4 Steps toward a weight-guilt-free Holiday Season

4 Steps You Can Take NOW Toward A Weight-Guilt-Free Holiday Season, & They’re Not All What You Think..

Believe it or not, the holidays will be here before we know it! ..and I understand the struggle.. All the snacks and food we’re faced with can make it a challenge to maintain our weight. When January comes, we struggle to squeeze into our jeans thinking, “how did this happen?” Thoughts of all the food from Halloween to New Year’s Eve start to creep in. All that effort we were making to be careful, only to fall off track. Why is it so easy to gain weight? Then the guilt feeling sets in. I see it happen to many people every year, and it breaks my heart.

Let’s do something different this year. To break the cycle, we have to take a totally different approach. Let’s make the focus of this holiday season the precious MEMORIES instead of what we “shouldn’t be eating” & weight gain. Let’s completely eliminatethe possibility of feeling guilty at the end of this year because of weight. What do you say? YES, it’s possible, and YOU CAN DO IT.

To make this work, there are a few things I need you to do. Promise me now, you’ll do eachone.

1. Start each day with a grateful heart & self love affirmation. No matter where you are in life, what you’ve been through, or your clothing size, LOVE YOURSELF AS YOU ARE. It is IMPOSSIBLE to take care of yourself, body & soul, if you look in the mirror & don’t like the person looking back at you. You’ll end up sabotaging your own weight loss efforts before you even start making progress. Let me just tell you this..You are wonderful just the way you are, and deserve to be loved. Its great to want to take better care of yourself, or become an even better person, but it must come because you love yourself. When this happens, everything changes. Please, PLEASE, do whatever it takes to make this happen, because you’re worth it. It may mean starting with a health checkup, getting healing from past trauma, or just deciding no more self-negative talk.

Take a few minutes each day, when you’re by yourself, to sit quietly & be mindful. Take a deep breath. Think about how you think of yourself. Don’t be judgmental, don’t hold a grudge, just acknowledge & let go. Clear out any negative energy to make room for love & gratitude.

2. Consider a full health checkup, or at least having your hormones checked. Hormones can be a reason for weight loss struggle, as many other things. Stress can be a big contributing factor. It helps to know where you stand, health wise, so all your efforts made to take care of yourself are put to use in the most efficient way. Your health care provider can help you with this.

3. Pick at least one exercise activity you enjoy & work out regularly, starting this week. The sooner you start exercising, the better! Get a jump start on getting/staying fit through the holidays. You may not think it makes a big difference, but consider this: In Zumba® class, you can burn an average of 600-1000 caloriesin just one hour! It doesn’t matter how your exercise efforts have gone in the past, this time we’re starting new, with a different approach, self love & self care. If you need a group-setting rather than a home workout, I’m going to help you. From today until Friday, Nov. 2nd, get 20% off 10 class punch cards for any class offered at Studio MB.Fresh songs & choreo are also being added to the Zumba® playlist today, so no better time to start than now! Limited event slots & private sessions also available.

4. Hold yourself accountable.You wouldn’t skip an important meeting with your boss, so don’t skip one with yourself. Get yourself a planner or a phone app to plan out EXACTLY what you’re going to do for the next day, and fill it out each evening. Sometimes things change throughout the week, so it’s important to do this only a day or two in advance, rather than map out the whole week. Don’t make the mistakeof first checking social media in the morning as if it’s the news! (No shame, I’ve been guilty of this too). Check your planner instead. Hold yourself accountable. Try even setting reminders & alarms on your phone. Self discipline is so important for when the motivation or excitement wears off.

Accountability partners/friends are sometimes helpful, but there’s a good chance that if they “fall off the bandwagon”, you will too. If failure is notan option& you need that extra accountability, I have a limited amount of Accountability Coachingspaces available for those who are serious & determined to reach their goals. If that’s you, let me know right away, it’s first come, first serve. I have an application waiting. (Please note that Accountability Coaching is not limited to weight loss goals).

Let this year be different. Make it one to remember by keeping the possibility of post-weight-guilt out of it! Let’s practice self love, self care, & gratitude, starting NOW, and enter this holiday season with one less thing to worry about! I believe in you!! Let’s get started!!!

Sincerely,

Miranda Contreras-Bulgin