Winning the losing battle

Linda Holtz, behavior therapist and co-founder of Lose It, helps her clients develop a healthy lifestyle.

By RUTH BELOFF / MIAMI HERALD/MCT
Linda Holtz_521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Linda Holtz_521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
One of the most memorable exchanges I ever heard in regard to weight loss was the following: A woman who had lost 60 kilos ran into an acquaintance she had not seen for a long time. Stunned by the woman’s dramatically diminished figure, the acquaintance exclaimed, “Oh, you’re disappearing!” To which the newly trimmed-down woman replied, “No, I’m reappearing.”
Someone who is very familiar with the process of shedding pounds and emerging anew is Linda Holtz. In her capacity as behavior therapist and co-founder of Lose It – Center for Weight Loss and Stress Management, she knows firsthand the agony and the ecstasy that people experience in their battle with excess weight.
Working individually with males and females who range in age from 12 to over 70, Holtz says that one of her main objectives is to change her clients’ mindset and their patterns in relation to food. Her goal is to rid them of the all-or-nothing attitude and replace it with a more viable system of awareness of their thoughts and actions. “The more you are aware of what you’re doing, the more opportunity there is to build on it. If you’re not aware, it won’t happen,” she says.
In concrete terms, that means shifting one’s thinking from “I messed up; it’s all over; I’ve blown it” to “Okay, I made a mistake. Big deal. I can get back on track.”
That shift is huge, says Holtz. “People will mess up. It’s normal. But every time you do mess up, it’s not a reason to lose your motivation,” she stresses.
One of the key methods she uses is to focus on the positive rather than the negative. She teaches people how to give themselves credit for every positive step. “If they make a mistake, they don’t have to point out that mistake. With most people, for every wrong thing they did, they did 10 other things right. But they take that for granted and focus on the negative. Here, we put the emphasis on the positive,” she explains.
To that end, she has her clients pay attention to how they did stay in control rather than how they perceived themselves to have messed up. Say, for example, they had an extra dessert that was not part of their meal plan. Rather than berate themselves for it and feel like they were out of control, Holtz encourages them to pat themselves on the back for having had only one slice of cake rather than two or three and for staying on track for the rest of the day. “Behind every action and reaction, there’s a thought. I try to make people more aware of their thoughts and to come up with answers and solutions,” she says.
Holtz’s sector in Lose It is part of a 12-week, threepronged program that sets its sights on the long term. In addition to the weekly half-hour behavior modification sessions, Lose It has a diet/nutrition component headed by an expert dietician, and a workout program led by Holtz’s co-partner, exercise specialist Alan Freishtat. All three components are tailored to the individual, says Holtz. Each client has a food plan, an exercise regimen and a consultation session that is structured to suit his or her needs and abilities and is modified to adapt to his/her progress over the weeks.
Another shift that Holtz strives to make with her clients is to take some of the power away from the scale. Although weight loss is a natural outcome of the Lose It process, she says, the overall emphasis is on healthy thinking and a healthy lifestyle. If clients follow the program, the results may not show immediately in the kilo department, but over time the inches will melt away, health will improve and selfesteem will increase.
As the program is geared toward a permanent change in attitude and lifestyle and not a quick-fix diet, there is no food that is off limits, says Holtz. In the real world, people need to be able to deal with pizza and chocolate cake, and labeling a food item taboo would only make it all the more alluring, she explains. “We slowly try to build up new habits,” she says. “If you know it’s okay to eat such-and-such a food, you may not be in such a rush to have it.”
And she knows whereof she speaks. Having had a history of feast-or-famine dieting herself, the 51-yearold Brooklyn native immersed herself in the program before she and Freishtat officially launched Lose It in Givat Shaul two years ago. “I can’t endorse a product I haven’t tried,” says Holtz, who lost 11 kg. on the program. “It doesn’t ever get easy,” she admits. “It’s on a completely different level than a diet per se. You have to work on it. And you must get out of the all-or-nothing mind-set. You’re allowed to mess up and start again,” she reiterates.
There are so many things in life that we are not in control of, that being able to handle our weight leads to success in other areas as well, she says. “So many benefits have come up,” says Holtz, who is married and has eight children and nine grandchildren.
One of the most gratifying aspects of her job, says Holtz, is seeing how people begin to think about themselves differently and gain respect for themselves. It warms her heart when a woman, for example, who is always taking care of others, realizes that it’s okay to put herself first and take care of herself without feeling guilty.
In addition, she says, “I get to meet and spend time with fascinating people from every segment of society. And it’s great to see people change their lives for the long term. I am truly grateful that I can be a part of it.”
In her experience, Holtz says there are very few people who do not succeed during the 12 weeks of the Lose It program. However, a small minority don’t maintain it for the long term, and that is the most difficult aspect for her. Even though Lose It has continuing programs even after the 12 weeks and clients can go back at any time for consultation, sometimes life throws them a curve ball, as Holtz puts it, and they lose their way. “If they would come back, even for a short time, they could get back on track,” she says. “It makes me sad when they don’t use that option.”
In the end, Holtz’s gauge of success is not how much weight her clients have lost but how well they have incorporated positive changes into their lifestyle in terms of good nutrition, exercise, activity and generally taking better care of themselves. Essentially, her motto would be: Lose the negative attitude and gain control of your life.