It’s almost time…
Posted on 19. Dec, 2011 by Susan in Blog, Weight Loss
… to end the struggle.
Visit www.theweightschool.com on January 16th for the unveiling of something awesome…
Smaller brains + bigger butts: the problem with your ‘practicality’
Posted on 28. Oct, 2011 by Susan in Blog, Inspiration, Weight Loss
The difference between letting yourself be and letting yourself go
The line between self-acceptance and self abuse
The line between loving yourself and losing yourself
Is it self acceptance… or self abuse?
Are you happy with your body? Or just ignoring it?
STOP hiding and ignoring your body!
The BIG mistake no-nonsense women make
–
No-nonsense women, I’m calling you out.
You know who you are.
You’re ‘too smart’ to fret about your weight. You’re ‘too busy’ to worry about the food you’re eating. You have too much ‘real work’ to do to concern yourself with health nut nonsense. Green smoothies and jogging are for “pool moms” with too much free time.
Well I have news for you, hon: you’re not doing yourself any favors.
You may think you’re liberated because you’ve put aside the skinny jean fixation plaguing so many women nowadays.
But there’s a difference between weight loss and weight love, body image and body love.
By all means: embrace your body. Love yourself no matter what the scale says. But don’t let those ideals become an excuse for neglecting your health.
Ignoring energizing foods, not moving your body, eating more than you need to and continuing unhealthy habits are what’s keeping those extra pounds in place.
Refusing to change is self-abuse, not self-acceptance.
I know, being a working chic is tough. But when you ignore your body and its signals, you’re keeping yourself from your best performance. Too many cups of coffee and sugary snacks leads to crashes later in the day. ‘Grazing’ out of boredom or procrastination is shrinking your brain capacity and expanding your waistline.
Americans spend an average of $33 billion dollars a year on weight loss products and services… yet 40% of the population says they never engage in physical activity in their leisure time. *
See the disconnect?
If you’re carrying around extra weight, don’t just defend it because you disagree with society’s starving-skinny obsession.
Instead, turn within. Put your body in charge. Quiet your mind, listen, notice its signals.
By paying close attention to what your body truly needs, you can make the loving, lasting changes that’ll keep you healthy.
These changes won’t just bring your weight down. Healthy eating and body awareness goes beyond improving your appearance. When your body is properly nourished, your focus improves. You have more energy and you can connect more deeply with your loved ones, your work and yourself.
I discussed some easy tips for healthier living with the lovely Stefanie Martinez on Local 7 News! Go ahead, take a look:
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Your body knows what it needs. Listen. It won’t lead you astray.
*(Source: http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/fast-factsobesity-amp-overweight-statisticsmdashthe-supersizing-epidemic-of-america)
How you eat is how you work
Posted on 21. Sep, 2011 by Susan in Blog, Entrepreneurs, Weight Loss
From Pam Slim’s blog “Escape from Cubicle Nation”
Or so I found out when I had my first call with my dear friend and annoyingly insightful weight loss coach Susan Hyatt.
I talked her into coaching me around health and wellness, because I felt like I was missing a key ingredient in being a well-rounded entrepreneur.
Or more accurately, I had become a well-rounded entrepreneur, especially in the segment of my body that sits on a chair in front of the computer.
And while vanity was a small driver, really, truly, I wanted to figure out why it was so hard for me to get back to what used to be an extremely physically active lifestyle. I adore working out, and feel better physically, mentally and spiritually when I do so. But for the last six years or so (the correlation with the age of my oldest son Josh is not a coincidence), I have not been able to get in a strong, consistent pattern of healthy eating and exercise.
The beginning of the journey: awareness
When you hear “weight loss coach,” you may think of someone who scolds you for failing to exercise, or who gently ‘tsk tsk tsks” you for sneaking in a Snicker bar at 10 o’clock at night.
Susan is not that kind of coach.
Our entire first conversation centered around work — what I was doing, what I was feeling, and how it was working for me.
