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This is Part 4 of 4 topics based on a seminar I give for the Ladies Get Fit class at the YMCA. To see the series, click the “weight loss seminar” category.

Previously on “The Seminar”: I talked about The Bowflex Myth, and how important changes are not linear. Nobody gets a fabulous body simply by doing the Bowflex for 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week.

And I know I am not the only one who, after the fist success in losing weight, starts to do the math in my head: “OK, if it took me 2 weeks to lose 5 pounds, then in 8 weeks I will have lost 20 pounds, and by Christmas–that’s 17 weeks–I will have lost 42.5 pounds!” It never works that way.

So, instead of a Linear Formula, I introduce an Iterative Formula in my seminar.

What does “iterative” mean? I used to work for a company called “Iterated Systems” where I learned about this concept. Iterated Systems specialized in fractal technologies for computer images. They used iterative mathematical equations to replicate patterns found in nature. An iterative equation is one in which you apply a formula–even a very simple one, such as “A times 2″ to a number, and then again to the result, and again to that result, and so on.

When you think about it, iterations describe nature pretty well. For example, a function, such as “Spring,” is applied to an acorn. The acorn splits and a tiny stem pops out. Other functions, called “Summer,” “Autumn,” and “Winter” are also applied to the resulting acorn and stem, each producing a result that becomes the object of the next iteration. Each function is applied iteratively, over time…not to the original acorn…but to the last result. We grow and change. In a few years, the acorn becomes a small tree–no longer a modified acorn.

In our personal journeys, the same concept applies. We must be ready to change iteratively. The results accumulate, and we adapt as we go. Each opportunity for change is possible because of the changes already made. As in our acorn: it will be a while before it puts out a leaf, but when it does, it has a new way to absorb light and rain!

All right, enough with the acorn. Here is my iterative formula for losing weight–and other things too:

Step 1: Open yourself up to changing something–anything–and take some small action.

Step 2: When Step 1 becomes challenging, take a deep breath and reorient. Return to Step 1.

Step 3: When Step 2 doesn’t cut it anymore, and you’re about to break something, bring in your support network (the people we talked about earlier in this seminar). Get some objective feedback. Adjust your perspective. Breathe. Return to Step 1.

Step 4: When old habits stop making sense, you will feel wobbly creating new ones. Wobble, and return to Step 1.

In the seminar, I distibute a sheet of “101 Little Ideas for Changing.” (Download the PDF here.)  It contains 101 ideas for how to get started on Step 1. Not all 101 are right for everybody, but there are usually enough ideas to get started. And I know that by the time I reiterated a few times, I was ready for some ideas that I wasn’t ready for before. I had new roots and leaves to work with (sorry, there’s that acorn).

Thus endeth the 4 major points of the seminar! But I will append the quotes that I use from a couple of people who inspired me, because they had lived their own weight loss journeys.

This is Part 3 of 4 topics based on a seminar I give for the Ladies Get Fit class at the YMCA. To see the series, click the “weight loss seminar” category.

We’ve all seen the infomercials with some really slick piece of machinery, being demonstrated by some awesomely toned bodies. The bodies move their arms and legs in smooth, machine-guided, arcs. It’s like running, or skiiing, or flying. It looks fun! And you can have this awesomely toned body by doing this simple exercise for 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week.

Ah, simplicity! A formula for attaining my dreams that I can understand, finally! An elegant, mathematical and logical approach really appeals to my dream–dare I call it a fantasy?–that my growth and improvement are within my reach if I just follow the right steps” “If I do A, I will have B.”

Has anything else in our lives that is really important ever been attainable in just 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week? I call this The Bowflex Myth: that our lifestyles can be improved through linear formulas. For most of us this just doesn’t happen.

In my seminar, I pull out a map of the Lewis and Clark Trail. Imagine, an area of land the size of the western two-thirds of America, mostly unknown to [the European-descended] Americans! Lewis and Clark didn’t know what they would find, how long it would take, whom they would meet, or where or how they would get provisions along the way.

And they for dang sure didn’t point their wagon wheels west-by-northwest and travel for 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week. It was a journey, and they adapted as they went along.

In my weight-loss journey, I tried low-carb for a while, and it worked. Then it didn’t. So I went to Weight Watchers. I did the Ladies Get Fit class for a year. Then I took up jogging, and weight training on my own. Some people say jogging is bad, but it’s working for me for now. And the training walks for the Breast Cancer 3-Day are great, although my diet has slipped into a nine-to-fiver’s fast-food nightmare. I am still figuring this stuff out.

