I saved this weight loss tip for right now–the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Weight loss tip #4 is:

PLAN YOUR MEALS

For those of you who are in charge of cooking all or most of a Thanksgiving meal, my guess is you’ve made some sort of a plan: what you’ll be serving, when to shop for your food, when certain things must go into the oven, and what time you’ll eat.

Now if we could only be this organized EVERY week! Show me a woman working on weight loss who plans her meals and shops for them ahead of time, and I’ll show you a woman who is WAAAAAYYYYY more likely to be steadily losing weight. Why? Because she probably isn’t going to the store at 6pm famished and trolling for food. She probably has healthy snacks with her during the day. She probably doesn’t eat out 4-5 times per week. She probably isn’t grabbing a Snickers bar in between meetings several times a week. Interestingly, her food bill is probably a lot less than the non-planner’s food bill too.

Bottom line: planners will have smaller waists and fatter bank accounts!

Planning doesn’t have to take a lot of time. If you’re serious about weight loss, here are a few ideas to get you started being more pro-active with your food planning.

-Sit down once a week and look at the next 3-5 days. When can you eat at home? When will you need to catch a meal on the fly?
-Write out some breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks that work with your schedule in those 3-5 days. Even if you don’t cook–you can do this! Ever heard of rotisserie chicken? How about frozen (unfried, unbreaded) fish fillets? There are a TON of healthy options for non-cooks at all grocery stores.
-Write out a grocery list for your meals.
-Shop for your meals.
-When you get home, spend an hour or so prepping anything that will save you time with your upcoming meals (shred rotisserie chicken, make veggie sticks, chop nuts, shred cheese for salads or quesadillas)
-Put your menu plan up in the kitchen where you can see it.

That’s it! I do this every Sunday, and my menu plan reflects nights when I have time to cook and nights when it has to be fast, or even take-out because I’m running between high school sports activities. Works like a charm.

If you want to be a successful “loser”, you’ve GOT to have a PLAN.

I’ve just purchased a month’s worth of a new meal planning service from a Registered Dietician I really admire. I’m going to test it out for a few weeks and report back to you what I think. For those of you who have a hard time planning out your own nutritious meals, this just may be the ticket to weight loss for you! I’ll try it out first and be the guinea pig for you.

Are you a successful loser who uses a plan? Share it here so we can learn from your success!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving,

Becky

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In my last post, I touched on how important the words we choose to use can be. Just today, I got a little taste of my own medicine. I was on the phone with a mentor of mine and in response to something I said, his words to me were “Be careful what you say”. Apparently, I had verbally expressed a limiting belief about myself (I hadn’t really realized it!). Being a weight loss and fitness coach to hundreds of women, I was amazed that someone caught me expressing a limiting belief. Yikes!

His words reminded me that our beliefs can hold us back from moving forward in any type of effort we undertake, weight loss or otherwise. Our thoughts are really that powerful! And, yes, even your coach here needs to be reminded of it on occasion!

I learned a good lesson today and decided to share it with you–and ask you to examine your limiting beliefs with regard to weight loss and creating a healthy lifestyle. Could some of your thoughts be limiting your current efforts? I would venture to guess that these thoughts/fears that hold you back are false. I’ve been a personal trainer in San Jose for many years and I’ve heard many, many limiting beliefs from women. Things like “I don’t think I can lose the weight”, “I lose weight but I always put it back on”, “I’m post-menopausal, there’s no way I’ll be slim again”. Thoughts like these can sabotage your results. The negative beliefs can become reality because they subconsciously affect your actions.

So, here’s my action item for you: If you find yourself thinking or saying these types statements, STOP, catch yourself right that moment and re-phrase your words or thoughts. Remember what my mentor told me, “Be careful what you say”. Re-phrase your thought or words into an affirmative. It’s not always easy, but you must believe you will achieve your fitness goals. See them. Feel them. Believe you can. Your continual thoughts of success will help drive your actions. Your consistent actions will create the results you want.

Small changes in the thoughts and words you (and I) use can have a massive effect on the outcome. Let’s all get our thoughts in alignment with our goals! .

Committed to your success,

Becky

(To J.L.: Thank you)

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In my last post I talked about how finding the “why” is important in maintaining your motivation in a fitness program. Today I’ll address another theme that I believe is extremely important with regard to weight loss results for boomer women–especially if your ultimate result will take a long time.

Maintaining FOCUS is paramount if you wish to maintain your motivation and reach your goals. Focus involves having a clear picture of what it is you want. Being focused means being able to minimize distractions that take your mind or body away from goal oriented behaviors. Think for a moment about someone you know that you would describe as “unfocused” or “distracted”. Does this person get a lot accomplished? Probably not.

