Tag Archives: Diet

Being Perfectly You is Key to Getting the Body You Want

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Self Love

 

“I have to have a perfect body, or I won’t be beautiful.”

“I have to diet and exercise perfectly, or I’ve blown it.”

“I have to be perfect, or people won’t love me or I won’t’ be a success.”

Feeling like you have to be and do things perfectly or you are a “failure” is a common attribute of the women with whom I work.

Perfection is an expectation that can never be met. The stress of trying to fulfill this unmeetable expectation can be a serious blow to your wellness—and weight loss efforts.

If you think about it, life would actually get pretty boring if you were perfect.

You would never learn anything, get to challenge yourself or grow. It would be as if everything in the world were yellow. And while you may love yellow, you appreciate it so much more if there’s a little blue, pink, or green thrown in for some contrast.

Your body is your body. Its curves and shape are uniquely you. Its size and contours are different from everyone else on the planet. It is that uniqueness that makes you beautiful, not your conformity.

What is optimal for your body will be different from everyone else. While using another’s body to inspire you to meet your goals can be a useful tool, if you are comparing your body and finding fault or reason to criticize yourself, you are actually doing harm to you, your body, and are unknowingly sabotaging your weight-loss goals.

Seeing where you aren’t perfect is an opportunity.

Engaging in the process of figuring out what you do want, what you are doing right, determining what is optimal for you, and valuing how you are unique will help you harness the powers of the Universe to work for you, rather than keep you stuck in the rebound weight-gain cycle.

This is how you begin to sculpt and create the body—and life—you want. You reach for the body and life that is uniquely you.

This is where the fun is! This is having a life that is vibrant and fulfilling.

Let go of the need to be perfect. Let go of feeling like you should already be at your goal. Just jump in exactly where you are.

What is optimal for you? Who are you when you are at your optimal weight and are experiencing optimal wellness? How will that help you be more uniquely you?

Move towards that. Engage in that. Have fun doing that.

This is life! This is thriving! This is creating the body—and life—you really want.

Together we can do it!

Time is Running Out!

Join the the Love Your Way Slim Coaching Program today! 

This unique program transforms your mindset, integrates your core values and spiritual beliefs, provides exceptional support, 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 Saturday. It won’t open again until January 2014!

 

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

 

Slow and Steady Wins the Weight-Loss Race—For Good!

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RHow are those New Year’s Resolutions to lose weight coming? Are you still plugging away? Can you feel them starting to waiver? Or have they been put aside to show up on next year’s list?

One of the things that can cause people to pass on meeting their wellness goals is the overwhelming feeling that can come from trying to go from holiday-treat-eating coach-potato to food-measuring athlete all at once.

There really is no rule that says you have to change all of your behaviors at once to succeed.

I didn’t.

Four years ago, for various reasons I went from a runner to a walker to not doing any exercise at all. During that period of inactivity, I didn’t curb my eating and pretty quickly reached my heaviest weightever.

I found myself starting over with exercise and losing weight—again. And it did NOT feel good.

While I hated where I was, I just couldn’t seem to find the energy to get out of bed and move.

So what changed? How did I get going?

I first started mentally preparing.

These mental preparations did include mentally visualizing me moving my body, but most importantly,they were a conscious effort to change my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.

You see, I was spending a whole lot of my mental energy feeling like a failure.

Here I was in this place of starting over—again! I knew how to diet and exercise, yet, I had failed. Surly this meant I was a weak person, or a slacker, or was somehow inherently flawed.

Those beliefs were not getting me anywhere. In fact, they were keeping me stuck in the spiral of shame and self-loathing that I thought losing weight would fix. But that very shame and self-loathing made it nearly impossible to force-start a new diet and exercise program.

And I was struggling with thoughts and beliefs about how hard working out was going to be, and how much hunger and deprivation I was going to have to endure. I was dreading it. These kinds of thoughts were NOT conducive to starting a successful diet and exercise program.

It was important to take the time to mentally prepare for where I wanted to go.

