NILOU JONES: To Surprise Her Soldier, Part V

By Jane Norris

Published: March 18, 2006

Nilou Jones wants to tell her friends what she has gained from meeting with a nutritionist. But every time Jones suggests they try it for themselves, she hears the same refrain - ’tis the season to postpone any precarious new additions to the stack of holiday-season tasks to juggle.
“It’s so interesting. The reaction so many people have about seeing a nutritionist is, ‘It’s not the right time,’ ’’ Jones said, laughing. “But this is the right time.’’
Jones, a Charlottesville mother of two, is trying to lose 100 pounds before her soldier husband returns home next spring from Mosul, Iraq. She’s keeping her weight-loss quest a secret from Sgt. 1st Class Charles Jones, planning to surprise him with her new healthier lifestyle built on a commitment to fitness and smart nutrition once he comes home. So far, she has lost about 53 pounds, and she has invited The Daily Progress readers along as she moves toward her goal.
Determined to avoid fads and trends, Jones started her own program by doing plenty of research and reading. She has made healthy strides at Gold’s Gym, logging hours on treadmills and in step classes to build lean muscle mass and burn more calories.
That’s not to say it has been easy. Jones battled a plateau last month, during which her weight loss slowed, and she bounced back with a four-pound loss.
Now she must step out of her workout program for four to six weeks because she had routine-rattling outpatient surgery, and the demands of a hectic holiday season are clamoring for her attention. Jones knows it is the right time to make her choices count so she won’t lose ground and gain weight back while she’s less active.
Learning how to get back on track after a setback is a valuable part of the process of changing one’s life for the better. Surgery and recovery can put a workout regimen on hold, but so can many other things. A twisted ankle, a slip on the ice or a loved one’s illness can yank a fitness fan off the jogging trail and into the hospital waiting room. It can happen to anyone, no matter how careful or well intentioned.
“It could be a family emergency. It doesn’t have to be your own personal thing,’’ Jones said. “But you have to break your routine to be of service.’’
Even the pace of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa season also definitely has a way of disrupting routines.
So why not use it to your advantage?
“It is a good time to learn how to eat in moderation and not feel guilty about it, because [people] think it’s all or nothing,’’ said Kate Bruno, a registered dietitian and personal trainer with On Track Nutrition and Fitness Consulting. “It’s a good time. It always is - and the sooner, the better.’’
Bruno used actual-size photos of dinner plates served with healthy portions of food to help illustrate the guideline that a recommended serving of meat is about the size of a deck of playing cards.
She also counseled Jones to add three snacks to her three-meals-a-day plan to keep her body accustomed to burning fuel at a steady rate.
So what has Jones found most valuable in Bruno’s advice so far?
“Dispelling myths - that’s the biggest thing,’’ Jones said.
For example, Jones had been shutting down her kitchen by 7 p.m., believing that she was saving calories by ruling out after-dinner snacking. Bruno told her that what actually was shutting down was her fat-burning potential.
“We have to treat our bodies with respect, because that’s how we get the most out of them,’’ Bruno said. “A good place to start is to see food as a tool and not as a friend or enemy.’’
Some of Bruno’s obese clients over the years have told her that they will go all day without eating until dinnertime - and don’t understand why they aren’t losing any weight. They believe they’re shaving off unnecessary calories, but if they go long enough without food, their metabolisms will hit the brakes to conserve energy, which can halt weight loss or even trigger gains.
“The biggest thing is to remind them that they have to nourish themselves,’’ Bruno said.
Going too long without food slows the metabolism. However, if you respond to a hunger message by selecting a healthy snack or meal, she said, “you’re keeping the fire burning all day long, instead of letting the fire go out and having to restart it.’’
After her surgery, Jones will need to take about a month off from the exercise routine that has helped her reshape her body and melt off excess pounds since she started her personal lifestyle improvement program in July.
She has been encouraged to add back in mild activity “as tolerated,’’ so Jones said she plans to start by taking gentle walks in her neighborhood. But lifting weights and other strenuous tasks will have to wait for weeks.
What Bruno wants to help Jones avoid is falling into the trap of cutting her caloric intake too drastically in hopes of avoiding weight gain while she recovers.
“My general recommendation to her was not to skip any meals or snacks, but perhaps cut the portions back a bit - just slightly cut back on the volume, but keep the meals there,’’ Bruno said. “If you don’t respond to the hunger, you’re going to go into that metabolic shutdown.’’
Bruno also pointed out that each person has individual needs. Sweeping generalities won’t fit every person who wants to ring in a leaner new year. The flavor-of-the-month trendy diet that helped your best friend drop a few pounds may not work for you. Individual attention also can make a big difference if someone who wants to lose weight needs to take diabetes, high blood pressure or other conditions into consideration before revamping his or her daily diet.
“You really have to be sure you’re trusting your own internal signals and not copying someone else,’’ Bruno said.
