NILOU JONES: To Surprise Her Soldier, Part IV

Intro

On the home front, Nilou Jones fought the battle of the binge - and won.

While her husband, Army Sgt. 1st Class Charles Jones, is serving in Mosul, Iraq, Nilou Jones is determined to lose 100 pounds.

She’s about halfway there, thanks to a combination of changing the way she eats and developing a sensible exercise program, in hopes of reaching her goal by her husband’s homecoming in May or June.

That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Like legions of people before her who’ve worked hard to lose weight, shape up and improve their lives, the Charlottesville mother of two has encountered a frustrating new opponent—the plateau.

But after the heady success of a 49-pound loss since July 20, Jones is facing a natural process. Medical experts say that during a plateau, the body resets itself, adjusting to a new balance of caloric needs and energy expenditures to keep a smaller frame functioning.

The needle on the scale freezes in place.

When what worked yesterday to make pounds melt away isn’t having the same effect, it’s time to try something new.

“This month will pretty much be my plateau month,’’ Jones said. “I still have the momentum, but the exhaustion is kicking in. I’ve slipped - strictly in the food department.’’

Right before Halloween, Jones bought chocolate bars to send to her husband in Iraq. The couple stays in contact by e-mail and telephone, and Jones told her husband what she’d be packing in the box. Although he appreciated the gesture, he told her he didn’t like some of the candy varieties she’d bought.

Frustration began to build. Jones and her husband miss each other terribly. The challenges of an increasingly hectic time of year and taking care of energetic 3- and 1-year-old sons—and trying to keep her weight-loss endeavor a secret from her husband, so he’ll get a delightful surprise when he comes home—finally ganged up on her.

Something had to yield. It turned out to be the wrappers of the unwanted candy bars.

“It didn’t taste good. I wasn’t hungry,’’ Jones said. “It was stress eating. I think we all go through that sometimes. I’m kind of a binge sweet eater. I can’t stop after three M&Ms. It’s better if I don’t have chips in my house.’’

Plenty of people would have given up, maybe with an excuse or two or a halfhearted promise to try the whole weight-loss idea again after the holidays.

Jones didn’t.

Her resolve to keep tempting foods out of the house helped save the day. Jones shipped her husband’s treats to Iraq and dropped the rest of the candy off at a nearby fire department.

Then she put the brakes on negative internal dialogue so she could put the slip in perspective, instead of letting disappointment fester into a belief in failure.

She’s looking at the chocolate binge as a one-time event that doesn’t have the power to unravel all her work—and she’s moving on from there.

Jones said she found new encouragement while reading books by psychologist Phil McGraw, television’s “Dr. Phil,’’ who has written extensively on the secrets of weight-loss success.

“How are those negative thoughts going to help me meet my goal?’’ Jones said of the feelings that swirled after the binge. “I’ve learned from it, and tomorrow is another day. I’ve learned to change that self-defeating thought.’’

Jones said she took particular comfort in McGraw’s idea that willpower simply isn’t enough.

“You cannot live forever off willpower,’’ Jones said. “If it’s not in the house, it will require so much effort to go get it. If it’s not there, you’re not going to eat it.’’

The Plateau

To regroup and sharpen her focus - and to get past the plateau - Jones decided to seek out more experienced help on the food front and in the exercise department.

She met with nutritionist Katherine Bruno, who took a good look at Jones’s eating patterns and offered some helpful strategies.

For one thing, eating more frequently over the course of the day should help crank up her metabolism. Jones exercises daily, combining cardiovascular exercise in step classes and cycling classes and on treadmills at Gold’s Gym with strength training work with her trainer, Jen Cote. Her active body needs energy.

Instead of helping her to lose weight, ignoring the signal to eat when she’s hungry can slow down the metabolism she has been working so hard to speed up. A better strategy is to reach for something healthy, feel satisfied and move on.

“She’s helped me realize that I’m not eating enough meals and snacks, which is why I’m plateauing a little bit,’’ Jones said of Bruno. “I was really avoiding the snack cues and the hunger cues. A lot of the things she has taught me have been applicable to long-term success.’’

The new information is useful as she gets prepared mentally for Thanksgiving, a favorite American holiday that can turn an ordinary dining room table into a shrine to dietary excess. Many folks who are trying to lose weight dread Thursday’s big, festive meal, but Jones decided she was going to take the same positive outlook she has brought to her eating plan and fitness program into the hullabaloo-filled holiday season.

“I’ve reorganized the way I eat,’’ Jones said. “It’s not traumatic. The sweet potatoes are my friends. It’s a new way of life.’’

On Thursday, she’ll be giving thanks for her success so far with portion control and moderation, both reinforced by her talk with Bruno.

“If I focus on the positive, I’m going to have turkey and I’m going to have some stuffing, but not a bowl of stuffing,’’ Jones said. “I’m going to eat slowly and be satisfied. I’m going to focus on the holiday and not on the food.’’

Experts say she has the right idea.

“Around the holidays, you have to have a plan,’’ said Viola Holmes of the Albemarle/Charlottesville Extension Office. Holmes, a registered dietitian and the food, nutrition and health extension agent for the planning district, is a columnist for The Daily Progress. “How are you going to handle the big dinners?’’

Holmes offered a couple of ideas for Jones and other folks who’d like to keep weight-loss success going or at least maintain a sensible weight during the holiday season.

