The Diet Guy

Product Review - Shut Up, Stop Whining And Get A Life

Tough Love?

This book recommendation is from a subscriber to my newsletter, her name is Helen Jay and she is a good friend of mine.

 

Helen reduced her weight by an amazing eight stone some five years ago now and has totally got the mindset of just being slim! Helen is a diet counsellor in Bournemouth so if you are looking for a true inspiration to help you help yourself then mail me for her details!

 

This book by Larry Winget is a "no nonsense" approach to having what you want in life, this book is certainly not for the shrinking violets as it "tells it like it is" but if you prefer a punchy style to your reading that is honest and to the point then this is the book for you.

 

The thing I like with this is that Larry doesn't mind whether you like him or not, he just wants you to be happier and move on with your life and if you really ask yourself the questions he asks then you can make big footsteps in your life.

 

Anyway to grab a copy then get it from Amazon.co.uk at this link

 

Shut Up, Stop Whining & Get A Life

  

Overall Diet Guy Rating 8.5 Out Of 10

My First Diet

I was chatting to someone yesterday and they asked me the first time I can remember dieting, I thought back and I think I was around twelve years old, I can remember it was a summer holiday and I was staying with my gran. My mum had found a diet that was doing the rounds at work which involved eating spinach on one day and steak on the next day for a week to supposedly drop half a stone.

I can remember seeing it as a prison sentence for a week and spent each day obsessing over when my next bowl of spinach or steak was coming. I would dive on the scales on an almost hourly basis to see whether I had lost an ounce or two.

And from that week I was hooked into the dieting lifestyle, I was either on a diet or not on a diet but both ways it was about dieting. When on a diet I would be struggling to hang in there and keep to the plan and when not on a diet I would be eating as much as I could because I was always a few days off starting the next diet, and everytime I dieted and ate again I was a few pounds heavier than I was the time before. I can remember doing a famous diet for 2 years and being two pounds heavier at the end of it than at the start.

Because dieting grabs you like that, it becomes a lifestyle, you start bonding with your friends talking about dieting, you start planning your meals hours and days in advance, you buy books on dieting, download fact sheets, join weight loss forums, go to gyms, cook special red day meals etc etc. You end up so in the dieting lifestyle that you actually gain out of being overweight because it is a hobby to diet and without needing to diet then what else would you do? I mean if you went to work and everyone was chatting about the latest diet and what foods were good/bad and you didn't need to diet then what would you talk about ?

So forget about your weight for a few minutes and just look at your lifestyle, just how many hours a week do you work on your dieting, how much time do you talk about food and weight, how much time you really invest in the dieting lifestyle and what could you do instead ?

 

I Don't Want To Die

Focus On What You Want And Not What You Don't Want 

Most dieters actually perceive themselves to be quite positive about their weight and their lives. They are taking action and moving on but what they say will very much dictate the results they will get.

What they think is a positive mindset is actually based on fear and what they don't want, as opposed to optimism and what they do want.

 

Let me give you some examples.

 

How many times have you said or heard other people say

 

1. I don't want to die

2. I don't want to be the fat mum in the playground

3. I don't want people to laugh at me

4. I don't want to wear big clothes

5. I don't want to go to a wedding looking like I do now

6. I don't want to get on a plane when I can't fit in the seat

7. I don't want to go on holiday looking like this

 

etc etc etc

 

But all of these require you to feel bad! They all require you to think about the thing that upsets you, hence you have to feel upset or uncomfortable. Therefore, if you desperately don't want people to laugh at you for being overweight, you then think about it, you then feel bad so you then use food to cheer yourself up. You then are in a vicious circle.

 

So what do you really want? Most dieters don't know, or won't allow themselves to think about it, dream it, imagine it and then do it.

 

So let's turn around those six points above, what if you said instead.

 

1. I want to live

2. I want to look great in the playground

3. I want people to wolf whistle me

4. I want to wear that new dress I saw in the shop window

5. I want to look fantastic at that wedding

6. I want to bounce about in my airline seat with room for three others

7. I want to have the holiday of a lifetime

 

It's just a decision to change what you don't want to what you do want. Even better of course is once you had decided what you do want is to make it even stronger by deciding to do it.

 

So

 

1. I will live my life and love it!

2. I will look amazing in that playground, in fact I'll look amazing wherever I am, and whatever I am doing.

3. I will have people say how great I look, and I'll know that I look great.

4. I will wear that dress I really want, and I will feel great in it.

5. I will look amazing on that wedding day.

6. I will get on that plane and make a point of sharing my seat with at least one of the cabin crew.

7. I will have the holiday of a lifetime

 

And then don't doubt it, go ahead and do it!

