Welcome to the New You.

Welcome to your journey to a new body, new mind and new focus on health. Welcome to standing out from the crowd, and making that decision to redefine your life – body, mind and health. Welcome to the Redefine™ CBT Weight Loss Program.

This introductory program is focussed on the psychological aspects of overeating using  cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). It provides the building blocks and foundation of understanding and exploring some of the cognitive and behavioural issues related to losing weight and most importantly, keeping it off. The program has modules that include the fundamentals of eating to lose weight (module 2) and increasing activity and exercise to improve health and metabolism (module 3) with the aim of being very solution focussed and psychologically based. However, it may also help you discover what your main issues are which may need further work. There are other programs you can do concurrently or at the conclusion of this program which are more detailed such as the Redefine™ Metabolic Program which is a step by step approach to eating and exercise  which can be found under the program section on the website. There will be more medical programs added over time which will be aimed at addressing medical weight loss issues such as dementia and paediatric health.

How to use this program?

This program is divided up into 10 modules and 41 lessons. It is aimed that you would complete one module per week which means about 1 lesson every 2nd day. You should be able to finish 1 lesson in one sitting. At the end of each lesson there is a quiz which you access by clicking on the blue “view the lesson quiz” button. When you finish the quiz, you will be given some options to either save, reset or complete the quiz. If you choose “complete the quiz”, you will then receive some suggested answers which have the information “I” symbol next to them. Your answers are also displayed. Many of the questions are self reflection and there are no set answers. You can go backwards and forwards from each lesson by choosing the options at the bottom of the screen. At the end of each module, there is homework which you should do before proceeding to the next module. I would like to emphasise how important following through on the homework tasks after each module are as if you do each homework tasks properly. By the end of 10 weeks, you would have built a solid foundation of every day tasks that form the building blocks of a successful weight loss journey. Do not skim over the tasks. Keep a list of them as you achieve them on a regular basis. Also to get the most complete experience, click on the links provided in the information, for further information or updated topics. If you do this, your knowledge base will grow tremendously.

Facebook

Join a well supported community on our Facebook page with up-to-date and real time weight loss information, and an opportunity to voice your opinion and progress. Hear what other people are saying. Follow us here on our Medical & Mind Weight Loss Facebook Page : (https://www.facebook.com/medicalmindweightloss/)

Blog

At the top right hand corner of the homepage, you can access Dr Marlene Tham and Dr Terence Chong’s blog which will have regular articles that are medically based, containing weight loss, health or brain medicine information that would be important to growing and developing your health knowledge.

Newsletter

Make sure you also join the newsletter, (link at bottom of home page) so you can be kept up-to-date with newsworthy articles or new programs as they become available to be a part of the Medical & Mind Weight Loss Community. Newsletters are sent out every 3-4 months.

What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?

CBT is an effective psychological treatment for weight loss.  It addresses chaotic eating, emotional eating, dysfunctional and unhelpful thoughts related to overeating and motivation. It helps promote healthy eating, increases physical activity and reduces body image dissatisfaction. It is especially useful when there are associated mental health issues like anxiety, depression, poor body image and stress.

Obesity in Australia: The facts

Worldwide, there are more than 1.5 billion overweight adults, including 400 million who are obese.

In 2014-15, 63.4% of Australians aged 18 years and over were overweight or obese (11.2 million people), Overall, 70.8% of men were overweight or obese in 2014-15, compared with 56.3% of women.(1) Women fare worse in severe obesity (BMI > 40), with one in six predicted to be severely obese compared to one in 10 men by 2025.(2)

• Some Frightening Facts:
  Being overweight has overtaken smoking as the leading cause of premature death and illness in Australia.
• On the basis of present trends we can predict that by the time they reach the age of 20 our kids will have a shorter life expectancy than earlier generations simply because of obesity.
• Around one in four (27.4 %) of children aged 5-17 were overweight or obese.
• Australia gets “fatter” as it gets older, too. Of men aged 45 years and over,almost four in five (79.4 %) were overweight or obese, while two in three women of the same age fell into the same bracket.

Diseases Related to Being Overweight

Being overweight increases the risk of many diseases especially chronic and potentially lethal diseases.

Weight related conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers and diabetes contribute to the world’s largest mortality rates, causing an estimated 35 million deaths each year and 60% of all deaths globally.

As you get older, the weight you gain in your adult years, has a stronger impact on developing obesity related conditions such as  high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and coronary heart disease.

Causes of Being Overweight

A range of factors can cause weight gain in individuals. Factors in childhood and adolescence are particularly influential, since a high proportion of overweight children and adolescents grow up to be overweight adults. Hence it is extremely important we try to provide the right education and strategies for children who are facing weight issues. As adults, it is important that we model good behaviour that our children can learn from.

Factors known to increase the risk of being overweight include:

• Overeating – whatever your genetic background if you eat more energy (calories) than you use, you will deposit that as fat on your body.
• Modern living and social media – most modern conveniences, such as cars, computers, televisions and home appliances, and our pre-occupation with being “connected” through social media reduces our need to move and be active.
• Socioeconomic factors – people with lower levels of education and lower incomes are more likely to be overweight. This may be because they do not have the knowledge on how to eat healthily, do not have the time for good meal planning and exercise due to juggling multiple jobs and have less opportunity to eat healthy foods and take part in physical activities.
• Instant food and packaged foods – availability and marketing of energy-dense, nutrient poor foods and drinks have increased and the relative cost of them has decreased.
• Inactivity –  we have changed the way we live from the way we travel to school and work, from engaging in sports and outdoor activities and our jobs have become sedentary with the majority sitting behind desks. Physical activity is no longer a natural part of our daily schedule. Overweight people tend to live more sedentary lifestyles.
• Genetics – researchers have found that genetics play a major role in a person’s regulation of weight, their ability to lose weight and metabolic factors. This has been replicated in twin studies.
• In utero and birth factors– some studies suggest that a person is more likely to become obese later in life if they experienced poor nutrition in utero, maternal smoking, or had a high birth weight. There is convincing evidence showing that breastfeeding infants compared with formula feeding is associated with a reduced risk of becoming obese.

So that you can compare how far you have come when you conclude this 10 module program, let’s get some basic information about yourself.