Podcast: 4 Habits for Successful Weight Loss

Transcription of Podcast

Please note this transcription is generated by software. There may be some errors. I hope you find it useful.

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Fit and Fabulous with me, Dr. Orlena. I hope that you are feeling amazing, amazing, amazing today. Okay.

##4 Habits That will Help You Lose Weight
Today I want to talk to you about four habits for successful weight loss. Now, a little bit of a backstory, if we look at the statistics of weight loss, They are abysmal, they are horrible.

All the statistics say you're never gonna lose weight. Nothing is ever gonna work. Now I beg to the grip. Disagree. I see people losing weight and I see them successfully really transforming their lives. But I guess all the statistics are looking at, you know, the really big picture and. and what is going on for most people.

##Most People Struggle to Lose Weight
So some of the not so nice statistics. Here's some statistics from a research review that was done in January, 2018 by the Medical Clinics of North America. And they say that within two years people tend to regain more than half the weight that They initially lost. And within five years, people tend to regain about 80% of their, of the weight they initially lost.

Now, on a side. . Actually it's not bad. Like it's better to lose weight and put it back on than not lose the weight in the first place. So even if you are losing weight and putting it back on and think, oh my goodness, this is really frustrating. Yes, I agree with you. It is really frustrating. But it is better than not losing the weight at all.

So really what you know, statistics are saying is that the, for the vast majority of people, they might lose weight, but do they then put it back later on? And the answer is yes. The vast majority of people put it back later on. Now this is a big area of debate and people aren't a hundred percent sure why.

Can't explain exactly why. Now, my take on this, you might guess my take, but my take on this is really all about habits and systems and routines. And what I think is going on is people have done something for a short period of time and then they go back to the old way of doing things. And really, if you want to do something and keep doing it and keep doing it, you really have to build it into.

Your life. You, you have to build it into your identity. You have to build it into you wanting to do it. Now, obviously, this is what I work on with my clients. It's really about getting to the crux of it and creating a lifestyle that you really love so that you can do all of these things naturally. But there are four things that I want to talk about today.

Now, this comes from something called. The National Weight Control Registry, which is sort of like a bit like a database, like people sign up for it and, you know, give their. You know, tell, tell people what's going on. And this national registry has been going on for a long period of time, and I don't know how many numbers they have.

I'm guessing it's lots and lots, but some, you know, they release papers of, of where things are. And one of the things that they have done is looked at people who have successfully lost weight. And what they've said that is, is people who have lost at least 30 pounds for at least a year. So they've lost 30 pounds and they've kept it off for at least.

And I think looking at things that work for other people is, it doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna work for you, but it's interesting because we want to be applying more of what works and less of what doesn't work. Now I know that that's kind of a little bit of a difficult thing to say because it's really about what works for you and just talking about these things doesn't necessarily mean you have to implement them, but I think it is a good sort of framework to have a look.

So the four things that they looked at, and they give the statistics as well of like, not everybody did all of these people. So there are some outliers of people who didn't do these things. But, so for example, one thing, 90% of the people on this registry, they did exercise for a minimum, for an average of an hour a day Now, exercise.

I love exercise and I'm always telling people, really the thing that you need to focus on is what you are eating, and this is totally true, but exercise doesn't have to be hardcore. Going to the gym, getting really out of breath. Now, I do recommend that you do some getting out of breath at least once a week, if not more.

And to be honest, I personally find I actually really enjoy getting out of breath now. I used to be what I call exercise phobic. You know, when I was younger I didn't exercise at all and I wasn't really taught about how exercise is part of maintaining a, a healthy body. When I grew up, sadly, I think in my school it was very much like you, you do sports to win the game, and that's it.

And if you are not that sporty, we don't want you in our team. And I wasn't in any of the teams. Whereas now I really think there's a mindset shift and it's really about looking after your body. And your mind as well. And I personally love getting out of breath. Not all the time, obviously, but I do make sure that even when things are hectic and life is busy ing that I'm doing a minimum of one swim a week in the summer.

I'm swimming every single day. It's winter now. Cycling one run, and, and that is my getting out of breath work, but also on top of. You know, if you're not there yet, that's absolutely fine. Don't beat yourself up about that. But things like walking count and things like doing little seven minute exercises count.

I also do a seven minute exercise Monday to Friday as well. What else counts? Gardening and dancing and housework. Housework. Can we just depend on the housework, obviously, but all of, and it does depend on the gardening as well, but all of these things add up and really, I think sometimes people, like I used to be, are a little bit exercise phobic.

You can really reframe that into. Movement. I need to move my body. And one thing I think is really important is, yes, our bodies do need to be moved. And it's that same thing that we always say, use it or lose it. It doesn't matter what it is. Our bodies are made of muscles and those muscles need to be exercised.

So exercise and hour a day, if you can manage it. Now, on a side note, I know that not everybody can manage it because they've got busy lives and you know, for example, if you've got young children, I have a client. Has young children and she finds it difficult to exercise. So for the first year that she was working with me, she lost weight without doing any exercise at all.

Like, you know, very minimum exercise. Now she's got to the stage where she's lost the weight and she's working on building up fitness. Now that's fine. It is absolutely fine. As I said right at the beginning, you don't have to take all of these. . Okay, next thing. Let's have a look. Ooh, what was number two?

