Thrive Physical Therapy in Richmond

Physical Therapy and Fast Pain Relief

5 Must Know Truths to Sustainable Weight Loss: Its More than What You Eat (Truth 3 & 4) By Margaret Johnson

Have you tried to lose weight, experience success, only to succumb to old patterns resulting in re-gaining the weight?

Like you, I set out with great intentions, reducing my carbs, drinking only water, eliminating sugar, exercising regularly, quickly losing five pounds.

Then I have a family conflict, and I find myself eating sweet and salty Kettle Corn (the giant bag) on my way home from Costco. I’m derailed and lose motivation, landing back where I started.  Sound familiar?

Yet, there is a key to weight loss that resides in many success stories.

My best friend from college, a nurse practitioner, mom of four, and breast cancer survivor struggled to keep her weight down.  Having a strong value for health and fitness, she was in a cycle of starting a diet and exercise only to get derailed and felt defeated.   She took another approach eight months ago and is now fit, down twenty pounds, and feeling great. Her secret; she hired a coach.

A previous co-worker went from fad diet to diet until her liver enzymes were elevated and her physician told her if she didn’t change her diet and lose weight, a liver transplant was in the future.

I recently heard she was transformed, losing weight and feeling much better, including decreased liver enzymes.  People would ask, “what’s her secret?”.  She hired a coach.

Currently, in a busy and challenging season of my life, I am working with a coach to sustain a regular exercise schedule during this hectic time so I can maintain my weight and minimize my stress.  My coach provides the support and encouragement to stay on track.  There are five truths I believe are key for losing and maintain a healthy weight.

Truth #3:  Understand your relationship with food.  How does stress affect how you eat?  What triggers overeating?  Many of us turn to food to feel better.  Eating may make us feel better in the moment, but the feelings that triggered the eating are still there.  Eating when you are stressed, lonely, or bored gets you stuck in an unhealthy cycle.  It is important to find healthier ways to deal with your emotions.

Truth #3 Action Step:

  • Understand what we eat is frequently tied to our eating habits. In times of increased stress, find healthy ways to eliminate it like exercise, spending time with friends, focus on hobbies/activities your enjoy, and keep yourself away from access to unhealthy foods by keeping refrigerator and pantry stocked with only nutritious options
  • A Thrive Life-Coach can help get you on a path to improved health and habits will bring you success! Call her to set up and appointment today!

Truth #4:  Your body works against you and there are no quick fixes.  If we lose weight too quickly, our metabolism will slow making it harder to lose weight.  This is a defense mechanism to keep us from starving.  Recommended weight loss is no more than two pounds a week.  The key is to change habits that gradually result in weight loss over time.  Also, with age, our bodies do not require as much food.

Truth Four Action Step:

  • Understand that there are no quick fixes! Accomplishing a weight loss goal or any goal will take time. Progress will be made in small steps with success occurring from the development of positive habits sustained over time.
  • Celebrate the small victories on the way to achieving your big goal!

 

PS. A Thrive Life-Coach can help get you on a path to improved health and habits will bring you success! Call us to set up a complimentary achievement consultation today!

5 Must Know Truths to Sustainable Weight Loss, Its More Than What You Eat: E-Book Excerpt by Margaret Johnson

Have you experienced success in losing weight, only to succumb to old patterns and reversing all of your hard work?

Like you, I set out with great intentions, reducing my carbs, drinking only water, eliminating sugar, exercising regularly, quickly losing five pounds.

Then I have a family conflict, and I find myself eating sweet and salty Kettle Corn (the giant bag) on my way home from Costco. I’m derailed and lose motivation, landing back where I started.  Sound familiar?

Yet, there is a key to weight loss that resides in many success stories.

My best friend from college, a nurse practitioner, mom of four, and breast cancer survivor struggled to keep her weight down.  Having a strong value for health and fitness, she was in a cycle of starting a diet and exercise only to get derailed and felt defeated.   She took another approach eight months ago and is now fit, down twenty pounds, and feeling great. Her secret; she hired a coach.

There are five truths I believe are key for losing and maintain a healthy weight.

Truth #1:  Weight loss is a means to an end.  The bigger picture for losing weight is knowing why it is important to you.  Knowing your “why” is the motivational fire to keep you going.

Why is losing weight important to you?  What will being at your ideal weight give you?

