Believing you can...

[jvernacchio]

Here is an interesting science article about the power of belief and its impacts particularly focused for you ladies. I hope you find it of some use and interest.

Weight Loss Possible When Self-belief High

Weight Loss Possible When Self-belief High
ScienceDaily (May 2, 2008) — If you are what you eat, what you eat has a lot to do with how you think about yourself, says a QUT PhD researcher whose study is part of an international research project on the healthy ageing of women.


Queensland University of Technology nursing researcher Rhonda Anderson said self-efficacy had emerged as a strong influence on women's decision to do more exercise or eat more healthily.

She surveyed more than 560 South-East Queensland women aged between 51 and 66 on their exercise and diet habits and found that although women in their 50s were keen to make healthier diet and exercise changes, they had few effective strategies to draw upon.

"This is an age when women's weight tends to peak, and almost two-thirds of the survey group were overweight or obese," Ms Anderson said.

"Self efficacy is our belief that we can produce the result we want to produce, so a person with high dietary self-efficacy believes they can eat healthily no matter what - even when bored, upset, tired, on holiday or at a party.

"A person's level of self-efficacy determines how hard they try and how long they stick at things in the face of difficulties. People with high self-efficacy are motivated and optimistic - when the going gets tough, they keep going.

"People with low self-efficacy avoid difficult tasks and when things get tough they are more likely to give up. We can improve our self-efficacy by developing skills, having role models and getting encouragement from others."

Ms Anderson's study found being overweight or obese was a key influence on self-efficacy. "Women who carried a lot of excess weight were more likely to have low self-efficacy and to not believe they could stick to an effective healthy exercise or diet program," she said.

"Education is also a factor - women with a tertiary education were more likely to have high self-efficacy for exercise."

Ms Anderson said her findings were timely given the population was ageing and women lived longer than men.

"We are going to have a lot of older women and if they are obese at age 60 they are not well placed to have a healthy old age. Carrying excess weight has been linked to diseases including diabetes, heart disease and breast cancer," she said.

Ms Anderson said that most of the women in her study who had made an effort to exercise more took up walking and those who had tried to eat more healthily had mainly cut down on fat.

"But going for a stroll and not having butter on your bread won't have you lose 30kg. Women need specific education and support to be successful in improving their health and losing weight.

"We need to reach the many women juggling work and motherhood and feel guilty if they take time for themselves.

"A lot of women in their 50s are keen to improve their health, and we need to take advantage of that, but if we can support them in taking care of themselves from an earlier age, so much the better."

Adapted from materials provided by Queensland University of Technology.

[GinnyLou]

Lots of truths going on in there, than I can relate to. Thanks for sharing it.

[realcdn]

Originally Posted by jvernacchio

Ms Anderson said that most of the women in her study who had made an effort to exercise more took up walking and those who had tried to eat more healthily had mainly cut down on fat.

"But going for a stroll and not having butter on your bread won't have you lose 30kg. Women need specific education and support to be successful in improving their health and losing weight."

I see this a lot on the diet board I hang out on. Women (like myself) with a significant amount of weight to lose who think cutting out pop and having a daily stroll should just start the weight pouring off. There's so much conflicting information out there that it's hard to really know what to do. I had a doctor tell me that I had to make changes, but no real guidance on what to change. (with 5 hours sleep, eating <1400 cals, and 5hrs hard cardio a week - and a job I was on my feet all day with - no surprise I was making myself ill) The only suggestion he made when taking out the chest tube was that I might want in on a drug study he was running. Ummm... no thanks (I looked at the side effects).

I see a lot of women who change their eating habits drastically, to the point they feel... deprived. They add a small amount of what I would call very light exercise, but are surprised when they don't lose 5 pounds every week. ie. most will see that in the first week, but obviously it doesn't continue.

And with so many books, articles, diets, training systems... how does the average woman choose one? I mean, on Amazon.ca today I see two categories:

* Diets & Weight Loss (16,656)
* Exercise & Fitness (23,452)

I know that some books will be in both, and it likely includes recipe books as well, but really - where do you start?

FWIW - the NROL4W is on page one of Exercise & Fitness, and page two of Diets & Weight loss... but boy is there a lot of The Biggest Loser stuff there as well. Not knocking their stuff (haven't read it) but I think they contribute a lot to this 'only 1 or 2 pound' disappointment I see among dieters.

[Bytsi]

there a lot of The Biggest Loser stuff there as well. Not knocking their stuff (haven't read it) but I think they contribute a lot to this 'only 1 or 2 pound' disappointment I see among dieters.

I think one of the biggest (pun intended) problems with the diet industry and weight-loss is setting up expecations that can not be lived up to. If you read any of the increasing numbers of behind-the-scenes info about Biggest Loser, it's amazing that they don't kill those people. LACK of science (no consideration of body composition) and lack of plain old truth in advertising / broadcasting leads people to think that if they can't get "instant" (and often sweat-free) weight loss (at least 10# each week?), then they might as well give up.

