One of the things most people struggle with when they first get on one of my program is the importance of a eating breakfast every morning. Yes, yes, we’ve heard it all before there’s nothing new here. But I’d like to offer a novel thought. One that I hope will help you make the shift and start eating a breakfast of champions consistently. If I offered you a pill and told you that simply taking this pill every morning will help you lose 10 pounds this month. Nothing else, just as simple as popping a pill and be on your way. I bet you all would jump on that and I bet you would pay hundreds of dollars for such a pill. Yes, even those of you with a gag reflex would get creative and find ways of making that pill go down your esophagus.

Now that I have your attention and you are waiting to hear what you can eat daily for one month that will help you lose 10 pounds. Eat oatmeal for breakfast daily. I can hear some of you balking at that already. In fact it brings to mind a conversation I had with a friend recently and a conversation I have had with many of my clients repeatedly. They all state that they do not like oatmeal for one reason or another. Luckily I have had plenty of practice because every day my children have one excuse or another as to why they can’t eat their broccoli, their beans or their yogurt. Here is what I tell them and what I tell my clients: “Work it out”.

Here are some tips on how you can learn to eat oatmeal or any other food you know you should be eating but just can’t seem to eat.

1.       Mix it up
It is possible that the way you are making your oatmeal makes it hard for you to eat. Unless you are a true soldier, it is going to be hard to eat plain oatmeal made with water. Here are some ways you can make oatmeal interesting and delicious:

·         Add ½ a chopped apple, 2 tablespoons of raisins and ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon.

·         Add 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter and a packet of stevia or other natural sweetener

·         Add 2 tablespoons of dried cherries, 1 tablespoon of chopped almonds and 1 tablespoon of
            dried coconut.

·         Add ½ a banana and 2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts

·         Add ½ cup of blueberries and ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon

·         Add ½ cup of chopped strawberries and ½ cup of almond milk

·         Add ½ chopped apple and 1 tablespoon of honey or agave nectar

There you have it. Seven different ways to make oatmeal, try one fun and interesting way for each day. Surely you can find a few combinations that you like.

2.       Gagging is all in your head
Some people say oatmeal makes them gag. There are many things that make people gag and the sooner you realize that gagging is a physical response to a mental thought the faster you’ll get over it. What are you saying to yourself as you take a bite of the oatmeal? Change the dialogue in your head, tell yourself “This is great”, “This is healthy”, “This is fun”, I’m about to be super FINE” and soon enough you’ll find that the gag reflex has gone.

3.       One bite at a time.
Commit to taking one bite on day one, two bites on day two, three bites on day three and so on. This makes it less daunting and easier to manage. If you only have to eat one bite on the first day it takes the pressure off and allows your mind to relax and your body more receptive to eating it.

I’m challenging each of you to try this for 30 days. If by the end of 30 days you haven’t seen some amazing results in terms of your energy levels, better focus, more self-control, curbed cravings and a jump start in your weight loss give me a call and I will work with you personally to figure out how we can make breakfast work for you. You gotta email me and let me know that you are going to try it and we can track your progress together.

Enjoy your breakfast!

Often people find themselves stuck in a situation. They believe that they are doing everything possible to change their circumstances and they are not sure why nothing is working for them. Over the years one thing has become apparent and that is I don’t know what I don’t know; therefore I am always on a quest for new knowledge. Seeking new information and seeking ways to improve where I am already. This applies to weight loss as well. I have tried many things over the years and done this and that and believed that I knew a lot of things. It wasn’t until I decided to take a completely different approach that I experienced a drastic change in my weight loss journey. Below are a few of the common things that I have heard people say they won’t do when it comes to losing weight. Hopefully as you read these things you can step outside of yourself and recognize the things that you may say that are similar.

1.       I love ________ (insert any food).
This one is my favorite. I hear people say yes I know fries make me fat but I love them so and could NEVER give them up. I am somewhat in agreement. You should get to enjoy the food you love the most. But the issue is when you are in weight loss mode you need to make a shift for a season so that you can see the changes. Once you have reached your goal, you can reintroduce the food you love or some variation of it in moderation.

2.       I hate _______ (insert any food).
Let’s be real here. Clearly the food you LOVE that you eat daily has not helped you lose weight. In fact it’s made you fat. What good does it do you to stick to your guns and declare that you won’t eat one food or another?  I am not saying that you need to be miserable and eat only food that you hate for months on end. I am simply suggesting that you attempt to make an effort to introduce a variety of other foods that are proven to support weight loss.

3.       My family is fat therefore I’m destined to be fat.
The first you have to realize is that the family you grew up in influences your eating behaviors. What you eat, how you eat is largely due to what you were fed growing up. Secondly, there is some genetic component to weight issues. However with that being said you can influence your own personal outcome by the choices you make. You can learn new eating habits and leave those that you grew up with behind. Most importantly, a combination of diet and exercise is no match for any genetic predisposition to being fat.

4.       I don’t know it therefore I won’t eat it.
The fact that you don’t know it and have never eaten it might be the reason you are fat. If someone is telling you that eating a combination of certain foods is going to help you lose weight you owe it to yourself to try it and learn to like it in order to see the changes you desire. The fact that it can help you in your weight loss goals is reason enough to give it a try several times over. Now if you experience an allergic reaction and end up being hospitalized that is a different story but for the most part give, something a try daily for at least a month before writing it off.

