Need A Little HOPE For Tomorrow?

Looking forward...something I do really well.  I've spent the last 32 years looking forward, that's what you do when your life's work is helping people achieve their goals and live out their best life. I've learned a lot about forward thinking and it's a great way to live. When you live like that you never give up hope, never stop believing and you never lose faith. When you live a life looking forward you're sure to change for the better...and that's a good thing because when you're through changing, you're through.

I've also learned that to look forward and live an extraordinary life, you've also got to let go.  Letting go doesn't mean giving up...it means moving on. It is one of the hardest things a person can do. Starting at birth, we grasp on to anything we can get our hands on, and hold on to it as if we will cease to exist when we let go.  We feel that letting go is giving up, quitting, and that as we all know is cowardly. But as we grow older we are forced to change our way of thinking. We are forced to realize that letting go means accepting things that cannot be. It means maturing and moving on, no matter how hard you have to fight yourself to do so. To live a forward thinking life, you've got to learn to let go of the past.

As I sit on this last day of September 2013, I'm looking forward...this time to December 19th 2013. The last day of the 18th Team Challenge "Let it Go." December 19th, a time when women will want to slip on a little black dress and men will want to look and feel great on their arm. December is a time when we see old friends and spend time with family. I'm looking forward believing that I will have Healthy Weigh friends who will feel better about themselves than they have in years when they see those friends. I'm looking forward and imagining how proud and strong they'll feel as they head into the most "wonderful time of the year." This week a great number of people will make the decision to start a journey that will end with a outstanding holiday season... the Fall Team Challenge. I'm excited!

I'm excited because I know that to look forward and change the future...they will have to "let go" of some things in the past. We are going to spend this fall pushing hard to secure a better life, all while we release the past with ease so we can move into a brighter, healthier, more outstanding future.

I hope if you're reading this today, and you're struggling seeing a better tomorrow, you'll choose to participate in the Fall Team Challenge.  We'll have an abundance of hope, an overwhelming amount of belief and enough faith about tomorrow to loan some out! We're going to "Let it Go" and make an exciting run for the future...join us!

Thursday: October 3rd at  Noon and 6 PM  I'll explain the nutritional plan in detail for all participants of the Fall Team Challenge
Thursday: October 10th at Noon and 6 PM we will weigh in our teams to start the Fall Team Challenge!

If you don't have a team mate...that's OK...I'll hook you up!
Visit our web site at www.healthyweigh.com  and sign up today!

How you'll feel on December 19th all depends on you!

Look forward with me...and let go of a lot of things...but don't let go of HOPE!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Action

Well, we finally made it...we're taking action. We've come out of denial (pre-contemplation), thought about changing (contemplation) and taken the steps necessary to get prepared (preparation). Now it's time to take action!

Real, effective action begins with commitment. Once the commitment is made, it's time to move. People often equate action with change. We've learned in the last 4 weeks that action is just one of the stages of change...and no more important than the rest. Changes made during the action stage are more visible to others than those made during other stages, so they receive the greatest recognition. Although change "looks" good during the action stage, the change that people can't see needs to be recognized and celebrated during the other stages as well.

The key to permanent change includes:

Changing your level of awareness
Changing your emotions
Changing your self-image
Changing your thinking

The work you will continue to do internally will make the difference in the action you take each and every day. How you think about yourself and others has EVERYTHING to do with following through on your commitment to lose weight or whatever else you are working to change.

To change behavior, lose weight, and keep it off for life, it takes massive action.

• making your enviormrnment safe
• buying and preparing foods in advance
• planning ahead to always have the appropriate foods available
• saying no to the bad and yes to the good
• choosing exercise to burn calories and relieve stress...

just to name a few... however, even with all of these great things being done, unless you are dealing with your relationship with food, you will not succeed at keeping the weight off.  The stages of change are powerful when you examine and participate in ALL of them, from pre-contemplation to maintenance.

Take action this week. Lots of it. But make sure you are doing the internal work to assure that the progress you're making by taking action, will be for life!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Preparation

So, you worked through your denial and spent time contemplating about changing your life…are you ready for action?

There is a subtle but important stage between contemplation and action, the presence or absence of which, can make or break the effort to change. This stage is preparation.

I’ve seen a lot people over the years try lose weight without being prepared for it.  They see some temporary results but not the permanent change they are looking for.

Preparation is a lot like contemplation but a lot more forward looking… you begin to focus on the future you. It involves careful planning, positive self re-evaluation and commitment.

In the preparation stage we start to turn away from the past.  We begin letting go of the activities and circumstances that lead us to overeating, like eating while in a depressed state. We begin changing hobbies – like having fun exercising instead of baking and finding new friends who enjoy the same.

In the preparation stage it is important to insure support of your family. It’s time to go public! It’s important to let the people closest to you know that you decided to get fit and lose some weight in the process and it will require a certain investment of time and resources as well as changes in your usual routine.

During the preparation stage:
 

Take small steps...even the smallest changes over a period of time add up to permanent change!

 

Set a date...decide when you’re “starting” and stick to it! No going back!

  

Go public…make sure the people in your world know that you’ve decided to make changes.

 

Treat your change as a major event…as if you had an appointment for a serious operation!

 

Create your own plan of action…people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.

Commit to your plan…decisions are at the heart of Action. Out of your decisions action will flow!

 

In the preparation stage, you’re getting anxious about getting started and taking some ACTION!  Don’t skip this very important stage of preparation though…it’s crucial for your long term success!

Always encouraging you,

Letha

Contemplation

Change...it's on the horizon, or is it? We've moved from pre-contemplation to contemplation and that's a good thing. We just need to make sure we don't stay here too long. Some people spend a life time contemplating!   In the contemplation stage we've come out of denial, we're looking at our problems as our problems, and we're thinking about how to solve them. That's a far cry from what we talked about last week, but if we're not careful we can get stuck here. Those that do, are called chronic contemplators.

