Rudolf's Tips fo Keeping Your Weight Loss Goals Locked In

A few days ago, our family rode a magic carousal together, and my face was lit up like a Christmas tree the entire ride. I think I had more fun than both kids combined. What I told my 3-year old was a magical carousal, turned out to be just that for me. After we hopped off our horses, a man said Merry Christmas to me and I almost cried with joy. It was the first time someone told me Merry Christmas this year without me saying it first. Small victories are magic.

Do you feel amazing during the holidays or does Christmas have the opposite effect?  Sometimes, the expectation of the joy tends to land you on the grinch's front porch, frowning. Hopefully, you can let yourself feel some Christmas cheer, even a little bit! Either way, Christmas joy or not, just because it's the holidays, doesn't mean your weight loss goals go away. In fact, the holidays are when you see lots of friends and family and I think you want to feel your best more than ever? Here are some reindeer tid bits I wanted to share:

1) Be Silly. Play. On thanksgiving night, I played an aggressive game of duck, duck goose with all the kids. There was running, laughing, head bonks, falling- exactly what my body ordered. Kids are so helpful to get you off your tuckuss - the ultimate example of how our bodies could always be fulfilled with movement. Fall in love with movement too, and you will smile as big as kids do, because movement is what we were made for. Stagnation is lame, besides Facebook doesn't need anymore support.

2) It's About Your Feelings.  Feelings are powerful motivators.  If you feel fat, you will act it. If you are wearing sweat pants, haven't washed your hair and you are having a "meh" day, you're more likely to be OK with plunging face first into the ice cream. Now, erase that frump idea and change it to being dressed up and feeling sexy. When you feel like a hottie, you are much less likely to eat cake by (big) spoon full. Make sure your feelings are in line to help you make right choices. The important part is living with that feeling inside your head and holding on to it. Do whatever if takes to feel good and feel like you are losing weight. It takes drastic action sometimes. It might mean you have to eat light salads for a day or do a 16-hour fast. It takes drastic, ridgid action sometimes to get the ball rolling. Or maybe you have to go run ten miles, to feel skinny and empty; just do it. Because when you feel thin, you act thin. That's why it's easy to keep losing weight once you start. What's really tough is getting started losing weight when you feel yuck about yourself. Wayne Dyer wrote a book called WISHES FULFILLED where he dives into this topic with gusto. I listened to his audio book for free from the library. If you want the shortcut version you could try his meditation CD.

Kitchen is closed. Go drink tea or water instead.

3) If you are in the kitchen, you will be more likely to eat.
"Close the kitchen" down between meals, scream it out if you have to, "the kitchen is closed!" Avoid the kitchen when you feel strong negative emotions. I have an issue with eating my emotions: loneliness, fear, feeling overwhelmed, boredom- those emotions inside my body make me want to eat sweets. You don't want to do that because it means you are not really living, instead you are just hiding. It's no way to live. If you feel uneasy, don't eat. Food, like alcohol and drugs - can be used abusively. Stop using food, instead get outside and walk- clear your head, even if its cold-as balls. Or go lay down and listen to some subliminal messages for overeating, even take deep breaths like you haven't breathed in years. Feel your emotions with something other than food. We don't all feel incredible all the time, but we don't have to try to make tough emotions go away. The emotions are suppose to be felt, feel them. An article about sugar. Read this for help also.

4) Nix the Nibbles with Oil Pulling:
If you are the cook - or you can't close the kitchen down, I recommend oil pulling. This is beneficial if you have a problem with your hand putting food into your mouth while cooking. I realized oil pulling is the best way to prevent me from nibbling. It requires that you swoosh coconut oil in your mouth for 20 minutes; you can't talk while you do it, which means you can't munch either. This does not work if you are entertaining guests obviously but I do it with my kids and tell them ahead of time that "mommy can't talk right now." (grinning while I write this)

5) Water burns fat.  If you can chug down a gallon of water a day, you will notice amazing benefits; like no headaches, less cravings for food, no puffiness and lots more energy. I felt changes from day one and I saw HUGE visual differences in 3 days. During this, I got to eat all my normal foods. Do this after dessert or even just to get rid of bloating from eating random foods that don't agree with your digestive tract. You really just need water. I did this water challenge for two weeks. But the most important part was just water.  Plus, a water detox is cheap, it's almost free. I recommend buying a gallon of spring water from the store ($1) and you can reuse the bottle or buy several to keep you going. Measurable goals like this make a big difference. Remember, water flushes out fat. Soda makes you fat, it's simple if you let it be.

This is why you can't lose weight

I hope this helps for your Holiday season, even if you don't make any changes, just sit with some of the ideas for now. Maybe you aren't ready to make changes yet, and that's OK. Maybe you just needed a few more tools in your arsenal and now this article gave them to you- woo hoo! Either way, Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays. I wish you all the best in your journey.