Fitness Blog

It’s All in Your Head: Your Cheating Heart

Cheating is VERY personal.

No - not that kind - the kind where we go off the food plan!

Let’s address the term first - “cheating” sounds kinda harsh. You’re not trolling Ashley Madison; you’re eating a donut. Or a piece of pizza. Or whatever you’re not ‘supposed’ to be :). You’ve wandered off-plan. I’m using ‘cheating’ for brevity :).

There are a number of different KINDS of cheating and cheaters.

The “Optimist Cheater” - this is the person who each day arises with a new reserve of willpower, determined to eat the bare minimum the food plan requires, like they’re cramming for an exam (because a weigh-in is often around the corner.) And by 5pm or whenever that last straw of stress falls on your back, and the kids are fighting in the back of the minivan and you’ve calculated that you can just barely beat the Papa John’s driver home if you call the order in NOW, you’re done. Lather, rinse, repeat. Sadly, this is the most destructive kind of cheating, because having been in a state of famine much of the day, AND nearing bedtime, the body very efficiently processes and stores the extra calories, not knowing when it may be fed again.

The “Hostess Cheater” can’t stand the idea of making those around them uncomfortable by not eating everything they are. Never mind that no one will notice you skipped the mashed potatoes. It’s the office birthday party sheet cake and no one will care if you don’t have a piece (except the person who was raised not to “waste food” and will take it home.) If you’re THAT person, it may be helpful to consider that cake isn’t really food - it’s closer to a delivery device for the drug “sugar.”

The “Tag Team” cheater - these are the people who are supposed to serve as accountabilibuddies, keeping each other on track. Maybe they’re office mates or a couple, but when one folds, he or she takes the other one down, too. Guilt shared is not actually guilt halved. Sometimes you can’t save both of you, but you’re not obliged to go down with the ship.

The “Oops Cheater” - how did THAT get in my mouth? It just happened! Better to acknowledge the choice that we make in putting in there - not as an exercise in penance, but in asserting our control. This is a close cousin to the “Unplanned Cheat Cheater” - this person believes they fell into a cheat, but it was more likely a failure to plan NOT to cheat.

The “Secret Cheater” - this person is the most concerning to me - disordered eating is a diagnosis beyond my scope of practice to make, but if you cheat in secret, or binge eat, that’s a potentially serious problem that you may want to consider discussing. I recommend logging specifics of cheat meals for all clients; facing our food is a big first step to shaking its hold over us.

Look for patterns in your forays off-plan. Guilt is a massively useless emotion - it happens after the transgression and rarely affects the decision to commit the next one. How can we set ourselves up for success each and every day?

All the best,

Marcey

Coach Marcey Tidwell started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program! She believes that we control far more of our lives and choices than we usually like to admit :).

It’s All in Your Head: Why the Inferno is for EVERYONE

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I am putting early-high-school-me out there, much though it may pain me, to make a case for why YOU should sign up for the Inferno (event: Saturday September 12th; deadline 8/30 - register HERE.)

So the featured image is me around 1986, a decade or so before discovering hair product, rocking the brown plastic frame glasses that were the law for all girls of a certain age, and not suspecting at ALL that life would lead me toward fitness as a part-time vocation and full-time obsession. I avoided gym like Ebola and was fairly certain sweat wouldn’t kill me, but not enough to take the chance…

Then January 2011 boot camp changed my world, the tale of which which I will happily bore you with on request. Circa 2012(?) we had our first Inferno, then an individual competition. By then a coach and feeling obliged to represent, I donned war paint

and in my mind set out for battle, not with other clients, but against the knobby-kneed, clumsy, bespectacled me of 25 years prior, still taking up valuable real estate in my psyche. I wanted to throw up. What was I doing there?

