Four steps to help with trigger foods
Trigger foods. Foods you can’t resist. They call out to you and beg you to eat them. Generally, these foods are not carrots, broccoli or apples. They are decadent foods. Often foods that you are forbidden because they are “bad foods” or unhealthy. You probably feel out of control around these foods and blame them for any weight gain. Never fear! If you need help with trigger foods, this post is for you. Here are four step for handling trigger foods like a boss: 1. Quit calling it a trigger food Seems simple right? But every time you call ice cream or chips your trigger food, you give all of your power away to it. It becomes a dramatic story of how this food is the downfall of your weight loss. You are powerless around it and must indulge. Calling it a trigger food puts you and your weight loss at an extreme disadvantage. Many people will tell you that they can’t keep certain foods in the house. And while this is good intentioned that doesn’t mean you will never come face to face with that food. Continuing to have this story in your mind guarantees anxiety, worry, and fearfulness about when you might come face to face with that food. It can also lead to binging on these foods when you finally get the chance because they have become forbidden even though your desire for them is high. Instead of calling them your trigger food, change the story to something more boring, like “It’s just a food you like to eat.” 2. Calm your brain down Our brains have been designed to keep us safe. Back in the times of cavewomen, this meant being able to identify ALL the problems around us that could cause us harm. Life today does not require our brains to find the mountain lion or the poisonous berries. But our brain still wants to do what it was designed to do: FIND ALL THE PROBLEMS. And guess what, your trigger food has been identified as a problem. And that’s OK. Not every problem our brain identifies is a true problem. Nor is every problem our brain identifies a reason to take action. Your brain might tell you things like: “Oh my god, there goes my diet!” “I can never lose weight and have a social life too!” “I will never be able to resist those!” “I can never stop eating….” All of those are just thoughts. Thoughts that are completely optional. Currently those thoughts are full of drama and doom. Calm your brain down by making the story boring. Remember, this isn’t a trigger food. This is just a food I enjoy eating. It can also be helpful to recognize other things you enjoy doing but are able to practice restraint around. I love going for walks on beautiful days but somehow I still manage to go to work and earn a living on beautiful days. I love spending money on cute clothes and yet each month I make sure enough remains in my account to pay the mortgage and utilities. I’m sure you have similar examples in your life. Don’t take what your brain presents you as the truth. Ask yourself if your brain is being dramatic and if you have evidence that the opposite is true as well. 3. Visualize how you want to eat them Now this isn’t a lusty visualization practice. The purpose isn’t to create more desire for the food by imagining how amazing it tastes. This visualization is to practice being around these trigger foods and imagining yourself being in control and intentional about how you eat them. My clients often feel burdened and powerless around these trigger foods. So I ask them to imagine what it would look like to be in control around them. Imagine yourself having your trigger food in your pantry. Visualize yourself going into the pantry for other things and never reaching for that food. Imagine yourself being unaffected that it is sitting there. Another visualization you can do is enjoying the trigger food. Watch yourself plate it, eat half of it and then throwing the rest out. If that causes you some anxiety, remind yourself that you are able to buy more at any time. This food is always available to you. Reminding yourself this can provide comfort that no matter what you are in charge and able to obtain that food whenever you want. It helps take away the scarcity and urgency away from that food. 4. Practice being around them Once you spend time visualizing yourself around these trigger foods, you can practice being around them in real life. Before you do, use that brain for what it was designed for! Ask it what problems might come up that could derail you from showing up as you visualized. Maybe you won’t want to stop eating it. Perhaps you eat the entire box of them. After identifying the potential problems, come up with a game plan. Maybe you start with two cookies on a plate and put the package away. Or you serve some chips and dip and then relocate to another room to enjoy them. Whatever you think might help you stick with your plan that you visualized. Then go for it! Remember, perfection is not a requirement and it is likely that you might have some overeats or completely ignore the plan all together. That’s OK. Progress has already been made by thinking it through beforehand and you’ll get more and more skilled at being around your trigger foods the more you practice. What trigger food will you practice with? Your Coach, Andrea
How visualization can help you lose weight