I quickly realized that while I was extremely fulfilled in what I was doing, I felt overwhelmed. And that no matter how much I accomplished in one day, I always had a nagging feeling that I was neglecting something or someone important when I shut off my computer and closed my office door.
Susan asked:
“What are you afraid of?”
I said:
“Saying no.”
She said:
“Why?”
I said:
“Because I will be disappointing someone, or leaving them behind.”
Whew, here I thought I was going to be talking about eating more broccoli and fewer donuts, when the real issue was my inability to act with backbone.
The business lesson that came from that insight: I need to do fewer things, with more impact. Saying no to some requests means saying yes to bigger things, and taking care of me.
The f’ing food journal
My first homework assignment was to track what I ate in a food journal. As I experienced tremendous resistance filling it out, I lovingly titled it “The f’ing food journal” in my emails to Susan.
In the food journal, Susan uses a tool called the Hunger Scale (originally created by Brooke Castillo in her book If I Am So Smart, Why Can’t I Lose Weight?).
Imagine a scale from -10 to +10.
When you feel -10 on the Hunger Scale, you could eat a herd of donkeys, or would crush a can of refried beans with your bare hands if it meant eating them 10 seconds sooner than getting a can opener.
When you feel +10 on the Hunger Scale, you have just had your fourth helping of Thanksgiving Dinner, after having changed into a Moo-Moo so you can fit in one more piece of pumpkin pie before bursting a button on your jeans.
The trick is to eat when you feel a -2, and stop when you feel a +2.
So in your food journal, you note what you eat, when you eat it, what number you are on the hunger scale when you start, and what number you are when you stop.
Samples from mine look like this:
Friday, July 22
5:30am – coffee and non-fat milk (1/2 and 1/2)
6:00am – 7:00am – 2 refills
7:00am – half of an Oat and Honey granola bar (Rosie’s leftovers)
9:00am – nonfat latte from Starbucks
1:00pm – salad, turkey, small bit of mac and cheese, green beans (was luncheon after my speaking engagement)
5:30pm – spinach and tofu/white rice/pad thai and chicken (-3 to +3 – stopped earlier than usual, and I never eat spinach and tofu, so that was interesting!)
Saturday
5:30am – coffee and non-fat milk (1/2 and 1/2) (-1 to 0)
6:00am – 7:00am – 2 refills
7:00am – cereal (-3 to +2)
12:00 – granola bar (-3 to +1)
1:00 – salad, 2 chicken wings, carrots/broccoli/sweat peas and ranch/cold cuts and chips (-1 to +5 – was at party)
6:00 – leftover spinach/tofu and white rice (-3 to +3)
Sunday
5:30am – coffee and non-fat milk (1/2 and 1/2) (-1 to 0)
6:00am – 7:00am – 2 refills
7:00am – granola bar (-3 to +1)
12:00 – potato chips and iced tea (-4 to +1)
3:00 4 small Bits -o-honey candy (-2 to +1)
5:00 – grilled steak, corn on the cob and salad with ranch, ice cream + hot fudge (-3 to +6 – was eating while cooking, felt stuffed)
As you can see, paying attention to what you eat, and how you feel before and after eating it can be extremely illuminating.
My penchant for multiple cups of coffee in the morning definitely leads to afternoon crashes, which are fueled by sugar. Weekends, with unstructured time can lead to mindless grazing.
After some childish resistance to filling out the food journals, Susan helped me see that they were not one more damned thing to do in the day, but rather insight into what my body needed to feel alert and strong and powerful.
The path to making good choices about what I eat is actually the path to my power.
So I renamed it “The Power Journal.”
I still go through long periods of time without filling it out, but I have started to think very differently about how and why I am eating.
This is how business awareness develops as well.
You may have started your business with a frenetic pace, or with a less than secure sense of direction. This may have created patterns of overwork, underpricing, and lack of strategic focus.
Before you can change your behavior, it is useful to pay attention to what you are doing, and why you are doing it.
Notice things like exactly where your money goes each month, or look at your calendar with a strategic eye to see if the way you are spending your time lines up with what you want to accomplish.
When you know better, you do better.
What’s next?
