Category Archives: Uncategorized

How to Make Exercise Fun!

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Joy2“I hate exercise.”

That’s a sentiment that I hear often from my clients.

But when they dig a little deeper, we discover it’s actually not true.

Think back to when you were a little kid.

  • Did you love to run and play?
  • Do you remember the freedom you felt on the playground?
  • Do you remember a time when moving your body felt good? What were you doing? Maybe it was riding your bike? Roller skating? Dancing?

Somewhere along the way, you were forced to give up “play.”

Responsibility got in the way; maybe school or your studies, getting a job, or starting a family.

“Exercise” became something you “had to do” to lose weight. And being the responsible adult that you are, you may have picked responsible “exercise programs” that you didn’t enjoy. You forced yourself to do them. You took it like medicine because working out was “good for you.”

Is it any wonder many people think they hate exercise? Who would want to take nasty tasting cough syrup every day? Certainly not me, and probably not you.

What if you created a new “rule?” What if this “rule” was that moving your body should be fun.

Having your movement be fun doesn’t mean that it’s not effective. Depending on what your goals are,there are many ways to achieve the results you’re looking for—and have fun!

For instance, a fabulous reader told me yesterday that she’s gotten back into shape doing gymnastics and hula dancing!

In addition to the old standbys, like walking, running, weight-training, yoga, tai chi, and Pilates, I know women who are in great shape who have achieved their goals by doing everything from fire-dancing, to boxing, jump-roping to hula-hooping. And there are many more options.

I personally love dance walking and dance cardio on the treadmill! 

Experiment until you find the workout you really enjoy.

Picking something that you actually enjoy doing significantly increases your chances of releasing the weight–once and for all.

Think of it this way. If you are starting a workout program that you hate, are dreading and despise every moment while you are doing it, how long are you likely to sustain that program?

This is another example of how harnessing your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and aligning them with your actions is like adding a rocket booster to your ability to achieve your goals.

Find the way that moving your body feels good!

Together we can do it!

Here are my inspirations.

Don’t Wait Until Next Year to Get the Body You Want!

Join the the Love Your Way Slim Coaching Program today!

This unique program transforms your mindset, integrates your core values and spiritual beliefs, and hones in on the most powerful actions you can take to make releasing the weight not only easy and satisfying—but fun! (Yes, it really is possible!)

FIND OUT MORE HERE

Program closes January 12, 2013. It won’t reopen until January 2014!

http://loveyourwayslim.com/coaching-program/

Change This Limiting Belief Getting in the Way of the Body You Want

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Yesterday, a fabulous reader and friend sent me a comment saying she had shared this blog that I wrote last June with just about everyone in her family. As I prepare for tonight’s kickoff of the Love Your Way Slim Coaching Program, I thought it was worth sharing with the rest of you.

Design Your Future

Question: What does an 86-year-old woman doing an absolutely awesome gymnastic routine, a 74-year-old fitness instructor, and a 100-year-old running a marathon have that you don’t have?

Answer: The belief that they can do it.

Regardless if your goal is to lose 10 or 100 pounds, recover from an illness, or to climb a mountain, at the core of achieving anything is the belief that it is possible.

One of the biggest limiting beliefs that we have as a society is that we decline with age. One way to test if this is true is to look and see if it is a Universal Truth—meaning it is true regardless of who, what, when, or how.

The examples below clearly demonstrate that being in awesome physical shape is possible at any age.

What happens as we age is that we change, but change does not mean decline unless that is how we define it.

Our minds are powerful enough that if you expect to see decline,  you will.  And just about everyonebelieves in this decline and are using all the people who believe it to justify their belief.

Imagine what would be different about your life if you looked for examples of people doing what you want as a reason to believe it can be rather than using everyone else as an excuse not to try?

Another way to shift your beliefs is to reframe the story you have around change. For instance, lots of people think that with age they have to give up running because of the impact it has on their bodies. A reframe might look like:

  • Perhaps this is actually the opportunity to take up another activity—such as biking or yoga—which you are even more passionate about?
  • Perhaps this is the opportunity to train smarter or look into other solutions, such as changing running techniques as described in Chi Running and elsewhere.
  • Perhaps slowing down and walking really helps you connect with Who you are and what you want out of this phase of life?

Only you know what the right reframe would be for you, but creating a new story of what the change of time means opens you up to the possibility of continuing to grow, improve, and evolve—body, mind, and spirit.

How do you want your life to look as you get older? What beliefs are getting in the way of achieving that vision? What can you do today to begin seeing change in a new way?

Together we can do it!

It’s Not Too Late!

