In this message I want to focus on 3 Steps to Thrive Through The Holidays: pick up on movement, mindful eating, and joining the community. 

Do you know that the average American gains 9 lbs during holidays (pre-COVID)? Do you know the average weight gain during COVID is 20+ lbs? Add it up and we are in obesity trouble.

Let's team up and tackle the obesity epidemic so we can fully enjoy our holidays and their special meaning?!

BTW, this guide is for you if you are committed to staying healthy. This guide is NOT for New Year Resolutioners.

Let's jump into 3 Healthy Holidays tips!

3 Steps to Thrive Through Holidays

Step 1. Pick up on our physical activity.

Why? Eat more = need to move more. Calories in/calories out.

If you know you ate more than your body could burn with normal activity, pick up on movement. Keep implementing your regular physical activity and add extra movement to burn those extra calories consumed. Btw, for...

 

Decisions. Decisions.  All day long! Depleted and drained. On the way home grab some fast food and settle in front of the TV. Seems familiar?

In this message,  I want to share the silence, power, and hope that sits beyond Decision Fatigue. 

On my journey to my Weight Loss Specialist Certification by NASM (National Academy of Sports Nutrition), I came upon this material that I'd like to share with you. 

It has been estimated that the average individual makes as many as 35,000 decisions per day (Sahakian & Labuzetta, 2013), of which about 226 are on food (Wansink & Sobal, 2007). The increasing number of decisions an individual is required to make over the course of the day is mentally exhausting and depletes one’s cognitive abilities to exert self-control, especially in the face of temptations. The mental drain due to the demands of making multiple, complex decisions is referred to as decision fatigue (Baumeister &...

Have you ever felt like you should be able to handle emotions that come up, but just don't seem to be able to?

May I let you know that it even happens to coaches?

The difference for me now is that I have tools to help me though tough times so I may temporarily feel stress, but I don't take it in and make it a part of my emotional landscape.

Why is that important? Because chronic stress has such a profound effect on our health, and not a good one!

Read on and you'll see why it is so important to have strategies to deal with stress.

In fact, if you want to know more, just click here to set a time for us to talk.

Here is information that will help you understand the widespread impact of stress on the body and how you can start to manage it more effectively.

The Effects of Stress on The Body

Increased cortisol production: Associated with weight gain (especially in the belly), inability to lose weight or gain muscle, and premature aging.

Decreased nutrient...

Life is busy. Business and household demands. Maybe even babysitting grandchildren.  Too much on our plates. I know we feel we can't put anything else on top.

And here is the deal … we cannot run on stress and cortisol and be healthy for a long time. 

The good thing is we gotta breathe, move, think, and use other senses anyway, right? It's not conditional and not voluntary; the body does it automatically. 

What I am inviting you is to tap into what you are already doing anyway and use 2 minutes of intentionality. 

• Intentionally noticing breathing 
• Intentionally noticing your sences 
• Intentional movement to energize and cut through negative energy 
• Intentional positive thinking 

Each of these tools takes 2 min. These are some of the most effective tools I learned that help me relax on demand and be effective as possible. They teach us to be mindful of every moment and use these moments to help ourselves. 

If you want to...

Want to look forward to exercising? Listen to this message or keep reading.

"I don't like exercising" is the comment I get A LOT.

And we obviously understand we have to exercise to keep our bodies healthy.

The question is

how do we change our minds so that we can look forward to exercising and actually enjoy it?

Allow me to offer you the Tool. It works for most but here is the disclaimer: I don't know if it will work for you. To check it out,  give it an honest effort for a week.

Ready for the tool?

SMILE

When we smile, we trick our brain to enjoy the current activity. The same goes with exercise. The brain is gonna say: ah, she is smiling so we must be enjoying exercising; let me release happy hormones for her. You will naturally start feeling good; emotionally,  physically, and  mentally. 

Let's dive deeper: choose joy. 

Here are three strategies to choose joy in exercise:

Before.

Before you...

How to stay focused while doing the most important task of the day?

