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Venus in 12 Weeks: Interview with Molly Piercy

October 17, 2011 by 2 Comments

Molly placed 4th place in the Venus Index Transformation Contest. She did a great job and in just 12 weeks completely transforming her body.

Molly Venus Index Transformation Front

Molly's front and side pictures.

Molly Venus Index Transformation Back

Molly's back shot.

 

In college, she played lot’s of sports and as a teenager gaining weight didn’t seem like a threat and staying lean wasn’t really a problem.

After she left school and started working, her lifestyle changed, more stress in her life, more food options and hormonal change caused her to gain weight. It was a slow process, so it wasn’t noticeable at first, but after a while she started to notice.

When you are young and playing sports all the time, getting and staying fit doesn’t seem like a big challenge. However, when you get older and life starts to get in the way, things start to change.

The vast majority of people stop working out or playing sports after they get out of school. Usually work is more important than health or being fit and suddenly it overtakes your whole life without you noticing.

It may be harder to get in shape and stay in shape when you’re in your 30’s compared to when you’re  a teenager, but it is definitely possible and just requires some effort on your part.

She  went to fitness conferences, started learning about hormones and their impact on weight loss and weight gain.

Nothing really seemed to work and if you have been in the fitness community for a while you know why, there is just so much misinformation that it’s almost impossible to get in shape without quitting your job to do so. However, this is just a bad perception that is rooted in the current fitness marketing.

Long story short Molly tried pretty much every diet and approach to weight loss.

After a while she found Brad Pilon and read his Eat Stop Eat book about intermittent fasting. After she read it, she was confused a little bit, so she actually called Brad and asked him about the specifics of his approach.

This was enough for her to start fasting.

She gave intermittent fasting a try and started fasting for 24 hours once a week for the next month. She found herself having difficulties going through the fasting (which is not unusual) as it takes several weeks to get used to.

Eventually she stopped fasting, it just didn’t feel like a good fit for her and she had a hard time keeping up with her workouts. Like she said in the interview, she just wasn’t ready for such a huge change, which was mostly mental.

As days past by she started wondering how some of her girlfriends manage to stay really lean year after year and the hormonal changes that she blamed for her problems seem to not affect them at all.

Deep down she probably knew what the answer is, but just didn’t realize it at that time. When she asked them, how do they do it. The answer was pretty simple: “I just don’t eat throughout the day.”

This was it. A few days after she started fasting again and this time she really stuck to it. Now she was ready and wanted to fast. And as she found out each fast was easier and easier until it became something she didn’t even have to think about.

You get stronger each time you fast and after a while fasting will start to feel natural. If you keep yourself busy during the day then you won’t even notice that you haven’t eaten yet and because most people experience an increase in alertness and productivity during a fast it’s kind of a win-win approach.

Aren’t You Starving Yourself?

The only problem she had to face was fasting around her close friends. When she went out to the beach with her girlfriends it didn’t take long for them to find out what she was doing.

They immediately started asking question and wanted to know whether what she was doing and how she could go the whole day without eating.

This is something you have to account for. Like Molly said, in a group of friends, when somebody doesn’t eat they will know it.

For Molly it was hard to fast around friends, because she was faced with just so many questions – why are you doing this? what about your metabolism? etc.

At the end Molly showed her pictures to her friends and they were really impressed. Now people are asking HER what she does and what should they do to get in shape and stay fit.

In the interview she also mentions the benefit of interactions she had on the Venus Index Community and how that helped her stay on track, get the right answers and keep motivated throughout the contest. The community provides the option to talk to the like minded people, who are not going to judge you and are on the same page as you, and have same goals as you.

The Last Weeks before the End of the Contest

The last weeks required a lot of mental effort to stay strong and finish strong. At the beginning it was fun, but it slowly evolved into a “I need to get serious about this” approach.

At the beginning she would weigh herself every week and was obsessed with numbers. And losing and gaining pounds of weight back and forth was discouraging, so she put the scale away for the remainder of the contest and decided to just weight herself at the end.

Weight loss just isn’t linear, so focusing on how many pounds you lose or gain on week to week basis might be discouraging and drive you insane.

Sometimes it not helpful to monitor your weight this frequently.

Molly also tried tracking her workouts in a calendar, but that didn’t work for her either. Everybody is different and you should find a way that suits you the best.

For Molly tracking her body weight, workouts and calorie intake didn’t work, but what did work was preparing for and planning the weak ahead. If there was a  big party during the upcoming week, she would try to fast before and after the party and even lower her calorie intake before she would actually go out that day.

Her diet consisted mostly of raw and organic low calorie choices that helped her watch her calorie intake without having to actually keep a meticulous count of her daily caloric intake.

