Tag Archives: Food

Simple Tips to Do Now to Make Your New Year’s Resolution to Lose Weight a Reality

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Snow Tracks

Many of you may be hitting the road over the next few days to celebrate Christmas or New Year’s with family or friends.

Travel can be one of the hardest times for people to maintain their health and wellness. Throw in holiday stress, and many give up all together.

Instead, you may fall into the pies, cookies, and other holiday treats, resolving to lose weight come January 2.

But how’s that worked out for you in the past?

Chances are you started out strong enough. You may have joined a gym or begun an exercise program. Maybe you beat the odds and kept it going for a month or two—or even met your weight-loss goal.

But then the weight crept back on and here you are at the holidays resolving to lose weight—again.

What if you could make some simple changes now that would improve your chances of successfully losing the weight—and keeping it off—in the New Year?

What if:

  • It’s easier than you currently believe?
  • You can still eat everything you really want?
  • The confidence you generate now will help fuel your success come January 2?

Many people are so focused on the time that they don’t have that they miss all the small opportunities they do have to work physical and emotional wellness into their day.

Here are some practical tips that will help you maintain your wellness while traveling—or while dealing with holiday stress—and give you a head-start on getting the body you want come January.

Eat Only What You Love

Let’s face it. Not everything is calorie worthy.

If it’s not curl your toes and satisfy your soul delicious—don’t eat it.

Be discerning about what you are going to indulge in.

You may feel like its “polite” to eat some of everything, but all that’s doing is keeping you from truly enjoying the foods that you love—and potentially packing on pounds. Most people aren’t paying that much attention to what you are putting on your plate, so pick the one or two items that you truly love and would feel deprived if you weren’t eating.

Then really savor them. You’ll discover that it’s the first few bites that are packed with the most flavor. When you truly focus on and enjoy those first bites you are more satisfied and can keep your portions small.

And if Aunt Matilda complains that you aren’t eating her casserole, tell her you really want to savor it and pack up a serving to eat later–or not!

This is your body! You are empowered to choose what you put into it.

Scope Out Restaurants

More and more families are heading out for holiday meals. Whether you lean towards big chains, or like to sample the local cuisine, the Internet is a great resource.

If you can, check out the on-line menu before you head to dinner so you have planned what you’re going to order. This way, you’ll be less swayed by passing entrees, delicious smells, the bread basket, and a growling tummy to order something less healthy when the waiter finally arrives.

And don’t be afraid to ask for dishes to be prepared in a way that meets your needs. You are paying for the meal, and this is your body. Ask for what you need.

Also, decide how much you are going to eat beforehand. Then ask for a box at the start of the meal to put away the extras, so you can then focus on enjoying the meal and company without eating more than you intended.

Prepare for a Snack Attack

Chances are you will not make a great choice if you reach for a snack at one of the gas stations your stopped at on your trip. And one of the worst things you can do is not eat all day in preparation for a big meal. You are guaranteed that you will overeat and physically pay the price later.

Instead, plan ahead and bring some snacks from home.

These could include:

  • A baggie of various nuts and dried fruit for a quick and easy trail mix.
  • A stash of protein bars or home-made healthy treats.
  • If you have access to a refrigerator, bring along some pre-sliced fruit and vegetables, fat-free Greek yogurt, low-fat cheese, and anything else that you might want that needs refrigeration. Often hotels can put a mini-fridge into your room. Remember to ask for what you need.

Eating small, frequent meals throughout the day will keep your energy level high and hunger at bay without ruining your appetite for the main event.

Drink Lots of Water

You need a lot of extra water while traveling. Bringing a refillable bottle is an easy solution. If you don’t like the taste of the tap water, buy bottled water.

If you forget your reusable bottle, just buy a bottle of water and refill it.

And skip–or if that will make you feel deprived–go easy on the alcohol, which just dehydrates you further and will result in a wicked hangover the next day.

Pack Your Walking Shoes 

Tennis ShoesYou don’t have to get in a full-blown workout to get the benefits of moving your body. Even 10 minutes can boost energy, and make it easier to tolerate Uncle Oliver telling that same story for the billionth time.

Ideas include:

  • Strap on your trainers and walk or run around the block. Feel awkward? Volunteer to walk the dog. (This is a particularly good idea when you start to feel the stress of family dynamics.)
  • Pack your iPod and dance for 10 to 20 minutes in your room.
  • Bringing your computer? Pack a workout DVD that can work out to in the privacy of your room.
  • Do weight bearing exercises, such as push-ups and burpees to get your body moving and the blood circulating.

