weight loss Archives - Trust Life Today

Rock Solid Love

February 14, 2013 by Leslie Green 2 Comments

It Takes Self Love

My dear friend had recently hit the 100 mark; she had lost 100 pounds! I was one year cancer free! We had both hit major milestones!

I cannot imagine what she must have felt, how proud she must have been to lose 100+ pounds — all by working her tail off! Getting up before the crack of dawn, leaving the house to workout in the dark, and focusing on healthy food choices. She took no shortcuts. Day after day after day (for years — this is a true example of how slow and steady wins the race!). What an accomplishment! This took real dedication. And it took something else: true love of self. Loving yourself enough to focus on what matters in your life.

Although I don’t know exactly what she felt, or vice versa, we knew one thing: we both had reason to celebrate!

This was not going to be your regular ol’ girl’s weekend, but a, let’s live it up, hang out closer to a full week, stay at one of the nicest spas in the country type getaways — and celebrate! Celebrate what exactly? CELEBRATE US! Celebrate our health! Love ourselves enough to focus on what matters. And right then, what mattered was celebrating our health!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Well, no trains, but after over a half day of travel, coming from two separate regions of the country, we both arrived here, in Sedona, Arizona. We stayed in one of the little square-like casitas you see:

Located directly behind the spa, was a walking trail leading up to an area known for the concentration of energy around points called vortexes. The subtle energy within these vortexes is said to create uplifting moods, sometimes lasting for days. On more than one occasion, we climbed this one:

On one of our hikes up, the first one actually, we heard music. Someone was playing a flute. Look at the image above. On the narrow landing to the far left sat a man playing the flute. I later found out the type of flute is called a Love Flute or Courting Flute, common among Native American flutes.

As we climbed higher, continuing in the direction of the music, we began to notice something:

Now that we had become aware of them, we estimated spotting over one hundred of them along the trail.

When we reached the top, we met Robert:

Robert, the man responsible for the deluge of hearts and the beautiful flute music. Go figure, a man who after retiring, moved to Sedona, and chose to spend his days carving hearts out of stone and placing them all along a walking trail, would also play an instrument called the Love Flute. Of course he did.

With that same wide smile you see, he shared with us his vision of spreading love throughout the world, one tiny rock at a time.

It begins with self love. This inner love-joy-peace-feeling of being free that starts from within. A love that is solid as a rock.

~~~~

Claim your rock solid love today, Valentine’s Day. Be your own best Valentine today, tomorrow, and the next day.

Woven throughout today’s “picture-story” are several examples of self love. Leave a comment below and share how you show self love. I’ll start: I show self love by taking a nap when I’m tired, which is to say I listen to my needs and do not ignore them. Okay…your turn.

~~~~

Speaking of listening, join us on Sunday, as I’ll be sharing my first ever podcast — my conversation with Mark Nepo on his new book, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen. You’re not going to want to miss Mark, as he shares his thoughts on all sorts of things, including what it means to Trust Life.

Have I Been Able to Keep the Weight Off?

July 30, 2012 by Leslie Green Leave a Comment

Introducing My Secret Sauce

A few months ago I tried a weight loss program and lost the remaining weight my breast surgeon had encouraged me to lose. (I had packed on a few pounds post mastectomy, and it was time to shed them.) After completing the HCG Diet, I wrote a post entitled, “How I Lost My Last 14 Pounds.” In it, I shared with you:

how I lost those last pesky pounds
the book I used to guide me through the program

and most importantly (so you told me)….

I provided a day by day reading of my bathroom scale so you could follow along and get a feel for my results.

It’s safe to say, it was a full disclosure type of article.

I received a lot of mail after that post. By far, the number one comment/question was this:

“Anyone can lose weight only eating 500 calories per day. As soon as you go back to your normal eating habits, won’t you regain it all?”

[Btw, the HCG drops completely took away my hunger, so only eating 500 calories per day was not a problem for me.]

I’ve been waiting to write a follow up, knowing that I’d need some time to pass so that I could 1) resume my normal eating habits and 2) continue to monitor the scale.

Seven weeks have now passed since I finished the program, entering what the book refers to as the Maintenance Phase, which is basically how you choose to eat going forward. That means seven weeks that I have NOT been following any part of the program — simply eating what I’d like, and weighing myself daily to keep an eye on my weight. [I really don’t want a two pound gain to turn into a four pound gain, then six, then before you know it, I’m back at a 14 pound gain.]

