The Time is Now.....

It's one thing to study war and another to live the warrior's life. --Telamon of Arcadia, mercenary of the 5th Century BC.

We're one day away from the start of the Eating Coach 30 Day Challenge!!!  The big question for all of you is:

Are you reading to put mindfulness to work in a systematic way?

I had a conversation (and truth be told, I've had variations of this conversation many times) where someone, after asking me what mindful eating is, tells me they know what they should be doing but they just aren't doing it.  Sound familiar??

If you know what you "should" be doing but you're not doing it -- you're never going to get the results you're hoping for -- because that's all you're doing .....hoping!

If you want success, you are going to need to change your behaviors (for more than 2 weeks).  Are you up for that challenge? 

At worst: you have some experiences, learn some things and stay the same weight.

At best: you learn how to eat the foods you love with greater enjoyment and less guilt -- and do that right into a smaller size pair of shorts.

Today is the day for your action -- click here to register -- Challenge Day 1 email goes out in less than 24 hours.  Are you up for the Challenge?

Changing Behaviors and creating conversations

Here's a post of Jay Parkinson. 

In 2009, Kate Moss said “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”



In 1964, our Surgeon General said, smoking is bad for you. This was released when about 50% of all adults smoked. Now, in NYC, only about 12% of adults smoke. 46 years later.
Which one has the most influence over people? Pop culture vs. the surgeon general?


The issue of obesity is much, much more complicated than smoking. Smoking is one addictive behavior. Obesity is an entire ecosystem around you— your neighborhood, your means of transport, your corner store, your supermarket, your family, your culture, your attitude toward exercise, our media’s attitude toward skinny and overweight, our retail stores gradually increasing the measurements of a size to make us feel we’re not gaining weight, etc..


There is no quick fix to obesity.


So what does “quick” mean? In the world of smoking, quick meant 46 years to see a 38% decrease in a city with a very progressive, multi-factorial anti-smoking campaign. Regarding obesity, en masse behavior change takes generations. Just in the past decade, we’ve gotten the obesity conversation started. Hopefully, in 50 years and about the time I die, we’ll have seen a 38% decrease in obesity.


It’s just important to have some perspective and keep the conversation, awareness, and inspiration going.

I especially liked the last line about needing to keep perspective and the conversation, awareness and inspiration going. It applies to the macro view (how are we going to deal with the number of obese kids and adults in the US -- but also on the micro view of how are you going to deal with yourself day to day.

How often to do you take a look at your behaviors because you are interested in having positive conversation with yourself (did you notice I specified "positive"?)?  Hopefully, you are using this blog (and other resources) to create awareness and inspiration to keep you moving  in the direction of healthy, long-term weight management.

Just like decreasing the total number of smokers in NYC by one was not a very big dent in the total smoking population but was part of a larger trend -- your adoption of strategies of eating less and paying attention to when and why you are putting food into your mouth can be part of the larger trend of changing the shape (literally) of our country.

Are you up for that challenge???

Internal vs. External Motivations

I woke up this morning, shuffled out to the coffee pot, cranked up the computer and with a particularly good cup of coffee in my hand, sat down and read Seth Godin's observations on our dependence on external motivations.

He says that the industrial age made use of praise, fear, promotions, etc to motivate workers -- but that the usefulness of this model is slowly falling away.  (when you do great work, you still can't be sure you won't get "downsized" -- which we all know is code for fired!)

External motivations are still a huge factor in weight loss.  Lose a little bit of weight and people are telling you how great you look, asking you how you did it.....  You may say that's not the reason you lose weight -- but it's a nice added benefit, isn't it?

Creating mindfulness isn't like that -- at all.

You won't practice for a week and have someone come up to you and tell you how evolved they think you are.  Weight isn't just going to drop off your frame like magic.  Instead of having motivation handed to you, you're going to have to find the motivation to continue for yourself (which is something we aren't necessarily trained for any more).

So in preparation for the 30 Day Challenge, here are some (non-weight related) motivations to cultivating more mindfulness in your life.

1. More joy. --science and popular culture tells us we steer toward the destination we are focusing on.  (ever heard the story of the kid steering his sled into the tree when his parent told him not to hit the tree?  He was focusing on the tree -- so that is where he headed)  If you are focusing on finding the foods that bring you the most pleasure (and eating less of the ones that don't give you pleasure) -- you will be focusing on what brings you the most joy.  End result:  more joy.

2. Fewer regrets.  Ever wished you could live through a particular moment again because you weren't fully present the first time?  Maybe you would have made different decisions if you could do it over again?  Mindfulness means being present the first time.  There are no do-overs in life.  It is a waste of time wishing for them -- plus, in the time you are looking backward you aren't paying attention to where you are right now...and that's just a recipe for compounding your regrets!

3. Feeling more confident.  Who couldn't use a little boost of confidence --especially that kind that comes from within.  When you don't need to dread the buffet line at your summer wedding, your ability to go home and prepare dinner without having a 30 minute binge before hand -- when you are confident your body is your ALLY on your weight management journey -- life becomes simpler and less stressful.  You can walk a little easier through your day.  Think about that for a minute --wouldn't that feel great?

Mindfulness is an internal process.  No one is going to hand you these compliments -- you are going to be on the look out for them yourself.  But one thing I can tell you for sure -- when you know you can find them consistently, there is nothing sweeter in the world.

Do something Friday

Being more mindful. 

I had a woman stop me in the locker room yesterday and tell me she has started looking at her food -- before she takes her first bite.  Mindfulness is all about taking that extra second to engage your brain BEFORE you engage your mouth.

What would happen if you spent 30 day choosing every day to training yourself to be just a little more mindful?  Think of it as 30 days of "Do something Fridays". 

If that sounds like just the summer time class you need to help you with slimming down through the summer picnics and barbecues, I've got just the thing!

Click here and sign up for the online Eating Coach 30 Day Challenge.

Everyday, for 30 days starting July 1 (the next Do something Friday!), you will get an email with a thought to inspire you, a mindfulness task for the day, and a journal page to update.  It won't be anything tricky or time consuming -- it's summer, right?  So we need manageable tasks that we can fit into our fun, summer schedule.  The goal is to give your mindfulness a HUGE boost. 

The byproduct will be you finding those 9 bites a day that you can leave uneaten and feel GREAT about it (and lose half a pound to a pound a week -- how cool would that be for the month of July??)

Interested?  Click the link and choose Eating Coach 30 Day Challenge from the drop down menu.  The cost of the class is $20 -- hopefully, that won't put a crunch on your summer budget!  Make sure to include your email address in the registration process -- then plan on practice paying greater attention starting next Friday.  It will be fun, thought provoking, and slimming!!  No diet necessary.