Why Fly Fishing Has Nothing To Do With Dieting

Yesterday a work colleague of mine very kindly took me to learn how to cast down at Fordingbridge on the Avon river.  Now what has this got to do with "Whereisthatbody.."

Well, you know they say it is all in the mind, well it is, because if it wasn't we would all be the shape, weight and size we want to be.

Sometimes you have to take the focus OFF that body and just go and do something completely different.  Get out there and shock yourself!  I never thought in a million years that I would go fly fishing but my sister and her three daughters absolutely swear by it so I have always wondered and curiosity is my best/worst trait.

So I have now spent an hour on the Avon river casting away aimlessly and wondering if I am going to be any good at it.  I can assemble my rod, tie a fly on the end of it and throw it into the water.  I have a new insight into ducks as well - as soon as you pick up a carrier bag they think it is lunchtime!  ~Don't know how I am going to be actually handling those slippery fish or getting that hook out of their mouths but I have taken the first step.  WE ARE READY TO ROLL BABES!

So just go away and think about it.  Do something totally mad or out of character for yourself and see how it makes you feel, because how you feel is THE most important element in getting what you want and where you want to be.

I am now motivated and getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning to do half an hours keep fit as I know I will NEVER do it later on.  On my days off I do an hour and then practice some new belly dancing moves I am trying to learn by watching the DVD.

            

Never Diet Again!

Be healthy, happy and successful… without ever dieting again. That’s right never… diet… again. Repeat three times in your mind. Feels good, doesn’t it? Now, I’m going to show you how we use Self-Compassion Therapy to beat the diet demons here at Smash Your Scale.

Step 1:

I tell the truth about diets and dieting. Dieting does not work and is one of the worst things you can do to your body and mind. Dieting harms your psychological wellbeing and ultimately causes weight gain, not loss. This isn’t just my opinion. It’s a scientific fact! Researchers at UCLA reviewed 31 long-term diet studies lasting between 2 and 5 years and concluded: “The findings reported so far give a bleak picture of the outcomes of diets… Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people.” Clear enough? Medical research also shows that skinny people don’t even live longer. Why bother when there’s nothing to gain?

These are examples of the real medical and scientific truths the diet industry suppresses that I make available to our members at Smash Your Scale. Truth is what I do here. That’s why I will never accept advertising on this website. SmashYourScale.com will always remain a safe place where women are free from the constant cascade of food advertising, esteem destroying diet come-ons and photoshopped shapes that don’t exist in real life.

Many of us in the responsible medical community have been trying to stop deceitful “diet-docs” from peddling health destroying, impossible to achieve 30 pounds in 30 days promises. Regrettably, there are many unscrupulous “nutritionists,” grade D celebrities, charlatans pushing diet pills and other swindlers who will hock any bogus potion or notion for a buck. I name names, reveal their frauds, and empower you to protect yourself and your health in my Smash Your Scale, Women’s Wellness Therapy Program, Maximize Your Body, Mind, Self…And Never Diet Again.

Step 2:

Expose how and why the media and diet industries manipulate women to hate our bodies.  Here’s one example of how they do it to us. Every day you are bombarded WITH images of skinny women on TV, in movies, magazines and on the Internet. You compare yourself to these “perfect” air brushed, photoshopped images and of course are left feeling inadequate. This psychological phenomenon is called social comparison and occurs subconsciously. You don’t even realize it’s happening unless you’ve been taught how to recognize the pattern. Yes, I teach you how in my Women’s Wellness Therapy Program.

Fear not, the diet industry is there with the answer to all your anxieties… another diet! Yes, this diet will really work this time. This diet will really change your life. Everything will be better and happier if you just try one more diet… and another… and another… and another. When the diet doesn’t work you blame yourself, not the diet, and feel worse than before you started the diet. So you begin another search for the “right” diet that will work this time. And the music plays on… over and over again. It’s time to smash that song.

