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Showing posts from 2018

Speak up for yourself

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A simple, effective way to sidestep sabotage (well meaning or not). "Another slice won't hurt, you don't need to lose weight, but you've always looked like this-it's who you are."  Do any of these sound familiar?  If so, you've faced sabotage at some point along the way and it can undermine your weight loss journey. Something to keep in mind, is that most often, sabotage is not intentional.  Often it's the people that love you the most say or do things that could derail your weight loss and maintenance efforts.  These people don't even realize they're doing it.  They think they are helping you.  Many people associate food with love. The bottom line is not to assume that friends and family are trying to harm your weight loss journey.  Take the time to explain to them how you feel sabotaged and let them know how they can better support you and your goals.  after all, they won't be able to change their behaviors unless they know how th

Plan Your Meals

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It's a savvy way to streamline prep, shop efficiently and stay on plan! Benjamin Franklin once said " If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail".  He couldn't ne more on point when it comes to success in weight loss!  As with most things in life, advance work pays off with mealtime.  Whether you pre-track your dinner in the afternoon, batch prep the week's lunches or decide on a full day's menu before you even eat breakfast, planning make it easier to do the following: Avoid spur of the moment eating.  When you know what and when your next meal is, you are less likely to be influenced by extreme hunger or external triggers (think donuts). Multiply your possibilities!  Planning your meals helps you explore different foods and bring in a range of flavors and nutritional benefits. Save money.  If you enter the supermarket with a solid list of ingredients for specific meals, you won't spend on food you don't need.   Get in the Healthy Eating Z

Bounce Back

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Setbacks happen to all of us.  Here's how to get back on track. Whether you missed a Weight Watcher's meeting, unplanned eating, skipping your morning walk, or not keeping track, lapses like these are temporary when you identify, accept, and move past them. Thinking of a setback as a time when an old, unhelpful behavior change.  The good news?  A setback is also a sign of success.  The new behaviors that you've acquired have been established themselves that your old behaviors seem - just that - old and unhelpful. To bounce back from a setback, ask yourself what you can learn and what you can change to ward off the setback again.  Then, turn to your support systems - online, meeting room, friends or family.  Having a support system to lean on during times that you feel you've gone off track is an important tool to have.  They can help you find your way out of a dark time and remind you that the bad time you're having now, may not be nearly as bad as it was be

Set Goals for Success

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Use Weight Watcher's guidelines to make them powerful and effective. I know I am guilty of setting unrealistic goals for myself ALL THE TIME.  I get my mind in place that I want to get fit, healthy and lets be real skinny - then I want those things to happen overnight with little to no effort by me.  Because let's face it - all of those things take a lot of work, dedication and time.  Lasting results don't happen overnight. Setting specific, attainable goals make it more likely for you to accomplish them and make the behaviors you want to adopt long-lasting.  Weight Watcher's Weekly on this subject give you some suggestions on setting SMART goals! So let's take a look at what goes into a powerful goal. It's specific.  Describing what you want, be exact on what you want to accomplish.  Saying you are going to do yoga this week is less likely to happen than saying - I'll go tot the 10am class on Monday and Wednesday after dropping the kids at school.

Overcome Stress

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It's always with us, but there are ways to rethink, reframe, and respond to stress that are healthy - and helpful. Stress is natural and it's something that everyone experiences.  It's your body's automatic response to perceived pressure or threat.  Stress seems to know when to hit you and it can hit you all at once - like on the day of your big presentation or it can build up over time - exploding like a time bomb.  I know my tendency is to try and suppress the stress as long as possible and when it bubbles up BOOM...there's either a cry fest, scream fit or both.  I'm the worst at handling stress.  I may look like I have it together, but most days this is what's happening inside.  Bless my family for braving those storms!  I have yet to learn how to channel that stress into something positive or useful. The Weight Watchers Weekly on this subject reminds you that you can use stress to motivate you, like when you pull all the details together for a surp

Sustainability - Sunday Thoughts

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Something that has been on my mind a lot lately is all of the different weight loss and “healthy lifestyle” programs that are out there. Now let me begin by saying that whatever program you choose has to be what’s right for you and I don’t judge anyone’s personal choice. This is just me being honest and sharing what’s best for me. What’s not a surprise is I’ve been struggling to lose weight. I feel like I’ve been in battle for the past 4.5 years-since having James aka baby #2. I’ve run the gamut during this time of different programs. From seeing a dietician that had a fat and weight loss formula - which I liked the program because it was focused on eating “real” foods to doing a few Standard Process Cleanses with supplements and protein shakes to Weight Watchers - off and on between these other programs. During all of this I never really focused on exercise. I focused on the scale and how quickly I could get that number down.  One thing I learned quickly is that I struggled

Scheduling Your Meals?

