Change your Brain to Change your Body

Meet Dr. Amen and check out this video clip from the Rachel Ray show.

Dr. Amen breaks down the five different brain types among people who are struggling with weight:

Type 1: The Compulsive Overeater: "These are people who think about food all day long."
Type 2: The Impulse Overeater: "I call them grabbers - whenever they walk past something they grab it."
Type 3: The Impulsive-Compulsive Overeater: "A combination of type 1 and type 2, they have very little control over their impulses."
Type 4: The Sad Overeater: "These are people who tend to be sad, maybe depressed - these people eat as a way to medicate their sadness."
Type 5: The Anxious Overeater: "These are people who tend to be filled with anxiety, tension, and they eat as a way to medicate their anxiety."

Motivation Monday: Push Through

I see it in myself. I see it in many women. Hard work, discipline and self control with food just to find out that a week has passed and there's absolutely no change on the scale.

Push through times like this. I know it can be so discouraging. Do it, the battle is worth fighting.

I'll be honest, I get pretty annoyed when this happens (it's been happening lately!) but also realize that it takes longer than a week, two weeks or even three weeks for my body to change. Let's use the "no change" on the scale to fuel our fire. Work hardER, eat bettER and vow to get more intense. Let's not stop at the first sign of adversity but rather, push through.

Remember the process.

Book 3: Find Your Strongest Life

I'll be honest, this was a quick read for me. I skimmed a lot of the book but took notes on the major ideas that caught my eye.
1. As women age, they get sadder. As men age, they get happier. Interesting and probably true.
2. Multi-tasking is no good. Research shows that our IQ drops 10 points when doing two things at once. Yeah, totally true.
3. Life is full of choices. Buckingham suggests that more choices don't equal more happiness. In fact he states that more choices bring more stress. Oh man does it ever. I can't even pick out a loaf of bread without almost breaking into hives from the stress of a decision. I over-analyze things though which is definitely related to the stress.
4. Signs of a strong life: being successful (sure but we've gotta have our struggles too), looking forward to tomorrow (absolutely), growing and learning no matter our age (love this one; NEVER stop gathering and processing information), having our needs fulfilled (sure) and being optimistic (hello-majorly).
5. Strengths are those activities that make us feel strong. Our weaknesses are those activities that make us feel weak. Duh. That makes sense but when I really think about it it's so true. I feel alive when I do things that make me feel strong but I also know doing things that are a weakness will build character and become easier with time.

Gosh there were about a hundred more items that I liked in this book but I'll end with this:
A strong woman isn't what we do, it's what we feel.

Yes, a good read and would recommend it!

Motivation Monday: Ebb and Flow

Realize motivation is not a constant thing. It's not always around. It comes and goes and comes and goes again, just like the waves of a tide. If we can only grasp that motivation will leave and know it doesn't do so permanently. Search for strength during that time. Be aware that it's gone. Understand that exercise and eating right may not the easiest when motivation leaves. When motivation is on vacation, these things help me get through:

1. Focus on one goal. For me it's usually to stop eating after 7pm.
2. Stomp out negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. I catch myself when I begin thinking negatively and tell myself that it doesn't accomplish anything. That type of thinking only brings me down. So I usually recognize it and figure out how I can turn the situation into a productive/positive one.
3. Find inspiration. Lately that's been tuning into the Winter Olympics. Gosh it's darn amazing what these athletes can do.

Obesogens: Can chemicals make you fat?

Very interesting. The author of The New American Diet, Stephen Perrine, discusses how chemicals can alter our hormones and can cause us to gain weight. VERY interesting!

Motivation Monday: Choice

It's all about choices. Each day there are many decisions to be made. That's really what it boils down to. Everything is our choice; our car, our house, our spouse, our job, our hobbies, our meals, how we spend our money, how much debt we have, the list could go on and on. The point can be summed up....

“It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you're going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.” -Anthony Robbins

Habits

Bad habits WILL catch up with us.

When they catch up with us....do we have the strength to change?