Action is great, but if you don’t have your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs aligned behind it, it’s not going to create sustainable results.

Part of that mental preparation was gently letting go of the idea that I was somehow a failure. Was I really? I did know what to do. In fact, I was so mentally disciplined that numerous times I had forcedmyself to push past a wall of negative energy to Make Things Happen.

What mattered was my belief in myself. What mattered was that I knew Who I was and what I could accomplish.

Changing those underlying thoughts brought a sense of relief that was enough to begin to shift the momentum of energy in my favor.

Another part of my mental preparation was to think about all the reasons I did want to be slim, fit, and healthy. To imagine how good that would feel.

I took my reasons a lot deeper than just looking good in a pair of jeans. I wanted to fully live a vibrantand fulfilling life. A part of me felt like I wasn’t living up to my full potential. I wasn’t consistently showing up in relationships as the person I wanted to be.  I wasn’t accomplishing everything I wanted to accomplish. I wasn’t showing up in my life as who I knew I intended.

Having physical health, energy, and stamina was critical to be able to step out as the Me I truly wanted to be.

And the final piece of mental preparation?

I reached out for support. Having someone there to confirm that I wasn’t a failure or a slacker, and to tell me that they “knew I could do it” was what tipped the energetic scale enough that I was able to get out of bed on that chilly morning and move!

But that movement would have been a joke to some people. What I considered a huge success was just 10 minutes of any kind of physical movement. Seriously, I counted everything! Counting and celebrating each tiny sign of success continued to build the energetic momentum towards achieving my goals.

And it wasn’t until I was consistently meeting my physical goals that I started thinking about the slow and steady changes I could make with my eating.

The daily mental preparation continued to be critical to my achieving my success. It was the wind that helped me get airborne and support me as I flew.

It was—and continues to be—the critical factor in how I have easily maintained a size 6 now for the past several years.

Yes, it took me a year to lose 34 pounds and get back into great shape. So what?

At the end of that year I was a lot happier having slowly and steadily made those small decisions towards a healthier lifestyle than to try to do too much at once and give up, only to be faced with the same goal and results a year later.

And now several years later, I can tell you taking it slow and steady was totally worth it!

It was that slow and steady, inside out approach that led to sustainable results.

What small mental shift can you make today that will move you towards a healthier lifestyle? Do that for a week and then look for another tiny step to make. Do that consistently and you will build momentum and achieve your goals.

Do that consistently and next January 1 you will be celebrating your success rather than being faced with the disheartening decision to put Losing Weight on your list of New Year’s Resolutions—again.

Together we can do it!

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, provides exceptional support, 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/

Feel Fabulous On the Way to Getting the Body You Want

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HappyOften when we set the New Year’s resolution to lose weight, the underlying thought behind the goal is, “I will be happy when I am slim.”

But it’s backwards. You have to start feeling happy now.

As much as possible, feel the emotion that you think being slim will give you. Feeling that emotion right now will actually help turbocharge your efforts to get the body you want.

And it will make the process of releasing the weight fun. (Yes, it really is possible to enjoy getting the body you want!)

It was a huge change for me when I shifted my thinking from, “I will be happy when I lose weight,” to “I will be happy now and enjoy the process of releasing my weight.”

Huge not in that making this shift was difficult, but huge in the impact it had on my life.

One way to make this shift is to think about how being at your ideal weight would make you feel.

Will losing weight make you feel confident? Empowered? Sexy?

This emotion is key. It is this emotion that you are truly after. You just think that losing weight is the route to getting that emotion.

One reason tapping into that emotion is so powerful is because you harness all of your energy in the present instead of siphoning it off to some future time or event.

Shifting your energy from the future to now is like going from driving with bald tires in the snow to having snow tires, chains, and all-wheel drive. It gives you traction, power, and momentum to reach your goals. 

How awesome is it that you can feel the way being slim would make you feel right away (you don’t have to wait!), AND feeling that way will help you get the body you want?

So how do you do that?

