Motivation Assist Podcasts

Episode #12 in the Motivation Assist Podcast series is The Truth About The Weighing Scales.

The weighing scales is such a negative influence with anybody who is trying to lose weight. Basically, most people are letting the weighing scales judge their success.

We are all conditioned with the weighing scales as a measurement or as a tool of how well we’ve done over the past week.

But as we’ve always said here at Motivation, your week has been good week if you’ve changed your behaviour in any way and/or, if your food diary has been good.

The reality is – when you stand on the scales and you don’t get the result you want, it doesn’t suddenly become a bad week. It’s still a good week – quick prompt: the focus is on changed bahaviour and a good food diary.

The bottom line is that it’s more important that you change your habits and behaviours rather than focusing on the number on the scale.

View Details

This podcast deals with bread and for many of you reading this, you will readily identify how bread has been a major issue when it comes to losing weight.

There is huge choice when it comes to bread and it's not surprising that there is so much confusion as to:

- which is the right bread to eat?

which is the healthiest bread to eat?
which is the highest in fats, sugars, etc?

It's a minefield and we need to be especially vigilant in looking closer at the labels and the ingredients.

Maebh explores how bread, for her, was and is a trigger food (check out her blog on bread as a trigger food). She observes how people around her could have one or two slices but that she wouldn't. She'd keep eating and afterwards, would feel incredibly bloated and wouldn't feel well. And this experience around bread would repeat itself again and again.

Today, Maebh weight is much more manageable, in no small part to the fact that bread plans a much smaller role in her life.

View Details

This podcast provides some great tip and tricks to help you and your children to get through halloween in as healthy a way as possible.

When it comes to trick or treating we can only trick the kids so much. We need to think clearly and cleverly about the best ways or means to get their buy-in so that they don’t feel let down or excluded from the festivities. Key among this is first and foremost to focus on the things that the kids like – popcorn, little bottles of water, the simple stick on tattoos, etc, and for the older kids, sugar-free gum is a great alternative.

By the way, no one says working with your kids to reduce the volume of sugar at halloween is easy. We are being heavily promoted to with bigger, special-value packs so both parents and kids alike have expectations that bigger is better.

The simple answer if sweets are on the list is to go for the best quality. You’ll buy less but as a consequence, you’ll also give out less. Funnily enough, the parents in turn will be grateful that you’ve only given their kids a few (high-quality) sweets.

This approach takes the emphasis off quantity.

Another approach worth considering is not to let any sweets make it to the bedroom. It’s like screens, you can’t monitor what you can’t see.

This next section tells you something about your age but consider taking some of the emphasis away from sweets and putting it on some ‘old fashioned’ games:

– Pumpkin Carving

– Spooky Stories

– Pass the Apple

– Bobbing for Apples

– Pin the Donkey

– Bairín Breac

Another alternative is to get the kids to separate their favourites and non-favourites into piles and only let them keep the favourites.

Also, if we can help the children to accept non-oral rewards / treats at Halloween this will turn out to be an important lesson that will stand to them into adulthood.

Tune into this week’s podcast below to find our more….

View Details

The Invisible killer or visceral fat is scary because it isn’t visible. There are so many people walking around that don’t know they have dangerously high levels of visceral fat.

Before we proceed, let’s differentiate between the two types of fat present in our bodies.

Subcutaneous fat is that fat that just sits under your skin. It’s easy to feel it, just gently pinch your waist. That’s subcutaneous fat.

The other (visceral) fat sits behind the abdominal wall in the abdominal cavity. Visceral fat will accumulate around the organs – your lungs, heart, pancreas, liver and intestines. The more visceral fat you have, the less space your vital organs have to perform their essential tasks.

This poses serious threats to one’s health:

Raises blood pressure which leads to heart attacks.
Secretes a hormone that causes inflammation in the body which leads to arthritis and cancer.
Interferes with the liver and leads to insulin resistance which is the beginning to Type II diabetes.
Linked to Alzheimer’s and dementia

What are the main causes of visceral fat accumulation:

Age. The older we get, the more susceptible we are to accumulating visceral fat.
Poor diet. Being too reliant on processed foods is a major contributor to visceral fat.
Alcohol. Excess alcohol consumption – think beer belly.
Exercise. Excess intake of calories without exercise or a means to burn it off will inevitable leady to accumulation of visceral fat.
Stress. Not well known is that stress triggers a hormone that aids the build-up of visceral fat.
Not enough sleep.
Post menopausal women.

