The Healthy Writer Blog

A successful program

Posted by Trish Milburn Dec 30 2011, 12:03 am in eating healthy, guest blogger, weight loss

By Rachel Goldsworthy

“Have you always been thin?”

I was hugely flattered this past summer when a thirty-something woman asked me that question because it meant that my recent weight loss wasn’t written all over my face.

I’d worried about it, you see. The previous September, I had embarked on a program to retreat from the Overweight/Obese border back to the Land of Healthy. And while I’d really wanted to shed 30 pounds and the Mrs. Doubtfire image in the mirror, I also hadn’t wanted to end up looking like a Shar-Pei.

So when that mother of three, struggling with her own extra pounds, posed her question, I was delighted to be able to tell her, “I lost thirty pounds, I’ve kept it off, and I eat whatever I want.”

She looked at me like I’d just snatched a speeding bullet out of the air. Which, in a sense, I had.

About nine months before, I had roped in my father and we’d signed up for a local eight-week lifestyle program. Every Thursday, we were weighed and measured and learned the rules for the following week’s meals and exercise.

The Program (its official title) is not A Diet. Rather, it’s behavior modification. Founder and group leader Vicki Waters believes in eating real food – as much as your body needs – and exercising to keep bones and muscles and heart fit.

By “real food” I mean fruit, vegetables, lean protein. And exercise includes core muscles for essential strength along with cardio to burn calories and move blood efficiently through muscles and brain.

There was no room for potato chips. In fact, no potatoes in any form for a few weeks. No bread for a while, either. No wine.

But every week, we could add something back in – often in a form we’d never tried before. My dad, a lifelong porridge lover, made the switch to steel-cut oats easily. The whole grain is less processed than the oatmeal we North Americans usually consume, so it has more fibre and nutrients. Same with fruit: I learned to eat the real thing in servings big enough to do me some good.

The most surprising switch, however, was in our minds. During the eight-week program, Dad and I each lost 15 pounds even though we spent two of those weeks in France, reveling in cheap wine and good paté. Because our new attitude had us eating healthier food more often – five times a day, in fact – we still lost weight.

Now, more than a year later, I’m a long way from skinny no matter what my friend said, but I’m a very healthy 135 pounds and I absolutely, positively do not diet. When I want bridge mix, I have bridge mix.
The trick is that I eat so much good food during the day, I don’t crave chocolate the way I used to. Honest!

And that speeding bullet? My 76-year-old father’s blood pressure has dropped. He walks easily, without a single huff or puff. In fact, during our visit to Paris he nimbly climbed the stairs to our fourth-floor apartment without angina – and that was after only six weeks on The Program. You can imagine what he’s doing now; in fact, you’ll have to, because I can’t catch up to him to ask.

And I’m happy about that because along with the 30 pounds I ditched, I also got to abandon the family history of heart disease and high blood pressure. I’d much rather inherit my dad’s can-do attitude!

Rachel’s blog, Calorie Neutral, details her weight-loss journey for anyone who wants to read the whole story plus check out her food- and exercise-related tips. The first post was Jan. 1, 2010.

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