Hungry Like The Wolf.

Today I wanted to write a little about gratitude and focusing on the GOOD things in your life. Unfortunately it is SO easy to get caught up in all the 'bad' things. But, have you ever noticed that once you start focusing on a couple of bad things...that's ALL you start to notice and that's ALL that you seem to get? I am willing to bet...that if that is true, then the opposite must be true as well. I am thinking that if we were to focus on a couple of GOOD things, then we would start to notice MORE of the good things that happen to us and we would be attracting more GOOD into our lives. So anyway, that's what I was THINKING about writing about today and then... all of a sudden, this story below came into my inbox.... talk about bringing about good things!
I am sharing it here with you and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Read it, Learn it, Live it.



The Old Cherokee and The Boy

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

"The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply stated, "The one you feed."

- Anonymous

A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words

For those of you who missed it or don't live in the broadcast area...
Here's the interview from KOTV that aired on Friday.
Friday the 13th no less!

I tried to embed the video in this post but for some reason the code wasn't working...
technical difficulties.

S.

CHOICES

Today I had two different clients who were commenting on the same thing. They both thought that their weight loss was not fast enough. This is not an uncommon complaint by any means, but it is one I thought deserved a little attention. The thing to keep in mind with weight loss, especially weight loss that is healthy and will have lasting results, is that it DOES take time. It takes commitment and dedication. What we never really look at is the opposite of that fact. let me explain.
If we wanted to GAIN 50 pounds...guess what.... that too takes some commitment and dedication. We can't decide today that we want to weigh more and wake up tomorrow heavier. We would have to take steps towards making that goal a reality. We would set out on a course of making sure we ate more and became less active. We would make choices that enabled us to gain weight. "No thank you, I don't think I will have water today...i'm trying to gain weight. Do you have anything that has a lot of High Fructose Corn Syrup in it and that maybe has unlimited refills? GREAT! I'll take that please!"
The weight you are trying to lose did not magically appear over night, it took some time. So, inversely, it's going to take some time to take it off as well.
It's important to understand that what took a while to add on is going to take a while to take off...but that it WILL come off! It is just going to take some time and it is going to take a commitment to making the proper choices and staying on course. There will be bad days along the way, but it is important to not let those completely sabotage what you are trying to achieve. Keep making the right choices...the choices that are in alignment with your goal and one step at a time you'll get there.

How Are Those Resolutions Coming?

Okay folks... we're just a little over a month into the New Year and I know that MANY of you resolved to lose weight...No, I'm not some kind of genius...it's just a fact that is the MOST popular New Years resolution. Here's the part where I showcase my freaky genius though... I bet that very few people are actually adhering to their ambitious weight-loss goals. How many of you just went, "oh my god...has he been stalking me?!?!" The answer is no, well, mostly...SOME of you I have been. Just kidding. Maybe.
ANYway...what I want to do is to re-encourage you to take a look at whatever resolutions you made and see if we can't get you back on track. I have a few suggestions that hopefully will help...again, with ANY resolution, not just weight-loss specifically. Although that will be the primary focus here, the themes are very much transferrable.
Here we go!

1.Have A Plan

It's really sort of tricky to achieve anything without a plan in place. Saying you're going to lose weight is NOT a plan. In fact, I would suggest not even making that a GOAL but more on that later. Figure out HOW you are going to lose weight and stick with it! Plan out your diet and exercise routine and keep it somewhere that you can refer back to it and be accountable to it.

2. Be Realistic

One of the biggest reasons we give up on our goals is because of frustration. When we set unrealistic goals we are setting ourselves up for certain failure. You can't lose 100 lbs in a couple of months...it's not going to happen...it's not REALISTIC. Put the focus on losing 1 to 3 lbs a week. That's much more easily obtainable and your success every week will keep you motivated and striving towards your larger goal.

