Kick Holiday Weight Gain To The Curb This Year

 

Make this November about health, not extra servings of pie.

The average American gains 5 lbs during the holiday and most people never lose the extra lbs.  That’s right, it stays on year after year after year…

Scary, isn’t it?

 

Make this the year that you beat this scary statistic and make a commitment to your body that you can be proud of.

 

This November the inspirational, Sam Lambooy of Slambooy Fitness and Betsy Fry of Find Food Peace and 365 Days of Sweat are hosting a “November Workout Challenge.”  Instead of hibernating as the days get shorter and colder, choose to workout everyday in November and take charge of your health.

 

Here’s the rundown:

 

• Workout everyday in November.
• You choose the intensity, duration and type of workout.
• Post what you did in the Facebook group “My November Workout Challenge.”
• Take photos of your workout and post them on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #activenovember and find all the other people around the world participating (seriously, we already have an Aussie and a Brit!).
• Be an advocate for health and invite your friends/family to join you!
• A free conference call for all participants led by Sam Lambooy and Betsy Fry.  We will be giving tips, encouragement, inspiration and answering all questions.

 

Are any of these reasons why you don’t want to participate:

 

• November is the best month for eating and starting off my winter hibernation the right way!
• The holidays are the ultimate diversion from my health goals.
• I’ll start working out again after the family season ends.
• It’s too cold/dark/snowy outside and I hate being confined to the gym.
• I have been thinking about committing to a regular workout regimen, but it’s too hard to commit to anything during the holidays.
• I intend on being in a tryptophan coma all month.
• There will be too much traveling/family time/shopping/stress to try to include working out.

 

If any of these sound familiar to you, then take a risk and let go of your excuses.  We challenge you to leap out of your comfort zone for one month.

 

 

Now that you’ve read all about the challenge, it’s time to make a wholehearted commitment to yourself.  All you have to do is write “I’m so down to sweat!” in the comment section below.   Once you do this, we will add you to the Facebook support group and answer any questions or calm any fears you may have.

 

Welcome to the challenge!   We are so happy to have you!

 

With sweaty love,

 

Betsy Fry and Sam Lambooy

A Wealth of Knowledge For You!

Even though the weather in Colorado is still boasting record high heat, I am day dreaming about pulling out my long-sleeve running shirts and breathing in cool crisp autumn air.   Can you believe that summer is almost over?  It seems like just yesterday closets were being switched from winter to summer clothes and lawnmowers were being pulled out of the garage

All of this season changing talk was what reminded me that I have not posted any of my new posts on my 365 website.  In case you have not subscribed to my new blog, I wanted to share some of the cool things topics that have been covered at FindFoodPeace.   Including a really cool free monthly challenge group that you can join today and the most popular blog post I have ever written.  And of course, some other fun topics that might resonate with you:

3 Tips To Never Miss Another Workout

Stop Dieting and Lose Weight Now! 

 

What I Learned From Mastin Kipp

What I Wish I Would Have Known In My 20s

The Key To Happiness You Might Be Missing

Enjoy the rest of your summer and don’t forget to indulge in your favorite pumpkin flavored treat!

Free Coaching & Updates

There is a lot of awesome action going on right now over at Find Food Peace.  Including photographs by a real photographer (if you are a business/website owner and you have not done this yet- get. on. it!), weekly blog posts on how to create a body & a life you love and a new affordable life coaching program for the masses.

In case you have missed any of my recent posts, here is a quick recap  for you:

Stick To Your Goals With One Easy Step

A Common Mistake That Dieters Make Daily

Love Your Body In A Swimsuit By This Weekend

Lose Your Negative Thoughts In Seconds

The Single Most Important Thing You Can Teach Yourself

How To Become A Happier Person

The Three Reasons You Are Not Losing Weight

If any of these posts speak to you or if you have any burning questions, leave your comments below the blog and I will get back to you ASAP!  I have some spare time carved out of my day just for that 🙂

Interactive Challenge

Although we are still three weeks away from the official day of summer, I am going to declare it summer in Colorado.  Today the temperature is in the high 80s and judging by how hot our home was last night, I am guessing the temps did not drop much lower than that in the evening.

