Learning How to Become a Good Loser
The Quest to Reach Your Ideal Weight
It was late in the day and my next patient I would be meeting for the first time. As the woman entered my office upon introduction I was surprised by her response to my question of how she heard about me. She went on to say it was through an article she read in a regional newspaper about a coach who had become well known for getting his clients to become good losers. Once we had taken seats in my office I asked her, "What can I do for you today?" She answered, "Can you help me to lose weight?" My response stunned her, "Is that all you want me to do?"
You see too many times a potential client is focused on getting started and not on what the finish will be. She went on to say that dieting had become a second career. She described herself being very good at losing weight, but no matter what diet she tried nothing worked for very long and the weight always came back, usually with a few extra pounds tagging along to make matters worse. She saw herself as weak, lacking in discipline and her self-esteem was in ruins. I admired her determination; here she was ready to try again, still hoping after all those years of failure. She said, "I’ve tried everything; there’s something wrong with me." I responded, "There’s nothing wrong with you. You’ve been on diets that are wrong. We don’t fail at diets, diets fail us.
Over the last thirteen years I have met thousands of people in the same fix. By the time they come to me, a nutritionist in private practice and known to my clients as The Fat Loss Coach, they have been on every diet imaginable. Their experiences have already proven that diets do not work, but they do not understand why. They come to me searching for a new diet, when what is really called for is a new lifestyle. Why do they need a nutritional coach? They have become good at being overweight and the beliefs and behaviors that support it. It takes more than knowing what to do; you must develop behaviors, which keep you doing what you know.
That was the reason I asked if losing weight was all, she wanted me to help her do. You see, losing weight alone is not enough. To do it right, we would need to make sure the weight she lost was fat, without the loss of lean muscle and bring balance to her metabolism. She commented, "I think my metabolism is dead." After laughing, I responded by saying," She would have to break away from the conventional wisdom, which I have proven is not very wise, metabolism is more than just burning calories. I explained, I would teach her the difference between anabolic and catabolic metabolism. In simple terms anabolic means the building up or repairing of tissue and catabolic refers to the breaking down of tissue. To reach her desired ideal weight she would need to learn how to balance both the anabolic and catabolic process. I pointed out, that each time she had lost weight by dieting; her body became stuck in the catabolic mode. Unfortunately, that is why all diets seem to work only in the beginning.
The problem with her dieting, as she lost weight, was a loss of both fat and muscle. Muscle loss occurred because her metabolism became trapped in the catabolic phase. Her body was shutting down because it was being under fed. She was fighting against thousands of years of hormonal evolution, that when under stress of under-eating the body wants to store fat. I said, "You are fighting an opponent that is not easy to defeat, it’s a lot easier to work with your body’s chemistry than against it."
Her next response told me she was starting to catch on. She said, "Are you telling me that I am an over-weight under-eater. I smiled and responded, "nine out of ten new clients I meet are just as surprised as you, when I tell them they are under-eaters not over-eaters." She went on to say, I’m afraid to eat, I spend much of my day in front of a computer and I was worried that a job with a low physical activity meant I shouldn’t eat more than small amounts at a time and not very often". I said, "foods not your problem, it will become your solution. I will teach you, the secret to managing your weight lies in three changes in eating behavior. To control your hormonal response you must eat the right type of food, in the proper portion, at least four times per day. This will control your blood sugar levels and the insulin, glucagons and cortisol response to what you eat. Like most clients, you are suffering from peeks and valleys in your blood levels. In peeks the pancreas releases too much insulin and the lean tissue or muscles are over-fed and the excess is stored as fat. In the valleys there is too little production of insulin and the lean tissue is now under-fed. This is what caused your desire for snacking during the valleys and your over-eating late in the day. When you eat too little amounts this increases the production of the hormone cortisol due to stress, which causes increased fat storage, combine this with increased insulin levels during peeks in blood sugar and the fat storage is mainly in the abdominal region.
