2nd Top Strategy to Curb Emotional Eating

You've probably heard me talk about this one before...but it is such an important strategy, not just for emotional eating binges, but for all weight loss success efforts that it bears repeating!

No Forbidden Foods

In other words, give yourself a little permission to eat like a human!

By putting foods and emotional eating entirely on a taboo list you add guilt to the act of eating. That only makes us want to eat more because now we have another emotional reason to eat!

Besides, having foods "off-limits" really gets to the little kid inside us...and we all remember when we were kids and told we couldn't have or do something, right? We just wanted it all the more!

By giving yourself permission to take away the guilt--and the need to hide your eating!

Let yourself have small portions of special treats. A little "mental health food" is not going to make you fat...it is repeated doses of quantities of food as medication that does that.

Check back tomorrow for strategy #3...

#1 Strategy to Curb Emotional Eating

Despite our past success, despite our best intentions, emotional eating sometimes rears its ugly head. This can be scary if you have lost weight...the fear that the weight will all come back is very real, and unfortunately can cause even more emotional eating.

Look, if we continue with the habits that got us fat in the first place, then we will remain fat, or become fat again if we have succeeded in losing weight.

This is the start in a series on strategies that I have developed that help me to nip the emotional eating in the bud. (Hey, I'm human...sometimes these work better than others! But they do work, if you use them!)

The #1 strategy may actually help you stop the binge BEFORE IT STARTS...I call it a binge, because even if you don't eat massive quantities of food, that is essentially what emotional eating is in my book.

So what is this secret weapon? It is really a simple question.

Ask yourself why you want to eat.

Simple question, not necessarily easy to answer, but this is where you want to start.

Face it, if you are looking in the fridge or cupboard and just don't know what you want to eat, chances are pretty good that you aren't really hungry--not physically. Try to determine what is the reason behind the urge to eat.

Just taking the time to think about it, might stop you from eating. It gives your brain a chance to click in.

And, if you figure out that you are reaching for that bag of chips because you had a fight with your boss (or partner/best friend/kid...) then you have the chance to take a different action.

Now you can determine if you really want to eat in response to that feeling or if there is a better way to resolve the situation.

You may still choose to eat...to self-medicate...but at least you have made it a conscious choice. And really, if we want to be permanently healthy, then we deserve to learn how to handle our emotions with out self-medicating!

Come back for strategy #2...another weight loss success tip that I use to help prevent binges!

Biggest Loser, Stress Eating and Weight Loss Success

I really felt for Daris, one of the final 4 on the Biggest Loser Television Show. He was shown on the "confession cam" eating late at night. He knew better, but was choosing to deal with his emotions by eating.

I just got back from a visit to my mother's...so I completely understand the stress that being at home entails. It is not easy to change our emotional patterns...but we must learn to change our reactions to our emotions if we want to keep our weight loss success permanently!

Like Daris, I also ate to soothe my emotions. I am also determined that I will not allow a few nights of eating ice cream spoil what I have accomplished.

I know that I deserve to have a healthy, slender body. I know I feel better physically and emotionally when I eat well. I also know there is room in a healthy eating plan for some of my favorite treats...and I also know that I am human and not perfect!

Truth is, it was my desire for perfection (ironically) that helped me to obesity in the first place. So by letting go of the need to be perfect, to allow for human failings (now, if they are human are they really failings???) I cut myself a little slack and will then be able to get back on the horse, moving my body, making healthy food choices and loving this work in progress!

Because I know that Daris and I are not the only ones on this planet to resort to emotional eating, I have come up with some strategies that will help curb the binge.

I'll write more about these strategies over the coming days and I would love to hear from you which strategies work for you...and what strategies you have for stopping emotional eating in its tracks!

Check back tomorrow for the #1 strategy...this biggee might just stop your binge before it even starts!

You Can't Wish Weight Loss Success on Anyone

We all want to be healthy, don't we?

We say we do, but if that is true, then why do we ever allow ourselves to become obese?

And once we find ourselves in that situation...somehow magically (black magic, it would seem) transported into this immense body, why don't we simply make the changes necessary to achieve our weight loss goals?

And, better yet...how come our husband (or wife, or best friend or kids) don't?

If you know someone who is obese then you probably have asked yourself something like, why doesn't he/she lose weight? After all, you love them...you want them around for a long time. You may even have great fear for their health and their life because of their weight.

No matter how much you love them, you cannot will them to take responsibility for their lives. You cannot convince them to lose weight. You can't bargain with God to have them see the light and change their ways.

And that's a good thing.

That's good because that means we are each 100% responsible for our own lives...we aren't victims of someone else's wishes and desires.

After all, if I could wish someone to thinness then I could wish them to fatness, too!

So while you can't force someone else to be healthy, you can love them and help them to feel loved and valued. And you can hold in your heart the vision of them as you want to see them...healthy, energetic, vibrant. And you can be sure that you are modeling the behaviors that will enable them (and yourself) to have that healthy body, too.

Then it is up to them if they want to pick up that image or wallow in their false mirror of fatness.

We just never know what is going on in someone else's life...what demons they are facing...what pain they are experiencing.

