How Do You Achieve Your Ideal Weight And Keep It That Way?

Introduction

“ The Weight Loss industry is not making money because its efforts are working. It’s making billions of dollars because they are not working ” (1).

So, what do you do?

Would you like to finally be in total control of your body weight? Would you like to know what you need to eat, what type of activity is right for you and other lifestyle tips to be and stay in control?

Think of what you will be like once you achieve your ideal body shape. What would you feel like? How would life be different? What would you be able to do then that you can’t do now? Think about it for a few minutes?

When I ask my clients these questions, they often tell me they can wear nice clothes, play with their children, play sports, go dancing, be more confident, have more self esteem, look more attractive and feel more secure in their relationship.

In this article, I will explain some of the factors believed to cause excess body weight and obesity, investigate current advice given by experts, an alternative approach and give you effective, proven advice on weight loss.

So Why Are So Many People Overweight?

In the past 20 years, the level of obesity has tripled in the U.K. and is still rising. At this rate, by 2010 at least 1 in 4 adults will be obese.

We are advised today that the following reasons cause people to become overweight:

They are in a positive caloric balance (they consume more calories than they expend)
They eat too many calories
There is too much fat in their diet
They do not get enough exercise.
They may have a genetic disposition (2) .

This is what you hear all the time, right? But is this information correct?

Let’s have a look at each reason:

A Positive Caloric Balance

Yes, this is true, if you consume more calories (from food) than you expend (through activity, exercise and keeping all your organs and other important bodily functions working) your body weight will increase.

However, how much will be an increase in fat and how much in muscle?

When we increase body weight, we generally do not just increase body fat. When body weight increases, it is normally made up of water, muscle and fat.

So, if excess calories in the diet only led to increase in body fat, there would be no large muscular people in the world. So perhaps the type and quality of food consumed and the amount and type of exercise may play a role in what type of weight is gained.

Whilst a positive calorific balance will result in weight-gain, it does not guarantee that it will lead to an increase in body-fat.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommendations are: “a reduction of 50-100 calories per day, complete 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity per day to prevent weight gain and 60-90 minutes moderate intensity physical activity per day for those who are overweight”

However, due to the current standards of food today, there are reasons why people ‘just can’t stop’ eating and tend to over-eat. Also, the amount of exercise stated may be too much for some and further stress an already over-stressed body. This will make an over-weight person, more overweight.

The USDA’s recommendations are ‘a one size fits all’ approach. However, we are all bio-chemically different and must be treated as such when given advice for nutritional intake and exercise. This is explained in more detail below.

Consuming Too Many Calories

This may well be true. We have become much less active with the invention of labour saving devices such as cars, trains, washing machines, remote controls etc. So you may think that because we are less active we would eat less. That would be a logical thought process.

However, our bodies take tens of thousands of years to genetically adapt to our environment. Genetically, we are only 0.01% different than we were 10,000 years ago (3) . Our bodies, through evolution, have adapted to store body fat in case of times of famine. This would give ‘reserves’ of energy for the body to use to ensure survival during these hard times.

So why do we eat too much? Is it because we are greedy or ‘our eyes are bigger than our belly’?

Well, in addition to storing ‘reserves’ of energy, there are reasons why we over-eat. This will be explained later.

So we are told that we are overeating, yet some normal weight people eat more calories than overweight people. Could it be a reduction in activity levels that is a more accurate culprit?

The USDA suggests, “Special attention should be given to portion sizes”. This is easier said than done and a rather naive statement without understanding the Appestat. The Appestat is the part of the brain which controls appetite. The effects of processed foods on the Appestat also needs to be understood, which is explained later.

Eating Too Much Fat

The amount of saturated fat in the diet has reduced since the introduction of the ‘low fat is good for you’ advice which began in the 1970’s. Indeed Rivera and Deutsch (1) have stated that fat in the American diet has dropped by 8% between 1980 and 2002. The amount of carbohydrates, especially refined carbohydrates have increased over the same time period.

In this same time-frame, people living in Westernised countries are getting fatter by the year, especially here in the UK (4, 5, 6) .

So are people are becoming fatter because they are eating too much fat? Not if the two previous paragraphs are correct.

We do however have to be on the guard from consuming trans-fatty acids, which appear in many processed foods, such as pastries, biscuits, protein bars and fast foods.

