Tools for a Balanced Lifestyle Strategies for Success in Weight Management ORIENTATION AND OVERVIEW

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Tools for a Balanced LifestyleStrategies for
Success in Weight ManagementORIENTATION AND
OVERVIEW

• Jim Messina, Ph.D.
• Life Strategist
• Program Facilitator

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Who is this Program aimed at?

• People who need to work on improving their
  relationship with food
• People who need to improve their body image
• People who allow their weight issues interfere in
  their daily functioning
• People who consistently yoyo Diet
• People who have not made exercise a regular part
  of their lives

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Goals of the Program

1. Develop a healthy relationship with food
2. Develop a healthy exercise program
3. Reduce the strength of triggers for relapse
4. Creation of new self-scripts which keep you
   targeted and reduce stress and anxiety
5. Letting go of need for approval and focus on
   personal health as rationale for new lifestyle
6. Improved Body Image
7. Reduced compulsive behaviors

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Support System in Program

• Peer support of the weekly group meetings
• One to one support outside of meetings with
  fellow group members
• Support by email, fax or phone during week with
  program facilitator
• Ongoing communications bulletin board on website
  for program at www.coping.org

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What is expected during Program

• Participant will follow a food plan which is
  suited to persons personality, attitudes,
  temperament, motivation, and lifestyle
• Participant will develop and follow an exercise
  program which is suited to persons personality,
  attitudes, temperament, motivation, and lifestyle
• Participant will participate in group and outside
  of group support sharing
• Participant will participate in the
  accountability of daily reporting while in program

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Principles of the Balanced Lifestyles Program

• 1. This is a lifestyle change program to modify
  your relationship with food, exercise and body
  weight
• 2. This program requires accountability with
  daily reporting by email or fax
• 3. Success in program is not dependent on how
  much weight lost but rather on how well you
  manage to continue to keep it off

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Principles

• 4. You are not asked to compare your success with
  others in program
• 5. You are expected to follow a food program
  which meets your needs or to develop one while in
  program which is suited to you
• 6. By end of 12 week program you will be fully
  engaged in a planned program of exercise
• 7. This is a guilt free program, we do not use
  guilt to motivate your new relationship with food
  or exercise

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Principles

• 8. You are only to enter this program because you
  want to, not to please someone else, or to gain
  the approval of someone else.
• 9. Try not to tell others about your involvement
  in this program so you will not be hounded about
  how well you are doing in it
• 10. Set realistic goals for yourself in program
• 11. Be realistic in your expectations of yourself
  in this program

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Principles

• 12. You are in this program for yourself, do not
  try to fix or change anyone else in program
• 13. Keep an open mind to all suggestions offered
  in program, try to get rid of the yesbut knee
  jerk response to new ideas offered.
• 14. Let go of critical, judgmental, and
  controlling attitudes so you can hear messages of
  hope, encouragement and support offered.

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Why Accountability?

• Insures your personal commitment
• Identifies patterns or cycles which may be
  unconscious and not easily self-identified
• Encourages facilitator to identify what is
  working or not working for you
• Individualizes the program to fit your personal
  needs
• Encourages personal recommendations which will
  address your specific concerns

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4 Topics to be covered in Weekly Programs

• Part 1 Overcoming Triggers to Relapse
• Part 2 Developing New Relationship to Food
• Part 3 Developing a Healthy Exercise Program
• Part 4 Personal Testimonies and Sharing Time

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Part 1 Overcoming Triggers to Relapse

• What are triggers to relapse
• The many faces of triggers which derail us
• How to identify them when they are happening
• What to do to overcome such triggers
• How to insure that triggers lose their power to
  derail in the future

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1. Possible Triggers while in program

• Disillusionment with the program
• Fear that complete change will never come
• Anger at the slowness of change
• Discouragement at the size of change (amount of
  weight loss, rate of weight loss, etc.)
• Disbelief that to sustain the changed behavior
  requires a change in lifestyle
• Use of excessive rationalization as to why it is
  impossible for you to implement the full program
  at this point in your life
• Claims that you have no time to work on the
  necessary changes

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2. Possible Triggers while in program