We baby boomer women are often classic multi-taskers (yours truly is guilty as charged!!). We juggle a lot of balls between work, family, volunteering, and other responsibilities. Maintaining focus, especially on ourselves, can be really hard. I think this is one reason that some baby boomer women struggle with their weight–they just don’t stay focused long enough.

Successful weight loss requires that we maintain some sort of focus on our goals. Here are some tips to help you maintain your focus on weight loss or other fitness goals:

-Put it on paper. What do you want to achieve? Write the specifics down. Post them where you’ll see them.
-Put it in pictures. What will you look like when you reach your goal? Find photos or other images that reflect what you will look like. Post them where you’ll see them.
-Put it in your mind. Visualize how you’ll look and feel when you reach your goals. Make a written list of those feelings and emotions.
-Take daily action. Keep a little notebook and write down at least ONE thing each day that you’ve done toward reaching your goal. Even little things matter. Doing something goal-oriented every day keeps “your mind on the prize”.

Some of us are better at maintaining focus than others. But even those of us who are easily distracted can learn to focus better. Try these tips and I guarantee your focus will improve— and you’ll enjoy successful weight loss and better fitness!

Becky

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In the years I’ve worked with women and weight loss, I’ve seen some very successful “losers” and also women who time and again aren’t successful in losing weight and keeping it off. There are a number of physiological reasons women struggle with weight loss–like eating too little food and screwing up their metabolism, or not exercising properly. I’ll cover solutions to some of those weight loss problems in future posts.

Today, I’d like to ask you to take a look at a psychological reason that weight loss becomes a struggle for some women: Lack of motivation. I’m no psychologist, and I don’t claim to have all the answers to the psychology of weight loss, but in the years I’ve helped women lose weight, I do see some common themes. Over the next few days, I’ll cover some of these themes and help you see how changing how you think may indeed change the way you look (for the better

Theme #1: Truly embrace the “why” for your weight loss
Now, if I were to ask a woman why she wants to lose weight, she might say something along the lines of “I want to look better” or “I want to be healthier”. These are reasonable answers. But, we really can’t stop there if we’re trying to find our true motivation.
Whatever your answer is when asked why you want to change something about yourself, the first thing out of your mouth probably isn’t the truest, deepest answer. Whatever your answer is, ask yourself “why” again. You need to “peel the onion” down a few layers to reeeaaallllly find out why what you want to achieve is important to you. Find what “pains” you. Find what is at the root of your “want”.
So, if you find yourself losing focus or lacking motivation with a health or fitness program right now, take a moment and ask yourself a series of “why” questions. Really get down to the true core of why the results you’re wanting are truly important to you. Peel the onion. Answer yourself and follow up with another “why”. Then ask another “why”. Peel the onion a little more. Find your pain. Write it down.
Understanding the true root of your desire and what it holds for you if you achieve it is the first step toward keeping your motivation level high and your focus clear.

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It’s happening. Those of us born in the baby boom years (1945-1963) are supposedly becoming “old”. Chronologically, maybe. But, I’m just not ready for that label. Any of you “boomer ladies” agree with me? Do you plan on being “old” any time soon? I didn’t think so.

I think back to my early childhood when some of my 50-year-old great aunts were in “sensible shoes”, horn rimmed glasses and house dresses (I think Aunt Lucille even had blue hair). Boy, did they look and act OLD! I’m still a few years away from the big “five-oh”, but I don’t plan on getting out the walker any time soon. We boomer women are NOT the 50 and 60 year olds of our mother’s and grandmother’s generations.

One way I plan on looking and feeling younger as I cruise through these “middle years” is through good nutrition and exercise. That’s what this blog is all about: getting lean and fit, feeling youthful, and staying active in mid-life. We boomer women have seen (and tried!) a lot of hair-brained diets in our time. We’ve done some wacky exercises. We’ve wasted a lot of time at the gym. Let’s be done with that, ladies.

Right here, every week, I’ll lay out for you information, workouts, nutrition tips and more to help you get fit and feel fabulous. I’ll dispell some of the diet and exercise myths we boomer women have grown up with. I’ll tell you what REALLY works to get in shape, how to lose body fat, and the best ways to boost your metabolism.

What are your struggles with nutrition and exercise as a boomer woman? Are you as fit as you want to be? Please feel free to post a comment below. The more I know about what you need, the more I can help!

Committed to your fitness success,

Becky

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