Learning How to Become a Good Loser

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.

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.

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