by patbarone
When I look back at my weight loss, and my current healthy way of living, I see that what I ate was much less important than what was going on in my head.
I was a fat thinker.
It didn’t matter if I wanted to lose weight; I was never going to succeed until I changed thinking fat into thinking thin.
One of the things I did was examine the equations in my head from a different perspective, and bust them if they led to overeating, destructive attitudes, or feeling bad about myself.
Here are some examples:
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by patbarone
Successful weight management requires a lifestyle change that includes healthy eating patterns and lots of activity. Making far-reaching changes may be even more challenging if you are involved in relationships that promote or support an unhealthy approach to eating and exercise.
For example, does your best friend agree to go to the gym with you but, once there, grumble and complain the entire time? After an hour with a whiner, who wouldn’t avoid the activity again?
Does your mother tell you that you need to lose weight but constantly push fattening food at you when you visit?
Common saboteurs to a healthy lifestyle are the relationships around you. After all, change can be frightening or threatening within a relationship.
Take the spouse or partner who becomes nervous or argumentative when you being to lose weight. This partner may have his/her own weight problems or simply feel more comfortable when you are lacking self-esteem. When one partner begins to actively work on lifestyle issues and loses a few pounds, the saboteur may accept an invitation to a lavish party, or bring home chocolates, or simply insist on restaurants that lack healthy food choices.
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by patbarone
In response to my last post, hotmother asked me to address the cost of healthy food.
It doesn’t have to cost more. In fact, most of my clients find they spend a lot less once they start to eat healthy food. Not only does real food have more nutrients, it fills you up faster and keeps you satisfied longer. This is especially true when you put the emphasis on lean or low-fat protein in your diet.
For example, the next time you tuck into a large pasta dish with a side of garlic bread, notice how quickly you’re hungry again. Add dessert to that meal and you’ll be hungry before you get home from the Olive Garden!
Most processed snack foods are actually simple carbs layered with a lot of fat and offer little nutrition and lots of calories. Chips, crackers, snack bars, cookies, cakes, etc. will “pad” your grocery bill and your waist. Have you ever noticed that an entire bag of chips doesn’t seem to fill the stomach, but an apple will satisfy hunger at less cost and a whole lot fewer calories?
I’ve seen many a client lose weight by addressing the protein imbalance in their diet. They find two eggs will give them energy until noon whereas a big serving of cereal with fruit and toast had them gnawing at the computer mouse at 10 a.m.!
So, don’t assume it will cost more to eat fresh, healthy food.
In fact, the biggest money saver…
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by patbarone
It’s the middle of January and, in one form or another, many of us are fighting with our food.
As New Year’s Resolutions fade and sputter and maybe even get thrown to the wind, it’s easy to fall into a real struggle with food. Most diets set us up for struggle. They make some foods “good” (which doesn’t line up with what our mind says is “good”), and some “bad.”
But even an old pro like me has a momentary brain fart around food.
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by patbarone
Happy 2010!!
Though I don’t make resolutions, I do make goals for myself and for my business, Catalyst Coaching, every year. What’s the difference? Well, a goal is something you work towards, focus on, create. A resolution pretends that life changes on a dime – that, at 12:01 a.m. on January 1st, we’ll somehow change and our behavior will be different than before.
It rarely happens.
Goals, on the other hand, inspire plans and plans insure execution, and that’s when things start to happen.
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