How to not be hungry

Okay, so this is a compilation of several ideas, tips and maybe crap advice about what you can try to do to reduce hunger.  Bullet points seem to make the most sense to me- so here we go.

• Protein and good fat with meals.  You need fat and protein with your meals or else your meals are crap.  They won’t keep you full any decent amount of time and you’ll be hungry a lot. 
•  Pick up Kelly Leveque’s book Body Love and read about hunger hormones.  She goes through all the science of which hormones keep you hungry and which keep you full and how to turn them off and on.  If you want your body to help you through this, you’ll want to use science to your advantage. 
• Drink water.  Keep your stomach full of water and don’t be dehydrated.  Your body can often confuse dehydration with hunger.  Stay hydrated my friends and you won’t need to snack so much. 
• Some appetite suppressants work, and some are crap.  Some are prescription, some are supplemental.  You need to research side effects, how they work, and if it’s right for you.  I personally like Plexus’ Boost- it really decreases my hunger. 
• Stop thinking about food.  Really.  Stop stressing about it, obsessing over it, thinking about it nonstop and it won’t be such a big deal that your life revolves around.  I seriously cut my cravings just by not worrying about it. 
• Say no.  Okay, this is more of it you AREN’T hungry.  Say no.  I often would say yes just because it sounds good.  You know what this does? Turns on my appetite and then I want to eat even more or yell at myself for my choices.  Say no when you aren’t hungry.  The only person who it matters whether you partake is the one who will hate themselves later for the extra food.
•  Exercise.  Now this can be a double-edged sword but hang with me.  I know if I’ve done a hard work out several days in a row or a long run I’ll be more hungry and that’s understandable, but if you aren’t brand new to this activity you shouldn’t be starving and definitely don’t need to eat ALL the calories.  In general, when I get hungry when I shouldn’t be, I often will move if I’m hungry.  Take a walk, take a run, do some squats, anything.  This has two benefits.  Sometimes the hunger goes away- much like drinking extra water can make it go away.  Then if the hunger is still there, I have burnt a few extra calories to make up for it.  If I’m really that hungry, I’ll pick a healthy snack plus the exercise, so I’m balanced out. 

I can’t think of any more ideas now, but these are some tips that have worked for me and others (because I have seen most of them before from other sources).   Hope this helps someone!

Blessings in Health and happiness.

Measuring Weight Loss Progress

So you’ve decided it- you’re going to try to get healthy and lose weight and fit into smaller pants!  Great!

But let me warn you- the little box on the floor of your bathroom is a liar and mean!  This is the scale I’m talking about if you haven’t deduced this.  Your weight is important but doesn’t tell the whole story. 

How to combat the liar on the floor?  2 big tools everyone needs to do along with taking their weight.

1-     Pictures

2-     Measurements

Measurements are the easier for people to do, so I’ll start with that.  You want to get a tape measure and do several different areas on the body.  Most common measurements are waistline, hip line, bust line, and thigh.  Some people also do under bust and arms depending on goals. 

You want to make sure to do these with the same amount of clothes on each time and try to be in the exact same spot.  

Here’s a chart with where you take these measurements:

Measurements are more important than the scale because we all want to LOOK better.  The scale will never tell you how you look.  My weight may only go down 2 or 3 pounds, but I may go down 2-3 pant sizes which is life changing!!  If you strictly went by weight, you may be frustrated and give up and not realize you are making the gains you want!

The one NO ONE wants to do is Pictures!  But once again- we want to feel healthy, but we also want to LOOK good.  Pictures can tell so much!!

Look at my before and after pictures:

It’s it amazing how much skinnier I got on my waistline?!?  Taking measurements, I could tell the changes were happening, but seeing is believing for many of us and there is no denying how amazing the pictures are!  

Please take pictures and measurements!  If you really do the work, you will be so happy you did this extra step and can see your results much better!

Blessings in Health and Happiness!

Let It Go

I’m channeling my inner Elsa for this blog post today.  Let it go.  

This post is a little more Zen than I usually am, but it feels right for me right now.  This is where I am which is a good place, I think.  

So a little back story- the last year has been a stressful rollercoaster of medical problems, emotional problems, financial problems, work problems and more in our house.  Nothing horribly bad, but a lot of changes and I, like many people, got back into bad habits and had difficulty pulling myself back out of them.  I would talk about changing, and really want to, but after a day or two life would throw another ball at me and to keep juggling my personal goals would-be put-on hold.