If she was at the airport she would have fruit instead some chocolate bar. Another thing that she found helpful was protein supplements. She discovered that if she took a protein shake it would help her control her appetite and maintain a lower calorie intake. The key is to find things that work for your specific situation.

And for the last few weeks she even added 24 minutes of cardio after each Venus workout.

Despite her problems with her knees and all the social events she had to attend during the contest and all the traveling she did because of her work, she still managed to make a big change in her body. The photos speak for themselves.

Here is a summary of what Molly recommends to all women that find themselves in same place as she did before the contest:

  • In order to be successful, you need to do everything – follow a good workout, have a good diet plan that is sustainable for a long period of time and most of all you need to be mentally strong
  • If the scale sets you off emotionally, then don’t weigh yourself
  • If tracking your calories doesn’t work then don’t record, just watch
  • Eating very little processed food might help you watch your calorie intake
  • Drink only water, no caloric drinks
  • Limit your alcohol intake
  • There is no excuse for not being in shape, so start today and go Venus
  • You have to create a regime that is sustainable
  • Find what works for you and stick to it
  • You need to have an effective workout program that you enjoy
  • There are many opportunities to give up, but if you stick to it the payoff is going to be huge

 

Listen to the interview here:

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Overcoming Emotional Eating: Reprogramming Your Mind to Control Your Weight

October 10, 2011 by 4 Comments

Changing the look and shape of your body requires a holistic approach. This means the change has to come both with your physiology and psychology especially if you struggle with emotional or stressful eating.

Physiology simply means getting your calories under control, making more sensible food and eating decisions as well as sticking to a regular exercise program that is well designed to move you towards your health and fitness goals whatever they may be.

Dr Nicola Bird Founder of Self Imaging Therapy

You can even think of the physiology part as the things that are obviously outwardly such as going to the gym, choosing smaller portion sizes, and ensuring that your diet is based more on whole foods that satisfy your needs without over consuming calories from dense sources.

The physiology is what you read about in fitness magazines, and it’s the information that gets cluttered, contradicted, and over consumed. This is because the physiology for many people isn’t the problem. For some people it’s the psychology.

Getting a handle on the psychological aspects of weight control is an entirely different matter and it’s not so obvious what is happening in your mind and with your emotions. Taking control of your psychology and learning to reprogram yourself for weight loss success requires just as much work as the physiology, but this is a different kind of work.

If you think you have an emotional or psychological issue with eating and weight control the first step is getting to the root of the issue. This is hard and in many cases uncomfortable work, and the answer isn’t always obvious. In many cases you’ll be the last person to know what the real issue is until you start doing the work to find out.

Click this image to check out Nicolas book on Amazon

These are usually deep rooted issues that touch on your sense of identity and self worth. It will involve undoing old psychological patterns and laying down new ones, and it requires repetition to make it stick, just like working out.

To truly change your body for good, you must change both your physiology AND your psychology. Changing one without the other isn’t enough.

In todays podcast I interview Dr. Nicola Bird about changing your psychology to help overcoming emotional and stress related eating to make a real lasting change in your body. She is my psychotherapist and the ace up my sleeve that helps me stay balanced and keeps me moving forward.

We’ll discuss the root of the identity crisis that many people face when they do finally make a change in their body. We will also talk about why so many people self sabotage and become their own worst enemy when they try to change their bodies.

This is a great interview and I suggest you take notes if emotional or stress eating is an issue you’ve been struggling with.

Finally if you like what you hear from Nicola you can visit her website here and even book a session to start working through your own issues with her over the phone. I highly recommend it if you feel stuck or hitting a sabotage point that you cannot overcome. I find that her methods are the most effective way to start getting your psychology inline with your physiology for a lasting change.

John

LISTEN:

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Filed Under: Podcast, stress, weight loss Tagged With: ,

Hot State Management – Getting Through Tough Times

February 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

We are getting into the thick of the transformation contest run, there is about 50 days to go and now is the time to remind yourself what your goals are and why you want to achieve them.

But with that said I want to make it clear that being in the contest isn’t about beating anyone else, it’s about doing the best you can do.

The point is to make a change that you want for yourself…it’s not about anyone else.

The contest is here to help give you some structure, some support, a defined deadline, and some people to work towards that deadline with.

Winning isn’t really about finishing in the money and claiming first prize, winning is proving to yourself that you can make it through to the end and see a real change in your body.

Your big win might be getting past your sabotage points and into new uncharted territory. Or maybe it’s just sticking to something for 12 weeks no matter what your measurements turn out to be.

The point is to build momentum and confidence that you can indeed change your body if you put your mind to it and prove to yourself that you can do it if you want to.

