How mantra worked for me

What is a mantra? Mantra is a simple word or a phrase to repeat. It is a phrase that, when regularly repeated, becomes a genuinely held belief.

For me, using mantra was very effective, especially when I was about to deviate from my eating plan or engage in emotional eating. I used my mantra and it worked 100% every single day. When I was tempted to eat something that would not support my weight loss goals, I would say to myself “Do you want to have an open-heart surgery?” Asking that question set me straight right away. It refocused my thinking on why I was trying to lose weight.

That mantra was very effective for me. It always worked during the first few months of my weight loss efforts. When facing a challenging situation, it helped me stick to my eating plan and make right choice related to food selection.

Using mantra shifted my mindset when needed. It strengthened my motivation. It was like a life-line for me.

Find a phrase or quote that works for you, then repeat as needed. The act of repeating those words can energize you and positively influence your thinking.  It may give you that extra momentum you need by increasing your motivation, or/and prevent you from making a poor choice when deciding what to eat.

Pattern of weight loss

The pattern of weight loss - how much you lose and when - is not a significant factor for weight regain.

It’s a simple fact that when you stop whatever you are doing to lose/maintain weight, you will start gaining weight back.

Many people lost weight, only to regain it again because they went back to eating foods that made them overweight or obese before. That is the main reason for weight loss/regain cycle.

The pattern of weight loss is very important during weight loss attempts.  When you see the results early in the process, you gain more confidence that what you are doing is working and it will motivate you to continue.

Who do you believe

What we hear today about diet and nutrition is confusing. So-called "experts" offer contradicting, sometimes questionable advice about food and nutrition to promote their agendas. Some formally overweight or obese individuals try to monetize their  tips or advice by selling products or services that offer the highest commission.

The majority of us struggle to accept the fact that a diet composed of real foods is the healthiest. For a diet to be truly healthful, it must contain a large amount of vegetables. When you eat lots of vegetables, especially green vegetables, you meet your body's need for fiber and micronutrients without having to consume too many calories.

Gaining knowledge is important step toward effective weight loss. But knowledge is not enough. You need a conscious effort to change what you eat. Incorporating information about a simple and effective strategy into your life you will help you achieve weight loss and have a positive effect on your health.

What you choose to eat will determine how successful you will be.

Eating healthy while away from home

Eating healthy while away from home can be hard. 

I am in Norfolk, Virginia for a week attending job related training. I like it so far. People in my class are authentic leaders. They are committed to improving everyone around them, just as much as they are committed to improving themselves. They are authentic, they project enthusiasm, and most importantly, they care. 

In the morning my only option is eggs, sausage, toast, and some blueberries in the hotel restaurant. Monday lunch was pizza, but today I found a more healthy option. See the picture above. Chicken breast, green beans, mixed vegetables, and spinach on the side. I had water as it contains no sugar or calories. 

Dinners should be less challenging, as I will not be limited to the area where the training is. 

Figuring out how to eat right while away from your routine can be hard, but it is not impossible.

Found healthy and delicious food yesterday

Eating out, especially when not planned in advance, can create a challenge for those of us who eat healthy.  

I try to eat healthy foods when eating out, or at least not to deviate significantly from the Eat Like Me approach. And, when possible, I also use week-ends to add variety to the foods that I regularly eat.

Yesterday, I had lunch at the restaurant that advertises home-style cooking and genuine, Southern hospitality. The restaurant was relatively new to me.

The waitress opened her eyes a bit wider when I finished ordering. She did not offer any comments, she just went over what I ordered to “make sure that I got it right”. 

I was glad that it was possible to customize what was on their menu, and I ended up having lunch that was consistent with my eating style.

See for yourself.  Grilled chicken tenderloins, brussels sprouts and kale salad, steamed broccoli, cole slaw and turnip greens.

I found healthy food and had delicious lunch yesterday.

Eat Better at Work

Your workplace nutrition habits have a major impact on your weight loss.

Since our food choices are strongly determined by what is readily available, following your healthy weight loss eating plan while at work may be hard.

Almost every day we are confronted with unhealthy food choices like bagels, donuts and sometimes even a birthday cake.

Trying to eat healthier throughout your work day can be very difficult, especially when your only choices are fast food or vending machines.

When food choices are limited, the best way to eat healthy at work is to prepare meals in your home to take to the workplace. I don't cook, so it was a bit challenging for me at the beginning. I realized that the best option for me will be to bring salads to work. I also learned that the salads I bring to work must include protein, so I add chicken breast or turkey breast. It worked and continues to work for me for lunch at work. 

Eating healthy food at work isn't just about lunch; you also need healthy snacks throughout the day. The best snacks are fresh fruits and veggies. Simply wash and bring them to your work place. I bring apples to work and eat them every day.