Bonus! Most of these workouts can be done in your pajamas if your workout clothes didn’t make it in the bag.

Getting in some kind of physical activity is particularly important if you are going to be spending a lot of time sitting in planes, trains, or automobiles.

Catch Your Zs

One of the keys for making sure you rapidly rebound after your trip is to get adequate rest, which can be a challenge in a strange bed hearing noises that you’re not used to, or if you have bright lights peaking through your curtains.

Prepare for these problems by packing an eye pillow or mask, ear plugs, and downloading an app on your cell phone that plays ambient noise, like a fan or rainfall.

You know what adequate rest means for you, so do your best to go to bed at a time that will enable you to get the sleep you need.

And if you do find that you ate more than you planned, heeded the call of a holiday treat, or needed the sleep more than moving your body, don’t beat yourself up.

To make your New Year’s resolution a reality this year, you only need to be consistent, not perfect.

Together we can do it!

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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!

How To Enjoy Holiday Treats Without Regretting it January 2nd

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Holiday Treats

Temptation.

It’s everywhere during the holidays.

Enticing sweets and treats are brought into the office, shipped to your home, spread before you at parties, and are even ringing the produce aisle in the grocery store. Maybe you’re baking them to give away, or to create that “magic” time of year for your kids.

It’s just once a year. What could be the harm in giving in?

The problem is, it’s not just once a year.

The majority of people begin overindulging around Halloween. Two full months of extra sugar, processed carbohydrates, and unhealthy fats takes its toll on your immune system, energy level, and waist line.

And most adults don’t lose the weight they gain over the holidays.

Even if you gain just 2 pounds a year, over time you will become significantly overweight.

It happens so slowly, you don’t even realize what’s happening. It feels like you wake up one day and you’re overweight.

“But,” you may wail, “I don’t want to give up my holiday treats and feel deprived!”

Who said you had to?

It’s not all or nothing people! There is an in-between.

You are able to make good decisions about what, when, and how much you are eating.

Be discerning!

Not every sweet or treat is calorie worthy. Truly, some of the most beautiful desserts taste like cardboard.

But you may eat the whole beautiful piece of cake because you really want the taste you think it should have!

Be deliberate in deciding where it is worth indulging, and where you’re better off to stick with the fruit and vegetable tray.

Here are some strategies for enjoying the season without feeling deprived:

  • Plan ahead. If you have a party this weekend that you want to enjoy, skip the treats that got brought to the office, and freeze the cookies from Aunt Mary to eat later. Choose ahead of time the once or twice a week where you are going to really savor a small indulgence. (Bonus! Does food taste better when you’re a little hungry or sated? When you save up for a treat, the taste and satisfaction dramatically increase.)
  • Be choosy. Once you’re at the party you’ve been saving up for, be selective about what you put on your plate. Is it really worth it? If not, skip it! Why spend your calorie dollars on pigs in a blanket if it’s the cheese cake that you adore? Just stick with the cake and really enjoy it.
  • Focus on portion size. Cindy Crawford gave the best advice on this I ever heard. She said, “You can eat whatever you want, just not in the amount you may want.” So you have decided the cheese cake is where your heart is. Now really taste and focus on the experience of eating a few bites. Most people mindlessly eat and never really enjoy the flavor they were after. So they keep going back. Your tongue actually goes a little numb after the first few bites, and you can’t get the flavor you are after anyway. So really focus on those first few bites to get the full flavor satisfaction, and then stop.

The caveat here is that if you know that sugar will trigger cravings that have sent your eating spiraling out of control in the past, then you will need to do some serious thinking about whether to indulge in a sweet, or not. For now, it may be best to “Just Say No” to sugar. But, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to eat those sweets ever again. Just not right now.

Instead, pick something else that you love and really enjoy that.

And if you do overindulge, the best thing to do is forgive yourself and figure out what you need to do to get back on track. It may be that you need to reach out for support from a friend, coach, or accountability group. Just remember all the reasons you do want to feel great on January 2nd.

You are able to make good decisions about what, when, and how much you are eating. Now, decide to follow through with those decisions.

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!

Tips for Healthy Holiday Travel

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People often say that travel is one of the hardest times to maintain their health and wellness. Add in Thanksgiving or another holiday, and many people just give up altogether.