Once they have you on the diet merry-go-round the music never stops because the diet industry needs you to fail. Their whole business model depends on you failing again and again, throwing more dollars down the diet drain, attempting to meet some “perfect weight” or “thin ideal” defined by a man, probably pudgy. I discuss this deviant dichotomy — fat men telling healthy women to lose weight – and how to turn off their manipulative messaging in my Women's Wellness Therapy Program and during my online support sessions. 

We live in a diet obsessed, thin-centric media culture. We fixate on calories and carbs; buy millions of diet books, watch weight loss reality TV (which isn’t real at all), and devour celebrity magazines stuffed with stories about the expanding and contracting waistlines of the rich, famous and lipo-sucked. Americans spend an estimated $62 billion on weight loss annually. That’s more than we spend on pets ($53 billion), movie tickets ($10 billion) and shoes ($48 billion). While pets, movies, and shoes bring us pleasure, diets only offer false hope, despair and depression as your health erodes. It doesn’t have to be this way. By joining Smash Your Scale you can end diet depression and desperation and help change our society so no woman ever feels ashamed of her body again!

Step 3:

Reveal the truth about YOU: You are beautiful right now. You don’t have to diet and lose weight to be healthy, happy, attractive, desirable and successful. How can you be any of those positive things when diets make you miserable, stressed, tired, grumpy and ashamed when you step on the scale? And in the end diets never really work, do they? Don’t just take my word for it; remember the last time you tried a weight loss pill, potion or fad diet? You believed the lies even though you knew they sounded too good to be true. You convinced yourself this diet was going to be different than all the rest. Like problem gamblers, we women keep putting dollars into the diet slot machine hoping this time we’ll win the jackpot and finally be 5’10” and weigh 120 pounds. Sister, it ain’t gonna happen. Save your money and start investing in yourself.

Step 4:

Help you to feel better about your body and self! My groundbreaking research shows that women can heal their negative body image, reduce body dissatisfaction, shame and increase body appreciation through self-compassion. Research also suggests that self-compassion may help you lose weight by reducing the tendency to binge eat. Yes, lose weigh too, through practising self-compassion therapy. I will show you how.

Based on my research and over 20 years of experience working with women like you, I’ve put together a complete step-by step program that will finally empower you to stop dieting, curtail emotional eating and maximize your health. Let me show you how to treat your body, self and health with the kindness and care you deserve. The program is FREE with your membership. Simply join me for only 14.95 and start your diet free journey to health and happiness today.

My mission is simple: To serve the Smash Community, reveal diet deceptions and the manipulative marketing tactics that keep women on the diet hamster-wheel. I will help you dump dieting and get healthy in mind, body and spirit.

Ever see a happy dieter? I didn’t think so.

Source:- http://www.smashyourscale.com/never-diet-again

The End Of Dieting

Since its publication in 2003, Eat to Live has sold more than 1 million copies. It reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list, remaining there for years, while thousands of other diet books have come and gone.

Dr. Fuhrman writes, “For all of Eat to Live’s success, however, I quickly came to realize that science-based information about nutrition alone wasn’t enough. We still need help battling the twin powers of food preference and food addiction, the cornerstones of the billion-dollar diet industry that continues to push trendy, temporary, short-term solutions at the expense of our permanent long-term health.”

The End of Dieting takes Eat to Live a step further and does just that. It presents scientifically-proven nutritional advice with the most up-to-date research, providing a dietary guide to achieving weight loss and superior health that can be easily adjusted to accommodate the needs of a diverse population, even those with no time to cook, in-grained bad habits or who have failed to achieve lasting results with dieting in the past.  

We’ve been sold a false bill of goods. And, as a result, we’re fatter, sicker, and hungrier than ever before.

We deserve better—better information, better food, better health. We deserve information that will work, so we never need to diet again.

