CHALLENGES – CHALLENGES – CHALLENGES

Yes, that’s what I said – challenges!  I’m sitting here, reading a book while my husband, Mal, watches his St. Louis Cardinal baseball game, and relaxing for probably the last time in the next 8 weeks.  Tomorrow begins what I’ve been waiting for for a couple of years – a 6 week visit with my Grandson, Jamie!  A week after he comes my niece, Madison, is coming for a week.  The day she leaves Mal, Jamie, our son, Dennis, and our other Grandson, Syd, leave for a week in Las Vegas.  We’ll be home 3 days before our Granddaughter, Kassidy, arrives for a month and, straight from the airport, we’ll go to Sedonna, AZ. for 4 days, be home for 3 and go to Phoenix for 3 days!!!!  After that I open my 3 classes a week at 123 Fit!  So, do you think I might have some challenges coming up.  Now they may be a tad more than you have (or maybe a tad less) but a challenge is a challenge and nothing more.   Webster’s definition of a challenge is: a demanding or stimulating situation.  It’s not an excuse to “forget it all and let’s have fun with the kids” for me.  Instead it’s “figure out how to eat well MOST of the time, walk a lot to make up for the times when I don’t and end up “below the 5 on the scale” when it’s all over.  A demanding challenge, FOR SURE!  A stimulating situation, YOU BET but a “done deal” that I’m going to go off my program – NO WAY!

Remember, I tell you to just get “below the 5 or below the zero on the scale” and STAY THERE!  That is, if you’re 167 get below 165, then get below 160 – only 5 pounds to worry about at a time.  I see too many people get below, treat themselves and go above again.  It’s those challenges that they let become problems!  I’ve never worried about a “quick” few pounds coming on because I subscribe to the theory of “easy on, easy off”.  If you put it on fast, it comes off fast.  I was reading an article last week that told about, “last on, first off” meaning the fat cells you add last will be the first ones off – guess they don’t have time to “stick”.  That’s why it’s important AS SOON AS YOU SEE A LITTLE GAIN – go 110% until it’s off.

Anyway,  I may not write in here for awhile since I’ll be busy traveling and enjoying all our  house guests, and loving every busy minute!  I’ll let you know how I do when it’s all over.  After all, it’s just another challenge!!

WHAT YOU RESIST…YOU’RE STUCK WITH!

What you resist, you’re stuck with!  Someone told me that long ago and it holds true with me today.  How many times have you said to yourself, “I’ve got to exercise today” or “I’m going to write down everything I eat” or “I know I should be drinking more water” and then WE DON’T!  We all KNOW what we “should” be doing (remember, “don’t should on yourself”) but we resist it.  We seem to resist the most the things that will help us the most.  Why?  Beats me, but we seem to continue in our resistance but, guess what?  If we keep resisting change, nothings going to change!  Wow – what a concept!  So, let’s do this.  Get out a peace of paper and write down a goal you want to meet, whether it be in weight loss or getting a new job or whatever.  Really – get that piece of paper and do it before we go on.

………………..I’m waiting!

Okay, did you do it?  If you didn’t you can stop reading ’cause nothing else will make sense.  After you write down your goal – sit and think and write “What I resist in getting to my goal is (now leave a blank line) and write down everything (excuses and all) that keep you from getting to your goal.  In weight loss it might be counting calories (or points) and writing it down, exercising, keeping the right food in the house, cutting down on “junk food”, drinking plenty of liquids, staying within your calories, etc. etc. etc.  Go on…..do it now!

It’s amazing to me how we set goals and then we set up roadblocks to keep us from getting there.  I don’t know about you but to me a goal is a promise to myself and I don’t break promises to others so I sure won’t break one to me.  I’m worth it and so are you!!!  So the next step to getting to your goal is go back to the top of the page where you wrote  ”What I resist in getting to my goal is…” and on that blank line write UP UNTIL NOW!!!  That’s right, there’s no better time to change your habit of resistance (it is just a habit after all) is NOW!  If you wrote lots of stuff….start working on one at a time.  Pick the one, get another sheet, write that first sentence and the “up until now” and the habit you’re going to work on……and do it!!  Mark on a calendar each day you succeed.  Remember, it takes 21 days to make a habit so GO FOR IT!!  I know you can!  I have confidence in you – the only question remaining is DO YOU BELIEVE IN YOURSELF?  If you don’t, send me an e-mail on your challenge and let’s talk.  I’m here to help.  Don’t let anything EVER stand in your way of getting what you want in your life.

With this I’ll end – it all goes back to YOU GOTTA WANT IT!!!

CHANGE IS GOOD!

It seems like we all want change in our life but sometimes aren’t willing to do what we need to to get it.  Of course I’m talking about our weight issues.  We want to see that number on the scale go down until  it reaches our “goal” weight but…..what are we doing to make that happen.  WANTING change isn’t enough – we actually have to MAKE SOME CHANGES to see a change.  We want to SEE a difference in how we look – we actually have to DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT to see the difference.  People can guide you, people can help you, people can encourage you, but it’s you and you alone that can make that change and see that difference.

No one puts food in your mouth but you.  No one can make you eat more than you need or want.  In that same vein – no one can make sure you write down what you eat and count your calories or measure out the amount you’re eating.  No one will check to see that you’ve had enough water today.  No one will keep telling you that you need to eat 5 or 6 small meals a day.  (Unless you come to my meetings and then it becomes “harping”)  So, who has to be responsible to make sure you get to your goal.  YOU!!  

What do you make more important than your commitment to yourself to get healthy.  Is your work more important?  Is your family more important?  Let’s think about that.  If you don’t take care of yourself how can you take care of anyone or anything else and do a good job at it.  YOU are the most important person in the world!  You staying healthy and living longer is or should be your immediate goal and WHATEVER you have to do to reach that goal – DO IT!  Don’t put yourself second or third or anywhere down the line except in first place.  

