I can completely empathize with people who have watched their weight roller coast throughout the years. Before discovering my yoga practice, I was one of those people. Yoga has helped me learn some insight into how to be happy and healthy. If you're happy and healthy, weight management will naturally follow.
Check out my tips below!
1) PRACTICE YOGA! The most important ingredient to happiness and health is mindfulness. A daily yoga practice is an excellent way to develop mindfulness. If you're new to yoga, I would suggest exploring your options. Travel to the different studios around town and try out various styles of yoga. Many studios offer a free trial! Use this exploratory period to find a teacher who is helpful and willing to give you adjustments. In my experience, Ashtanga Mysore helped me develop my yoga practice at my own rate. With Mysore, I was able to start slow and work my way toward a more advanced practice.
2) PRACTICE MINDFULNESS. If you practice yoga every day, you'll begin to feel more relaxed. Your thoughts will start to slow down and you will become aware of each thought you're having. Next, you can begin to control your thoughts by filtering out the negative thoughts. Isolate each thought and ask yourself, "Is this a positive thought? Or is this a negative thought?" If it's a negative thought, recognize it. This is one way to practice mindfulness. Every time you have that negative thought, you'll become aware of it, stop it, and eventually, you will have retrained your mind not to have that thought any more.
3) STOP DIETING. Growing up, I was surrounded by people who were always on a diet. All of the diets had special restrictions, so if you failed to follow the restrictions, you were a FAILURE! On to the next diet! I found that it was a never ending cycle, and I always failed and felt guilty afterwards. I believe that diets create an unhealthy feeling of guilt, which is a negative thought. When practicing mindfulness, our goal is to identify negative thoughts, stop them, and retrain our brain to think positively. So stop "dieting"!
4) STOP COUNTING CALORIES. Many diets have us count calories and almost all food packaging lists the calories. Our culture had developed a habit of consulting the calorie count before deciding whether a food is good to eat. I advocate that counting calories distorts our natural relationship with food. We need to get back in tune with our bodies, listen to our bodies and eat when we are hungry! Counting calories also creates guilt, another negative thought process. If we eat too many calories, we might feel bad about ourselves and feel like our entire day is derailed. Those thoughts pull us from the present moment and counteract our mindfulness.
5) STOP WEIGHING YOURSELF. During my dieting phase in life, I was obsessed with weighing myself. Sometimes I would weight myself a couple times of day, and every time it was "the moment of truth." If I liked what the scale said, I could feel good about myself. If I didn't like what it said, I felt stressed out and wanted to eat my feelings. I say stop doing things that are a source of stress. Ask yourself, "does weighing myself really add to my happiness?" If I'm eating well, and I feel good, why should I weigh my self? If I'm not eating well, and I don't feel good, I know that weighing myself will compound the negative thoughts I'm feeling. Next time you want to weigh yourself, go for a walk instead, or a bike ride, or do some other physical activity that you know will make you feel better.
6) STOP DIETING. EAT HEALTHY. What does that mean? To me, it means limit the amount of processed foods you eat. That includes cereal, crackers, chips, frozen meals, etc. Try to eat whole foods (I'm not advocating shop at whole foods). What I mean is eat whole fruits, whole vegetables, and whole grains. When you buy packaged foods, look at the ingredients, and if there is a bunch of stuff on there that you don't understand, don't eat it! Literally simplify what you eat. This may take some time to get used to, but eventually you can discover a whole new way of eating. You can collect recipes and rebuild your healthy repertoire of meals.
7) STOP EATING PROCESSED SUGAR. Just a spoonful of honey helps the medicine go down! Next time you crave something sweet, eat some honey. I like to eat a couple almonds drizzled with honey. I find that processed sugars cause our cravings to go haywire, disrupting our internal balance and distorting our perception of what our body needs. By weening ourselves off of sugar, our bodies will feel healthier and more balanced, and we'll be more in tune with our natural cravings.
Check out my tips below!
1) PRACTICE YOGA! The most important ingredient to happiness and health is mindfulness. A daily yoga practice is an excellent way to develop mindfulness. If you're new to yoga, I would suggest exploring your options. Travel to the different studios around town and try out various styles of yoga. Many studios offer a free trial! Use this exploratory period to find a teacher who is helpful and willing to give you adjustments. In my experience, Ashtanga Mysore helped me develop my yoga practice at my own rate. With Mysore, I was able to start slow and work my way toward a more advanced practice.
2) PRACTICE MINDFULNESS. If you practice yoga every day, you'll begin to feel more relaxed. Your thoughts will start to slow down and you will become aware of each thought you're having. Next, you can begin to control your thoughts by filtering out the negative thoughts. Isolate each thought and ask yourself, "Is this a positive thought? Or is this a negative thought?" If it's a negative thought, recognize it. This is one way to practice mindfulness. Every time you have that negative thought, you'll become aware of it, stop it, and eventually, you will have retrained your mind not to have that thought any more.
3) STOP DIETING. Growing up, I was surrounded by people who were always on a diet. All of the diets had special restrictions, so if you failed to follow the restrictions, you were a FAILURE! On to the next diet! I found that it was a never ending cycle, and I always failed and felt guilty afterwards. I believe that diets create an unhealthy feeling of guilt, which is a negative thought. When practicing mindfulness, our goal is to identify negative thoughts, stop them, and retrain our brain to think positively. So stop "dieting"!
4) STOP COUNTING CALORIES. Many diets have us count calories and almost all food packaging lists the calories. Our culture had developed a habit of consulting the calorie count before deciding whether a food is good to eat. I advocate that counting calories distorts our natural relationship with food. We need to get back in tune with our bodies, listen to our bodies and eat when we are hungry! Counting calories also creates guilt, another negative thought process. If we eat too many calories, we might feel bad about ourselves and feel like our entire day is derailed. Those thoughts pull us from the present moment and counteract our mindfulness.
5) STOP WEIGHING YOURSELF. During my dieting phase in life, I was obsessed with weighing myself. Sometimes I would weight myself a couple times of day, and every time it was "the moment of truth." If I liked what the scale said, I could feel good about myself. If I didn't like what it said, I felt stressed out and wanted to eat my feelings. I say stop doing things that are a source of stress. Ask yourself, "does weighing myself really add to my happiness?" If I'm eating well, and I feel good, why should I weigh my self? If I'm not eating well, and I don't feel good, I know that weighing myself will compound the negative thoughts I'm feeling. Next time you want to weigh yourself, go for a walk instead, or a bike ride, or do some other physical activity that you know will make you feel better.
6) STOP DIETING. EAT HEALTHY. What does that mean? To me, it means limit the amount of processed foods you eat. That includes cereal, crackers, chips, frozen meals, etc. Try to eat whole foods (I'm not advocating shop at whole foods). What I mean is eat whole fruits, whole vegetables, and whole grains. When you buy packaged foods, look at the ingredients, and if there is a bunch of stuff on there that you don't understand, don't eat it! Literally simplify what you eat. This may take some time to get used to, but eventually you can discover a whole new way of eating. You can collect recipes and rebuild your healthy repertoire of meals.
7) STOP EATING PROCESSED SUGAR. Just a spoonful of honey helps the medicine go down! Next time you crave something sweet, eat some honey. I like to eat a couple almonds drizzled with honey. I find that processed sugars cause our cravings to go haywire, disrupting our internal balance and distorting our perception of what our body needs. By weening ourselves off of sugar, our bodies will feel healthier and more balanced, and we'll be more in tune with our natural cravings.