A powerful tool you can use on your weight loss journey is visualization. I often tell my clients that our thoughts are the instruction manuals for our brains but that doesn’t just include the sentences we tell ourselves. Our brains are powerful machines. You can reinforce those thoughts, create more desire, strengthen commitment and increase motivation by using visualization. Here is how visualization can help you lose weight: Instructions for your brain First, visualization is a process of seeing images in your mind. If you think about a tree, chances are you are able to visualize a tree in your mind. Words when paired with visual images tell a complete story. Your brain has a complete story of what you want on your weight loss journey when you pair your thoughts along with visual images. When your brain clearly understands the goal, it is free to start going after the solution and paving a way to achieve that goal. If you are unsure of where to begin with visualization of your weight loss goal, start with visualizing yourself looking into a mirror. Visualize how your stomach is smaller, your legs slimmer and maybe your cheeks less round. You can envision yourself in smaller clothes or maybe even visualize your current clothing fitting looser on your smaller-sized body. For more advanced visualization, envision yourself going throughout your day. How do you get out of bed? How do you go down the stairs? What does it look like getting in and out of your car? Envision yourself going through these daily activities in your slimmer body. Create desire Visualization also helps create desire on your weight loss journey. Many of my clients blame their reason why for not being compelling enough and why they choose to quit. More often it is because they have not spent enough time thinking about their why and creating a strong relationship with it. The more you think about the reason why you want to lose weight, the more important and desirable it becomes to you. Thinking about your reason only on January 1st is a recipe for remaining the same. But if you think about your reason every single day of the month for an entire year, you’ll build desire and commitment to that goal. Another great way to build that desire for your weight loss goal is to visualize yourself at your goal weight daily. Envision yourself enjoying your new slimmer body. Think of the different activities you’ll engage in, that your weight currently holds you back. Visualize yourself in clothes that you love and feeling confident in them. Create a vision in your mind of yourself that you truly want and are excited to experience. Find solutions to obstacles You can also use visualization as role play for situations you find tough to deal with in real life. Let’s say that you struggle with leaving restaurants overly stuffed. Visualization can be an amazing tool to walk through going to the restaurant and taking a to-go box home with half of your meal inside. It’s a lot easier to visualize that action in your mind when the delicious food isn’t sitting in front of you. Again, the visualization becomes the instruction manual for real life. Once you get comfortable packing up half of the meal into the to-go container in your mind, you can do it more easily in real life because your brain already knows the clear instructions on how to do it. Help keep yourself going Motivation can come and go on your weight loss journey and that’s totally normal. Sometimes getting your shoes on is the hardest part of the workout. Visualizing yourself putting on the shoes, completing the workout and seeing yourself be proud of that accomplishment can be a great way to get yourself motivated to take that positive action again. Not only that but visualizing yourself at your goal weight helps remind yourself of what today’s action can result in. If you are lacking in motivation, you can return to feeling motivated by visualizing a time when you felt really motivated. Picture where you were, what you were doing and how the feeling of motivation felt in your body. Of course, along with that visualization, tap into the thoughts you were telling yourself at that time so you have a really clear picture of that motivation. Together these two things are a great way to return to that motivated state and keep yourself going on your weight loss journey. Have you tried visualizing yourself at your weight loss goal? Comment below. Your Coach, Andrea
How to find your why for losing weight
When people are struggling to lose weight, I often hear them say that they don’t have a compelling enough reason why they want to lose weight. Your why can often be the reason you choose to continue on your weight loss journey even when you don’t feel like it. It is a reason greater than your desire to skip the workout or eat the chocolate cake. If you don’t have one, I am going to tell you exactly how to find your why for losing weight. Don’t just think of a number on the scale and the clothing you’ll wear. Weight loss can have an effect on far more than that! In fact, I will challenge you to throw out the idea that one powerful why is supposed to carry you throughout your journey. You can, and should, have many whys. To create a list of whys, think of the areas of your life listed below: Family Many women I work with are used to putting others ahead of themselves. Thinking how their family members need them at their healthiest is an easy place to find a meaningful why. At my highest of 250 pounds, I felt like a fraud. I wanted to be a good example of health for my children but I was inactive and ate junk food all the time. Creating alignment in my actions and my teachings was very motivating for me. It’s also worth considering your extended family and parents. My parents are in retirement and their mobility is starting to decline. One of my reasons why I wanted to lose weight is to be able to take care of them. Many caretakers have to assist loved ones in and out of cars or beds. I want to be able to do that without injuring myself in the process. I also want to be as healthy and free of ailments myself so that I can focus on keeping them well taken care of. Romance Consider how your romantic relationship, or the prospect of one, might change when you lose weight. I’m married and I certainly want to be around for a very long time with my husband. I want us to be vibrant and healthy in our retirement years so we can travel the world. I also want to be my healthiest so I can feel well and interact with him as my best self. At my highest weight, I had terrible heart burn and it was a struggle to get to sleep. Then once I got to sleep, my hips and knees would ache so it was difficult to stay asleep. I was constantly tired and irritable. I hardly ever interacted with my husband as my best self. Now, on a vain note, plenty of whys can come from the bedroom too. Looking good in lingerie and having the confidence to make love with the lights on could be whys. For me, I wanted to feel comfortable in my own skin and fully enjoy those moments with my husband without being distracted by the self critical dialogue in my head. Friends This is another great area in your life that you can find a weight loss why. Prior to losing 90 pounds, my friend time was a lot of wine nights with plenty of snacks. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a ton of fun but often left me feeling bloated and miserable the next day. My why wasn’t to eliminate wine nights all together but rather incorporate some other activities with my friends. I wanted to spend more time outdoors with friends. I wanted to try new things like standup paddle boarding and kayaking. Maybe it’s not about changing what you do with your current friends but instead is about including new ones. What other friends might you make along your weight loss journey? How could you life become richer and expand? Daily Life When I decided I was going to lose 100 pounds, I challenged myself to come up with 100 reasons why it was important to me. Many of my reasons came from small irritations that showed up in my every day life. Going to sleep was difficult due to heart burn. Walking up the stairs required at least two minutes to catch my breath. Tying my shoes squished all the air out of my lungs. It took two scoots to get off the couch. And my jeans were constantly wearing thin between my thighs. Chub rub is real. Take the time to go through your normal daily routine. Ask yourself what would be easier if you weighed less. How would it feel to get out of bed? Going down the stairs? Walking to the mailbox? Getting in the car? No doubt, you will find at least five ways your daily life will improve by your weight loss. Movement I have intentionally named this one movement and not exercise. I believe weight loss is achievable without intentional exercise. This is about finding movement that you enjoy. Our bodies are meant to move and movement is one of the best ways to honor them and keep them feeling great. I used to love yoga but at 250 pounds the poses were very difficult to get into. One of my whys was to enjoy doing yoga again. I also have an adventurous spirit and want to be able to try any activity. Fun things like zip lines, horseback riding and helicopter rides often come with weight limits. I didn’t want my weight holding me back from experiencing those things. Self Last but most importantly, what might change in your relationship with you? I wanted to like what I saw in the mirror. No more grunts of disgust or refusing to buy new clothes until I lost at least 15 pounds. I wanted to care for myself every single day. To be on the same team as my body and not treating it like an enemy. I wanted to feel in control of my
Top 20 quotes to keep you motivated on your weight loss journey
Millions of people have gone on a weight loss journey. And millions of people have lost their motivation at one time or another. Sometimes all you need is a great quote to get you in a motivated state of mind and start making progress on your journey again. Here are my top 20 quotes to keep you motivated on your weight loss journey: “The scale is merely a measure of my relationship with gravity.”– Lauren Harris-Pincus “When you feel like quitting, think about why you started.”– Author Unknown “Success is the sum of small efforts — repeated day-in and day-out.”– Robert Collier “If you are tired of starting over, stop giving up.” – Author Unknown “You didn’t gain all your weight in one day; you won’t lose it in one day. Be patient with yourself.” – Jenna Wolfe “A journey of 1000 miles begins, continues and ends with a single step” – Andrea Muñoz “Fitness is like marriage; you can’t cheat on it and expect it to work.” – Bonnie Pfiester “Looking after my health today gives me a better hope for tomorrow.” – Anne Wilson Schaef “Action is the foundational key to all success.” —Pablo Picasso “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” – Tommy Lasorda “Slow and steady wins the race.” – The Tortoise “There’s no such thing as failure: either you win, or you learn.” – Author Unknown “Strive for progress, not perfection.” – Author Unknown “My power lies in my choices.” – Andrea Muñoz “Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.” – Napoleon Hill “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes―understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” ―Arianna Huffington “You can either experience the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The choice is yours.” —Unknown “Don’t quit yet, the worst moments are usually followed by the most beautiful silver linings. You have to stay strong, remember to keep your head up and remain hopeful.” ―Unknown “If you believe it’ll work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you don’t believe it’ll work out, you’ll see obstacles.” ―Wayne Dyer “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” ―Arthur Ashe I hope these motivation quotes help you along your journey. Remember to save the ones you love and reflect on them often. If you are still having trouble with your weight loss journey, I’m here to help you. Set up a call with me today and let’s get you started. Your Coach, Andrea
What to do when you lose your weight loss motivation
