Stop self-sabotage by being positive about your body

SELF-SABOTAGE is one of the biggest obstacles people face. So let’s talk about ways of knocking it on the head through body positivity!

The past three weeks of the Summer Challenge have focussed on creating effective goals, healthy eating and exercise – but healthy eating and exercise are no good if you only stick to them for a short time and you don’t stay on track to achieve your goals.

So this week’s video is going to help you overcome self-sabotage and will enable you to stay on course so your new habits become lasting.

At the end of the day, making those habits stick is what we all want! 

Self-sabotage is one of the things that prevents people achieving their dreams and one of the reasons people self sabotage is because they’ve got negative self-talk going on in their head.

This negative self talk can be very powerful and destructive. Watch this video – it will help you to stop self-sabotage and move past the obstacle so you can achieve your dreams!

Key points about stopping self-sabotage

If you love your body you’ll automatically begin to care about what goes into your mouth and how you look after your health.

Pay attention to your language. Be really aware when you talk about your body, or when others around you do it.

Show yourself kindness and compassion. If you slip up, don’t berate yourself.

If a colleague makes a critique about their weight, you DON’T have to join in with your own “me too” insecurities.

Affirmations help keep you in a consistently positive mood that gets Nature’s happy drugs dancing in your brain.

The more you practise, the more you notice what aspects of your life are most important to you – as well as things that may be holding you back from being happy

Leave a comment below to let me know how you’re getting on with stopping self-sabotage. I love reading all about your success!

The post Stop self-sabotage by being positive about your body appeared first on Slimpod.

Get moving! Get motivated! Start my super new 21-day fitness challenge today

ONE thing I’ve noticed over the years is that when people have done about 14 days of a healthy lifestyle regime their motivation can suddenly become much weaker.  So let’s keep the motivation going!  Now that we’ve done 14 days of our #SummerChallenge, I’ve got something that will definitely keep you motivated for the next few weeks!

Watch my new video to discover what it’s all about (and please hit the Like button and subscribe to my channel to see all my Slimpod videos completely free of charge!)

In the video I mentioned the lovely Caroline Lockie and here’s a video she created last year which is truly inspirational!

A recap of the tasks this week in #SummerChallenge:

ONE: Set yourself a daily exercise goal – a distance to walk or run or a number of strength exercises to achieve.

TWO: If you’re at a desk all day, set an alarm on your phone every 50 minutes to remind you to get up and walk for 10 minutes.

THREE: Get your heart rate up regularly – walking or running up stairs is great for that. Or take part in a YouTube exercise video.

FOUR: There’s a new Couch to 5K thread in Slimpod Club – and there’s no better time to join in.

FIVE: Be accountable! There’s an accountability thread in Slimpod Club or you can post comments daily on this blog to share your progress.

Remember our Slimpod motto: All movement is exercise!

The post Get moving! Get motivated! Start my super new 21-day fitness challenge today appeared first on Slimpod.

Three easy tasks to help you drop a size in just 21 days

THIS WEEK we’re continuing our mission to drop a size in four weeks and the Slimpod #SummerChallenge is focusing on food! What’s your relationship with it? Is it your friend or foe? Do you use it for fuelling your mind and body to give its best or does food have a whole host of other meanings for you?!

In my experience, most people know what they should be eating to lose the excess fat, but they just can’t seem to follow a healthy lifestyle regime consistently. And I speak to a lot of people who just don’t have a deep enough desire to lose weight.

They THINK it’s what they want but at the end of the day have zero motivation to make it happen. So if you’re one of those people, give yourself a big push for the next three weeks of the #SummerChallenge and show yourself what’s possible! It’s only 21 days!

So here are the tasks for this week and the next 21 days – let’s do this!

TASK ONE:  Let’s get really aware of our full signal! All too often we overeat but this can be controlled!

Slimpod helps you do this so if you listen out for it at meal times, you can engage and know when you’re full.  Problems occur if you’re watching television or using your phone and you end up shovelling in food without any thought.

Stop! Enjoy it! Savour the tastes!

And above all let your body yell out to your brain – “I’m full and you can stop eating now!”

 

TASK TWO:  Focus on what you’re eating. Here’s a reminder of what we recommend in the programme.  Let’s all be really focused on the advice and follow it for just 21 days.

One: Actively reduce bread, pasta, potatoes, processed cereals and rice— they’re a combination of refined and starchy carbohydrates which rapidly turn into sugars in the blood. Try quinoa, whole grains, beans, and lentils instead – they fill you up too!