I am posting above what I typically eat for lunch at work. Romaine lettuce, baby spinach, turkey breast, plum tomatoes, nuts, and no dressing. I drink hot black tea with no sugar, honey or milk in tea. It takes me two minutes to prepare the salad before leaving for work.

The Right Approach to Weight Loss

Yes, you can! You can lose weight and focus on what matters and living your life.

While weight loss is not the key to your happiness and the answer to many life’s problems, it will definitely help with living a meaningful life, a life worth living as you define it.

I want to introduce you to a different way of thinking about your weight and what you eat. It is about eating real foods and not food products. It is about eating without painfully counting calories and measuring food portions. 

It is about knowing that losing weight can be done without feeling hungry. Hunger is the biggest pothole on the road of successful weight loss, and any approach that results in hunger will never be successful. 

The right approach to weight loss is not about using external measures such as exercise to control weight.

If you have struggled with weight issues or you have grown frustrated with your inability to control weight gain, you can take a look at what worked for me.

I share my real food strategy, the “non-diet” approach, as some call it, and what has worked for me on this blog and on the ilostweightyoucantoo.com website.

Made healthy choice when eating out today

Dining out can always be a challenge for me, because meals at restaurants are not healthy.

When ordering food at a restaurant I force myself to think whether I decide to stick to my eating plan or I choose to sabotage it.

Most of the time, but not always, I try to eat as close to Eat Like Me eating plan when I eat at the restaurant.

Today I found it was possible even at Chinese food restaurant.

From All-You-Can-Eat buffet I selected baked salmon, grilled chicken breast and lots of greens beans. 

Another success factor that worked for me this time. Making healthy choices when eating out is possible.

Gained weight

Yep. That's true. 

I didn't want to be hypocritical and stopped posting for a while. 

Now it's time to go back to making better food choices at every meal. While most of the days, I eat a combination of lean protein, fruits and vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats most of the time.

Unfortunately in my weak movements, I eat processed foods and it kills my efforts. I feel terrible about being out of control, but I do it anyway. I think it is my arrogance - I know how to lose weight so I can allow myself a little - that allows me to make pure food choices more often than I used to.

Smart food buying habits

We have the power of choice to decide which foods to buy at the grocery store. The key to success is planning ahead. 

Planning ahead can improve your food choices. Healthy decisions start at home. 

Start by streamlining your food shopping to one or two days each week. Fewer trips to supermarket mean fewer opportunities to buy the wrong types of food.

I do it once a week on weekend when I am not hungry or rushed for time. I plan what food I need to buy and stick to my shopping list. By taking the hurry and unpredictability out of food shopping I buy and stock up foods that are building block for healthy meals. 

Healthy choices can make a healthy you.

Eating healthy when away from home is possible

While eating healthy when away from home could be difficult, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Two days ago I was hungry after a few hours of driving and almost went to fast food restaurant near the hotel.

Found motivation to go to the supermarket, bought vegetables and turkey breast and came back to the hotel.

Felt good. I needed positive experience, because it doesn’t always end up that way for me when I travel. I found it that it was possible. When I was weak and contemplating eating at the fast food restaurant I asked myself what was more important to me.  

Eating healthy does not mean eating foods that you do not like

For me eating healthy means eating natural, unprocessed foods. Eating real foods, not food products.

Many people mistakenly think that foods that are healthy must necessarily be unsatisfying or taste bad. Of course, that isn’t so. 

To lose weight and keep it off, it is important to change your perception that healthy foods will not satisfy you as much as your favorite dishes.

Eating healthy does not mean eating foods that you do not like. It is about getting away from fake foods and embracing real ones. 

It means giving your body what it needs to thrive. 

Eliminating or at least limiting processed foods is an important element of healthy eating.

Eating healthy will also ensure that you stay healthy while using weight.

Made Better Choice Today

Real example of making better choice while eating out. Two photos are from the same place. 

I am posting them to show what worked for me at lunch time today. See the difference? 

The person I had lunch with made the choice in the upper photo and drank soda. 

I made the choice in the lower photo and drank water. We both were happy with our choices.

Remembering why we want to lose weight or maintain it, if you are already there, helps when ordering in restaurants. 

Planning what to eat and where makes it easier for me.

Guest Post: Life Style Changes to Feel Good for Life

Failure is everywhere. People are sick and in pain. This is not necessary. Let's learn how to be successful in our health. People have lost 50, 75, 100 pounds with minimal effort. They feel so good, they would never go back to old habits.

Myths: 

If I stop eating, I'll lose weight.

I have to be hungry to lose weight.

I'll never be able to have a piece of cheesecake (substitute your favorite) again.

I'll feel deprived.

I'll have to exercise 2 hours every day.

Diabetes runs in the family.