In the contemplation stage, we're eager to talk about, read about and spend time thinking about our issues. The problem is, we're not ready for action until we get a greater understanding of our behavior. Contemplators want to change but the desire to change exists simultaneously with resistance to change! Action brings with it, a fear of failure, so it's easy to see why contemplators get stuck!

During this stage, people become more and more aware of the potential benefits of making a change, but the costs tend to stand out even more. This conflict creates a strong sense of ambivalence about change.  Because of this uncertainty, the contemplation stage can last months or even years. During this stage you may view change as a process of giving something up rather than a means of gaining emotional, mental or physical benefits.

If you are contemplating behavior change, there are some important questions to ask yourself: Why do you want change? Is there anything preventing you from changing? What are some things that could help you make this change?

As you continue to do self-evalation in the contemplation stage, you'll find yourself getting closer and closer to stage 3...preparation stage. When contemplators begin the transition to the preparation stage, their thinking is clearly marked by two changes. First they begin to focus on the solution rather that the problem, and they begin to think more about the future than the past. The end of the contemplation stage is a time of anticipation, activity, anxiety, and excitement!

Here's to not getting STUCK in the contemplation stage!  We've got changing to do...no time for getting stuck here!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Pre-Contemplation

We are looking at the six stages of CHANGE this summer at The Healthy Weigh.  We are starting at the very beginning to fully understand what it takes to change permanently. Pre-contemplation is the very first stage although it doesn't seem like it has much to do with change at all. When you are in this stage, you're not think much about change. You're in denial about your problem.

Experts like to call alcoholism the disease of denial. But this applies to most any problem: when we are mired in the pre-contemplation stage, it is denial that holds us there.  If we are accused of doing something wrong, one of the ways we learn to avoid punishment is to deny responsibility. This is especially true if we take pleasure in our misbehavior.  Another step we take is to admit, but justify our behavior, creating good reasons for our bad actions. This is one of the reasons we so often defend our right to defeat ourselves.

What is it that is appealing about the pre-contemplation stage that so many people struggle to stay in it? For one, it feels safe. You can't fail there. It frees you from the demand of time, you can change some other day...not now. It also frees you from guilt. If you can avoid thinking about bad habits, then how can you begin to feel guilty about them?

• Pre-contemplators wonder if help is even possible

• Pre-contemplators believe that even to think about change is to risk failing again

The thing I find fascinating about this pre-contemplation stage, is that people can be taking massive action regarding their specific problem, and still be in the pre-contemplation stage with no intentions of changing.  Most of the time that is due to the pressure put on them by others. Spouses, Judges, employers, etc. Once the pressure is relieved, the destructive behavior returns. 

Many times when we are in the pre-contemplation stage we will turn the source of our problem outward. Projection and displacing it toward something or someone else. This defense involves transferring the source or object of pain to anything other that our self. The best defense is a good offense, is the slogan of people who turn outward.

We can also turn our feelings inward, believing no that others caused us pain, but that we ourselves created the problem. By turning inward consistently and failing to express negative feelings appropriately, we begin to internalize, or "swallow" these feelings. The result is habitual self-accusation, self-blame, low self esteem, and sometimes depression.

Looking at, and understanding the stages of change, even the pre-contemplation stage, is important. Raising our consciousness is crucial to understanding ourselves and acknowledging our defenses. Becoming aware of a problem behavior remains the first step in changing it!

As a pre-contemplator, you can take advantage of people who care about you by letting them help you. Acknowledge that loves ones can see you as you cannot, and allow them to assist you to enter the cycle of change. Get involved in a social group that has like minded people who care. (The Healthy Weigh)

If you have identified your defenses, become open with yourself and others, and have found support through a group setting or loved ones, you are probably ready to move to the contemplation stage of change. There's great things ahead of you!

Until next week as we consider contemplation,

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Encouragement on Monday...Now That's a CHANGE.

For the last three years or so, I've written a Friday morning blog to encourage my clients at The Healthy Weigh.  Weekends can be a difficult time for individuals who are pursuing a change in their eating habits, so I wanted to encourage them and give them something positive to think about as they headed into the weekend. I've been seeing my friends at The Healthy Weigh on Tuesdays for the last four years.  I gave it my best to inspire them for the week at our Tuesday gatherings and kept it going for the weekend through my blog on Fridays. Well...things have changed!

We now meet every Thursday for our Team Challenge.  We have over 70 teams of two, pursuing CHANGE and greater health this summer. We gather on Thursdays to weigh in, hold each other accountable and receive great education and powerful inspiration. I'm sure that the motivation they  acquire on Thursdays will get them through the weekend without fail! So that caused me to make a CHANGE in my blog as well.  I'll be posting this blog, "Encouragement from Letha" on Mondays now!

Mondays...doesn't everyone start a "diet" on Mondays? :-) I'm hoping that my clients won't start a new diet on Mondays, but will make a new, strong commitment every Monday.  I'm hoping this blog will help them with that process. Encouragement includes the giving of courage, hope, confidence, support and help. It's my desire that this Monday morning blog will do just that.

So for this very first Monday morning...I want to give a shout out to all the participants of the Summer Team Challenge 2013!  You are going to do GREAT things this summer. Not just because you are changing the way you eat, but because you're going to change the way you think! If you want to go to places you've never been before (like losing your weight and keeping it off for life) you've got to think thoughts you've never thought before!  I'm prepared for the next ten weeks to share those thoughts with you and offer up all the encouragement I can give!

Have a great Monday...looking ahead to a life changing week. Can't wait to see you all on Thursday!

Always encouraging you...and now on Mondays,
Letha

You Have The Power...Now Flip That Switch!

You know the switch I'm talking about. The one that when flipped, you are ON PROGRAM! You are fired up and nothing can break your resolve! You are excited, motivated and driven to follow the nutritional plan and see results. That switch!

I've spent time in the last 30 years discovering ways to flip that switch in my own life. Not only in regards to my eating habits, but in other areas of my life that require excellence as well! I've gotten really good at it!

There are really two things you need to invest in, to flip the switch...time and emotions. Oh, I can hear the sighs right now! :-) You're always short on time...and you avoid those emotional moments really well!

Do you want to flip the switch? Do you wake up each morning and say "This day is going to be better" and by the time you lie down at night, you are discouraged with your self again? If you are willing to spend some time, and feel some feelings, you too can flip that switch and TODAY can be the start of a great fall and a content holiday season!

TIME...we rarely take the time to get to know ourselves. We race through this life, taking care of other people and obligations without the important connection with our selves! Can you stop at a coffee shop today and sit in a corner by yourself? Can you drive to a big parking lot and sit in your car on your lunch hour? Can you go to a room in your house that never gets used and spend some time there today? Get alone with yourself! Invest some time in YOU. Some of us are alone a lot...but are we alone, focused on ourselves? Flipping the switch requires time and focus on you!

EMOTIONS...I can promise you, if you have been eating off program, unable to follow through for even one day, you are stuffing your emotions! It's time to look at them and allow them to surface. The first question I ask my self is "Letha, What's up?" I ALWAYS get an answer! You will too. (that's why you're afraid to ask it) If you have a journal...start writing in it. If you have junk mail in the floor board of your car, that works too. Get something down on paper!

Another effective tool I use is the pain and pleasure list! I hope you have all used this "power tool."

Make a list of the pain, over eating is causing you...go for it! Don't stop, get real, get painful...allow it to take you all the way to gaining ALL your weight back, feeling miserable, and overwhelmed with medical problems and personal pain that choosing food has caused you! Don't skip ahead fast...if you have an hour, spend at least 30 of it on this list! Don't forget to include family, children and spouses in this list. How has your overeating affected them. Your overeating has caused you to be irritated, mad at the world and not very fun...how's that working for you and your family? Your clothes don't fit, you feel frumpy, and you don't want to do much of anything! Your overeating is affecting EVERY area of your life!

Now...if you have done a good job on that list... it's time to move ahead...if you haven't, you are not really serious about flipping the switch.(or you're just scared)

This list is a lot more fun! This is the list that includes all the emotions that you feel when you are on program, eating healthy, and setting limits for yourself! Have fun, spend time on this list too. Don't forget to include your family, children and spouse also. How has eating healthy, feeling attractive and in control, made a difference in those relationships? How's your wardrobe? How much energy do you have? Are you fun? Do you laugh more? Do you take pride in how you look and enjoy going out? Is EVERY area of your life affected by how you eat and what choices you are making? Don't stop short dreaming as you make this list. Allow the good feelings to overwhelm you and fill you with hope.

Look at those two lists...ask the all important question now. "Why am I living here...when I could be living here?"

If no tears are involved with this project...you might be dead!:-)

I've had clients tell me, "Ive done the pain and pleasure list thing and it doesn't work." I'm wondering have they REALLY done it. Have they really taken the time to look at the way their eating is affecting their life and the lives of all the people around them? Have they asked them selves, "Why am I letting food win?" "Why am I letting food be the boss of me?"

My friends...to lose weight and keep it off, you must be able to use pain as your friend. Flipping the switch when you are living on maintenance is crucial to you keeping your weight off for life.

I wish I had time to sit in your car with you...but I guess you wouldn't be alone then would you? Take time, allow your emotions to come forth...and flip the switch. Don't wait...today is the perfect day to change the direction of your life!

Always encouraging and pushing you,

Letha

CHANGE...It Does the Body Good!

As we close out the Spring Team Challenge I look back and think about all we've learned about willpower! It's been amazing!  Our thinking has truly changed and I for one, won't ever think about willpower the way I used to. The more I learn about willpower, the more I see that having more of it, is a choice. You don't have willpower, you choose willpower.

Now we're heading into Summer and another great 10 week challenge. This summers' theme..."Change, It Does the Body Good." We are going to spend 10 weeks this summer learning about CHANGE! We are going to explore change and discover more about why it's so darn hard to do it...change permanently that is!

Back in 2006, I chose the word CHANGE as my word for the year.  I studied it, focused on it, and came under the influence of it. CHANGE rocked my world! I was in need of change in many areas of my life and I surrendered to it...and oh boy did change happen!!

One thing I learned that year is that CHANGE IS HARD! That's why people stay stuck! It's easier to stay right where we're at, even though we might be miserable, than it is to change.
I also learned that CHANGE IS REALLY GOOD! As hard as the process is, what you find on the other side is your best life!

I've observed throughout the years that one of the reasons people don't achieve their goals is that they desire to change their results without changing their thinking. We won't move past week one of this Summer Team Challenge without getting one thing straight...it's ALL about your thinking! "The level of thinking that got you where you are...won't take you where you're going." Albert Einstein said that...smart guy! I'll be doing my very best in the next ten weeks convincing my clients of that!

We've got some CHANGE happening at The Healthy Weigh this summer too.  I've gone from being the landlord of suite 120 to be a sub lessee.  I'll be subleasing the suite on THURSDAYS and holding the Team Challenge gatherings then.  I'm excited about the changes and looking forward to a different day of the week. Thursdays are soon to become my favorite day of the week!

I hope you'll join us starting July 11th, for a powerful 10 weeks.  CHANGE will be happening at The Healthy Weigh. Come and be a part of something really great!

CHANGE...IT DOES THE BODY GOOD!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Meet Your Future Self!

We're growing our willpower at The Healthy Weigh...or should I say, our 'I will' power, 'I won't' power and 'I want' power...the three powers that make up willpower! This week we focused on two more practices that have been scientifically proven to build willpower. Willpower lives in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, and the more blood flow we can get to this region of the brain, the more willpower we'll have.

Our list of ways to boost willpower is growing by the week! The key to boosting willpower  however, is not in knowing about the things on this list...but practicing them. This week we learned about something that helps us delay our gratification...hence providing more willpower.  Meeting our future self!  We added that to our impressive list of willpower boosters! 

Here's our list so far:

Meditate

Rewards

Exercise

Internal processing

Revisit want power

Maintain level blood sugar

Avoid triggers

Complete tasks that you've been reluctant to do

Meet your future self

Brain-imaging studies show that we use different regions of the brain to think about our present selves and our future selves. When people imagine enjoying a future experience, the brain areas associated with thinking about oneself and surprisingly engaged. It's as if we are picturing someone else enjoying the sunset or running a race. The same is true when people are asked to consider whether certain traits describe their present selves or their futures selves. When reflecting on the future self, the brain's activation is identical to when it is considering the traits of another person. It's as if we are observing a person from the outside to decide what is true about them, rather than looking within to decide what is true of ourselves. The brains habit of treating the future self like another person has major consequences for self-control. Studies show that the less active your brain's self reflection system is when you contemplate your future self, the more likely you are to say "forget you" to future you,  and "yes" to immediate gratification.

You can help yourself make wiser choices by sending yourself to the future! Below are three ideas for making the future feel real, and for getting to know your future self.

1. Create a Future Memory. Imagining the future helps people delay gratification.  You don't even need to think about the future rewards of delaying gratification, just thinking about the future seems to work. For example, if you're trying to decide between starting a project now or putting it off, imagine yourself grocery shopping next week, or at a meeting you have scheduled. When you picture the future, the brain begins to think more concretely and immediately about the consequences of our present choice. The more real and vivid the future feels, the more likely you are to make a decision that your future self won't regret.

2. Send a Message to Your Future Self. The founders of FutureMe.org have created a way for people to e-mail their future selves. Since 2003, they've been holding on to e-mails people write to themselves, and delivering them on a future date chosen by the writer. Why not take advantage of the opportunity to think about what your future self will be doing, and how he or she will feel about the choices you're making now? Describe to your future self what you are going to do now to help yourself meet your long-term goals. What are your hopes for your future self? What do your think you will look like? You can also imagine your future self looking back on your present self. What would your future self thank you for, if you were able to commit to it today?

3. Imagine Your Future Self. Studies show that imagining your future self can increase your present self's willpower. One experiment asked couch potatoes to imagine either a hoped-for future self who exercised regularly and enjoyed health and energy, or a feared future self who was inactive and suffering from health consequences. Both visualizations got them off the couch, and they were exercising more frequently two months later than a control group that did not imagine a future self.  To boost your willpower, imagine a hoped-for future self who is committed to the change and reaping the benefits or a future self suffering the consequences of not changing.  Let yourself daydream in vivid detail, imagining how you will feel, how you will look, and what pride, gratitude, or regret you will have for your past self's choices.

Feeling estranged from your future self is a problem...a willpower problem.  It's important to begin to start to integrate your current self and your future self.   Your future self is not a stranger or another person...your future self is YOU!

Work on one or more of these ideas this weekend and I'm SURE you'll have more willpower!

See you in the future.

Always encouraging you,

Letha 

Forgiving = Willpower?

We're growing our willpower at The Healthy Weigh...or should I say, our 'I will' power, 'I won't' power and 'I want' power...the three powers that make up willpower! This week we focused on two more practices that have been scientifically proven to build willpower. Willpower lives in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, and the more blood flow we can get to this region of the brain, the more willpower we'll have.

Our list of ways to boost willpower is growing by the week! The key to boosting willpower  however, is not in knowing about the things on this list...but practicing them. This week we focused on one of the willpower boosters that's not so fun...internal processing.

Here's our list so far:

Meditate

Rewards

Exercise

Internal processing

Revisit want power

Maintain level blood sugar

Avoid triggers

Complete tasks that you've been reluctant to do

Can you spell vulnerability? That was me, this week, helping our Team Challenge participants go deeper, by sharing my own story. This week we listened to "Coping Skills ~ Feeling Your Way Through Life."  We followed up on Tuesday spending time on forgiveness and grief. "Hard but good." That's the way one of our healthy weigh clients described the day!

We took a look at the coping skills that our society uses. Drinking, drugs, shopping, and over eating to name a few.Coping; wrestling or grappling with difficulties and acting to over come them. As we looked closer at our societies list, we realized that we are not coping at all...we're avoiding. Avoiding the pain of the past and present. Instead of overcoming and healing our issues and pain, we are numbing them.

At The Healthy Weigh, we are convinced that unless a person acquires a healthy list of coping skills and begins to use them to heal past and present wounds, they will have temporary success at best.

The feeling wheel was introduced this week as a great tool to identify feelings and begin to process them. For many of us, we are a bit handicapped when it comes to expressing our feelings. We were taught to feel; mad, glad or sad. Identifying our true feelings is the first step to being able to process what's really going on inside of us. We recommend that you keep your feeling wheel on the inside of a journal so that you can refer to it as often as necessary while you're journaling. It wouldn't be such a bad idea to put it on the fridge so that the whole family could benefit from it!

We spent most of our time Thursday talking about forgiveness. I believe that unforgiveness robs us of more joy than any thing else in life. I shared a technique or tool to help clients begin to forgive the people, including themselves, that they need to, to heal those wounded places inside. Forgiveness only takes one person, so it definitely is a process that we all find right inside of our own back packs! It is your responsibility to do the work to heal the places that are keeping you from living the life you were intended to live.

I inspired courage Tuesday...it takes a little bit to forge ahead and begin to use real coping skills. What I know is that a mind that is healthy, and emotions that are healed will effect a physical body more than any diet ever could!

Here's to courage to do the hard, but good stuff!

I love you all, I'm walking with you and want you to have your very best life.

Until next week.

Always encouraging you.

Letha

A Terrible Thing to Waste

We're growing our willpower at The Healthy Weigh...or should I say, our 'I will' power, 'I won't' power and 'I want' power...the three powers that make up willpower! This week we focused on two more practices that have been scientifically proven to build willpower. Willpower lives in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, and the more blood flow we can get to this region of the brain, the more willpower we'll have.

Our list of ways to boost willpower is growing by the week! The key to boosting willpower  however, is not in knowing about the things on this list...but practicing them. The brain is a terrible thing to waste...especially when it comes to the prefrontal cortex!

Here's our list so far:

Meditate

Rewards

Exercise

Internal processing

Revisit want power

Maintain level blood sugar

Avoid triggers

Complete tasks that you've been reluctant to do

When I look over this list of "willpower boosters," it makes so much sense.  A person who is practicing this kind of life style will absolutely have more willpower!

This person is centered and focused, (meditation). They are giving to themselves good things that bring them pleasure vs. food rewards that are really the cause of their pain. (rewards)  This person is  experiencing the "high"  that comes from regular activity. (exercise)  They aren't afraid to process past and current pain to avoid numbing their feelings with food, (internal processing) and when they feel their willpower weakening, they re-visit the real reason they are eating healthy. (want power) Because they are eating regularly, eating a balanced diet, and staying away from diet sodas, they are feeling physically satisfied. (maintain blood sugar levels) They don't test their willpower by bringing unhealthy foods into the house. (avoid triggers) They have discovered that some of the projects that they've been putting off aren't that bad after all, and they really can complete them, just like they can say no to the bad and yes to the good. (complete tasks that you've been reluctant to do)

Can you see why this person has more willpower??!!  It's not a matter of white knuckling it through life...It's a matter of doing the things to build up that prefrontal cortex so that you are living a balanced, healthy lifestyle on auto pilot.

It always goes back to this...change your thinking and you'll change your life!  We spend WAY too much time thinking about food, recipes, what we can and can't eat...and way too little time on this list of willpower boosters!

Having a solid, effective nutritional plan to follow is a must when losing weight...but keeping it off for life requires more than that! It requires a lifestyle that promotes willpower. As a person who lives and works to maintain my goal weight, I'm very aware of the importance of living this balanced lifestyle. I'm working at this list all the time!

So here's to willpower and here's to celebrating the fact that we have the ability to grow it in ourselves! Until next week when we add to this list...work on that gray matter, it's a terrible to waste!

Always encouraging you,

Letha

WANT POWER...it's what fuels the engine!

We're growing our willpower at The Healthy Weigh...or should I say, our 'I will' power, 'I won't' power and 'I want' power...the three powers that make up willpower! This week we focused on two more practices that have been scientifically proven to build willpower. Willpower lives in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, and the more blood flow we can get to this region of the brain, the more willpower we'll have.

We revisited one of the most important parts of willpower this week, the part of willpower that fuels the engine...WANT POWER! When your willpower is running low you can find renewed strength by tapping into your want power. It's important to be able to think about these motivations. Motivation... the motive that causes one to act.

1. How will you benefit from succeeding at this willpower challenge? 
What is the payoff for you personally? Greater health, happiness, freedom?

2. Who else will benefit if you succeed at this challenge?
Surely there are others who depend on you and will be affected by your choices. How does your behavior influence your family, friends, co workers, and your community? How would your success help them?

3. Imagine that this challenge will get easier for you over time if you are willing to do what is difficult now.
Can you imagine what your life will be like, and how you will feel about yourself, as you make progress on this challenge?

As you face your challenges this week, ask yourself which motivation holds the most power for you in that moment. Are you willing to do something difficult for others, when you might not for yourself? When you find your biggest want power, the thing that gives you strength when you feel weak, bring it to mind whenever you find yourself most tempted to give in or give up!

Along with revisiting the importance of WANT power, we looked at a physical key to willpower...blood sugar levels.  Scientists consider glucose as one of the key nutrients needed by the brain for effective self control. Willpower drops when glucose drops. Willpower rises when glucose rises. It is as if running low on energy biases us to be the worst versions of ourselves.

So along with keeping blood levels stable by eating regularly and avoiding diet sodas and artificial sweeteners that trick the body into taking up glucose from the bloodstream in anticipation of a blood sugar spike, we learned that exercise regulates your body's glucose.

Let's look at our willpower booster growing checklist:

Meditate
Rewards
Exercise
Internal processing
Want power
Maintain level blood sugar

Learning that we all have willpower that we haven't tapped into yet is exciting. Learning that we have the ability to grow our willpower and assert more self control in our lives is powerful. We really can't use "lack of willpower" as an excuse any more. We've got what it takes to build it up...so the buck stops here when it comes to willpower!  I guess it always gets back to that all important question...WHAT DO YOU WANT!?

Always encouraging you,
Letha

The Miracle Drug For More Willpower!

We're growing our willpower at The Healthy Weigh...or should I say, our 'I will' power, 'I won't' power and 'I want' power...the three powers that make up willpower! This week we focused on two more practices that have been scientifically proven to build willpower. Willpower lives in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, and the more blood flow we can get to this region of the brain, the more willpower we'll have.

Researchers from Macquarie University in Sydney Australia did some intense research about a new treatment to enhance self-control (willpower). They were stunned by the findings. While they had hoped for positive results, nobody could have predicted how far-reaching the treatment's effects would be.  The trials guinea pigs were six men and eighteen women, ranging in age from eighteen to fifty years old.  After two months of the treatment, they showed improvements in attention and the ability to ignore distractions. In an age of thirty second attention spans, that would have been reason enough to celebrate. But there was more. They had reduced their smoking, drinking, and caffeine intake, despite the fact that nobody had asked them to.  They were eating less junk food and more healthy food. They were spending less time watching TV and more time studying. They were saving money and spending less on impulse purchases. They felt more in control of their emotions. They even procrastinated less and were less likely to be late for appointments.

When the findings came out... colleagues were asking, what is this miracle drug and where can I get a prescription?  The intervention wasn't a drug at all. The willpower miracle was physical exercise.  The participants, none of whom exercised regularly before the intervention, were given free memberships to a gym and encouraged to make good use of it. They exercised an average of just one time per week for the first month, but were up to three times per week by the end of the two month study. The researchers did not ask them to make any other changes in their lives, and yet the exercise program seemed to spark new found strength and self-control in ALL aspects of there lives. EXERCISE...our 3rd willpower booster!

As we take a closer look at willpower and the ways to boost our gray matter we also have to look at why some people seem to have a greater willpower reserve the others. Many factors influence your willpower reserve. Anything that puts a stress on your mind or body can interfere with the physiology of self-control, and by extension, sabotage your willpower.  Anxiety, anger, depression, and loneliness are all associated with less self-control. Chronic pain and illness can also drain the body's willpower reserve. 

My studies of willpower  have encouraged me to continue to challenge my clients at the Healthy Weigh to keep pursuing emotional and spiritual wellness as they follow their nutritional plans. Our 4th willpower booster is to do the INTERNAL WORK of weight loss to heal and relieve stresses that are keeping them from having more willpower. I guess it's about dieting from the inside out!

Our Willpower boosting list is growing...here's what we've got so far:

1. Meditation

2. Rewards

3. Exercise

4. Internal processing

As we continue to grow this list, I'm convinced that my clients are going to see themselves resisting more temptations and meeting more of their personal goals!  Big brains and lots of gray matter...that's what we're after!

Always encouraging you,

Letha

Train Your Brain For Willpower!

We're growing our willpower at The Healthy Weigh...or should I say, our 'I will' power, 'I won't' power and 'I want' power...the three powers that make up willpower! This week we focused on two practices that have been scientifically proven to build willpower. Willpower lives in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, and the more blood flow we can get to this region of the brain, the more willpower we'll have.

Two ways to spark that blood flow...meditation and rewards.

Neuroscientists have discovered that when you ask the brain to meditate, it gets better not just at meditation, but at a wide range of self control skills, including attention, focus, stress management, impulse control, and self-awareness.  People who meditate regularly aren't just better at these things, over time, their brains become finely tuned willpower machines. Regular meditators have more gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, as well as region of the brain that supports self awareness.

The good news is, it doesn't take a lifetime of meditation to change the brain. Some researchers have started to look for the smallest dose of meditation needed to see benefits. Meditation increases blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, in much the same way that lifting weight increases blood flow to your muscles.

The studies regarding rewards for permanent change are powerful.  In neuroscience, the reward system is a collection of brain structures which attempt to regulate and control behavior by inducing pleasurable effects.  It is in the brain circuit, that when activated, reinforces behaviors.  The circuit includes the dopamine containing neurons, part of the prefrontal cortex. Humans are seekers of pleasure. The problem with dieting is that we have our pleasures mixed up.  We have convinced ourselves that food (over indulgence) is pleasure, when food is the cause of our pain.

To lose weight and keep it off for life, we must recognize that we will continue to seek pleasure, and we must change how we feel about food so that it no longer is our source of pleasure. The reward system while losing weight and working to keep it off, does just that. By choosing new pleasures, flowers, a walk in the park, a new book, etc., we will begin to choose new behavior with our eating, to guarantee the pleasure of the reward...the real pleasure. Every time we make a choice to reward ourself we grow our willpower! Even the suggestion of a reward is enough to spark the blood flow to the prefrontal cortex.

Understanding and being more aware of how our brain works and how willpower works is making a difference for me.  I hope it's doing the same for my friends at The Healthy Weigh. This week it's all about meditation and rewards.  I look forward to next week when we take a close look at what we are really meant to resist.

Always encouraging you,
Letha

WILLPOWER...Can We Strengthen It?

The Healthy Weigh has started their 16th Team Challenge. For the next ten weeks we'll be focusing on WILLPOWER! As I've studied the subject recently, I'm convinced that willpower can be strengthened. I wouldn't be spending 10 weeks talking about it if I didn't think so. We're going to be looking at how self-control works, why it matters, and what we can do to get more of it.

Our levels of personal willpower distinguishes us from each other. We've all been born with the capacity for willpower, some of us just use it more than others.  Studies show that people who have more willpower/self control, have better control of their attention, emotions and actions. They are happier and healthier. Their relationships are more satisfying and last longer. They make more money and go further in their careers.
They are better able to manage stress, deal with conflict, and overcome adversity. They even live longer.

When pit against other virtues, willpower comes out on top. Self control is a better predictor of academic success than intelligence, a stronger determinant of effective leadership than charisma, and more important for marital bliss than empathy. Bottom line...if we want to improve our lives, willpower is not a bad place to start.

We are going to be taking a closer look at science and our brains regarding willpower. Neurobiologists as well as psychologists have much to say about the subject. Understanding the science of willpower will give us strategies for developing self-control and greater strength to pursue what matter most to us.

Next week I'll be focusing on the three powers that make up willpower. Will Power, Won't Power and Want Power!  Stay tuned for more about willpower!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

What Do You Want?

This Tuesday we will have our first weigh-in for our ten week "WILLPOWER" Team Challenge! I can't help this morning but to look ahead to June 18th, the finale of this challenge, and think about that day! History WILL repeat itself so I know what June will hold for the participants of the Spring Team Challenge 2013. I can hardly keep my feet on the ground thinking about it.

Tuesday, April 16th, over 80 teams will walk into The Healthy Weigh feeling nervous but excited! They will weigh in and record their official weight for the beginning of this 10 week challenge. For some clients that will be difficult as they face the scale. Many will be as heavy as they've ever been. Others have been on the journey with The Healthy Weigh for a while and will be seeing weights they haven't seen in YEARS!

Either way, DECISIONS have to be made. Decisions to participate fully in the program, both physically and emotionally. Those clients who decide to be "all in" will see amazing results in the next ten weeks! I'm sure of it!

When I think about Tuesday, June 18th...Here are the things I am sure of:

MANY clients will reach their goal weight and be ready to move on to stabilization!

We will celebrate 20, 30, 40, 50, 60...and possibly 70 pounds weight losses!

NO one in the room will be thinking the same thoughts that they were thinking 10 weeks ago!

Willpower will be increased in all of our lives!

Medications will have been discontinued!

Life spans will have been increased!!

Confidence will be palatable!

Community spirit will be soaring!

Personal healing will have taken place!

And that's a partial list!

It's funny, ten weeks doesn't seem like a very long time, but MAJOR things happen in a ten week period when you make a decision and cut off any other possibility!


I hope that all our teams will spend some time this weekend thinking about June 18th. The first step to any change is knowing what you want. So knowing what June 18th looks like for you is going to be very important!

I know what I want on June 18th. I want to be able to stand in front of this group of people as we celebrate their GREAT accomplishments and say that I did my very best to inspire and motivate them to live their best lives! I want to look back and see that the education I brought forth was beneficial not just to my clients but to their families as well. I want to have given my ALL for this Spring Team Challenge! I want to be living out the very lessons I teach so that I can deliver them with conviction and power! That's what I want!

What do you want?

I will be spending the next 4 days mentally preparing for this "WILLPOWER" Team Challenge. I hope you will too. Spend time looking ahead to June 18th. Visualize yourself at that Grand Finale feeling proud of what you've accomplished! It's going to be a life changing ten weeks
 for sure!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Got Willpower?

Willpower...It seems we all need more of it!  According to the American Psychological Association, Americans name lack of willpower as the number one reason they struggle to meet their goals. With that being the case, I thought I better be about it...finding more willpower that is. Not only finding more for myself, but teaching others how to do it too. That's what we'll be focusing on during the Spring Team Challenge 2013! WILLPOWER!

Scientific research has much to say about changing your thoughts, emotions, and habits.  I'm excited about  teaching some of these new strategies for self control. We're going to look at why we give in to temptation and how we can find the strength to resist. We're going to do a little willpower training!

One of the best ways to improve your self control is to see how and why you lose control. We've got to take a closer look at the traps that lead to willpower failures.  We are going to dispel some of the common misconceptions about self control and give you a new way to think about willpower challenges. My desire in the 10 week challenge is to empower clients to make real and lasting changes in their lives.

By the time this 10 week challenge is over, we're going to know when to use our will power...our won't power...and our want power!  Willpower is really about harnessing the three powers of I will, I won't, and I want, to help you achieve your goals.

As we head into our 16th Season of the Team Challenge, I'm as excited as ever about the amount of weight I know our clients will lose, the ways they will change their diets, and the information that I am prepared to teach them. I'm also looking forward to the fun community spirit of the group! We know how to lose weight. We know how to gain knowledge and wisdom. And we know how to have fun!

When I choose the theme of willpower for the Spring challenge, I knew that I'd better add a little excitement to the mix! So...we're calling on super heroes to help us out!  Captain Willpower for one!  I'm sure many other super heroes are going to show up as well!

My clients at the Healthy Weigh really do have a lot in common with the great super heroes!  They have a back story that makes them who they are today, they have overcome and found themselves living like warriors instead of victims, and they love making a difference in the lives of everyone around them! I don't think we could have thought of a better theme!

If you're not enrolled in the Spring Team Challenge yet, there's still time!

Tuesday, April 2nd at Noon and 6PM, I'll have 30 minute "infomercials" explaining the Team Challenge in detail.

Tuesday, April 9th at Noon and 6 PM is the Program Introduction Class for all participants of the Team Challenge explaining the nutritional plan in detail.

Tuesday, April 16 at Noon and 6 PM is the kick off and
first weigh in of the 10 week Spring Team Challenge!

If you need a little more willpower...a little more self control... join us! We'll find it together!!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

I Will Persist Without Exception ~ The Persistent Decision

So what's the difference in people? When faced with struggles, why is it that one person quits and another keeps going?

This week at The Healthy Weigh we received our last of the 7 DECISIONS from the archangel, Gabriel in a warehouse of all places!! In the warehouse, Gabriel asks David Ponder, "Does faith guide your everyday actions and emotions? Or does fear guide what you do?"

Andy Andrews, author of The Travelers Gift goes on to explain...

One or the other drives us, and both emotions are an expectation for an event that hasn't come to pass, or a belief in something that can't be seen or touched.  To have faith is to believe in the hopeful potential of what one has not seen, and the reward of faith is to have the potential manifest.
The emotional energy of faith is uplifting. Fear, in contrast, is also to believe in the dark potential of what one has not seen, and only the reward of fear...is more fear. The emotional energy of fear is life draining. Fear can be used as a catalyst for action or, by default, it impressions a person to a life of mediocrity.

A man of faith reaps perpetual reward, and a man of fear lives on the edge of insanity. Fear is a vapor, a myth, and if you think that fear is some kind of warning from above to keep you out of trouble, you can forget that.  There is no instance in the Bible that says fear is from God.  Fear disrupts you and keeps you from your goals, dreams and destiny. Fear and worry are interest paid in advance on something the many never come to pass.

It's interesting to notice that often it is the smartest people who are most susceptible to fear in the first place. Fear is imagination run amok. What you fear doesn't even exist, it is the miuse of the creative imagination God has placed in you. And in the lives of these creative, intelligent people, somehow fear jumps into the mix and shuts down any possibility of moving toward their goals and dreams. It stops everything. The word worry is derived from an Anglo-Saxon term, meaning "to strangle or "to choke off." Worry and fear choke off any creative flow or intelligent movement that people might have otherwise had.

Ignore fear. Cast it out of your life. There is no reward for fear. The reward is in faith and in seeing what you have believed come to pass.

"I will persist without exception. I am a person of great faith."

Always encouraging you,
Letha

I Will Greet This Day With a Forgiving Spirit ~ The Compassionate Decision

We spent some time with a compassionate man this week at the Team Challenge...Abraham Lincoln. His compassion changed the course of history.  He taught us about the gift of forgiveness.

In his classic book An Enemy Called Average, John Mason writes, "When faced with the decision to forgive, never make the excuse, 'But no one knows what that person did to me.'
"That may be true," he says, "but the question is, do you know what unforgiveness will do to you?"

What does unforgiveness do to us? Have you ever experienced the mental illusions that life has you cornered? Have you ever felt boxed in, discouraged, controlled by outside circumstances? Andy Andrews has determined over the years that there is generally someone you haven't forgiven or someone who you haven't asked for their forgiveness.  The persons name sticks in the back of your mind, as if subconsciously tapping you on the shoulder, diverting your focus from where it should be.

There is a story an old Indian man tells his grandson about a fight going on inside between two wolves. One wolf was evil and full of anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, and ego. The other wolf was a good wolf, full of forgiveness.
The grandson asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?" The old man simply replied, "The one I feed."

Most likely, as you read these words, there is a fight going on inside of you between those same two wolves. The fight is revealing itself to you as someone's name or a visual image of that face.  You can kill the wolf that contains all that anger, sorrow, regret, and resentment by embracing the good wolf and choosing forgiveness.

And then...there is one person you need to forgive that if you don't, your effectiveness as a wife, as a mother or father, as a friend or leader will suffer.  The key to bringing your dreams into reality is forgiveness, and specifically, forgiveness of this one person...that one person is you.

We have piled so much onto our own shoulders. There are many things we intended to do that we didn't do, so many promises we made but didn't keep, and so many goals we set that we didn't achieve. Over time they've piled up on us, and the weight can be crushing. You have to forgive yourself!

For many of us, our greatest enemies have been ourselves. Every mistake, every miscalculation, every stumble we make we replayed in our minds. When we disappoint ourselves, it sets in motion a continual cycle of disappointment.

Forgive yourself. Begin anew. The simple fact of forgiving yourself will change your life!

Forgiveness is a secret that is hidden in plain sight. it costs nothing and it's worth millions. It is available to everyone and used by few. If you harness the power of forgiveness, you will be sought after and regarded highly. And not coincidentally, you will also be forgiven by others! ~ A. Lincoln

Always encouraging you,
Letha

It's A Math Problem!

If you are an inactive person who weighs 200 pounds, every nutritional label in America is written for you! If not...they aren't!

I write this blog this morning anticipating spending time with my Healthy Weigh friends who are close to reaching their goal weight and are now learning what it takes to stay there. I'll be walking them through a process of stabilization; a 6 week process where you increase your calories week by week until you reach your calorie limit based on your goal weight.

Being highly effective people, we will begin with the end in mind, in this case goal weight. Each client will write down their ideal maintenance weight and then calculate their approximate calorie intake for that weight based on this chart.

Multiply your ideal maintenance weight by:

10 if you are inactive (sitting most of the day, no regular physical exercise)

11 if you are moderately active (sitting most of the day but do engage in physical exercise regularly or at least 3 to 4 times per week for 1/2 hour or more)

12 if you are active (standing and/ or walking most of the day and engage in regular physical exercise)

13 if you are very active (walking or involved in strenuous physical labor most of the day and engage in regular physical exercise)

That number is your approximate total calories to maintain your goal weight.

Now I know that there are many more complicated ways to estimate and discover your appropriate calorie intake for your goal weight...the truth is, you will find the same answer at the end of every story problem. I've done them!

So, you've done the math??? What's your number???

We'll have four or five men in our group. Only a couple of them will be able to eat 2000 calories to maintain their weight. Everyone else in the room  will range from 1250 calories to 1800. So why does every nutritional label in America say..."Based on a 2000 diet."? Good question! The only people that can and should be eating 2000 calories per day are men weighing close to 200 pounds, or a woman who weighs 155 and works in a job performing physical labor all day and then drops by the club to work out on the way home!

I've spent over 30 years helping people lose weight. I am proud to say that I administer one of the greatest weight loss programs available any where...but losing weight has never been the hard part. People knuckle down, eat less, move more, and then lose weight.

Keeping if off for life is the struggle. I believe that our nutritional labels aren't helping matters. It would make sense that most people in America would believe that they should eat 2000 calories...right? It says that on the back of every food label everywhere!!!

I read an article the other day in search of an answer to this problem. It said that 2000 calories per day was used as a standard because that is how many calories it would take to maintain the average American. Wow, how sad is that? What if our labels said "Based on a 1500 calorie diet?" What would the average American look like then?

I am a 120 pound 54 year old woman. I exercise 3 to 4 times a week for 1/2 or more. My maintenance calories are 1320. That's it...no more. No matter what a label says, I am responsible for consuming the amount of healthy calories that my body needs to maintain this healthy weight.

Do the math. Accept the truth. Be responsible. Reach your goal weight and keep it off for life...eating just the amount of calories that YOU need to maintain your ideal maintenance weight!

Always encouraging you...and hopefully enlightening you too,

Letha