Paying It Inward
How often do you find yourself complimenting people, counciling friends and even strangers on ways to realize their “wonderfullness”. Yet, how often have you shed tears when realizing that you are unable to be as kind to yourself as to a stranger on the street. Where do you find the ability to be kind to oneself, when you have had an inner voice telling you otherwise?
In the past, I have found it difficult to look at myself in the mirror and say, “You look great”. Most of the time I want to say, “You look like crap, how could you wear that, are you going to leave the house like that, etc” This kind of self talk is very negative and damaging. I didn’t know how to change that and I know I don’t deserve the inner abuse.
One of the most dynamic ways to begin to change your life is to create a positive internal environment. You can do this by beginning to feed yourself more positive information. Negative self-talk can have a fatal impact on your spirit, your sense of self worth and your desire to get fit and healthy.
I have been watching Oprah’s Big Give on Sunday nights and her motto is to “Give Big”. I was then reminded of a movie a few years back called Pay It Forward. After mulling the shows around in my mind a bit, I came up with a strange twist of a challenge that would benefit all.
Every time you say something nice about someone, do something kind for a neighbor or even think about giving someone a compliment then you must also pay it inward. For example, you run into a friend while shopping and tell them how wonderful they look, then you must then say something nice about yourself by paying it inward. If you go online and leave an hug or encourage a online buddy who is having a bad day, then you also pay it inward and say something or do something nice for yourself.
The intent here is to use your natural, built-in kindness as a jump start for positive self-talk. Each time you do a something kind for someone also becomes a clue to pay it inward. This one act will provide a way to take your mind off autopilot, to raise the awareness of your strengths and to bring more positive thinking into your day.
I strongly believe in positive thinking. A great thinker called Earl Nightingale once said, “We become what we thing about”. Lets give ourself a gift today by paying it inward, any takers?
Weight Loss Excuses
Everybody wants to lose weight. Most are looking for fast weight loss or quick weight loss and end up on a fad diet or some other lame brain idea to lose weight. After many of us try to lose weight time after time and that time piles up as year after year, the attempts start to be put off more and more by excuses. We are too busy, we have to take the children to soccer or the husband needs me to make sure the house is clean, I had to go to work early….bla, bla, bla. Whatever your excuse for not being able to lose weight you need to realize just that. It is nothing more than an excuse.
I have always been a very cut and dry type of person and I too could go work out more often or eat better foods. I am no weight loss wonder or Hollywood diet guru, I am just me and I realize that if you are over weight it is your fault. PERIOD!!! Strip away all of the excuses and what you have in your life is commonly referred to as reality. If your life is too busy then you have chosen to be busy. If your job is too demanding then that is your choice and that is what you are willing to accept. If you are always staying late at work, you chose to stay there. If you decide to make scenery for the school play, that was your choice. If you have children that need to be driven all over town everyday that too is your choice. You would not be a horrible parent to tell them to walk every now and then. If you choose to prepare full course, time consuming meals, then that is another choice
The sum total of your day is decided by the choices you make. Whatever you fill the time with is the things you allow to happen. If you can not find enough time a few hours a week, you have made a choice. If you choose to watch TV, that is alright, but do not think that you do not have time to exercise or prepare healthy meals. Choices are choices and you are where you are today because of the choices you made yesterday.
Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits
We all have the same amount of time in day and what you choose to do in that time is…..your choice. The entire point here is that if you are not the shape you desire, then you need to change the choices you make on a daily basis. If you want to run a marathon but can’t, you have made the choice because you are not preparing. We have become a nation that wants it now and gives up too fast. If you want to lose weight, then make the choice and make it happen.
Weight loss is really kind of simple for the average person. It is merely a matter of eating less calories than you burn in a day. There is not much more in the equation than that! if it is such a simple equation why are there so many obese people today? The answer is simple, it is the choice they make on a daily basis.
We are not here to fault you for being over weight. We know that losing weight is much harder than it may appear on the outside, we just hope you will realize that if you are over weight, it is because of the choices you have made. If you hope to lose weight in the future, it is merely a matter of how you handle the choices that are about to come your way
Would you rather spend one hour a day exercising, or 24 hours a day dead?
Military Wives and Husbands Looking For Weight Loss
If your husband is in the military and you are gaining weight you may need to lose a few pounds to continue to fit into the “crowd”. If you’re a guy and your wife is in the military while you are overweight then you really need to start thinking about dropping some of that weight. If your branch of service is the Navy or Air Force
The reason why you are feeling so self conscious of your weight is because most sections of the Armed Forces stress physical fitness and when you are not fit you are a standout. If your spouse is in the Marine Corps
You really should not be sitting at home tending to the kids and the family van and not be taking care of yourself. If you are not doing something for yourself to lose weight or just get healthy chances are you blame someone else for your current situation. Sadly though, after all of the blame has been tossed around you will find yourself tossed of the base and not being a dependant at all anymore because you were dumped.
This is not to say that all spouses are cheaters or that you are being cheated on at all. What we hope you will do is just start to spend some time on yourself. The reality of it all is that if you do not take care of yourself how can you do a good job taking care of someone else? How can you feel sexy in bed if you do not even feel comfortable by what you see in the mirror? How can you hope to preserve your relationship if you are not willing to preserve your own well being first? We want you to notice that we are speaking about the generic term of spouse and not specifically male or female. The sex does not matter because the desires are there for either sex. Also in today’s world a spouse needs to always ensure their mate is sexually satisfied or the temptation of side sex is much more possible.
