This marketing campaign fulfilled at least one if its goals ... it got me thinking. Not about Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or whatever other weight loss program it might have been touting. It got me thinking about individuality in relation to fitness and weight loss. Cookie cutter programs simply are not going to work long term, no matter how much this multi-million dollar industry wants you to believe so.
However, this concept doesn't apply only to "commercial" programs, such as WW or JC. It applies to the silly diet's, such as those involving cabbage soup, grapefruit, detox teas or whatever. It also applies to the serious programs, those based upon really solid nutritional advice. Those programs like The Eat Clean Diet (which I am a huge fan of), the Paleo Plan, The Mediterranean Diet, South Beach, Atkins (which I am NOT a huge fan of), etc. and so forth. They all work for a while, and most likely they will all work for everybody ... for a while.
At some point, the metabolism switches, the resolve and willpower diminishes, the body and mind stop responding. And that's when each individual person must dig deeper and find that something extra inside, that thing that reignites his metabolism, that reinvigorates her willpower. That is when the individual has to come back into play and figure out what works for him or her.
Here's what I know about me:
1. I get really bored eating the same things all the time and I will either a) quit eating or I will b) cheat.
2. I can't go "carb free". It makes my brain fuzzy, it makes me a stark, raving, bitch. (Sorry for the bad language, but it's the truth.)
3. My body doesn't respond to monotony in caloric intake. Meaning, I need to change it up every couple of days to keep the metabolism firing on all cylinders. If I eat exactly 1300 calories every day for weeks on end, my body will adjust and maintain. If I eat 900 calories every day, my body will adjust and maintain. If I eat more, say 1500 calories, my body will adjust and ... gain. Sad, huh?
4. The type and quality of calories matter a lot. 100 calories of apple will be used wisely by this little machine I call my body. 100 calorie snack pack of chocolate covered pretzels will not be used wisely, or used at all, and will be stored as fat. I am assuming until my body can figure out what to do with it. Nutrient rich food contains *data* this machine is familiar with and knows how to use. Nutrient deficient junky snack foods it treats like SPAM and throws into a "fat file" to be perused later, when I am trying to figure out why my computer (body) is running so slowly.
5. I need to allow myself the opportunity to cheat (treat myself) once in a while. I take it very personally that I am not "allowed" to have a glass or 2 of red wine with my husband once a week. It makes me feel deprived, but even more than that, it makes me feel ... juvenile. Like Mommy & Daddy are telling me I can't do something I already earned the right to do. And that makes me rebellious. Kinda like, well, if I am gonna get in trouble, I might as well do it really well. EARN my punishment. So if I am "dying" for that glass of wine, piece of cheese, slice of cake, I should allow myself a small glass, a bite, a taste ... rather than depriving and then going back later to binge in rebellion.
There's a lot more I am sure that I will learn about myself. But most importantly, it s that I am me, not Monica Brant, not Maureen, not Coach Dom ... ME. I can't expect my body to respond like anyone else's, and I need to be the biggest expert on "me" that there is.
“Every person is the creation of himself, the image of his own thinking and believing. As individuals think and believe, so they are.” ~Claude M. Bristol~
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