Feel Better, Do Better!

“Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it.” ~Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

The way we feel about our life’s journey and the choices we are making play a huge part in our ability to sustain long term change. If we feel we “have” to lose weight and it’s something that we dread, the pressure can feel like a punishment and very quickly we will want to quit trying. Especially if we don’t see the scale going down right away! It’s a frustrating process if we don’t have our mind set in the best and healthiest place possible.

One of the most important healthy lifestyle change that we can make is in in our thought and attitude, yet is it one of the most neglected areas of change when it comes to weight loss. We spent a great deal of time last week in the meetings talking about the “big picture” when it comes to healthy living. Certainly attaining and maintaining a healthy weight is part of a healthy lifestyle, but even on weeks when we are not seeing losses on the scale, it doesn’t mean that our healthy behaviors are for naught. The big picture is that eating nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, fat free and low fat dairy and whole grains in addition to moving more are ALL things that are GOOD FOR US and they make us FEEL BETTER almost immediately. The challenge is to allow ourselves to see, feel and be aware of that when we don’t get the gratification from the scale that we are looking for. The scale can be an emotional land mine if we are not careful. We can feel great physically and emotionally about the healthy lifestyle we have been living and the second we step on that scale and it does not reflect those changes, it’s as if a bomb hit us. We feel defeated, frustrated and sad or maybe even mad. It’s those emotions that typically dictate our next actions and more than likely they are not healthy ones.

Let’s work on getting off the roller coaster…I am talking about the EMOTIONAL roller coaster of weight loss. Let’s focus on how good we feel about our healthy behaviors and how this life is truly a marathon and not a sprint. We are not going to make the healthiest choice 100 percent of the time and THAT’S OK! The skill is knowing how to shut down the negative self talk that tries to tell us that we failed and replace it with a renewed sense of inspiration to just pick right back up where we were and get back on track. It is not the occasional unhealthy behavior, such as over indulging in Halloween candy or skipping a couple of workouts that sabotages our weight loss…it’s THE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS we hold about ourselves afterwards that linger on and affect how we move forward. We will never eliminate the occasional splurge (NOR DO WE WANT TO! That’s part of the fun in life!) so let’s just eliminate the negative thoughts so that we can feel good emotionally and move forward in a positive direction. There is NO PLACE in a healthy lifestyle for guilt, self loathing or frustration. Put as much effort into feeling good about yourself and your life as it is NOW and allow that joy to radiate and propel you forward into healthy behaviors for today.