What Makes You GAIN Weight? Part 3

You Don't Count Calories!  

Confusing how much you eat with counting calories is huge.  We say..."I didn't eat that much today".  But...what you ate was over 4000 calories-usually in drinks, fast foods, and candy-more than your body can burn off in one day.

Counting calories will set you up for success.  Here's why:

1. Counting calories creates an AWARENESS of portion size and how much you eat.
2. Counting calories will persuade you eat less once you realize the cost of eating or drinking the item and if you are really trying to lose weight.
3. Counting calories helps you plan out your meals more effectively.  Having an idea how many calories are contained in foods can help you make wiser choices.  Example:  Miracle Whip vs. Miracle Whip Light or Yellow Mustard in place of mayo is even less calories on that turkey sandwich.

To successfully lose weight and keep it off, you must COUNT EVERYTHING!  If you don't know how many calories is contained in your meal or snack, rule of thumb:  DON'T EAT IT until you do! :)

What Makes You GAIN Weight? Part 2

Erratic Overeating!  Or, Compulsive Overeating involves out-of-control eating, usually in secret, and without purging afterward.

How to know if you are an erratic overeater:

- Always on or off diets
- Always going on a diet tomorrow
- Feel that life will begin when reach target weight
- Can never maintain weight loss
- Large weight gains
- Eating alone and in secret
- Hiding wrappers
- Weight gain while appearing to eat very sensibly
- Skipping meals
- Erratic eating habits
- Depression and moodiness
- Food disappearing and denying any knowledge of where it has gone

To combat compulsive overeating, eat on a schedule.  Not only will it help regulate your metabolism, but it will help to prevent starvation.  Starvation ALWAYS leads to excessive hunger which usually leads to erratic overeating.  This cycle can lead to the development of an eating disorder and the physical and emotional consequences that result such as obesity and overweight, shame and embarrassment.  The best way to defeat erratic eating is to eat smaller portions throughout the day-on a schedule-to avoid gorging your food all at once.  

If your eating has become compulsive and you cannot control it, you need PROFESSIONAL HELP and prayer.  Please consider a 12 step program such as:  http://www.oe.org or contact me, your coach, for further assistance.

What Makes You GAIN Weight?

#1:  HOARDING CALORIES!!!!

Eating a “SUPPER” amount of food at each sitting and eating randomly without paying attention to how many calories you are eating will definitely make you GAIN.  “A minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hips”…we’ve all heard it, and it’s true.  If you are hoarding tons of calories at one sitting and throughout the day, you’ll be working it off for what seems like forever.  Your body can only burn off so many calories at rest throughout the day, and if you are sitting at a desk all day-it’s really not going to help.  So what is the solution?

-Spread calories that match your RESTING METABOLIC RATE out throughout the day.  If you eat smaller portions throughout the day, it will prevent you from feeling ravenously hungry every time you eat.

-Get the right amount of nutrition and the right amount of protein.  Not getting enough nutrients and enough protein will make you overeat.  Take a daily multivitamin with a high absorbency, and eat some protein at every meal.

-Eat more calories during the day while you are active, and eat lighter meals in the evening.  Eating more @ night prevents morning hunger so you don’t eat breakfast.  This leaves you starving by lunch and dinner which promotes OVEREATING. 

-Eat breakfast!  This starts your metabolism for the day…if you start is at lunch time, you’ve already wasted the opportunity to burn more calories in the morning.

-Eat @ least every 5 hours-eat 3 balanced meals every 5 hours @ about 450 calories each.  If you are on weight loss, eat about 400 calories @ each meal and 2 snacks in between meals at about 100 calories each. 

To be continued…What Makes You GAIN Weight???

Desire vs. Intention...

Every single decision we make in life is based on attaining pleasure or avoiding pain.  EX:  Working out (may require pain) vs. eating a philly cheese steak (viewed as pleasurable).  Here's a tremendous roadblock to losing weight:  The desire to avoid pain is greater than their desire to attain pleasure and for most people losing weight and making healthier choices is not something we view as "pleasurable".  The perceived pain or COST of leaving your comfort zone is greater than the pleasure of losing weight.

So, how do we learn to see weight loss and making healthier choices as pleasurable?

Consistently seeing results over time and creating a "desire" to lose weight that is stronger than the "intention" of  making the right choices.  Our bodies will only do what we "desire".  EVALUATE THIS:  How strong is your desire to lose weight and get healthy?  Our intention allows us to be easily drawn to what we say we will do, but our failure to follow thru usually proves that we don't really "desire" the results.  Intention is suggestive, not concrete.  We get results when we are concrete in our decisions.  Intention merely tricks us into thinking we want something and that we are making progress.  This is why it is a tremendous roadblock.  

