Recently I noticed my 2 cats, especially my little girl Mitzi, getting kind of round around her middle.  She couldn’t be pregnant – she’s been fixed and so has Brian, my male cat.  He is like all males – more muscle and looks leaner than my female feline.  So some food restrictions needed to be implemented in our home.  Did everyone get excited about the new changes – No!  Did she realize or even care that eating less would mean being leaner and prettier?  Nope, Mitzi really doesn’t have any insecurity around her looks. She knows she’s wonderful –sweet and purrrfect! 

We can all learn a great deal from our wonderful pets. So she really had no clue why her loving human parents wouldn’t give her what she wanted – FOOD – lots of it and all the time.  And don’t get me started on her gargantuan “need” for cat treats.

I got to thinking how similar we are to these furry friends.

You don’t really want to eat the things you should.  You really don’t want to have to follow any food lists, count grams or control your portions – right?   You want none of that!  “It’s crazy making!” you claim and yet – what are your options?  You know you have to do SOMETHING, because your weight and your eating have gotten out of control or worse yet you are doing “everything right” but nothing’s changing – your clothes are tight, you feel unhappy.  Welcome to the world of discipline and determination which, believe it or not, can breed a true sense of comfort.

Here are some of the ways you may think you are on the right track and but you really you aren’t.  It’s the old playing cat tricks and, essentially, only fooling yourself.

Here are some ways you may be fooling yourself:

#1  I’ll think about it tomorrow.  Remember this classic line from Gone with the Wind?  It was virtually Scarlett O’Hara’s mantra.   Scarlett hoped all her problems, challenges, and things that upset her would disappear in the morning.

The only problem is if you keep pushing what you need to take care of today to tomorrow, hoping  and praying things will change, the awful truth is it probably won’t.  You need to make a concerted effort to do something about your situation.  In the end, Scarlett, learned to increase her humility and take charge of everything life threw at her. She became stronger and wiser.

#2  Are my friends sabotaging me?  Do you ever find that pleasing your friends is more important than pleasing yourself?  Even though they say they are your friends they may secretly, or not so secretly, be threatened by your new resolve to take better care of yourself.  They may shoot down your plan even before you start your healthy eating, exercising, or getting to sleep earlier. Keep your new plan to yourself or the very least share it with those who you know will support you.  Be really clear about what it takes for you to feel supported.  Don’t fool yourself into thinking someone is on your side but they really aren’t.  Do they criticize you?  Do they tend to be jealous of you or what you have?  Do they have unhealthy habits they either don’t realize they have or don’t want to change?  These are all questions you need to ask.

#3  I’ll buy bigger clothes.   I seriously know this is not on the top of your list but you may find yourself using this excuse as a safety latch just in case you end up doing nothing. Do like the French women do – they have their simple, classic, well made wardrobe and if anything feels tight they automatically cut back on their eating.  You may say it’s easier to do when it’s only 1 or 2 lbs – what if it’s more – what do you do then?   That’s where it begins.  By taking better care of yourself today, with discipline, you can take pride in yourself by maintaining your healthy body.  And by doing all the right things to get you to your ideal weight and stay there you, too, will be able to use this exquisite French Method.

#4 Crying over Spilled…  No sense looking at your past.  Starting today you will be making some changes.  Forget about any past “mistakes” or past “failures”.  They were a necessary part of your journey – they got you to where you are right now.  Just move on – start fresh.  Really it’s much easier if you take a fresh look at yourself and your life rather than dwelling in the past.  You have a tremendous opportunity right in this very moment.

#5 Too much complaining.   My cat Mitzi has been doing a lot of that lately – she meows, whines, crooks her neck in her oh so cute way.  I used to give into to her pleading – after all she looked so sweet and her meow – well, enough to make any frustrated parent melt.  Nonetheless she needed to be reigned in and restricted.  After all it was for her own good.  Remember this, too.  It is for your own good.  You are not doing this – healthy eating, creating new healthy habits or losing weight – for anyone but yourself – please remember that.

Is your weight genetic?  Obesity genes account for only 5 percent of all weight problems. So 95 percent of any weight problems have nothing to do with your genes.  This fact has not affected the high incidence of obesity we see in our culture. We can’t blame the obesity problem on high fat diets either. Even though fat contains 9 calories per gram, as opposed to carbohydrates or protein which actually contain 4 calories per gram, we still can’t nail our epidemic on the consumption of fat.  In fact, research has shown that low-fat diets don’t work either and they actually cause more harm than good. And to top it off – avoiding fat in your diet is not a major determinant of body fat. The Women’s Health Initiative, which is the largest clinical trial of diet and body weight, found that 50,000 women on low fat diets had no significant weight loss.

Did you know you can actually be at an “ideal” weight that appears to be perfect and  actually be considered clinically obese?  We call it “Skinny Fat”.  Many models who you think of as skinny or lean may actually have a high percentage of body fat.  Anything over 30% is considered clinically obese.  Many of these “ideal” model types have actually very little lean muscle on their bodies.  They are literally, as we often say, only skin and bones and let’sinclude fat under that skin to our description as well.  It’s so important to know what your actual body fat composition, or your fat to muscle ratio, is.  This marker determines not only your true slimness but also your true state of health.  This is the reason I always recommend having your body fat composition tested.

Even without getting the actual test done – eating in a whole and balanced way – the method I teach clients – is the ultimate prevention of falling into the  “skinny fat” category.  Here’s a secret – you can actually eat more when you have a higher category.  Here’s a secret – you can actually eat more when you have a higher percentage of lean muscle mass than less to maintain your weight.  Your body becomes a virtual furnace and can efficiently break down what you consume – easily.  I’m not saying that it easily burnseverything down.  If you feed your body unhealthy foods – your muscle mass will decrease and so will your “furnace’s” ability to burn calories.  There are 2 main things that increase lean muscle mass – resistance exercise and protein.  Both in appropriate amounts for your body size and exercise level will give you the desired lean muscle to fat ratio you are looking for.

Back to the issue of treating obesity and weight – the ultimate is in personalizing your approach. In my field of nutrition we are hearing more and more about something called Nutrigenomics.  It is the science of how we can use food to influence our genes.  Yes, you heard that right – our diet can influence and potentially change our gene’s expression.  Let’s call it Genetic Eating if you will.  When we give your body the building blocks and proper nutrition your genes get “turned on” so to speak.  Simply put – you come into this world with a certain genetic makeup and if you don’t “feed” your genes properly – thehealthy expression of our genes stops.  For example – let’s call it the “healthy weight gene” without the proper nutrients this gene shuts down and weight gain takes over and that is what you see.  In order to turn the genetic light switch back on we need to give our body the right current-cy  (a little play on words there) – so they work.     Of course this is a very simple explanation of an extremely complex process.  The most important thing for you to understand is that you can change your genes, and fit into your jeans, and YOUR Diet plays one of the most crucial roles in this regard.

Until next time – Stay Healthy and Choose your foods carefully!

Freaky Genes? This English Model has tried everything, she says, to change her hour glass figure but even with any weight loss her body still maintains this unusual and rare shape.