A question I asked myself hundreds of times over 25 years of yo-yo dieting  was “How do I overcome this obstacle of impulse and emotional eating?” 

I used to think to myself; “If I’m ever going to drop this weight and get a life, I’m going to have to get a handle on this! But how? Change is hard!” 

It seemed impossible for me to break free from my “bad” habits and I wondered what was wrong with me? 

I wondered that allllll the time!  

• Why couldn’t I stop doing things that I wanted to stop?  
• What was that internal force that kept driving me to do things I wanted to stop doing? 
• Why wasn’t I able to stop the hand-to-mouth action?  
• Why did I keep putting weight back on?  
• Why was there always a war raging inside of me when I wanted to stop doing one thing and start doing another more healthy option?  

It used to grind me down, why couldn’t I break-away and find my freedom from myself?    

How was I ever going to be able to have:

• Choices about what I wa...

A question I asked myself hundreds of times over 25 years of yo-yo dieting  was “How do I overcome this obstacle of impulse and emotional eating?” 

I used to think to myself; “If I’m ever going to drop this weight and get a life, I’m going to have to get a handle on this! But how? Change is hard!” 

It seemed impossible for me to break free from my “bad” habits and I wondered what was wrong with me? 

I wondered that allllll the time!  

• Why couldn’t I stop doing things that I wanted to stop?  
• What was that internal force that kept driving me to do things I wanted to stop doing? 
• Why wasn’t I able to stop the hand-to-mouth action?  
• Why did I keep putting weight back on?  
• Why was there always a war raging inside of me when I wanted to stop doing one thing and start doing another more healthy option?  

It used to grind me down, why couldn’t I break-away and find my freedom from myself?    

How was I ever going to be able to have:

• Choices about what I wa...

 Throughout my 25-year struggle with weight I did all kinds of exercise: 

• Bootcamp 
• Running 
• PT sessions 
• (Lots of) cardio 
• Yoga 
• Hot Yoga 
• Aerial Yoga 
• Body combat classes 
• Body pump classes 
• Circuit training 
• Spin classes 
• Aerobics 
• Aqua aerobics 
• Kettlebell workouts 
• Stair running 
• Martial arts 
• HIIT training 
• Strength training with weights 
• Strength training using calisthenics 
• Tennis 
• Softball 
• 12 week challenges 

So which of those was the best for losing weight?  

HERE’S WHAT I LEARNED 

All of them can contribute to weight loss, but rather than thinking about losing weight, it’s better to think about why you want to lose weight.   

The reason you want to lose weight will help you decide what type of exercise you should select.  

Do you want to lose weight because you want to: 

• Be fit throughout your life 
• Play sport and live an active life 
• Have greater flexibility and mobility 
• Be strong, confident and active 
• Travel ...

What we want is to feel: 

• Flexible 
• Strong 
• Slender and toned 
• Confident 
• Self-assured 
• Independent 
• Energised  
• Sexy   

But instead, we find ourselves: 

• Emotional eating 
• Stressed and succumbing to time pressures 
• Unaware of hidden food intolerances  
• Losing focus and concentration 
• Over or under-training 
• Lethargic 
• Self-conscious 
• Falling back into old habits 

So how do we overcome the challenges of day to day life and  

• Eat well 
• Maintain both daily strength building and cardio activity 
• Rest and relax 
• Find emotional balance   
• Feel confident and empowered 
• Master our mental dissonance  
• Lose weight 
• Build strength and confidence  
• Feel fitter, healthier and sexier 
• Find our freedom 

We step into a 360° approach to our health, happiness, and well-being and embrace Personal Health Leadership™ and: 

• Build our knowledge and understanding about our mind and body, and the habits that we’ve developed over our lifetime 
• Ch...

I helped a man make a great decision in the supermarket the other day.  

He was standing in the isle in front of the crisps section, shifting back and forth on his feet, unable to make a decision about what he wanted. I watched him for a bit and finally I said, “Did you know that your inability to decide what you want means that you don’t actually want any of them and that what’s keeping you rooted to the spot is simply your habit of buying chips?”  