With the summer months comes bbq’s, leisurely bike rides, family time, fresh mown grass, long sunny days, lemonade and popsicle’s,  road trips and afternoons spent lounging at the pool.  Some people workout more to look dyno-mite at the beach and others use their precious time to spend with family.  Typically, I come out of winter hibernation and use May-October as my months to explore outside while sweating as much as humanly possible.  

This year is no different.  A friend of mine started a website called Slambooy Fitness  (last name: Lambooy.  Fun play on words, right?) to share his knowledge and passion for fitness with others through his health tips, workout plans, meal prep instruction, and monthly challenges.  His first challenge already has a massive following that I wanted to share with you, in case you needed some support/inspiration/challenge in your (sweaty) life.  Here’s the deal:

• Run a 5k everyday in June (start today since I am just now telling you about this!)
• Post your run details on Instagram or Twitter
• Use #slambooy5kchallenge to find others that can support you
• Start your summer off by annihilating this goal!

This month I am committing to this challenge and I hope that you will too!  If you need any personalized support, shoot me an email and we can cheer each other on.    Happy sunny, sweaty and goal-crushy summer!

**Picture LOL: my cousin found this on a workout site and forwarded it to me.  How did this person know that I rock a 10 minute pace?!**

The Single Most Important Thing You Can Teach Yourself

In the past month alone I have had four clients ask, me “what do you mean by ‘take the time to feel your feelings?  How do I do that?’”  It was a really good question that was asked by incredibly bright women.

A lot of us go through life thinking that suppressing our true feelings makes us seem courageous, fiercely independent or free from emotional neediness.   Sound familiar?   See if you can find yourself in this example:  You are at upset with yourself for not following through on a goal and rather than face the reasons why, you choose to forget about the goal and ignore the emotions felt alongside of it.

By doing this you are telling yourself that whatever you are feeling is not important enough to be felt.  Then some of these thoughts come along, “This feeling will pass.   It wasn’t a big deal anyways.  I was making too big of a deal out of this situation.   These feelings are definitely not justified.”

You convince yourself that whatever emotion you were feeling should not have been felt, then you repress it and move on.  Who gave you this message that what you are feeling should not be discussed or felt?

If this sounds like something that is part of your routine, then I have got some news for you; these emotions will never stop coming.  They will painfully creep up on you for the rest of your life and it is your choice whether you want to keep sweeping them under the rug or if you want to examine the crap out of them.  Trust me when I tell you that the examination process is way more fun than sweeping.  Who likes cleaning anyways?

Dive deep into your feelings

Before you dive in and start a feeling frenzy, remember that nobody has ever died from feeling a feeling.  A feeling is just an emotion, nothing more.  There is nothing to be scared of and so much to be learned.

So the next time waves of emotions come up, I want you to stop and follow these seven quick steps:

1. Identify the emotion.   Am I feeling sad, lonely, scared, angry, confused, annoyed, thrilled, trapped or overwhelmed?
2. Focus solely on the emotion, not the stories created around the emotion.   Example:  I am upset because I have gained 15 lbs this year.   What you make the story mean:  I have gained 15 lbs and now that I have started gaining, I will NEVER stop.  I will end up living life as an obese woman that nobody will ever love and I will die alone.
3. Feel your emotion.  With your one chosen emotion in mind, sit down, close your eyes and allow this emotion to really sink in.  Feel the depths of this emotion.  Explore why you feel this way.  Ask questions about it.  If you feel inclined, grab a journal and write it all out.
4. Physically express your emotion.  Once you are done sitting with your feeling, decide if you would like to have a physical reaction to it.  Do you want to cry?  Scream?  Hit a pillow?   What physical reaction will allow you to feel this emotion deeper?
5. Shake it out!  You will know when you are done feeling it emotionally and physically.  Stand up, drink a glass of water and shake out the excess emotions.
6. Put your emotions in motion!  Go for a walk, dance to your favorite song, ride a bike, clean your cabinets.  Use this flow of energy to move your body.  Trust that your body knows what to do.  If you are too spent to move, then choose rest and be okay with that option too.
7. Acknowledge yourself for a job well done.  You just felt all of the depth of an emotion and survived!

