Check the reason, not the leptin

Posted by Caroline Innes on April 26, 2007 2:33 PM

“I don’t like being outdoors Smithers, for one thing, there’s too many fat children,” Mr Burns (The Simpsons).

THIS week the battle against childhood obesity took another sinister turn with suggestions that babies should be pumped full of appetite suppressing hormones to stop them over- eating and becoming overweight adults.
Doctors said the “miracle solution” to the nation’s fat epidemic could be to pump baby milk full of the hormone leptin, which is known to suppress appetite.
They claimed that doing so at such an early age would permanently alter that child’s appetite for the rest of their - what would surely become - miserable lives and then with the development of a weight-control drug based on this mechanism they would be able to control the nation’s appetite within five to 10 years.
SCARY.
Now while I sometimes wonder whether my own leptin levels are functioning properly, I was horrified at the thought of newborns being fed any hormone - let alone one that would affect their appetites for their entire life.
What about the saying “having a healthy appetite?”
Having an appetite is not what makes people fat.
Having an appetite for food is what we all need to keep our bodies nourished and functioning properly.
Food is not only ones of life’s most basic requirements but is also one of life’s biggest pleasures that nobody should be deprived of.
When we over eat it is not because we have a ravenous appetite.
Research into why people snack and over indulge has found that it is triggered by factors other than hunger such as boredom, habit, stress, comfort or because someone has offered you food. (And after being presented with ANOTHER blueberry muffin today I secretly suspect that one of my colleagues is a feeder! You know who you are!)
Personal training clients in the past, who have been asked to keep food diaries for me not only write down what they eat and when but most importantly why.
Interesting entries have included one lady who ate half of a family size cheesecake when her fella dumped her and one chap who ate a pack of Jaffa cakes and almost half a block of cheese because “there was nothing on the television.”
Another client could eat healthily all week until her husband would come home from work on a Friday with beer, take away curry and a giant bar of Dairy Milk for afterwards.
It wasn’t that she was hungry or couldn’t control her appetite. That was their Friday night routine and one that they very much enjoyed.
I believe the secret lies in understanding the triggers that make you over eat, in damage limitation and in breaking bad habits.
This particular client swapped the beer for gin and low-calorie tonic, opted for a healthier curry and ditched the post-curry Dairy Milk for a spot of post-curry lovin’ with her partner.
She still got to enjoy her Friday night curry and didn’t feel she was depriving herself. And with those early nights in bed she even managed to burn off a few extra calories!

Top tips for banishing boredom eating:

Eat more protein - it leaves you feeling fuller for longer.
When you feel hungry drink a large glass of water - sometimes cravings are triggered by dehydration.
Hunger pangs come in waves. Wait 20 minutes and if it doesn’t pass then make yourself a healthy snack.
Don’t buy tempting foods and tell your partner not too either. If its not in the fridge you won’t eat it and if you are prepared to get in your car in the rain and drive to the shop to get a bar of chocolate then you are welcome to it.
Chew gum.
Clean your teeth. You will be less inclined to snack and chocolate doesn’t taste so good afterwards.
Keep a food dairy. Work out what triggers your over eating and think of ways you can break these habits.

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Through the pain barrier...

Posted by Caroline Innes on April 19, 2007 3:30 PM

STOOD panting after running up one of Lancashire's biggest hills and between heavy breaths, my Bob Graham training partner Ian Winstanley, suddenly blurted out: "Vicky Entwistle. How long before she has put all that weight back on?"
Before I could answer, he continued: "If I was a betting man, I would give her till Christmas and then she will be back to where she started.
"In fact I reckon it will happen right in the middle of the Coronation Street Christmas Day special. She will just burst! Right there in front of us!"
This was obviously something he had been giving some thought as we battled against the wind and ankle-breaking terrain to reach the top of Winter Hill.
Now while I hadn't personally given much deliberation as to the changing shape of Corrie's Janice Battersby (I was too busy avoiding the sheep droppings) - it did get me thinking.
While we were there stood in the evening sunshine with a clear view of the Lancashire countryside sweeping right to the shimmering Southport and Morecambe coast in the distance, millions of people across the country would be sat on their backsides indoors watching Corrie or some other depressing soap opera.
They say that the natural highs are the greatest - yeah right! But stood there on one of the nicest evenings of the year so far, out in the fresh air, with the world beneath us, I could have almost been convinced.
And the thing was I hadn't even wanted to go for a run.