That’s part of the challenge - learning to listen to your body so you can make intelligent choices.
Sometimes, the “I’m tired’’ prompt means it’s time to hop off the treadmill for now. By the same token, the “I’m hungry’’ message doesn’t have to mean a binge is hovering, waiting to be fought off with a big broom and a lot of noise. It might mean simply that an active body needs more fuel to get the job done.
Right now, Jones’s body is telling her that it needs to heal after her surgery.
Time away from the gym doesn’t have to mean weight gain. Bruno said many people don’t understand that basic metabolic functions - such as breathing - burn more calories over the course of the day than a one-shot workout.
“Most of what your body metabolizes is done at rest,’’ she said.
Bruno realizes how difficult it can be for her clients to develop positive relationships with eating. She said she battled anorexia at age 11, and as a teen she wound up exercising compulsively and overeating. Her own successful recovery from an eating disorder and her appreciation for wholesome exercise, strength training and a commitment to moderation helped her change her own life. As a dietitian and trainer, Bruno can use her own experiences as well as her training to help guide others away from limiting thoughts, all-or-nothing overreactions and poor choices.
“It was all about making peace with my body - just learning to trust myself and look at food in a different way,’’ Bruno said.
Festive occasions offer a different kind of disruption of one’s routine - one that’s full of temptations. But no matter how hard you look between the plates of cookies, steaming cups of mulled cider and generous slices of fruitcake, you won’t find a license to pig out tucked in there anywhere.
As nutritionist Viola Holmes pointed out last month, it’s important to come up with a game plan before attending parties and dinners to avoid overeating.
At a holiday party she attended recently, Jones kept her resolve to make sound choices.
“I took a little bit of ham and a lot of green beans,’’ she said.
Jones stuck with her one-spoonful method of sampling desserts to satisfy her curiosity as well as her appetite.
She had a spoonful of a creamy cheesecake-like dessert with a cherry topping and graham cracker crust and tried a small piece of a homemade peanut butter cookie confection.
“I had a spoonful of it. That comes up to a couple of cherries and a few graham cracker crumbs,’’ Jones said. “My plate’s empty, and now I’m done.’’
She decided to try out a new tip from Bruno - enjoying favorite foods in moderation instead of banning them - and put a small swipe of mayonnaise on half a roll to eat with her ham. It worked. Just a taste hit the spot, and it didn’t send her into a mayo-spreading frenzy.
Here’s one “naughty list’’ you can discard this holiday season - forbidden foods that weigh on the brain and might lead to binges. Jones can make room for her banished favorites, like mayonnaise, as occasional treats. If she can remember to adhere to proper serving sizes of salad dressing, for instance, she can have the kinds she likes instead of always reaching for lower-calorie versions.
“There are no foods that are off limits per se,’’ Jones said. “If you love ranch [dressing], go for the ranch, but don’t drizzle it so you can’t see the lettuce. I can really use this as a lifelong lesson.’’
Observing moderation throughout the year can keep big Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners or cookie-exchange parties from becoming dietary seismic events.
“It’s actually a good thing to keep these things within your scope of food,’’ Bruno said of favorite indulgences.
When it’s time for Jones to ease back into her workout regimen, Jen Cote, the personal trainer she works with at Gold’s Gym, will encourage her to take “little steps to get back where you were.’’
“She can’t do any lifting for several weeks,’’ Cote said. “We’re going to start with her walking around her neighborhood.’’
Cote, who often works with doctors to help clients recover from injuries, said it’s always important to listen to one’s doctor’s advice.
Cote knows that Jones will want to resume her workout progress quickly, and she will have to remind Jones not to overdo it.
“She wants to get back to it as soon as possible,’’ Cote said. “She’s going to want to push it a little bit.’’
It’s a tendency she herself faces when she jumps back into a full teaching schedule too soon after being sick.
“I’ve had to learn the hard way over and over when I’ve had a cold or the flu to listen to my body,’’ Cote said.
But she has confidence in Jones.
“Nilou has come so far,’’ Cote said. “Because she was so fit, her recovery will be quicker.’’
That’s another reason to stay committed to a fitness program - increased health and endurance in ordinary life. Just as a toned body keeps burning lots of calories at rest, building strong bones and muscles and a healthy immune system can continue to have benefits even when one must miss some workouts.
“Fitness is a huge connector to a lot of things in our lives,’’ Cote said. “It helps you look better and feel better. I love what I do, and I’ve seen it work.’’
Jones has seen for herself how much exercise can improve health. Long before she began her lifestyle changes, Jones has seen Dr. Mark Dean for treatment of chronic neck and back problems. Since she has been working our regularly, “it has significantly improved,’’ she said.
“The workouts have improved everything,’’ Jones said, adding that her doctor has been supportive of her efforts.
Despite her setback, Jones continues to concentrate on the positive developments. She won’t be buying into the idea that all her hard work has been wasted.
“I can totally tell that I’m still losing inches,’’ she said. “Clothes that I couldn’t fit into a couple of months ago are fitting better.’’