Two: Reduce or cut out sugar, sugary treats, alcoholic drinks and desserts. With a Slimpod that’s easy!

Three: Eat more vegetables. There are so many wonderful vegetables to choose from. I must admit I’ve become quite a veggie addict. I love stir fries and dishes with lots of colour. Broccoli, spinach, red peppers, pak choi and carrots are in my basket every week.

Four: Eat fruit, two portions a day is good.

Five: Include plenty of high-quality protein such as meat, oily fish, eggs, seafood, tofu and soy. The body doesn’t store protein so you need to maintain an adequate level in your diet to avoid muscle loss. It also helps to reduce appetite. Eggs are amazing for breakfast! Avoid processed meats for the next 21 days

Six: Enjoy dairy products and eat more healthy fats and oils. Until recently people thought they should be avoiding full-fat dairy products. In 2014 a review by the British Heart Foundation found NO evidence that eating saturated fats leads to a greater risk of heart disease.

More recently scientists have said if you drink full fat milk you are 46 per cent less likely to develop diabetes!  So use fats!

They make food taste better. They are an excellent source of slow-burn energy. And although ounce for ounce they are higher in calories than carbs, they keep you full for longer.

There are many, many recipes available in the Healthy Recipes section of our programme which fall in line with the principles above, or you’ll find thousands online.

There are also many recipe books like Dr Michael Mosley’s Blood Sugar Diet – and yes, most of them have the word diet in the title, but ignore that and just follow the recipes!!

 

TASK THREE: This is one of the most important tasks of all because it holds you accountable! We’re going to share the love, create some great dishes and share recipes with each other in Slimpod Club.

If you’re not in Slimpod Club but you are on social media then share them on Instagram etc using the #SlimpodSmile.

Upload a picture and the recipe instructions for your favourite healthy dish – whether it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner, healthy snacks and even clever sugar-free desserts!

If you try someone else’s recipe and you enjoy it,  tell them in the comments below their post and upload a picture.  We are a fantastic community and I think we can create a very tasty and healthy recipe thread for one another by sharing our favourites, especially if they’re really easy to make.

Whether you’re in Slimpod Club or not, do post them on social, especially on Instagram, and tag us in posts because we’d love to share the healthy food!

As a little incentive to share the love on social, I’ll be giving a lovely prize to the person whose recipe gets the most likes over the next seven days. So get those pics online!

So there you are – as easy as 1,2 3!

1. Listen for the full signal
2. Follow the principles of the Med way of eating
3. Share your recipes with the community online!

I’m really looking forward to this and I’ll be sharing too!  Let me know below how you got on over the past seven days – can’t wait to hear all about it!

The post Three easy tasks to help you drop a size in just 21 days appeared first on Slimpod.

Get in shape – my super Summer Boot Camp kicks off today

MY super Summer Boot Camp Challenge starts today, Monday June 3! Get set for summer and boost your body positivity by taking part in my four-week challenge!

This could this be the push and focus you need to get into those smaller summer clothes. Take some action and max your motivation.

It’s all very simple (of course!) and free! Every Monday for the next four weeks I’ll post a blog which contains the tasks for the week.

The word challenge can sometimes be scary, so first of all I want to assure you that the next four weeks are going to be a hugely positive, enjoyable and motivational experience!

The only condition of joining in is that you stick with it!!  We’ll be doing our bit to help you with that part!

You’ll receive links to the next four blogs by email and you can take part in my Summer Challenge on your own at home or if you’re part of the private Slimpod Club on Facebook you can join in with the rest of the community and we’ll be doing some special motivational stuff in there too!

The Summer Challenge is all about having clarity about what you want to achieve and then focusing on the process which will get you there.  It’s about taking action and being accountable.

Now I know some people struggle a little with taking consistent action so I’ve found a very simple and effective way of holding you accountable and that will involve simply posting pictures or videos either beneath this blog or in Slimpod Club.

The weekly blog will obviously give you guidelines on the pictures to take – and don’t panic, they won’t be pix of yourself in your swimwear or anything (I know what kind of response I’d get to that request!!!).

However, the Summer Challenge is about body positivity and feeling good about yourself, because this is at the heart of our Slimpod system. Therefore, following the guidelines on these blogs are very important.

First week is about clarity and working out what you want to achieve by July 1. BE CLEAR and realistic about this! No wishy-washy goals please.

