| Chantal lost her legs in a farm accident at age 13, | | | | Learning how to avoid and restructure negative |
| she eventually discovered wheel chair racing, | | | | thoughts is critical for long-term behaviour change |
| which set her off on a ride of Olympic | | | | and should therefore be a key element of any |
| proportions. Since winning her first bronze medals | | | | evidence-based weight management program. |
| in Barcelona in 1992, she officially ended her | | | | If Chantal had given up after blowing a training |
| Paralympics racing career with winning golden | | | | day, had not constantly changed and adapted her |
| medals in all five wheel chair racing distances at | | | | training strategy to deal with changing |
| the Beijing Paralympics in 2008. | | | | circumstances, had made excuses for or |
| Of all her twenty-one Paralympics medals, the | | | | rationalised her setbacks, had given in to thoughts |
| one she is particularly proud of is the one she got | | | | that any race lost was the end of her career, she |
| for beating her two closest Chinese competitors | | | | would not have ended up where she did. |
| by covering 100 metres in around 16 seconds for | | | | Thinking you blew your "diet" because you took a |
| a spectacular finish in front of 91 thousand | | | | bite of the "wrong" food, thinking you "should" or |
| cheering spectators at Beijing's Olympic stadium. | | | | "must" reach a certain weight, always blaming |
| But while the actual race may have taken just a | | | | your setbacks on others, or thinking that any |
| few seconds, Chantal cleverly notes that it | | | | pound regained is just the first step to gaining it all |
| actually took her 20 years of hard work and | | | | back again, are all surefire ways to failure. |
| perseverance to win that race - years of training, | | | | Fortunately, with professional help, negative |
| four hours daily, six days a week, 11 months a | | | | thinking and thought distortions can be overcome. |
| year, with all the ups and downs, highs and lows, | | | | As Chantal pointed out, she would probably not |
| wins and losses. | | | | have won her 100 m Gold medal in Beijing had |
| Clearly, Chantal is also a world champion in | | | | she not regularly Skyped with her sport |
| cognitive restructuring. Not only did she have to | | | | psychologist. |
| restructure her thoughts after her accident to | | | | Successfully maintaining weight loss is like training |
| realise that her life was not over but also had to | | | | for the Olympics - one day at a time! |
| constantly overcome all the psychological barriers | | | | About Dr. Sharma: |
| inherent in a career as an elite athlete. | | | | Dr. Sharma has authored and co-authored more |
| Certainly, there was no place for any "all or | | | | than 250 scientific articles and has lectured widely |
| nothing thinking", "should and musts", "excuses and | | | | on the etiology and management of obesity and |
| rationalisations" or "catastrophising", typical | | | | related cardiovascular disorders. He sends his |
| mistakes we often make that stop us from | | | | informative messages through his blog Dr. |
| persevering with our goals and quickly recovering | | | | Sharma's Obesity Notes. |
| from setbacks. | | | | |