I know it isn’t always appropriate to toot your own horn, but given all the horns that will be blown tonight to celebrate the New Year I decided to celebrate early with a little horn tooting of my own.

I have long believed the methods I’m teaching my clients are the best methods to lose weight and keep it off. Now, after reading Prevention Goes to Weight Loss University in January, 2009 Prevention magazine, I feel even more confident. I have been teaching my clients the best ideas from some of the top academic weight loss programs in the country without even knowing it.

Duke University’s Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, NC differs from so many programs by using small, sustainable changes rather than drastic ones as the key to weight loss. I am constantly encouraging my clients to change their habits one at a time rather than going cold turkey. I firmly believe small changes are easier to maintain for life than drastic ones. None of my clients are Biggest Loser contestants who need to lose huge amounts of weight in a very short time. They just need to stop gaining and start getting healthier on their own schedules. Unless you have a time limit on your weight loss, you will likely do better by overcoming one issue at a time.

The University of Alabama’s Eatright Program in Birmingham uses weight loss shakes to replace all food because they believe such an extreme change frees chronic dieters from unhealthy patterns. Although I don’t agree with the weight loss shakes concept for home dieters, I do encourage my clients to regularly get out of their comfort zones. Several of my “homework” assignments are about that very thing. Many overweight people are just stuck in a rut of unhealthy habits. Breaking free of that rut on occasion goes a very long way toward a lifetime of healthy habits.

The University of Vermont’s VTRIM program in Burlington believes it is better to make health your goal rather than weight loss. Then adjust the habits that stand in your way and the weight will come off. They have their participants establish wellness goals rather than weight loss goals and track their eating in food journals. A foundation of my work with my clients is our journal where we track all our efforts including food and activities. We discuss weight loss goals, but I use that information to help me keep my clients’ expectations reasonable and goals attainable. Our primary focus is on a daily step goal (see next paragraph), an exercise/activity goal, and a calorie intake goal. We do not set short term weight loss goals at all.

The University of Colorado’s Colorado Weigh program in Denver encourages participants to wear pedometers to track the number of steps they walk daily to motivate them to incorporate more activity into their lives. Buying and wearing a pedometer is the one expense I require of my clients beyond my fee. My clients and I use the pedometer readings to create and adjust their step and activity goals for each week. Since I don’t see my clients face to face, this is one way I can tell if they really are increasing their activity levels as much as they think they are.

If you’d like to know more about my weight loss coaching program, please email me at barb@moreislessdiet.com. I’m always happy to explain my program to anyone who needs help deciding if I’m a good fit for them.

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