Motivation is a fleeting thing. It seems to come and go as it pleases. Once motivation begins to wain so often do the healthy habits we put in place to lose weight. For many of us, this is a problem as we begin to put on weight and feel like we have failed. So what should you do? Here are five steps to take when you lose your weight loss motivation: Remind yourself this is normal It’s really easy to look at other people on social media on health and fitness journeys and believe that they are machines that never waiver in their motivation. But that’s simply not true. Social media is often a highlight reel of people’s lives. Everyone on this Earth has struggled with feeling unmotivated. It’s really beneficial to acknowledge to yourself that this is totally normal. It’s likely not the first time you’ve felt unmotivated and it won’t be the last. Acknowledging that this is normal is really important. When you believe you are the only one who feels unmotivated, it creates a feeling of shame. Often times when you feel shame, you hide. You start hiding from your goals and ignore the reasons why you are doing this. You start making excuses how just skipping a workout this one time won’t matter or you deserve to eat this chocolate cake. Before you know it, you are feeling shame for “falling off the wagon” on top of the original shame of not feeling like working out and now you’re in a shame spiral. Shame has never been a good motivator. It’s important to exit that shame spiral by acknowledging that this is a normal part of all health journeys. This is something to be expected. It may not feel great and you might not love it, but it’s also something that won’t last forever. Acknowledge that motivation isn’t a requirement The second step to getting your motivation back is to acknowledge that it’s not required to do the things that result in weight loss. Yep, I said it. Motivation is not required to work out, eat a vegetable or stop eating at enough. Don’t believe me? Think about all the things you do when you simply don’t feel like it. Paying any bills at all would probably qualify. Going to meaningless meetings at work. Taking your car in for emissions testing. Flossing your teeth. You get the point. Motivation is a great thing to have but at the end of the day, you don’t have to feel motivated to take action. What is far better than feeling motivated is feeling committed. Commitment to your health goals is much like your commitment in marriage. It is for better or worse, through thick and thin, and until death do you part. To strengthen your commitment, remind yourself of the consequences of not taking action, which is the next step to getting your weight loss motivation back. Consider the consequences Every action has a consequence, whether good or bad. When you lose your weight loss motivation, your ability to consider the consequences seems to go out the window too. You justify skipping the workout without considering the new sedentary habit you are creating. You eat the chocolate cake without acknowledging that this choice means you won’t lose weight this week. Considering the consequences is not telling yourself that you’ll never lose weight because your undisciplined and a failure for skipping a workout or eating the cake. It’s just a reminder to yourself that your actions have an effect on the results you see on your journey. It is a moment of loving responsibility, not condemnation. Taking the moment to consider what you want right now in this unmotivated moment versus what you want most (meeting your weight loss goal) can be enough to motivate you to make the choice that brings long term success. Count your wins After acknowledging that feeling unmotivated is normal, reminding yourself that motivation is not required to take action and you consider the consequences, it’s time to start counting your wins. Everyone enjoys winning. When you are winning, you want to continue to play the game. When you are losing, you want to pack up your bat and ball and go home. One great way to get your motivation back is to count your wins. No matter big or small, it all counts! Start listing all the things actions you’ve taken on your weight loss journey, the non-scale victories as well as scale victories and you’re on your way to feeling more motivated in no time. Take action As discussed before, you don’t have to feel motivated to take action. So just get started. You don’t have to commit to never missing a workout but what about just doing five minutes right now? You don’t have to write an entire food plan, but what about just filling in what you’ll eat for breakfast. Don’t want to journal? Just write down how you feel today in a couple sentences. Something is always better than nothing and you’ll probably find that when you get the ball rolling, it is easier to convince yourself to just go ahead and finish what you started. In fact, most of us don’t want to take action because we think it will be difficult or require a lot of work. But the reality is once you start doing it, you realize it wasn’t that big of a deal to begin with and will often find it easier to commit to completing the task. And of course, when you take the action, celebrate it. Cue the confetti and tell yourself how amazing you are for doing it when you didn’t feel like it. You put what you want most over what you wanted right now and that is a huge accomplishment! Your Coach, Andrea
What to do when you gain weight