Think about times when you do feel confident, empowered, or sexy. If you can’t bring anything to mind, just imagine what having the body you want would feel like. And if you catch yourself feeling confident, empowered, or sexy, make that feeling last as long as possible by reaching for thoughts that build on that emotion.

Now practice this feeling as much as possible every day. Even feeling it for as little as 1 minute will start to move you in the direction you want to go.

Not only do you get the bonus of feeling good right now, but the process of releasing the weight becomes fun and satisfying. Best of all, you keep the weight off for good.

This time next year you can feel physically fabulous and fully love your body.

Decide right now to reach for how being slim will make you feel. And practice that every day.

Together we can do it!

Test if Your New Year’s Resolution to Lose Weight is Heading for Success or Failure

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Success

 

Have you made a list of things you want to achieve in 2013? Chances are you made a resolution or two.

One of them was probably to lose weight.

Today, you may be fired up to get to the gym or to start that new diet. If so, Woo Hoo! Deciding to change is a huge step. Let’s harness that positive energy you are feeling right now and keep it going!

And if you are dreading being hungry and feeling deprived, and hate the idea of working out, that’s OK. You are where you are. Let’s begin to shift your energy to make your goal more appealing, and thus achievable.

No matter where you are, look at your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and see if they are supporting your new actions, or if they are setting you up to fail.

For instance, how sustainable will your commitment to workout be if you are thinking thoughts like:

  • “I hate exercise.”
  • “I hate to sweat.
  • “I have to work out perfectly everyday or there’s no sense in doing it.”
  • “Exercise is no fun.”
  • “I am hating every moment of this.

Those kinds of thoughts will ensure you give up on your resolution.

You can tell by how they make you feel. How much do they fuel your belief that you can meet your goal? What outcome are they pointing towards?

Chances are if you’re thinking thoughts like these, you can’t jump right away to the idea that, “exercise is fun and you love it.” How honest does that feel? So begin by easing up on your thoughts just a little bit.

For instance:

  • “This may be hard, but I really want to meet my goal.”
  • “I know when I get this done I’m going to feel better.”
  • “I can do anything for 10 minutes.”
  • “I don’t have to be perfect, but I do need to be consistent.”
  • “I used to love running and playing as a kid. If I don’t love this exercise, I’ll find something else I enjoy.”
  • “Each small step I’m taking is moving me closer to my goal.”
  • “I’m building endurance and muscle. Tomorrow or next week this will be easier.”
  • “I want to do this because I want to be healthy, fit, and slim.”
  • “I want the freedom that health brings. I want to love my body—and life.”

Easing up a little on your thoughts feels better and fuels your positive beliefs that you can achieve your goals.

Aligning your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs to support your actions is like turbocharging your ability to meet your weight loss goal. 

Pay attention to your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about your diet and exercise program. Are they moving you where you want to go? If they aren’t, change them to support your goals—and help ensure your resolution becomes reality!

Together we can do it!

Today is the day! Register now for my 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”
  •  And much more . . .

Sign up for the call now!  loveyourwayslim.com/transformyourresolution/

Let me help you make 2013 the year you mark “losing weight” off your list of New Year’s Resolutions forever!

PS I’ll be sending out a recording of the call, so even if you can’t listen live, sign up now! 

3 Easy Tips to Create a Slimmer You in 2013

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ScaleOver this holiday week, you may have found yourself eating, and eating, and eating!

And you may be beating yourself up about it.

But telling yourself how horrible you are truly is NOT helpful—and it could very well end up making you feel so bad about yourself that you unknowingly sabotage your future efforts to lose weight. 

It will probably go something like this:

You feel fat. You may even feel desperate to lose weight. Every time you feel how tight your clothes are, all you can think about is how much you hate your body.

You know you need to diet and exercise so that you can drop some weight, but it’s the end of the year, right? Why start now?

You make a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight. You decide that on January 2nd you are going to start dieting and exercising.