Foods are either Carbohydrates, Proteins, or Fats. Meals should have 50% Protein, 25% good carbs, and 25% fats. Monosaturated are the best.

Carbohydates:  Which are good, which are not? Rule of thumb. Don't eat the white stuff.  Also known as processed. Eat fruits and vegetables for your carbs. Avoid white flour, white sugar, white potatoes, white rice, white pasta, and white bread. Substitute whole grains, sweet potatoes, brown rice, couscous, quinoa, pasta made of spinach, bell peppers, whole wheat. Bread made of whole grains. No enriched white flour.

Why?

The white stuff is highly processed. This means it gets into your blood stream as sugar way too fast. Your blood sugar spikes. Your pancreas has to quickly release insulin to get your blood sugar back down. It goes too far down. Now you are famished!!  Quick, eat something with sugar or highly processed to get your blood sugar back up. This roller coaster is bad for your whole body- every cell. Insulin is our fat storage hormone. Spike blood sugar, release insulin, hold onto fat like a sponge holds water. This happens when we eat high Glycemic foods.

Eat Protein, good fats, and unprocessed carbohydrates.

Your blood sugar stays within a nice normal even range. Your pancreas now releases Glucagon. Glucagon   is our Fat Releasing Hormone. Your blood sugar stays in the good range. No hunger, no shakiness, no foggy thinking, and Release Fat!! This happens when we eat low Glycemic foods.

Jump Start with low Glycemic foods for five days. Sugar cravings will go away. Drink 1/2 your weight in ounces of water. Flavor the water with fruits and herbs so it's not boring. Walk 30 minutes 3 times a week. Eat low Glycemic foods every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Nibble a little dark chocolate as a reward.

Focus on what you want, not what you don't want.

Our brains will believe whatever we tell it over and over. Say everything in the positive.

Picture yourself as your new You. Tell yourself how good you look, and how great you feel. 

     

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Guest post provided by Janice Moranz, MD.  Janice runs Albuquerque Health and Fitness MeetUp Group. The group has over 400 members. You can contact Janice at janicemoranz@comcast.net

http://www.meetup.com/Albuquerque-Health-Fitness/

Nation of Fat People?

Almost everyone seems to be on some kind of diet these days. 

Most of us want to live healthier lives, lose a little bit (or a lot) of weight, and generally feel better about the food we put into our bodies. 

After decades of portion control and counting calories we still consume lots of empty calories and are becoming a nation of fat people. 

If we don’t seriously and effectively confront it, we may become a nation of inert, unhealthy, unproductive fat people by the middle of the 21st century.

One does not need a degree in science to understand why it happens. Diet fatigue and diet failure happen for a reason. If you restrict how much we can eat you are likely to end up with the following pattern. You take a break, and start again later, take another break, start again later and so on. 

Even if lose weight, you will regain your weight or more, when you jump right back to eating “normal” (pre-diet) size meals.

Exercise is excellent for health but not that important for weight loss

While the exercise myth for weight loss still appears in high-profile initiatives like the first lady's Let's Move! Campaign, more and more individuals learn and experience that the role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly overstated. 

Message that exercise is not important in helping people lose weight is getting more support in research and in media. 

I always pointed out that exercise was good for your health. At the same time I also dared to say that exercise wasn't necessarily helping us lose weight. My simple truth that that you don’t have to exercise to lose weight was not getting me many new online friends. 

This statement was considered too controversial on some weight loss forums. It even got me banned from a website that declares that it “helps facilitate honest conversation about weight loss”. 

Can you lose weight without exercising? Of course you can. Physical activity is a minor component to the economy of weight loss. The critical component is what you eat.

We always have a choice

I did not post for a few months. It was not because I stopped caring about weight loss and healthy eating. I moved South West from jungle of tall buildings in Manhattan to a beautiful state of New Mexico.  

I want to thank all of you who contacted me to ask for help with weight loss. I want to thank you for trust and for sharing with me your challenges and successes. I know that losing weight is difficult. As soon as we stop doing what works for us, we start regaining weight.

To everybody who lost weight by using my method, I hope you remain strong and continue to live your new live style. I am proud of all of you made an effort. I am glad that I could help a little. I want to thank you for allowing me to show you that weight loss is possible without feeling hungry, without exercise, and most important without paying for any products or services.

I know that it is not popular message, because there is a huge weigh loss industry that profits from misery of people who are overweight or obese. The industry that pays bloggers and others to maintain opinion that weight loss is difficult and that one must buy products or pay for services to lose weight.

Keep doing what you are doing if it works for you. Situations and circumstances are different for all of us, but we all have something in common. Something powerful that nobody can take away from us.

We all have and always will have a choice. Choice of what we eat.  And that is the most important factor for those who have struggled or continue to struggle with weight issues.