March Newsletter

• Four reasons you’re not losing weight
• Jamie Oliver tackles the obesity epidemic
• Mother’s Day Classic

Four reasons you’re not losing weight

You still think it’s all about ‘calories in vs calories out’

Calories do count, but the old idea that our weight is the end result of the amount of energy you take in and the amount you burn up is flawed. You probably know someone who has exercised like a demon and eaten like a sparrow, to little or no avail. You need to understand how your diet, exercise and lifestyle affect your hormones. Hormones play an important part in our weight.

You’re under too much stress

Stress of all types — physical, chemical, emotional, and so on — causes your body to produce cortisol, the fight-or-flight hormone. Stress often meant life or death for our ancestors, but today our bodies respond the same way to traffic jams, kids’ tantrums, and deadlines. Cortisol encourages your body to refuel, since fighting or fleeing would use a lot of energy. So people under chronic stress often feel hungry or have cravings for something sweet or starchy.

If you don’t actually fight or flee when your body expects to, the fat and glucose that has been mobilized in your system to deal with the threat are deposited as fat around your middle. Fat targets your waistline because it is close to your liver and where it can quickly and easily be converted back to glucose for energy, ready for the next stress attack.

You’re not getting enough sleep

Chronic sleep deprivation also triggers the release of cortisol. If you’re not getting a solid 7 hours sleep a night, this could be a source of weight gain.

You’re not active enough, or you’re doing the wrong kind of exercise

Either you’re spending too much time on your bottom, you think walking is the answer, or you’re overdoing it. Doing too much cardio-style exercise can be stressful on the body and — you guessed it — cause your body to produce cortisol. Particularly if you’re already under stress, that’s the last thing you need.

If you want to understand more about how to successfully manage your weight in middle-age, register for the upcoming three-part seminar on Managing Midlife Weight Gain.

It goes over three Tuesday nights in April – the 13th, 20th and 27th. The seminar was originally scheduled to start a week earlier, but the new dates should suit anyone away for the school holidays.

Each night lasts 2 hours, from 6.30-8.30pm. Previously this has been a whole day seminar, but the three-night format allows participants to apply the information in steps. The total cost of the three evenings is $135 or $45 for each session (BYO dinner!).

What we’ll cover:

In Session 1 we’ll focus on the role of hormones in midlife weight gain, and what you can do to keep them well-balanced, especially in relation to the food you eat;

In Session 2 you’ll get more support around meal planning, we’ll look at why pleasure and enjoyment are so critical to eating, and discuss the links between sleep, stress and weight

In Session 3, we’ll address the kinds of exercise that work best for managing your weight and shape, draw the threads of the seminar together, and identify what it takes to make lifestyle changes. Throughout the seminar you’ll be developing your own action list to follow up.

You’ll also receive several articles to read before the seminar, plus a take home booklet that includes a shopping list and dietary guidelines. The participants from the previous seminar have continued meeting since the original seminar, so you’ll also be able to tap into those follow-up information and support sessions.

Feedback from the last seminar:

I would unreservedly recommend this seminar to anyone trying to grapple with the ‘poor result’ diet issues and health problems that could be hormonal.

Worthwhile giving up my Saturday to attend an informative, fun, educational session. Reinforced and reenergised me to get back on track with my goals.

Rhonda has a way of presenting information that gives you a BGO (a blinding glimpse of the obvious) which you may not ever see for yourself. She sorts through the information that can be overwhelming and helps to bust some myths of weight loss.

Loved the comprehensive handouts — lots of great reading and recommendations.

It’s great to join a group for a day who have similar interests and learn basic strategies to improve our health.

To register, click here.

Jamie Oliver tackles the obesity epidemic

Here’s a link to great talk given by Jamie Oliver to a recent TED conference in the US.

TED is a nonprofit organisation devoted to “ideas worth spreading”. Its conferences bring together the world's most inspired thinkers to talk for 18 minutes. While TED stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design”, the content has grown to include science, business, the arts, and global issues.

Jamie Oliver has used his profile to advocate for better health through nutrition, especially for kids. In this passionate, common sense talk, he argues that, among other things, kids should learn to cook 10 recipes by the time they leave school. It’s startling that the children in the footage he shows can’t identify basic vegetables. He’s talking about America, but Australian kids aren’t far behind.

It should be compulsory viewing for parents of young children and P & F committee members.


Mother’s Day Classic

With a hint of cooler weather in the air, the idea of getting outside for a walk becomes more appealing. If you’d like an incentive, why not register to walk or run the Mother’s Day Classic on the morning of Sunday 9 May. You can do that online or on site. In Brisbane, the event starts at Southbank and the distances are 4.5k and 8k. Details of all events are posted at www.mothersdayclassic.com.au.

Around the country, close to 100,000 women are expected to join the event in 10 cities and at least 12 regional centres. It’s a big, fun day to celebrate women being active together, and funds raised support breast cancer research.

Until next time

Dr Rhonda Anderson

Go Back