In 2001, I weighed more than 180 kilos. I have tried every diet possible to lose weight. I even worked with Dr. Atkins himself for two months, and after shedding a few thousand dollars, the best thing he did was yell at me for being so fat.
All the regimes undertaken ended in the same way. There was a full list of foods that I was not allowed to eat. I followed the diet to the letter. I lost a little weight by doing violence and thanks to my will. Then came the inevitable moment when I couldn’t take it anymore and I was going to eat myself up. No matter how much weight you lost on the diet, it came back a few days later and a week later, I weighed 2 pounds heavier than before my diet. This rhythm of a loss of 5 kilos followed by a gain of 7 kilos started in 1990, until reaching in September 2001 my maximum weight of 185 kilos.
Then there was a major turning point. On September 11, I was a hair’s breadth away from being on Flight 93. This experience made me feel like I was living on borrowed time. I was here, killing myself for stressful work and hated on Wall Street and the universe had just given me a second chance.
So I decided to stop the roller coaster diet once and for all with the firm intention of never dieting again. I was going to try to understand why my body seemed to force me to gain so much weight. I decided to find out what I could do to make him want to be thin again. Thanks to a good level in biochemistry acquired at the University of Pennsylvania, I spent twelve hours a day researching everything I could on hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters and chemical messengers, everything that leads to taking weight.
I learned that losing weight sustainably is not about counting calories, but creating an environment for weight loss for the body. Stress and emotional problems are the source of an unfavorable hormonal environment, so you have to deal with the issue from a mind-body perspective. We need a holistic approach that examines our lives from a psychological and emotional perspective alongside what we eat and when.
I lost 100 pounds over two and a half years without dieting. I’m still the same weight for ten years and I’m still on a diet. I eat what I want, when I want it.
Here are the keys to my transformation:
1) I stopped dieting and started to nourish my body.
I learned from my research that my body was chronically hungry for some important nutrients, like omega-3 fatty acids, live foods, and good quality protein. I have taken care to give myself as many real nutrients as high quality as possible. If I wanted “junk food” like confectionery, crisps or pizza, I ate it whenever I wanted, without hesitation. I finally lost the urge for all this “junk food” because my body learned to prefer good quality, nutrient-rich foods.
2) I healed my digestion.
I discovered that one of the reasons I was so deficient in nutrients was that my digestion process was compromised, so I was unable to efficiently extract nutrients from the food I was eating. Digestive issues can also lead to inflammation, and inflammatory hormones put the body into storage mode. I started consuming fermented foods and took probiotics and digestive enzymes to normalize my digestion.
3) I got a CPAP machine for my sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is a condition that affects many overweight people. It creates a hormonal environment for the body that encourages weight gain by causing high levels of cortisol, which leads to the craving for harmful foods and resistance to insulin. Sleep apnea is easily treated with a CPAP machine. The machine sends air into the nose and mouth to keep the air duct open, allowing you to spend the night without problems.
Most people who have sleep apnea don’t even know they have sleep apnea, but the people they live with know it because someone with sleep apnea snores loudly. It turned out that I had the worst case of sleep apnea ever seen by specialists in this field. As soon as I got this machine I started to have more energy and a lot less cravings for unhealthy food. And my fat started to melt for good.
4) I started psychosomatic techniques to reduce stress.
Like sleep apnea, stress causes high levels of cortisol and inflammatory hormones. These hormones cause constant bulimia and put the body in chronic fat storage mode. Many people do not realize how important it is to know how to reduce stress. I started meditation and visualization every morning, which has proven to be extremely effective in reducing stress.
5) I created a much more sustainable life for myself.
I also cut my expenses, moved to a more accessible home, and started growing some food. My life seemed much more sustainable and I felt more calm and encouraged. I liked to know that whenever I was hungry I could go to the garden to eat something fresh and full of vitality. Stress hormones no longer flowed through my body wreaking havoc and turning my body into a fat storage machine.
6) I’ve dealt with some serious emotional issues.
Some people feel safer with extra bodyweight. It’s as if the body is actually using weight as a buffer to interfere with the outside world. I was, and I knew I had to deal with the emotional issues that made my body feel vulnerable. I started to practice visualization which helped me resolve past trauma and allow my body to feel safe by letting go of the weight.
Over the years I have discovered that 65-70% of the clients I work with use their obesity as a form of protection. I call it "emotional obesity". By working on the issues that cause emotional obesity and breaking down the fat = safety association, the body is much more willing to let go of the weight. After putting an end to this association with the weight which no longer fulfilled this purpose, in other words the fat armor which no longer gave me a feeling of security, all the weight went away.
7) I detoxified my body.
After losing 80 pounds, I started intensive research into toxins and the body's ways of handling toxic chemicals. It turns out that the body uses fat cells to store excess toxins. I realized that the last 20 extra pounds my body kept were there as a storehouse of accumulated toxins. I started to live what I call a "detoxifying lifestyle". I started to flood my body with lots of alkaline liquids, like water with lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, vegetable juices and lots of salads and sprouts. It was very effective because I lost the last 20 pounds much faster than the first 20, the rate of weight loss continued to accelerate until the end.
A mind-body approach that nourishes the body and reduces the physical, mental and emotional stresses that cause weight gain is the most sensible and lasting way to lose weight. I have worked with tens of thousands of people in 60 countries to teach this approach and we are getting amazing results.
People who have spent their lives on yo-yo diets today have lost weight, 20, 50, 100 kilos, without dieting, by following this precise formula.
by Jon Gabriel