Between now and then you keep eating, and eating, and eating. You are trying to cram in every food you love to prepare for months of hunger and deprivation.

You feel bloated, headachy, and slightly sick.

And you hate yourself even more. You feel ashamed that you’ve let your weight get out of hand—again.

On January 2, you force yourself to work out and you start a diet that drastically cuts the amount of food you’ve been eating.

Each day gets harder and harder.

Maybe your diet lasts for a day or two, or for a week or two, or maybe you are even successful at meeting your goal.

And then you feel your control slip.

You just can’t maintain the rigid diet and exercise “rules” you’ve set in place. You’re tired of being hungry. Your tired of feeling deprived. Your tired of feeling like you aren’t fully living your life.

Before you know it, you’ve regained the weight you’ve lost—and then some.

This time next year, you find yourself putting “losing weight” at the top of your list of New Year’s resolutions—again.

It’s time to say, “ENOUGH!”

There is another way! And you don’t have to follow rigid rules, feel hungry and deprived to get the body you want. (Honestly!)

The first tip  is to ease up on the self-criticism.

This makes sense when you think about the the foundation principle that Energy Attracts Like Energy (also known at the Law of Attraction).

If you spend all your time thinking about the fact that you don’t have the body you want, you are actually creating more life experiences where you are unhappy with your body.

Begin using this Universal Law to work for you instead of against you! 

Start today by focusing on what you can appreciate about your body. By focusing on what is working and what you do like, you will create more opportunities to appreciate and love your body.

The second tip  is to ease up (just slightly!) on the food intake.

This is not the last time you will be able to eat your favorite foods. (I promise!) When you take off the pressure of “never being able to eat this again!” there is not the frenzy to shove everything in now before the “diet deadline.”

Eat what actually feels good. What you really want in this moment. What you can really savor.

There is more than enough. There is plenty. You can still eat your favorite foods AND lose weight. 

Taking the self-imposed pressure off means you will eat less, enjoy more, and start the year maybe not quite as heavy and physically hung-over as you would be otherwise.

You will feel better and have some momentum going on January 2, so beginning to implement some healthier eating doesn’t come as such a shock to your system.

The third tip is to take baby steps.

If going to the extreme of implementing rigid rules and drastically reduced calories is going to make you feel deprived and resentful—and ultimately send your efforts to create the body you want on the skids—then why go that route?

What if instead you committed to eating a little bit healthier today? Or getting in a 10 minute walktoday? And you celebrated what you did, instead of what you didn’t do? Would making that same commitment be a little easier tomorrow? What would your wellness journey look like next week? Next month? In six months?

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher (604 BC – 531 BC)

What step are you willing to take on your wellness journey today?

When you just keep taking those small steps, it’s not too much time before you have achieved your New Year’s Resolution and have created the body—and lifestyle—you want!

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.

 

15 Ways to See Your Body as Beautiful

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I used to hate my body.

Almost all of my thoughts about my body were negative—and harsh! I constantly told myself how ugly I was, how awful I looked compared to everyone else, how weak, soft, and poorly functioning my body was.

I focused almost exclusively on my body’s flaws.

And for years, I struggled with losing and regaining the same 30 pounds over and over again.

Oh, I knew how to diet and exercise, but I just couldn’t make the changes stick.

After 35 years of struggling with my weight, I knew there had to be another way.

So I tried something drastic.

I decided to change my thoughts.

It wasn’t until I started changing my thoughts that I started to see lasting changes in my body. Since 2009, I’ve lost 34 pounds–and best of all, I’ve kept it off!

Today, I love my body! 

I love my body and life more than I thought possible.

Before and After1

Believe it or not, your body reflects the thoughts you are thinking.

And you may be seriously underestimating the incredible power of your thoughts.

Reflect on the kinds of thoughts you think about your body—and life!—most of the time.

Are you primarily focused on how fabulous your body is, how hard it’s working on your behalf, how beautiful it is, how strong and fit it is, and how much you love it?

Or are you saying things like I used to say? Are you frustrated and angry at your body because it doesn’t look like you want it to look, or how you think it should look? Are you on the verge of giving up on ever getting the body you want?

When you look at your body, does it physically reflect your predominate thoughts?

Now think about the person whose body you admire most.

Got someone in mind?

What thoughts do you suppose they think most about their bodies? How do you think they feel most often when the look in the mirror? How much time do they spend appreciating what they have verses complaining about what they don’t?

“That’s different,” you might say. “They started off with a beautiful body.”

So did you.

Think back to when you were a kid. There was probably a time when you didn’t even think about your body. You just ran and played because it was fun! It felt good to move your body.

Now think about when you started being self-critical. For some of you, that might be when you were very young. For others, maybe it wasn’t until you were in your teens, 20s, or even 30s.

Chances are it started off really small.

I remember first being embarrassed about my body when I was just 5 years old. I was a tomboy who always had scabs on my knees from falls and crashes on my bike, and I vividly remember trying to pull my knee socks up as high as they would go to cover them up.

Covering up my body was something I did for a lot of years!

Whether you are aware of it or not, a thought must come first before you experience anything. Your thoughts truly are the foundation of every part of your life.

Thoughts also translate into actions. If you hate your body, how likely are you to eat nutritious foods? If you compare your body negatively to everyone else’s, how likely are you to join a gym and go workout? If you judge it as weak, sickly, or ill-functioning, what is the quality of your self-care?

If you want to create—and maintain—a beautiful body, the real key is to begin by shifting your thoughts.

Begin by deciding to choose more supportive thoughts about your body. Create a list of the parts of your body that work well, that are attractive, and that are working hard on your behalf.

Often when I ask a women to name one thing about her body she can appreciate, she comes up blank. She literally can’t name one thing.

So start with the basics. For instance:

  • Your heart is beating in and out and blood is pumping through your veins
  • Your lungs are taking in life-giving oxygen.
  • Your brain is functioning well enough for you to read these words.
  • Your body is taking in nutrients and fluids.
  • Your bones are supporting your body.
  • Your feet and legs are supporting your every step.
  • Your hands are helping you accomplish everything in your life.
  • Your hips are supporting you as you sit and read this.
  • Your spine is holding you upright.

How often do you acknowledge and appreciate these amazing things about your body?

Now choose one thing that you find attractive about your body.

Maybe it’s:

  • Your strong and capable hands.
  • The delicate curve of your lips or eyebrows.
  • The way your hair falls, it’s color, or texture.
  • The sensuous shape of your calves.
  • The amazing color and sparkle of your eyes.
  • How your smile lights up your face.

Of these 15 ways to see your body as beautiful, I bet more of them applied to you than you expected, right?

Start with what you can appreciate about your body. As you focus more on those things, you’ll automatically find more things to appreciate.

Soon you’ll be appreciating the extra distance you can walk, the beautiful muscles that are emerging in your legs, and how fabulous you look from behind in your new pair of jeans!

When you begin to focus on things about your body that are working well, that are how you want them to be, that are beautiful, the more your body will begin to reflect these new thoughts.

Your thoughts lead your life. Shift your thoughts consistently in the direction you want to go and your body—and life—will follow.

Together we can do it!

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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!

Love Your Body to Get the Body You Love

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Ready to stop the rebound weight cycle once and for all? While in Sedona last week, I put the finishing touches on a new coaching program starting January 7 that will help you finally get the body you really want.

“I want perfect health! I like feeling good. I enjoy my good-feeling body. I have many positive memories of feeling good in my body. I see many people who are clearly in a state of good health, and it is easy to see how much they are enjoying their good-feeling bodies.” When I think thoughts like these, I feel good. These thoughts are in harmony with a healthy body.

—Abraham-Hicks

 

 

I’m just going to come out and say it.

There is more to getting the body you want than diet and exercise alone.

This is the reason that an estimated 85 to 95 percent of diet and exercise programs fail long-term.

What is this vital piece that is missing?

It’s the energy at your core.