 

If you don't know what you want though then you will always be in neutral and not move forwards, let me give you another example of when most people know what they want!

 

When you sit down tonight in front of the TV then you are likely to make a decision on what you want to watch and not what you don't want to watch!

 

You may think, I want to relax and have a laugh so I'll watch X-Factor, or you might think I want to watch Brucie and the dancers on Strictly, and guess what! You will!

 

But would you sit there and think

 

I don't want to watch the shopping channels, I don't want to watch a documentary, or a quiz, I don't want to see a round of golf, and I definitely don't want to watch a movie, I don't want to view anything in black or white, or any programme with songs in it, I don't want to watch the news channels or anything with David Dickinson on it...

 

Of course not!!

Therefore if you know what you want to watch on the TV tonight and are happy to think of that, then what is stopping you think of what you want with one of the biggest things in your life! Your Health...

Strategy For Success

People will always have a reason and a strategy for reducing their weight. The reason and hence the strategy is absolutely key to whether they are successful or not at getting to goal weight and more importantly being slim and healthy for the rest of their life.

 

From working with thousands of clients now I have realised that the difference in the strategies people run will usually dictate the result that they get.

 

A lady came to me back in 2008 with around 10 stone to lose (140 pounds), I asked her "Why she wanted to reduce her weight?" she said that she had been to the supermarket and was appalled by what she saw in the mirror in the changing room and hence that was the "kick up the bum" she needed to reduce her weight.

 

So she started to reduce her weight, she was incredibly determined, she had the absolute focus and started shrinking each week I saw her. After about 12 weeks she was around 3 stone (42 pounds) lighter and was starting to really see the results in that mirror....

 

But then it all started to go wrong, she started to eat too much again and spent the next 4 weeks without reducing her weight by a single pound.

 

Anyway we had a quiet chat one evening and she admitted that the motivation was not there anymore as she was no longer the person she saw in the mirror in the Supermarket and hence whereas she was trying to get away from that person she was now far enough away that she felt better and didn't value being slim as much as she did as that was never the original strategy.

 

So we talked again about what she wanted, she said she really did want to be slim, so we worked out a realistic weight goal in the future that she could aim at, we talked through possible hurdles, and the big goal for her is/was to fit in a particular dress that meant something to her.

 

By switching her mindset from getting away from something i.e. not wanting to be the person in the mirror to going towards something meant she suddenly was enthusiastic about what she was going to achieve in the future.

 

After that she was amazing, she went on to lose over 110 pounds in weight and reduced her BMI down to being overweight from morbidly obese. The closer she got to the target the more she could see,feel, touch and smell it and the more she wanted it and was a much better strategy for success. To this day she is still slim having seen her in town a couple of weeks ago.

 

So when you look at your own weight goals are you trying to get away from something or are you working towards a realistic goal in the future. The difference in results is huge!

 

Just to finish off today I met a lady once that I asked the same question of

 

"Why do you want to reduce weight?"

 

She replied in a quite common way "I don't want to die young"

 

I replied "That's what you don't want, so what do you want?"

 

She replied "I don't know actually"

 

Therefore if you don't know what you want then how can you achieve it? Remember to focus absolutely on what you want in terms of your weight and there is nothing in the world that can stop you.

Product Review - Bio-Oil

When I first got to goal weight back in 2005/2006 I had a lot of loose skin ! I particular had it around my tummy but also in my arms and the inside of my legs. I researched a lot of people recommended very expensive posh potions and lotions but most people seemed to say that actually creams and potions could help with stretch marks and blemishes but not actually help with the loose skin itself.

And this proved to be very true! Don't fall for anyone telling you that if you buy creams that your skin will suddenly firm up and be perfect as to be frank it won't !

Now I needed two tummy tucks to get rid of my loose skin around my tummy but Bio Oil was recommended to me as it helps with scars and stretch marks.

And it works ! It works really well :-)

But it isn't a miracle in a bottle, you need to use this twice a day for months to really get the results that it promises but if you do have real stretch marks and or blemishes then this should definitely sort them out, it won't sort loose skin or crimpled skin but it did wonders for my tummy tuck scar which is now hard to see.

For more information and to purchase check Bio-Oil out at Amazon by clicking here -->Bio-Oil

Overall Diet Guy Rating 9 Out Of 10

 

10 Percent Better

Just imagine you were 10 percent better at dieting and managing your weight.... 

