Change Your Behavior, Change Your Body
An Interview with Dr. Kara Mohr
by Sandy Joyce

I attend a lot of seminars on nutrition and fat loss. If you do too,
then you've probably noticed a disturbing trend: nutrition
"experts" who are fat and out of shape.
That's why I enjoy hearing Dr. Kara Mohr give a presentation. She's
a nationally-known educator in the area of weight loss, behavior change,
and exercise, so she clearly knows her stuff. She's also a beautiful,
fit woman who's built like a figure competitor, so she looks like
she knows her stuff, too!

Kara obviously practices what she preaches
Dr. Mohr has been working in the area of weight control research for
the past seven years, and was recently named one of the top weight loss
doctors in the country by Prevention Magazine. She's also a regularly
sought-after expert source by national publications such as the New
York Times,Fitness, Health, and Self.
MWA sat down with her recently to get her unique perspective on fat
loss. Here's what she had to say:

Muscle with Attitude: First of all, Dr. Mohr, thank you so much for
taking time out of your busy schedule to share your experience's with
us today. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself before we
begin.

Dr. Kara Mohr: All right. Hi, my name is Kara, and I used to wear leg
warmers and thong leotards to teach group step aerobics classes.

How Dr. Kara Mohr got her start in the exercise business.

Now that I've reformed, I can follow up that statement
with "and that's
how I got interested in exercise," without getting the shakes. Professionally,
I have a MS and PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Pittsburgh
and a BS in psychology from Penn State. I guess that group fitness thing
wasn't too bad, because throughout my graduate program I taught tons
of fitness classes, worked in health clubs, and became more interested
in the psychology of why people stick with exercise and transform their
bodies, and others don't.

Out of grad school I taught at several universities. Actually my first
academic job was at Eastern Michigan University where I met T-Nation
contributor John Berardi. In fact, he's told me repeatedly that if it
weren't for me, he would never be where he is today. Right, John?

"That's right, Kara."

While I enjoyed teaching, I realized I didn't want to be stuck in the
classroom, and pursued a research position at Miriam Hospital/Brown Medical
School doing weight loss research that focused heavily on behavior change.
It was the perfect combination of psychology and exercise physiology.

After a few years there, I had a fantastic opportunity to go back to
the University of Pittsburgh as the Assistant Director of the Physical
Activity and Weight Management Research Center. There we worked with
hundreds of people in our studies, again always trying to find the answer
of what it took to lose weight and keep it off permanently.

While I loved the research end of things, I felt restricted
in that only a small subset of the population could be reached this way,
and I wanted to reach the masses. Now, my husband and I have our own company,
and I do individual behavior coaching as well as give seminars to consumers
and health care professionals around the country.

We also have a number of consumer products available and in the works
for 2008: products to help folks reach their goals faster and more effectively,
such as teaching people how to grocery shop in a DVD we created, called
Grocery
Shopping Made Easy.
Although grocery shopping is second nature to some folks, many people
struggle with actually implementing the nutrition changes we discuss,
so we teach the specific strategies to navigate the often confusing store.
MWA: We in the United States are practically suffocated with diet and
training advice, in hopes of fighting the obesity epidemic. But your
focus seems to be on behavior modifications. Do you feel that's the key
to weight loss success, and why?
Dr. Mohr: I think it's the only true way to be successful at
weight loss and weight loss maintenance long-term. People can go on short-term
diets, they can restrict calories temporarily, and they may even be able
to train really hard for a couple of weeks or months. But if they have
to alienate themselves from their friends and family and don't get to
do the things they love in order to make weight loss happen, they ultimately
will slip back to old habits.

Sure, I know of people who have successfully been able to do that. They
lost the old drinking buddies and made new friends who shared similar
lifestyles, and were able to adapt. However, for most of America, that
approach doesn't work. A wife and mother of three won't be able to make
those changes as readily, so you target the behaviors within the context
of her current lifestyle instead.

We have to remember, that everything we do works for us in some way
or another. Our habits might not necessarily be consistent with
our goals, but when we do that behavior we get some benefit. The woman
who tells herself she's too tired at the end of the day to go to the
gym, gets "rewarded" by not having to put forth that effort.

Or maybe she chooses to drive through Starbucks
in the morning because she didn't get enough sleep and needs 400 milligrams
of caffeine and 100 grams of sugar to give her a false sense of energy.
This "energy" is
short lived, and is far from a solution, because the extra weight someone
would gain from this daily routine would make matters worse in the long
term. Until this woman understands what reward she was getting from her
old behavior, she will struggle with adopting a new behavior, especially
if the benefits are different.

Short-lived, false energy will hurt you in the long term.
MWA: I read over some notes from a talk you gave and something you said
caught my eye: you said that prescribing a diet is not the same as teaching
someone strategies to eat differently. Why is that so important to address?

Dr. Mohr: I think the specific foods matter less than being consistent
with our habits and outsmarting environmental triggers and cues to eat.
A person can lose weight eating candy bars if they limit themselves to
just a couple a day and that's all that they eat. However, this
is an awful strategy if they actually 1) care about how they look and
don't care about body composition; 2) want to maintain that weight loss
long-term, and 3) care what nutrients they put in their bodies.

It's possible to lose weight on a diet of deep-fried Snickers bars.
But that would be stupid.

I'd rather spend my time and energy teaching people how to eat the foods
they enjoy and survive all the "eating traps" that can be found in every
supermarket, office workplace and home across America, than focus on
eating specific foods. The downside to this is that it takes longer to
figure out. People slip occasionally, which I call trial and success.
Eventually if you make the wrong choices enough times, you learn what
works. And that's the upside- once you've figured it out, you own it.
It's yours for life.
MWA: What are some common mistakes people make in their eating patterns
that require behavior modification techniques in order to successfully
lose weight?
Dr. Mohr: Here are just a few that come to mind:

1. They skip meals and then eat the kitchen
door on the way
into the house, in addition to everything in the kitchen once they
get there.

2. They snack mindlessly.

3. They don't have any idea what a portion
size looks like.

4. They rationalize their eating choices.

5. They don't know how to grocery shop (because
they haven't yet purchased Grocery Shopping Made Easy!).

6. They polarize their eating behavior. They use words like "good", "bad",
and "cheated". Doing so makes them feel bad about the choices they make,
which then makes them more likely to overeat to feel better, and the
cycle continues.
MWA: When someone comes to you wanting to lose weight, what is the first
step you take with them?

Dr. Mohr: I have them complete a detailed behavior questionnaire to
identify their biggest eating triggers and patterns. Everyone is different.
Once I have a sense of their weight loss and/or dieting history and their
current triggers, we can begin to devise strategies for breaking those
habits.
MWA: I know you're not a fan of prescribing diets, but do you put any
emphasis at all on macronutrient ratios? At the end of the day, what
ratio of protein, carbs, and fat do your clients typically end up with?
Dr. Mohr: To be honest, not really. I have a lot of scientist friends
whose heads are probably spinning around right now at the thought of
not emphasizing macronutrients! But in the grand scheme of things, I
think the ratio is less important than the quality of nutrients. I'm
much more concerned about the type of carbohydrate, fat, and protein
my clients eat than the percentage of each. The ratio really depends
on the client.