Forget New Year's....today is the day!

I don't make New Year's resolutions anymore and here's why.  Making a resolution implies making a change in the future...tomorrow, Monday, after my vacation, when the kids go back to school, when we finish all of the holiday sweets, etc.  You get the picture.  And then Monday comes, the vacation is over, the kids are back at school and the sweets are gone...then what? 

If you're unable to stay on Plan figure out why!  And trust me, it's not because you're lazy and stupid. It may well be that you don't want to accept that for change to happen you actually have to change.  If that's the case why not make a list of what is so fantastic in your "food world" now that it's worth clinging to even though it has the power to make you feel rotten about yourself?  Does that bag of chips, loaf of bread or can of icing give your life so much meaning that you are willing to sacrifice reaching your goal for it?  (Notice how I chose the things that held me captive for years!!)

For me facing that starch and sugar were not working for me was certainly a challenge but I am so thankful that I didn't give up and somehow found the courage to make the change and stick to it long enough to feel and see the benefits.  Give yourself the chance to be successful and feel it! I'll bet each and everyone of your knows exactly what you need to do to be successful.  Face it, do it...today!

We've got to start thinking that today is the day and will always be the day, not tomorrow, but today. Stop waiting for everything to be right, over and finished to start living in the body you want. Start living in that body today by giving it what it needs, you will be amazed at how your body will respond!

"Let go" for Christmas!

If you want to be peaceful and joyful this Christmas, let go.   

Here are some of the things that have taken me 53 years to learn and to "let go"!  I hope you already know them or will learn them soon because, whew, the peace bring it will bring to you.

Let go of the need to be perfect. 

Perfection is unattainable because it's criteria is forever changing making the goal line continually moving away from you!  Don't think of all of the time you've wasted, you'll just get sad.

Let go of caring what others think of you. 

It's a waste of energy and are they really thinking and obsessing about you?  No, just you are.

Let go of the need to control everything. 

Control is an illusion we've been taught to manufacture to make ourselves feel safe and anchored. And yet, we can't control our eating or a two year old!  Learning to accept what is and to manage it is much kinder, to ourselves and the two year old.

Let go of the thought that you're not good enough. 

Nature does not make mistakes. If that feeling stems from childhood then realize you are now an adult and it's your responsibility to soothe, love and build the esteem of  the child within you.  Don't do it with cookies.

Let go of the fear of failing. 

Being paralyzed by fear of failing is actually worse than failing. Failing means you're trying and trying means you're living.  This may be the most liberating thing you will ever do.

Let go of fear.

When you are driven by fear to accomplish something you sacrifice the love and joy of your journey.  Imagine the journey you're on this minute.  Now imagine it filled with love and joy.  Better, right?

Let go of your obsession of whether to eat or not to eat.  

Food is the fuel of the human body.  Our obsession with "to eat or not to eat" has turned it into a drug over which we are powerless.  Change your relationship with food and ice cream becomes just a delicious creamy dessert instead of "the only thing on this earth that will get makes me feel better!"  

Let go of judgement, of yourself and others. 

When you judge another you are defining them by your criteria and that's hardly fair is it?  When you judge yourself you are defining yourself by the criteria of others.  Again, hardy fair. Live and let live.

Let go of jealousy. 

The accomplishment of another has no reflection on you.  It's not about you.  If their accomplishment makes you feel inadequate then you need to address "why".  

Let go of anger.

Anger is a response.  It never makes anything better or solves any problems.  Plus it turns your mouth on and your mind off which is never a good combo!

Let go of past hurt.

Hanging on to a hurtful situation from the past just weighs down your soul.  And a heavy soul has a hard time flying.

Let go of the past period.

What's done is truly done.  Learn from it and let it go.  You can never be present if you spend your time in the past.  This one took me FOREVER to learn!

Let go of resentment. 
The funny thing about resentment is rarely does the person we resent know it.  So whose feeling all that pain?  Oh, right, us.

Whew, that is a lot of "let go's"...and yup, I've lived them all!  No wonder I was so tired all the time!

