Tag Archive for: habits and behaviors

A Focus on Habits, Not Weight: A Case Study

Some people think that because I don’t “sell” weight loss, I’m against if you lose weight.

This is just not true.

What I don’t support is intentionally pursuing weight loss through dieting and restriction.

The reason? Because dieting causes weight gain. Think of all the times you’ve lost weight on a diet. How long did that weight stay off? My bet is that within a few years (if not sooner), that weight came back, plus some.

When you restrict your food, count your calories, and track every morsel of food you eat with the sole focus on losing weight, the focus is on all the external forces that manipulate your food intake and how you can shrink your body. The focus is not on the reasons why you eat and how you eat. The focus is not on behaviors that support or don’t support good health. And that’s why the pounds inevitably come back.

Let me explain further with a case study.

A Case Study

J.B. is a 60-year-old man who contacted me at the start of the pandemic. He shared with me that for the past 30 years, his wife has been nagging him to change his eating habits and lose weight. But he had no interest.

A health scare changed all that. He wasn’t feeling well and visited the urgent care center. The doctor took his blood pressure and asked him what medication he was on. He said he hasn’t taken his medication in over a year. The doctor’s response: “do you want to make your wife a widow?”

That was enough for him to reach out to me and make an appointment. I told him at the first session that we will NOT be focusing on weight loss. Instead we will focus on how to best nourish himself, identify his habits that have not been supportive of good health, and also look at how he handles stress, his sleep pattern, and of course, movement. We did this within The 5 Step Nutrition Pillar Program.

Fast forward 8 months, J.B.’s blood pressure is within target levels, his blood glucose has come down to normal levels, and he has lost 43 pounds. The only reason he knows the number of pounds he lost is because he went for a check-up at the doctor and he got weighed. Otherwise, not once in the 8 months did he get on a scale or did we discuss weight loss.

J.B. is amazed that he can turnaround his health without feeling restricted. He is eating delicious satisfying meals and if he wants dessert, he eats it. The difference is, now he is skilled at tuning into his hunger and fullness, respecting those cues, and has more energy at 60 years old than he has had in years! And he takes his time eating, often eating even slower than his wife! This helps him have the greatest pleasure in his meals.

Weight loss is not a behavior. It’s an outcome of habit and behavior change.

In Summary:

Pursuing weight loss → leads to yo-yo dieting and disordered eating → body dissatisfaction → worsens health

Focusing on habit changes → leads to nourishing your body → body appreciation → improved health

If you’re ready to improve your health, without a focus on weight, check out The 5 Step Nutrition Pillar Program, and Contact me.

 

 

 

 

Is Weight a Symbol of Something Deeper?

Isabel walked into my office having made the decision to make changes in her eating behaviors. She recently went to the doctor for her annual exam and her doctor put the scare of life into her. Her diabetes was “out of control”, her blood pressure was elevated, and she was just diagnosed with gastroparesis (delayed gastric emptying, a complication of uncontrolled diabetes). She was distraught but committed. The doctor sent Isabel on her way with a prescription to lose weight.

This isn’t unusual. Most doctors will prescribe weight loss to lower blood glucose, cholesterol levels and blood pressure. And while you may see a reduction in these values if you lose weight, the problem is that weight loss is not a behavior you can just tell someone to do. If you’ve been a dieter, you know what I mean.

Is Weight Loss Through Dieting Sustainable?

Anyone can lose weight when they “follow” a diet. But the question is – can you sustain that way of eating for a lifetime?

Research shows us the answer is NO. About 95-98% of people who lose weight on a diet regain that weight and up to two-thirds gain back even more.

You may be thinking “Bonnie, I know someone who lost weight and kept it off”. I bet you do. But the 3-5% that do keep it off most often do so with disordered eating behaviors such as tracking their foods, counting points, eliminating certain foods, not allowing themselves full pleasure in eating what they want and spending a LOT of time in the gym (to name a few). Most people really cannot live a “normal” life of “normal” eating and “normal exercising” if they are trying to maintain a weight loss achieved through dieting.

When I explained to Isabel that we will not be focusing on weight loss but instead, we will focus on habits and behaviors that will enable her body to better use the insulin she is producing and ultimately help her improve her health (which SHE really wanted to do), including learning how to minimize the symptoms of gastroparesis, she was relieved. And then, she started to cry!

Using Weight as a Cover Up

All is not always how it looks. Many times, when working with a client on improving their relationship with food, it becomes apparent that there’s a reason why they’ve struggled so long. With the realization that the odds are low that they can lose weight and keep it off, they self-sabotage their own efforts in order to keep the weight on.

Why you might ask?

Having “failed” so many times, they are embarrassed to continue to yo-yo diet. So, they cover up the shame and embarrassment by making jokes about themselves and allow others to joke about them too.

This is what happened to Isabel. She was known in her group of friends as the “fat funny one” and she took on this persona, making jokes at her own expense, when deep down she was hurting terribly.

Isabel never told anyone this, until she broke down and cried in the safe space of my office.

Weight-Neutral Nutrition Therapy: A Focus on Behaviors, Not Weight

A weight-neutral approach to nutrition therapy, including diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol management focuses on the habits and behaviors you can change which ultimately lead to improved health, regardless of body weight. These behaviors include balanced eating, joyful movement, stress management, improving sleep, taking medications as prescribed and engaging in mindful eating behaviors.

This approach takes the emphasis off weight and brings a sense of relief to those who’ve tried to diet to lose weight as the treatment prescribed for health. It promotes positive behavioral change without the shame and guilt often felt and it empowers them to continue along the path of healthy living.

Is Losing Weight “Bad”?

