Folks smarter than myself have developed something called the “Stages of Change” which is based on the Transtheoretical model. In my own life I have gone through certain stages as it relates to food and nutrition. The very first thing that I have had to do is to ‘Manage My Mouth’.
If you have struggled with your weight in the past to the extent that I have, you probably learned a few things about yourself along the way. One of the things that I have learned is that I am an Emotional and Stress Eater. In my class, Lose It Fast Lose It Forever, I explain the chemistry behind emotional and stress eating and the hormones that are involved (such as Gherelin, Leptin and Cortisol). These hormones either affect our desires to eat or are affected when we give in to stress and emotions and end up binging.
Now back to those changes I mentioned before. Here are some of the nutritional changes that I practiced after I left The Biggest Loser ranch that have enabled me to make sure that my weight loss was permanent.
Stages of Nutritional Change (AKA – Going from Fat to Free with Food):
- Recognize your emotional or stress eating patterns
- Set up modifications to help you manage your stressful and emotional eating situations.
- Begin to create and practice healthier eating practices for daily life.
- Create different eating plans and practices for different situations.
- Plan ahead for reoccurring food related events in your life such as office parties, holiday gatherings etc.
- Repeat the above positive behaviors until they become second nature.
In Part Two I will give you some details of how I apply these stages of change and have used them 5 years after I first appeared on The Biggest Loser.
In the mean time check out HealthyWage, which provides health incentives for everyone. Incentives make accountability fun, and studies show that incentives increase your odds of success. Check it out! And keep up the good work!
This article was re-printed from a blog post over at www.WinningMan.com.