During these seven weeks I took a pretty swanky vacation (food-wise) to New York City, where there was no scale in my hotel room. I also recently spent one week in New Mexico, with relatively little control over what I was served (I was a guest, staying in someone’s home). I arrived home yesterday, weighing myself for the first time, today.

Despite the New York vacation, the New Mexico trip (where I also didn’t weigh myself), and going back to eating things like pizza, potato chips, and desserts, I’ve lost an additional two pounds, making my grand total 16 pounds lost.

And I can assure you I’m eating way more than 500 calories per day. Oh, and I haven’t exercised in probably two months — my routine is horribly off right now — crazy, hectic summer.

So you wonder, will this program work for you?

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, this plan is extremely detailed. It’s simple, but you must follow it closely.

If the HCG Diet does work for you, will you be able to keep the weight off?

Here are my two cents….

After completing the diet, my cravings had completely disappeared, which was a huge score. My body felt as if it had been through a cleanse. All of the vegetables I had been eating, along with the lean meat and especially eliminating sugar during the Transition Phase helped “re-set” my palate.

Cravings aside, palate back-on-track aside, the main reason I believe I’ve been able to maintain is this:

I have found Balance.

Balance in the way we eat is key in maintaining a healthy weight.

Balance is the Secret Sauce.

Balance with food.
Balance in relationships.
Balance in how we spend our time.

Balance.

Look at your life. Where are you out of balance? Are you overweight? Are you in constant break-up mode? Do you spend all of your time at work?

Posing these questions to you has forced me to look inward and ask the same questions of myself.

I immediately see where I’m out of balance. Do you? I‘m not being cheeky here. Seriously, do you?

Just so you know, I knew what my out of balance area was before I asked the question, but I was choosing to ignore it… kinda sweeping it under the rug. But, now that I’ve brought it to the surface, it’s time to address it.

So, to answer the question in today’s title: “Have I Been Able to Keep the Weight Off?” Yes. And I have to be honest, it feels really good.

But I’d like to apply this Secret Sauce to the broader picture: My Life.

How do we do that?

Head on. Onward! I’m off to reclaim my balance… join me?

If you enjoyed this post, please tweet or share on Facebook. Help spread the much needed message of Balance.

Love, Leslie

How to Become Strong While You Lose Weight

June 29, 2012 by Leslie Green Leave a Comment

In “The #1 Weight Loss Sabotager,” we covered mindless eating — the unconscious habits we can all relate to that lead to weight gain.

Before that, I shared in detail how I lost my last 14 pounds. And as happy as I’ve been with the results on the scale, there are additional benefits that presented themselves:

fitting into my old clothes
having more energy
better overall health, as my breast surgeon pointed out
the positive feelings that come from reaching a set goal

To be honest, I stand a little taller and straighter; I suppose there’s a sense of accomplishment knowing that I stuck with a program of that rigor and achieved what I set out to achieve.

That said, I consider all of those factors to take a backseat (with the exception of the health benefit) to the spiritual aspect of weight loss. There was an inner strength that emerged by being in complete control of something.

I know what you’re going to say. But Leslie, you’ve said many times how there’s very little we actually have control over in our lives. True. However, this is one of those things.

We are in complete control of what we choose to put in and not put in our mouths. Complete.

No one will ever force you to eat anything. It’s just not going to happen. You are in complete control of what you eat. It’s a choice that you get to make several times a day, every day of your adult life. Yet, with ALL of that practice, we still really suck at it.

I will admit that there have been times in my life that I’ve craved a food so strongly, it felt as if I had no control. And yes, I do believe there is such a thing as being addicted to food, carbs especially. The more I read about what certain carbs do to our insulin levels, the more I understand how this maddening cycle can easily overtake us.

Which is another reason a diet, such as the one I did, was so beneficial. I felt as though it completely reset my palate, and in the process, I regained full control and awareness of my eating habits.

Think about these opposites:

Unconscious Eating

Versus

Being in Control of Your Eating

Without giving it much thought at all, feelings immediately arise when I read the above opposites. Feelings of weak vs. strong. Erratic vs. grounded. Unsteady vs. stable. Loser vs. winner.

As much as I dislike labels, it’s nearly impossible to dissociate these sorts of feelings with each.

Does a Body-Soul Connection in Weight Loss Really Exist?

