Pull out your list of New Year’s Resolutions and think of them as your goals for right now.  Instead of trying to overhaul your life overnight, break your goals into more manageable, smaller goals.  Take on one goal a week.

If your larger goal is to have more stamina and better muscle definition, your weekly goals for the coming month might look like this:

- Add 5 minutes to your cardio workouts.

- Make a point to use deep breathing techniques during workouts.

- Walk up the two flights of stairs at work instead of taking the elevator.

- Meet with a personal trainer to create a strength-training plan.

Make things easier on yourself!  Start with the easiest changes first and work up to the more challenging tasks.  By the end of the month, you’ll have made at least 4 important health changes and you’ll feel even more motivated to continue to make other changes needed to reach your goal.

With this strategy, January 1st can be anyday, everyday!!  Reach your goals every single day!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back On Track Facilitator

The ideal is to eat within 30 minutes of your workout, but if you don’t eat within that time frame, aim for as soon as you possibly can.

The reasons behind this strategy: It is during the several hours after exercise that your muscles respond to the exertion, becoming stronger or more aerobic (depending on whether your workout has been strength-training or cardiovascular). By eating during this important window of opportunity, you’re giving your muscles the nutrients they need to rebuild.

Honestly, the best time to exercise is when you will do it.  The statistics may tell you that morning or evening is the best time.  However, what is the best time for you is when you will exercise regularly and consistently.  Here’s a concept – when do YOU like to exercise?  When is the best time for you and your schedule?   The answer to those questions as to when you like to exercise and what works best for your schedule are what is most important.  The answers that are personal to you are all that matters.

For me, I like to exercise when as few people as possible are in the gym.  I don’t like waiting for equipment or having people talk to me when all I want to do is work out.  I have a treadmill at home which is great.  I work out when it is best in my schedule.  Sometimes, depending on my appointments and meetings, I prefer exercising early before things get into full swing.  Other times, I like working out in the evenings.  Depending on the weather, I’ll take walks in the day AND in the evening.  So, the answer for me is dependent on my schedule and how I feel.  When do I want to do it?  As long as I exercise and am active in some way, that is what matters to me.

Rather than go by the statistics and research along with the opinions of many experts, go by what is best for you.  After all, what matters is what is best for you!!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back on Track Facilitator

Deep-frying chicken
Sautéing meat in a cream sauce
Having some salad with your salad dressing (more dressing than salad!)
Frying an egg in butter.

Healthier methods, on the other hand, include dry-grilling and baking.

Examples: Broiling fish without butter, grilling eggs or meat without any added oil.

This is also why it’s important to know precisely how your restaurant meals are being prepared. Ask the food server how the meal is usually prepared. If you feel the cooking method or ingredients are high in fat or calories, specifically ask for the meal to be prepared in another, healthier way.

To lose weight, you need to take charge of your food choices.  Many times when we go out to eat, our goals to lose weight can be put on the back burner to indulge in food choices offered by restaurants.  While you don’t want to feel deprived, you also don’t want to give in to the temporary indulgences of a restaurant.  For me, it is a challenge to avoid the restaurant mentality of getting back on track “tomorrow.”

Some of the strategies I’ve learned that work for me are reviewing the menu of a restaurant on line and deciding what I will eat in advance.  I then skip the menu and getting caught up in all of the usually unhealthy food choices and huge portions.  Also, by avoiding the menu and deciding what you will order in advance, you aren’t tempted by the photos of the food on the menu.

I also keep the bread they put on the table before you meal away from me.  Even better, I’ll ask the server to skip the bread basket entirely.

I also request a to go container at the same time that I order.  Before I take a bite, I will divide the restaurant huge multiple sized portions.  I will keep on my plate an appropriate portion and put the rest in the container.  By doing this, you avoid to continue eating past a normal portion.  Also, you get more meals at home and enjoy what you ate at the restaurant again.

I’ll also remember that whatever choices I make at the restaurant will stay with me after I walk out the door.  If I succumb to the temptations of eating out, that will show up on the scale and possibly serve as a trigger to continue poor food choices for a few days, weeks, etc.

Eating out is fun.  No cooking, preparation or clean up done on your part.  It can also be a trap for choices that you wouldn’t make otherwise at home.  Redefine what it means for you to eat out as fun.  Rather than food as fun, define fun by enjoying the company of those that are at your table.  Change your focus on food to family, friends, business associates.  Truly, the real purpose of going out to eat is to enjoy the ambiance of the restaurant with those people that you choose to join you.

Remember, you are paying for it so you can choose to have it done YOUR way.  Remember that you are in charge and responsible for your food choices that you make at the restaurant.  You’ll either leave the restaurant feeling awesome about the healthy food choices you made and enjoying the experience without leaving your weight loss commitment in the parking lot.

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Back On Track Facilitator

Begin shifting your perceptions of movement from something that you have to do to lose weight or change your body, to more immediate gratifying internal factors:

* instant gratification of enhanced psychological well-being.

* movement feels good.

* social aspects of exercise (work out with a friend or trainer).