Join the the Love Your Way Slim Coaching Program today!  

This unique program transforms your mindset, integrates your core values and spiritual beliefs, and hones in on the most powerful actions you can take to make releasing the weight not only easy and satisfying—but fun! (Yes, it really is possible!)

FIND OUT MORE HERE

Program closes January 12, 2013.

http://loveyourwayslim.com/coaching-program/

Turn Your New Year’s Resolution to Lose Weight into Reality!

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Confetti

Chances are, losing weight is on your list of New Year’s Resolutions—again!

One of the reasons that New Year’s resolutions are often dead by February 1 is that unknowingly, people are focused on what they don’t want.

For instance, you may be focused on being too fat, or that you aren’t thin enough, fit enough, or healthy enough.

And even though you set the resolution to lose weight, get fit, and healthy, the majority of your thoughts and energy are still focused on the fact that you lack what your resolution is focused on.

When you think about the foundation principle that Energy Attracts Like Energy (also known at the Law of Attraction), you can begin to see that thoughts are our mental capital to invest wherever we want, with the dividends being our future life-experiences.

For instance, when you invest the majority of your mental capital on the fact that you don’t have the body you want, you are actually building the account that creates more life experiences where you are unhappy with your body.

If you invest that mental capital in the belief that your body is already wonderful and is getting better and better, your account includes an increase in life experiences of an ever improving body.

The challenge is, it’s often difficult to recognize where you are investing your thoughts.

It seems like if you are focused on how much you want to be slim you should get the body you want.

No wonder it is incredibly frustrating and discouraging to think you are getting the body you want only to continue to struggle with your weight.

But your life experiences—and body—are always letting you know where you are investing most of your mental capital.

A good way to tell where you are investing your thoughts and energy is by paying attention to how you feel. Focusing on lack feels like yearning or even desperation.

This is why wanting often gets a bad rap; people confuse wanting with yearning. A feeling of lack alwaysfeels bad.

Wanting is a feeling of confidence that you will get the thing you desire. It’s knowing the goal you have set is yours. It’s enjoying the thought of what you want and being thrilled as you watch the process of life shifting to help you achieve your goal. It’s feeling engaged and excited to do the things you can do to bring your request to fruition and letting go of what you can’t control with an absolute knowing that the Universe (God, Source Energy, All-That-Is, Higher Coach—whatever works for you.) is happily engaging all of its incredible resources on your behalf.

But it can be hard to shift your focus from yearning for something to thriving in the process of life that will bring you to your goal.

Often it is easier to move yourself forward by shifting your mental capital from losing weight (or whatever your goal is) and to instead investing it in more general life accounts, such as feeling good most of the time, loving and laughing more easily, and enjoying your life more.

You are still investing your mental capital towards achieving your New Year’s Resolution, but there is less risk that the investments aren’t going into the account you truly intend. You can tell if you are investing more wisely because you feel good.

The bottom line is, Yes! Make the New Year’s resolutions, but pay attention to how you feel, and think about diversifying you mental and energetic investments so that you get a better return.

You can tell you are putting your mental capital where you want because you get the immediate bonus of feeling good right now.

Together we can do it!

I’m offering a FREE tele-class to help you revolutionize your weight-loss resolution (so it finally works)!

Transform Your New Year’s Resolution

to Lose Weight!

Make 2013 the Year

You Finally Get the Body You Want  

 January 2, 2013, 8 p.m. USA Eastern

 In this content-rich seminar you’ll discover:

  • The Top 5 Ways You are Unknowingly Sabotaging Your Efforts to Lose Weight
  • Why Your Weight is Still a Struggle for You and How to Break the Rebound Weight-gain Cycle Once and For All
  • The Surprising Power You Have to Successfully Lose Weight and Improve the Life of You and Your Family
  • 3 Easy Tips to Transform Your New Year’s Resolution and Turn it into a Reality
  • An Exciting NEW Opportunity to “Love Your Way Slim”
  • Plus Much More…

Simply register by filling out the form at loveyourwayslim.com/transformyourresolution/ and you’ll receive access to this free call.

Self-Soothing vs. Self-Medicating

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I still self-medicate with food. 

When I’m writing and have deadline stress, all of a sudden I feel like I “need” popcorn. It is irrational and powerful and does not let up until I eat some popcorn. 

So often, overeating is about what’s happening on the inside. It’s reaching for food when you are really seeking love, acceptance, happiness, or comfort in the face of a difficult situation or relationship. 