Absolutely.

As I heard it said recently, “When I control my body, I allow my soul to flourish.”

There are so many times in life, as we walk this Earth, that it’s easy to feel small and insignificant. Besides being untrue, this is NOT one of those times.

Understanding and gaining this sort of everyday control feeds our soul. It may seem small, but don’t be fooled. Controlling what you put in your mouth is very powerful.

Y-O-U are powerful.

Said in other words:

Subscribe above. That way you’ll never miss a TLT post. Thank you!

Love, Leslie

The #1 Weight Loss Sabotager

June 27, 2012 by Leslie Green 6 Comments

In the previous post, How I Lost My Last 14 Pounds, I shared with you a daily log of what the scale read for SIX WEEKS as I lost the remaining pounds to take me back to my pre-surgery weight. Weight, that for whatever reason, would simply not come off.

What I shared was data — actual numbers on a scale, something women very rarely do!

And as personal as numbers on the scale may be to many, what I’m going to share today are some personal discoveries around what I see as the #1 weight loss sabotager.

I Had Become a Mindless Eater

While on the HCG Program, the food you eat during the low calorie portion is quite specific. This, I liked, because it took all of the guesswork out of it. Here’s what I found:

I no longer nibbled. I ate what I was supposed to eat, followed the rules, which meant there was no nibbling in between. Constant snacking had become a habit. A mindless habit. This was a tough habit to break, but after a few weeks, it was indeed broken, and I’m happy to say, it has not reared its ugly head again.

I no longer used food as a distraction or a ‘break.’ When you’re on your laptop all day long, working/writing, there comes a point when you just want to get up and do something else. It’s not necessarily that you’re hungry, but you want a little break.

My break had become food. I wasn’t eating junk either; my ‘break of choice’ was a handful of almonds or a piece of fruit. But by the end of the day, I had probably eaten close to 100 almonds and 4-5 servings of fruit. A little excessive, maybe?

For my first 21 days on the program, I couldn’t have ONE SINGLE ALMOND. Oh, how I missed them! I was allowed two apples per day. Oh, how I was sick of apples by the end of it! But here’s what I noticed. When I’d walk in the kitchen for my break, I’d quickly remember it wasn’t time to eat, then I’d stop and ask myself if I was even hungry. The answer every time was NO.

So why had I walked in the kitchen, approaching the refrigerator or the pantry? Out of habit. Unconscious habit.

My other ‘break of choice’ was my afternoon cup of tea. Not bad, right? But I was adding close to a 1/2 cup of milk to it. (My cup was mammoth size, requiring a lot of milk… which turns right into sugar. I may as well have been drinking a milkshake!) Only one tablespoon of milk PER DAY is allowed during the low cal portion of this program, then when you go into the following phase (Transition Phase), NO MILK IS ALLOWED. (However, heavy cream is okay during this phase because it has no carbs and no sugars.)

My two daily cups of tea were my biggest challenge. Bigger than the almonds. How would my enormous cuppa taste right without all that milk?! I needed that milk! Besides, tea is more than a beverage to me, it’s a ritual. I actually use my morning cup of tea to do a grounding meditation, feeling/following the hot fluid as it travels down my throat. I follow it in my mind, concentrating on its warmth, as I ‘watch’ it flow through my body, and eventually exit through my feet, grounding me to the earth.

Surely, this experience would not be the same.

I ended up switching my mammoth cup to a much smaller one, one that would accommodate one tablespoon of milk, and you know what? My meditation worked the same! It was just as spiritual, just as grounding, and just as satisfying.

When I emailed my buddy Tony about this tea/milk discovery (because he knew how much I had been dreading this part of the program), I’m sure he could feel my radiance through the email. I was over the top that I didn’t have to give up my Love!

Tony’s response was classic Tony. He said:

“Smaller cup, smaller person. Sweet! When we sort out our preferences from our unconscious habits we regain control over our lives.”

So true.

Today’s post has been about unconscious habits. The next TLT post is about control. Eating, and food, and control! Oh my!! (To be read like: Lions, and Tigers, and Bears! Oh my!!)

The more we’re aware of our motives and observe our own actions, the closer we become to knowing and seeing and feeling our true selves.

Subscribe above. That way you’ll never miss a TLT post. Thank you! Love, Leslie

Rock Solid Love

It Takes Self Love

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles