Another holiday has passed. The parties have all ended. I now have to deal with the frustration of clients who were not able to lose weight over the holidays. It has been a tough week. Many of my clients did well over the holidays and were able to not overeat and select healthier foods. What they don’t understand is that the body doesn’t know it is holiday time and still processes food the same. The body doesn’t care what you could have eaten or the beverages you could have consumed. It only registers what you have eaten and uses its current fat burning abilities. When you make better choices on vacation or at parties – your body will be more apt to maintain its weight and not gain weight. In order to lose weight you have to send a consistent message, eat lean and feed your body throughout the day. You have to be consistent for at least 2-3 weeks and not have “little cheats”. This way you will start a momentum of losing weight and becoming an efficient fat burner. You can’t start this momentum when you are not in a normal routine (like holiday time). So don’t be discouraged – just resolve to start your momentum now that the social events have settled down and you can get into a healthy routine. After two to three weeks of eating well – you may find that your body will continue to lose weight even when you are not so good (momentum).

Sometimes when you are trying desperately to lose weight and you just can’t seem to succeed – look deeper. It is not always about simply losing weight. One thing I have learned from all of my readings is that life throws lessons out to you so that you can grow as a spiritual being. One way to get our attention is to limit our ability to get something we want REALLY badly. For some that may be to lose weight. For others it may be to find a long lasting relationship and for others it is to have a child. Whatever the case – not getting what you really want can be frustrating especially when you find you can’t control the outcome. It seems the more you try to control the outcome the worse the situation gets and the more frustrated you become. I see a lot of clients in this situation with their weight. I can usually see right through them and know in an instant what their problem is. Most of them are so busy trying to whip their body into shape that they are abusing themselves and forgetting a very important thing… you have to befriend the body you want to change…

In the last few weeks I have had the pleasure of coaching a woman who is living life on a speed train trying to control every facet of her life. Along the journey her body went into stress mode and started to store fat to enable her to sustain her fast-paced lifestyle. She, in turn, has decided to punish her body even more by making it work out 5 to 7 days a week. Frustrated she turned to us for help.

This time it is definitely not just about weight. This woman is a candidate for Wife Swap. She is the typical perfectionist mother who tries to keep the perfect home, the perfect life, volunteers whenever she can and exercises her body to exhaustion. She runs on adrenelin. She speaks at a rapid pace. It is hard to get her to listen. She needs a rude awakening to get her to see what she is missing in her life. The extra weight she is carrying has her attention.

Will this be all it takes for her to get the message? or will it take some serious illness or accident to get her to slow down? I talk about all of this with her. I will repeat myself every week until she gets it. Right now I have her listening to the Self Esteem CD by Louise Hay (there is a subliminal side – the purpose here is to get her to love herself regardless of her imperfections). I also recommended Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, Secrets of Life Every Women Should Know and I seriously want to nominate her for Wife Swap. Last week her task was to take a 1/2 day to herself – no volunteering, no exercising and no running around like a mad woman. She succeeded and thoroughly enjoyed herself. This week is a holiday week and being the perfectionist she is – I am not sure I can get her to slow down. But I did ask her to observe how she goes through each day and see if she can take a step back to enjoy her life instead of just rushing through – task after task. Her body needs some love and attention before it is going to cooperate with her and start to dump fat. Honestly, I have never worked with a case like this. But she is in my office for a reason and I will do my best to get her to see the light. Who knows – her body may start to trust her again and she may lose the weight!?

For help with these issues I recommend:

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff–and it’s all small stuff (Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Series)

and

and

Today I spoke with a woman who simply LOVES food. I guess I can’t relate to that exactly as I have trained myself to eat to live (or feel healthy). She is a woman who entertains a lot and has social events that center around food. She likes her wine and her cordials and associates that with happiness. Today we talked about some techniques to alter her thinking.

I really think you can “brain wash” yourself to be any way that you want to. So I am working with her to see food differently. We talked about strategies to combat her normal temptations with food. I told her to look around her and watch as others eat the food that tempts her. Notice how they look, notice their weight, watch as they are overpowered by it, watch their addiction. Is that how you wish to look? Is that behavior you want to emulate? Do you want to be the person influenced and controlled by the media, by food manufacturers that want you to be addicted to their foods? Develop an attitude that you are better than that…or “snob” thinking as I am calling it today. Say to yourself “I eat healthy. My body is more important to me than _____.” After a while you train yourself to not be turned on so much by food. There is so much else in life that can stimulate or motivate you. Now is the time to find that “something else” and focus on it. Right now – it can be focussing on changing your body….then you can shop for clothes as your reward.