We just had an intern from an exercise science program (college - going for a bachelor's degree) start, and after observing a member being shown their new exercise program (designed for weight loss, included weights and cardio), the intern asked why weights had been included in the program. They were given the explanation (increase metabolism, build lean tissue, etc) and then said "but won't she just bulk up and gain weight?" . THIS is what students GRADUATING and going off to teach the masses are learning (or NOT learning).

How can we combat this? How can people expect to set (and achieve) reasonable goals when so much horribly incorrect info is out there, with more going out every day? If you can't trust the "experts" to guide you, who can you trust? If people (women) are going to believe in theirselves and their ability to succeed, and if this makes a huge difference in the rate of adherence and success (which I believe, as the article said, it does), then we have to EDUCATE better. Misinformation is a huge part of the problem...

Sorry if that was a bit of a tangent, but...

[jvernacchio]

Originally Posted by realcdn

And with so many books, articles, diets, training systems... how does the average woman choose one?


I know that some books will be in both, and it likely includes recipe books as well, but really - where do you start?

I think the key point to your questions is knowing when your BULLSHIT meter is and should be going off. I think the diet/fitness people that will tell you its HARD and you have to put forth EFFORT are the ones worth reading. The ones that tell you it takes TIME, EFFORT, and a strong COMMITMENT are the ones worth their salt.

I think the people that are honest and not telling you that you will be "peeling off the pounds" or "shedding off the fat" at 5lbs a week are the ones that you want to be listening to. 1 pound a week is good solid progress 1.5 is great and 2 is awesome.

1 pound a week = 4 pounds a month = 48lbs a year (not to bad could be better)

1.5 pounds a week = 6 pounds a month = 72lbs a year (that is really great progress)

2 pounds a week = 8 pounds a month = 96 lbs a year (simply awesome)

Finding the experts that are telling the truth that losing the weight won't be some easy magical journey that requires little to no effort on your part is a test but knowing that its not an easy quick fix task is the majority of the first step. Guys like Cosgrove, Schuler, McDonald all will tell you its going to be tough that its going to take hard work and effort to reach your goals are the ones worth listening to.

[realcdn]

Originally Posted by jvernacchio

I think the key point to your questions is knowing when your BULLSHIT meter is and should be going off. I think the diet/fitness people that will tell you its HARD and you have to put forth EFFORT are the ones worth reading. The ones that tell you it takes TIME, EFFORT, and a strong COMMITMENT are the ones worth their salt.

I don't disagree with you. I'm running about 2lbs/week, but being brutally honest I know I'd love to see more. Being realistic, I know I'm doing well. Really just pointing out that there are so many mixed messages out there. And sadly, some of them come from the medical profession as well. I've seen a co-worker coming back from a doctor's visit a couple of years ago quite upset because he'd called her obese. I remember plugging her numbers into something and her BMI and she was maybe a pound into the obese category. That didn't take into account that she did a very physical job on a daily basis. There is no question she needed to drop a little weight. (At her height 25 pounds was the difference between obese and healthy.) I guess my point was that he just told her she needed to lose weight and sent her off without any guidance. Ontario has gov't provided health care, but I believe that a nutritionist's visit is an extra paid service. This doesn't make sense to me. This woman I was talking about needed guidance, not tough love (if that's what the doctor was trying). I've seen women my weight (300+) told that 1200 calories is what they should be eating, with 30 mins of exercise three times a week. I suspect this is what it says somewhere in a pamphlet (without any information on adjusting for weight).

Hey, I'm still surprised how many people don't eat fruits and veggies. And I'm sure people who look at me would be surprised to know how many of them I eat. I look at the diet logs of other women (not here) and wonder if they really think eating what they're eating is the way to good health. I think I've become way too judgmental for my own good. At times I want to tell them to get rid of the 100-cal snack packs, multiply any drive-thru stuff by 25% (to try and get them to stop using it), and to eat a freakin' vegetable.

Oh yeah, I don't see diet coaching in my future!

[jesca]

I agree with a lot of the stuff that's said here. I think there's places where there's too much tough love and no education and then other places that are the opposite. I think there can be a sense of if "I'm trying, that's all that counts". If I choose the wrong diet or my idea of trying is a light stroll once a week, then I can't be held responsible for the weight to not be pouring off. Usually this is followed by the giving up and I can't stop from being fat so why bother trying.
With a full week (plus sometimes - they don't tell you that!) of Biggest loser and other diet shows, being crammed into an hour, it doesn't seem to occur to many people that that hour hardly represents the fact that these people are working out hard for 6 hours every day. They have taken time off work, they are isolated from the drive through, they are being kicked around the block by professional trainers that many of us can't afford, and they are motivated by a cash prize. I don't think any of that sounds like real life, but since it's sent to our living rooms every Tuesday, it has an impact on those that watch and get sucked in. Add to that the fact that the show has started adding those little tips and people start thinking if they do all those little things they will also lose double digits every week. No wonder people give up so easily when they realize just switching their regular fat oreos for low fat isn't going to cut it.

[Natalia]

Before every workout I watch Barbie's 'Dreams Come True' DVD )))))