Weight Loss Guru

When I was at school, our biology teacher told us a story of what happens when you put a frog in boiling water. I have no idea why he did, but it’s interesting from a behavioural perspective. In the same way as if you or I were put in a bath of boiling water, the frog will jump straight out. He will then be petrified of going anywhere near the water because he knows how hot and uncomfortable it is, which is understandable. So how do you get a frog to stay in boiling water, assuming you have a good reason for doing that? Well, you put the frog in water of a comfortable temperature and then gradually heat up the water: the frog gets used to the rise in temperature so stays there even when the water is at boiling point. Unfortunately the frog is unlikely to be able to survive and will die but doesn’t jump out because he doesn’t realise how much danger he’s in because he’s got so used to it.

With the hundreds of people with whom I’ve worked, I see a similar pattern in how people look after their health: people collect unhealthy habits, none of which seem that bad in isolation but over time they add up to be really painful. Just as the frog doesn’t realise how the temperature of the water is getting dangerous, many people don’t realise how their gradual decline in health is dangerous. For example, someone may start by putting on a bit of weight; then their excess weight makes it harder for them to breathe; this is followed by high blood pressure; and they then end up with Type 2 diabetes. At each stage, it’s ‘one more thing to cope with’, ‘a bit of bad news’, or, simply, ‘bad luck’: but, rather like heating up the water one degree at a time, this person eventually finds themselves in boiling water but doesn’t realise how serious it is. If they had suddenly gone from fine to poor health overnight, they would have noticed the significant change in how they felt: but because their health problems have been gradually building up, they don’t realise how far removed they are from perfect health. The good news, however, is that, even when you’re sitting in boiling water, many health problems can be reversed simply by changing your behaviour

Hi there guys and girls,

Did you know there's an old saying that goes ‘A path with no obstacles goes nowhere’.

There are always going to be times when you make a mistake or think you’ve failed. Most of us fear failure because we think it means that we are failures. But failing is just something we have to do occasionally – it’s the other side of success. When we get things wrong, it’s an ideal opportunity to learn.

What you’ve done is less important than your response to what you’ve done. So if, for example, you overeat because you're stressed, or tired, or bored. Just say, ‘Ok, that’s what I did this time – What will I do differently next time?’

Think back to when you learned to drive or ride a bike. You almost certainly didn’t get that right first time. But the mistakes you made were signposts that gave you the opportunity to learn.

Dieters are always one mouthful away from failure: one piece of chocolate or a late night binge and they think, ‘I’ve blown it', and what a great excuse to dive back into your old bad habits that is! But once it’s eaten, it’s finished, it’s history! Stop beating yourself up and get on with your life. The successful slimmers I’ve worked with have used experiences like this as opportunities to learn.

Keep learning.

It’s Day 2 and it’s 4.50am. Our recruits are in for shock as they are being woken up at 5am by our fitness trainer Mark Anthony for an early morning workout.  I can’t imagine that they would have ever experienced anything like this before but we need to get them out of their comfort zones and get them doing things differently because; if they always do what they’ve always done then they will always get what they’ve always got.

Today sees me greet the ladies live on air (weather permitting!) at 8.15 as someone who’s is overweight. I was going to be wearing a fat suit but it was left in London by the GMTV crew so we are going to pad me out with loads of sheets and towels to make me look overweight. I am sure this might upset some viewers, as they may think I'm making fun of their weight, but I actually want to make a really important point to our recruits, and to the viewers . The fact is no one is born overweight, they have become that way through their lives and their life experiences. You could say that they are good or even skilled at behaving in a way that allows their weight to increase. It might not be what they want, but they have put a lot of effort into eating when they are not hungry, eating more than they need and being in-active.

In addition many people have also put loads of effort into losing weight and getting fit only to return to their old habits.  So, many overweight people are actually comfortable with the way that they are ... and this is the challenge: to get out of our comfort zones, to do things differently and learn the skills and techniques that not only help us lose weight, but also keep it off!

I better get out of my bed now and go check out our ladies as it’s after 5!

