Doing it differently

There's this wonderful sense of renewal with the New Year, and it gives us hope that we will turn things around. 

January 1 inspires most of us to dream big. For many the New Year means a fresh start. On January 1 we make all kinds of promises that “starting tomorrow, things are going to be different.”

And while making the resolution to lose weight is easy, keeping it, can be a challenge. New Years’ resolutions rarely bring the lasting change that you hope for.

The number one resolution - losing weight - makes sense considering the epidemic of obesity and related diseases, and our genuine desire to look and feel better.

Take advantage of these moments of clarity at the start of the New Year and take actions that would commit you to making good decisions in the future.

When you are decide that losing weight is more important than what you are giving up, then you are ready for action and you will likely succeed.

Temporary changes = temporary results

Anything that requires change can be difficult. Yet, in order to learn and grow and make progress, you have to change.

Recognize that change is difficult and move on to decide what is more important to you, losing weight or continue to eat only the food that you like (no change).

Losing weight and keeping it off is not very easy. But there are ways to make it easier. It is still going to be hard work. There are no shortcuts. No temporary changes will create permanent results. Which means you need to change your perspective. It means you never get to be “done.”

The bottom line is always the same: to lose weight, we must consume fewer calories than we burn. To keep it off, we must adopt permanent lifestyle changes. Making a lifetime commitment is essential.

Truth, or more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality is essential foundation for any good outcome. Radical transparency is invaluable for rapid learning and effective change.

To begin effective change, you must see the change as being a necessity. If the change is just “nice to have”, it won’t be sustainable because anything “nice to have” is also “ok not to have”. The stronger your desire for the change, the more effective the change will be.

Environment matters

Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior. You don’t have to be a victim of your environment. You can also be an architect of it. 

Do your kitchen clean out. Double check what you have in the fridge and pantry. 

Get rid of the bad stuff - soda, chips, candy, processed and sugary baked goods - and stock up your fridge with healthy food instead. Food like fresh fruit and vegetables, and lean proteins. 

There is something tremendously empowering about physically throwing away the things you are choosing to remove from your life. 

Environment matters, so make sure the best choice is the most obvious one. 

Making a better decision is easy and natural when the cues for good habit are right in front of you.

How to make weight loss a priority

A priority is something we believe is more important than another thing. Why do we need to make something a priority? Priority helps us make daily choices that reflect our values.

If you look at every choice you have ever made in your life, you made those choices based on what was important and unimportant to you. What was more important versus what was less important. What you considered a high priority and what you considered a low priority. What you cared about and what you didn’t.

Our choices are based on what we want. Only when we want it we are truly motivated to go after it. What is it that we want? As practical as it might be, if it is important to us, then it is also motivating.

We love our food. We like our traditions. We have habits. We do not really want to change. When you determine that losing weight is more important than anything else, you will be able to make choices that lead to weigh loss and getting your life back.

Whatever it is that moves you, whatever it is that you so desperately want and desire, let it be the spark that fires you up to chase your weight loss goal and get your life back. Keep you “why” handy. What ever it is that moves you to take action, keep it fresh and in front of you as you make weight loss your priority #1.

It is like a cancer patient with one- or two-year life expectancy would do anything to live a little longer. When you faced with death, our comforts and wants and preferences do not seem as important as they once were.

Making weight loss a priority is the only way you will be able to get the permanent weight loss results you want!

It means working on your mindset every single day to ensure your thoughts are creating feelings that will drive actions to produce the results you want.

Are you currently living in a way that reflects weight loss as a top priority? 

Seeing clearly what needs to be done

One of the hardest things to do is to look objectively at yourself and assessing what type of change you need to make. You have to look the facts in the face before you can do anything about them.
If your answer is that you need to lose weight, take a piece of paper and write the answer.

Be brutally honest with yourself. You may hesitate at first. When I recommend this to individuals who talk to me about weight loss, they usually don’t want to write this staff down. They don’t want somebody to see it.

What I tell them if they were concerned to just tear it up and throw it away as soon as they were done. Keeping it isn’t the point. What matters is the act of writing itself, seeing your thoughts and fears if front of you and being honest about them. Only by getting out what is inside can we start to gain perspective. This is how change can take place. Not seeing clearly leads to inaction.

Change doesn’t happen at all if you don’t make the decision to do so. The only way positive change can come into your life is if you make it priority. How do you make it priority? I will write about it in my next post.

Stress is a normal part of life

Stress is known as a part of normal life and it is sometimes good for you. In small amounts, stress may maintain your energy and also improve your performance.

However, stress can cause negative effects for you. Trying to avoid dealing with stress might seem sensible, but it usually just makes things worse.

There are lots of practical, positive steps we can take to deal with stress. The common stress response is to eat comfort foods, foods that include high sugar, salt or fat foods such as chocolate, potato chips, soft drinks and snack foods.

While eating comfort food, when you are stressed out might actually help, it is not beneficial when you try to lose weight. You will get benefits in terms of stress reduction, but it will not support your weight loss efforts.

You can do plenty of things to de-stress. A good model of stress management is to do something about it and get beyond it. A bad model is to avoid it and let is accumulate.

Make sure most evenings include rituals that actively help you unwind.

Try something new

If what you are doing is not working, try something new. If you never take a step in the right direction, you will stay right where you are.

If you don’t know what to do, I can recommend that the first thing you need to do is to eat real food. Food that supports weight loss.

If you are not happy with your weight, you can chose to take control or you can choose to do nothing to change the situation.

You can take action or continue to use defense mechanism, like thinking that weight loss is too difficult to justify why you should not do anything to change your situation.

