Stress, Cravings and Preventing Weight Gain

What should I do when I’m stressed and crave sugary and salty junk food?

Become mindful of your stressors, how you are dealing with stress and your choices.

Learning new methods for stress relief will help 

prevent avoidable weight gain

Managing food cravings is a simple but difficult process. In my experience, I have seen that when an individual makes a emotional judgment and gives into eating when they are not hungry it is often do to temporarily losing sight of their goal(s) and/or continuation of habits.

First, understand that there are physical needs during stressful times. Your body is burning sugar and your cravings are present so you will replace immediate energy stores. Also know that an Apple is a better choice than junk.

Second, understand your role in the habits and choices that you have created. You MUST own your choices and your result. Look past your immediate desire and play out in your mind how you will feel while eating this  "much needed" food. Play out the after effects. How do you feel once you've finished? 

A few "rules" I have my clients to focus on is:

Become Mindful

Before you begin to feel stressed is the best time to focus on how you are handling your day. Monitor your stress levels. If you are becoming "STRESSED!!!" it is time to take a break, contemplate your thoughts and actions and choose your next action. This 2-3 minute reset of thinking and breathing acts to calm you and allows you to retain focus.

Smile. It relieves stress.

Remember: staying in the stressful situation will INCREASE your stress. You must change your thinking and your actions right there.  

Control your kitchen

Keep temptation out of sight. Clean the area of "junk" and create a scenario where you have to go purchase the items you want so badly. This will act to slow down your reactions.  Choose fruits and vegetables first while you focus on breathing.

Know WHY you are eating what you are eating

Say it out loud - "I am eating due to stress, not hunger."

Own the fact that you need to control your stress differently to create a long-term change.

Try these tips for controlling food cravings:

1. Develop a mantra. Something like: "I feed my body and my needs, not my taste buds."  
2. Ask yourself questions: "Why am I going to eat this?  Is it because I actually want it and need it or am I re-actively responding to an immediate desire?"
3. Keep focused on your goal. Post it in sight and refer to it often.
4. Drink a glass of water to slow the decision making process down. Water can make you feel a little fuller AND it will give you something to do while deciding if you are actually going to give in to your cravings.

 

End your stress eating here.

To your health,     
Robert DeVito

Reality Check - Convenience or Results?

Your results are determined by your choices.
Your choices are a result of your habits.
Create a MINDFUL environment.
Avoid impulsive or mindless actions.

To your health,
Robert

A Reality Check. Action Precedes Motivation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     Do the work and get the results. 

A quick post today.  This is a slide from one of our Weight Loss/ Accountability seminars.
Let it act as a reminder.

Make this a great day,
Robert J DeVito

IDENTIFYING YOUR OBSTACLES

Identify your Obstacles

This is a follow-up to our goal setting article from a few weeks back -

Setting Your Goals

This article will focus on aiding you in creating your Realistic, Progressive and Maintainable (c) Action Plan.
Identify your obstacles then modify your actions.

Identify your Problem Areas – 

What are your biggest Challenges?  Some eat too much at meals or at their desks, while others pack in extra calories while driving, snacking, or socializing.  Some want to help family members eat better – without them knowing it!  Others leave choosing foods and meals to the very last second when hunger has already taken control of your thoughts. Different problems require different solutions.  If you try to change everything at once, nothing will change.

Select Solutions – 

Select up to three – five small changes you think will most easily and effectively enable you to address only your most troubling challenge.  Be certain that these changes are R.P.M. (c)  changes.  Always choose something you know you can repeat.

Develop a Simple Plan – 

You need to be more focused than just thinking “I’m going to try to do better” and having a few vague changes in mind.  You need to select up to three specific daily changes you intend to make, and you need to commit to making these changes a part of your daily routine for the next 30 days.  It is only a month, and you chose the changes in part because you thought they would be easy for you.  Promise yourself you will try hard to adopt those changes for a least a month.

Execute Your Plan – 

It is important to make these changes each day.  There is power in consistency.  One way to do this is to keep a calendar or keep a record to mark your daily progress.  Tell your friends and family about the commitment you have made.  Do other things you believe will help keep you on track, like wearing a wristband or other reminder, posting signs for yourself, writing a food diary, or joining a group that is committed to making the same kind of changes you are.

Do this and you will be on your way to freedom from all of the frustration and confusion and on the path to being healthy and fit.

For those of you in need of more information, guidance and tips then here is a link to a free e-book download from My Dynamic Life.  Enjoy it and send us some feedback!

 

To your health,

Robert

Does being "in shape" make you fit to give fitness advice?