I wish I could promise you that your weight loss journey will be a steady loss however that is not how life works. There are many weeks where you will lose weight but there will also be weeks when you maintain and *gasp* gain. If you are living life at the same time you are trying to lose weight, the scale at some point will show a gain. Here’s how to handle it: Remind yourself: This is normal. I can’t tell you this enough. A gain will happen at some point. Whether it is a sodium-heavy meal, consuming alcohol, sugary treats, water retention or just plain overeating, gains are inevitable. Reminding yourself that this is a normal part of the journey helps to calm your brain down from going into freak out mode. I have lost over 93 pounds and if I stopped every time I had a gain, I would still be at my high weight of 250 pounds or more! Most of us freak out because we feel like we are failing. And NO ONE wants to feel like a failure. I don’t know about you but I hate feeling like a failure and will often try to hide from that feeling by eating delicious things, having a second helping of dinner or consoling myself with a glass of wine. But all that does it take you further away from your weight loss goal and pile on the feeling of shame. So do yourself a favor. Instead of thinking “I F*!# up” or “I’m doing it all wrong!” Ask yourself some of these questions: How did I get these results? What else could be causing this higher number on the scale? How can I accept this and move on? This is also a great time to remind yourself that to gain a pound of fat you need to eat in excess of 2500 calories. If the scale shows a 3 pound gain, did you really consume an extra 7500 calories that would result in this? If the answer is no, then there could be another explanation like hormones, water retention, etc. Take responsibility without shame. If you made choices that didn’t align with your weight loss goal, accept it. Accepting that you played a role in your weight gain doesn’t mean that you are a terrible person, a failure or doomed to be overweight for the rest of your life. It simply means that your actions have consequences. If you don’t like the consequence of weight gain, then it is time to take different actions. One sure way to know if you are shaming yourself is the word “should.” If you are going through a laundry list of things you should or should not have done, then you are shaming yourself. Things like: I should have known better I should have more willpower around food I should have worked out harder I shouldn’t have had that dessert I shouldn’t have potato chips in the house These are all judgements against yourself and your actions. Should-ing on yourself only serves to make you feel terrible. It’s like a parent wagging their finger at you and lecturing you. No one gets up from a shaming lecture determined to make better choices. Instead take loving responsibility for the choices you made. Your past choices do not have to be an indicator of your future performance. You are always capable of making different choices in the future. The best news ever is that if you are the problem, you are also the solution! You have no control over any one else in this world but you. So this is fantastic news! Make a plan. In my weight loss program, I teach making a food plan each day. I make mine in the morning when I am feeling fresh and full of hope for my weight loss goal. When you have gained weight, the plan you make is very important. Many of you will want to course correct by restricting everything but low fat and diet-industry-approved foods. Don’t do this. Weight gain doesn’t happen overnight and neither does weight loss. Over restricting and unrealistic food plans will only make you feel punished and resentful. Plan for foods that you enjoy but commit to only eating until you are satisfied. After all, the cause of true weight gain is always overeating. Then commit to taking loving care of your body by hydrating well, getting enough sleep and moving your body in enjoyable ways. Get a quick win. If weight gain has you feeling like a failure, then choose something small that makes you feel like you are winning again. Maybe it is a five minute walk, drinking a glass of water or choosing to eat an apple instead of chips. Whatever it is, do it and celebrate yourself for taking that action! I love telling myself “I’m on a winning streak!” each time I take an action that aligns with my weight loss goal. When we feel like we are winning, we want to keep playing. When we feel like we are losing, we want to pack up our ball and bat and go home. Finding that quick win and getting yourself into that winning mindset again is absolutely crucial for continuing on your weight loss journey. If you struggle with getting yourself back into that winning mindset, be sure to set up a free consult call with me to discuss how I can help. Your Coach, Andrea
How to find your weight loss motivation in 3 easy steps
When people talk about weight loss often it is accompanied by the word motivation. They say things like: I need to get motivated to lose weight and eat healthy. I just don’t have the motivation to exercise. I have lost all my motivation to lose weight. I’ll be more motivated to lose weight once the New Year/new month/new week starts. I can’t find the motivation to eat right and move my body. So what is motivation? Webster’s dictionary gives this definition: The act or process of motivating; the condition of being motivated A motivating force, stimulus or influence It’s a bit funny that most of us speak about motivation like it is some sort of commodity. Like something we can go to the store and purchase or something that we might stumble upon out in the wild. The truth is that motivation comes from our actions and processes. It comes from the things we do. It’s not something that randomly drops into your brain or happens when you wake up on a certain side of the bed. So if you are searching for your motivation, relax. It’s been with you the whole time. Here are three simple steps to find your weight loss motivation: 1. Start doing the damn things Yep, you heard me. Whatever it is that you think you don’t have the motivation to do (exercise, eat right, get to bed on-time, eat less), just do it. You don’t have to make a commitment to doing ALL of it ALL the time. But for the next five minutes, could you move your body? For this one meal, could you add more fruits and vegetables? For this one snack, could you throw the last two bites away? Just for tonight, could you get in bed 15 minutes earlier? Stop listening to your excuses about why it’s hard or why you can’t. Just commit and get it done. When you are taking the action that aligns with your goals and desires, you feel like you are “doing things right” and it encourages you to continue to take that positive action. Likewise when we continue to resist taking that action, we only reinforce the bad habits we want to change. Reinforcing those habits makes it more difficult to change in the future. Remind yourself when you want to wait to get started that “this very moment is the easiest it will be for me to start making the changes I desire.” 