They may do this because they:

  • Think it’s too hard.
  • Think they will feel deprived.
  • Think that they will impose on or disappoint family if they take care of themselves or skip dishes their loved one worked hard to prepare.
  • Think that it’s just one time a year so what’s the harm?
  • Think that there’s just too much temptation around and they aren’t strong enough to withstand it.
  • Etc.

Do you get that these are just thoughts that you keep thinking?

What if:

  • It’s easier than you currently believe?
  • You can eat everything you really want and still stay on track?
  • You are actually setting a positive example for your family?
  • Your self-confidence shoots through the roof when you follow your wellness plan?
  • You are much stronger than you can possibly imagine?

Here are some tips that will help you stay on track while traveling for the holidays—or any time of year.

Prepare for a Snack Attack

One of the worst things you can do is not eat all day in preparation for a big meal. You are guaranteed that you will overeat and physically pay the price later.

Instead, eat small, frequent meals throughout the day to keep your energy level high and hunger at bay. To do this, you may need to plan ahead and bring some snacks from home. These could include:

  • A baggie of various nuts and dried fruit for a quick and easy trail mix.
  • A stash of protein bars or home-made healthy treats. (One of my favorite road treats are some healthy oatmeal and peanut butter cookies that have no refined sugar and no added oil. See recipe below.)
  • If you have access to a refrigerator, bring along some fat free Greek yogurt, low-fat cheese, and anything else that you might want that needs refrigeration. Often hotels can put a mini-fridge in your room for a small additional fee. This expands the quality and type of snacks you can take if you are driving, or that you can get at a local grocery store once you arrive.

Drink Lots of Water

You need a lot of extra water while traveling. Bringing a refillable bottle is an easy solution. If you don’t like the taste of the tap water, buy bottled water.

If you forget your reusable bottle, just buy a bottle of water and refill it. And skip–or if that will make you feel deprived–go easy on the alcohol, which just dehydrates you further and will result in a wicked hangover the next day.

Eat Only What You Really Love

You may feel like its “polite” to eat a little bit of everything. But all that’s doing is keeping you from truly enjoying the foods that you love—and potentially packing on pounds. Most people aren’t paying that much attention to what you are putting on your plate, so pick the one or two items that you truly love and would feel deprived if you weren’t eating.

Then really savor them. You’ll discover that it’s the first few bites that are packed with the most flavor. When you truly focus on and enjoy those first bites you are more satisfied and can keep your portions small.

And if Aunt Martha complains that you aren’t eating her green bean casserole, tell her you really want to savor it and pack up a serving to eat later–or not! You are empowered to choose what you put into your body.

Scope Our Nearby Restaurants

More and more families are heading out for Thanksgiving dinner. Whether you lean towards big chains, or like to sample the local cuisine, the Internet is a great resource for checking out restaurants while on the road.

If you can, check out the on-line menu before you head to dinner so you have planned what you’re going to order. This way, you’ll be less swayed by passing entrees, delicious smells, the bread basket, and a growling tummy to order something less healthy when the waiter finally arrives.

Pack the Pie

After such a big meal, more than a bite of the pumpkin pie will just make you over-full—and pack in more calories than your body needs. Pack up the rest of your piece to eat a few hours later, or even the next day. I promise everyone else will wish they had pie later, too.

Pack Your Workout Clothes

You may not be able to get in your normal workout, but the important thing is to maintain you habit of moving your body.

With a little creativity and flexibility you can absolutely get in a workout—often without even leaving your room. Not only will you feel better, but it’s easier to get right back into your normal routine if you’ve at least done something while on the road.

Travel workout ideas include:

  • Strap on your trainers and walk or run around the block. (This is a particularly good idea when you start to feel the stress of family dynamics.)
  • Pack your iPod and dance for 15 to 30 minutes in your room.
  • Bringing your computer? Pack a workout DVD that can work out to in the privacy of your room.
  • Do weight bearing exercises, such as push-ups and burpees to get you body moving and the blood circulating.

Bonus! Most of these workouts can be done in your pajamas if your workout clothes didn’t make it in the bag.

Your workout doesn’t have to be perfect for you to feel better and be more tolerant of Uncle Ralph reminding everyone of the stupid things you did when you were a kid.

Getting in some kind of physical activity is particularly important if you are going to be spending a lot of time sitting.