And then when we started, it was absolutely NOTHING like what I (or anyone) expected. First, not having ever been a sports fan, it was difficult to understand getting excited about anything physical. But there we all were, getting hoarse cheering up someone grinding through the last of 75 push-ups. And kettlebell swings. And deadlifts when deadlifts were kind of a novelty around NGPT (who among us wouldn’t love for 50% of our body weight to be the DL benchmark now?) Also, I won the ladies “master’s division” (OLD?? Not this chick!) Nerds rejoice!

It has since evolved into an even more fun team event, and over time my nerves are less because I came to realize that, despite whatever teenaged trauma you’re carrying around, we’re Average Joes - the gym where everyone fits in and is supported. There is no Globo Gym, and they couldn’t hold a candle to NGPT if there was. We’re ALL on the same team.

Commit to signing up and trying YOUR best, or just come out and cheer, but know that sometimes the most valuable exercise is when you make your MIND do something it doesn’t want to do.

All the best,

Marcey

Coach Marcey Tidwell started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program! She believes 100% that we can change our bodies AND our minds and lives in the process.

It’s All in Your Head: The Coach Perspective

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One of the most interesting challenges I’ve taken on in recent weeks is making coaching assignments for the food portion of individual Meltdown programs and boot camps. There are many competing interests to weigh - personalities, goals, relatability - is the coach someone the client thinks has “been there and done that” and can be a role model for their plan? A shared perspective is the goal, and the coach needs empathy, while still being able to give nudges, gentle guidance, and even a little tough love.

A favorite reading topic in recent years has been how the medical mind thinks, and how to get the best out of your health care by understanding that. Knowing anyone’s thought processes is a benefit no matter the venue where you interact. Knowing the coach’s perspective can go a long way toward maximizing the benefit you get from your program.

It’s important to know that each coach is first and foremost a client who does this because they have received much from the program, and believe strongly in helping the next person along. This pretty much means we’re the same as all clients - not a class goes by that I don’t see _someone_ who has been around for a while helping a newer participant.

One potential pitfall is that much of our communication is in writing. While we do our best to meet all clients face-to-face, the email medium can be a challenge to get all the nuance we hope for, ESPECIALLY in a sensitive area like food and weight. We lose the non-verbal cues that are so critical when we’re trying to impart AND receive information.

And sometimes clients may not want to disappoint their coach if a log is off-target, especially if there’s an unplanned cheat. It has been my experience that (not always but) oftentimes logs we have to chase after contain things that clients may prefer not to recall. This is the stuff we REALLY need to know :). We’ve ALL been there and you’re not likely to say or do something we haven’t done or seen before. After 15 bootcamps’ worth of clients, I still have a full head of (mostly) not-gray hair ;).

How can we work through the most common obstacles?

Above all, communication is a two-way street - if we don’t hear from you, we’re not sure if you’re insanely busy or in a ditch somewhere. You might be following the plan perfectly or drowning in a Slushee sea - no way to know (ok - we may know in a couple of weeks at the scale, but that’s lost time when we could be helping :). Reporting daily is correlated with better results, period. The logs you submit will be more accurate and feedback more timely and helpful. An unspoken cheat doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, and we are ready to help you through all kinds of challenges.

Second, check our imaginations at the door. As a woman, I’m the first to admit we may read more than what’s on the page and insert inflections and emphases unintended by the writer. I’ve spent a lot of time over the years searching for synonyms making sure the nuance I intend is there. And sometimes what I think makes perfect sense when I’m emailing it may be missing information (I have been known to accidentally transmit some information psychically that I thought I said or wrote ;). And sometimes autocorrect does some seriously wild stuff!

Also, all your coaches have an extremely overdeveloped work ethic/hoarding disorder and feel like a kid missing a critical Pokemon card when they don’t have a complete set of food logs :).

It usually all comes down to keeping the lines of communication open - help us help YOU. The Meltdown program is built on three pieces - diet, exercise and accountability - don’t miss that critical third leg!

