Josh: Hi, this is Josh Stapleton and I’m sitting here with a DVCC client, Lindsay Cooper, who I’ve just had the pleasure of doing a progress tracker with, and she has now *lost a total of 40.6 lbs of fat, so that is a staggering amount! I wanted to talk with her a little bit today just to get an idea of what she does and what she has done to achieve those amazing results. So, Lindsay, tell us a little bit about what you do.
Lindsay: I am en emergency department technician; I can basically do what all the nurses do in the department – the only thing I don’t deliver is the drugs. It is a 13.5 hour shift, three times a week, or four 10 hour shifts if I do night shift; obviously I’m on my feet all day long, and obviously I have to plan and organise my meals around my shift work.
Josh: So talk to me about that planning, because I have seen you do it before and I think it is one of the things that has led to the huge success that you have had in terms of your fat *loss.
Lindsay: I always start off the day with a protein shake anyway, even if I have not worked out; I make sure I have got nuts at work, obviously as a little snack because it is very hard to eat on the hoof, we are not allowed to take food on the shop floor; constantly drinking water all day, make sure I have got plenty of chicken, green stuff. I have all my pack up done the night before, ready to start work, and I do a shopping list in advance to make sure I have got all the shopping in for the whole week.
Josh: Nice – so that’s some pretty good planning. Remembering back, I do remember when you first did the metabolic damage solution; you actually wrote down, each and every day, what you were going to have. Did that make the metabolic damage solution easier for you?
Lindsay: Yes, much easier. I didn’t have to think in advance, everything was there ready; I did the shop for that week, so I knew exactly what I was going to eat and when I was going to eat it.
Josh: Awesome. And talk me through what you would have in a typical day now.
Lindsay: I would start off with a protein shake; I find that easier because it is hard to eat breakfast at 5 or 6 in the morning if I am working; if I am at home it will be something like eggs and spinach – or a shake – and then I tend to have plain cottage cheese, chicken, I have always got green salad stuff on the hoof, and I tend to have a lot of green vegetables. So it is mainly a lot chick, beef I eat a lot of, stir fries mainly.
Josh: And I know a good sign of success is where someone has done something so often that it becomes a habit; and we’ve just been chatting about how you have had a department night out. So you went for a meal in Milton Keynes, and actually managed to stick to good principles when you were out, and that is quite a tough thing to do. So if you could just explain a little bit about your mindset when you do things like that, and how you manage to enjoy it and still follow some good healthy eating rules.
Lindsay: I had a protein shake before I went, so obviously that is my nutrition and it is sort of a way of eating so you are mainly full before you go. I steered clear of anything - because it was Indian - that had thick sauces on it, stuff that looked like it had a lot of oils on it; so I tend to have the dry based food and the vegetables. I took a lot of the rice out, I just had a spoonful of rice; then I went for the starters mainly, because it was all little stuff that I could pick and eat.
Josh: Awesome. And lastly - before I close - how do you feel? Some people might think that making all of these changes can be quite stressful and that it will be a big hardship to make these “sacrifices” by choosing not to eat certain foods. I was just wondering, for someone who has been doing it for so long, how you feel and whether you would agree or disagree with this?
Lindsay: It is hard to start with, very hard to cut out all the rubbish you get used to eating, all the sugary foods you get used to eating. Now it’s a way of life, I make better choices; I don’t like some of the foods that I used to eat, I don’t miss my bread any more, I feel much healthier, my blood pressure is coming down and in actual fact I feel like a new person. So … much better.
Josh: Thank you very much! So I hope everyone who is listening to this can get a few ideas about how to make it sustainable and about how to form healthy habits that are going to give you results long term. So, this has been Josh Stapleton with Lindsay Cooper from the DVCC, thank you very much for listening!