First observation you can make is that if you have a large midsection, then the chances are you are probably carrying excess visceral fat.

Another, easy to-do-test, is to check your BMI or Body Mass Index. Click here to use our BMI calculator.

If you require further assistance, please book an initial assessment at your nearest Motivation clinic where we will:

– Complete a full Body Composition Analysis, where we measure your fat, water and muscle percentages, your visceral fat percentage and your metabolic age.

– Assess your measurements, calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI), check your heart rate and blood pressure.

– Examine your current daily eating habits and lifestyle and discuss where you need to make changes.

– This consultation will help to identify what type of plan best suits your needs based on your own personal and unique requirements.

View Details

Giving up!

Check out this week’s blog post below as Aisling Connolly is joined by Maebh Coyle to talk about what to do when you feel like giving up. Maebh has written on this topic before – check it out here.

Giving up is not a unique phenomenon to weight loss or weight management. It can occur in many aspects of our lives, our careers and our families. You name it, giving up will feature. But we can make choices with giving up; do we accept it or do we do something about it.

Many of our clients would express giving up as hitting a dead end when in reality it’s just a bump. We tend to find that the root cause can be traced to myths and stories that are often developed in childhood. The net result is that we may well have limited beliefs in our own ability to succeed.

Another key point when it comes to giving up is not to focus on the end goal but to take stock of the day-to-day benefits you are now experiencing. Not long after stating one of our weight loss programmes you will have increased energy levels, better sleeping patterns and better moods. As important as the end goal is, it can sometimes suffocate us if we feel that things are not going as well as they should.

View Details

In this week’s podcast Aisling and Meabh go back in time to Meabh’s early adult years when she struggled with her weight. Maebh talks openly about her journey from when when she was overweight and to where she is today – thinking like a slim person.

In her early adult years, Meabh pretty much ate what she liked, when she liked and never paid much heed to portions. On occasions she’d finish the food that was left on her boyfriend’s plate.

At the root of much of this was a complete lack of awareness or understanding of what she was doing. Not a clue about the importance of blood sugar levels and how to avoid the dreaded dips.

When Meabh decided to join up to do a Motivation programme, the great awakening or education began. She learned all about blood sugar levels and how to avoid the extreme lows – she was now in a much better position to make healthy food choices.

In addition to the lack of awareness Meabh also refers to her feelings of guilt. How she’d overeat and endure feelings of guilt as a result. Meabh pointed out that her 20s and 30s were very happy years but the feelings of guilt around food were pretty constant. This is probably something that will resonate with most people; we can lead pretty happy and enjoyable lives but there is always that nigging guilt when it comes to.

Today, Maebh is in a position of control. The Mental Weight questionnaire that all Motivation clients complete, showed her key issues as being one of guilt and perfectionism. Actually, her Mental Weight was comparable with the habits and behaviours of someone 2 stone heavier. In other words, if Maebh were to continue her current habits and behaviours she would end up 2 stone heavier.

Using the tools and techniques provided by her weight loss consultant, Maebh was able to overcome the personal issues that we causing her to overeat in the first place, put in place the framework to build a better place – one that enabled her to think like a slim person. Not only that, Maebh went on to join Motivation and trained to become a weight loss consultant.

View Details

Who reading this hasn’t experienced yo-yo dieting?

Yo-yo dieting is where you lose weight, only to put it back on, again and again.

A direct result of this yo-yo dieting process is a feeling of failure but a key point to take note here is that these yo-yo weight loss programmes have failed you.

The only way to lose weight and keep it off long term is to address what we call your Mental Weight – looking at the habits and behaviours that are causing you to overeat in the first place and how this causes your weight to fluctuate up and down.

The negative effects of yo-yo dieting are important to consider. When you go on a quick fix diet or strict eating regime, your metabolism will adapt over time to what you are doing to your body. Our bodies are very resilient and capable ‘engines’ and have a predefined way of adopting to this new enforced stress.

This is Metabolic Adoption and is goes back to the time when we inhabited the earth as hunter/gatherers. When we’d go through a time of food scarcity our body would naturally store fat and hold on to whatever it could get to build energy reserves.

When the hunter/gatherer started eating again (the exact same as when you come off a diet) and reintroduce foods, the body reacts by storing everything if can and grips on to everything being put into it. This is in stark contrast to when the body maintains a constant balanced eating programme – weight gain is not accentuated but is maintained.

The key to a balanced programme is to ensure you are not going up and down with your eating patterns.

