As I write this post, I am at day 10 of my 14 day quarantine. The CDC now says a 10 day quarantine after the first symptoms is adequate, but I'm being a bit over cautious.
Dec 1st, 2020
As I write this post, I am at day 10 of my 14 day quarantine. The CDC now says a 10 day quarantine after the first symptoms is adequate, but I'm being a bit over cautious.
Though this blog is typically about Weight Loss, Fitness, and improving Health, the past 2 weeks has prompted me to spend some time assessing my own thoughts on the Coronavirus pandemic.
We live in a Now world. We want everything as soon as possible. Drive thru's, home delivery of food, next day delivery of products, high speed internet, a thousand TV channels and services all account for the need for instant gratification.
We had so many questions, we decided to create a second blog of questions and answers. It's exciting when our patients, blog readers, and podcast listeners send us questions.
Everyday we get questions from our patients and from those who want to lose weight who come to us for a consultation.
We are now tired of being overweight and have made the decision to lose excess body fat and get to a leaner place.
When we make the personal decision to start losing weight and get healthy, it's typically done in a quiet conversation inside our head. We don't trumpet this decision to the world.
We want to lose weight now and lots of it. We are disappointed if we only lose 8 pounds in a month. We go for any program that promises big and fast weight loss.
We all want to be at our best weight. We want to look good, feel good, and be full of energy. We all know that carrying less body fat and overall body weight will help us achieve these goals.
Many of my patients and people, in general, get fixated on the scales. I think the scales are important and tracking our body weight is a great measure of getting leaner.
Everybody knows that being significantly overweight can cause negative effects on our body. We all understand that rarely does an obese individual live into their 80's or 90's and if they do, they are typically disabled.
The disease of Diabetes is growing at epidemic proportions in America and around the world. When we say Diabetes, we are talking about two different disorders. Diabetes Type I and Diabetes Type II.
Losing weight and getting back a leaner healthier body is hard work. It is a full time job. But Dr. Oliver, I already have a full time job and since I am taking care of a family, I have two full time jobs.
Most people think the ability to lose extra weight is all about our willpower and sticking to a rigid and disciplined schedule. The Truth...Not True.
Our lives are full of transitions. These are changes that occur as we move month to month through our lives. Some of the changes are amazing and positive like starting school, graduating from school, getting married, having children, getting a job.
Every top athlete, musician, actress, and high performer has a daily routine. Some call it training and others call it practice. They go through a repetitive cycle of doing the same thing over and over. They don't just do anything.
We all have expectations of what we want or would like to happen. This begins to occur at a very young age.
We have been released and the locked doors have been unlocked. Though we still are maintaining caution and utilizing our newly learned "distancing" techniques, we are feeling much more free. Many are getting back to work. Haircuts are being gotten.
We all want things in our life. More free time. To know more. Better relationships. Better health. Better body. More fun. A new car. A bigger house. A nice vacation. An understanding boss. And on and on and on. It's good to want.
"Why can't I lose weight?" "What's wrong with my body?" "Why don't I have any willpower?"
To effectively lose weight and keep it off, there are Five aspects that must be treated. If only one or two are addressed then the attempt will only partially succeed and long term weight control is not possible.
We were made for success. Part of being able to succeed is having a plan. With that plan comes a set of goals, objectives, tasks, and timelines.
We're home. No place to go. Too much TV to watch. Lots of computer screen time. Kids are home from school. Husbands are under spouses' feet 24 hours a day.
We find ourselves in a new and weird environment. The COVID 19 virus has taken away what we thought was some stability and certainty in our lives. That's the thing about life. Is it really ever stable and certain? Of course not.
Right now the number one concern of Americans and everyone around the world is their health. People are a bit frightened at the possibility of catching COVID 19 and becoming very ill. Yes, people are dying of this disease.
There's a natural tendency to approach life in a leisurely way. True, there is great importance in slowing down and smelling the roses.
Welcome Spring! This is a time of renewal and growth. It's when all of Mother Nature is having a party. Plants come back to life. Colors are restored in nature. The flowers bloom and farmlands activate. The air is fresh and Spring rains cleanse and r
The world as we know it has changed. Out of nowhere a tiny invisible particle with some genetic material has invaded us, humans. We are not in control of these things. It's the way the world was made. We are, however, in control of ourselves. We get to
We get stuck in routines. Many of these routines are detrimental to our health and wellbeing. This viral pandemic has shown us that we can break old patterns and old routines. We have been forced to change our daily lives.
Most people seem to be perplexed by the fact that they lose weight and over time will gain it back and sometimes gain even more weight.
All in or Part-time? OK, we said that in 2020 we wanted to drop our excess body fat and get down to a lean and healthy weight.
We are born to win. Born to grow. Born to Achieve. Now, that doesn't mean that everyone does.
There is no magic to the term ketosis. Many patients seem mystified about being "in Ketosis". Here's the simple truth. Ketone bodies are produced as breakdown products of fat to be used as fuel by the body when adequate supplies of glucose are not avai
Our success correlates with our level of self confidence. Weight loss success requires that we be or become confident in ourselves and our ability to achieve a desired outcome.
