by OneMoreBite | Oct 23, 2004 | EFT Weight Loss
“I can determine the cause of any potential weight gain. 2-3 lbs gained steadily over a month, where I have been “behaving” – PANIC TIME ! That might mean my body fat is truly increasing and I’d better reverse the trend!”
That’s exactly what I do — notice the trend, and reverse it if I’m getting a bit too comfortable at a higher weight (body fat) than what I really want. Granted, the difference is pretty subtle. Most people aren’t going to notice, but my clothes fit better, my disposition is better, I feel like I’m in control, etc.
Last winter I put on the normal four or five “holiday” pounds and then come late January I noticed they were still there. Normally they’d just come right back off as I got back into my usual eating habits. I scratched my head and went about my life, eating about the same, exercising about the same, and then in March I was, “Hey, what’s up with this?” because I still was up on the scale (144 vs. 137), about seven pounds, and I could not for the life of me figure out why.
I started to consider everything I could think: menopause? eating more than I realize? exercising inconsistently? I’d grown more muscle? bad karma? something I’d done in a previous life? what could it be?
Come summer 2004 I was unhappy to find I looked like crap-ola in a bathing suit (my opinion anyway), but so friggin what? I’m pushing 50 here, give me a break, so I just went about my business but I also found that I could eat half a sandwich and be satisfied, and I could eat half a baked potato (when before I’d always eat a whole large) and I WAS drinking a lot of calories, and I wasn’t doing a lot of weight lifting. Small things, but they add up.
So ultimately, I made some changes. I stopped the alcohol calories cold turkey, started to eat a bit less by portion control (having half a sandwich or baked potato instead of always having the whole even if I’m already satisfied). I also got more aggressive with my weight lifting and switched from my one body part a day to a four-day split which basically added about two hours a week to my exercise.
I had always been pretty consistent with my bike, getting about 3 1/2 hours a week on it.
And now I find I’m back at 136, looking good, feeling good. The changes are slight but it made all the difference and it turned out not to be anything except that I’d gotten too lax. I’m not talking strict here either. My habit of late is chocolate cake and ice cream nearly every night during the week. I buy a single slice of sheet cake (they sell them at Safeway), split it into thirds and have one-third plus one-quarter of a pint of Haagen Daz. It’s satisfying to me (I’m already more or less full from my dinner), but before I would have eaten the entire slice all at once!
So, little changes, big results. Now, coming into the holiday season that won’t happen this year because I’m aware. I’ll eat what I want and really enjoy the season, and maybe put on a few pounds, but come January I’ll get right back to the habits I’m using now and they’ll come right back off, just like they have nearly every year before. It’s not so difficult to maintain, but it can be difficult to stay aware. 😉
by OneMoreBite | Oct 14, 2004 | EFT Weight Loss
A client wrote, “This program (One More Bite 8-Week Workshop) has helped me a lot with some of my anger and my fear but I just can’t get over the shame of my body.”
My reply: Oh, yes you can. Just write that down as one of the issues you’re going to work on. “Shame of my body.” Use one of the One More Bite EFT worksheets, (included in the 4 pg. handout from Session 1). Rate the level of shame you feel from 1 to 10, and for the next week, do a round of EFT, morning, noon and night, for at least a week straight. The worksheet is helpful for tracking changes, so if you rate it as a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10, and later you rate it as a 4, that shows you are making progress. Later you may see how a big issue has turned into a small one, or disappeared completely.
Ideas for EFT Statements for Shame
“Even though I can’t get over the shame of my body, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I really mean it! I CAN’T GET OVER the shame of my body, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
Here’s an option: Instead of the “Even though,” you can simply start talking: “I feel so horrible I can’t stand it; I choose to feel lighter. First say the problem, then what you’d rather have, be or do. “I _____, I choose _____.”
“I feel a deep sense of foreboding like something awful is going to happen if I let go of my shame. I choose to release this shame.”
“I feel dread like I’m in a deep well ad can’t get out. I choose to climb the invisible ladder to freedom.”
“Even though I feel so horrible I can’t stand it, and I choose to feel lighter.”
You said, “I just can’t get over the shame of my body.” Think of the shame of your body as a hurdle to get over. Picture yourself running towards this hurdle and wham–you run straight into it. Now, notice other runners are adjusting their hurdles to the height they can jump, so you do the same, only you are going to adjust yours to be just a couple inches off the ground. Baby steps. Now, run at it again. Hop right over it this time, and then look back and see, you did get over it, didn’t you. 😉
When you’re ready, adjust the height of your hurdle a bit higher, and go at it again. You’ll still make it. You can get over this hurdle. Just close your eyes and imagine this scene, once, twice or more.
Most of us had flying dreams when we were kids. Mine were spectacular in that I could run from danger and then just take off into the air. It made me feel quite powerful and safe, and even though I knew it was a dream, it still gave me a knowing smile during the day. Sometimes I tried it while awake too, just in case it was true.
Tonight before you go to sleep, tell yourself, “I can get over any obstacle I choose,” and don’t forget you have options. Perhaps a tunnel can be dug through it, perhaps you can go around it, or under it. You’re not stuck with going over, if you don’t want. Keep your eyes open to possibilities and magic can happen.
Give yourself a chance to imagine, “what if I could get over it?” till next time eat well, be happy, enjoy life and send in your questions and comments, at any time.
by OneMoreBite | Oct 13, 2004 | EFT Weight Loss
If you’ve tried everything and cannot lose weight, turning to surgery may be an option.