• Feeling as if you are facing a life of
  deprivation rather than feeling good about how
  full your life will be once you have implemented
  the lifestyle change
• Feeling that this takes too much effort, time,
  and money for the results
• Lacking in motivation to continue in your program
  of change
• Wanting to abandon your time-management schedule
  because it feels too demanding and intrusive
• Wishing you had never started this program of
  change

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3. Possible Triggers while in program

• Faultfinding with the professional staff and
  fellow members in the program
• Looking for something wrong with the program,
  fellow members, or staff to justify your quitting
  
• Feeling bored or overwhelmed with the efforts
  needed to make the change in your life
• Not liking the "new'' you feeling that the
  "old'' you wasn't so bad, was easier to live
  with, was happier, was funnier, etc.

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4. Possible Triggers While in Program

• Fearful of others' newly found interest in you
  when before they ignored, shunned, or barely
  tolerated you
• Not really convinced of a need for change in your
  life
• Just wanting to achieve an end goal of change
  (healthy relationship with food, weight
  management and exercise program), and not wanting
  to change your lifestyle for full recovery
• Resentment that lifestyle changes require so much
  restructuring of your time, social support, and
  personal habits

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Some Sources of Triggers

• Personal feelings and emotions at any time of day
  or night
• Times of days on scale, meal times, work,
  driving etc
• Times of year vacations, holidays, anniversaries
• Words or attitudes of self or others
• Advertisements on TV, Radio, Billboards, Stores
  related to your trigger issues
• TV, Movies, Radio, Songs, Shows, with story lines
  related to your trigger issues

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Watch Out for Emotional Triggers

• Lack of commitment to change
• Lack of motivation
• Depression over the difficulty
• Boredom over the repetitious monotony
• Denial
• Discouragement
• Anger
• Suspicion
• Overwhelmed
• Resentful

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Be on the Look out for Other Sources of Triggers

• Emotional Status
• Irrational Belief System
• Habitual Ways of Acting and Believing
• Value System
• Peer Pressure
• Overabundance of Choices
• Sense of Prosperity
• Propaganda
• Conspicuous Consumption

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Part 2 Developing New Relationship with Food

• Identifying a Food Plan which suited for you
• Identifying a Food Plan which can be implemented
  easily and fit into your current lifestyle
• Eating to Live not Living to Eat
• Eating to be stay healthy, not eating to stuff
  emotions
• Eating plan which works while eating out
• Understanding the Nutrition of Food
• Keeping up on What is new in the Food arena

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1. Overcoming Myths Related to Weight and Food

• Myth 1 Being overweight is due to bad metabolism
  - its your behaviors not metabolism
• Myth 2 Being overweight is due to bad genes
  its your behaviors not your genes
• Myth 3 Being overweight is due a thyroid problem
  - its your behaviors not your thyroid
• Myth 4 Fat-free and low-fat foods are good for
  my food program - fat-free is not calorie free

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2. Overcoming Myths Related to Weight and Food

• Myth 5 Some people just cant lose weight it
  takes a lifestyle change which anyone can do
• Myth 6 Fat people are fit there are health
  problems which stem from obesity such as
  diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, stroke,
  cancer
• Myth 7 Bodies plateau and it is impossible to
  lose weight after that efforts to lose weight
  plateau not bodies

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3. Overcoming Myths Related to Weight and Food

• Myth 8 Bodies want to be the weight they get to
  bodies do not want to be overweight
• Myth 9 Big Boned People are overweight due to
  their Bones skeletal size of average man or
  woman does not differ much
• Myth 10 Obesity can be result of being too
  muscular that weight could be marbleized fat
• Myth 11 How can be gaining weight, since I do
  not eat? increased body weight come from
  increased eating

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4. Overcoming Myths Related to Weight and Food

• Myth 12 It is not good to weigh yourself the
  scale does not lie and is not in denial
• Myth 13 Dieting five days a week is a good plan
  weight loss comes from a caloric deficit and
  requires a 7 day a week effort
• Weight loss calories in minus calories out

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Part 3 Developing a Healthy Exercise Program

• Identify Benefits
• Combat Myths about exercising
• Combat Roadblocks to exercising
• Identify and overcome Triggers to avoid, ignore,
  or stop exercising
• Look at what is new in exercise offerings

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Benefits of Healthy Exercise

• Compensates for fat accumulation by burning
  calories
• Provides a "natural high'' by the release of
  endorphins
• Strengthens the cardiovascular and respiratory
  systems if aerobic type exercise sustained for at
  least fifteen minutes on a regular basis.
• Keeps the muscular system supple
• Keeps the circulatory system operating at its
  best
• Builds bone mass to combat osteoporosis.

