Strategies Posts

There are several reasons why people choose to exercise. Some people work out because they want their clothes to fit better, they want to feel good about themselves, and/or they want to feel more energized. Some people enjoy the social aspects of working out, such as pairing up with a friend to go to the gym or playing on a team. Others enjoy the structure and discipline of sticking to a st...

Love the salty, crunchy taste of your favorite potato chip? So do most of the people I counsel. In fact, the snack foods most dieters crave can derail their best efforts. Ever heard the slogan "Betcha can't eat just one"? It's right! Sure, chips taste good, but if you're trying to get healthy, you don't need the extra fat, sodium, and calories they're packing. Next time you reach for a...

If spending money on a gym membership is just not in your budget these days, there's no reason to abandon all hope of losing weight and getting healthy. Engaging in an active lifestyle doesn't mean only being confined to a couple of machines in the middle of a crowded room — it means getting your heart rate up, your blood pumping, and your self esteem on the rise. So how exactly do you ...

One of my favorite weight-loss tools takes the focus off what you eat and puts it squarely on how much you eat. It's called the hunger scale, and all it requires is that you honestly rate your hunger before, during, and after eating. I use a range of 1 to 5 (1 being ravenous, and 5 being stuffed), but you can create a more nuanced scale if you like. Start by ranking your physical hunger befo...

The way you speak to yourself mentally and verbally has a powerful impact on your self-image. Berating or belittling yourself, minimizing your achievements or doubting your capabilities will most definitely create a sense of disempowerment, limiting your potential in virtually every aspect of your life. On the other hand, positive and encouraging self-talk will contribute to inner strength a...

Are you having trouble staying within your budget, both for dollars and for calories? Then ask yourself: How many times a week do you eat at restaurants and fast-food joints? If you're serious about losing weight, you need to keep dining out to a minimum. The simple truth is, when you don't make a dish yourself, you really can't know what's in it or where the ingredients come from. You can a...

Journaling Is the Write Way to Diet Nutritionists and dieters have always known it, but now one of the largest and longest-running weight loss trials ever conducted proves it: food diaries work. Big time. The trial, known as the Weight Loss Maintenance trial, compared different approaches to maintaining weight loss over a period of 30 months, and found that subjects...

I'm going to start showing you how to break the cycle of emotional eating. Below are two questions. For a week, before you eat anything, whether it's dinner or a small snack, I want you to answer these two questions in your journal. By doing this, you'll begin to distinguish between real hunger and emotional triggers. 1. Are you hungry? Are you experiencing any physiological co...

Self talk is an important aspect of any change. What we say to ourselves becomes our own actual truth. When we say things like I will never lose weight, exercising takes to much time or eating healthy is allot of hassle these statements become truth to us. There are many reasons that we may talk in a negative manner to ourselves. One reason is that we are afraid of failure. We may have not r...

What we think governs the way that we talk to ourselves. When we tell ourselves that we cannot do something it many times stems from some form of negative thinking. Changing this way of thinking is a major way to combat the negative self talk.   The first thing to destroy this negative thinking is to set realistic obtainable goals. Your long term goal to lose 90 pounds (this is how ...