Tag weight loss

Has the world’s fear and panic started to inject itself into your covid-19 self-isolation bubble?

If it has, I feel you.

I’ll be honest.

Even though I’m a weight loss hypnotherapist, my eating habits – my healthy eating habits – went out the window there for a couple of days.

#COMFORTFOOD

And, I’ve been sneaking some extra “comfort food” treats into my shopping basket too.

Mostly wine and chocolate. Forget about loo roll!!! Wine and chocolate for me!!!

Now, my tip for this week is an oldy but a goody.

This tip never goes out of fashion, especially trying times, like these ones.

The tip is this…

BE KIND.

Be kind to the person at the supermarket who thinks food limits don’t apply to them.

Be kind to the kids who’re bickering because they’ve been cooped up all day.

Right now, even if it doesn’t seem like it, everyone is doing the best they can.

And that includes you, darling.

Be kind, be compassionate, go gently.

It’s the only way through this.

Now if you’re struggling with stress eating or the coronavirus has you slipping into helpful patterns of overeating – I’d like to support you.

I’m running a 5-day Thriving During Lockdown online retreat.

It’s FREE.

It’s online.

And it’ll give you the support and the tools you need to control your emotional eating, feel good about yourself, and stay healthy, happy….sane… through the ‘lockdown’ and beyond.

I look forward to supporting you through this.

And until then, be kind. x

Nothing takes the spring out of our step more quickly than a critical comment made by the wrong person at the wrong time.

How ironic then that the meanest person that we will ever encounter is the one living in our own heads!

You guessed it; today we’re talking about how to tame your inner critic.

The inner mean girl leads to weight gain…

Many clients share that day after day they crucify themselves with de-motivating, nit-picking, meanness.

Which sadly, leads to emotional eating, overeating, comfort eating as a form of numbing the pain.

Hello, vending machine and that third helping of chocolate cake.

Well, don’t we?!

Speaking to you as a reformed emotional eater, you need to start having a meaningful conversation with your inner critic.

Taking control…

Taming your inner critic is something we explore in detail in the Lighten up programme.

But the first step, and something you can do today, is to recognise that are NOT the conversation that is going on in your mind.

This is a light-bulb moment for many women.  To realise that just because there’s a conversation going on in your head –you don’t have to participate in the conversation nor even listen to it.

Awareness is key

The next time your head fills with disapproving voices, I encourage you to have the awareness. Recognise what’s going on.

“Okay, I’m beating myself up, I’m being mean and disapproving of myself.” So that’s the awareness.

And then, simply say, “next, please”.

“Next, please!”

Just because there’s a voice in your head doesn’t mean you have to listen to its pontifications!!!

You wouldn’t bother listening to a music track you don’t enjoy, so why listen to a voice in your head that you don’t enjoy?

So just like you would with that music track. Press fast forwards, or mentally say ‘next please,’ and you’ll be amazed at how that thought shifts away.

Yes, this practice.

And yes, this takes patience.

But it works!

If you’d like more mindset tips for feeling confident around food, I’d love you to join me in my free Facebook group called Peace With Food.

This week I’ve got a lovely tip for you.

It’s especially good if you regularly beat yourself up or are hard on yourself.

Research shows that self-compassion is a critical ingredient for our happiness, health and weight loss.

Even small amounts of self-compassion influence our eating habits in a very very positive manner.

The challenge though is that most of us women, we really struggle to be nice to ourselves for more than five minutes.

So here’s a wee tip to help you remember to support yourself, you be kinder to yourself, to be nicer to yourself, more and more often.

What I suggest you do is…

Add a few ‘pop ups’ in your phone calendar.

Just like you would with an appointment with a friend.

But this is an appointment with yourself.

It might be something like:

            “Good for you on eating slowly!”

            “Well done for being more and more mindful.”

            “Nice work for breathing deeply.”

            “Congratulations on going for that morning walk.”

            “High five for being awesome!!!”

Add a pop up that resonates with you.

The first time I heard this I was like:

            “Whatever! How can something so small possibly work?!”

But it does!

As they pop up during the day, they remind you to be relentlessly encouraging of yourself.

I have four or five pop-ups every day, and even if I only read the first couple of words – rather than the whole message – those words are sooooo supportive.

“Well done…..”, “Rock on……”, “Nice one…….”,”Hats off……..”

Often private clients share how if they’re in a bit of a funk, that pop-up will pop up, and snap them right out of it.

It’s that gentle, encouraging voice helping you to keep on going towards your happy shape and size.

I hope you found that helpful. How

So go ahead, put some encouraging pop-ups in your calendar today.

I’ll see you next week : )