Cut Yourself a Little Slack for Weight Loss Success

All too often we expect perfection of ourselves. Why is it that we are able to cut other people some slack while never giving ourselves any?

For we "perfectionists" this is true in many, maybe even all, aspects of our lives...whether it is getting straight A's in school, landing the best job, getting the best review, having our house be immaculate, always eating healthy food or having a 6 pack ab body...we strive to be better and better...sometimes--often--better than is humanly possible.

Yes, we want to be the best we can be...but that does not mean that we must insist on perfection. By aiming for perfection we are bound to disappoint ourselves which only sets us up for self-criticism and doubt.

Just for today, try to be a bit more gentle with yourself. Whether it is about the cookie you ate that you "shouldn't" or that you lost your temper or you were late or your house was not perfectly tidy. Do your best where you are right now

Always Do Your Best: Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

By Don Miguel Ruiz from his best-selling book "The Four Agreement".

At the end of a one day workshop a friend of mine ruefully mentioned to me that she couldn't attend the upcoming multi-day workshop because of the cost...I reminded her of the same principal--do what you can right now. Take what you learned today and apply it. Integrate it into your life. Trust that when you are ready, you will be able to attain the next lessons you need. Whether they are this particular workshop or by some other means.

It is the same with our health and fitness goals. If we truly want to have success with weight loss, then we must start where we are. Move forward every day, integrating what we have learned...opening ourselves to learn new things in the process.

Will we have some set-backs? Very likely! Some days we will "be better" than others...and that is okay. Look at the overall path and see if you are heading in the right direction...if you are doing the best you can at every moment then you can not NOT reach your goals.

Cut yourself a little slack and find yourself on the path for permanent, healthy weight loss--without dieting. It is a change of your mindset, and it works! Do the best you can today and every day...and you will find yourself in a healthier body before you know it!

Weight Loss Tip: Celebrations

I have been busy, busy, busy. Like a lot of people.

And also like a lot of people, sometimes I forget how important it is to enjoy life and celebrate our accomplishments.

One of the blessings I had this past week was to help a couple of friends who were giving a presentation. We joined them last Wednesday evening and also all day Saturday. We monitored the audio and visual equipment and provided various support functions. And we had a great experience and learned a lot in the process.

Because we were feeling so busy, there was a temptation to run from the event and head straight home. Fortunately we were encouraged to join our friends for a celebratory dinner, and we accepted.

We went to a restaurant that I'd not been to before. The fare was certainly not low calorie or low carb...and I enjoyed every bite! I did manage to take home part of my dinner and had a nice meal from the leftovers.

It is important to remember to celebrate--and that can include enjoying a nice meal out. What worked well for me was enjoying a sample of everything and focusing on what I really liked best, and enjoying the conversation and leisurely nature of the meal. And not feeling like I had to be part of the "clean plate club" as my mother used to say!

Slowing down and enjoying the company of wonderful people, engaging in interesting conversation and having good food is a fantastic part of life. I wouldn't eat that way every day...or even every week...but once in a while it is just fine.

Weight Loss Success Means Daily Choices

To achieve weight loss success we must make choices every day to support that success.

This can seem daunting at first, but let's think about what it really means.

We choose to brush our teeth and wash our faces and bodies every day...or at least I hope we all do! If not, then we face the consequences, right? Those consequences may be bad breath, rotten teeth, acne and body odor...most of us don't want those things so we do what we can on a regular basis to protect against it.

It is the same with our eating and exercise habits. It isn't about will power. It is about caring enough about ourselves, and not wanting the negative consequences of what will happen if we don't take care of ourselves.

The only reason it seems easier to wash our face and brush our teeth on a regular basis is because we have already developed the habit! Our parents started us off early in life making sure we brushed our teeth and cleaned behind our ears...so we "hear" those messages and act on them daily.

We may not have gotten the same sorts of messages regarding eating and exercising. So we have to practice ourselves and love ourselves into the new pattern.

If you forget to brush you teeth once in a while your teeth aren't going to all fall out. Similarly, if you don't exercise once in a while you aren't lazy. If you eat cake once in a while you won't be fat. It is the regular application of the behavior that causes the result.

Every day you have the power to choose how you will act.

"Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." - Groucho Marx

Choose to be happy and healthy...or not...it is up to you! You can lose weight through your positive attitude and mindset...and choosing daily to support that attitude.

Diet Pills for Teens

This is in response to a 13 year old who wanted to know if she should take diet pills to lose weight because she can't seem to any other way.

Short answer:
Do not take pills to lose weight. I don't believe pills are the answer for ANYONE but especially not when our bodies are still developing and changing...which they are, even if we have reached our full height.

If you have been following my blog at all, you know that there is a longer answer to this question...I always have a longer answer ;-)

The longer answer:
I had trouble losing weight at 13 too...even though I was very active. I rode my bicycle and swam competitively...but I never could seem to be "thin"...my best friend was and she ate terribly and didn't exercise nearly as much. It was so frustrating!

At 13 it is hard to appreciate the differences in our bodies...but as an adult I have come to appreciate that those differences are part of what makes the world (and people) so interesting!

Sometimes we THINK we need to lose weight and we don't...it may be that we are heavier than our friends because of our body structure--our muscles and our bones. Other times we aren't "skinny" and so we think we should lose weight to match some image in our head of what the ideal body looks like. It might just be that we are already at the right weight for us...even if that is a few pounds more than charts say we should be.

Without knowing your situation more it is hard to say if you actually need to lose weight or not...but if you think you do then I know you are pretty unhappy with your body right now no matter what anyone else says.

Please do NOT take pills as tempting as it may be. There is no magic pill that will have you lose weight in a healthy, permanent way.

