Posts Tagged ‘Weight’

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Losing Weight Permanently [BOOK EXCERPTS]

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

“This is not a diet book. Not a book on weight loss with low-fat recipes. And not another volume swimming in an ocean of ‘lose fat’ books that encourage you to add even more stress to your body through roller coaster weight management programs that only exacerbate the challenges you already face. Instead, the central idea throughout Losing Weight Permanently: Secrets from the 2 Percent Club is what we now know to be the only kind of thinking that works: it is the whole-person approach. And it is an approach desperately neded, largely because of statistics like the following from the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere:

  • It’s estimated that 1 in 3 Americans is overweight, an increase of 30 percent in the last 10 years
  • 44 percent of high school girls and 15 percent  of high school boys report that they are trying to lose weight
  • 50 percent of female adults and 24 percent of adult males are on a diet on any given occasion
  • It’s now estimated that 10 percent of Americans have disordered eating

“So, as a nation we have a problem — a serious problem. Unfortunately, the battle of the bulge  for most is not getting any easier. That’s why we are concerned about people and their weight challenges. But, unlike other weight-loss programs, we do not isolate weight as a single issue. We don’t focus on the use of scales or on a daily regimen of checking to see how much has been lost or gained in the last week. Our whole person approach does not encourage people to tally calories, check body fat, or count cholesterol and sodium. This is because people who lose weight permanently do not rely on the stuff most diets are made of.”

14 Excerpts from Losing Weight Permanently

Lose Weight for Good: Introducing Secrets from The 2 Percent Club

Chronic Dieting vs. Permanent Weight Loss: Carol’s Story

Goodbye Crutches: Permanent Weight Loss Action Plan

You are Not a Disease: Emotional Challenges Plus Obsessive Behavior Equals Obesity

Food Quiz: Are You Obsessed?

What You Think is What You Are: Feeding Your Subconscious Mind

From Guilt Cycle to Bicycle: Lose the Rules & Just Exercise!

Want to Lose Weight? Increase Your Activity Level Just 10 Percent Each Month

5 Steps to a Healthier You

Families of Those With Eating Disorders: 12 Characteristics

Building Intimate Relationships: 6 High Dive Principles

Your Relationship With Food: Facing the Truth

Weight Loss: 7 Disciplines to Help You Stay the Course

Raising Children to Resist Eating Problems

The Center for Counseling and Health Resources is a treatment center that follows a model of whole-person care, addressing the physical, psychological, emotional, nutritional, fitness and spiritual aspects of each person seeking help through one of our treatment programs.

If you would like more information about our depression treatment program, please request a free consultation today.

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Your Relationship With Food: Facing the Truth

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

A brilliant woman pianist once gave an intimate performance for a group of society women in the sun-drenched library of a country estate. Later, while dessert was being served, a guest approached the pianist, gushing, “I would give anything in the world to play as you play.”

The virtuoso looked at the woman for a moment and said, “I’m sorry madam, but I don’t think you would.”

Red-faced, but undaunted, the guest tried again, quietly this time, “But really, I truly would give anything to play the piano with the skill that you do.”

The pianist, realizing she had not successfully made her point, said “No, my dear, I’m afraid you really wouldn’t. If you would, you might play better than I, at least equally as well. Yes, you’d give anything except your time, the one thing it takes to be good. You wouldn’t sit on a bench practicing hour after hour, day after day, while your friends were out having fun, enjoying parties such as this and otherwise getting on with their lives.”

Then she smiled.

“I hope you understand that I’m not criticizing you. I don’t even know you. I’m just telling you when you say you’d give anything to play the piano as I do, that in your heart of hearts, you don’t really mean it. You really don’t mean it at all.”