These types of questions mine out core values.  My values are health, nature, and connecting with others.   For example, I want to stay healthy and fit so I can do things I love now and one day with my grandkids, like hiking, biking, and camping.

Truth One-Key Action Step:

  • Understand that weight loss is a means to an end. Connecting your goal to your inner values is a key to sustainable motivation needed to be successful!

Truth #2:  Know what you are eating.  Losing weight and keeping it off requires us to change what we are eating.

Remember, fad diets, supplements, and weight loss pills don’t work.   Tracking everything you eat is a good place to begin.  Creating this awareness allows for small changes in your diet that can make a big difference in your weight over time.

I realized I was eating too many carbohydrates with refined sugar resulting a my weight creeping up and my waist expanding.

Over the last two years I quit eating foods with refined sugar and bread.  My weight drifted back down and has stabilized at my target weight.

Truth #2 Action Step:

  • Achieving sustainable change starts with awareness and is best accomplished by taking small steps. Break large goals into small steps and focus on one step at a time

Margaret Johnson, Life-Coach

PS. Margaret is a talented professional who can help you in achieving your goals. Request a consultation with her today and get on the path to success!

What I Didn’t Expect Created Our New Life-Coaching Program!

Being grateful for surprises and making a bigger impact!

Have you ever had something unexpected open your eyes to a completely different thought process? Like you discovered an important missing piece to a puzzle?

This happened to me recently and I will be forever grateful! Please allow me to explain.

Throughout my career it has become increasing clear the ability to educate and coach effectively is a critical component for being effective as a physical therapist. Clinical skills are a must but they matter little without first being able to connect and motivate people!

With this thought in mind I signed up for a Life-Coach training curriculum a while back with the hopes of having more meaningful conversations with patients, being more effective at coaching them to make positive change, and to convey the information to our team. My hope was ultimately to make all of us better educators and facilitators of change. It was enlightening and I got more than expected!

We learned there are 6 basic human needs that are under the surface that effect our actions, emotions, and behaviors (will talk about this in future but if you remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs this a hybrid of some of those concepts).

The strategies used and how well we meet these needs compared to our values either add to or detract from our perception of progress and fulfillment. Awareness of what matters most to you and aligning actions with your values is a key for finding motivation, making lasting change, and for achieving a more fulfilled state.

There are basic strategies and structures that when understood and followed, make all the difference in achieving balance, reaching your goals, and being more successful in all aspects of your life.

How would it feel to eliminate your barriers, make progress on things that matter to you, and to be successful in achieving your goals?

A working understanding of basic principles, a game plan, and consistent direction is the foundation we all need. It is a missing piece for most people, that fits into the bigger picture of our musculoskeletal health and well-being.

I have seen the amazing impact the preceding has on others and have experience it myself! When you make progress, belief in yourself increases, and you can accomplish more physically, mentally, and emotionally.

We can all benefit from this knowledge and if acted upon can make all the difference in the life you experience! It is our goal to expose you and as many people as possible to the information so you can achieve improved health, greater success, and of course to thrive!

It is the catalyst for our success program we brought in at the beginning of the year, thrive weekly video training, and the reason that I am excited to announce our new Program-Thrive Life-Coaching!

How would it feel to eliminate your barriers, make progress on things that matter to you, and to be successful in achieving your goals?

How does this benefit you?

We will work to empower you through increasing your knowledge of key principles

We will implement some of these principles in or treatment session with you

Thrive success program addresses these principles in detail and is our most comprehensive service

If you are having any difficulty or simply want to improve a Thrive Life-Coach can help you with

Thrive Life-Coaching Objectives:

  • Improve your health and vitality
  • Make progress on what matters
  • Achieve balance
  • Experience fulfilling relationships
  • Direct your life
  • Reach Your Potential

Contact us for special introductory offers on Life-Coaching! Sign up for a Consultation Now!

Change your life for the better! Learn more

THRIVE PT is a specialized manually based orthopedic, spine, and sports physical therapy practice that provides individualized care to its patients. All of our therapists have specialty training, advanced certifications in orthopedic manual therapy, and extensive post graduate course work, and are highly qualified to help you reach your therapy goals. Our methods include hands-on corrective treatment, movement training, dry needling, and therapeutic exercise provided exclusively by your therapist. Our objective is to teach you how to move efficiently and painlessly and to educate you on how to stay healthy. We can help you achieve your goals to lead a healthy, active life--in a word, THRIVE!

Success Stories

 

Members Section