First Steps to Weight Loss

Recently, an former professor of mine asked me what he could tell his "friend" about maybe losing 20 or 30 pounds. Specifically, he asked what would the the first steps be. Read on for my response: "Ha! Please tell you "friend" to start with food. Most people have an unhealthy relationship to food. Women are usually addicted to the unhealthy food, and men just straight don't pay attention. You would do well to first get familiar with the type and amount of food you consume, including beverages. Write them down or plug it into your phone (If you have an iPhone, I suggest the Lose It! Application) Do that for about a week, being TOTALLY honest, then step back and observe patterns you have. Did you eat because of an emotion like boredom or stress, or did a situation where you felt inferior lead you to “take control” and eat because at least you can always dominate food?

Once you start eating for health, excess weight tends to start falling off, if only because your body is working better with a higher nutrient density. I hear people all the time blame their metabolism for their weight gain. "My metabolism slowed down!" they claim. When really, it was THEM who slowed down- that and a severe nutrient deficiency problem. It is biologically impossible to eat processed crap and not enough fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and think your body is going to run efficiently. Add in a daily walk/jog and some resistance training, and you will soon have incredible amounts of energy and a great feeling when that shirt comes off and you see that look in your bride’s eyes. You know the look I am talking about…

Here is what you do to start losing weight:

1. Log your food for a week
2. Look for patterns and habits you have control of changing
3. Replace bad habits with good ones.
4. Repeat.
5. Move your body.
6. Repeat.

Do you see a pattern here? Keep it going.

Also, be careful not to get to held up on the "how" to workout. Go for a walk, do some pushups, hire me to send you weekly workouts... whatever it is, just MOVE!

So, to recap, start with your relationship with food. Do you control it, or does it control you? Once you establish patterns that inhibit weight loss, create some new habits and stick with them. Know that whatever you do to lose the weight will be the thing you have to do to keep it off. Remember, your body does not want to be overweight. It is only reacting to what you do to it!"