Winning or placing in the money in our contest is just the icing on the cake, but it shouldn’t be the only reason you’re making this change.

In today’s podcast we talk about “hot state management” and how controlling and getting through your hot states is going to be a major factor (and likely the biggest factor) to your success.

“Hot States” are moments or situations when you know you will likely not have enough control or ‘will power’ to stop from eating something or drinking something that isn’t inline with your goals. Some forward thinking and short term planning can help manage these states so you’re not at the mercy of your cravings and impulses.

Just remember that the real work happens when nobody is looking.

John

LISTEN:

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How I lost 47lbs: Interview With Lisa Etwell

February 14, 2011 by 8 Comments

Millions of people say they want to lose weight, but only a few of them ever will. So what determines if you can successfully lose weight? The first step is accepting where you are, and the second is setting a goal, and finally taking action to achieve that goal.

My sister Lisa did just that and lost 47lbs in 2010.

Venus Index Lisa

In todays podcast Lisa will explain the mindset shifts that finally got her to take action and get in the best shape of her life. Her story is real and so are her results.

She reveals key insights including:

Accepting where you are to set a positive mindset to make a real change

Taking responsibility for her actions and her body

Realizing that changing your body has to be for YOU and nobody else

Putting food in its rightful place in her life

Learning what it means to be a good example to her kids

Lisa explains her fears and barriers about losing weight and her fears of even attempting to lose weight. She also talks about her sabotage point and getting past normal and going towards her new goal of achieving her ideal Venus Index ratio.

READ:

How I lost 47lbs: Interview with Lisa Etwell

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Filed Under: fat loss, weight loss Tagged With: ,

Getting Over Your Sabotage Point

February 7, 2011 by 5 Comments

SABOTAGE!

Venus Index Sabotage Point

You’ll do it to yourself more than anyone else will do it to you. For some reason many of us have built in barriers that prevent us from reaching our goals. It could be something we learned as a child, or a social construct that keeps us from going outside of our comfort zone.

Whatever the reason we all seem to have a point that feels comfortable and then beyond that point is uncharted territory.

Moving past that comfort point and into that unknown is the sabotage point. In the case of your Venus Index transformation it’s a matter of taking your body to a level that you might not have believed is possible or to a level that you have never been before.

Some people might think there is something that is actually physically wrong with their body, but I assure you your body is working just fine.

The sabotage point is almost entirely a psychosocial phenomenon where social feedback and even the progress you see in the mirror and on the scale start to change.

Venus Index Reports Getting Over Your Sabotage Point

It can be tempting to just stop at your sabotage point because it feels ‘good enough’…but this is the time to rally more support and momentum to push past it and don’t stop until you’ve gone as far as you truly can go.

There is nothing stopping you from getting the body you want…except you. In today’s podcast we’ll talk about some of the reasons the sabotage point comes up and how to get past it once and for all.

John

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Download Transcript: Getting Over your Sabotage Point

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How to Get Rid of Loose Skin

December 27, 2010 by 3 Comments

This is a question we’ve been seeing a fair bit so I figured I’d catch up with my buddy and plastic surgery resident Bryan Chung to try and answer it.

In order to figure out how to ‘get rid of’ loose skin we first have to determine what it is and how you might end up getting it in the first place.

Venus Index Reports how to get rid of loose skin

Is it loose skin, or just a bit more fat?!

This however is harder to determine than you might think as many factors come into play including:

1) Genetics – some people are just predisposed to getting loose skin easier than others

2) Age – as we age our skin becomes less ‘elastic’ and we become more susceptible to getting loose skin

3) Weight loss – if you lose a massive amount of weight you may have stretched your skin far enough that it won’t ‘snap’ back

4) Is it Just More Fat – Many people mistakenly think they have ‘loose skin’ when in reality they just have a bit more fat to lose.

In today’s podcast Bryan and I get to the bottom of the ‘loose skin’ issue and what can be done about it (if you determine that you really do have loose skin).

John

P.S. The audio is a bit rough on this one cuz I forgot my headset, it’ll be back to normal next week!

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You can download the transcript here: How to Get Rid of Loose Skin

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Counting Calories Part 2: Estimating Calories Consumed

December 14, 2010 by 19 Comments

Last week we talked about the inherent errors trying to count the calories you burn, and today we’re going to discuss the errors when trying to count the calories you consume.

These common errors are the reason some people thing ‘calorie counting’ doesn’t work, and from a certain point of view it doesn’t simply because you can never know for sure how many calories you have eaten or burned…you can only guess.

That is why one of our most important weight loss principles is called CALORIE GUESSING.