The End of Dieting will:

• Explain the life-threatening dangers of traditional “calorie restricting” diets
• Debunk the fake “science” of popular fad diets
• Offer an alternative to dieting that leads to permanent weight reduction and weight stabilization
• Outline an easy-to-follow eating program with meal plans and recipes that are doable, even for those with no time to cook or who like to eat meat
• A motivational and solution-based program for food addicts and those with obstacles in their path to wellness

This is the book and lifestyle we deserve—a proven, effective, and sustainable new approach to eating that enables us to fight and reverse disease, lose weight, and reclaim our right to excellent health.

Now is the time to begin your health revival. Welcome to the end of dieting.

Source:- http://www.drfuhrman.com/shop/End_of_Dieting.aspx

        

The Science Behind Why Diets Just Don't Work, And What To Do Instead

Thank you to Alan Henry for this.

Losing weight for healthy living is difficult, but that's not new. What's interesting is the role our brain plays in regulating our weight—any weight—and why that makes it so difficult to lose weight when we want to. Neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt explains in this TED talk, and discusses how eating mindfully can help.

The talk is a little long, about 12 minutes, but it really is worth a watch if you're struggling with your own diet or weight loss goals. Ultimately, she describes the intersection of human nature and our modern, drive-through world—where the brain is hard-wired to accept food and build energy reserves when food is available, but resist efforts to burn those reserve, largely because food scarcity has been a problem for much longer in human history than food abundance. She goes on to explain how the brain will, usually after a short period, determine what the body's "set point" weight is, kind of an unconscious "ideal weight" that has nothing to do with our health, but everything to do with food availability and lifestyle. She even explains how thinner people will burn fewer calories, thanks to the brain's interference, which makes it even harder to shed pounds.

All of those factors combined add up to why it's so difficult to lose weight when we want to, and why diets are so dysfunctional—our brain is now wired to send us powerful signals to keep us at the weight that it has deemed appropriate, even if our conscious mind wants something completely different. Instead, we get hungry, we overeat, we make poor dietary choices, and we're back to square one, feeling miserable about the whole endeavor. That's why "just put down the fork" is never a real path to weight loss.

Ditch Your Dysfunctional Diet and Learn to Love Your Food

Deciding to go on a diet is easy. Sticking to one is a completely different story. Countless diet…Read more

Instead, the key is focusing on a healthy lifestyle instead—exercise, activity, healthy habits—and mindful eating (eating when you're hungry and stopping when you're full, strictly), as in eating when you're hungry or when you need to, and being aware of what you're eating and how long you're eating while you dine. She gets into the importance of healthy habits at about 7:40, and what she means by "mindful eating" at 9:28. Skip there to go to the punchline, but the rest of the talk is interesting—and informative, if you've struggled with healthy eating (or know someone who's trying to losing weight) as well.

Sandra Aamodt: Why Dieting Doesn't Usually Work | TED

Source:- http://lifehacker.com/the-science-behind-why-diets-just-dont-work-and-what-1511144597 

5 Ways To Eat Like A 'Normal' Person (That Dieters Just Don't Get)

If you need to be reading this, you know exactly what I mean when I say the words "normal" eater. If you're a "weirdo" about food -- a calorie-counting, binge-eating, chronic-dieting weirdo -- you've all probably seen "normal" eaters in action, and thought to yourself, "How the hell does that woman just eat a single bite of a cupcake and leave the rest on her plate?!" Or, "Why does she get to eat whatever she wants and not care, while I have to count every calorie and sit on my hands trying not to eat the whole bread basket when I go out to dinner?"

I get it. Been there! And after years of studying, I've discovered the fundamental mentalities of "normal" eaters that are keeping you from freedom with food. Buckle up.

1. Normal eaters generally don't plan their food in advance. They eat when they're hungry, or when dinner time rolls around, and they don't think about food in between those times. They don't worry about what they're going to eat for dinner for hours before they get home from work, and they don't spend time creating elaborate meal plans (e.g., "For the next three months, I'm eating 3 oz. of lean protein and 1 cup of vegetables for every meal, with two fruit snacks at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. every day"). Lame.

