Group of people sitting around table with food

T’is the season…soon enough! As we settle into fall, there’s no denying what is headed our way as the holidays get closer and closer. This is my most exciting time of year as a health and life coach as I work with people to lose weight during a time of year that many consider to be impossible and difficult, yet I see so much opportunity and possibility that it has become something that I live by and I show others how to do the same. You see, it’s all about the mindset that you choose to embrace no matter what everyone else thinks, says or does. Ready for a new way to be healthy right now by not waiting until January 1st for damage control? Follow these 3 ways to reframe your thoughts about weight loss during the holidays and watch how successful you are with getting weight loss results among celebrations and traditions!

#1: Adopt the word “healthy lifestyle” and ditch the word “diet”

The first three letters of the word DIET spell die. Let me say that again. The first three letters of the word DIET spell die. The word die means to end, to be finished, to terminate. Therefore, when we say that we are on a “diet”, we tell ourselves that there is a beginning and an end and that once we reach the end, we can go back to our old ways. This way of thinking is not productive and does not move us into long-lasting habits. In fact, it indicates a temporary nature from the very first day. We justify a “diet” when we want to achieve a short-term goal: fitting into a wedding dress, going on a cruise, attending a special event such as a reunion, looking good in the Christmas card picture, or wearing a bathing suit on a beach trip. When we set our end goal of one event or occasion, it carries the assumption that once we reach the goal, everything will magically stay the same without the work it took to get us there and possibly with returning to “pre-diet” habits. I offer the thought of looking at your weight loss as a lifestyle. That includes what you eat to fuel your body and how you move to keep your body active. This small mindset shift is critical to train your brain to look at long-term goals that require ongoing healthy habits and effort. It also programs your brain to identify as someone who lives a healthy lifestyle instead of being a dieter. The self-talk that you do goes a long way to creating long-lasting success that becomes automatic on a daily basis. You have the power to transform your mind and body with positive and loving messages with a commitment to a lifetime of good health.

#2: Be honest about what the holiday season really is

The typical holidays beginning in the fall are only 4 days for most people: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. Yes, not everyone celebrates these 4 holidays, but in the USA, most people do. You can substitute your holidays for any of the ones I mentioned to make it more meaningful for you. The point is that between October and January 1st, there are usually only 4 twenty-four hour blocks of time that include holidays. The biggest thing to realize is that we tell our brains to go all out for the months of October, November, and December just because it’s the “holidays”. Pause and let that set in! That’s 91 days of celebration which we’ve convinced ourselves should include lots of unhealthy eating just because we’re in the “holiday spirit”! WOW! Most of us get caught up in this mindset so easily. But why? Why do we let anything yummy and sweet be eaten in excess for 3 months? Why do we get caught up in the “holiday season” this way? Good question! It’s a habit! I invite you to think about it differently this year and to take control of how you want to think about the holidays in a way that will support your weight loss. That’s right…weight loss during the holidays! Plan your healthy eating as if there is no end in sight and allow for some flexibility on each holiday, but not for a whole 3 months. You will be amazed at how you look at holidays ever again. This also applies to any celebration, birthday, or holiday during the calendar year outside of the fall season. It will change your outlook of any special day and will support your healthy eating habits to keep you healthy and happy.

 