Keep on using this model until you become comfortable with your emotions.  The first time you run through this it might feel awkward and could take a while.  Over time, this process will speed up and you will become a master at feeling your feelings and a spiritual teacher in your own life.  I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds way better than picking up a broom.

Let me know how this process works for you!  What happened once you let go and felt something?  Did you feel a shift?   Empower your feelings and leave your story below!

New Coaching Program For The Masses

I had this crazy idea that I was dying to try out with some of you!  I created a new life coaching group called “The Peace Posse” to give more women the option to try out life coaching, without having to make a massive financial commitment.  You will receive top-notch one-on-one coaching and get your hands on tools that will help you break free from painful emotional eating quickly.  This Posse would also be ideal for former clients, looking for some small accountability along the way.

Here is the scoop:

• Two private 20 minute coaching sessions per month for $49.
• Add an additional 60 minute coaching session for $149 per month.
• Awesome coaching techniques taught to you in shortened, 20 minute calls.

*This coaching option will only be available to 10 clients at a time. If you are interested, please email me, betsy@betsyfrycoaching.com and I’ll get ya all hooked up.

How Are You Holding Yourself Back?

It’s been quite awhile since I have written about working out, but today, I felt a tug at my little writing heart string to post about where I am in my sweating world.

Since my 365 days of sweat challenge ended, I have been continuing to workout.  At first, I thought that I would stick to working out everyday and I was quick to realize that it was not sustainable, and I was not happy doing it.  Too much time has passed to update you on what I have been doing every month, but I can fill you in on what my working out looks like right now.

•  Yoga: 2-3 times per week
• Running: 2-3 times per week
• Insanity workout video: 1-2 times per week
• Dog walking: 30-45 minutes 7 days per week (unless Journey gets lucky and I run with her).

A couple of standout moments happened this past week while I was adorning spandex and sports bras.  The first happened when I went to a yoga class with an instructor that I knew I did not jive with (sign #1).  I walked into the studio, peeked into the class and saw one other student (sign #2).   Despite the lack of yogi’s, I rolled out my mat and started warming up.  All of the sudden this massive wave of intuition rushed over me and told me to leave before class started (sign #3).   I ignored all three signs and struggled through the hour-long practice.  It. Was. Horrible.   I left angry and upset with myself for ignoring such a strong internal vibe.

After class, I came home and continued to be upset for a few hours.   You’re probably thinking, “What’s the big deal?  It was just a bad class.”  True, it was just a bad class.  However, it sucked me into a vortex of negativity and I was having problems getting out of it.   My husband recommended a walk with Journey and himself to shake out this new funk.  We walked and talked about all the reasons why my mind spiraled OOC (out of control!).  I explained to him why I thought it was so important to understand the depths of my emotions and within 25 minutes, I was back to myself again.

The reason I wanted to share this with you was to reiterate the importance of listening to yourself.  Of course there are going to be times when you veer off course, however, it is incredibly poignant to question why you lost sight of your needs and figure out how to avoid doing it again.

I challenge you to really tune into your needs today.  Listen to what you want, figure out why you want it and then follow through with it.  Compare how that feels versus choosing to ignore yourself.   If it works for you, I’d love to hear how it goes.  Leave a comment below this blog and an action plan for how you intend to keep it up!

The Three Reasons You Are Not Losing Weight

**Sign-up to receive my newsletter, which will give you tips to shed all of your unwanted weight, learn how to overcome emotional eating, finally enjoy working out, create emotional health by making yourself a huge priority, and find more time in your life to spend doing the activities you love.  If you’re interested, I will be rolling out a new affordable coaching program this week!  It will only be offered in my newsletter and will be first come, first serve!**

We all have our reasons why we hold onto those few extra pounds.  Perhaps the weight protects you from going after your wildest dreams or maybe you do not have enough time to dedicate to the cause.  However strong your reason is, you can get past it and lose that weight.  As a life coach that specializes in weight loss, I have heard everything in the book.  I have also helped tons of individuals shed their reasons and move forward into living healthy lives.  Here are the three main reasons that are keeping you from losing weight and living a life you deserve.

