Resisting Change Prolongs Successfully Meeting Health Goals

Wellness Wednesday with Life and Weight-loss Coach Flossie Alexander of You Can NOW! Coaching

There's a saying that states: "What you resist will persist." This saying is especially true when we are attempting to create new habits and behaviors in our  lives.

As we focus on creating healthy change our attention and energy is often directed to resisting our new habits with tempting foods and even our own laziness.

When faced with an unwanted thing or behavior our first reaction is to resist its removal. The act of resistance feels as if we are pushing something away. Resisting the thing we need the most - improved eating and exercise habits -  makes the temptation for the bad things seem to grow.

Consider this: "The things you embrace tend to erase". When I work with clients on techniques to shift behaviors we often focus on ways to become accepting of the old behaviors and temptations. Discovering ways to embrace our "old ways" while creating new behaviors will clear our path to lasting change.

When I work with clients, we really focus in these areas. As a first step, this week make it a point to notice what you're resisting. Does resistance feel like you are pushing something away? Do the things you are resisting tend to persist? How could you embrace these things and transform them into tools that will help you achieve your goals?

Yours in Health

Flossie Alexander

Life/Weight Loss Coach

You Can NOW! Coaching

Where Results ARE Typical!

About Flossie: Flossie is currently a member of the National Association of Professional Women and Toastmaster’s International. She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and a Certified Wellness Coach with a successful track record in leading organizations and individuals into achieving healthy lifestyle goals. After overcoming obesity, losing 165 pounds in 18 months, she has developed a passion to help others through public speaking and one-on-one weight loss coaching. Visit Flossie at http://www.youcannowcoaching.com to start creating your new healthy lifestyle and lose unhealthy weight permanently.

From Resolutions to Meaningful Promises for Health and Wellness

Wellness Wednesday with Life and Weight-loss Coach Flossie Alexander of You Can NOW! Coaching.

Three years ago I decided to KICK the New Year's “Resolution” concept to the curb! ! What does that mean anyway?! It has developed a bad rep over the years! Why? Because nobody really keeps them!! I decided then to call any New Year Resolutions my  "New Year's Promises to Myself" if it meant anything to me.

As you all know, my life has gone through many changes over the last three years. The biggest is in November 2006 when I celebrated my second anniversary of "finding myself" and getting healthy losing 165 pounds.

When I decided to give my so called New Year's Resolution an overhaul, that was a very significant accomplishment in my life.  I made that “Promise” and I stuck to it! I thought long and hard before that facelift came about.  As I went through the rolodex in my mind I went through the many years of resolutions: lose weight, eat better & exercise were always repeated.

Why hadn't I keep those resolutions? Perhaps it was the word resolution itself that hindered me, I thought.  We have used that word so many times, it really has lost it's meaning! It  has simply what we use at year's end because ... well, because everyone just does it!  The day I couldn’t fasten my seat belt, when I maxed out at 325 pounds, was the day I PROMISED to treat myself better!! So I would like to encourage each of you to search for something with similar meaning in yourself when it comes to achieving your weight-loss goals ... then give your own resolutions a much needed overhaul!



My 2006 New Year's Promises (which I have accomplished every day since)

1. I PROMISE to love me NO MATTER WHAT (which is the key to getting healthy).
2. I PROMISE to put myself first and do what is right for me (which is the key to getting healthy).
3. I PROMISE to put a smile on my face EVERY day because there is always something to smile about (which is the key to getting healthy).
4. I PROMISE to be there for those that need lifting up when they are down (which is the key to getting healthy).
5. I PROMISE never to let anyone or anything make me feel insignificant ever again (which is the key to getting healthy).

I do believe those are all promises I can keep for the rest of my life!! As I did In 2006, I am ushering in 2010 with a smile on my face and a skip in my walk!

HAPPY 2010 – THE YEAR WE ARE ALL GOING TO WIN And GET HEALTHY!!!!


Yours in Health

Flossie Alexander
Life/Weight Loss Coach
You Can NOW! Coaching
Where Results ARE Typical!


