Your thoughts along with your feelings create your actions. Your attitude can direct your thoughts and your feelings, just like your thoughts and feelings can create your attitude. So therefore it could be fair to say that your attitude is the key to creating your actions. But before we discuss that, we need to realize the relationship between actions and feelings. When I started evaluating myself and why I just couldn’t lose the weight, let alone have a 6-pack stomach... I looked at what it was that made me eat. Hunger, sure… but looking deeper than that, things became interesting.
I realized that I was like so many others. I linked food with emotions and feelings.
Much to my dismay and attempts at denying it, I had to admit to myself that I mostly ate for the wrong reasons. I ate when I was stressed, frustrated or unhappy. I even ate to deal with nervous energy or boredom.
If I was home frustrated and trying to escape my feelings by watching senseless, negative television… watch out! 2,000 to 3,000 calories of junk food could go down my throat in less than an hour's time!
I realize now that I had a food addiction. Something quite recently that Oprah admitted to suffering with herself.
In fact that is really the definition of addiction, isn’t it? Doing something -- drinking alcohol, smoking, taking drugs or eating -- in order to change an emotional state, to escape from a feeling, and/or life’s daily stressors. I was using food as a coping mechanism to feel better.
Do you ever do that?
This negative emotional connection with food, this powerful impulse to reach for unhealthy food, was a conditioned response and had to change, if I was ever going to release the shackles that bound me and reach my dream health or an overall better version of myself.
I also realized that these responses were conditioned responses, a reflexive response to stress or negative emotions. Emotions are normal and healthy, so I didn’t want to deny these feelings; but rather I could do things to prevent my disempowering responses, or in fact, change my responses. I could also start to exercise my "emotional muscle" and take control of the situations causing the stress.
So, I began to do things to change my negative relationships with food.
This is an excerpt from my book Mindset for Weight Loss which is available on Amazon.
Showing posts with label holiday weight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday weight. Show all posts
Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
How to Stay Focused and Motivated While On a Diet
All People Struggling with Weight Loss Want To Know How to Stay Focused and Motivated While On a Diet!
It is the topic of continual conversation on weight loss forums and is the overwhelming reason that people go there in the first place.
Yes, diet and exercise (D&E) is discussed but the reason that thousands flock to these forums is not so much about D&E, but is more about sharing the challenges, frustrations, set backs and victories associated with weight loss.
It is about connecting with others with similar goals and similar challenges on a forum where they can feel comfortable and not feel judged. There is huge value in this type of implied team effort and the comfort of feeling like you belong and share a common thread or goal with others.
This sharing in other’s progress and interacting with others is a way to stay motivated and focused. Especially considering for some that…
….their weight loss journey may take over a year.
Unfortunately, even with the forum groups – these dieters will still experience an approximate 95% failure rate! And here is where the problem lies….
….because although these forums are a good thing, the understanding of the limitations of motivation are not understood.
Motivation is and should always be considered temporary in regards to weight loss. Motivation by definition is short lived. It comes and it goes.
It should be considered temporary because it is needed in the beginning to actuate change, not change in weight but change in habits.
The food, exercise and eating choices you have made in the past have created the body and level of health you have today. So the question comes down to … how did you make those choices?
You made those choices based upon ….
Motivation should always be a stepping stone used to accomplish the goal of changing these bad habits, negative eating patterns and relationships with emotional eating!
What people do instead is not identify these issues, do not try to replace them with empowering habits but try instead to simply eat healthier and hope it becomes a habit.
To eat healthier, while your bad habits keep trying to jump up and sabotage your weight loss efforts requires a never-ending supply of motivation to accomplish it. Not only that, but the second that they are distracted (from their motivation) or not focusing on their diet, then these inner issues and habits will rise up and they will find themselves reverting back to these inner demons or bad habits.
You see, simply trying to force your self to eat healthy will not change your eating habits.
Unfortunately on the forums, you hear this happening on a daily basis….. people having a weak moment and binge eating on junk food with all the associated guilt that goes with it.
Luckily, supporters are quick to get them back on track with a suggestion, kind words or a pat on the back.
The only true step they take towards habit changing is keeping a daily food journal. Although it is a good step…it is but a single step in an entire multi-flight ascent to the top of the building.
The greatest use of motivation is to use it appropriately, as a short term tool to focus your will power on taking action steps to change your negative eating habits.
When the right steps are followed then the old negative habits are replaced with new, empowering healthy habits that allow you to stay on a diet without effort and with out any need for a continual supply of motivation.
Staying motivated and focused, while on a long-term diet plan to lose unwanted weight, is one of the top challenges for people trying to lose weight.
Yes, diet and exercise (D&E) is discussed but the reason that thousands flock to these forums is not so much about D&E, but is more about sharing the challenges, frustrations, set backs and victories associated with weight loss.
It is about connecting with others with similar goals and similar challenges on a forum where they can feel comfortable and not feel judged. There is huge value in this type of implied team effort and the comfort of feeling like you belong and share a common thread or goal with others.
This sharing in other’s progress and interacting with others is a way to stay motivated and focused. Especially considering for some that…
….their weight loss journey may take over a year.
Unfortunately, even with the forum groups – these dieters will still experience an approximate 95% failure rate! And here is where the problem lies….
….because although these forums are a good thing, the understanding of the limitations of motivation are not understood.
Motivation is and should always be considered temporary in regards to weight loss. Motivation by definition is short lived. It comes and it goes.
It should be considered temporary because it is needed in the beginning to actuate change, not change in weight but change in habits.
The food, exercise and eating choices you have made in the past have created the body and level of health you have today. So the question comes down to … how did you make those choices?
You made those choices based upon ….
•Your learned bad eating habits!
•Your negative patterns of eating!
•Your Emotional relationships and connections to food !
Motivation can override such habits but only for a short, temporary period of time.Motivation should always be a stepping stone used to accomplish the goal of changing these bad habits, negative eating patterns and relationships with emotional eating!
What people do instead is not identify these issues, do not try to replace them with empowering habits but try instead to simply eat healthier and hope it becomes a habit.
To eat healthier, while your bad habits keep trying to jump up and sabotage your weight loss efforts requires a never-ending supply of motivation to accomplish it. Not only that, but the second that they are distracted (from their motivation) or not focusing on their diet, then these inner issues and habits will rise up and they will find themselves reverting back to these inner demons or bad habits.
You see, simply trying to force your self to eat healthy will not change your eating habits.
Unfortunately on the forums, you hear this happening on a daily basis….. people having a weak moment and binge eating on junk food with all the associated guilt that goes with it.
Luckily, supporters are quick to get them back on track with a suggestion, kind words or a pat on the back.
The only true step they take towards habit changing is keeping a daily food journal. Although it is a good step…it is but a single step in an entire multi-flight ascent to the top of the building.
The greatest use of motivation is to use it appropriately, as a short term tool to focus your will power on taking action steps to change your negative eating habits.
When the right steps are followed then the old negative habits are replaced with new, empowering healthy habits that allow you to stay on a diet without effort and with out any need for a continual supply of motivation.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
How to Stop Emotional Eating
Human beings are always creating coping mechanisms, ways to deal with stress and emotions. We create these patterns of coping to give us a temporary reprieve from the stress or negative emotion we are experiencing.
Some coping patterns are healthy, release the stress and help us to think clearly… to find a positive direction towards that which stressed us out or affected us emotionally.
Responding to a emotional trigger or stressful situation with some exercise is a healthy coping mechanism that will help foster a positive outcome. It will….
- Release bottled up stress and anxiety.
- Relax you and calm you down.
- Make you feel good about yourself…this will help you to approach the situation with a positive outlook.
- Create a positive self-image that allows you to move forward.
On the other hand some ways to cope do not give us a clearer perspective but make us feel better at least for a very short period of time, some of these actually do more damage than good.
Emotional eating is an example of a coping mechanism that doesn’t serve us, in fact it falls into the same category of coping with drugs and alcohol. When you realize that, it might help you to recognize the importance of changing.
