When Nothing Else Works

April 8, 2013 By

This week’s article is courtesy of my colleague, by Jeanna Gabellini, CPCC – MASTERPEACE Coaching & Training – http://www.MasterPeaceCoaching.com.  Enjoy!

When Nothing Else Works, Use This Strategy for Weight Loss and Increased Profits

 

I recently posted on Facebook that I lost 15 pounds in six weeks. Of all the topics I’ve covered before, this one received the most “likes” and comments. I was shocked. Naturally, people really wanted to know my secret.

The short answer: I went on a raw foods cleanse and joined the gym.

The majority of people who tried this would not get the same results. That’s because there is so much more to the story than diet and exercise.

The real story about my long-desired weight loss?

When I got pregnant with baby #2, I set the intention of manifesting my ideal body after his birth. I lost a ton of weight in those first few months, but my body would not release those last 25 pounds.

My baby’s sleep pattern kept me from sleeping through the night until just recently. And that lack of sleep made me feel very unlike myself. I was out of balance with two kids, a business to run and no energy.

When you feel like that, you begin manifesting lots of stuff you don’t want. I got sick more often; I was cranky; and while my gross income kept rising, so did my expenses.

Every day I looked in the mirror and was irritated by what I saw. The same thing happened every time I looked at my expenses. There came a point where I said, “My mission is not to lose weight or decrease expenses. I have to be okay right where I am right now —tummy pooch and sky-high bills included”.

By the way, it wasn’t like I wasn’t doing anything to solve my weight and overhead issues. I consistently exercised, from the moment I healed from childbirth. I also implemented all the strategies my team and coaches suggested to increase my profits and decrease my expenses. But I still saw no huge improvement in either department.

However, once I stopped complaining — inwardly and outwardly — about my situation and made peace with myself, things began shifting. I was inspired to do a raw food cleanse because I felt for years that my diet was out of balance (I rarely ate fruits and veggies).

As I prepared for the cleanse, I realized I wasn’t truly enjoying the exercise program I’d been doing. I immediately stopped and joined a gym to do one thing: lift iron — my favorite way to exercise since I was 16. I hadn’t been in a gym like this for over five years. It was exhilarating!

Then I was challenged by my team and coach to hire more help. I did but it fell apart before we made traction. However, it led to new choices that made me feel better about outsourcing.

And during the month that I was making all these changes, I redid my entire schedule so it was 100% supportive of my desires concerning family and business.

The results: weight loss; a huge shift in the way I related to time; profit margins significantly increasing; and … I am extremely happy. I feel more at peace than I have in years.

So what’s the strategy?

  • Stop whining and complaining about what is. Make peace with it, even if you want something very different from your current reality.
  • Make small changes to create peace in your life right now, with what you have.
  • Take action on your inspired ideas to feel fulfilled, not because you’re desperate for results.

A very important part of my success was because I didn’t base my joy on my results. There were many days during this process that I had to release irritation when the scale, my bank account or free time didn’t look the way I wanted. After I created my ideal schedule lots of things threatened to push me back into my old mode of operation.

I made peace with the mission, not perfectly implementing my cleverly crafted plan. I’m still a work-in-progress but I have no doubt where I’ll be a month from now … and I’m not attached to the outcome. =)

Jeanna Gabellini is a Master Business Coach who assists high achieving entrepreneurs, corporate leaders & their teams to leverage fun, systems and intentionality for high-octane results. An entrepreneur for 25 years she has a treasure trove of kick-butt tools to give you peace & profits. Get your complimentary audio “Transforming from Chaotic Entrepreneur to Conscious Leader” here: http://www.MasterPeaceCoaching.com/freecd.

Filed Under: Weight loss Tagged With: , ,

Want To Lose Weight? Start Paying Attention To Yourself.

March 25, 2013 By

SelfIf I told you that taking time for yourself would lead to weight loss, a better body and improved self-image, would you do it?  Many of my clients are super busy in both their personal and their professional lives.  However, when I work with them, they come to realize when they put themselves first they start to lose weight, feel great and look great.  They didn’t think they had time to do something for themselves, but once they saw that they did and what it did for them, they soon changed their tune.

Taking time for yourself gives you that pause.  In yoga we talk about the pause between the inhale and exhale, and wow, it is luxurious—you only need to experience it once to know how absolutely amazing it is.  In life we talk about that pause as peace of mind.  When you rush from one thing to the other, things get overlooked and you get overlooked.  In our quest for doing more, getting more done, and pleasing others we leave a lot of stuff out or just plain forget.

To demonstrate my point, have any of these happened to you?

  • You get out the door and realize you don’t have your car keys.
  • You realize that you forgot to brush your teeth as you drop your kids off at school.
  • You left the dog outside (that’s my personal opps) and he’s a barker.
  • You race to pick up the kids and they say “We thought you forgot us.”
  • You glance at yourself in the mirror and see that you look like a madwoman because you haven’t had your hair cut in oh-you-can’t-even-remember- when.
  • You forgot the presentation… or worse, you forgot you had a presentation.
  • You notice you have on one black shoe and one blue shoe.  (No lie; my female executives have this happen all the time)
  • Or again, worse, you realize you forgot your shoes and only have flip flops on with that beautiful business suit (which happens to be wrinkled) on the day of your important presentation.

Yes, many of my clients have had those things happen.  You didn’t think I made them all up did you?

However, many of these same clients have gone on to create their ideal image of themselves and their lives… and now live those ideals!  You can be exactly who you want to be, feeling great and looking great.

I know you are wondering how my clients have created—and now live—their ideal life.  Here are the three most important principles they followed.

