Happy Monday kids!Where oh where do I start in today’s Monday Musings edition?Let’s start with one of my fav topics…. snake oil offerings…. aka health and wellness companies looking for those desperate to lose weight, along with their cash.When it comes to health and nutrition there are some guaranteed buzz words that will send me head on into the other direction. If you come at me with words like “cleanses “, “detoxes”, “fat burners”, telling me I need to get toxins out of my body, and that I need to spend my days drinking shakes or mystery drinks, I’m gone.Like yesterday, gone.I like to eat my food, not drink it.I get it. With the weirdness of the last few months people are stuck at home alot more.Feeling emotionally strung out they reach for the ice cream cartons and chocolate.”Quarantine 15″ is a reality for many people. Well, hopefully not that much. Life has been crazy and food, for alot of us, can be entertainment, comfort, or simply boredom eating. Being home extra time gives more opportunities to graze when we usually wouldn’t.No matter what your current weight situation, you don’t need to be cleansed or detoxed from your affair with ice cream or fries.
Just incase you don’t know, cleanse and detox are buzz words for “starvation and being miserable “. I’ve never met an honest person who wasn’t ready to finish and get back to normal life from being “cleansed”. And the weight loss from it? Nothing but water loss, not fat.And I’ll say it again for the kids on the back row…..there is no such thing as a fat burner! If that stuff actually worked, everyone would use it and we wouldn’t have an obesity epidemic.So what would I recommend? I’ll put it as succinctly as possible.Eating! Eat good nutrionally dense foods with adequate protein that satisfies you.Feed and nourish your body with good foods, don’t deprive it or eliminate foods it needs.And don’t forget to allow treats because life is good and you shouldn’t live deprived.You don’t have to starve to lose weight or feel constantly hungry.Movement!If there is one thing under used for our wellness, mental and physical, it’s exercise. Exercise makes us feel strong and can clear our minds. I do my most creative thinking during exercise.Don’t get caught up in thinking you “have” to do it to lose weight. Take the weight loss out of the equation.You can build strength, gain energy, develop more muscle mass, develop your cardiovascular system, and flex your creative mental energy without actually losing weight. ( do it often and frequently with my suggestions on healthy eating and it will happen) you should exercise no matter your body size because it benefits you in so many waysBut please, don’t get on the cleanse and detox hype bus in a quest to get to lose weight.Speaking of building strength….I have been making strength training a part of my physical discipline for awhile. This week I tossed a little more weight on my bar moving from 155 to 185lbs on my dead lift. I did 3 sets of 3 for a starting place. I was pleasantly surprised when I did it again yesterday, it didn’t feel as hard as I was preparing for. I look back to several years ago when I got 8 lbs dumb bells and they were a little work for me ha it seems crazy now since I use 25lb for alot of my arm work. Consistency does pay off.
You… no matter where you are… have a starting place for your health and fitness. You just need to find it.Speaking of all things health I’m excited to be reading this book, Give Yourself More. I’m also excited to finish so I can write a review on it. This book takes women past “just” losing weight to learning more of themselves to giving themselves “more” in life. I previously did a book review on Georgie’s “Lean Habits For Weight Loss” ( find both reviews in my posts) which focuses on building healthy, sustainable habits for life long weight loss. You’ll find my review here on my page when I finish this book .
Oh…..and if you never had a black Nitro brew coffee, you need to. 😉No how about some fun stuff? I’ve shared with you before that I have a little vintage furniture business. Of the many positives I ponder in this weird time we are in, is how it has continued to grow. I moved into a larger space in the shop,and became a retailer for a well known chalk paint company. It took off so fast I made the move to become a premier retailer (lots of perks with it) all within a few months. I put together my website and launched it. I’ve gained alot of followers and picked up lots of custom orders with new customers.My little hobby, this fun little side gig, has turned more and more into a thriving business.All during a time things were closed and nothing was moving.I used that down time to be productive, to work and accomplish new things. I firmly believed that things would get moving again and I wanted to be heading that way, ready.Guess you can say I never let grass grow under my feet.I’d challenge you in this time to find something new to learn, build a hobby or craft. Take care of yourself and maybe get into some type of exercise. Use this time as an opportunity of personal growth. Read, write, reflect.Ok you wanna see some of the things I’ve dragged home recently, don’t you? I love showing you pieces from days gone by 😊
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I transformed this cute telephone bench. She sold this weekend 😊
Just a little snap shot of some of my projects, my many, many projects 😱So I guess I’ll leave you with this thought. Are you using this time to be productive in new ways? A lot of our lives and schedules may feel perhaps, a bit disjointed right now. We can look at it all in a negative way, or a way of accomplishing new things we haven’t done before.Tell me…. have you used this time to try new things or to learn something new? Are you focusing on caring for yourself in how you eat and move ?