To take a stressful situation or negative emotion and start eating junk food to deal or cope will do the following…
- Give you a momentary break from stress and anxiety, but does not get rid of it or release in anyway.
- It will make you fat and unhealthy.
- When you are done eating…all of the feelings return plus now you feel guilty for the food you just needlessly ate. In essence, you have added to your stress!
- You now feel bad about yourself….this does not foster a positive approach to finding a solution to the trigger or stressful situation.
- This creates a negative self image and magnifies the problem so that it grows in your own mind.
To understand how to use positive coping mechanisms in our lives instead of negative ones like emotional eating we need to discuss one more aspect to this powerful human response.
We live most moments in our lives habitually, meaning we do most things as a habit. We have patterns of eating that are learned and become habits, this is true likewise for exercise.
Lean, fit people have a habit of eating healthy foods in reasonable amounts most of the time. They prioritize exercise and fit it in whenever possible, habitually.
Overweight people do not.
Likewise, any particular coping mechanism is a learned response that you go to habitually to deal with emotional stress or triggers.
In order to change your coping mechanism you need to first change your eating and exercise habits. It is much more probable that someone who eats healthy and exercises daily will respond to a stressful or emotional situation with exercise.
But, even more than that….the methods that are used to change unhealthy, bad eating and exercise habits can then be used to change deeply ingrained coping mechanisms.
So what really needs to happen to end emotional eating; is that someone who responds in this way needs to understand healthy foods and eating, best ways to exercise, be motivated to eat healthy and exercise, turn these into powerful learned habits and then use the same methods to retrain themselves to cope with emotional triggers in a positive way.
All this is very possible and in fact is easy once you know how.
The Ultimate Fat Loss Solution (www.ultimatefatlosssolution.com/download) is your resource for learning the very best in healthy eating, accelerated weight loss, efficient exercise approaches, as well as habit and behavioral re-conditioning.
Yours in health and weight loss,
Michael Mountain
Monday, November 28, 2011
Calorie Counting – The Pitfalls of Micro-Managing Your Daily Meals!
Calorie Counting every meal absolutely sucks. So, what if there was a better way?
We are bombarded with the idea that we have to eat less than our body needs in order to lose weight, to create a calorie deficit. We then are lead to believe that the only way to achieve this daily deficit is to account for and mathematically analyze each and every ounce or calorie of food we eat.
This left-brained approach to eating is supposed to be the way that we will successfully lose weight – and not only lose it, but hopefully lose it permanently.
That, in and of itself, is the inherent problem with calorie counting: it is a left-brained activity. The problem lies in the fact that we as human beings eat predominantly because of emotions and feelings. We eat sometimes because we are hungry, but we eat most of the time because of the way it makes us feel, mostly a right brain phenomenon.
We eat because we are bored, and often because we are sad or depressed; to deal with stress… we eat to feel better. In essence, we eat largely for emotional reasons.
Counting calories is so polar opposite to the very reason we are eating, that it is only a matter of time before our brain rebels against this dichotomy and sabotages our diet plans. You will take all of the joy out of eating and because of that your brain will say, forget this…this sucks! And you will sabotage your diet! Here is the proof!
How successful do you think calorie counting is? This approach will lead to permanent weight loss in about 3% of all those who are using it to lose weight! The statistics prove that this method doesn’t work; a 97% failure rate is not exactly inspiring, is it?
So what do we do when it is important to be able to evaluate whether or not we have eaten an appropriate amount of calories at a meal? How do we make that assessment easily, in a split second – to know that we are on track with what we are eating?
Firstly, because we are eating largely to enjoy the experience, we should not destroy that enjoyment by counting calories or points. That way we don’t create more stress and turmoil in our brain that may lead to self-sabotage.
Secondly, a smart diet is one that creates a calorie deficit by design not by counting. Through easy to use eyeball assessments and combining the best of health restoring and fat burning food combinations you should never have to count.
On the flip side if trying to eat less of high fat, high sugar, processed foods in the amounts that will let you lose weight is your way of getting healthy, then count away! Try to figure out whether or not you should eat 3 French fries or 4… two or two and a half bites of your Big Mac… that is when you have to count calories.