2. Focus on the benefits and results Most of us get it wrong when we embark on our weight loss journeys. We start with how much weight we want to lose, the date we want to lose it by and then create a detailed list of the exercises to do, foods we shouldn’t eat and calculate the perfect amount of calories to consume. Basically a giant to-do list of restriction and undesirable tasks. Total motivation suck. Instead focus on the reasons WHY you want to lose weight. Come up with a list of reasons why each action you want to take to lose the weight is so beneficial. Focus on the endorphins you feel after working out. Remind yourself of how much better your joints will feel once the excess weight is off your body. Picture yourself looking sexy and slim in a summer dress. Dream about doing activities that you weight is currently sidelining you from. Really dive into what makes going through this process worth it and focus on that. On my journey to losing 100 pounds, I created a list of 100 reasons why I wanted to lose those 100 pounds. Some were physical, others mental health related, a good amount were vanity driven and all of them were things I desired to have in my life. Creating desirability for the results of your weight loss keeps your motivated to take action towards that goal and makes the effort worth it. 3. Celebrate everything Losing motivation generally happens because we stopped doing the things that result in weight loss. Then we beat ourselves up for falling off the wagon, feel ashamed and then we just want to crawl into bed with some Ben and Jerry’s. Just as much as not going the things demotivates us, doing the things will motivate us (see #1 above). If you want to supercharge your motivation, you must celebrate EVERY action and result that prove you are headed in the right direction. Did you leave a couple bites behind at breakfast? Tell yourself how amazing you are for listening to your satiation cues and not finishing your plate. Did you go for a ten minute walk even though your day super busy? Way to not let time be an excuse to skip moving your body today. Have you been going to bed early and nailing your sleep goal? You’re amazing for prioritizing what your body needs most! Along with celebrating your actions, celebrate your results as well. Typically, people losing weight use the scale as the one and only measure of success. Don’t do this! Relying only on the scale to tell you if you are doing well or not is a major mistake. Instead, be sure to use non-scale measurements to track your progress too. Some great non-scale measurements are habit trackers, progress pictures, body measurements and mood journals. And don’t forget your other measurements like blood pressure, resting heart rate, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, which show an increase in physical health. If any of those non-scale measurements change for the better, celebrate yourself! Every additional check mark on your habit tracker should be applauded. Each inch lost on your waist marveled at. Tell yourself how proud you are that you are making changes to lose weight and have a healthier life. Remind yourself that your hard work is paying off and you ARE seeing results. *** Bonus Tip*** Keep in mind that motivation is the act of motivating or a motivating stimulus. You are the one to perform
How to create a successful weight loss plan in 5 easy steps
Weight loss can be very overwhelming especially when you have over 100 pounds to lose. You may get confused on where to start or which food and exercise plan is the best. There are thousands of options out there and it can seem impossible to know which one is right for you. Here are five easy steps to creating a successful weight loss plan especially made for YOU: 1. Figure out where you are beginning When you get directions to a new place you’ve never been, you have to plug in the starting address first. To begin your weight loss journey, you have to do the same. Start by asking yourself the following questions: What is my current weight? If I had to guess what brought me to this weight, I would say it’s because…. What is my routine eating schedule? What are the foods I eat in a normal day? How much am I routinely moving my body? Do I believe I am capable of making the changes to lose my excess weight? These questions are great ways to determine where you are starting with your diet, exercise and mindset. Be careful not to get too overwhelmed or upset about how far you are from your ultimate goal. Don’t let this be a time where you plan for incredible acts of willpower or drastic measures that will get you to your goal the fastest. Remember when you are getting directions somewhere, they are given in multiple steps. If you were traveling across the country, you wouldn’t get upset because there are multiple roads and highways you have to take so don’t let that be a reason to be upset on your weight loss journey either. Especially when you have a lot of weight to lose, it helps to accept that the process is going to take time. Taking things slower ensures you don’t burn out and quit. 2. Make a list of what you are willing to do to lose weight Remember to start where you are! It’s very easy to look for a diet and exercise plan that promises the results you want. Just remember that every diet out there works if YOU continue to work it. You have probably lost weight before on these