2. Normal eaters have a life in between meals. That is, in addition to not planning, they don't fantasize about food, dieting and weight loss all day long. They think about what they should get their boyfriend for his birthday or how they're going to celebrate that new promotion -- not whether or not they should try to sneak a stale cookie from the corporate kitchen, because God knows when they'll ever be able to eat cookies again.

3. Normal eaters don't think they're doing anything "wrong" when they eat something that might not be the best for them. What I mean is, normal eaters don't attach moral judgement to what they're eating. They don't think the whole world is going to judge them for eating a doughnut in public, and don't "sneak eat" cookies in the middle of the night. While they generally make healthful choices because that's what feels best to their bodies (and thus that's what they legitimately want) they're not sent into a frenzy when they do eventually have a bite of dessert or the occasional side order of fries. It's no biggie.

4. Normal eaters eat when they're hungry and stop when they're full, and usually eat what sounds good to them in the moment. Are you having a "duh" moment? The number one objection I get from women when I tell them the benefits of a "non-diet" approach to eating is, "If I wasn't constantly on a diet, I'd gain a bajillion pounds." Not so. Eating like a "normal" person means making decisions about food based on your body's natural biological wisdom, rather than external cues that make you feel like you're in prison. Your body knows exactly how much food you need to maintain a weight that's healthful for you. That is the biological function of hunger -- to remind animals to eat (because otherwise "normies" might forget... for serious).

5. Normal eaters practice a variety of coping mechanisms and don't turn to food to get them through the day's discomforts. This is the single most important thing to understand about normal eaters, and probably the thing most of you are scared you can't do. Normal eaters trust that if they let themselves eat what they wanted, they wouldn't fall into a bread basket that they weren't able to swim out of. They're able to do this because they've been practicing coping with life's "triggers" using non-food-related comforts. I promise this can be learned.

If you'd like to learn more about ending emotional eating, download my guide "How To Not Eat Chocolate Cake."

Source:- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/isabel-foxen-duke/healthy-eating-tips_b_3791498.html

So Big My Belt Wouldn't Fit Round My Thigh!

When Anne Marie Haughey, 45, from Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, crept up to a size 22, her confidence plummeted when she couldn't find clothes to fit. Now she's dropped five dress sizes and won't stop shopping...

"When people hear you have six stone to lose, they automatically assume you have a really unhealthy lifestyle. But I honestly didn't think I did.

I was vegetarian, always had my five-a-day and went to the occasional aerobics class, but still weighed 17st. I wasn't stupid – I knew I was indulging in chocolate and crisps during the afternoon and that I was eating a bit too much cheese but overall, I didn't think I was being too bad. 

© Reader's own

Anne Marie wanted to be healthy for her son, Sean

I'd first put weight on when I married my childhood sweetheart Scott, in June 1994. But then, my extra two stone didn't worry me. I called it my "happy weight" and saw it as a sign of me being content and comfortable with my new husband.

But when my son Sean turned two in 2008,

A Healthy Substitute for Willpower

Can we do better than relying on simple willpower?

I have always loved bourbon, and as a graduate student, I loved it regularly. Back then, I drank with friends routinely. But most of us also value a life free from nagging temptation. What to do?

If you change the person's environment, you can break the connection between a potent cue, and an entrenched response. Change the environment in the right way, and you can break the bond between the bar and the bourbon, the corral and cussing, the oven and overeating.

It certainly worked on college students. A study by Wendy Wood and her colleagues looked at the habitual behaviors of transfer students as they moved to a new university. Their habits of exercising, reading the paper, and watching TV-even when strong-did not survive the transfer when the move destabilized or disrupted the living circumstances that supported their habits. The disruption in their behavioral surroundings apparently blocked automatic cues, which then required intention to carry the action through.

Before leaving for vacation one year, I removed the bourbon from the cabinet. When I returned, it was more than an arm's length away. And now that bars prohibit smoking, it is easy to stay away from cigarettes as well!

