  
Who is this Program for?
If you are or
have been obese or 30 lbs or more over your ideal healthy weight, then answer the following set of questions to determine
if the Tools for a Balanced Lifestyle Program is for you. Answer true or false if the following statements are currently true
or have been true:
__1. I have a poor body
image & I don't like looking at myself in the mirror.
__2.
I'm bothered by my weight & it interferes in my personal happiness.
__3. I have
problems gaining & maintaining intimate personal relationships, which are personally
fulfilling.
__4.
I'm bothered by compulsive behaviors (i.e.: dieting, shopping, gambling, risk taking, sex, mood altering drugs, alcohol, over
the counter medications, prescription drugs, credit card use, relationships, excessive exercise, rescuing others,
workaholism etc.)
__5. I have
low self-esteem when it comes to comparing my weight & body size to others.
__6. I experience
depression over my weight and body image.
__7.
I've tried a number of diet programs & been a yo-yo dieter & still regain my weight when I'm done with the diets.
__8.
I don't maintain a healthy level of physical activity &/or exercise in my life.
__9.
I don't have a healthy understanding of food in my life.
__10. I
am sick and tired of having my weight related problems.
If you have answered true to 3 or more of the above questions & are or have been obese or 30 lbs or more over your ideal
healthy weight, then the Tools for a Balanced Lifestyle Program is meant for you.
Topics to be Covered in Each Weekly Session
Part
1: Overcoming Triggers to Relapse
The weekly sessions address topics such as:
Part 2: Developing a New Relationship with Food
The
weekly sessions address topics related to Intuitive Eating such as:
- the nutritional aspects of food
- the chemistry of food
- what research tells you about what foods are nutritious
- the rational perspective on eating healthy
- the appropriate priority of food in your life
- the common sense approach to eating right
- the "non-dieting" mentality
- the freedom to eat without guilt
- making eating a healthy habit
- how to eat for living rather than living to eat, etc.
Utilizing the 10 Principles
of Intuitive Eating
Part
3: A Healthy Personal Exercise Program
The
weekly sessions will assist you to improve your daily exercise program so that by the end of the 12 week program you will be fully & entirely engaged in a healthy exercise program, which suits your physical needs.
Topics
to be covered are how to choose what is right for me, what stands in my way of exercising, what are my feelings & beliefs about exercise & exercising, what excuses do I give myself to prevent me from exercising the way my body needs me to etc….
Part 4: Personal
Sharing & Personal Testimonials
The weekly
sessions will also include a time for sharing of what has & is working for each of the participants so that in the sharing
motivation & interest in pursuing news strategies of success with food, exercise & balanced living will be achieved.
What it Takes for Permanent Weight Loss
Going for the 3 Increases:
- Increase in Health
- Increase in Happiness
- Increase in Energy
Strategies for Success in Weight Management
By: James J. Messina, Ph.D.
What we know
- Losing weight has been a
lifelong struggle for millions of Americans
- Highly restrictive diets,
liquid diets, potions, pills & other miracle cures generally don't result in long-term weight loss & may be harmful
to health
- Most people who lose weight
rapidly gain it back within a year.
- Permanent weight loss comes from making permanent healthy lifestyle changes
- You can lose weight by eating a balanced, low fat, high fiber diet & getting 30 minutes of physical activity daily
- Small, consistent changes, over time, will bring closer & closer to ideal weight
- Example: reducing daily calorie intake by 250 to 500 calories & will result in weight loss of 1/2 to 1 pound per week
- If skip dessert & trimmed 150 calories off daily food intake, in a year would lose 15 pounds or more
Research Tells Us....
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The Goal of the Program
The
Tools for a Balanced Lifestyle Program is designed to assist its participants to develop new strategies for success
in addressing the essential components of a healthy lifestyle of recovery from being overweight.
The lifestyle changes include:
Principles of the Tools for a Balanced Lifestyle Program
1. This is a lifestyle change program to modify your relationship with food, exercise & body weight.
2. This program
requires a great deal of accountability with a daily record sheet faxed in to the program facilitator by each group participant.
3. Your success in this program is not dependent on how much weight you lose but rather on how well you manage to continue to keep it off.
4. You'll never be asked to
compare your success with others in the program
5. You'll be expected to follow a Intuitive Eating Model, which meets your needs.
6. You're expected to be engaged in a fully planned & developed exercise program by the end of your first 14 weeks in this program.