The bad press given to saturated fat may also be misleading. Could it be the modern farming techniques of raising livestock that causes the problems? This is also discussed later.

Not Enough Exercise .

We know for sure that peoples’ activity levels have dropped dramatically as more and more labour-saving devices and gadgets like televisions, DVDs and computer games are brought onto the market and school children are taking less and less exercise at school (7) .

It is fair to say, that the majority of people in Western society are not physically active enough to maintain a healthy weight.

A Genetic Disposition .

As previously stated, we are still very much the same bio-chemically as we were 10,000 years ago.

Do you believe that for every person who is overweight now that their ancestors over the last 10,000 years were also overweight?

Ten thousand years ago, humans were predominantly nomadic (8) . This means that they travelled to wherever the meat was. Do you think overweight people could build shelter to live in and walk miles every day to hunt?

Then, when they found their prey, they would have to run over rough terrain at high speed and propel a weapon at high speed and accuracy. Then, once they had killed their prey, they might have to carry it for miles back to their families to eat.

Our ancestors were athletes. They simply wouldn’t have survived if they were overweight. They would have been too slow to hunt and avoid predators. All the activity they had to perform and the lack of abundant food supplies like we have today would have contributed to a normal and healthy weight.

Whilst some people may be more likely to store body fat than others genetically, such as those from cold climates, it is unlikely that genetic disposition would be the cause. Environmental and social factors are more likely to be the cause.

“Western lifestyle…is triggering and exacerbating the body’s instinct to prepare for and defend against famine” (1).

Alternative Evidence

Whilst we still do not know everything about excess body fat and obesity, there are a number of factors shown more recently to cause people to become overweight. These include:

Not eating the right foods for your Metabolic Type
Eating processed foods
Eating commercially farmed foods.
Dehydration.
Toxic Environment.
Psychological and Emotional Factors.
Incorrect levels of activity
Stress.
Unwillingness to change current lifestyle habits.

Not Eating Right for Your Metabolic Type

The USDA recommends that your caloric intake should be made up of 20-35% from fat, 45-65% from carbohydrates and 10-35% from protein. Again, this is ‘a one size fits all approach’.

However, a Dentist, by the name of Weston Price in the 1930’s, travelled the world studying indigenous tribes (9) .

He found that the food of the natives was very restricted as they were totally dependant on their local environment for food. What he found was that the food available in their local vicinity was also the foods that made them incredibly healthy. In fact, much healthier than in industrialised societies who had medical doctors and medicines.

Once ‘modern’ processed foods were introduced into their diet, they began to contract diseases similar to those then found in ‘Modern Societies’ such as cancer, heart disease, increased body fat and tooth decay.

Price also found no native humans who ate a totally vegetarian diet. Indeed, the proportions of meats to vegetables in the diets were consistent with the food available in the particular region and time of the year.

For instance, Eskimos and Indians in Alaska and Canada ate a diet of predominantly protein and fats from fish and seals. At some times of the year, the only vegetation available was that from the intestines of animals that ate plants from the ocean.

If fat in the diet was bad for you, Eskimos would never have survived in their environment. How healthy do you think Eskimos were following the USDA recommendations? They were very unhealthy until they returned to their high fat, high protein native diet.

However, in South America and parts of India, there was no substantial meat to eat. Therefore, there diets contained more vegetables than meat.

William Wolcott and others have taken Price’s work a stage further. Wolcott’s book (10) is a highly recommended read.

Wolcott, amongst others developed Metabolic Typing. Wolcott suggests that we all have a specific amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates that when consumed, will enable us to achieve ideal weight, energy levels and optimum health. As we are all bio-chemically different, our proportion of carbohydrates, fats and proteins should differ from person to person.

This is contrary to the USDA’s recommendations.

When you eat right for your Metabolic Type, it is almost impossible to over-eat. With Metabolic Typing, you rediscover how to ‘listen’ to your body.

Personally, I have worked with clients to establish their Metabolic Type and have seen amazing results. Results I saw much less frequently when using a more conventional approach to nutrition.

To find out your Metabolic Type, please visit my website www.bodychek.co.uk.

Eating Processed Foods

Put in simple terms, our bodies have not adapted to the substances added to processed foods. Our bodies still expect to receive organic substances as our ancestors would have done 10,000 years ago.

