Dr. Kathy Maupin and Brett Newcomb discuss several emotional and medical conditions as they apply to weight loss. They also discuss various strategies to help people lose weight.
If you are serious about controlling your weight or size, and beginning the journey toward maintaining a healthy weight, then there are questions you must ask yourself. The first question is: “Are there physical or biological reasons for my excessive weight?” If the answer here is yes, then you would benefit from a nutritional evaluation by a doctor to determine what medical interventions can help you lose weight.
The second question you must ask yourself is: “Am I behaviorally contributing to my weight problem because of psychological or emotional issues?” If the answer to this question is also yes, then you need to see a counselor or a therapist to work with you on understanding the nature of the stress that you are under that can cause you to find comfort with food and lose weight. You can learn some adaptive ways to sooth yourself and make yourself feel better, without eating fattening foods. Your mal-adaptive behaviors from childhood can run out of control and contribute to a cyclic binge and purge type of behavior that will exacerbate your problems. It is a viscous cycle that will prevent you from maintaining a lean body.
The answers to these two questions are what we talk about in our podcast this week. We look at the medical interventions such as testosterone replacement, thyroid adjustment, exercise programs, and others. Then, we begin to discuss some behavioral strategies that don’t cost money or directly involve medical experts such as a therapist or physician to help you begin to master your food and weight issues. We provide some cues to behavioral change that can help. Be sure to check our podcast for ideas that you may begin to use to start your journey to mastery of your food and lose weight.
Lets look at a few of the suggestions we discuss for behavioral change to lose weight:
- Shop differently. Do not keep junk food or prepared meals in your house. Shop fresh and cook fresh.
- Cook sweets with less sugar.
- Use smaller plates, get rid of the 12” plates and use the 10” ones.
- Serve dinner from the stove, not from bowls on the table.
- If you want seconds, take a ten minute break from the table before you get them.
- Put your fork down between bites. Wait one minute before you take another bite.
- Do not eat in front of the TV or while reading a book.
- Cut your alcohol consumption in half now. Instead of 1 glass a night, 1 every other night.
- Drink half your body weight in ounces of water every day.
- Chew your food 50 or more times before you reload your fork.
- Resign from the “Clean Your Plate Club” today.
Listen to our podcast for more information about how to regulate your weight and your food behaviors.