Category: lean habits
Lean Habits For Lifelong Weight Loss Paperback Review
Oh I’m so excited to be able to finally do this book review! There is nothing I love more than being able to talk up something I can support and get behind. Mainly because the truths and information in this book can be life changing. Lives have been changed and people come into a real working knowledge of understanding themselves better and more importantly understanding their relationship with food. They build new habits, and in the process losing weight and never thinking of another diet ever again. Ever.
With the start of a new year comes a plethora of new books on weight loss, nutrition and fitness all of them vying for your attention and your money.
No wonder. The weight loss/diet industry is a mega dollar business and it’s a competitive market going after you, the consumer, who is wondering what the next step should be to finally losing weight and getting in shape.
For good. Once for all and done with the yoyo lifestyle.
8 years ago when I decided I was going to just finally do it, I didn’t have a “plan” or an organized diet I followed. I was tired of things that didn’t make sense, made me feel deprived, left me always hungry or thinking about when I could finally… for the love of God.. have food again.
What a sucky way to live.
So I basically just started taking one day at a time. I made slow changes, learned to modify my food choices, and I didn’t deprive myself. Incredibly, I was losing weight, almost painlessly. With enough time I guess those behaviors turned into new habits that I began to do without even thinking about it. I got more into exercising and that helped too.
I learned to eat when I was hungry and stop when I felt satisfied. I began to think more about what I ate and I also learned that I didn’t have to have an all or nothing mentality. I could have chocolate in the house and not eat it, but if I wanted a piece or two, I did with no guilt attached.
Such freedom in developing healthy habits and behaviors with food!
I didn’t focus on losing a certain amount of weight or let the scale rule me. I just lived one day at a time and weight loss, slow and steady, occurred.
Several years went by and I saw a friend post one day about a book called “Lean Habits For Lifelong Weight Loss” I read enough in the post to intrigue me which sent me searching out the book to see what it was about.
I was shocked that the young woman writing it had eloquently written out things I had somehow stumbled on and taught myself that had led to my success and evidently many others were learning and being taught similar things.
It’s the only “weight loss anything’ I recommend to someone.
After buying it, I read it almost overnight. I eventually wrote a post here on my blog for my readers, wanting to share this great find.
You can find my first review here….
https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2015/10/07/lean-habits-for-weight-loss-book-review/
This past fall Georgie contacted me letting me know the paperback version would be dropping in December and would I mind writing another review?
Mind?! Ha, not at all.
My position is still very much the same on the book and habits lifestyle now as it was when I wrote first review. The paperback copy is small, light and an easy book to drop in your bag and whip out when you’re sitting somewhere waiting … like a doctors office where your appointment was an hour ago and you’re still waiting 😉
Although smaller in format and composition it still packs all the valuable, smart, and incredibly sane information the hardback book contains.
I’m thrilled to do my part in an industry that wants to teach people freedom from food and diet nonsense so they can live successfully in their health and fitness endeavors.
The book is neatly formatted into 4 main core habits that you pace yourself on. You do one until it becomes second nature. Until you don’t even think about doing it. Once you feel you’ve mastered it, you can move on. Georgie lays them out clearly with tips, ideas and cool science stuff to go along with it. So if you’re kind of a science nerd, you’ll like those parts. Once you get the 4 core habits down you move into the 12 supporting habits which covers everything from eating treats to emotional eating and everything in between.
The book is easy to read and she often makes you laugh so that’s an extra bonus ( in my opinion 😉 )
Basically at the end of it she’s got you thinking “Hey, I can do this!”
Not only that, I love how she talks about not wanting to make the process horrible or hard for her clients because it doesn’t have to be that way.
“My goal as a coach has always been to help my clients achieve that calorie deficit in the most comfortable way possible. The experience of losing fat doesn’t have to be all that bad!” p. 37 Lean Habits For Weight Loss
How many times have you thought you have to suffer, be miserable, starve, and hate life to lose some weight?
You don’t. Trust me.
Thousands of people have used this approach to almost effortlessly lose a little ( or a lot) of weight and change their lives.
Does it take work? Persistence? A willingness to know you’ll have good days and bad days but you just keep on practicing those habits till you do them so automatically you don’t even thing about it? Yes.
Is it worth it to live the rest of your days in peace with food? Absolutely.
So. The new book review. I’m getting there.
I wanted to take a different spin on this review. I wanted to ask Georgie some questions to help you know a little of who she is, where her passion is at, and how she came to writing this book. One thing I’ve learned about her and following her is that she is passionate about this idea of living free from food bondage and teaching others how to do it too.
Let’s hear from her now and see what she has to say……..
For those who don’t know, can you share a little background on who you are ? What are your degrees and training?
GF: I grew up in New Jersey and did my undergraduate degree in Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers University. Then I went to Cornell University in upstate New York for my Dietetic Internship, and became a registered dietitian in 2005. Not quite ready to stop learning, I enrolled in the PhD program in Nutritional Sciences back at Rutgers University. After another five years of PhD work, I was academically doing well but personally and healthwise I was struggling. I had been working as the Sports Dietitian for Rutgers Athletics during my grad school years and it had become so clear that working in counseling was for me, not a career in academia. I had to get out of the lab, and out of my high pressure, chronically broke life. So I decided to move to the mountains of Colorado, sans PhD, and work as a clinical dietitian. Not long after that, I began counseling online as well as in person, and eventually transitioned into all online nutrition consulting in 2011.
Was there something specific that helped you choose the field you are in ?
GF: I was an athlete in high school and somewhat obsessed with nutrition and health. I suffered from anorexia nervosa as a teenager, exercised compulsively to manage my anxiety and depression, and throughout my college years was still repairing my relationship with food and exercise. I had always been a science fanatic, and my love of food and my love of science just meshed perfectly into studying nutrition!
Why write this book? Was there a defining moment to do so ?
GF: Well, when I started learning all this, it was purely about getting my own life on track! And after that happened, and I just kept meeting person after person who was suffering and I could help them with what I learned. It’s the best feeling in the world for me to work with a person and see them changing, becoming happier and more confident and feeling empowered and enjoying food instead of feeling tense and stressed about it.
But at the same time there is a disappointing limit to working with people one at a time; I can only work with this tiny little sliver of people who want help, and it’s a drop in the bucket because millions of people want this info and can benefit from scientifically-sound, easy to implement nutrition guidance. Books are one fantastic way to spread information to larger amount of people, which is also the reason we put our nutrition courses online for free, so anyone can take them. (Head to onebyonenutrition.com and you’ll see).
I put off writing it for a year, actually, because I was intimidated about writing a proposal and getting rejected by publishers, but eventually I got brave enough.
Why would someone want to use the lean habits system over some of the other current trendy diets or plans out there right now?
GF: If you want results that last, you can’t do a certain set of behaviors temporarily. This is maintainable, it’s flexible, you can go on vacation, eat your favorite foods, and keep practicing. It fits into real life without being a major pain in the butt, and it actually feels really good to take charge of making your own food choices and know that you are on the right track without weighing or counting things. And it ends helping a lot of people deal with their emotions and relationship with food in a beneficial way. It’s like a rehabilitation program after too much dieting has left you with food guilt, no clue what hunger and satisfaction feel like, and still that extra weight you wanted gone.
What is your biggest passion in what you do? Your biggest frustration?
GF: My passion is to listen to people like they have never been heard before, to ask the questions that help me understand why they eat the way they do, and to then communicate it back to them so that they understand it too.
My biggest frustration is when people don’t want to understand, learn, or change, and think they can just buy a meal plan from me.
Do you have a favorite lean habit success story I can share with my readers?