#3: Ditch perfection and adopt an “-ish” approach

I speak to you from the heart here with years of experience of trying to be perfect at so many things, especially with my eating habits. I am happy to now be a reformed perfectionist, but I did not get here easily or overnight. Perfectionism is the fear of judgment from others or disapproval and is the need to set unrealistic goals and expectations on ourselves in order to please people. There are many factors that experts attribute to perfectionism which can differ from person to person. Many perfectionists are self-proclaimed while others carry it from traumatic experiences and lifelong influence from others. As adults, we have the power to flip the script on needing for how we look, how we eat, how we exercise, and how we do everything to please others so that we can live with what I call an “-ish” approach. I use this suffix a lot when I speak because it seems like such an accurate way to describe giving yourself permission not to be perfect. People who know me hear me use “-ish” often and it empowers me to be flexible with myself every time I say it. For example, instead of eating every meal exactly as you planned, you might try eating a holiday-ish meal to allow for a slight “off track” deviation which would not derail your weight loss efforts but would allow you a little wiggle room for a particular holiday meal or event. As long as you have healthy boundaries around your eating, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to hop back on track in a more structured way once you’ve had an “-ish” moment. When you allow yourself to have a little freedom around how you fuel your body once in a while, it erases the restriction mentality that is often short-lived and can work against your long-term goals. You get to set the parameters around your “-ish” eating habits and you get to plan for them with anticipation and kindness towards yourself, which is also critical. Treating yourself with kindness and gentleness will make all of the difference as you improve your health. It makes you feel honored, respected, and worthy.

If you are ready to enjoy the holidays with your health as more of a focus, you’ve come to the right place and the time to start is NOW! I can help you ditch the belief that overindulging is something that you deserve. I can help you to reframe old habits of making dozens of cookies and eating more than you should in order to switch to properly fueling your body. And most importantly, I can help you figure out why you self-sabotage at this time of year. I listen to you, I offer strategies, and I guide you through the journey. Ready to join me? Contact me here to learn more! Make this holiday season healthier for your mind and body! Cheers to a healthy and happy holiday season!

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!

Read more from Georgette!

Georgette LePage Brainz Magazine

Georgette LePage, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine

Georgette LePage is a certified Health and Life Coach who empowers women all around the world to lose their mental weight first in order to then lose their physical weight. Her approach is honest, real, clear, and genuine with transformational habit change and mindset reset methods. Georgette’s energy and enthusiasm are contagious. Her focus on a healthy lifestyle inspires her clients to leave behind old diet culture thoughts and patterns in order to embrace fresh and simple ways to live their best lives without diet drama. Empowerment, self-confidence, and self-care are cornerstones of the programs that she offers. She helps her clients to get the results that they want with realistic, real-life strategies. She lives her own life the way she coaches others. She listens to what her clients want and guides them with compassion and accountability as they achieve their goals. She works with people of all ages (teens to seniors and every age in between) who are ready to live a healthier, more joyful life. Georgette also hosts the talk radio show WHY WEIGHT? with Dr. Pat Baccili on Transformational Talk Radio. In addition to speaking English, she also is fluent in French and Spanish. Georgette has 32 years of experience as a World Language Teacher, as well. Her coaching motto is: Feel better. Look better. Be your best self!

Healthy food on a heart-shaped wooden cutting board and a muscular arm

Hats off to you if you are taking your health seriously enough to want to make some changes! Making that decision is a good first step, so you’re on the right track! Specifically when it comes to weight loss, choosing your action steps can be overwhelming to say the least. In fact, most people tend to succumb to the overwhelm and retreat back into the safe zone of doing nothing. When you can commit to this journey, you have to be willing to do the hard work more than you are willing to stay stuck. It’s a fork in the road right away in order for you to move forward. That being said, here are 3 key ways to sift through the overwhelm of weight loss to find support.

#1: Learn About Your Options

There are more diets than you can imagine, so I’m happy to tell you that one size does not fit all. What might work for another person might not work for you. For example, if your best friend is doing Keto and has dropped a bunch of weight, that does not guarantee that you would do the same with it. There are many factors to consider and so many variables that it is impossible for everyone to get the same results. If you compare, you will despair. This will also create a discouraged attitude and could stall your progress. Instead, learn about your options and choose something that best suits you. For instance, if you are willing to follow an elimination diet, then research the pros and cons of Whole 30. Be sure to pick a plan, diet, or eating pattern that best reflects your interests and your level of commitment. Weed through your options and educate yourself on what you want to follow to shed the weight. Find reputable resources, consult with a coach or other professional, and plan the steps to carry you to success. In other words, you do you and do your research diligently and thoroughly. I call this the “grow to learn” strategy of educating yourself in detail before plunging into a direction so that you can find the right fit at the right pace.

