No More Diets

What kind of exercise can a person do when they have foot problems and are grossly overweight?

Excess weight can often take its toll on your back, knees, feet, ankles and hips - it’s one of the very best reasons for losing weight - getting full mobility and freedom back. But if some exercise is difficult just now yet you want to make fitness part of your weight loss plan, there are a few things you can try. Here are some suggestions:-

• If you feel comfortable going to the pool then swimming is a great exercise as your body weight is supported by the water and prevents strain on your joints
• If you are able to pedal without putting too much pressure on your sore feet you may find that a recumbent stationery bike is suitable if you can find one with a seat which allows you to sit on it in comfort otherwise a portable pedlar type machine may be a good starting point
• Yoga is great exercise too which you can do from any starting point - you don’t get aerobic benefit from it but it does burn calories, strengthen your muscles and give you flexibility too.
• Any exercise which tones your muscles is great as muscle tissue burns calories even while at rest and you can shape your body at the same time as you lose the fat - concentrate on exercises which you can do seated and on arm and chest exercises until your feet are better able to take your weight.

If you want a set of 36 exercises which you can do from the comfort of your chair take a look at personal trainer Jeff Ball’s book Get Fit While You Sit - he also includes an exercise at that link that you can do right now for your stomach while still seated.

Of course, once you lose a bit of weight and are able to get back on your feet you’ll probably want to include some aerobic activity (assuming your foot problems are weight related) - at that point walking is a great gentle exercise that you can do anytime, anyplace, anywhere - even round your own home - and gradually build up your aerobic fitness.

Does a certain type of exercise or sport lose its effectiveness re weight control when your body becomes accustomed to it?

I wasn’t sure of the answer to this one so I asked a friend Tracy Griffen for help. Tracy is a top fitness trainer here in Edinburgh and you can see her website at http://www.TracyGriffen.com Here is her response. Thanks Tracy!

In a word, no. You will not burn less calories from becoming accustomed to exercise. In fact it’s the very ‘getting accustomed’ to an specific exercise (e.g. running a 2km distance) that brings on fitness benefits and weight loss.

Imagine this, the first time you run a 2km run, it takes you 13 minutes. With a bit of practise and training, you whittle that down to 10 minutes. You are not taking any less steps to get there, so you are not burning any less calories. In fact you will probably be burning more, as when you become fitter you also boost your metabolism, thereby burning more calories (even at rest). You will also feel like running even further as you’re now fit enough to be able to enjoy it more. Good news all round!

The only way you could burn less calories from doing a set pattern, is if you ‘cheat’ or lose form in an exercise. For instance, becoming bored of an aerobics routine and cutting corners. Which I don’t recommend!

How can I control my chocolate consumption (I don’t eat any other ’sweet’ items!)?

I’m very fond of chocolate myself so I’m with you on that - there’s nothing quite like the mixture of sugar, fat and cocoa beans in the world and I would not want to give it up. I do control the urge to eat too much of it though by

a) not banning it - putting something on a forbidden food list just makes it more attractive

b) establishing a habit where I eat 4 squares of chocolate for dessert most nights with coffee - something I look forward to - you may want to eat less if you are trying to lose weight - I am just maintaining mine

c) buying the best chocolate ( i.e. the brand I like the most) so that it is a real treat

d) eating the chocolate slowly and truly enjoying it - when I eat chocolate I know I’m eating it (so much food we feel guilty about is stuffed down almost without tasting it)

If this is enough for you to control your consumption then that’s fine but if you truly can’t stop eating chocolate and tend to binge on it then you may want to take this further.

I read an interesting experiment in an Anthony Robbins book a few years ago (can’t remember which one - “Awaken the Giants Within” I think) where he cured someone of their self-professed chocolate addiction by challenging them to eat nothing but chocolate for two days - apparently after eating nothing but chocolate for that time the guy couldn’t face another chocolate without feeling sick.

