North Star Mental Fitness Blog

Do You Want to Lose Weight and Become More Fit?

Many people believe that losing weight will make us more fit.  Wrong!

Not so according to a recent study of seniors.  64 sedentary overweight or obese 60 to 75-year-old people were studied for four months.  The results of this study showed weight loss through dieting alone is not the answer for becoming fit.

The researchers studied whether greater fitness would result from dieting, exercising or a combination of dieting and exercising.  This study was reported in Health Habits and entitled Senior Fitness: A Fountain of Youth?

The winner was the exercise and diet group.  The participants who both dieted and exercised for four months were most efficient in the exercise task, did not lose muscle mass and their weight loss was associated with using body-fat as a source of energy.

The diet group showed no improvement in physical fitness.  They lost weight.  However, their weight loss was due to a loss of muscle mass as well as fat.

If you want to lose weight and become more physically fit, then it is necessary to ea less and exercise more.

Remember, We Live within the Bodies Created by Our Choices.

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

The Five Second Program for Breaking Bad Habits!

The Turn Around Choice from The North Star Mental Fitness Program Is a Five Second Program for Breaking Bad Habits!

Yes, you read the statement right.  You can break bad habits, if you are willing to take five seconds out of your day when needed to break your bad habit!

Impossible you might think, but from my personal experience I know it works.  This simplistic and easy, but still unbelievably effective works, because of the unique understanding of how to break bad habits.

Here is the secret.

A Review of 6 articles: for Breaking Bad Habits

It is time again to make New Year's resolutions.  At this time of year, we are motivated to Break Bad Habits.  In order to help you make resolutions for breaking bad habits, I have reviewed the following blogs.

Adam Voiland of U.S. News and World Report explained why we make bad choices even when we know better in his article, "Want to Break a Bad Habit?  Try This".  Adam explained that we sometimes make bad choices because we want immediate gratification and do what is easiest.  He wrote the answer is to "build systems into your life that reward healthy choices or make healthy choices more convenient than unhealthy choices". 

Adam encouraged us to not forbid ourselves or others from making bad choices and to not punish ourselves or others for making bad choices.  "We know, in fact, stress and negative emotions often lead to things like binge eating, drug relapse and emotional buying.  Incentives work much better."  I believe Adam's ideas are excellent ways to neutralize the effects of the "innate human defiance,"  which was listed as one of the reasons "Why It's so Hard to Break Bad Habits," which was an article written by Jeanna Bryer for Fox News.com.

Why It Is Hard To Break Bad Habits?

The New Year is coming.  The time for making New Year's Resolutions is rapidly approaching with excitement and trepidation.

We know it's time to Break Bad Habits, but, often times, our confidence and hope have been shattered by past failure and disappointment.

Because of the bad consequences associated with bad habits, we suck in our gut, take a deep breath and commit ourselves to Breaking Bad Habits.

Jeanna Bryer of Fox News.com wrote a very relevant article "Why It's so Hard to Break Bad Habits".

Losing Weight by Thinking

Permanent Weight Loss - If you want to lose weight and maintain your weight loss, than change how you think!

I have begun a successful weight loss program.  The program is is not complicated.  Basically, I'm eating less, eating healthy foods and walking everyday.  These activities are known ingredients for losing and maintaining weight loss. 

A lot of people use these simple ideas. Often times, losing weight successfully and then gaining it back.  After reaching their goals, they stop eating right and exercising.  Why does this happen?

I believe they fail to have permanent weight loss, because they do not change their thinking to live in a body and environment of thinness.

I am very optimistic about losing and keeping off my weight.  I am going to use the same techniques of mind control that I used to live the last 20 years with the benefits from non-smoking.  Now I am going to pursue the benefits of being thin.

How?

Is Losing Weight a Tedious Project for You?

Losing Weight Is a Project - This is the mindset of many people, who want to lose weight and fail!

When reaching a goal such as losing weight is thought of as a project or a major undertaking, people are using the wrong mindset.  A mindset that will make self-actualization difficult, unnatural and, often times, impossible. 

Thinking about losing weight as a project, fails to use the power of the mind and brain.

With mental fitness programming, people learn to use the natural processes of the mind and brain to lose weight and successfully maintain weight loss. 

Losing weight can become a natural unfolding.  A result of self-actualization rather than completion of a tedious project.

Who Owns Your Body?

Diana Andrew from Talking Fitness clarified who owns your body in her post, Exercise Is More Than Physical.  Diana made it very simple and very clear.  I really enjoyed reading what she had to say.  In fact, I wish I would have said what she said.  She wrote:

Your body has one owner; it is not in the business of looking for the approval of others, it is only looking for the approval of you.

From a mental fitness perspective, she is right on target.  Think about it!  You are the owner of your body!  Your body only wants and needs approval from you.  You can approve your body no matter what other people feel or think.

A woman's approval of her body does not have to be dependent on men's approval of her body or meeting contemporary standards for beauty.  Men's approval of their bodies likewise is not contingent on getting approval from women or by becoming super masculine.

What is important for you? Is it important for you to approve or improve your body?  Can you approve your body just the way it is now?  Or do you have to improve your body, before you can approve your body? 

Remember, You Live within Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Do You Want Elite Fitness?

It's time to leave my comfort zone.  My comfort zone has become too uncomfortable.  With a welcomed medical release from my physician, I have reintroduced myself to my exercise equipment.  As usual, I find myself wanting to put it off or wanting to rush into physical activity.

As I stand in a familiar, comfortable, but discouraging place in my life, I am looking forward to actualized my dream for physical fitness.

As I start again, Greg Glassman coached me well.  I appreciate the following words of caution, clarification and challenge from Greg Glassman of Cross Fit Eastside  in his posting, Intensity, comfort and results.

These are the words of Greg, who calls it the way it is:

When Affirmations Don't Work

Affirmations are a powerful tool for creating the life you want for yourself, but what do you do when affirmations don't work?

The power of affirmations has been well documented.  Even the famous Scott Adams of the Dilbert Blog has extolled the virtues of affirmations.  Yesterday, I blogged about Debbie Rocker who urged her readers at Yahoo Health to use affirmations to change the mind for successfully accomplishing goals.

Before blogging on today's title, it is important for me to clarify for you that I am a believer in the power of affirmations. 

I like Scott's idea to write down an affirmation 15 times on a daily basis for six months, before concluding the affirmation doesn't work. 

Although I believe in the power of affirmations, affirmations don't always work.  Why don't affirmations always work?  When affirmations don't work, what should you do?

Mental Fitness Is Necessary for Weight Loss

"Work Your Mind, Not Just Your Body" is a very insightful post written by Debbie Rocker at Yahoo Health. Debbie wrote:  "Fitness isn't just physical".

The essence of rational emotive therapy and mental fitness training is expressed in Norman Vincent Peale's statement, "Change your thoughts and you change the world".  This means change your thoughts and you change your weight.

Do you believe this statement made by Debbie: "Let’s not waste time on changing our bodies when they will only change back if we don’t change our minds, too".