Create a stronger desire for a healthy lifestyle by consistently making the right decisions over time.  It's a process.  Be patient with yourself, and you will see yourself getting healthier, stronger, and having a desire to see getting healthy as a pleasurable experience.

What are the HAZARDS of Eating Junk Foods?

Everyone eats junk food!  We all enjoy the different junk foods and feel good about it while we are eating them, but how often do we really consider the HAZARDS?  Let's take a look at what junk food really is and let's consider the long term consequences. 

Junk foods are simply speaking, UNHEALTHY FOODS with high calories that offer little, poor, or no nutritional value often referred to as:  EMPTY CALORIES.    Some examples are:

• Potato Chips
• Ice Cream
• Candy (of all kinds) & Candy Bars
• Soda Pop and Sugared Flavored Beverages
• Sugared Cereals
• French Fries

When we say the nutritional value is poor, this means that junk food contains very high fat, sugar, and other dangerous, disease producing and weight increasing substances like:  monosodium glutamate, and tartrazine.  If you can't pronounce the ingredients, this is usually a sign that the food is preserved and contains JUNK.  Our bodies need an abundance of fresh protein and junk foods normally contain less or sometimes NO proteins.  Vitamins and fiber are essential nutrients we should intake every single day.  Junk foods are devoid of vitamins, minerals, and fiber contained in fresh fruits, vegetables, and legumes.

Despite knowing the facts, we purchase these foods and eat them anyway.  Many times because it's inexpensive, we are on the go and just don't take the time to realize that these foods are actually draining us of our energy.  Junk foods are produced because the cost of manufacturing is low-due to little or no need for refrigeration, making profits high at our expense.  We buy them because it's easy, convenient, and requires little or no preparation, it's tasty (in most cases because of the sugar and highly addictive), and there are so many variations of it to choose from you never get bored with your food.  :)

But remember...eating junk foods increases the risk of poor health long term-particularly if you consume these foods on a regular, daily, or consistent basis.  Regular consumption of junk food leads to dental infections, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, digestive disorders, obesity and various heart diseases.  It also increases your cholesterol levels.  Consider the low cost now, but the high cost of health care later to treat these conditions. 

So...should you pay these companies to destroy your health or pay more now for fresher choices of food that improve your health?  The choice is yours!

The Number 1 Reason Why Most People Fail At Weight Loss...

Over the years I have coached hundreds of clients.  Only a few have been successful at accomplishing their goals.  Why?  What I have discovered is that there are some common reasons why most people fail at losing weight and getting healthy.  This week we are discussing the number one reason.

Make the decision today to not let these defeat you! 

#1:  Laziness!  Laziness is created from our fast paced society whose focus is on:  better, easier, faster, cheaper.  HERE'S PROOF:  How many of us would pay any $$ amount if we were guaranteed that we could lose weight @ the snap of a finger and keep it off forever with NO WORK or EFFORT required?  What would it be worth to you? Many of us would get another job, or take out a new line of credit to purchase it!  Well, guess what?  The weight loss industry is a billion dollar industry because clients are buying hope in a magic pill or a magic formula that guarantees them success.  TRUTH:  They are not living in reality and there are no QUICK FIXES when it comes to weight loss.  There are many products out there to HELP you accomplish your goals, but they are not the SOLUTION.  For example, purchasing work out equipment will not get you RESULTS-you have to USE the equipment.  :)

Write down the maximum $ amount you would pay for a guaranteed instant weight loss solution that was PERMANENT and take the time to really look at your number.  Is it $1,000, $10,000, or $100,000?

THIS IS THE SAME PRICE TAG that I want you to put on your weight loss and what it will cost you IN REALITY in:

• -Sacrifice
• -Sweat & Exercise
• -Tears
• -Developing Self-Discipline & Self-Control
• -Consistency in Working Your Plan
• -Setting Goals
• -Hard Work
• -Working Harder on Yourself than on your Results
• -Overcoming Plateaus
• -Time

Every single action and decision we make in life is based on attaining pleasure or avoiding pain.  LAZINESS originates from the fact that the desire to avoid pain is greater than the desire to attain pleasure.  It's more pleasurable to say yes to "just one more cookie" than it is to "just say no."  The perceived pain or COST of leaving your comfort zone and denying yourself to lose weight is greater than the pleasure of losing weight and the joy you'll experience from getting the results.  