You must connect with your special goal in order to make it happen.

So many people worry about goal-setting because it sends them into a negative place.  But if negativity creeps in your very first task is to reframe the problem.

Look upon goals as a good thing because you need a direction in which to travel.  They’re also there to give you feedback if you don’t achieve them at first.

Use them as a positive tool to discover what needs to be done next if you don’t quite reach them.

Remember, goals are important but they shouldn’t be obstacles. Use them as something that will give you direction and feedback 

First week: Task one

Watch this video and create a four week goal-map. Post it either beneath this blog or in Slimpod Club.

First week: Task two

Post a picture of what you would like to be wearing in the Summer. I’m not saying you’ll be into this in four weeks, but this challenge will set you off in the right direction.

If you can’t manage to create a goal map – do task two. Or be really connected with your goal and do both!!

First week: Task three

Measure yourself – this can be done with a tape or better still with a ribbon (instructions are in the Gold programme – Level 3).

First week: Task four

Think of two small daily actions which will take you towards your goal. We’ll be discussing these in Slimpod Club during the next week.

Of course, you can buddy up in pairs or groups and start your own thread – it’s always fun doing this Summer challenge with others.

So let’s get some positive energy going! The idea is to keep listening to your Slimpod and stay engaged in the challenge for four weeks.

Next week’s task will be all about food. But you can start thinking about how you can make some changes with regard to food this week.

Have a think about what’s worked well in the past.

Is it when you’ve been following healthy recipes? Or eating plans?

What’s stopped you from being consistent in the past?

The answers to our problems are often inside our own minds – we just get a bit stuck sometimes!

We’ll be exploring all this next week and there will be some fun with prizes in Slimpod Club – so join up if you’re not already a member.

Please let me know below if you’re taking part and let’s get cracking! Most of all ENJOY yourself!!

The post Get in shape – my super Summer Boot Camp kicks off today appeared first on Slimpod.

Five ways to take control of stress

DOES it ever seem to you that life is just one long bout of S-T-R-E-S-S ! You get up after a patchy night’s sleep, you rush around getting out of the house, you battle through the traffic, you get nothing but hassle at work, then there’s the shopping, the cooking, the demands of the family…and before you know it, there’s another day gone.

The problem these days is that far too many people reach for food or alcohol (or both!) to help them cope with stress.

For a short time it dulls the pain and makes them feel better, but as we all know anything in excess plays havoc with your waistline.

So I’ve made this special video in which I look at stress and give some practical advice on how to break the patterns of unhelpful behaviour that stress leads to.

The key to leading a calmer, more rewarding and much healthier life is to reduce the stress hormone cortisol in your body.

Our bodies need some cortisol and it’s an important hormone because it actually helps keep us alive. But when we’re stressed we overproduce it and this can mean weight gain.

In the weight loss world, cortisol is now public health enemy number one.

So having the right balance is essential.  Here’s those five things I talked about in the video which you can do to take control.

ONE: Exercise is crucial. Give your brain a buzz from doing something physical.

TWO: Use a meditation or relaxation download – our Chillpod is a great way of dealing with it.

THREE: Laughter is fabulous! It stops stress and lowers cortisol.

FOUR: Eat healthily. The Slimpod will take care of that.

FIVE: Get more sleep!

Let me know what stress is doing to your enjoyment of life by leaving a comment below. And do let me know how you get on with my five stress-busting tips.

The post Five ways to take control of stress appeared first on Slimpod.

Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge is off and running today

THIS may sound like a pretty big claim, but here goes: I’m about to tell you the secret of a happier, healthier life. Not only that, I’m launching a special Spring Challenge to show you how easy it is to make a fabulous change that will deliver enormous benefits that will last forever.

You see, I was reading some research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine the other day which really excited me. It said that a brisk walk even once a week is enough to significantly reduce the chances of early death.

Gentle exercise once a week can cut the risk of heart disease and cancer by nearly 20 per cent, the study said.

Now this got me thinking: If a few minutes of gentle exercise can do that, what would 20 minutes of moderate exercise like running do?

And so, with the help of Slimpodder Nickie O’Hara I’m launching my Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge today. As the weather’s improving and the days are getting longer, I want to encourage you to get off your bum and go from being a couch potato to a 5K runner!

It’s nowhere near as daunting as you might think. Nickie is a community run leader for the Couch to 5K campaign (C25K) which is run by the NHS.

