Good Sunday Morning....What horrible weather!!! I believe one more day of this bad stuff then back to the sun!
Yesterday I was seeing a patient whose weight loss has been steady and we were discussing the pace of her weight loss. She brought up this statement which I LOVED: "Losing weight should be looked at like a marathon, not a sprint." Whay is meant by that is weight loss AND the maintenance of that healthy weight is a LIFE-LONG effort (marathon) as opposed to whipping as much weight off as quickly as possible and then "ending" the effort. That is why we use "real" food in our program as opposed to the Optifast/Medifast model of liquid diets. Our aim is to NOT rush weight of you only to have that weight come back. Learning new eating behaviors and approach to your eating behaviors and exercise patterns are what this is all about. Yes, we do incorporate a prescription anorectic to "jumpstart" your efforts, but this is only meant to help you psychologically get "into it" more by seeing an obvious result in the firts 2 weeks.
"Dieting: is not what losing weight is about..."life-stylechanging/behavior modification" IS what losing weight is all about...and this is in fact a marathon, not a sprint.
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2 comments:
Dr. Posner.. I do agree with the principal that weight loss is a marathon not a sprint. I believe this holds true with whatever weight management program people commit themselves to.
I don't necessarilly compare the elements of different weight management programs because I think that we should look at any program as a TOOL NOT THE REASON for the weight loss.
The real marker for sucess, I believe, is the person seeing that not the program, but their efforts and commitment to a healthy program; learning, educating themselves and PRACTICING sound eating and fitness is what works.
I happen to appreciate that your program incorporates more opportunity to PRACTICE and SEE what healthy eating and lifestyle should be like. But I still feel like what is missing, at the center of regaining weight, is people ascribing sucess not to their efforts and lifestyle change but to ANY program.
I have heard people say I'm nervous because I am getting to the end and I have not reached my goal. What will I do if I can't get the supplements, meal replacement shakes.. etc.. Or the other thing that strikes me is when people ask someone how did you loose the weight. "I did it on..." Optifast, Nutrisystem, etc. If someone asked me how I earned my degree would I say I did it on JMU or George Mason.. likely not... I would say.. I did it by a lot of work, hitting the books, term papers, late night studying..
I am so grateful for all the TOOLS that the SP program and the staff offer me to live a healthier life. But I also need to remember I had to pick up those tools and use them! For me to be sucessful beyond the 12 weeks I KNOW it is learning and being confident in the skills I practiced; seeing I can, I did and I will continue to do the work it takes to create a life that supports and inspires health.
With ANY program, it's not the pills, it's not the shakes, it's not the packaged meals... It's you saying I am ready to learn health, engage in positive thinking and do this for the rest of my life... :)
Hi,
I'm glad to hear that weight loss is a marathon not a sprint.
I happily lost about 70 lbs on the program when it first began, years ago.
I started the program (again) in Sept. '08 after a very stressful year at work and home (gaining about 50 lbs.) I slowly lost about 40 lbs by July.
It was disheartning to come for weigh-ins on two seperate occasions and hear remarks about being in the program for Sooo long, and and maybe looking into really making more of an effort to lose the final 10-15 lbs.
Every other weigh-in was so positive... but when you already feel bad about youself even a casual negative comment...
I stopped the program a couple months ago, but I do read your daily comments Dr. P.
My motivation is slowly comming back...
Hope to see you soon.
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