Making a conscious effort to eat real food that supports weight loss every time you decide what you eat is behavioral change that will make a big difference. That behavior change can help shift your attitude.

Planning is the key to success - lesson learned

There is a direct link between planning and achievement. Weight loss is no exception. 

To start my day off right I always eat breakfast and that sets me for success during the day.

Unfortunately, I finished all turkey breast and had nothing for breakfast this morning. For a moment I thought about having butter toast with jam. I knew that if I had this for breakfast, I would experience sugar carvings later. 

When a similar situation occurred in the past, I had six white toasts with jam. I just could not stop. Normally, I have one whole wheat toast with chicken or turkey breast.

While reaching for jam jar, I discovered that I had a can of  tuna fish. I put tuna on toasted 100% whole wheat bread and had good breakfast. Breakfast that supports my weight lose.

Survived difficult moment and learned another lesson to always pre-plan what I will eat and have food consistent with Eat Like Me approach available. 

Posting photo of my today’s breakfast.

Sugar dependence is real

If you’re like most Americans, you eat more sugar than is good for you. Sugar makes us hungry and fat because it is an effective agent that produces excess calories and stimulates further eating. People generally know that sugar isn't good, but they don't appreciate how powerfully negative it really is.

Sugar is the driving force behind the diabetes and obesity epidemics. In addition, when the body can’t manage the amount of sugar in the blood, the sugar begins to damage artery walls, increasing the risk for heart attack and stroke.

Why does sugar have such a powerful hold on us?

Consuming large amounts of added sugar activates the reward center and makes us want to eat that food again. Past memory of eating sweet things produces cues that induce the craving for more. Sugar can also change how you feel. When this happens, you can have increased cravings for sugar and feel a lack of control when around sugar. It resembles other abused substances because it is reinforcing.

While sugar is everywhere — in cookies and crackers, breads and pasta sauce — the single largest source in the American diet is sugary drinks.

Who should you believe

Years ago, when I posted on a popular website that losing weight was possible without exercise and that losing weight fast was good, it was treated as heresy. I was advised to read other posts before posting.

Another person posted that I did not know what I was talking about. A person with over 3000 posts in her profile suggested that my post should be ignored because I was trying to create a buzz. Even though I posted what I believed in, and more important, what worked for me, my message was not well received.

I understand that advocating losing weight without high-priced diet products, personal trainers and expensive gym memberships was not welcomed at that site. Many weight loss gurus like to emphasize long, steady weight loss. While they were coaching you through this weight loss, they are also likely draining your bank account in a long, slow fashion, too.

Widely popular assumption that in order to lose weight you must exercise has been the foundation of many weight-loss programs. The advice to exercise more to lose weight is simply not realistic. Some find it hard to accept but exercise isn't necessarily helping us lose weight. Even if you exercised every day, in order to achieve any noticeable weight reduction, you would have to do it for hours each day. Exercise is great for our physical health and state of mind, but it has a disappointingly small effect on weight loss.

While most weight loss "experts" still claim that losing weight quickly is not sustainable, study after study show that shedding weight fast leads to a greater weight loss and longer-term success of keeping it off.

Sustaining motivation

It takes determination to openly acknowledge our situation and keep striving to improve. Life is not easy. Life is not perfect. Perfection is not achievable, but improvement always is. I believe that in all circumstances we can choose. We can choose what we eat and what food we avoid.

Not being successful with weight loss attempts is not because we are undisciplined or lack willpower. Many give up their weight loss efforts not because they are “unmotivated” people, but because they don’t see results or/and use methods that include experiencing hunger. Hunger is the most significant problem with weight loss and a diet that results in hunger will never be successful. It is hard not to eat when you get hungry.

If you can change what you eat and how you eat, you will be able to lose weight. Initially changing your eating habits may cause some level of stress. But it can be done and there are ways to make it easier. I know it can be done because I lost weight without feeling hungry. Losing weight CAN be done without experiencing hunger.

What worked for me was seeing results. When I saw the numbers on the scale going down every single day, I got excited and wanted to stick with my method. Fast results kept me motivated. The more weight I lost, the more I realized how doable and relatively easy it was, and the more I wanted to share it with others.

You can lose weight - but it's up to you to take the simple daily actions that will make losing weight a habit. Seeing results and not feeling hungry will help.

Making smart choices when food shopping

Many people are interested in eating healthier, but with thousands of products lining grocery store shelves, choosing the right foods can be overwhelming.

What is “healthy”? What does “natural” mean? What are foods labels actually saying?  It can be confusing regardless of whether you shop in supermarkets or local grocery stores.

Buying, and of course eating, the right food is crucial part of my approach to weight loss.

Eat Like Me approach ensures weight loss and at the same time contributes toward healthy life style. I don’t offer any advice how to be more confident in the kitchen, because I don’t cook. The most complicated meal I can cook is scrambles eggs.

I buy and eat food that gives my body the nutrients it needs and helps me lose weight. I shop for food once a week on weekend. Shopping when I am not hungry or rushed for time helps. I plan what food I need to buy and stick to my shopping list.

The key to successful food buying when you try to lose weight is planning ahead.

Easiest part of my eating routine

Breakfast is the easiest part for me.

It is the part of the Eat Like Me approach that works very well for me. I can honestly say that it is super easy - for me.

It appears effortless in weight loss terms and I have no problems with maintaining 100% compliance. Unless I travel.

It is easy, does not require a lot of thinking about it and it takes little time to make. 

Posting the picture of what I had for breakfast today.