Month: October 2021

Happy Wednesday! When you pay attention to how your body works and how your brain thinks, it’s a recipe for success with weight loss and a healthy lifestyle! This year, I decided to do something that I have done before: Have a sugar free Halloween! WHAT??? This sounds crazy, hard, and just plain impossible, doesn’t it? Not necessarily! If you do the work to train your brain to think about why you don’t need to fuel your body with sugar and how good you feel when you don’t, the magic of healthy eating takes over and becomes automatic. It’s a decision that is entirely up to you!

Research shows that sugar consumption harms you in so many ways and it is everywhere. Sometimes it’s obvious (i.e. candy), and sometimes it is hidden (i.e. pasta sauce). You have to be aware of how it shows up in foods. 

Did you know that sugar has been compared to heroin in terms of its addictive nature? Did you know that eliminating sugar from your diet has been compared to withdrawal from drugs? Did you know that sugar adversely affects your skin, brain, insulin levels, your heart, and many more parts of your body? That is pretty shocking but so true! Have you ever thought about how much sugar you consume? It would be worth the time to evaluate your relationship with sugar right away!

So, how can you have a sugar free Halloween like I am this year? Here are a few simple ideas:

  • Decide to skip the sugary Halloween treats this year and swap them for a healthier option like nuts or some fruit.
  • Keep the sweets out of your reach and out of your house. You can’t eat what isn’t there!
  • Hold on to fond memories of past Halloweens and remind yourself that you’ve probably had enough candy in your lifetime and it’s okay to pass on it this year.
  • Remind yourself that healthy fuel for your body leads to a healthier and happier YOU!

My challenge to you is to look sugar in the face and make the first decision to push it aside. It’s empowering and courageous as you treat your body to more love and attention than sugary treats! Give it a try!

Not ready to try this on your own? Reach out to me to find out how I can help you! This is a very common issue that many of my clients work on and are quite successful with! It’s your turn! Happy Sugar Free Halloween! (If I can do this, anyone can!)

You’ve got this!

Georgette

 

 

Happy Tuesday! It’s everywhere! I’m talking about Halloween candy; one of my biggest triggers all year long! Can you relate? Halloween is my favorite holiday because I think it’s fun, silly, and it reminds me of cozy fall memories. Growing up, of course, the sight of so much candy at once was exciting. Although I don’t remember ever eating all of the candy I collected while trick or treating, I do remember eating a lot of it…until a handful of years ago when I started to ask myself WHY! It’s not like I couldn’t eat candy at any time of year, so why was I overindulging every October? ALL. MONTH. LONG.

Once I thought about how it had become an automatic habit, I started to flip my thinking, and I came up with 3 ways to tame my inner Halloween candy demons:

  1. Plan your treats: Decide ahead of time what you are going to eat for a sweet treat and when. For example, we used to have “Sweet Saturday” in our house. On that day of the week, one sweet treat was planned and enjoyed without guilt or shame. When it was gone, it was gone. It truly became a treat and not a daily event. That made it more special and more intentional. It also made the other 6 days of the week without treats very doable. Perhaps it was the anticipation that was actually more delicious! Another example is sitting in front of the trick or treat bowl as you wait to pass out candy and selecting a few treats for yourself and enjoying that amount only. Again, when it’s gone, it’s gone.
  2. Celebrate Halloween on Halloween (October 31st). PERIOD. To me, this means enjoying a sweet treat or two on October 31st and that is it. This strategy takes some getting used to since we are bombarded with candy months before Halloween and temptations are all around us. It also requires you to remind yourself that Halloween is one day, not the whole month of October.
  3. Swap your sweets: It takes practice to find a healthier version of your favorite Twizzlers, but it can be done. In fact, you can reason with yourself that in your lifetime, you have eaten plenty of Twizzlers and it’s okay if this year you decide to bake some peeled apples with cinnamon to feel satisfied and to enjoy the flavor of a very delicious fruit. Another swap idea is to reduce the amount of candy that you eat. For example, you can choose a fun size candy bar instead of the full sized version. Eat it slowly and be mindful of the flavor to fully enjoy it. Portion swaps like this DO add up to noticeable weight loss as the habit becomes more automatic.

So, try to do one thing differently this year to push your weight loss goals further a little faster by trying one of these 3 strategies. Keep an open mind and take the first important step to a small change that can improve your health and help you shed some extra pounds. Give it a try and tell me what you think!

You’ve got this!

Georgette

 

Happy Tuesday! Let’s recap the last few blogs before we add the final step of losing weight during the holidays!

STEP #1: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS DURING THE HOLIDAYS? (Your thoughts)

STEP #2:  HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR HEALTH DURING THE HOLIDAYS? (Your feelings)

STEP #3: TAKE ACTION (Do something to get to your goal)

Today, we explore STEP #4: GET RESULTS (Reach your goal) This is where your hard work, determination, and commitment will pay off! This is when you meet your future self, the person you wanted to become. This is where you beat the odds and lose weight during the holidays, something you never thought you could do!

Welcome to how it feels to be confident in your clothes, maybe even clothes that you haven’t seen or worn in a while. It’s your turn now to be happy to be in pictures; no more hiding behind people! You can experience what feeling proud of your body feels like and how contagious your energy can be to others! You might surprise yourself by now wanting to keep going to the next phase of your weight loss because you have seen results and you want more! You have more time to spend your brain power on things other than worrying about weight loss!

Best of all, you can genuinely love yourself more for having done the work! You can be proud of yourself and realize that you can do anything you put your mind to!

I always say that “Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels.” Wouldn’t you agree? If you haven’t gotten started yet, just take the first step to get going! Jump right in, start now, and I promise that you won’t regret it! BEFORE the holidays IS the best time to start to lose weight so that you can enjoy life more fully! What have you got to lose other than pounds! I challenge you to START today!!!! Let me know how you get started! I’d love to work with you one on one, so get in touch with me to take that first step together!

 

You’ve got this!

Georgette

glepage7@me.com

 

Happy Tuesday! If you’ve read my blog over the last few weeks, you are probably curious about how to lose weight during the holidays, even though this may have felt impossible to even imagine in the past! This week focuses on taking action to get the results you want. So, now that you’ve decided to put your health first so that you can feel and look better, where do you start? That is always a common question that my clients have! The good news is that every person has a different set of strategies that works best for her. You just have to find the ones that fit your needs, your preferences, and your level of commitment. Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

  • What is your timeframe for losing weight?
  • How much weight do you want to lose?
  • Moderation vs Elimination: Which strategy works best for you?
  • Clear the Clutter: Get rid of temptations that might derail you (i.e. a monster size bag of Halloween candy)
  • Elimination reframe: because it serves my body vs punishment/deprivation
  • Reprograming diet culture messages (i.e. quick weight loss)
  • Remembering that there are 4 days of holidays not 3 months

Next is the big jump: start right away! No need for a “last supper”, just start! Set yourself up for success by getting the right foods in your house and removing temptations. It is all about how you treat yourself and how you think about getting healthy, so keep that in mind! Every BODY is unique, so let’s find what works for you!

Best of luck taking some action this week! If this is too overwhelming and you’d like to work with me one on one, I have a few spots left for this fall! Contact me at glepage7@me.com to learn more! Next week, we’ll talk about results!

You’ve got this!

Georgette