Friend of Julie: What's Your Rush?

I've asked myself this question many times since I started this weight loss program: what's your rush? The simple truth is: I'm not a fast loser. I've set weight loss goals for myself, but I've come to realize a timeline that I create does not work on this program. Besides, this isn't a race, so what's the rush?

What's your rush - this isn't a race!

I want to be at my goal size, but I'm not there yet. I accept where I am today, a size 14/16, which is far from the size 30/32 that I was three and a half years ago. What slows down my weight loss? Plateaus. Plateaus are part of the weight loss journey, as this is the body's way of healing.

When I experience a plateau, I take time to pause and review the foods I'm eating, to check in with myself and see if there are foods I need to eliminate. I may have "gotten away" with eating high fat foods or  too much cheese when I was a size 30/32, but I didn't really get away with anything. Instead, I slowed down my weight loss and often put myself on a plateau. When I eliminate foods that I was eating too much of or too often, or OMG foods are inappropriate, my weight starts dropping again. Yes, there have been a few times that I discovered I was eating foods that are not on program. For example, I was eating dried green beans for a whole summer only to be reminded "no dried foods."

What about you? Is it possible you're eating foods that are not on program? I encourage you to take an honest look at what you're eating. Two easy targets: cheese and fats, but there are a few other areas to review.

Are you treating cheese like a condiment? If not, your body will hold onto the weight no matter what else you do. Many of us take time off from eating cheese. Consider not having cheese for a month. Does this idea freak you out? All the more reason to do this. If someone said, don't use parsley for a month, would you freak out? It's a condiment. We can live without condiments, including cheese.

Are you mindful of how much fat you eat? Here's what's important to understand about fat:

• If you take in too much fat, the body stores it, which is something you do not want to happen.
• When you eat protein, it takes an equal amount of fat from the body (yeah). 
• If you aren't consuming much fat, the body takes the fat from fat it previous stored, which will result in weight loss (yeah). 
• Consume too much fat and you quickly deplete the protein deposits you made and the new fat will then be stored as fat on the body (oh no).

Think about giving up or cutting back on cheese and fat as preparation for maintenance - when we will add new foods and then take them away as we learn to cycle in and out of the weight loss mode and into maintenance, weight loss, maintenance, repeat, repeat, repeat, until our bodies gets that this is our new size.

Yogurt is a food that I found problematic. For some reason I deemed yogurt a food I could break rules with and I ate yogurt more frequently in a week than allowed. I ate it alone. I made desserts with yogurt too. No overeating yogurt. Only eat yogurt with protein. No snacking. No deserts. Follow these rules and avoid causing a plateau. Break them and you hit a plateau. It's that simple.

08/09/15 update on yogurt
Julie has always said to go by only what you heard from her, however at the refresher I went to a few weeks ago she made an exception: the yogurt brand she recommended has changed and now includes ingredients that triggers food cravings. She no longer recommends that brand. She says we can buy any brand of plain yogurt - no vanilla or any flavor at all.

It's essential to balance your meat-to-veggie ratio. Do you recall the metaphor about army men or piranhas? Regardless of which analogy you relate to, or if you don't relate or remember either, know this:

• It's all about about balancing your insulin. 
• All carbs, including veggies, spark insulin production. 
• The only thing that balances insulin, is protein. 

The foods I mention here were my trouble areas, but you may have others. What are they? Stop eating them now!

The other thing is we must do is move. Are you walking or doing some form of exercise on a regular basis? If you aren't exercising, this may be a big reason for a plateau. Without enough physical activity, the fat will not leave your body. Find a form of exercise that you can do and start today.

You can do this! You can reach your goal size. Figure out your trouble areas and eliminate them. Many of us call this "eating clean." No grey areas, besides this program doesn't have grey areas. You're either on program or you're off. There is no third option.