Who Has Time To Slim Slowly?

I caught this tagline in a commercial the other day from a well-known giant in the billion dollar weight loss industry.

I chunked it down to yet another way of convincing people into believing that there is a long-term and lasting quick fix for weight loss.

It’s thinking like this that has brought America to its knees when it comes to winning the war on obesity and only serves to benefit the hotshot advertisers who stand behind it.

Being in the weight loss biz myself, I immediately countered that question with, “Who doesn’t?”

I know that I wound up way worse off after years and years of fad diets, false beliefs and the stress I put my body through in the process.

The chronic low level stress I felt inside from living a life completely out of alignment with my life’s purpose and the constant abuse and self-torture I inflicted upon myself as a result manifested in symptoms such as binge eating, excess weight and fatigue.

And none of it changed until I changed.

Every time I went on 1 of these diets, I put my body in starvation mode and it reacted as if I were on a desert island, slowing my metabolism and holding on to fat, thereby shutting off my fat burning mechanism.

In the end, not only did I gain the weight back, but an extra 10 or 15 pounds on top of it to boot.

Ironically, you would think that with all the diets out there, we would be the thinnest nation in the world. But we’re not.

With 72% of adult Americans overweight and 34% of kids, we are in fact the fattest nation on earth, and unless we begin to address the reason why and stop buying into fictitious ads it’s only going to escalate.

There are so many slick promos out there, especially right now, that use gimmicks, celebrities and fast fixes for weight loss, and want to you to believe that you’re overweight strictly because you eat too much, you don’t exercise enough and you have no willpower.

Weight loss goes much deeper than that. When you’re not relaxed, eating too fast and stressed, you can gain weight regardless of how much you eat.

There’s such a huge misunderstanding out there around this topic that it really irks me these ads are on the airwaves!

To counter it, I’ve developed my own personalized 3-pronged approach to weight loss that will free you from the shackles of food deprivation, calorie counting and punishing exercise:

1. Balance your Primary Foods first. Your Primary Foods include healthy relationships, a fulfilling career, spirituality however you define it, and physical activity. So what’s that mean? It means this. If you’re in a toxic relationship – or you hate your job it – leave it. And if you’re not exercising, find something you like to do that gets your body moving. If it’s not 2 hours on the tread, then find something else. Don’t force your way to weight loss. Plus, don’t forget your connection to Source. We all need Divine Guidance in our lives. Hallelujah.

2. Kick the sugar habit. What’s worse than being hooked on cocaine or heroin? You guessed it. Sugar. It’s that addictive. But those sneaky little food manufacturers don’t want you to know it! They would prefer you skip through life believing it makes you happy and gives you good juju, but it doesn’t.

Sugar messes with your mind and makes you crave more, and skyrockets your blood sugar so high that when you come crashing down you wind up feeling like crap. I used to be the biggest sugar junkie on the planet, but now I reign supreme over this delicious little deity. If sugar’s got you in its seductive snare, check out my 4-Week Sugar Shakedown and learn how to break free without feeling deprived.

3. Go gluten- and dairy-free. Now hold on to your hat. I know this might seem a bit overwhelming but stick with me on this 1. When I first learned I was gluten intolerant, I was downright pissed. No more oatmeal? WTF? But what I found out later surprised me.Over 40 years into life, I had no idea what gluten was doing to my digestive tract.

It completely tore it up, made me bloat, and caused boatloads of inflammation. Not good. And dairy’s no better. Aside from causing inflammation too (1 of the 5 root causes of disease by the way), dairy makes you gassy and creates a lot of mucous in your system. Not too hot.

Just dropping sugar, gluten and dairy alone will result in weight loss, but don’t discount the importance of balancing your Primary Foods too. Emotions drive behavior, and until you figure out why you crave, overeat, or binge, your weight won’t budge.

Most importantly, understanding that it took time to get where you are and that it will take time to get back is crucial to the process. I know we all want it now, but your body heals in its own time, not yours, so be patient.

My clients experience an average 10-15 pound weight loss in my 1-on-1 Reshape Your System Coaching Program. If you’d like to learn more about how my coaching programs can support you in 2011, contact me at angela@wellnesswithangela.com for a complimentary 20-Minute Natural Weight Release Discovery Session.