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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by patbarone
Tomorrow is always a sad day for me. Even though it comes right after Christmas, it’s been a sad day for me for the past 15 years.
During the decades I spent overweight, fat had a big impact on my life. My appearance kept me from enjoying many activities, made me feel shy and awkward with people, and impacted my relationships.
I hid whenever possible. I dressed in black and stayed in the background. I hoped no one would notice me in crowds or at events. I grew very uncomfortable whenever attention came my way because of my size. You can imagine the horror I felt when my sister Paula asked me to be in her wedding party. It was 1991 and I was at a “medium” weight, having regained some 60 lbs after a 3-year hiatus from sugar and white flour. The weight had returned, as it always did, with a vengeance.
I was even more horrified when I saw the dresses she had picked out!
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by patbarone
Holidays bring stress to most of us. Also trying to lose weight? More stress!
And what if stress is a major food trigger for you? Consider that stress quadrupled!
Often, after a period of successful weight loss, we develop expectations of how our holiday should go, or what we can accomplish during this frantic time. Those expectations can be unrealistic, given the pressures and demands of family, friends, celebrations, the social calendar, etc.
On one hand, it’s not productive to use the holidays as an excuse to abandon healthy goals and routines.
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by patbarone
Here in Madison, WI, we’re experiencing the winter’s first big snow. Imagine my surprise when I was driving through the near white-out conditions and noticed a woman standing outside an office building, without a coat, casually smoking a cigarette.
“Wow!” I thought. She must really need that cigarette!” It was so interesting to see her complete lack of embarrassment as she demonstrated her addiction in spite of the frozen conditions.
My addiction was always food. I thought, “Would I stand in the snow to eat a brownie if you couldn’t eat them indoors?”
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by patbarone
Diets may be intended to trim our bodies but they actually diminish us as people.
Harsh restrictions give the body the message that it is something to be “whipped” into shape, changed, altered, melted — instead of teaching us to listen to our bodies for the wealth of information inside them.
Diets instill the idea of control. The message is:
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