Leverage

A couple weeks ago, a coworker asked me to create a series of classes on "Increasing your activity level to aid in weight loss". My program would be a complement to her nutrition series entitled Weight Management 101. Since she is a dietician and I am an exercise physiologist, this seems like a natural fit.

In order to get me started, she gave me the information she was going to use from the National Institutes of Health entitled "The Practical Guide to Identification, Evalutation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obese Adults". (and it was as dynamic of a read as the title indicates)

As I kicked around the idea of this program in my head, I keep coming back to the question:

Why would anyone, who already has a membership to my fitness facility and presumably is using it, choose to spend an hour listening to me talk about being more active when during that same hour, they could actually be active???

The best answer I could come up with was: Leverage

Investing the hour with me this month will allow them to leverage that time and become more active during the rest of their workouts. Hopefully, the knowledge they gain will give them an opportunity to burn more calories over the long haul than they would have if they continued doing exactly what they are currently doing because they didn't invest the hour in coming and listening to me.

The idea of leverage intrigues me -- both for eating and for activity (and, if I am honest with you, for money and for time).

The idea that I can make a small investment that will grow without much addition input of resources (additional time or money) so that I can create a greater desired outcome -- that is fantastic!!

So you know how leveraging your money works -- I make a commitment to have 6% of my paycheck taken out and put into a 401k -- starting when I am 24. Because my wage is small, there isn't much money going into the 401k -- of course, the sacrifice of giving up that 6% isn' that great either.

Over time, that 6% grows and compounds and over my working lifetime it adds up to something I can retire on (really comfortably -- I hope).

The same can be said for activity. In the 1930's, we burned enough calories in everyday tasks (think opening the garage door, starting the car, pulling it out of the garage, getting out of the car to MANAUALLY pull the garage door shut / dragging the carpets out onto the line to beat them with a stick instead of letting the Roomba do all the work / ect) to add up to the calories of 5 cheesecakes a month. -- Think about it, if you were doing all of those activities required for just living life in the 1930's, you could eat 1.25 cheesecakes per week and still stay at the same weight you are right now! Talk about leveraging the situation.

So what about food? How do you leverage your food choices?

The first idea is maximize your enjoyment!!!! If is doesn't taste GREAT -- only eat enough of it to get rid of your physical hunger.

If it does taste great, ENJOY every bite -- really taste it!

And most of all -- don't disregard all of the little "deposits" you make in the calorie savings bank! If you are able to decrease your fullness level by one number (from a 9 to an 8, let's say) at a meal, that is just like making that small 6% deposit into your 401k. The extra calories that are not satisfying physcial hunger are not going to be stored as fat AND you have had one more success in creating a habit of recognizing that a level 8 can be VERY satisfying even if it is not VERY full. That habit will make it more likely you will choose to eat less at another meal in the future, create another success, and increase your positive spiral.

All of your positive work (that, of course, you are CELEBRATING!! -- because that is the right thing to do with victories and you would celebrate with a friend if she were making these same decisions -- so you really should be celebrating when you make them for yourself!) ... positive decisions tend to lead to more positive decisions. When you are successful, you feel more empowered to make other challengine choices and be successful with those. With this phylosophy, your positive choices grow exponentially and you feel great about it! (This is very exciting to see. This is why I LOVE what the coaching I do!!)

So give the idea of leverage some thought. In your mind, when you choose to leave something uneaten -- think about it adding to your weight loss account. When you eat something that tastes great, know that you are EXPERIENCING the food and really appreciate it. That, too, is a deposit in the weight loss account because if you are tasting it and it is fantastic, there will be a time when you eat less of something because it does NOT taste fantastic and you know you can be satisfied with less of it.

And most of all -- no matter how much weight you need/want to lose or how much you are struggling to maintain your weight right now, giving the mindful eating approach some extra time and thought right now, will save you time, thought and heartache in dealing with your weight in the future -- and that is the ultimate leverage.