Take care, Pete

From a petecohen.tv weight-loss programme member:

"I have realised that I AM a couch potato. When I was younger, I was aways running, jumping, dancing - I was never still and I was a lovley and slim size 10 (this was in my thirties so I know it is achievable again). But the past few years I have developed this habit of sttiing completely still watching TV or working on the PC - I have become a totally immobile, couch potato. What is my exercise of choice? Watching TV with a glass of red wine and snack - cheese / salami / crisps - easy to see how the weight slips on, isn't it? And the half hearted exercise I was doing served no purpose other than to maintain my late night drinking and snacking habit. God, thsis hard to write, feels almost like a confessional........... I am trying to say I am finally off my a*se and using the exercise tool - I did 30 mins on the cross trainer last night. after about 10 miutes the duck had to be firmly shut up - it was whispering to me "you've done enough now, deal or no deal is on TV..So I shouted " SHUT UP!!!!!! And I did it, the full 30 minutes, I DID IT!!!!!And I am going to do it again every other day. It's a real breakthough for me and I am so grateful to Pete for getting me moving again. The rest of it is going great, got in to those tight trousers hanging in my wardrobe. Not weighing myself till end of January as I feel the scales have very negative connotations for me. I am measuring waist etc as some clothes feeling loose now."

This girl gets a very well deserved Pat On the Back from me! Live the dream :) 

I was in Edinburgh on Friday doing a corporate talk. It was only a flying visit but I did get a little bit of time to wander around the beautiful city. I even had a jacket potato with a haggis filling! Now I know that haggis is not everyone's cup of tea, but when in Rome...

It reminded me of a saying that I'm often repeating: if you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you've always got. In my case, I got a rather strange taste sensation, but it's important to recognise the power of doing things differently - things you wouldn't normally do.

The secret to breaking a habit is learning to do something else instead.

The first time you do something new or different, you're likely to feel a 'bit funny' because your brain is getting used to a new function. But once you've done something enough times, the brain starts to get used to the pattern and sets it as an auto-programme - and that's how habits are formed.

What are the two things in life that are a certainty?

One is that one day we are going to die, and the other is CHANGE. I want to focus today on change because, if you want to break habits, then you need to be more open to change and doing things differently.
 
Most of us do what we've always done without thinking about it and the thought of changing or doing something different can make some of us feel anxious - but that's simply because we're not used to change and breaking some routines.

If you want to break any habits then a good place to start is become a change junkie!

Rather than just changing the habit you want to stop, start doing as many things as you can differently so that you get comfortable with being out of your comfort zone. Sleep on the other side of the bed, change your usual sandwich order and have something new, etc. If you do small things like this, before you know it, you'll be addicted to doing things differently and be much more comfortable with breaking any unwanted habits.

Until next time, take care.

Have you heard of the phrase “We are what we eat”?  Of course you have.... Well there’s another phrase that’s just as true - ”We are what we think”.  In fact, when all is said and done, the quality of our life really does come down to how we communicate to ourselves.  You know that little voice inside your head that says “go on eat that chocolate”.   Do you ever say anything like “go on have another helping, no one’s looking” or “it doesn’t matter you’ve blown it already” or “you’re stupid you won’t achieve anything”?   What sort of a voice do you have going on inside your head?

Let me ask you a question, what do you think stops us from being more positive?  I think there's 2 reasons.  Firstly, being negative and giving ourselves a hard time is something we’ve practised - and like anything we practise doing long enough - we become good at it, and we generally just keep on doing it. Now, the other reason is that we don't like being different to the crowd - being negative stops us from standing out. Positive people tend to take action and get on with life... they stand out as being different... being different can feel a bit uncomfortable at first... and who wants to feel uncomfortable ?

And so let me ask you another question.  If I was to step inside your head for a day would I come out at the end of the day going “WOW THAT WAS FANTASTIC” or would I come out going “OH THAT WAS REALLY REALLY HARD WORK”?  You see for many people that voice going off inside their heads is actually like a never ending duck quacking inside their head all day long. Now whilst we don’t actually have a duck quacking inside our heads whether you’ve realised it or not as I’m talk to you right now you’re probably talking to yourself either agreeing or disagreeing with what I’m saying.  And the fact is a lot of what we say in our head is not always positive and so what I want you to do is when you start to give yourself a hard time imagine it is like a duck quacking in your head quacking away giving yourself a hard time and just tell that duck to shut up.

Shut the duck up!

... and start to be more positive about what you’re doing.    Spend some time now answering the following questions and then, for the rest of this week, pay special attention to how you talk to yourself, listen to it, and be curious as to how you talk to yourself.

• How do you talk to yourself if you get things wrong?  What words and tone do you use?
• Do you treat yourself as well as you would treat your best friend? If not, what do you do differently?
• What sort of messages of encouragement do you give yourself?

You see the people who have successfully become slimmer have stopped battling with themselves. They’ve learned to be kinder and more accepting of themselves and their mistakes. Now they changed and so can you.    The most important thing to remember is that you get what you focus on. So focus on feeling good for no reason at all.  Look for the positive things that you’re doing and give yourself some credit and you will achieve more.

Pete.