Reason #1:  Excuses  Excuses are the biggest reason why people get stuck in a world of being overweight and unhappy.  I have heard excuses that range from “I do not love myself enough to lose weight,” to “Putting myself first makes me feel selfish.”  Whatever your excuse is, I have a hunch that you actually believe it.  Know this: Your excuses are not true and they are taking you away from living a life of truth.  The quicker you rid yourself of them, the sooner you can start taking the steps you have been longing for.

Action Plan:  Make a list of all of the excuses why you have held onto the extra weight.  Dig deep here.  Bring every single excuse to the surface and examine why you held onto that thought for so long.  The next time this excuse comes up you know that it is just an excuse and it holds no real meaning.  Let the excuse go and before you know it, you’ve proved that excuse wrong.

Christi Nielsen / Art Photos / CC BY-NC-ND

Reason #2:  Security If you have ever said something along the lines of, “I will start to date once I lose 15 pounds,” or “I will be happy once I lose weight,” then you are using your weight as a security blanket.  You are choosing not to live your life until you look different.  Start living your life right now!   When you allow yourself to do the things that you thought only your “skinny self” could do, you are proving to yourself that you do not deserve happiness right now and riding yourself the opportunity to live in the present.  When you allow yourself to live your life right now, the exact way that you are, you will be surprised what happens to your waistline.

Action Plan:  Jot down all of the things that you are waiting to do until you are at your ideal weight.  Choose one thing on your list and do it this week.  Rock your dreams at any weight and show yourself that happiness is not dependent on your pant size!

Reason #3:  Fear  There are a few different types of fear that can accompany weight loss; fear of making yourself a priority, fear of changing your lifestyle, fear of starvation, fear of working out and fear of being comfortable with oneself.  Whatever type of fear you can identify with, know that once you start working on whatever scares you, the fear will subside.  Remember how terrifying it was the first time you dove off a diving board?  Then you dove, survived, and did it again one hundred more times that day.  Fear can be paralyzing and can keep you from moving for years, or perhaps a lifetime.  Do not just wait for the fear to go away, work through it.

Action Plan:  Identify your fearful thoughts.  Once you have done that, ask yourself these genius questions by Byron Katie, “Is this thought true? Can you absolutely know that this thought is true?  How do you react when you think this thought? Who would you be without this thought?”  Once you put the fears out in the open, they hold less power in your mind.  Bonus: write down a thought that feels truer than your crappy fearful thought.  Set a daily reminder in your calendar with the new and improved thought and watch how your energy shifts.

These three main mental blocks come up time and time again.  They can manifest as a reality in your mind for a long time and convince you of a lot of untrue things.  Once you have worked through these things, start making changes slowly.  Do not shoot out of a cannon and make 100 changes to your life in one week, it’s not sustainable.  Just ask anyone who has cut out all carbs or tried to work out every morning at 5:00 a.m.  Start with small goals and once you have mastered those, move onto the next.  When it feels too hard to continue, take a break for one day.  Pick up wherever you left off the following day and find peace in knowing that you will get there.

**If you enjoyed this article and are interested in working with me one-on-one, contact me at betsy@betsyfrycoaching.com and we can start changing your life next week!  If you’re interested in the brand spankin’ new coaching program that will exclusively roll out in my newsletter next week, then sign-up today!  It is first come, first serve y’all!  This one will book fast.** 

How to love your thighs and your crazy aunt

365 Readers:  It has been awhile since I have posted here and I apologize.  I mentioned in my latest blog that I was cooking up something else.  Although it is not ready yet, I do have some content that I wrote for the new site that I wanted to share with you.   Enjoy it!

How to love your thighs and your crazy aunt

My philosophy for change is easy; you have to let go of your desired outcome and love where you are right now. What does this mean? It means letting go of the painful thoughts of what your life should look like and embracing the picture you have created for yourself right now. This is the first and the most important step that you will take on the road to a healthy life.