Catch Your Zs

One of the keys for making sure you stay on your wellness track while traveling is to get adequate rest, which can be a challenge in a strange bed hearing noises that you’re not used to, or if you have bright lights peaking through your curtains.

Prepare for these problems by packing an eye pillow or mask, ear plugs, and downloading an app on your cell phone that plays ambient noise, like a fan or rainfall.

You know what adequate rest means for you, so do your best to go to bed at a time that will enable you to get the sleep you need.

And if you do find that you ate more than you planned, heeded the call of a holiday treat, or needed the sleep more than the workout, don’t beat yourself up.

To achieve optimal wellness, you only need to be consistent, not perfect.

Please share the travel tips that have worked for you! The best way to learn is from each other, and I would love to learn from you!

Together we can do it!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies 

  • 1 ½ cups oatmeal
  • ¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 2.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 cup peanut butter (I use SmartBalance to get more Omega 3s)
  • ½ c packed dark brown sugar
  • ¼ c honey
  • 2 tablespoons warm water
  • 2 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray.

Mix the oats, flour, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine the peanut butter, brown sugar, honey, water and egg whites in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Add the oatmeal mixture and stir until blended.

Drop by tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, creating 24 cookies. Press down into cookie shape. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on the sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

A serving is 1 to 2 cookies. Each cookie is about 100 calories.

Nine Tips To Break the Holiday Stress Tradition

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Many of you may be traveling over the next week or have visitors coming to you to celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving.

While the focus is on the feast, it may be your emotional wellness that is more strained than your waistband.

The holidays—the time that’s supposed to be so magical and wonderful—are often the hardest time of year.

Part of this is because of the temptation of all the extra food around.

This leads to inner conflict. You may want to celebrate with food, but then you feel guilty about it. Or maybe you’re successful at resisting all that temptation, but then feel deprived and resentful. Or you may rebel at restraining your eating and binge on everything in sight.

There may also be the stress caused by your perception of family expectations that you don’t feel like you can live up to.

Or worse, your own expectations that everything has to be perfect.

This may mean you pack too much into your to-do list.

The result is you’re challenged when your priorities aren’t shared by others, which results in family tension. Again, you might turn to food to try to comfort yourself and deal with the stressful feelings.

You put your own self-care at the bottom of the list so you aren’t taking care of you.

It may also mean you spend too much time on details that don’t really matter and miss out on the things that do. This could look like staying up late trying to get every dish looking perfect, but then you are so tired that you scream at your kids the next morning. What’s really more important to you? Having a perfect dish, or getting enough rest to be a great Mom?

All of this can lead to a physical and emotional hangover.

There’s a lot about this time of year that can impact your wellness—whether it’s gaining weight, or having your emotional wellness impacted by depression, overwhelment, and stress, as well as challenging relationships.

Here are 9 things that you can do to break the holiday stress tradition:

  1. Take time for you. Make this your number 1 priority. Schedule your calendar around taking even 5 to 15 minutes every day to meditate or exercise, or just lounge in a bubble bath. And make sure you get enough rest so that you can maintain the best possible version of you.
  2. Love the ones your with. It’s easy to criticize when your expectations aren’t being met, so spend at least a few minutes every day focused on the best qualities of everyone you love and forgive them for not being perfect. And most importantly forgive yourself for not being perfect.
  3. You are only responsible for you. Release yourself from the responsibility for anyone else’s happiness. Their reaction is their reaction. You are in control of how you react.
  4. Align your actions with your priorities. Prioritize your to-do list so that what you’re doing aligns with what you truly want out of the holidays. Beautiful dish or great Mom? What do you really want? What will your kids really remember?
  5. Release the need to do everything yourself and either ask for help or let things go. This may mean paying a few dollars to have the store wrap your packages, or being OK with the wrapping job your partner does.
  6. Focus on all the things you appreciate in your life. There is so much that you already have that is amazing. Pay more attention to what you do have rather than resenting what you don’t.
  7. Focus on all the reasons you want to start the New Year feeling great. Do you really enjoy the emotional and physical hangover you have on January 2? What would change if you started the New Year, energized, happy, and satisfied?
  8. Celebrate each tiny thing that you do that creates your balanced and fulfilled holiday experience. So you don’t get a workout in every day. Did you do it 3 days this week? Did you park at the far end of the lot and walk? Did you go for a walk around the block when Uncle Ralph started in on that story you’ve heard 1,000 times before? Count and celebrate even the smallest thing!
  9. Reach out for support to help you get through the challenges you’re facing. This is not the time to go it alone. If you need support, ask a friend, hire a coach, or log-in to a free on-line support community, like transformation.com.