Okay, so 78% of people ate breakfast every day. Now here's my take on eating breakfast. The thing about breakfast is the reality is we all eat breakfast. Breakfast is the first meal of the day. So whether you call it lunch or breakfast, it's still basically breakfast. My take on this is that you have a routine.

It doesn't matter when you eat your breakfast, and it doesn't matter what you eat for breakfast, but you're doing it consistently, and that's a consistent meal as well. So for me, I always have breakfast, I have fruit and nuts and seeds, and I either have porridge, which you might call oatmeal, or I have some whole grain like.

And the reason I have different things is because my kids have different things at the weekend and I like to eat spelt, and they don't. They only like the porridge. So during the week we have porridge, all of us. And then at the weekend we have different things. But I have a consistent thing, and there are other studies as well that show that actually people's breakfast is normally the most healthy meal of the day.

And the reason being because you have a habit. You do the same thing. You've chosen your healthy breakfast and it's rinse and repeat every single day. Now you can add variety to that by having different fruits and different nuts and different seeds or whatever. It works for you if you're a smoothie person.

You have different things that you put into smoothie, but you've created a solid habit around that meal, and so it's really easy to do it and you don't have to think about it. So my take on breakfast is whatever, what, what works for you? Create that system and stick to it. But one thing I think you need to avoid doing is thinking, okay, I'm gonna skip breakfast and that's great cuz I'm gonna be hungry and you know, all of that.

People think that's my body using up energy. Well yes, to a certain extent it is if you're feeling hungry. Part of hunger is also just. Your routine, like you've trained yourself to get hungry at certain times, so it doesn't necessarily equate to I feel hungry, therefore I'm burning fat. But the danger I see in this is that people go, okay, I'm gonna get hungry, and then I haven't really planned for what my next meal is, and now I'm gonna reach for a donut because now I'm super, super hungry and it's the only thing available.

And now I'm eating that donut. Whereas I would say you are much better off eating breakfast earlier with your healthy breakfast and planning your snack later on rather than pushing yourself and falling into this trap of eating foods that aren't really gonna help you lose weight. . So breakfast is number two.

And having said that, intermittent fasting is fabulous as well, and I think you can combine the two. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Okay? 75% of people weighed themselves at least once a week. Now it's only 75%, so that means that 25%. Didn't. Now, this again, is another slightly controversial topic, and I have seen people who weigh themselves frequently and then they self sabotage.

What do I, what do I mean by that? I mean, they weigh themselves and they go, aha, it's working. I'm losing weight, so now I deserve to eat chocolate. And you think, oh my goodness, please don't do that. You're doing so well and now you are gonna go backwards. Now you can dive in a little bit more as to thinking why that.

I do think it's a good idea to weigh yourself, or not necessarily weigh yourself, but have some way of measuring how you are doing. And there are several reasons for this. One of, one of the reasons is to keep your eye on. the goal to remember what you are doing, because really what happens is life happens and you are busy doing healthy stuff.

Life gets busy, you take your eye off the ball and you forget, and it's easy to get derailed and then think three or four weeks later, oh my goodness, I've totally forgotten about this. Now I've got work to do to get back on track. So if you have something that's keeping you accountable, keeping you motivated, keeping you thinking, yep, I'm moving forwards.

That's a really good idea. Now, the other thing is also to be curious about it rather than judge yourself about it. So it's useful to have this measure to say, okay, things are going really well. Let's continue what I'm doing. I can see that this is working and this is where I, this is what I say to my clients when my clients start work with me, and we set.

Like a system of what's, what's going on? I'm like, okay, just keep doing this until you stop losing weight and you need to know when you stop losing weight. It's not, not necessarily that things have stopped working, it's that you need to do, make a few more changes. Now, there's obviously two scenarios. One is that things are slipping backwards and you're starting to do things that you did before.

But the other is that you have lost weight, such that you've reached a new level, and now you need to make a few more changes, whatever those changes may be. So weighing yourself regularly helps you. To keep your eye on the board. It helps you to understand what's going on, what's working and what's not working.

But you do. I do think it is a double-edged sword, and you do have to be aware that for some people it really does push them into self-sabotaging. So this is a little bit about knowing yourself as well and knowing. where you are in that. And remember, it was only, what did I say, 75% of people who did that.

Now, 62% of people watched fewer than 10 hours of television a week. And I would really caveat that with, it's not necessarily television, it's also what I would call mindless screen time. Now I know that we all have to set up computers and work so many of us do. Now, obviously we need to do that. . But what I would say is you also want to make sure whilst you're doing that, that you are breaking up your day and moving a little bit.

Our brains cannot work, they cannot focus, they cannot concentrate for hours and hours on end. You're much better off doing 45 minutes work, going and moving for a little bit, and then coming back being productive. So it is this mindless screen time stuff. Am I spending more than 10 hours a week just sitting and doing?

Like watching television or YouTube or whatever it is that you are doing. And I guess this ties into the exercise, but that time you build up that habit, that time could be spent doing something else. It could be spent preparing your food, it could be spent going for a walk. So it's really thinking about how are we spending our time.

Okay, so I'm gonna recap those four things. Number one, doing exercise. 90% of people did exercise for an average of an hour a day. 78% of people ate breakfast every single day. 75% of members weighed themselves at least once a week, and 62% of them watched fewer than 10 hours of Tater vision a week. So, question for you.

Which of those are you doing and which of them aren't you doing? And of course, which of them can you see working?

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