Extreme Makover: Weight Loss Edition. New Series Premiere Inspires

Last Monday the series premiere of Extreme Makeover: Weight-Loss Edition really caught my eye. There's something I have always liked about catching the first episode of a new series. Even if it sucks, it seems historical to me. Plus, the topic of the show really caught my eye. The premise behind the show is a trainer, Chris Powell, follows an obese person throughout a year as they lose major weight. Although the time period is over a year, the show is compacted into an hour.

Compared to Biggest Loser, I really like to see the difference in the person within the same episode because I am not going to follow a show like Biggest Loser religiously. The first contestant was a 21-year-old woman named Rachel. Suprisingly, she is a grade school PE teacher. That has got to be embarrasing. She was trying to instruct her students how to do jumping jacks but all she could do was raise her arms most the way. If I was a kid, I wouldn't really listen to a PE instructor that was that obese. But if I look back on it, most of my PE teachers were definitely overweight - actually all of them.

So, once the Powell surprises Rachel at her job, they head off to the California Health & Longevity Institute. The facility shows you how to cook, exercise, and become healthier essentially. The first weigh-in they don't even have a scale for it. So, powell makes her step on a freight scale. Rachel was holding some emotions back when they told her that. It was interesting to hear her reaction after the weigh-in. She made a comment about being too big for The Biggest Loser.

What Powell  does it breaks it up into three different goals for each of the weigh-ins. She intially told her 55 pounds by the first 3 month weigh-in, and then 35. She meets the first weigh-in goal at exactly 55 pounds. Each goal she meets she is given a prize. The second weigh-in she misses the 35 pounds and only loses 3! I was shocked 3 pounds in 3 months?! I didn't even see it coming. It was almost comforting in a way though because it seems like these weight loss shows live on some magical plane where no one has failures - ie everyone loses a lot of weight quickly. The goal was that she would get skin loss surgery but she got it anyway even though she missed her goal.

I love the format of following someone for an entire year. I also love that the person is expected to lose the weight in their own environment. Powell says that you need to learn to be healthy in the same environment that you learned to become overweight.

Rachel by the end of the show has everyone there for her final weight in. She loses hundreds of pounds from 365 to 161. It really was an awesome moment.

This is an extreme makeover and I wouldn't be able to afford skin reduction surgery. I still would rather lose it slow and steady. That way I may not need any surgery allowing my body to adjust to its new weight gradually, and so I can learn the habits over a long period of time. Nothing was more disappointing to see the chapmpion of the Biggest Loser regain ALL of his weight the year after.

So, here's to slow and steady.

Watch the episode here.

Self Image - The source of a lot of emotional eating.

Anyone who has every been overweight has let themselves become a victim of the emotional eating circle. It starts off with a large meal because you don't like what you see in the mirror. Then you feel more intense emotions for letting yourself eat the fatty meal. Some of those emotions include guilt, self-loathing, and hopelessness. These emotions then take you back to step one and you keep eating even worse meals for you. 


The idea of self image is really one of self esteem. How to see yourself in a positive light is the idea behind high self esteem. Jack Canfield, author of "Chicken Soup for the Soul", describes self esteem boiling down to two basic ideas. One is the idea of being capable and the other is being lovable? If you can see the all ideas with self esteem being from these miscommunication with yourself, it can be easier to rectify the situation.


As an overweight person, I know from experience that it is very had to consider myself lovable and capable. The evidence is all around me. I noticed that girls almost cringe when they think about me. I feel out of place when I am with my family because it seems there are no reasons to love me. I have been struggling so long to find work that will pay all of my bills, it has made me feel from being capable of even providing for myself.


I don't really have any awesome solutions for the idea, but at least I have a good idea where to start.


"Work harder on yourself than you do on your job"
Jim Rohn

Mental Rehearsing: Is it just a bunch of new age mumbo jumbo?

Mental Rehearsing is the act of visualizing what you want to happen in advance in any given situation. When I talk about Mental Rehearsing, people tell me that is like the movie The Secret. I have seen the movie, and I assume that what they mean is the act of visualizing is what they mean to be similar. In some cases, it may be. Imagining that you are driving the "car of your dreams" like The Secret suggests and it "The Universe" will bring it to you seems too good to be true. In my opinion it is if you have no means of getting that car. I hate just depending on something else outside my external control to get me what I desire. The other side of that coin would be more along the lines of practicing. I first came into contact with this idea when I watched Joe Montana's The Winning Spirit:  16 Timeless Principles That Drive Performance Excellence. He suggests that you need to practice in order to become the best at what you do. I completely saw the logic when I first watched the DVD to practice playing football if you wanted to become the best football player you could be. However, I didn't see where it could get you in terms of being successful at losing weight or even making money, which were what I was looking to be successful at.

The application of this process first starts in you head. Even before Joe Montana went on the field to practice, he would rehearse in his mind what kind of practice he wanted to have. Then if he ever strayed from this criteria, he would notice it instantly. He would notice it because that's what he told his brain was important. As soon as he sees it as varying from the practice that he wanted to have he would. In psychology classes at NMHU, I learned this idea is known as the reticular activating system. In class, they describe it as noticing the kind of car you drive everywhere you go. If you just bought a new VW Bug, you're going to notice it everywhere you go. Same concept goes for a game called Slug Bug. If you're not familiar with Slug Bug, you call out "Slug Bug Purple" if you see a VW Bug, and then you get to hit your opponent. If you're like me, once you stopped playing, it was hard not to notice everytime you saw a VW Bug because your mind or Reticular Activity System (RAS) still thinks it is very important to you.

Mental Rehearsing is found as a tool in the Week 4 of the Weight Watchers books. The idea applies specifically to weight loss. If you find yourself struggling with a certain situation, visualize yourself handling it successfully over and over again. The idea is that as soon as the situation arrives, you can have a go to plan for getting what you want. You feel comfortable carrying out those actions because you have done them so many times in your head.


Til Tomorrow,
Josh

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The Dreaded Weigh In Annihilated

Yesterday, I wrote about how it is very important to show up for weigh-in. I didn't back down from the challenge and I'm glad I didn't. I lost 4.2 pounds! That is excellent for me, for anyone actually. So, not only did I lose those 2 pounds last week but I also lost an additional 2.2 pounds of new territory. That felt great! I went to SubWay right afterwards to celebrate. SubWay in itself is a healthier option then most fast food options. I wanted to get chips and coke like I normally like to do, but it was SO easy to say no. I saw the cookies there and I would have normally said, "Yeah, three cookies please." However, the last time I went there I had one and it was 5 points! It was not worth that many. I love that type of awareness because I make healthier decisions without feeling the least bit satisfied.
Unfortunately, I ended up eating at Dion's Pizza and pigged out. I have trouble just eating a few slices. I ate 5 of them delicious bad boys. I wasn't too pleased with that. I also drank some whiskey tonight. I am over twenty 20 points, but I am going to take them from the weekly. The progressive aspect of tonight was that I may have normally not even tracked what I ate once I went over the daily points. I was tracking it as I went along. The other aspect of tonight is that I was trying to make someone feel better and provide them with comfort food and drink. I really didn't want any until I came home with the pizza. Next time, I need to not only plan for a healthier option no matter where I go but also mentally rehearse eating less and not feeling cheated out of something. I need to take the overeating pizza incident just like the SubWay cookie incident. I want to be in control in that type of situation.
Mental rehearsing is a strategy that the Weight Watchers program uses. I have always agreed with this strategy because it has helped me on tests, interviews, and sports. Tomorrow I will be going into more detail about mental rehearsing.


Til tomorrow,
Josh


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Going Back To Weigh In After A Gain

Last week I weighed in with a gain of 2.0 pounds. That really hurt. I wasn't excellent on the program, but I didn't think that I was bad to the point of gaining weight. Maybe maintaining my weight, but not gaining...geez. Today, I would like to talk about the importance of going back to the scale even after you have gained the previous week. If you are anything like me, you have a major weight problem and feel like it's impossible to lose weight no matter how you try. Weight losses feel only temporary, and gains feel imminent at some point. However, here is some good advice to all of you in this category:

1.) Awareness is key
      The way any one gains weight, or at least large amounts of weight is by not being held accountable. Now, I am a member of Weight Watchers and that keeps me accountable on my weigh-in days. Weighing at home is  also the same type of accountability except it is only held by yourself and not others. Just being aware of your weight-change will bring awareness to what you eat. That awareness helps you change what your intake and thus more successful the next time around.

2.) Look at how far you have come.
      It's so easy for me to say, "See! I gained 2 pounds on this system. I have xxx amount of pounds to lose It doesn't work." and then just give up. The truth is I still have a 7.2 pound loss from my initial weigh in. That idea of being better than I was has a much more proactive mind set than, I have more than 100 pounds to lose.

3.) Find a non-scale goal to work on
     If your determination to lose weight is solely based on the numbers on the scale, then you will have a roller coaster of a day emotionally when those numbers are not good news. Sometimes you can do good and still gain because of water weight. Even if you gained because you went off eating plan, the emotions that come along with that are detrimental to you success. Create a goal like to fit in some old pants, or to buy yourself something you would enjoy if you stay on track for a month, or something that motivates you but is not dependent only on the pounds you weight in at.

My personal goal is to fit into Regular sizes. Big and Tall sizes start at 46 waist. I am a 48 currently. That means that I need to be at a 44 waist to be able to buy regular pants. That is very exciting for. By the way, I also of goals that have to do with pounds. I started out at 359 pounds and my goal is to weigh less than 300 pounds by February 18, 2011. That is about 4 1/2 months. I calculated the numbers and I should have plenty of weeks to spare if I can lose weight at an average pace of 3 pounds a week.

Thats pretty much it for today.

Til tomorrow,
Josh

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Using Your Phone to Help You Lose Weight

In the last few years we have seen an explosion in apps on or cell phones. Some of these apps are just for fun and plain useless. I have found an app on my Palm Pre Plus that allows me to me to keep track of my Weight Watcher points. The name of the app is Points Calculator. It allows you to figure out the amount of points things are based on calories, fat, and fiber. My favorite feature though was the ability to tally up points as you go along. I find it a pain in the butt when I am out in public places to pull out a tracker and write down everything I'm gonna eat or just finished eating. That sort of idea is what makes it hard to track because I will put it off to another day.

I always have my cell phone with me. So, I will never forget my cell phone like I forget my tracker. That and I really don't like pulling out my tracker in front of people because of all the questions. I would rather just pull out my phone, for all anyone else know, I could be texting. It has made keeping track of points much easier. Well, so far anyway, I have only been tracking like this for two days. The downside to keeping track of your points like this is you can't really check off all the other little goodies like fruits and vegetables, and liquids. To be honest, I haven't really been good at all about doing that. For right now, it is perfect because I just need something that will help me stay under my daily allotted points.

So, if your a visual person, it takes these things:

and compresses them into this:

Till tomorrow...

Josh

Scheduling Time to Succeed

In last week's hand out, Weight Watchers said one of the weaknesses for some people is the inability to schedule yourself and needs above others. For example, not going to your meeting because someone needs your help. I ranked low on the quiz (meaning it was not much of a concern), and I think I am low in this area. I did however miss a meeting today. I had a job interview, though. I will always let that reason slide. However, originally, I did have the option of scheduling the  appointment later on in the day, but declined it as I love to get things done and out of the way. So, I might have had a window in there if I had tried. I AM going to instead go tomorrow at 11am or the 11:30am meeting.

The reason I brought scheduling up is not because it is a big concern of mine to put other people's needs above mine, but because I do not schedule the time to plan my day out in terms of what I am eating or going to buy. My main excuse is "what does it matter if I don't even have the money to plan for anything?" The truth is I have gained weight on pennies. So, money can no longer be the fall-back excuse.

Has anyone had successful ways of scheduling their activities for weight loss? Activities which might include tracking, budgeting, shopping, cooking, exercising, etc?