The Petite Advantage Diet Read Online Free PDF Page A

second, new BFF–right after my exercise program. You must weight in at least once a week, but to really work the plan and accelerate results, I urge you to get on the scale every day. It just shows you how your body is adjusting to the plan and also gives you valuable data regarding three important indicators:
     
• Your water balance. If your weight is truly bouncing around by more than a pound or two, then you are causing water retention. Look at the foods you are eating and the liquids you are drinking to find the culprit, as I want you to banish water bloat for good. I will discuss this in the next chapter.
• Your regularity. Again, I talk about this in the next chapter, but if you find that you frequently have regularity issues, you can correct them using my eating and drinking recommendations.
• Your cycle. I find that Petites get hit pretty hard with regard to water retention both during their monthly cycle and during ovulation. Still, get on the scale and change your mind-set to consider that as “data” not “failure.”
6 . Establish a support system. You must have a weight-loss buddy. I believe that your support system is as crucial to your success as your adherence to the actual plan. The people around you and the environments you are put in can make or break your success. I guarantee that they will help you succeed and I was truly surprised to see that research agrees.
     
7 . Watch less than ten hours of television a week. I have to be honest and say that this blew me away. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that many of the people I know who struggle with weight spend a good deal of time sitting. Now, the research on sitting and weight gain is pretty compelling. We will address this later on. Just know that limiting your “recreational” sitting is a must, especially if you have to sit during most of the day at work or at your desk at home. Also, look at the time you spend in the car. Many classic “soccer moms” spend hours each day in the car. I know that I sometimes spend all day Saturday just chauffeuring my kids between gymnastics training, theater rehearsal, playdates, grocery shopping, errands, etc. I plan my day so that I am on foot as much as possible; if that isn’t possible, I make sure that I hit the exercise hard in the morning and don’t allow myself to sit and watch TV later in the day. Instead, I write, read, or watch TV in the kitchen, standing up.
     
    I will reference these seven behaviors repeatedly throughout this book, with the goal of changing your belief system regarding each one of them. Take, for example, the need to weigh in regularly. At my main studio in Chicago, we ask our staff to weigh each client at least once a week, although we actually prefer that it happen more often, even every session. The clients who agree to this practice generally lose weight. Those who refuse are not “losers” in a positive sense. They avoid the scale–no, they flatly refuse to get on the scale–and by doing so, they avoid the reality and hold on to their belief that they don’t need to weigh in to lose weight. Excuse me, but yes you do! You have conducted your own, personal research study that proves that, if you don’t regularly get on the scale, you won’t lose weight. Better yet, if you don’t regularly get on the scale, you will probably gain weight!
    I am very committed when it comes to getting results. By getting on the scale, you hold yourself accountable, since I can’t personally be there. You think that you are working my plan. Then you get on the scale and it doesn’t agree with you. The scale is your “data.” It is what gives you the “red flag” you need to examine where you are straying from the program. Are you really sticking with the eating plan as it’s laid out? Are you really hitting your exercise with the intensity required? Are you truly sleeping seven to eight hours each night? The scale holds you accountable for success and