Change Comes From Within

FLP-Up-To-You

Written by Cyndi

Cyndi is about educating. Her greatest love is to teach, both in the public arena and within the large corporate food companies, to enable everyone to make better choices so they too can enjoy greater health throughout their lives. Considered one of the world's foremost experts in Nutrition, Cyndi brings over 40 years experience, research and knowledge.

October 29, 2021

Have you ever wondered why one person reads a book, goes to a seminar, does a program, starts a new habit, and is able to change their life around, yet another person who reads the same book, goes to the same seminar, does the same program and begins the same new habit ends up changing nothing long-term? I was asked an interesting question recently about the Fat Loss Protocol, by a person who has a history of yo-yo dieting, eating good quality food and is still very much over 50kg (her goal weight). She asked: Please could you describe your program’s methodology (and evidence) that addresses the issue of keeping the weight off in the long-term in a sustainable manner, and how the program helps clients retain an effective metabolism, and ample maintenance calorie intake post-fat loss phase? I first addressed the issue of why someone who eats beautiful wholesome foods, with a hearty appetite, puts on weight over the long-term. Even healthy food will put on weight if you eat too much of it. This is because the body has a survival mechanism. When food is plentiful it will put on weight, historically this would have been in the summer. The weight increase (fat deposits) is so humans would survive the winter. The extra fat produced more of the master hormone leptin, which then signaled to the other hormones that with the extra fat stores it was a good time to have a child. It was the perpetuation of the human race. Our bodies are evolutionary, they are not modern bodies. You cannot go against hundreds of thousands of years and what helped humans survive from famine to feast. The body is capable of putting on approximately 220gms a day, but you would need to eat, over and above your normal daily intake, another 2200 calories in order to do that. Let’s say you are eating just 200 calories extra every day than your body needs, so instead of 1800 calories you are eating 2000 calories. That means every 11 days you have consumed an extra 2200 calories putting on 220gms of body weight. In a year, you will add 7.3kg to your total body weight and over 6.8 years, you will add 50kg. This is, of course, theoretical, and we are all individuals, but it makes a point. You can’t eat more calories than your body needs without storing the excess, even with good quality foods. Your body will always want to survive, but once you put too much weight on, the signals for leptin become resistant. Leptin is only made by fat cells. If you have too many fat cells that release this master hormone, you become leptin resistant, much like insulin resistant. The body thinks you are starving and tells you to eat more. The Fat Loss Protocol, by helping you to lose weight, also helps to reduce the amount of leptin being produced to create leptin sensitivity and thus satiety and no need for a large appetite. I am the giver of the information – I can show you by example, write everything down, teach you, coach you and do everything I can in my power to inform, but I can’t do this for you. It is up to everyone who gets this information to act on it. I can tell you about people who have lost 80kg and kept it off for years and I can also tell you about people who have failed miserably on the program. The information is identical; it’s the individual who is different and who chooses to make the changes, keep and sustain the changes, and educate themselves on the best way to be the best version of themselves, with our help of course. We are masters of helping people find health, but we cannot make you do everything we say – this is ultimately up to you. So, to ask me whether this program “addresses the issue of keeping the weight off in the long-term in a sustainable manner, and how the program helps clients retain an effective metabolism, and ample maintenance calorie intake post-fat loss phrase”, is to really ask yourself whether you are willing to act on the information and work on yourself so that you have the discipline to get to the point where the body’s innate intelligence takes over. This is where you will find health and a body weight perfect for health. Where someone struggles to make long-term changes, it’s not because of the lack of information, it’s not the lack of coaching, it’s not the lack of examples, it’s not the lack of science that makes the difference, but rather the lack of commitment on the behalf of the individual to follow through. I know the Fat Loss Protocol works. I know the science behind leptin, ketosis, body metabolism, healthy foods and hormones for hunger and satiety. I also know that modern living is a tough gig. Modern living and eating are not conducive to the innate intelligence of being healthy. Marketing, advertising and false science underpinned by commercial profits destroy commonsense for many. People believe that their government or food authorities wouldn’t put anything in the food supply that could possibly be detrimental to their health. But when you go through the grocery store and see the multitude of ultra-processed foods with food additives that make food taste like food, look like food and smell like food, but not be food, we can see how we confuse the intelligence of our incredible bodies on many planes.

The present way of eating is a huge human experiment that is failing to help in health – rather it plummets people into sickness.

I find it sad that so many people have issues with weight and health and end up going to their doctors to take a pill to take away the pain or discomfort of a disease that is ultimately from a poor diet and lifestyle. This then sets up a cascade of more poor eating, more disease and more medications. This information is out there – people know that food and lifestyle underpin health, yet some take this information by the horns and run with it and change their life forever, while the rest don’t and complain about their ills and aches for the rest of their life. How do you want to live your life? There is so much information out there and it’s free for the most part. I write three well-researched or opinion pieces a month, and I have since the early 1990s. They are on my blog, in my books, in magazines, papers and other websites. You can read and read and you can learn and learn, but if you don’t act, it’s all worthless. I’m 61 and have never taken any form of prescription or over-the-counter medication and I have no chronic disease. I can put 20kg on my back and walk steep terrain for 100km over six days. Or decide at the last minute to do the 35km Bloody Long Walk. I’m ready for life at a given moment. But, I put the work in – my movement, sunshine, sleep, breath, meditation and connection routine is daily, and my food is impeccable. I was fortunate that I was bought up this way and I knew no other way of living, but the body is resilient and, given the right ingredients for health, the innate intelligence of the body will return and you will find yourself ready to hike a mountain with friends.

The time to begin is now, don’t wait until it’s too late. It’s a matter of whether you are willing to give up what’s making you sick to take on the habits that will make you well.

Many people say to me that my way of life is expensive. The only ingredient that costs me money is my food; every other ingredient is free: Movement (I swim in the ocean and walk in nature), sunshine, connection with loved ones, grounding, breath, meditation (I downloaded a free app). Every single small thing I do consistently every day does take discipline in the beginning and then it becomes addictive. I did a meditation course last year with Michael Beckwith. He said there are four pillars to freedom:

  1. Discipline – fall in love with something that improves the quality of your life.
  2. Self-responsibility – respond to what you need rather than the circumstance.
  3. Self-awareness – stop going unconscious, know exactly what you are doing.
  4. Self-remembrance – what do you need to become in order to get what you need? It’s an inner knowing.

Change Your Thinking About Metabolism and Food Intake Considering all this, I find it incredible that we think we should have these fast metabolisms so we can eat as much food as we want and maintain a healthy weight. Rather, we should be thinking in a different way – how healthy and incredible can my body be on less food resources? It is all in the way of your thinking. I not only do this with food, but exercise as well. In order for me to keep super fit, what do I need to do on a daily basis so that I’m ready tomorrow if I choose to go somewhere challenging? It’s about fine-tuning my body with daily movement. What do I need to do on a daily basis to keep my body in top shape, for whatever comes along, including this very stressful time on planet earth? I have had many people thank me who have succeeded in changing their habits after doing the Fat Loss Protocol or the Healthy Keto Way. My response is always the same: I’m just the person who gives the information, but it is you who has acted on the information that has transformed your life. Congratulations! Cyndi O’Meara

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