Lose Weight Find Life

As we celebrate our country’s independence tomorrow, celebrate your own.  From changing our lifestyle and our habits, we have changed our relationship with food.  Rather than being a slave and victim to food, we are now free and independent of the limitations of emotional eating.  You are free!!!  You are independent!! 

I look forward to celebrating Independence Day, our liberties, our freedom, and what it means personally to me.  I also look forward to celebrating my own personal Independence Day, my liberty from being a slave to food, my freedom from emotional eating, and what my life today means to me.  I encourage you to do the same.

Happy July 4th Independence Day.  Happy Your Own Personal Independence Day. 

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

A good friend of mine pointed out that this year is half over!  Even though I know it is the beginning of July, half-way through the year, he reminded me to pause and reflect.  Wow, where did the time go?  It seems as though the holidays were a couple of years ago.

Thus far this year, I have achieved many of my goals.  I’m very proud and happy of some of my goals.  He also provided an opportunity to reflect on what I’ve accomplished.  He caused me to reflect on what I want to add to my accomplishments before the end of the year.  December 31st will be here before you know it.  Let’s make the rest of the year full of successes and celebrate on December 31!

What have you accomplished the first half of 2008?  What else is ahead for you to achieve?

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

We all know that healthy habits are important and extend your life.   To have a true appreciation for the difference healthy habits make in your life, some statistics are listed below. 

Want some motivation to make changes in your life - check out the approximate number of years that you can add to your life.  By incorporating good habits that reduce risk factors that lead to coronary heart disease and premature death, you can live a longer life.  

* Avoid diabetes = 8 years
* Exercise regularly = 5-1/2 years
* Avoid hypertension = 5 years
* Don’t smoke = 3 years
* Maintain a healthy weight = 2 years

For merely incorporating a few healthy habits, you reap the rewards for many years.  

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
 
(Data from the American Journal of Epidemiology)

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