Susan and I are going to talk about fuel foods and planning, so that it is easier for me to make good choices about food.
We are also going to talk about ways to build on the regular exercise I am getting in my two nights a week mixed martial arts classes, and once a week yoga classes.
Not surprisingly, the more I focus on my overall health, the better business decisions I am making. I am getting more work done. I am getting much more focused and feel an underlying sense of serene power.
Guilt and shame are terrible ways to get healthy for the long-term. They don’t work in business either.
I look forward to updating you with progress, and welcome insight and ideas that you have developed over the years about how to live, work and move in a way that feels good to you.
Have a great weekend!
Love Yourself Healthy
Posted on 24. Aug, 2011 by Susan in Blog, Inspiration, Motivation, Weight Loss
I live in the “Fattest City in America!” Think I’m kidding? Check out this Gallup Poll that ranked Evansville, Indiana as the heftiest American city with the over 37% of our population weighing in as obese.
I’m turning my attention and my mojo to my hometown. But, this isn’t just a local issue. Watch my video series below if you’d like to learn how to LOVE YOURSELF HEALTHY.
Lose It In Sedona – May 13-16, 2010!
Posted on 23. Feb, 2010 by Susan in Weight Loss
The fabulous Bridgette Boudreau and I are leading a weight loss retreat in Sedona May 13-16. Here’s what we have to say about it!
Get all the details and register at http://ideallifedesign.com/telecourses.html.
Popular Weight Loss Advice That Sucks, and why you don’t have to listen
Posted on 07. Jan, 2010 by Susan in Weight Loss
Celebrities are hired to glam up crappy packaged foods and poisonous “fat blocking” pills. Pick up any “health” magazine, and you’ll find a newly-fit, slightly-famous woman declaring dieting words of wisdom that include earth shattering tips like, “clear out all tempting foods and eat only carrots.” Google “weight loss” and you will receive 426,000,000 results. Most of it is full of damaging lies that separate you from your money, your natural body weight, and your own power.
As a former yo-yo dieter, I’m passionate about reconnecting women with their inner wisdom and the handiest weight loss tool around — their very own bodies. I’ve selected three popular weight loss tips that I invite you to drop. They don’t create lasting weight loss or inner peace.
Clean Sweep
You’ve seen these segments on TV. A weight loss “expert” will go into a dieter’s kitchen and fill a dumpster in their front yard with all their mayonnaise, Cheetos, bread, hamburger meat, and basically anything that contains more than 100 calories. The dieter cries, the “expert” tells her to suck it up, and the cameras capture this “motivating” encounter to “help” us understand that we are powerless to the fat gram. We need to clean out our fridges and pantries and purses if we ever hope to stuff our muffin tops into skinny jeans. We can’t be tempted.
After the camera crew leaves, and the dieter has had enough white knuckling, eating lettuce, and chewing on the baseboards, a tsunami of binging and self-flogging ensues. The dieter wonders what’s wrong with her and why she can’t lose weight. The truth is that deprivation just doesn’t work. You can’t hide from food. Food isn’t the issue in the first place. A lasting weight loss journey begins with understanding the thoughts and emotions that are creating the need to overeat in the first place. YOU can become your expert. So, what are you hungry for really? When you cure boredom with a plate of brownies, or stuff down anger with pizza, or create your entertainment through wine and cheese, notice it.
Three Square Meals
We’ve become a nation obsessed with eating according to external cues. We eat by the clock and abide by the rules of the Clean Plate Club. The Clean Plate Club does not allow snacking between meals, eating after 7 p.m., before 5 a.m. or on Sundays. I recently saw a very famous wellness guru Tweet to eat three 400-calorie meals a day with no snacking in between for successful weight loss. Is there no wonder why Americans SUPERSIZE our portions when we think we’ve got to get all we can in three meals? The truth is that your magnificent and miraculous human body is equipped to alert you when to eat and when to stop. This usually results in eating 5-6 times a day and a naturally thin body. It doesn’t matter what time of day that is. If you eat when you are hungry, and fuel your body according to its signals, you can bag all the crazy rules. Visit here to download a free Hunger Scale Guide.
