how to lose weight Archives - Diet Free Radiant Me | Intuitive Eating | Emotional Eating

Don’t allow a number (on a scale) to determine your self-worth

For many people, the scale has always been used as a measure of happiness. Whether you realize it or not, the number on the scale often influences your mood and subsequent decisions each day.

The scale is one of the biggest threats to anyone trying to make peace with food and to find comfort with their own body. If you weigh yourself on the scale to see your weight loss progress, you probably connect the number shown to a value of your self-worth. And you likely have expectations of what the number on the scale means.

What am I referring to? Let’s say you really commit to making mindful, healthy choices all week and at the end of the week, you hop on the scale all excited to see a loss but instead you see your weight hasn’t changed much. It will be easy for you to say “I did all the work and for what?”

Or maybe you had a very “lax” week and you had a few late night food binges or ate past the point of comfort and when you weighed yourself that week, you lost weight! Maybe you will think “why try so hard if I can lose weight eating chocolate cake with each meal!”

Weighing yourself on the bathroom scale is a sure way to undermine all your efforts and hard work. The scale is tricky. You may not see your weight dropping as much or as quickly as you hoped for. You may feel discouraged and want to give up on your efforts or you may feel inclined to switch to extreme weight loss measures for fast gratification.

However, if you would like to make meaningful changes to improve yourself and your life, LISTEN UP! It’s time to put the scale to rest.

The scale measures your total body weight and the number can fluctuate based on hormones, when you last ate, and more. If you are relying on the scale to report to you how you are “doing” on your eating plan, you will likely be disappointed if you don’t take these other variables into consideration.

If you want to experience true results, stopping watching the scale and start listening to your BODY. That’s where the true AHA moments happen.

Do you have a “goal weight” hovering in the back of your mind? Forget about it. Shift your focus away from the number to how you FEEL and how well you are LISTENING to your body.

If you need some help with this try to focus on some of the following instead of focusing on the scale:

How do you feel when you engage in exercise each day?
Did you only decide to eat when you were physically hungry? Did you stop when you felt comfortably satisfied?
How is your energy and stamina? Your mood?
Are you comfortable and confident in your own body today?

Your turn to take action: Put away the scale and commit to not weighing yourself for one month. Focus on listening to your body and let me know how you feel.

How to Achieve Your Health Goals In 2016

I cringe this time of year. You know why? Because my inbox is flooded with dozens of miracle diets for the New Year. They promise quick and easy weight loss by following a set of rules to reach unrealistic goals.

Join me in throwing your New Year’s resolutions out the window. Start this New Year by doing the opposite of so many people. Release yourself from the prison of rules that you set for yourself, or worse – that someone else has set for you. Instead continue on your path towards becoming an intuitive and mindful eater.

I realize this isn’t an easy path. But remember, it may not be easy but it is worth it!

There are 3 essential ingredients I believe you need to piece together in order to achieve this goal for 2016.

Here they are (and resources to help too!)

Essential Ingredient #1: Create a healthy mindset. Commit to NOT listening to what others tell you to do. You need to decide for yourself what is best. What makes YOU happy? What makes you feel good? What eases your mind and fills your stomach? Stop letting dieting books, relatives and TV hosts dictate what you need or what you should eat. They don’t know what is right for you. Only you know how to make yourself the best you can be. Re-learn to trust your body. You may be surprised what you get out of it.

Essential Ingredient #2: Find caring love and support. It’s no fun being on this journey alone. And, it’s possible that all your girlfriends are about to embark on the latest New Year’s diet. So what are you to do? Find a support group filled with people just like you who have decided to never diet again. They do exist. If you are interested, come on over to my private Facebook intuitive eating support group. This is a judgement-free space where real people share real intuitive eating struggles and successes. I offer my own advice and tips along with fun challenges and giveaways throughout the year.

Essential Ingredient #3: Be open to learning about nutrition from a reputable source. There is so much overwhelming nutrition information on the internet that it gets downright confusing. Just this morning a client mentioned to me that she has no idea what to eat anymore, there are so many recommendations she reads that contradict each other. It is key to connect with a reputable nutrition source such as a registered dietitian nutritionist to learn about nutrition. Get to know what you’re putting into your body. The more you know the more you will find yourself being more conscious about what you’re eating.

To help clarify the many nutrition questions you might have while you are food shopping, check out My Supermarket Sidekick: Your Aisle-by-Aisle Shopping Guide. I wrote this guide to help you as you navigate the aisles in the supermarket. Learn more here.

Your Turn to Take Action: What are your health goals of 2016? Comment below!

Are You a Yo-Yo Dieter? Find out now!

It’s the same story with every diet you start: “this time it’s going to work, this time I’m going to be stronger, this time I’m going to stay committed”. However, the unfortunate truth of dieting is that it will never help you achieve your long term weight loss goals. In fact, statistics show that 46% of people who make a weight loss resolution never make it past 6 months. So, if dieting doesn’t work you may be wondering how you will ever reach your weight loss goals. The key for weight loss success is not to follow a diet, but rather to understand what is really sabotaging your weight loss.
Here are two questions you need to answer to get started:

Question #1: Am I a Yo-Yo Dieter?

Yo-yo dieting is a term you are likely familiar with. It is a process that results in what is commonly known as weight cycling and it involves going on and off diets and constantly losing and regaining weight along the way. You may be thinking that yo-yo dieting is the perfect description of your life. The cycle of yo-yo dieting is crippling mentally, emotionally and physically. Not only does it lead to an emotional rollercoaster of successes and failures, but weight cycling has also been shown to impose adverse health effects. Does this sound like you? If it does, move on to question #2.

Question #2: Have I Hit Diet Bottom?

Hitting diet bottom happens when you simply do not have it in you to go on another diet. You have hit diet bottom when you’ve been dieting your whole life and you no longer have the energy or inner strength to worry about the number on the scale, count any more calories or deprive yourself of foods that you love. The negative emotions and feelings of guilt that come along with overeating are tormenting you and something that you cannot endure any longer. Hitting diet bottom is the first step you need to catapult you into a diet-free life.

If you have succumbed to the yo-yo cycle of dieting for many years and still haven’t reached your weight loss goals, consider if you are at the point where you have hit diet bottom. Figuring out for yourself if you are at this point takes self-reflection into your personal diet patterns and being honest with yourself as to how dieting has affected you throughout your life. Then, and only then, can you move to the next step of discovering the biggest mistakes you’ve made at dieting.

To help you on this discovery journey, please accept my Hitting Diet Bottom Blueprint as my gift to you. Find out if you have hit diet bottom, and learn what you can do to end the yo-yo dieting cycle.

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