This is the energy that is generated by your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that is literally impacting your body at the cellular level.

It is this core energy that also connects you to Who you really are, and the Divine presence that is working in your life.

In the Core Energy Coaching™ Process that I use with my clients, the focus is two types of energies that are within each person’s core: Anabolic Energy and Catabolic Energy. 

Catabolic Energy is draining, destructive, and harmful to your body. It’s associated with negative thoughts and emotions.

It’s Stress.

Negative thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, generate catabolic energy that releases the stress hormone cortisol, adrenaline, and other chemicals that literally can cannibalize your body. Over time, this catabolic energy can cause everything from painful trigger points in your shoulders, to inflammation, to heart attacks.

It can even impact your metabolism and other weight-related systems making it easier to gain and harder to release weight.

At the other end of the spectrum is positive Anabolic energy.

Anabolic Energy is constructive and growth oriented. It’s associated with positive thoughts and emotions.

The anabolic energy generated by positive thoughts, feelings, and beliefs releases endorphins, testosterone, and body supporting hormones that help your body heal, rebuild, and flow with physical energy.

And yes, makes it easier to release excess weight.

Here’s an example of how catabolic thoughts, feelings, and beliefs impact your weight.

If you frequently feel that you are at the effect of external circumstances that you believe are outside of your control, at some level you feel powerless.

Maybe this shows up as:

  • Feeling unappreciated by your boss and you come home and eat a pint of ice cream.
  • Or you feel overwhelmed by everything you have on your Holiday to-do list, and fall into the chocolate.
  •  Or you’re dreading the work project you are facing, and mindlessly eat an entire bag of chips.

Some element of life is coming at you, and you are coping with these negative, emotions by eating a food that will trigger a temporary hormonal reaction in your body that does makes you feel better.

It’s like taking a drug–you do feel better!

The problem is that once the physical reaction subsides, feelings of guilt, shame, and self-loathing take over, driving up negative catabolic chemical reactions in your body—and those negative feelings send you back to the fridge.

Now you’re caught in an unhealthy spiral.

Your level of energy determines how successful you will be at getting the body—and life—that you want.

  • The more positive anabolic energy you have, the more capacity, buy-in, and overall success you have—meaning you have the energy to get up in the morning and move.
  • Your core energy impacts your self-concept and your concept of the world around you—those things that can drive you to the fridge.
  • It impacts how you relate, perceive and engage with others.

When you shift your core energy level by changing your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs—about your body, who you really are, and what you are capable of–you begin to fall in love with yourself.

Recognizing how stunningly beautiful you already are makes it so much easier to get the body you want.

Begin by consciously spending a few minutes every day thinking thoughts about your body and wellness that make you feel good.

While you may not see physical changes right away, you will immediately feel the difference when you are thinking thoughts that are in harmony with your body.

It comes down to this simple truth.

Positive thoughts and emotions support your body down to the cellular level. To get the body you want, practice being happy.

Together we can do it!

 

 

5 Easy Tips to Make Creating Healthy Habits Fun!

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Calendar January 2 Transformation StartMost people are not going to start a new eating or exercise program before January 2.

But you can drastically increase the chances of fulfilling your New Year’s resolution to lose weight by creating new mental habits right now. 

And it can take as little as 5 minutes a day.

Think about how much you get done when you are excited, eager, and looking forward to something. Now think about how hard it is to make progress when you are dreading something, don’t want to do it, resent it, etc.

While you can move forward and get stuff done while you are feeling negative catabolic emotions, consciously shifting to positive anabolic thoughts before you begin a task is like putting on rocket boosters. 

Not only is your power to get things done greater, but it’s easier and more fun.

Most of what makes releasing weight “hard” are your current mental habits.

You have thoughts about how hard it is to lose weight that you have repeated for so long that you don’t even realize there’s another way to look at it. You have practiced dreading dieting. You have developed a mental rut on exercise that is not serving you.

These are just some catabolic habits of thought you have going on. Thoughts are made of energy, not marble. They can be changed! 

