Think about the last time you reached for that cookie…

First of all, i want to wish everyone happy holidays and all the best in the coming New Year from the entire Trim360 team!  As many of us begin to stress out about the new years’ weight loss resolutions, i thought it would be helpful to share several tricks on effective holiday weight management.  Recent brain research data show that it is difficult and impractical to rely on willpower alone to achieve our weight loss goals.  Over the years, we have observed hundreds of clients needlessly frustrating themselves by imposing unrealistic diet restrictions or starting overly intense work out schedules they had no hope to maintain.

Instead, I say, stop, take a deep breath and think about the last time you reached for that cookie/candy bar/(fill in the blank).  Think about your emotional state at the moment that you did that.  All I want at this point is that you are able to really feel the difference between the emotional eating and the biological hunger.  But, DON’T expect that by knowing that difference you will immediately be able to overpower the “need” to eat something.  In effect, what you are doing is training your brain to recognise the difference and gradually build up defences to resist the urge long enough to get to “safer” foods (lower calorie, healthier options, such as protein bars, meal replacements and snacks.).  So, the idea here is to build a protective zone that converts your uncontrollable emotional overeating into a much more controlled lower calorie food consumption.  Eventually, your brain, automatically will develop the ability to recognize and resist these urges altogether.

By removing your weight loss aspirations from the domain of willpower alone, you are placing yourself in a controlled and predictable weight control setting, where not only weight loss becomes achievable, but its maintenance is also assured.

Be sure to remove the “tempting” high calorie saboteurs and replace them with safer low calorie snacks, meal replacements, bars, etc.  Don’t be caught off-guard – plan for success and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Happy Holidays!