My example has modest beginnings, but the psychology of habit-change may carry unexpected and lucrative lessons for public policy. After all, so many costly behaviors stem from habits; maybe there is a general lesson to learn about the relation between situations and desires. Because people are most likely to break habits when they are in new environments, institutions (like local governments) can use similarly smart policies when people are moving to a new home, city, or job, when they are experiencing changes in their personal relationships, coping with the death of a loved one, or recovering from a serious illness. For example, it is a lot easier to convert new residents of a community into habitual users of public transit than long-time residents. And this is why some communities offer new residents free passes on public transportation.

In public health, for example, at least four of the leading health risks in the U.S. emerge from everyday repetition of action, eased by contingencies of the environment-substance abuse, obesity, tobacco use, and inadequate exercise. These ultimate costs of these health risks are enormous. Substance abuse alone in 2002 cost the U.S. over 180 billion dollars, and is increasing steeply. In that same year, medical expenditures for overweight- and obesity-attributable conditions were $92.6 billion dollars. Tobacco use is a similar bane. In the U.S. alone, excess medical expenditures owing to tobacco use averaged $75.5 billion dollars from 1995-1999, and if we add that to the death-related losses in productivity, the figure increases to over $150 billion dollars. Inadequate exercise, or "lack of leisure-time physical activity," as a habitual part of daily life, cost $24 billion in 1995. Its health effects amounted to about 2.4% of all U.S. health care expenditures. In today's dollars, these four habit-based health risks together amount to about one-half trillion dollars annually. And none of these costs is decreasing.

It's not that, among our faculties, intention is a weakling; it's just that habit is bigger, quicker, has a longer reach, and finishes strong. But policy is a patient, powerful, and healthy substitute for a weak will.

This article is by J.D. Trout Ph D and appeared in  Psychology Today.  You can read it here:- http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-greater-good/200909/healthy-substitute-willpower

He is a professor of philosophy at the Loyola University of Chicago, and his book, The Empathy Gap: Building Bridges to the Good Life and the Good Society recently appeared with Viking/Penguin

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Why Diets Fail: 7 Things You Should Know (Part 1)

The research is clear -- diet programs don't work! Professor Steven Hawks of Brigham Young University says, "You would be hard-pressed to review the dietary literature and conclude that you can give people a set of dietary guidelines or restrictions that they will be able to follow in the long term and manage their weight successfully." Dr. Glenn A. Gaesser, in his groundbreaking book Big Fat Lies: The Truth About Your Weight and Your Health concluded that 90 percent of dieters regain all the weight they lose. [1]

Similarly, Professor Traci Mann of UCLA, after conducting a comprehensive analysis of 31 diet studies, concluded that most dieters would have been better off never dieting at all since the majority of them gained all their weight back and more. [2]

Through my research and work with clients, I have learned seven essential insights about people who pursue a weight loss goal. In this three-part series, I discuss those insights and begin answering the question no doubt on many of your minds: What to do instead of diet?

#1: People who try to lose weight often suffer from intense inner and outer criticism.

This is crucial because most people diet in order to feel better about themselves, which almost always means relieving themselves from such criticism. However, dieting in order to reduce self-criticism often fails because the root of the criticism is often deeper and independent of a person's body size or eating habits. Even though the criticism they are most aware of is about their bodies, the fundamental critical attitude almost always shows up in different ways and will resurface with a different focus.

For example, many women disavow their power in the world and in their relationships; in essence, they have learned to be fearful of or antagonistic towards expressing the full measure of their capacities. When this happens, they not only end up criticizing themselves for getting hurt too easily or expressing themselves too strongly, but they also tend to be more critical of their bodies as well. The power they don't use in their outer lives turns against them on the inside! As a result, their inner criticism will not go away by trying to lose weight; it will only go away when the power that fuels it gets used as it is meant to -- in their relationships and in service of their deepest ambitions.

What to do instead of diet? Carefully take account of all the things you criticize yourself about each day. How long have you had this critical attitude? Where did it come from? Think of the first time you were ever criticized. Imagine that you really didn't deserve that criticism. How would you have liked to be treated? What would you say to that person if you could have?