Ultimately, getting through the holidays feeling healthy and happy is about letting go of the need to be perfect. It’s reaching for the hope and belief that life can get better and better. It’s prioritizing your time to match up with what you really want.

Together we can do it!

 

 

Love Your Way Through the Holidays—Part 1

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While I’m in New York City over the next few days, I’m sharing a four-part series on going from Halloween to New Year’s with balance, grace, and fulfillment. 

When I was a kid, the time between Halloween and New Year’s was magical.

What could be more fun than everyone playing dress-up and strangers giving you a bucket-load of candy that you ate for weeks?

Or having days off from school filled with delicious treats?

Or sharing a feast with family and friends?

Whether it was Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, overeating was the primary theme.

While I still love the holidays, somewhere along the way they also became fraught with stress, unmet expectations, challenging family dynamics, loneliness, and bingeing that resulted in self-loathing.

I would often start the New Year with a physical and emotional hangover that might last till spring.

This changed when I realized that I had control—not over other people, but over how I responded, what I put in my mouth, and what I did—and didn’t do. My reacting as a victim or with conflict truly was a choice. 

Making different choices and having a different experience over the holidays takes awareness, planning, and celebrating the smallest victories.

And the rewards are so worth it! 

Over the next four days, I’ll be sharing a series of simple steps that you can take that will help you get through the holidays with balance and grace. Do each step, and you will be starting the New Year with the body—and life—you want!

Step One: Awareness.

Today, look at your past experiences. What are the things that have sent you down a difficult road during previous holidays?

  • Maybe it’s the extra temptation of all the treats that are around from Halloween to New Year’s?
  • Maybe it’s the pressure and expectations of family that you can’t live up to?
  • Maybe it’s your expectations that everything has to be magical and perfect—for yourself or for others?
  • Maybe it’s a difficult relationship?
  • Maybe it’s feeling alone, even when you are in a crowd?
  • Maybe it’s the overwhelming to-do list that you don’t feel supported in getting done?

Whatever those things are that knock you for a loop, write them down.

Then ask yourself these questions, and write down the answers.

  • What do the holidays mean to you?
  • What are the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that come up for you when you think about the holidays?
  • What values are you trying to honor?
  • How do you want to feel?
  • How do I want to be on January 2nd, using the present tense?

Right here and now, make the commitment to make the necessary changes to love your way through the holidays. 

Tomorrow we’ll look at how to plan for the holidays you want!

Together we can do it!

 

Feel Good About What You Eat to Turbo Charge Your Weight Loss Results

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Have you ever been tied down and force-fed cookies, crackers, brownies, or cakes?

Nah, me either.

But sometimes it can feel like your eating is out of your control.

Not only do I hear clients complain about this, but I bump up against it myself.

Right now I’m on deadline and will be heading to New York on Sunday. Because I have some limiting beliefs about my ability to handle how much I have to do, I’m experiencing some stress. And this week I’ve been turning to my favorite deadline food of popcorn laced with a tablespoon of dark chocolate chips.

Now neither popcorn nor dark chocolate is “bad,” but I feel that this snack is not the best choice I could be making. The big indicator that I’m out of alignment with my thoughts, emotions, and actions is a little bit of guilt that I feel because I’m giving up my power-greens protein shake for the popcorn. The feeling that my “need” for the popcorn is “out of my control” is also a red flag.

Now there are more ways to address this than you might think.

There is the obvious solution of forcing myself to give up the popcorn and drink the shake. This is what most people would tell you to do. But there’s more going on here than the obvious nutritional advantage.

If I force myself to have the shake instead of the popcorn and I feel deprived and resentful, those negative feelings generate destructive catabolic energy that set off harmful chemical processes that will actually result in my body being less able to absorb the improved nutrition.

So even though I’m giving myself beautiful nutrition, my negative thoughts and emotions would be hindering my ability to fully absorb it.

If my thoughts and emotions are not supportive of the “right” choice, it’s questionable how much I’m doing my body good.

And if I was eating the popcorn and dark chocolate and was focused on appreciating the delicious salty sweet of every bite, relishing how awesome it is to have an occasional treat, was focused on the healthy antioxidants in the chocolate and the fiber in the popcorn, and thrilled at my ability to have all the foods I love on my healthy eating plan, I would be generating constructive anabolic energy that would benefit my body and enable it to fully digest and absorb all the positive elements of the food.