Our bodies do not recognise these strange compounds, such as artificial additives and quite often will attack them with antibodies, believing it is a virus or bacteria. This is known as food allergy, when it activates an IgA antibody or food intolerance when it activates an IgG antibody (11) .

Rivera and Deutsch stated, “The increasing prevalence of food intolerance is causing vast numbers of biological malfunctions which result in internal disturbances, such as inappropriate fat storage, inefficient use of stored fat, food cravings and water retention” (1) .

With food intolerance, the body will try to hold on to more water to protect itself. Excess water retention will also make a person appear fatter and also weigh more.

Also, and perhaps more interesting to you, if a food has been processed, it has had its nutrient content depleted and is left with predominantly empty calories.

So your body consumes these calories and sends signals to the liver to expect nutrients. When the nutrients are not delivered, the body will want more food (3) . This means you will want to eat more! The ‘just can’t stop’ syndrome. Sound familiar?

In reality, overeating and being overweight are symptoms of ‘malnutrition’. Malnutrition is not only caused when food is scarce, but also when it is abundant, yet poor in quality (nutrients).

Paul Chek in his CD Audio series explains this in great detail (3) .

It has been suggested that some food manufacturers understand this and alter their ingredients to ensure you keep eating so they sell more and make bigger profits.

This may be one reason why some people over-eat.

Eating fresh, locally grown and raised organic foods is the best option to ensure you get all the nutrients your body expects.

Eating Commercially Farmed Foods .

Commercial farming techniques include the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and fungicides (3) .

Again, understanding our genetic make-up, we have not adapted to these ‘foreign substances’. They are toxic to our systems.

In addition, commercial farm animals are not fed natural diets either. Most farm animals are fed cheap feeds often with non-food ‘fillers’. Many farm animals are also kept in enclosed pens. These animals then become unwell and require medications to keep them alive. It is worth noting, toxins are stored in fat tissue in the body. Therefore, the animals are ‘fattened’ quicker and bigger, which means the farmer makes more money for the meat.

These unnatural foods also make the animals unwell. Drugs then have to be administered to keep them alive. The drugs given to the animals, only increases their levels of toxicity.

These animals are then eaten by us, introducing toxins and drug residues into our bodies. Remember toxins in the body are stored in fat tissues. Therefore, the more toxic you are, the more likely you are to store excess body fat. Again, Chek’s Audio CD series (3) is full of information on this subject.

To overcome this, ensure you purchase as much organic food as possible. Some suppliers of organic foods in the U.K. are listed on my website www.bodychek.co.uk.

Dehydration

Water makes up approximately 75% of your body and is essential in every bodily function. Nowadays however, almost everyone is dehydrated all the time.

It has also been shown that hunger and dehydration cause very similar feelings in the body. Merely drinking more water can delay the feelings of hunger.

Hydration is a little bit like putting oil in your car to ensure it is lubricated. What would happen if you stopped putting oil in your car? Chances are, it would break down. This is what is happening to our dehydrated bodies, they are breaking down, becoming unwell and increasing in body fat.

Most drinks consumed today take more moisture to digest them than they are adding (3) . Coffee, tea, fruit juices, fizzy and sugary drinks are all modern day culprits.

Good quality water such as reverse osmosis filtered water, or bottled water such as Evian or Vittel are good choices. Preferably, water should be stored in glass bottles. Throughout a day, most people require 2-3 litres of water. The larger the person and the more active the person, the more water is required to maintain adequate hydration levels.

In addition, water should be drunk at room temperature for optimal and quick absorption (3) .

Toxic Environment .

In addition to our food supply, there are many environmental toxins to add to our toxic food supply. Toiletry products, cigarette smoking, passive smoking, vehicle emissions, tap water, microwave ovens and alcoholic beverages are just some of the modern day toxins increasing our levels of toxicity.

How can you reduce your toxicity exposure?

Try:

Purchasing organic toiletries
Giving up smoking and avoiding smoky environments
Installing a reverse osmosis water filtration system for your home.
Avoid micro-waved foods
Minimise/eliminate your alcohol consumption

For further information on toxicity, I would recommend reading Dr Joseph Mercola’s article “ How to Avoid the Top 10 Most Common Toxins”, on his website www.mercola.com.

Your body will always try to protect your vital organs from toxins. One way of doing this is to store the toxins in the fat cells. One example of this is cellulite which is an accumulation of toxins in fat cells.

