Jenn's Losing It

Look back on your summer to help you move forward with your plan. As we settle back into our fall routine, which for many of us means back to school routine its a great time to reflect on your progress over the past few months.  "What worked in terms of reaching your goals, for weight, healthy eating, activity and mindset?  And what didn't?  For example  if you never made it to that 5am spin class-ask what happened?  If the answer is that you actually hate getting up early and don't like indoor classes, you can use this information to adjust your activity goals." "Looking back on what you've learned can set the stage to recommit to or revise your plan.  Setting goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound) makes it more likely that you'll reach them."  For instance rather than saying I'll walk this week, your goal should be I'll walk on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 3 miles beginning at 8am. Us...

The trick? Combine activity with a healthy eating plan. So as I'm sure you've already said to yourself- duh! Everyone knows that. But it really is tricky because we all know it, but we all struggle with it. If we didn't we wouldn't need to be attending Weight Watchers meetings or following a weight management program at home. Something to remember is that physical activity isn't just going to the gym or jogging around the block. Movement is technically "any body movement that increases your energy expenditure." Any time that you move you are physically active so that means carrying groceries (in one trip if you're like me), dancing with a friend, walking a 5K. Now if you change what and how you're eating and match that with an increase of activity- you should see a 20% greater weight loss than changing your diet alone! "How it helps is that aside from enhancing your wellbeing, boosting your mood, helping your heart health...

Boost your everyday joy - it can help you live healthier and lose weight.   Let's face it when we're happy everyday tasks seem easier, the day seems brighter, our loved ones seem awesome, all is right with the world, right? It gets better! Happiness not only affects how we feel but what we do, who knew right?! Studies have shown that Happy people make better choices overall. That means better food choices and getting out there to move more. You have more energy. You engage socially. You are more likely to perform more "good for you actions", like eating more nutritious food and getting more rest-because of more activity! "Happy is as Happy does". Although half of our tendency towards happiness is genetic, another 10% from our environment and the remaining 40% is determined by what we do. You can choose to do things that make you happy. Small things can make a big difference. Even taking a moment to take in that sunrise or sunset whi...

Those Sunday Vibes. I've got them. I slacked off in August. I went on vacation and stopped tracking. Then upon coming back from vacation, settling back in to the school routine I'm noticing that scale creep back up. I don't want that to happen so I need to get a hold of myself again and start tracking. It's just that simple. When I'm tracking (and following) what I'm eating, I do better. It really is a no brainer.  It of course there are a million reasons why I don't track. The biggest one is it keeps me in denial of how much I'm actually eating. I also started back at weekly meetings today.  there was a special for a 3 month membership where it cost me just slightly more than what I pay to go once a month.  I like going to the meetings, I get a lot out of them.  The Sunday morning group I found is great.  So I'm paid up through December 1st.  We'll see how this goes.  I'm hoping that I don't fall into the same cycle as I did...

Knowing the truth about common beliefs can help you succeed. Weight loss myths, everyone's heard them, everyone's tried a few and some of us truly believe a few are true!  I know I've fell into some of the weight loss myths myself and the fallout is usually not pretty. They've been around since the beginning of people working to lose weight. These myths "masquerade as truths". "Some of them are passed through generations such as don't eat after 8pm while others linger on from outdated science (fat free craze of the 80's). And still others offer that magic bullet that promises to shed those pounds effortlessly". "Believing and following myths can hold you back. And it's not always easy to separate fact from fiction. But remember the golden rule - if it sounds too good to be true it probably is." Here are some of the most common "tall tales" of weight loss and the "simple truth" behind them....

So I missed the last two week's Sunday Vibes because I was  in vacation mode. I'm back at it this week and I also need to get back to tracking again. I didn't track all vacation and although according to my home scale I stayed about the same, I still have goals to lose weight. In order to get back on track my plan for today is to meal plan for the upcoming week. Get back in the meeting room and also begin walking during the weekdays. I'm officially cleared to swim and lift over 10lbs as of September 1st. I hit the meeting room yesterday morning for the first time since August 6th and was up .8. I'm not stressing because I have a plan. I've also got some business goals for myself this fall. I'm dabbling with an Etsy shop for my crafts-such as the rock painting hobby I took up while on vacation and the jewelry stamping I've been making as personal gifts the last few months.  The shop is up and running with a handful of listings a...