All the best,

Marcey

Coach Marcey Tidwell started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program! She believes that only when we hear the good, bad AND the ugly can we really understand the whole picture.

It’s All in Your Head: Abstinence versus Moderation

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As I read Adam’s blog on the cheat-free year, I was thrilled to see one LAST chance to reference Gretchen Rubin’s Better Than Before. One of the accepted tenets of the Meltdown food plans is that “cheats” are built in. Surely no one can survive with letting their hair down a little? Aren’t we supposed to “practice moderation in all things?”

But there may be some people for whom taking even periodic and time-specific breaks from our usual way of eating may be the first step down a slippery slope. Perhaps those people need to consider more of an abstention mindset. And that may be more of us than we think.

If you are a person who experiences cheat bleeds, abstaining from your trigger foods entirely may be a better option than trying to put on the brakes once you’ve started. The intent of the Prime program is to work toward a situation where cheats truly are a special occasion or “in case of emergency break glass” option, as opposed to something we do every other weekend after weigh-in (or for two or three days after weigh-in.)

If you are a person who has a history of other addictive behaviors, you may want to consider that those receptors continue to exist in the brain even after the behavior ceases, just waiting for a new (potentially maladaptive) coping mechanism to take its place. There is a reason people often gain weight after smoking cessation.

If you are a person who is a stress eater (and I know you’re thinking - are there stress NON-eaters? - YES - I’ve coached many) then you should consider that the longer we abstain, the less the pull on us those sweets or fats or salty chips have. Any unexercised muscle or receptor will atrophy over time. It’s also possible to bore your taste buds and brain chemicals into submission. The appetite is naturally modulated through dietary monotony. Many clients have expressed that after a period of clean eating, formerly enticing foods hold no sway, sometimes even sickening them to smell.

The TL;DR? If you can’t stop (and have proven that to yourself time and again) maybe never starting is a good strategy to try.

All the best,

Marcey

What I learned from 365 days of perfect nutrition

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It all started with a little experiment that is described in a blog I wrote about a year ago called “My no carbs, no running 5K program”. Check that one out HERE.

At the end of that blog I mentioned that I was going to go a little further down the rabbit hole and see where it took me. The rabbit hole did lead me to an encounter with Dr. Evil in Las Vegas…but we will get to that later. I’m back to blogging one year later to talk about what I learned.

Here are the basics of the nutrition plan that I followed:

I broke up my nutritional program into two phases.
- Phase One would be a no carb and no cheat day/meal diet plan. The only “carbs” I ate were from green vegetables and nuts.
  - In this phase I focused on protein, healthy fats, and veggies. I did allow myself to have grass fed beef to help me up my healthy fat and overall calorie content as I was not trying to lose weight.
  - I was going to stick to this phase until I felt like I was not performing well with my workouts and needed to add in some carbs.
  - I ended up using this plan for the first 9 months of the program.
- Phase Two is the same as Phase One except I added in one healthy carb (fruit only) load day on Saturdays.
  - So on Saturdays I was allowed to eat fruit with each meal.
- During this entire 365 day experiment I was 100% gluten free and 100% artificial sweetener free. Just by doing these two simple things I saw some amazing results with my energy levels, digestive tract, quality of my sleep, and my workouts.

So what the heck was the point of this? I obviously enjoy eating healthy and reaping the benefits of that. I also enjoy being able to lead by example with our clients. The REAL driving force behind this 365 day experiment was that I really enjoy a good challenge. I feel like, as human beings we have to consistently push ourselves outside of our comfort zone and do things that are difficult. We GROW and get better or we become weak and slowly die each day. I have always enjoyed doing things that other people would never do. When I was in college I competed in powerlifting and the squat was my weakest lift. I did some research and found a crazy Russian program that involved squatting almost every day of the week. All of my buddies and coaches said it was a bad idea but I was up for the challenge. I couldn’t walk correctly for about 6 weeks but when I tested my squat again I had added about 60lbs to my max and I was a lot mentally stronger as well.