5.       I don’t like being hungry.
Correction, your body doesn’t like being hungry. You have conditioned yourself to respond to the sensation of hunger by doing something about it. And no I am not talking about starvation which I’m certain many of us are not at that place. I am talking about the minor discomfort of eating at a caloric deficit. You will have to learn to embrace the feeling of hunger and give it a positive spin in order to lose weight. Say to yourself hunger is a good thing, hunger means I am eating just a little less than my body needs in order to encourage it to burn off this extra fat on my body for fuel. Please be sure that you are not skipping meals and depriving yourself of adequate nutrition. I am talking about embracing calculated well planned hunger such as that in a personalized meal plan.

I can think of many other things that people say that make it hard for them to progress beyond their current circumstance. I hope this post will bring you to a place where you can begin to challenge certain thoughts that you have made you mind up about.   When you hear me talking about some change or another you need to make. At least allow yourself to have the thought that you may need to do things differently, for a season and watch as your life changes and you head into the most fulfilling period of your life.

Over the years there are some common ideas I had acquired about food and weight loss that I mistakenly held on to. I have learnt to address each of them and can now think differently about food and eating habits. The following are some common ideas related to eating that I address not only within myself but with some of the clients I work with. I list some of the wrong ideas and explain why thinking that way is wrong and how we need to think instead.

1. It's not fair: Why do others get to eat whatever they want?
The truth is you can’t compare yourself to people who are not on the same journey as you. In other cases different people respond differently to different foods. Some people can eat pizza every day for months and not gain any weight. While others like myself need only look at it and the pounds pile on. It’s probably why I was confused about the importance of eating well for so long. My husband ate anything he wanted and was totally ripped so for years I failed to make the connection between my eating habits and inability to lose weight. And truth be told, whatever food you are coveting will always be there, a week, a month or a year from now.
2. Hunger is a bad feeling.
Actually hunger is a normal response when you are trying to lose weight. You are eating less food than you are accustomed to eating. The times where you eat less food than you burn are the times when you lose weight. The sooner you embrace it and look at it as a positive the easier losing weight will become. In fact if you are trying to lose weight and you don’t feel a little hungry now and again, chances are you’re eating too much and need to cut back so you can lose weight. Please note that I’m not talking about starving to the point of being weak and tired. I am referring to eating just below the number of calories you need on a day to day basis with just enough of a shortage that you will lose weight gradually.

3. I have to resist cravings at all costs.
There are three things about cravings. The first is the harder and longer you fight a craving, the more likely you are to give in to it and eat not just one cookie but the entire box. Also, cravings can sometimes be a signal that you are missing a key nutrient in your diet. I remember going on an extremely low carb diet for months and developing an insatiable craving for cupcakes. I probably could have gotten rid of the intense cravings by eating a bowl of oatmeal daily. Finally, cravings can be psychological. So while my body had a definite need for carbohydrates at the time, my mind developed a fixation on cupcakes and the more I thought about cupcakes and the fact that I could not have them, the more I wanted them. Understand your cravings and take the right steps to work through them.

4. I don't need a meal plan or an exercise program.
I can’t stress enough the importance of planning your meals and exercise. You could try to wing it but if you leave it to chance, the outcome is less likely to be favorable. I am extremely busy and am always running from one thing to another. If something is not scheduled then it is not happening. I have to schedule time to grocery shop, time to prep my meals and time to eat my meals. I also have to schedule my workouts, from when I am going to the gym to what I am going to do at the gym. If you are going to be successful in your weight loss journey you must plan for it.

5. Some foods are "evil,"and should be avoided forever.
Everything is ok in moderation. The issues come when you eat certain things on a regular basis. It is also important to note that during a weight loss phase it may be best to avoid certain foods altogether, knowing of course that if you so wish to eat them again, you can reintroduce them gradually and eat them occasionally. A really good example is alcohol. I love my margaritas as much as, maybe more than the next person. However I have now come to realize that when I am working towards a specific goal it is best to avoid it because it contains many empty calories that are of no real benefit, it affects my performance in the gym and impairs my judgment thereby increasing the chance that I will eat other things that would hinder weight loss.

6. Food makes me feel better when I'm emotional.
This is the most difficult form of wrong thinking to undo. When you are suffering emotionally it is very difficult to think and act rationally. By design we try to do everything we can to get rid of negative feelings. Unfortunately we have conditioned ourselves to be comforted by food. Here is a thought, if someone or something is hurting you, why would you punish yourself further by eating something unhealthy? Recognize your triggers, whether it is people or situations and manage them differently. Come up with a plan and do something to distract you. Call someone, go for a walk, take a shower or go to bed. Usually if you can remove yourself from the situation or the moment you can overcome the situation. In life you will always have difficult circumstances however, you can learn to overcome them.

7. It's OK to take a break because I don't feel like eating well or exercising today.
Hmm, not really. When it comes to weight loss, consistency is key. EVEN when you don’t feel like it. And most times a break turns into a never ending struggle. How many times have you stopped going to the gym and had a really tough time getting back into it? Or worse, after successfully kicking the sugar habit, you eat a little and before you know it you’re addicted again and eating even more. Now this should not be confused with working out when you are actually sick. No one should try to be a hero like that. It’s not impressive and it will do more harm than good. I am talking about pressing through bad moods, bad days, lazy days, and lack of self-control days.

For each idea or wrong form of thinking there is a direct opposite idea or thought. Looking back on each of the wrong thoughts about food and weight loss, are you going to be prepared to counter them whenever they occur with either an opposite statement or opposite action?