About Flossie: Flossie is currently a member of the National Association of Professional Women and Toastmaster’s International. She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and a Certified Wellness Coach with a successful track record in leading organizations and individuals into achieving healthy lifestyle goals. After overcoming obesity, losing 165 pounds in 18 months, she has developed a passion to help others through public speaking and one-on-one weight loss coaching. Visit Flossie at http://www.youcannowcoaching.com to start creating your new healthy lifestyle and lose unhealthy weight permanently.

A Clever Way to Increase Water Consumption!

Wellness Wednesday with Life and Weight-loss Coach Flossie Alexander of You Can NOW! Coaching


We all know it's important to drink enough water. Staying hydrated can make us feel more energetic; gives us glowing skin and will help our bodies metabolize fat. Developing a consistent water habit is a form of behavior modification too. Water helps to keep the hands and mouth busy, so snacking is less.

When you're actually thirsty it can mean that you're already dehydrated. In the midst of a busy day it's sometimes hard to remember to drink water.

Last week I was working with my client Tina. We were talking about how the scale seemed to be "stuck" and she was talking about how she'd had a busy week. Tina had not been as focused on her program and mentioned that she'd not been drinking as much water as she normally does too. I know from personal experience that drinking plenty of water makes a big difference in your weight loss results.

Tina and I talked about getting re-focused on her nutrition, habit changes and exercise. Tina is one of the most creative people I've ever known and has woven some of her creativity into her program. She told me that I could share her trick for staying focused on drinking water.

Each day Tina places a series of rubber bands around her glass - one for each glass she plans to drink. As she works, the rubber bands around her glass remind her to drink water and also help her keep count of the number of glasses she's had. As she finishes each glass she just removes a rubber band. By the end of the day all the rubber bands should be gone.

Thanks for the great tip Tina!

Yours in Health

Flossie Alexander

Life/Weight Loss Coach

You Can NOW! Coaching

Where Results ARE Typical!

About Flossie: Flossie is currently a member of the National Association of Professional Women and Toastmaster’s International. She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and a Certified Wellness Coach with a successful track record in leading organizations and individuals into achieving healthy lifestyle goals. After overcoming obesity, losing 165 pounds in 18 months, she has developed a passion to help others through public speaking and one-on-one weight loss coaching. Visit Flossie at http://www.youcannowcoaching.com to start creating your new healthy lifestyle and lose unhealthy weight permanently.

Life's Lessons as Powerful Fuel for Weight-loss Goals

Wellness Wednesday with Life and Weight-loss Coach 
Flossie Alexander of You Can NOW! Coaching

This is so simple that you're likely to dismiss it as obvious. I agree that it sounds like common sense, but it's not commonly applied. When you really put this idea into action, you can push your results through to the next level. 


In a nutshell here's the lesson: 


 In life you will always have your ups and downs, successes and failures. Sometimes things go well for you...sometimes they go poorly. When you succeed or fail, there's always a cause. You can backtrack your results to figure out what caused them. You might not be able to do this perfectly, but you'll usually have a pretty good idea of the contributing factors. 


What caused you to become motivated and put a plan into action? What factors contributed to being consistent with your nutrition? How were you able to stick with a regular exercise program? What went wrong when you lost your focus? What caused you to return to old habits? Once you know the contributing factors to your hits and your misses, your goal is to deliberately do more of what causes the successes and deliberately do less of what caused the failures. 


Of course some of the contributing factors may not be under your direct control, but some of those factors will be. Focus your efforts on what you can control, and don't worry about what's outside your control. Take these steps to recreate successes and develop a plan that fits your lifestyle. 


Is it hard to stay focused on your goals? Do you hate to look in the mirror? Does each Monday mean a "new diet"? Coaching can really help. Learn what's driving you away from your goals and finally have what you really want.