That story is about one very honest woman. The talented pianist knew that in music only a few succeed at what they attempt, even though most will say they want to be great, famous, well paid, and acknowledged with their name ablaze in lights. But in reality, only the dedicated few will realize that dream. Likewise, among those who try to lose weight permanently, only a few succeed. But with practice, discipline, and dedication, those few can include you.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

One of the primary ways you will lose weight permanently is by consciously disconnecting food and its associations from all forms of abuse that may have occurred in your life. As you read this, you may say, “I’ve never been abused sexually, physically, or emotionally, so this doesn’t apply to me.” You may be right, or you may be engaging in some form of denial. That is for you to discover as we go along.

Or you may say, “There really may be something to this idea that past experiences keep me going to food for comfort, and I’m willing to take a long look at my past to check out the connection.”

Or you may say, “I know that my eating problems are intricately connected to the deep hurts of my past. I am finally willing to engage in the battle where  it actually exists: in my mind.”

No matter how you respond to this message, you need to know you are not alone in your struggle. At times you may feel as if your picture would be next to the definition of loneliness in the dictionary, but not only do you have friends like me who are on your side; you also have a loving heavenly Father. You may have thought you were doing a solo performance as you engaged in your silent, compulsive behaviors, but guess what? You were not alone then and you are not alone now. Even more important, you are no longer addressing the symptoms of your problem as you’ve done in the past. You are now choosing to deal with the issues that really matter.

SOURCE: Chapter 8, “Eating Problems and Their Link to Abuse,” in Losing Weight Permanently by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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Building Intimate Relationships: 6 High Dive Principles

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

A new adventure starts the moment you allow yourself to love the person you are inside — that good person with the great, compassionate, overflowing heart — even as you recognize there will still be great challenges as you keep growing toward emotional health.

6 HIGH DIVE PRINCIPLES

1) Face your challenges head-on. If you choose to, your compulsive behaviors will remain. Overeating, secretive spending, an obsession with television, hiding food, lying, and whatever behaviors you may be engaging in may seem innocent enough. In fact, they are a chain on your body and a tether to your soul, dragging you to places you do not wish to go. Become aware of what is happening to you, in you, and around you.

2) Put yourself in the company of a variety of people, difficult though it may be. It could be a small Bible study, a support or therapy group, a community project, fellowship group, the choice is yours. But choose something to join now. There’s a saying that you can’t get to second base with one foot on first. It’s the same challenge you face in moving closer to others. Move quietly away from your past isolation and get involved at the basic level with other people. Even if you do not participate fully in the event, at least have the courage to be present. You can’t learn to swim by reading a book, and you will never achieve intimacy with others unless you take the risk of being in their presence.

3) Discover what kinds of people are a challenge to you. What types of individuals trouble you or seem to make you feel uncomfortable, self-conscious, or ill-at-ease? Who ar these people in your life? Are they neighbors, relatives, a boss? For instance, if you are a woman and are uncomfortable around men, put yourself in the presence of trustworthy men with whom you practice being the kind of perosn you are becoming without losing your personal power or identity.

4) Survey your past. Look at those relationships that have involved conflict, hurt, and pain, and therefore need to be resolved. You may have been the receiver of the hurt, or you may have been the giver. Whichever, look at the conflict squarely and determine to do something redemptive. People who lose weight permanently learn to do this on a regular basis. They see and feel the hurt, and they forgive.

5) Select two or three people and work on improving your relationships with them. These might be people you work with, live with, or come in close contact with on a regular basis. Write down three ways you would like to see your relationships with them improve. Then begin to work on enriching those relationships. Because you have been a food addict, you may have assembled a group of codependents who have not been honest with you about what was going on in your life. Now is your opportunity to take the offensive and begin to effect positive changes in your relationships. Be aware that your former compulsive eating has made an impact on others. Choose a few people with whom you want more honest, healthier relationships.

6) Look for creative ways to solve your interpersonal problems. Emotionally healthy people are problem-solvers and bridge-builders in relationships. They understand that we were never made to go it alone. No one is an island. Deep within each person with a weight problem is a big, loving heart that desperately wants to touch someone, hug someone, love someone, and be touched and loved in return. You may be off the scale when it comes to anger. But please never forget: the damage is not permanent. You are becoming free to be authentic again. You need no longer allow your addictions, unresolved anger, or compulsions to hide your big, loving heart.

