Chrissie Webber works as a writer, business coach and motivation/ leadership trainer and is Managing Director of Life-Shapers Ltd, an online weight-loss motivation company. With over 20 years experience in the field of business and people development she has an expertise in the area of motivation for permanent weight loss.
Following a lifetime of weight issues - at her heaviest, over 21 stone and a massive size 30 – she has personal experience of diets and their devastating effect on size and psyche. With a background in nursing, psychology and business coaching, coupled with a lifetime of dieting, she developed and successfully used a series of models and tools that enhance weight loss motivation. Now over 5 dress sizes smaller and having sustained her weight loss for several years, Chrissie continues her passionate drive to change the mindsets of people away from a ‘Scarcity’ dieting mindset – where food is demonised as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – to an ‘Abundance’ mindset where mind, body and spirit work hand in hand with food and nature.
Over the weekend I was thinking about how important it is, to the success of any endeavour, to fully identify with yourself as a winner. The process of permanent weight loss is no different. When we struggle with food, negative thoughts about ourselves or our body image, unwittingly we have chosen the role of the victim and not the winner.
Winners create a true reflection of the effect of all their positive actions.Winners create the success they want through being true to their dream. Winners reflect the true beauty and harmony of their goals.
It is so easy to fall into this dieting trap, as we battle to lose weight or maintain a certain shape and size. All the negative thoughts, beliefs and emotions that form part of the dieting game are indicative of the fact that we have become the victim to food and size.
So, the question is, how do we keep a focus on being a winner. There are a number of things that winners do every day that form the reasons for their success…
·They take positive actions to create change;
·They make the actions they take, many and daily;
·They demonstrate a high level of commitment to their endeavour;
·They focus on the positive;
·They see obstacles as positive challenges to overcome;
·They accept what they cannot change and work at changing the things they can;
·They draw around them people who support and encourage the development of their pursuit;
·They celebrate success;
·They reach for personal goals but see the process as an ongoing journey not a destination.
·They enjoy what they do and feel the happiness it brings them every day, not just when they achieve a milestone or goal.
Take action and create your own winning process NOW.
How was your Easter break? I hope it was full of family, friends and lots of joy. Now that the festivities are over, this is usually a time for guilt and shame, as you reflect on the food you consumed and of course all those Easter Eggs.
I want you to do something different, this year. I want you to reflect on how much you enjoyed the food and chocolate. Believe it or not you are no different from many people who do not have a weight and size issue. They also over eat and indulge in lots of chocolate. The only difference is that they do not put on weight!
One of my friends can stuff her face and not put on a pound! So that’s life. Some of us store fat cells easily, others do not. That’s the reality but it should not mean that on the occasion we cannot enjoy the food we eat.
By allowing yourself this enjoyment, it is far easier to get your healthy eating mindset back on track. The guilt and shame of the dieting game only makes you negative, stressed and rebellious. This means you are less likely to get back on track quickly.
So here are a few tips for refocusing your mind and getting back onto the foods that make up the fuel that suits your body best…
1.Get rid of all the negativity in your mind – the guilt, shame and self-loathing.
2.Fill your mind with positive thoughts.
3.Visualise yourself with lots of energy, enjoying your daily exercise.
4.Visualise yourself eating all the foods that suit your body and fill you with energy.
5.Allow yourself to feel the energy and joy that living in tune with your body gives you – nature and nurture working in harmony.
6.Set out in your mind a positive plan of your day and fill it with self-loving actions.
Now take these actions and get back on track, on your journey to find the weight you were born to be. Get the support you need to keep your motivation high by signing up for the Life Shapers online motivational support.
I just received this by email and thought it worth sharing with you!
In the beginning God covered the earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, with green, yellow and red vegetables of all kinds so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.