My coach has helped me discover that my “pressure cooker” feelings of deadline stress are old limiting beliefs about what I’m capable of. It’s the tyrant inside me—who I have quieted in so many areas of my life—who is still bullying me to perform and be “perfect.” I’m coming up with ways to self-soothe rather than self-medicate with food.

I wanted to share this blog by Dr. Anne Nanmoum because I thought she did a fabulous job of describing the difference between self-soothing and self-medicating those painful emotions you may be avoiding by reaching for your favorite comfort food.

Reading

After a particularly stressful day, a friend of mine noticed that she came home from the grocery store with several items she would not normally buy: a wine cooler, an apple pie, and a gallon of ice cream. “If I keep up with this, I will end up fat and miserable as well as stressed out!”

She realized that she needed to come up with a better approach to handling her stress, including ways to “self-soothe” rather than “self-medicate.”

The ability to self-soothe rather than self-medicate in the face of stress, anxiety, boredom, or other uncomfortable emotions is an important skill for healthy living. When we don’t have good strategies for self-soothing, we may be inclined to overeat, abuse alcohol or drugs, bury ourselves in work, or spend hours watching TV or YouTube videos in order to “numb” ourselves.

What is the difference between self-soothing and self-medicating?

Self-medicating generally involves doing something that distracts from or avoids the uncomfortable feeling, at least temporarily. In addition to the more obvious forms of self-medicating with alcohol or drugs, self-medicating can also take the form of compulsive shopping, over-exercising, video games, orany activity that anesthetizes us from the discomfort without addressing the underlying problem. (Like when taking painkillers for a broken bone without setting the fracture, the pain will return when the medication wears off.)

While self-medicating involves numbing and avoiding, self-soothing involves acceptance of the discomfort, and the decision to do something that will make us feel better in the long term as well as the short term. Self-soothing does not involve activities that will ultimately hurt our health, relationships, or integrity.

Self-soothing could be the decision to go for a walk rather than eat that pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, or call a friend rather than drown our anxiety or exhaustion in a few glasses of wine. Writing in a journal, gardening, doing yoga, painting, or just taking a few deep breaths can also be self-soothing.

Sometimes an activity can go from self-soothing to self-medicating when done excessively or compulsively, even “healthy” activities such as exercise, work, or community service.

Try asking yourself these questions if you are trying to decide if you are self-medicating:

  1. Am I doing this in order to avoid an uncomfortable feeling or situation?
  2. When the pleasure of this activity wears off, will I feel better about myself and the situation, or worse?
  3. Is this activity likely to bring me closer to those people I want to be close to, or create more distance?

We all self-medicate to some extent, or as author and researcher Brené Brown describes it, we engage in an activity to “take the edge off” of the pain, anxiety, disappointment, shame, or other difficult emotions we are facing. Her research has shown that individuals who are able to feel the feelings, stay mindful about the numbing behaviors, and try to lean into the discomfort of unpleasant emotions are more likely to be healthy and happy.

AnneNamnoumBooksWhile virtually everyone numbs and takes the edge off to some extent, addictions develop when the numbing behaviors become compulsive and chronic.

For me, reading books can be self-soothing, but at other times it can be self-medicating if it keeps me from confronting a situation that is bothering me, or distances me from my family members. (My children would likely point to the piles and piles of self-help books in my office as evidence that this is something of an addiction for me.)

The first step in moving from self-medicating to self-soothing is to notice when we are “numbing,” and to get curious about what we are numbing from. Exploring different options for self-soothing, finding which appeal to us most, and practicing a few of these regularly can reduce our tendency to self-medicate when faced with unpleasant emotions.

AnneNamnoumPhotoAnne Nanmoum, M.D. is a Johns Hopkins trained OB/GYN and Reproductive Endocrinologist who wants women to thrive rather than just survive. She offers workshops and seminars in the Atlanta area on the science of happiness and well-being, and factors that influence your health such as stress, hormones, and nutrition. She believes that being well-informed gives you the ability to make healthier choices, but medical information is often contradictory, confusing, and ever-changing. She uses her background as a medical doctor to share information in a way that is evidence-based but easy to understand in order to help you take better care of yourself. Her goal is to give women the insight and confidence they need to become their own health experts and advocates.

To read her blog go to http://www.annenamnoum.com/self-soothing-vs-self-medicating/

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My blog is moving! To keep following my posts after January 15, you will need to follow my new blog, at LoveYourWaySlim.com. I look forward to continuing the journey with you!

Wellness Tip of the Day

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Wellness Tip of the Day: Life stressors aren’t going to go away. The only way to deal with them positively is to eat right and exercise anyway.