other plans but ultimately failed because you stopped following it. You weren’t willing to continue to follow the diet rules. This time around you need to figure out what you are willing to do for the rest of your life to maintain a healthier weight. If you are currently eating McDonald’s three times a day, changing to eating only salads that you make at home isn’t realistic and will feel terrible. Instead look for the small things that you are willing to do. Maybe it is ordering a smaller size fry or a regular hamburger instead of the Big Mac. You could also order your same meal and leave a few bites behind each time. Just make a list of all the ways you are willing to eat a little less, move a little more and explore why you are overeating in the first place. Once you have a giant list (don’t stop until you have at least 20 things on it), figure out which ones are going to be the easiest to do and start with one of them. Yep, just one. Do one thing until you get really good at doing it and then layer in the next easiest thing. Small quick wins are a great way to start changing your habits, getting the weight loss ball rolling and not feeling like your life was turned upside down. Those quick wins will add up and before you know it you will be doing many of these new habits and it won’t feel difficult at all. 3. Create an action plan for when you fail You are human. You will make mistakes. You will not do it right ALL the time. And that’s OK. The problem is that when you make a mistake, you ruminate on how terrible you are and how you’ll never make the changes needed to lose your weight. It becomes a catastrophe rather than a moment in time. That’s why it is important to create a plan for getting back on track as quickly possible. Having this plan in place ahead of time makes it so much easier to follow when you are in the thick of things and shortens the amount of time it takes to “get back on the wagon.” First, create a list of thoughts that help get you get your mind in the right place to take your next best action. This was just a moment in time. I can learn from this and move on stronger and better equipped. No matter what happened, I can always make my next best decision. It’s not the mistake I made but how I respond to it that determines my success in weight loss. Then create a list of the small decisions that you can make to get your weight loss ball rolling again. Keep these really simple and something you can do in under five minutes. Some ideas are drink a glass of water, go for a five minute walk, write in your journal or listen to a motivational podcast. Finally and most importantly after completing one of these actions remind yourself that you are doing what it takes to lose weight again. Tell yourself how proud you are for getting right back at it! 4. Decide on how you will measure your progress Please don’t just say the scale! The scale will not accurately reflect all of your efforts. You cannot control the scale. You can only control your actions so using a habit tracker is a much better way to measure progress. A habit tracker can show you that you worked out twice last week but you completed three workouts this week. That’s progress! You can also track sleep, adherence to food plans, overeats
Nine lessons learned from losing 90 pounds
When you lose over 90 pounds, the process will change you. You learn things about yourself, see yourself in a new light and even evolve into a better version of yourself (and not just because you lost a ton of weight). I’m going to share with you nine lessons I have learned on my journey to losing over 90 pounds in hopes that they can help you on your journey. I enjoy sweets and treats more the less I eat them On my journey, I didn’t restrict any types of foods, including sweets. In fact, at the beginning I was eating sweets multiple times a day. Eventually I began to focus on foods that really gave me sustained energy and the sweets became less of my daily routine. And you know what? Creating more space and time between the sweets really allowed me to create desire and anticipation for the treat. I savored them more and they were much more enjoyable when they were just a standard part of my day. Emotional eating comes in many forms I was aware that I was an emotional eater but as I began to check in with myself more regularly before eating, I realized I was emotionally eating ALL. THE. TIME. If I was stressed about the kids being crazy kids, let’s look for some relief in the pantry. Work task that I didn’t want to start? Hmm…. maybe I should grab a snack before I get started. Bored? Let’s eat. Tired? A quick bite might energize me. If I was having a disagreement with my husband, I’ll show him by eating the last of the cookies! Feeling proud of my kids school performance? Let’s get ice cream! Becoming aware of all the times I was eating when I wasn’t truly hungry helped me figure out the real solutions for those problems. Now I take a power nap if I’m tired or go to my room for a quick breather when they kids are being crazy. Solving for the true problem allows me to feel better while also losing weight in an enjoyable way. It was time to parent myself My high weight of 250 pounds came from a lot of emotional eating and a side of “I don’t wanna.” I didn’t want to deal with my emotions. Eating fresh fruits and veggies didn’t sound fun. 11,000 steps each day sounded hard. I didn’t want to stick to a food plan. I basically conditioned myself to be a big baby whose brain would throw a fit at the thought of what it would take to get healthier and lose weight. I wanted pleasure and I wanted it NOW. I realized that many of the things I was allowing myself to do (like eat entire boxes of cookies or sit on the couch all day) were things I would never let my kids do. I know that moving your body, getting sunshine and eating a well balanced diet is key to good mental and physical health. Somehow