Then using God's bountiful gifts, Satan created Dairy Ice Cream and Magnums. And Satan said, 'You want hot fudge with that? And Man said, 'Yes!' And Woman said, 'I'll have one too with chocolate chips'. And lo they gained 10 pounds.And God created the healthy yoghurt that woman might keep the figure that man found so fair.And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat and sugar from the cane and combined them. And Woman went from size 12 to size 14.So God said, 'Try my fresh green salad'. And Satan presented Blue Cheese dressing and garlic croutons on the side. And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.God then said 'I have sent you healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them'.And Satan brought forth deep fried coconut king prawns, butter-dipped lobster chunks and chicken fried steak, so big it needed its own platter, and Man's cholesterol went through the roof.Then God brought forth the potato; naturally low in fat and brimming with potassium and good nutrition.Then Satan peeled off the healthy skin and sliced the starchy centre into chips and deep-fried them in animal fats adding copious quantities of salt. And Man put on more pounds. God then brought forth running shoes so that his Children might lose those extra pounds.And Satan came forth with a cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels. And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering light and started wearing stretch jogging suits.Then God gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite.And Satan created McDonalds and the 99p double cheeseburger. Then Satan said 'You want fries with that?' and Man replied, 'Yes, and super size 'em'. And Satan said, 'It is good.' And Man and Woman went into cardiac arrest.God sighed ......... and created quadruple by-pass surgery.And then ............ Satan chuckled and created the National Health Service.THE FINAL WORD ON NUTRITIONAfter an exhaustive review of the research literature, here's the final word on nutrition and health.:1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. 2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. 3. Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. 4. Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. 5. Germans drink beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. 6. The French eat foie-gras, full fat cheese and drink red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than usCONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.Here endeth the Lesson.
It is so easy to lose sight of your weight loss goal, from time to time. This especially happens when our minds revert to the old learnt patterns of dieting. We hook back into thinking of some foods as bad and oops, we’re back craving what we think we can’t have.
Of course, our motivation can wane, when life gets stressful and the old habits of comfort eating kick back into play. Or maybe you just get tired of your battle with food and nature.
Whatever the reason for your lack of motivation, there are ways of kick-starting it again quickly and easily.
These are what I call the six magic motivators…
1.Focus on how negative and unhappy you feel when not leading a healthy lifestyle. Contrast that with how energised, confident and happy you feel when you are enjoying eating healthily.
2.Take action to reduce your stress levels – exercise, yoga, meditation etc. This will reduce your desire to comfort eat.
3.Start an evening ritual to review all the positive and loving things that have happened that day. Also include the self-loving acts you have achieved.
4.Start a morning ritual to project a picture of the coming day that is filled with wonderful people, great experiences and loving moments.
5.Take a break and visualise yourself as a slim trim person. Create a detailed photographic image in your mind of the new you and feel the joy and achievement that goes with it. Do this often throughout the day.
6.Visualise yourself surrounded by food. Carefully search for the foods that you love and that work best with your body and fill you with energy. Include them in your next meal where possible.
By using these motivators – all or some of them – you will find it easier to get back on track with your healthy lifestyle. And one last thought, remember that there is much, much more to life than food and weight. Start to live, love and be happy with the wonderful unique person you really are.
Whenever we are trying to reduce weight our focus is strongly fixed on ‘losing’:
·Losing Weight;
·Losing inches;
·Losing the food you love to eat;
·Losing your need to eat when hungry;
·Losing your life as a ‘couch potato’
What would life be like if, when trying to lose weight, if you placed your focus on gaining? Just think about is for a moment, what wonderful things could you gain and still lose weight?
1.More love in your life from all the self-loving actions you take each day.
2.More energy from the self-loving foods that suit your body best.
3.More love of food because you no longer fear it.
4.More energy from the increased physical activity you take.
5.More joy and happiness as you free yourself from guilt and shame.
6.More choices of new and interesting foods to try and experiment with.
7.More inner confidence as you begin to love your body image.
8.More connection with your body and intuition to reduce comfort eating.
9.More support for your lifestyle changes.
10.More joy in a life where your mind is full of positive thoughts.
It is so much easier to achieve anything when you are looking for the gains and not the losses.
How much do you reach out for food when upset or angry? Do you use comfort eating to bury your emotions?
One of the triggers that can launch us into inappropriate eating is negative emotion. So how can we reduce the effects our own inner feelings have on us? One way is to see emotion as a barometer – an indication of the levels of negative or positive pressure we are under.
This inner barometer is a unique gauge that indicates when there is something we can learn, in order to correct the imbalance of our emotions. It is a map that can show us the way to greater peace and of course to less comfort eating.
To gain the best learning from each emotional event, the first thing to do is stop reaching out for food. Then you need to sit quietly, allowing yourself to properly experience the emotion. Next you consider what has generated the emotion and then take the following steps…
·Consider if there is anything you can do that is positive and loving to move the emotional situation forward.
oTalk it through with someone;
oResolve the situation by taking positive loving, action;
oRelease your anger appropriately;
oSit with the emotion, feel it flow through you and then heal it with a kind and loving thought or prayer.
·Accept what you cannot change and change what you can.
·Accept that another person may see things and react to things completely differently to you.
·Accept that trying to make your ‘right’ and another ‘wrong’ is a sure way to emotional turmoil. Give up the need to be right by inwardly accepting the truth of the situation as you see it.
