Monday, February 15, 2010

Common Sense?

I have been reading a lot lately about different diet plans and exercise plans. I think it is interesting to look at some testimonials and see things like 'this plan really works!' and 'I have never lost weight on a diet before, but this one is effective.' It seems pretty much like common sense to me that if you want to lose weight that you have to burn more calories than you are taking in. So basically eat less and exercise more. It isn't rocket science. It really isn't. But yet you see so many people who are overweight who want an 'easy answer'.

But then that goes for more than just diet and exercise. Being a massage therapist, I have come across numerous clients who had physiotherapy and massage therapy recommended to them. They tend to come for massage therapy because it doesn't require much work on their part. I have heard so many times from people, "I went to physio, and it felt okay while I was going, but as soon as I was done I was right back to where I started." Did you do the exercises that the physio recommended? 90% of the time the answer is no. People want easy answers and immediate results.

I was in Parables on Saturday picking up a book for our Bible study group. When I was there I noticed a book called The Eden Diet and picked it up and read the back. I was curious about it, so I just looked it up online. It sounds like it is basically retraining you to listen to your body and only eat when your body actually feels hungry. Again, sounds like common sense, but I know I am guilty of eating when I am not hungry. Eating socially, or eating for emotional reasons, or silly cravings. It also said on the back of the book that it asks the question, if you had a piece of delicious chocolate cake in front of you or a shiny beautiful red apple, are you hungry enough to eat the apple? If the answer is no, then you don't get to eat the cake. I think that's an interesting spin on the idea of hunger. It reminds me of being a kid, 'Mom, I'm hungry.' 'You can have an apple.' 'I don't want an apple, I want (fill in the blank).' 'Then you obviously aren't that hungry.'

My sister has been training for a figure competition since last summer. She is currently only about 7 weeks away from her competition and is going to the gym seven days a week. She has to do 80 minutes of cardio each day, plus she does resistance training on various areas of her body throughout the week. She said that diet is about 80% of losing weight. She is on a super restrictive, approximately 1500 calorie/day diet that includes mainly lean protein (ie fish, chicken breast, protein shakes), a bit of oatmeal, eggs, and veggies. Up until last summer, she had been going to the gym 3-4 times/week for about three years and in that time she actually gained weight because she wasn't watching her food intake.

I went to the gym with my sister today. I did 40 minutes of cardio with her (20 minutes on the eliptical, 10 minutes on the recumbent bike and 10 minutes on the rowing machine) then I did her leg workout with her. Obviously I did not do as much weight, or as many reps as her, but overall I was pleased with my abilities. I do however think I like doing circuit training at home with Jillian Michaels better. Depending how sore I am tomorrow I will carry on with level 2 of the 30 Day Shred.

1 comment:

LJE said...

i read "thin within" about a year and a half ago and really liked it - it talks about the concept of eating when you're hungry, but also the concept that if we deny ourselves the chocolate cake, then we're only going to want it more later and probably overindulge. So if you're hungry, eat the chocolate cake but eat only a small bit of it as part of a generally balanced diet.