Make today the first day of the rest of your life!

If you are telling yourself you will never lose weight or that it is too hard, or that you have no self control and you accept these thoughts, you will only sabotage your efforts to manage your weight.  What you tell yourself can make you feel stressed, anxious, worried, depressed and more apt to binge or overeat.  You need to change your thinking!!

Recognise that there will be events which you will not have control over.  Suppose you have had a good week you have been motivated and eaten according to your plan but the scales say otherwise.  Getting mad at yourself would be a mistake, since other factors may be responsible such as water retention or if you are exercising additional muscle (remember muscle weighs more than fat).  Be realistic about what you can control & what you can’t, pay attention to how good you feel, or how loose your clothes are.  These are the hallmarks of real progress.

Your thoughts powerfully program you.  Realistically assess what you can control and what you can’t and take action to make a difference in your life. You may find it hard to see yourself being able to enjoy a party, go on a vacation, eat what other people are eating.  You then start feeling sorry for yourself.  You start saying “It’s not fair other people can eat what they like”, “I hate depriving myself”, “I shouldn’t have to work this hard”, “I can’t go to any parties”.  This type of thinking is highly destructive.

Feeling sorry for yourself you start eating to make yourself feel better.  What you fail to realise is you can still go to parties, you can still go on vacation and you can still do what you want. You need to focus on the scenery, the activities, the “battery recharge”, rather than focussing on food.  Think about deprivation in another way: by overeating, you’re depriving yourself of a healthy weight, an attractive appearance, self-regard and peace of mind.

You are creating the situations you are in and you are creating the thoughts and emotions that flow from these situations.  You must embrace the fact that you own your own problems and take action to solve them.

Does this sound familiar??  “I can’t help bingeing when I’m alone”.  Is this really true?  Is there nothing else, nothing at all that you can do when you are alone?  Isn’t there some activity or something that doesn’t involve food that you could rather do?

Is your goal to achieve permanent weight loss, and experience the physical and emotional health that stems from it?  If you want to look and feel better how does repeating “This won’t work” or “It’s too hard”, help you achieve your goal?  Tell yourself “I’m not powerless over my behaviour.  I’m in charge of myself.  I have to choose what’s more important: reactive overeating or taking care of my health.  It’s my choice, and I can do something about it! You can only control what happens now.  You have no control over what has happened in the past.

Self-Defeating Thinking	Right Thinking
My family/friends are conspiring to keep me fat, so I can’t lose weight	Losing weight is within my control
I didn’t lose weight this week - I must have messed up	I may be retaining fluid.  My body is adjusting to the positive changes I’ve made so far
I’m so overwhelmed - I can’t do it	As long as I continue working on my weight, I’ll achieve the goals I have set for myself
I will not succeed	No matter what happens, I’ll stay on course.  If I do what is required, I will succeed
I’ve gained a kilogram, and it’s terrible	I’ll review my week and see where I can improve.  After all, since starting this program I’ve lost ____kilograms
I’m going to lose 2 kilograms this week	I’ll stick to my Eating Plan a day at a time.  Whatever I lose will be a positive
I feel fat, so I must look fat	There’s no evidence for this.  I am looking better than ever
I can’t have fun anymore	Not true.  The fitter I get, the more fun I have, and the more activities I can participate in.  Life is more fun than ever

Make up sticky reminder notes for yourself and place them around the house -

Where to place them               Front door

Fridge

Computer

Diary or Organiser

Purse or Wallet

Next to your bed

Bathroom mirror

On your TV

Write on them                           Losing weight is within my control!

I will achieve the goals I have set for myself!

No matter what happens I will stay on course!

If I do what is required I will succeed!

Quitting will get me nowhere!

Take control!

I am in control!

I’ll stick to my program, a day at a time!

Whatever I lose will be a positive!

Remember - You can’t control everything all the time so control what you can control, accept what you can’t and be wise enough to know the difference!  

Source: Cohen's Weight Loss Clinic

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Learn To Say 'No'

It is such a small, but can be a very powerful word. It is not always easy to say. There are however some things that you can do to make ‘saying no’ a bit easier in your life, so that you can put more of your time and energy into the things that truly mean the most to you - such as reaching your goal!