Yours in Health,


Flossie Alexander 
Life/Weight Loss Coach 


About Flossie: Flossie is currently a member of the National Association of Professional Women and Toastmaster’s International. She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and a Certified Wellness Coach with a successful track record in leading organizations and individuals into achieving healthy lifestyle goals. After overcoming obesity, losing 165 pounds in 18 months, she has developed a passion to help others through public speaking and one-on-one weight loss coaching. Visit Flossie at http://www.youcannowcoaching.com to start creating your new healthy lifestyle and lose unhealthy weight permanently.

Maximize Weight Loss Goals with Exercise

In a recent study of 52 obese men with an average body mass index (BMI) of 31, Canadian researchers demonstrated the power of exercise as a weight loss tool.

One group of men dieted, consuming 700 calories per day less than they needed to maintain their weight. Another group walked or jogged on a treadmill at 80 percent of heart rate maximum for about an hour each day, long enough to burn off 700 calories.

After three months, both dieters and exercisers lost the same amount of weight - about 16.5 lbs, or eight percent of their body weight.

Exercisers, however, lost more abdominal fat (4.2 lbs) than dieters (3.3 lbs).

Exercisers also did not lose muscle mass the way dieters did, and got the added benefit of improved cardiovascular fitness.

A third study group kept their weight stable by burning off 700 calories per day with exercise, but making up for it with an extra 700 calories of food.

Although these men did not lose weight, they did lose visceral abdominal fat, which may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

So the moral to the story is get out and get going! Diet alone may take off the weight but diet combined with exercise is a sure fire way to maximize your weight loss. The folks at You Can NOW! Coaching can assist you in getting the most out of your fitness routine or work with you to design a plan to fit your needs. Contact us today!

Yours in Health

Flossie Alexander
Life/Weight Loss Coach


About Flossie: Flossie is currently a member of the National Association of Professional Women and Toastmaster’s International. She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and a Certified Wellness Coach with a successful track record in leading organizations and individuals into achieving healthy lifestyle goals. After overcoming obesity, losing 165 pounds in 18 months, she has developed a passion to help others through public speaking and one-on-one weight loss coaching. Visit Flossie at http://www.youcannowcoaching.com to start creating your new healthy lifestyle and lose unhealthy weight permanently.

Surviving Bad Holiday Eating Habits

Grandma’s apple pie with an aroma you can’t resist. Mounds of mashed potatoes calling your name.  Pork & Beans with the prized fat swimming in the middle.  Mom's potato salad slathered in mayonnaise. Pudding with the fixings and delicious.  Candy galore.  How do you survive the calorie-latent holidays without gaining 10 or 20 pounds?  This is a question we have all asked for decades and seem to interestingly forget we even thought about it when the Holidays finally arrive.  Here are some concrete tips  to stay in control of your eating and not have to worry so much if your pants are still going to button a week from now.

    * Start the day off right with a hearty breakfast - Eat a big breakfast full of nutritious food the day of the special family gathering (which I might add you should be doing every day anyways!). Oatmeal with some fruit and a veggie omelet cooked in olive oil will start your day off just right!

    * Have a mid-morning snack - Find the veggie tray that your health-nut cousin Mark brought.  Instead of drowning it in ranch dressing, dip your veggies in some hummus.  You could also make the wise choice of hijacking some wheat crackers with some turkey and cheese (did you happen to bring it in case there is none?).

    * Help set the table - If your grandma needs someone to volunteer to do the dishes, go for it!  The more active and social you are, the happier you are and there will be less of a chance that you will overeat.

    
* Portion control is key during the BIG meal - When it is time to eat the "big meal," serve yourself a little of everything so that you don't feel like you have been deprived of your Holiday food.  It really isn't so much what you eat, but how much you stuff yourself.  You will find out, a little of everything makes you feel more satisfied than a lot of one thing and studies show doing this, you eat less calories.

    
* Second chance at healthy eating - If you go back for seconds, pick healthier foods this time (if you can find any).  Make sure though, you really want it. (Did you have some water with that feast?)

    
* Bring your own healthy dish - If you have to bring a dish, bring one of your favorite healthy recipes so that when you go back for seconds, you know you will find something just for you.  More than likely, you won't need seconds if you have had enough to drink and you ate your food slowly.

    
* Take a little after dinner walk - After your Holiday meal, find a place to take a walk to get your digestion in full gear!  (Of course after you have helped clean up!)  This will help you feel lighter and more energized and this also counteracts the sugar fall you will have from eating the Holiday goodies.

Even though you are used to doing it and everything looks so appetizing (I think this is caused from the lingering Holiday Spirit), DON'T take leftovers home.  If you are having the get-together at your house, pawn the leftovers onto everyone else.  You don't want unhealthy food tempting you in the middle of the night.  (We all know that happens.)

If you do happen to be unable to resist the temptation to over eat just head on over to the  You Can NOW! Coaching site; I'll be happy to help you get back on track!

Yours in Health,

Flossie Alexander

Life/Weight Loss Coach

About Flossie: Flossie is currently a member of the National Association of Professional Women and Toastmaster’s International. She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and a Certified Wellness Coach with a successful track record in leading organizations and individuals into achieving healthy lifestyle goals. After overcoming obesity, losing 165 pounds in 18 months, she has developed a passion to help others through public speaking and one-on-one weight loss coaching. Visit Flossie at http://www.youcannowcoaching.com to start creating your new healthy lifestyle and lose unhealthy weight permanently.

You Deserve A Break

When we find ourselves going through a difficult time, we tend to put our health on hold; health as in fitness and eating the things we know we should be.  Taking care of ourselves is put on the back burner because it just doesn't seem as important as the next stock market crash.  It seems everywhere you turn, we are bombarded with negative news about the economy, our health, our health care costs rising, new diseases, old diseases, and the list just goes on and on.  If you aren't able to take a weekly vacation to "get away from it all", there really is no break from it.  Or, is there?

Working with people from all different social environments, I have yet to be presented with a situation where the client and I could not come up with a plan where they couldn't take  "a break" on a daily basis from their more than hectic life; to find a short interval in their day to mentally escape from the chaos that surrounds them to refuel and rejuvenate their mind.

The question really is, do we really need a full-blown vacation to feel renewed? refreshed? ready to start again?  The answer to that is, no!  (I am really sure this is one of the reasons why Calgon was invented, which proves my point.) Although, it sure is nice to go to our favorite vacation spot, sit on the dock fishing all night to reflect on life while listening to the crickets chirp, to feel the coolness of the night air on our skin, and to count the stars that you can't see in the city.  However, reality reminds us that we only get to do that a couple of times a year and that really isn't enough to keep us as happy as we were meant to be.

Ask yourself how often do you take 10 minutes just to stretch your legs and take a break from the stressful task you have been working all morning on.  I don't mean to go outside with a coworker to talk about how your day got started with the boring as heck manual you have to pull apart and put back together again, but to actually break away from it.  To go outside of the box you inhabit to explore your surroundings and stimulate your mind with something positive and new.

What was your answer?   Well, if your answer was no or not very often, then take it from me, YOU DESERVE A BREAK TODAY and EVERY DAY!  Yes, you!  It is a proven fact that if you break away for a 10-minute "hiatus," you come back revived and ready to go!  Who the heck wants to wait for a vacation to feel alive? To be at our best, it only takes 10 minutes for a brisk walk down the street to smell the aroma of the newly bloomed flowers to breathe some freshness into our day to help us take on the rest of the day as if it just started. 

 
We forget sometimes that life is about living and we get caught up in the every day stressors that it throws at us and then we no longer are living it and it is living us.  If you have found yourself in this predicament, you need a healthy living lifestyle coach to get you living life again!  A healthy living lifestyle coach works with you to get you back on the path of feeling good and looking forward to another day, another week, another year!In he words of Jim Rohn: "Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live."


Be Healthy Every day, You Are Worth It!