#2: People naturally resist shame and self-hatred, and also subconsciously resist and undermine diets that flow from this motivation.

Another reason not to "listen to" or heed inner criticism about our bodies is that it is invariably mean-spirited, ignorant, and void of wisdom or spiritual perspectives. Thus, it is often far healthier to reject such criticism than accept it and act upon it. In fact, taking a stand against this criticism is an act of power and self-love that not only helps relieve the inner-criticism but can also make it easier to lose weight.

However, people are rarely aware of the fact that it is this very self-love that leads them to resist following through with the diet programs they put themselves on. This is so counter-intuitive to the dieter who wants to lose weight that they will likely even resist what I am saying here and think, "I diet because I care about myself and fail to follow through because of my inadequacy."

I worked with a woman recently who suffered long and hard to lose weight. Some months she did better than others; some years she did better than others. One day she said to me, "I just want to like myself regardless of my weight." Those were some of the sweetest words I ever heard her utter. "What do you like about yourself?" I asked. The time ticked by in silence while we waited. (I am sure some part of her had been waiting far longer.) After a bit I decided to help her by beginning, "I like the purity of your words and desire; I like your simplicity. I like your humanity. I like your spirit. I like how I feel being with you when you talk like this." We both smiled, teary-eyed.

What to do instead of diet? Stop criticizing and shaming yourself for not sticking to your diet plan. Have it out with your critic! Make your critic's words explicit -- say them clearly and out loud and then fight back as intelligently, fiercely, and clearly as you can. This exercise will support your self-love by building a more empowered self. Going further, make a list of other plans, activities, and people you would like to say "no" to and begin practicing immediately.

For example, I once worked with a student of mine on her struggles with diet and body image, in front of her classmates in a psychology course. It was a close-knit group and she felt supported by the other women in the class who also struggled with weight loss. Her name was Sandra and she hated her body and had tried to lose weight for years, failing over and over. Like many women she criticized the way she looked. She was embarrassed to go out, wear certain clothes, order certain foods, or approach men to whom she felt attracted. I modeled the inner criticism she had expressed to me earlier, by saying, "You are fat; you should stay at home, ought to be embarrassed of yourself, and certainly shouldn't think you are worthy of having a partner you are attracted to!" At first she looked wounded and deflated, but when I encouraged her to respond, to fight back, she began to stand up straighter and smile. Just thinking about resisting her inner-criticism make her feel better in addition to the other women in the class who felt similar to Sandra. I asked Sandra where else she was going along with a program or person when she really didn't want to? She said it happened at work and sometimes with her children. Her "homework" was to say "no" to these people more often.

References:

[1] Glenn A. Gaesser, Big Fat Lies: The Truth About Your Weight and Your Health (Carlsbad, CA: Gürze Books, 2002 [1996]), 77.

[2] Traci Mann, A. Janet Tomiyama, Erika Westling, Ann-Marie Lew, Barbra Samuels, and Jason Chatman, "Medicare's search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer," American Psychologist, 62, no. 3 (2007): 220-233.

This article is by David Bedrick and you can read it here:- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bedrick/why-diets-dont-work_b_3705083.html

Great TED talk about
Why dieting doesn't usually work

Click here!  http://go.ted.com/Yq4

How To Stop Dieting 101

The Best Choice You Can Make For Your Body & Your Peace Of Mind

If you’ve reached this page, you’re probably sick of dieting.

You’re probably sick of the restrictions, the rules, the constant stress about what to eat and when.

But in our culture, diets and weight loss are sold as an answer to everything. Want to date more? Go on a diet. Tendency to binge? Go on a diet. Family history of diabetes? Go on a diet.

But here are a few facts about dieting that will blow your mind:

• In 95% of cases, people who lose weight gain all of the weight back in 3-5 years (and 83% gain back more weight than they lost.