Often, we tend to procrastinate when faced with challenging or emotionally charged tasks, so we tend to leave them for later while doing other 'important" tasks...like washing the kitchen floor.  Believe me, I am speaking from personal experience. 

This technique will help you stay focused for a short time but in that time you can often accomplish than in an hour of focused work. This technique will help you move the needle towards the life you want.

Let's dive. 

The SPRINT Technique: 

 packs laser focus into short bursts, helping you demolish challenging tasks and beat procrastination. Here is how it works:

Step 1. Before – Prepare for the Blast.

Identify your Needle-Mover: Pick the ONE task that will make the biggest impact this week. Prep for Success: Gather tools, silence distractions, and prepare your reward (step 3!). Set a timer.

Step 2. During -...

I am too busy. Can't put anything else on my plate.  Maybe after… 

Do these words sound familiar to you?

Today's message is about how to get ahead and beat procrastination so we have time.

How many times do we postpone something that is important to us? How long do we procrastinate?

For some of us, years. 

Relationships, health, business. What is your story? 

We say 'later, after'. We procrastine. Then one day we realize we simply cannot continue putting it off; we have to change something. 

And even then, do we take an action or just think and talk about it?

And when we take an action, how do we know it it's the right one?

In the recent live in our Friends in Health group, I shared three tips on how to get ahead and beat procrastination. Allow me to share this framework for you here. If you know you want more tips on effective time management, join our Club and register for the upcoming training on Saturday, August 27th.

I am tired. I feel done. Emotionally.  Mentally. Physically.  I wanna cry. I want to crawl under the blanket and not be. I don't want to do anything.  I want to stop and maybe even leave the Earth. Maybe for a while. I am just tired!!

Any of those words resonate with you? Maybe just sometimes but you still hear yourself thinking that?

 If yes, the following message is for you and I. 

I certainly do. Yesterday was the day. After co-teaching the "Connect with Your Teen" webinar, I sat down and almost cried. I noticed how emotionally charged the topic was for me. I have 14 and 17 year old kids. I noticed how tired I felt. Felt like tired from life. Tired from performing, from thoughts of not performing, from going millions of miles an hour non-stop for years.

Don't we all want to stop and just breathe sometime? I mean, relax and embrace the peace. Feel quiet, feel the moment, feel like this moment is still and in stillness comes peace,...

In this message, I will share with you what to do when you feel stuck. 

Where do you feel stuck? In health?  In weight loss? In a vicious cycle of pain? In negative thoughts? In life?

In fact, I have been feeling stuck thinking what to write for this Sunday reflection and this theme felt quite appropriate. 

So if you are feeling stuck, let's try these steps.

Step 1. Identify where you are stuck. 

Use curiosity.  In fact, in our Masterclass we used the term Curiosity Goggles. Just be curious and simply observe to yourself without judgement using this format: "isn't it interesting that I feel stuck ….(name it). What I really want is …. (name it)."

Stand back and be curious about this "stuck" state. Reflect on what are you doing, thinking and feeling. It's important to identify all three.

Step 2. Acknowledge

and be ok with what's so. No blame, no shame, no right or wrong. It is just what's so. We often want to blame...

Where Do You Feel Stuck In The Body?

In this reflection, I want to introduce you to a concept called gut wisdom. There is an intelligence in your gut. Everyone has gut wisdom. We’re tapping into our natural intuition here. Intuition is trusting in what we already know to be true.

We have been taught not to trust this wisdom. We’ve been taught to outsource our intuition and doubt our own, but the truth is that you are your own best health expert. You are the authority on what your body needs. When we tap into this gut wisdom, we learn how to take care of ourselves. My intention is to help you listen to that gut wisdom. Have you ever heard people say, ‘Listen to your gut?’ That’s what we’re talking about with gut wisdom.

Would you like to connect to your body's wisdom? 

I call it Releasing Personal Power...

Let’s begin.

Step 1. Listen to your body. Breathe... 

We’ll connect to our gut using the breath. We’re...