The truth about losing weight

DIET this, DIET that

I tried this new diet and I can't believe how much I've lost.

You have got to try this...it is so easy.

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It's time to STOP THE MADNESS!

I don't know about you but I am tired of hearing about all the "great ways" out there to lose weight.  Yes, they may be great at taking the weight off but not so great at keeping it off and the worst part about it.....it doesn't change how you think about food, exercise and weight loss.

The truth is no matter HOW good the diet or the program until YOU change how you feel about it ....nothing changes long term.

I have a friend that swears by the "no carb" diet.  He (yes I said he) does this four times a year.  Why does he do it four times a year....because he only loses weight when he doesn't eat carbs. When he goes back to "normal" he gains it back.  

"Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results" Albert Einstein.

The truth is this:  Unless YOU change what YOU do nothing will work forever.

You have to change how you see healthy living (or weight loss).  

• Anyone can have their meals prepared for them, sent to your door and lose weight if they follow the program.  BUT what happens when you reach your goal?  Do you spend a lifetime having your meals sent to your door?
• Anyone can stop eating carbs for a month and lose weight but, like my friend, what happens when you go back to normal meals?

So what do you do?  You change how you feel about food.  I love the saying "Eat to Live not Live to Eat."

Changing starts with understanding.  Understand why you are eating what you eat and when you eat it so keep a diary.  Write down what you are eating, time of day you are eating, who you are with and how you feel at that moment.  You will be surprised at what you find out.

Changing your emotional habits are hard but to do this for a LIFETIME you have to understand them to make a real change.

Start a diary....yes I know it's going to be difficult BUT CHANGE IS DIFFICULT.  Keep your diary for a minimum of one week (unless you are the type of person who will "watch" what you do for a week so you avoid adding it to your diary).  Remember, you only cheat yourself if you cheat the diary.  I always suggest keeping it for a month.  Take your diary to your Doctor and discuss what can be done about your patterns.

Everything worth having is worth waiting for.  If it isn't hard to achieve it's value is worth nothing.

If you are in Southern Colorado and want to discuss a life change with a Doctor I highly recommend Dr. Sutton of Premier Back Rehabilitation Center.

Like Premier Back Rehabilitation Center on Facebook or visit their website  (map it)

Losing weight, Healthy living....it's a frame of mind

We've talked about DIETS our entire lives, the lives of our parents and the lives of our grandparents.  What would we have to talk about if someone we knew wasn't on a "diet."  We talk about what they are doing (if it is working), we talk about the mistakes they are making (when it is not working) and we talk about how we need to lose a few pounds.  We watch those wonderful commercials that talk about guaranteed results, only for the people who seriously need to lose 30 pounds or more....and worst yet
WE BELIEVE THEM.  BLAH BLAH BLAH.  If you haven't read the blog on ideal body weight here is the link to that one so you can see how much money the "diet industry" is making off those guaranteed pills to help you lose that stubborn body fat.

Let's look at what we DO KNOW:

• You cannot lose weight if you put more calories into your body than you are burning.
• You cannot stop eating and lose weight...healthy.
• On average if you want to lose one (1) pound per week you need to cut your calorie intake by 500 calories per day OR burn 500 calories per day OR combination of both.  (American Cancer Society).

We all need to exercise whether we need to lose weight or not....your heart depends on it but that is for a later discussion. 

To get started lets get rid of the fat grams, protein grams, multiplying number of fat grams times 7 and subtract from the calories.....That is too much to think about starting off so forget that for now.

Keeping it simple  (We all know the KISS factor:  Keep it simple stupid)  We are going to change that because we are not stupid for believing what we hear so it is going to be Keep it Sweetly Simple:

How can you cut 500 calories per day and not notice it?  It is easier than one might think.  For some of you...skip the Starbucks each morning and you are there.  I know, I know AM I CRAZY. 

Other ways:

• When you go through the drive through:  Don't get the cheeseburger with Mayo.  If you cut the cheese and mayo you will cut about 225 calories with that decision ALONE. 
• If you are a soda drinker change one a day to water (NOT DIET SODA...read about that here).  One 12 oz. of soda = about 150 calories.  20 oz. of soda = 250 calories.

