Tag Archives: negative thoughts

Dress for (Weight Loss) Success

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Since I work at home, it would be easy to spend the day in my pajamas.

And I won’t lie. There have certainly been days that being at my desk was a higher priority than putting on my street clothes.

But that is the exception rather than the rule.

Here’s why.

It impacts how I feel about myself.

Every time I walk by the bathroom mirror, my energy level takes a negative hit.

It’s not accurately projecting Who I am and Who I want to be.

And that matters.

This makes sense when you think about the Foundation Principle that “Energy Attracts Like Energy,” also known as the Law of Attraction.

As Albert Einstein so eloquently said with E=MC2, EVERYTHING is energy—including your thoughts and feelings.

This means you get what you project. If you are thinking negative thoughts about yourself, you will get more opportunities to think negative thoughts. If you are feeling bad about yourself, you will get more opportunities to feel bad.

Even what you are wearing sends out an energetic vibration. Do holey pajamas project success, abundance, a joyful and fulfilling life? Or does it project lack and lethargy?

If I feel like I need to hide out when the UPS guy rings the bell, that’s not a good sign.

A lot of women that I work with unknowingly perpetuate the cycle of losing and regaining the same 30 pounds by wearing sloppy clothes, or clothes that don’t fit well because they don’t want to “give in” to their weight gain. But this actually perpetuates the weight rebound cycle because it impacts how they feel and think about themselves.

Now this doesn’t mean I put on a business suit every day. I dress appropriately for working at home. But my clothes are clean, in good repair, and fit well.

When I walk by the bathroom mirror, I feel good about what I see—and each time that gives me a small energy boost. Then having the UPS guy bring me a box feels more like Christmas and I’m happy to see a fellow human.

Feeling good about myself in turn boosts my energy and desire to make consistent decisions that move me towards my wellness goals. For instance, I want to do my workout and to stick to my meal plan for the day.

And the more energy I put towards what I want, the more of that energy I attract. So the snowball effect begins to work in my favor.

What do you want more of? Who do you want to be?

Does what you are thinking, feeling, doing, and even wearing project that? Or are you getting more of the old you?

This doesn’t mean you have to transform your thoughts and feelings—or wardrobe—overnight. All you have to do is slowly and steadily focus more on Who you want to be—and begin making the decisions and choices that person would make.

An easy place to start is with what you are wearing. Does it fit well? Is it in good repair? How do you feel when you are wearing it?

Consciously decide to get more of Who and what you are projecting.

Together we can do it!

Think Again!

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25

I caught myself grumbling and complaining this morning.

This is a sign to me that I need to look at my thinking around what’s happening. My reaction says a heck of a lot more about me than it does anyone—or anything—else.

One of the things I’ve noticed is that people tend to hold on to their complaints, believing that their thinking the situation should be different, or someone else should behave differently will somehow make those changes happen.

What is actually happening is you are negatively impacting your mental, physical, and spiritual wellness.

Your negative thoughts are generating catabolic energy that releases the stress hormone cortisol, adrenaline, and other chemicals that literally can cannibalize your body. They break down your immune system, stress your heart, and impact your muscles. 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.

Your complaining is literally weighing you down!

When you “lighten up” emotionally by allowing yourself to relax, smile, laugh, and enjoy life you are making it easier for your body to “lighten up.”

When you lighten up emotionally, you are allowing your body to work for you down to the cellular level. Choosing a more constructive and positive anabolic reaction releases endorphins and body supporting hormones that help your body heal, rebuild, and flow with physical energy. And yes, make it easier to release excess weight.

Here’s a tip. To change your response, change your perception of who you are in relationship to what is happening.

Remind yourself that you are capable of dealing with the situation. Be confident in its resolution. Open your mind to the solutions. Be flexible and willing to look at things from another point of view.

You are much more powerful than you realize. You absolutely have the ability to change your response. All it takes is a slight mental shift in how you see yourself, the situation, and the people involved.

Now when you catch yourself complaining about anyone or anything, recognize the negative impact it’s having on your body. Pay attention to what you are doing to your own wellness.

Reach for a new thought about yourself—who you are, what you are capable of, and what you deserve.

How does that impact how you physically and mentally feel? How does your more positive response improve the situation?

Together we can do it!

It’s Worth the Weight

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In yesterday’s blog, I wrote about what’s behind the desire to wave a wand and have all your excess weight magically disappear.

Today, I’m going to talk about some of the reasons it’s worth the weight—to share the true value in experiencing the step-by-step process of releasing your excess pounds.

Because believe it or not, there is value in every experience. What you are thinking and feeling is part of Who you are, and the process you will go through to release the weight once and for all is about your becoming more powerful and true to yourself and Who you want to be.

