Do you amplify your wins or your losses?

Most of us amplify our losses, and I'll bet you do it, too.

Not sure? Answer these questions:

1. You were feeling kind of tired today when you went to your workout. You completed most of your plan but not everything. When someone asks you how your workout went, what do you answer?

A) It was great! Instead of ditching the gym, I did what I could.
B) I got it done, but I didn't finish everything.
C) It was terrible. I was too tired to complete everything.

2. You set a goal to drink a gallon of water every day. Today, you barely drank half that amount. At the end of the day you say:

A) Ugh! I failed to reach another goal.
B) That didn't go as planned, but I drank more than I normally do.
C) Why can't I do anything I plan to do?

If you answered B or C for #1 or you answered A or C for #2, you amplify your losses.

Why does this matter?

Without getting all metaphysical about energy and negativity, the fact is that we like to do things that make us...

Health and wellness can seem complex and overwhelming, especially when you’re a woman over 40. By this time in your life, you feel like you’ve tried everything to manage your weight and health. On top of your own experience, every friend and neighbor has a story to share with you about their own weight loss or health journey. Things can get complicated very quickly.

• There are all things you haven’t been doing for the past 20 years (or more).
• Then there are all the new fitness crazes (should be doing Pilates or HIIT?).
• Throw in the complications of Keto, Intermittent Fasting, and Menopause, and it’s easy to see why you might opt out altogether.

There has to be an easier way.

And there is.

Meet The Four Fs.

I like to think of health and wellness in terms of The Four Fs… Food, Fitness, Feelings, and Friends. Mastering each of these categories is simpler than you think.

Food

What you put into your body determines what comes out in terms of weight and...

Want to feel Ah-MAZING in your own body? 

If you answered yes, this is for you.

If you want to go from cringing every time you look in the mirror to loving the skin you’re in, then you have to STOP telling yourself these 3 things: 

• Stop telling yourself that you suck for letting yourself go. 
• Replace it with:
  I love me for everything I've gone through and survived. 

• Stop telling yourself it’s too late to have the body and the health that you want.
• Replace it with:
  The best time to change my body and health is right now! 

• Stop telling yourself you fail every time you try to make a change. 
• Replace it with:
  I keep trying until it works.

You’re probably asking yourself, why does this matter to me right now, at this particular moment in my life? 

Here’s why this matters (or it should matter) to you most…

• You're not going to lose 30 pounds in 30 days, but the only way to see...

Change your mind to change your health.

When you’re working on creating healthier habits or losing weight, get your mind in the game first.

If your thoughts circle around all of the reasons you can’t change, then you won’t change.

Instead of mastering new habits, you’ll sabotage your efforts ending up in a pool of frustration and self-doubt.

Here are 5 simple thoughts to turbo-charge your efforts and have you smashing your goals.

1. Set short-term goals.

Regardless of how you got to where you are today, believe that today is a new day and that you CAN make a change. One way I like to do this is to focus on the short term.

For example, “This meal or snack will be full of healthy items.” If you stay focused on THIS meal or snack, you can make a healthy choice right now and not worry about what’s happening next. As you string together each “now” choice, days and weeks can go by in which you’re making a healthy choice...

Our beliefs dictate our behavior. This simple statement has proven itself true again and again, especially when it comes to weight loss or creating healthy habits. 

I constantly see 3 beliefs that lead to failure in this area. And I consistently see that people harboring these beliefs don’t know they’re there. I’m going to share the beliefs, tell you how to recognize them and (the best part), tell you how you can kick them to the curb to become the healthy, strong, confident person you are meant to be. 

Belief #1: I’m not worthy or I don’t deserve to be healthy, strong, happy. 

•  How to recognize it: Your self-talk is harsh, mean, and negative. “I can’t get my f@t a$$ to the gym.” “I’m too stupid to meal prep.” I don’t know WTF is wrong with me that I can’t do this.” Being mean to ourselves has led to the success of exactly zero people. Contrary to what you see on TV and in the...

Have you said this, “If only someone would tell me what to eat, I’d be so much healthier?” 

Or, even better, “If someone would come to my home and cook healthy, delicious meals for me, I’d finally lose the weight (or lower my blood pressure or not be pre-diabetic). 

I have some bad news for you. 

It won’t work. 

It never does. 

How do I know? 

I’ve handed out thousands of meal plans. Each plan was customized to my client's caloric needs (for weight loss, maintenance, or weight gain) and customized for different food preferences (gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, low-carb, even fast food, and dozens of other options). They included shopping lists, recipes, and food substitution lists.

Do you want to know the truth?

The overwhelming majority of people didn't follow their plan. 

Sure, a few did, but they were not the norm. The people who do follow the plan all have...

"Set SMART Goals," they said.

"SMART Goals are how to get things done," they said.

"SMART Goals are the secret to success," they said.

I thought and thought. I diagramed, white-boarded, and analyzed what I wanted to achieve. I refined, re-framed, and word-smithed. Finally, I had it. I had a SMART goal.

You know that feeling? You're struggling with a concept, and your brain hurts from thinking about it so much? It's followed by a flood of relief when you realize you've worked out the problem. I was at that point. I thought, "I've got it! I've figured it out." I have my goal, and it's SMART, and now everything is going to change.

But it didn't.

The goal was there. It checked all of the boxes. It was SMART. Apparently, I wasn't quite so smart.

What was the goal?

I will lose 25 pounds by (insert date here, usually six months out).

Let's double-check it for SMARTness.

Specific? Yup…25 pounds.

Measurable? Yup…25 pounds.

Achievable? Yup…6 months is 24-26 weeks, 1-2...

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" may seem like a silly question in a blog post. Stay with me because what you think about most creates your success or failure.

What you think about yourself is reflected in the mirror. 

That means that if you can change what you think about, you can change what is reflected in your mirror. 

In the 1950s, a plastic surgeon named Maxwell Maltz noticed that his work improving his patients' faces didn't always have the life-changing, positive effects he anticipated it would have. Every so often, he would complete a nose job or repair a scar for a patient, and post-surgery, the patient would complain that nothing changed. He would show them their "before and after" photos, point out the dramatic improvements, and the patient would say, "yes, but nothing has changed." His explorations into this phenomenon resulted in the classic book, Psycho-Cybernetics.

Here's what he found:

• Our brain works on targets. 
• ...

How do you feel about Mondays?

I know, there are people out there who LOVE them. “It’s a brand new week!” they say. “It’s another opportunity to change my life!” they say. They begin the week fully charged after a weekend of resting and relaxing.

While I don’t hate Mondays, I generally don’t come rushing into them ready to take on the world. I’m more of a mellow-Monday kind of woman. I try to gather my thoughts and make a plan for the week. I tend to see Monday as a day to get organized. It’s more of a “start your engines,” kind of a day.

Then there are the Monday-haters. I had a friend in my 20s who used to drink to excess on Sunday evenings on purpose. “Mondays suck anyway,” was his philosophy, “so why not be hungover?”

Monday can be a smack-in-the-face, return-to-the-grind kind of day. On Monday we may find ourselves facing what we put off on Friday. I know many who feel the dread...