Your Guide to Lasting Weight
Loss
Navigating the Maze
Published by Michelle Carlson at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Michelle Carlson
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Preface
Since you are taking time to read this book, chances are you are on the verge of making a decision. You are thinking about making a decision that could change your life forever and impact the lives of those around you. Or maybe you just got won over by curiosity and a cheap book. Either way, I am here to help you achieve. Achieve what? Optimal health, higher energy levels, weight loss and maintenance, clearer thinking and a surge of self confidence. Settle in for just a bit, this won’t take too long.
My story is not unlike many others. I’ve struggled with weight gain and enabling fatigue for my whole life. I went from one extreme to the next to find the right answers and was often left more lethargic and depressed than when I first started. Over the course of 6 years I managed to lose 100 pounds. That is a big number, but far more important was what I gained through my studies. I gained enough energy to outrun my kids and I also gained a profound respect and love for food that I was never afforded growing up.
As we embark upon this journey together, I urge you to learn from my mistakes so that you can forge ahead to the healthiest version of yourself possible. Try not to cling to popular opinion and conduct a little research of your own. Invest yourself into this journey and you will be rewarded with the simplest way to lose the excess baggage and reclaim (or claim for the first time) your energy!
We face quite the conundrum in today’s world. If you Google the term “fitness” you get 1,170,000,000 results (in only .12 seconds!). Try the words “weight loss”. A whopping 316,000,000 results. That’s a lot of traffic to wade through! Many of them are offering an “easy button” of some kind with minimal research to back it up. Some of the highest ranking sites boast the popular opinion of celebrities and their trainers. There are many celebrities that are beautiful to look at, yet there are just as many that are not the epitome of health and wellness. I think there are far too many opinions and fad diets out there. The Center for Disease Control states that in 2009 thirty-three states were reported to have an obese population of 25%. That’s ¼ of the whole state! Nine of those states were closer to 30%. Currently 66% of adults and 17% of children (under 12) are overweight in the United States. Have you ever heard of Healthy People 2010? This initiative began in 2000. This is because Healthy People 2000 didn’t meet the goals set. There was a Healthy People 1990 as well. Throughout the years the “Healthy People” initiatives evolved with our culture. For example, Healthy People 2000 had a main goal of reducing health disparities. The main goal in Healthy People 2010 was eliminating health disparities. Healthy People 2010 failed as well and in January 2010 Healthy People 2020 was initiated www.healthypeople.gov/2020
Are you noticing a pattern here? There are plenty of warnings, yet we’re getting worse, not better. Why is that? Are we complacent? Is it plain laziness? Do we really not care? It would be far too easy to accept any of these answers for the growing epidemic in our nation, but I believe it reaches far deeper.
Our lives are different than they were 50 years ago. Our ancestors did not trek to the gym and wait in line for a treadmill. They walked outside….everywhere. People in the early 1900’s didn’t count calories, they were grateful to get any! In today’s day and age we live a fast paced life filled to the brim with abundance. You can have whatever you want anytime, day or night. Are you willing to pay for it with your life? Bold question, but true. Even if weight is not your main problem, our sedentary lifestyles have lead to an overwhelming prevalence of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, premature aging, and premature death. In 2007 the CDC issued a statement that due to the rise in youth obesity and rapid decline in healthy lifestyles (meaning more sedentary living has become the norm), this generation will be the first generation that will NOT outlive their parents.
Before you put the book away and lock yourself in the closet, listen….there is hope. That is precisely what I am placing before you. This hope is not served in a greasy fast food container, oh no! This hope is on a platter of knowledge, backed by scientific research. The best part? It’s not rocket science! I’m not making you count loads of calories, or combine foods in a complicated manner. I’m not even going to take away your favorites. All that I ask is you approach this as a journey. You will learn how to set goals so that you can reach them. You’ll learn important tips to vibrant health and energy. More important, you’ll learn that you are indeed an individual and no “cookie cutter” program is good enough for you. So, pack your bags, we’re headed for a whole new you….