And that is a lesson in frustration and leads to certain failure!
I suggest you embrace both your mind and your health by finding a smart diet plan that throws out the calorie counting all together.
We are bombarded with the idea that we have to eat less than our body needs in order to lose weight, to create a calorie deficit. We then are lead to believe that the only way to achieve this daily deficit is to account for and mathematically analyze each and every ounce or calorie of food we eat.
This left-brained approach to eating is supposed to be the way that we will successfully lose weight – and not only lose it, but hopefully lose it permanently.
That, in and of itself, is the inherent problem with calorie counting: it is a left-brained activity. The problem lies in the fact that we as human beings eat predominantly because of emotions and feelings. We eat sometimes because we are hungry, but we eat most of the time because of the way it makes us feel, mostly a right brain phenomenon.
We eat because we are bored, and often because we are sad or depressed; to deal with stress… we eat to feel better. In essence, we eat largely for emotional reasons.
Counting calories is so polar opposite to the very reason we are eating, that it is only a matter of time before our brain rebels against this dichotomy and sabotages our diet plans. You will take all of the joy out of eating and because of that your brain will say, forget this…this sucks! And you will sabotage your diet! Here is the proof!
How successful do you think calorie counting is? This approach will lead to permanent weight loss in about 3% of all those who are using it to lose weight! The statistics prove that this method doesn’t work; a 97% failure rate is not exactly inspiring, is it?
So what do we do when it is important to be able to evaluate whether or not we have eaten an appropriate amount of calories at a meal? How do we make that assessment easily, in a split second – to know that we are on track with what we are eating?
Firstly, because we are eating largely to enjoy the experience, we should not destroy that enjoyment by counting calories or points. That way we don’t create more stress and turmoil in our brain that may lead to self-sabotage.
Secondly, a smart diet is one that creates a calorie deficit by design not by counting. Through easy to use eyeball assessments and combining the best of health restoring and fat burning food combinations you should never have to count.
On the flip side if trying to eat less of high fat, high sugar, processed foods in the amounts that will let you lose weight is your way of getting healthy, then count away! Try to figure out whether or not you should eat 3 French fries or 4… two or two and a half bites of your Big Mac… that is when you have to count calories.
And that is a lesson in frustration and leads to certain failure!
I suggest you embrace both your mind and your health by finding a smart diet plan that throws out the calorie counting all together.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Weight Loss Camps for Adults
Weight loss camps for adults exist because diets are an incomplete solution for addressing the problems that people who are overweight face.
In America, the National Institute of Health tells us that the failure rates for people who are trying to permanently lose weight is 95%. Only one out of every twenty people will be successful at changing their health and weight permanently by taking weight loss pills, going on a diet, etc.
The reason being is that a diet only changes what you eat; It does not change WHY you eat.
If the why is not addressed then permanent weight loss can never be achieved. We are not like animals, eating only because we are hungry. Human beings eat for a multitude of reasons of which hunger is only the start; we eat for pleasure, we eat to connect with others, we eat to push others away, we eat out of boredom, we eat out of habit, we eat to cope with stress, we eat because we feel good, we eat because we feel bad, we eat to protect ourselves and we eat because it (food) is there!
When you look at that long list of why people eat, the predominant reason why we eat has nothing to do with hunger and more to do with our feelings. Going on a diet does nothing to address this relationship we all have between food and our emotions or feelings. That is why the failure rate of only going on a diet is so high!
Weight loss camps for adults are a way to attempt to address these relationships. Unfortunately these camps become nothing more than mini-vacations focusing on short-term accountability and motivation. When you consider the cost of such a short term effort (often $3000 – $20,000) and the fact that lasting change comes from the inside out and requires more than the average length of time of these camps, we must conclude that weight loss camps seem to be an ineffective solution for the growing obesity epidemic that the western world is facing.
Obesity is the number one contributor to health related deaths in the world!
There is no doubt that a successful solution must be comprehensive. It must address the why – issues that include bad eating habits, limiting beliefs, and negative relationships with food and replace them with behaviors that lead to a healthy expression of emotion and greater sense self. Love and acceptance must be the foundation that these changes are built upon.