If someone has a friend who is in good shape, who is willing to give them exercise advice, why is it still a good idea to hire a personal trainer?

Often, very fit people are individuals who have added workouts as part of their lifestyle (long-term). This is usually a very good thing. However, what often occurs is that fit people develop beliefs in relation to which exercises are "good" exercises or "bad" exercises, which ones "work" or "do not work" etc... If this advice is being passed on to a healthy and fit individual that is not prone to injury and if the new exerciser takes caution to properly progress their training program, then in most cases the recommended exercises will be useful (minimally, it will not be detrimental) for that individual.

Your friends can only teach you what worked for THEM!

More often than not though, the avid exerciser simply passes on "rules" that they have memorized that have served THEM in reaching their goals. 

Caution! Many people achieve high levels of fitness not because of what they do, but in spite of it.

Often, a new exerciser will need to hire a Professional Trainer to properly assess their goals, needs and skill level and design a variable and progressive program that will keep this individual engaged, injury free and progressing toward their goal. Each person has lifestlye needs that differ and physiological needs that need uncovereing. These challenges should be considered when designing the appropriate program for them.

Simply put, there is no substitution for the assessment and coaching a trainer can give to an individual. Because someone is fit in NO WAY qualifies them to create a fitness program for you.  That is akin to someone with nice teeth becoming your Dentist...

Good friend. Bad Trainer.  Seek guidance that is appropriate for you.

In most cases your friends have the best intentions in the world.  Proceed cautiously.  They are most likely training incorrectly for their goal(s) too.  Most gym goers just copy what the person next to them is doing or follow what the person that they want to look like most is doing (this is called 'Emulation of Winners').  This is not a very wise action plan.  That person probably has different parents than you :) so their genetics and body shape are different, they most likely live a different lifestyle and they have been much more consistent with fitness than you.  You probably need a fitness plan that is COMPLETELY different than what they are doing.

Check this out for guidance on INTENSE Exercise.
Review this for the Newbies


Yours in health,
Robert J DeVito 

How do I control food cravings?

Managing food cravings is a simple but difficult process.

In my experience, I have seen that most often when an individual makes a emotional judgment and gives into eating when they are not hungry it is often do to temporarily losing sight of their goal(s) and/or continuation of habits.

Try these tips for controlling food cravings:

1. Develop a mantra. Something like: "I feed my body and my needs, not my taste buds."  
2. Ask yourself questions like:  "Why am I going to eat this?  Is it because I actually want it and need it or am I re-actively responding to an immediate desire?"
3. Keep focused on your goal.  Post it in sight at work and at home and refer to it often.
4. Drink a glass of water to slow the decision making process down.  Water can make you feel a little fuller AND it will give you something to do while deciding if you are actually going to give in to your cravings.
5. Fully understand and "own" that you are in a learning process.  You learned to react in a certain way to cravings, now, you must UNlearn that method and replace it with something else.
6. Relax.  One poor decision does not make goal attainment impossible.  Give the decision its' proper weight (pun intended) and calm down, reset your thinking as to not compound your mistakes.
   

To your health,
Robert J DeVito
Innovation Fitness Solutions

Setting Your Goals

This year, make a SMART goals resolution! No matter what your New Years Resolution is, make sure you follow the SMART Goal Setting parameters to increase your chances of success. SMART goals are:

Specific: Not just "be healthier" or "be thinner" but how specifically will you get there? Will it be a focus on Fitness, Food, or both?

Measurable: Instead of "exercise more" or "lose weight" - how many days will you exercise? How much weight will you lose?

Attainable/Achievable: Set yourself up for success! Make your first few goals of the year ones that you KNOW you can achieve with a little effort.

Realistic: If it's not realistic, it's not sustainable. Remember, when it comes to healthy weight loss, 1-2 lbs a week is IDEAL. Aiming for more than that is likely to either discourage you and/or create a yo-yo weight loss effect which does more damage than good.

Time-bound: Short term is best for getting started. Don't forget to promise yourself a (healthy) reward for when you make your deadline!


Set your goals and make your plan!
If you need help - check these resources out.


My Dynamic Life - Free Workout Programs and Education

90 Days to a New You - Transform Your Thinking - Transform Your Body

Personal Development Made Simple - Better Health, Fitness, Finances and Relationships

Resolve to achieve your New Years Goals

I am going to take a wild guess and say that you may have made a few New Years' Resolutions before.  I will also go out on a limb and say that they are probably eerily similar year after year after year...

Well, 2012 can be different.  As Einstein said - "You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it."

This means that if you are creating the same Resolutions and are going to go about your Resolutions in the same manner that you always have... well... you will most likely get the same result.

Insanity - Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.