The critical, often overlooked step is taking the time to make sure that your thoughts and feelings support your actions.

The key is to choose foods that you think are good for you, that you feel good about eating and enjoy in the moment, and that you feel good about having eaten afterwards.

What can you do to align your thoughts and feelings with the foods you are eating so that you feel satisfied, energized, and that you are on the right path before, during, and after each meal?

Align your thoughts and feelings with your actions, and the resulting positive anabolic energy will turbo charge your wellness and weight-loss results.

Together we can do it!

The Missing Piece for Lasting Weight Loss

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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

-Albert Einstein

 

If you are like most women who have lost and regained the same 30 pounds over and over again, you know how to diet. You may even have the exercise piece down.

But even if you are able to consistently eat healthy foods and move your body, you still continue to struggle to maintain your weight.

Clearly, diet and exercise alone are not getting you the results you want.

What is the missing piece?

What is it that you need to do differently to get different results?

The answer almost seems too simple.

You may want to ignore it or even discount it. But it is truly what is holding you back from having the body—and life—you want.

What has to change is what is going on inside. What has to change are your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs about yourself, what you are capable of, what you deserve.

Ultimately what it boils down to is that you have to work through your fear.

Every feeling is either a derivative of love or fear. What has happened over time is that you have emotionally caged yourself in with fear.

Fear of being judged by others, letting people down, not being good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, making mistakes, not being loved or lovable—the list goes on and on.

It may have gotten bad enough that when something really good does happen in your life, you can feel a part of you holding back from fully enjoying the experience. You may have thoughts like, “Something bad might happen,” “It won’t last,” or “They’re going to find out I’m a fraud.”

What’s actually happening here is that you are so afraid of experiencing pain that you are in reality holding yourself in it—and refusing to let yourself fully experience joy.

And the biggest fear of all?

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

–Marianne Williamson

The good news is you can begin right now to let go of fear and embrace love–to embrace the magnificent you that is afraid to let her light shine.

Here is a simple exercise to practice love. I would suggest doing this just before going to sleep, but it can be done any place you can sit quietly, relax, and focus.

To begin, bring to mind something that you totally and completely love. This may be your spouse or partner, pets, children, etc. Sit a moment and envision them totally enveloped in love. Get creative here. See them in a warm golden light, a big hug, or whatever feels like being embraced by the biggest expression of love you can imagine.

Then bring someone or something else that you love into the picture. As you stay in that feeling of love, start to include more and more people and things—and even places—that you love. Eventually you want to work up to having the entire planet embraced in your vision of love.

Here’s an example:

I envision my husband being surrounded by a warm, golden light that is pure love. That light expands to include our pets, our families, and our friends. It spreads to include our home and everything in it. It expands to include my job and all the people I work with. It grows and encircles our town, and all the places where I have ever lived. It expands to cover the states where I have lived, and spreads to the whole country. It then moves around the world embracing everyone and everything. It encompasses the planet itself and everyone and everything is enriched and enhanced by this feeling of love.

You can make the exercise last a long time, or just a few minutes. Practice this daily and watch for examples of more love coming into your life.

The more love you allow yourself to feel, the more healthy actions you are inspired to take, and the more your body begins to respond down to the cellular level.

You begin to naturally want an apple more than you want cookies. You begin to find the fun in your workout. Eating healthy foods, moving your body—and maintaining your weight—becomes a way of life.

What can you do today to transform a thought of fear to a feeling of love?

Together we can do it!

 

 

What’s the Best Diet?

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I just did a search on Amazon.com for diet books.

There were 71,652 results.

What this means is there is no one “right” way for everyone on the planet to eat—or to lose weight.

Think about it. A piece of fruit may be the best food choice for you, but to a diabetic, it could be harmful. Thus the ancient saying, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.”

To lose weight, it comes down to the simple formula of taking in fewer calories than you expend. And there are lots of ways to achieve that.

I know women who are slim and healthy who eat a low carb diet, as well as some who eat a high carb diet, who are vegetarians and vegans, who eat only raw foods, or whole foods, the French way, the Mediterranean way, or the paleo way, etc., etc.