When clients engage with a healthy eating plan prescribed by their Motivation Weight Management advisor they can expect to experience a (positive) change in their metabolism. Metabolic adoption has kicked in in response to what they’ve been doing with other yo-yo diets over the previous months/years.

View Details

Ireland has long held dear a close bond with alcohol. Alcohol underpins most of our sporting occasions, is present at virtually every major family celebration, be it the christening, holy communion. confirmation, engagement, marriage and last but not least, the last great farewell. It’s probably easier to count those occasions where a glass of your favourite tipple is not within reach.

However, we’re now much better informed as to the clear and present danger that alcohol presents, not only to ourselves but to the unborn and young persons. With such ready access to unambiguous and scientifically proven data on the dangers of alcohol, we are the most well informed generation ever.

When it comes to weight loss and weight management there is no doubt that alcohol is both a contributing factor to weight gain and an inhibiting factor to wight loss.

The more you drink, the most calories you consume = weight gain.

Also, alcohol acts as an impediment to weight loss = weight loss is slower.

For many people, alcohol is seen as a reward. After a long day it’s a comfort, a way of kicking back and relaxing with a beer, a glass of wine or a gin and tonic. Alcohol is an oral comfort used to de-stress. Unfortunately, alcohol works in the opposite way. More on that in the podcast.

Most people fixate on the alcohol content and neglect to look at the calorie count. If you like your relaxing glass of red every evening and perhaps double (even treble) up on a Friday and Saturday, then you’ve just added hundreds of calories to your weekly consumption.

Here at Motivation we have a weight loss plan that takes into account where you prefer to have your social drink and to do this we simply adjust your weight loss programme and allocate carbohydrate allowances against your alcohol consumption.

Our Accelerator plan on the other hand is alcohol free and this should be noted – weight loss on this programme is accelerated. The absence of alcohol makes a significant difference to the speed of weight loss.

We all know that feeling the morning after the night before. You’ve a much higher incidence of reaching for foods you normally wouldn’t reach for. Drinking alcohol stimulates the appetite and brings on what we call a ‘false hunger.’

So, we have to look at the bigger picture of what we are drinking and what we are putting into our bodies.

Did you know we get less sleep as a result of drinking alcohol and lack of sleep is a trigger for eating.

Also, did you know if you consume alcohol before a meal there is generally a 20% increase in calories consumed. Why? You lose your inhibition to stick to your weight loss plan. Avoid having that drink or swap it for a water and keep your drink(s) for during the meal or afterwards.

Finally, you need to learn about the different types of fat that may be accumulating in your body. Beer bellies are predominantly a male issue but females have them too and they carry a lot of visceral fat that predisposes you to a wide range of serious and life threatening diseases.

Listen to the podcast and start your education on the dangers associated with alcohol.

View Details

Did you know that if you are overweight during pregnancy, unfortunately, you are predisposing your child to be overweight during life.

This podcast provides solid advice on how to prevent weight gain during pregnancy so that the weight that you do gain is only baby weight. You’ll also get great insights into the nutritional requirements that every mother needs to be conscious of when they are pregnant.

One piece of advice that sounds counter intuitive is not to focus on the scales.

“Surely I should be weighing myself to check my weight gain,” I hear you ask.

The opposite is the case as your focus should be directed towards your habits, behaviours and attitudes.

This is critical as many expectant mums adopt the attitude that they are eating for two so it’s literally open season and there is no limit to the volume or frequency of food eaten.

The fact is that if you gain too much weight during pregnancy it can be harmful to both the mother and baby.

By not focusing on the scales we are taking the emphasis away from weight. You’ll be weighed anyway at your checkups.

Your Body Mass Index or BMI is an important measurement and you should check yours out (Body Mass Index – check yours here). We explain in the podcast what your expectant weight is during pregnancy should be – this is based on your BMI. Once you know this then you can put an effective plan in place to prevent weight gain during pregnancy.

The podcast also covers the importance of protein. Protein is a critical component in helping to build strong muscle tissue in your baby.

Everything you eat is being fed to the baby. It is important to stay on top of getting the essential building blocks for lean muscle tissue that the you need during pregnancy to support the baby’s growth.

View Details

Early to bed, early to rise.

Breakfast on the go.

School runs.

School pick-ups.

Lunchbox contents not touched.

Must make some healthy back to school recipes.

Missing jumper.

Runny nose, sore knee.

All familiar soundbites from the annual back-to-school routine.

In this week’s podcast Aisling and Jodie look at the back-to-school routine and how mums and dads can best be prepared to make sure that their kids are themselves best prepared for the school day ahead.

