Weight Control

One of the most common issues I am consulted for is weight management and control. It is also one of the most emotional for clients if they are over or under their desired weight.

The majority of clients who consult are ladies, although that doesn't mean to say I can't help chaps too!

Why do we want to control our weight?

There are many reasons but I have outlined a couple below,

Body Image

You only have to look at all the advertising on TV, in magazines and all over the media promoting this vision of lovelyness which "has to be" thin. Most clients already realise that this is not real and that most of the images are "touched up" for better effect. However, even knowing that there is no need to be a size zero, the "belief " that this is what everyone wants, or worse, expects, causes misery, attempting unrealistic goals, dieting and failure, and finally giving up and accepting you can never be the ideal "you".

Health

When we get to a point and realize that our body isn't how we really want it to be its usually after a long period of finding things more and more difficult. Walking, running, climbing stairs, sleeping, low energy levels, depression all are side effects of our bodies not being within certain safe boundaries that we can enjoy life on a day to day basis. Clients will usually have been "told" by their GP to lose weight for their own good, but unfortunately this is the worst method for starting a weight control regime. Hopefully a client will come with a really good reason to change. A reason that needs to be achievable in a realistic time. I'd love to be able to wave a magic wand give you your goal immediately - but it just can't happen.

How can we control our weight

I bet you've already got the word diet and exercise in your mind? Although I totally agree with exercise, when weight is a problem, so is exercise. Pressure on joints is a real problem if you're carrying extra weight and want to go jogging for example. Swimming is a great way to control weight, but again if body image is an issue you won't want to go. Exercise needs to be gradually introduced, (if you want to) as it rapidly helps change, but at the right time and the right pace.

So of course, dieting must be the answer, less calories in has to equal weight loss? How many of us have tried a diet, stuck to it for a while, lost weight and then stopped it? What normally happens... The weight comes back on over a period and you end up heavier than you started? If you have the support of a slimming club, some people can be really successful in getting the weight off. Keeping it off is another matter. Say hello to the Yo-Yo diet.

Most of my clients have experienced the yo-yo effect but are not sure why it happens.

Diets and Yo-Yo'ing

When you eat your normal intake, your body gets used to a certain amount of food and is quite happy living on that, and increases your weight slowly over time. When you decide to cut down your food and diet, again your body is quite happy with the new levels and the changes BUT it realises that you are STARVING it - there is a FAMINE. So it does what it can to protect you by surviving on less than you're eating and really slowing the fat storage down. So even though you're losing weight your body feels its in a famine and yearns for more food so it can be back in balance again.

So, you get to your desired weight,  or give up along the way and revert back to what you were eating, or even just a bit more that you were eating on the diet. As your body was used to much less food, it now goes into protection mode and puts away all the extra food as fat, for when you are in a famine again. You then pile the weight back on until your body relaxes, and you're worse off than you started.

So what do I do?

Work out what your realistic target weight is, where you would be happiest. Most importantly, how will you know you're there? The dreaded scales may tell you how much you weigh, but they don't tell you if that favourite top or pair of trousers will fit comfortably. Remember, how you look and feel is far more important than a few pounds.

Give yourself a target date to reach your goal. You need to base this on losing on average about 2lb per week. This may not sound a lot, but you can easily lose half a stone in a month, and more importantly keep it off. If you lose weight too quickly, your body goes into its defense mode and will cause you to yo-yo. Try to think of it as your body not noticing the odd ounce or two disappearing, so it lets it go.

Give yourself milestones along the way. When you reach these, treat yourself to something really nice, a nice meal, a night out, whatever is your pleasure!

Make small changes in your way of life. This is the most important part of the process and I call it the Ripple Method.

The Ripple Method (c)

This method has been created from many individual techniques which have been brought together to make one cohesive strategy for taking on weight management and succeeding.

The basics are very simple and start with making small changes in your current daily menu, and I mean small changes. If we make large changes, we can handle them for a while, but our subconscious fights the change and tries to bring us back to our "happy norm". Small changes aren't noticed. Something as simple as changing white bread to a 50/50 loaf makes a real difference over time. Remember, there is no quick permanent fix.

Where do I start? Quite simply look at what your eating. If you know you're eating 10 meat pies a day it doesn't take a scientist to realize that needs to change. However for nearly ALL of my clients, they simply aren't eating ENOUGH.

What I'm saying is that with a few simple changes to When, Why, and What you eat - you WILL lose weight. If you keep your current food intake but change the When and Why, you WILL lose weight.

• If you miss breakfast or have a small lunch, and end up being ravenous by the time you eat your supper, the "When" needs looking at.
• If you find that you can finish a meal faster than your family or friends can, the "Why" needs looking at.
• If for example a lot of your foods are processed, ie white bread, fast foods, sugary drinks, the "What" needs looking at.

By looking at these three simple items your body begins to relax. Think of your body having to cope with irregular meals eaten too quickly and containing processed sugars. This is like "shocking" your body when you do eat. However, if your body receives its food in regular amounts and in an easy to digest and process form, it relaxes.

One of the major processes in converting food to energy for your body, is the use of insulin to take up the sugar present in your blood and using it as energy. it does this by storing this as glycogen in your liver and muscles. Importantly here it prevents the use of fat as an energy source, and uses the glycogen instead. If your body is "shocked" everytime it takes in food, the pancreas (which creates insulin) tends to produce too much and converts too much sugar to glycogen which is then stored, and stops the use of fat as an energy source.

As most of my clients don't eat enough, simply changing the "When" means the body relaxes and so does the pancreas. This causes the correct mount of insulin to take the right amount of sugar to glycogen, generally leaving a deficit, which is provided by the fat cells. Hence you lose weight on the same amount of food!

The "Ripple Method" is not a therapy as such, but is used in conjuntion with hypnosis to achive results easily and permanently. Effectively once you've made the slow changes to your way of life, you simply can't go back to being overweight.

There is obviously more to the method, but the essentials are outlined above. Each client is an individual, and each client receives a tailored "Ripple method" for themselves. It does take a little "tweaking" to get right and it does take two weeks to start to see results properly, although most client see results within a week as they are very motivated to get things going.