Keeping up when not feeling well

The challenge for me this week is keeping up with my new healthy habits since I have not been feeling well. My usually (past) tendency would be to eat anything that was convenient since I do not feel up to cooking, reach for comfort food thinking it will make me feel better, or worse, not eat much at all. This time I am forcing myself to eat healthy, since I know that this is really what my body needs!

Are you moving forward or standing in place?

Wow! I can't believe we are already on week 4. This is a good time to go back and reflect on your vision and long term goals. Are you staying in forward movement and taking actions towards your goals? Have you found areas where you feel you are standing in place? There is no doubt about it, some of your goals will be more challenging than others.

This week challengers (and anyone else reading along), I challenge you to write a Dear John letter to those habits that aren't serving you anymore. Make sure to thank the habits for the needs they fulfilled but also let them know you have found someone (something) new and it is time to say good bye! This is a fun exercise but also helps you to really see how you can make new choices in your life and you don't have to hold on to the old habits. Good luck this week!


“I no longer remember the day when I first realized that meditation, diet, and exercise were not self-inflicted punishments for stress and overeating, but rather ways of experiencing more love, peace, and joy in my body and my life.”

-Michael Neill

Inspired

I feel inspired starting into week 4... some things have been more challenging than others, and a few things I haven't stuck with, but I feel healthier already for the small changes that I've been making. I hope I can continue them in these next several weeks so they become new habits. I hope the other challengers are doing well! :)

Rough Day

I had kind of a rough day today... reverted to stress-induced junk snacking at work... It was interesting because I was AWARE of the fact that I wasn't hungry, and that I wasn't even really enjoying the food; I just felt compelled to eat anyway. I'm resisting beating myself up about it... trying to just take it as a learning experience. Had yoga again tonight... that helped!

Welcome to Week Three!!!

"How does one become a butterfly? You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar."
- Trina Paulus


Losing weight and improving health requires changes in habits. Some of these changes are easy and some are more challenging. Keeping your eye on the end result (your vision). This will help you to overcome any obstacles along the way and keep you focused in taking targeted action each week. Good luck this week Challengers!

Portion control...

Since starting this program, I have been working on being mindful of when I’m feeling full and not eating beyond that. This has resulted in me eating less in each meal. (I’m also having more frequent healthy-snacks between meals.) What I’m now noticing is that it’s taking less food to make me feel full. The smaller meals have resulted in me needing/wanting less food each time I eat. That really helps with slimming down a little and makes the portion control easier. Cool! :)

This week has been tough! I find that eating a healthy breakfast is very easy, lunch is often OK, but dinners and snacks are a challenge! For example, getting in my veggies for dinner is hard and yesterday I ate more FF ice cream than I think I should have. I know this is a process and new habits have to be learned - it does help knowing what my challenges are so I can focus on overcoming them...I will have patience!

Yay for Yoga...

I started my yoga class back up tonight after several months off... it felt so good! Especially after a tough day at work. What a great way to de-stress....

Week 2 - Chicken can be tasty...

Looking forward to this week and trying some new recipes...especially those that will make chicken tasty (not one of my favorite foods). In fact, I notice that I usually crave sweet things and ignore the savory. That is something to work on...

week 2

the teleclass last week was great because it reminded me that changing is a process...there are little things i can do to make differences.

doing this 90 day challenge is helping me to keep focused on my goals....

it's so easy for me to get off track...

this weekend we went out of town and it's taking me a day to take the time to read your emails, meri, but i'm thankful to have done it and go through my goals.

looking forward to learning and changing more this coming week!

90-Day Lifestyle Challenge- Week 2

Week one reports from our three 90-Day Lifestyle Challenge participants:
Go Team!
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It was great meeting you guys on the teleclass on Friday! I am really inspired that we are doing this together... My week one had it's ups and downs... but the good thing is that I'm a little further along then I was one week ago! Just imagine how we'll feel in 11 more weeks! :)
How are you guys doing with overcoming obstacles? Snacking even when I'm not hungry brings me comfort, so I started a list of other things that bring me comfort... Instead of ice cream at night, I'm planning to try going for a cup of tea, stretching/doing yoga, curling up with a book or magazine or taking bath. Not sure what I'll do as a snack-substitute at work... somehow I don't think the bath or curling up with a book would go over that well!
:)
By the way, you guys suggested mocha or chocolate mint Teecino to me on the phone as something I can drink after lunch when I'm craving something sweet.
I just bought mocha and chai teecino this weekend – tried them both and liked them! Yay! :) I'm bringing them with me to work tomorrow so we'll see how that goes...
Since we all enjoy quotes, here's another nice one from Ghandi...
"Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory." Ghandi
Good luck this week!!!
~Bridget

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My first week was fantastic! Learning what I was doing right and what I had to change was very eye-opening for me - especially since this program makes it so personal - it was like I had my own dietitian in my home with me. I had fun going through my kitchen reviewing what I had and eliminating certain foods that we just not healthy! Most enjoyable was my shopping trip to buy new "good stuff"! My favorite new finds: natural peanut butter, ground flax seed and experimenting with interesting rices and grains. My energy level was way up after eating so healthy for this first week. It was also fun to find interesting new ways to use fruit as my dessert instead of the usual ice cream and chocolate. It has been great getting to know Terry and Bridget and hearing what they are experiencing as well - nice to know that I have such amazing support from this program!

Stef
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Want to learn how you can lose weight and become the healthiest you? See which program is the best fit for you! Go to: http://www.reallivingnutrition.com/products.aspx

90-Day Lifestyle Challenge Kicks Off Today!

And their off! The 90-Day Lifestyle Challenge starts today. Each of our participants has their own unique fitness and health goals that they want to work on, but they will be working together to achieve them. Meet the participants!
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Meet Stefanie -
I decided to start the Balance Program Challenge for several reasons. One, as a life coach, I believe it is so important to be challenging myself to be the best I can be, to do more than I think I am capable of – just as I do with my clients – to really walk the talk. Secondly, when going through my closet for a recent event, I realized that most of my clothes either did not fit any longer or were very uncomfortable to wear! It is time to take action and do what I keep telling myself I want to – get healthy again!

My energy is very low. I find myself getting very sleepy mid morning and especially late afternoon.

I often find myself with a stomach ache after eating – usually eating too large a portion or something very greasy and heavy. I also get heartburn or an acidy stomach – not a pleasant experience. Sure the food tasted wonderful going down – but I don’t have so much fun an hour or so later. I remember several times going out to dinner and not even being able to breathe afterward!!

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Meet Terry -

"I won't grow up"....That's what came to mind when I read the first day's food journal that I sent to Meri. Bubble gum, soda, ...it looked like stuff a little kid with no self control would eat!
So that's my goal with this 90 challenge; to grow up a little bit in my
eating habits. I've never had much success in setting a goal and reaching
it when it comes to my appetite. Somehow with other areas in my life I've done well....I'd like to transfer some of that success to my appetite finally.

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Meet Bridget -

Hello fellow lifestyle challengers! :) My name is Bridget and I'm from Santa Barbara, CA. I'm 31 years old and married. (No kids - just 2 cats.) I don't have major health problems, but I would really like to improve on my diet, exercise, energy level and stress management.
My main problem with food is overeating. I really like food, and often eat beyond feeling full. I'd like to learn to practice portion control better, and I'd like to be more in tune with my body regarding when I'm hungry and when I'm full. I would also like to tackle emotional eating (when I'm upset or sad) and snacking at work in response to stress. I am noticing that my metabolism may be starting to slow down, and I want to adopt better habits now before the scale catches up with me.

I have had periods in my life where I exercised 3 to 4 times per week, but often I'll go through long ruts where I don't exercise at all. I'm in one right now! I tend to be kind of "all or nothing" when it comes to sticking to exercise, which is not so good. I would like to get back on a feasible exercise plan that I enjoy and can stick to. I hope that being "held accountable" by reporting back to the others in this program will help me stay on track! :)

I am generally a fairly happy and content person, but my moods and energy level are definitely affected by the frequency that I exercise. I am more prone to feeling depressed, anxious and moody when I haven't been exercising. My energy level has been low for the past few months, since I haven't been exercising regularly. One a scale of 1 to 10, I'm about a 4 today.
I would also like to integrate more stress management techniques into my life. I could really benefit from doing some kind of stress management each day, like going for a walk, or doing yoga or meditating before bed, etc. But I just can't seem to stick to it.

I'm looking forward to working together on our goals! :)
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Want to learn how you can lose weight and become the healthiest you? See which program is the best fit for you! Go to: http://www.reallivingnutrition.com/products.aspx

90-Day Lifestyle Challenge

Real Living Nutrition is taking 3 participants to go through our 90-Day Challenge. Their goals are to lose weight and get healthy and they are generous enough to share their life experiences in this blog over the next 12 weeks.

Our participants are getting a whole health makeover and you can tune in to watch their progress right here! They will reveive the 8-week Balance Program plus 4 extra e-counseling sessions with their dietitian, teleclasses, special reports, healthy living ecookbook and restaurant guide, built in support team, and more!

Stay tuned in to our blog to follow their journey!