Summary: David Greenwalt (leannesslifestyle.com) has helped over 170,000 people lose - and keep off - those unwanted pounds. I met David when he had some podcasting questions and I checked out his site. I saw all the before and after pictures of his client on his website and was impressed. I've been one who has always thought that weight loss is just a simple math problem. It's just calories in vs calories out. In today's conversation with David I learned that there is more to weight loss than the five word diet (eat less and exercise more). Weight loss is inside out and we need motivation, nutrition, and the tools to track your visible progress. David has a natural passion for helping people lose weight. He has been doing it since 1999, and he started with a book called "The Leanness Lifestyle" and this later turned into his website Leanness Lifestyle University. Much like you and Me, Dave had a time in his life when his body fat got out of control. (see the picture here). He had an "aha" moment one night trying to watch television over his gut. With this in mind, he knows the dedication needed to lose weight. He has been there, and done that, and knows how to help you achieve your goals. Common Weight Loss Mistakes When we boil weight loss down to "calories in vs calories out" we can "trick" ourselves into thinking its going to be easy. It's not. When we feel it's easy and we struggle then we feel defeated. When we approach the weight loss process with a "I can do it on my own" we are coming to a gun fight with a knife. It's a complex process, that needs to have its complexity acknowledged. We all know a little about nutrition and exercise, but there is more to it than just pushing away from the table. When we try to boil it down to something simple, we insult the person who is honestly trying to lose weight along. "For every complex problem there is a simple solution - and that solution is wrong. " - H.L. Mencken What is Leanness Lifestyle University? Evidence based Lifestyle education For permanent weight control 80-95% of dieters do not keep the weight off. Leanness Lifestyle works on how people feel about themselves and how they think. Once you can improve how they think and feel the behaviors will follows. From the start you are focused not on just losing the weight, but developing a lifestyle that keeps it up. Leanness Lifestyle has tools to help you with your nutrition (for tracking and evaluating), your exercise, motivational tools (including text messaging features to have motivation delivered to your phone). There are time management tools and goal setting tools as well. What makes Leanness Lifestyle University different is that through instant messaging you have access to Dave or 10 other Graduate Assistants to help you when you need it. For me this is HUGE. While it's nice to have a support community, but in reality these people are in the same boat as me. I need an expert. Don't Make it Too Complex While over-simplifying weight lose can cause problems, you don't need to follow the regiment of a body builder to achieve your goals. You don't need an elephant gun to squirrel go hunting. Example of a Leanness Lifestyle Tool One tool that Dave talks about is the ABC tool. This gets you thinking about your food to help you reduce following your emotions. The ABC stands for Antecedent - What triggered this? Where were you? What was going on? Behavior - What were the beliefs and behaviors? Consequence - What were the consequences? The letter you want to dive into is "Y" (as in Why). When you discover why you are doing certain actions then you can address the root of the problem and not the symptom (which is overeating). You need to realize that you're not just losing weight. You are gaining freedom to shop where you want to shop, and to do those things you want to do. You are improving self-esteem and self-confidence. You can improve your relationships, and feel better.