Losing fat without losing muscle begins with not being too aggressive or extreme with your reduction of carbohydrates. You need carbohydrate management, not carbohydrate elimination. Carbohydrates must be controlled in two ways, first is the glycemic index, which refers to how quickly do the carbohydrate turn to blood sugar or glucose. Second is the glycemic load, which refers to how much glucose it turns into. Over the last thirteen years, working with more than 10,000 clients I’ve found by reducing carbohydrates by 20% of daily needs and within 48 hours replenishing the glycogen (glucose and water) in the muscle by eating 100% of daily carbohydrate requirements, allows for fat loss, without muscle loss. In essence you have two fat burning days, then a recovery day. By doing this you’ll have the best of both worlds. You will experience fat loss that averages between 1-2 pounds weekly, while muscles are being well fed. There will now be a balance between the anabolic, rebuild and repair, and catabolic, breaking down and elimination. The proper amounts of calories you eat on your recovery day will keep the dreaded plateau that most dieters experience.
Her final question was not surprising, she said, "this all makes sense, but how will I be able to keep off the fat I lose? I’ve never been able to keep it off." My answer however took her by surprise. I said, "You don’t lose fat, you shrink it. You do not eliminate fat cells you make them smaller. If you think you lost something, then you don’t have to manage something you no longer have. That is why you have never made it your lifestyle." Learning what to eat is half the mission getting to your ideal weight and staying there, you must also develop new eating habits that become your eating character. Managing your weight is a lifestyle, it’s someone you become, and not something you try. I will help you form the belief, discipline and passion to manage your new knowledge of eating. I have helped thousands become their ideal weight from the inside out. Working together we can get you to your ideal body composition by transforming your thoughts and disciplining your habits into a lifestyle.
By Charles Remington
Nutritionist
2 Time Mr. Connecticut
[email protected]thefatlosscoach.com
Charlie is the author of a nutritional software program that has sold over 100,000 units since 1995. He starred in a nationally broadcast television infomercial that in 1997 was recognized by the Jordan Whitney report as one of the twenty five popular infomerical’s in the U.S.A. Mr. Remington’s expertise and passion has been well demonstrated on several National Television talk shows, as well as regional news broadcasts. He has been the featured guest delivering his message that foods not the problem, it’s the solution over national and regional radio talk shows. He has been recognized in publications, radio and television as an expert in nutrition.
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Weight Loss: The Strength in Setting Goals, Achieving Objectives, and The Power of Intention
The act of taking the first step is what separates the winners from the losers. -Brian Tracy
Objectives and goal setting and a desire or an intention to meet said goals and objectives is, undoubtedly the most imperative piece of the puzzle when attempting to achieve anything worthwhile in life. And as Brian Tracy has outlined here, it is indeed the act of taking the first step and then following through that will separate the winners from the losers. Clearly defining what it is that you want is where it all starts and Weight Loss is no different! The potency of your objectives and the power of your intention will totally aid in the clarity and sharpness of outlining your goals. So if you truly want to achieve permanent Weight Loss, you must completely see yourself ‘lean’ or ‘lighter’ with absolute lucidity! It can happen to you. You’ve heard it before; life is a journey, not a destination…
Enjoy the trip, but know where you’re going, it’s easier to get there!
Brushing your teeth, washing your hair, ‘showing up’ at work regularly and sleeping are all habitual rituals, they are daily practices that promote or provide either assurance, insurance, functionality or the opportunity to continue to have or use something that you probably want to keep… Stop doing these rituals and decay, breakdown or unemployment occurs, which just causes a downward spiral of unpleasant events. Although this sounds a bit funny, the reality is your body functions or DIS-functions in the same way, practice daily effective, proactive rituals and ta…da… you either attain, maintain or achieve the object or objective desired. Exercise and nutrition are often perplexing topics, usually shrouded in mystery, but need not be. Knowledge and application of knowledge are not the same thing; they are quite separate and distinct. Knowing how to do something and doing it is where the line is drawn and having an intention, coupled with an objective acts as the proverbial driver behind the wheel…and placing intention into the subconscious mind is like stepping on the gas pedal, which in turn produces action or OBJECTIVE.
Can you remember when you were young and wanted something so bad that nothing else mattered? That thing that drove you was desire and if you actually did get that ‘object’ of desire, well that was intention that propelled you to go out and get or "receive" that object. Goals or objectives motivate and generate oomph, you know…that get-up-and-go, they are the steam that wakes you up, gets you to work, helps you focus and aids in the process of achievement. Emotion married to objective is fuel for accomplishment.
