TUSHKATEERS!!!  Are you ready for a gentle, positive, and happy Kick in the Tush that shifts your mental map, changes your perspective and your point of view for the better!??  (Who could say no to that?)

First …  let’s hop in the Our Lady of Weight Loss Time Machine and travel back two weeks to Kick in the Tush Club e-letter: 9 Tips: How to Create a Balanced and Harmonious Life! where I asked my favorite coaching question – “What will losing weight give you that you wouldn’t otherwise have?”  Please note that I did not ask “Why do you want to lose weight?”  Can you see the difference? Can you feel the difference?  Hear the difference?

Here follows two responses to that post!  I invite you to think it through and feel free to send me your list – In the subject line please write “LETTING GO OF EXCESS” …

Chewing the Fat

Hello Janice and OLofWL, You asked what letting go of excess weight would give me, and I came up with 10 thoughts that have inspired me to set them as goals.  Here goes:

1)      I can clip, manicure and paint my toenails without effort.
2)      I can cross my legs and sit that way comfortably.
3)      I can accidentally glimpse my side view in a mirror and not have to grimace.
4)      I can breathe better, deeper and fully gain the benefits that breathing properly brings.
5)      I can walk without back pain.
6)      In the morning when I arise, the only aches and pains I have to endure is from age and not excess poundage.
7)      I can go clothes shopping and buy off the rack without spending an inordinate amount of time doing so and feel good about it!
8)      Physical endurance is improved 100%.
9)      I can be released by my doctor from high blood pressure medications, etc.
10)    I can climb stairs without needing a few minutes to catch my breath. …

There you have it.  I started on my success journey! ~ Angie

From Betty S.,  “No more, ‘Oh, hell no!’ when trying on a pair of shorts (happened to me last week).

BRAVA Tushkateers Angie and Betty S.!  Good work!  Keep thinking and listing your ‘reasons’ to lose it! Get into the nitty gritty and see what that excess weight is really doing to you and keeping from you! 

Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them. ~ Henry Ford

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AND NOW more CHEWING the FAT
… from K.D. “WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS?”

Dear OLofWL ~ I had an emotionally upsetting two days this week that I did not even realize had affected me until I noticed that I was shoving candy and cookies into my mouth as fast as I could.  I have always used sweets to comfort myself but usually I know when I am upset and that is why I am overeating.

What a wakeup call! Two whole pints of ice cream the next day, sore stomach, self-loathing and weight gain, and no end in sight.  Why do I keep doing this and how can I stop? ~ K.D.

Dear K.D. ~  The reason why we keep doing things that we don’t want to has all to do with our ‘habit energies.’   We respond to repetition.  Each and every time we repeat a particular behavior, or think a particular thought, or act in a particular way, or get into a particular emotion, we lay down a track in the brain’s complex web of neurons.

Do it often enough, which we certainly do around food, our brain forms a network of connections around that particular behavior, thought or emotion.  Habit energies are formed.   When we try to ‘break’ our habits, our amygdala (see: Tip Toeing Past Your Amygdala) notices that something is happening outside of the status quo, which sets off alarms, and discomfort sets in.  The next thing you know, you hear yourself saying, “Need to calm down, have some ice cream.”

To offset these “habit energies” we need to first recognize these patterns and feelings of discomfort, and then counteract them with a positive inner dialogue that includes affirmations, positive self-talk, encouragement, images of our goals … which are all aspects of self-hypnosis / creative visualization!

Your first step is to ask the above question which can lead to seeing goals (as it did for Angie), seeing stronger images of where you are headed and what you truly want.   

If you are interested in working one-on-one or in small groups, please let me know.  All via telephone, or perhaps Skype-type connections.  Write me and in the subject line :  WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS?  I hope that helped!!! ~ OLofWL (and Janice 🙂

AND … FYI – another great source of inspiration, motivation and enlightened thinking is the Chopra Well.  It launched on July 16; new to youtube.com  Check it out and be sure to tell ’em that Our Lady of Weight Loss sent you! 

Spread the word … NOT the icing!

Janice
dictated by not read by Our Lady of Weight Loss,
the patron saint of permanent fat removal (excuse all typos)