·Consider what positive action you now want to take that is loving and caring of yourself. Then take that action immediately.
Finally, consider what you have learnt about yourself and the situation that will aid you next time. Using food to bury an emotion does nothing to resolve the problem. It only aids us in storing it for another time.
Start to learn more about what your emotions are trying to tell you. Develop this skill and you will discover more of the joys of life than the pains of emotions.
Developing a positive body image, right now, before you find the weight you were born to be is absolutely essential to sustaining your weight loss. Why is this? Because you are likely to still hate your body, and not be able to see it in all its beauty, when you have eventually lost the weight you want to. This can so easily lead to eventual weight gain and all you efforts being in vain.
The fear is that we will not have the incentive to lose weight if we are in love with something that is not how we want it to be. Since when was anything perfect? There are always things we wish we could change in others and ourselves but that doesn’t mean to say we can’t love them despite their foibles. This is unconditional love. It is what we deserve and need from ourselves if we are to sustain the motivation to lose weight permanently.
To lose weight permanently and give up our battle with food we need to develop not only a positive body image but also a deep love of how we look. So here are my top 10 tipsfor how to develop a positive body image…
1.Find clothes that suit your body shape and make you feel great.
2.For your women who have never had a bra fitting, enhance your shapely figure with the right bra.
3.Give yourself a great big hug and a special gift of a new ‘hair do’.
4.Let your self be pampered by a facial make-over and learn some new make-up techniques to highlight your beautiful features.
5.Get up each morning and put on clothes that make you feel beautiful.
6.Every morning look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself how beautiful and loved you are.
7.Look at the parts of you that you like and start to really love them.
8.Every month, take one part of you that you hate and look at it every morning with loving thoughts and words.
9.Play a game inside your head of catching the negative thoughts you have about your body image and changing them to loving and accepting ones.
10.Listen for the compliments about how you look and NEVER throw them away. Accept and absorb the loving support they bring by saying a simple ‘Thank You’ and believing the compliment to be true.
By building a positive body image, no matter what your size and shaper, your true inner beauty is allowed to shine forth.Make sure you polish the ‘shine’ every day.
Chrissie Webber works as a writer, business coach and motivation/ leadership trainer and is Managing Director of Life-Shapers Ltd, an online weight-loss motivation company. With over 20 years experience in the field of business and people development she has an expertise in the area of motivation for permanent weight loss.
Following a lifetime of weight issues - at her heaviest, over 21 stone and a massive size 30 – she has personal experience of diets and their devastating effect on size and psyche. With a background in nursing, psychology and business coaching, coupled with a lifetime of dieting, she developed and successfully used a series of models and tools that enhance weight loss motivation. Now over 5 dress sizes smaller and having sustained her weight loss for several years, Chrissie continues her passionate drive to change the mindsets of people away from a ‘Scarcity’ dieting mindset – where food is demonised as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – to an ‘Abundance’ mindset where mind, body and spirit work hand in hand with food and nature.
Winners create a true reflection of the effect of all their positive actions. Winners create the success they want through being true to their dream. Winners reflect the true beauty and harmony of their goals. 
I want you to do something different, this year. I want you to reflect on how much you enjoyed the food and chocolate. Believe it or not you are no different from many people who do not have a weight and size issue. They also over eat and indulge in lots of chocolate. The only difference is that they do not put on weight!
and spinach, with green, yellow and red vegetables of all kinds so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.
So God said, 'Try my fresh green salad'. And Satan presented Blue Cheese dressing and garlic croutons on the side. And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.
Then Satan peeled off the healthy skin and sliced the starchy centre into chips and deep-fried them in animal fats adding copious quantities of salt. And Man put on more pounds. God then brought forth running shoes so that his Children might lose those extra pounds.
And Satan created McDonalds and the 99p double cheeseburger. Then Satan said 'You want fries with that?' and Man replied, 'Yes, and super size 'em'. And Satan said, 'It is good.' And Man and Woman went into cardiac arrest.
These are what I call the six magic motivators…
One of the triggers that can launch us into inappropriate eating is negative emotion. So how can we reduce the effects our own inner feelings have on us? One way is to see emotion as a barometer – an indication of the levels of negative or positive pressure we are under.
The fear is that we will not have the incentive to lose weight if we are in love with something that is not how we want it to be. Since when was anything perfect? There are always things we wish we could change in others and ourselves but that doesn’t mean to say we can’t love them despite their foibles. This is unconditional love. It is what we deserve and need from ourselves if we are to sustain the motivation to lose weight permanently.
3.