The best way to have a healthy body is to start by working on your mind...it is important that we learn to love ourselves--our bodies, our abilities, everything. That doesn't mean that we can't strive to be better! It does mean that we deserve to respect ourselves and stop being so critical. Love is where it all starts.

If someone had told me that when I was 13 I would have been like, "what's to love?...I'm fat, my nose is too big, I'm not smart like my brother"...on and on. You know what? Just about every teenager I have ever met has thoughts like that...even the popular ones, the really cute ones.

I'll let you in on a secret...many adults still struggle with these thoughts, too!

I know it is a challenge just being 13...maybe knowing that you aren't alone in this journey will help. I believe you have a wonderful opportunity to learn some positive thinking patterns that will help you NOW and for the rest of your life!

When we truly love ourselves we naturally begin to take better care of ourselves...and then we physically feel better and we create this wonderful loop of health!

In my personal experience...the more I "dieted" the harder it was for me to lose weight. I couldn't keep it up...I couldn't drop enough calories or work out enough to be the same size as my best friend. I didn't get that it was physically impossible--so I just got more and more frustrated. In the end I wound up ADDING weight instead of losing weight. I ate out of frustration and then hated myself more for eating. I set myself up for failure--big time!

That was a long time ago...long before the movie "The Secret"...before books about positive thinking were common. Loving yourself was considered vanity back then...it wasn't understood that self-respect and valuing yourself were (and are) important parts of mental AND physical health.

I encourage you to talk to other people who can support you in believing in yourself. I have several suggestions in the side bar that are great tools...I really like "You Can Heal Your Life"...it isn't just for people with a specific physical illness...it can help all of us to live better, healthier lives. You really can lose weight through positive thinking (presuming that you have weight to lose, of course!) Along the way to achieving the perfect body for you, when you learn to love and accept yourself you will find that life is a much more fun and beautiful place to be...and that is a great thing to learn at any age!

You deserve all the best! Please keep in touch...I'd love to hear about your progress--your successes and challenges. Know that you are loved and that you are a beautiful person--just the way you are right now!

Weight Loss Success Starts With Believing

I have learned a very powerful secret over the course of my life...and especially over the course of my dieting ups and downs...well, really AFTER the ups and downs but really as a RESULT of them...this secret is what is responsible for my weight loss success!

As Oprah would say, "What I know for sure..."

Achieving goals, no matter what that goal is starts with Believing.

Whether you goal is to drop weight (a few pounds, or more than 100 like me), earn more money (a few bucks or mega bucks), or to find your soul mate (male or female), it all begins in the very same place:

• Believe you can.
• Believe you deserve it.
• Then take small steps every day that move you closer to that goal.
• Then you have to allow it in...you have to actually accept the goal into your life. Ironically, that is often the hardest part...IF we have not truly internalized that we deserve the goal!

That's it...that's the secret!

Decide what you want.

Believe it is possible for you.

Take small steps to achieve it.

Relax and receive.

To achieving all your dreams--I know you deserve them!

Weight Loss Success Tip: Enjoy Healthy Snacks

I love sharing ideas that are healthy and weight loss success tips...and sometimes a food is just too good not to share!

I want to share a snack that I love with you...it is a cracker that is very healthy, versatile, tasty and it happens to be gluten free.

In fact, I learned about it because it is gluten free. I don't have a problem with gluten but I have a friend who does. So I was looking for some crackers to have with hummus that he would be able to enjoy...and I found these gems.

The brand I found is Crunchmaster, but there may be other similar if you can't find this specific one...they are multi-grain, oven baked crackers. They are thin crispy discs...a serving is 15 crackers.

The contain brown rice meal, sesame seeds, quinoa seeds, flax seeds, amaranth seeds...very yummy. They do have soy sauce so if you can't take soybeans or fermented products you might not be able to enjoy these...

One serving has 280 mg of Omega-3 fatty acids (the good stuff) and 3 grams of protein. I enjoy them with veggies, hummus, other dips...just about anything.

Oh--on the box there is a website and phone number, so if you don't see them in a store near you, maybe they will be able to tell you where you can find them!

Weight Loss Tip: Remember to Breathe

Continuing on the theme of breathing...

Although it doesn't seem like something we have to remind ourselves to do, we sometimes do have to remember to breathe.

In yesterday's post I discussed how getting more oxygen into your body will help you to lose weight even if you eat exactly the same foods and don't move your body any more.

So the additional weight loss tip is reminding yourself to breathe when you are moving your body about.

When we exercise it is quite common for us to hold our breath...at exactly the wrong time! When exercising we want to be sure to stoke our body's furnace and get rid of the toxic waste product...in order to do that we must breathe deeply and often.

What we tend to do instead is be thinking about the exercise...focusing on remembering what we are doing...the steps, the motions, whatever and we will actually hold our breath. Or the exercise requires exertion and we believe that if we hold our breath we will somehow be able to get through it more easily.

That is all wrong thinking...we absolutely need to power our body with oxygen--especially when we are exercising.

For the next week, when you are exercising, whether it is walking to get the mail, doing the bounce and shake program I recommend, or swimming, bicycling or lifting weights...no matter what it is, pay attention to your breathing. At first you may not be able to get the same level of exercise in because you are focusing on your breathing. That's okay.

Be aware when you hold your breath. Consciously force yourself to breathe in and out during the entire workout.

This will do a couple things for you...one is you will be stoking your furnace for the entire day, and you will also be expelling more of the gasses that build up in our bodies when we exercise...you will actually begin to feel stronger and less tired after exercising because you are giving your body the oxygen it craves!

So for weight loss success--remember to breathe!