My Christmas wish for each and every one of you is that you are able to "let go" of the ties that are binding you, keeping you from moving toward the life you want and deserve!

Now is not the time to miss a meeting, is it?

We're getting to the time of the Christmas season when even those who've managed to resist the holiday temptations start to crumble under the constant barrage of food coming at them from all directions!  It's everywhere!

And oddly enough this is also the time when the meeting rooms start to empty out!  Why???   I know you're busy, I know you're frustrated and I know sugary foods are being eaten and weight is being gained.  Even more reason to come to weigh in and attend your meeting!  

Please, please remember, there is no judgement at the scale and no judgement in the meeting.  Just lots of ideas to help you change your relationship with holiday food.  Wouldn't it be amazing to let go of the incredible power that food has over you and feel in control for perhaps the first time ever?

Meetings can help you with that. :)

Ok, here's the hormone post!

If you've heard me mention, a time or ten, about hormone replacement therapy, here is why:  I care about how you feel.   

When I hear that members are truly working the plan and seeing no results, I care.  When someone says they look into the mirror and don't recognize themselves anymore, I care.  When someone says they don't care anymore and want to give up, I care.

I care so I will share.  I will share how I was feeling about 8 years ago.  Eight years ago I was doing everything in my power to loose weight and no results, in fact kept gaining.  When I looked into the mirror I saw an angry person and did not recognize her.  I got to the point where I didn't care and so wanted to give up but I was afraid if I gave up I'd never find my way back.  Sound familiar?

Luckily for me, I now realize, I have this Hartman gene that never gives up (sometimes to our own detriment) so I kept searching for an answer.  I had been going to a naturopath (Carole Quinn, she's awesome!) for a couple of years who had been helping me with stomach issues and we started talking. She suggested that at 45 years old my hormones could be out of whack.  What???  Menopause, me????  No, no, no, no.....yes!

She told me about Dr. Schlanger in Toronto.  I believe in being pro-active so I made an appointment, got blood work and saliva testing done and found out indeed that my progesterone and estrogen levels were "depressed'!  Seriously, that's what the results said!

  

So, I got my prescription (BTW you cannot do this by yourself and buy over the internet, you need to see a doctor.  Hormones are serious, and a tad touchy, they like to be in balance....no more, no less). Balu's in Stirling is a compounding pharmacy and he made up my prescription cream.  Within 4 days, I was no longer seething inside, it was like the huge angry cloud that hung over me around was lifted! I started to feel like my old self and, yay hooray, all my hard work in the diet and exercise department started to pay off. Not to mention when the hot flashes started occurring 2 or 3 times an hour...24 hours a day...a tweak to my prescription took care of most of them!  Let me be clear, this is not a miracle weight loss pill/cream.  Like I've said many, many times;  If there was a magic weight loss pill, Oprah would have it and she'd be thin.  

So the whole point of this entry is to share an option that gave me myself back.  I know that's a strong statement but that's truly how I feel.  I've had women tell me that they just "sucked it up Buttercup and put up with it"....well, great.   If that works for you and you're happy, great.  But if you're not happy, I urge you to be proactive, look for options, talk to your doctor, do your homework. 

Please don't settle for being unhappy.

. Life is a gift but sometimes our personal

 "fog" keeps us from receiving it.

"Tell me what you want, what you really, really want!" (Spice Girls song lyrics)

Here's what we really want, right??

OK, now back to reality,

 cause that ain't never gonna happen! 

We all know someone who can eat whatever they want, whenever they want and never gain a pound...maybe it's your best friend, or your sister or your spouse.  Whoever it is, it's not you....and it's certainly not me! It's not fair, it sucks, it's hard to accept and it's not what we "want" but it is reality. And as long as we ignore reality by continually "really wanting" it to be otherwise we cannot move forward because what we resist will persist.  So just by wanting something that cannot be, and will NEVER be, keeps you from moving forward!  Now that really sucks.

So when I say use your "want" power be smart....stop wasting your time and energy

 resisting reality and "want" something you can actually achieve!  

You will be happier, healthier and most likely thinner!