3. Make It Public

Let others know about the journey you are embarking upon! Let your friends and family help hold you accountable for your success. They can help with motivation or to talk you down from the ledge when you want to wash down 15 Twinkies with a 2 liter of Soda Pop and a Frappucino.

4. Reward Yourself

Treat yourself along the way towards your goals. Set some milestones and figure out what your reward will be. Maybe for every 10 lbs you lose buy yourself a new CD. When you hit the 20lb mark, maybe it's a new outfit. Some people call them bribes, I call them rewards...whatever you call them... I think they work.

5. Keep A Journal

Keeping a journal is extremely good for weight-loss. Include what you ate, track your progress and your moods and energy levels. Again, your journal is sort of like a friend or family member...it's something else for you to be accountable to. If you have to sit down every night and 'talk' to your journal...it's harder to eat poorly all day and to skip your workout!

6. Plan For Obstacles

Life Happens! There will ALWAYS be something that pops up unforeseen that can throw a wrench in your well laid out plans. But if you are aware of this from the beginning and have a PLAN to work around them...YOU are more in control of the situation instead of the situation being in control of YOU! Dinners out with people come up that have the potential to throw your diet into a tailspin, have a plan! This is something I have started doing... if you know in advance where you're going...go online and look up their menu! A lot of restaurant have their menus online now and that gives you a chance to see what they have BEFORE you get there and can give you a little more time to choose a healthy option!

7. COMMIT!

Don't half-ass your way through your weight-loss goal or WHATever it is you are doing. Make a list of the top 5 or 10 reasons WHY you are doing what you are doing and keep them where you can see them! And when I say make a list, I mean make a BRUTALLY HONEST list. The more HONEST and EMOTIONALLY charged it is...the more likely it will make you stick to it!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!

McDonalds Is Drowning.

Flooded McDonald's from Superflex on Vimeo.

You Should Quit!

If there are things you are trying to achieve or accomplish, sometimes the best thing to do is QUIT

QUIT!?!?!

For those of you who are wondering if I have completely lost my mind... the answer is yes... a long time ago. BUT I still said QUIT and I meant it... not a mistake.

Sometimes when we are trying to make things happen, the GOOD things we're trying to do... things like losing weight, reading more, studying more, writing a book, whatever it is, the best thing to do is to quit the things that are keeping us from achieving our goals. The things that are standing in the way of your progress!

Here are some thoughts on the things you might want to take a second look at and reevaluate.

*Are there people that are not supportive of you that you could spend less time with?
*What websites can you quit spending time on (not this one!) How much time do you spend a day reading Perez Hilton?
*Does what happen on Lost of American Idol REALLY impact your life in a positive, productive way? What TV shows could you spend a little less time watching?

Those are the things I am encouraging you to quit... not your goals and passions and dreams. THOSE are the things that most OTHER people quit because they just can't seem to find the time to make them happen. Choose a different path...quit the the things that are standing in your way...don't quit the THINGS!
S.

Respect Yourself.

I was doing my workout today when it struck me.... I am not enjoying this... and it's HARD! A different kind of hard than my normal workouts. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE hard workouts and I enjoy pushing myself to the outer limits. No, today's hard was different, my MIND wasn't in it... I could not stay focused and every step of the run was a struggle. I kept TRYing to tell myself to just keep going... just keep putting one foot in front of the other, the end result is the same whether you ENJOYED the process or not. That's when it struck me... sometimes we just have days when we are not functioning at full capacity and that instead of FORCING ourselves through the motions, instead of FIGHTING to keep at whatever it is we are doing, we just need to let go a bit. Did I burn 100 less calories than I intended to today...yes. Did the world come crashing down around my ankles as a result of that...well, the day is not officially over yet but I am pretty sure I'm out of the woods. There is a difference between pushing ourselves and FORCING ourselves and I urge you to listen to your body and what it's trying to tell you and learn to distinguish between the two.
Be your own best friend...cut yourself some slack once in a while.
S.