* stress reduction.

* connection with body.

* better sleep.

* relaxation.

* eating better.

* opportunity to be outside.

* breathing fresh air.

* thinking clearer.

* movement is something you want to do (not something you should do).

Another main difference is that active people expect fitness to be fun, while inactive people dread the event.  Of course, it you haven’t been active in a while, it may take a while for exercise to feel good. It’s normal that you’ll be out of shape, out of breath, and have a tendency to get sore if you overdo it. So how do you take an activity that’s foreign and give it a positive spin?  Go slow and don’t overwork things in the beginning.

Treat your body gently and with loving kindness.  Find ways to focus on the IMMEDIATE payoffs of the exercise itself, such as feeling better, learning new skills, or having fun, or better yet — reward yourself. Develop a daily, weekly, and monthly reward list. Get a tape recorder and stroke yourself with “Yes I can” messages. Pay yourself, and enlist others to contribute to your fund. Our partners are always asking how they can help us achieve our goals, so involve them somehow in the process. Make this time for yourself and being with yourself or exercise with others.  Mostly, make it enjoyable!

As you exercise, check in with yourself.  How are you feeling – a higher self-esteem, feeling better about yourself, having fun???  Remember these wonderful feelings so you’ll actually want to enjoy them again!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC,
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Back On Track Facilitator

When shopping, spend most of your time and budget in the produce and meats section and avoid the inner area.  The bulk of the processed (also known as high-calorie, lower nutrition) foods are.

A great weight loss strategy is to minimize your time and money in the inner aisles (can we say Peanut Butter Captain Crunch and frozen pizzas??) and focus on the produce, meats, dairy, whole grain breads and complex carbs which are kept on the outside of those processed food aisles.

Another idea of whether to buy an item is to check out the ingredient list.  If you don’t know what the first few ingredients are or need a dictionary to find out what an item contains, don’t buy it.  The ingredient list on produce, meat and dairy are very simple and obviously, those are the healthiest choices you can make.

Have a list AND stick to the list.  Make your list at home for the items that you need.  At home, you can leisurely take inventory of the items that you need.  In your own home, you aren’t in the environment of the grocery store and the temptations that lie in wait for you.  Something may look good in the store but that doesn’t mean you need to buy it.  The marketers of products at the grocery store have strategies to encourage impulse purchases.  They’ve spent time and research in knowing how to appeal to our impulse buying tendency.  Don’t succumb to those marketing strategies.  Know what you need and stick to your list.

Also, put on your blinders when it comes to standing in line to check out.  The snacks and candy are those impulse items that are waiting to be picked up.  When it comes to waiting in line at the check out areas, have tunnel vision and make it a habit not to make any purchases in those areas.

Stick to your list for your calorie and monetary budget!  Your weight loss and finances will thank you!!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach

Are you still using food to solve emotional issues? Is that what you repeatedly do?  Healthy behaviors  create healthy habits so you do not use food as an emotional band-aid.  If you engage in unhealthy behaviors such as eating junk, grazing, eating fast food, or eating refined carbs as one of your main food groups, your body size and weight are going to reflect those habits.

It is actually very simple, if you want a strong, healthy normal weight and body size, you are what you repeatedly do so adopt habits that reflect the body that you want.  It is a bit of a cliche but we are what we do, we are what we eat.

When you set goals, you are shaping the process of success. That means deciding what characteristics, like commitment and dedication, you need in order to reach your targets.  The determination of success is staying committed to your goals when times and emotions are raging.  It is easy to stay on track when things are going your way.  The real commitment to your goals is reflected when you’ve had an argument with your spouse, your kids are behaving less than you’d like, you have a conflict at work, etc.  If you hang tough and don’t emotionally eat no matter what, that determines success in reaching your weight loss goals.

What strategies do you have in place to counteract the old habits of turning to food each time you get stressed or want to emotionally overeat?  As we know, you are going to have more stress in your life and more opportunities to emotionally overeat. Might as well plan NOW for how you can handle the next situation more successfully!

Remember, there is NO NEW FOOD! How many binges does it take to solve work, financial and family stress?  Food really doesn’t solve anything and creates even more problems.  Turn to yourself, not food to solve your problems and ease your emotions.  Food holds NO power.  You hold the power to to deal with emotions and situations in a healthy way.  You don’t need food from emotional eating.  You are all you need!!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach

When we’ve lost weight, it takes awhile for our brains to catch up with our new, smaller body size.  We still see ourselves as being overweight.  Sometimes to the point of being very critical which can derail our weight loss efforts.

I’m asked often by clients about why they don’t see their bodies smaller.  After we’ve been overweight or morbidly obese for a period of time, that becomes engrained in our mindset.  It feels as though it is part of our identity.  We’ve focused on our weight and large body size that that continues to be how we see ourselves.  Your brain will catch up with your body but it takes awhile.  It will happen.  Here are some of the strategies that I share with my clients to help that process occur sooner:

* Take photos of yourself.  Compare them to photos taken before you lost weight.  Look at them often, or better yet, put them in a prominent place (such as the refrigerator!) so you see them regularly.