You’ll also find an effective (though less dramatic) approach in Jason Vale’s book “Chocolate Busters” which is a whole program to help you stop eating chocolate. You might be able to get it in your local library and it’s also available on Amazon.com (see below)

For the UK:-

How do I find the will power not to eat from 2pm until supper at 5pm?

I’m not sure which program you are following because I don’t think that’s a sensible rule for most people if you mean that you’re not allowed anything to eat at all. It’s a particularly difficult one because it is quite normal to get hungry mid-afternoon especially if you have had a lunch with a lot of carbohydrates and not much in the way of fat and protein. It’s the time when low blood sugar tends to hit and we feel in need of a boost to raise our flagging energy.

In my program I would advise you to have a light healthy snack mid-afternoon to keep you going until dinner if (and only if) you are physically hungry. If you do this it means that you are more likely to

a) make sensible choices for dinner
b) have the energy to prepare and cook something
c) keep your metabolism ticking over

Now if the problem is that you are not eating for hunger but are falling prey to the proximity of the chocolate machine or the cookie jar that’s another matter…

For this willpower IS required…a few things which might help - maybe others can suggest more things which help them

1. have a healthier snack on hand and ready-prepared so that you less likely to succumb if you get hungry/need a boost
2. avoid having unhealthy foods to tempt you at home (or keep them well out of the way and out of sight) and avoid the area with the chocolate machines at work
3. keep a record of how often you manage to resist (e.g. a chart with stars or ticks) and reward yourself when you reach 100 with something you really want but are willing to deny yourself until you earn it
4. make yourself pay a forfeit whenever you give into the urge - money to a charity you don’t like, having to walk off all the calories you ate after dinner etc

I follow my diet exactly and I can’t seem to lose any weight. What could be wrong? (Weight watchers core and SBD)

There are a few things which could be wrong here because, normally, if you have the will power (though few of us have) to follow a diet exactly you SHOULD lose weight.

I am a bit concerned that you find it necessary to stick to two plans. Is that even possible? Assuming that SBD is South Beach Diet can these diets even work together? Why not just concentrate on one if you’re going to diet? Because as I say both have been known to work if you stick to them to the letter. (My problem with diets is that even if you stick to them while you lose weight most of us can’t or won’t stick with them forever and you just gain the weight back unless you change your habits).

The other thing I need to ask (because it’s all too easy to avoid being honest with ourselves) - are you really sticking to your diet exactly? to every dish? to every amount/portion size (by measuring not guesswork)? to every exercise session etc? A little slip here and there doesn’t seem like much but it may be the difference between losing weight and not.

But if you are following your diet exactly and not losing weight then it may be that

a) you have not got much weight to lose and so your body is resistant to weight loss - it is much harder to lose weight if you are already around the normal weight range.

b) you have been on a very low calorie diet in the past and your metabolism is sluggish as a result - this is just your body’s way of protecting itself when you try to starve it

c) you have a slow metabolism due to a medical problem such as an underactive thyroid. Best to check this out with your doctor.

Only you can really know what applies in your circumstances - once you do you can take it from there.

I don’t eat vegetables. How can I diet without eating them?

This question is a bit similar to the one from the lady who couldn’t eat salad (”Salad upsets my stomach“) but also subtly different so I wanted to answer it too.

There are so many people who just don’t eat vegetables - and at least two of my friends run a mile from anything green.

First of all, do you have to eat vegetables to be slim?

No - neither of my friends are carrying too many pounds

Do you have to eat vegetables to lose weight?

Here I would have to say that they definitely help - they add a huge amount of bulk to your diet without adding many calories at all.

I usually recommend that you try and fill half your plate with vegetables or salad and then have a quarter lean protein and a quarter whole grain carbohydrates. Without the vegetables you can’t add much more carbohydrate or protein (which are relatively calorie dense) to fill you up.

So if you try and lose weight without them you will probably get hungrier than your friends who eat more veggies. You may also have to go into calorie counting mode because you won’t just be able to rely on the fullness signals you get.

