Wow… what a powerful day!  Over the weekend, I went to a workshop for the company I work with, Chris Howard Training.  We do this workshop in multiple cities around the world every year.  It’s called Breakthrough to Success.  It’s a 3 day workshop that is designed to help you make massive leaps forward in your life.

I only had a chance to stop in for about an hour today and while I was there we were going through a process that is designed to help you look at decisions that you made in the past and get different learnings from them so that you can move forward feeling empowered rather than letting that decision hold you back.  It’s an incredibly powerful process to help you overcome your “stuff”.

In any case, I decided that while I was there, I would get rid of the decision that “I don’t want to give up chocolate”.  It only takes a few minutes to do this.  I had made brownies for my friends running the event and they were in my lap.  When I finished with the process, looking at them, I felt nauseous.  Pretty powerful stuff!

I will see how this process goes long term, but so far, so good.  I’m not wanting to eat chocolate yet.  And for a chocoholic, that is surely a breakthrough!

(BTW… If you can relate to this and want someone to help you out by doing the same type of work to easily overcome eating chocolate (or your other food “addictions”) please feel free to email me at keri@evolveyourhealth.com.  I’d love to help you, no matter where you are in the world!)

All of this brings me to a point for you…

No matter what area of your life you are working on improving, you absolutely must look at your own limitations first.  It’s all about developing yourself personally.  Don’t look outside yourself for the answers because they are all within you.  Getting guidance from someone to help you uncover them is a great idea, but ultimately, the person who knows what’s best for you, is you!

If you want to move forward in your life, you must do some sort of personal development.  It can be through reading books, going to seminars, listening to webinars or teleseminars, taking classes, getting a coach, having mastermind groups… There are plenty of options out there ranging in price from free to thousands of dollars.

If you want a great place to start, please feel free to check out Breakthrough to Success in a city near you by signing up here… http://tinyurl.com/yhewkwg If you use this link, you will be able to go to a 3 day workshop, valued at $895 for free.  Trust me when I say… it’s worth every moment to be there!

Are you like so many people, waiting to celebrate your weight loss achievements until you have hit the final goal?  Do you have a number in your mind of the weight you want to be and you are waiting until you hit that exact number to realize you have been succeeding the whole way?

Celebrating your success is important in your weight loss goals and any other goal in your life. Don’t wait till you have met your weight loss goals to celebrate. Find reason to celebrate in small achievements.  For example,  if you’ve walked further in half an hour or you made it a day without eating chocolate or you’ve had a milestone of losing 1 centimeter off your waist, celebrate all of those achievements.

Whatever it is for you that is a milestone along the way, celebrate it!  Have gratitude for what you   have already accomplished.

When you celebrate, you don’t have to go out and buy yourself something.  It can be as simple as giving yourself a pat on the back or just taking a moment to acknowledge that you have achieved something great in your life.  Personally, when I celebrate, I tend to dance around and will sometimes crank up the music and sing loud.  It’s like having my own little party!

Find something to celebrate everyday!  Trust me, you will be able to find SOMETHING.  It doesn’t have to be a major thing, just something.  In life, what we focus on is what we get.  So start focusing on the things you have accomplished and done well and stop looking at what you haven’t done.  When you focus on your successes, you will create even more of them.  Not only will you create even more successes, you’ll start creating bigger and bigger successes in your life.And that is ultimately what you want, isn’t it?

If you want, you can keep a journal of your success, so when you have those yuck days where everything seems to be going wrong, you can open up your journal and remember how far you have come.

Start this exercise today!  Look for something to celebrate and do it right there, in the moment!  You will be amazed at how powerful this is.

So often in this world, people put off their dreams until tomorrow.  With that, they put off their happiness.  So many people I coach seem to make this horrible mistake.  When they have achieved their goals, then they will be happy.

My question is, why not just be happy today?  I mean we may not “have” everything we want, but then again… will we ever?  If it’s not enough for you today, then will it ever be “enough”.  Here again, you are putting off your happiness for another day and truly setting yourself up for failure.

So, start today to “be” happy for ever wonderful reason you can be. Look around you and find things that bring joy into your life and have it even more frequently.  Is it spending time with family and friends?  Working on a home project?  Doing some kind of hobby? Exercise?

Sit right now and write a list of things that bring you joy.  Then start doing them daily.  Don’t wait for tomorrow to be happy.  Find a reason to be happy today!

The biggest joy in my life right now is my gorgeous little baby (who’s getting bigger everyday!)  Trust me when I say, I have enough work to keep me busy everyday from 9-5 (and then some).  I could put him in childcare and miss out on so many wonderful moments in his life.  Instead… I choose to get less done and have joyous moments with Robbie everyday.  These moments I will never get back, so I cherish every one of them.

Again, how can you bring joy to your life each and everyday?  Be happy within yourself.  Allow yourself to have the space to be happy.  In that space… you will be able to watch the flabby arms, thunder thighs, fat belly and love handles melt away.

