You and all your friends are invited to a FREE Healthy Habits 7-Day Challenge starting Monday, August 11, 2014! The object of this healthy challenge is to implement healthy habits, get in a little exercise and have fun doing it! Anyone and everyone is invited. We'll meet in a private group here on Facebook. The challenge will be filled with supportive people who want to be healthy, vibrant people.
The foundation of my nutrition coaching program is to work with people one-on-one to develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime. My belief is that, for some people, it can be very overwhelming to try to fix everything at once. For those folks, I highly recommend working with me one-on-one. However, for some people it can be good to take a bit more of a running start. For those people I have developed this Healthy Habits 7-Day Challenge. But, anyone is welcome - those who like to start at a crawl or those who like to hit the ground running (or anyone in between). If you're considering nutrition coaching this FREE challenge will give you an overview of my program.
Each day I will introduce the Healthy Habit of the Day that you'll be working on. Also, we will have an exercise challenge (it won't be too hard, I promise!). And there will be encouraging words throughout the day. I’ll be there to support you all the way – as will your fellow challengers!
Click the link below to join the group!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/aug2014healthyhabits/
Can't wait to have you part of the group!! It's going to be FUN!
This week we have been discussing the importance of consistency and the impact it has on meeting our weight loss goals (or any life goal). Yesterday, we discussed input/output influences and how what we allow our brains to absorb can greatly impact the choices we make. Today, we’re going to talk about what might be a tough one….who we spend our time with.
In the “The Compound Effect,” by Darren Hardy, which was the springboard for this discussion, he asks the question, “Who’s Influencing You?” His mentor, Jim Rohn, a successful “business philosopher”, teaches that we are “the combined average of the five people we hang around most.” So ask yourself a few questions: Do the people I hang out with the most embody the type of person I want to be?; Do they take care of themselves the way I should take care of myself? Do they eat the way I should be eating? Do they care about their health?
If you have truly decided to lose weight and be a healthier person and you answered no to more than one of those questions…perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate who you spend the most of your time with. I’m not suggesting you dump your friends. But I am suggesting that if you truly want to be successful with your health goals it might be necessary to choose to spend less time with them. It’s like this – if you’ve decided to drink less how easy is that going to be if you’re going out with your “party friends” every weekend (and maybe even during the week)? Or maybe you’re trying to quit smoking? Are you going to be successful if you hang out with smokers? Probably not. Their influence is going to drag you down. You’ll end up deciding to have just that one drink or that you will just not smoke and next thing you know you’ve had three. It’s the same way with any other unhealthy habits. Unhealthy people don’t influence you to be healthy – they influence you to be unhealthy.
To wrap it up – if you want to be healthy and lose weight you have to hang out people who support you and live out the healthy lifestyle that you need to be successful.
Tomorrow we’ll discuss one more influence that can either help or hinder us: environment.
Have a great day!
I’ve been reading a book, “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy, and it has had a tremendous impact on my life. It has inspired me to write a 5-day piece on consistency and dealing with those things that influence you away from your weight loss goals.
Read on….
Weight loss often comes the same way water comes from an old fashion hand-pumped water well. It takes a bit of work to get the water really flowing. We stand there and pump and pump and pump and from the surface it looks like nothing is happening. No water. But something IS happening down below the surface that we cannot see. Pressure is building and we just need to have patience; keep pumping and the water will come.
Same thing goes for our weight loss efforts. Often times we improve our diets, start getting in a little exercise and on the surface, very little happens or, worse yet, nothing happens. The scale doesn’t budge much (or at all), the clothes don’t fit any loser, and we really don’t feel any better. This is where consistency comes in, we need to keep priming the pump – because improving our health and losing weight takes time, patience and consistency. It takes slow, steady, consistent work. We need to keep at it – keep doing those new healthy habits even when those results slow (or stop!) because underneath the surface big things are happening. We just need to trust and keep going. Consistency is the key. I know I sound like a broken record, don’t I?! But I want to really get that point across. Consistency is the key. We just can’t go in fits and starts and expect to see the results we’re hoping for.
Consistency, or “Sticktuitiveness” will get you where you want to be. You just have to trust your efforts are building toward a great pay off.
Tune in tomorrow for the first tip on dealing with the influences/choices that derail us from being consistent.
See you then!
Feel free to tag a friend(s) who you think might benefit from this series in the comments below!
Weight loss can be such a mental game. We eat because we're bored. We eat because we're mad. We eat because we're sad. We eat because we're hormonal. We eat because, because, because.... Our mind and emotions are a powerful force for either good or bad, success or failure.
I just came across this quote from The Compound Effect and it made me think about weight loss:
"Our brain is always trying to align our outer world with what we're seeing and expecting in our inner world. So when you instruct your brain to look for the things you want, you will begin to see them. In fact, the object of your desire has probably always existed around you, but your mind and eyes weren't open to see it."
