Day 109 - Guerilla Weight Loss

Okay, I know this is a picture of a gorilla so it is a play on words. But after 15 weeks on Medi Weight Loss I am a thinner and getting a little giddy with the results. So this week, I lost 1 pound for a total of 37 pounds...3 pounds to go to goal..and I'm thinking to myself, what got me here? Well, I got to thinking about because a lovely lady that I recently met had wanted me to meet her daughter in hopes that I could be an inspiration to her as the daughter has a weight problem as well. In speaking to the mother, the weight issue of her daughter sounded all too familiar to me. The ups the downs, the not finding a program that really works, etc. So now that I am this wonderful weight loss expert because I have been so successful --- ha, ha, ... I thought about the tactics that I took to get me to this place. To finally conquer the enemy. I waged Guerrilla warfare on my weight. In looking up guerrilla on the Internet, Wikipedia defines it as such: Guerrilla warfare is irregular warfare, conflicts in which a small group of combatants uses military tactics, like ambushes and raids, to harass a larger and less-mobile traditional army. So aside from the fact that every time I heard the words guerrilla warfare on the news, I imaged hundreds of gorillas fighting battles with guns, tanks, etc, I decided that the way I approached my weight loss was to do something "irregular" or at least "irregular" for me. Something out of the ordinary in terms of a plan for losing weight that I had not done before. The other thing was that I was going to outsmart my fat cells and my brain cells into losing this weight. So in a sense, I ambushed my own cells. I harassed the fat that was in my body as well as my own thoughts about losing weight. It was a 10-year war I was having with my own mind and my own body that I finally conquered. I thought there would never be a program that would help me. I tried and failed so many over the years, structured and unstructured, in meetings, and on my own. It was a long and tortuous road. So basically if I had a chance to speak to that lady's daughter this is what I would tell her. In my best Patton-like rhetoric.

Those fat cells have been with you for so long. They are resistant to everything you have tried. The more you try to starve them, they be after you for more. The more you give them, they will still want more. It is time that you put on your battle fatigues and tackle this war with everything you got.
1. Finally decide that you have had enough. Like Dr. Phil says, GET REAL with yourself. You are not going to spend another summer, holiday, etc. at the weight that you are currently. You are tired of running from the camera because you don't want the way you look immortalized in pictures. This is a talk you will have to have with yourself and you have to be really mentally ready to commit to a weight loss program 110%. This is no time for fooling around and dabbling and trying and see what happens. This is WAR.
2. Do not settle on a program that says to take the pounds off slowly. The reason why you are fat is because of your desire for instant gratification. Food provides instant gratification. So since we are of that mindset, we need instant gratification with weight loss or we will get discouraged and never follow the program through. Slow may be fine for somethings but not weight loss. I don't care what has been written or proven in science that long lasting weight loss has to be slow...get the weight off first and then deal with keeping it off.
3. Commit to the program. Whatever program you decide you are doing. Commit to it. Do not cheat, do not fudge, do not put off. Do it, do it now, and do it all the way. You are in it to win it.
4. The only way to lose weight is to eat less calories than what your body burns. You need to burn the fat by not adding fat in your diet and severely limiting carbs so you can burn the fat instead of the carbs in your body. I will add the caveat to always check with your doctor first or do this in a medically supervised setting. If you need to drop your calories down to 500-600/day and you need medication and supplemental support to do it, don't be afraid to ask for it. There are programs like Medi Weight Loss that provide these things or you can go to your doctor to be monitored on the medication. I was so afraid of "diet pills" because of their rebound weight gain effect that I didn't want to try it. But when I wanted to really do something and do it fast, I did my research about Medi and found that they covered all the bases to make sure that it would be safe and long-lasting weight loss. The dietitians are counselors that you meet with one on one to educate you and motivate you. You cannot do it alone. Also, You gotta shake it up. You can't keep doing the same things you have done for weight loss and expect different results...that is just INSANE. STOP THE INSANITY as another diet guru from the past had said.
5. Focus on what goes in your mouth first and then worry about the exercise. Almost every weight loss program will tell you to exercise to lose weight...BS! Yes it burns calories but ultimately, it is what you put in your mouth that puts weight on. If you restrict your fat, calories and carbs on a daily basis you will lose weight without exercise. I'm not saying become a couch potato by any means but at least in the beginning get your mind right about food first and the exercise will come into play later. Sugar and gluten-based products are not your friends. They are the worst, sinister enemies of your body. Cleanse your body of these vile products and you will not crave them as much and you will be successful. Light walking while you are losing is healthy and helpful but if you are restricting calories and carbs you can do your body more harm than good by exercising too vigorously in that you will burn the protein in your body rather than the fat. Find a diet that is right for you but one that is low carb. The ones I hear recommended by the doctors I work for are the Adkins diet and the low-glycemic diet. The Medi Weightloss diet is similar to both these diets because it requires you to eat 500 calories of lean protein a day and 2 servings of low-glycemic vegetables or 1 serving of low glycemic vegetable and 1 approved fruit serving. Again, check with your doctor before embarking on any weight loss plan.

Since I'm still losing and not in the maintenance phase yet it is hard for me to talk about maintaining but I am a little apprehensive about putting the weight back on now that my goal is close. I have the wonderful dietitians at Medi there to lay out my maintenance plan for me and like I followed the plan to lose the weight, I am committed to following the plan to maintain the weight. I feel and look the best I have in years and I am not going back to the "old me." Those old fat cells can just try to come after my new thinner cells and I will just take the old bazooka out and blow them to smithereens.