He looked at me with wide eyes, as though I’d just told him the secret to the Universe. I went on to say “Your best choice right in this moment is to turn, and walk down to the check outs and leave, you’ll be so happy with that choice that you will smile for the rest of your journey home”  

He agreed, saying “I don’t know why I’m standing here, I came in for some tomatoes for dinner tonight and I don’t know why I’m standing looking at the potato chips. Thanks for the advice”. And with that, he turned, went to the check outs,...

 
Recently I watched a documentary on obese teenagers and the many struggles they have in breaking free from the cycle. It was heartbreaking on so many levels, for them and their families as they all do their best to bring about change and save their lives. 

So much of their struggle rang true with me and I could empathize with them on the level that knowing what not to eat does not stop us wanting to eat it and that will power alone will never concur wanting over the long-haul. 

I also related to the denial that allows the weight to escalate un-noticed.   

I’ve written about this before, we make adjustment after adjustment so we don’t see that we’re gaining: 

• We stop getting on the scales 
• We adjust our belts one notch at a time 
• We wear looser clothing 
• We wear the same sets of clothes 

I always hated the bathroom scales, and gave them too much power over my happiness. 

Until I realised I was asking them for the wrong information.  

Instead of asking th...

If your body was a rental, would you get your bond back? If not, then it’s never too late to make a change.  

If we want our future to be fit, healthy, happy and active, then we need to practice now to make that happen.  

• An athlete, who wants to win gold at the Olympics, doesn’t just show up on the day, unprepared. They practice every day for the imagined time in their future 
  

• Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t turn up to a body building competition without having done the training every day beforehand. 
  

• No one gets to the top of their game without focusing consistently and persistently on what it is they want to achieve. 

They all practice now for the future they want for themselves. 

PRACTICE CAN BE FUN

If you’re thinking about being fit, healthy, and happy in your future, now is the time you’re in training for that. 

What you’re doing every day, including today, is the practice that will determine that. 

5 THINGS YOU CAN PRACTICE TODAY F...

There is too much to do! My life is too busy, there’s just too many things to overcome, I can’t see how on earth I’ll ever be able to ditch this weight! I've got to have my freedom, it's all just too much, I just can’t get my head around it! 

DEALING WITH OVERWHELM  

It happens doesn’t it, we find ourselves looking at the scales and wondering how the heck did that happen? When did that number get so big? And how on earth are going to get it back down?  

It can be very overwhelming, but it can also be very empowering. 

Because it’s in those moments we wake up and decide enough is enough, it’s time to do something.  

But life is busy and losing weight can seem like a huge mountain we have to climb and we’re not sure how to we’re going to get there. The first thing is to take a deep breath, you don't have to do it all now, and you’re not looking for perfection, you’re looking for progress. 

Let's break this down into manageable steps that you can start implement...

Have you ever heard the phrase "The ghost in the machine”?  

In technology, it’s used to refer to something unknown that interferes with the proper functioning of a program, sometimes also known as a glitch in the system.  

The ghost in the machine is, to me, the perfect way to explain some of the odder things we do as humans, and is a good way to explain what’s happening when experiences from our past are activating in the present moment and interfering with how we normally behave.  

Our nervous system and certain parts of our brain often have a reaction to something that is happening now based on something that happened in the past. We often experience irrational thoughts feelings and behaviours affecting ‘a now’ moment even though the now is nothing to do with, or like, the past. Without realising it, we’re constantly interpreting the present through the lens of the past and we’re moved by redundant impulses which we cannot explain to ourselves or others. 

As Sendhil...

There’s a Harvard economist, Sendhil Mullainathan, who studied something most people wouldn’t think to question… why we make decisions that don’t line up with what we say we want. Not from a motivation angle. Not from a “try harder” angle.

But from what’s actually happening to the brain under pressure. What he found was simple, and a bit confronting… when time, money, energy or mental space feel tight, the brain doesn’t rise to the occasion. It narrows. It locks onto what’s urgent. And everything else — including long-term goals — quietly drops out of view. 

When I first came across that, it stopped me in my tracks a little. Because it explains something most women feel but can’t quite put words to… why food is easy when life is calm, and suddenly feels like a different game when the day has been long, messy, or mentally draining. 

It’s not random. It’s not a lack of discipline. It’s that moment where your brain shifts into “just get me through this” mode. And once you see...