 

#2: Use Social Media Sources In A Constructive Way

It is super easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole of social media, says the person guilty of such things herself. If you become enthralled in what you see and hear, precious time can easily melt away before you know it. It does feel like falling into a trance of sorts as you keep scrolling mindlessly while blocking out what is going on around you. It sort of feels like when you drive to work and wonder how you got there because it was so automatic that you may not have been paying as close attention as you should have, for example. Not advised! I’d like to offer honing in on social media posts as resources that can be filtered in order to avoid becoming time sucks. While searching for uplifting posts, podcasts, blogs, and gurus, it is a good idea to set a timer and take notes so that your search is intentional and focused to save you wasted time and to give you the information that you need.

 

For example, if you are looking for experts in the field of the effects of sugar, quickly narrow it down to 2-3 sources that you like and move on. Otherwise, you could spend too much time doing too much searching.

Also, when I know, like, and trust someone on social media, I look at who they follow and what resources they offer to their followers. This can be a big timesaver in the end. Again, the “less is more” approach will help you to protect your time so that you can get started on your weight loss. Being informed is a responsible way to be successful in a healthy lifestyle.

#3: Join A Community

This key to success will make all the difference in the world, so navigate through your options carefully. Very few people can go it alone when it comes to flipping their health and losing weight. It’s human nature to want to belong and losing weight can be a lonely experience, so put this strategy at the top of your list.

Again, what works for you…one on one coaching, FaceBook groups, in-person small groups, large virtual group weekly meetings, etc.? Gravitate to the community that makes you feel comfortable and that will enhance your experience. There are more communities available nowadays than ever before, especially since virtual connections became essential for connection during the pandemic. We’ll call that one of the silver linings of the unprecedented experience that the world had over the last 3 years. Used in a positive way, virtual communities offer diversity of people, ideas, and locations around the globe. It does make the world seem smaller in a sense when people with a common goal can come together to belong and support one another, no matter where they are.

So, customize your health journey in ways that work with your preferences and your strengths to find success that will lead to a long-term healthy lifestyle. You are worth the effort and energy to grow to learn so that you can learn to grow. Take your first small action step today to get your health turned around; you are worth the work!

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info.

Read more from Georgette!

Georgette LePage, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine

Georgette LePage is a certified Health and Life Coach who empowers women all around the world to lose their mental weight first in order to then lose their physical weight. Her approach is honest, real, clear, and genuine with transformational habit change and mindset reset methods. Georgette’s energy and enthusiasm are contagious. Her focus on a healthy lifestyle inspires her clients to leave behind old diet culture thoughts and patterns in order to embrace fresh and simple ways to live their best lives without diet drama. Empowerment, self-confidence, and self-care are cornerstones of the programs that she offers. She helps her clients to get the results that they want with realistic, real-life strategies. She lives her own life the way she coaches others. She listens to what her clients want and guides them with compassion and accountability as they achieve their goals. She works with people of all ages (teens to seniors and every age in between) who are ready to live a healthier, more joyful life. Georgette also hosts the talk radio show WHY WEIGHT? with Dr. Pat Baccili on Transformational Talk Radio. In addition to speaking English, she also is fluent in French and Spanish. Georgette has 32 years of experience as a World Language Teacher, as well. Her coaching motto is: Feel better. Look better. Be your best self!

 

Written by: Georgette LePage, Senior Level Executive Contributor

Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. 

 

There’s Only One Way To Go, So Let’s Move Forward!

Life is truly an adventure; sometimes feeling like a fairytale and sometimes feeling like a nightmare! It’s a rollercoaster ride with so many ups and downs along the way. When it comes to our health, there’s no better time than the present to make some small changes that will bring big shifts in the way we feel and look, on the inside and out. Although life was never promised as easy, we can’t ignore what humankind has endured over the last three years and the effects that we are now cleaning up and how we are trying to navigate back to “normal”. First of all, you ought to acknowledge what you’ve been through during these last few years and face how much of a struggle most of us had with our health and more specifically with our weight. Let’s just be real and own it.