• Americans spent 60.9 billion dollars on diets and diet products last year. (That’s over $200 for each and every person living here.)

• Weight loss is not a cure for any disease.

Why Stopping Dieting Is The Healthiest Thing You Can Do For Your Body & Mind
Getting Started: How To Heal Your Relationship With Food & Your Body By Letting Go Of Dieting For Good!

• How To Breakup With Dieting — Breaking up is always hard to do, but I try to make it a little easier with this post.

• How Does Health At Every Size Compare To Dieting? (Breaking Down The Desire To Be Thinner — If you only read one post, this one should be it. Learn here how dieting stacks up against the Health At Every Size approach. (You may be shocked by what you read.)

• Are Diets And Disordered Eating Behaviors Really So Different? — Disordered eating in fatter folks is often praised, even if dangerously restrictive. Check it out and see what you think.

• Diet School Dropout — Trust me, you’ve been learning how to diet in diet school long enough. Here’s why dropping out of this kind of school is a great idea.

• Losing Weight To Fit In — Is It Worth It? — Sometimes it may seem like it would be so nice to be thin so you could fit in better. But is trying to lose weight to fit in really worth it? Learn how you can “fit out” and feel great in this post.

• The “I Did It, So You Can Too!” Phenomenon! — Every day, celebs and diet gurus tell us that they lost weight, so we can too! Check out this post if you want to hear the really important stuff that they’re not saying.

• One of my favorite resources on stopping dieting is my book, Stop Dieting Now: 25 Reasons To Stop, 25 Ways To Heal (also available for Kindle and Nook).

All of this may be hard to hear, and even harder to take in. I totally get that. But now that you know the truth, you can start to unravel some of the emotional and physical damage that dieting has caused you.

Want my top 5 tips for loving your body and healing from dieting sent directly to you? Sign up here:

If diets don’t work and weight loss is illusory 95% of the time, what do you do?

This is where I can help.

What you’re in need of is a big fat paradigm shift.

There is a wonderful, healing alternative to dieting, and it’s called Health At Every Size. In studies comparing it to typical weight loss methods, participants who used Health At Every Size principles had better overall health (better blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride numbers), less stress, and a more positive body image than dieters.

So I want to share with you something that I do in my practice every day — how you can apply Health At Every Size principles to your life so that you can be healthier, less stressed out, and feel great in your body.

Here are 7 of my favorite resources for learning to let go of dieting forever!

Source:- http://www.bodylovewellness.com/free/stop-dieting-101/

8 Ways to Think Thin

8 Ways to Think Thin

Is your mindset keeping you fat? Here's how a new attitude can help you think yourself thin.

Motivation to lose weight often hits an all-time high when the first buds of spring pop out, signaling that bathing suit season is not far behind. And while there's no getting around the need to exercise and eat healthier, long-term weight loss starts in your head. Experts say that having the right attitude can help you think yourself thin.

If you want to succeed at weight loss, you need to "cut the mental fat, and that will lead to cutting the waistline fat," says Pamela Peeke, MD, author of Fit to Live.  "Look at the patterns and habits in your life that you are dragging around with you that get in the way of success."

Everyone has his or her own excuses. When trying to improve their lifestyle and diet, most people do fine until something happens -- whether it's work pressure, family issues, or something else. Whatever your personal issue, the pattern needs to change if you want to be successful.

"I want to empower people to identify these patterns, deal with the real issues, so they can move on and be able to succeed at improving their health," says Peeke.

• Dieting doesn't mean you can’t snack. Take this quiz for smart snacking tips.

To Think Yourself Thin, Have Patience

One major mental block to weight loss is wanting too much, too fast. Blame it on our instant-gratification society, with its instant messaging, PDAs, and digital cameras: Weight loss is too slow to satisfy most dieters.  

"Losers want immediate results. … Even though it took them years to gain weight, once they decide to lose weight, they have no patience with the recommended 1-2 pounds per week," says Cynthia Sass, MS, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

But you'll get the best results when you lose weight slowly.  Sass reminds her clients that when they lose weight too quickly, they're often losing usually water or lean tissue, not fat. 