Why do you want to go to the trouble of creating positive, life-building anabolic mental habits, you might ask?

Because anabolic thoughts result in emotions that feel good.

Those emotions make your heart sing. When you are feeling anabolic emotions, you know that things are always working out for you. When there’s a problem, you see the solution. You laugh more. You relax more. You are happy to be alive. 

As a result, the actions you need to take feel easier.

  • Instead of hating to work out, you start to enjoy it.
  • You find you like the taste of fresh vegetables.
  • You easily make the decision to turn off the T.V. and go to bed so you will wake up rested and refreshed.
  • Water starts to taste good.

 It’s easy. It feels like the choice you want to make.

Progress not perfection

Start now to create these new mental habits and come January 2 you will be so ready to turn these thoughts into action that there will be no stopping you!

Here are 5 easy ways to begin creating new mental habits:

  • Make a list of how you want to feel come January 2.
  • Think about all the reasons Why you want to be fit, strong, and slim. (Go deeper than just looking good.)
  • Remember all the ways you enjoyed being active when you were a kid.
  • Slow down during meals and really appreciate your food and how it is building the body you want.
  • Appreciate the life giving aspects of the water you are drinking.

Doesn’t that feel good?

Now practice these thoughts every day.

Often people will use the excuse that they don’t have time to create new mental habits, particularly during the holidays.

Truly, you don’t have time not to!

By taking a few minutes now, you will more than make up with ease and efficiency when you do start your eating and exercise program.

A huge bonus is that the more you practice these new mental habits, the easier and more fun your life becomes.

What is one thing you can begin to do regularly to shift your mental habits? What difference does that make in creating the body—and life—you want come January 2nd?

Together we can do it!

Take a Step Towards the Healthy and Happy Holidays You Want

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Decisions
There’s a lot of tempting food around this time of year.

Many of the women I work with feel out of control with their eating, or rebellious about holding back on holiday treats, or rationalize that “it’s just once a year.”

So you eat. And eat.

And then you mentally beat yourself up. 

We’re not talking about a little, “Oh, I shouldn’t have eaten that.”

What often happens is a full-blown attack. 

We’re talking guilt. You say things to yourself like:

  • “I am so weak.”
  • “I’m so stupid.”
  • “I’m ugly.”
  • “I’m fat.”
  • “I hate my body.” 

You say things that are totally and completely UNTRUE! You say things to yourself that you would never say to anyone else. 

And it is a painful place to be.

I love the Dan Millman quote:

“You began life with a natural, complete sense of worth. (Have you ever met an infant with self-worth issues?) But as you grow, you serve as your own judge, deducting points when you misunderstand the nature of living, and learning—when you forget you are a human-in-training and that making mistakes and having slips of integrity and mediocre moments are a part of life, not unforgivable sins.”

Let me repeat the key sentence:

“Making mistakes and having slips of integrity and mediocre moments are a part of life, not unforgivable sins.”

This absolutely includes eating what you judge to be “bad” over the holidays. Or not being at what you feel is your optimal weight. Or not looking like a super model.

Beating yourself up is NOT helpful.

And it could very well end up making you feel so bad that you just give-up trying to eat healthy until the New Year.

If you found yourself driving in the wrong direction, would you just keep going for weeks trying to find your destination? Would you tell yourself how horrible you are because you’re not there?

Would you say to yourself, “Oh well. I’m lost. I might as well just keep driving until January 2?”

Think of all the extra miles you would add-on to the trip, and the possible damage that could be done to your car?

You can make a different choice. 

And there are lots of options. You can:

  • Pull over and ask for directions.
  • Turn around right now.
  • Start driving in what you know is the right direction, and focus on enjoying the occasional detour.

Often you put off taking care of yourself until Monday, the first of the year, or some deadline that is later.

Then when you get there, you may do well for a couple of days, only to feel overwhelmed and deprived and find yourself back to your old eating and exercise habits.

What if, instead, you committed to eating just a little bit healthier today?