Snacks: Friend or Foe? Or both?

We all know one thing for sure:  When we get hungry, we eat!  That's why one of the most important routines we practice is packing a snack.  We know if we don't have a tasty, and satisfying, snack within reach when the snack attack happens we will land on the nearest eatable object and take it out totally mindless of the consequences!   OK, that may be a bit melodramatic but I daresay there is not one among us that truthfully say that has never happened to them. :)

I think the following is a true statement:  We have scheduled snacks to avoid unscheduled snacking. 

Have you ever thought of it that way?  The difference between the two is the control in which we carry them out.  Our scheduled snack is thoughtfully planned to meet our bodies nutritional requirements and help keep from, heaven forbid, getting too hungry.  The unscheduled snack can be an emotional response or a sensory response, both of which take our good WW sense and throw it out the window!

So, what to do, what to do?  We all know from years of experience the snack attack is not going away. But what we can do is minimize it's control over us.  The first way, of course, is having our plan friendly snack ALWAYS on hand: a satisfied stomach is the first line of defense, it gives our brains that much needed minute to pause and make a better choice.

But what happens when you've had your apple and cheese (fiber, protein and fat) with a nice cup of tea and your co-worker brings in the Christmas Cookie Exchange tray??  Ahhhh! The oh-so delectable tray of sugar!  Key word here is sugar.  This is often the kind of situation where no amount of apples, banana, cheese, almonds etc will win the day. This is where you have to pull our your most powerful, and perhaps a bit rusty, tool...your brain power! Your brain possesses the strength to deal with the most tempting sugar-laced-I'll-make-you-happy-because-I'm-your-best-friend-morsel. You just have to practice using it like you practice all the other routines. 

A great way is to combine your knowledge with your want power.  For example:  I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I cannot have 1 sugar-laced-I'll-make-you-happy-because-I'm-your-best-friend morsel.  Not one.  One, always, ALWAYS, leads to the entire tray, box or bag.  Always.  Always. And from our conversations I know many of you are the same. Maybe the only difference between us is that I have finally accepted that fact.  If you accept the fact that you are powerless over sugar, perhaps you will start seeing it in a different light.  How do you think you would look at that cookie tray if you accepted that for you it's not just a sugar-laced-I'll-make-you-happy-because-I'm-your-best-friend-morsel but the first step into a painful bout of self-loathing causing you to lose sight of your goal?  That may be putting it a bit strongly, or, if you're like me, it may be exactly true.

So, if you know 1 is not an option, does that mean you have no indulgences at all???  Absolutely not!!  All of us, thank goodness, have indulgences that can be "one and done".  Indulgences that don't lead to more, more, more.  For me it is something high fat, no sugar. Something I can buy a controlled amount of....eat, enjoy, track and be done.  Or have in a restaurant...order, eat, track, go home.  What is your one-and-done indulgence?

Now we get to the want power!  When the sugar-laced-I'll-make-you-happy-because-I'm-your-best-friend-morsel enters you personal space, use your want power in conjunction with what you know to be true about your relationship with sugar.  Do you want to stay in control?  Use that!  Do you want to feel good about yourself?  Use that!  Do you want to keep moving toward your goal and not away from it?  Use that!  Know what you want, truly want, and use it.  Using you brain power and your want power together puts you in the position of power.  And that's better than sugar.

Snow walker!

Whatever it takes, remember?  

For me, it takes daily walking, and look I'm doing it joyfully!

I have on 3 pairs of pants, 2 tops, 1 hoodie,

1 balaclava, 1 scarf, 1 coat, gloves

and lipstick!

The Law of Attraction states that "whatever you focus on is what you will attract into your life". What???

So does this mean that by always thinking negatively about our weight loss goal that we are actually attracting weight gain???  OMG...I think it does!  (I'm trying to keep this blog clean so insert your swear word here.)

On his website, Jack Canfield says "you can take action to shield yourself from motivation-sapping, fear-instilling negativity" and lists 5 easy ways to get started."  I'm going to give you the short version (link at the bottom of the blog takes you to his page, it's worth the trip!)

