I'm trying a new thing...I'm not always eating the moment I feel a hunger pang!

Today is Boxing Day and I'm trying to get back to normal everyday food.  It's a bit difficult as there's still some holiday food around but oddly enough each and every time I did not eat the moment I felt a hunger pang I did not die.  This is a revelation to me.

Here are my post Christmas tips:

What to do with the nutritious holiday leftovers?

And accept reality, this ain't never going to happen!

A couple good condiment solutions!

Here are two of my favourites each 0 SmartPoints for 1 tbs.  I also order my Zeroodle pasta here too (Zero SmartPoints!).  I use this website all of the time. It's a store in Scarborough (which is fun to visit too!) and if you order $100 of food the shipping is free.  I have no problem ordering $100 but maybe some of you can place an order together.

http://www.lowcarbcanada.ca/collections/condiments/products/heinz-one-carb-tomato-ketchup-13-oz

Have a wonderful, peaceful and on Plan holiday!  

You can do!  We can do it together!

Is your glass half empty or half full?

That old adage came to mind as I was thinking about how you all might be doing with the new plan. It's the old are you an optimist or a pessimist idea.  Are you optimistic that the new changes will not only be great for your weight loss but also your cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure?  Or are you pessimistic about the plan because the changes have made your favourite treat 4 points higher and your weekly extra points less?  For me?  Honestly at first I was a bit of both.  I love striving to be healthier and age well but I was also pissed that my pie and chocolate would cost me a lot more! In the end however, my constant goal to be my healthiest self won out: the changes are worth it to me. As for the 49 weeklies?  I could never eat all my 49 weeklies and lose weight anyway so I had already lowered them.

Yup, I am a problem solver too.  I won't spend the points on pie because it is not worth it to me, but  I will find sometime else in the "dessert" department that is worth it.  And someday pie may be worth it to me again, but not right now.  It gets in the way of getting to my goal, so nope, not worth it.

If you're feeling "half empty" I urge you to let it go and move toward "half full".  How do you do that?  First of all accept that the plan has changed, being upset/angry about it will do you no good at all, in fact non-acceptance will just mire you down. Secondly, the health benefits are undeniable and isn't that fantastic???  Embrace that and love that, it will lift your spirits! And thirdly, none of your favourite indulgences are off the table completely, the new plan just asks you to look at them in a new light and decide how much and how often they are worth it.  Maybe that new light will be candle light at a weekly dinner instead of the light thrown off nightly by the TV.  You get to decide.

Or beer.  

Or a nice piece of chocolate, or peanut butter! 

Why do we fear change?

My fear driven brain has always been fearful of change but thankfully something inside of me was greater than that fear.  Actually, come to think of it, what made me overcome some of my fears was just a greater fear. Doesn't sound like someone who needs therapy? Actually I've been in therapy a couple of times and found it very helpful, I highly recommend it!

We fear what we don't know, we fear what we do know.  Many of us were brought up by fear-driven parents.  Parents who lived through tough financial times and really had to work hard for everything and feared losing it.  At least that's how I grew up.  I let fear rule my 20's, 30's and some of my 40's. I'm determined my 50's will be different and part getting rid of fear is saying "yes" to change.

I think back to all of the times I said, "No, I'm not doing that" for fear of what could happen, usually a fear that I wouldn't be good at something.  And I'm talking about easy things or simply saying "yes" to trying something new, not jumping out of a plane or fighting a woman eating tiger!  So quite often I made nothing happen.
So if you are locked in fear one simple, albeit not always easy, way to move past it is to start saying "yes"to small changes in your life.  Saying "yes" opens doors and allows the fear to move on.

What are you allowing your fears to take from you?

What are you perhaps missing out on every time you say "no"?

What would happen if you said "yes"?

It could be something great and 
even if it's not so great this time, 

chances are you won't die...
unless there is a tiger involved, 
then you could die.

Your goal: what is it worth to you?

When it comes to weight loss most of us can easily name our "whys" bing, bang, boom. But knowing "why" is just the first step in your success plan, you have to figure out "how" you can make your goal become a reality and THEN, and here's the rub...you have to figure out how you can make yourself do the "hows" you have decided you need to do!!  Whew!!! Perhaps this is why many of us just don't get to where we want to be?  

I've been thinking about a criteria we could use to help us do our "hows" and this is one that came to me on my walk this morning, "You have to decide what it's worth to you and that will help you decide what you are willing to do, or give up, in order to achieve your goal."  Make sense?

For example I am planning to continue to be sugar free for the holidays.  Because any amount of sugar sends me on a slide I have decided it is worth it to me to have none.  But that extreme attitude may not be worth it to you.  I think it's fair to say ALL of us want to set limits on the goodies we eat at Christmas time.  So what are your limits going to be? Would you say it's worth it to you to have no goodies until Christmas dinner?  Or is that too strict?  Would it be worth it to you to just have goodies if at an event?  Would you say in order to limit goody gobbling it's worth it to you to not bring random goodies (goodies that are not for a specific purpose) into your house?  Would you say it is worth it to you to indulge as you please during this time?  

Where do you want to be in your weight loss journey come January?   

What is it worth to you?

Decide what you want.

Decide what is worth doing. 

Then write it down and remember to be specific! 

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.

Yesterday's junk.

When I started this weight loss journey (this one, not all the other ones before!) I had no idea it would lead me on such a quest for personal peace and happiness.  And I owe every one who sits in one of my meetings a huge thank you because I believe that it is my connection with all of you that is the foundation for my quest.  Your joys are so joyful to me, and your challenges stay in my thoughts.  We are connected.

I was thinking today how our shared experience (the good, the bad, and especially the ugly!) has helped me deal with all of the useless junk I have been carrying around for years.  It reminds me of when I was in my early twenties in Toronto: I moved a lot (11 times in 6 years!) and with every move I carted garbage bags filled with all of my Cosmopolitans and Vogues etc. from place to place.  Did I re-read them...nope, I just kept them,,,yesterday's junk.  I'm not saying magazines are junk but these particular magazines were junk because they had been telling me for years that I was not thin enough, pretty enough and just why I could not get a boyfriend!  Junk.  When I moved to Stirling I begrudgingly left them.

I have finally realized that even though I had dumped the magazines I am still carrying around yesterday's junk, not in garbage bags, even worse, my head.  Another thing I've realized is knowing you're carrying the junk does not get rid of it, you physically and mentally have to put it out...day after day, after day, until it no longer builds up.  I'm not there yet but every time I come home from a meeting my head feels a little lighter and less weighed down by yesterday's junk and I am reminded why we are on this earth.  We are here to connect and help each other.

Are you carrying around yesterday's junk?  

Have you thought about how it weighs you down and keeps you from living your best life?

Let the junk go.  What have you got to lose?  Just junk.