Or moving your body in some way for 10 minutes?

Or celebrated all that you did that was healthy, instead of the few things you didn’t do?

  • Would that feel like you were headed in the right direction?
  • Would your self-talk be more supportive?
  • Would that make it easier to keep going tomorrow? Next week? On January 2? 

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

—Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher (604 BC – 531 BC)

Don’t just keep driving in the wrong direction by putting off eating healthy and exercising until everything is perfect.

The only perfect time to start taking care of yourself is right now. Even if it’s just one tiny step towards the body—and life—you want.

Together we can do it!

The Three P’s of Change

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Last year at this time, I was preparing to undergo a full hysterectomy. I came through the surgery beautifully, and thought I would share some of what helped make that challenge such a wonderful opportunity.

 

I was thinking this morning about what it will take for me to rebound from my surgery next week.

What it boils down to is Persistence, Practice, and Patience.

These 3 P’s of Change are true regardless of whether you’re recovering from surgery or illness, working to lose weight, or making some other life change.

Persistence

When you’re finally ready to make a change, you may want it to happen right now.

That impatience makes the process very frustrating and fraught with ups and downs. At the very least, this can make the journey unpleasant, and worse can cause you to get so discouraged that you give up on achieving your goal.

Being Persistent is key.

Persistence is mostly a mind thing. It’s being determined in the moment to make the decision that will move you towards your goal, rather than choosing the option that will maintain you where you are, or even set you back.

After my surgery, I will need to consistently make the decision to eat healthy foods to give my body the nutrients it needs to heal and recover—and not fall into comforting myself with holiday treats. And I will need to move as much as I can. Not only does the doctor say that walking will speed my recovery, but consistently doing what I can will help keep me in the exercise habit so as I am feeling better it will be easier to motivate myself to get moving.

Practice 

There are typically some routine actions that have to be Practiced consistently to facilitate making a change.

For instance, if you’re losing weight, you have to practice eating healthy foods in moderate amounts and moving your body.

There are things you can do to facilitate these regular practices.

If you’re dieting, you can plan your meals for the week so that you have the right food on hand, stick to a schedule of regular eating, and stay on track with calories.

The actions that I want to practice to facilitate my recovery include meditating, eating nutritious meals, walking, and resting.

To facilitate these, I intend to maintain my practice of meditating upon waking. For the past several weeks, my husband and I have made big batches of healthy soups and frozen much of it so that we’ll have easy, nutritious meals on hand. This weekend I also plan to lay in lots of fruit, fat-free Greek yogurt, and other healthy snacks that don’t require any preparation.

Apparently they will get me up for my first walk while I am in the hospital, so I have set some minimum goals for myself for walking on the treadmill when I get home. And certainly I plan to enjoy a lot of naps, reading, and movies.

Patience

The biggest gift you can give yourself when making changes is Patience.

You need to make peace with the fact that change will not happen overnight. And you may make decisions in the moment that aren’t the best, or you may miss an opportunity to practice some of the actions you set for yourself.

This is normal!

One of Bill Phillips’ mantras in his book, “Transformation,” is “progress not perfection.”

Change is about consistency, not being perfect. The quicker you can forgive yourself, the faster you can get back on track.

There are a lot of unknowns about how I’m going to feel after my surgery next Wednesday. Perhaps Thursday I’ll need to sleep all day and I won’t get my planned walk in, or the only thing I’ll feel like eating is toast. That’s OK. While I want to push myself to do those things that will help me recovery quickly, I’m also going to be sensible about it and listen to my body.

Over the weeks of my recovery, I plan to eat some of the lasagna a friend has promised to bring over and I will allow myself to enjoy some holiday treats—in moderation—and I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I am going to strive for consistency, not perfection. By not holding myself to an impossible standard, I’m much more likely to be successful in the long run.

Where could the changes you’re making—or plan to make—stand to have some Persistence, Practice, or Patience?

How could using the three P’s make a difference in your success?

Together we can do it!