Michelle Carlson
NASM-CPT, CES
AFPA
CNC
Lifestyle Education Specialist
http://www.michellecfitness.com
Chapter 1: The Beginning
We have already established that if you’re reading this chances are you want to change something. You may have 100 or more pounds you’d like to see gone. Or maybe you just want to look more “toned”. Maybe you just wanted to see what the hype was about. Whatever your reasons for reading this book, my reason for writing it is very clear: I want to help people change their lives. If you happen to be looking at losing the weight (post baby, pre baby, the last 10, or the first 20!) I can tell you that I have been there. I know the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of weight loss. Not only have a transformed my life, but I have also transformed my family and helped countless others shed what is holding them back, come off the medications, and take control of the outcome of their lives. Your health and wellness really are under your control. There is no easy button; however, if you know the right roads to take you can and will achieve the success you so desire. So, let’s get started! First, who am I to give advice?
In the beginning….
OK, so it’s not that dramatic. My upbringing was not much different than most. I was born in the 70’s (ahem, LATE 70’s!) in Pasadena, Texas. My mom stayed home for my formative years and then took a full time teaching job at a private Christian school when I entered the 2nd grade. My dad worked full time to provide us with a life that wanted for nothing. We weren’t rich in money, but we always had food on the table. Ah, food….how I love thee! Oh, back to the story. My weight struggle began pretty much the day I was born. I weighed 8.5 pounds and came right at lunch time! From then on my life was ruled by feeding times. I didn’t start to walk until I was well past 1 year old. Was I lazy or just a little too chunky? No clue, but it held tight to me throughout everything else. I had periods of growing taller immediately followed by growing wider. I was the “fat kid” in school my whole life. I even decided to homeschool when I reached the 9th grade because I couldn’t take the ridicule anymore. I just wanted to fade away.
I come by my weight issues honestly. My mom and grandma both struggled with weight and did everything to “control” it. I remember walking to the fat doctor for them to get shots when I was little. Aerobics classes came into play every so often, and there were always meetings. Oh yes, the meetings. Public weigh ins followed by humiliation. My mom had actually gotten so good at having weight issues she became the leader of a weekly meeting to take off the pounds, so to speak. Every week you get weighed in and then (this was the fun part) they went around the room and everybody said what their results were. Unfortunately, this was NOT a game you could simply “pass”. If you lost, you got a round of applause and a big cheer. If you gained, everyone would say “Better luck next time” in unison. Then the rest of the meeting was spent going over the fad diets that those who lost were on. Cabbage soup anyone? I was inducted into this life at the ripe old age of 9 years old. Before you judge (hey, we all do it) my mom was simply trying to help. I had a weight problem obvious enough for the whole world to see. In all honesty, this was the only way she knew.
Our lives revolved around food, or the lack thereof. While my friends enjoyed the school lunch I had a packet of lunchmeat and...No, just the lunchmeat. Atkins, I despised you from a young age. The meetings were on Thursday nights. All week we would survive on a limited number of calories and even fewer nutrients. Thursdays we would weigh (“better luck next time” became my battle cry) then came the “treats”. Hold on to your hats people, this is where life got good for me. Once a week, I was allowed whatever my pudgy heart desired. So, directly after the meeting my mom and I would head over to Jack in the Box for tacos. 2 for 99 cents? We usually got 10 plus curly fries. From there we went down the road to Taco Bell. Taco Bell has the best burritos, duh. We got burritos, tostadas, these cinnamon crisp things, and nachos. One more pit stop on the way home: the corner store. Pints of Blue Bell Ice Cream for everybody! We’d then proceed home and spread out spoils out on the table. The whole family (that would be just 4 of us) divided the treasure and parked in front of the T.V. to enjoy what we had so rightfully earned. I ate like no other. I only had this 1 shot; you think I was going to waste it? I could easily pack away 4,000 calories in one sitting, and I was only 10 years old.