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My blog is moving to my new website LoveYourWaySlim.com. To keep following my posts after January 15, you will need to follow my new blog. I look forward to continuing the journey with you!

Beyond Tragedy: A Wake Up Call

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Many people are emotionally reeling from the events that happened Friday in Connecticut.

In yesterday’s blog, I shared my deeply personal story about the self-healing power of forgiveness—even if we belief the actions of someone are unforgivable.

Today, I wanted to share a blog written by my coach, Kendra Thornbury, that outlines how to move forward and create meaning during this challenging time.

While these steps are particularly powerful right now, many of these are the same steps you will need to take to clear any internal blocks—including those that are keeping you from getting the body you want.

Love Yourself

There’s a deep cry that will likely go unheard and get lost in the reactions to the shooting.

It’s the cry of the shooter. As horid as his actions were, to not look to the cause of such actions isirresponsible and, frankly, a disgrace to the lives that were lost.

It’s imperative to recognize that what transpired is an outcome of a systemic problem. The awful outcry is a demonstration of fear based beliefs gone totally out of control.

How do we move forward? How can we create meaning from this?

It begins with accepting responsibility for how we each play a part in creating our world.

This means…

  • Take full responsibility for being an empowered, whole, at-choice member of our human family.
  • No longer tolerate the kinds of choices and behaviors, even on a small scale, that lead to such eruptions.
  • Raise your standards.

It starts with you.

1) Eradicate the violence toward yourself.

The truth is that most of us commit acts of violence toward our selves almost every day.

  • You talk negatively, even violently, to yourself.
  • You judge yourself.
  • You tolerate less than the ideal.
  • You put up with stress & anxiety.
  • You engage depleting habits.
  • You ignore your soul’s desires.
  • You dismiss your dreams.
  • You eat processed & non-nutrient dense food.
  • You abuse your body.
  • You resign to relationships that aren’t an honorable match.
  • You live in fear.

Commit to be a co-creator of peace by stopping any and all acts of violence toward yourself!

First, GET REAL about how you are violent within yourself.

What acts of violence do you carry out toward yourself each day?

What critical, condemning thoughts do you repeat about yourself?

What habits do you allow that are less than loving (if not abusive) to your body?

What choices to you make that suck the life from your soul?

Then, DECIDE you are worth more.

Lastly, CHOOSE to replace the old beliefs & habits with loving and peaceful ones. Nothing less will do!

2) Integrate Your Shadow.

We all have parts.

I am devoted, on purpose and generous.

I am also self-serving, lazy and protective.

Our complexity and dimensions are vast. Yet we all walk around pretending to be “perfect”, keeping up the persona we believe we need to keep in order to belong.

When parts of you that you deem as being unworthy go unacknowledged or unexpressed, they go “underground”.

(These can be parts of you that you are embarrassed or ashamed of.)

What happens is that they become unconscious, shadow aspects. And rather than going away (which you are trying to make them do), they end up running you.

What you run from runs you.

My appeal to you is to get radically honest about your shadow parts and learn to accept and integrate them. As Debbie Ford says, shadows teach us that there is gold to be mined in every experience.

3) Make It Sacred To Feel.

The oppression of emotion DOES NOT WORK. Our emotional intelligence system has been relegated to a weak place. We’ve collectively dismissed emotions, resulting in unconconscious and destructive behaviors. (The Shadow)

It’s natural to feel. Yet every day we deny feelings exist.

My invitation to you is to make it sacred to feel. Choose to hold emotions with reverence and respect.

This is what I’ve done. And in the last 5 days I’ve allowed a spectrum of emotions to move through me. Without this, I would go crazy. I would be boiling just beneath the surface, vulnerable to burst at any unpredictable moment.

I surrender to my feelings and let them inform me of a richer reality that does not exist when I pretend and numb out.

After you choose to make your feelings sacred, learn how to be with, express and manage them in a healthy and constructive way.

4) Own Your Projections.

Here’s the “not-so-pretty” way of getting to the point here. People are barfing their stuff on each other all the time.

Mostly we believe it’s “justified” because we feel hurt or victimized by what another says or does. But really, it’s time to grow up and recognize that NO ONE is responsible for our reality.

The truth is that you are powerful and you are the creator.

So stop making others’ responsible for how you feel and what results you get and take charge of reality.

5) Forgive.

It’s time.

Built up resentment and anger is toxic.

The wounds. The betrayal. What he did. What she didn’t do. How you were wronged. The love you didn’t get. The hurts that happened 10, 20, 30 years ago.

Let it go.

Receive the lesson.

And let it go.

6) Love More.

It all comes down to love.

