Have an Attitude of Gratitude This Thanksgiving

Our Holiday of Thanksgiving is soon to be here.   The busy part of the Holiday is joyous with the food, family and friends.  For those of us who are on a diet and desire to stay on plan, we may have to make adjustments to the typical traditions of Thanksgiving.

Being mentally prepared for "Turkey Day" is so important. Let's face it, it is a big "eating" Holiday.  You may want to decide if you want go off your diet for one day or stick to it .  If you do go off plan, get right back at it the very next day.  If you make a commitment to stay on course, be strong, stay on plan, and be mentally prepared ahead of time to do this.

Whether or not we go off our diets, or stay the course this Thanksgiving Day, I suggest we take some time to reflect upon, what I call an Atttitude of Gratitude.  Thanksgiving is a time of remembrance for what we are thankful.  An Attitude of Gratitude means focusing on what we do have, not on what we don't have. Take the time, on this Holiday, to think about all the things for which you are most grateful .  Remind yourself about what is truly good and makes you happy in your life.

As our Thanksgiving Holiday arrives reflect on the love, joy, kindness, goodness in your heart and all the positive reasons be thankful.  Let your Attitude of Gratitude shine through in all you do!

Happy Thanksgiving to all,

Lynn 

The Power of Support

Support for our weight loss goals is so important.  I do believe we do so much better when those closest to us, family and friends, encourage us to stay on our weight loss plan and support us as we make the healthy choice to improve ourselves.  Another group that can be extremely helpful is our peer group.  Those people who are on the same plan as us can be of tremendous help.  There are various ways our relationship with those who support us can help us lose weight, boost our self-esteem and encourage us to keep on going.

When following a weight loss plan, we all have our ups and downs. (and I'm not just talking about the scale!)  When the down happens, the best defense to stay way from failure is resilience.  When we have a good support system in place, the power of that provides a good perspective if discouragement or self-doubt set in.  Supportive people can help us focus on the bigger picture of our success, hopes, determination and strength. 

When seeking support for your weight loss goals, embrace those who whole-heartedly encourage you to keep going and stay on plan.  Surround yourself with others who are positive, who reinforce, serve and sustain your choice to get and stay healthy.

Stay away from those people who pass judgments or discourage you from making the best personal choice for your weight loss.  If you come across anyone who interferes with your plan or dismisses your good intentions for your most healthy weight loss goals, stay away from and, by all means, don't listen to them!

I have surrounded myself with people who encourage me to stay on track.  Luckily, I have a good group of family and friends who do support my efforts at weight loss.  I have found wonderful online support groups that are going through the same issues as me on the plan we follow.  These new friends have provided a wonderful sense of support because they live, know and work the same plan.  To those who are not the most supportive, I have learned to just say no, not to listen to them and instead focus upon the best support for the transformation of my own health.  I encourage you to do the same and continue to seek out the best support for you!

When the Bottom Line is Your Well-Being, What is Your Net Worth?

Actually, this title sounds like something from a financial statement; however, the topic here is about self worth, self esteem and self confidence.  Believe me, self esteem is a precious resource that money cannot buy, but with the value we put into it, we can experience it   

According to Nathaniel Branden, PhD in his book, The Power of Self-Esteem: An Inspiring Look At Our Most Important Psychological Resource, “Self-esteem is the experience that we are appropriate to life and to the requirements of life. More specifically, self-esteem is having the confidence in our ability to think and to cope with the basic challenges of life."  Also, having the "confidence in our right to be happy, the feeling of being worthy, deserving, entitled to assert our needs and wants and to enjoy the fruits of our efforts.”

Our self esteem begins to be developed during our childhood and youth.  The family is the first group we have reference to about ourselves, then we go to school and socialize with friends outside of  the family.  This is how we learn to see ourselves through our interaction with others.  This starts at an early developmental stage of our lives.  If our family dynamics are such that we are criticized by family, then our our feelings of self worth begin to develop on a lower level.. Our low self esteem strips us of our self confidence as we then start to go out into the world of school and society. If our family dynamics are good, yet, we are criticized by our friends, this sets us up at a very early age to think poorly of ourselves, and makes us feel we do not deserve to be happy.  Everybody is different and has different experiences in life.  Low self esteem can also develop later in life as we develop relationships with others and /or start listening to that inner self critic.

When it comes to the issue of weight, low self esteem can lead to weight problems.  These thoughts of unworthiness can lead us to assuage our feelings with the comfort of food and that leads to emotional eating.  At the same time, if we have problems with metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, diabetes, that conundrum of problems can throw us off hormonally,  make us crave carbs, make us depressed and physically makes us gain weight (because insulin is the fat growth hormone).  To top it all off, if you are a woman with PCOS Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/polycystic-ovary-syndrome/DS00423) you may be overweight, have excess hair on the face and body and have acne.  What woman wouldn't be depressed and have issues with low self esteem with those symptoms?

There are so many issues to be discussed when speaking of the correlation of being over-weight and low self esteem.  I'm sure there have been many studies done on this very issue.  Recently, within a more personal context, people have told me they have low self esteem and self confidence and that affects their life because they:

feel disgusted with themselves for gaining weight

lack the confidence to go to social functions like parties, reunions, to the beach

finding clothes to fit is a stressor and they get down on themselves

feel they lack the will power to attempt a weight loss plan

think negatively about themselves

don't like their picture taken because of the excess weight

All these aforementioned issues (which just scratch the surface of this topic) are due in part to low self esteem and low self confidence.  These issues can be dealt with by improving self esteem.  By just taking that first step and committing to a weight loss plan, you can begin change these problems.  I'm not saying it's easy; but it is doable and necessary!  I know this can be turned around because it happened for me when I got on plan and began to lose weight.  My self esteem and confidence did change for the better.

Some tips on developing a better sense of self esteem are the following:

-Join a support group, either in person or online.  You need to have positive acceptance and feedback.  the more places to find that, the better.

-Try to think more positively about yourself. Replace negative self- talk with positive.  Avoid toxic, negative people who bring you down.  Negative people give & get negative feedback.

-Don't dismiss your achievements,  your determination or compliments from others.

Improving our self esteem increases our confidence and is a first step towards finding happiness and more fruitful life. You gain this confidence by believing in you, finding you do have self worth, believing you are special, and that you deserve a good life. Your well-being is your bottom line and you are worth it!