SOURCE: Chapter 7, “Developing Intimacy With People,” in Losing Weight Permanently by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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Families of Those With Eating Disorders: 12 Characteristics

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

We often think we cannot live without the ingrained patterns of our past — whether they be good or bad, positive or negative. But people who lose weight permanently know that if they are to grow in every area of their lives they must look at every area 0f their lives.

The following are characteristics of families of those with food-related problems:

1. Perfectionistic, including high expectations from the father, either verbal or nonverbal. This most often applies to the first-born.

2. Mother frequently dieted, accompanied by an over-emphasis on weight and appearance, compulsive dieting and fasting, diarrhetic use or laxative use.

3. Father distant, fueling an intense desire to to please the father who is typically emotionally unavailable.

4. Parent (0ften the mother) is co-dependent, often denying her own needs and assuming responsibility for everyone else.

5. Rigid discipline with severe punishment, including guilt and shame used as motivation, and perhaps humiliating or hurtful punishment.

6. Sexuality ignored or considered “dirty,” neglecting to give children basic information about sex or no opportunity to discuss sexual issues.

7. Daughters used as confidantes, perhaps with the father complaining to the daughter about the mother, and in fact the child may be used as the parent’s primary form of emotional support.

8. Children forced to be adults, especially daughters who “raised” siblings and children who are not allowed to be children themselves.

9. Children victimized in any way, which may include fondling, incest, neglect or verbal abuse.

10. Parent (often the father) addicted to prescription drugs, alcohol or street drugs.

11. Family members tend to ignore or deny negative emotions, often resulting in explosive anger, or anger and sadness never addressed, even to the point of covering up negative emotions just to please others.

12. Overuse of food for pleasure or reward, with food serving as the primary focus for pleasure and emphasis placed on sweets and rich desserts.

For your ongoing emotional growth and your permanent weight loss, it is important that you look at whether you have avoided — and may still be avoiding — intimacy on some level. Intimacy issues have interfered in your life and sabotaged your success at weight loss.

Now is the time to say, “I need help.”

There’s no point in blaming your past, your family, or even a former abuser, if any. You have simply had numerous unmet needs that you attempted to address through intimacy with food. Now you are moving away from such erroneous thinking and are moving toward joining the two percent of people who lose weight permanently.

SOURCE: Chapter 7, “Developing Intimacy With People,” in Losing Weight Permanently by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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5 Steps to a Healthier You

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

When you say, “I care about myself, and I am becoming the person I was meant to be;  I like what God has created, and I am a person who is losing weight permanently,” then a wonderful world of self-acceptance begins to unfold. The book of ancient wisdom reminds us that as a person thinks in his heart, so he is. That’s a very old saying, but no less true today than when it was written.

Think good thoughts of yourself. Never put yourself down. What you think, you are. Your subconscious hears it all and believes it all. Treat it with respect. It is one of the most important parts of something called YOU.

Ultimately, all these positive thoughts can and should lead to positive action:

1. Change the way you eat. Eat a healthy breakfast every day and cut down on the fat in your diet. Engage in an activity you enjoy for 15 minutes each day. The only rule is to move your body. Start drinking water and eliminate all sodas and diet drinks. And put your scale away.  Do all this for 30 days, then weigh yourself.

2. Begin a confidential journal that describes your innermost feelings. In your journal or notebook, take a daily inventory about how you feel about the three deadly emotions that must be dealt with by people who lose weight permanently: anger, fear, and guilt. You are not writing an essay for anyone else. These are your personal expressions. Write on these areas for one month.

3. Begin using the proper dietary supplements (not diet pills) to help you nourish your body, which may have been too long deprived of proper nutrients. Choose supplements from a source that you trust. It’s important that these supplements are designed specifically for people in recovery. If you are under the care of a physician for a particular medical condition, check with him or her before beginning the supplements.

