What Makes It Work?

Hi guys,

A prospective client asked me a question today that is so simple and so profound that I decided to write about it in the blog…

She is 32 years old and has apparently tried everything to lose weight – from fat loss shakes to anti-cellulite creams to liposuction. Needless to say, nothing worked for long enough. “So, what is it about your approach” she asked “that makes it work?”

The answer is so simple yet so difficult to comprehend… What makes the program work is YOU. You are the only one that has that power. I can (and will) be there to guide you, teach you, support you, push you when you need me to, but YOU need to pull it together. It is your responsibility, your battle, and ultimately – your reward.

Now the tough step to overcome, particularly for someone who has been overweight for a long time is the lack of faith in your own ability. Throughout the years you have probably told yourself time and time again that you are not going to eat those cookies, will get on the workout wagon from Monday or will eat healthily from January 1^st. And, of course, time and time again you have broken your own promise. You have failed yourself enough times to lose all confidence in yourself.

Well, guess what. It doesn’t have to be this way. I know it has been like this for a while, but you can change that. In fact, once you try you will see that keeping your promise to yourself is not that hard. You just have to promise to yourself that you can and will invest the time and effort to get your body in shape. You have to convince yourself that you are worth it (yep, just like the L’oreal ad!).

I am going to say it again: the first step in winning the battle of the bulge is to believe that you can do it. And yes, you can! I don’t care how overweight you are! So, give yourself permission to succeed and get on with the program (so to speak)! Summer is about 8 weeks away!

Ciao!

Jeni

The Deamon of "Boredom Eating"

Hi,

Winter is the time of “comfort eating” according to many… It is the time to curl under the blanket, read romantic novels or watch DVD’s and sip on decadent Cadbury’s Hot Chocolate (complete with full cream milk and chocolate shavings).

While I fully appreciate the rationale of this argument, I tend to disagree with the terminology. I would classify “the winter munchies” more as boredom eating rather than comfort eating. We, Capetownians particularly, are used to be out there. The beaches, the mountains, the parks, the malls… We simply love to be “outside” and “to do stuff”.

But what happens in winter? The South Easter starts blowing faster than the speed limit of city roads, the rain and subsequent mudslides make our usual hangouts inaccessible and with the current economic crunch, the mall isn’t such a viable option either. So, what do we do? We eat!

Eating more than what we need on a daily basis will invariably result to excess storage (remember the cookies in the jeans back pocket) and by the end of winter we will spot “the winter 5” (which is kind of like “the freshman 10 (pounds)” in the first year of Varsity life). Not to mention that the dark cold mornings and early dusk (which apparently make gym an impossible option) don’t help much either.

OK, so what can you do about it?

Sorry to break it to you guys, but losing weight is not going to get easier because you have a “justifiable” reason for gaining it in the first place. (I am told time and time again by my clients that gaining weight in winter is “justified”…)

Thus, the easiest way to deal with the problem is to avoid it altogether. I can understand that your “entertainment” options are limited in winter. I can even understand how you may feel that dragging yourself for a walk, or heaven forbid a full-blown exercise session, is virtually impossible. But what I can’t understand is why you must fill the void with food. Why can’t you call a friend, read a novel, watch DVD, whatever… without shoving pounds of artery-clogging cholesterol in your mouth? In fact, I challenge you to give it a try. It is not THAT horrible… I promise!

Ciao!

Jeni