A Question For The Obese British Dieter. Are You Ready To Stop Dieting? The year is 2006. Im 3 years into my personal training career, riding a learning curve so steep Im practically vertical. Every client... every session... every success... every failure... Is teaching me something new and different about the science and psychology of fitness, nutrition and body shape change. Julie is 32 years old... obese... pre-diabetic... And DESPERATE to lose weight. We meet at her Initial Consultation, and I go through my tried and tested health assessment, asking a range of questions to help me understand where she is, and where she wants to be, in terms of her nutrition, fitness, weight and body shape. Have you tried any diets in the past Julie? The reply was the same reply Ive heard no short of 500 times... Well I did Weight Watchers first in my 20s... It was great... I lost a stone and really felt good about myself. But I stopped when I went on holiday then gradually put it all back on... and a bit more... so I decided to go back to Weight Watchers again. I lost a bit of weight... about half a stone that time... but then started gaining weight again. I found it harder and harder to stick at it and control what I eat. I must have been back 4 or 5 times over the last 10 years and every time I do, I lose weight, but I always put it back on AND MORE. And here I am now 16 stone. And I first tried Weight Watchers at 11 stone, thinking I was fat. Id kill to be 11 stone now! I offered Julie a simple solution to her problem... Julie, Ive met a lot of men and women in your position, who have gained weight yo-yo dieting. If youre serious about losing weight and KEEPING IT OFF... the dieting has to stop. Her face crumbled, and she looked in pain... almost as though Id just told her someone had died. Her response shocked me, but sticks with me to this day... Please dont take my diet away from me. BANG. There it was. The missing link in my knowledge. Dieters are as ADDICTED to dieting... As gamblers are ADDICTED to gambling. As our conversation continued it became clearer and clearer to me what was going on with Julie... and every other dieter Id met, and would ever meet, over the coming years. She explained... If I can CONTROL what I eat, I feel in CONTROL of my life. The stricter the rules, the more in control I feel. I get a buzz from sticking to my points, and seeing my weight come down, and its a feeling I really enjoy. Im only ever HAPPY when Im in CONTROL. I was starting to get it... to understand... why millions of people put themselves through a weight loss process which always fails... never lasts... and ultimately leads people to obesity. So I asked Julie... What happens when you dont stick to your points? Or when your weight goes up a pound one week? I already knew the answer, but she needed to hear it herself.... I binge. I eat EVERYTHING. All it takes is that one extra point, that one sod-it moment, or for that one pound to go on, and I lose it for a week... sometimes two... sometimes three. And then Ive completely lost CONTROL. And the only thing that takes away the pain and makes me feel better is EATING MORE. 2006. The year I started to understand obesity. Obesity isnt a disease of laziness or greed. It is a disease of PERFECTIONISM. It is a disease of people who demand CONTROL in their lives. It is a disease of people who have LOST CONTROL of other areas of their lives... their work... their family.. their relationships... the dreams and aspirations they had when they were young... And now seek to take control through a PERFECT DIET. But no diet is perfect. Ever. It cannot be. And will never be. And if every time the obese person is imperfect with their diet... or gains a pound of weight.... they BINGE EAT... Then they are destined to be obese and stay obese. So Im going to ask you the question again... Are You Ready To Stop Dieting? Are you ready to stop aiming for perfection? And start learning about FLEXIBLE NUTRITION? The leaner my clients, the more IMPERFECT their nutrition. They aspire and work hard to eat the right stuff, but equally allow themselves the bad stuff. So when they do lose control of their nutrition. They dont lose control of their nutrition. They accept it. They enjoy it. They move on from it. They bend it, shape it, adjust it.... tighten it... relax it.... According to whats going on in their life at that time... being as good as they can be... when they can be... and applying damage limitation when they cant. Unlike the obese person, who spends a month binging and beating themselves up for NOT BEING PERFECT... or GAINING 1 POUND. And so... When you understand the concept of flexible nutrition, you are liberated from the GUILT of eating any food, good or bad, clean or dirty, healthy or unhealthy. You just EAT and aspire to eat, as well as you can... In the knowledge that there will be good days... bad days.. awful days and shocking days. But never losing control for weeks... or months... or years, like dieters do... until they start the next diet... and inevitably fall of it again. With flexible nutrition... There is no On The Diet or Off The Diet... There are no Rules to be broken... You just EAT and aspire to eat, as well as you can. 365 days of the year. Liam p.s. Whats your nutrition like at the moment? Are you a yo-yo dieter? Or are you flexible with your nutrition?
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 15:34:40 +0000
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