The Naked Truth About Weight Loss
November 17, 2004
By Glenn Mueller
When you strip away all the popular myths, the only effective way to keep the pounds off for good is to dedicate yourself to making a complete lifestyle change.
As a columnist and member of eDiets team of experts, Julia Havey regularly bares her soul to members in hopes that they won’t make the same mistakes she did. While making her journey from overweight to looking great, Julia took a detour and tried just about every fad diet and weight loss gimmick available -- including wearing a pair of so-called "miracle weight loss pants" that she ordered from a magazine advertisement.
Loyal eDiets readers already know that this best-selling author eventually lost over 130 pounds, no thanks to the pants. Perhaps more importantly, they also know that Julia has now kept that weight off for over 10 years. Though her story does read like a fairy tale, it wasn’t magic wands or glass slippers that helped Julia win the crown for 1999 Mrs. Missouri. It was a conscious decision to take control of her life.
"We all basically have two choices in life," says Julia. "We can either let things stay the way they are or work to make them better."
For Julia, the hard work began when it seemed as if her life couldn’t get any worse. As if having a cheating husband, a dead-end job and 290 pounds to carry around wasn’t bad enough, Julia had a confrontation with a homeless person. When she stopped at a gas station to buy a candy bar, the man shouted at her, "Girl, you got too much food in you! That’s right, too much food in you!"
Though she hit rock bottom, Julia would soon learn that it is always darkest just before the lite. The brief encounter with the homeless man forced Julia to finally come to terms with her food vices once and for all.
"I realized that I was eating a half gallon of ice cream every night," says Julia. "I didn’t need a diet as much as I needed control in my life. I had spent 15 years dieting, and all the foods I shouldn't have been eating were still out there tempting me."
Julia made the difficult decision to take control back from her food vices. She gave up eating ice cream completely and found other ways to reward herself, such as getting a manicure. Now that she has made it her mission in life to help other people achieve a healthier lifestyle, Julia encourages everyone to take control of their food choices.
"We need to bust our vices," says Julia. "It is important to eliminate the foods that control us."
In a recent eDiets survey, Julia says chips, candy, soft drinks, pizza and ice cream were identified as the most common food vices. Over 70 percent of the respondents with a food vice admitted their dieting efforts were knocked off track either daily or weekly due to cravings.
"People turn to food when they are depressed," says Julia. "Some people eat because they are feeling lonely. The problem is that the minute you have finished the last bit of Twinkie, you are still lonely. However, now you are also angry with yourself."
This summer, Julia attended the ABC News/Time Magazine Summit on Obesity held in Williamsburg, Virginia. The event brought together experts involved in all aspects of the health and weight loss fields, including doctors, authors, corporate executives and members of the media.
"Though the leading experts had different opinions about which healthy eating plan was the best, they agreed that all of them can help you lose weight," says Julia. "But, you are likely to gain the weight back unless you make a permanent lifestyle change. That’s what is currently missing from the diet culture in America."
And, Julia believes there is more to building a healthy lifestyle than simply eating healthy foods. She says one of the reasons she has been able to keep her weight off for so many years is that she has adopted a complete approach to healthy living.
"You need to look at a making a lifestyle change as if you are building a house," says Julia. "If you only focus on one corner, your house is going to crumble."
According to Julia, building a healthy lifestyle must include the following four pillars:
1. Water Intake: "Many health experts do everything but tell people to drink plenty of water," says Julia. "Drinking water is really one of the most important things you can do for your health, since our bodies are largely made up of water. It is estimated that 75 percent of Americans are not drinking enough water. Many dieters also mistake feelings of thirst for hunger."
2. Positive Mindset: As somebody who spent years as her own worst critic, Julia knows it is not easy to adopt a positive attitude overnight. "I have managed to stay so positive, because I make a conscious choice to do so," she says. "I was first able to start rebuilding my self-esteem when I realized that fat was just a physical condition and not a personality trait."
3. Healthy Eating: "I think the USDA food pyramid is really outdated," says Julia. She doesn’t think people need to eat 6-11 daily servings from the bread, cereal, rice and pasta group. In her book Awaken The Diet Within, Julia presents her own health pyramid that she has used to replace the one recommended by the USDA. Julia’s pyramid emphasizes fruits and vegetables and meats, fish and protein. At the top of her pyramid is a sparing amount of breads and starches.
4. Exercise: "It is very important to incorporate some form of physical activity into your daily life," says Julia. She has worked her way up to an active fitness regimen that includes training and weightlifting four days a week, spinning classes three days a week and a group fitness class two days a week. "I do take Sunday off," says Julia. "Sunday is family day all day. However, even our family fun time often involves physical activities like playing football in the yard and walking the dog."
Julia invites anyone who is currently struggling to take off extra weight or rebuild self-esteem to email her. She says the average person who visits her website has spent about 20 years dieting. "The reason these people are so upset is because they feel like they have failed," says Julia. "The truth is, they just haven’t gone about weight loss the right way."
In addition to the resources she provides on eDiets, Julia has designed her LifeChanger Program to help people build a healthy life one step at a time. The LifeChanger program offers a roadmap to healthy living that anyone can follow. The program includes a journal, an audio program, a getting stated video, an exercise video and ongoing online support. Julia also emphasizes that her LifeChanger Program will work with any healthy eating plan.
"We don’t change everything about you overnight," says Julia. "We just work on one healthy change at a time. Just think of the tortoise and the hare."
Source:www.ediets.com
|
