Where To Go From Here

What I love about my job is helping people who thought they couldn't be helped.

My client looks at me, doubtful, that I can help them  Why is this time different from any others? That's a good question.  I don't have a magic wand or a crystal ball.  I can't control or predict their success.  I can however, provide the tools necessary to be successful.  I am also their support system as they embark on this journey.

So you have identified what your weaknesses are.  Some common themes:
"I don't eat until lunch or even later in the day"
"Nighttime is my biggest downfall"
"Things start to fall apart when I get home from work and invade the kitchen cabinets"
" I eat off my kids plates and pick at their food"
"I'm not hungry in the morning"
"I don't eat cake, cookies, candy so what is it that is making me heavy?"

Can you relate to any of these?

These are popular reasons why so many people are stuck in the "I can't lose weight mode" but again, identifying the reason or reasons is the first step in finding the solution. 

Let's say for example, nighttime is when things fall apart.  You are what you call "good" all day long but after diner you have a yen for something sweet. You start with a piece of fruit but it escalates into a cookie, then a spoonful of peanut butter and then maybe a small cup of ice cream.  You get the point. 

There a few problems here.  The first is, once you start introducing the sweets at night it is hard to stop.  Your body craves sugar, not protein. It's not too common to be craving turkey breast after dinner, right?
Eliminating the routine of having sugar at night is a good first step.  It is hard, no doubt but if you can get past the first three days, you will succeed.  Get out of your usual nighttime routine to distract yourself.  If you find yourself obsessing over having something sweet have a mint or a cup of tea.

An additional reason this can occur is because you are using artificial sweeteners.  Althought there is no strong evidence to back this up. I have found in my practice, those that use a lot of artificial sweeteners througout the day have more sweet cravings.  Start to wean yourself from the fake foods and sweeteners.

Lastly, we always want what we can't have, right?  Having your head in diet mode means being restricitve a lot of the time.  Even if you are not being compliant, you are often restictive when it comes to the heavy hitters such as candy, cakes, cookies etc...  Being overly restricive is not a good thing either.  The question becomes, how do we find a healthy balance with the foods we love without leading to cravings and weight gain?

More on this and where to go from here in my next blog...