I just wonder why you are so against vegetables.

Maybe you were forced to eat them as a child and swore never to eat them again once you had a choice. But there are so many different varieties and so many ways of cooking them that I wonder if you could not learn to love them for the sake of your health as well as your weight.

If you want to give vegetables another try, some ideas which work for my friends “because they don’t taste like vegetables” are

• roasting vegetables in a little olive oil in the oven to create a sweet taste and crunchy texture - great for carrots, peppers, parsnips and sweet potatoes
• making them into soup - even disguising them completely by pureeing the soup in a blender
• adding them to a curry, casserole or stew - where the taste of the sauce disguises that of the veggies
• adding grated vegetables to bulk out minced (ground) meat in a bolognaise or chilli dish
• mixing in vegetables in a macaroni cheese (e.g frozen peas and sweetcorn)
• stir frying them and adding a strong stir fry sauce which disguises the vegetables
• combining mashed potato with mashed root vegetables

Each of these ideas will add bulk to your diet without the calories and without that heavy boiled sprouts and cabbage taste you might have grown up to dislike.

How do you stop sugar cravings?

It is generally sugar which causes sugar cravings - the more sweet foods you eat the more you crave them.

To understand this you have to know what happens in your body when you eat sugary and starchy foods which both result in a quick release of glucose into your bloodstream.

The high level of glucose causes your body to detect a blood sugar imbalance and insulin is quickly released to reduce the glucose from your blood AND TURN IT INTO FAT!

However this quick shot of insulin is not the end of the matter.

In general the indsulin causes the glucose in your blood to drop suddenly and your body reacts to this rapid reduction by creating a craving for even more sugar or carbohydrate food, which will be quickly turned into sugar to even out the imbalance.

So eating sugary foods and quick release carbohydrates (like white bread, pasta, rice and potatoes) set you up for a vicious cycle of sugar cravings.

This doesn’t mean that you can never eat sweets or white bread again. It just means being aware of how these foods affect your blood sugar and taking that into account when you make food choices.

1. Balance the food groups

Try to eat quick release foods alongside other foods. Eating sweet foods with protein and a little fat tends to slow digestion and help avoid quick spikes in blood sugar.

2. Eat Frequently

If you eat small regular meals throughout the day you will promote a steady release of glucose into your bloodstream. If you miss meals blood sugar levels will get very low and tend to set the stage for a craving for sugary or starchy foods.

3. Avoid Products with added sugar

Much of the sugar we eat is hidden in processed foods and can set up a craving without us being aware we have eaten sugar. Read the labels to avoid eating sugary foods without knowing about it.

4. Satisfy your sweet tooth healthily

Get a hint of sweetness from natural foods such as dried fruit rather than from the pure sugar in candy. The more fiber you eat along with the sugar content the better - so choose whole fruits over fruit juice to slow absorption into the bloodstream. Avoid buying sweet foods and white starchy foods so they are not readily to hand if you need a snack - keep healthy foods easily available at all times.

5. Avoid Sugar Substitutes

Several studies have shown that artificial sweeteners tend to create the same insulin response in your body as real sugar (your body seems to detect the sweetness as a trigger to get going with insulin production) - so they are not helpful in correcting blood sugar imbalances or in reducing cravings.

How do you flip the mental switch so that you do what it takes to stay healthy?

The more I work with those trying to lose weight and become healthier the more I see that until you are ready to change - nothing WILL change. The determination to make things different is what counts in all success but particularly in weight loss where there are so many temptations to lead you astray and you have to be focused to stay on track.

For most people the change where you go from a state of not really being bothered to do anything except in a half-hearted way to being really determined happens due to some incident or sudden realization about what you’re doing to yourself.

So I agree that there is some kind of mental switch.

But I can’t tell you what yours is because it is different for everyone. And it’s based on your motivation for doing something about your weight, your food habits and your fitness levels.

