Trust Your Intuition

I know, I know. It sounds so cliche and woo-woo. Like we’re all supposed to just close our eyes, take a deep breath, and wait for a message from the Universe to come to us in a dream or something. But it’s not about that at all.

The truth is, our intuition is an invaluable tool for reading situations and making decisions — even if we don't always trust it. We can hone this skill by figuring out which of our “gut feelings” are worth following through on, which of our senses to pay more attention to (such as sight), what we think will make us happy/unhappy in the future, etc.

I’m not suggesting that we should ignore reason and logic. We should use all of our tools to weigh our options and decide what’s best for us. But for those of us who can identify with the feeling of knowing something without any rational explanation, trust your intuition. It's either a very old survival instinct that has been around since the dawn of time, or it's some higher power guiding us in the right direction…probably not a demon trying to fool you into doing something stupid, at least I hope not.

So trust it. Don’t take your feelings lightly and ignore them. Pay attention to what they tell you, and if you find yourself chronically ignoring your gut feelings, maybe it’s time to start listening instead of ignoring the way you feel.

And if anything, keep in mind that your intuition is always on your side and has your best interests in mind…no matter what. Your instincts are like friends who have been there for you your whole life and can be trusted with everything — including your happiness.

By Ragen Chastain (www.danceswithfat.com)

Article: Trust Your Intuition

Posted on 28 October 2011 by Ragen Chastain (www.danceswithfat.com)

Tags: intuition, trust, intuition will save you, intuition is your friend

You are going to continue to see more and more studies which show that losing weight is good for your health. For example, this study found that overweight people who diet and exercise maintain their slender figure as opposed to those who do not lose weight. ... and this study also found that obese patients who lost weight showed tremendous improvements in their heart health as opposed to people who maintained their current state of obesity.

The "obesity paradox" is a term referring to the observation that certain cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia and diabetes mellitus are more common in normal weight than overweight individuals ... despite the fact that overweight patients have more complications of obesity. It is thought that obese people have better vascular health because they have a higher load of adipose tissue, which may be protective. It has also been suggested that low-grade inflammation resulting from obesity may cause damage to endothelial cells and contribute to adverse cardiovascular events.

Forbes: Healthy Weight or Unhealthy Weight? Article on 2/1/11 at 18:23 pst

tags: weight loss news, health news

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonoplek/2011/02/01/healthy-weight-or-unhealthy-weight/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=forbes&s_tafid=3qHJyTcsTcK1BgR2QbM:D:0

Heather Bortz, a 40 year old former actress turned personal trainer, is losing weight and shedding pounds at an alarming rate. In only eight months at the weight loss program called Proactive Individualized Lifestyle Transformation or IPIT for short, she has lost over 120 pounds (she started at 320 pounds)[...]. She works with a team of trainers who do everything from make sure that she is sticking to her diet to making sure that she is mentally in check. She said, “The trainers are always walking with me or right behind me pushing me. I couldn’t imagine doing it without them.”

Lab Tests Online: Woman Loses Over 100 Pounds At Weight Loss Program Article on 1/31/11 at 5:48 pst

Tags: weight loss program, weight loss plan, weight loss surgery, pro active individualized lifestyle transformation (pit), iphit

http://www.labtestsonline.org/weight-loss/

Success stories like Heather’s are becoming increasingly common. Proactive Individualized Lifestyle Transformation (IPIT) specifically designed to help people lose weight, has helped hundreds of people lose over 100 pounds and remain healthy. The program works for people with all types of weight problems. Heather Bortz is an example of the success it can bring.

Proactive Individualized Lifestyle Transformation [IPIT] Article on 12/7/10 at 2:58 pst

tags: weight loss program, iphit

http://www.labtestsonline.org/weight-loss/proactive_individualized_lifestyle_transformation.html

Proactive Individualized Lifestyle Transformation (IPIT) program is a medically supervised diet and exercise plan. It is an alternative to bariatric surgery and a weight loss program. The IPIT program was developed by Dr. Kenneth D. Wolfe, who has over 25 years of experience as a practicing physician in medical weight management and obesity treatment, who has worked extensively with morbidly obese patients […]

The IPIT program was designed to be non-intimidating, non-threatening and easy to follow, while still providing patients with the educational tools they need given their particular metabolic profile and weight loss needs.

The IPIT program is a multidisciplinary medically supervised program that provides patients with the opportunity to lose weight and gives them the best chance for success in maintaining it.

Lab Tests Online: Weight Loss Program Article on 1/4/11 at 12:01 pm Tags: weight loss program, iphit, pro-active individualized lifestyle transformation (pit), ipit

Health's life tips blog editorial, "8 Ways to Fake Being Healthy"

by Health on May 28th 2009.

Some more examples of how health is not determined by appearance.

See also

The following are examples of individuals that lost weight after starting the Paleo diet (some were already on it when they were interviewed). Click here for more success stories.

Heather's story (click above for full story).

Simon's story - lost weight and kept it off.

Lindsay's story - lost weight and kept it off.

Rebecca's story - lost weight and kept it off.

Nathalie's story - lost weight and kept it off.

Jessica's story - Lost 80 pounds, reduced body fat percentage from 35% to 16%, improved her health markers by limiting her carb intake, with a little bit of physical activity thrown in.

Conclusion

I think the most important point made in the first paper (1) is this:

The results of the present study suggest that extra weight and fatness are not necessarily associated with greater mortality risk and that lean mass should be considered when examining mortality risk in young adults.

Basically what they are saying is that if you look at people who are just looking at body weight, there does not appear to be an increased mortality risk for overweight people. But as I have previously mentioned in these blog posts, body weight is not a very good indicator of health. What was interesting about this study, however, is that they found no relationship between BMI and waist circumference and mortality risk either.