Debbie Hatch | Family & F.I.T.
I’ve received a few e-mails over the last couple of days that I feel I need to address publicly.
There are a billion “nutritional programs” out there.
MOST of them will work if they cause you to change your normal eating habits; cause you to (a) eat fewer processed foods and/or (b) eat fewer calories than you’re burning. Some of these “miracles” will also trash your metabolism over the long term, make it harder for you to maintain your weight-loss, lead to yo-yo dieting, binging and any host of problems.
I lost a bunch of weight by going on a cigarette, coffee, and Suzy Q (chocolate, cream-filled cake) diet when I was young and foolish. I went on a grapefruit only diet; a skim milk only diet, and a “drink vinegar before every meal” diet. I’ve done high fat, low/no carbs, Paleo, Atkins, Beverly Hills, IIFYM, and everything in between. I lost weight on every one of them……..temporarily!!
I’ve also done the exercise insanity! At one point, I would only sleep 2 or 3 hours a night because I had to be in the gym doing cardio for an hour before work. I lifted weights for an hour and did 30-45 more minutes of cardio in the evening after work. Six days a week.
I felt like crap. It didn’t matter. My priority was to lose weight. I would get off the plane at 10 or 11 o’clock at night and not go to bed until after I had worked out. If my flight was at 6 or 7 a.m., I had already spent at least an hour in the gym before I headed to the airport. I maintained memberships to three different gyms so I could be sure to find a place to work out no matter where I was.
My body fat was so low that I did not have a period for over a year. My energy was so low that more than once my husband found me sleeping in our home gym, on the foam roller where I had been trying to ease some of my soreness and I had fallen asleep. My emotions were so messed up that I would cry at the drop of a hat. I was grouchy. My relationships sucked: if they took time away from my workouts, I simply couldn’t fit them in my life.
Does any of this sound healthy over the long term to you?
…. Before you say, “no”, remember that I DID lose weight.
This is the very thing that some people want me to suggest to them now. People want me to tell them to eat 1,000 calories a day. People want me to write super low calorie and super low carb plans for them. I WILL NOT DO IT.
You do NOT need to change your nutrition every week because
- There is a “new” program out
- You haven’t lost any weight in the last week
- Your best friend (or some celebrity) lost 20 pounds on this new program
- You saw some shiny new program in a magazine
- You watched an infomercial
- You’re bored
- You saw something on Dr. Oz
- or you’re impatient and expect to lose 15 pounds in the next few days.
You do NOT need to change your exercise program every week. Your muscles do not perform better if you “confuse” them.
STOP THE CRAZINESS of this exercise and nutrition A.D.D.!!!!! Please. I am begging you.
You lose weight – you get healthy – you get fit, by applying common sense and consistency. Nothing less than that!!
PS you might also have to apply just a little bit of patience.