HERE IS WHAT I DID TO LOSE WEIGHT - 50 POUNDS

HERE IS WHAT I DID TO LOSE WEIGHT – 50 POUNDS –

AND PROVED MY MOTHER WRONG!!

Adapted By: Gus Deligiannidis, BA, MBA

Motivational Health through Nutrition Expert and the Author of:

My Personal Story of Health through Nutrition, Weight Loss and Light Exercise and the

Fascinating Wellness Program that came out of it.



About 25 years ago I had a discussion with my mother that has stayed with me ever since. I don’t remember the little details, but I do remember the main part of our conversation. In some way I was complaining to her that I had some kind of belly and that I was overweight and she responded quietly that even as a little kid I had a belly.



That discussion stayed with me all throughout these years. In 2001, when I started my serious crusade to correct my health and at the same time lose weight, the memory of that conversation came back to me and I wondered how wonderful it would be to lose weight. By that time, of course, I had come across many, many advertisements that were trying to lure people to buy this or do the other in order to lose weight. Some of them seemed to be interesting. Some of them seemed to be too good to be true. However, the question always remains without an answer. Why do so many people start different exercise programs to lose weight and once they stop the program they gain the weight back?



In the mean time, my doctor told me that I had to lose a lot of weight for many reasons. One of the reasons was to help lower my blood pressure. Another reason had to do with my appearance, I was overweight, and I weighed approximately 275 pounds.



The above mentioned reasons, along with others, brought me to the point that I wanted to create my own heart’s desire. I really wanted to lose weight.



I then started developing a routine. Every morning before I would go to work, I was doing, and still do, stretch exercising. Those simple body, hands, legs, and feet moves that help me get started. The blood flows and the cells oxygenate. Whenever I don’t feel so good right after I get up, stretching changes the way I feel. Minor aches, pains and discomforts go away and soothing feelings come in. I always remember that in the fall of 2001 and until late summer 2002, whenever my blood pressure would go up stretching would help me lower it.



After a 10 minute session of stretching I would go for a walk. Again, here, I never had the luxury of time. I have heard many times that in order to lose weight you need to walk at least an hour. Because of what I do for a living, I have never had the luxury of an hour. Therefore, I did whatever I could. I started, in the beginning, walking 10 minutes, then 15 and now 20 to 30 minutes a day. Very seldom did I walk more than 40 minutes. It was during these days that I came across the pedometer; a simple step counter that you can attach to your belt or the waist of your jogging suit. It tells you how many steps you have walked in a particular session, in a morning, or a whole day. As a standard, they say that you must do 10,000 steps a day.





In my case there was a milestone of discovery or observation that I came to in the fall of 2001. It was the enlightenment that I had that day in late November of 2001, when I told myself, "I will stop drinking any coffee and caffeinated drinks and sodas, to see what is going to happen." I was amazed. In 2 weeks I lost about 10 pounds without doing anything different than usual. This particular observation made me believe that coffee, caffeinated drinks and sodas pollute our system and as a result of that our body does not absorb and eliminate what it should. Plain and simple, our body malfunctions, and when an engine malfunctions, many things go wrong, worst of all we gain and keep weight.



The next thing that I did was to establish a routine so that I could employ the principal of a mind body connection, to help myself lose weight. Again, a very powerful concept: MIND AND BODY CONNECTION. I also have to say here that I got some help from the theory that was developed from one of my college professors in Greece who was the first to observe 2 of the most important powers in our everyday lives:







1. Executive Power

2. Administrative Power





The professor meant, in those two statements, that everything comes from the brain. The brain gives the command of what needs to be done and the body executes it. So, I had the thought, "Let’s weigh myself every morning." In the meantime I started keeping a food diary. When I was weighing myself every morning and saw that I gained a pound or two, immediately I checked my food diary to see what and how much I ate the previous day. From that day on, I was more careful and I was eating smaller portions. I also was careful with foods that could be causing me to gain more weight. The next thing that I did was to observe something simple to comprehend, but not easy to do. This had to do with the thought that losing weight and keeping it off for a long time, as I did, was a long-term commitment. It cannot be done overnight or in just a few days. This may be why most of the weight loss programs actually don’t work.



The observation that I made was that if you are serious about losing weight, you need to set long range plans. Losing weight and keeping it off is not something that you can do in a short period of time. You should not get

disappointed if you gain back a few pounds. Rather, based on the thoughts that I have previously shared with you, take action immediately. That’s why the weighing scale and food diary are extremely important. Another thing that I did in my effort to lose weight was to cut down the amount of food that I was eating. I know that it is easier said than done. However, it can be done. If I did it being around prepared food, delicious food, all the time, then anyone can do it!! It is not going to be easy, but with some effort, it is possible. I did it!!



It is the old principle of portion control. If you eat at the house, you put the food on the plate. If you eat out in a restaurant or other eating places, ask your server to bring you a smaller portion. If all of this fails, then remember the response made to a reporter from a Prime Minister in my home country of Greece. The reporter asked, "Mr. Prime Minister, during your 60 year political career you have always remained thin and trim. What is your secret?" He responded, "Whenever they bring my food, I always put an imaginary line on the plate showing how much I am going to eat." He lived to be 93 years old!!



Another pollutant in our food regimen that contributes to weight gain is sugar, sweet foods, and deserts. In the past seven years that I watched what I ate and drank, I noticed that whenever I eat deserts or sweet foods, the next morning my weight is up a pound or two, or more. That made me cut down on all sweet foods. Always remember the more you try the easier it becomes.



Another thing that I did in my effort to lose weight was that I developed a sincere interest in the subject of weight loss. By that I mean I started researching and reading whatever I came across about weight loss. Many of those commentaries did not make any important sense, but many of them were true work results of people that were in the industry. Also, deep in my heart my personal observation is that you have to be receptive to new ideas. Dogmatism in 99% of the cases, and in any subject matter, doesn’t help. So, read and educate yourself as much as you can. It is going to motivate and enlighten you. As a result, of your efforts, you will have better judgment when choosing foods to eat with the goal of losing weight.





Above I shared with you what I did to lose weight, what ideas and thoughts I had come across during the past several years. I will share with you more thoughts and research information on my website at www.natureshealingfoods.com



Summing up my thoughts on this very important part of my presentation on weight loss, here are my suggestions:



Keep up with what you have to do every day. Nobody has an hour to walk every day, therefore, walk 10, 15, 20, or 25 minutes each day.



1. Cut down eating foods loaded with fat.



2. Cut down, as much as possible, fried foods. (It is best to cut out fried foods all together).



3. Drink 3 or more 16 ounces of bottled water. Water from the faucet does not let the human mechanisms work at 100%. Water from the faucet can affect the elimination process or just the general function. For years car manufacturers have been strongly opposed to putting tap water into the cooling system of a vehicle! So why do we drink it?



4. Eat whole foods, vegetables, fruits, etc.



5. DO NOT DRINK SOFT DRINKS!



6. Don’t put caffeine into your system that might come from coffee, tea, or caffeine loaded beverages.



7. When cooking food that requires water, use bottled water.



8. Eliminate as much sugar as possible from your diet.



9. Weigh yourself every day. This will help you get a signal to your brain and eventually help you to control your appetite.



Eat small portions of food throughout the day.