In closing you need to get into shape and lose weight because it will keep you around longer. Not only will losing weight will make you healthier and keep you alive longer, it may also keep your relationship alive longer also. If you get into shape and lose those pounds your spouse may stick around longer also. If you can’t move around in bed to satisfy your mate your bedroom will lose the glitter of those early days. As time goes on there is no reason why your bed has to become dull and if it dies it may be because of your weight. If your weight makes you shuddder and wince as you pass the mirror then you and you alone can make that change. That change only needs to begin today and it does not mean that it all has to happen today.
Babies are not conceived and born in a day so do not stress out if you are dealing with baby weight gain because weight loss takes time. You just need to get started and that is all that matters today. Tomorrow is not here yet so you just have today. If you can always get through today, the tomorrows will take care of themselves.
So You Want To Lose Weight Fast?
I spend more time than most people learning about weightloss and exercise and I answer many questions on various forums concerning weight loss. When I go on these forums I am distressed to hear the same question, phrased differently, over and over again. That question is “How can I lose weight fast?” or How can I lose X # of pounds in a week or before I go on a cruise, or before I go back to school? The situation is different and maybe the weight you want to loose is different but the question is always the same. The basis of the question that I find so disturbing is “How can I lose weight fast?”
We here at I Choose Thin have tried so many different diet types that we want you to know that pretty much all diets are a bust. Sure you could go and try a specific diet and shed a few pounds but the end result is that when it is all said and done, you will end up fatter than you are now. The reason for this is because most, if not all, diets just do not work for life. The reason for the high diet failure rate is because diets are, by design, a failure. Just think about this for a moment. If you start a diet you have two things in mind with the first to be losing weight. The second part of the diet is that you want it accomplished by a certain date. To take the thought further, what happens if and when you achieve your goal? Let’s say you lose 50 pounds in time for the beach season, what then? Do you go back to what you used to eat and then gain back more weight than you lost?
One thing you must realize about the human body is that when you deprive it from something and lose weight you will gain back more weight than you lost once you start eating it again. If you deprive yourself of ALL carbohydrates and then lose 50 pounds that is great. Unfortunately, if you start to eat carbohydrates again you will gain all the weight back with a vengeance and also pack on more weight than you originally lost. The human body is designed to protect you and the body thinks that by adding on more pounds you will be ready for the next period of deprivation. This aspect of Yo-Yo dieting is a huge reason why there are so many overweight people in the world today.
All too often people read about some fast weight loss gimmick and they try to lose weight and it works for awhile. A few pounds are lost and then they revert back to eating the way they did before they got the motivation to lose the weight. If they lost 20 pounds on their diet, they would then gain back 25 pounds when the full path is completed when the diet ends.
If you desire to lose weight that is great! If you desire to lose weight fast then we pity you. You are not losing weight for the proper reason. Chances are you are wanting to lose weight for someone else or because you are seeking the approval of another. If you want to lose weight fast then follow this link to learn about The South Beach Diet and join online. This is a great diet plan for people who want it fast, but possibly not forever if they do not live the South Beach Plan. Sadly enough when you end that diet you will be back and chances are you will weigh more than you do now! When you are really ready to lose weight you will realize that you must want weightloss so bad you can taste it. You want to lose weight for the proper reasons. You will lose the weight so you can be healthy. When you start to make healthy choices the weight loss will begin. The ironic part is that once you realize that the best way to lose weight is to make healthy choices you will lose weight as a matter of fact. There is no mystery behind weight loss. If you want to lose the weight then you just need to start making healthy choices. The choices start today and involve a better food selection, smaller portions and some exercise.
If you want to lose weight then lose the word diet and lose the word fast from your search. If you want to lose weight then do it for life and when you make that choice the Yo-Yo diets will end, your body will be healthier and as a byproduct of the choices you make you will lose the weight.
Nobody fills you with sugar and soda and chocolate. Obesity is no mystery; it is a matter of choices. The question is how much you really want to lose the weight. We Choose Thin, What do you choose? Your weight loss begins with choices made today, tomorrow and the next day. True weight loss is for life and outlasts any diet on the market today. True weight loss is not fast and it is not a diet. True weight loss is a series of choices that will last the rest of your own personal forever.
Quitting Smoking and Losing Weight
I received an email from someone this morning that I never met before. By the end of the letter I was in the presence of a friend who wanted to quit smoking and was afraid she was going to gain weight. I read about her hopes and dreams of what she wanted to accomplish and it was great to hear about her newfound desire to start a healthier lifestyle.
I want everyone to know that what she is accomplishing in her three smoke free days is fabulous. She has quit for three days. The next part of the letter was where I wanted to reach out and hug her and ask her to stop being so critical about herself. She was telling me the wonderful things she has recently accomplished and I could sense the well deserved pride in her achievements. What did worry me was the fact that she gave herself little credit for what she had done. She HAD quit smoking for 3 days. She HAD started an exercise program. I felt as if she was pinning her achievements on something that was to occur in the future and she bypassed the here and now. She was not giving herself the well deserved pat on the back she needed for starting the healthy choices she had recently accomplished.
How often do we all do this?
How often do we look in the mirror and only are critical of what we see? I exercise and then think it was not hard enough. I eat healthier foods and I then am critical that maybe I ate too much. I look in the mirror and all too often I only see a reflection that is too critical of what is inside the body that is only a vessel that carries my spirit. We all need to stop and we all need to take a moment to live in the moment. We need to stop looking at the clock and waiting for 5 o’clock. We need to stop being so unloving about ourselves and the little accomplishments we make on a daily basis.
So yes Margaret, I am proud of you and I know that if you can only use your mind to harness that infinitely powerful spirit you will not only be able to quit smoking but you will be able to lose the weight and be the person you really see in the mirror. Because that critical reflection is really not you, it is only the outward manifestation of what you allow to be.