Excuses produced-your mind justifies it.  EX:  "I can't workout this morning, I'm running late."  "I don't have the money."  "I don't have the time."  In reality, you are just avoiding pain.  We will do almost anything to cure or avoid pain-it's our survival instinct.  As your coach, I'm here to encourage you and help you to overcome by facing LAZINESS head on.  In order to be a success you must overcome LAZINESS.  No PAIN, no GAIN!  And, that's the TRUTH!

For more information about Body Breakthru or our Nutrition and Weight Loss Coaching services, please contact me directly at:  tamekiaahill@hotmail.com.

Who Will BE...

THE BIGGEST LOSER? 

Watch Last Night's Show Now:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/226168/the-biggest-loser-week-12#s-p1-so-i0

As I watched the show last night, I kept thinking..."as much as this show is a GAME, it's also LIFE!"  It was disappointing for me that Justin was eliminated from the Biggest Loser last night.  As a born leader-even though he was eliminated-he didn't GIVE UP.  He went home and motivated his friends and neighbors to lose weight.  He calls it: "Justin's CALL OUT!"  

Well today, as your coach...I'm calling you out!  Do you have what it takes to succeed?  Success requires you to get out of your comfort zone.  Throughout this season I have heard a lot of phrases from the contestants on THE BIGGEST LOSER:  "I never imagined, I never believed I could, I never thought I would ever be a physically fit person."  Each player has been challenged beyond what they ever imagined, believed, or thought they could do and each is working themselves through the process it takes to WIN outside of their COMFORT ZONE.  

The physical challenges have also led to an inner transformation.  This inner transformation is the second key to success.  Whoever you are on the outside is just a picture of who you are on the inside.  One of the players summed it up like this:  "I'm changing because I've changed!"  Are you growing and changing or staying the same?  Successful people stay in the growing and changing phase.

Hannah also had a major "breakthru."  She's lost weight before, but when she plateaued she has ALWAYS given up...until now.  Her husband advised..."Stop going around the walls, and PUSH THRU!"  This is critical!  3rd success key:  Winners never quit, and quitters never WIN!  Winners breakthru the walls, obstacles, and face the issues that are keeping them from losing weight and getting healthy-no matter what!  This is a painful, uncomfortable process and requires work.

The next BIGGEST LOSER is:  YOU! 

If you get out of your comfort zone, accept and agree to the inner transformation required to change, imagine, believe and think you can do it, and face your fears by breaking thru the walls where you normally give up.

How To: "Change Your Thinking"

In order for things to change, YOU have to change...YOUR THINKING!  I love the poem, "The Man Who Thinks He Can" attributed to the author Napoleon Hill, author of:  "Think And Grow Rich."

If you think you are beaten (at losing weight), you are; 

If you think you dare not (lose weight), you don't. 

If you'd like to win (at getting healthy), but think you can't 

It's almost a cinch you won't. 

If you think you'll lose (at losing weight), you've lost. 

For out in the world we find 

Success begins with a fellow's will: 

It's all in his state of mind. 

If you think you're outclassed (at weight loss), you are: 

You've got to think high to rise, 

You've got to be sure of yourself before 

You'll ever win that prize (and reach your goals). 

Life's battles don't always go 

To the stronger or faster man (or the smallest), 

But sooner or later the man who wins 

Is the one who thinks he can. 

5 Steps To Change Your Thinking

1.  Decide that you are going to change how you think about nutrition, health, and wellness.  Everything we do starts with a decision first.  In order to get out of bed, we must DECIDE to get up first!  You have to settle that the results you have right now are the result of how you have thought about yourself, your health, and the choices you have made up to this point.  Next, decide that in order to get different results you have to think differently!

2.  Align yourself with people who have the results you are looking for. The people in your life influence how you think.  Limit time spent with people who think like you have thought in the past, and spend more time with people who have the results you desire.

3.  Get knowledge!  Surround yourself with materials about health, wellness, and weight loss. As you grow in your knowledge about health and nutrition, it will change how you think about it.  If you don't know the effect that sugar has on your body over time, you will never think differently about it.  Get knowledge!

4.  Practice.  Practice.  Practice & repetition.  It takes practice and repetition to intentionally change your thoughts.  Each time you have a thought that convinces you not to take action, you have to immediately change the thought.  This takes practice. You have to repeat over and over and over daily WHY you are losing weight, WHY you are getting healthy, and WHY this is important to you.  If you have more WHY NOT'S than WHY'S, you have to PRACTICE erasing and replacing these thoughts!  As you do this, your thinking will change and the WHY'S will become more important than the WHY NOT'S. 

5.  Focus on the benefits-not the work required.  As you practice changing your thinking, focus on the benefits that changed thinking will give you.  Here are a few:  success, great results on the scale, a healthier diet, more energy, decreased risk of heart disease & heart failure, less desire for unhealthy foods and more desire for healthy ones.  Remember what you FEED determines the SEED.  Feed yourself on the benefits and getting healthy will become exciting!  