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Planning when you'll eat helps you manage hunger, avoid unplanned eating and make healthier choices.   There's a lot to be said for this.  If you have a scheduled healthy eating plan for the day, you're definitely less likely to go off the rails and eat unplanned foods (and for most of us, that's junk food- Am I right?).  A few years back i saw a nutritionist to help me in my weight loss efforts and that was the main sticking point to her whole program.  Eating breakfast as soon as you wake, then a snack a few hours later, then lunch, another snack, dinner and an optional snack in the evening if you needed something to tide you over until the morning.  Her schedule also included "food rules", that I won't go into all of them here, but one of them sticks with me today - which I still try to achieve (not nearly as much as I should) is no carbohydrates for dinner - proteins and veggies only.  Which makes sense if you really think about it.  Going to bed

Move The Way You Love

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Moving more is the gist that keeps giving.  Stretching, walking, yoga, running - any sort of physical movement doesn't just help you shake the cobwebs from your brain and strengthen your body - but it can boost your self esteem, lighten your mood and even help you sleep better. The second "gift" that comes with moving more is it helps with weight loss too!  Changing your eating and moving more - you can shed up to 20% more than if you only changed your eating habits.  Keep moving for the long term and you're more likely to keep the weigh off too! So here's the secret - choose activity for its feel good benefits, rather than what you think you "should do".  When you choose an activity that you enjoy, you are more likely to continue doing it, succeed in your weight loss and maintain it.  In one study that the Weight Watchers weekly sites, they asked people to walk a mile for "fun.  those people said they felt less tired and in a better mood than

Enjoy Eating Out

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Plan for stress-free, fun and delicious away from home dining, thanks to zero Points goods and rollovers, plus your digital tools. Using WW Freestlye is all about being able to "live freely" - giving you the flexibility to enjoy social occasions with family and friends-the trick is a little planning.  We all know you can't dictate the menus when you go out to eat or visit with family or friends, but there are things you can do before you go!  That way you're prepared for anything - even family holidays.  Because eating out doesn't have to mean a restaurant, it can mean eating anywhere other than your house. So for us weight Watcher's out there - we can bank our points for that special meal out.  We already have weeklies to spend, then add up to 4 unused SmartPoints values per day to that mix and you have a nice little bankroll to pull from for that meal out.   Another thing that everyone that has been at this whole weight loss thing for a while know

Support

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Feedback from family and friends can make or break you. Support carries far, but sometimes the non-support takes up residence in your brain (squashing down that support you do receive). My closest friends are always supportive. They’ve tailored meals served at an event for me, they continuously cheer me on while I struggle my way through this weight loss journey and don’t let me give up. But Family, oh family. Those folks can be the most challenging. Most of the time the people in my house are supportive. They eat the meals I cook for myself so I don’t have to cook multiple meals. They know that Friday’s and Saturday’s I am super strict with myself. However sometimes my family that doesn’t live here, they dismiss my efforts. The best example and why it’s so fresh is a dinner with my parents this weekend. They really just don’t understand my weight loss struggle. They don’t understand why I can’t lose the weight quicker and keep it off. Why I can’t stop overindulging in fo

What's Your Why?

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Tap into your personal motivation to reach your goals! This is by far one of my favorite quotes, it's one that Jillian Michael's mentions many times during her workouts.  It sticks with me, because it's very true.  "When you know your why, you can endure any how".  It gets me through my 6am workouts EVERYDAY, everyday.  I wake up some days and think to myself, I should just sleep in, I can do this later, I can skip a day, but then I hear this in my head- I'm reminded I can do this if I want to hit my goals.  I like the way it makes me feel to hit those fitness goals each morning.  closing those Apple Watch Rings every day. The meeting room topic on this went over the fact that we all know what we want to do....lose weight and keep it off!  But it's also important to know why you want to do it.  What's propelling you to make a change?  What pushed you to start your journey?  What is the positive outcome you're envisioning?  The more detailed y

FREEDOM!