Once you arrive at a festive meal or party buffet, get a good look at all the offerings before the first serving spoon touches your plate, Holmes said. “Look at what you’re going to sample and what you’re going to skip,’’ Holmes said.

And never skip meals thinking you’re saving room for a holiday feast, Holmes said. If your Thanksgiving meal will be served at dinnertime, don’t pass up breakfast and lunch in the hopes that you’ll save calories for later, because you’ll be ravenous by the time your napkin hits your lap.

“That’s a setup for overeating,’’ Holmes said.

Holmes also had advice for approaching a plateau.

“The recommendation is to go to five or six small meals,’’ instead of three, Holmes said. But she added a super-sized caveat: “Portion size is critical if you’re going to do that.’’

Holmes pointed to a recent Cornell University study that showed that people were more likely to eat large portions just because they’d been served, whether or not the taste was appealing. Study subjects ate stale popcorn simply because it came in a large size.

Trying new approaches to exercise also can help lift people off plateaus. At Gold’s Gym, Jones has been adding time on a new stair machine that simulates climbing flights of stairs. She also is trying a new exercise discipline - Pilates - and finding in it a new weapon against stress.

In her weekly sessions with owner Robin Truxel at Tru Pilates, Jones has found a fresh kind of exercise that concentrates on building core strength and works on important muscles in the trunk that often get neglected by other popular activities. Created by Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century, the exercise system favors flexibility and strength over bulk, and quality of movements rather than quantity.

Truxel said Pilates helps create a longer, leaner look by working “on more of those inner stabilizing postural muscles. I thought it would be a nice complement to the other exercises she is doing.’’

Losing inches and looking trimmer can offer welcome mood enhancement when the scale seems stuck, too.

“I’ve worked with a lot of people who have lost a lot of weight and have hit plateaus,’’ Truxel said. She said Pilates exercises that help strengthen and tone abdominal and hip areas in particular can help boost spirits for women.

Students of Pilates learn to pay attention to their breathing and posture. Truxel said many people store up tension in their necks and backs, and strengthening key support muscles and improving posture can go a long way to help.

“A lot of them have been telling me they are more relaxed and they can concentrate more,’’ Truxel said of her clients. “A lot of them are coming in before work.’’

Finding constructive ways to reduce tension can give people more energy for parenting, working, keeping house and fulfilling the whirl of obligations that today’s busy schedules bring.

“A lot of it is taking that hour for themselves - taking that hour to really focus on themselves,’’ Truxel said.

Another advantage: “It’s been very peaceful and it gives me some meditation time,’’ Jones said.

“Relaxation is one of the main principles Joseph Pilates talked about - the idea of moving without tenseness,’’ Truxel said. “It doesn’t have to hurt. We can change the way we think about exercise.’’

The stress relief is a welcome new element in Jones’s quest. “This month has been really hard,’’ Jones said. “I really miss my husband.’’

Other military families have told her that the six-month mark in a deployment can be a tough time for soldiers and their loved ones alike, and Jones agrees. Again, she’s drawing on her positive attitude.

“I’m trying to stay strong for him and keep looking forward to the day when he comes home,’’ she said.

Jones relishes finding new ways to reinforce good feelings. She was delighted to learn at Gold’s Gym that she has lost 8 percent of her body fat, dropping her below the recommended 25-percent limit to 23 percent.

As more people follow Jones’ progress on her quest, many folks approach her in stores or at the gym, share encouragement and tell her that she has inspired them to try to improve their own health. Their support has helped Jones keep her positive perspective.

“So many people say they are exercising more. I’m getting so much positive reinforcement from people I meet,’’ Jones said. “I want to give a shout-out to all the people who have been supporting me.’’

Motivation

Another boost comes from trading clothes with some new friends who also have been losing weight. As one woman changes sizes, she shares her too-big fashions with someone who’s wearing her former size, Jones said. Jones also has donated some garments she knows she won’t be able to wear again.

She’s also learning to be more patient with herself.

“I’m still a baby at this. This is still new to me,’’ Jones said. “Four months is not an expert by any measure.

“If it was that easy, everyone would be thin. Every little bit helps. Every little bit is help on the way to a healthy life.’’

Instead of being a time to dread, a plateau represents a reason to celebrate, said Laura Jones, who is certified as a health/fitness instructor by the American College of Sports Medicine and is a research associate for the University of Virginia Psychology Department. She writes a fitness column for The Daily Progress. (Nilou Jones and Laura Jones aren’t related.)

“Congratulations, because if she’s hitting a plateau, she has accomplished a lot,’’ Laura Jones said. “We’re trained to store fat and not lose it, so her body is fighting it.’’

When one begins losing weight, “everything’s easy in the beginning,’’ Laura Jones said. “You adapt pretty quickly.“ But before long, “the body gets really efficient. It takes less energy to get up the stairs,’’ she said.

“Switch your perspective,’’ Laura Jones said. “It’s a celebration of the work you’ve done. Have faith in the process, not the outcome. Look at the benefits of what you’re doing. You’re creating new habits. You’re educating yourself. You’re carving that groove in your psyche just by keeping those habits up.’’

Laura Jones suggested throwing the newly efficient body some curves by trying a different form of exercise, such as using a rowing machine. If you challenge yourself, you’re working harder and burning more calories, she said.