So I attacked this nutritional challenge with the mindset that I was going to learn everything I could along the way and come out the other end better. I didn’t weigh myself or track any stats because my goals weren’t oriented towards those things. I can tell what I look like in the mirror when I weigh between 220lbs and 225lbs with low body fat and that was all the verification I needed this past year. I mainly wanted to focus on attacking each obstacle as it presented itself. I know that this is a huge issue for people that are trying to follow a nutritional plan. What to do when “life happens”. A few times a year I will get a client email that sounds something like this:

“I need to put my program on pause because “XYZ” has happened. I’m under a lot of stress right now and something had to give and that is going to be my nutrition for now.”

We are always there to support clients in this situation but when I read emails like this I always think “WHY?”. Is eating poorly going to help you deal with stress? Aren’t you going to have to eat anyway? Doesn’t it take the exact same amount of time to eat something healthy as it does something that is not healthy?

So with this 365 day challenge I wanted to really analyze each life situation that popped up and learn from it. I had to figure out how to stay on my plan no matter what came my way. I kept track of some of the things that I had to learn how to deal with. Here is the summary list:

Every single holiday and holiday parties
- What I learned: When you aren’t focused on feeding your face during a holiday meal it helps you focus on the people. I had the best holiday season in recent memory because I was 100% focused on the experience of connecting with the people around me. This was truly awesome!
My birthday, my son’s birthday, everyone else’s birthdays, and kid birthday parties.
- What I learned: In this category the most intense situation was taking my kid to other kid’s birthday parties. Large groups of small humans STRESS ME OUT. That added stress factor combined with the seductive aroma of unlimited pizza was a test….at first. Then something happened. My four year old Henry was offered some pizza at one party and he said “NO, but can I have a bowl of broccoli?”….NOW I SWEAR that I didn’t put him up to this…the kid actually hates pizza! So that inspired me to stay strong and then it was no problem from then on.
Sickness and injury
- What I learned: I push the limits pretty hard with my body and when I’m sick or injured I become a super wimp. I was only sick once, nearly puking during a Wednesday 6am FBI class (Shout out to Coach Kerri for taking over mid class!). Once I was able to resume eating I just found some organic/all natural chicken and veggie soup. I’ve been dealing with back spasms for about the entire year also. Injuries can stress some people out but they really just motivate me to go into super recovery mode and be extra healthy to speed up the process.
The health of friends and family
- What I learned: I had two pretty scary incidents of having to make visits to the emergency room. I sat and watched my father get his heart zapped back into rhythm on one occasion and the other was a great client and friend who had a seizure. Traumatic events like this can drive some people to eat due to the stress. Again, I had to look at the situation and consider “Will eating poorly in this situation help or hurt?”. Do I need to spike my blood sugar and go into a food coma?…..HELL NO! It is moments like these that your friends and family members need you to be sharp and at your best so eat accordingly.
Travel (Chicago/Las Vegas)
- What I learned: I take a business trip to Chicago four times per year. This trip is easy because I know my surroundings, where I can score some food, and I can bring lots of supplies because I drive and have a fridge in my room. Vegas was a different animal altogether. This trip was during my last week of my challenge also so that made me extra motivated to dominate the experience! I just had to really plan each day and learn as much as possible. I had plenty of protein shakes, bars, almonds, jerky, etc to get me through as needed. Then I found places to eat where I could get veggies and meat. Not even Dr. Evil could stop me from eating healthy!
Work Stress
- What I learned: Any business owner will tell you how stressful it can be to run the show. Stuff happens all of the time that needs to be taken care of. I admit that I do have a huge advantage that my work environment is 100% healthy so that helps tremendously. I’m always motivated to be a product of the product so work stress is never really an obstacle to me staying on my nutritional plan.
The birth of baby Hannah
- What I learned: This would have been a very easy time to break the rules and everyone would have understood, but I just couldn’t go there! We lived in the hospital for four days and welcomed our new daughter to the world. I just had to make some trips back home or to the gym to pick up supplies because the hospital food was always questionable. I kept a cooler in our room and once again…I was able to focus on the experience….the WONDERFUL experience…instead of stress eating.

