Despite a plethora of evidence to the contrary, many people still view excess weight as being a problem of willpower – or a lack of character or morality. Most interventions designed to result in weight loss are based upon a premise of starvation (math) and inspiration (motivation). With this as the backbone, no wonder we haven’t gotten anywhere when it comes to successfully tackling the obesity epidemic! At Heartland Weight Loss, we know that having excess weight is a result of metabolic dysregulation – the body’s checks and balances are no longer functioning correctly. This disrupted process results in overeating and undermoving – which is why we work on the biochemistry first! However, once we get the biochemistry figured out, there is still much work to do. Years of struggling with weight leaves its mark. Part of the healing process is changing the way we look at food and interact with it regularly. Therefore, we spend most of our time focused on the mindset part of the journey (the actual “what to do” is pretty simple and straightforward!)
Motivation vs Momentum
Motivation is fickle. It’s unreliable. Yes, it can be sexy and dramatic and impressive – and it may show up out of the clear blue some days, but it’s not the way that human beings make long-term changes. Motivation is like an Instagram post – fleeting and easily forgotten once your brain moves on to […]
The All-or-none Story
I have had quite a few people lately tell me that they haven’t been eating well because they are an “all-or-none person”. I’m struggling with this. As someone that can be very intense, I sympathize with people that dive in deeply. However, this just simply isn’t true – and it’s certainly not a flippant reason […]
Homework
Unlike my children, a lot of my patients like homework. When the subject matter is relevant and people are trying desperately to improve something, it doesn’t seem like as much of a chore as doing 20 algebra problems. This is an exercise I have rolled out with patients lately and it’s proven to be pretty […]
What do Rocks Have to do With Health?
I love this analogy. Stephen Covey was a business author who popularized the ‘big rocks’ approach to productivity. In summary, your total available time for the next week is represented by a jar. You can fill the jar with any combination of big rocks, pebbles and sand. You have limited space in the jar, so […]
Stop Cheating
I’ve probably written about this before but I’m going to do it again – because it’s one of my pet peeves. At least one person every day comes into my office and begins a conversation with, “I’ve been really good except for the two times that I cheated.” First of all, eating healthy food doesn’t […]
Emerging
I’m not one to look back over my shoulder very often. It’s not necessarily a good thing all the time, but I tend to stay focused forward – always searching for what is over the horizon. Which means I don’t often dwell upon the way things used to be or lament the good old days. […]
Awareness is the First Step
Obesity is a disease that affects all of us. If you don’t struggle, chances are really high that someone you care about deeply suffers from this disease. In addition to affecting the individual health of people, this disease is costing our country billions of dollars. Billions of dollars in direct healthcare costs. Billions of dollars […]
Perfection is an Obstacle to Progress
I see so many people give up with their weight loss progress because they didn’t hit their “goals.” As much as we talk about this, some people have unrealistic expectations when it comes to their bodies. And human beings in general! If you haven’t taken care of your lawn for the past ten years and […]
Ulysses Contracts
During active weight loss, patients come into the office for a lot of things: doctoring, evaluation, support, community – but one of the things they crave most at first is accountability. Coming into the office to meet with us on a regular basis provides them with accountability. Some of our patients keep coming month after […]
All-Or-None
I ask all of my new patients what their barriers to success are going to be. Some people are completely surprised by this question – they’ve never really thought about it. Others have clearly thought a lot about it and can rattle off their obstacles like most of us can recite the Pledge of Allegiance. […]