Weight Loss - Part 2: The Team Nutritionist

Teams are a good idea. Not because you need other people in your business, but because they bring resources to your shared involvement and extend your reach in outcomes. I was always very hesitant to involve other people in my weight loss efforts....first of all, it's freakin' embarrassing! The whole thought of getting on a scale in your skivvies in front of a bunch of people, in my opinion, is absolutely demoralizing and translates into imminent and immediate social death. Nobody benefits from that.

So, yeah, let's NOT do that.

Instead, let's consider for a moment the kind of resources you might need and benefit from. Personally, I needed a couple of things. First, I needed an education. I never had a high school or college class in nutrition, so, to be honest, I didn't know much about it. I assumed I did. But I didn't. Not really. I didn't know much about portion control, about the physiology of digestion, about caloric tracking, about servings and food groups...in short, I really needed to learn about healthy eating habits. And, of course, I needed to figure out what my RMR was. (For a discussion on RMR - your Resting Metabolic Rate - see my previous post). So, actually, visiting with a licensed nutritionist was a a logical choice.

What can a good Nutritionist do for you?

A licensed nutritionist can teach you about how your metabolism works, and they can measure your RMR, relatively precisely. And that's the magic number you need. So a licensed nutritionist is a MUST.

A licensed nutritionist can teach you about food intake, about calories and carbohydrates and proteins and fats, all the things your body needs to function properly and maintain itself in a healthy state. They can also teach you about portion control, how much is too little, and how much is too much; they can teach you about how many servings you - in particular as an individual - should have of all the food groups per day. In short, they're really useful as a resource to answer all your questions when they pop up. And you will have questions.

Nutritionists are also great at giving support and checking in with you, following and monitoring your progress, and being an outside point person to give you some honest feedback about how you're doing....what you should be working on....how to optimize your eating habits. For instance, I had to learn to eat breakfast - something I pretty much have never done because I'm just not hungry in the morning. I had to learn that, actually, breakfast should be your biggest meal of the day, and that ideally your meals should decrease in size throughout the day (still working on that).

Often licensed nutritionists are also sport therapy experts, or physical therapy experts - it's not uncommon for them to double up on skill sets. Nutritionists are into the whole body and its ability to function in all contexts...they have hobbies, too, and they love to share what they're into. Look for specialties if you have one or if you think you need one. They're out there...

Lastly, it's a good idea to have a nutritionist on board your team, because the other people will now that you're paying attention to what you need - it instills confidence in the other team members that you're going about this weight loss thing responsibly and with a long term eye on your overall health. Your physician in particular will appreciate this.

Did I mention you should have a physician on your team?

Oh yeah, you'll probably want to consult your physician and bring them in on what you're doing. Let's talk about that in the next blog post....

And always remember...in Life as in Food...Flavor Is Free!