Eat This Not That
Surf around on enough weight loss web sites, and you’ll be warned that you should not eat carbs, meat, egg, boysenberries, and actual real food. You can’t be trusted with any of them. Just go ahead and buy frozen, fake food so that you can control yourself. Ridiculousness! The truth that I have learned by honoring my own body, and working with hundreds of other women and their unique bodies, is that your very own body will TELL you what foods feel good and bad in your system. Guess what? Eggs, and orange juice, and cottage cheese feel just great in my body. They energize and fuel me. Not so for some of my clients. These foods feel sickly in their stomachs. It’s not a one-size-fits-all thing with food. Learning how to pay attention to how different foods actually feel inside your body through food journaling can free you from these crazy rules. Visit here to download a free Food Journal worksheet.
The diet industry has a lot to lose if you take back your power. In a $60 billion industry, it’s counting on you to continue using food in unhealthy ways. I challenge you to start your very own personal body revolution. It’s not about counting calories, weighing food, and over exercising. It is about learning how to think. You can do that. You can live at your natural weight. Just take the first sane and rational steps.
Join Martha Beck, PhD and best-selling author of The Four Day Win, Brooke Castillo, Master Coach and author of If I’m So Smart Why Can’t I Lose Weight?, and me for a weekend designed to help you lose the drama and the weight — January 22-24 in Phoenix, Arizona. Get all the details and register at www.weightlossforsmartwomen.com.
Weight Loss for Smart Women…join the revolution
Posted on 29. May, 2009 by Susan in Weight Loss
Eight-Week Telecourse with Brooke Castillo and Susan Hyatt
“End your diet war and achieve thinner peace.”
~Martha Beck
10am Pacific | 11am Mountain | 12pm Central | 1pm Eastern
All classes are 60 minutes
Have
you tried everything and still struggle with losing weight? Lose the
drama and the weight. In eight weeks, learn the most effective weight
loss tools on the planet from Martha Beck’s “The Four Day Win” and
Brooke Castillo’s “If I’m So Smart Why Can’t I Lose Weight?”
methodologies. It’s thinner peace.
June 17 — Pre-Contemplation and 4 Days at a Time (Susan)
June 24 — Eating Tools (Brooke)
July 1 — Contemplation and The Watcher, The Dictator and The Wild Child (Susan)
July 8 — Feeling Tools (Brooke)
July 15 — Preparation and Action (Susan)
July 22 — Belief Tools (Brooke)
July 29 — Keeping the Momentum and Maintenance(Susan)
August 5 — Future Focus Tools (Brooke)
Can’t make one or more of those dates? No problem. All participants will receive an mp3 recording of each session.
All 8 sessions, including mp3 recordings, for just $99!
Questions? Please contact Support@MarthaBeck.com.
“If you want a diet, I am not your woman. If you want a personal revolution, join me.”
~Susan Hyatt
I have learned first hand how to apply Master Coach Brooke Castillo’s ground breaking tools. I can help you do the same.
I am a weight loss coach with virtually no interest in how many calories you eat or how many sit ups you do. I am solely
interested in finding the limiting thoughts that you think that drive
your patterns of behavior, and helping you get rid of them. There are a
million diet programs that will tell you how to eat and how to move. I
will teach you how to think. And from that place,
you will find freedom that will not only feel lighter, but will create
new patterns of behavior that will make you literally lighter in the
process.
All 8 sessions with mp3 recordings for just $99!
Weight Loss Coaching in 2009!
Posted on 07. Jan, 2009 by Susan in Weight Loss
I Offer Weight Loss Coaching
Posted on 30. Oct, 2008 by Susan in Weight Loss
This is a short video that I did for my mentor Brooke Castillo. This year, learning her tools, I lost 35 pounds. I read her book and thought that it made perfect sense, for everyone else. HA! I learned how my thinking was affecting my eating. I am so passionate about these tools that I now teach them to clients. If you are not at your natural weight, and want to be, email me for weight loss coaching.
Get The Book!
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