As you work hard to change your thinking, celebrate your journey.  I promise you will feel differently about it.

Here's to your success,

Your Coach

MUST HAVES!

You MUST HAVE these items!  Switch for the regular items you use.

LOWER CALORIE CONDIMENT OPTIONS:

1. Miracle Whip-Light Mayo-contains half the cal of reg Miracle whip (37 cal/serv)
2. Morton Salt-Light Salt Mixture –contains half the cal of reg salt
3. Morton Nature’s seasoning-for chicken, turkey, fish, pork, veggies-seasoning
4. Kraft Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing (Asiago is my personal favorite on spinach salad)
5. Kraft Italian Spritzer (10 sprays=10 calories)
6. Use grated parmesan cheese instead of grated American on salads
7. Land O Lakes Light Butter with Canola Oil –Spread
8. Use tomato based salsa or pico in place of ketchup
9. CoffeeMate Sugarfree Hazelnut cream (only 15 cal/servg) vs. whole milk-replace sugar with Splenda or Truvia to sweeten coffee.
10. Use hummus to dip veggies in for a snack-or as a spread on sandwiches.
11. Laughing Cow Light Cheese-in place of regular block or grated cheeses.  Spread over bread/veggies
12. Cook with Olive Oil or Canola Oil only
13. Philadephia Fat-Free Cream Cheese-spread on toasted wheat bread and top with sugar free applesauce or fresh fruit or fruit preserves (Polaner)-YUMMY!
14. Polaner Sugarfree All Fruit –with fiber –strawberry-only 10 cal per servng
15. Use Yellow Mustard in place of Regular Mayo-unless using light

Drinks:

1. Crystal Light (all flavors) are nice as a sweet treat during the day-add Herbalife Herbal Concentrate Tea for a metabolic boost
2. Seltzer Water with Lime or Lemon Twist
3. Minute Maid Light Lemonade/Orangeade/Orange Juice –light lemonade served @ Wendy’s/McDonald’s –select locations
4. Sutter Home White Zinfandel -80 calories for 4 oz –1ST CHOICE          
5. 2ND CHOICE:  Chablis/Chardonnay -90 cal per 4 oz (have only 1 serving size of 4 oz) =1 small glass
6. BEST CHOICE:  WATER only.  You will lose weight faster. 

Whatever you do...work towards eliminating fast foods that are highly processed from your diet.

THIS WILL HELP YOU:  If you haven't seen this video-watch this!

SuperSize Me! 

2011 Is The Year of No More Excuses!

An excuse is defined by Webster as: "something offered as justification or as grounds for being excused."  The key word in this definition is justification.  Excuses are reasons we use to justify or defend WHY we don't do something we have committed to or originally set out to do.  In order to lose weight and accomplish our health and wellness goals, we must all commit to the personal theme of:  "No More Excuses!"

Here are some examples of excuses we use that delay the process of losing weight, getting healthy and getting results:

• I just don't have the time to workout!
• I'm just so tired all the time, and I don't have any energy!
• I don't really know how to cook healthy foods.
• It's easier to drive-thru.
• I'm not a morning person.
• I'm just too stressed out.
• I'm constantly around food.
• I'm tired and I don't feel like it.
• I don't have the money.
• I'm bored.
• I have bad knees.
• I'm trying.

The next time you find a reason not to follow through on your plan, I want you to point to yourself and say: I am just making an EXCUSE!  The next time you make excuses: not to workout, not to have your smoothie for breakfast, to just drive-thru and select a high calorie meal, not to make your goals a priority-I challenge you to JUST DO IT!  Don't put it off, don't make an excuse...JUST DO IT!

Realistically speaking...there are times when life will get in the way and we can't follow-thru with our plans.  However, if you are making more excuses than taking action then nothing will change.  You won't lose weight, you won't get healthy, and the results you have right now will stay the same, and in some cases it will only get worse.  "In order for things to change, YOU have to change"-Jim Rohn.  If you really want to lose weight and get healthy-you must master how to stop making excuses why you CAN'T lose weight and start changing your thinking to why you CAN.  

Next Week..."How To Change Your Thinking"

Welcome To The New Body Breakthru Blogsite!

It's 2011 and we are shakin' things up! Join our new Facebook Group for updated photos, recipes, and links to events like our new "Smooth To Lose" Weight Loss Challenge.

This is YOUR year to lose weight and feel great! Invite your friends and family to join us as we get healthy in 2011.

Committed to your success,
Coach Tamekia :)