“Diets don’t work – for long!” So what can we do to create and sustain weight loss? An article has just been published in Scientific American, February 2011 by David H Freedman, on the problem of Obesity. The research findings help to explain why the Slimquest approach to weight loss works.
“Why are extra pounds so difficult to shed and keep off? It doesn’t seem as if it should be so hard. The basic formula for weight loss is simple and widely known: consume fewer calories than you expend. And yet, if it were really that easy, obesity would not be the nation’s number one lifestyle – related health concern.”
This article focuses on the ever growing problem of Obesity and looks at scientific research currently being undertaken to find ways to address it. One third of Americans are obese. A further third are overweight. Freedman says:
“We evolved to consume energy-dense foods in an environment where famine was a constant threat. In our modern world, food is plentiful, full of cheap empty calories, made to look enticing through powerful marketing messages.
So losing weight and sustaining that weight loss is very difficult. What is more, most diets fail in the long run. A 2007 review of 31 diet studies (by the American Psychological Association) found that “two thirds of dieters end up two years later weighting MORE than they did before their diet.”
“In the absence of a magic pill to reset our built in cravings, or readjust our metabolism to burn more calories, researchers are turning to behavioural techniques and findings are yielding new and important insights about social and behavioural factors that influence diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviour”
One size doesn’t fit all. And it is clear that obesity cannot be fixed by “eating this or that food item or by taking any other simple action”.
FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM:
1 Eating habits of family, friends, colleagues
2 What food is available and affordable
3 How much opportunity you have to move around at work
4 Powerful marketing driven by financial gain rather than health considerations
5 Genetic predispositions in some cases for storing fat, having higher satiety thresholds, and even having more sensitive taste buds
Dieting or following exercise regimes is mostly dependent on willpower and the promise of reward i.e. how good it feels to be lighter and slimmer. Trouble is, the more weight we lose, and the more we deprive our bodies through dieting, the more the body slows down its metabolism to conserve precious calories, so weight loss slows down too. So as we lose weight, our cravings increase, we burn fewer calories and we become hungrier and more food obsessed, and the reward becomes more and more elusive.
“We would be more likely to stick with the regimen if it remained less punishing and more reliably rewarding. “
The article suggests that the most successful way to lose weight and keep it off
with diet and exercise is using programmes that involve changing behaviour. This is backed up by Medical Research Council in the UK which found in its own long term study , that programmes based on behavioural principle work best in the long term.
Where mass market weight loss programmes fall short is that they do not “customize them ( behavioural techniques) to meet the varied needs of individuals. They cannot routinely provide individual counselling, adapt their advice to specific challenges ……. or prevent their members from shooting for fast, dramatic, short – term weight loss or from restricting food groups”.
In conclusion the article summarises four steps for effective weight loss:
1. Initial assessment - establish starting point, behaviour patterns etc
2. Self monitoring - objective feedback shows how individuals are changing
habits
3. Behaviour shifts – making small changes is easier
4. Support groups - really help
Which is great news for Slimquest! Because the Slimquest approach is based on certain principles ( all of which are consistent with recent research findings as to what works in terms of behaviour), and in addition, also includes NLP and Hypnosis which works unconsciously as well. And that means making healthy changes to their lifestyle, better food choices and exercise patterns is so much easier to achieve.
The Slimquest model includes:
1. Meeting in small groups which gives scope for meeting individual needs, and provides a great forum for warm mutual support.
2. Slimquest coaches are fully trained Cognitive Hypnotherapists and can offer supplementary one to one sessions to address issues which are too personal for a group setting
3. The Slimquest model is based on “ being kind to yourself’ “This means
eating according to your body’s real needs ( as we were born to do), not depriving yourself or punishing yourself, taking regular exercise and finding everyday ways to move more.
4. The program includes learning and practicing self help techniques
to change habits and control cravings, and regular hypnosis to make
wiser lifestyle choices easier, through working at an unconscious level as well as conscious and behavioural levels.
5. Slimquest clients are also encouraged to self monitor – i.e. keep a food diary, record their daily exercise/movement , notice their own emotions and behaviour patterns around food and celebrate every
Gill Wood – Wimbledon SlimQuest coach