How easy it would have been to have instead curled up on the sofa with a bar of chocolate and a glass of wine glued to the box.
And to be honest if it hadn't been for the fact I was meeting Ian to train for the Bob Graham - a run which takes in 42 of the Lake District peaks over 74 miles in 24 hours - that is exactly where I would have been.
Now there are a number of lesson we can all take from this.
Firstly training can be hard work so it is important that all of us find something that we enjoy.Whether that be joining our local Salsa class, playing a game of tennis or walking the dog - the more we enjoy what we do the more likely we are to do it. There is absolutely no point punishing yourself in the gym if you hate going to the gym. For goodness sake - just find something else to do.
Also having someone to train with makes all the difference. Find someone to exercise with. You will be much more inclined to make the effort to get to the gym if you know somebody is there waiting for you to drag your lazy backside along.
And finally remember that no matter how much you do not feel like making the effort, the sense of achievement - and smugness - you will feel when you have finished your workout will be worth it.
You never know - you might even enjoy yourself in the process!
(And just so you know - I have £5 on Janice being back to her cuddly self by September!) HA!

l If like me you enjoy putting your body through hell or just so you can laugh at how stupid I am to take on such a ridiculous challenge, more details about the Bob Graham can be found here

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The truth is out - diets don't work!

Posted by Caroline Innes on April 11, 2007 7:45 PM

THE World’s largest study of weight loss has this week shown that DIETS DO NOT WORK for the vast majority of slimmers - and may even put lives at risk.
Now I don’t want to be the one that said I told you so - but, I told you so!
Research found that more than two-thirds pile the pounds straight back on, raising the danger of heart attack, stroke and diabetes.
Indeed it was discovered that most dieters end up heavier than they did to start with.
But the most shocking aspect of this research for me is that people are shocked to learn that they are better off not bothering to diet at all.
It has always struck me that if diets do work, then why are one in four Britons at any one time on a diet?
Why is there a multi-billion-pound diet industry feeding off people’s longing to get thin quick?
And why - and this one really gets my goat - are we bombarded every New Year with yet another dieting show or Z-list celebrity “I lost five stone in two week” diet video?
Surely if diets worked you could do one and then that would be you done - off that dieting treadmill for good!
A personal training client once said to me that she was a great believer in a certain slimming club.
“I have been using them for years,” she said.
“Every time I put a bit of weight on I just go back and it comes off again.”
But if it worked then why did she keep having to go back? Why once she had fallen off the dieting wagon did all the weight simply creep back on - bringing a few extra pounds with it?
Technically the only thing that had really lightened was the weight of her purse.
Most worrying though is that research has found that this type of yo-yo dieting is the most dangerous to our health.
Repeated rapid weight gain and loss associated with dieting can double the risk of death from heart disease, including heart attacks and the risk of premature death in general.
Such yo-yo weight loss has also been linked to stroke and diabetes and shown to suppress the immune system, making the body more vulnerable to infection.
We are fighting a rising tide of obesity which brings with it its own horrific health problems but diets are not the way to turn back this tide.
Instead of looking to faddy diet regimes that make us miserable, why as a nation can we not embrace general healthy eating, do a bit of exercise and enjoy things like alcohol and chocolate in moderation?
If we all knocked diets on the head, we could stop the cycle of demoralisation in favour a life of balanced bliss - and force z-listers to find another way to get money out of the general public.

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Miracles? None here...

Posted by Caroline Innes on April 4, 2007 5:20 PM

ANYONE looking here for a miracle solution to losing weight and getting in shape should stop reading now.
There isn’t one.
As much as it pains me to say it, getting fit and losing weight is well .....painful.
While we all may have been seduced by the latest celebrity diet or fitness fad, losing weight is really only a question of maths.
For example, just last week one of the ladies who takes part in my Tuesday night Step class said I looked like I had lost weight. That was then followed by the usual question: “So how have you done it?”
How disappointed she looked when I answered: “I have been training lots and eating healthily.”
It is hardly a revelation but so many people look surprised when you tell them that the only way to lose body fat is to burn off more calories than you put in your mouth.
And to maintain weight loss the calories put in should not exceed those used by our bodies.
Simple really.
But this blog is not about losing weight in pursuit of the unattainable and unattractive size 0 - which would leave dieters fit for nothing.
This is about being fit for life, realising your own potential and pushing the boundaries of what you thought you could achieve.
I truly belive we are all capable of the physical achievements usually left to realm of world class athletes. We could all attain such performance levels should we choose to do so.
After all if we do what we always did we are only ever going to get what we always got.
But lets be honest most of us are more interested in getting fit, toning up and shedding a few pounds - and that has to fit in around our already demanding and hectic lives.
So join me for my weekly no-nonsense blog as I too struggle to make time to train and eat healthily - and learn to hula - while still enjoying the odd take away and bottle or two (or three) of wine.
We should all aim to realise our own potential and with helpful and sensible hints, tips and accounts on how past personal training clients have done this, this blog may provide some inspiration.
Let's be honest. If I can do it - anyone can!

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