Looking at the above that trip through the drive through skipping the cheese and mayo and the soda for water you will have saved almost 500 calories that meal alone! 

If skipping Starbucks in the morning is not an option and you don't eat out....you can still figure out what you can do to cut 500 calories OR cut and burn 500 calories.  If you need a quick reference to calories you can find a chart here.  It's a frame of mind not a pill.  When starting out KEEP IT SIMPLE.  When it is too difficult we don't do it. 

Please share your secrets.

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Ideal Body Weight?

You go to the Doctor's and the first thing you do....get on the scale.  And how many of us receive good news about the "result" that it spits out?  The percentage of people who are at their ideal weight is far less than those who are outside of their ideal weight.




According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) more than one-third of adults (35.7%) are obese.  They define obesity as your Body Mass Index (BMI) to be over 30 BMI.  Your Body Mass Index is determined by your height and your weight.  Here is a calculator (provided by the CDC) to see where you are.

Did you know that your race plays a factor in whether you are obese or not?  Also according to the CDC:

• Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest age-adjusted rates of obesity at 49.5%
• Mexican Americans are at 40.4%
• Hispanics are at 39.1%
• Non-Hispanic whites at 34.3%

They go on to further say that your socioeconomic status plays a part in it also:

• Among non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American men, those with higher incomes are more likely to be obese than those with low income.
• On the flip side:  Higher income women are less likely to be obese than low-income women.
• As far as education:  With men there is no significant relationship between obesity but for women; those with college degrees are less likely to be obese compared with less educated women.
• Between 1988-1994 and 2007-2008 the prevalence of obesity increased in adults at all income and education levels.

Obesity knows boundaries:  Some states have higher obesity rates than others.  Looking at the map of the statistics I was wrong in my original assessment.  I figured that the "sunshine" states would have lower obesity rates than those who see winter months, but as with many things...I was wrong.  For example:  Colorado, who is right in the middle of the states and definitely sees winters is the lowest on the list of state for obesity (maybe it's the Mountains) where in the South it is the highest obesity statistics (maybe it's that excellent southern cooking). 

I, personally, think many more factors come into play on determining if a person is underweight, overweight or obese.  Muscle weighs more than fat and some body frames are larger than others. Not every body is built the same so just using the calculator above and going off of that could be dangerous.  It is important that you discuss your weight with your doctor.  

Diets do not work....the fat melting pills do not work.....I don't care what their "guarantee" is.  The only guarantee is that they count on is you won't send it back for a refund.  Imagine selling placebo pills for $29.99 a month saying you will lose weight without changing your lifestyle.  Now let's make it interesting....the guarantee you will lose five pounds a month (they like the twist of 50 pounds but let's keep it somewhat believable for this scenario).  Imagine 500,000 people purchase this product monthly (who wouldn't pass up the opportunity to swallow a pill with your cookies and chips while sitting on the couch and lose weight, right?).  The weight loss industry in in the range of 58 BILLION dollars per year (Healthy weight network)

500,000 x $29.99 = just under 15,000,000 A MONTH!!! 

Now, let's assume 50% return the product for a refund minus the shipping and handling (gotta love that term) so they charge you $14.95 for shipping and handling (which you know they get great deals on shipping because of the volume):  They have $7,500,000 from the people who didn't return it PLUS the $10.00 "handling for 250,000 people is TEN MILLION DOLLARS A MONTH!  They stay in business for two years repeating the gross income is $240,000,000.  A smart business will have only 25% of their gross income as overhead costs but let's make it more realistic and do 50%.  They just netted 120 MILLION DOLLARS in just two years.  I'm thinking I could work for two years and retire on that amount, what about you?

Get off the diet routine, get off the "supplements" that promise to melt fat and change your life.

Like Premier Back Rehabilitation Center on Facebook or visit their website.

What are your stories about diets, supplements and/or lifestyle changes?