Take the few minutes it takes to look up calories, to measure out your servings, to write down what you’re eating, to take a refreshing walk around the block.  As you see results that come from taking charge of yourself you’ll wonder why you haven’t done it before.

Let me end with one of my favorite sayings – and really think about it!!

IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS DONE

YOU’LL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS GOT AND…

YOU’LL ALWAYS BE WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN!

As I said at the beginning – change is good!

HABITS 101

The post I’ve done before on HABITS gives you a  lot of tips and here I’ll give you a few more.  Just remember, it took time to make your habits and it will take time to break the unhealthy ones and replace them with healthy ones but, taken one day at a time, anything is possible!

Today let’s talk about things we’ve been taught since childhood and might still be believing and acting on today.

One of the things I was told when I was little (and, I guess, even now) is “eat this, it’ll make you feel better”.  Did you ever hear that one?  Of course you did!   If we were sick, if we fell down, if we went to the doctor’s and got a shot….”eat this, it will make you feel better”.  The bad thing is even if “it” makes you feel better when you’re feeling down – it’s a real downer later when you figure out you just had 500 calories of junk food.  For some reason healthy food just never worked in the “feel better” times.  Now, do you really feel better?  And since we were giving sweets to make us feel better doesn’t it make sense that now, when we’re down, we tend to go to them?

It’s  our stress eating – that mad, glad, sad, been had times.  We eat to feel betterand we do feel better WHILE WE’RE EATING, afterwards we feel guilty  and then, what do we do, we punish ourselves for overeating by ….overeating more!  Make a new habit.  When you’re under stress….exercise, get those endorphins working and you really will feel better!

Another habit I made long ago, because Mom taught me to “eat everything on your plate” was eating everything on my plate!  Mom lied!!!  Those kids in Russia wouldn’t be better off if I ate everything. Come on now!  Are you still telling that stuff to your kids?  Is a restaurant that serves a 300 pounds person and a 120 pound person the same amount really meaning that’s how much we should eat.  Are we really letting someone else decide how much we need to eat?  Not me!  I either bring home half or split a meal with my husband.  Works for me!

The last thing I’ll talk about today is Mom said, “don’t eat that, it will spoil your appetite” which is the opposite of what I want you to do.  Before you get home from work, before you go to a party, before you go out to dinner…SPOIL YOUR APPETITE!  Don’t arrive anywhere hungry!  A piece of fruit and a little nuts, string cheese and fruit, 1/2 of a protein bar, just something to take the edge off so the brain actually has time to think before you eat or order.  Believe me – it works.  Even if you just have a big glass of water right before you order or eat, that will help!

Any other habits you might have that I haven’t covered – just leave a comment.

YOU ARE TODAY THE SUM OF YOUR HABITS FROM YESTERDAY!

It’s true, isn’t it?  The habits that you’ve made over the years have made you what you are today.  Some of those habits are good:  we wake up, brush our teeth, take a shower, eat breakfast (you’d better), read the newspaper – okay, those are MY habits but you have your own.  Some habits have been drilled into us from our early years.  Have you ever heard, “eat everything on your plate?”  I sure did and it became a habit – a habit that led to my overweight most of my life, at least until I realized that I could over-ride that BAD habit with a GOOD habit.  You see, once you’ve made a habit (a GOOD one) it becomes just as hard to break as a BAD habit BUT you have to get started.  They say it takes 21 days of doing something consistently to make it become a habit.  So, why not make a list of all the habits you think contributed to your weight challenge.

Here’s a list to get you started:

1. Eating too fast (remember, it takes 20 minutes for the brain to tell the stomach it’s full so SLOW down – put those utensils down in between bites, eat with the other hand, whatever it takes!)
2. Eating and watching t.v., reading, etc. When you eat – only eat.  Pay attention to the food – taste it!  How many times have you been watching t.v. and eating and ….you’re done eating and didn’t even know it.  You didn’t taste a thing so now you need a snack to satisfy your taste buds!
3. Eating “because a mood struck”.  If you’re mad, sad, glad, been had – don’t reach for food.  EXERCISE!  It will get the endorphins (that feel good chemical in the brain) working so you can work through the mood and lose weight rather than gain it!
4. Drinking calories rather than eating them!  You’re thirsty so you grab a soda, some juice, whatever.  It doesn’t fill you up it just adds calories.  Reach for the water instead.
5. Eating unhealthy snacks.  You know I advise eating 5 or 6 times a day which means we will be eating two or three snacks but that doesn’t mean grabbing a cupcake!  If you don’t have healthy items in the house you have no choice but to grab something else so…..shop smart!  String cheese, hard boiled egg, nuts, protein bars, fruit, veggies – keep them around.  If you need to have some other “stuff” bag them in small portion sizes so you can just grab them!

Those are a few habits – I know you probably have more.  Send me them in a comment and I’ll list them later with some ways to change them.  Here are a few more things you can do to get back in control:

1. Don’t skip meals
2. Find a “safe” room – one you will never eat in – like the bedroom – so you have a place to go when a craving hits.
3. Don’t let yourself get bored with a “diet”.  Constantly try new things.  There’s nothing you can’t have!  Just watch your portions.
4. Do keep your food journal – especially during holiday time to keep you on track.
5. Don’t think you have to eat everything that someone offers you.  ”No thank you” still works!
6. Just eat off that salad plate instead of the dinner plate.
7. SHOP SMART with a list!

I know I’ve repeated some things but sometimes we need reminders.  Just remember, YOU CAN DO IT!!!  I believe in you!