by patbarone
During an interview this week, I was asked a question that stopped me in my tracks.
“What derails you?”
It took me a couple minutes of thought before I could even get my head around this. It felt a little familiar – like maybe I once knew what it was like, but it was a dim memory.
I’ve been losing weight a long time. Like, if there’s an award for long-term change, I’m in line for it. But what happens when you keep going is that some things that seemed like BIG CONCEPTS and HUGE AH-HAs become…
well…
just life.
So I told the interviewer:
(more…)
by patbarone
Ya gotta laugh at the way many so-called “journalistic” websites report the news about obesity. Take this article on the new drug combination Qnexa, for example. (View full article here.)
They’re so anxious to report that something, anything, will fix the overweight condition, they’re willing to write around some obvious truths and obscure the real news people need.
Here are my notes on key segments of the story:
A combination of two drugs — along with advice regarding healthy diet and exercise — may be an effective treatment for obesity, a new study suggests.
Pat’s Note: The words “along with advice regarding healthy diet and exercise” – ADVICE? How about adherence? That’s all you need. And why do they always say “it works, along with healthy diet and exercise”? If healthy diet and exercise were present, we wouldn’t need drugs. They actually include that phrase as a way out – when it doesn’t work, they blame the patient for not adding the “healthy diet and exercise.”
(more…)
by patbarone
The new movie “Limitless”, starring Bradley Cooper as a blocked writer seeking a pharmaceutical boost to meet a publisher’s deadline, inspired this post.
The movie is built around several cliches, including the one known as “blocked writer syndrome” (I’m always incredulous when I hear “blocked writers with publishers’ deadlines”, since I have 3 books ready for publication right here on my desk, can always meet a deadline, am a self-starter and finisher (because I can coach myself out of any hesitancy), and have no contract yet) — but its bigger themes include “power is seductive” and “today’s world lacks humanity.”
Another cliche caught my attention though. It’s the “quick fix.” Our growing cultural belief that we can “fast forward” (more…)
by patbarone
Having traveled my own quite complicated journey out of body hatred and losing over 70 lbs permanently, I’ve come to believe every body is different and unique, though we’re led by society/culture to believe their is a “standard.” I’ve had the experience of coaching hundreds of women towards their own unique “optimal” weight, and discovered we all lose weight at different rates (and, yes, in different places!).
Loving and appreciating our own distinctiveness isn’t the easy road in our society, but it can be done.
I once had a client lose weight at a rate of a pound a month, and be upset (more…)
by patbarone
The debate over yoga and weight loss persists today with “fitness experts” often arguing that yoga doesn’t burn enough calories to be considered “exercise” and yoga practitioners adamantly testifying to its benefits.
As a veteran of long-term sustained weight loss and a yoga devotee for eight years, here’s my perspective on yoga for weight loss.
There are many different types of yoga, all requiring different energy (calorie) quotients and physical capability. Some yogas (vinyasa and flow types) require students to move quite a lot throughout a yoga class; others increase demand through heat (Bikram, Forrest); and some are quite gentle and slow (yin, restorative).
(more…)