4. Examine your emotional health. Studies indicate that 80 percent of people with eating disorders have been a victim of some form of abuse. If you experienced abuse, it may have been verbal, sexual, emotional, or physical. Write down your thoughts on your past. How have past events pushed you toward food? How can you best deal with that past and join those who lose weight permanently? If your abuse was long-term or extreme, we strongly suggest you make an appointment with a professional counselor.

5. Read and listen. Fortunately, there are some great books and audio available to help you get on track to permanent weight loss through healthy, balanced nutrition. These are not diet materials, nor are they intended to foster guilt or create shame. I highly recommend:

Eat Smart, Think Smart by Robert Haas

The Psychology of Living Lean by Denis Waitley

Graham Kerr’s Kitchen by Graham Kerr

Thin Tastes Better by Stephen P. Gullo

Dr. Cookie Cookbook by Marvin A. Wayne, M.D.

Wellness Medicine by Robert A. Anderson

Of course, I also suggest the book from which the material for this blog post is drawn — my own book, Losing Weight Permanently: Secrets From the 2 Percent Club.

SOURCE: Chapter 6, “A Nutritional Plan that Really Works,” in Losing Weight Permanently by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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Want to Lose Weight? Increase Your Activity Level Just 10 Percent Each Month

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

People who lose weight permanently make small, daily steps toward their goal because they know that inch by inch, virtually anything is possible. Once you decide what your activity level will be, I encourage you to simply increase it by 10 percent per month. You’ll be amazed at your progress within only a few weeks.

Once you make this commitment to increase your activity level slowly and gently, you will find you’ve made a major paradigm shift from compulsive overexercising, where exercise is the master, to where you and you alone are in control. Once you decide which activity you choose to do, then you will do it, because you decided. If you do not enjoy it, your activity will become a duty, which will lead to guilt, depression, anger, and ultimately fear. And we are not into fear.

Try using the following affirmations by reading them aloud two to three times a day or more. They are your ticket to reshaping your mind-set as you reshape your body in a natural, pleasing, effective way.

AFFIRMATIONS

1. God made me an active and alive human being. I enthusiastically believe this as I enjoy my life to its fullest.

2. My body was created to move, not sit still. That’s why I engage in one activity at least 15 minutes a day. I am happy there are no rules for this activity.

3. I am excited about my balanced schedule of activity. I feel good about myself just knowing that I’m making progress.

4. I’m delighted that I can be active without weighing myself. The scale used to be my judge, jury, and executioner. Now I simply enjoy life.

5. I now know that permanent weight loss is an inside job. I make no demands of my exercise routine. It’s simply an important part of maintaining my emotionally healthy life.

6. I believe the words of the ancient prophet Jeremiah who said, “For I know the plans I have for you…they are plans for good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.” I believe this with all my heart and soul.

7. I have made a decision to join the growing ranks of people who lose weight permanently. I am increasing my activity level 10 percent each month, and my body is responding with a resounding THANK YOU!

8. My attitude is my choice. I can enjoy my daily activity for its sheer enjoyment. I am choosing a healthy positive attitude about my daily success.

People who lose weight permanently no longer spend their time thinking about food, their bodies, exercise, competition, or comparing their progress with others. Their new, liberated mind-set gives them — as it will give you — the time to do the really important things in life!

SOURCE: Chapter 5, “From Guilt Cycle to Bicycle,” in Losing Weight Permanently: Secrets of the 2 Percent Club by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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From Guilt Cycle to Bicycle: Lose the Rules & Just Exercise!

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

What are the first three words that come to your mind when you think “exercise?”

Many people would write words like, boring, time-consuming, expensive. But when it comes to exercise, the most important questions people ask are, “How can I make exercise fun? What can I do that is so enjoyable that I’ll look forward to doing it day after day, week after week, year after year?

