Did you know that a motion major picture out right now is about emotional eating? There is….it is Kung Fu Panda. It is a very touching story that you can take at face value as a great animated film. You will enjoy it. Or, like me, you can be touched at the deep messages brilliantly woven into this story.
I won’t give away too much about the movie for those of you that haven’t seen it. I recommend it highly. I will probably see it a few times, download it on my computer from iTunes and purchase the dvd for my sons when available. Rather than the normal actors, it is a touching story about a loveable panda that goes through what we all do…..striving to be our best, living out our dreams rather than settle for what is expected from us, and deal with emotional eating rather than stuffing ourselves with peaches.
Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, Certified Life Coach
Weight Loss Surgery Coach
“There’s nothing you can do about the past. But you can do a great deal about your future. You don’t have to be the same person you were yesterday. You can make changes in your life—absolutely startling changes—in a fairly short time. You can make changes you can’t even conceive of now, if you give yourself a chance.” -Jim Rohn
Are you living in the past? Thinking about the “what if’s” and “if only’s” in your life? We can’t change the past but we make our today and our future by the choices we make today. We all have regrets and wish that certain circumstances in our lives had been different. Who we are today is a compilation of our experiences, circumstances, and choices that we made. We did the best we could.
Don’t beat yourself up for gaining weight or having food issues. For whatever reason, it worked for us in the past. However, today is ours and we make the choice every day, every meal to do better and have more. Compulsive overeating and food addiction was a behavior that helped us to get through. Get through a difficult childhood, a traumatic event in our lives, or just to cope with our emotions. Now, that behavior doesn’t work for you any longer and, frankly, you don’t need it.
You can develop new coping strategies for emotional eating. Turn to a trusted friend or family member, hire your own coach, see a psychologist….anyone that is devoted to you and overcome emotional overeating and develop healthy behaviors to replace emotional eating.
Today is yours….what will you do with it? Eat through it or live it to the fullest?
Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, Certified Life Coach
Weight Loss Surgery Coach
WOW Moments are the things that you could or could not do before you lost weight. Some examples are sitting in an airline seat without the necessity of an extender, wearing an item of clothing that you haven’t worn in years, or crossing your legs. As you develop healthy habits to replace the old habits that made you heavy, you’ll have many WOW Moments. Acknowledge and enjoy all of your WOW Moments that happen all the time. By living now, today, you’ll be aware of all sorts of WOWs that you deserve.
Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, Certified Life Coach
Weight Loss Surgery Coach
One of the best ways to lose weight is to grocery shop regularly. As a former junk food addict, if I didn’t have anything at home that I wanted to eat or prepare, I ate out. I drove my way through 147 excess pounds!
If you depend on restaurants, fast food places, or junk snack food for your meals, you’re going to get huge portions, lots of excess fat, sugar, carbs and calories, and foods void of nutrition but plenty of extra weight. It is challenging, if not impossible, to reach your goal of losing weight and maintenance with these foods as your primary source of nutrition.
If you make a short visit of planned grocery items on your list every few days, you can get many healthier, fresher foods. You have a huge range of healthy choices. You’ll save lots of money and calories too. By shopping for your own food you will naturally begin to choose and eat in a more healthy, conscious way.
Cooking yourself lets you control your carbs, fats, sodium, and sugars. If everything is prepared for you, then you give up control.
Shop and prepare your own food…..you and your health are worth the time and energy.
Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, Certified Life Coach
Weight Loss Surgery Coach
The American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS), now The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) is a fabulous organization. It is THE society for bariatric professionals and allied health members.
They just had their Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. I’m sure they’ll have some information from the most recent conference soon.
In the meantime, here are some links from past conferences:
http://www.asbs.org/archive/abstracts/plenary_edited_2007.pdf
http://www.asbs.org/archive/abstracts/plenary_edited_2006.pdf
Cathy, Certified Life Coach
Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Visualize that you are a beam of light.
Shine and be an example for others.
Live your fullest, best life.
People will be drawn to your light.
Focus on people’s strengths rather than their weaknesses.
Focus on what is good in your life rather than what is wrong.
Be a problem-solver rather than dwell on problems.
Identify solutions.
You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself.
Know yourself, trust yourself, be true to yourself, and my favorite that I always end my posts with….Believe In Yourself!
Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, Certified Life Coach
Weight Loss Surgery Coach
If you often have tension headaches, here’s some motivation to get fit. Research shows that headache sufferers that improve their level of aerobic fitness and muscle tone generally have fewer and less severe headaches. This may be partly due to the fact that exercise causes the brain to secrete more endorphins, which help to lessen pain and promote feelings of well-being.
Give it a try. What do you have to lose except a headache and pounds??!!
Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, Certified Life Coach
Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Once we’ve made the decision to have weight loss surgery, or have had weight loss surgery, we want to lose our excess weight NOW. With the many clients I’ve coached, this is one of the most common concerns all of have. Remember, you didn’t gain the excess weight in a week or a month, and it will take some time to lose it. As we make healthy lifestyle changes, we want the scale to reflect our big changes and big efforts. Patience is sometimes hard to find when it comes to losing weight.
Determination, consistency, and persistence are what is necessary for the long-haul in losing weight. Don’t be a slave to the scale. Look at all of the other indicators of your weight loss success. Are you wearing a smaller size? Do you feel better in being able to control your food rather than food controlling you? Are you able to do things that you couldn’t do before losing weight? The scale doesn’t show those successes but they are equal, if not more, important than the number on the scale.
This isn’t a diet. The healthy changes you are making today will pay off in weight loss and maintenance. Yes, the pounds are here today; keep practicing your healthy habits and it will definitely be gone tomorrow….and permanently!
Believe In Yourself,
Cathy
With the permission of my client, I share the following:
Dear Cathy, I’ve been exercising for what seems like forever. How long do I have to exercise to lose weight? What are the results from exercising? ~Client
First, consider changing what you’re doing from “exercise” to “moving” and being “active”. For many of us, “exercise” is something we had to do and hated it. That’s why people join gyms or begin vigorous programs and quickly quit. I do love to move and be physically active. Yes, it is essentially the same thing. Exercise seems like drudgery and being active is more like play and something I like to do. Being active is a “get to” rather than a “have to” of exercise.
Let’s look at your motivation and reason for being active. The slightest amount of daily movement will make you feel great. You’ll enjoy the instant results of feeling good, your mind will clear, and your mood will improve along with your enhanced self-esteem. All you need to do is get off the couch, take some deep breaths and take a walk. You’ll feel better after you finish. So good, in fact, that you’ll want to repeat the pleasure again and again.
The joy and feel good feelings from physical activity are contagious. Now, after many years, I enjoy moving and being active. It makes a huge difference in my life. Look beyond weight loss to the immeasurable physical and emotional benefits of being active. Weight loss will come naturally as you develop the habit of physical activity and the joy it brings to your life.
Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, Certified Life Coach
Weight Loss Surgery Coach
We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within. ~Earl Nightingale
Have you ever thought of giving your power away to a cookie or bag of chips rather than keeping your resolve on your eating program? When I think of it in terms of a food choice is stronger than myself, it bothers me tremendously. Food choices are fleeting but you, your health and self-esteem are rock solid assets to protect.
Don’t allow any exterior situation or circumstance to rule you. Take charge! The next time a food choice is beconing you, choose you!
Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, Certified Life Coach
Weight Loss Surgery Coach
