The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
My mom is almost 60 and weighs about 250. She really wants to lose weight, but is still clinging to old ideas about needing to starve herself in order to do it. I can't convince her to join a gym because she thinks she can't afford it. I was considering buying Leigh's books for her, but I would like to get an idea first about what the program is like. Are there specific meal plans, and if so, are the foods mainstream or health food store stuff? Do the exercises require a gym? Could someone with back pain still do it?
My mom is almost 60 and weighs about 250. She really wants to lose weight, but is still clinging to old ideas about needing to starve herself in order to do it. I can't convince her to join a gym because she thinks she can't afford it. I was considering buying Leigh's books for her, but I would like to get an idea first about what the program is like. Are there specific meal plans, and if so, are the foods mainstream or health food store stuff? Do the exercises require a gym? Could someone with back pain still do it?
Fat Loss Troubleshoot isn't a program, rather it is a guide to fat loss with tons of explanations about how the body works (she goes into great detail about hormones, energy balance, etc). There is a great quiz in there to determine your true energy expenditures which gives you a more accurate activity muliplyer to help determine your maintainence calories and weight loss calories. There is a program that accompanies Fat Loss Trouble Shoot called the OPT program that is provided as just one option for losing weight. Calories are pretty low IMO, ranging from 30-40% deficit and the exercise portion has both cardio and weight workouts you do 6x/week. You would need dumb bells and a stability ball so if she had that at home it would work.
There are no meal plans, just macro ratios which tend towards lower carb.
My mom is almost 60 and weighs about 250. She really wants to lose weight, but is still clinging to old ideas about needing to starve herself in order to do it. I can't convince her to join a gym because she thinks she can't afford it. I was considering buying Leigh's books for her, but I would like to get an idea first about what the program is like. Are there specific meal plans, and if so, are the foods mainstream or health food store stuff? Do the exercises require a gym? Could someone with back pain still do it?
I am 62, and consider myself to be a young 62 in spirit.
You say "She really wants to lose weight." I would suggest that if she begins a program, such contained in FLTS, or Body for Life or South Beach, and if she reads these books, she will learn a lot about getting healthy. A one time diet will not really help if she hasn't learned and gained an appreciation for why she might want to remain at a healthy weight and somewhat transform the basic way she eats. That doesn't mean "never" having favorite processed foods, but just as treats, not as main standbys.
You say: "foods mainstream or health food store stuff"
Is 'cottage cheese and a peach;' or 'turkey, avocado and an ear of corn,' or 'baked salmon, sweet potato and a salad' mainstream or health food stuff? Your mom's food perspective might need to broaden. You don't have to buy anything in a health food store.
FOOD: Your mom does have to have a calorie deficit. The best way I have found not to starve myself, is to learn to eat at least 20gm of protein at every meal or snack. Along with healthy fats, unprocessed carbs; when I do this I am rarely hungry. I also eat 4-6 small meals per day. It has taken me a while to learn to do this, but it makes me feel so healthy physically. And if I occasionally eat a larger meal, I count it as 2 meals.
You can look at my log (link below) to see daily listings of the foods I eat.
Exercise is great, but she could start by walking every day. She could buy used equipment on Craig's list. This year I got an almost new $350 schwinn upright exercise bike for $115 including gas to drive and pick it up. I see dumbbells there all the time. You can also get dumbbells via freecycle.org in your area (for free!).
One last note: I have discovered that the WeightLifter programs work better for me than say, WeightWatchers. WW kind of says you should eat healthy, but you can eat candy, packaged WW treats and WW cereals and still lose weight. I found myself starving and deprived on the same calories as I'm now eating, because the chocolate and sugar and unprocessed carbs were creating cravings. The weightlifter programs seem to stress that high protein, unprocessed carb, healthy fat, and as soon as I switched to Body for Life foods, my hunger and most cravings went away.
Thanks for your comments Etana. Personally I think that her desire to lose weight is not strong enough for her to be willing to make significant changes. She gets frustrated if she doesn't lose quickly and then doesn't stick to it. The foods you describe I would consider mainstream, not strange things like amaranth flour. She has been walking an hour a day 5 or 6 days a week and is very physically active doing house and yard work. I have been trying to convince her that her diet needs to change before she will lose weight. She doesn't enough good food or balanced meals.
Thanks for your comments Etana. Personally I think that her desire to lose weight is not strong enough for her to be willing to make significant changes. She gets frustrated if she doesn't lose quickly and then doesn't stick to it. The foods you describe I would consider mainstream, not strange things like amaranth flour. She has been walking an hour a day 5 or 6 days a week and is very physically active doing house and yard work. I have been trying to convince her that her diet needs to change before she will lose weight. She doesn't enough good food or balanced meals.