GF: Oooh yes. I just got a client email actually….. (see below)
“Like most people who struggle with nutrition and health, I have spent my life beating myself up for my failures. Georgie Fear helped me learn how to transform my critical inner dialogue. Georgie is incredibly knowledgeable about all facets of health, but, more importantly, she is caring and willing to walk through struggles without judgement. In fact, she would often share difficulties from her own life to give me hope to overcome my own mistakes. Georgie asked great questions and was patient with my missteps along the way. Her guidance transformed all of my life as I learned how to rejoice in mistakes and challenges as an opportunity to learn. I am a better husband, father, and friend because of this change. Today, I no longer tear myself down during difficult times; instead, I build myself up and forgive myself for my mistakes. Georgie guided me to a place where I no longer needed a coach, and I am healthier today than when I finished working with her. I practice healthy habits daily, and I know how to easily build new habits into my life. The time I spent working with Georgie will positively influence me for the rest of my life; it has been the best investment in my personal growth that I have made.”
With immense gratitude,
Joe Dalton
Alright, so there it is. If you are at your wits end with diets, being hungry, hating the yoyo game of losing and gaining, perhaps this is for you.
It you’re tired of counting calories, weighing food, feeling hungry and deprived only to quit and go on a food binge, perhaps this is for you.
If you’re ready to put in some effort and work to build new healthy habits that will last a life time and understand your relationship with food, maybe, just maybe, you should consider this.
You won’t find meal plans or a list of foods you can or can’t eat. You won’t find painful restrictions or deprivation. You won’t have to miss out on having a little piece of Aunt Susie’s birthday cake either.
You will find positive support, develop new habits, and build a healthy lifestyle that can be sustainable and actually enjoyable.
Head on over to Amazon and see about getting your copy today.
What do you have to lose but some weight ?
Hello 2018!
Happy New Year boys and girls, and welcome to 2018! As I’m writing this evening on the first day of this new year, with football serving as back round noise, I have many thoughts dancing in my head and a writing partner by my side….
There is a fire in our fireplace as we are starting the year off with some wicked cold weather. Coffee and soft leggings have been a staple the last few days. In the south, we are not used to low digit weather!
Family has been gathered together. We’ve laughed, eaten food and eaten more food. We’ve played games and just hung out a lot enjoying each other.
Hubby has been on vacation for these two weeks and it’s been a fun, laid back and a bit of a lazy time hanging out and doing stuff together.
My thoughts are of the year ahead, the freshness of it, the opportunities and all the new adventures. It is natural for me to look at what I’ve accomplished in the previous year and want to do just… a little bit more… in the upcoming year.
I’m always down for new challenges.
Ah well, I guess I could post the obligatory “new year, new you” stuff. Or the “it’s been an awful year and I’m ready for the next one” or any other sappy mushy quote that’s prevalent right now.
I won’t do that to you.
It is a new year. I’m pretty sure you don’t need to be a “new” you, but if you’re like most of us there might be one or two things you wanna shape up more.
And I never complain about the year gone by because well, first, it’s a year you’ve been given to live and second no one has a year free from difficult things and sails through without any trials. With joy there is sorrow, with triumph there are trials, with pain there is hope, and with difficulties come days of ease.
It all makes up a year in our lives, right?
I’m already brainstorming ideas for this year. I have my new planner set up ( go me) and important info logged in.
Once I get the household returned to normal from Christmas festivities I have plans to work on some more chalk painting projects ( something I got into at the end of this past year) I will also be working on a now (empty) room my newly married son has vacated ( it was named the Batcave but I’m thinking with my new ideas for it, Batcave might not be suitable haha 😛 ) I have all my grandparents bedroom furniture so I’m hoping to do something cute and vintage looking in there.
Then of course there are my athletic goals and shenanigans that I’m thinking about. It is hard to not want to challenge myself more after tackling my first duathlon in November. ( read about it here….. https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2017/12/05/duathlon-journey-the-recap/
That being said, it is once again, on my goal list for 2018. I’m eager to cut my teeth on it once more and improve my skills.
I’m also looking at my first ever actual bike race, a cool 60 miler.
And I really want to get back to some distance running so I’m toying with a spring half marathon.
I’m in my element when I’m focused on training for an event, what can I say?
Right now I’m just ready to get back to my athletic activities. With this month and family, schedule, weather etc it’s been minimal maintenance stuff.
I love all the holiday activities but I’m also ready to get back into my “normal” again.
Anyone else? Yeah, raise your little hand.
I used to worry if I missed some days working out that I’d not want to do it again, that I’d be out of the routine and decide it was easier to not do it.
Not true. I’m eager to get back to hard work. My body feels better when I do workout than when I don’t. My mind is clear and focused when my day starts with some hard work.
Exercise has become a wonderful habit and one I’m grateful to have.
