Grab a cup of Joe and enjoy this interview with one of the top in the dieting field.
Hope you enjoy it... JerDon & Sara
Oprah & Bob Greene
Enjoy this great interview with Oprah's personal weight loss coach
Bob Greene
Staying Motivated
1. Get Serious About Your Efforts
Greene knows that not everyone will tune in to his healthy messages. ''When you launch a new program or a new book, you will reach maybe 20% of your readers," he says. "I don't get too frazzled by the stats. I concentrate my energy on those willing to change their life."
Only by making a serious commitment to change, he said, will you achieve success. To get there, he says, stop expressing negative thoughts about the lifestyle changes required to lose weight and get fit.
"Stop fighting it and stop negotiating with yourself," he says. "Do it because you care about yourself, not to lose 10 pounds."
2. Ease Into Weight Loss
When most people decide to lose weight, they go cold turkey on the Chunky Monkey and chips and dive into a Spartan menu of vegetables and cottage cheese, determined to do an immediate overhaul of their diets.
Wrong approach, Greene says. Gradual is better. "Don't radically change your entire diet overnight," he advises. Phase in healthier foods a little at a time.
"Don't give up all your comfort foods at once, and don't look at snacks as foods that get you into trouble," Greene says. Eating right can and should include snacks, he says: "Snacks are effective weight loss tools. They bridge hunger and help you not to overdo it at a meal."
3. Skip the Scale
It's a knee-jerk reaction. You've been on a diet for oh, 24 hours, and you're eager to see progress. Of course, you'll weigh in.
Think again, Greene says. "Stay off the scale for the first month to six weeks," he suggests. This will be a challenge, he knows, for most people, who can't wait to see the pounds drop off.
But the scale gives you a somewhat inaccurate idea of what is going on. You may have lost only water weight, for instance, or you may get discouraged if you haven't lost as much as you hoped for.
If you're dying for feedback, focus on how your clothes fit, he suggests.
4. Shift the Diet Focus
"Instead of focusing on cutting calories [only], which drops your metabolism, focus more on activity levels," Greene says. "It's the bigger of the two."
Activity burns calories. Exercise like weight training also builds lean muscle, helping to boost your metabolism over time. So it offers a short-term and long-term advantage to meeting your fitness and weight loss goals, Greene says.
Many people plan to diet first, then incorporate exercise. But Greene says that if you have to do them one at a time, make exercise a habit first, then focus on cutting calories.
5. Make Your Workout a Meditation
It's easily done, Greene says, just by listening to great music when you walk or jog, for instance. If you're on a treadmill, watch a show you enjoy.
Find a way to exercise that takes your mind off the activity itself, such as running or walking in an outdoor setting. "When Oprah and I meet in Hawaii and we are hiking, it's hard work going up the mountain but it's joyful," he says.
6. Build Exercise Into Your Life Creatively
One of Greene's business partners built a desk on his treadmill, taking phone calls and working while he works out. "He's writing, he is making his marketing calls, and he is on the treadmill," Greene says.
Greene adapted the idea himself. "I was training for a cross-country ride, and had the phone by my indoor bike," he says.
Those examples are extreme, Greene says, but they can get you thinking about weaving exercise in when you have even a few spare minutes during the day. The more you do that, the more likely you are to reach your fitness goals.
7. Focus on the Outcome
Focus on how you know you will feel when you're done with your workout.
"Everybody loves exercise when it's done," Greene says with a laugh. "Exercise, when done right, is never painful, but involves discomfort. Focus on the effects."
And he doesn't just mean tighter muscles or flatter abs. "I've never had anybody say they don't feel better, sleep better, after exercising," he says.
