Message to New Member–It's Truly an Educational Program

To a recent new member of my program at www.LeannessLifestyle.com
Just remember, you are a freshman, neither I nor you should expect you to feel like you have a Ph.D. here yet. The cool thing about this process, however, is the education is like “dog years” in return on investment of time. For every month you listen, read, work, and study here it’s like seven months at a traditional university. So if a Bachelors is typically earned in 48 months you’ll realistically need to immerse yourself in my program about six months worth to “get it” and have that Bachelors. But, even before six months I need you to follow this mantra — “Just be good for today.”
You wrote to me about a diet you had previously followed and liked …
“but only if you were hungry which was defined by your stomach growling)”
Okay — for ANY man or woman who has fought weight for more than a year or so I have coined the term “weight fighter.” And for all weight fighters hunger is a LIAR — at first — and for some, forever. So, you cannot trust hunger. It might tell you that you are hungry when you are not. It might tell you that you are not full when you are. It might do just the opposite. It might tell you that you should NOT eat when you really should and it might tell you that you are full when you are not.
So what do you do? Part of the answer lies in you learning your numbers. One food, then one meal, then one day at a time I need you to use my Nutrition Analyzer to begin logging so you know your numbers. If, at first, this is flat-out overwhelming? Skip it for now. Just do the three basics if you are breaking out in cold sweats. The basics are:
: Log your weight every day and read on the MY GRADE TODAY page WHY we log our weight. Also, download my book and read about SCALE: FRIEND OR FOE too. This is a must. The MY GRADE TODAY page is found under the REPORTS tab.
: Log any activity you do FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING PHYSICAL FITNESS. That’s all we log here.
: Use my nutrition basics tool called the NFL DAILY (click on ANY of the WHY links with that tool to learn WHY I want you to do something) I explain every single detail of every piece of the nutrition basics so you fully understand why you are eating the way you will be.
The best is if you will do the basics AND use the NA (Nutrition Analyzer) but if a little kid in you wants to rebel against that? It’s okay. Skip it for now. Just know that at some point you WILL need to use the NA — for sure, 100%, no questions asked.
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You also wrote to me …
“I also liked I didn’t have to think about it”
Instinctually you are driven, like all of us are, toward calorie-dense foods. Those foods are the ones laiden with fat and sugar. In today’s modern environment those foods are everywhere and exceptionally processed and refined.
As a 46 year YOUNG woman you have a lengthy history of a certain style/habit of eating and exercising (or not). These habits are long-standing and SOME will need replacing. The good news is habits are not like eye color — they were learned, they can be relearned.
Food addiction and brain allergy from food are both very real. And like any addiction or allergy they are both nasty and alarmingly powerful.
The environment we all live in with today’s modern advances is what is being termed an OBESOGENIC ENVIRONMENT. That is, the environment is intensely supportive of creating and perpetuating obesity.
Wow, sounds darn near hopeless doesn’t it? Well, not to me. Why? Because I know the rest of the story.
You see, one gift we ALL have is a developed, incredible brain capable of thinking, reasoning, learning and logic. We call this INTELLECT. As a society we don’t all think, say and do whatever “feels” natural. Think about it. Men can be “dogs.” Sure. Some would say “It’s their way. It’s natural.” I say BUNK to that! Natural isn’t always best. But what gift or power do we have to fight what is “natural?” INTELLECT
Intellect is thinking. Intellect is being exceptionally conscious. When someone says to me “health conscious” it has a meaning unlike what it has for most others. I know that being exceptionally CONSCIOUS and MINDFUL (rather than mind-less) are keys to eventual weight loss and weight management success.
Are you seeing why “so I don’t have to think about it” is death to eventual success?
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You also wrote in your introduction …
“Physical activity seems to help me better than controling food.”
This would be a false and/or limiting belief. In weight loss exercise is AT MOST 20% of the equation. Read that again. This means nutrition is at least 80% of the equation.
The areas that will need your attention are covered within this website. Doing the three basics daily, reading my book, and branching sooner rather than later into the NA with diligent, consistent consciousness in KNOWING YOUR NUMBERS rather than going by instinct or what “feels” right are big steps toward your eventual success.
Did you see how I NEVER, in this lesson, ever said “THE KEY” to your success? There is no ONE key. Obesity is complex. Humans are complex. Weight loss is complex. Therefore it is DESERVING of the proper mindset, attention and education that a program like mine can provide and that YOU can help yourself to truly absorb. It’s ALWAYS a personal decision. Free will reigns. No one, including me, can pull your strings, nor do I want to.
Be MINDFUL of my intent and the fact that with any of this we’ve only scratched the surface. The really really good news is if you will do what I’ve said here to at least start? You will really be beginning a new journey, a road less traveled, and you’ll be well on your way to weight loss, better health, a vibrancy you haven’t felt in years and all of the good you deserve.
Coach David Greenwalt CSCS-Founder