Tip #1: Accept 100% Responsibility 

The most critical principle to master if you want to create greater success is to accept 100 percent responsibility for your life – including the type and amount of negativity to which you allow yourself to be exposed. Your job is to take care of yourself. This includes creating environments that are conducive to success. 

We talk about these two in WW.  Nothing can happen without acceptance: Accept that it's your life and your goal. Control your space: if it's not working for you, it's working against you.

Tip #2: Release Negative Feelings
To attract what you want in life, you must live in a state of love, joy and gratitude.
Love this one!  It's so, so simple but you need to practice it and live it.  And when you do, your life will change!  I know because it has changed mine:)

Tip #3: The Evening Review
Whatever you read, see, listen to, talk about and experience during the last 45 minutes of your evening has a huge influence on your sleep and your next day.
Do yourself a huge favour and marinate something lovely in your brain over night!  No negative thoughts...give up the 11 pm news!  If you can't help or change all the bad stuff then don't put it in your brain!

Tip #4: The Daily Success Focus Journal

Another way to stay focused on your goals and on the positive is to create a Daily Success Focus Journal.  Each evening, identify 5 accomplishments you made throughout the day. 

Another one we talk about a lot....write it down! And, what fun... you're writing down 5 little I'm-pretty-darn-awesome tidbits!

Tip #5: Create Your Ideal Day

Before you leave work or go to bed, take a few minutes to plan your schedule for the following day. Doing so sets you up for success and doing it before bed gives your subconscious all night to work on creating ways to make it all happen just as you visualized it.

Visualization works.  You do you realize that when you focus on the negative bits in your life you're visualizing, right? See, it does work.  Change the story you run in your head!

http://jackcanfield.com/staying-focused-in-the-face-of-negativity/

Whatever it takes....do that!

As we rush into the winter season we have two choices when it comes to daily activity:

1.  Forget about it, it's too cold to walk/run outside.

2.  Bundle up and continue to walk/run or substitute with indoor activity.

That's it.  If we want continued weight loss we must accept regular exercise is a big part of what it takes.  If we don't want to be outside then we must also accept that we need to fulfill our activity requirements in another way.  That's it.

So think about how you are going to get through the winter months without letting your daily activity fall off. What indoor activity will fit into your life?  What small activities can you add on that will add up?  Decide what you will do and then do it!

Doing nothing all winter long is NOT an option.  We may think (hope?) being sedentary for the next 5 or 6 months will not affect our ability to reach our goal but deep down we know differently. Don't we?

So be a weight loss warrior: whatever it takes...do that!

Because winter doesn't last forever and come spring,

you'll be glad you did!

That's what a Weight Watcher does, right?

Does anyone still have their mini-trampoline??? :)

When it comes to navigating throught the holiday season, do you know which road you're going to take?

I love this image!

The goal is to get through the Christmas season successfully, right?
If we don't plan which roads will lead us to success, we'll still get through the season
but will we be way south of successful?

We need to know where we want to be and which roads are going to get us there!

So start planning NOW how you want the next 2 months to go.  We all know that once the season starts it's like a runaway train and that's exactly how we'll feel....like we're racing along and totally out of control.

This week in our meetings we talk about "Setting a Plan for Success!"
1.  Set your goal.  What is the win you want to have this season.  Be specific. Don't just say our pat go-to answer...."lose weight".  Maybe with all the parties going on you'll be thrilled to lose 4 lbs, stay the same or walk every day.  All are wins!

2. Count the risky days.  Love this one!  Realistically, how many risky days will you have?  2? 6?10?  Even if you have 10 over the next 60 days, that means you'll have 50 days to be on Plan!  50 days!!  You can do a lot of good in 50 days!

3. Identify where you'll be focusing your goal.  Have a good think about those risky days and plan how you'll navigate successfully through them.  Remember Alice?  Look what happened to her!

4. Take action.  Take action. Take action.  And one more thing....take action!

And, one of the best actions to take:
You know what I'm going to say...

Attend your weekly meeting!!!