Guilty As Charged

We are all guilty of breaking "weight-loss rules" from time to time. It comes with being human. The important thing is that we learn from our mistakes. Label them as experience, put them behind us and keep working towards our goal. 

I will start again next week

You decided that you wanted to start living a healthy lifestyle when you signed up for your Cohen's Lifestyle Clinic Program. Sure, but it is Thursday. Might as well wait and start fresh on a Monday, right? Wrong. It is all too easy to put off that initial move, but chances are if you wait until Monday, you will only be met by another excuse. The trick is to start today. It could be just sticking to your three main meals and the correct foods, or making sure you drink at least 2 litres of water through the day. At least take small steps to instigate action now and you are on your way. Remember every journey starts with a single step. Today is the day!

I went for a walk, so now I can eat something extra

Unfortunately, working out does not give you a pass to eat whatever you want. It will help get your heart rate up, but you will not see significant fat loss because of it and it may leave you feeling tired and hungry. Instead of exercising and sitting down to a larger serve of food, enjoy your 'food as medicine' and watch the fat melt away - it is that easy!

I gave in to my chocolate craving

Lapse does not mean collapse. The worst thing you can do is use it as an excuse to write the day off. A whole day of deviations may lead to weight gain, cravings and not being able to get back on track as easily. Instead, make sure your very next meal is perfect and focus on your goal. You can then continue on to achieve it.

I have not lost weight in a week - I may as well give up

Almost everybody who is losing weight experiences plateaus from time to time. Instead of feeling disheartened, reflect on the weight you have lost and the centimeters you are losing. Measure yourself each week as it is a much better indication of fat loss when your body is doing its maintenance and reshaping. Only weigh yourself once every 4 weeks and concentrate on how you are looking and feeling. If you are diligent and continue on, you will achieve your goal!

Source: Cohen's Lifestyle Clinic

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Why do we fall off the wagon?

I bet I know what you're feeling right now. You have been following your program for weeks or months and you were feeling good about yourself and the progress you were making. Your weight was getting closer to your goal and all was good. 

Until . . . you fell off the wagon!

It probably started with that little piece of chocolate that turned into two or three bigger pieces. Perhaps it was more sudden, like pigging out during a big birthday or holiday feast. In either case, now you're feeling guilty (and maybe bloated and groggy, too), and you don't know what to do about it.

I wish I could solve the issues; the world (for many) would be a better place! Well, the reality is that there are real answers to this question that will apply to many people. It will take a good dose of reality to stop denying what really happens.  I am no saint and fell off the wagon plenty of times, more times than I like to remember.  It was a hard ride going through the ups and downs not to mention hard on my body!

I can only provide you with ways to discover some of the answers that may help change your life and provide you with the determination to get to your goal to lose the weight and most importantly keeping it off!  Let’s check out some of the things I went through, which I am pretty sure you can relate to.

Do you justify your behaviour?

Being overweight can be used as an excuse for being unhappy, especially when you do not do anything to help yourself. Subconsciously, over-eating is a comfort for many people and this then allows them to hide behind their weight problem and helps them to justify rejection and avoid being hurt. They can then shift the blame of rejection on their weight-problem, without addressing other aspects of their fears. Sometimes it seems easier to hide behind your "weight problem", than address other matters where you may have a greater fear of failure.

Eating Without Thinking?

If you are concentrating on another activity while you are eating you are more likely to overeat because you are not fully aware of how full you are feeling. This factor can be difficult to change because it is not a conscious action. Try to only eat when you don't have a lot of other distractions. Sit down, eat slowly and enjoy the food you are eating, and remember that it is not always necessary to go back for seconds. It takes 20 minutes for food to reach your stomach and for your brain to register that you are full.

Are they real cravings?

We condition our animals to eat at the sound of a bell or call, and we human are much the same when it comes to habitual cravings. Now don’t think I am comparing you to our animals , all I am pointing out is the conditioning you have been faced with most of your life.  The Habit!  If you wonder why you always feel like a popcorn when you sit down to watch a movie... think again. You are not necessarily craving these foods because you are hungry, but rather consider force of habit. During the time when you have a craving, try to ask yourself whether you are really hungry or not. If you are hungry, reach for your allowance of fruit rather than the popcorn.   I’ve spoken about chromium in another article before, use the chromium! It knocks out those “real” cravings.  If you know for example you are going to go and watch a movie, then prepare your daily allowed, “snacks” and take them with you!  It is about preparing! You will thank yourself later for it.

Are you indulging?

Eating or thinking about food can be a distraction from your troubles and you may therefore be unnecessarily over-eating. Emotions and hormones can trigger certain cravings, for example, if you are feeling low, chocolate and carbohydrates assist the production of serotonin in your brain. Serotonin helps you feel happier. This is why we might crave sweet or starchy foods during times of sadness or stress. We all know though on the Cohen’s program that your serotonin increases, so in our case, what emotions are triggering this indulging for you?  To be honest, there shouldn’t be the need to want to “increase your serotonin”, it is already increased, and so I would only be looking at the above situations as to why you are falling off the wagon!

How to get back on the Wagon

Don't skip meals: It's tempting to skip meals because you want to cut back on the calories. The problem with skipping meals is that by not eating now, you're going to be hungrier later, and that increases the chances you'll overeat at your next meal and once again deviate from the plan. You must have your 3 balanced meals. You must reset your hormones to balance again!

Drink water: Drinking your daily water intake it will help flush out all of those toxins.

Be prepared: To go through the detox again.  Remember you are the one that fell off the wagon and indulged.

Have rest: Be kind to your body, how would you feel if you were hit by a bus literally. Get some sleep!

What you must remember is that you made a decision to change your lifestyle.  You made a promise to yourself to see something all the way through to the end. Regardless of what is “going on”, there are different ways to deal with your emotions other than running to your old ways.  I am not one to say “oh poor thing, don’t worry about it”, I tell my clients, “move on, but let’s get to the underlying cause of why it keeps happening”.

You are what you eat and I am sure you certainly don’t want to look like a chocolate bar because you had far too many moments of not caring about your initial decision to change your lifestyle!

It is about re conditioning your mind to learn how to cope with these things, how to combat the cravings, learning how to deal with the urges and how to control that “ego” of yours!

Be congruent with your promises you make to yourself! You can DO THIS!

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