This all starts with the breakfast, ‘the most important meal of the day’ and the key here is not to skip breakfast and on top of that, where possible, make sure that protein is part of the meal. Also, try and partner the protein with a low GI wholegrain which will ensure a steady release of energy.

Today we have clear evidence that shows the importance of protein and how we should avoid, at all costs, the sugary cereals that are heavily targeted at kids. The World Health Organisation clearly states that children should have no more than 6 added teaspoons of sugar per day yet some of the cereals on offer today to Irish children contain many times that amount.

Educating yourself to the sugar amounts in cereals is key and also critical is an understanding of hypoglycemia or blood sugar levels. Children that eat a protein based breakfast will maintain their energy levels and therefore their concentration for longer than those children that eat a cereal or grab a pastry on the run.

This podcast is a great introduction to hypoglycemia and also how to understand the sugar levels on the labels on cereal boxes.

View Details

Did you know when you combine a weight management intervention with stopping smoking, it can drastically reduce weight gain associated with quitting.

When is the last time you thought about stopping smoking? Maybe like most smokers, you’ve quit several times in the past, only to start again, back at square one. One of the most talked about issues when contemplating stopping smoking is the whole issue of weight gain. Chances are one or more of the following questions have popped into your head:

– Will I put on weight if I stop smoking? – How much weight do you gain after stopping smoking? – Why am I gaining weight after quitting smoking? – Does smoking increase metabolism? – How can I avoid gaining weight when I quit smoking

Tobacco use continues to be a major public health issue and there is no doubt that what comes with quitting is often weight gain. Studies have shown that those who smoke in addition to being overweight are at an increased risk for the development of Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiac disease.

The good news is that a proper weight management intervention can help in the prevention of the onset of such conditions while addressing unwanted weight gain.

It takes between 4 and 21 days to change a habit so as much can be expected for smoking. Those 21 days can be overwhelming and challenging, that’s where Motivation comes in – we have a range of programmes designed specifically to help people through such a transition.

Upon quitting smoking, people who have a higher BMI (Body Mass Index – check yours here) at the time of stopping have been proven to gain in excess of the average person who has a normal BMI to begin with. This is where commencing a weight loss programme ties in nicely with quitting at the same time.

Many smokers attempt to cope with the nicotine withdrawal by substituting eating for the hand-to-mouth behaviour of smoking. You’ve quit smoking and this is your reward but it comes at a cost with the addition of extra calories to your diet in place of cigarettes. In some cases where there may not be an increase in the amount the quitter eats some people experience a change in taste, developing a sweet tooth, one that they’d not know they had. Too much refined sugar in the diet is always something we want to avoid and to address this our programmes are designed to be low in sugar.

The concept of food or oral reward links back to mental programming from childhood. You may remember being told during your youth, “finish your dinner and you can have dessert.” Our programmes address such psychological programming that may be impacting your ability to stop smoking. Classic examples of oral reward take place all the time when it comes to cigarettes: perhaps during a busy workday, you escape out from your desk for ten minutes or at the end of the day when you feel you deserve a cigarette having been stressed all afternoon.

Stress is, of course, another huge contributor to why people smoke with smoking often seen as a way to de-stress. In this podcast and using our programmes we examine your stress signals and why you turn to a cigarette to cope.

There is a large body of evidence that shows that 80-90% of people that quit smoking gain weight but there is also a lot of positive evidence that when you combine a weight management intervention with stopping smoking, it drastically reduces those percentages.

View Details

We are delighted to introduce Motivation Assist Podcasts, our regular and informative podcasts on all things health and weight related. You will find the link to the podcast at the bottom of this post and you are more than welcome to download it.

Every week we will bring you a podcast that deals directly with a topic related to your health and your ongoing concerns about weight, be it your own weight or that of your partner, a child or a close relative or friend.

Your chief host on the Motivation Assist Podcasts will, in the main, be our clinics director and co-founding partner, Aisling Connolly. With more than 23 years experience in the weight loss arena, Aisling brings a wealth of unrivaled knowledge and experience.

Joining Aisling, as often as we can get her, will be Jodie Wood, our resident consultant nutritionist. Jodie has really had a major impact since joining the Motivation Weight Management team. Her expert training and knowledge on nutrition has been instrumental in refining and updating all our eating plans. In addition, Jodie works with all the clinics to help clients with specific queries relating to specialist dietary requirements.

Motivation Assist Podcasts: Recent Episodes

Motivation Weight Management