How to Get The Most Out of This Website
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My focus in Balanced Weight Management is being Healthy-At-Any-Size. This includes eating well (with pleasure and awareness), living actively (celebrating the joy of movement), and feeling good about yourself as you respect and honoring yourself with your choices. I encourage you to explore those areas of the Web site that you're interested in. Every section discusses an aspect of whole-person health: health of body, mind, and spirit. Check out the Dieting versus the Non-Dieting Approach section for new perspectives on your journey towards greater health and well-being. See below for some ideas of where to start.
To begin, contemplate: What is it that brought you to my site? What would you like to explore? Walk through Guidance At-a-Glance! What Steps Are You Ready to Take? I suggest that you "channel surf" the site. Get to know its contents. Print off, read over, and try out the information you will find. Most articles are only 2 - 5 pages long.
Most people find that it takes ONGOING STUDY, review, and practice of these new concepts and skills before they become an AUTOMATIC PART of their lives--a new habit! This process takes TIME! Many people find it can easily take 1 - 3 years to transform their life.
To Achieve Success, Invest In Yourself.
Make An Ongoing Date With You--Every Day! Set Aside Time For Your Personal Transformation.
As you practice the process below, you will learn how to become your own lifestyle coach. You will learn the skills that will help guide you through all of life's seasons. |
Where To Begin & What To Do
Start First With Cultivating Awareness & An Inner Respectful Attitude
Go Step-by-step!
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Set your motivation, your intention—your reason for making the effort. Look at A Daily Reminder and How to Keep Motivated . Doing this will help you weather the ups and downs of your life's journey. Consider also that you want to free your heart, mind, body, and spirit from suffering. You want to be a healthy, happy camper. You desire to celebrate your life! Go to see If You Would Grow.
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Remember to plant the garden of your life with seeds of well-being. Do it from a space of deep honoring, respect, and affection--for yourself! You want to free yourself from pain and distress, and from patterns that don't work for you. You want to be healthy, peaceful, and contented. Ah...personal freedom! Explore Plant the Garden of Your Life With Seeds of Well-Being and Discover the Healthy Living Secret!
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As you examine your life, consider what factors contribute to your being overweight? Investigate and think about Overcoming Your Obstacles to a Healthful Style of Living Worksheet and Your Life--Everything Is Interconnected!, The Complex Web Of Weight Management, and the Essential Skills section #3 Write Away Weight: Keeping a Food Journal. Delve into Bob's story for the Get To The Roots and The World Of Craving and Addiction Offers Me Nothing That I Want. Good Bye! sections.
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Begin to be aware of WHICH DAILY CHOICES lead to the RESULTS you are getting right now. Check out: The Ovals--Developing a "Personal Plan of Eating".
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The process: Become your own personal lifestyle coach or trainer. How? You Pay attention! Be mindful! Use the Daily Personal Check-In and use the Stages of Change process. See #2 and #3 above & #5, #6, and #8 below.
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Tune within yourself for answers. Slow down. Take the time. Life rewards effort. Spend time to create the daily choices that will lead to the life you want to experience! Invest In Yourself: Invent A New Life!
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Pick and choose: learn new lifestyle skills. Week by week, try new things out.
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Invest in yourself--invent a new life--to get the fruit of personal freedom and ever-increasing well-being.
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For life-long success, plan and prepare for difficult moments. USE the tools in this site. Pay a visit to Discover and Apply Your Own Maintenance Schedule.
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Be Persistent! Don’t give up 5 minutes before the miracle! Just begin again! LOOK at: Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight: Bingeing and Delve into Healthy Reasons and Self-Destructive Reasons To Eat
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Have FUN! Don't make this a job, make it a hobby--something you look forward to and enjoy. Take delight in cultivating new choices. Frolic about as you uncover CELEBRATE Healthful Eating! Yum! Make It FUN. Make It Colorful!, The Power of Fun: Celebrate Enjoyable Ways To Be Active!, and CELEBRATING The Simple Joys Of Life!
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Next think about the WHY and HOW TO of making a CHANGE in your life. Gee, it's a nice idea, but HOW do you do it? Go to see Change? Who Me? How?
3. Next, think about what LIFESTYLE SKILLS you might want to explore and try out. Look at Essential Skills. An example is to change your eating patterns. To start you might explore (from the Essential Skills section):
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Once you figure out WHAT you want to do, it's important to Come Up With a Smart Plan For Making Changes In Your Life. Cultivate and try out baby steps towards success.
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Once you discover some skills you want to try out, it's valuable to learn to become your own lifestyle trainer. Ask yourself, "What do I need to be a healthy, happy camper?" WHAT helps me stay on track? WHAT gets me off track? The more often you practice these skills, the more proficient you will become.
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Go to see Daily Personal 5-Minute Check-In, Healthy Reasons To Eat and Self-Destructive Reasons To Eat, and Horse of Habit Story for suggestions on how to do this.
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You may discover at a point that you need some information or a resource to help you unravel a difficult area, or learn a new skill. You could then visit the Resource sections, Therapeutic Help for the Journey, and Re-evaluation Counseling.
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You may want to hear about HOW someone actually had achieved what you want to do, and learn about HOW they did it. Visit Bob's Story and visit How do you begin to make changes?
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You may find that you need more PRACTICE. So, just begin again! Print off, read over, try out the information you will find in this site. Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent!
For most people the process of making lasting lifestyle changes takes 1 - 3 years.
Change your life--week by week, step by step.
An excellent resource about lifestyle coaching is Take Time for Your Life by Cheryl Richardson, (1999), Broadway Books, New York, NY. Provides a program for creating the life you want. Gives practical & inspiring ways to improve your life one step at a time. This book are excellent! Electronic newsletter and books at: http://www.cherylrichardson.com/
A Daily Reminder
Change your moment-by-moment choices, change your life!
Pay attention! Live in AWARENESS, not just on autopilot.
Notice your PATTERNS. WHO is going to live your life?
YOU or your patterns?
Some daily reminders for making an effort—by reflecting, reading, studying, trying new things out each week. So in effect, set your motivation, your intension—your reason for making the effort.
Be an explorer… Have fun!
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Think about why you are making an investment in yourself.
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Are you perhaps sick and tired of feeling sick and tired?
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Are you ready to quit fad dieting and ready to make a long-term investment, a commitment—for you?
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Do it—because you deeply care about you.
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Do it—because you want your life to be healthy at all levels: in body, mind, and spirit.
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I make a commitment to be open to learning!
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I make a commitment to be aware of my choices and their consequences!
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I make a commitment to be kind to myself!
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I make a commitment to a new way of living!
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I make a commitment to celebrate life-long learning!
Aspirations:
May I trust my limitless ability to grow and may I respect the progress I’ve already made.
Become who I truly want to become. Trust that I can do it!
I love who I am and I love who I am becoming.
Unlock your potential!
Say YES to your wild & precious life!
You have within you
All the answers to the challenges you face.
Become your own personal lifestyle trainer
Or in effect, be a gardener to your own mind and life.
Have a deep confidence in your ability to heal suffering
and a deep belief in your magnificent potential.
Tune within for your answers.
As you practice this skill, over time,
You discover your profound wisdom.
Step-by-step
You become healthier from the inside out.