The Health and Life Mixing Bowl

Is Obesity Contagious?

According to a recent study, obesity is contagious.

Hmmmmmm.......This life coach is very curious about this one.

What do you think?  Can your friends make you fat?  Don't be shy!

Awakening the Giant Within: Losing Weight with a Life Coach

Last year, Forbes Magazine ran a great story on how people are beginning to hire life coaches to lose weight.  Hurray!! This life coach gives "two thumbs up" to trying something different!  As I often say, we are inundated with information on weight loss, nutrition and exercise.  In my opinion, the shift to life coaching for weight loss means that most of us know what to do, but we just need a little support and accountability to successfully reach our goal.  And life coaches don't stop there!  There is so much more we offer. 

Life coaching offers a wake-up call for the sleeping giant within, the part of us that is stronger than willpower, discipline and self-control.  Our giant's primary desire is to intentionally create a life we really want.  Our giant is grounded in principles, committed to what is most important and resilient in the midst of adversity.  Our giant always plays a big game, much like a stealth quarterback playing in the Super Bowl.    It's determination is unwavering, it's focus is winning and it's goal is to live a rich full life.  In terms of losing weight permanently, I say, "bring on the giant!!" Why would you not want to bring your most powerful self to one of life's biggest challenges? 

How would a life coach approach the issue of weight loss? 

Read the following excerpt from Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata that chronicles the journey of a chronic dieter:   

He tried repeatedly to lose weight and keep it off, starting with fad diets — the grapefruit diet, the hard-boiled egg diet, "everything that came down the pike." He called them "water-cooler diets." They are, he says, the thing you talk about at the water cooler, and that is how they spread from person to person. But they were of little help. Each time, he would lose 10 or 15 pounds, then gain them back. Carmen still has those old diets — he keeps the sheets of instructions for them in a folder in his basement the same way another person might keep old yearbooks or diaries. Each one brings back memories, like hearing an old song or smelling an aroma from your past. If he looked at an old diet, the sensations came flooding back — that wonderful feeling of iron discipline, of self-control. The giddy thrill of watching the numbers on the scale plunge. And the period of regaining that weight? It was never part of the fond memories evoked by the diet sheets. The weight gain was separate from the diet, a sign of weakness or a lack of resolve, not a problem with the diet.

Over the years, as his weight inched up, Carmen began to worry about the health consequences of being fat. His father was a diabetic and had died of heart disease, and his uncle, his father's younger brother, had died of heart disease. "I just thought, Let me diet so I don't become diabetic," Carmen says. And, of course, he is concerned about his appearance. "I'm an American. We live in a society where people have to be beautiful."

There's a lot of great coaching opportunities here, so let me lovingly roll up my sleeves and flush out a few things:

He called them "water-cooler diets." They are, he says, the thing you talk about at the water cooler, and that is how they spread from person to person. But they were of little help.

Coach Terri:  What is Carmen's intuition about what would work for him?

Carmen still has those old diets — he keeps the sheets of instructions for them in a folder in his basement the same way another person might keep old yearbooks or diaries. Each one brings back memories, like hearing an old song or smelling an aroma from your past.

Coach Terri:  What's behind cherishing things that no longer serve him?

The weight gain was separate from the diet, a sign of weakness or a lack of resolve, not a problem with the diet.

Coach Terri:  Whose disempowering voice do I hear?

If he looked at an old diet, the sensations came flooding back — that wonderful feeling of iron discipline, of self-control. (yikes)

Coach Terri:  What could make this journey more about passion than pain?

"I'm an American. We live in a society where people have to be beautiful."

Coach Terri:  Who is calling the shots here?

There is so much more to coach here.

I sense that Carmen is overwhelmed with feelings of defeat, but I also detect that he is hungry for more.  There's a part of Carmen that is angry--hurt, fed up, tired of tolerating whatever is holding him back-- but there's another side of him that is empowered, stronger, and wiser.  This is the part of Carmen I would love to see in the driver's seat. What would it take for Carmen to bring forth his magnificence?  Boy, would I love to coach Carmen for a while!

Life is short, and unfortunately, so many dieters like Carmen will look back at their lives and realize that there was never any resolution around weight loss but only a series of struggles.

It doesn't have to be this way.

"When we die and go to Heaven, our Maker is not going to ask: "Why didn't you discover the cure for such and such?"  The only thing we're going to be asked at that precious moment is "Why didn't you become you?" 

- Elie Weisel

It's time to awaken the giant within.

   

Here Comes Alli...

Here we go again. Americans are trading the hard work of weight loss for a little bit of anal leakage.  Sorry to be so graphic, but anal leakage is one of the side affects of taking Alli, the first over-the-counter weight loss drug to be approved by the FDA.  The drug's website says Alli can cause diarrhea, uncontrollable bowel movements and gas with an oily discharge. Some suggested wearing dark pants and bringing a change of clothes with you to work. Hmmm.....I say no thank you.  And Alli is flying off the shelves in LA!  Just another sign that we are living in an era that is ripe for all kinds of predatory weight loss schemes, and the complicity ranges from cheap infomercials to multinational pharmaceutical companies.   I'm not convinced that GlaxoSmithKline   is sincerely interested in fixing America's obesity problem.  If you think seriously about this whole weight loss issue, most people know the basics.  Eat less. Move more.  Weight loss is not rocket science.   But for some odd reason, Americans are obsessed with hording information, no matter how redundant.   It's the scarcity perspective showing up big time.  A great read that I recommend to my clients is How Much Does Your Soul Weigh, by Dorie McCubbrey.  The book's main focus is on tapping into intuition and being in touch with your body to understand what it needs to stay healthy and maintain an optimal weight.  As a former health educator who is now a life coach, I have worked with hundreds of people around weight loss and have recommended hundreds of strategies.  This inside/outside approach, perhaps a bit counterintuitive, is really working! After 20 years in this business, it's very exciting.  But this doesn't discount the fact that weight loss is still hard work and weight maintenance is even harder.  Over at Cranky Fitness, you can read what other health seekers are thinking and marinade in the realness of health improvement.   Accepting the realness and rawness of a process can sometimes set the foundation for a breakthrough.  My hope is that you never have to carry around a spare pair of pants, just in case.