Choosing feelings is quite alien initially, same with thinking positively and create some principles / rules around calorie intake.

You will then wake up one day lighter, healthier and stronger than the day before and that is the key.

Then all we need to do is more of what works for us which will be individual to all of us. And that’s probably why this weight loss journey can be a bit of a rollercoaster…

Until tomorrow…

How skilful are you?

Until tomorrow…

PS. It’s possible to eat and feel good and still lose weight – yet most people struggle with this concept and believe diet = ????

A set of scales is a tool and quite a precise tool at that.

If the scales hold an emotional grip over you then it may be a good idea to desensitise yourself and learn how to use them without panicking or feeling depressed.

2 sets of scales worth having are kitchen scaled (out of the box) and bathroom scales that are easy to step on because of their position in your house…

Quick bit of adult information. Every single piece of food and drink in your house has already been weighed by someone. Every single retailer who sells food has a set of scales. Drink is sold in pre-measured quantities and none of the staff go into a panic when they use scales or get depressed if the scales weigh a bit heavier. They just adjust the amount and get with it…

Doctors use scales to weigh because it is a form of measurement they can use to help them make decisions – so maybe it makes sense to look at scales as a decision making machine rather than something we love or hate (depending on the reading).

Anyway, my personal experience is that scales help if I contract with someone over the space of the year because we can learn from them. We weigh different at different times of the day, we weigh the same and yet our clothes are falling off of us. We weigh more and yet we “think” we’ve had a fantastic focused week. We “feel” we’ve put on and had a couple of unplanned binges and yet the scales say we’ve lost weight. We weigh on different scales and we get “different” readings…

To scale or not to scale… That is the question…

Until tomorrow…

And yet, I am loving this journey of self discovery. I am beginning to do the things I need to do as well as just learning about them and the best thing this morning is my journal is full of things I actually want to do to become successful…

Anyway, hoping the simple things in life make you smile this morning because it is a lovely morning in the Stipanovsky house (everyone is still asleep…)

Nice…

Until tomorrow…

This morning I feel committed to accomplishing the simple things that work. Unless I schedule in certain things they just don’t happen…

Willingness to continue until I reach my goal whatever life chooses to put my way…

Until tomorrow…

Creating the gap between our hands and our mouth seems like such a simple thing to do and yet it seems sometimes to be the most difficult thing in the world. I went to the cinema last night with my children to watch Chronicles and we spoke about calorie density and choosing an eating strategy.

We decided to go to Nandos first and also bought some food snacks to eat in the cinema. Then got very thirsty due to the excess salt and bought some diet coke and I managed to explain the reality of our current “obesigenic” environment without being too harsh or without abstaining from food and drink.

Anyway, the current reality is that you can pick up 3000 / 4000 calories with a coke, hotdog, bag of chocolate and some popcorn and that’s after a quick 1000 in Nandos.

5000 calories in a couple of hours without noticing it due to watching a film – and that’s without being influenced by the Pepsi and Pringles product placement…

Until tomorrow…

Having a plan – even it doesn’t work all the time is better than no plan. And each time I reevaluate my plan I am learning.

I am also enjoying teaching this, applying this and am actually seeing the benefits in many different areas of my life, my family life, my professional life, my academic life and it’s great…

Choosing to connect with 5 others and be supportive has meant I have really had to struggle and comprehend and digest and attempt to communicate what I know works to be helpful.

In the current climate of information overload, magical thinking and a blame / victim mentality it is life changing and liberating to choose to learn how to become fitter, stronger and healthier.

My biggest success so far is me…

And it feels nice to be me – and it has taken many years to be able to say this out loud…

Every day I like being me and it is nice because I choose to look for and do nice things. And it is nice sharing how to stay focused and write in a journal, learn how to measure our intake, learn certain substances are quite dangerous in their addictiveness and that there is nothing wrong with us.

We are designed to store fat. And some of us are (or were) better than others at storing it…

And it is nice to “unstore” the excess fat through little changes every day…

Until tomorrow…

Finding a small thing we can do everyday regardless of the weather can help us stay focused when we are stuck inside or just can’t be bothered going out…

How do you create a bit of internal sunshine ??

I have only just realised that I truly love the sunshine. I knew I missed the sunshine and I like the different seasons – however I really, really love the sea, sand and sunshine of Tenerife…

So I am going to take 5 minutes today and recreate a memory of walking along the beach and remember all the sights, sounds and smells of my favourite beach and even as I am writing this I can feel myself smiling. Nice… And less than one calorie…

Until tomorrow…

This morning I had no Internet connection and the plans of mice and men went out the window. Up at 6am for a Skype call and everything went pear shaped as they say.

The consistency of Sparking and my commitment to blog everyday and attempt to relate this weiffy loss has been very good for me and also for fellow Sparkers from the feedback and friendships I have made. I also blog the same on a wordpress blog and recommend Spark (and a couple of other Internet sites for ongoing support) to other colleagues, clients and just about anyone I come into contact with.

In amongst all my angst (or living through and releasing the anxiety I have had from childhood) I chose to focus on sharing what I am learning through the psychotherapy journey I started “officially” in 2003 and wanted to focus on making a difference.

As weight loss, anxiety, depression, addiction, relationships and self care covers just about all of us I tend to write what is on my mind when I get 5 minutes spare to blog and hope that we get stronger by sharing our journeys…

Today, I am healthier, lighter and more focused than ever in many different areas and this helps tremendously when another area doesn’t go to plan or something happens that invites me to make “emotional judgements” that may feel good in the short term and be damaging to me in the longer term.

So I am grateful for the understanding that planning works even when it doesn’t go to plan and today I can do some stuff – like writing this – that turns my focus back onto the things that work for me…

Writing in my journal,
Planning some time to exercise and doing it today,
Planning my calorie intake and understanding some food and drink choices are emotionally based rather than nutritionally based,
Drinking some plain water
Taking 5 minutes to congratulate myself on the stuff thats going well.

And connecting with some like minded people such as yourselves for some support and inspiration to help me teach myself how to get a “six pack”…

So why not also take a little time to nicely congratulate yourself for something today – even something as simple as a glass of water or a five minute walk because believe me it makes a difference for real.

So thanks and goodbye…

Until tomorrow…

Today is one of those days, need to pick myself up and get on with what I need to do. Am going to make myself a nice bit of breakfast, have a nice cup of coffee and plan my next couple of months…

Today I need my faith…

And today I am glad I no longer comfort eat or binge. My weight loss journey is going OK, just going to the school of hard knocks at present…

Until tomorrow