Over the years, I have seen many clients and, as they said at college, after a while you realise that you end up seeing more of a certain type of clients and that you end up "specialising" in that area. For me, despite what I initially planned, that area has been weight loss.
I didn't particularly want to do weight loss, I wanted to do more technical stuff like sports nutrition but it's almost as if I was kidding myself, almost as if I was always meant to deal with weight problem. After all, isn't that how I got into nutrition? I struggled with my weight, then lost weight and struggled with my body in general, then got better (I make it sound easy here but it really wasn't) and decided to help others - that's 20 years of my life summarised, just like that.
My calling was to help people with their weight, either losing it or putting it on, so it's only natural that without even trying, the bulk of my clients come to see me with weight problems. And over the years, I've grown to like it: it's both the easiest and the hardest thing to tackle. It's easy because when you know about physiology, you know what it takes to make people lose weight and yet it's hard because you're not dealing with machines but humans and that humans are super twisted and complex and that they generally don't do what they're expected to do!
Anyway, I've seen my fair share of weight loss clients and usually it goes pretty smoothly but now and again I encounter cases that just stump me. You know, people who are quite big and you just don't know why. Most people are big because they eat too much (why they eat too much is for another post) but some people come to see me and floor me with their diets, they hardly eat anything!
I can already hear some of you, sniggering that those people just lie on the food diary and that in reality they spent their days munching on crisps and chocolate bars, but I'm skeptical. I see these people, I see the desperation in their eyes and I believe them. What do I do with them? How can I help, I ask myself? They're already doing what they're supposed to do and yet they're way bigger than they should be. Could it be their genes? Is it that they have big bones? Their hormones? Perhaps, but I've always suspected that the problem was to do with their metabolism. That they have a much slower metabolism than they ought to have, perhaps brought on by years of yo-yo dieting. And so my question was of course, how (apart from telling them to do more exercise, which they often hate or can't do because they're too big) do I change their metabolism? How to kick start a slow metabolism?
This is what brought me to Metabolic Balance, a programme for healthy weight management, which was developed by doctors and nutritionists in Germany.
It’s a
tailor made programme that uses blood analysis to generate an eating plan
designed especially for you. And before you ask, no it's not a blood type diet, it’s not based on your blood type but on an analysis of your own blood.
It is not a
fad diet; it is nutritionally sound and uses real food no shakes, creams or bars. You eat three nutritious meals every day and
choose the foods from your personal food list. With the help of the right foods
and a few simple rules you establish a new regime that enables you to achieve
and maintain your perfect weight.
Sounds good, doesn't it?
So off I went to London a few weeks ago to learn about the program and how it could help my clients and there I became a Metabolic Balance coach.
The science behind the concept is makes sense and the results of the program sound amazing but I really felt like I had to try it on myself before being a true convert. So I had my blood taken, which was interesting in itself (all good but signs of being a bit frazzled - for the mums who know me, you'll know why!), and from there I got my plan, my bible of what I should and shouldn't be eating.
What first struck me was that a lot of the food I'm supposed to be eating are foods that I normally eat, would that be why I'm "naturally" slim?
My second thought was that I was going to have to reschedule my social life for the first 2 weeks!
The programme starts with a gentle 2 days detox, which I was dreading but actually was pretty easy. Then you move on to the second phase, which I won't lie is pretty strict at first sight (remember it's German) but not nearly that bad.
Today is day 1 (out of 14) of phase 2 and I've eaten pretty well, I had a wobble at lunch time because I was sooooo cold and really wanted something hot and comforting but had planned and already made a tuna salad. I wasn't what I wanted but it was still nice and amazingly it filled me up until dinner time without a mere hunger twinge.
Tomorrow we're going to see some friends but I warned them that I would be bringing my lunch... I wouldn't normally do that but for the sake of the experiment it has to be done (plus they're German so they'll understand!). It was that or re-scheduling but that meant not seeing them before Xmas and as you all know, Xmas is that very important deadline by which everything has to be done!
Off to fast for 12h now...
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