Until the time is right for them, they won't have success at weight loss, as hard as they try. They might have temporary success...but the weight will just come back unless the issues behind the weight are resolved...and statistically the chances are they will end up heavier than when they started if they try to diet their way to slenderness.

Worrying about their health is natural because you care about them. But worrying about it, talking about it, does not help either of you.

Love and encourage...model healthy behavior...be joyful, happy and healthy yourself...and see them as whole and healthy people.

Then leave it up to them to live into that!

Yosemite and You: National Treasures

I was seated next to a delightful woman from Oklahoma on the flight to visit my mom the other day. Now normally I am pretty quiet on planes. I'm friendly, but I generally stick my nose in a magazine or a book. This flight was different.

I don't remember how we first started talking, how the connection was made. Some trivial thing, I'm sure. But shortly into the flight we were talking like we had known each other for years. Frankly, I've never had an experience on a plane quite like it!

Not only did the flight go by more quickly, it was exciting and fun...and we saw things out the window that so amazing...I've done this flight Denver to San Jose hundreds of times over the years, but this was the very first time I could actually see (and recognize) Yosemite National Park from the air! I was so excited! I could really see the valley, Half Dome and even Yosemite Falls! I don't know if we were closer to the Park then I've ever been, if the air was more clear, or if it was a combination of both...but there it was...revealed...

What does this have to do with weight loss? Why am I writing about an airplane ride and seeing Yosemite?

Because, weight loss success is often like seeing Yosemite from the air. It has always been POSSIBLE to see the Park...I mean, it was always THERE...just sometimes it was hidden beneath clouds or atmosphere, or we were just a bit too far away...or I was preoccupied by a book and didn't notice.

Losing weight and achieving our ideal body is like that. It has always been possible to drop fat and improve our health...but sometimes it SEEMS like that goal is unattainable...the body we want is hidden from our view by excess fat, weight loss success is clouded by cravings and habits...our goal seems too big, too far away...or life just gets in the way and we don't have (or take) the time to see the possibility.

Take a few minutes today and think about what is keeping you from seeing your own What are the clouds that are hiding your personal treasure (a healthy, energetic body)? What is keeping that goal out of your reach? What are you allowing to keep you from seeing the beauty that you have inside? Are you taking the time to even be open to the possibility that it is there, or are you so busy focusing on other things that you don't even recognize the gem that YOU are?

You are every bit as beautiful as our National Parks. You are just as valuable. Just like each Park has its own personality and points of beauty, so do each of us. It isn't our job to all become Yosemite...some of us are Rocky Mountains or Sea Shores or Deserts or Old Faithful!

It is our job to recognize that what makes us different is what makes us special, and the world deserves to see and experience us for our uniqueness...just like the world deserves the opportunity to experience a broad range of beautiful places.

Figure out why you are hiding your treasure. Decide that you are worth a little spit and polish. Then take small steps every day to get our next great national treasure in shape--YOU!

Happy Mother's Day: the Best Gift

Happy Mother's Day everyone! Whether you celebrate your mother or are being celebrated, make it a great day and give yourself and your family the best gift--the gift of health.

I'm writing this from my own mother's house...and I am feeling especially grateful for her presence. Having lost my dad 3 years ago (can it really be that long?) I am thankful for every day that I get to say I love you to my mom...even when she frustrates me or confuses me! I think it is easy for us to expect that they will always be there...even though in our heads we know that isn't reality, we tend to think of all the people in our lives this way. Our friends and loved ones will always be there...that's what we believe...until something comes up to slap us in the face to let us know that, at least in this physical world, that isn't how it works!

What you may not have thought about, is that is how people feel about you, too! People care about you and just expect that you are going to be there forever.

So, let's give each other the absolute best gift we can--the gift of health.

It is up to each of us to decide that we are worth taking the time to be healthy. The irony of this "selfish" decision is that by choosing to be healthy we are dramatically increasing the odds that we will be around longer for the ones we love...for the folks who want us around, and for those who depend on us being around.

This Mother's Day, take a walk together, laugh together. Celebrate each other, walk down memory lane. Take this opportunity to really connect with another human being... And of course, eat together, too.

Enjoy the fresh air, the flowers...and even the chocolates. A healthy, balanced life is not about giving up all treats forever...it is about taking small steps every day to improve your health...so enjoy a chocolate or two,just not the entire box!

To your healthy, energetic, slender body--this Mother's Day and every day!

Affirmations and Cruising for Weight Loss Success

I have been using affirmations as one of my key success tools on this weight loss journey.

Not only have the affirmations helped me change many of the negative messages I was sending myself (I'm a work in progress...so I still have some negative messages to iron out!) but they have also helped heal my body as I dropped over 125lbs.

One of my favorite teachers is Louise Hay. Her style of affirmations and self-love really resonates with me. Hence, I recommend her books, CDs and movies as great tools...for anyone wanting to lose weight--even though they are not specifically aimed at that goal--or to improve their lives in any way.

I wanted to let you know that I found out that Louise is offering a contest to go on a cruise with her in Jan 2011, and having a sale on many of her products.

So if you have been thinking about buying any of Louise's works, click on the banner below to be sure to get the best price AND be entered into a drawing for the cruise!

To your health & Bon Voyage!