Psychological and Emotional Factors.

In some situations, the overweight person may be trying to hide who they really are. They may not like who they are and by being overweight, they can hide behind their size or ‘big personality’.

Also, some people begin to ‘identify’ themselves as being ‘overweight’ and a ‘victim’. Without removing this identity, it is difficult to move forwards, toward a slimmer, healthier body.

This is a complex subject with many avenues of help including counselling, Emotional Freedom Technique and BodyTalk ™. For more information on BodyTalk ™ see my website www.bodychek.co.uk.

Not Being Active Enough or Being Too Active .

As previously explained, people are far less active than ever before. This does leave many people in a positive calorific balance, contributing to excess fat storage.

In a few instances, some people who are already over-stressed are exercising more than their body can handle. After all, exercise is a stress. When the body is over-stressed, it cannot repair itself well and re-build muscle tissue. Muscle tissue has a direct correlation with metabolic rate (12) .

Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you expend 24-hours a day. If you want to lose body fat, you’ll need all the muscle you can get.

Ladies, don’t worry, by lifting weights at the gym you will not turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger. High levels of the male sex hormone Testosterone is required to build a lot of muscle. Even most bodybuilders have to take anabolic steroids to get very big.

It is worth emphasising however, inactivity is much bigger problem than too much activity.

To obtain the correct exercise programme for you, you can use the help of a CHEK Practitioner, Personal Trainer or you could purchase what I consider to be the best health and fitness book ever written. The book is called, “How to Eat Move & Be Healthy”, by Paul Chek and is available from my website www.bodychek.co.uk.

Stress.

As stated above, too much stress is antagonistic to building muscle and therefore, fat loss. In today’s society, stress is everywhere. Work pressures, family pressures, money worries, circadian stress, traffic jams and road rage, physical stress caused by poor posture, chemical stress, and electro-magnetic fields are just a few common modern day stressors.

Circadian (sleep/wake cycle) stress is caused by irregular and/or too little quality sleep.

Most people live their lives at a ferocious pace and intensity with no ‘down-time’ or time to ‘chill-out’.

Relieving stress will help your digestive system, assimilation of foods and your body’s repair and muscle growth.

People today need to find the time and the techniques to de-stress.

Some solutions to help reduce stress include:

Meditation
Hatha Yoga
Zone Exercises (see “How To Eat Move & Be Healthy” book)
Going for walks in nature
Avoiding having electric sockets near your bed.
Getting to bed by 10.30pm and sleeping for 8 hours each night.
Using ‘black-out’ curtains in your bedroom.
Massage
Relaxing baths
Relaxing holidays
Saunas (not for pregnant women)

Unwillingness to Change Current Lifestyle Habits.

There are also people today who, after all is said and done prefer to be the way they are (overweight), yet still give themselves a hard time about it.

What do I mean by this? Well, they want to be slim, but are not prepared to go through the pain of change to achieve the weight loss. An example of this would be someone who is very unhappy being overweight, they may wish to play sport, wear nice clothes, look good on the beach or play with their children, but their excess weight prevents them from doing so.

However, the things they have to give up may be more important to them than the results of losing weight. The most common barriers to change I come across are:

Perception of not having enough time (there are 168 hours per week!).
Watching television
Going to the pub
Social pressures
Dependency on alcohol (social or addictive)
The perceived enjoyment of cigarette smoking

Therefore, having to adjust their eating or exercise habits is a bigger pain to them than their pain of being overweight.

These are conflicting goals. Life Coaches can help those who feel they are struggling to make the necessary changes, but don’t know how to.

If you do not have access to a Life Coach, you can try the following:

Write down:

What you will be like when you have achieved you ideal weight? What will you look, feel and sound like? When will you achieve this by?
How your life will be different when you have achieved your ideal weight. What will you be able to do that you can’t do now?
How you would describe your current condition?
Why do you feel this has happened?
What things you can do to achieve your ideal weight?
3 goals each week to move you towards your ideal weight.

When setting goals, ensure they are SMART.

S pecific
M easurable
A chievable
R egularly reviewed
T imed

An example of a poorly set goal might be:

“To lose weight”.

A SMART goal would be:

“To lose 12 kilos, over the next six months” (write down the actual date).
“To achieve this, I aim to lose 2 kilos per month and ½ kilo per week”.

