| Q&A with Tammy Shames |
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| by Charles Stuart Platkin | |
| Tuesday, 02 May 2006 | |
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Tammy Lakatos Shames, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and certified personal trainer. Tammy, and her twin sister, Lyssie (a.k.a. The Nutrition Twins™) share a private nutrition practice. Tammy co-authors Fire Up Your Metabolism: 9 Proven Principles for Burning Fat and Losing Weight Forever (Simon and Schuster, 2004) with Lyssie. Tammy has been featured as the nutrition expert on countless national and international TV and radio stations, as well as scores of print and online publications. Name: Tammy Lakatos Shames, RD, CDN, CFTBirthday: August 25thLocation: Born in Cheverly, MD; reside in NYC, NY Q: Tell us how you got to where you are now.A: I’ve always had a passion for sports. Throughout my teenage years, I became even more interested in nutrition, as I was eager to learn what I could eat to run faster, be a better soccer player or a faster speedskater. My Mom always focused on making sure we ate nutritious meals and snacks, so I immediately would notice an energy and performance difference when I’d hang out with my friends and eat junk. My performance would suffer. I was fascinated by this, and knew I had to have a profession that involved nutrition, so I headed off to college to study nutrition. The more I learn, the more I am inspired to teach and help others—every day I learn more, so I love that I am able to share this with people on a daily basis. Q: Define and discuss failure.A: To me, I define success as being happy. So following suit, to me, failure is being unhappy. I live my life to be happy, and at times if I find myself not feeling my best, I take a step back, re-evaluate and take a deep breath. I think of the things in my life that are the most important, and the things that make me happy, and I readjust my life to make me happy. So for me, I avoid unhappiness at all costs, since to me, that is failure. Q: Is there anything about yourself that you've changed your mind about in the last 20 years?
A: This is definitely a tough question for me. I do stay true to myself and who I am, so in that respect, no, I haven’t changed my mind about myself in the last 20 years. However, on second thought, one thing has changed—I never thought I’d live in a city—or want to live in a city—since I love nature so much. Now I live in New York City and love every moment of it—I thrive on the excitement, the energy and all of the people. So although I don’t know if I’ll be here for the rest of my life, for now, I love it.
Q: What's the next major item on your "to-do" list? A: I want to have kids. Q: Define individual responsibility and how you react to adverse situations. A: Individual responsibility is being accountable for your actions—admitting fault, accepting blame and then learning from your actions and improving. I like to believe I have learned to accept responsibility for my actions. As for adverse situations, I handle it like any other professional would, I panic, freak out and head for the hills! Actually, in all seriousness, with my Type A personality, I do everything I possibly can to avoid my natural tendency to stress out when I’m put in a difficult situation. I try to take a deep breath, take a step back and put the situation in perspective before diving in. Q: When do you have time to think about your mistakes, mishaps, achievements, and minor victories; in other words, do you have any reflective time for yourself of your career? A: My gym time is my “Me” time. Sometimes I allow my thoughts to re-play situations, my mistakes and my achievements, while other times, I choose to simply enjoy my workout. Q: What is your most influential story, fiction or nonfiction, from a film, book, magazine, newspaper or parable? Explain its impact on your life? What's you're favorite saying? A: Hmmm… tough question—As for an influential story—every day I’m inspired by stories I hear—whether it’s the kid who beat cancer, or the husband who lifted the car off of his wife (physically doing the impossible) or the guy who goes to amazing lengths to help a stranger. It’s these stories that keep me ticking—and remind me to live in the moment and appreciate everything I have. Q: Was there a defining moment in your life when you made a decision that changed the course of the rest of your life forever? A: Definitely deciding to move to NYC. It was so hard to leave a life I loved in Atlanta, and it was such a major risk to come to a city where I would have to start a new life. Actually, on second thought—there is another defining moment: 9/11. It forced me to take off my rose-colored glasses. I hated giving those glasses up. Q: What's the biggest lesson you've learned about yourself? What's the biggest lesson you haven't learned?A: The biggest lesson that I’ve learned about myself is that I have to accept my limits and learn when to say “no.” I get stressed out when I take on too much and there are times when I should just turn down opportunities or say no to people in order to make my life easier. This is really a struggle for me; I don’t want to disappoint anyone, so I have a hard time saying no. At the same time, this is also the biggest lesson I haven’t learned. I still take on too much—and I still don’t say no when I should. Q: What keeps you going (your motivation)? A: Knowing that there is always something new to learn or do—I want to experience it all. Q: How do you stick to your diet on days when you really don’t want to? What are techniques you use to stay on track?A: I always try to eat healthfully, but I really fill up on veggies so that I don’t feel hungry. When I get a craving for something and I’m really hungry, it’s hard to stop if you are still hungry. So when I fill up on veggies first and get a craving for something, I’m more easily able to prevent overdoing it if I’m not starving. And then exercise—it is a major part of my routine, I can eat more when I exercise and it keeps me feeling good. Q: If you could eat one forbidden food whenever you wanted without gaining weight, what would it be?A: Definitely something chocolatey. Q: What dessert do you dream about?A: I know it sounds weird—but I love frozen yogurt—the texture, the flavor and the creaminess—it’s one of my favorite foods. Q: If there were one healthy food item (something you love) that you had to eat every day, what would it be?A: Red cabbage—and I do eat it everyday!!Q: What do you think is the most important thing that makes or breaks a diet for someone?A: Skipping meals—when you do this, it sets you up for the kill. It causes overeating, bingeing and energy crashes. No doubt about it, it is a diet breaker. Q: How did you come to your conclusions about weight loss and dieting?A: Education and Experience. The combination of the two has taught me a lot. And nearly everyday I learn something new from my clients or there is a new scientific discovery—I take this and apply it on a daily basis. Q: Do you think that failed attempts have influenced you approach to dieting? How have past struggles help you find a system that works for you?A: Absolutely. It’s important to know what doesn’t work in order to learn what does. When I have been injured or on doctor restriction and haven’t been able to exercise, it has forced me to be increasingly diligent about what I eat. It’s all about learning—and it’s made me realize what will and will not work for me personally, as well as for my clients. Q: Have you dealt with weight issues personally?A: Although I have never been extremely overweight, I, like most people I know have wanted to improve the way I look before. Q: What’s the best book about health that you’ve read?A: I’m biased because I wrote it, but I have to plug my own book “Fire Up Your Metabolism: 9 Proven Principles for Burning Fat and Losing Weight Forever.” Q: What are your two favorite health magazines?A: Fitness Magazine and Oxygen Magazine. Q: What do you consider the world’s most perfect food? Please be specific and try not to answer with a category but rather with a specific food item: for example, not “whole grain” but “raisin bran cereal”?A: Red Bell Peppers Q: What physical activity do you do to keep yourself in shape?A: I exercise cardiovascularly (run, bike, walk, etc [alternating]) most most days of the week and lift weights about five days per week. Q: Do you have a favorite healthy recipe or cooking tip? If so would you share it?A: The best cooking tip I can offer is to cut down on the oil, even olive oil. Even though it’s healthy, our clients drop significant amounts of weight when they cut back. If you feel like your food is starting to burn, add a little bit of water—it solves the problem.Q: Do you have a Calorie Bargain? What food did it replace? Was that an important food in your diet, since you ate it so often? A: One of my favorite calorie bargains is my Carnation Fat Free hot chocolate. I drink it to relax – one to two cups a day. The warm drink soothes me and before I found this 25 calorie drink, the old ones I used to drink had between 50-100 calories. So now I save anywhere from 175- 1050 calories each week. Bookmark:            Trackback(0)
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