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Exploring Weight Watcher's new program Freestyle.  How it gives you more flexibility to enjoy how you eat, move and lose! So Weight Watchers tells us "Eat the foods you love!"  The newest program by Weight Watchers is their WW Freestyle.  It expands their zero point food list to allow you to eat satisfying, protein rich foods without tracking them.  The program also encourages you to move in ways that inspire you and give you joy.  The WW Freestlye program continues to use their successful Smartpoints system to guide you towards making healthier choices, though no foods are off limits.  Each food has a SmartPoints value including that list of zero points food (that is currently over 200 items!).  Something else that is new is that you are able to carry over up to 4 unused points per day that go into you weekly SnartPoints budget. Weight Watchers makes a few suggestions about working the new program to it's fullest.  The first is to start with zero points base

Reflect and Refresh

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Taking stock of the past can help you set up for the year ahead. Looking back at your healthy living efforts over the past six months, two years...even five years!  Aside from your on the scale goals, what are you small victories, big wins and challenges?  Think about what you've accomplished, what made you proud and what you still want to achieve.  The end of the year and beginning of the next is a natural point to review these goals and reset for the next year. Looking back on your experiences gives you important feedback that helps you decide what to do (or not do) next.  Consider what has worked with your food, activity and mindset.  This is a great tool that I plan to implement for myself this year.  I plan on doing it quarterly rather than once a year.  Having a 12 week goal seem much more attainable than 52 week goal. I know that one of my largest struggles over this past year has been with food. I know that food is my largest issue.  Food is where I turn when I'

Reality Check After the Holidays

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We're still coming off the time of year that can cause us to feel pressure to be extra crafty, social, generous and downright festive.  I know that sums me right up!  If you're one of the lucky ones that didn't feel that pressure-great for you!  If you were affected, it's totally normal to get caught up in unrealistic visions (your own, or someone else's) of a picture perfect holiday and be disappointed if they fall short.  A post holiday reality check is a simple way to manage that.  A reality check is what this girl needs! Take a minute to examine how you really felt during the holiday and how those thoughts affected how you felt and possibly continue to feel.  Taking this inventory can help you to better prepare for the next round of holidays that are coming up in just a few short months. When you can identify and reality check your unhelpful thoughts, you can change your feelings and that can set you up for actions that help you enjoy the season's pleas

Have a Good Night

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How to get better, longer sleep-it can help you succeed! What is quality sleep?  You know it when you wake up:  It's the feeling your body has had enough time to be truly rested and replenished.  As with eating well and moving more, getting enough sleep contributes to a healthier lifestyle.  Research has shown that regularly getting enough sleep can improve your mood and your overall well being.  While sleep needs vary from person to person- logging seven to nine hours of shut-eye each night seems to be the sweet spot for most adults.  Not only is getting enough sleep good for you, not getting enough sleep has been linked to overeating and weight gain.  Personally I know this to be true, I crave all the sweets and carbs when I haven't gotten enough sleep.  It's the worst feeling, you are trying to make up for the sleep deprivation with the very things that make you crash!  They say that inadequate rest can make it harder to stick to a healthy lifestyle too.  Studies

Use Your Bean!

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Discover the delicious variety of plant based proteins! Protein is a building block of your cells.  It helps repair tissues and strengthens your bones, it also promotes the health of muscles, cartilage, skin and blood too.  You may be familiar with animal proteins - meat, poultry, seafood, eggs and dairy, but you might not know as much about plant based proteins.  These vegetarian sources include legumes such as beans, soybeans, peas, and lentils, as well as grains and plants such as quinoa, spelt and whole wheat bread (yes really!).  Protein can also be your weight loss ally.  It can help you feel more satisfied than other nutrients such as carbohydrates or fats and foods high in protein tend to be lower in Smartpoints values (and now many of them are ZERO with Freestyle!)  Eating more plant based proteins let you mix things up at mealtime.  It could save you money too. In general plant based proteins are less expensive than animal sources.  Not only that, but they're fr