How much time and energy are you using everyday thinking about how life should be for you? You should have smaller thighs. You should be in a great relationship. You should be making a lot more money. All of these shoulds are causing you pain and are keeping you stuck in the life that you are in right now. It does not mean that you have to settle for a life without those things, it means you have to embrace where you are to get to where you want to be.

Learning to do this takes patience, persistence and most importantly, self-love. Here are five fun tips to fall in love with who you are right now:

1. Create time to make time.  Find time to care for yourself every single day.  Carving time out of your schedule to tend to only yourself may seem like a luxury that you cannot afford. However, living your life believing that you do not have enough time to tend to your own needs first is even more dangerous. How many times have you heard the spiel from the flight attendants about putting your own oxygen mask on before assisting others? Same thing goes in life.

Action Plan: Make a list of all the things you have to do during your day. Cut out a few of the things that are not necessary or find another way to do it. Ex: Have to clean the house? Enroll your significant other to help or decide that those dirty floors can wait until you have more time. Now take those newly free 30 minutes to exercise, read a book or catch up on a blog. Whatever it is you need that day.  Do it with the same amount of importance that you would have placed on something not so important (aka cleaning the dog hair off your floor).

2. Clear out your contact list. We all have a few people in our lives that drain us mentally, emotionally or physically. It is time to be brutally honest and ask yourself why you keep these people around. I call these people “drainers.” They will continue to drain all of your awesomeness out of you until you no longer have anything to give. Doing a friend a solid is a part of a healthy friendship, doing a friend a lot of solids and having to continually prop them up in their lives is not. Take a look at the people who make you feel alive inside and full of laughter on the outside; those are the people to surround yourself with.

Action Plan: Hopefully just reading that last tip has sparked a name or two in your head. If it did not, it could mean that you do not have anyone like that in your life. Give yourself a high-five for not letting them in!  If you are not sure if you have anyone like that in your life, then ask those light-up-your-life-friends if there are people in your life that you continually talk about because they make you feel crappy. Those LUYLF’s will be honest. Once you have the name(s), slowly let them go. Stop proactively making plans and take your time responding to emails/texts. Take note of how you feel with less of them in your life. If you notice a more positive you, then it is time to let go entirely.

3. Clear out your planner. We are back to looking at that wham-packed schedule of yours. Is there anything on your planner that makes you cringe? Perhaps a happy hour with co-workers and all they do is job bash? Or a dinner date with your Aunt who wants to talk about your recent weight gain?  You do not have to do those things if they make you feel anything but stellar. Those situations will just steer you further and further away from the happy life you are aiming for.

Action Plan: You have a few options here based on what type of person you are or are striving to be. Option A: Cancel the plans and continue to keep them off of your planner in the future. Option B: Inform your co-workers/friends/family that if you get together then whatever it is that you do not want to talk about will not be up for table chat. Then come to the event prepared to listen (sometimes it is more fun to listen than to talk) with a list of suitable topics to discuss. Ex: Aunt Sally, tell me about the first time you fell in love or the biggest adventure of your life. I guarantee that more fun will be had for everyone involved.

4. Ditch the Donuts.  We all have our favorite way of coping with issues in life.  Mine used to be eating copious amounts of donuts until I felt so sick that I (kind of) forgot what my initial problem was.  If you are here, then I am going to assume you turn to food when the times get tough.  What’s your poison?   Be honest to yourself and admit what you do and how you do it.  Do you eat in your car or when nobody else is around?  Or do you wait until you can go to dinner with friends and then it feels more justified?   Everyone has their way of dealing, it’s time to take a look at yours.

Action Plan:  Now that you have identified how you handle the pain in your life, it is time to dig deeper.  What is the pain that you are covering up?  Is it deep-seated and deserves some nurturing from a life coach or therapist?  Is it light-hearted and just needs a friend’s ear?  Figure out what it is and give it the attention that is needed to move forward.   As you are in the process of figuring out your issues, you will have to find new ways to help you get through them.  My favorite way is by going for a run.  It is just me, my rockin’ Les Miserables Pandora Station (not kidding) and my thoughts.  It is freedom in a sports bra clad disguise.   Now it is your turn to figure out what feels better than stuffing down your feelings with a bear-claw.  Lets recap these steps 1. Figure out how you (unhealthily) cope  2. Identify what it is you are trying to cover-up and how to address it  3. Introduce new (healthy) ways to help you cope.