Exercise must be fully compatible with you and your personality. If you hate to run, don’t run, because if you hate it, you won’t do it. If a sweaty, inconvenient five-day-a-week regimen in a local fitness club is not for you, don’t do it.Exercise is not about feeling guilty for what you can’t — or choose not to — do.

The guiltier you feel, the less exercise you will do, and the less exercise you do, the guiltier you will feel, and your guilt cycle will produce depression, confusion, and anger to the point where your entire system may simply close down. The solution: Do what is right for you.

Choose an activity that is fun. For many people, the best initial exercise program is simply to walk. Walking requires no expensive club dues, no unique clothing or special shoes, no time limits, no stop watches, no subscriptions to fitness magazines, no nothing. With walking there are also no excuses. If it’s hot, walk early. If it’s raining, wear a raincoat or carry an umbrella, then come home and take a hot shower. It’s one of the most invigorating feelings ever. Try it.

NO EXCUSES PLEASE

People who lose weight permanently are realistic, and they make their activity program work for them. Exercise is their slave, not their master. When they walk, they know it directs a hefty supply of oxygen to their lungs, gives them a chance to be away from their busy life for a few moments, helps them think about their progress toward permanent weight loss, gives them a few moments to listen to the birds, smell the flowers, and spend quality time with their spouse, a neighbor, or a friend as they take on the familiar and unfamiliar streets and lanes of their neighborhood.

An exercise you choose to do because it’s right for you makes you feel good. Before long you begin to experience a wonderful freedom from depression and guilt. The right kind of exercise — that you choose — can actually put joy back into your life, while diets — or expensive health clubs you join because you feel guilty for not working out — invariably rob you of your job.

Bottom line: There are no rules for exercise, absolutely none! Cliche as it sounds, just do it!

SOURCE: Chapter 5, “From Guilt Cycle to Bicycle,” in Losing Weight Permanently: Secrets of the 2 Percent Club by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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R is for Responsible for My Body

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

In recent weeks I have introduced you to the SOAR concept when it comes to raising healthy, happy kids — Supported, Optimistic, Active and Achieving, and today’s focus, Responsible.

Scripture tells us that we are responsible to offer our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. We need to view our bodies as a valuable resource for God’s purposes in the world. In addition, we are to align our thoughts, priorities, and values not according to the pattern of this world but according to God’s will. These are lofty goals. We need to model them as adults so we can teach them to our children. We must show our children — not merely tell our children — how to act as responsible citizens in God’s kingdom.

Our bodies are complex systems that God has designed to operate optimally under some pretty straightforward, simple rules, applicable to every child:

  • Eat healthy — natural fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and proteins should be the staples of your child’s diet.
  • Get proper supplementation – begin in childhood to set the pattern of taking a good, absorbable multivitamin and mineral formula.
  • Drink water — growing bodies needs lots of clean, pure water.
  • Play hard — physical activity in childhood prepares the body for an active adulthood.
  • Rest well — children need good sleep and a soothing restful environment in which to rest and fall asleep each night.

Yes, they are simple, common-sense directives that all of us know, but the vast majority of us do not make good on these promises to our bodies and, in turn, the growing bodies of our children.

Remember that for the optimum health of your child, you need to actively partner with a pediatrician, ideally one who appreciates the whole-person approach to wellness. This partnership is invaluable! I realize many people move from place to place or even state to state, which can make health care continuity difficult. If you do not have a primary care physician for your child, I urge you to locate one and commit to regular checkups. Again, this is especially important if your child is significantly overweight and/or underfit. Your child needs medical supervision, and you need emotional and intellectual backup for the positive changes being implemented within your family.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.” ~Romans 12:1-2

SOURCE: Chapter 6, “R is for Responsible for My Body,” in Healthy Habits, Healthy Kid: A Practical Plan to Help Your Family by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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What You Think is What You Are: Feeding Your Subconscious Mind

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

The philosopher Jose Ortega y Gassett once wrote, “Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are.”