So both the challenge and the opportunity is that you have to take responsibility to find the plan for healthy eating that works best for you, that you will enjoy enough to follow consistently, and that is flexible enough to allow you to not only live your life now, but to change, grow, and evolve.

Because what is a healthy step for you today, may be different tomorrow.

For instance, if all you eat is potato chips, a healthier step for you would be a chicken sandwich. Is a chicken sandwich the healthiest choice? No, but it is progress from where you are. And as you get used to making that better choice, it is an easier step to the next healthy level of grilled chicken over salad.

One of the things that trips so many women up is that they think they have to go from eating nothing but potato chips to only organic chicken and steamed vegetables. That’s awesome if you can maintain it, but it’s often just too big a leap. It leads to them feeling deprived.

This is because they haven’t taken the necessary steps to change their underlying thoughts and emotions about what they want, why they want to make healthier choices, and what making healthier choices means to their life.

If the dietary leap is too big, most often they aren’t able to sustain it. If they are able to reach their goal, as soon as they hit the mark they go right back to eating potato chips and regain the weight.

While improving your eating habits slowly and steadily may take a little longer to reach your goals, isn’t the end result the same? And isn’t pulling on your jeans a year later and still having them fit absolutely and totally worth it?

Still, with so many options, how do you know which plan is right for you?

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • What is your definition of optimal wellness? (Truly, this looks different to each person and it’s helpful to get really clear about what this means for you.)
  • What are your goals? (Both short-term and long-term)
  • How well will the eating plan move you towards your goals and your vision of optimal wellness?
  • How likely is it to be healthy long-term?
  • How much will you enjoy the plan? (This is key!)
  • How likely are you to be able to make it a lifestyle?

Ultimately, the best eating plan is the one that you will enjoy enough to do consistently and enables you to make a series of increasingly healthy choices long-term.

What choice can you make today that will be a small step towards your ultimate wellness goals?

Together we can do it!

Empower Yourself to Take Control

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I caught myself mid-bite.

We had been out to dinner with fabulous friends and had gone back to their house to play Sequence, laugh, and have fun together.

And they had put out a lot of snacks. Cookies, candy bars, and bowls full of pretzels, dry roasted peanuts, and peanut M&M’s.

We’d already eaten a full meal and had shared a dessert at the restaurant.

As they put out the snacks, I joked with them that they were evil for providing such temptation. And then I continued to think that as I snacked away, along with thoughts like:

“I just can’t help myself.”

“If it’s in front of me, I will eat it.”

“I have no self-control.”

That’s when I realized I was in Victim Mode.

I was “at the effect of” the food. I was giving away my power and indulging in behavior that was not moving me towards my goals. And I was blaming it on my friends, the food, my weakness, etc., etc.

In reality, no one else was in my head. No one was lifting my hand and forcing me to put the food into my mouth. The food was certainly not having its way with me and forcing itself into my mouth.

The truth is no one and no-thing is making you—or me—eat anything.

Even when it feels like that cookie is moving towards your mouth against your will, it is still you doing it to you. Even if you are stressed out and are comforting yourself with food, it is still you putting the food in your mouth. Even when someone cooks a special treat and puts it in front of you, it is still you making the decision to eat it or not—based on putting someone else’s wellbeing ahead of your own.

You have the power to take back control.

Being aware of what you are doing is the first step. Recognizing that you have a choice is the second step. And making a conscious decision is the final step.

It doesn’t even matter what the decision is. The important thing is to Decide what you want and the best way to meet your needs and goals, and follow through by aligning your thoughts, feelings, and actions.

I had already eaten enough last night that it had become my free meal of the weekend. (I give myself a free meal—or sometimes a free day or weekend—so that I never feel deprived. That if I ever have a craving, I know that I will be able to enjoy it later.)

What I decided last night was to continue to nibble so I felt like a part of the fun, but to watch how much I ate and what I ate. After that, I ate a few pieces of pretzels, a couple of peanuts, and three peanut M&Ms. I declined the offered wine and stuck to sparkling water. I ignored the cookie that was dropped in the bowl in front of me. And fortunately we all ignored the candy bars.

By taking back control over my thoughts and empowering myself to make a decision and follow through with action, I felt good at the end of the night. And this morning I made a new decision to give my workout my all, and to plan a healthy choice from the menu tonight as we head out with other friends.

When you take full responsibility for the foods you eat, the exercise you do, and the thoughts you think, you truly begin creating the body—and life–you want.

Together we can do it!