7. This is a guilt-free program, so let go of your old notions & ideas about how guilt motivates you to be successful to lose weight or exercise.
8. Enter this
program because it will be good for you. Do this program only for yourself & don't do it to please or to gain approval from others.
9. Do tell others
you are involved with this program so that they can assist you to stay on your new programs of relating to food, exercise & weight management.
10. Don't set
too high or too unrealistic goals for yourself as you enter the program.
11. Maintain realistic
& reality based expectations and standards for yourself as you progress through this program.
12. Keep the focus
only on yourself while working on and in this program of personal recovery. Let
go of the need to fix or take care of your fellow participants in the program.
13. Keep an open
mind to the suggestions offered in this program. Try something before you convince yourself it will never work for you.
14. Let go of
your critical, judgmental and controlling attitudes as you enter this program so that you are able to hear the messages of
hope, encouragement and support which it offers.
You will find that the time
you spend on balancing your lifestyle will be the most productive investment you have ever made in your life.
Best of Luck as you begin your journey into a new Lifestyle, which is healthy and balanced.
Jim Messina, Ph.D. Life Strategist
The Answer to Weight Loss Is Easy - Doing It Is Hard!
Marion J. Franz, MS, RD, LD, CDE
The rate of obesity &
the number of "dieters" are increasing in parallel! Surveys consistently show that most adults are trying to lose or maintain weight.1
More than 54 million Americans are currently on a diet,2 yet the prevalence of overweight & obesity continues
to increase. If dieting worked, obesity should be decreasing or at least not increasing.
It's true that many
dieters succeed in taking weight off, but very few - maybe just 5%, but at most 10% - manage to keep the weight off over the long term. 3–5
Statistics suggest that about
1/2 of the adult population in the United States is overweight
(body mass index [BMI = weight/height2] 25–30)
& 16% are obese (BMI >30).6
It isn't surprising that
so many consumers are searching for the "magic bullet" that'll allow them to lose weight quickly & effortlessly.
Unfortunately, health professionals
also contribute to this phenomenon by constantly warning the public & their patients about the perils
of being overweight. And herein lies the quandary - how to solve the problem of increasing obesity & its related
health risks without making the problem worse.
Many Professionals Claim to Have the Solution to Weight Loss
There seem to
be many "authorities" out there who have the answer - buy their book, buy their product, come to their program
& you'll lose weight.
A search of Amazon.com
using the words "weight loss" revealed 1,214 matches with 58% published after 1999 & 85% since 1997.5
Many
of the 20 best sellers at Amazon.com promote some form of carbohydrate restriction - Dr. Atkins’
New Diet Revolution, The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet, Protein Power, Lauri’s
Low-Carb Cookbook.
So
people do buy their books & products & attend their programs & do lose weight.
But although there
appear to be easy solutions to the weight-loss problem, these solutions tend to be, at best, temporary. Even
the "gold standard" behavioral weight-loss programs - those involving 16–24 treatment sessions over
6 months including self-monitoring, low-fat diet & exercise - consider an average weight loss of
18–20 lb a success, but also report that participants retain only 60% of their initial weight loss 1
year after treatment.3
Another study4 reported the average duration of weight-loss
programs to be 18 weeks, with moderately obese individuals losing 10% of their body weight. However, at
1 year, 34% had regained the lost weight & at 3 to 5 year follow-up, there was a gradual return to baseline
weight.
To determine what's
required to maintain weight loss, a national registry searched nationwide & found a small number (in comparison to the number of people who diet) of successful weight losers.
In a descriptive study
of 784 participants,7 the investigators reported that participants
who lost an average of 66 lb (30 kg) & kept off at least 30 lb (13.6 kg) for an average of 5.5 years
expend an average of 2,800 kcal per week thru physical activity or an average of 1.5 h of exercise daily &
eat less than 1,400–1,500 kcal with  20% of their calories from fat.
In other words,
their life is devoted to weight loss! But we all want an easier answer, so the parade of quick fixes continues.
Given the beneficial effects
of weight-loss treatments on medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes & cardiovascular disease, reputable
researchers continue to search for innovative ways to improve treatment outcomes.8
As researchers
continue to search for solutions to the problem of weight regain after weight loss, other medical
professionals "buy into" the claims made for the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets & without any research
documenting the long-term effectiveness of this solution, they recommend the latest book to their patients.
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