In a way, this enforced rest isn’t bad for me. I know rest allows my body to rebuild and replenish after a solid year of hard work. It’s the mental part of me that struggles with it. Yet I know too, my mind needs rest from it as well.
So I’ve rested. I’ve eaten tasty foods and treats and I’m more than ready to get back to my normal eating, another habit I’ve developed and appreciate having.
I just feel better eating healthy foods. I’m more aware of it than ever when my eating habits differ.
Oh. Speaking of habits.
One of the newest posts I’ll be bringing you is my review on the new paperback version of “Lean Habits For Weight Loss”. I received my copy this week in the mail from Georgie and I’ll be eager to share with you. I believe this is really the only tool anyone might need for help and encouragement in losing weight. The way to be successful and keep it off is to rebuild bad habits that sabotage your success. To learn to change your thinking and behaviors with food that will lead to permanent weight loss.
That’s just one topic I’ll be dealing up here on my blog so I hope you check back.
This year is full of promise and new possibilities. I’ll continue to share sane, practical tips and ideas on nutrition and weight loss, diet and book reviews, personal experiments on products to educate you, exercise hints and tips, as well as my athletic shenanigans and real life stuff too.
Tell me what plans you have for the upcoming year. Anything new or exciting? What are you anticipating most?
Health, Fitness And Not Giving Up
Hello world! Are you still out there? I know I’ve been gone for some days, but if you remember from a previous post, I had a son get married this past week and I gained a new daughter in law.
To say my four day weekend was a little busy is an understatement. However, the wedding happened, it looked beautiful, and they are now married. The most important part, right?
To say I was proud watching my oldest get married, to see his petite bride taking his arm with a smiling face and eyes only for him, yeah ok I was proud.
So now here I am, a week later trying to sit myself down and share something with you so you know I’m still alive and kicking.
So, on to todays program! As many of my posts are, they get generated through conversations with people, or sometimes a quote I see, or whatever current hype I want to address.
I recently saw a post on social media about “getting started again”. There was discouragement this person had gotten off track with their fitness goals and were attempting to get back heading the right direction again.
It really is so easy to do, to get discouraged and throw in the towel.
We forget it takes some time and perseverance to make progress! We tend not to chart our progress when we gain weight or skip workouts ( who wants to remind themselves they aren’t working out or eating right?)
Yet when we are wanting to lose weight or get more physically fit, we get frustrated with ourselves. We want quick results and almost instant change. We look in the mirror for visible results. We put clothes on expecting them to be magically bigger.
When it doesn’t happen, we just quit. Maybe we quit because for awhile, our old habits are just easy to fall back into. Like our fav pair of jeans or sloppy shoes.
It feels comfortable to us.
Those new changes feel uncomfortable and when we don’t get quick results it’s easy to think “why bother”?
We may look at the scale and see numbers that are seemingly so far away and getting to that goal feels overwhelming.
Maybe it’s lab results at the doctor that give a more in depth look of your health and those numbers aren’t so good.
Perhaps that walk you took off on has reminded you that, yeah, your cardio health, it’s as out of shape as the outside body you can see.
It’s not comfortable to move into a zone of “discomfort”. And yeah, there is a certain level of discomfort that comes from moving ourselves into new habits and behaviors.
Change just won’t come unless we’re willing to accept and embrace it.
Our focus needs adjusted…
When we focus on how far we need to go to get to whatever goals we’ve set for ourselves it really hinders our progress. Not only that, it’s just not fair to yourself.
If you’re working daily to make changes ( even if you might not feel you always nail them) you aren’t being fair to yourself to consider all the work you’ve invested into the process of a lifestyle change.
I think, talking with people, this has to be one of the single most important thing to consider and remember. I try and remind them of where they’ve come from, Whether it’s a new mentality about food, learning to listen to their bodies more about how to eat and when to eat, learning to exercise,or thinking in more positive ways about themselves. Maybe they had a better report at the doctor or they have been able to do more physically with greater ease.
A lifestyle change is a slow, daily, determined process. Don’t believe that those small changes don’t matter, they do! And in time those small things will lead to that greater weight loss you want or being able to take on a physical activity you previously thought you couldn’t.
I’m no different. True, my goals and perspectives have changed for myself since I started my health journey. I’m no longer focused on weight or trying to lose it. But I still feel that way when I’m pushing myself to get faster on the bike, running, or lifting something heavier.