"When you lose lean tissue, metabolism slows down, making it even harder to lose weight," she adds.

Think Thin: 8 Strategies

Get that overweight mentality out of your head and start thinking like a thin person with these eight strategies:

1. Picture Yourself Thin.

If you want to be thin, picture yourself thin. Visualize your future self, six months to a year down the road, and think of how good you'll look and feel without the extra pounds. Dig up old photographs of your thinner self and put them in a place as a reminder of what you are working toward.  Ask yourself what you did back then that you could incorporate into your lifestyle today. And, advises Peeke, think about activities you would like to do but can’t because of your weight.

"To break old habits, you need to see yourself in a positive light," Peeke says.

2. Have Realistic Expectations.

When doctors ask their patients how much they want to weigh, the number is often one that is realistically attainable. Peeke has her patients identify a realistic weight range, not a single number.

 "I ask them to look ahead 12 months, and would they be happier being 12 or 24 pounds thinner?" she says "It only amounts to 1-2 pounds per month, which is totally doable, sustainable and manageable in the context of career and family." She suggests reevaluating your weight goal after six months.

3. Set Small Goals.

Make a list of smaller goals that will help you achieve your weight loss goals.These mini-goals should be things that will improve your lifestyle without wreaking havoc in your life, such as:

Eating more fruits and vegetables every day.

Getting some kind of physical activity for at leas 30 minutes a day.

Drinking alcohol only on the weekends.

Eating low-fat popcorn instead of chips,

Ordering a side salad instead of french fries.

Being able to walk up a flight of stairs without gasping for breath.

 "We all know that change is hard and it is especially difficult if you try to make too many changes, so start small and gradually make lifestyle improvements," suggests Sass. 

4. Get Support.

We all need support, especially during the tough times.  Find a friend, family member or support group you can connect with on a regular basis. Studies show people who are connected with others, whether it's in person or online, do better than dieters who try to go it alone. 

5. Create a Detailed Action Plan.

Sass suggests that each night, you plan your healthy meals and fitness for the next day.  Planning ahead is 80% of the battle. If you're equipped with a detailed plan, results will follow.

"Schedule your fitness like you would an appointment," Sass says. "Pack up dried fruits, veggies or meal replacement bars so you won’t be tempted to eat the wrong kinds of foods."

Make your health a priority by building such steps into your life, and ultimately these healthy behaviors will become a routine part of your life.

6. Reward Yourself.

Give yourself a pat on the back with a trip to the movies, a manicure, or whatever will help you feel good about your accomplishments (other than food rewards).

"Reward yourself after you have met one of your mini-goals or lost 5 pounds or a few inches around your waist, so you recognize your hard work and celebrate the steps you are taking to be healthier," Peeke says.

7. Ditch Old Habits.

Old habits die hard, but you can't continue to do things the way you used to if you want to succeed at weight loss.

"Slowly but surely, try to identify where you are engaging in behaviors that lead to weight gain and turn them around with little steps that you can easily handle without feeling deprived," says Sass.

For example, if you are an evening couch potato, start by changing your snack from a bag of cookies or chips to a piece of fruit. The next night, try having just a calorie-free drink. Eventually, you can start doing exercises while you watch television. 

Another way to get started ditching your bad habits: Get rid of the tempting, empty-calorie foods in your kitchen and replace them with healthier options.

8. Keep Track.

Weigh in regularly and keep journals detailing what you eat, how much you exercise, your emotions, and your weight and measurements. Studies show that keeping track of this information helps promote positive behaviors and minimize the unhealthy ones. Simply knowing that you're tracking your food intake could help you resist that piece of cake!

"Journals are a form of accountability … that help reveal which strategies are working" says Peeke. "When you are accountable, you are less likely to have food disassociations, or be 'asleep at the meal.'"

Source:-  http://www.webmdcom/diet/features/8-ways-to-think-thin