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1. Myths about Exercise

• 1. Exercise makes you tired. Because heart rate
  and respiration is increased, a person becomes
  energized, alert, and awake after a period of
  strenuous exercise.
• 2. Exercise increases your appetite. The
  immediate effect of exercise is a decrease in
  appetite
• 3. Exercise is boring. Rigorous exercise results
  in the production of hormones called endorphins
  which give a feeling of well-being, a "natural
  high

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2. Myths about Exercise

• 4. With exercise you can reduce certain spots on
  your body. Where people lose weight is determined
  by their hormones. With proper exercise people
  can increase muscle tone in certain areas and can
  speed along the general loss of fat, which helps
  overall appearance but not necessarily in
  specific areas.
• 5. You have to have athletic ability to get the
  most out of an exercise program. A complicated
  program of sophisticated athletic activities is
  unnecessary. Simply walking a1/2 hour to hour a
  day during time when you normally would have been
  sedentary is enough exercise to provide some
  balance in your life.

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3. Myths about Exercise

• 6. A health spa or gym is the best place to
  exercise. Health spas and gyms can be useful if
  you need a social atmosphere in which to
  exercise. However, the type of exercise needed
  for lifestyle change can be done effectively with
  no expense.
• 7. Exercise takes a lot of time and expensive
  equipment. You need only 30- 45 minutes of
  consecutive, brisk, full-body movement a day to
  gain the full benefit of exercise. You can do
  this in your home with your own equipment (e.g.,
  stationary cycle, rebound trampoline, or rowing
  machine), or you can do it without equipment by
  walking, jump roping, etc...

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Roadblocks to Exercise

• Not enough time my schedule is already so full
• Implementing a program of exercise takes
  exceptional effort and planning
• The health club is too far away. It is not "on my
  way'' to anywhere
• An exercise program costs a lot of money.
• It is unpleasant to get all sweaty when you
  exercise
• Exercise can be so boring
• Exercise makes your body sore

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Time for Exercise

• Make the exercise session a priority of the day
• schedule a regular, specific time of day for
  exercise.
• Choose a convenient time.
• Exercise in the morning before breakfast, in the
  afternoon before lunch, or in the evening after
  getting home from work, but before dinner.

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Place for Exercise

• Choose an exercise easily performed around the
  house, e.g., treadmill, stationary cycle, rowing
  machine, jumping rope, rebound trampoline,
  jumping jacks, walking, running, biking,
  swimming.
• Perform exercises that can be done in an
  air-conditioned environment (stationary cycle,
  rowing machine, or rebound trampoline). Profuse
  sweating is not necessary for exercise to be
  worthwhile.

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Reduce Costs of Exercise

• Choose an exercise which doesn't involve the
  purchase of equipment or club memberships, e.g.,
  walking, running, jumping rope, etc.

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Keep Exercise Interesting

• Try indoor exercise in front of a TV or while
  listening to motivational tapes or energizing
  music.
• Try outdoor exercise in tree-lined or park-like
  settings with interesting scenery and use a
  portable radio or tape player
• For either type of exercise, get a partner or
  group of people to exercise with make it a
  social experience that will provide mutual
  motivation and encouragement

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Start out Slow to Protect Your Body from Being
Strained

• Slowly phase an exercise program in help your
  body adjust to the increased activity
• Use warm-up and cool-down exercises to avoid
  muscle strain
• Wear the proper clothing and shoes to avoid body
  strain or injury

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Part 4 Personal Testimonies and Sharing

• Sharing success stories from past week or from
  your current program
• Sharing concerns and issues which have come up
  over the past week
• Sharing strategies you have found which help keep
  you on track with food, exercise etc
• New ideas, articles, program, you have found
  which you think all could benefit from