Maybe you should prepare some meals for her. And make leftovers that she could eat for lunch. Like stuffed pepper with shrimp, broccoli, and chicken sausage. mmmm... Maybe you could just get her to start by increasing her protein at each meal. That might take away some cravings. Body for Life taught me, "a palm sized piece of protein with a fist sized carb" 4-6 times per day, plus vegies. Maybe she could make a small change or 2 and not "diet" if she won't do that.
My desire to lose weight gets strong when
1. I look in the mirror and hate myself and decide I'm tired of that
2. I feel sick; that usually gets me in action.
Her exercise sounds like enough to me. She could buy weights, join a gym or 2, but if she doesnt' get in a calorie deficit, she won't lose weight
Thanks for your comments Etana. Personally I think that her desire to lose weight is not strong enough for her to be willing to make significant changes. She gets frustrated if she doesn't lose quickly and then doesn't stick to it. The foods you describe I would consider mainstream, not strange things like amaranth flour. She has been walking an hour a day 5 or 6 days a week and is very physically active doing house and yard work. I have been trying to convince her that her diet needs to change before she will lose weight. She doesn't enough good food or balanced meals.
That is a hard position. My father is obese, diabetic, hypertensive, etc and knows he needs to lose weight for health reasons yet he just is not motivated to do so. He hasn't even tried in years. When he does diet he loses pretty easily (the testosterone advantage!) but he just loves to eat A LOT. A person really needs to WANT to lose weight. The desire and motivation have to come from inside, not from others expressing concern or what not. Very frustrating, I have been living with that for years but there is only so much one can do.
I did buy my parents some new cookbooks that were healthier and not "diet-y" so she could cook healthier but tasty meals yet it still comes down to portion control of course and not eating the "bad" stuff all the time.
OPT program is pretty extreme in calories, even lower in calories overall than Weight Watchers so if faster results is what motivates her maybe it would work for her?
Maybe you should prepare some meals for her. And make leftovers that she could eat for lunch. Like stuffed pepper with shrimp, broccoli, and chicken sausage. mmmm... Maybe you could just get her to start by increasing her protein at each meal. That might take away some cravings. Body for Life taught me, "a palm sized piece of protein with a fist sized carb" 4-6 times per day, plus vegies. Maybe she could make a small change or 2 and not "diet" if she won't do that.
My desire to lose weight gets strong when
1. I look in the mirror and hate myself and decide I'm tired of that
2. I feel sick; that usually gets me in action.
Her exercise sounds like enough to me. She could buy weights, join a gym or 2, but if she doesnt' get in a calorie deficit, she won't lose weight
Thanks again. When she lived near me I did prepare some meals for her, but now she is on the other side of the country. She is slowly taking my advice about eating more veggies, getting more protein, less processed food. I ordered her a subscription to Cooking Light.
I would think the exercise would be enough, but she hasn't lost. I think her body is just used to it because she has been so active all her life. I need to convince her to work harder on the diet part.
LaraT, I think she would be ok with severe calorie restriction as long as it was working. I hate to keep picking on her about losing weight, but she does ask me for advice, and I told her the only reason I want her to lose is that I know she would feel better and be in less pain.
Has she ever tried WW? A lot of people really love the support you get at meetings
She hasn't tried it, but same as the gym, I think she would balk at the cost. I think I will send her my copy of the Eat Clean Diet and see if she will follow one of the meal plans. She is back on Sparkpeople too.
For the record I am working on specific program for different targets because of things like this. I have found a lot of holes while going through this whole FLTS/MRM process of how much people need, etc. I hope to be able to provide something soon. In the mean time...
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Originally Posted by outofcontrol
Thanks for your comments Etana. Personally I think that her desire to lose weight is not strong enough for her to be willing to make significant changes. She gets frustrated if she doesn't lose quickly and then doesn't stick to it. The foods you describe I would consider mainstream, not strange things like amaranth flour. She has been walking an hour a day 5 or 6 days a week and is very physically active doing house and yard work. I have been trying to convince her that her diet needs to change before she will lose weight. She doesn't enough good food or balanced meals.
No one, no one, is ever to old to change. No one is ever to old to learn. They may be too stubborn, but never too old. Fat loss is fat loss. You learn it once and you never need to learn it again. you have got to find a way to make it "click" for your mom while making it easy.