When you have been a certain weight your whole life or have been struggling with weight for years, it can be hard to visualize yourself as a thin person. Spending time on this to break through your mental imaging barriors is extremely important. If you can not see it or believe it, how will you create it for yourself? Mental blocks or as they say “disallowing” can keep things that you want from happening. If you can visualize yourself thin and accept it as you – you will begin to think and act like a thin person would act. If you see yourself any differently, you will never take on the permanent behaviors that are necessary to achieve and maintain the body you want. Spend some time visualizing yourself lean and strong. How does it feel? How does this person act? How confident is this person? How does this person eat? Now act as if that were you – feel the power and confidence – feel your body and mind with positive thoughts – and watch as you now ALLOW yourself to transform.

Think Yourself Thin: The Visualization Technique That Will Make You Lose Weight

Every six weeks I measure my clients to see how they are progressing with their weight loss and how their body is changing. Sometimes this is not an enjoyable task. Many times a client comes in my office after exercising. Getting close to a person and measuring their sweaty body can be gruesome. Most people don’t smell bad – but every now and then I get a treat. Today I almost had to stop breathing as I did my measurements. I thought I was going to pass out. The man is so nice that I felt bad. I got over it but I am not looking forward to week 12.

When a person changes their eating habits their body goes through a cleansing period when it lets go of all the old toxic fat and begins to build new healthy cells. If the person does not have great elimination or is really toxic – they may carry body odor. That is why we always recommend cleansing to our clients so that their body has support and can let go of toxins more quickly and efficiently. Alfalfa is a good body cleanser. I recommend working to 10/day to get a full blood cleansing. Every one’s needs are different. If you would like a cleansing regime recommendation based on your situation – Email us to request an appropriate Cleansing Program for you.

Holiday and times of celebration can be a difficult time for some as the focus is usually around food. If you want to eat more or eat differently one day than you would normally – that is okay. That is not what makes a person heavy. It is what you do the next day and the next. What is your plan for your left-over pies and treats? Are you going to keep them in the house torturing yourself if you eat them. Let’s be real – we know it will be a temptation and we know we are going to eat it if it is around. How about trying another tactic – giving it away or getting rid of it after the event. If you chose to keep it around – decide now where it will reside – your hips, thighs, stomach???

Also make sure you still eat your normal breakfast and snacks on Thanksgiving. Starving yourself all day long only makes you over-eat. Consuming all of your calories in one large glutenous meal is a good way to pack on the pounds.

Today I had the joy of seeing a new client who was very negative at her first appointment with me. She had a negative look on her face, was negative about her eating plan and spent the first 10 minutes of our session telling me that her plan was not practical or healthy for her. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this from a new client. Some people need to blame others or the program and not take the responsibility themselves. Usually they are upset that they have to give up certain foods – so they express their frustration and disbelief in an accusing manner. This particular woman did not want to give up simple carbohydrates – she is addicted to sugar and wants to be able to eat bread.
Action:

I pointed out the obvious to her – she is an adult and is able to make adult decisions. She does not have to follow the eating plan we gave her. She can eat anything she wants. She has, however, made a decision that she wants to change her body (reshape and lose weight). I explained that in order to do this we have to eat more fueling, slow-burning foods and less of the quick burning carbs and sugar. I explained that the sugar and bread are making her fat and that it would be in her best interest to get over her sugar addiction.

I think I turned her around to the point that she feels it may be worth a try. But I know I have my hands full with this one – it will be a battle to change her negative attitude and, most importantly, not let it affect me.

When she came in the next week – she stopped eating the bread. She lost 4lbs in one week. She only has 15lbs to lose so this is a BIG jump in weight… Bread is not a good weight loss food – no matter who makes it. Now – we just have to work on the artificial sweeteners!

]]> http://www.lookandfeelsexy.com/weight-loss-tips/coach-talk/incident-bad-start-w-new-weight-loss-client/feed/ 0 http://www.lookandfeelsexy.com/weight-loss-tips/coach-talk/lesson-negative-attitude/ http://www.lookandfeelsexy.com/weight-loss-tips/coach-talk/lesson-negative-attitude/#comments Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:22:44 +0000 Weight Loss Coach http://www.lookandfeelsexy.com/?p=419 Today’s Lesson:

When trying to change anything in your life – like changing a bad habit, getting rid of some extra pounds, improving relationships, or becoming more successful in your career – your thinking is a big driver in making these changes come about. If you start out with a bad attitude or not believing that you can improve, then you will not be successful. You have to think about what you DO want in your life and not focus on your fears and doubts. I know this is easier said then done. That is why it takes work. Review the CD/Book list I recommend and begin to work on your mind every day and then you can create anything you want in your life.

Today’s Lesson:
Through my years as a coach I am still amazed at how people treat food. For many it is an embedded reward system (watch out parents how you reward your children!). If you thinking is – “I had a hard day at work so I will reward myself with a donut”. Now you associate a hard day with a donut and begin to crave donuts when you feel tired after work…nice! Bad habits can be developed so easily … but the good news is – so can good habits. You just need to turn the bad habits around and reinforce the good behaviors. That is where positive thinking comes in and working with your subconscious programming.

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