Weight Loss Tip: Do What Works for You Not What Works for "Them"

We are all different and sometimes that means what works for one person, ie our teachers, parents, best friends, co-workers, doesn't work for us.

This is true for just about every facet of our lives, including successful weight loss.

I firmly believe there is no one plan, diet, exercise routine, or lifestyle that will work for all of us. What is universal is how much our attitude plays a role in our weight loss success.

One of the best weight loss tips I can offer is for you to find something that helps you to feel good about yourself and moving towards your health goals...in other words, be loving towards yourself...and you will have success.

On the other hand, if you are constantly criticizing yourself and the progress you are (or are not) making, comparing yourself to others then you will not have success. At least, not permanently.

Don't "should" yourself into further failure, as in

• It should work for me, it is how Sue/Mary/Bob lost weight
• I should be able to stick with this

Criticizing ourselves and "shoulding" ourselves only makes us wrong and puts our focus on what we don't want. Shift that focus to what you DO want.

So look at what you are doing a little more objectively and with love. Evaluate it as you would help your best friend out...without judging her as wrong or bad. And if you find that what you have been doing isn't working, then be open to the possibility that something else might work for you and it is time to try a different path.

Begin to focus on positive things that work for you, help remind you of your success, how you deserve health, what your goal is, and that you can do it.

Here are some ideas or tools that have worked for me or people I know

• Daily affirmations
• Dream board (or vision board) with images that represent the body & life you want
• Meditation, or visualize your healthy body
  
• Pictures of yourself when you were a healthy (healthier) weight
• Post positive messages on your mirror
• Picture of a bikini
• Find a weight loss (or walking) buddy
  
• Loving notes in or on the cupboard/freezer/frig reminding you to think before you eat
• Listen to (or watch) positive body image messages
• Write in a journal WHY you want to change your body, your successes & challenges
• Express gratitude for the current level of health you have & the possibility of even more

You don't have to do them all...and not all of these techniques will work for you, so feel free to use what feels good and throw away the rest! Or use them to springboard an entirely different idea that helps YOU...and if you come up with one, let me know what it is--post it in a comment here so other people who are struggling can benefit from your weight loss success!

Love Yourself to Lose Weight

The way to start to lose weight--and to keep it off--is by loving yourself.

I don't mean that you are stuck up...or think you are better than anyone else (that isn't love!)...just have an honest love for the being that is YOU...

It is often so much easier for us to love other people than ourselves. We often feel that we don't deserve it. Maybe we even think that "if people only knew the truth, they wouldn't love us"...

Well, lots of people have that thought...and the REAL truth is that we are not perfect AND we are still loveable. Most of us have not done anything that is all that horrible, and the reasons we feel we are not worth of love are pretty superficial, or are false messages that we have ingrained into our heads from childhood!

It is a simple thing...not to be confused with an easy thing...but it does start with love. When we love ourselves we take care of ourselves...after all, we care for things we love, right?

If "love" is too difficult a word, then start with appreciating or respecting yourself...or even start by being open to the possibility that just maybe you ARE worth it.

Look, if you have struggled with your weight and been on lots of diets without success, then what you are doing isn't working...so maybe there is a different way to go about it that will work. This is how I started and I have successfully lost 125lbs, so I KNOW that it works!

Loving yourself is going main stream, too...if you want help remembering to love yourself you can even get a t-shirt that will help remind you! Shirts are available at retailers, if you want to learn more you can visit the site www.loveyourself.com

Weight Loss Tip: Focus on the Positive

How many times do we find fault with ourselves? We're too fat, our hips are too big, our belly sticks out, we're out of shape, we eat too much...

Instead of finding fault with ourselves, if we really want to achieve health, we want to turn our focus on the positive.

So, think about what is working in your life? What is good about your body? What blessings do you have that you can express gratitude for freely?

I could choose to bemoan that my build is such that I will never be a beauty queen (I'm too short, or my bones are too big, or, the list could go on) or I can choose to be grateful that I have good strong bones and muscles that carry me through life easily!

It is all about choice and how you want to look at it...so why not choose an attitude that is supportive and positive? Not only will you feel better, you will be more fun to be around AND you will find that you start to lose weight as you are more positive and loving about your body!

I love that my taste buds let me experience a variety of flavors, I am grateful that I have a strong body, I am thrilled with the progress I have made in achieving health, I give thanks that my eyes see the beauty around me...

I am strong, generous, kind, loving and gifted...

How about you? What will YOU choose to focus on today?

Wash Away the Fat

I was washing my face this morning and had a realization...how many times when I wash my face am I looking for the imperfections? Instead of focusing on what is "wrong" in the mirror, how about I put my attention on what is "right?"

I like to do affirmations in the mirror...I do that most days. This morning I did not...because I was enamored of the sunrise, so I did my mini workout and affirmations in the glory of the view outside.

So when I went to wash my face, it was my first "visit" with my image today. I noticed that my first reaction was to be self-critical! Wow! That was an eye-opener! I've been working at being loving towards myself and positive...and still these thoughts do come up.

Was it because I had not already done affirmations in the mirror that the less-than-positive thoughts came up? Or was I just more aware of my thoughts this morning.

I'm going to guess that my awareness level was up...