Some people have their moment of change when they see a picture of themselves in a swimsuit. Others when they catch sight of themselves unexpectedly in a shop window. You may get your moment of change with a poor result at the doctor’s office. Or by finding that you really don’t like not being able to keep up with your kids any longer.

If you want to generate such a moment then you can try thinking about all the reasons why you don’t like being overweight - how is it harming your health, your looks, your confidence? What else is it costing you in terms of happiness? Think about all the incidents where you feel your weight has had a negative effect.

Are you prepared to put up with that? Forever? Are you prepared to let things get worse and worse as you sink into an unhealthy old age? (Because that is what will happen unless you do sopmething about it).

Even then…

Despite suddenly thinking “Enough is enough. Things have got to change.” many people still give up without improving their health enough to make a difference or slide back into poor habits after achieving an improvement.

To avoid that slide back towards weight gain and ill health keep reminding yourself daily (hourly if you have to) why you are doing this (keep a written list of all your reasons for this purpose) so that you keep yourself on track.

I’d like to know what not to eat to lose weight

In my opinion there’s absolutely nothing on the forbidden list. Forbidding something just makes it more attractive. I would rather you look at the whole vast quantity of wonderful healthy food out there and select the majority of your meals and recipes from that rather than worrying about what you shouldn’t be eating.

Try and select most of your food from a whole variety of the following

• fruit, salads and vegetables
• nuts and seeds in small quantities
• whole grains and pulses
• lean meat
• fish
• low-fat dairy products
• a little cheese and butter
• eggs
• a little cold-pressed oil

It’s much more empowering to choose food that does you good than it is to be told what not to eat.

I also have to say that I eat everything myself that does not make me cringe when I read the ingredients - the cringe making stuff is anything which I know is damaging - things like high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and fats and any list of chemicals that belong more in a lab than in a kitchen. I enjoy chocolate and I have a little most days.

The key thing to remember is to focus on the quality of your food (aim for delicious nutritious healthy meals) and the quantity (aim for feeling physically hungry before you eat anything and satisfied not stuffed at the end of your meals) and you’ll go a long way.

Salad upsets my stomach, what sort of diet do I do?

Nearly all traditional diets prescribe lots of salad. In many ways, it’s the perfect diet food. It has very few calories and quite a lot of bulk - although I do find that without some protein and slow-release carbs with your salad the full feeling tends not to last too long. And you have to be careful with dressings too - if you add more than a tablespoon (15ml) of anything the perfect dieter’s meal turns into a dieter’s nightmare. Salads in restaurants are a particular problem.

Whether it’s a good salad or a bad salad, doesn’t matter to you though. If salad doesn’t agree with you (or you hate salad) don’t eat it!

This probably counts out 90% or more of the diet books on the market which have a rigid meal plan.

I guess, what you’re asking me is what do you eat instead to get the low calorie/high vitamin combination that salads provide. The simplest thing is to replace salad with cooked vegetables (which are gentler on your stomach) and eat a little fruit too so that you get a good helping of vitamins and minerals that the salad would give you without going overboard on the calories.

If you don’t like or can’t eat too many cooked vegetables then you have to get a little creative with them. You may find that you tolerate them better if they are pureed or incorporated into soup or pasta sauce and this can go a long way towards getting your healthy quota of 5 portions for the day.

The thing is you don’t need any particular food or food combination to lose weight - you just have to avoid eating too much of whatever you choose. Particular food groups are essential for good health though and this includes fruit and vegetables. It’s just not necessary to eat them in the form of salad.

I don’t recommend any particular diet - diets are a temporary thing that may work for a time - but weight just piles back on when you return to “normal” eating. I recommend that you gradually change your eating habits step by step until you are eating (and enjoying) modest portions of healthy delicious foods every day (with the occasional splurge on less healthy food, which is good for the soul) and that you eat that way for the rest of your life.

And this works salad or no salad.