I had convinced myself that because I already KNOW these things that meant I could be exempt from actually doing them. Not only was living my life that way taking a toll on my body but I was increasing mom guilt as I knew I wasn’t practicing what I was preaching to my kiddos. So I started to parent myself. I would acknowledge that I was making changes and that changes are often uncomfortable. That’s OK. It wasn’t going to kill me. In fact the more I practiced this new way of living, the more I would become comfortable with it and even appreciate it. I also made an agreement with myself that just because “I didn’t wanna” didn’t make that a valid excuse for not doing something. Logically I knew these actions were all what was best for me and I could do them even if “I didn’t wanna.” The scale is just one piece of data Yep, it’s been said before and I’m saying it again. The scale is just a number. And it is only one number to consider on your weight loss journey. From the beginning of my weight loss journey, I made sure to track other measurements too. I took body weight measurements, used habit trackers and took progress pictures. These were invaluable as I had weeks were the scale didn’t move (or gasp, went up!). These other measurements helped me stay grounded as I could reflect on the efforts I was putting forth and other changes that my body was making. Other ideas for non-scale measurement are body fat measurements, changes in how much you can lift and cardio endurance. Not sure how to measure cardio endurance? Climb a flight of stairs each month and record how long it takes, how long it takes you to catch your breath and how you feel afterwards. You can also track your mood throughout the process. Every morning record your mood in a journal. Exercise has been proven to elevate your mood so when you start noticing more happy and content days, that’s progress! The only diet drama comes from my own head This lesson took me a little longer to learn. When you are 100 pounds overweight, the beginning of your weight loss journey can be very thrilling. I made very little changes to my diet (I only stopped eating when I had enough, instead of being full) and the weight seemed to fall off. Eventually more changes had to be made to keep losing weight and certainly it was falling off me anymore. Cue the drama! I realized that the weeks where the scale didn’t drop “enough,” stayed the same or went up a bit were really difficult for me. All the sudden my motivation would disappear and I would start questioning if I would ever be able to reach my goal. I knew this was a normal part of the weight loss journey but it felt terrible. So I
Water and Your Weight Loss
Water is a vital part of losing weight. Our bodies are up to 60% water AND water is an integral part of fat loss. So to keep your body functioning at it’s best and ready to lose fat, you have to drink water. Period. How much water do you have to drink to lose weight? There are different recommendations out there for how much water is optimal for weight loss. I recommend 64 ounces of water as a minimum threshold. Optimally, I strive for half my body weight in water each day. So at my highest weight of 250 pounds, I aimed to drink 125 ounces of water each day. Three unhelpful thoughts about water: I hate the taste of water. Yes, you may not prefer the taste (or lack thereof) of water to other beverages. But dwelling and continuously telling yourself that you hate water isn’t the way to start drinking more of it. In fact, that will make you avoid it more and loathe it when you do finally drink some. Instead, consider what else you might be willing to think about water. I’m learning to like water. I’m willing to find more opportunities to drink water. I can do hard things (this one is for those of you really committed to hating it). You can also create rules for yourself that encourage more water drinking into your already established routines. If you drink a cup of coffee each morning, then create the rule for yourself that as the coffee is brewing you drink an entire glass of water. Your soda at meal time can also be preceded by a glass of water. It especially helps if the task you combine with your water drinking with is enjoyable so it acts as a reward for drinking your water. I don’t want to (or can’t) pee all the time. What goes in, must come out. I get it. Increasing your water intake means increasing your trips to the bathroom as well. Some people have rigid work schedules that don’t allow the luxury of frequent bathroom breaks, if any at all. Hello teachers! Instead of dwelling on the problem of not being able to go to the bathroom all the time, think of a strategic solution that allows you to get the water in as well as fit with your schedule. That might mean chugging 24 ounces of water as soon as you get up so you can use the restroom right before work. Then lay off the water until about an hour before your scheduled break and chug another 24 ounces then. Finally chug another 24 ounces prior to getting off your shift or right after you get off work and BOOM that’s 72 ounces completed. I am awesome at drinking water. How is this a troubling thought about water? Seems like you are doing just fine with water if this is your thought. But are you sure? What gets measured, gets managed. When we think we are awesome at drinking water, we don’t bother to measure it. We take it for granted that we drink more than enough and we never really know exactly how much we are drinking. This can lead us into a false sense of complacency as well as spinning our wheels when weight loss stalls. Because water plays such a vital role in weight loss, it is extremely important not to assume you are getting enough water. You can still think you are awesome at drinking water but always measure it to verify. So there you have it. Three unhelpful thoughts about water and how to combat them. Your Coach, Andrea