Fortunately, because I was aware I was able to change my thoughts right then.

This is my goal whenever I have any thought that is less-than...of course sometimes I am more successful at it than others, but it is a great goal.

I apply this process to my image--not just my face, but my entire body. That is one of the main ways I have been able to lose 125 pounds. Weight loss and mindset really do work together! When I think that I ugly or notice some fat that is hanging around and feel negative about it...when I do that, it tends to hang around longer!

On the other hand, when I notice some fat and recognize that it is just a remnant of some past thoughts and focus on the strength and health of my body...then I notice that the fat tends to release and disappear. And in the meantime, I feel emotionally a lot better--talk about a win-win situation!

Losing weight through positive attitude and positive thinking is possible. It may not happen overnight, but it will provide you with lasting health. Sometimes losing weight starts with washing your face!

Letting Go Leads to Lightness

Continuing on with the story of my cleaning up the basement and how that is similar to my weight loss story...

Sunday I found it easy to sort through the documents and photos...I kept a handful that had special meaning and the rest went either into recycling or the trash.

It felt so wonderful when I went to the recycling center and dropped off 3 large boxes and bags of papers. It was a bit sad that photos end up in the landfill...double prints seem to be the environmental equivalent of "super size me!"

I feel lighter and more positive as a result of this housecleaning. THis is how I feel when I take care of my body by eating well and moving more.

Since I don't believe in coincidences I KNOW there is a connection. I let go of "stuff" Sunday...and the emotional attachment to the stuff...this allowed me to lighten my literal load as well.

I started Sunday doing forgiveness exercises and so I started psychically lighter...and then I finished physically lighter.

That is a direct correlation to how it has worked with my weight loss success! Start with the mind and the body follows!

Are Your Memories Making You Fat?

Are you holding on to the past? Here's a weight loss tip: let the stuff go and the fat will follow!

I was cleaning out some boxes in the basement yesterday--old papers from when I was hired at jobs I had left behind years ago.

And photos. Lots of photos. Of scenes I don't remember. Some common. Some beautiful. None significant enough to place in an album, but here they were 10, 20 years later still being lugged around...still filling up my space.

In the trash (or recyling) all this stuff went...and I feel so much lighter!

What does this have to do with weight loss? Well, losing weight is a very similar process.

I can't tell you how many times I looked at those boxes and said I "should" go through them. And how many times I started to and stopped because "I might need them some day" or "I might WANT that SOME day".

How many times did I pretty much say the same thing about losing weight? I "should" and "some day" were favorite phrases.

It wasn't until I was ready mentally to shed my physical excess baggage that I could do it.

Holding on to "stuff" is what keeps us fat...cluttered in our bodies, our minds and our environment.

Let go of the past. Release the memories that no longer serve you...the stuff that is just hanging around not helping you. When you are ready to do that, you will find the fat starts to melt away.

Ego Keeps Itself Safe and You Fat

Eckhart Tolle teaches us that our ego's job is to survive and therefore it will do just about anything to do that...including having us play "roles" that may not serve us in the long-run. Playing these roles can lead to overeating...continued from yesterday's post...Fattening Roles to Drop

When I would overeat (aka binge) I would then tell myself I was stupid or I had no willpower or that I was a fat slob. Those were all judgments, not facts.

Now if I feel the urge to stuff my face, I can look behind that feeling and (sometimes) figure out WHY. Turns out it isn’t because of some giant personal flaw! Typically I find that when I have this temptation it is because I am doing something that doesn’t feel good or authentically me...or I am not taking care of myself and am over fatigued.

At that point, the point I realize this, I have the opportunity to choose. I can choose to be more authentically me in the best way I can, given the situation. I can choose to separate the situation from myself by recognizing that it just IS...and that my thoughts and emotions are independent of it, and then I can work to change how I’m feeling...as Abraham teaches to “reach for a better feeling thought.” Or I can choose to suppress my feelings by drugging myself, whether that is with food, alcohol, drugs or even over exercising!

What helped me when I did choose to overeat in order to hide from my feelings was to consciously acknowledge that was what I was doing. I would literally say out loud “I know that I am eating to push down my feelings of fear (or discomfort or pain or anger) and I give myself permission to do this...this is a way I have developed to protect myself and right now, at this moment, it does serve me”

By giving myself permission to overeat I accomplished 2 things. 1) I tended to actually eat less and 2) I stopped beating myself up for doing it!

This is a wonderful place to start. From here it is possible to build up other coping skills.

This may sound strange, but I am actually grateful for my past overeating and the fat that resulted from it. Why? Because I know this was a tool that I used, one that my ego developed, to protect itself. It kept me alive at times. It also was, admittedly, a way for me to get some attention that my ego obviously wanted.

I no longer want that attention and I no longer need fat to protect me. But when I didn’t know anything else, my fat shielded me and helped keep me safe. How can I possibly be angry about that? I was doing the absolute best I could at the time.

Our minds and bodies are incredibly amazing things. They will work extremely diligently to keep us alive...they will creatively find ways to get this done...that is their number one priority.

It is OUR job to be as conscious as possible so we are in control of how we are living. When we actively choose our actions, our thoughts and thereby our emotions, then we can truly have the healthy, slender body that we are designed to have...and that we all deserve.