A successful solution also must address the what by helping people make healthy food choices and give them the understanding of the importance of daily exercise. Personal responsibility for health must be the foundation that diet, nutrition and exercise is built upon.
In America, the National Institute of Health tells us that the failure rates for people who are trying to permanently lose weight is 95%. Only one out of every twenty people will be successful at changing their health and weight permanently by taking weight loss pills, going on a diet, etc.
The reason being is that a diet only changes what you eat; It does not change WHY you eat.
If the why is not addressed then permanent weight loss can never be achieved. We are not like animals, eating only because we are hungry. Human beings eat for a multitude of reasons of which hunger is only the start; we eat for pleasure, we eat to connect with others, we eat to push others away, we eat out of boredom, we eat out of habit, we eat to cope with stress, we eat because we feel good, we eat because we feel bad, we eat to protect ourselves and we eat because it (food) is there!
When you look at that long list of why people eat, the predominant reason why we eat has nothing to do with hunger and more to do with our feelings. Going on a diet does nothing to address this relationship we all have between food and our emotions or feelings. That is why the failure rate of only going on a diet is so high!
Weight loss camps for adults are a way to attempt to address these relationships. Unfortunately these camps become nothing more than mini-vacations focusing on short-term accountability and motivation. When you consider the cost of such a short term effort (often $3000 – $20,000) and the fact that lasting change comes from the inside out and requires more than the average length of time of these camps, we must conclude that weight loss camps seem to be an ineffective solution for the growing obesity epidemic that the western world is facing.
Obesity is the number one contributor to health related deaths in the world!
There is no doubt that a successful solution must be comprehensive. It must address the why – issues that include bad eating habits, limiting beliefs, and negative relationships with food and replace them with behaviors that lead to a healthy expression of emotion and greater sense self. Love and acceptance must be the foundation that these changes are built upon.
A successful solution also must address the what by helping people make healthy food choices and give them the understanding of the importance of daily exercise. Personal responsibility for health must be the foundation that diet, nutrition and exercise is built upon.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
How To Want To Lose Weight
Are you asking yourself, “How can I want to lose weight? I know I want to, but I don’t know how to make myself REALLY want it.”
The question that the above thoughts are truly covering up for you is this: How can you elevate your motivation and commitment level towards a goal of self improvement, in this case for your body and health, so that you take the actions required to get you to your end goal?
Well, if you have a lukewarm attitude towards losing weight it means that you feel that there is more to lose by going on a diet, than there is to be gained by going on one and losing the weight. You might have to do some self-reflecting and ask yourself…
1) What are you afraid of losing if you lose the weight or said differently, what is to be gained by not losing the weight?
Do you use weight as a way to protect yourself, as a way to push people or someone away? Is it a way for you to protect yourself from potential rejection or putting yourself in a vulnerable situation? Do you feel that you could be rejected by loved ones if you change? Do you use food as a coping mechanism for stress, sadness or depression and fear losing your crutch? Is food so important that energy, health and living life fully is less of a priority?
We eat predominantly due to feelings or emotions; if you want increase how much you want to lose weight you are going to have to learn to love and appreciate yourself for more than what you eat. You should try to embrace the fact that if you live to eat, food has taken on an unhealthy level of importance in your life. There is opportunity to end these dis-empowering relationships with food.
2) What could be lost if you don’t lose the weight or what can be gained by losing the weight?
Take a moment and approach this question by looking at what you have missed out on in the past because of your weight or your lack of energy. What has it cost you? Missed opportunities to live fully, love fully or to participate fully?
What will not changing your weight cost in the present? What is it costing your right now? How does your weight affect your life and your self esteem?
What will it cost you in the future – your health? Obesity is the number one reason for health related deaths in the western world! If you die an early death, what could you potentially miss out on?
If you want to raise your level of motivation and commitment, you must get leverage on yourself and use it to raise the huge importance for health. When you realize what it has cost you and realize that you are holding onto your weight for unhealthy reasons, you will begin to increase your “want”, and to develop the commitment that leads to permanent weight loss.