Calorie Counting Part 2 Venus Index Podcast

We know you can only estimate the calories you eat or burn, so trying to count them too precisely will just lead to underestimations of how much you’ve eaten and over-estimations of how much you’ve burned.

In todays podcast we’ll discuss the biggest calorie counting errors on the consumption side and how to compensate for these errors and get your weight loss program moving forward.

If you want to read the transcript you can download it here:

Counting Calories Part 2: Estimating Calories Consumed

John

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Filed Under: calories, fat loss, weight loss

Calorie Guessing Part 1: Estimating Calories Burned

December 6, 2010 by 10 Comments

Losing weight requires you to consume less calories than you burn, but the big problem is you can never know for sure how many calories you’ve burned. The best you can ever do is guess.

In today’s podcast we’ll discuss some of the major errors in guessing the amount of calories you’ve burned and we’ll show you how to account for each of these errors.

Some of the major errors include:

Overestimation of calories burned by cardio and exercise machines

Overestimation of BMR calculators

Overestimation of the ‘activity factor’ of BMR calculators

the “NET” effect of exercise vs the GROSS effect.

All of these errors contribute to over estimating the amount of calories burned on a daily and weekly basis. It doesn’t take much of an error to add up over time, and if you keep making the same error in your calculations it could be the difference between seeing a big change in your body or just spinning your wheels.

You can listen to the podcast or download the transcript.

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You can download the transcript here:

Calorie Guessing Part 1 Estimating Calories Burned

John

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Filed Under: calories, fat loss, weight loss Tagged With: , , ,

How to Get Rid of Cellulite

November 30, 2010 by 3 Comments

One of the first questions that came up in the Venus Index forums was about “Cellulite”…specifically, how do you get rid of it?!

To answer a question like this I need to recruit the aid of a good friend Bryan Chung. He is a a plastic surgery resident and has his Phd in Sports Medicine and a very informative blog at: Evidence Based Fitness

In today’s podcast Bryan and I get to the bottom of what Cellulite is and what you can do to get rid of it.

For starters ‘Cellulite’ is a slang term that has no scientific meaning, but physicians and researchers will know what you’re talking about when you refer to ‘cellulite’.

The reason women get it but men don’t is because there is a genetic difference in the basic structure of fat cells in women vs men.

Various options exist for dealing with cellulite including liposuction, fat injections (yes one of the treatments is to just cover the cellulite with more fat!) and the one I tend to favor; losing weight.

If you don’t have time to listen to the audio you can download and read the transcript here:

READ: How to Get Rid of Cellulite

John

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Cardio or Diet For Weight Loss

November 15, 2010 by 8 Comments

Is this really going to help with weight loss?

It seems that many people believe that cardiovascular (“cardio” for short) exercise is necessary for weight loss. The reality is that you can lose weight without doing a second of cardio if you want to.

I’m not saying that you should avoid cardio, but as far as weight loss is concerned it’s not a requirement.

There are many other health benefits to doing regular cardiovascular activity but physiologically and psychologically. Activity and movement is good for your overall sense of well being and there are innumerable benefits that can’t be listed here…unfortunately weight loss isn’t one of them.

Losing weight is dependent upon creating a caloric deficit. In other words, burning more calories than you consume.

With that said it’s obvious that exercising and ‘cardio’ can help you burn a few more calories…BUT, and this is a big BUT…it’s much easier to overeat far more calories than you can ever exercise off.

For example, it might take you or I a solid 90 minutes of ‘cardio’ to burn off 300-400 extra calories…but it would only take us about 2 minutes to eat an extra muffin today that has about 350 calories…

So what is the better option? Find a way to avoid the muffin, or commit to a 90 minute cardio workout?

The point is cardio can help with burning a few more calories, as long as you don’t overcompensate by eating more food. And this is the catch 22 with doing more and more exercise…it stimulates hunger (not to mention it makes you more tired and lethargic at other times of the day)

In other words, you can’t just fix more with more. You cannot simply decide you want to overeat 1000 calories today and try to exercise off 1500 calories. It’s simply not possible.

It’s a much better proposition to shoot for a calorie deficit below BMR (basal metabolic rate) by eating less calories…and then consider any extra calorie loss you get form exercise as a ‘bonus’.

At least this way you allow some wiggle room for the inevitable cookie attack or ice cream meltdown that tends to happen throughout a busy stressful work week.

In todays first ever Venus Index podcast we tackle this question and try to determine how you can use cardio to help compliment your weight loss efforts.

If you can’t listen to the audio you can download the transcript:

Download Transcript –> Cardio or Diet for Weight Loss

John

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Filed Under: Bodyfat, cardio, weight loss Tagged With: , ,
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