What do you think would happen if we chose to continually tell ourselves we are capable of being the healthy, fit individual we want to be? We adopted a thought like the little train that said, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can"? Would we start to align ourselves with that thought? Perhaps we would start doing the things that allowed us to reach that goal. We'd drink a big glass of water and walk away from that cookie. We'd walk an extra 15 minutes. We'd push a little harder getting that heavy weight up on our bench presses. We’d go to an exercise class we’ve avoiding for so long because we felt awkward or weak.
So, today, I want you to CHOOSE to start believing you CAN achieve whatever health goals you've wanted for a long time. Write your goal on a paper and stick it to your refrigerator, your computer screen, and your bathroom mirror. Find others that will support you and maybe even join in with you. Having the right mindset and pairing that with being in a supportive environment can make all the difference.
So, starting believing you can today. Adopt the mindset “I can…I WILL.” If you’re struggling to find a supportive person in your world give me a call. 925-876-5891. I’ll help you find the right mindset, show you ways you can be successful and help you achieve your goals.
What if I told you the ONLY way you could change your physique, lose weight, and be healthy was to completely overhaul your life by giving up every bad habit, start exercising daily and generally do everything "right" towards your health RIGHT NOW. No ramping up, no easing in - you just have to do it now. What would you say to this? You'd probably tell me I was crazy, right? No way, no how, you couldn't do it.
But isn't this the way most of us approach our health? We turn over a new leaf? We make a New Year's Resolution? We start that new diet program which restricts us from everything we love? And we try this for about 5 days (if we're lucky) and then we give up because it's just too dang hard. If anyone else in our world tried to overhaul every habit overnight we would think THEY were crazy. But, we will try to do it overnight.
So why do we do this to ourselves? I think it’s because we've been frustrated with our weight or lack of energy for years now and we're just tired of it. We just want results and we want them NOW. We want to feel better and we want to be skinnier and we want it all yesterday.
But we all know life doesn't work this way. Results take time. But, getting them really doesn't have to be as painful and arduous as an overnight, dump every bad habit process. You can change your life one step at a time.
When I work with clients, in either improving their fitness level or overall health, I take them one step, one habit at a time. Together we find one thing they can work on (something small but with a lot of payback) and focus on just one habit. Every day the only thing they try to change is one behavior. Sometimes it's a bad habit we replace with a good habit and sometimes it's simply starting a brand new one. Whatever it is, it's a small, sustainable change that will reap them big rewards in the long run (or even the short run). The next week, if they have been successful, and they usually have, they work on another habit. Remember it was a small change. Over time my clients change many habits and find themselves dramatically healthier, fitter and thinner.
So next time you’re thinking about working on your fitness, health, weight loss or any other aspect of your life try just choosing one habit you want to change and focus on just that one habit until you have it down. You’ll find that it’s much easier to find success in one habit rather than trying to do it all at once.
Need helping finding those habits? Give me a call. (925) 876-5891. I work with nutrition clients anywhere in the country. I’d love to be a part of your journey towards a healthier, happier, more vibrant life.
Fasting. The second most people hear the word "Fast" in regards to food they freak out and say, "No way I could do that." We live in a culture that says you're hungry (or you THINK you're hungry) - EAT.
But amazing results can come through fasting. And there are all different ways to fast. Fasting doesn't always mean nothing but water all day. Sometimes fasting is only eating certain hours of the day. Sometimes it's only eating limited calories every other day or 2 days a week. My point is there are options to all day fasting which will still produce great results.
Recently, I listened to a talk given by Dr. John Berardi, of Precision Nutrition. He outlined these amazing benefits of fasting:
Reduced
1. Blood lipids (cholesterol, triglycerides)
2. Blood pressure
3. Inflammation (CRP, IL-6, TNF, BDNF - linked to alzheimers)
4. Oxidative stress
5. Risk of Cancer
Increased
1. Cell turnover and repair
2. Fat burning (fatty acid oxidation later in the fast)
3. Growth hormone (longer fast goes (24-36hr+ 500% increase)
4. Metabolic Rate
5. Mental clarity
Currently, I am following an intermittent fasting program where I stop eating 3 hours before bed and don't eat again until after my workout (which is close to 11:30am most days). On my rest days I often won't eat until after noon. At first it was hard. I'll admit it. But after a day or two I found that my hungry "pains" passed fairly easily after drinking a glass of water. I've lost a few nagging pounds. I can see my ab muscles just a bit better. And in a few months I'll retest my blood to see what benefits have been had in that area.
So, give it a try. Not sure how to proceed with an intermittent fast. Want to talk more about your options? Give me a call. I'd love to help.
