Steve Miller's Slimming Secrets. Steve Miller
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at the school gate knowing other children aren’t looking at you and thinking, ‘That’s little Tommy’s mum, I’m not surprised he’s so fat!’ Or take sports day as another example, when parents can go and see their children take part and share in the fun and pride of them being active. The reality is that embarrassment kicks in for the kids whose parents struggle to fit on one seat, or always come last in the parents’ race being a complete chunk. Believe me, this is the real world, and I want you to let this real world motivate you into becoming the best possible role model. Getting the whole family involved in your weight loss can be great fun, so consider some of the following ideas:
Make lists with the kids to go shopping using the 80–20 rule, which I discuss in more detail later in this book (page 67).
Cook healthy food with your children: encourage them to roll up their sleeves and really get stuck in!
Explain to them that as soon as you lose a certain amount of weight that you will be celebrating by taking everyone on a day out.
Take up a family sport that you can all participate in together. Keep it simple, such as a weekly swim, cycling, trekking or if the children are older, try Zumba classes.
Ask the kids to develop a weekly menu plan using the 80–20 rule. Explain that a prize will be given for the best weekly plan.
Plan a night-time walk in the summer (take a route that’s safe and exciting). Kids love the adventure of this.
Like the gym? Why not join as a family if your kids are old enough? These days, there are some great rates to be had for family gym memberships.
Take up hobbies and interests as a family: remember, a bored mind becomes a hungry one. Perhaps start doing something different, such as archery or kite surfing.
Share your newfound knowledge about portion control, motivation, the 80–20 rule of eating and all the motivational tips that you are picking up with the kids.
Have treats along the way
If you do well, you deserve a reward – and why not? There was a time when I would have said never reward with food or alcohol, but I was wrong. Of course, I’m not suggesting you run to the local Indian and have a large curry and a whole bottle of wine because you’ve lost a pound – that would be ludicrous. What I encourage you to do is include some treats in line with my 80–20 philosophy along the way. An alternative would be to treat yourself to a new outfit, perfume or even a bunch of flowers to celebrate your achievement. If you are losing weight as a family, then bring in family treats, such as a day out at a theme park, a trip to the cinema or tenpin bowling.
Do a daily success report
Logging your daily achievement can be a productive way to reinforce positive actions as you progress. In working together, I want you to focus your thoughts and the words you speak on positive ideas. Negative thoughts and words will do nothing but keep you fat, so at the end of the day, writing down your thoughts on how well you have done can really help motivate you in the days that follow. Of course, I’m not suggesting there will be no issues or rocky patches along the way – after all, as a human being you are fallible. However, what I would direct you to do is to write down solutions to some of the bumps and traps you might encounter in your daily report instead of just listing the problems. Once again, remember problems and excuses are the enemy and keep you fat. Use a logbook to write down your successes using the following framework:
Success with food, including the type of food you ate during the day based on the 80–20 rule of eating. Include successes in portion control.
No matter how small, success in doing some exercise: examples might include getting up at 7am and doing half an hour’s brisk walk before getting ready for work.
Success in your positive attitude, such as remembering to tell yourself that weight loss is exciting and actually easy.
Dealing with aspects of your life that have made you fat, such as ditching so-called friends who demotivate and drain you, and taking up hobbies and interests to alleviate boredom.
Successes using the mind programming tools I explain later in this book (see page 155).
This is not an exhaustive list. Feel free to write anything in your daily success report that will help to keep your motivation sky-high.
Change your body language
This is one of the practical things I did when my own fat began to melt away. As the weight drops off, I want you to change the way you use your body language. I want you to deliberately act as if you are confident, which will be so much easier to do now you are losing the weight. As you do this, you will not only project more positivity, but you will also feel so much better in yourself. It’s a proven fact that changing our physiology also changes our mood and the way we feel about ourselves. This will motivate you to go on, lose more weight and keep it off. Examples may include:
Walking tall with a neat, upright posture.
Applying gestures to emphasise words, making your communication more colourful.
Using eye contact, which illustrates a new, confident you.
Sitting upright and alert at your desk or in meetings.
PUSH STYLE MOTIVATORS
Health in jeopardy means you could die early
Now I don’t have to tell many of you that being too fat also brings the likelihood of illness (and most probably, an early death), but for many this is not a concern for today. However, you may not have sat down and really thought about each of the potential health consequences of doing nothing about your weight. If health is your motivator, it’s time to consider the impact of being overweight.
You may have recently seen in the press that Type 2 diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar levels are above normal. Worryingly, high blood sugar is a major cause of coronary heart disease, kidney disease, stroke, amputation and blindness. Type 2 diabetes is often associated with obesity and a significant proportion of people with this condition are overweight. It’s thought that being overweight causes cells in the body to change, making them resistant to the hormone insulin. Insulin carries sugar from blood to the cells, where it is used for energy. When a person is insulin resistant, blood sugar cannot be taken up by the cells, resulting in high blood sugar. You can definitely reduce your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by losing weight and increasing the amount of exercise you do.
If you already have Type 2 diabetes, losing weight and becoming more physically active can help you control your blood sugar levels and prevent or delay complications. Losing weight and exercising more may also allow you to reduce the amount of diabetes medication you take. You can reverse the condition and be very proud that you have done it!
Among those who are too fat, coronary heart disease and strokes are frequent killers. Coronary heart disease means the heart and circulation of blood do not function normally. Usually, the arteries have become hardened and narrowed. If you have coronary heart disease, you may suffer a heart attack, congestive heart failure, sudden cardiac death, angina or abnormal heart rhythm. In a heart attack, the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart is disrupted, damaging portions of the heart muscle. During a stroke, blood and oxygen do not flow normally to the brain, which can cause paralysis or even death. People who are overweight are more likely to develop high blood pressure, hard fats in the blood and high levels of bad cholesterol. These are all increased risk factors for heart disease and a stroke. The good news is that losing 5–10 per cent of your weight can lower the chances of you developing coronary heart disease or having a stroke. Weight loss can also reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as improving your heart function and blood flow.
One of the health risks that often we don’t want to mention but you really must