The Story of a “Successful Loser”

No one wants to be called a loser …unless you are a successful weight loss loser! I always wonder how some people can lose weight and keep it off while others regain it. In my nutrition practice, I have a fairly good success rate in helping people lose weight. I spend a lot of time helping my clients analyze their “problem areas” and come up with solutions as how to deal with them. This results in weight loss for many of my clients. But does the weight loss stay off? I am not sure because I lose touch with many of my clients.

Here is the sceniero: 

– Client sees me and gets an eating/exercise/behavior plan
– Meets with me on a regular basis, gets weighed
– Usually (but not always) keeps a food record
– We discuss his/her food intake, exercise and eating behaviors and
   problem solve as needed. 
– As time goes on, the scale drops.
– The client reaches their goal weight, thanks me profusely, may see
   me one or two more times…then disappears (despite my strong
   recommendation to see me every few months to “check in”). 

So here is the story of a successful loser. This patient has lost over 50 pounds and has kept it off for 1 yr. 

The client: picture on the right – identity protected by bag (not really him – but I found the pic amusing!)
A.W. is a 51 year attorney with a very busy schedule. Height: 5’10 Weight: 243  pounds on 12/05.  He eats all his meals on the outside. Breakfast was 2 bagels (one was not enough…and he treated his staff to breakfast so several dozen bagels were always purchased), lunch was large sandwich with potato salad, dinner was always take-out (usually Chinese) or restaurant dining (lots of bread), night time snack was huge portions of nuts. A.W. admitted he was a compulsive eater and could not control his portions of many foods (such as nuts and bread). He played tennis several times a week for exercise. Luckily he had a supportive girlfriend (lovely woman!) who enjoyed cooking healthy for him on the weekends and was a good influence in restaurants.

The solution: we worked out an eating plan that promoted a 53 pound weight loss in 9 months by 9/06. Despite the fact the A.W. is more or less at his goal weight, he still meets with me every few months to make sure he stays on track.

 So this is why A.W. is a successful loser ….
– A.W. knows himself well.
– He has a problem with controlling his intake of certain foods and will likely always have this problem. He does not keep these foods in his house.
– He has substituted his problem foods with other foods like hot air popcorn (he can eat large portions of this for a lot less calories than the nuts) and broth based soups.
– He does not start with bagels (except for once a week) because he knows one will not satisfy him.
– He and his girlfriend do not allow the bread basket to be placed on the restaurant table.
– He weighs himself on a regular basis and saw his weight creep up by 7 pounds over this  summer.  As a lawyer he has an analytical mind, so he analyzed why he had started to gain weight. He can up with the following problems: his secretaries had started to buy him jumbo burritos for lunch (“they are so good he says!” “I am sure they are I said… but now you have to cut it down to once a week”) ,  he had started snacking on large portions of sugar free chocolate (we reviewed the fact that sugar free does not mean low calorie!), and his weekend portions of “healthy” food had started to creep up.
– I agreed with A.W. about his suspected causes of weight gain. 
– We reviewed his eating plan and set new goals.

So the morale of the story is that once you have lost weight, it does not mean it is guaranteed to stay off. You still need need support or monitoring. Some people are able to do it on their own by weighing themself on regular basis. Others need to check in with someone like me! (Or weight watchers, etc.). Making permanent changes in your eating/exercise behaviors is a very difficult thing to do. The more support you can enlist, the better – A.W. has me, his girlfriend and once again his office staff.

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MEET MARTHA

I especially love problem-solving, whether it’s helping women defeat issues plaguing them for years, helping a busy executive find practical ways to get heart healthy, or providing tips to help you reverse diabetes. That’s why I’m on a constant quest to expand my knowledge by staying on top of the latest research.

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