What to Consider When Embarking on a Weight Loss Journey!

Losing weight begins in the mind.

It’s a lifestyle change.

It’s a commitment to good health and quality of life, as well as increased life expectancy. Being overweight or obese may shorten your lifespan and make you prone to chronic diseases. Even though you can enjoy yourself while carrying extra weight, shedding it will change the way you participate in your own life and contribute to the lives of others. 

Once you’ve decided to embark on a weight loss journey, you will make a commitment to being healthy and addressing all your lifestyle issues, not just your extra weight. For instance, if you smoke or drink excessively, you will need to look at these habits and at ways of quitting them.

Look at your thought processes: do you see the glass as half full or half empty? Positive thinking is essential to your success, because it will help you overcome hurdles and plateaus, which you will inevitably encounter. It also alleviates stress - and stress is a number one factor for weight gain!

Commit yourself to losing weight slowly and gradually. Change your habits progressively. Drastic changes are spectacular, but they usually don’t last very long. Habits need time to become established and take root permanently.

Don’t be hard on yourself, and don’t expect to be perfect. No matter how much you psyche yourself up, you will never achieve perfection. There is no need to beat yourself up if you had a piece of cake. But you can keep making choices that are good for you, even though you know you may slip at times.

My new book, "The Magic of Sensible Dieting" will soon be out, and it will work like magic to get you back into shape if you follow the strategies I've devised for you. 

The new year is coming closer: it's a good time to make decisions. By following a few easy-to-understand principles, you can start eating sensibly and lose unwanted kilos!

With love,
Bella

What's the Most Important Thing When You Want to Lose Weight ?

Losing weight begins in the mind.

It’s a lifestyle change.

It’s a commitment to good health and quality of life, as well as increased life expectancy. Being overweight or obese may shorten your lifespan and make you prone to chronic diseases. Even though you can enjoy yourself while carrying extra weight, shedding it will change the way you participate in your own life and contribute to the lives of others. 

Once you’ve decided to embark on a weight loss journey, you will make a commitment to being healthy and addressing all your lifestyle issues, not just your extra weight. For instance, if you smoke or drink excessively, you will need to look at these habits and at ways of quitting them.

Look at your thought processes: do you see the glass as half full or half empty? Positive thinking is essential to your success, because it will help you overcome hurdles and plateaus, which you will inevitably encounter. It also alleviates stress - and stress is a number one factor for weight gain!

Commit yourself to losing weight slowly and gradually. Change your habits progressively. Drastic changes are spectacular, but they usually don’t last very long. Habits need time to become established and take root permanently.

Don’t be hard on yourself, and don’t expect to be perfect. No matter how much you psyche yourself up, you will never achieve perfection. There is no need to beat yourself up if you had a piece of cake. But you can keep making choices that are good for you, even though you know you may slip at times.

My new book, "The Magic of Sensible Dieting" will soon be out, and it will work like magic to get you back into shape if you follow the strategies I've devised for you. 

The new year is coming closer: it's a good time to make decisions. By following a few easy-to-understand principles, you can start eating sensibly and lose unwanted kilos!

With love,
Bella

Painting: "A Plate of Veggies" by Clina Polloni.

Most Important Thing When You Want to Lose Weight

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new." - Socrates.

What's the most important when you want to lose weight? 
- It’s not counting calories or creating a caloric deficit;

- It’s not eliminating fats and carbs from your diet;

- It's not eating ridiculously small portions;

- It’s not depriving yourself of all your favourite treats; 

- It’s not enduring hunger and cravings day after day;

- It’s not being discouraged because you need to lose sooo much weight and it’s going to be soooo hard;

- It’s not being discouraged because you only need to lose a few kilos but you know they’re the most difficult to shed;

- It's not being discouraged because you think you will regain all your weight once your diet is over;

- It’s not exercising like a lunatic until you pass out;

- It’s not stuffing yourself with vegetables until you despise the sight of them;

- It’s not having to eat fruit all the time instead of cake or candy;

- It’s not thinking you can’t do it because it’s too hard and you don’t like to suffer;

- It’s not thinking you can’t do it because you’ve got no willpower;

- It’s not looking at your past failed diets and predict that you will fail again, so there is no use trying;

- It’s not having to spend a lot of money on healthy food, and extra time shopping and cooking.

The most important aspect to consider when you want to lose weight is none of these! 
It's all about ATTITUDE. 
Your frame of mind will determine your long-term success. I will tell you more about it next week!

With all my love and warm thoughts of encouragement,

Bella

FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." - John 14:27.

"There is no fear in love: true love has no room for fear, because where fear is there is pain; and he who is not free from fear is not complete in love." John 4:18

An infant comes into this world with a trusting heart, full of love for those who care for him or her. As you keep living and get older, you lose the natural ability to instinctively expect good from others. Instead, you expect to be cheated, lied to, stolen from, disrespected and humiliated. You learn from your experiences, but you tend to cling to the negative ones, rather than emphasising the good ones. 

Fear is "False Evidence Appearing Real" because it doesn't have to be that way. You don't need to cultivate this bitterness and gnawing sense of foreboding that stems from unpleasant past occurrences. You can turn things around and have faith: there is guidance, and there is protection from Above. You can surrender to your life as it unfolds, instead of trying to control everything. You can trust your intuition to help you make the right choice, while letting go of the outcomes as there are no guarantees. 

If you don't take any risks, out of fear of doing something wrong, you'll never try anything new. To change your attitude and try new approaches, believe that they will make a difference in your life.

Today is the beginning of the rest of your life, and it doesn't matter what problems you have and what your circumstances are. It is how you react to challenges, and how you deal with issues that matters. In the end, only love is real. You can love your life, even though it may appear bleak to you at times. You can love the people in it, even though they may appear to be causing you grief. If you allow events and individuals to steal your joy from you, you will never experience lasting peace.

The PEACE Jesus talked about when he left his disciples was a lasting one, not just a momentary relief. He didn't talk about an emotional roller-coaster, about perpetually shifting moods, the kind of yo-yo attitude that you sometimes think is justifiable and acceptable. The peace Jesus talked about is permanent. It is His gift to us, a spiritual state of mind that cannot be altered by people or events. As love infuses everything, it becomes the origin of your thinking and colours your emotions throughout the day. Hope springs from it, with the certainty that all is well, and all will continue to be well, no matter what...

With all my love,

Bella

Painting: "Red Tree Landscape" by Rachel Bingaman