Changing habits is hard work, especially if you’re aiming for weight loss. The process can be slow; think months. Even years. Sometimes you slide, sometimes your weight fluctuates. Don’t expect dramatic weight loss, expect to be patient with the process, as it’s a learning process.
For those of you with insanely busy lives, I encourage you read through the interview answers of this client who is currently engaged in habit based weight loss. As a mother of two daughters, a wife, and busy working professional with a heavy travel schedule and plenty of indulgent work lunches and dinners, this client achieved forty pounds of weight loss. With this amount of weight loss, she enjoyed a better tennis game, a reduction in knee pain, and improved cholesterol levels.
Sumi: You’ve had what from the outside appears to be a very easy, steady loss on the weight loss journey (40 lbs and counting). Foodwise, what have you done differently?
Client: I think I already had a relatively healthy diet, at least when I ate at home, but instituting portion control and balance on the plate (i.e., a little bit of protein and starch and lots of veggies) made a big difference there. It has also helped me to have regular and routine meals. Breakfast is Greek yogurt with fruit – every morning. That keeps me from the temptation to swing by the donut shop “just this once” on the way to work. I don’t skip lunch and I don’t wait until I am ravenous to eat it. In addition, it is easier to exercise portion control at lunch when I know there is a snack (generally an apple and some almonds) to get me through to supper. I have also reduced my consumption of processed food and refined sugars and starches. No more Lean Cuisine, which is good because they never taste that good and they are not at all filling.
Sumi: What was the hardest thing to do? And the easiest?
Client: The hardest thing continues to be to eat less than I want to eat (and drink less than I want to drink). I like food and wine and eating out is a big part of my life, but knowing that special meals can be incorporated into the plan makes it easier. It was important for me to embrace the idea that this is a lifestyle, not a diet. I will never go back to eating the way I did before, but I can still appreciate and enjoy good food (in moderation).
The easiest thing is eating at home because my husband is such a great and supportive partner in this journey. He cooks most weeknights and has made a very big effort to find recipes that are healthy and low-fat. He often makes enough for a lunch the next day, which is awesome.
Sumi: With your job demands and hours in the car on travel, how do you stick to your diet goals on travel?
Client: Planning! Your meal plan gave me Subway as a fast food option. This helped because I do drive back and forth to Houston a lot and I had been consuming a lot of fast food on that drive. While Subway is not my favorite meal, knowing that I can get a sandwich that is going to fill me up makes it easier to bypass the Whataburger drive-through. I do also take the time to put fruit and almonds in the car for snacking and try to take a protein shake for breakfast for overnight trips.
Sumi: Let’s talk about your workouts. What made you decide to sign up with a gym and a trainer? Why strength training?
Client: I really had packed on the pounds in the last few years and had generally been feeling crappy. I knew that I needed to do something to improve my health and physical condition, including some chronic pain I was experiencing because of arthritis in my knee. Our local country club offered a deal for family memberships, with a free fitness consultation, to Anytime Fitness and I decided to give it a try. I remember coming in to the meeting with you with a very skeptical attitude and leaving feeling excited and hopeful. I didn’t think that I could lose a meaningful amount of weight at my age, but you didn’t give any hint that you thought I couldn’t do it and I guess that confidence rubbed off.
I don’t know that I would ever have picked strength training without your influence. In the gym, I found the area beyond the elliptical machines somewhat intimidating, but I did know as a woman reaching a certain age, that strength training could have positive effects in minimizing osteoporosis, among other things, so I was eager to give it a try. Now, I love it. I have never felt athletic before and lifting weights and being able to see progress in the form of increasing ability and muscle definition has made me feel better physically and feel better about my appearance.
Sumi: How has exercise influenced your general food choices, and other daily tasks? (Maybe mention how it’s improved your tennis, or your proudest accomplishments, if you wish).
Client: Exercise has just made me feel better all-around. I had really begun to limit my activity because I was just not in very good shape. I had trouble keeping up with the athletic things that my daughters wanted to do on family outings and vacations. Now I feel much more capable of participating and keeping up. My knee pain has improved and is much less frequent. My cholesterol level is down to a point that I no longer need to take medication.
Sumi: I really like your strategy of rewarding yourself with non-food items, every time you’ve reached a 10 lb loss. What were some of these rewards?
Client: Ten pounds was shoes. Twenty pounds was a new purse. Thirty pounds was a pair of boots. Forty pounds didn’t really have a set reward – it is much less important for me now to have that external motivator, but I did use that milestone as an excuse to buy lots of new clothes, since my wardrobe is in serious need of restocking. (J) Fifty pounds, as you know, is a family trip to Mexico over the Christmas holiday. At this point, I may not hit that 50 pound mark before we go on the trip, but that is not such a big deal because I know that I can and will do it.
Sumi: Do you have any tips or guidance for newbies and working professional moms? How would you encourage someone to just go for it?
Client: I woke up on my 48th birthday feeling unhealthy and I had begun to feel very self-conscious about the way I looked. I just had my 49th birthday last week and my physical well-being (and appearance) has changed dramatically and for the better, which in turn has translated into a more positive outlook. The best thing is that it didn’t take losing 40+ pounds to start feeling better – the positive changes happened fairly soon after I started.
As far as tips or guidance, I do think it takes commitment and focus, particularly in the beginning. It can be done, but it is certainly not easy at first and I think you have to be prepared to spend a few weeks adjusting to new ways of eating and new routines. Don’t quit after the first hard week or two because it does get easier. Planning continues to be important. For example, before I go to a restaurant, I try to do some research on the menu and make a decision in advance about what I am going to order. Finally, we all have scheduling issues, but we need to make our own health a priority. Take a look at the week ahead, schedule the exercise, and keep that commitment to yourself. (That is one of the reasons that for me having a trainer helps, because it is a real appointment.)
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