The truth is, there are dozens, maybe a hundred little things I have tried with varying degrees of success. The secret was not finding the right prescription–the secret is to keep trying new things, continually, always, as much as possible…and staying on the journey.

This is Part 2 of 4 topics based on a seminar I give for the Ladies Get Fit class at the YMCA. To see the series, click the “weight loss seminar” category.

During that fabulous period when I was losing weight and people were noticing, many would ask me, “How are you doing it?”

“Well, I started this program at the YMCA called Ladies Get Fit that includes cardio, weights, and a food journal, and at the same time I started a low-carb diet without any starchy foods…” I would give them the spiel, but I saw their eyes glaze over.

“Oh,” they might say, with a little disappointment. “Well that’s great, though, good for you.”

What was happening here? As well as I can figure, I was only telling them what they already knew: “Move more, eat less.” Bummer. No new drug, no secret system, no gimmicky thing that makes it all so much easier than we had thought.

In the Seminar, I bring in a few magazines. Almost any mainstream magazines will do: health, homemaking, self-improvement types of magazines. You know what’s interesting? They all have numbers on the covers. “10 Secrets for a Flat Tummy.” “25 Great Summer Recipes!” “Top 5 Celebrity Beauty Tips.” And so on. Why do these magazines sell? Because we humans appear to have an insatiable desire for simple prescriptions. If only our desires were as simple as: “If you do A, then you will have B.” We can’t get enough of these quantifiable prescriptions to attain our dreams–and the self-help literature is full of them.

And ultimately, what was my secret prescription?

Everything. Anything. It was never really about “how.” I already knew how, and I always had. It was about “how much.”

What made this time different for me was that the Ladies Get Fit class encouraged me to try all of it, and to go as all-out, high-gear, no-holds-barred as I dared to go.

In my next installment, I’ll review the “prescription” phenomenon, from the magazines, and introduce what I call The Bowflex Myth.

This is Part 1 of 4 topics based on a seminar I give for the Ladies Get Fit class at the YMCA. To see the series, click the “weight loss seminar” category.

A long time ago, I would make up my mind to lose weight, but I would keep my resolve a secret. I think there were many reasons for this:

• It’s my life and my body and nobody else’s–so my motivation should come from inside.
• Weren’t people tired of hearing about me wanting to lose weight anyway?
• If I failed, no one would be the wiser!

It’s the first one that I think is the real killer. I’m not sure if everybody feels this way, but i know I have talked to other people (happened to be women, for what that’s worth) who felt this too. It is as if we are supposed to have enough motivation from within that we should be able to meet these goals and fight these battles on our own.

So, for all these reasons, we try to do all this on our own.

What made the Ladies Get Fit class work for me was that I knew there was a whole gang of women trying to do the same thing I was. I knew that if I didn’t make class twice a week, I would be missed. And, I kept a journal for the class leader that had my food and my other exercise (not all the exercise was in class). So I was accountable for the entire process.

Later, when I joined Weight Watchers, the same principle applied. I knew someone would miss me at the meetings. And, even though my weight results weren’t public, I knew that they were being recorded…and that I would get a gold star every time I hot a 5-pound mark.

So, the accountability piece doesn’t have to be heavy handed. No one was ever grilling me on my behavior or results. But the little, subtle things made a huge difference–like that gold start at Weight Watchers, or being able to lift as much weight as all the other women in the class.

So my first principle is: Put other people in the plan. And look for little ways to be accountable to them.

My real weight loss progress began in a program called Ladies Get Fit at the Ashford-Dunwoody YMCA. It’s a multi-faceted program that includes exercise classes, nutritional counseling, and some motivational seminars. Since I’ve had success in the program, I now offer one of those seminars. Last week I gave the quarterly talk.

It is always good for me to give the talk because I get reinforcement for sticking with my own plan. Plus, preparing for it is an occasion for me to sit down and remember how I did it, and what new approaches made me successful this time.

The basic points of the seminar would make good blog topics, and I hope that my readers will chime in with additional insights.

The basic points of my own experience are:

• Big changes in our lives involve other people–and the process of losing weight, especially if it involves a change to body image, is no exception.
• Everybody already knows how to lose weight.  (Sounds simple, but there are lots of corollaries to this point.)
• The process is not linear, and can’t be perfectly planned out.  I want to bust what I call the “Bowflex Myth” that you can change your life in just 20 minutes per day, 3 times per week.
• The process is iterative, meaning that you start over and start over and start over, all the time.

I’ll go into detail on all of these points in future posts.