Let me assure you that I am not against weight loss. I want to make this perfectly clear. What I am against is intentionally pursuing weight loss in an effort to shrink your body to meet the warped societal standards of the “thin ideal”, and as the treatment of medical conditions.

If in the process of learning about your disease state and making sustainable habit and behavior changes (including managing your stress better and having better sleep), you lose weight, then that means it’s what your body needed to do to return to it’s natural healthy weight. And in this case, I DO believe that this will be sustainable.

Remember, weight loss is not a behavior. It is an outcome of habit and behavior change.

Take Action

If you are ready to improve your health without a focus on weight loss, reach out to me here!

 

 

 

 

3 Behavior Changes to Improve Your Health (Without Dieting)

Steve walked into my office and said, “I’m ready”. When I asked him “ready for what?”, he answered “I’m ready to take care of myself and make some changes in how I eat”. This was a relief to his wife who accompanied him to the visit. For years she’s been trying to encourage him to be more mindful of his food choices, exercise a little and care more about his health. But her requests weren’t heard.

Today, things were different. Steve wasn’t feeling well, his blood pressure was high, and he got scared with the lightheadedness he often felt these days. As we began talking, Steve shared that he didn’t want to feel restricted in his eating. This was a major reason why he wasn’t interested in “dieting” in the past. He was quite happy when I told him he doesn’t have to go on a diet. In fact, when I told him that I don’t believe in dieting, his eyes opened wide and he wanted to learn more. How can he possibly lower his blood pressure and improve his health if he didn’t diet?

Ahh, that’s the question of all time isn’t it. Most doctors will send you on your way with a script for “weight loss”. The problem is weight loss is not a skill you can learn or a behavior you can adopt. Rather, weight loss is an outcome of habit and behavior changes. If you are holding onto weight that is above what is natural for you based on your genetic blueprint, then it is likely that when you make some changes in your habits and food choices that you might release weight. The key word here is might.

I always tell my clients that I don’t know what your body will do when you make changes, and neither do you. Only your body knows, and your job is to trust it.

The Scale Ruins It All

Imagine this scenario. You determine that you are “sodium sensitive”, meaning that when you eat foods high in sodium it causes your blood pressure to rise too high. So, you start choosing lower sodium food choices, use less salt in cooking and have been experimenting with herbs and spices to flavor your foods. You’ve started taking a short walk after dinner and you are feeling pretty darn proud of yourself (and feeling physically good too!). You are toying with the decision to get on the bathroom scale…”I just want to see if I lost weight” you think to yourself.

Does it really matter though? You’ve been making changes; your blood pressure went down and you are feeling good.

You can’t resist. You get on. You stare at the number, get off the scale, get back on and do this another 3 times. Can it be? You only lost 3 pounds? “Man, this isn’t worth it, forget about this”, you think. You then head to the kitchen and open the package of Oreos and fall into a numb state as you eat cookie after cookie.

The Scale Does Not Determine Your Health

Every day I debunk the idea that your body weight equates with your health. And to be healthy, you need to lose weight.

Truth: you can be in a larger body and be healthy.

Truth: higher weights are associated with certain medical conditions, but this does not mean it is causative! Remember, correlation does not equal causation!

The bigger issue is this – there is no known way to lose weight and keep it off. The data is strong in showing that 95-98% of people who lose weight on a diet will regain that weight within 1-5 years. And the small 3-5% that might keep the weight off often do so with disordered eating behaviors such as counting points, tracking calories, exercising off what they ate, omitting major food groups etc. And by the way, when the majority of dieters gain the weight back, one third to two thirds do so with some interest…they gain even more than they lost.

Weight cycling, gaining and losing weight over and over, has been shown to be more detrimental to your health than staying at a stable weight, even if that weight is on the higher end.

Focusing on Habits and Behaviors

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight, after all we live in a society that sends a loud message that to be worthy, one needs to be skinny. But…

Putting weight loss on the back burner without actively working on it will most likely be what improves your health.

3 habits and behaviors you can start to focus on right now (that has nothing to do with dieting and food restriction but will bring you better health):

  1. Engage in Mindful Eating: instead of rushing through your meal, allocate enough time in your day to sit down and mindfully eat. Mindful eating doesn’t focus on the what of eating, it focuses on the how of eating. Slowing down, putting your fork down between bites and focusing on the taste, texture, aroma and other qualities of the food will bring you great pleasure and satisfaction. It will also help you stay tuned in to your satiety signals as your guide to when you will end your meal (versus a diet where you will finish the plate regardless if you are full or not because that’s the amount of food you are “allowed”).

 

  1. Choose Foods from a Gentle Nutrition Lens: consider the nutrient density of your foods while also considering the taste. Choose what you enjoy eating while paying attention to how you feel after you eat. Does your blood sugar crash? Do you experience reflux? Are you feeling more energetic? Does your blood pressure respond well to this food choice? By doing this, you are the one in charge what you eat, and that’s the way it ought to be!

 

  1. Participate in Joyful Movement: think about what type of activities or movement is gentle on your body and joyful to do. You may want to consider what you liked to do as a kid. Maybe swimming, bike riding, playing tennis, or dancing. Adding some exercise into your life doesn’t have to be torture and should never be something you don’t enjoy doing. Think FUN! If it’s fun, you’ll want to keep doing it.

Remember Steve? He started practicing mindful eating, is choosing foods that he likes but that also won’t raise his blood pressure and he starting walking more instead of using the car. He doesn’t feel restricted and he just got a great health report from the doctor.

If you want to work on improving your health but don’t want to have to diet, send me an email or call me at 516-486-4569.

I look forward to speaking soon!