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Target Traits To Lose Weight
Is your personality preventing you from losing weight? A new approach to dieting says figure out your personality type first, then choose your diet.
A local doctor believes we sabatoge diets because individual personality types have specific diet plans that will work for them.
Do we cut out carbs or pound protein? Do we exercise every day or just take a walk once a week? The answer, it depends on your personality. Know your traits and you'll lose weight.
"I nibble and then I lay down and go to sleep."
"I'm lazy."
"I have a hard time motivating myself."
Structured, type-A, procrastinator, grazer, which personality style fits? If you are trying to fit into a smaller size, you need to know.
"I've discovered that each person has a set of personality patterns that has kept them overweight and by targeting these traits that was the key to successful weight loss," says Dr. Robert Kushner of Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
That's why the latest prescription for losing weight doesn't include a diet menu it simply asks questions about you beginning with your eating inventory.
Does your meal plan lack structure? Do you eat on the phone or at the computer? Do you frequent fast food restaurants or skip meals?
Jennifer Weinstein answered yes. The answers helped doctors get a fingerprint of her eating habits which told them she actually needed to eat more, less times a day.
Look at Jennifer's eating patterns, the one that stands out above the others is being an "unguided grazer". That's why the target for her was three meals a day without fail, start to plan ahead, slow down, enjoy your eating, feel the fullness cues and hunger cus and make eating much more of a priority," says Dr. Kushner.
"I think I've lost more than 30 pounds and I feel like I'm just getting started," Jennifer says.
Procrastinators are slow to start anything, diets or exercise plans struggling each day for a new excuse to push off progress instead of pursue it.
What Jennifer needed was to change the definition of exercise so she wouldn't walk away from it.
"Start using the stairs, walking up the escalator, go for a walk at lunch or after work. And it's not even called exercise, it's activities of daily living," Dr. Kushner says.
"And I do find that I'm walking around more and finding more places to walk to and that's been really helpful," Jennifer says.
To track her progress, Jennifer strapped on a pedometer.
"Almost 7,000 today," Jennifer says.
7,000 steps is about 3 miles already. It's a good goal to focus on each day. So is five minutes the focus for each meal. It's the time those who enjoy hearty portions should set before putting their fork down. The five minute check to see if they are still enjoying the meal or just eating it. These are the small steps that can make a huge difference in diet. A diet that everyone can cope with.
"Focusing in only on your diet is one-dimensional and is likely to fail over time. You need to step back and look at the total picture. Your exercise, your coping strategies and your diet," Dr. Kushner says.
One strategy that never works is depreivation. Better to eat what you want, like that taste of chocolate cake, but do so in moderation. Otherwise, you'll eat the fruit when you want the chocolate and splurge and ruin your diet on chocolate cake later.
To purchase a copy of Dr. Kushner's Personality Type Diet you can log on to Amazon.com
Is your personality preventing you from losing weight? A new approach to dieting says figure out your personality type first, then choose your diet.
A local doctor believes we sabatoge diets because individual personality types have specific diet plans that will work for them.
Do we cut out carbs or pound protein? Do we exercise every day or just take a walk once a week? The answer, it depends on your personality. Know your traits and you'll lose weight.
"I nibble and then I lay down and go to sleep."
"I'm lazy."
"I have a hard time motivating myself."
Structured, type-A, procrastinator, grazer, which personality style fits? If you are trying to fit into a smaller size, you need to know.
"I've discovered that each person has a set of personality patterns that has kept them overweight and by targeting these traits that was the key to successful weight loss," says Dr. Robert Kushner of Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
That's why the latest prescription for losing weight doesn't include a diet menu it simply asks questions about you beginning with your eating inventory.
Does your meal plan lack structure? Do you eat on the phone or at the computer? Do you frequent fast food restaurants or skip meals?
Jennifer Weinstein answered yes. The answers helped doctors get a fingerprint of her eating habits which told them she actually needed to eat more, less times a day.
Look at Jennifer's eating patterns, the one that stands out above the others is being an "unguided grazer". That's why the target for her was three meals a day without fail, start to plan ahead, slow down, enjoy your eating, feel the fullness cues and hunger cus and make eating much more of a priority," says Dr. Kushner.
"I think I've lost more than 30 pounds and I feel like I'm just getting started," Jennifer says.
Procrastinators are slow to start anything, diets or exercise plans struggling each day for a new excuse to push off progress instead of pursue it.
What Jennifer needed was to change the definition of exercise so she wouldn't walk away from it.
"Start using the stairs, walking up the escalator, go for a walk at lunch or after work. And it's not even called exercise, it's activities of daily living," Dr. Kushner says.
"And I do find that I'm walking around more and finding more places to walk to and that's been really helpful," Jennifer says.
To track her progress, Jennifer strapped on a pedometer.
"Almost 7,000 today," Jennifer says.
7,000 steps is about 3 miles already. It's a good goal to focus on each day. So is five minutes the focus for each meal. It's the time those who enjoy hearty portions should set before putting their fork down. The five minute check to see if they are still enjoying the meal or just eating it. These are the small steps that can make a huge difference in diet. A diet that everyone can cope with.
"Focusing in only on your diet is one-dimensional and is likely to fail over time. You need to step back and look at the total picture. Your exercise, your coping strategies and your diet," Dr. Kushner says.
One strategy that never works is depreivation. Better to eat what you want, like that taste of chocolate cake, but do so in moderation. Otherwise, you'll eat the fruit when you want the chocolate and splurge and ruin your diet on chocolate cake later.
To purchase a copy of Dr. Kushner's Personality Type Diet you can log on to Amazon.com