This bingeing and depriving went on for years. We did the fat free diet, the no carb diet, the cabbage soup diet, etc. You name it, we tried it. When I was 15 I started “researching” weight loss. I use that term loosely as my research was mostly through infomercials. Side note: Did you know the people doing the infomercials actually PAY the station for time to sell?!? Shocking…. OK, so I became obsessed with the whole calories in/calories out method. We had a stair mill, a mini trampoline, and ab twister, and some 5 pound weights. If I so much as drank a glass of milk, you better believe I was working those calories off! I did this day in and day out to my body, all in the name of skinny. Skinny people were popular and if you were on a diet it was really cool to be a martyr for your cause. “Oh, I don’t eat pizza, it goes straight to my thighs…”. That’s what cool people said and I longed to be one. I can’t tell you how many years I spent exiled in low calorie kingdom where deprivation ruled the day, but it was for the cause.
In 1994, my life was rocked. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She passed away a mere 10 months later after surgery and treatments. She was 42 years old, I was 17. My dad and I were surrounded by casseroles and desserts (because that’s what makes you feel better) and we would partake freely. After a few months, my dad took up running to try to work off some of the cheese. It inspired me to do the same and I became obsessed with moving. If I had free time, I’d better be sweating. Of course, during this time my party gene had awakened and I was full on drinking and staying out, but the next morning I would be on the track or the Nordic Track, sweating the excess off. Exercise was punishment for my wrong doings. Before I move on let me be very clear about 1 thing: it is my firm belief that if my mom had treated her body better, without all the crash diets and hatred for excess pounds, she would have been able to fight. Your health is your decision. Not all of us are blessed with someone who can give us the facts to make that decision though.
I am the girl that did it. The one that survived the perils of the weight loss jungle. I’m the girl that started to question everything that we have ever been told about weight loss. I’m the girl that educated herself to a Master Trainer level, and I am the trainer that wants to help YOU.
As we move through the rest of this book together, know that I am here to help you wade through opinions and popular jargon so that you can make the decisions that affect you. It’s your health and your body, why should some celebrity make your decisions? Before we get directly into the meat and bones of your program, let me enlighten you as to what does NOT work.
Chapter 2: The BAD
I cannot begin to imagine the amounts of money I have “invested” in my health and fitness over the course of my life. If Americans spent over 62 Billion dollars in fitness related purchases in 2005 (Forbes), then I’m pretty sure I was a main contributor. Fitness to me had always meant skinny. The skinny people had it all (minus the belly rolls; I had all of those…). I would spend countless nights watching infomercials offering up the easy button I so desired. My husband and I were flat broke, but I could almost always find a way to purchase the next wave of dieting products. I kept telling him, and myself, that if I could lose the weight then I would be a happier wife and mother. If the weight were gone everything would be better. And the money kept flushing away every time I was told by some skinny celebrity that there was no way I could fight this battle on my own.
These sorts of scams and purchases were not new to me. I had grown up with loads of fitness “toys” and quick fix promises in my house. I used a Thigh Master and thought that I had discovered a cure for cancer when I realized you could use it for your arms too! I was 11 years old. We also had one of those floor crunch things. It was a gigantic “U” shape that you laid in and did a million crunches every day. Not easy, not the fix I was looking for. When I was 12, all my skinny friends shopped at a store called 5-7-9. It was so named because it only sold items of clothing in size 5, 7, or 9. I starved myself throughout 7th grade and finally I was able to purchase a dress in a size 9. It was a spandex blend with some stretch, but it was still a 9 people! In my 8th grade year, I promptly regained the weight and told myself that store was too pricey anyways. Thus continued my cycle.
We had the Ab Blaster. I was about 13 years old when I strapped that large spring on and started attacking the flab around my middle with serious gusto. We had a treadmill which worked wonders….for keeping the couch clean since we now hung all the clothes over it. We got a step mill when I was 16. WOW! I’d put on my shorts and highest high heels (that my mom would NOT let me wear out of the house) and step forever. Why the high heels? They made it feel like I was doing a little extra, at least in my twisted mind.
In early motherhood I got the Pilates DVD sets that promised me a middle like Daisy Fuentes in less than 3 months! Heck yeah, I’m buying! I basically bought anything that promised huge changes in 3 months, but I barely lasted 3 weeks before I gave up.