In order to achieve these ‘Outcomes’, you will also need to set ‘Process Goals’. Process goals are the things you will need to do to achieve your outcomes.

Some process goals may include:

Walk at a brisk pace for at least 30-minutes, five days of the week.
Join a health club and workout 2-3 times per week lifting weights.
Prepare my food each evening for the following day.
Turn my TV off by 9pm each evening to ensure I unwind and go to bed by 10.30pm.

Dr Mercola in his book (13) asks his readers the following question:

“Of these five things, which would you least want to have destroyed or eliminated:

Your car
Your TV
Your house
Your job
Your body ”

I would hope that your answer would be ‘Your body’. When you ask yourself the above questions, it puts things into perspective and can help to prioritise what is really important to you and overcome perceived obstacles.

Also, I see many people set themselves unrealistic goals. For instance, it may have taken someone five years to put on their excess body weight. Then they expect to lose all the same weight in 3-6 months. For some people it is a slow process. This must be understood from the start to avoid disappointment and failure before the lifestyle changes have had time to take effect.

This is especially true of someone who is very toxic.

How to Get Started

Below are my top ten solutions to achieve your ideal weight. They have been listed in an order that you may find useful to follow:

Set yourself three goals (no more) per week to put the advice below into practise.
Drink at least 2 litres of good quality water per day.
Contact a Metabolic Typing Advisor to find out your Metabolic Type (www.bodychek.co.uk) and to help you along the way.
Eat according to your Metabolic Type using as much organic and non-processed foods as possible.
Avoid consuming wheat, pasteurised dairy, processed salt and sugar.
Do a combination of resistance and aerobic exercise on alternating days.
lf you require help with your exercise program, contact a CHEK Practitioner (www.bodychek.co.uk) who can test you and devise a program specific to you.
Get to bed each evening by 10.30pm and sleep for 8 hours per night.
Have down-time each day to relax, even if it’s only ten minutes. Work up to 30-minutes per day where possible.
At the end of each week, assess your goal achievements, give yourself feedback. Acknowledge successes and pat yourself on the back, no matter how small the success. If you had any challenges, write down what you can do in the following week to overcome it? Write down your three goals for the following week. Repeat weekly.
If you have tried all the above for at least 3-months and have still not achieved any results, contact an Emotional Freedom Technique Practitioner or BodyTalk ™ Practitioner to see if they can help.

Summary

Current guidelines given to the general public on weight-loss are questionable if not misleading.
Despite eating less fat than ever before, we are getting fatter. A reduction of activity levels with the introduction of labour saving devices play a large role in the increase in the populations weight gain.
The increase of processed food and carbohydrates in the diet appear to correlate with the weight gain epidemic.
Food intolerances have also been shown to increase the likelihood of obesity.
Hydration can play a big role in appetite suppression and weight control.
Toxins are stored in body fat. Therefore, a toxic body has a greater chance of being an over-fat body.
Eating organic foods in accordance with you Metabolic Type can help you get back to your ideal weight.
Following the ten steps provided can help you to achieve your ideal weight.

In health and happiness,

Leigh Brandon

(T) 0870 486 2470

(E) info@bodychek.co.uk

References:

Rivera R & Deutsch R, “ Your Hidden Food Allergies Are Making You Fat”, Prima Publishing, 2002.
Berkowitz R, et al, “ Growth of children at high risk of obesity during the first 6 y of life: implications for prevention ” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2005.
Chek P, “ You Are What You Eat” Audio CD, CHEK Institute, 2002.
“ Obesity Amongst Adults: by sex and NS-Sec”, Social Trends, 2001
“ Health Survey for England”, 2002.
“ Body Mass: by sex”, Social Trends, 2001
“ Average Distance Walked per Person per Year: by age”, Social Trends, 2001.
Cordain L, “ The Paleo Diet”, Wiley, 2001
Price W, “ Nutrition & Physical Degeneration”, The Price-Pottinger Nutrition Foundation, 2003.
Wolcott W and Fahey T, “ The Metabolic Typing Diet”, Doubleday, 2000.
Tucker L, “ Understanding Food Intolerance”, PIC, 2002.
McArdle W, et al, “ Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance”, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 1996.
Mercola J, “ Total Health Cookbook & Program”, Mercola, 2004