Change is hard.  Do not fool yourself into thinking that because you made a decision to change that you will not sabotage yourself or that massive, long lasting changes will come to you without discipline and consistency.  You will only end up dissapointed again.
Here are 5 tips to insure you can break your failure cycle and begin to reach your goals:


Get Specific and avoid "vague" goals.
Weight loss is a very poor goal. Stop smoking is a poor goal.  These are too general and lack passion.
The more specific you get with your goals the more likely you will be to reach them.
How much weight loss?  What is your time frame for reaching these milestones? What are you absolutley willing to do to achieve these results?


Focus on what you are gaining, not on what you are giving up.
If you are focused on restricting items from your day or life and viewing improving fitness levels/exercise as a chore, or, you are focused on eliminating foods from your life - how long do you think you will have the willpower to hold out?
A better strategy is to list out all of the things you will gain by slowly and systematically making changes to your habits.  Improved energy and self-confidence would most likely happen first.  Self-pride and the ability to stick with your goals and plans would surely follow.


Get into the process and out of the outcome.
Change takes time. Be patient with yourself.  No one makes a decision and magically changes.  Everyone makes mistakes and takes missteps.  Understand that a mistake is not the end.  Get right back on track and get going.  An "IFSism" that I use all of the time is -

Habits X Time = Results

Improved Fitness and Reduced Weight of any substantial sum is most likely a 12-18 month process.  There will be plateuas and setbacks.  How you plan for and deal with these setbacks will make all of the difference in your success.  You WILL NOT experience smooth sailing.  And, if you do, you will not maintain it for long.
Use history as a teacher - if you were losing weight and as soon as something derailed you, you gave up because progress stopped - I would challenge you to alter your perception of what is actually happening.

Focus on your schedule.  If you schedule it, you will do it.
This seems pretty simple, but, for many people sticking to a schedule is difficult.  The habit of procrastination sets in and what I refer to as "The Tomorrow Syndrome" becomes a rally cry. If you will always start tomorrow and you justify your lack of commitment to your health and goals you certainly will never reach the goals that you set.
Schedule your exercise and stick to your schedule.  Make your Fitness a non-negotiable priority.  If you do not you will not achieve the desired results.


Avoid "All or None" thinking.
Focus on Progress, not perfection.  If you are moving more than you have been before and eating better than you have been then you are making progress!  Congratulate yourself.  You are doing great.
All or none thinking (as in - I need to eat perfectly and exercise everyday or IT is not working) only derails success and makes happiness unattainable.  NO ONE eats perfectly and exercises everyday.

There you have it.  An altered perception of your goals and how to reach them can help to make 2012 your most productive year to date.

Get the help that you need here - My Dynamic Life

90 Days to a New You. - Weight Loss Day by Day

Yours in Health,
Robert J DeVito

Slow and Steady

Steer clear of attempting to tackle everything at once.
Often, we take on too much and end up disappointed because we are unable to achieve all of our goals at once.
Change takes time.  It is a process.
Get Dieting Help Here
Choose 1-2 things that you can change in your eating patterns this week.

1. Perhaps, you can be sure to eat breakfast 2 more times than normal this week.
2. Maybe adding in 2-3 more glasses of water daily would help.
3. Reach for Fruit and Veggies before a treat.
4. Buy a Better BAD Version of your favorite treat(s).

Slow and Steady wins the race.

Getting out of a "rut"

A question posed recently from an attendee at a Personal and Professional Development seminar that I was honored to speak at was "How do I get out of a rut?"

The answer is a simple one: Do something/anything different than what you are doing now. Upon further discussion we came up with a few challenges that this person faced in attaining a level of satisfaction and happiness in life:

1. They were either without goals in some areas of life or had made such monumental goals that they were overwhelming.
2. They were falling into an "excuse machine" habit. This person could justify inaction for just about anything. 
3. The goals that were set were not attached to a reason or purpose.  They were very general and hence, not stimulating.
4. When this person took action they simply repeated what they had already done and expected a different result.
5. The very general goals (What) were not attached to an Action Plan (How). 

The solution presented was for the individual to get a clear sense of what they wanted and to create a list of their habits (Helping and Hurting) so they could clearly see what they were and were not doing.

Second was to create an environment for success by choosing an Action Plan that is stimulating, achievable and rewarding.  By deciding to alter 1-2 habits at a time, succeeding and then choosing more habits to change you gain momentum.

Remember:  Action precedes Motivation.

Your duty to gain the success you desire is to figure out if it is a skill that lacks, desire that is missing or knowledge/information to help get you there.

If you need guidance and support to achieve your goals then come visit us!