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Summer is Here! Time to Learn What Really Works with Weight Loss

Sometimes it’s difficult for non-scientists to sift through the abundant research on obesity, health, and wellness. It’s equally difficult for some researchers to try to distill these complex studies and findings into a format that will both inform and educate the general public. I am excited to have a chance to discuss weight loss in a straightforward way – no dry data or journal articles.

Should we use special occasions as motivators?

There’s a good reason why people use special events, such as a family reunion or wedding as motivators, they work in the short-term but too often people do unhealthy things, such as crash dieting, pills, or detoxes to achieve their goal which can be dangerous. In addition, once the event is over, they often go right back to overeating and other unhealthy habits and regain the weight.

It is about a lifestyle change not using milestones as motivators. Use those things in a way that is sensible and well thought-out using good nutrition, healthy physical activity and most of all make sure you have a plan for your health the day after the event.

It is hard to motivate yourself. For many people, the best way to stay on track is to have an event to aim toward. You can compare it to how an athlete spends months or even years training. This usually involves a series of athletic events with ‘off-season’ training in between competitions. Why shouldn’t the average person use periodic events to boost their motivation as part of an ongoing healthy lifestyle plan in the same way athletes do? But try and sustain these changes.

Is it better to set one large goal or smaller ones along the way?

You don’t get there if you just set the target as the final long-term goal. It is important to set daily, weekly and monthly goals as part of a complete plan, with one goal building on the next to achieve the larger, long-term goal.

Consider walking goals: Start walking a certain distance in 30 minutes. Initially each week walk the same distance, but with a goal of walking 15 seconds faster every few days. Once you get comfortable with that, add more distance.

I encourage people each week to improve either the intensity or alternate that with walking a bit farther. I keep pushing people week by week to achieve those immediate goals that eventually lead to their longer-term target.

And it works.

When it comes to goal-setting, I believe in “celebrating them all large or small.” Baby steps add up to giant leaps in health!

What goals should people set?

People are bombarded with bad messages. They want to lose 5 kg a week or exercise till they collapse like they see in popular TV programs. While I do think that it’s important to focus on ambitious goals, it is best to realize that you cannot reach those goals overnight.

Reputable weight loss programs spend a lot of time encouraging participants to set reasonable goals. For example, if you are unable to do one pushup, setting a goal of doing 100 might be seen as unreasonable, going too far can discourage your ‘dream goals’.

Plenty of people do reach those long-term “dream goals”, so who am I to tell them they can’t”. They might start their weight-loss journey and say “within the next 2 years, I’m going to run a marathon and lose 20 kg.” And they do!

Instead of “demotivating them in the moment by discouraging” that long-term plan, I often say: “OK – but what are we going to do this week?”

Those small goals fill the gaps between now and the brass ring that awaits.

What about the scale?

People do focus on weight. At times I have tried to move people completely away from focusing on the scale, but that’s not necessary or helpful.

It is an important indicator and a valuable health goal; it’s just not the only one. Weight loss is an important goal, but so are the choices in foods you are making, and the physical activity you are getting, your blood pressure, blood sugar and overall quality of life.

“Weighing in” is a controversial subject among people who struggle with weight. Some still focus on the perhaps outdated notion that weighing more than once a week is harmful. The research actually supports that people who weigh frequently, even each day, have better success over the long term.  You are the best judge of what works for you.

The reason that it’s so controversial is that people beat themselves up about the number on the scale.  However, most people use the number on the scale constructively – to adjust eating and exercise patterns.

I recommend pulling out a piece of graph paper or using an online program and creating a longer-term view on paper. This way you will learn to stop reacting to the daily fluctuations, and instead pay attention to the overall trends. It’s OK to notice the fluctuations but don’t see each one as a success or failure. Just look at how the line trends over the course of each month.  You might find that you lose weight during the week and then gain over the weekend – you can then adjust you weekend intake to prevent the kilos creeping on!

If people are willing each morning to stand on the scale and put the dot on the graph, they might be a little more likely to make a healthy choice for breakfast or take a walk.

In other words, once again, small steps add up.

There is a side that we never talk about, but when people have a really good number on the scale, it’s sometimes seen as permission to go off the plan. Attending to long-term trends on the graph eliminates this, too.

Weighing every week or two weeks and not knowing what number will appear is like playing Wheel of Fortune. Will it land on jackpot—a weight loss–or bankrupt—a weight gain?

Weighing daily and graphing it keeps you aware of the long-term impact your overall lifestyle has on your longer-term goals and keeps you from going off the program. Morning is the logical time to do it, but weigh-ins can happen any time of day, as long as it’s the same time each day.

Even if you stick with healthy eating and exercise, daily numbers will rise and fall. Daily weighing proves that those fluctuations are normal, and by allowing a healthy weight range–say, a kilo up or down–it allows you to relax as long as it’s within your typical ranges and the overall trend is downward.

If it is not trending down, then maybe it’s time to start monitoring and measuring and tightening up your plan a little – be aware of portions and picking and snacking on all the little extras.

Tips:

On facing reality:

If your  goals are clearly unattainable, such as reaching the weight you were at 16 – you need to choose a different goal. One helpful question: “What was the last weight you remember where you felt good about yourself? “ If you say ‘I was 10 kg lighter last year,’ that’s where I start you.

On diets:

The bottom line is that if you don’t learn the complete skill set required to maintain a healthy life overall, (maintaining a support network, stress management, active lifestyle, realistic goals setting etc) you will regain weight.

Most diets work, just not for the long term. The nutrition plan must be realistic in the context of your lifestyle.

If there’s anything with the word detox in it, run!

Advice for “dieting veterans”:

You aren’t gaining weight because you don’t understand the things you need to do to be healthier. You are gaining weight because you don’t do them. There are barriers in your life that need solving.

The changes that work are not complicated: reduce portions, eat more vegetables and salads, moderate total fat, reduce unhealthy fats, eat healthier versions of protein and carbohydrate. Much of the rest is a lot of noise that complicates and overwhelms you.

Moving a little more is going to give you a lot of progress. There’s too much focus in the popular media on regimented, painful exercise and less about simply moving more in a variety of fun and exciting ways.

One key piece of advice on weight loss:

It shouldn’t take up your whole life. Imagine if you had another medical condition – you do the treatment and go home, you take the medicines if needed and you avoid things that might aggravate the condition but you don’t necessarily make your whole life revolve around it…in fact just the opposite–you live life to its fullest without letting your condition take over your life.

Part of the tactic is to teach you to broaden you interests. I am a big advocate of “active leisure.”  Healthy lifestyles stick when you weave weight loss into you life rather than weaving you life around weight loss. “I would love people to only talk about their weight loss efforts for less than 30 minutes a day.” The rest of the time, simply live a healthy life.