• Kindly defuse and then say your needIt becomes easier for people to accept your no if you kindly defuse them first. You could for example do that by saying that their cake looks amazing or that you are flattered and that you appreciate their kind offer, and be honest about whatever you say. Then you can, add that you do not eat cake between meals or have the time for accepting and doing what they want.

• Express how you feel about itSome pushy people might want to overcome your objections and convince you to have or do something even if you first say no with a valid reason. Then try this: State how you feel as a reason for saying no. For example say that you do not feel that this offer is a good fit for your life right now or your doctor has said you need to cut back on sugar and you feel this is very important for your health at the moment or you are super busy and so you cannot do whatever they want. By telling someone how you feel it not only makes them understand your side of the issue better but also that it is a lot harder to argue with how you feel rather than how you think. How you feel is your thing and no one can really come up with good counterarguments to that.

• Improve your self-esteemIf you do not value yourself then you will not value your time or the things that are important to you very much either. The most powerful thing to make it easier to say no is to improve your own self-esteem. With better self-esteem your time and your energy will become a lot more valuable to you and you do not want to waste it. Your sense of what you deserve in life will also go up and you will be less likely to give in to other people's negative ways of persuasion. Like guilt-tripping, being really pushy or simply trying to take advantage of you.

• Remember why you are saying noWhen you are about to say no, remember why you are doing it. Focus on the positive things it will open up in your life such as losing weight because you were able to stick with your Eating Plan, more time for a hobby or simply for relaxing so your stress levels will go down. This positive motivation will help you to go through with your decision even if it feels tough.

• The world will go onIf you have trouble saying no remember that just because you say no to something does not mean that the world will stop. They will manage and life will go on for all of you.

• Always celebrate and analyze your successesYou may not be able to say no to everything you would like to say no to in your week. Even if you use the advice in this article. Do not put too much focus on those few situations though. It will only bring your self-esteem and motivation to cultivate the no-habit down. Instead, focus mostly on your successes. You may just have said no in one or a few small ways this week. That is still something new and great in your life so feel good about it. Pat yourself on the back and celebrate in some small way what you have accomplished and how you have grown as a person. Also have a think about what went well in those situations and what you can learn from them for the future.

Source: Cohen's Weight Loss Clinic

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Addictions & Discipline

Discipline is a something that most people lack, even though they might try to convince you otherwise.

Most of us believe that we are capable of making our own decisions and nothing can influence those decisions. 99% of the time this is not the case.

Many, if not all of us are slaves to our addictions. They are hard to fight and when we do not get our fix, we get irritable and try anything to get it.  It doesn’t matter if it a coffee or the sugar in the coffee we ‘need’ or if it is that ‘awesome’ show on TV we can’t miss. What matters is that we are addicted and nothing can change that…

 

Well, it can, but how hard is it and are we willing to fight? I like when people say: “But I like it and I don’t want to change it and if I wanted I could!” The problem is, they couldn’t! They just think they can… The moment you take their coffee away or turn the TV off, they freak out! They have a panic attack and will most likely attack you verbally or even physically. They have no discipline to stop and be free.

Why don’t us ask yourself what are your addictions? Try to name some of the things you can’t live without. Can you live without that glass of wine you have every night? Or is it some soft drink you are addicted to. Or maybe it is your car, your phone or the Internet you can’t live without. I think many can relate to this one. The obsession about checking emails or Facebook posts.  Is your phone the last thing you look at before you go to sleep? Is it the first thing you look at when you wake up? Try to break that pattern and see how hard it is. If you can’t live without it, then you are addicted.

What about electricity or hot water? What happens if there is a power black out and everything stops working? What if your phone is running out of battery? How does it make you feel?

We are so addicted to our favourite foods and modern life luxuries, we don’t even notice. If you were addicted to an illegal drug and were unable to get it, you would do anything to find it and get your fix. Only in that state of need you are able to realise how much you are addicted. If all our ‘soft’ drugs are supplied 24/7, we wouldn’t even notice that we are addicted.

For a person, to be really free, one would have to identify all addictions and get rid of them. There is a difference between using a phone to make a call and check emails as necessary or being obsessive about checking it every 2 minutes. We must keep checking in and constantly monitor our relationships with things, people and food in our lives. If we don’t, we are slaves to those things that control us.