I know this from experience. My weight and negative self-perception was an issue for me almost my entire life. I began hating my body at a very early age. I focused almost exclusively on its flaws, and what was wrong with me.

My negative self-perception—and my resulting struggle with my weight—raged for more than 35 years. Those negative thoughts bled over into all areas of my life. I was often depressed. I shied away from taking leadership roles at work. I had a hard time making close friends. I didn’t feel sexy or attractive with my husband.

And my struggle with my weight wasn’t because I didn’t know what to do. I taught myself about nutrition and exercise, and several times I got into incredible shape. I ran—finishing one half-marathon and doing all the training for another. I lifted weights. Several times I got down to a size 6. I knew what to do.

Even though I would lose weight, emotionally I didn’t feel any differently. All those problems that I thought would magically be solved by being thinner were still there.

This was because I wasn’t making the changes on the inside. I wasn’t aligning with what I wanted and why I wanted it. I didn’t feel confident in being accepted as the true me, which goes a lot deeper than just how I look. What it boils down to is I didn’t feel lovable because I didn’t love myself.

Because I was making these changes through sheer willpower, it didn’t take much for me to fall back into the pattern of regaining not only the weight I had just lost, but then some.

What ultimately had to change was what was going on the inside. What had to change were my thoughts, emotions and beliefs about myself, what I was capable of, what I deserved.

So in addition to consistently moving my body and eating healthy foods, I began looking for inaccurate thinking and practicing new thoughts of appreciation, praise, and support for my body—and myself. And I began tying this process to my spiritual journey. Accepting the love of All-That-Is (God, the Universe, Source Energy, Higher Coach—whatever works for you) was the path that lead to loving myself.

Successfully making these internal changes helped me not only get down to where I am today—between a size 4 and 6—but to keep the weight off now for more than two years.

Not only do I feel vibrant and alive, and have more fulfilling relationships in all areas of my life, but more importantly, those same internal changes have given me the confidence and self-empowerment to go after the life of my dreams, and reach out to help many, many women feel lean and sexy on the inside so they can be lean and sexy on the outside.

The process of releasing your weight is so worth it because it is a journey of self-discovery. It is reconnecting with your true self. It is embracing your power to create the life of your dreams.

Today I am grateful for all the struggles and challenges, and yes, even pain that I experienced over all those years. Every moment of it helped me be Who I am today, and makes me uniquely able to relate to other women who are using the path of releasing their weight for self-discovery.

If you are in the midst of the pain, you may not be able to feel, hear, or believe this right now, but I promise you, the end result is so worth the weight.

Together we can do it!

 

Photo from www.freedigitalphotos.net

 

 

Link

For years, I was a semi-closeted dance walker and runner. Under the cover of pre-dawn darkness, I would feel so darn good during a workout that I would spontaneously burst into dance.

Granted, I use the term “dance” loosely as it was really more lurching, lunging, hopping, and jumping my way down the road to the beat of a particularly bouncy song. But I felt the music in me and I just had to move.

I publicly outed myself as a dance walker in an August 17, 2010, blog on transformation.com.

But even at the peak of my dance-walking joy I would instantly resume a more traditional gait at the first sign of another human being because of the fear of judgment. While I was “caught” a number of times, the only person I felt comfortable enough to dance walk in front of was my husband, and even he let me know he thought it was a little weird.

The thing is, any time we inhibit our joy, we are also decreasing our wellness and well-being.

Think about this from an energetic standpoint. Positive emotions generate constructive anabolic energy that literally builds our bodies at the cellular level. And joy pretty much vibrates at the top levels of anabolic energy. If left alone, the natural anabolic state of our cells is optimal wellness.

But when we introduce catabolic energy to our bodies through stress and negative thoughts and emotions, this begins a destructive process that is cumulative over time. The fear of what others may think is about as catabolic as it gets.

So I absolutely loved it yesterday when a friend posted the link to Ben Aaron’s piece on dance walking.

You can bet the next time I feel so good I want to burst into dance walking, I am going to do it proudly!

And I know I’m not the only one who has capped my joy because of the actual or feared judgments of others.

Is the catabolic price you are paying in reduced wellness, well-being, life satisfaction, engagement, and success worth what really amounts to a few moments of judgment on the part of another?

And aren’t those judgments really a result of people stifling their own joy because of the real or presumed judgment of others? What do you supposed is the physical impact of the catabolic energy of judgment?

What it comes down to is a vicious cycle. The way to break it is to fully embrace Who you are and what makes you happy. Expressing your joy will help others find theirs.

What things that you love have you been holding yourself back from enjoying? How can you let go of using what others may think of you as a reason for holding back your happiness? What impact does that have on your body—and your life?

Together we can do it!

Image by Vlado / FreeDigitalPhotos.net