There’s much more to weight gain and weight loss than just what we are eating. I belive it is why we are eating. Do you eat when you are sad? How about mad? For me anxiety seems to send me off to the kitchen like the space shuttle liftoff. And once you’re propelled in motion, it’s hard to put on those brakes.
Start by learning to use EFT, the Emotional Freedom Technique. You can get basic introductory materials on using EFT for weight loss here, and you can also download the entire EFT manual for free on Emofree.com. It is not difficult at all to learn, but if you have questions or want pointers, sign up for The Daily Bites where I give examples in using EFT using real-life events (some mine, some others).
Weight loss surgery usually involves a period of euphoria when you awaken a changed person. Hunger is gone (that’s because you’re still drugged), and your ability to eat is so modified, there is no question you feel full on very little. Soon enough though you begin to watch TV and see some commercials for your old familiar favorites, and then what happens? Those stomach juices start to gurgling and you’re in the throws of real hunger once again, yet, there is not a thing you can do about it. You cannot eat, especially if you recently ate, or you’ll suffer serious consequences (I won’t go into that here).
It’s enough to say, that overeating is simply no longer an option, so putting a lid on those desires before the fact makes more sense. Even if you’ve already had surgery, it’s not too late, but if you’re pre-surgery, it’s much easier to start now.
by OneMoreBite | Sep 17, 2004 | EFT Weight Loss
Competing with Atkins Diet, Weight Watchers Introduces the Core Diet Plan
It’s a non-dieting approach. Learning to stop eating when you are satisfied is key, and a list of foods to eat is given. Great. What else? Nothing, outside the usual meetings where everyone parades up to be weighed.
I have been promoting the non-dieting approach for a long time and I’ve come to the conclusion that more people would be helped by what I have to teach by my giving them guidelines such as what’s best to eat, in what quantities. Weight Watchers has done this successfully for years, and many many people have lost weight with their plan. Many others simply rejoin Weight Watchers for another go-round after the weight comes back, but that’s another story.
The Core Diet consists of foods you can eat. Nice. I love when they tell me what I can’t have (that’s why I don’t like those good food/bad food plans). Next they say, certain foods are not allowed because they are “trigger” foods such as white rice, some breakfast cereals and nonfat yogurt packaged with fruit. Excuse me? How do they know my trigger foods? None of those are trigger foods for me. And nonfat yogurt with fruit? I eat that almost every single day plus grapenuts for texture. It’s an excellent food. Do they not know you can buy yogurt with live beneficial bacteria and no added sugars? I suppose not.
Okay, so they are making an effort. My only problem with this is that Weight Watchers is not equipped to teach people how to deal with the emotional aspects of weight loss and that is what they must do to be successful with a non-dieting approach.
Frankly, if you know how to stop eating when you are satisfied (not full but satisfied – there is a big difference), you won’t have a weight problem, and probably would never join Weight Watchers.
If you could join Weight Watchers Core Diet together with a plan to learn how to stop emotional eating (such as the One More Bite Approach) and learn how to know when you are satisfied, as opposed to when you are full, then you would have a winning plan.
by OneMoreBite | Sep 8, 2004 | EFT Weight Loss
Said FDA commissioner Lester M. Crawford, “The new qualified health claim for omega-3 fatty acids will empower consumers with more information to help combat this disease and improve their health by identifying foods that contain these important compounds,” Crawford said. Uh, right.
That brings us to the question of farmed fish. There will probably be a lot said about the question of the viability of the omega-3 fatty acids in farmed fish as opposed to wild fish. Here’s what CNN’s medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta had to say on the subject in a Nov. 7, 2002 interview:
Gupta: “One of the important things about fish in the wild is they eat a lot of smaller fish, who even eat smaller fish, who eat algae. This algae is really good ultimately for the fish; and for you when you eat it, because it has what is known as omega-3 fatty acids. That’s an important name to keep in mind, because that’s the fatty acid that’s good for you; it can actually lower your cholesterol. You’ll find a lot of that actually in wild fish.
[Additionally] there are 10 times as many PCBs in farmed fish. Basically, that’s a reflection of how much pesticides, antibiotics, other contaminants are used in raising these farmed fish. There’s higher pesticide levels in the farmed fish.”
Gupta went on to say, “You actually have to give them antibiotics [farmed fish]. And a lot of the PCBs and toxins are all part of the farming process that are used to try and keep these fish free of disease.”
Nice, huh? PCBs? Toxins? Yuck. Thanks, but no thanks.
So, yes, omega-3 fatty acids are a good thing, but don’t be fooled. Farmed fish is NOT equal to wild fish. Wild fish is clearly marked as being wild, while farmed rarely is marked at all. Farmed also usually has an unnatural pinkness to the flesh as they die it pink, so if you think it looks “better,” think again. Lest you be fooled, Atlantic salmon is farmed, BTW.
You can order wild fish through many sources including Ed Kasilof Seafoods, RainCoastTrading, and Alaska Fisherman’s Catch.
by OneMoreBite | Aug 4, 2004 | EFT Weight Loss
Make special note of the word “may” in their conclusion as it basically renders their conclusion moot. You could just as easily say, may, or may not. Nevertheless, the American Egg Board’s Egg Nutrition Center is going crazy over this study because journalists will no doubt start writing about the findings with blazing headlines, “Eat Eggs, More Likely to Die.”
As the book, How to Lie with Statistics points out, you can make study results appear to support just about any conclusion. Let the buyer beware.
The problem with any study is there is never enough control to know what other factors come into play. In the study cited, there was no dietary information taken other than how many eggs participants ate per week.
Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 80, No. 1, 58-63, July 2004
