Welcome to Day 2 of Support for Sticking to your Weight Loss Plan. If you have been a yo yo dieter over the years and don’t believe you can succeed in a weight loss program, welcome.  Go to FB LIVE for today's Video.

Creating a plan is crucial to any successful weight loss goal.  Here is a link to yesterday’s FB Live about creating a plan.  You now have a plan.  If you want more help, you can contact me and we can get on a free 30 minute call to set you up with a plan.

The upcoming triumvirate of food holidays are before us:  Halloween, US Thanksgiving and Christmas and Hanukkah.  Follow along for the next 14 days and you will be set up to reach your weight loss goals, even if everyone around you is going to town overeating!

I call upon neuroscience to review the insights into how our brain works. Your brain will seek safety, pleasure and efficiency. In seeking these, your brain goes on alert when you make changes.  We also know that your brain responds to novelty – new things.  We also know that we have limited capacities for making decisions each day. We use this knowledge to set up our weight loss program. 

So when you are invited to happy hour after a long week of work and the chips and wings smothered in sugary BBQ sauce are sitting there and quickly disappearing, you want to have done some preparation with your CEO –  or pre-frontal cortex (PFC) prior to getting there!

The place to start is your WHY.  Why would you choose to say no thank you, and order a slider without the bun instead?  Why would be immune to calls of “come on, what’s wrong with you, don’t you know everything will kill you, so enjoy it now?” and order a salad?

“Is it safe not to eat these wings when they are going so quickly?  Maybe you won’t get another chance to eat for a long time.” – this is what your brain is communicating through your limbic system and results in an urge to pick one up and quickly eat it!  Success – primal brain avoids starvation.  OK,  CEO – Pause. Breathe. Think. Is starvation really near? Why would you choose a healthier option?

Why do you want to get healthy?  Why do you want to lose weight? Your answer must be compelling and it must be at the forefront of your mind each day.

My why – I have strong memories of the results of the way I used to eat.  I had not realized that my emotional state and the results I was getting in my life were connected to the food I was eating!

My memory is one of depression, disappointment and feeling bloated and stuffed and always looking for a way out.

I have strong memories of seeing my mom and brother’s death.  I know lifestyle kills. 

I know that the feeling of living a purposeful life, with lots of energy and more joy, feels way better than depression, disappointment and feeling bloated and stuffed. 

I sought this feeling of excitement and self-acceptance with external substances for so many years and now I have found a way to dip into my soul for joy and acceptance. 

Even if I am not perfect.  Even if I have a fight with a friend and it’s my fault!  Even when there are disasters in the external world. 

My own sense of value comes from inside. 

That value is increased when I take care of my body and the earth. That gives me energy and mind space to decide how I want to live, what I want to do with my time.

My why is to feel better.  That’s what I pursued through all the years of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Hedonistic? Maybe.

What is your why? It could be to keep up with your kids.  It could be to live to see your kids graduate and walk down the isle when they get married.  It could be to run a 5K.  It could be to look good in a little black dress?

Imagine a scale of justice.  Your WHY must weigh more than Aunt Mary’s homemade lemon chiffon cake.  Or you can use your PFC to plan an exception, being willing to accept the consequences of what you choose to eat.  Sugar blues, withdrawal.  Kind of like a little heroin or cocaine or meth. 

Take some time and think about your why.  Write it down on a piece of paper and put your goal weight right next to it.  This is your reminder each morning.  Setting your brain to remember why you are focusing on this goal is using its power to bring it alongside as a support.

Fun TIP: Many of you know that I am not a great cook, but I do cook great food.  Simplicity is for me! Spiralizing for healthy pasta!

Come on back tomorrow and the days ahead when I will be sharing life coaching strategies and tips for cooking and preparing for healthy eating.