The subconscious mind never stops working, never gets tired, and never says no to any input it receives from you. It believes everything it hears and trusts everything you say or feel. It even responds to your most innocent thoughts, especially those thoughts which are highly emotionalized with either faith or fear. It is even more susceptible to repetitive thoughts (Remember: “Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are.”)

Your mind cannot distinguish fact from desire. That’s why daily affirmations are so effective. Try these:

1) I can lose all the weight I want, and still keep my cherished values.

2) I now believe that weight loss = power = sexual energy = fear + guilt, BUT emotional health = weight loss = physical vitality.

When you say, “I care about myself, and I am becoming the person I was meant to be; I like what God has created, and I am a person who is losing weight permanently,” then a wonderful world of self-acceptance begins to unfold.

The book of ancient wisdom reminds us that as a person thinks in his heart, so he is.

That’s a very old saying, but no less true today than when it was written. Thank good thoughts of yourself. Never put yourself down. What you think, you are. Your subconscious hears it all and believes it all. Treat it with respect. It is one of the most important parts of something called you.

SOURCE: Chapter 4, “The Dance of Sex and Weight,” in Losing Weight Permanently: Secrets of the 2 Percent Club by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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Food Quiz: Are You Obsessed?

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Everything you have tried up to this point has not worked when it comes to losing weight permanently. Diets have not worked, powders have not worked, diet pills have not worked, and obsessively exercising has not worked. Every method of weight loss has been flawed. Each has promised you something it could not deliver. That’s why it’s time to ask yourself some personal questions.

RATING THE ROLE OF FOOD IN YOUR LIFE

On the following quiz, grade each statement on a score of 0 through 5. If it’s true for you almost all the time, give yourself a 5. If you usually do it, score a 4. If you seldom do it, score a 1. If you never do it, record a 0.

1. I have to be on a diet all the time.

2. I feel guilty when I eat a dessert.

3. I wake up thinking about food.

4. I dream about my weight and/or food.

5. At parties, I hang around the snack table.

6. I am ashamed of my body.

7. I feel it’s wasteful if I don’t clean my plate.

8. I seldom sit down to eat.

9. At buffets, I feel I must try a bit of everything.

10. I skip breakfast.

11. I often eat the leftovers after a party at my home.

12. I am afraid of losing control with food.

13. I eat most of the cookies I bake while they are still warm.

14. I buy popcorn at the movies even if I’ve just eaten.

15. There are only a few safe foods I feel I can eat.

16. When I’m bored, I get out the snack food.

17. I can gain weight overnight.

How did you rate yourself? Do you see a pattern?

If you had a total score of 65 or more, I am especially glad you are reading this blog, because there is hope for you. If your score was around 50, then you may or may not need to take action. If your total score was under 25, congratulations. I can only assume you are reading this so that you can refer this as a resource to a friend.

DISSECTING THE OBSESSION WITH FOOD

Sometimes I think the reason we eat by candlelight is because we have elevated food to a cathedral-like religious experience. Our “places of worship” are the open-all-night pavilions dedicated to the sale of fat, calories, and cholesterol, and all-you-can-eat troughs of food consumed by people for whom three full plates are never enough.

Those with food obsessions believe that:

  • Food is relief from stress
  • Food is reward for pain
  • Food is the epitome of success
  • Food is the wafer and wine for the religion of the obese
  • ‘Food is comfort in a time of storm
  • Food is life!

When people with eating disorders come to see me I ask them how much time they think about food. They often say “about 110 percent of the time.” That’s one of the most honest statements they’ll ever make during treatment. They do spend the majority of the time thinking about food: about when they are or are not going to eat, what they are or aren’t going to eat, and where they are or are not going to eat. But the feelings of control these individuals think they have are nothing but a fraud. In fact, the eating disorder is controlling them, consuming their relationships, ruining their self-esteem, destroying their health, and wasting their time. Ultimately, attempts to control food are failing to control pain, anger and fear.

SOURCE: Chapter 3, “Eating as an Art, in Losing Weight Permanently: Secrets of the 2 Percent Club by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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