Most of the time I spend with people 1-2-1 I find they are stuck in a problem, or they perceive themselves as being "bad" at something. My job is to help and coach them to help themselves realise that actually they have other options and they can be and do so much more.

A technique I use quite often is the "10 Percent" technique which I made up back in 2007.

 

Let me give you an example.

 

I worked with a lady who fantastically reduced her weight by many many stones and was at goal weight. She came back for a maintenance weigh in and a chat and said that her problem was that with a hectic business lifestyle she had to eat when she could and sometimes whatever she could because she rarely had time to herself. She also stated that she could never eat healthily as she was always in roadside cafes and petrol stations.

 

She then went on to say she was "useless" and "incapable" when it came to food which is never good to hear as it is such a limiting belief. 

 

So I asked her "OK, imagine you were 10 percent better at looking after yourself when it came to food then what would you do ?"

 

She then sat and thought for a few seconds, maybe even a minute!

 

And then it started...she said

 

1. She could actually eat the healthier options in Little Chef etc as they don't force you to order the Olympic breakfast.

2. She could buy breakfast bars and have them in the car as she used to skip breakfast and then eat more later when she was hungry.

3. She could plan a 30 minute break at lunchtime in her diary to have some downtime and go and find a nice sandwich bar.

4. She could change to black coffee instead of latte's which she drank 3 or 4 of a day. 

 

All the time she was coming up with ideas I was writing them down for her on a pad, when she left I gave her the sheet and off she went to do them.

 

Now all of a sudden instead of imagining she was 10 percent better, surely if she was doing that she actually was 10 percent better?

 

But of course I never told her anything, as she is the expert of herself and who am I to tell her whether she should eat salad or chips?

 

The key to helping people is to simply be their tour guide and help them help themselves.

 

So turning this to you, think of something that you have a limiting belief about, think about something you percieve you are not very good at and then get a pen, if this relates to weight reduction then great but if not then great anyway!

 

Write down five things you would do if you were 10 percent better at it. When you have the list then the important thing is to go and take action and do those five things.

After you have done everything on the list and you have got 10 percent better then what if you decided you could be 10 percent better than that :-)

Product Review - The Diet Plate

I was recently asked to test and evaluate the new Diet Plate ! This is a plate that is basically broken down into sections and you put food types into each section. This set also comes with a bowl with lines that show your portion sizes. The ultimate gain of the diet plate/bowl is to basically limit calories by portion control.

You have a section on the plate for meat, salad, vegetables, sauces etc and they say if you don't go over the lines then you cannot help to reduce your weight (they say between one and four pounds a week).

Now here is my problem, firstly you will not lose four pounds a week of fat by using this plate ! The maths just don't add up in terms of calories, it would be better to say one to two pounds a week which is a lot more realistic. My second concern is the cost ! This plate and bowl set is nearly fourty pounds ! That is an awful lot for a plate with lines on it.

My third concern is that you cannot take this plate around with you, so what would you do when you went to a restaurant, had lunch at work or went round your friends for dinner.

Saying that it definitely teaches you more about portion control and that has to be a good thing, the bowl is very enlightening when you put breakfast cereal in, when I was Big Mike I used to fill a bowl to the top whereas a recommended portion is around a quarter of the way so very eye opening.

Anyway it's a nice idea but I do think it is a bit of a gimmick, if it was around ten pounds then I would say go for it but at this price it is definitely a considered purchase.

For more information and to purchase check the Diet Plate out at Amazon by clicking here --> The Diet Plate

Overall Diet Guy Rating 5 Out Of 10

Why Do People Procrastinate About Dieting ?

It is very common with dieters that they procrastinate, in other words they put off the high importance things such as reducing their weight before they have health problems for the low importance things such as going out for a meal with friends that night. Putting off dieting and other things in your life is a big problem in todays society and lots of research has been done into.

The reasons dieters put off dieting are

1. Perfect Time - People want to wait until a perfect time to diet, a time when there are no distractions, no plans to go out, no special events, the right weather to stay in and the moons and all the planets lining up together. In other words they are waiting for a time that is never going to happen. No day like today !

2. Fear Of Failure - People who diet have likely dieted and failed a lot in their life, they may have not made it through the first day or first week, or maybe reduced their weight and then regained a lot. Therefore they are so scared of failing again that it is safer to never start in the first place. A total lack of confidence in yourself that you can actually acheieve and maintain your ideal weight. This is very common and usually a revelation to most dieters procrastinating.