The challenges I pose to you above are ultimately acts of self-love.

And in loving yourself, you will naturally and readily extend the unconditional and heart-centered attention that our people and planet are in such desperate need of right now.


KendraKendra E Thornbry, MA, is an international highly acclaimed coach, spiritual guide, speaker, facilitator, humanitarian and entrepreneur. She’s on the cutting edge of spiritual thought and conscious business practice, blazing a new trail & wealth revolution.

She has served as a board member for the Women’s Business Exchange, Woman’s Way Red Lodge and has been President for the Washington Chapter of the International Coaching Federation.

A personal growth junkie, Kendra’s latest adventures in challenging the status quo include packing her belongings in storage and travelling for 16 months (and still counting).

Labels aside, she considers herself a human being simply doing her best to walk a path of authenticity and integrity while making a much-needed difference.

You can sign up for Kendra’s blog at www.kendrathornbury.com

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My blog is moving to my new website LoveYourWaySlim.com. To keep following my posts after January 15, you will need to follow my new blog. I look forward to continuing the journey with you!

Take the Time to Transform Your Relationship With Your Body

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Self LoveHave you ever been in a relationship with someone who was a “Taker?”

You went above and beyond giving your time, energy, support, maybe even gifts and money—and you never even got a thank you? 

You gave and gave and gave—and still, more was expected of you? 

If you know what I’m talking about, this may be challenging to hear.

You may be “the Taker” in your relationship with your body.

Because what you have going with your body is a relationship in every sense of the word. Your relationship with your body is the longest—and most important—of your life. There is no reconciling from that divorce!

Chances are you don’t appreciate your body and how hard it’s working on your behalf. And you’re probably actively dumping on it and criticizing it for not doing more.

You may constantly tell your body it’s:

  • Ugly
  • Too fat.
  • Too weak.
  • Too sluggish.
  • Too slow to heal.
  • That there’s something wrong with it.

You may constantly tell your body how much you hate it.

Plus, you may be giving it low-quality fuel, little to no water, and vacillate between too little movement and too much.

How long would a person stay healthy in a relationship like that? Is it any wonder your body begins showing up overweight, aching, and breaking down with illness?

The fact is, billions—if not trillions—of cells are giving their lives for your wellness and well-being right now.

Your body is literally giving you everything its got.

Without your having to think about it at all:

  • Your heart is beating in and out.
  • Blood is pumping through your veins.
  • Life-giving oxygen is flowing into your lungs.
  • Your brain is functioning well enough for you to read these words.
  • Nutrients and fluids are being processed in your digestive system.
  • Your bones are supporting every part of your body.
  • Your feet and legs are carrying you everywhere you want to go.
  • Your hands are helping you accomplish everything you want to do.
  • Your hips are supporting you as you sit and read this.
  • Your spine is holding you upright.
  • Your immune system is in overdrive working to heal everything from a scrape to disease.
  • You’re able to register some sensation, be it touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing.
  • You can smile at someone you love.

How often do you stop and really appreciate everything your body is doing on your behalf?

How often is your only response to criticize it, give it food with little nutritional value, and to sit for long periods of time?

Just think about how healthy you are despite what you give—and what you say!—to your body.

I know. Because for 35 years, I was a “the Taker” in my relationship with my body.

When I finally “got” what I was doing to my body with my constant barrage of criticism, my binging on unhealthy food, and my sedentary lifestyle, I was blown away that it was still functioning as well as it was.

Our bodies are truly amazing and deserve our appreciation and praise, as well as generally supportive food and movement.

Stop being “the Taker” in the relationship with your body.

Begin to look for all the ways your body is supporting you, instead of focusing on all the ways it’s letting you down.

Become more aware of what you’re feeding it, and begin to choose more nourishing foods. Pay attention to how much you move it—is it enough or too much?

Your body will tell you what it needs if you will begin to listen. 

Trust that your body wants nothing more than to have a wonderful, loving relationship with you. Just imagine what it will give back to you when you give it the loving support it needs.

Together we can do it!

Design Your Future

 

My blog is moving to my new website LoveYourWaySlim.com. For the next month, I will post both here and there. To keep following my posts after January 15, you will need to follow my new blog. I look forward to continuing the journey with you!

Wellness Tip of the Day

Aside

Wellness Tip of the Day: Love yourself enough to take care of you—body, mind, and spirit—which gives you the physical and spiritual capital to give to others.

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My blog is moving to my new website LoveYourWaySlim.com. For the next month, I will post both here and there. To keep following my posts after January 15, you will need to follow my new blog. I look forward to continuing the journey with you!