* Compare some of your pre-weight loss clothes to the ones you wear now.  Notice the difference in sizes by holding them up and see the difference.  Putting on your pre-weight loss clothes now and enjoy the bagginess that you now feel versus how you used to feel wearing them.

Find a photo of yourself taken in the past.  Place it alongside a recent shot. Write down two or three adjectives to describe the “you” pictured in each photo. How have you changed?  Take photos monthly so you have a visual record of how your body has changed.  I did that as I lost weight and they are amazing.  Take the photos in the same clothes and in the same location.  A good idea is to take the photos as you stand in a door frame.  You’ll be able to watch the difference in space between your body and the frame.

Keep focused and moving forward with your weight loss and healthy habits.  Before you know it, you’ll see your body accurately and you’ll be able to enjoy and appreciate your weight loss even more.

Keep doing this as you progress to your goal weight.  Celebrate how far you’ve come every pound of the way!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach

The temporary fix of food as a calming, soothing way to manage your emotions is fleeting.  When you’re thinking of indulging in the downward spiral of emotional eating, fast forward to how you’ll feel after.  The guilt, shame, worry over being derailed from your weight loss efforts and compromising your weight loss goals aren’t worth it.  The negative self-depreciating feelings you have last far longer than the few minutes of relief from a cookie.  Don’t numb out…tune in to yourself.  You have the answer.  You have to allow yourself the time and create the habit of dealing with emotions without eating.  It is uncomfortable at first.  However, the payoff long term is worth it.

Think of how you’ll feel as you step on the scale and see a weight loss.  Visualize how it will feel as you wear smaller sized clothes.  Now those are the things that are worth it.  They are a long-term investment in yourself.  All the emotional eating does is plant the cookie, chips, or junk food firmly on your body in the way of excess weight.

Emotional eating is a habit.  It is a way we coped with situations and emotions.  Break out of that habit.  Habits can be changed.  Break out of the jail of emotional eating and excess weight.  Feel the joy of being free without the bonds of emotional eating and excess weight.  It is truly worth it….you are worth it.

You are stronger inside than anything that can happen to you!  Don’t numb out, tune in to you!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach

You already possess the power to transform your dream into a reality and reach your weight loss goal?  Have a plan of your own to follow.  Sports teams have a game plan, businesses have business plans, for anything successful, you have a plan.  All you need is to follow the process that allows ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things.  Reach for the sky – the sky’s the limit when it comes to achieving your goals.

When you look at yourself do you see the person you want to be, doing the things in life you want to do?

STEP NUMBER ONE:  DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.
Ask yourself:  What do you want?  That is a very powerful question.  To gain a success in reaching a goal, you need to name it.

STEP NUMBER TWO:  WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS.
By writing it down, you commit to your goal.  You can put it in a prominent place that you will see it such as a sticky post on your bathroom mirror or on your refrigerator.  Don’t keep it floating around in your brain.  Solidify your goals by writing them down.

STEP NUMBER THREE: CHECK IN DAILY! LET ME AS YOUR COACH SUPPORT YOU!
How are you doing with your goals?  What did you do yesterday to move forward to your goal(s)?  What are you going to do today to move toward your goal(s)?  With a daily check in, you stay on track and focused on your goals.  Keep your eye on the prize of achieving those goals.

STEP NUMBER FOUR: BREAK YOUR GOAL INTO STEPS…..ONE STEP AT A TIME!
Your goal may be to lose weight.  That’s great but how are you going to get there.  Break in down into more manageable, small steps that you can experience successes along the way.  For losing 10 pounds, load 10 songs on your iPod, get a massage, or other celebration and acknowledgement of reaching that goal.  You reach big goals by one step at a time.

Lastly, do you believe you’ll reach your goals?  It is a wish or a belief?  Do you see yourself as losing weight and reaching your ideal weight?  Visualize yourself fitting into a smaller size, stepping on the scale and seeing your ideal weight number, and moving throughout your day in a smaller body and how that feels.  If YOU believe it you WILL achieve it!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach

Pre-op, Krispy Kremes were my thing. I loved them.  I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I could down an entire dozen easily in a day. I can’t believe it but it is true.

Now, post-op, I’d like to tell you that a KK (I’m on such friendly terms with them that I’ve given them a pet name of KK!!) has not crossed my lips but it has.  In fact, multiple KKs have.  I have a long-standing love/hate relationship with KK’s.  I love them but want to hate them.  I must admit that these images I’ve shared in this post help me with the “hate” part of my relationship with them.  Even I have to admit they are gross here!!

Now being more health conscious and incorporating healthy habits in my life, I am more respectful of what I eat.  As we all know, Krispy Kremes are NOT a healthy choice……fat and sugar. That’s it.  Nothing more.  I might as well sit down to a dish of lard with sugar poured on top.  I’m going to try to imagine that the next time I drive by my friendly KK!

Check this out……as if it couldn’t get worse:

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach