Losing It

I have noticed lately that being able to stay motivated is becoming increasingly more difficult.  I want to do so much, and I feel that I am being torn in so many different directions.

That is why I have made a point of scheduling my days.  Yes I schedule my workouts.  That way I feel that they are a priority.

When you schedule an appointment with a friend, do you cancle it?  Not if you can help it.  The same is true with scheduling time to work out.  Why would you break an appointment with yourself.

It is essential to make time for yourself.  The best way is to put it on your calendar, and stick to it.

I love watching Biggest loser.  I enjoy learning from the mistakes of others.  Due to watching the show I have learned so much about how to properly lose weight.

One of the tips that they give is to chew gum.  I never thought about it, but it is a great tip.  To chew gum when you start getting hungry.  It makes a difference.

I have started to chew gum, especially at night when I start getting hungry.  It has helped.  I am completely amazed at how well it has worked.

At first I was starving at night, now just under a week later, I am able not hungry after the boys go to bed.  I am so proud of myself.  I am doing so much better.

You have to know that you can achieve your goals.  You have to realize no matter what your setbacks are, that you can change them from setback to making the difference in your heart and your life.

This is true not only with all other parts of your life, but expecially with the fact you are going to find that the road to losing weight is full of little tiny setbacks.  What make you succeed is knowing that you don’t have to sweat the small stuff.  You can be confident that you will achieve you goals, you just have to know that you can do it.

One of the tricks that helps me lose weight is to eat and eat and eat.  Ok so maybe not like that.  But believe it or not the key to weight loss is to eat.

You need to eat every two to three hours.  You want to make sure that you are keeping your blood sugar consistant.

It is important that you remember how important it is to eat smaller meals.  You will find that your body will quickly adjust to eating more often.  You will start to feel full after eating.

When snacking think of snacking on fruits or vegitables.  I have even found pretzles that have no salt.  Those are great snacks.

Many times when looking to lose weight you start off by staying that I am on a diet, so I can not eat it.  Well this is not the way to think.  It has been proven that your brain does not process negative words.  That is why when you are on a diet and you say to your self you can not have chocolate, what happens - you crave the chocolate.  You want the chocolate.  That is all you can think about until you just can not take it any more so you go and sit down and eat all of the chocolate you can get your hands on it.

That is why so many of us fail at diets we tell ourselves that we can not do something when the fact of the matter is that you can do it, you just have to allow yourself to do it.  Think positively.  Know that you will make a difference, and stop telling yourself that you can’t do it.

The power of positive thought is stronger than you think!

 I have struggled with getting on track to loose weight for many years.  I have found the the biggest key to me staying on track and starting to lose is drinking my water.  When I make sure that I drink my water I feel better.  I stay on track by eating right.  It makes a difference in my entire day.

The days I don’t drink my water I find that I am drinking more pop.  I don’t need all of that sugar.  It also helps me when I start to crave sweets.  I just buy some fresh lemons, and squeeze a little lemon in my water.

Now I will never put lemon in my water when I am at a resturant, I only do that when I am at home.

I am not as hungry when I drink my water.  I also find that if before we sit down to eat, about 20 or so minutes I drink a glass or two of water it helps me to eat less.

To set goals is so important.  Not only will it give you something to look forward to, but it will help you to achieve your dreams.  How do you know how far away you are if you don’t even know if you are on the right path? 

It is important to set realistic goals that you can accomplish in a short amount of time.  Have a big goal in mind to reach at the end but set daily, weekly and monthly goal so that you see that you are on track and that you are staying on track.  This is so very important.

Every time you acheve one of the small goals you know that you are on your way to achieving the big goals too.  And each goal that you accomplish will help you get a sense of pride and drive to help you to continue on during the hard days.

It is also very important that if you do not reach your goal to be hard on yourself, just know that you can achieve your goals by taking them one day at a time.  Learn from what you made a mistake on and know that step by step you will win.

A common issue when starting a weight loss program is people jumping in head first. This makes trying to loose weight more of a battle than it needs to be. When planning on starting a diet the first thing that goes through the mind is to stop eating the bad food. Stop drinking the sugary drinks. The feeling of depriving yourself of things you enjoy becomes very evident.

The mind will not process negative words. By telling yourself you can not have something, you are just going to crave it. These feelings will make you feel as if you are missing something, and will make your diet a struggle. How to fix this - stop the negative.

Instead of telling yourself that you can not have that piece of cake, tell yourself that you can have a piece of fruit. Same thing with pop. Tell yourself that you want refreshing water. By taking away the negative and focusing on the positives, you can make it through your diet successfully with out struggle.

After much thought, I am thinking - where is the best place to start?  There are so many steps to losing weight, that it is very overwhelming.  In my experience making a ton of changes in your life at one time, will usually lead to failure.  Forgetting that you did not gain the weight over night and that the weight will not come off over night will also lead to failure.  So how can we achieve success?  How do you make the right choices?  Where do you start?

First off I would suggest reading 10% Solution  that Sparkpeople has put out.   Set realistic goals.  Remember that as you achieve these little goals, you fill feel a sense of accomplishment.  Also remember that you can always set a new goal once you have reached the current on that you are working on.

It has also been said that to create a habit you need 21 days of doing that, so create a small habit for yourself.  Focus on one thing, and work on that.  Be proud of your successes, and work hard with any failure.  The focus you place on that will help you grow and will help you succeed.

Don’t try to change too much at one time.  Remember that you are trying to start a lifestyle change.  Once you have reached your goal, then you will want to maintain it.  In order to do that you need to change your entire lifestyle.  You don’t want to go back to eating and moving the way you are now.  You want to keep up the healthy lifestyle have now set.  To do this you need to start good habits, and make the entire lifestyle change.

For me I am going to start with water.  I am going to make a conscience effort to watch what I am drinking.  I am going to limit the pop and junk and drink my water.   I suggest that you take a look at the first habit you want to create and start today.  It is never too late to start.  And if you have a bad day, don’t start over, learn, and tomorrow try extra hard!

One of the most important things I have learned along the way with loosing weight, the most important thing is that if you don’t get a full night sleep then you will not loose the weight.  I never realised how important sleep really is.  You need it not only to function, but you will need it to help your body do what it needs.

After a full day of packing, a 4 1/2 hour car ride, and about 2 1/2 hours of trying to get settled, I did not get to bed until 1:00 a.m. or so.  My little guy got up at 5:30 this morning.  I am dragging.  This is going to be a long day.

I am hoping that when we get the kids down for a nap that I can also sneak in a nap.