You need to explain to her what fat loss is and then help her find a program she likes that restricts calories. Does she like greek food? Try Mediterranean Diet. Is she spiritual? Then perhaps the Makers Diet. Is she spunky? Try Skinny Bitch. Is she a hot Latino salsa dancer? The try the Hot Latino diet.
Yes it is real.
See at this point getting it off is what matters. At this point it is a health concern. Yeah in a perfect world she would learn the best methods, all the science, and best of training. In the real world, sounds like to me mom doesn't want to do that, she just wants it to "happen" and if that is the case then you provide the "why" and just hand her any "how" that she will use.
Thank you Leigh. That's exactly right- I need to help her find something that clicks with her, that she feels is easy weight loss. That's a different thing for everyone.
For the record I am working on specific program for different targets because of things like this. I have found a lot of holes while going through this whole FLTS/MRM process of how much people need, etc. I hope to be able to provide something soon. In the mean time...
No one, no one, is ever to old to change. No one is ever to old to learn. They may be too stubborn, but never too old. Fat loss is fat loss. You learn it once and you never need to learn it again. you have got to find a way to make it "click" for your mom while making it easy.
You need to explain to her what fat loss is and then help her find a program she likes that restricts calories. Does she like greek food? Try Mediterranean Diet. Is she spiritual? Then perhaps the Makers Diet. Is she spunky? Try Skinny Bitch. Is she a hot Latino salsa dancer? The try the Hot Latino diet.
Yes it is real.
See at this point getting it off is what matters. At this point it is a health concern. Yeah in a perfect world she would learn the best methods, all the science, and best of training. In the real world, sounds like to me mom doesn't want to do that, she just wants it to "happen" and if that is the case then you provide the "why" and just hand her any "how" that she will use.
"As far as (healthy) eating, either do it, or don't. Same issues repeated over and over is just insanity. We either commit to the endeavor or pay lip-service to it. This is the hardest part of the whole process, and it needs to be practiced more than the actual physical training. It's mind training." ~ Matt Thorne
"The reason that most people fail instead of succeed is that they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment."
I wanted to say, too, that I lost 10 lbs last month (before getting pregnant, anyway) just by following Leigh's advice about my deficit and walking a few days a week. It's definitely the food, but it sounds like you're thinking right in that you have to find something that makes sense for her.
I love how you phrased that, Leigh--perfect!
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"Do you choose to simply know the path, or do you choose to walk it?"
Your body keeps an accurate journal regardless of what you write down...
My mom and dad have been following Leigh's principals (eat less, move more) and even without weighing everything, just being aware of how many calories are in certain things and consciously cutting back they are both down. My dad 7 lbs in the past month, and my mom 5 (neither is really overweight ... just wanted to trim a little extra off).
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
I just read FLTR and most of Metabolic Repair Manual. What I suspected, and now firmly believe thanks to Leigh, is that my mom is not losing fat like she should because of the high stress she places on her body along with a complete lack of good nutrition. She thinks that all the moving around she does all day should cause her to lose weight, but she has done that for years and not lost. I have told her many times that I think she is not eating enough period, and also not getting proper nutrition from what she does eat. Just like on You Are What You Eat when Gillian tells people that despite all the calories they eat, they are really starving themselves. Her response is that if she starves long enough she should lose weight. So I have sent her the books. Eventually she will read them. Ultimately it will be her choice to try or not. I think she will recognize much of what is described in the REPAIR manual. Thanks everyone!
My mom and dad have been following Leigh's principals (eat less, move more) and even without weighing everything, just being aware of how many calories are in certain things and consciously cutting back they are both down. My dad 7 lbs in the past month, and my mom 5 (neither is really overweight ... just wanted to trim a little extra off).
Wow. Awesome stuff.
The pastor of my church wanted to shave a few pounds (he was only very slightly overweight). I told him when he got the urge to sit down when he was milling around, not to sit. I had him read food labels for a few days, look at the web sites of restaurants, etc. and he soon got an idea of what types of foods are calorie bombs. He's down 8lbs in two months with zero calorie counting. A whole new belt was needed.
Nothing against Chipotle. I love it. The ingredients are pretty healthy, by and large. But play around with the food calculator to see how little it takes to make a decent lunch explode into a calorie bomb.
Yea ... one of the things my mom said really hit her was dark chocolate. She likes the Lindt 85% dark chocolate ... and was having 4 squares daily ... at 210 calories. So she says now when she wants/needs her chocolate fix she just has one square (and they're pretty big squares). My dad has cut down on the breads and things (mom is gluten-intolerant too and doesn't eat bread) and that is what has helped him.
Great news on your pastor friend!
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
A few questions about Leigh's programs
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