Wooohoooo!!!!   You’ve made it to Day 8… The eigth day of the 10 Day #LifestylistaFitness Challenge!!!!  How did you enjoy your rest day yesterday?  And The Look of Love exercise from yesterday, Day 7?  You’re on the homestretch now.  Make every hour in every day count.  You can do this!

1) Read today’s WEIGHT LOSS TIP (see below) and do it, really try it.   It’s the one I gave you on the first day of this challenge BUT it’s so important I’m giving it to you again.  This is one EFFECTIVE weight loss tip!  It’s easy to do too.  #OvereatingBeGone  So simple.

2) CARDIO WARMUP VIDEO – do it twice if you can manage it!

3) EXERCISES: Watch the video playlist for today and do the exercises – LIFT & SCULPT your BUTT and get the appearance of  THINNER THIGHS and longer, LEANER LEGS…

PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW YOU’RE DOING 🙂 SEND ME FACEBOOK MESSAGES, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM!  Use the HASHTAG #LifestylistaFitness so I see your message and your sweaty / happy / fierce / fabulous exercise photos too 🙂

MINDFUL EATING: Weight Loss Tip

Did you know that there are expensive, truly high end clinics you can go to where they help you to lose weight by making sure you eat mindfully?  For a few thousand dollars they watch you to make sure you do this tip I’m giving you for free.  Do it do today – you’re worth it!

What I’m about to share with you is ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE SECRETS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE NATURAL SLIMBOS 🙂

Have you ever spent all day craving something, fantasizing about some item of food? And when we finally get it we just wolf it down and we almost don’t even taste it because we’re so busy flinging the food down our throats. We don’t breathe, we don’t chew and often we don’t even look at the food properly.

There’s a reason for this!  Your body wants you to eat calorie dense food to ensure your survival.  Think of cave man days, if you didn’t fatten up when the high calorie food was around, you might not survive the winter!  You might starve and die!  Now, in the modern era, this is less of a risk (you can say that again!!!). There’s junk food on every corner but still our body rewards us with pleasure when we eat high fat, high sugar, high calorie foods.

When we eat junk food, endorphins (happy chemicals) are released in our brain.  They boost our mood and we just feel better.   Scientists have gone as far as suggesting that eating high fat, calorie-dense junk foods might affect our brains in the same way as heroin and cocaine.  This causes a sort of compulsive eating that resembles drug addiction.  Yes girl, you heard me correctly.  And, just like a drug addict, after a while, our pleasure centers get resistant and to get the same high, we have to eat more and more food.  We have to take more and more of our drug of choice.

What’s that got to do with you losing weight you might ask?  Well, when you are wolfing down food mindlessly to get your food high, you eat so quickly, you don’t even give your brain a chance to let you know that you’re full. It takes the brain about 15 minutes to register that you’re full but you stuff down your food so quickly that your stomach is stretched, you’re over-full and feeling guilty and uncomfortable in those pants waaaaay before your brain has a chance to give you the signal that you’re full.  Do this over days, weeks, months, years and you will be overweight.

Some people go to clinics and pay thousands of dollars to be shown how to eat mindfully…  I’m going to teach you this now for free!

1. Get rid of all distractions (TV, Phone, computer, books, everything).

2. Get comfortable and take a few relaxing deep breaths.  Try not to eat when you’re in the middle of a truly stressful moment.  Relax before you actually eat.

3. Really look at the food you’re about to eat.  Touch it, feel it’s texture, smell it, look at it – really look.  Notice the color, the texture…

4. Have a thought about where the food came from, how it grew.

5. Peel the orange – listen to the sound as the skin tears.  Take in the citrusy smell.

6. Put a piece of orange in your mouth and feels how it feels in your mouth. Feel the texture.  Then chew, really chew SLOWLY.  Take your time.  Close your eyes… Savor it like you’re a food critic in a restaurant, don’t let any layer of the flavor pass you by.

7. Notice how you feel while you’re eating the orange.  Don’t judge any of your emotions, if you’re happy, notice that.  If you’re stressed or angry, notice that too.  Just be in the here and now while you eat.  Don’t think about the past or the future.  Just right now.

8. Keep chewing slowly and make sure you’re giving the food you’re eating your full attention.

9. When it’s a totally liquid texture (like applesauce) and there is nothing more to chew, then swallow.

This is mindful eating!  This one tip alone can help you transform your weight. REALLY GO FOR IT TODAY!

SUBSCRIBE to my channel on www.YouTube.com/LifestylistaTV to get new videos every week!

JOIN ME on Twitter.com/TheLifestylista, Instagram.com/TheLifestylista and Facebook.com/Lifestylista

I love you and I’m here rooting for you!

Kara

The Lifestylista

xox

MEDICAL / FITNESS DISCLAIMER – LIFESTYLISTA LLC:  The information provided is for educational purposes only.  Not all exercise programs are suitable for everyone. Please check with your doctor before starting this or any new exercise program or diet.

