, your body should be equally balanced on both sides of this line: that is to say that the line divides your body right in half. As you stand, walk and run, your body should then stay equally balanced on both sides of this line and at no point appear to be leaning to one side or another. However, this is hardly ever the case. Most people will have a preference for one side or another, and will appear to be leaning slightly as they stand, walk, and run. An example of this is the person who wears the tread on one shoe slightly more than the other, or tends to bump into one side rail on the treadmill more than the other. When this is the case, the side that the person tends to lean toward will bear more weight than the other side, adding more load to the foot, knee, and hip on that side, thereby predisposing that side of the body to increased injury risk. Sciatica, iliotibial band syndrome, and lower back strain are all examples of poor medial to lateral balance. The only way to assess your medial to lateral balance is to either have someone video you standing, running, and walking from behind, or to have a trained professional watch you and make the necessary adjustments. These adjustments are typically small, and the problem is not difficult to fix once it is identified.

ANTERIOR TO POSTERIOR BALANCE: This basically means front to back balance. Looking at your body from the side, imagine a line that begins at the top of your head, passes through your shoulder hip, and down to your heel. This line should divide your body in half, making it equally balanced on both sides of the line. Essentially, it should look as though you are standing at a ninety degree angle, and not leaning forward or backward. As you walk and run, the point at which your foot first contacts the ground should fall directly on this line. That is to say that your foot should hit the ground directly under your head. While at increased speeds, such as when sprinting, you may be leaning forward, your foot should continue to contact the ground directly in line with your head. If you lean forward, for example, your foot would contact the ground further forward, and vice-versa if you are leaning backward. Whatever the case may be your head and foot contact should always remain on a vertical line, so that connecting the two points that they make would create a ninety degree angle. When this is not the case and the person tends to lean forward with the head leading the point of contact of the foot, there is more weight displaced on the anterior portions of the body. An imbalance such as this predisposes the person injuries such as patellar compression, shin splints, and strains of the erector spinae muscles. When the opposite is the case, and the person lean backward with the point of contact of the foot in front of the head, there is more weight displaced on the posterior portions of the body. This imbalance can cause injuries such as stress fractures of the lower leg, heel bruising, hip compression, and arthritis of the ankle, knee, and hip. Again, preventing injuries then depends on maintaining correct anterior to posterior balance. Assessing this for yourself will also require the use of a videotape, or a trained professional to make the needed adjustments. Similar to medial to lateral balance, these adjustments are usually minor and the problem is quite fixable once they are made.

So the next time you head out for a walk or run, they probably will be many things on your mind. Maybe you are even going out to “clear your head”. However, one of the last thoughts you probably want to have is of an injury. So take a moment to think about whether or not your body is truly balanced. Are you leaning to one side or another? Are you leaning forward or backward too much? When it comes to biomechanics and injury prevention, what often begins as a small problem, leads to a larger problem, and potentially a setback. What is important to remember is that, in terms of correcting things, small changes can have dramatic effects. As long as you are paying attention to your biomechanics, it doesn’t take much to remain injury free, and well on your way to healthy weight loss.


AN AUDIENCE FOR CHANGE: THE CASE FOR WEIGHT LOSS CAMPS

When considering most changes in life, for most people, it is not without some trepidation. Especially in the case of weight loss, most would agree that it is not looked upon favorably. In fact most people view weight loss as painful, restrictive, and full of deprivation. With this kind of sentiment in mind, it is no wonder that the success rate for weight loss in this country is what it is. However, it is not only this viewpoint that confounds the problem of weight loss. When we look at change in general, of any kind, there are several factors that must be considered. While the person must have awareness of a problem in order to change it, she must also have the sense of control and competency required to make the change, but she must also have an audience to support the change. To be sure, if a person were attempting to change into something that was not supported by those around her, the change would, most likely, not be possible. For example, if she were attempting to work full time, when her husband, children, friends, and extended family did not support this, it would be very difficult to do. As she may experience judgment, criticism, or even recrimination from these people, she would also find it difficult to maintain the necessary sense of control and competency to support this change. In this sense, the audience for change represents an integral part of maintaining change. This is certainly the case with weight loss.

For those attempting weight loss, identifying an audience to support this change is something that is commonly missed. When it is, the person may unknowingly encounter resistance when working toward her weight loss goals. Obviously without becoming aware of this resistance, and making the necessary changes, the person’s weight loss goals will be hindered. This is where weight loss camps come in.

Because weight loss camps recognize the importance of creating an audience to support the changes in any person’s life, but especially those struggling with weight loss, they have all of the clients live on site. Utilizing a residential approach allows the weight loss camp to create an environment that supports every person’s weight loss goals. In doing this, the weight loss camps create an audience for change that serves many purposes in maintaining each person’s weight loss goals.

Primarily an audience for change provides the person with a sense of awareness of herself. As those around her at the weight loss camp, will notice things about her that she may notice about herself, she will begin to develop an increased understanding of herself. For example, another camper may compliment her skill at a particular sport, and bring this to her attention. When this happens, she will begin not only to know herself more fully, but also begin to develop a sense of identity around the positive change. Essentially, she will begin to see herself as more athletic. Each time she receives feedback such as this, her sense of identity as a healthy, fit, athletic person will be strengthened. This is an obvious ingredient to weight loss success. Clearly, if the person does not see herself as a healthy, fit, athletic person, she is going to struggle with weight loss, as it does not align with her sense of identity. The weight loss camp approach then accounts for this, and utilizing a residential approach provides the integral audience for each person to begin to develop an increased understanding of herself, as well as a sense of identity as a healthy person.

Secondly, an audience for change becomes a constant source of positive regard for movement toward change. While at the weight loss camp, as each person makes forward progress toward her weight loss goals, those around her offer positive regard for this progress. When this happens, the person immediately experiences an increased sense of confidence, which leads to more forward progress. As people inherently move toward where they feel confident, the more positive regard each person experiences, the more likely she will move toward further weight loss goals. In this sense, the movement toward future weight loss, and the positive regard stimulates the person’s motivation. For example, a fellow weight loss camp participant might share with the person that she noticed how she was able to recover from a setback and how her strength motivated her to push herself past her own limitations as well. As this is positive regard for the person’s ability to be successful at her desired changes, the person will likely move in the direction of future changes as her motivation is now increased. In this sense, the audience that the weight loss camp provides helps to increase the person’s motivation through the constant positive regard for movement toward change.

Lastly, the audience that supports the person’s weight loss provides the client a sense of connection from which to begin to develop a sense of purpose in her weight loss pursuits. When the person is able to connect her efforts toward any change, but especially weight loss, to something greater than herself, the change itself begins to take on a sense of purpose. For this reason, it is not at all uncommon that those in recovery from drugs or alcohol become drug counselors, or those who achieve significant weight loss become personal trainers. As these people received positive support for their changes, they naturally were able to connect these changes to something larger than themselves, that is, helping others. In the case of weight loss, helping others to also lose weight provides a sense of purpose in one’s own weight loss. However, it is not without first experiencing the positive support through those around her, that the person feels as though her own weight loss achievements can represent a sense of purpose for others as well. It is the positive support of those at the weight loss camp that offers just that for the person attempting to lose weight.

While there are many factors that can deter a person’s weight loss efforts, certainly, those around her should not. Maintaining an audience for change that supports the person’s movement toward change is certainly not a difficult task, and one made incredibly easier through the use of a weight loss camp. So whether the audience is helping the person to become more aware of herself, providing constant positive regard that fosters motivation, or representing a sense of connection and purpose for the client, the effects are profound. In the field of weight loss, profound effects are in short supply, and for the person losing the weight are certainly not unappreciated