Our mind can be a wonderful ally – or the world’s worst motivational speaker. And when we step on the scale, our mind tends to kick right into world’s worst motivational speaker mode. You’re disgusting. Look at that number! You’ll never lose weight. It’s hopeless. Why even bother? Screw it. Weighing yourself regularly when trying to lose weight can be very helpful. We need this information to determine whether or not we need to make adjustments. That said, you’ve probably had the experience of dreading the number on the scale. The silly square box on the floor seems to be “saying” so much more to us. I call this phenomenon, “the manipulative scale.” The scale can’t tell you anything about your worth as person, what you care about, … [Read more...] about Overcoming the “Scary” Scale
Coaching Tools
A Memorial For Painful Memories
We humans have a tendency to want to make painful or unpleasant thoughts + feelings + memories go away. In fact, we go to great lengths to avoid having them show up - over and over. We eat cupcakes, drink wine, do drugs, pop pills, try hypnosis - yet they always return, no matter how hard we try. There's an alternative way to approach painful memories. Think of your body as a vessel, with all of the bits and pieces of you inside - your memories, your organs, your mind, your emotions. Now imagine that there's a small part of your body meant to honor all the painful memories - a memorial of sorts. This memorial serves as a symbol of the fact that, through all the pain, through all the difficulty - you have endured. You keep moving on. You … [Read more...] about A Memorial For Painful Memories
Letting Go of the All or Nothing Approach to Weight Loss
I’ve read at least three articles about abstaining from alcohol for the month of January (aka Dry January) – along with countless articles + blogs about detoxes, cleanses and of course – diets. And it’s only January 11th. Most of my life was spent either on a diet of off a diet. Either being good - or bad. Can you relate? Those were also the years when I was battling bulimia and hating my body - no matter what the scale said. We live in a society that is all about extremes… A month-long boot camp to punish ourselves for a sedentary December A juice fast to make up too many Christmas cookies Diet all week - binge all weekend Restriction tends to have a rebound effect. Whole 30 = ALL THE SUGAR when the 30 days is over Dry January = … [Read more...] about Letting Go of the All or Nothing Approach to Weight Loss
Bridging the Gap Between What You Want and What You Have
If we want to learn a new skill, we need to create space in our lives to do the work required. There’s no way around it. Want to learn a new language? Become a skilled cooked? Run a half marathon? Lose weight – for good? Most anything is possible with willingness + time + effort. My clients are always ready + willing to do what it takes. It’s the time component of the equation that tends to trip them up. I don’t have enough time. This other thing came up. I can’t seem to fit it in. What we tend to label as a time problem, is more often than not - a priorities problem. There is usually a discrepancy between what we want to do + what we actually do. Here’s how you solve this problem. Write down your list of priorities the way they … [Read more...] about Bridging the Gap Between What You Want and What You Have