's motd Thurs April 22, 2010

[Guest guest]

TOO THIN

Thursday, 22 April 2010

Over the years, I've seen many people lose weight at Slimmons. I always taught my food program there long before Deal-A-Meal came on the national scene. But I had been teaching my program at Slimmons for many, many years. I always taught about the six foods groups, portion sizes and the importance of getting the right mix of all six food groups in the right-size portions. And today, using my FoodMover, I still do.

For over three-and-half decades, I've seen such wonderful weight-transformations in the students who've attended my classes. But a lot of students at Slimmons who've lost large amounts of weight made the same mistake I once made with my own weight-loss effort years ago. And, that is...they got too thin.Oh, it was such a rush for me to lose weight! I'd get on my scale, see a four-pound weight loss and do the happy dance right there in my bathroom. And of course, it was such a thrill going into a department store and trying on clothes in smaller and smaller sizes. When I was losing weight quickly, I couldn't wait to look at myself in the mirror. I would stand there looking at and checking out my body from every angle.But I became so obsessed with my weight-loss that I ended up getting way too skinny for my britches. While my reflection told me one story, my friends were telling me another. They told me that I was beginning to look very thin and...sickly. When I see the same thing happening to one of my students at Slimmons, I have to sit and have a serious talk with them. I tell them about my personal experience with overdoing my weight-loss and why they should try to avoid it.

See, being underweight is as dangerous as being overweight. When you starve your body...your body knows it's being starved. It begins to "rebel" and the end result, I'm sorry to say, can lead to illness. I know because...it happened to me. In fact, for a while there, I didn't think I would ever rebound. But I did and that's why I have to warn others not to enter the world I once entered. Last week, I had a talk with one of my students at Slimmons about this very subject. She's such a sweet person. She dances like crazy and always has a big-old grin on her face. I've seen her drop weight like nobody's business over the past six months. In fact, she's dropped 60 pounds and looks like a totally different person. During class, when we tone with our weights, she puts her everything into it. But last week, I noticed that she was dropping too much weight. I could see it in her eyes and in her energy level. So after class, I told her that she didn't need to lose any more weight. And that if she did, it wouldn't be good for her.

Are you trying to reach an unrealistic weight for yourself? Are you trying to get to a weight that you'll not be able to maintain? Please, listen to your body and don't let your reflection in the mirror "trick" you. Your body will let you know when you've lost too much weight. You'll notice that you have less energy. You'll begin feeling sluggish and tired all the time, too. Those will be the warning signs.So please, don't travel the road I once traveled. Travel a realistic road to your ideal weight, a weight that's healthy for your body and one that you can maintain!Love,