Then I was listening to a Rachel Hollis podcast (like I often do, I love her) and I heard her read a part of a chapter from her book Girl Wash Your Face.  It talked about how we were often the first ones we would break promises to.  Especially women, we tend to put other people’s priorities ahead of our own even with people don’t ask us to.  This is me.  I get worked up about the house being a disaster (I mean, it really bothers me), or put my kid’s to-do list items above my to-do list items.  And honestly, I put it on myself. No one does this. No one says to mark off everyone else’s to do list before mine, I do it.  And her podcast really put that in perspective and got me thinking in a new light I haven’t thought of before. 

Why do I worry about it?  Really?  No, really???  Because it’s my job?  Who’s paying me?  No one. That’s who.   Who cares about it other than me?  The answer is no one.  My kids and husband don’t see the mess let along care about the pigsty they may be living in. Nor do my kids worry about anything I put on the to-do list for them with rare exceptions. 

And here’s the biggest thing.  My healthy eating?  This is a head game many people I know play as frequent and as well as I do.  But who cares about every single little thing that goes in my mouth?  Once again, the answer is no one.   I don’t have to justify my eating to anyone.  This was mind blowing for me.  You know why?  Because when I voiced to myself that I need to not worry about it, all the sudden it was EASY to DO!

What?!?!?   I stopped stressing, and then it made it easier to follow a healthy eating plan.  Why?  Because I wasn’t stressing about what to eat, which made me want to stress eat.   LET IT GO and try for yourself. 

In the same vein, I stopped stressing about exercise.  Stopped trying to do complex calculations about what to do when and how to incorporate new things which I’ve said I was going to do but never stick.  And you know when I’ve missed a workout since letting it go.  Never.   Because I just do it. 

I swear I, and maybe you, are wasting a ton of time and energy worrying about stuff and it’s making us unsuccessful!  Maybe meditate or pray over this awhile and see if you too should let it go.

   

Blessings in health and happiness

Planning for success

How do we plan for success? 

We all make plans to do things in life, little and big.  I don't know about you, but at the end of the day it's the things I didn't get done that sometimes keep me awake.

I didn't finish my to do list.  I didn't start my diet.  I didn't exercise.  I didn't grow my company by a million people ;) ..... you get my drift. 

So how do we close that gap?  I've read many personal growth and development books and listened to many podcasts, and a reoccurring theme is having a plan.  How different authors and personal development gurus organize their systems may all be different, but the resounding theme is "failing to plan is planning to fail."

In my opinion, plans can range to very detailed to more broad.  Organized or not, they are all able to be successful depending on YOU!  That's right.  There's no one sized fits all way to succeed.  Following a plan that doesn't work for your personality and life won't work for you!

Think about things you've done in the past and been successful?  How did you do it?  Did you have lists? Charts? Diagrams?   Did you have a thinking session before hand and worked it out in your head?  Did you close your eyes and envision it completed?  Did you just decide to do it and nose to the grindstone until it was done?

Recognizing these qualities can help you decide what planning method you would be most successful with.   For example- I'm very type A.  I like spreadsheets, lists and things I can check off! 

While going through graduate school, I made a list of all of the assignments for the semester in order of the due dates- and worked through them and checked them off as completed.  I didn't go crazy and do them all in one setting- hence writing the due date next to the assignment- but I did like checking everything off and seeing my to-do list get shorter.

When it comes to exercise and knowing I may have a busy day coming up- I put it on my to do list.  I want to cross off that whole list so I get my exercise done!

Some people meal prep and decide what foods they want to eat each day to help with success on healthy eating.  My twist is I make a list of meals and decide which one I want each day!

When it comes to my Plexus business- I make a list of who I want to message before the day starts and get those names checked off by the end of the day!  I make another list of people to follow up with on how they are doing.

See how I know lists help me (they kind of drive me to complete them!) and so I find a way to incorporate it to activities I want to be successful.  The days I don't make a list I'm always much less successful!

Think about tools and things you've done to be successful in one area- and see if you can incorporate it into other areas you want to strive to be successful in!

Subscribe to my email for a little extra food for thought on this subject!

Blessings in Health and Happiness!