This is the key to knowing how to want to lose weight.
The question that the above thoughts are truly covering up for you is this: How can you elevate your motivation and commitment level towards a goal of self improvement, in this case for your body and health, so that you take the actions required to get you to your end goal?
Well, if you have a lukewarm attitude towards losing weight it means that you feel that there is more to lose by going on a diet, than there is to be gained by going on one and losing the weight. You might have to do some self-reflecting and ask yourself…
1) What are you afraid of losing if you lose the weight or said differently, what is to be gained by not losing the weight?
Do you use weight as a way to protect yourself, as a way to push people or someone away? Is it a way for you to protect yourself from potential rejection or putting yourself in a vulnerable situation? Do you feel that you could be rejected by loved ones if you change? Do you use food as a coping mechanism for stress, sadness or depression and fear losing your crutch? Is food so important that energy, health and living life fully is less of a priority?
We eat predominantly due to feelings or emotions; if you want increase how much you want to lose weight you are going to have to learn to love and appreciate yourself for more than what you eat. You should try to embrace the fact that if you live to eat, food has taken on an unhealthy level of importance in your life. There is opportunity to end these dis-empowering relationships with food.
2) What could be lost if you don’t lose the weight or what can be gained by losing the weight?
Take a moment and approach this question by looking at what you have missed out on in the past because of your weight or your lack of energy. What has it cost you? Missed opportunities to live fully, love fully or to participate fully?
What will not changing your weight cost in the present? What is it costing your right now? How does your weight affect your life and your self esteem?
What will it cost you in the future – your health? Obesity is the number one reason for health related deaths in the western world! If you die an early death, what could you potentially miss out on?
If you want to raise your level of motivation and commitment, you must get leverage on yourself and use it to raise the huge importance for health. When you realize what it has cost you and realize that you are holding onto your weight for unhealthy reasons, you will begin to increase your “want”, and to develop the commitment that leads to permanent weight loss.
This is the key to knowing how to want to lose weight.
Friday, November 18, 2011
5 Tips on How NOT to Gain Weight This Holiday Season!
Through all of the many holiday seasons that I experienced during the years I spent struggling with my weight, there was always something that I could count on. Gaining between 20-30 pounds by the time New Years Eve rolled around!
Holidays don’t need to be a time of weight gain and they don’t need to be a time of not enjoying the cheer that goes with it in the form of eating and drinking. You just have to set up some rules or tips…so you can negotiate your way through it without any damage!
Here are some tips for the holidays so you can still lose weight and enjoy holiday food in moderation:
I got just as sick and tired of gaining weight throughout the holidays as I am imagining you are. So when I figured out how to not let that happen and how to continue to enjoy the holidays I felt it was something that I should share.
Here are some tips for the holidays so you can still lose weight and enjoy holiday food in moderation:
- Plan for which meals you will go off diet to enjoy some of the holiday fair. Limit the number to 10% of your week’s meals. If you eat 5 small meals a day, then your weeks total is 35, plan to enjoy between 3-4 meals without guilt throughout the week! If you eat 3 times a day then 2-3 meals for the week. This is your master plan.
- Prepare and snack on veggies and a large glass of water ½ hour before every meal where there will be holiday food in your master plan. By going into those situations already with a semi-full stomach you will be able to control how much of the goodies you eat!
- Increase your activity and exercise on the days you are going to go off diet in the master plan. By burning more calories, it will give you a little more wiggle room to eat holiday treats in moderation. It will also free you of any guilt!
- Don’t write off the entire day because of one meal or act of indiscretion. It is common for people who are trying to lose weight to want to write off the entire day when they have eaten something that is not on their diet. “I already blew my diet when I ate (X) at the office, I might as well enjoy the rest of the day, and start again on my diet tomorrow.” If you act impulsively and eat something outside of your master plan, immediately get back on track, do not give up on the day…every meal counts!
- The holidays are filled with more temptations, more stress and more opportunities for emotional eating! You must have in place; simple strategies and reminders to keep you motivated and focused on the big picture…you achieving your weight loss goals!
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