3. Confused About Dieting - People are confused with all the diet advice, exercise advice and healhly living advice on which diet or plan to take up. Therefore because of information overload they don't do any of them due to not knowing which road to walk down.

4. It's Too Difficult - People believe that dieting is difficult, it is hard and not fun and therefore don't want to do it. They believe they have so much weight to lose that in reality it just can't be done and therefore they never start.

5. No Motivation - A person may have little or no interest in actually losing weight, they may have been told to by friends, family or the doctor but in reality they would rather eat than diet and therefore 'play along' that they are going to be reducing down but they don't see the real benefits of being slim and healthy.

6. Distractions - A person may have distractions that hinder them being able to focus on dieting, they may have a party coming up, a stressful job or lifestyle or a busy life that requires 'eating on the run'. They therefore prioritise other things in there life above dieting and being healthy.

7. Not Fun - A person may just not want to diet because it isn't fun to not be eating, they feel like a hermit and like the odd one out, they don't want their friends and family to comment.

Product Review - Vapur (The Anti Bottle)

I was asked by Vapur to review their new anti-bottle which is shortly due to come to the UK.

Now I am a great believer in the power of water, not only to help with losing weight but also general health I believe it is absolutely key. The art for me is to drink little and often during the day and the results are just a week or two away.

I can remember when I was big I never drank water until I started my last ever diet. I used to have cracked elbows that used to bleed and I was forever rubbing in E45 cream to try and soften them down.

Then when I started drinking water on my diet I suddenly noticed within a week or two that my elbows were soft and no longer felt like sandpaper.

Anyway that convinced me that water was for life and not just for a diet and I still drink between one and two litres of water a day now (spaced out during the day).

So Vapur asked me to try their new anti-bottle, basically it is a bottle that when full of water is just a normal bottle but when empty can be rolled up flat and put in your bag or pocket. This would have been amazing for me when I did Kilimanjaro as I constantly had my metal bottle bashing against my leg and it was very annoying.

So I have used Vapur for a week now and I have to say it is very good ! It is very well made, resusable, dishwashable, it can clip on your belt, and best of all once you have finished with it you just roll it up and put it away.

I would say it is absolutely ideal for the walkers and climbers out there but I also have a couple of my kids who have taken them to school and absolutely love them, I half filled them with water and froze them and then filled them up in the morning so the water kept cold all day.

As far as water bottles go I believe this is right up there and strongly recommended.

More details can be found at Vapur : The Anti Bottle

Overall Diet Guy Rating 9 out of 10

Which Diet Is Best ?

I got an E-Mail this morning from a lady asking me which diet is the best one for losing weight.

My reply was

'Hi L*******

Firstly any diet you do should be safe and therefore you should always seek advice from your GP / Medical Practitioner for his/her advice as no two people's health is the same and what matters most is that you do a diet which helps you and doesn't harm you !

Once sorted then my advice is to pick a diet that fits in with your lifestyle, now I did a VLCD diet (Cambridge Diet / Lighterlife) which worked really well for me as it meant I didn't have to worry about food choices, I just went all or nothing for a few months lost the weight very quickly, but it did mean I didn't go out much and doesn't work for everyone so look at the market as you have some great diets out there such as Weightwatchers / Slimming World / Rosemary Conley or just good old fashioned Calorie Counting / Healthy Eating.

The most important bit of advice I can give you though is whichever diet you choose make sure you do the head work and not just the losing weight bit, most people who lose weight put it back on quickly and all too often even more weight than they had before, this is because in my opinion, they don't deal with the emotional reasons behind why the overeat and go back to their old habits and lifestyle choices and therefore the weight comes back.

It is fantastic to lose weight and does help with self-esteem but to regain the weight is a big kick to your self-esteem and one which a lot of people struggle to come back from.

Therefore take some time for you, look at why you got big in the first place, what makes you overeat now, what your triggers and trigger foods area, why you enjoy food as much as you do and what strategies you have long term for maintaining weight and for me the real challenge is not dieting and being slim and opposed to just jumping on the next fad diet for a few months and then becoming obssessed by the diet lifestyle.

At the end of the day I can't tell you what is best for you but I promise you that if you pick a good quality safe diet and alongside it do some mind work then the results can be amazing and stay in touch and let me know how you get on.

Mike X

P.S. Plan to make this diet the golden time and your last time and you'll create so much more success !!