Develop a sense of purpose, a reason why and combine that purpose with your desire and your emotionally stimulated intention, put this desire, intention and purpose in writing and since we’re talking about Weight Loss, this could be that desire. With laser-focused accuracy, picture a ‘clear-vision’ of how you see yourself in ‘fighting’ condition, we call this "visualizing" and remain focused using all of these components and guess what… It will happen… Yes, time patience, persistence, effort and action are required, but you will reap what you sow, it is an unfailing fact.
Positive reinforcement, now this is the next phase… Any suggestion that you plant into your subconscious mind is used, if it’s negative…. Negative results, if it’s positive… Positive results! If you know what to do, but you can’t seem to get yourself to do it, you’ve probably been giving negative or conflicting messages to your subconscious mind. The behaviors that are produced by subconscious conditioning are more commonly referred to as habits. Fortunately, you can re-program your subconscious mind with positive instructions and become a creature of positive habit, just as easily as you can become a victim of negative habits. It all begins with a conscious decision and written objectives.
Attention to intention
The mind… It’s a terrible thing…to waste that is! I am always stunned at the similarities that we all share and on the flip-side, stunned at how different we are. So simple, yet so complex…and when it comes to the exercising of our mental capacities, well this is where some have signs of mastery and others, as if a sleeping giant lies dormant! I have worked with thousands of people through the years and what is remarkable is in all the training and nutrition programs I’ve designed for such unique purposes, almost all of them fall into similar distinctive mind-sets, either they possess the desire and intent to accomplish something great; or they feel that they are losing something that they want badly enough to keep! The sine qua non or upshot is, if you want to get in amazing shape, all you really have to do is make up your mind and "intend" to accomplish your objective. You build that body of your desire by setting goals and focusing your attention on them.
Setting into motion this attentive intent is the positive action required to impel you on-ward and up-ward. Exercise and eating right are only two components in the matrix of this program and in all honesty, if you don’t properly tune that focus ‘in’, the best of programs or intentions will not eliminate the natural tendency to ‘bail-out’ before success has arrived. Self defeat is the ‘killer-of-giants’, where success is concerned. The whole concept of setting goals and having objectives to aspire to works because it activates the mechanism of the all-powerful subconscious mind, which in-turn activates the application of intention, which as you might of guessed… produces results.
Success
The theme here is to take control of your own mind; success will be found when you become proactive about your ‘destination’ and take the proper steps required to ‘arrive’. It is truly about the tremendous power of self-control and self-reliance. These are inner resources, which you already possess, which you have always possessed. You may not have realized that you have these abilities, but they are there, as latent as they may be…they are there! You may not have used them or you may have underemployed them, it’s not uncommon. Change can happen, but first you must decide that change is what you indeed want and move with reckless abandon toward that change. With all the necessary tools and the proper mindset in place and in proper form you can achieve anything and I mean anything! So, get ready to succeed and to live a life of true conviction and purpose. The Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle wrote, “Have a purpose in life, and throw yourself into your work with all the strength of mind and muscle as God has given.” Beautiful! And until next time, Good luck and may God be with you?
-Kurt Lee Hurley
Kurt Lee Hurley, President and Founder Partner of Synergy Fitness Systems, Synergy Global Health Solutions and Creator of Integrated Variable Dynamics? is a Nationally Recognized Fitness Expert, Celebrity Trainer, Multi-Certified Fitness Professional, Nutrition Counselor and Personal Empowerment Coach. With over 30 years of experience in exercise application and 20 years of education, Kurt’s passion for his work and his clients have made him one of the most in-demand trainers in Los Angeles. Kurt is a leader in the health and fitness industry, a beacon of truth and clarity with his innovative training philosophies and inspirational influence. He has been one of Hollywood’s most sought after fitness experts and certified training professionals. As a vibrant, media savvy fitness personality, Kurt speaks of and demonstrates his non-traditional approach; a combination of health and fitness knowledge, personal empowerment, plethoric nutritional brain trust, motivational psychology, exceedingly broad physical talent and the mind/body/spirit connection, keep his clients coming in droves.
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