Truly Slim

This article perfectly describes what my work with the Truly Slim approach is based on. At the same time it makes me very sad that there are still so many people out there, putting themselves through programs that have the potential to seriously damage their self-esteem in the long run, simply because those programs don't and can't work. But rather than blaming those programs and external rules, people have the tendency to blame themselves and their presumed lack of willpower. Very sad. It's my mission to change that and help people get back in touch with their bodies, totally enjoy food, shed pounds in a sustainable way and stay slim.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/why-you-cant-lose-weight-on-a-diet.html?mwrsm=Email

Why You Can’t Lose Weight on a Diet The problem isn’t willpower. It’s neuroscience. You can’t — and shouldn’t — fight back.

I'm so sorry for the long silence. You'll hear from me again on a regular basis. Today I want to share something with you. Last week I attended a professional networking meeting, and during the lunch break some women at my table started talking about "losing weight" and the "best approaches." Hearing intelligent and beautiful women talk like that always makes me sad. Why? First they are setting themselves up for an unattainable goal, because if you "lose" weight, you give it value and your system will make sure you'll "gain" it back. Then these women talked about all those external rules such as not eating X, not eating fruit because it contains sugar, etc. What's so sad is that these external rules have nothing to do with them and their bodies. Who on earth believes that these rules can be lived by? To me, these external rules are like a dictatorship so many people voluntarily subject to, and I simply don't get it. Who would accept anyone else telling (not recommending) them what shoes to buy and to wear, how to dress and who to fall in love with? The only thing that works in the long run is listen to your body and take its signals seriously by eating in alignment with them. Again, so sad.

After a reduction diet, chances are high that your body is continuing in fat-storage mode. After having to deal with potential starvation, your body carefully stores fat in your cells – just in case, because who knows when the next episode of famine will set in? After all, your body’s main interest is staying alive, and it takes its job very seriously. Most of us know this. Why do we still fall prey to false promises and embark on restriction diets?

How do you talk to yourself? Do you have a voice inside that issues orders and barks criticism like a drill sergeant? Notice what you tell yourself and how.

Here is an exercise that has helped many of my clients: Replace “should” and “have to” with “choose to”. It will gradually move you from helplessness to a position of power - the perfect starting point to become naturally slim.

Have you heard about mindfulness? It keeps you in the here-and-now, thinking about what is rather than "what if" or "if only". It's the perfect starting point to reprogram your thinking to become and stay naturally slim.

For many people, extra pounds represent substance, strength, and physical presence in the world. The extra pounds clearly serve a purpose - at a high price.

Being and feeling “fat” or “thin” is not simply a physical issue, but also a state of mind. If we don't adjust our mind-set when changing eating habits, our body's set-point will always strive to go back to those extra pounds.

Check in with yourself: when did your extra pounds start piling up? What phase in your life was that? What were you doing? Who were you with? What else was going on? These are often important indicators of the extra pounds' real "purpose". Are you ready to address this?

Having extra pounds for many women means having to wait until they are thin to live. What small step can you take today to start living your life fully?

Enjoy an interesting TED Talk about exercising. What Emily Balcetis says about seeing the world through our own mind's eye makes so much sense, also in regards to defining the goal of getting and staying naturally slim.
https://www.ted.com/talks/emily_balcetis_why_some_people_find_exercise_harder_than_others -222133

Why some people find exercise harder than others Why do some people struggle more than others to keep off the pounds? Social psychologist Emily Balcetis shows research that addresses one of the many factors: Vision. In an informative talk, she shows how when it comes to fitness, some people quite literally see the world differently from others --…

Check with yourself: in an attempt to "lose weight", how often have you let yourself go hungry - and ended up binging? It's like turning food into a reward.

Unless we change the knowledge that determines our behavior, we keep acting the same way as in the past and wind up with the same results.
Check for yourself: how long do you want to continue that way? When is the right time to add new knowledge and have it determine your behavior?

Going on a restriction diet or following other external rules might keep you going down the wrong path. So it's not surprising that you keep winding up in the wrong place.

Check for yourself: What are the fears that come up for you around what might happen if you stayed conscious and enjoyed every bite you eat?

Does the following sound familiar to you? You eat something to distract yourself from your feelings, something that gives you a warm and cozy feeling inside. It's so easy to confuse this feeling with love. But once you've eaten too much of this food, you feel miserable, so you eat even more. And then you feel guilty about eating too much, and feel even more miserable. Which leads to eating even more...

Can you differentiate "artificially slim people" from naturally slim people? The latter totally enjoy their food and are well attuned with their body. The first group compulsively under eat. And it goes without saying that they don't necessarily connect enjoyment and fun to eating. Observe some people in your environment and look for clues.

Is your head filled with information on "losing weight" provided by overweight people? If you want to get and stay rich, you don't study poor people's behavior, right? So how about studying and adapting the behaviors of naturally slim people for a change?

Check with yourself: Are you operating based on the same old information (I should eat X, I should not eat Y, etc) that has never worked for you in the long run? But you still stick to those rules in the hope that one day they will start providing results?

Can you see some irony in this?

Have you ever heard of Bob Schwartz? He once put underweight clients on restriction diets. Like everyone else, they put on weight after they "got off" the diet. Only to them, this was what they had tried unsuccessfully before. So in a way diets DO work - if you want to put on weight...

Restriction diets can be considered to be training classes on how to put on more weight and ruin your self-esteem. Check in with yourself and compare how you felt before and after your last unsuccessful restriction diet.

Many eating behaviors have turned into attempts to stifle emotions or conflicts. Do you have any idea what emotions or conflicts eating keeps under the rug for you?

Many women with extra pounds find it very painful that others think they are large because of how much they eat. The connection between food intake and body size is being felt as embarrassing. And this explains why so many women then eat very little in public. Check in with yourself: Do you eat differently in public than you do when you're by yourself?

Carrying extra pounds isolates many women. We feel excluded from the rest of society and – even worse – believe it’s our fault. We want to control our appetites and impulses and hence develop an obsession with food. This obsession then often comes with self-disgust and shame. When you think about it like that, isn't it sad?

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein

Physical hunger is different than emotional hunger. Being able to differentiate both is a key component in your journey to getting and staying naturally slim. Eating when you're not physically hungry equals putting gas into the trunk of your car once the tank itself is full.

Even though this is tough, ask yourself: if you keep your extra pounds, how will your life be one year from now? Five years from now? 10 years from now? What will your health be like? What kind of clothes will you be wearing? How flexible will you be? What will your relationships be like? How will you be feeling in your body and about yourself?

Listening to your own body rather than any marketing gimmick is the best way to go: http://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/here-s-what-happens-when-a-man-spends-two-weeks-eating-nothing-but-food-made-for-women

Here's What Happens When a Man Eats Nothing but Food Made for Women Basically he starves and develops a complex.

For many people, extra pounds represent substance, strength, and physical presence and influence in the world. The extra pounds clearly serve a purpose - but they come at a high price. Does this ring true for you?

Do you believe that if you just had shed a particular amount of pounds you would be considerably happier as a consequence? In a way, you're giving these pounds an enormous power over your well-being. If you're ready to take that control back, contact me for a free introductory coaching session at my office in Palo Alto.

How are your internal dialogues? Have you ever listened to your self-talk with regards to food and your body? Is this your own voice talking to you or are you constantly listening to someone else's voice in your head? Maybe someone whose attempts to "motivate" you to change your eating or exercise habits have never worked in the past?