I remind myself how far I’ve come and that this is indeed, a daily journey and I need to keep my focus on how far I’ve come and not the road in front of me I’m still traveling.
Same for you. It’s much more enjoyable when you focus on what you’ve accomplished than what you still need to do.
Celebrate your victories, don’t be to harsh on yourself if a day doesn’t go as planned, and learn to enjoy your journey and all you will learn about yourself.
Are you in a place of discouragement or have you quit again? Have you done it before but now are on the right track again? What has helped you stick with it?
Committed Or Just Interested ?
Habits.
I talk a lot about habits mainly because in the context of successful weight loss and making a lifestyle change, developing new ones to replace negative ones are key to a permanent change.
Habits are often ingrained in us from a life time, whether they are good or bad. When it comes to our eating behaviors and exercise a firm hand often has to be taken to those habits if we want to move into more positive choices.
WHY is it so hard? That topic comes up often with people I talk with and most recently with my client.
In discussing her week and some of the difficulties she had her response was “I know what to do in my head, why do I go back and do what I know I shouldn’t do?”
Oh indeed. Why do any of us ? Why are we pulled back into a poor choice when we ( intellectually) know better and have even been doing better with more positive habits, yet, in a moment, we seemingly skip right back to what we know.
Why? Because it’s comfortable and familiar to us. Because it’s easy, it requires no effort to bounce back to the old and familiar. And once there, it can almost be a sandpit to crawl out of again and begin our forward progress. The key thing is to crawl out and keep moving forward, not give up and allow ourselves to be sucked back into the negative habits we seek to change.
I can say that because there are times I can still do the same things. I understand what that’s like. I do get those struggles.
To change negative habits requires a willingness to commit to the journey. To own it. To allow ourselves not to make excuses to go back to old ways. Yeah, we will slip, but there must be a determination and ownership to want that change and not stay where we are.
I read this today and it’s just so true. I’ve never thought of it quite like this, but it’s true.
Are you “interested” in a healthy lifestyle? Or “committed” to having a healthy lifestyle ?
Yeah. Just think about that for a moment.
When you’re interested in doing something you only do it when it’s convenient.
When you’re committed to something you accept no excuses, only results. You follow your established rules and get it done.
The difference between interested and committed is a big jump to permanent success.
If you approach weight loss and your health journey in the light of when it’s comfortably convenient, you can see where you will encounter constant setbacks.
You must make a commitment that takes you beyond just being “interested.”
Committed means being willing to be honest with yourself, where you are and addressing what needs to be done.
It means not justifying reasons why you allow yourself to keep eating or drinking things that don’t contribute or lead to your goals
It means not finding other things that are “more important” to do than purposeful exercise. Or coming up with reasons to not do it.
I’m NOT saying you’re going to take it and get it immediately. You won’t.
Habits take time to change. If you have a lifetime of doing the same things, they won’t change over night. It will require a consistent commitment to making it happen. That means in good days and bad days you keep going with the intention of improvement.
Those habits you’ve developed of going through a drive thru for fast food? or buying coke and candy at a gas station? Or eating seconds even when you aren’t hungry? Or procrastinating on getting some exercise in? Or watching tv with a bag of chips or whatever treat ? Spending that hour or more in front of the tv or computer?
You’ve trained yourself to do those things and you can train yourself to do new things. Really.
I recently went on a road trip. It’s about 4 hours of driving. I usually take a little bag with a few healthy snacks and some bottled water. As I was grabbing the water I saw a carton of blackberries that I decided to toss in too.
A couple hours down the road I was nibbling those and washing them down with water. This isn’t how I used to do trips. I might make a run in to a convenience store for some chips or candy. It’s been a work in progress that my thinking is different now… I made a commitment to wanting to live healthier and that has carried through in lots of areas of my life.
I just don’t want to do that anymore. I feel better about myself making good choices.
This has taken time.. and a reshaping of negative habits for improved ones…. and a commitment to being the strongest and healthiest I can be.
If you get with it and stay with it each day you will make progress. Understand tough times will come and you will feel discouraged. Hang in there and stay strong.
Commit to the process, don’t just be interested in it.
Have you truly committed to wanting to live a healthier lifestyle through activity and good nutrition? Or are you interested in the idea of it ?
