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.