Here are a few takeaway thoughts:

The concept of food addiction is tricky. Food addiction is unlike any other addiction because you HAVE TO EAT in order to survive. We can’t just quit eating like we can with smoking, drugs, etc. After this experience I feel a little differently about the word “food addiction” though. I kind of feel like it is more of a combination of having cravings, some low willpower, low self esteem, and high stress more than being addicted to things like oreo cookies. The good news is that one thing can fix all of those things and that is POSITIVE MOMENTUM. The further I went along with no cheat days/meals the easier it got. To tell the truth…I kicked this challenge’s ASS!
I know that some of you are starting to think about how you can apply all of this info to you. My advice would be to start small, make it low pressure, and include someone else. A great example would be to do a no cheat challenge with a family member or workout buddy for one month. Build from there once you have positive momentum established.
What happened on day 366? Protein and veggies baby! It would defeat the entire purpose of this challenge if I broke the rules on the first day after the challenge was done. That would be like going through rehab or alcoholics anonymous and then celebrating with a beer at the end. Day 366 just meant that I had successfully completed what I set out to do and I was pretty damn proud of myself. Onward I go!

If you have read this deep into my little manifesto I thank you! Here’s one last little take away for you. Your nutrition, and really life in general, all come down to choices. When you come to an obstacle or a fork in the road will you choose to make the strong minded decision or the weak minded decision? With each strong decision made your willpower muscle builds and life gets easier. I challenge you all to challenge yourselves and push outside of your comfort zone every chance that you get. THAT my friends will enable you to truly LIVE and have amazing experiences along the way!

Be sure to kick me an email and let me know when you push yourself outside of your comfort zone and CRUSH an obstacle that life throws at you: [email protected]

Until next time…..Make Progress Not Excuses!

Adam

It’s All in Your Head: Optimism versus Denial

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Humans are full of optimism as a species. What harm is there in hoping for the best? NONE, as long as there is some actual spark of reality-based thinking in it AND we’re not using it as a tool of denial.

This week’s blogspiration comes courtesy of a visit to Holiday World with our visiting 11 and just-14 year old nieces. The day was standard fare for an amusement park, but as the hours wore on, the clouds gathered and eventually the expected announcement came that with thunderstorms being spotted in the area, all outdoor attractions (read: anything you went there to do) would be shut down for safety’s sake until weather had passed. Two hours remained in the day. The sky evidenced absolutely no intent to relent. Elder niece (heretoafter referred to as the eternal optimist) was determined to get one more ride in and remained adamant that we sit at the site of the tallest coaster awaiting the (to her mind) inevitable Red Sea-like parting of the clouds that would allow her to be aggressively jostled one more time by a wooden ride.

Michael and I were loathe to squash her dream, but as time passed, and the rain ebbed and flowed, picking up pace each return, we finally had to pull rank and advise that despite the contractual obligation of the park staff against admitting that there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in Hades of reopening, there just wasn’t.

Denial is a powerful force. In the Meltdown, it most frequently manifests in scale avoidance and what I think of as the Annie phenomenon: “Tomorrow is always a day away.” IF you find yourself thinking that you will weigh in NEXT week, or get a great start tomorrow, then you are likely engaging in denial that things are going off the rails.

YOU must pull rank on your inner child who doesn’t want to face reality when you hear those dangerous thoughts creeping in. When we don’t want to do something, it’s EXTREMELY easy to come up with an excuse not to. Reach out to a friend to meet them for weigh-in. Tell your 3P group you’re struggling. And friends, when your friend is asking for help, or enjoying an extended visit in denial-land, you can call it for what it is, or:

All the best,

Marcey

Coach Marcey Tidwell started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program! She doesn’t always like the view above the sand, but hates having her butt sticking up in the air.