Yours in Health,

Flossie Alexander
Life/Weight Loss Coach

About Flossie: Flossie is currently a member of the National Association of Professional Women and Toastmaster’s International. She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and a Certified Wellness Coach with a successful track record in leading organizations and individuals into achieving healthy lifestyle goals. After overcoming obesity, losing 165 pounds in 18 months, she has developed a passion to help others through public speaking and one-on-one weight loss coaching. Visit Flossie at http://www.youcannowcoaching.com to start creating your new healthy lifestyle and lose unhealthy weight permanently.

Every Experience Is A Success

The old saying, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," is so true. It doesn't mean beat yourself up and try the same old way again. It means recognize your error and try another way - until you learn to do it correctly. Changing eating and lifestyle habits is no different.

When a child is learning to walk or talk, we encourage her and praise her for every tiny improvement she makes. The child beams and eagerly tires to do better. Is this the way you encourage yourself when you are learning something new? Or do you make it harder to learn because you tell yourself that you are stupid, lazy, or a "failure"?

Try a new way to reach your fitness and nutritional goals. Reach for support and give yourself the encouragement you deserve. Remember, you are learning new choices and creating a new lifestyle.

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Flossie Alexander
Life/Weight Loss Coach


About Flossie: Flossie is currently a member of the National Association of Professional Women and Toastmaster’s International. She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and a Certified Wellness Coach with a successful track record in leading organizations and individuals into achieving healthy lifestyle goals. After overcoming obesity, losing 165 pounds in 18 months, she has developed a passion to help others through public speaking and one-on-one weight loss coaching. Visit Flossie at http://www.youcannowcoaching.com to start creating your new healthy lifestyle and lose unhealthy weight permanently.

5 Ways to Change Your Life

Introducing the newest contributor to My II Sense: Flossie Alexander!

The truth is, that many of us never break free enough from our current habits to even attempt to change. We are paralyzed by fear and trapped in our habits. Others go through the motions of initiating change, but quickly fall back into an existing comfort zone, that is not very "comfortable". (Why would we want to change if we're comfortable?)

Clearly there are many important changes we could make to enrich our lives; we just don't know how to do it. As someone who makes a living by helping others achieve lifestyle changes, I offer the following insights:


What Is Important To You?
Many changes fail because what we are attempting to achieve something that is not really important to us. Before you invest in making a lifestyle change, take some time to get clear on what is really important. Do you want to have more energy to play with your children? Do you want to wear fashionable clothes? Do you want to feel more confident? Paint a vivid picture of what you want!

Create Space
A lifestyle change requires attention, time, focus, effort, and growth. If you are running at 100% capacity, you will not have the time or energy you need to change. To effect change you need to first free some space in your life to devote to your new goals and developing new habits.

Create A Plan
Once you have a clear vision of what you are working towards, break it into smaller, manageable steps and prioritize them. Don't try to do too much all at once. Start with the steps that are the most exciting for you. A small lasting change is the true victory.

Leverage Your Strengths
When you go about making changes, it is important to know what your strengths are, and build on them. Often we focus far too much energy on our weaknesses and shortcomings that make us feel powerless. Focus on your strengths and talents and feel empowered! If you are a great cook, use these skills to prepare satisfying and healthy foods. If you are a great at organizing, develop a schedule or a group.

Stay Focused
It is the intensity and frequency of our attention that reinforces the new perspectives and thought patterns that support our new behaviors. Do not try to make major changes all by yourself. Create a strong support structure around you that will keep you on track and moving forward, past all the inevitable challenges.



Flossie Alexander

Life/Weight Loss Coach


About Flossie: She is currently a member of the National Association of Professional Women and Toastmaster’s International, a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach, Certified Wellness Coach, who has a successful track record in leading organizations and individuals into creating and achieving healthy lifestyle goals. After overcoming obesity losing 165 pounds in 18 months, she has developed a passion to help others through public speaking and one-on-one weight loss coaching. Visit Flossie at http/www.youcannowcoaching.com to start creating your new healthy lifestyle and lose unhealthy weight permanently.