A common problem is evening and night time eating. Many people can control eating throughout the day, but after supper, all heck can break lose.
The answer is yes!. I am asked more times than I can count, "What type of diet should I be on"? Interestingly enough, our genetic makeup will determine how we burn our fuel and also what type of diet works best for us. Almost everyone will lose weight i
Weight loss and getting to our best weight is about going the distance. Persistence and commitment even in the face of adversity are the answers to getting to your desired weight.
Everyone wanting to lose a pound or a hundred is looking for the latest and greatest diet to change their life and their body. There have been as many diets as there has been dieters.
Having tolerance is a good thing generally speaking. It's good to tolerate the opinions of others. It's good to tolerate differences between people. It's good to be tolerant...in general. However, Tolerance can be a detriment to our lives.
We want to lose weight. We want to be thinner and wear nicely fitting clothes. We want to look our best and feel our best. We want the best health possible. Question is: Are we willing to work for it?
Most people give lip-service to goal setting. Properly set goals are powerful and life changing. Everyone has a goal or goals. We keep them in our heads. Problem is that most goals are just pipe dreams.
Our senses are bombarded by thousands of inputs every minute. We have gotten pretty good at ignoring most of them. We have sounds, images, noise, conversations, and issues confronting us at all times.
In order to achieve a great goal, we must have a clear vision of what we want the result to be. Without this clarity, it is impossible to know what it is we are trying to achieve.
Being able to do something long after the emotional moment we said we would do it is commitment.
We live in a society of settlers. We settle for mediocrity. We settle for comfort. We settle for "good enough". We settle for someone else to take care of it or us.
Everyone is getting excited for the upcoming Holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas and a host of other religious and family events are just around the corner. We get so focused on these favorite times of the year that we don't think about our future.
I meet with patients everyday that come to us to lose body fat, reduce weight, and live a healthier life. I have spent most of my adult life working to resist excess body fat accumulation. I've been fat and I've been thin and everywhere in between.
Ok, you are working on your weight and body fat reduction plan or you are approaching your goal weight. I call this your optimal weight.
The last two months of the year are when most people gain between 7-12 pounds. Will that be you? You've been working on getting leaner this year.
I speak often with my patients about "Fat Genes". I make it sound simple, but in fact it is very complicated and we are only at the beginning of understanding how our genetic makeup contributes to our body size, weight, and health.
My patients tell me every day that they just want to have more energy, look better, be able to wear more stylish clothes, get into a smaller size jean, feel better, breathe easier, lower their abnormal medical markers, feel like they did years ago, be more
Many of my patients hit the gym hard 4-6 days a week and complain that they can't lose a pound. Animal and human studies have shown that our ability to lose weight with exercise is a complex genetic and biochemical process.
Many years ago I learned of a philosophy that spoke of Constant Improvement of ourselves. The concept is sound and would seem to lead us all to become the best persons we could possibly become.
If your struggling with weight loss, it could be a medical issue. You may have a metabolic or hormonal imbalance that makes your body resist fat burning. It could be a psychological barrier regarding food that has you stuck.
We all love to eat out at restaurants. Just try to get into a restaurant on a Friday or Saturday night. There's usually a waiting line ( Weighting Line ).
We all love vacations. It's a time to relax, get things done, travel, see new places, and spend time together. What it shouldn't be is a weight gain nightmare.
The best diet in the world for weight loss is the diet you can stay on. Since overweight syndrome and obesity are genetic disorders, it is reasonable that our appetite signaling mechanisms are also genetically programmed.
Weight loss is a job that requires dedication. It requires focus. It needs a routine.
Being overweight takes the wind out of our sails. We tire out more quickly, have less energy, feel full and bloated a lot, and have difficulty doing the things we did years ago.
Weight loss is a job that requires dedication. It requires focus. It needs a routine. Following people who are working on weight reduction demonstrates this fact.
We know that the body weight issues confronted by America are due to a complex aggregation of factors.
Stress much? Sure, we all live stress filled lives. In fact, without a bit of stress we'd get less done, be less motivated, and our lives would be somewhat dull.
The magic to long term weight control is consistency. Being consistent with a daily, sound, lower volume diet, and exercise on a regular basis is crucial to staying lean. Sometimes we have to create routines and programs for ourselves to be able to cr
How we see the world and how we show up in the world make the difference between success and failure in our endeavors. But be clear, a person is not a failure. Failure is an event and how we approach any event in life determines whether it succeeds or fa
We overestimate what we can accomplish in one month, but we underestimate what we can accomplish in a year. With weight loss, we all want to lose every excess pound of fat we have in the first month (if not the first week). That's not realistic and we l
The American diet is poor. We all know that. Most people do make attempts to eat more healthy foods. What we eat is extremely important to our health. It's only one of the components of eating well.
Many people believe they don't have enough willpower to lose weight. They are wrong. First of all, losing weight is not about willpower. Secondly, most everyone already has the willpower needed to lose all the excess body fat. The problem isn't lack of
Most people think that to lose weight you must have willpower. That’s somewhat true, but I’m going to tell you why you already have the right amount of willpower to get the job done.
