I was driving in my car the other day and heard on the radio that the number one New Year’s resolution people are making this year is to lose weight and exercise more. Not so surprising, right?
IT WAS MY NUMBER ONE NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION FOR YEARS.
Every year at this time since my twenties, I’d swear to myself that this would be the year I was going to lose weight and get thin. I would start my diet on January 1st, excited to get healthy. I’d buy the latest diet book, get rid of all the junk food in my house and start working out. No matter how bad I wanted to succeed, someone would throw a party in mid-January and my downward spiral would begin. I’d be surrounded by some over indulgent meal like pasta with sourdough bread and spend the whole evening struggling to stay on my diet. Typically, I wouldn’t survive the party without cheating. The next day I’d bounce back on my diet for a week or two, but then my birthday would happen on January 27th and it would all fall apart. I would talk myself into having “just a slice” of my favorite dessert (white birthday cake with buttercream frosting). All it would take was one taste of the sugar frosting and it was like a dam breaking. After that I couldn’t stop cheating. I’d eat a bagel the next morning and cookies in the afternoon and before I knew it, I’d quit on my weight loss dream. My diet never made it past my birthday. That was my ritual every January.
It wasn’t until I started working with my Handel Group® coach that I realized that it wasn’t about what I was eating, it was about what was eating me. I was unhappy. First, my marriage was a mess and I wanted out. Next, I was a working writer in Hollywood and had some successes, but I wasn’t where I wanted to be. Instead of dealing with why I was unhappy, I would eat comfort food to feel better. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. It was a cycle I couldn’t break. Then one day, I finally decided to be done living this way.
The problem was I didn’t know how to lose the weight. I had been trying and failing for years to get thin on my own. I shared my struggles with a friend of mine and she introduced me to my Handel Group® coach who put me on the Handel Method® weight loss program. It changed everything. I wrote a dream about what I wanted to create with my body so I could see where I was going on my journey. Then my coach had me look at my life and tackle why I was overeating. She got me to understand and face my emotional associations with food and my addiction to sugar. Next she got me to start managing my mind around food and diet so I could finally recognize and hear my thoughts that were sabotaging my dreams. Within in days of working with my coach, I started losing weight and did not stop until I reached my goal.
Below are some tips to jumpstart your weight loss and rock your body in 2015.
ROCK YOUR BODY
1) Write a Dream
Create a body dream. What does your body look and feel like? What is your new relationship with food? Are you proud of yourself? Does food talk to you? Or do you talk to it?
Visualize what you want in your dream and describe it.
a) Make your dream juicy.
b) Make it a stretch but doable.
c) Write it in the first person like it’s happening now.
d) Keep it positive! No negative digs at yourself!
Once you have written your body dream, read it every morning so you are emotionally and physically connected to your dream.
2) Make Food Promises
Next, make food promises, which will help you achieve your dream. For example, no eating bread, pasta or rice. No eating after 8pm. Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Making and keeping the right promises will have you fulfill your dream.
3) Implement Consequences
How do you keep your promises? Create self-imposed consequences for each promise you make. It’s not a punishment but an incentive so you don’t break your promise. For example, when I started working with my coach, if I cheated on my diet I was up at 6am walking the dog for an hour. Now, I hated getting up early so it was a great consequence for me and kept me on my food promises. Although, the times I did break my promise, my dog loved the walk and was happy all day (and it was good exercise for me). Create good, healthy consequences that will have you keep your promises!
4) Move Your Body
Exercise is so important when losing weight and getting healthy. Moving your body will not only get you toned, it will also help you feel better about yourself, building your confidence. Make a promise to do at least 3 sessions of cardio each week. Don’t forget to put in a consequence!
5) Tell Everyone and Find an Accountability Buddy
This step is critical. Tell everyone you know about your weight loss dream. Make it public and ask for everyone’s support to help you stay on your promises. You won’t eat the pizza in the kitchen at work if you’ve told all your coworkers you are on a diet.
Next get a buddy or a coach who will help keep you accountable and won’t let you get away with cheating on your diet or giving up on your dream. Make a promise to email your buddy every night and update them on your progress.
Come play with us! Getting healthy is a team sport.
Love,
Katie Torpey
HG Weight Loss Expert