Where did the journey begin?

The Diet Styles training program came to fruition in 2010 after Mary Miscisin, MS and Ed Redard, MD teamed up to combine their wellness knowledge towards discovering the solution to weight loss for the individual.

 

We’ve had different journeys to get to where we are today. We have different histories, different trials, different triumphs, different family experiences, and different life experiences in general. Think about your journey to weight management. It’s different, it’s different than this person and that person and that person. My journey is not the same as yours.

Take a moment, right now, to stop and think. When was the very first time that you decided that you were overweight? Think back. When did you decide, “Oh my gosh, I must be overweight.”

For Mary, it was one day back in the early ’80s, when she stepped on a scale at a health club and saw that she weighed the exact same amount as when she was nine months pregnant. The exact same amount. Now, the day before she weighed maybe one pound less, and she was not overweight. But by goodness, when she stepped on that scale and weighed the same amount as when she was ready to deliver. Oh my gosh, she was overweight. That was the deciding moment.

Was there a day in your past that you can remember saying, “wow, I’m overweight” for the first time?

For Ed, he was in junior high school, as he was coming off the basketball court somebody made a comment behind his back about how big he was. He thought, “Oh my goodness. I must be fat. I didn’t even realize it till that moment.” The thought persisted in his mind long after that person made fun of him.

Was there a similar moment for you, when you decided that? And then, what happened? Once that thought enters your mind, you want to do something to change it. For both Mary and Ed, they found that once they started concentrating on finding ways to loose weight, they actually gained more weight!

Back in the ’80s, fat was the phobia, right? You didn’t want to add fat to anything. Cheese, butter, even avocado found their place on the forbidden list. But even after these dietary changes the weight loss did not happen. Mary actually gained 10 more pounds and noticed that her hair was getting thinner and her skin was dry. She took notice of the results of each change and continually adjusted her course.

So, we look to experts, and we say, OK now what’s the latest science? What’s the greatest success story? And we follow that phase. Like Mary and Ed, you may have tried several different ways of dieting. There was the cabbage soup diet, the low fat diet, and eventually the low carb diet. Isn’t it interesting that what can work for one person phenomenally does not work for you?

Mary and Ed describe their experiences with dieting a bit like trying to hold a volleyball underwater. Have you ever tried to hold a ball underwater? You’re pushing and you have that pressure, that pressure, that constant pressure. And what happens when you move your hands ever so slightly and you relieve that pressure? Boosh, up goes that volleyball. And so does our weight.

Sometimes, what we have done in the past, and raise your hand if you’ve ever felt like you’ve pushed against yourself. You’ve used will power or won’t power for certain behaviors in order to diet. And then, maybe we get to a certain point, we’re like, “Forget it. I can’t take this anymore.” So, it’s like, woosh. And the yo yo begins.

Think about your journey. Again, it is different for each of us.

After 22 years in family practice (this was 2010), Dr. Ed Redard had seen many patients with weight management issues. And he was always looking for the formula to help them. OK, what is it? What he noticed was that “all diets work, for some people, some of the time” but there was not a single diet that worked for every person all of the time. And why do you think that is? We’re all different. We have different needs, values, and motivations.

Have you ever been to a conference and attended that one session that was really was life changing? There was something that you learned, one little nugget or something that just pushed you off on a different path?

Mary remembers the day she discovered True Colors at the National Wellness Conference over 27 years ago. Mary’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in commercial corporate fitness and a master’s degree in fitness and wellness management with combined concentrations in psychology, communication and health education. She had already been teaching smoking cessation, weight management, nutrition, and stress management courses. She had not yet been introduced to the distinctions of personality dynamics.

Somebody at the conference asked her if she would be attending the True Colors session and she thought, what is this True Colors thing? And so, she just followed the crowd, and went to the True Colors workshop. That workshop connected the dots for her and opened up avenues of thought around wellness topics she had been immersed in for several years.

So began a new leg in her journey. Mary ended up authoring the book that was used all over the world to train for True Colors certification sessions. She started teaching classes on relationships, how to get along with each other, communication dynamics and that kind of stuff.

Interestingly, it was again someone from the wellness conference many years later who said to Mary, “Have you ever thought of combining the two? Can you use personality to teach weight management? Why do you teach health and fitness on one hand and personality stuff on the other? Why don’t you combine the two?”

It was one of those “Duh!” moments, where I thought, well, why not?

Mary and Ed quickly dove in head first and held a workshop (in Mary’s signature style) where the participants explored their diet styles.

They found that the audience easily sorted themselves into the four different dominant patterns. And they found themselves screaming with laughter about the differences. “Oh my, you’ve got to be kidding me? That’s what works for you? That would never work for me.”

Mary and Ed generated an online survey that received over 10,000 responses. They collected all that data, sifted and sorted, and found the four dominant patterns falling into place again. It was simply amazing.

CLICK HERE to take the online Diet Styles survey

Mary and Ed went on to explore case studies in focus groups and people were very excited to participate to figure out the formula that would work for them. After the sessions, they would receive feedback such as, “That last 10 pounds. It finally came off. Thank you!” Instead of fighting their own natural tendencies, they worked with themselves. They followed their personality to the weight that they love.

This Diet Styles website is designed to provide individuals with a resource to come back to after participating in a workshop to explore their Diet Style. If you are a trainer interested in acquiring the Diet Styles Training Kit, you want to visit www.PersonalityLingo.com