5.  Retrain your brain.  After all of these changes have been implemented into your life you deserve a break.  I do not mean running back to the fridge to celebrate with a pack of Double-Stuff Oreos.   I mean that you need to reward positive behavior in your life with small celebrations that do not include food.  This is going to reinforce the changes you have made and signal the brain that it likes the change.  Change. Is. Good.

Action Plan:  Have fun with this part!  Create a list of all of the ways you can treat yourself for bringing more happiness into your life.  Example:  play fetch with the pooch, meditate for 5 minutes, drink a cup of tea, go to yoga, read a chapter in your favorite book, call a friend or zone out on a trashy reality show that you will not admit to anyone you watch.  Once you have your list completed, reward yourself every time that you complete an item from the list above.  Make sure that while you are integrating these rewards into your life that you are dubbing them that.  You deserve this reward girl, rawr!   Side Note:  feel free to add in animal noises if it makes you feel sassy!

These are the first steps in learning how to move forward in your life without making life altering changes.  When you add these in you will enjoy where you are and in return, stop yearning for those shoulds.  After all, those shoulds do not really exist.  They are just what you have created in your head to keep you in a safe place, paralyzed by fear.    Ready to make some of these changes?  In the comment section below, write about what things you gave up, what you added in and how life feels different.

A Furry Tale/Tail

Life moves quickly and sometimes it leaves us looking back and wondering why we did not enjoy those precious moments when we had the chance.  A lot of times I am looking to the next best thing to find fulfillment; turning to my yoga mat to try to make this not so.  As of lately, it has not helped.  Time has been flying by and I have forgotten to take a good look at the beautiful life that surrounds me.  Perhaps that is part of the holiday season madness that ensues the normal household, or maybe not.  Regardless, I know it is not the way that I want to live my life.  Presence of the mind and presence in the heart are the key to living a life full of true presents.  Deep stuff.

Since it is the holiday season, I have been thinking a lot about the traditional gifts that come with this time of year.  Of course they are all wonderful, but a week after they are opened the novelty of them has worn off and we are left searching.  Continuously.

This new year, my resolutions will include nothing but learning how to let the endless searching go.  More on that in a few short weeks.

Until then, I am turning to my pets to clue me on what is special in my life.  Yes, this is actually a post about the importance of them.  “Them” does mean two, which means that we have a new furry addition to our family.   We adopted a four-year old fluffy 47 pound chow mix (mixed with what, we do not know) from the Denver Dumb Friends League on Friday afternoon.  She was named Jill by her previous owners, but we had to change the name.  Our seven-year old cat named Jack  would not approve of the nursery rhyme themed pet household.  We settled on the name, “Journey,” instead.

Why Journey?  We are her third owners in four years.  She was in an abusive household for the first few years of her life and then spent the following years as an outdoor dog to a family that decided they no longer had time for her.  The light name of Jill did not seem to suit a dog that has been treated so poorly, she deserved a name that shows her strength and the determination that she showed to find herself a better life.  Now her real journey begins with a family that showers her with belly rubs, walks, treats and occasional loving head bumps from a confused cat.

Yesterday I walked her for thirty minutes and watched her stop every so often to sniff her new surroundings and take what seemed like deep sighs.  When we got home I did some Christmas present wrapping on the floor and she came over and laid in my lap and licked my hand.  I am pretty sure she was telling me this new life is okay, she’s happy here.  She’s enjoying the new moments as they come, at the same time, she is slowly teaching me to do the same.

The real beauty of pets that are well-loved is that they pull us out of ourselves a bit and challenge us to slow down and experience life with them.   So pet owners out there, give some extra attention to your furry friend this season and slow down.  Look at the life around you, it’s beautiful.  Fur balls and all.