This season, either you do or you don't!

If you do this holiday season what you did last holiday season you will get the same results come January 2016 as you got January 2015 AND a whole year later!  Is that what you want?  No?  Then what are you going to do about it?  And when I say do I mean actually DO!

I've said in our meetings that I'm going to be a hard-ass (well, unfortunately I can only say "hard-ass" in my blog!) this holiday season.  While I do believe there are times a gentle approach yields the best results I don't think this is one of them.  Don't get me wrong, hard-ass does not mean negative, it means a no-nonsense get down to business attitude.  Plan and execute!  

This is what I believe: if you do not create a holiday plan, AND execute that plan, you will quite possibly get to Jan. 2, 2016 gaining some or all of the weight you've worked so hard to lose in 2015. Is that what you want?  Of course not, none of us want that result but some of us get that result.  Why?  Because we didn't make a plan and then, most importantly, work the damn plan!

Ohhhh, I can hear your negative thoughts...."I don't have the will power", "I'm lazy", "I could never follow a plan", "What if I fail?"

How did I hear those negative thoughts?  I heard them because they have been MY negative thoughts too!  Well, no more!  You need to get out of that negative thought pattern rut and change your story.

There is a reason the Nike ad "Just do it" is so successful.  It's simple and clear, if you want success you need to "just do it".  Don't allow your self to fall back on your old excuses, just do it.

Ohhhh, I can hear you again!!!!  I can hear, "Well, that's easy for you but not for me".  Easy?  Oh, it ain't easy for anybody, it's work!  And I will tell you in the beginning it can be hard work because you are changing perhaps a lifetime of ingrained habits, but like anything else in life, the more you work it, the easier it becomes. A successful plan doesn't have to be elaborate or huge, it just has to be and be done.  Plan what you think you are capable of doing this holiday season and then do it.

I've always disliked this quote because I felt it was negative....

but now I think we must really take it in for the truth it is.  

I realize now it is neither negative or positive, 

it is simply the truth.

Plan it and do it.  Just do it.

Shift your focus and give your poor old brain a rest!

If you're like me, and I know many of you are, you have been trying to loose weight or thinking about loosing weight for what seems like forever!  Maybe it's time to give the old noggin a break.  I'm not saying quit, I'm saying shift your focus.  While still working your plan give your brain a new goal to think about.  

Why not try putting your focus on feeling better?  What do you need to do to "feel better"?  Get more sleep?  Get more activity?  Eat less sugar?  Try a new hobby?  Drink more water?  Drink more booze?  Haha...just seeing if you're paying attention!  

I decided last week I needed to shift my focus from loosing the 10 pounds to get back to goal because for some reason (menopause????) it's not happening and I find myself waking up in the middle of the night thinking about changes I can make to lose it, which really pisses me off!  So, I've been working on shifting my focus.  

Here's what I want: I've felt for a long time that all of my hard work has not be paying off.  I need to feel like my efforts are paying off so I've been focusing on the other ways my efforts are paying off. For example, by not having sugar the dreaded hot flashes, knock wood, have gone away, knock more wood.  I have decided that spending some points on a couple of adult beverages a week makes my life more enjoyable.  I have added more olive oil into my daily diet...took some of my daily protein points (4) over the day and have added some more healthy fat and feel more satisfied.  I have shortened my walks to 30 minutes, my back feels better but am still getting the brain benefits.  I have decided to do more of the little things that make me happy so my husband and I went to lunch and went to a matinee movie on a Thursday (!!) and had some butter laden popcorn, which I hadn't had in years, and loved it!  No guilt, just enjoyed the moment.  I did not feel like a failure, I felt happy and in control. That is a big way my efforts are paying off, my thought patterns are changing.  

So if you've been batting the same goal around and not really getting anywhere maybe give your brain a break and shift your focus.  Shift your thought pattern away from just losing weight and pay attention to another goal for while, something that makes you happy. Who knows?  It just might help you lose weight! :)

Tired and stressed out...not a good combination!

Am crazy stupid busy at the Theatre now with working on 2016 spring brochure AND getting the media work done for our Christmas panto "Treasure Island"....call Box Office for tickets 613-395-2100....sorry like I said to Lynda (who is happily settling in for the winter in Florida) I am very tunnel visioned right now!  And tired and stressed which makes me want to eat....and not vegetables!  Zucchini just doesn't cut the mustard as a comfort food.

So what to do?  I've been able to stay on Plan but am sooooo hungry guess my Ghrelin (a hormone produced in the body that stimulates appetite) is on over drive.  I've really turned to the mind over matter aspect of working the Plan because I know there is no amount of comfort food that would turn the stress off...has never worked in the past, why would it now?

I have been drinking spiced up chicken stock and that is surprisingly soothing, and filling. Sometimes I add a teaspoon of olive oil too.  The old chicken soup cure!

I'm making sure to make time to move which is difficult when you think how much more you could finish up in that 45 minutes but I now know my walk will help me be more efficient when I do sit back down.

Let go, accept, and all in good time:  These three thoughts have helped me tremendously, especially when I wake up in the middle of the night and think of all the work I have to do!  With any job, or situation in life, there are certain things that are beyond our control so we shouldn't worry about them...but we do.  "Let go, accept and all in good time" has become my mantra!

I know it works because I'm not stressing about the white hi-lighted bits under all of the words and that I can't get rid of it!  See, it works!

So what's stressing you out?  

What are you worried about? 

How is it affecting you staying on Plan?  

What non-food related practices might help you get through it?

Try these ideas!

and then...

Be productive yet calm...I think I will work on that one!

Some days I got nothin!

Some weeks my blog writes itself, other weeks not so much.  If I'm feeling successful and all fired up about my ever-present-never-ending weight loss journey it just oozes out of my fingers!  But the fact of the matter is for me, just like you, it's work.

-It takes daily commitment and daily application.  

-It takes reminding myself what would happen if I quit.

-It takes acceptance that it's never going to be as easy as it was before I hit 50. 

-It takes listing the other health benefits I tend to forget about.

-It takes looking beyond myself for a change and seeing the big picture.

-It takes being grateful that at this moment in time losing 10 pounds is really my only struggle...because I know that can change in the blink of an eye.

-It takes loving myself as I am right now for there is no future time to love ourselves, there is only now.  I tend to forget that.

So, when I feel I have "nothin'" to write about I think just go back to the basics. 

When you feel you've got "nothin'" just go back to the basics.

The basics gives us perspective.  So,  now I have a topic, this blog is about perspective.