Just about every week, I head up to the organic markets to get some fresh fruit, veggies and meat.  I love going to the markets for not only the produce, but the atmosphere as well.  There is a real community presence and I love knowing that I’m helping local farmers.

One of the reasons I come here is to get kangaroo.  Hugh loves his roo.  He eats it nearly every morning for breakfast.  He thinks the roo we get here is the best around, so I keep coming back for more.  If you are an Aussie and you’ve never had kangaroo, try it.  It’s a fantastic meat for you.  It has a bit of an acquired taste.  Actually to me, it’s the smell that catches me off guard.  It took me a long time to be able to actually cook it, because the smell would put me off.  Now, I am ok with it and eating it.

One of the common problems people have with kangaroo, is that they don’t know how to cook it.  If you overdo it, you’ve ruined it!  The less you cook kangaroo, the better.  I don’t usually like meat blood dripping rare, but that’s truly how you want to eat the kangaroo.

We cook ours in a skillet.  We put butter in the pan a bit of salt, pepper and sometimes garlic on the kangaroo.  Put it in the pan for a min, flip sides and take it out.  This is truly a no fuss meal.  If you are in a hurry to cook something, kangaroo is quick and easy to make and loaded with great nutrients for you.

Again, if you’ve never tried this before, go give it a try.  I suggest you eat it a few times before you decide, because like I said, it can be a bit of an acquired taste.  We like variety in the meat we eat, so this is just one more animal to add to our diet.  Yum…

Exercise can be a bit of a challenge for many people when it comes to losing weight.  I even live with a personal trainer who is obsessed with training and I have struggles to exercise.  I know what it’s like to try and get yourself up and out there when you are exhausted and it’s before or after work.  Some days, it’s just not easy.

Of course, once you start the habit of exercising, you want to get up and do it.  It becomes easy and something you actually miss if you don’t do it.  You will  love the adrenaline you get and the endorphins that rush through your system because of exercise and the all over happy feeling you are left with.  You will love your glowing skin and the ease in movement which you will get from moving more.  There are so many wonderful benefits to exericse.  So, how do you get to the point where you love exercising and don’t want to miss it?

I always find that exercising with someone is motivating.  You set aside a time and hold each other accountable.  Plus, you get to spend time with someone while exercising.  I love that!

Today’s message is simple.  If you are struggling to continue on your exercise program, get a buddy and do it together.  My friend and I walk every week together.  It’s booked in and we love doing it.  On other days, I have been known to recruit women in my mother’s group to go for walks, instead of sitting for a cuppa to catch up.  So there are a few days every week that I have scheduled time with friends to go walking.

We can push ourselves a bit harder and before you know it, an hour is over and I could keep going.

No matter what exercise you are doing…  find someone to do it with and stick with it!

My beautiful boy Robbie is the inspiration for the video today. I’m sitting here looking at his cute little fat rolls, his thunder thighs, flabby arms or bat wings and the love handles or what we call the “fat belly”. When we get older we think this is gross but for little babies it’s gorgeous! Babies need their fats to keep them warm, it’s actually their protection. They need this insulation to warm themselves. As we grow older, we may not need that amount of fat to protect and insulate ourselves

What are you protecting yourself from? Is it an emotional thing? Are you carrying an additional baggage from something emotional? Maybe it’s a physical thing? Are you protecting yourself from some physical harm or mental stress. Some people used to say that a presentor or a frequent speaker on a plarform often use it as an excuse. They can’t fit and can’t go out, lead or present because they don’t look good enough. So you stop yourself from actually achieving your dreams.

So what is it for you that you are protecting yourself from? This one is pretty huge guys. When you get to the bottom of this, watch those flabby arms, that fat belly, those love handles and those thunder thighs just roll off. It’s simple. Just keep working on your mind. Keep doing things you know how to do. Eat healthy and do exercise. Trust me. Keep listening to these tips and your fat would just be rolling away. Until next time, Robbie and I are signing out.

We all have those days that just stink.  Whether it’s just our state of mind or a few things that just don’t go right in the day, we just don’t feel good.

You wake up in the morning and get out of bed, feeling a bit cranky from not getting a restful night sleep.  Then you go to have your breakfast and realize there are no eggs left.  Yikes… It’s time to head off to work and you just miss your bus.  I hate that, when you see it pulling away as you walk up and they won’t wait for you, even though they see you running!  You get to work late and then your boss wants to have a chat.  Uh oh!

And the day just goes on from there.  What do you do for yourself when you see this bad day start to unfold?  Do you turn to food to comfort yourself?  Does it EVER make you feel any better? Maybe the immediate gratification of the tasty chocolate in your mouth seems to put a smile on your face, but does it really?  When you have finished ravishing through the chocolate and secretly thrown away the wrapper, because you can’t believe it’s 9am and you have just devoured a kingsize chocolate bar, how do you feel?