The diets were just as bad, if not worse. I had an off and on again affair with Slimfast most of my life. I’d love carbs one day then curse the ground they grew in the next. Fat was the enemy because I felt I already had too much of that. I was rundown and lethargic all of the time. With any new diet scheme that came out, I jumped on with vigor only to be left emptier, with less energy, and feeling more like a failure than ever before. I was desperate for anything to pull me up out of the pit I was in, but nothing seemed to be able to help me.
I “existed” in my own life for years. I withdrew from everyone and everything. My husband took over all the birthday party duties and always had an excuse for why I couldn’t join. The only time I became social was when the scale tipped in my favor. Other than that, I stayed in my space, wondering why I was even there…
It’s important now to comment on the fact that scientists are finding certain behavioral patterns pertaining to nutrition because people tend to be prone to depression. For example, high fat/low carb diets are linked to increased lethargy (since the body’s preferred fuel source is carbs) which increases the risk for depression. Also, some food allergies or intolerances can cause depression and/or anxiety. Now, don’t go dropping food groups out of your diet just yet; ONLY a doctor equipped with a series of tests can diagnose food allergies.
So, where do you go when you feel as though there is no hope left for you? If you’re me you head straight to other people’s opinions on what you should do. If that person happens to be a celebrity then that opinion counts more. On a side note, I never knew any celebrities, nor did they know me. Their opinion still counted more…
It took YEARS of failures and falling into deeper levels of depression before I finally found the answers I had so desperately been seeking. It really is all about balancing your lifestyle to include a solid, sustainable diet and movement every day! I kid you not, that’s it. However, if you’re prone to not believe me (no worries, the old me wouldn’t have believed) then let me break down some of those barriers for you. Let’s take a walk down Radical Lane and relive the failures shall we? Think of it this way: I already failed; you don’t have to…
Chapter 3: The EVIL
Meal Replacement Shakes: The promise of these diets is that they will help you lose loads of weight in a brief amount of time. Well, this can be true because calories are being cut to a drastic low. When you cut calories, you’re cutting a lot of nutrients as well. Most of these plans do not have the vitamins and minerals you need to survive and leave you feeling lethargic (until your next shake), foggy headed, and irritable. Not a good path for those wishing to live a normal life during weight loss. Most who try this (me included) end up losing more water and muscle tissue than actual body weight and gain the weight back in the form of fat. The end result is a higher body fat percentage than before you started.
Low Carb: This feels as though it has been around since the dawn of time. The promise here is that if you cut out carbohydrates, then you’re body will enter into ketosis which forces your body to burn stored fat for energy. Well, almost anytime you cut out an entire food group, you cut calories which promotes weight loss. My biggest issue with these types of diets is that people take it a bit too far. I’ve known people to stop by a fast food chain and order sausage, bacon, and whole eggs in the name of “healthy low-carb living”. Hello heart attack. Balance. You need it, and these diets do not provide it.
Low Fat: These diets really gained steam in the 1980’s. “Fat makes you fat” was the slogan of the decade. These diets claim that if you cut out fat from your diet, keeping fat grams below 15-20 grams per day, you’re body will be forced to use stored fat for fuel. The biggest problem with these is that your brain (not to mention hair, skin, and nails) needs fat to function properly. Most people on these diets deal with overwhelming headaches and forgetfulness. The brain just ceases to function correctly. They are also hungry and lethargic as well as irritable due to never feeling fully satisfied at meal time.
Meal Combining: When I did this one, I felt like I needed a master’s degree in math. The theory is that there are different digestive enzymes released for different foods when you eat. You are not supposed to eat macronutrients together as this would cause the digestive system to stall out and the food would basically rot in your stomach. You are also quite limited as to what you can eat and how much due to the restrictions on meal timing. The flaw here is that the digestive system in healthy individuals is actually highly functioning and requires variety. This plan leaves most confused and irritated as well as completely unsatisfied with their meals.