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

How Consistency Can Change Your Health

Today is Day 10 of the June 5k running challenge that I am taking in part in and I thought it was time for a quick update.

I have always used RunKeeper to keep track of my runs on my phone (via GPS) and have recently switched to NikePlus because it shows an outline of my running course.  How cool is that?  Technology is awesome.

Here are my average pace/per mile times for the identical 3.14 mile run the past 10 days:

• Day 1:  9’32″/mile
• Day 2:  9’26″/mile
• Day 3:  9’24″/mile
• Day 4:  9’20″/mile
• Day 5:  9’22″/mile
• Day 6:  9’18″/mile
• Day 7:  9’13″/mile
• Day 8:  9’26″/mile
• Day 9:  Opps!  Went hiking for 2.5 hours instead!
• Day 10:  8’58″/mile

It’s interesting to me that although my times are not always improving, that I am still getting faster.  Consistency has been my best friend these past 10 days and I want to challenge you to add some sort of consistent workout into your life.  If you’re new to the ball game, here are some options to ease you into a healthier lifestyle:  walk for 20 minutes per day, try the couch to 5k running program, complete a yoga video in the privacy of your own home, take the steps at work (every time you leave your office).  Start small and see how it works.  And be gentle to yourself if you slip-up (see Day 9 above).  Just get back on the horse and pickup where you left off. 

Do you have a consistent workout schedule that you love?  Have one that you have been wanting to try?  Leave a comment in the section below and share what works for you or what you think sounds awesome!   Your gold nugget fitness tip could work for someone else too!

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.** 

Find Your Peace With Food

Last year all of you wonderful readers followed me on a journey to sweat every day for 365 days straight.  Words cannot express how genuinely grateful I am for the support that you gave me throughout the year.  You gave me strength and encouragement when I needed it the most.  Because of you, I walked away from the challenge feeling like a strong, capable woman.

Along the path I shared a lot of my life with you and opened up a bit about my former relationship with food and eating.  At one point I dabbled with anorexia, but found it just a little bit too hard.  I settled in with bulimia for quite some time and eventually committed to binge eating.  For years, my relationship with food was incredibly unhealthy.  At this point in my life, I have rid myself of most of my eating issues and have turned my focus to living a peaceful life with food.  It does not mean that my struggling as stopped, in fact, I continue to fight my urges every single day.

In my coaching practice almost every client talks about their stressful relationship with food.  Every time it comes up, we use different tools, strategies and metaphors to help them find resolve with their issues.  I love sharing what I know with my clients and I cherish the relationships that we build together.  In the last few months I have felt a bigger calling to share my knowledge with the world.  Well, the web world that is interested in reading what I have to say!

On my new website I will be sharing some of my coaching tools, hat tricks and as much loving encouragement that can be mustered up.   There are big lofty goals that I hope this website can attain and with your help, it can get there.  So it’s time for you to buck up, get honest with yourself and know that now is the time for you to make a change.  Head on over to www.findfoodpeace.com and sign-up for emails to learn how.

Thank you again for reading and I look forward to getting to know you more on Find Food Peace.  Namaste.

Days 268-272: Lots of Sweat & Rain

Day 268:   I am starting to think that keeping up with the blog is harder than the working out!  This week was filled with lots of sweaty, humid, rainy runs.  Starting with a four mile run on the 4th!   The air in Denver was thick with smoke from Wyoming wildfires, which proved to make my run a bit tricky.  Luckily, I ran early in the morning before the air quality was too bad.

Days 269 & 270:  4 mile runs to the park both days and biking to/from work.

Day 271: Yesterday I biked to and from work and tagged on a few extra miles thinking that was all I was going to have time for before a storm hit.  Once I got home, I decided to go to Core Power for a Saturday evening sculpt class. Due to my newest Yoga Sculpt addiction,  I made the decision to buy an unlimited month at the nearest studio to add some definition to my guns pronto.    The 60 minute class has bursts of cardio, weight training and yoga poses.  It really is the perfect combination.

Day 272:  This morning Mike and I rode our bikes to lululemon to join their 4 mile run club.  We started out in the same running group for about a mile and then Mike naturally went with the fastest group at an 8:30 pace and I finished with a different group at a 9:30 pace.  Afterwards, we grabbed coffees and walked around the Cherry Creek Arts festival.  We fell in love with lots of art that we could never afford, dreamt of what our house is going to look like in a few months and then rode our bikes home (very quickly) in the rain.

It’s been quite the week, jammed with lots more last-minute wedding planning and holiday playing.  Five more weeks until the big day and again, my apologies for the blog slacking lately.   It will pick back up over the next few weeks!