Drink Less, Live More

How often do you feel out of control in life?  For example, I used to think I had no control over my time. It felt SO factual because with my job I don’t know my schedule until the day before, sometimes I’m in and OR so cases start late, or sometimes they run late. For years I would come home after a long day and want a glass of wine to just relax and take the edge off of feeling out of control.   But then I would sometimes wake up with the negative chatter of how I shouldn’t have had that last glass of wine. This negative thinking added to feeling out of being out of control, and so the cycle continued. And then one day I decided to try these tools. At the time I didn’t even know if I wanted to try them, but I knew I wanted to see if there was something different.  Honestly, I didn't know if I wanted to try them, because I wasn't sure if I entirely wanted to drink less, but I did want to do more.  I kept saying there has to be more to life, and s...

Do you ever think about how much you think about food? Really - think of  how often you think about - the next meal, the office cake you shouldn’t have, and then how you can't believe that you ended up having the cake and the pizza they had for the celebration. Imagine what you could create in your life if you used all that brain energy on something else. Imagine not having that mean girl in your head telling you how terrible you are at losing weight and you will never be able to do it, because you have never done it before.  This time can be different, and t oday I want to share the number one tip to keep you on track, and prove that mean girl wrong. Planning is key. I prefer to plan my entire week out, but I wasn’t always there.  If you are just getting started, the other option is to plan at least 24 hours in advance. Planning offers a couple of benefits. First, you plan in advance with your higher brain and will make decisions based on what food will fuel you. You...

In business we talk about a negative net as a condition in which a company liabilities exceed its assets plus shareholders equity.  When I'm talking to clients about wanting to drink less it all comes down the the net negative effect it has on your life. Often times people think The Stop Over Drinking program is about stopping drinking.  That may be the case for some people, but really what I hope to accomplish is to teach you the tools to feel more in control.  This is more about stopping the net negative result in your life, and imagining what the future holds.   For you, net negative may look like waking up with the negative chatter, having a headache or feeling sluggish, or not getting everything accomplished on your to do list.  You are functioning in life, but at the end of the day you just have this feeling of wanting to either take a break, or drink less, so you can bring your life more in balance.  This looks different for everyone,...

Doing this work is about so much more than the number on the scale.  It is about who you are becoming along the way.  It is about showing yourself things do not have to be the same.  So often I have clients tell me "they have never been able to lose weight" - guess what - this time you can.  When we go to our past to look for evidence of success we will be disappointed.  Here's the thing - if you have not been successful to this point you will not find the evidence to support it; instead you want to envision what the future holds for you at your new weight. Here is an analogy I like to use to explain how looking to you past will not get you to where you want to go.  Imagine a toddler learning to walk.  She gets up, falls down.  She gets up, falls down.  She gets up.. you get the idea.  Lots of falling and lots of getting up.  Now imagine if after the first 3 falls she decided this wasn't worth it, she has not been successful i...

I was recently working with a client who discussed how she stopped drinking for an extended period of time, but has since started again.  I hear this often.  So if you have stopped and started in the past and looking for a way to cut back, or stop for good, read on. I’m not sure why, but we seem to think we should be happy all the time.  Just stay positive and it will be ok we are told.  Well that is not always the case.  Sometimes things are hard.  And thats ok.  Sometimes things in life are negative.  And that’s ok.  We think we have to avoid feeling negative.  That’s not ok.  In fact, that avoidance is what leads us to over eat, over drink, over spend, over porn, over Facebook, etc.  Getting that dopamine hit makes us feel better, and so the cycle continues.      What if 50% of life was supposed to be negative?  Really, think about this - if we didn’t have negative how would we know the con...

How freaked out would you be if you stepped out of the shower to find your scale sitting on top of your toilet?  I mean, how did it get there - just jump off the floor on it’s own?  I know, this sounds so silly, but how many times have you felt disappointed because “the scale didn’t move”.  Scales don’t move my friend.  If they did, you might worry.  A scale just sits there, neutral, giving you some facts.  The thoughts we have about those numbers are what changes, and that determines our feelings of disappointment.  This is fantastic news - because you get to decide what you want to think about the numbers.   Seriously think about how much power you give the scale.  I was recently in an Advanced Weight Loss training class and my teacher, Brooke Castillo, was asking how many of us have weighed ourselves, didn't like the number, so we go to the bathroom, blow dry our hair, and tried again.  I thought I was the only one t...

I was playing a game of "I Spy" with one of our nieces this weekend and it had me thinking how often I now find myself "spying" on my brain.  When I first started using these tools it was because I wanted to lose those last couple lbs.  In fact, I stayed away from the Over Drinking program because I didn't really think I had "a problem".  But, what I did think, was there were days I wanted to stop feeling like I shouldn't have had the extra glass, and I wanted to feel more in control, at peace and productive, so I decided to give it a whirl. What I found was, the tools to stop over eating were very similar to stop over drinking.  I write two blogs a week - one for weighing less and one for drinking less, and both for living more!  The biggest commonality between the two is this game of "I Spy"- but on your brain. What I want to offer is that you start paying attention to the thoughts you have about your drinking.  Do you sometimes...

Imagine if beating ourselves up to get to thin actually worked?  I mean seriously, how often do you tell yourself you are "being bad", you "shouldn't have ate that", or you "have been good", but don't see the scale moving so why keep going?  This never works.  Ever. So - I want to encourage you to drop the negative self talk as step one when you working on weight loss.  This may be a challenge because you have done it for so long it may just slip in as an automatic response.  The work for you is to notice when you hear yourself talk like that.  Would you ever say that to a bestie telling you the same story?  No.  So when you notice your brain going there take a pause - you don't have to believe what it is telling you, and you can shift the thought to something that will serve you as you reach toward your goal. Decide on purpose to come from a curious and compassionate mind.  There is not "bad" or "good".  It is all l...