She started doing easy, gentle runs about five years ago – and soon became hooked on them. Now she has progressed to serious distance running.

Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge video explains everything

Here’s a video Nickie and I made in which she tells you all about the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge and how easy it is to take part.

Last year Nickie lost 2st 4lb and ran over 1,000 kilometres (that’s 626 miles). This year her target is to lose another 28lbs and run 1,000K again.

“I’ve been using Slimpods for a few years now and they provide me with focus and a Positive Mental Attitude that helps me focus on my goals,” she says.

“I admit that I had good and bad days – this was important to me because it’s not all a bed of roses out there and you learn from the negatives as well as the positives. I also found my tribe and they came on my journey with me.

“Some came out on training runs with me and pushed me beyond what I thought were my limits, some ran beside me in races to make sure I was giving my absolute best, some applauded me at my slimming club when I lost a few extra pounds, some let me cry on their shoulder when I wasn’t feeling great and it took the full year to achieve everything – literally to the last day!

Nickie will be starting a special thread in Slimpod Club that tells you how you can join the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge. I think you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve in the first four weeks.

We’ll be using the NHS C25k app. You can download this free from your app store (Apple or Google versions available). And here’s where you can find out more about C25K on the NHS website.

Many Slimpodders know the physical and mental benefits that C25K can bring.

Here’s what Helena Doey posted in Slimpod Club recently: “It was amazing as I met a group of people who were in the same place as me (thinking ‘this will never work, but hey I will give it a go’.)

“You soon realise ‘Actually, I might achieve something here.’ Each week there was improvement and your confidence grew with it.

“The team spirit and friendship and achievement that I have gained with this will stay with me forever. Running has become part of my life, I am still slow but I can do it and more importantly I love it.”

So there you have two really inspiring stories from fellow Slimpodders and I’d really love you to give it a go. I’m going to be part of it too so if you’re up for joining Nickie and myself in the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge let me know by leaving a comment below.

If you’re a Slimpod Club member, join Nickie on her thread!

You can also join Nickie’s special C25K community on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag #SlimpodC25K.

There’ll be two other exercise threads in Slimpod Club from Monday so if the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge doesn’t float your boat why not try them.

Come on, let’s do this!

The post Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge is off and running today appeared first on Slimpod.

Is happiness a number?

THE lady on the phone was adamant when I asked her what would make her happy. “Getting down to 9st 7lbs,” she insisted. It was an interesting answer. But not as interesting as her answer to my next question.

“So if you’d lost two stones, apart from a different number on the scales what would be the evidence that you were happier?”

There was a pause. A long one. “Hmm,” she said. “I don’t know what happiness will look like. It’s been such a long time since I last weighed nine stone that feeling happy is something I’ve forgotten.”

It was time for my killer question. One that always makes people stop and think.

“Tell me Jill,” I said. “In your mind, why is happiness solely attached to the number on the scales?”

She paused again. Then…

“OMG,” she said with obvious delight. ”I’d never looked at it that way before.”

And that’s the problem so many people have.

They cast their minds back to the days when they were happy and trouble-free and assume that if only they could be as slim as they were then, all that happiness would just come flooding back.

It creates huge and unnecessary stress that simply drags them down.  They spend all their time being obsessed about the number they saw on the scales 25 or 30 years ago.

They think that’s the key to their weight loss happiness.

By directly linking smaller size with greater happiness they overlook the fact that the world has changed for all of us.

When we were younger (OMG, I’m sounding like my mother) there were no mobile phones, no laptops and no social media – so we weren’t constantly comparing ourselves with other people and the way they looked and felt.

Today life is super-busy and ultra-stressful. Linking happiness to the scales means life can become an emotional rollercoaster.

That’s why I’ve posted this special video in The Slimpod Channel on YouTube because it’s so important to stop this obsession with the number on the scales and to be able to think carefully about what happiness really means to us.

Instead of doing something that makes us unhappy every day, we need to flip it round completely.

Knowing your destination is important but you must learn to love the journey.

Enjoy the process. Get your weight loss happiness from small daily and weekly steps that are achievable.

That’s where your  Slimpod will be a great help. Feeling good about yourself is the route to self-fulfilment and self-esteem.

Forget the scales. Just be you – a warm and wonderful person, not a number.

Please leave a comment below to tell me what’s going to give you weight loss happiness. I love reading them all – because they make ME happy.

 

The post Is happiness a number? appeared first on Slimpod.