Cathy

MyBodyTutor Reviews: Cathy’s Experience

Her Results: 63 pounds gone in 9 months with MyBodyTutor.

The best part? She’ll be able to sustain her results for the rest of her life. Not only because she has a new relationship with food and healthy habits — but she gets access to our maintenance plan for free, for the rest of her life. That’s my commitment to your long-term success. This way, you never have to deal with losing weight again.

Her goals (in her words): “Weight loss, for sure. I have some health issues that I want to take care of as well: I have arthritis (in both knees), and I’m taking medication to manage high blood pressure and cholesterol levels. I’d much prefer to ‘fix’ these issues by being healthier, not by taking pills. And these are the knees I came in with. I want them to be the same ones I go out with.

She then goes on to write, “A good weight for me is in the 125 – 130 range, so that’s 50 pounds.  But any weight loss is a step in the right direction.”

—-> When a client signs up they fill out a questionnaire. Below is a screenshot of part of hers. I love that she had no idea what she was in for. She wrote, “But any weight loss is a step in the right direction…”

Here’s Cathy’s Amazing Write up of her experience with MyBodyTutor, in her own words:

A success story always begins with a reason. What did it take to make the decision, to take that risk, to decide to change? For me it was recognizing that my life wasn’t in line with my vision of the future I wanted.

My long-term goal was that eventually, say, when I was in my late 90’s / early 100’s, I’d move into assisted living so I could relax, hang out with the geezers and party until, say, 8 p.m. or so. I wanted to be the feisty old girl, the one wearing droopy sweat socks who hung out and swapped stories with the guys at the jock’s table.

Unfortunately, that didn’t appear to be where I was going. I was overweight, getting heavier and I was actually heading toward the other end of the spectrum . . .becoming the large bowl of pudding who spends her days in a wheelchair and who needs help standing, dressing, bathing and getting around.

Over the years I’ve fought the “weight battle” with a certain amount of success. And with bursts of willpower I did manage to lose weight and keep it off for a while. But none of those earlier weight loss plans that I tried was ever a permanent fix. There was always something about the things I tried that just didn’t work for me:

Fatal flaw #1:  previous diets did not fix what was actually broken. For me, eating was pleasure, reward, consolation for working too hard, feeling unappreciated, going along with what everyone else expected of me. Food called to me. I answered . . . repeatedly. On my own I wasn’t able to break its grip on me. I didn’t WANT to break its grip on me. It was that simple.

Fatal flaw #2:  diet plans involved following a set of rules. Many of them involved a gimmick – if you follow a set of rules you will lose weight. Some of these rules are utter nonsense. Some programs encouraged my worst habits – like frequent snacking on addictive salty, crunchy, sweetened and overpriced snacks (yes, I’m talking about you, Weight Watchers!!!).

Fatal flaw #3:  by definition the other plans were created BY someone else FOR someone else. They had almost nothing to do with what was best and most appropriate for me.

Fatal flaw #4:  sticking to the rules isn’t going to stick when the rules tell you one thing and your brain and your body are telling you something completely different. Ignoring hunger is NOT the road to successful weight loss.

Fatal flaw #5:  following rules teaches you to follow rules. It doesn’t help you to develop your own good judgement and then learn to trust yourself. It doesn’t teach you what you actually need to know to become healthy and fit.

So what makes MyBodyTutor different?

Well for starters, my tutor introduced me to a completely new perspective – that poor eating is based on learned behavior, that it’s not a fundamental character flaw. What a relief that was to hear! She pointed out that new eating habits can be learned. And that it’s possible for our preferences to change for the better. Wouldn’t have thought so, but guess what – seeing truly is believing.

My starting point was a phone conversation with my new tutor. I wasn’t sure what to expect; I figured that I’d be given an eating plan, and I hoped it would fit in with the low carb approach that I wanted to follow. Instead of being TOLD what I could and couldn’t eat, we talked about what I DID eat.

She gave me pointers on how I could improve on what I was doing – introducing a small serving of healthy carbs into my meals, eating healthy snacks when I was hungry. I was also asked to think about and then set my own limits for alcohol consumption.

We went through a similar process in discussing exercise. I like to walk and practice yoga. I prefer to hike up and down stairs rather than going to the gym. So for me it was a matter of quantifying what I was doing.  Easy answer – I was already wearing a Fitbit so I could use those numbers for my reporting.

And then we were off and running.

So why did this work for me?  A few key things, really:

Accountability:

This was an important element in my decision to try MyBodyTutor.  And it was a huge game changer for me.

I had a long list of Big Fat Lies that I’d used whenever I wanted to justify my poor eating habits:  It’s just this once . . . I won’t finish ALL of it . . . there’s not much left so I may as well finish it . . . I NEED this . . . I’m having a bad day . . . I’m celebrating because it’s a good day . . . it’s a special occasion . . . it’ll hurt someone’s feelings if I don’t have some . . . if I indulge just this once I won’t need to do it in the future . . .The BFL’s were used repeatedly and they always worked because they were exactly what I wanted to hear.

What I truly needed was another set of eyes on this. Just imagining my tutor’s reaction to the BFL’s was enough to expose them as the utter nonsense that they were. No doubt in my mind about that!