A woman exercising in her home with hand weights.

In fact, according to experts, the COVID-19 pandemic changed us inside and out. For many people, those outward changes weren’t especially welcome. An APA Stress in America survey conducted in late February 2021 found 42% of U.S. adults reported undesired weight gain since the start of the pandemic, with an average gain of 29 pounds. According to the Harvard School of Health, roughly two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese (69 percent) and one out of three are obese (36 percent).¹ These statistics are alarming and should be a wake-up call for every American before it gets worse. Extra weight on your body precipitates sickness and disease and can put your overall health at risk. So, how do you make changes and see results in your weight? JUST MOVE FORWARD! Any health and life coach who genuinely knows her work will tell you that you didn’t get here overnight and each small step forward you make will move you closer to your goal of shedding pounds.

Step #1

Start by acknowledging where you are right now: Are you overweight? Are you sick all of the time? Are you tired all of the time? Are you depleted of energy? Do you not feel motivated to make changes? Do you feel overwhelmed about where to start? Do you feel confused by conflicting information on social media? Where are you right at this moment?

Step #2

Where do you want to go? In other words, what is your goal? Be specific! Declaring that you want to be healthy is too vague. You need to be clear about what that means. How does that look and feel and who benefits from your healthy changes? On a scale of 1-10, how important is it to you that you make these changes NOW?

STEP #3

What did you learn from your past? Without dwelling on your past (which is NOT the job of a health/life coach) what worked well and what were your challenges? What tools do you want to use this time to make progress?

Step #4

Start with ONE small step today and move forward! Forward is the only direction that will get you to your goal one action step at a time. Not sure where to begin and what to do? Do your homework and find resources, especially a coach who understands your pain points and your motivation to make changes. To be able to visualize this process, go stand at the bottom of a large staircase and look up. What do you see at the very bottom? What do you see all the way up to the top? Yes, each small step is an opportunity to get to the next step and to eventually get to the top step. No one jumps from the bottom to the top in one giant leap! It takes time, patience, planning, determination, motivation, and accountability to reach your goal. The pounds will come off, you will look and feel better, and you will reach your goal by moving forward and by looking ahead. Set your big goal, set smaller goals to get there, keep your focus, and get started with one small step TODAY! You’ve got nothing to lose (except weight) and everything to gain with becoming stronger and healthier inside and out! Happy First Step! Let’s go!

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!

Read more from Georgette!

Georgette LePage, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine

Georgette LePage is a certified Health and Life Coach who empowers women all around the world to lose their mental weight first in order to then lose their physical weight. Her approach is honest, real, clear, and genuine with transformational habit change and mindset reset methods. Georgette’s energy and enthusiasm are contagious. Her focus on a healthy lifestyle inspires her clients to leave behind old diet culture thoughts and patterns in order to embrace fresh and simple ways to live their best lives without diet drama. Empowerment, self-confidence, and self-care are cornerstones of the programs that she offers. She helps her clients to get the results that they want with realistic, real-life strategies. She lives her own life the way she coaches others. She listens to what her clients want and guides them with compassion and accountability as they achieve their goals. She works with people of all ages (teens to seniors and every age in between) who are ready to live a healthier, more joyful life. Georgette also hosts the talk radio show WHY WEIGHT? with Dr. Pat Baccili on Transformational Talk Radio. In addition to speaking English, she also is fluent in French and Spanish. Georgette has 32 years of experience as a World Language Teacher, as well. Her coaching motto is: Feel better. Look better. Be your best self!

 

 

Reference:

  • FlegalKM, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Ogden CL. Prevalence of obesity and trends in the distribution of body mass index among US adults,1999-2010. JAMA. 2012;307:491-7.