Sugar, alcohol, coffee, bread, pasta, TV, the Internet… Those things are the most addictive things, but no one seems to care.

All processed food is loaded with sugars and at the same time are stripped of all the essential micro nutrients like vitamins and minerals. We eat it, we get our sugar rush, but our bodies are starving.

The only way to break the addictions is to ditch it. One must make the decision and let it all go. It might be hard the first couple of days during the detox, but after a while you won’t even miss it. Your body will be grateful that it doesn’t have to work so hard removing all that sugar from your bloodstream and your mind will get a break from TV trance that encourages passivity. You might even replace it with more stimulating activities where you can become creative and live, instead of watching someone else living it on the screen.

All you need is a discipline. Discipline is like a muscle that you need to exercise to make it stronger. Every time you say no to your addictions, you make them weaker and your discipline grows. You will get your independence back and slowly end your dependency on everything that society feeds you. Everything that we are consuming and do not really need, can be traced back years, decades or centuries and usually at the source you can find an idea on how to make money… That’s all it is.

Sugar was non-existent in our culture 400-500 years ago. Humanity did not need it to survive. Then it suddenly took off with the discovery of the new world. Plantations, slavery and human exploitation – all that to make money. The business people back then quickly realised the potential in sugar because it was so desirable by people for its addictive properties.  This is the same with coffee and all other things like chocolate. What this little affair with sugar has cost us, as a society is astounding.

Fact - the global diabetes devices and drug market was worth USD 50.8 billion in 2011 and is expected to reach USD 98.4 billion in 2018. Do you think with those kinds of figures they want people to be healthy? Think about it. Really! The mechanism is in place. Sugar, wheat products, corn syrup is in almost everything these days. 

Now, diabetes is only one of many modern diseases that terrorizes the human population. There are many others, mostly caused by bad nutrition, lack of good air and water, lack of activity and depression caused by overall unhappiness thanks to the passive consumption lifestyle. When did food become so important and start to play such an important social role? When did overeating and overindulging in the wrong food infiltrate our culture? When did we swap one chicken a week on a Sunday for chicken 10 times a week? When did we become so ignorant that we are capable of slaughtering 80,000,000,000 chickens per year as a human race and not even notice?

How self obsessed and food obsessed can we become? How far is this going to go? How many more people have to get sick and die thanks to overeating and over indulging in the wrong food?

The only way we can change this and become healthier as a society is to stop and start to think for ourselves. Turn off the TV and stop obsessing about the latest episode of Master Chef.  It is nice to eat tasty food, but healthy and conscious choices can be tasty too.

People do not need more medication, what they need is better food choices, to enable our bodies to heal. This requires discipline.

Sometimes when we go out with friends or meet with extended family, we somehow lose all common sense and take on the herd mentality. We forget ourselves and eat like it’s going to be out last meal. The next day we feel tired and regret what we did, but it’s too late. Our little ego won again. The little kid inside of us got what it wanted. Our true self is left defeated and weakened.  Let’s try to do better next time.

Do we really need to eat all that food? Most likely not…

What I love about the Cohen’s program is because it teaches you to eat less, and only what your body really needs. It teaches you not to overindulge, but still enjoy food. It teaches you to live without processed food and lets your body heal and reach a new hormonal balance. You will feel better, healthier and stronger… But you must be disciplined and stick to it. You have to ignore that little kid inside your brain and let it carry on with its tantrums. It will stop eventually…

 

It is up to you to wake up and realize what you are doing to your body.  It is up to you to lead a new healthy lifestyle.

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Margaret Homsy Continued Journey

Since my last entry as to my weight loss journey, I have shed a few more kilos!  I am stablising now, which is fantastic!

I can't believe I have lost a total of 98kg.  It really does blow my mind!

Cohen's has taught me to listen to my body and only use food as my fuel. I have learnt that I am unique and I'm no longer that unhappy person I once was. Shedding my sumo suit has revealed so much about my emotional struggles and I'm grateful everyday that I deal with my emotions without food as my saviour! 

I still have much to learn about my body; but in the midst of the discovery I am having so much fun!  The greatest thing and the one thing I was truly concerned about was my excess skin.  The human growth hormone is still doing its job and I am proud to say, I am still shrinking in! Woooo

98kg gone and loving life! Thank u to everyone who has been a part of this with me! 

Much love xxoo

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Say No To The Victim Mentality

Say NO!

How do you react if your day doesn't go the way you planned? At first you might feel pain, but after your initial feelings, do you think of yourself as a victim with little or no control or power? You might slip back into a headspace where you feel sorry for yourself and it feels like the whole world is against you. Many people get stuck in this mentality from time to time. Here are a few things that may help you move out of this mindset:


See the benefits of the victim mentality

The victim mentality is addictive and can be pretty beneficial in the short term and for instant gratification. A few benefits are:

• Attention and validation - You can always get good feelings from other people as they are concerned about you and try to help you out
• You don't have to take risks. When you feel like a victim you tend to not take action and so you don't have to risk rejection or failure
• You don't have to take the heavy responsibility. Taking responsibility for your own life can be hard work, you have to make difficult decisions and it is just tough from time to time. In the short term it can feel like the easier choice to not take personal responsibility
• It makes you feel like you are right. When you feel like the victim and like someone else is wrong and you are right then that can lead to pleasurable feelings

By being aware of the benefits you can derive from victim thinking, it becomes easier to say no and to choose to take a different path.

See the long term consequences of the victim mentality

• How will it hold you back from achieving the goals you deep down dream about in life?
• How will it affect your most important relationships?
• How does it affect your relationship with yourself?

Be honest with yourself and get motivation to change by seeing how destructively this will affect your life over the next year or even 3 to 5 years from now.

Replace the victim mentality with something more helpful

Gratitude - It is healthy to recognise and accept the initial pain when something goes wrong in life and to not just paint a fake smile on your face. However, after that initial pain is gone you don't have to create more suffering for yourself. Instead, you can tap into gratitude and ask yourself: "Does someone in this world have it worse than me?" and then take a few minutes to think about the small and bigger things you have in my life that you can be grateful for.

Learning and taking action - After tapping into a more grateful frame of mind, you will be more open to getting a good answer out of this next question: “What is one good thing about this situation?” or “What is one thing you can learn from this situation?” You can then follow it up with: “What is one small step you can take to move forward or out of this situation today?” By asking these question and taking some small steps forward over and over in these situations you will build confidence in yourself and while you cannot control everything in life you can build more and more power and influence over your own life and achieve your goals!

Source: Cohen's Lifestyle Clinic

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Guilty As Charged

We are all guilty of breaking "weight-loss rules" from time to time. It comes with being human. The important thing is that we learn from our mistakes. Label them as experience, put them behind us and keep working towards our goal. 

I will start again next week

You decided that you wanted to start living a healthy lifestyle when you signed up for your Cohen's Lifestyle Clinic Program. Sure, but it is Thursday. Might as well wait and start fresh on a Monday, right? Wrong. It is all too easy to put off that initial move, but chances are if you wait until Monday, you will only be met by another excuse. The trick is to start today. It could be just sticking to your three main meals and the correct foods, or making sure you drink at least 2 litres of water through the day. At least take small steps to instigate action now and you are on your way. Remember every journey starts with a single step. Today is the day!

I went for a walk, so now I can eat something extra

Unfortunately, working out does not give you a pass to eat whatever you want. It will help get your heart rate up, but you will not see significant fat loss because of it and it may leave you feeling tired and hungry. Instead of exercising and sitting down to a larger serve of food, enjoy your 'food as medicine' and watch the fat melt away - it is that easy!

I gave in to my chocolate craving

Lapse does not mean collapse. The worst thing you can do is use it as an excuse to write the day off. A whole day of deviations may lead to weight gain, cravings and not being able to get back on track as easily. Instead, make sure your very next meal is perfect and focus on your goal. You can then continue on to achieve it.

I have not lost weight in a week - I may as well give up

Almost everybody who is losing weight experiences plateaus from time to time. Instead of feeling disheartened, reflect on the weight you have lost and the centimeters you are losing. Measure yourself each week as it is a much better indication of fat loss when your body is doing its maintenance and reshaping. Only weigh yourself once every 4 weeks and concentrate on how you are looking and feeling. If you are diligent and continue on, you will achieve your goal!

Source: Cohen's Lifestyle Clinic

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Margaret Homsy in the Hills Shire Times - Let's beat the obesity epidemic together!

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