  1. They created a vision of their ideal life.  They took the time to write out what they ideally wanted to have in their life.  Spend sometime this week and write out what you want from your life and in your life.  Write how you want to be, what you want to do and how it will look and feel when you have it.  Then keep it close and look at it regularly.
  2. They changed how they talked to themselves.  When we are unhappy about ourselves, it usually means there is a lot of negative self-talk going on.  “You are so stupid, how could you forget that presentation?”  “Oh sure, there you go again, eating all of the chips/cookies/candy, you’ll never lose that weight.”  Stop berating yourself for careless mistakes and remember you are human.  Change how you talk to yourself and about yourself and watch that bad body image and unwanted weight disappear.  And in its place you’ll find a new, beautiful you!
  3. They BOTHERED.  When you don’t have a clear vision of what you want your life to be like and look like and you engage in negative self talk, you are usually in a place of “why bother?”  You feel that nothing is going to change anyway, so…why bother.  People who are successful in their weight loss (or anything for that matter), do bother.  They take the time to make plans and then they carry them out.  To be successful you have to bother, you have to take action and you have to follow through.

I have so many clients who have bothered.  They bothered to take the time for themselves to make themselves look and feel better.  Take the time to bother with yourself.  Take the time to go to the hair and nail salon or the gym.  Hire a personal trainer or a coach.  Take your suits to the dry cleaners or get the iron out and do it yourself.  Organize your closet so the blue shoes are with the blues and the black shoes with the blacks!  Begin to eat better and look at yourself in a whole new light.

You’ll find that the self talk becomes more positive – and the results are amazing all because you bothered.  Weight loss, stress reduction, happiness and so much more will follow!  Watch it all work out in such remarkable ways!

So tell me, are you going to stay in that bad body image and negative self talk, being overweight, in ill health and ‘why bother’ state… or are you going to shed it all and shine?

Now if you pardon me it’s time for my manicure.  See, I practice what I preach.  It is important for me to take good care of myself.  I know it is such a big factor in my success both to my personal and professional life, so I’m off!

I would love to have you share what you do to take care of yourself!

 

Filed Under: Personal Development, Weight loss Tagged With: , , , , ,

Are you here again?

January 8, 2013 By

Here we are, it’s January, a whole new year.  How exciting!  Or is it?  Are you one of the millions of people who make resolutions around your health?  And are you one of those millions who year after year make the same resolutions?  It’s exciting and satisfying when you reach your goals and downright depressing when you don’t.  There is a better way.  And it’s even easier than you might think.  Your year can be different: you can reach your weight loss goals!

I want to share with you a step-by-step plan to implement into your life.  The beauty of this strategy is that it works for everything–not just your health.

  • First, change your wording.  Use the word ‘goals’ instead of ‘resolutions’.  ‘Resolution’ to me immediately invokes thoughts of failure.  Goals = aim, end, purpose, and aspiration.  These words sound a whole lot better than resolution, don’t they?  So the word ‘goal’ should automatically put you in a better frame of mind and not make everything seem so daunting.  Also, stop saying “I have to” or “I should” and change it to something more uplifting like “I choose.”   I choose to lose 10 pounds this year.
  • Second, state your goal and then put an end time on it.  This makes your goal definitive and gives you ‘finish line’.  You will know exactly the timeline in which you have to accomplish it.  Get out your calendar and put your start and end dates in it as well as milestones along the way.   I will lose 10 pounds by March 31.
  • Third, determine what you will do to reach your end result.  When it comes to weight loss, there are many places to start and two really good ones are watching what you eat and exercising.  In order to lose 10 pounds, I will figure out how many calories I currently eat and then determine what healthy calories and foods I need to eat.  I will find an exercise that I enjoy and know I will do.
  • Fourth, make a plan.  Take what you learned and determined in step three and create a plan for the next several months. Remember that it will take time to reach your goal, whatever it is, so you need to road map to follow.  I will eat 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables during the week and I will go to exercise class 1-2 times per week.
  • Fifth, find a support system.  Enlist a buddy, family member or coach that you trust and ask them to hold you accountable.  Share with them your goals and steps you are planning to take to move you to your end result.  You might think this is unnecessary but it’s actually quite important!  It’s too easy to fall back on old habits and procrastinate if you don’t have someone checking in with you to make sure you’ve done your homework. Jane, I choose to lose 10 pounds by March 31st and I need your help to make sure that I eat 3-5 servings of fruit and veggies each week and also exercise 1-2 times per week. Will you check in with me periodically to make sure I’m sticking to my plan?
  • Sixth, be flexible with your plan and with yourself.  As you work on your plan know that obstacles will show up.  There will be times when you will eat something that you think you shouldn’t or you won’t make it to your exercise class.  This does not mean you have fallen off the wagon; you merely hit a bump in the road.  It is how you deal with the bumps that count.  I wish I didn’t eat that piece of cake but I did. It doesn’t mean that I failed; it only means that I am human. Tomorrow I choose to do better.

These steps will help you get on track and stay on track for you to reach your weight loss goals.  Remember to set small, attainable goals and keep the timeframe in the short-term because when you have all the time in the world, it takes all the time in the world to complete a goal.  A shorter timeframe keeps you honest, on target and constantly seeing results.

Reaching your weight loss goals takes thought and planning.  It takes motivation, focus and determination.  It also takes a personal awareness and a knowing why you want that end result.  Do you want to lose weight to improve your health or maybe get off medications?  Do you want to fit into your clothes better?  Do you want to feel good about yourself?  All are valid.  What are your reasons?  What is holding you back?  How can you reach your weight loss goals this year?

Feel free to share your success, thoughts, insights and revelations below!

Filed Under: Reaching Goals, Weight loss Tagged With: , ,