Bootcamp Diary Entry #1 - Natascha

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Welcome to the Bootcamp Diary!

It doesn’t matter if you just finished your first two weeks of bootcamp or you’re a seasoned veteran, we all have a story to share.

So with that, we are kicking off our very first Bootcamp Diary featuring Natascha. This is her first bootcamp so we asked her a few questions and she was kind enough to answer us!

1. What motivated you to start bootcamp?

Over the last 2 years, I had slowly gained over 50 pounds. More than it being a vanity thing, I was having trouble doing basic tasks that came easy to me just a few years before, like putting my socks on, walking up the hill to Bloomingfoods on 2nd street, and keeping up on bike rides with my friends. My strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health had declined in a major way from bad habits. I was eating horribly and drinking way more than necessary. I wanted so badly to re-establish good habits to ensure a healthy future for myself and whatever family I may one day have. I had tried many times to make a change on my own to no avail. A Facebook friend had been posting about his success and major weight loss with NGPT. I was intrigued and impressed, so I decided to look into it.

2. Describe your bootcamp experience so far.

I’m kind of weirded out by how EASY the program is! People look at me funny when I say that, but it’s true in a way. Don’t get me wrong, getting fit, dropping excess fat, and eating well is HARD WORK. What I mean is that the NGPT staff has already done the work of figuring out how to get to the goal, and so I’m basically paying them to tell me what to do. I think the idea of having someone else determine my meals every day for me has taken a lot of stress off of me. I’m also the type of person who really enjoys keeping track of my scores and competing with myself, so I enjoy that there is a “points” system and an efficiency tracking spreadsheet. My brain enjoys that type of challenge.

As far as the people, everyone has been so incredibly welcoming, positive, and understanding. The lack of pretension is refreshing, and I never feel judged. My fellow bootcampers and I are members of a Facebook group where we share our daily struggles, big or small, as well as our achievements with each other, and even though I don’t know any of them well, I feel fully supported by all of them and I hope they feel the same from me!

3. What’s been your favorite part so far?

I wake up feeling great every day! I’m not hung over, I’m not bloated from eating crummy food, and in just two weeks I already feel stronger and like my aerobic capacity is greater and I can do more exercise for longer. My other favorite part? FOAM ROLLING. I’m addicted.

4. What has been the most surprising part of bootcamp?

IT IS POSSIBLE to hang out with people who are drinking and not participate! And still have fun! IT IS POSSIBLE to be around bad food and not eat any! Who would’ve thought?

5. What has been the most challenging part of bootcamp?

I just got back from a week in the twin cities for a co-op conference. I drove there alone. I prepped all of my food at home before I left, packed a cooler, and basically lived out of it for a week. No refrigerator, no stove, no microwave. On top of that, I had to figure out a way to fit my scheduled meals AND required exercise in between panel discussions, trade shows, meetings, and doing my actual day-to-day work. Saying it was challenging is an understatement, but I didn’t cave, and I feel very proud of myself today. If I can accomplish that without caving to temptations, then I can do anything!

6. How has your interaction been with your coaching team and the NGPT community?

Crucial! They’re all amazing. I struggle with staying positive and not getting too discouraged, and they make themselves completely available for me to reach out. It truly is a community and everyone is looking out for everyone else. This place exists for WAY more than just losing weight to fit into a society that is only pleased by a thin body. We all want to see each other succeed and gain strength, and the sincerity going around has brought me to tears a couple of times! It’s rare to have such genuine, positive interactions with strangers and it really has inspired me to try to pass that along.

Natascha has also been blogging about her entire Bootcamp experience so far and she’s been really honest about her experience. It’s a great read and we suggest you follow along with her journey here: https://nataschakristin.wordpress.com/

That’s a wrap for this week. Check back soon for more Bootcamp Diary entries. In the meantime, keep on Melting!

