Start Your Diet

Carolyn Classick-Kohn,MS,RD

One of the biggest reasons people have for not losing weight is that they believe it is too hard to eat healthier or to exercise because of their busy lives. Most people think they have to make a major overhaul in diet and exercise to make a difference. This could not be more wrong! 

Let's look at a couple of life's circumstances, how they can prevent you from getting to your weight loss or health goal, and what you can do to turn things around in realistic, doable ways.

All work.....
Regardless of whether you have a career that brings you great satisfaction and joy, or whether you just have a job that pays the bills, chances are the major part of your day is spent working. And, even if your work involves a lot of physical labor (you're burning calories - that should help, right?), it can still be a barrier to weight control and good health. There are several ways work interferes with personal goals like weight loss.

• Whether you love your job or you're just working to pay the bills, if you're working full time, your job probably takes up most of the day or night. And, getting ready for work, traveling to and from a job, taking work home with you, and transitioning from work to home life takes up additional time as well. When you're not working, how much time are you spending thinking about work related events? For most of us, our work defines how we structure our valuable time - work comes before our personal needs. (And if you want to keep your job, it's probably an important priority!) If your work keeps you from finding time to fit in exercise or to fix a decent meal, you don't have to quit your job to set things right. 
  
  

• Many of you have stressful jobs that eat away your time. Even when you're not at work, you may be thinking about upcoming events, unfinished work, or people who have made your work difficult. The daily stress of a difficult job situation can lead many to reach for food or alcohol to cope, and of course this leads to weight gain. But, once again, you don't have to quit your job (even though it might be a good idea!) to reach your weight goal. 

  Family Life    

  If you live alone, you have a lot more flexibility in how you spend your free time, what and when you choose to eat, and you can exercise on your own schedule. This can give you an advantage when it comes to weight control, so make use of this freedom!    

  For those of you with a partner or with children, you must consider the impact of everything you do upon your family. Forget about skipping a meal because you're not hungry, everyone else is! And, when you prepare a meal, you have to consider everyone's preferences, healthy or not. When it's time to dine out, the lofty goal of going out to a restaurant with a lot of healthy choices gets drowned out by cries of "McDonald's", (and of course it costs less, and takes less time) so bring on the fat and salt! No wonder there are billions served - it's the easy thing to do. 

  If you have kids, you may need the skills of an air traffic controller to schedule in your own time to exercise. I have found that men and women who work and have children are typically getting up very early to work out, before work and before the kids wake up.  I have also found these people complain about not having enough energy to get through the day. The combination of reduced sleep, cutting calories and increasing exercise may lead to weight loss, but it does not necessarily not lead to good health and true fitness. This pace is very difficult to maintain, which explains why many people find it too difficult to reach their weight or fitness goal, and they give up.  

  So, what's the solution? 

 Flexibility

First, when you follow a diet and fitness plan, it really must be flexible and consider your personal situation. I'm really opposed to eating plans that isolate people from others in their household or social situations - you should not have to buy special packaged foods or eat special meals. With this approach,  I have found that most people get tired of eating special diet meals, go back to eating "regular" food, and don't make ever make the transition to eating the way they need to maintain a good body weight.  A good diet allows you to eat in any situation, even at McDonald's, if that is part of your lifestyle. 

When it comes to making changes in your diet, a good eating plan helps you identify your priorities. For some people, making a few simple changes will bring major results. For others, a very structured set of eating guidelines gives them the guidance needed to keep food amounts under control. The point is, there are different approaches that work for different people, and a good plan includes that flexibility. One of our male members made a simple switch from drinking regular soda to drinking diet drinks and water, and lost 5 pounds from that simple change, and most importantly, it was a change he was willing to live with for those results. 

When it comes to burning calories, you do not have to burn yourself out to make a difference. Increasing the rate that you burn calories builds up over time, and each time you move makes a contribution to improving the rate at which you burn fuel.  The larger you are, the more calories you burn when you move, so in this case, bigger people are at an advantage. There are a million ways to move more - make exercise available and enjoyable, and pace yourself.

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Good Morning

I am not working right now so can be even more devoted to my exercise program.  I NEVER miss a day so what I should say is I'm even more energetic and exercise with a lot more vigor since I am not as tired or short of time. I have been eating right with the correct amount of protein, carbs and fat. My carbs always consist of fruit and vegetables and very little grains except oatmeal for breakfast.  I'm eating 1200 calories right now and I haven't lost a pound.  I'm thinking I have a sluggish metabolism so switching from Nordic track (too easy) for my cardio and am jogging slowly but for 40 minutes each session.  No change after 1 full week.  Very disappointing since I work out 6 days a week alternating weight lifting for an hour a session working on upper body one day, cardio the next day lower body the next day.  I'm lifting 8 and 10 lb weights and doing reps of 3 set of 20.  I am not a slacker when it comes to exercise yet I am noticing MORE dimpled skin rather than less.  I haven't lost a pound.  There has got to be a reason this isn't creating the deficit my body needs.  I read all the questions and it appears people need help in discipline and keeping motivated.  I will try whatever your suggestion is for a week to give it a test for effectiveness.

Any suggestions to keep motivated when you have 0 success?

Thanks

Dear Theresa:
Sounds like you are putting a lot of effort into losing weight, and you feel you're not getting much benefit - yet.  I really encourage you to re-examine your expectations that the exercise changes you made would have an impact after just one week. Increasing your physical activity is key to good health and fitness, but it rarely leads to significant weight loss just by itself. Exercise has a dramatic effect upon the way your body looks, but it takes a few months, and it depends upon your starting point. You are not likely to lose much weight quickly with exercise, but you should notice a difference in your energy level right away.  Your fitness level and the way you look will improve with exercise over time. You will not get any results if you quit! 

Since you are a women over 30, this situation is not unusual and is to be expected, but do realize that your efforts are not useless. In the short term, it might be helpful for your motivation to focus upon other benefits besides the way you want to look and your body weight. You have identified other benefits that you're getting through your efforts - feeling better and improving your energy level, yet you said you were having zero success! The improved looks and weight loss you seek will happen if you are making the efforts you have described.

It's much tougher to lose weight, as you know, as the decades progress. Metabolism is affected by age, sex, height, and weight and small, older women have the biggest challenge. You are doing the right thing by exercising because you can't drop your calories too much below 1200 for very long without compromising your nutritional intake and getting too tired due to poor nutrition. You are likely to burn yourself out because the fact is, it takes longer for women over 30 to lose weight safely, and it takes more patience (I know that doesn't seem fair but we have plenty of examples of successful weight loss for women in your situation!) My recommendations on changing calorie levels depend upon each person's situation and the challenges they are having.

If you haven't lost weight, then it's time to review your food intake. For about two weeks try to stick with foods that you know the exact calorie content of. This is not something you should have to do for very long - but it should really help you control your calories more carefully, and I believe it will be worth the effort. You do not need to do this forever, but you do need to rule out the probability that you are eating more than you realize - this is a very common oversight and quite easy to fix. 

Sincerely,
Carolyn Classick-Kohn, MS,RD