Does the day go better or do you actually have a feeling of guilt for actually turning to food, which only makes you beat yourself up more?  Most of the people I speak to, take the guilty path.  I have done something “naughty” so I will feel guilty and punish myself the rest of the day, which usually leads to eating more “bad” foods.  It’s a vicious cycle really, isn’t it?  I know… I’ve been there and did it for many years.

Ultimately, what you do with yourself, the way your day unravels and the decisions you make… are all up to you.  When your day starts to go down the drain, you can choose to let it continue that way, or you can do something about it.

For me the best way to do something about it is to stop.  I recognize my mood and choose to change it.  Go outside and take some time to breathe.  Get up from your desk and walk around.  Wherever you are, just stop what you are doing and re-focus.  Start to think of good things.  Put a smile on your face.  Laugh (even if it’s a fake one)! If you know about using resource anchors, then use an anchor to change your mood.  (If you don’t then, let’s set up a time to teach you.)

Sometimes the eating happens so quickly that you don’t even realize you’ve done it until it’s too late… The crumbs are already scattered!  If you still have moments where this happens, do yourself a favor… don’t beat yourself up about it.  Just recognize what you did an do what you have to do to create a better mood or state of mind.  Then move on.  Make sense?  Just because you did that doesn’t mean you are a bad person… just means you ate some food, maybe lots of it. 

At the end of the day, you are in control of the way you feel and eating won’t change that!  So, choose to feel better without relying on food and you will truly feel better.  Plus, you will be really proud of yourself for not turning to food.  This is truly just a decision that can be easily made.  Bring it on!

Today is my day for a swim.  I love swimming because it allows me the time and space to turn everything off.  There are no ringing phones, no babies needing attention and my husband isn’t talking to me.  It’s just me in peace.

If I had that quiet all the time, I would find that horrible, but for my weekly swim, I love it.  In that space, I always get clarity.  I have come back from swims with phenomenal clarity around something that has been on my mind and usually incredible focus.

Is there something in your life that allows you to do the same?  If there is… make sure you are doing it.

As far as exercise is concerned, in general.  Make sure that you are doing things you love.  If you are struggling to get started with exercise, then pick an activity you love to do and just get started.  If there is something that you have always wanted to learn, then go and do it.  Get lessons, hire a personal trainer, go to dance classes, whatever it is… get off your bum and move.

When it comes to going to the gym, I have heard the excuse used over and over again that you don’t know what you are doing.  Or it’s been awhile and I don’t want to start back up at the light weights again.  Get over yourself!

If you truly want to get rid of your flabby arms, love handles, fat belly or thunder thighs, you absolutely must exercise.  No better time than today to start!

Today, I’m celebrating my measurements being taken and having released 9.5 cms from my waist!  YEAH!

What becomes even more clear everytime I do my measurements is that reducing stress is a HUGE component to weight loss.  You see, this week I have been working on getting Robbie to sleep through the night.  I woke up one day so incredibly exhausted and frustrated from major sleep deprivation that I committed to doing something about it.

Robbie sleeping is still an ongoing journey, but I have managed more continuous sleep in the past week than I have in months.  This is a massive way to reduce my stress and it shows as the numbers go down.

Remember stress isn’t just about work or financial stress.  Stress also comes from imbalance in the body.  The lack of sleep for example.  Other stresses in the body can be things like too much or not enough exercise or your digestive system not working.

Take a moment right now and think about stresses in your life and how you can start to reduce them.  Reduce the stress and get rid of the belly fat and lose the love handles fast!

I’m sure you know that nutrition and exercise are a big component to fat loss.  I think your mind plays the most crucial role of all.  If you have been on diets and exercised and still been left with flabby arms, thunder thighs, a fat belly, double chin, love handles, or man boobs then I ask what you did for your mind?

In order to begin to get your mind on track with your goal, start visualizing your self thin.  If you have pictures of yourself at your ideal body size, then go get those out and place them around your house.

If you don’t have pictures of yourself that you want to use, cut them out of a magazine, or use ones of friends or family.  If you are struggling to find a “normal” sized person in a magazine that hasn’t been air-brushed, look in clothing catalogues.  Remember the plus size catalogues.  You can also find plenty of photos online.  Use Google photos! If you use other people’s photos, make sure that you put your own head on the picture.

Make sure the picture that you use is of someone the size that you desire to be.  If you have a lot of weight to lose, it may be easier to start visualizing yourself at a halfway mark.  So if you are a size 18 and want to get to a 10, maybe you can find a picture of someone at a size 14 first.  Work to there and then keep going from there.  Start with something you can believe in.

Wake up every morning and look at the picture of your ideal self, imagine how you look, feel, and act when you are your ideal size.  What do you say to yourself when you are your ideal size?

Do the same thing when you go to bed at night.  If at any point in the day, you have doubts or negativity about your body creep in, imagine yourself in your ideal body.

The more you imagine it, the more you believe it.  The more you believe it, the quicker you will get rid of your belly fat, your flabby arms, love handles, and thunder thighs, and/or man boobs.