It’s All in Your Head - Sprint versus Marathon

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It’s exciting to be coming into the first two-week checkpoint for our newest crop of bootcampers. If you haven’t yet heard the refrain, “It’s a Marathon, not a Sprint,” then now you have!

Short-term versus long-term thinking works better for different personality types. While healthy living doesn’t have a 56-day time limit on it, very few of us can labor day after day with only the promise of lower cholesterol and blood pressure that will decrease our likelihoods of stroke and heart attack one day a few decades down the line. That’s nurse thinking and even I can’t lean on that for everyday motivation.

This is why we encourage you to have goals as well as a larger overarching WHY. You can want to rock your high school reunion next month, and also be healthy to play with your still-imaginary grandchildren, but it’s getting into that smokin’ hot dress next week that is going to have the greater likelihood of influencing doughnut refusal TODAY. Remember that having very specific goals actually has the power to make our wellness journey seem easier.

Consider also that we’re human and need to experience some immediate gratification from our actions.

There are two major contributors to health - exercise and dietary intake. What are the short term benefits for you of making good choices in each?

Exercise is something we often think about as paying off later, but rarely (at least after week one!) do we leave a class worse off than we arrived. How we feel - the sense of accomplishment, the endorphins, and the burst of energy - these are all proof that movement can be its OWN reward. When you do your first full push up, or pull up, or burpee, or box jump, the act of overcoming a mental barrier and pushing our preconceived physical limits is a rush that’s almost enough to make you understand why anyone would run 26 miles. ALMOST.

As bootcampers approach their first free day off-plan, they will soon understand that clean eating is also its own reward in the here and now, but that’s something that only the ‘carb coma’ can truly teach! Enjoy yourselves, but just take careful note of your energy level at weigh-in versus how you feel after a day of eating ‘the old way’ AND remember :).

All the best,

Marcey

Coach Marcey Tidwell started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program! She hates burpees but loves that her triceps don’t wiggle.

It’s All in Your Head: Dear Miss Manners…err…Meltdown

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Miss Meltdown Manners is aghast at the things some of our clients hear. When someone effects a significant physical change, behavioral and habit changes are a part of it. This can make family and other loved ones nervous. Will they expect ME to change, too? How does this affect our relationship and the ways we have typically interacted and had fun?

When people get nervous, they may not say things in the most thoughtful way. Sometimes stuff skips the filter area of the brain. Or they feel close enough to you not to parse words, even on a subject most people are pretty sensitive about.

When I was a child (ok - until I was about 35) I subscribed to Mad Magazine, and a recurring favorite feature was “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” by Al Jaffee (alternatively known as SATSQ.) I know when we hear some of these comments, the part of us that has worked so hard to be healthier can be very hurt, and we may not say things in the most thoughtful way, OR we may give in to social pressures to avoid confrontation. Neither of these advance the cause of our good health or our relationships.

If you go to a job interview, you know you’re going to get the standard questions: what are your strengths and weaknesses, where do you see yourself in five years, and so on, so there’s no reason not to have a response prepared. In the Meltdown, there are a few recurrent questions that people experience that it behooves us to expect and have internal snarky and alternative replies at the ready.

“Can’t you eat this?” SATSQ: I can, if I don’t mind not being able to wear my new pants. Kind answer: “I can; I choose not to. I feel better when I don’t.” (Optional: drop and knock out five burpees.)

“WHY can’t you eat this?” SATSQ: I prefer food made of food. Kind answer: I prefer to think of reasons why I should eat something. There’s no good reason for me to eat that.

“One bite won’t hurt you, will it?” SATSQ: And if alcoholics were able to stop at one beer, there wouldn’t be a problem. Kind answer: I’m not good at stopping at one bite. It’s harder if I have to talk myself AND you out of me not eating it.

“Doesn’t this seem kind of culty?” SATSQ: We’re not actually allowed to drink Kool Aid. Kind answer: It’s true I am enthusiastic about this. I’m excited that I have the strength and energy to climb up to the rooftop that I’m shouting from.

“When do you get to start eating ‘normally’ again?” SATSQ: As soon as I want to gain my weight back. Kind answer: This is my normal eating now. My old way of eating got me different results and I like this result better.

“Aren’t you getting too thin?” SATSQ: Most people are just glad when they find out I don’t have some horrible disease causing my weight loss. Kind answer: I know this is a big change in my appearance. It will look “normal” once you’re used to seeing my this way for a while. I can show you my food log so you know I really am eating all the time.

Know that people WILL eventually get over these changes. Employment of the broken record technique is the best method for dealing with people who are slower to get to the acceptance stage. Better yet, encourage them to come see the cult…err gym…for themselves ;).

All the best,

Marcey

Coach Marcey Tidwell started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program! And much like Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse, she believes you should be nice until it’s time to not be nice :).

It’s All in Your Head: Bootcamp reflections in life

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As another bootcamp nears its start, I love watching the influx of brand new folks at NGPT. Goals. Dreams. A little fear but mixed with way more excitement. If weight has plagued you as an issue, this can be the turning point in your life.

Every year, my husband Michael picks someplace in the back side of beyond to take us on grueling hikes. This week I write you from Idaho, which many of you have heard me whine about this week ;). Much like bootcamp, I’m signed up, but I don’t know exactly what I’m getting into. I just know it’s going to be difficult, and I’ll be sore, but it’ll be really good for me, and if I don’t die, then at the end there will be really cool pictures to reflect on.

Above find the view from the Stanley, ID Lookout Mountain, 9940 elevation, and absolutely impossible to fully capture on camera. “You need to be in good physical condition to reach the top” cautioned/challenged our guidebook, and I was excited to see it actually gave us a count of the 15 “breath challenging switchbacks” (SERIOUSLY no lie there) that took us up, with a warning that a full half of the elevation change took place in the last mile. One of the best things when you’re doing something really hard is knowing where the finish line is. You can persevere for that long with a goal in mind. But there’s not REALLY a finish line. The next day, we get up, and go again. Hubby has multiple hikes of varying lengths and heights mapped out, and we will just keep hiking until we run out of time or our bodies cry no mas. And every time we reach a new summit, with the world laid out in front of us, all that hard work to get there just falls away.

None of this would have happened without NGPT (and as we treat pricker pokes and wait for our sore glutes to chill out one can question the good in that ;), but I choose to believe that I got a second chance at being the fit person I never grew up daring to hope to be. Boot camp is just the start for you, too. What is in your rear view mirror that you want to reclaim? What did you NEVER hope to achieve that you now dare to dream is possible? Hold onto that. Everyone at NGPT is excited to take that journey with you. We’ll see the new you soon!

All the best,

Marcey

Coach Marcey Tidwell started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program! After this week, she is also officially the world’s best wife. Ever.

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What I learned from 365 days of perfect nutrition

It’s All in Your Head: Optimism versus Denial

Bootcamp Diary Entry #1 - Natascha

Welcome to the Bootcamp Diary!

1. What motivated you to start bootcamp?

2. Describe your bootcamp experience so far.

3. What’s been your favorite part so far?

4. What has been the most surprising part of bootcamp?

5. What has been the most challenging part of bootcamp?

6. How has your interaction been with your coaching team and the NGPT community?

Natascha has also been blogging about her entire Bootcamp experience so far and she’s been really honest about her experience. It’s a great read and we suggest you follow along with her journey here: https://nataschakristin.wordpress.com/

It’s All in Your Head - Sprint versus Marathon

It’s All in Your Head: Dear Miss Manners…err…Meltdown

It’s All in Your Head: Bootcamp reflections in life

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