Sustainability:

I gave up on other diets because I grew tired of the restrictions, I was tired of being hungry and of constantly thinking about the next meal, the next snack, how much cheating I could sneak in without it showing up on the scale. That’s a never-win scenario and it’s not how I wanted to live any longer.

When I’d had enough of following the ‘rules’ I would rebel and go off program. I fully expected that at some point that would happen here. I warned my tutor that some day she could expect to meet my Petulant Inner Child – the tyrant who would show up and stage a food tantrum.

To my enormous surprise Petulant Inner Child never once made an appearance. She never needed to because she never became angry and resentful about the way I began eating! I fed her healthy, flavorful, normal food regularly.

To my surprise she didn’t particularly miss the horrible things I’d stopped eating. Sometimes she complained that she couldn’t drink all the wine that she wanted to, but I just let her have reasonable amounts and told her to get used to that. Because I’m the grownup here!

So my new way of life is the best example of sustainability that I can imagine – a change that doesn’t rankle the beastly child who has always run things in the past.

I am happier with what I do now than I ever was before.  So there’s no desire to go back.

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[Check out this email (see image below) Cathy sent us back in January. She writes, “There is nothing about what we’re doing that I want to change once I’m “done”. I love it! That’s the idea. MyBodyTutor gets easier to stick with as time goes on. Most plans/diets gets harder to stick with as time goes on. We ‘will’ ourselves to eat a certain way for as long as we can…until we can’t take it anymore. Not with MyBodyTutor.]

Back to Cathy…

Feedback.

For me, this is where the true magic happens. It’s not merely someone pointing out to you whether or not you followed the rules. This is where you receive guidance and support as you learn a new way of doing things.

Questions are asked that really make you think:  why you made certain choices, what you might think about doing differently, how you might want to handle a situation in the future.

I became accustomed to eating in a healthy way.  When eating out I explored completely unfamiliar sections of restaurant menus – choosing foods were flavorful but that hadn’t been fried, buried in cheese or otherwise converted to an unholy mess. I learned out how to handle buffets and potlucks where there was an abundance of delicious and tempting food.

Even when I made better choices I wasn’t always sure I trusted those – eating in special situations is very different than when you’re facing your usual, more controlled meals.  So this is where I really needed good feedback. I was quick to criticize and blame myself for not being perfect.

My tutor’s feedback was always supportive and very helpful; perfection is unattainable and unsustainable. Eating mindfully, enjoying the occasion as well as the meal, having reasonable amounts of those special foods is. With these ongoing reminders from her I began to trust my own judgement.

How Hard Is This?

You will need to face some things that make you most uncomfortable about yourself but you will have companionship as you do this . . . someone who understands what you’re going through and will skillfully guide you toward a better way and it makes all the difference. I could have never done this without my coach.

Is It Ever Too Late?

Short answer:  No.

Slightly longer answer:  as long as you’re still breathing you’re still moving forward. It can be toward what’s best for you or it can simply be a repeat of what you’ve done in the past – and what everyone now expects of you.

Whatever brings you closer to the things that matter to you is what’s important.

It Wasn’t Too Late For Me!

I don’t normally give much thought to my age – it’s pretty irrelevant in normal day to day life – work, friendship, family.

But it’s fairly significant when you consider health, fitness, how you look and how you feel about yourself.

There’s also the timeline thing . . . if there’s only so much time left to me, should I really be postponing the things I hope to accomplish?

Age did enter into my decision to try MyBodyTutor, so I think that’s worth a mention.

I’m 64 and I’ve always been active and pretty healthy. But I wasn’t happy with my weight and health issues were starting to crop up. I could see the writing on the wall and I didn’t like what it had to say.

I strongly believe that I am responsible for my own health. Medicine can work miracles and it can save lives, but it’s no substitute for taking care of yourself.  But I hadn’t been taking good care of myself and my high blood pressure and cholesterol levels reflected that. I’ve been taking medication for both.

So just imagine how much fun I had on my recent trip to the doctor, weighing 63 lbs. less than I had at my last appointment 9 months earlier.  My doctor was amazed and delighted with what I’d accomplished. Is “gobsmacked” a word???

This was a very good checkup and my doctor decided I should come off one of my two blood pressure medications. That’s a huge win as far as I’m concerned. I hope that by remaining fit my health gets even better over time.

A few other thoughts about being my age . . .

The world in general is inclined to think that as you get older you are incapable of change. For the most part we’re viewed as ready to slow down, park ourselves on the couch, indulge ourselves and wait for other people to look after us. Decline without even putting up a fight.

I see a completely different scenario – one that involves cutting down on my hours at work, using my skills and talents to make the world a better place. A MUCH better place, actually. Taking care of myself. Owning fewer things and enjoying them more. Liking what I see when I look in the mirror. There’s nothing in this list that says I should EVER give up on striving to become a better, happier, healthier and more fulfilled human being.

Thank you to MyBodyTutor for helping me to find a way towards things that matter a great deal to me. Joining MyBodyTutor is one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself!

The seat at the Jock’s Table awaits me . . . eventually.