Lean Habits For Weight Loss Book Review
When it comes to health and fitness, you know I’m pretty vocal on some subjects.
For instance, I have no use for any of the over hyped current trending “health/nutrition/weight loss” products that abound right now. I think these big multi level marketing companies prey on people who are needy and often are willing to grab onto anything that might be the “magic fix” to help them lose weight and get fit/healthy.
For the tremendous amount of money it costs, I think, it would be better spent on good food, but hey that’s just me.
I’ve read various books on health and fitness. I take from them what I find useful and move on. Again, there are lots of books on the market, everything from diets and dieting to crazy trends.
Again you know, I’m not into crazy fad or trendy diets. They just don’t flippin’ work.
What has worked for me is changing how I do things in my life. How I do things, day in, and day out. Eventually, I built some new habits and in the process of doing that, I lost weight. I was out moving more. My body started changing. I was living my life and enjoying it and not feeling deprived or left out ’cause I had to “diet”. I wasn’t the poor victim at the family BBQ sucking down celery sticks and feeling miserable. I had occasional treats when I reallllyyy needed something.
Playing by my own rules worked for me. I just plodded along letting the weight almost effortlessly come off in a slow, steady, and sane fashion. I didn’t push it. I wasn’t on a plan to get if off in “just a few weeks”. I think these tactics have worked for me…..
Now imagine my interested delight when I stumbled across a book that had shown up in my Facebook newsfeed via a fitness page I followed.
As I read previews on it I was struck with the thought… “oh my gosh. THIS is what I’ve been doing the past 8 years. I’ve built habits and have changed my life and in doing so that’s allowed me to lose weight and keep it off. Someone wrote a book on it. A very GOOD book that helps you practice new habits for successful weight loss.”
I bought the book and well, devoured it. 😉
It is based on learning and practicing 4 “core” habits….
- Eat 3-4 meals a day without snacking
- Master your hunger
- Eating just enough
- Eat mostly whole foods
it follows with 12 supporting habits ( I’m not gonna tell you those ’cause you’re gonna want to scamper out and get this book and learn them yourself)
Well, maybe I’ll share a couple I liked. She addresses dealing with emotional eating (hello?? who on plant earth hasn’t dealt with that ??) and another…being 100% aware of treats you eat.. I think that’s a huge area of struggle for many people.
The premise is you will read and get familiar with one habit at a time, practice it, and move on to the next one. Georgie does a great job laying out ways to track your habits and be accountable with practicing them.
I also loved the approach that “perfection” isn’t what is expected, but a steady forward movement of practicing these habits until they become, well, habitual 😉 thus forming a way you are living your life… easily losing weight and getting healthy and strong.
It’s making your own routine that becomes natural and comfortable to you.
No diets or trendy angles on food.
No calorie counting or restrictive diets.
Not being told what you can or cannot have and avoiding or cutting out your favorite foods.
Not being restrictive and building new habits leads to permanent and sustainable weight loss.
Another term I related to because it’s how I refer to my personal change is.….it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle. You will begin a lifestyle of freedom.
As you move through this book learning about building habits you will understand your relationship with food and the how’s and why’s of interacting with it.
This is a book I can get behind. I guess because I relate to so much of what is written and I know these principles can and do work.
Please hear me…. this book… it’s worth your time reading…what I like best about it is that it’s practical and doable for anyone.. and I mean anyone.
Therefore, since I’ve already stated how I feel about various health/weight loss/ diet things and I’m very particular about what I endorse and suggest to others….and you know I only hold out sane and reasonable ways to get fit and lose weight….
I really highly recommend you trot on over to Amazon and pick up a copy. It’s an easy read and the information it contains is invaluable. Get it here…. http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Habits-Lifelong-Weight-Loss/dp/1624141129/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444257014&sr=8-1&keywords=georgie+fear
Not only that it’s wayyyyyy cheaper than even a single month of a “health/weight loss product” 😉
Oh, and yes, the author does look amazing. Yes, for me, those abs are a reminder to continue my personal work in progress. For you, as I’ve mentioned before, you might have different goals of what you want to achieve… don’t worry about what others set for themselves. Yours could be improved lab work, more energy, strength, confidence, better health and overall wellness etc…
Your goals. Your life. Your success.
Forget diets. Forget dieting. Learn about developing your own lean habits for permanent weight loss and a new lifestyle change =)
sassyfitnesschick 