This is particularly important if you have pre-existing health problems.

Welcome to Day 9… The ninth day of the 10 Day #LifestylistaFitness Challenge!!!!  How did you enjoy the Mindful Eating exercise from yesterday, Day 8? If you haven’t done it yet, go back and make sure you’ve done it.  Do it all of today.  That’s one step you don’t want to miss.

1) Read today’s WEIGHT LOSS TIP (see below) and do it, really try it.   Give this tip your all today – it could make all the difference!

2) CARDIO WARMUP VIDEO – do it twice if you can manage it!

3) EXERCISES: Watch the video playlist for today and do the exercises – get those sexy arms, back and boobs 🙂

Who’s going to be a help & who’s going to hurt..?

Today make a list of:

1) People in your life who will support you as you get healthy

2) People in your life who (in their own ways) won’t or don’t…  The list doesn’t mean you cut them off, ban them from your life (!).  It just allows you to navigate tricky waters.

VIDEO TELLS ALL: http://youtu.be/RbQ7eiP4xxg  There’s no easy way to say this… but it’s true. Research has shown that “birds of a feather eat together”.  According to the Framingham Heart study which tracked 12000+ people for more than 30 years, if your friend becomes obese you are significantly more likely to do the same.
Now girl, before I go any further, I want you to know that YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL WHATEVER SIZE YOU ARE!  In fact, in the culture I come from bigger / ‘thick’ / ‘built’ / ‘mampy’ has traditionally been waaaaaaay better than being thin.

When it comes to weight and health, peer pressure is everything.  Your friends help you decide what is an OK body size, food portion & type of food, level of exercise etc.  You learn from them, often unconsciously, what your acceptable norms are.

WE ARE COPY CATS – YOUR FRIEND’S FOOD BEHAVIOR IS CONTAGIOUS:
Connection and love are of prime importance for human beings so it’s no surprise that when you eat with friends you unconsciously copy them and bond through a sort of mimicking of each other’s food behaviors.
According to research done at Cornell University, when you eat with friends, you aren’t focussed on the food, you are distracted and so you eat more.  We get so into the excitement of the great company and the wonderful conversation that we’re not aware how much food we’re actually taking in.  When we eat with other people, we’re at the table longer. The longer we’re at the table, the more we eat.  And if the people you’re eating with tend to eat quickly, so will you – even if your normal eating speed is slow.  You will also gravitate towards the type of food the group is choosing. The other people in the group will often act as ‘pacesetters’ and, from them, we take our cues about how much to eat and how quickly.

ON A POSITIVE NOTE:
If you start to spend a lot of time with friends who eat slowly, eat more healthy food, exercise more etc. you may find yourself unconsciously copying this behavior.  Your norms (about food, exercise and health in general) will change and you’ll get healthier (OR you will stop hanging out with them LOL!).

EATING TOGETHER IN BIG GROUPS:
Research has also shown that THE MORE PEOPLE THERE ARE AT THE TABLE, THE MORE YOU EAT…

35% more if eating with 1 friend
47% more if eating with 2 friends
58% more if eating with 3 friends
72% more if eating with 5 friends
96% more if eating with 7+ friends

So, according to this research, if you eat with 7 or more friends, you may eat a whopping 100% more… so DOUBLE the food you’d eat if you ate alone!

I’m here rooting for you to have the life you want!  It’s short and it belongs to you so make the most of it!  AND remember to support each other. You’re more likely to succeed if you get healthy with your friends!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW YOU’RE DOING  SEND ME FACEBOOK MESSAGES, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM!  Use the HASHTAG #LifestylistaFitness so I see your message and your sweaty & fabulous exercise photos too 

SUBSCRIBE to my channel on www.YouTube.com/LifestylistaTV to get new videos every week!

JOIN ME on Twitter.com/TheLifestylista, Instagram.com/TheLifestylista and Facebook.com/Lifestylista

I love you and I’m here rooting for you!

Kara

The Lifestylista

xox

MEDICAL / FITNESS DISCLAIMER – LIFESTYLISTA LLC:  The information provided is for educational purposes only.  Not all exercise programs are suitable for everyone. Please check with your doctor before starting this or any new exercise program or diet.

This is particularly important if you have pre-existing health problems.

DO A CRAZY, HAPPY DANCE RIGHT NOW….  Just for 60 seconds 🙂  You’re here.  Day 6… The 6th day of our 10 Day #LifestylistaFitness Challenge!!!!  How did you enjoy the Hunger Ladder  & ‘How to tell physical hunger from emotional hunger’ exercise from yesterday, Day 5? If you haven’t done it yet, go back and make sure you’ve done it.  Do it all of today – keep checking in to see where you are on the Hunger Ladder and whether or not your hunger is emotional or  genuine.  That’s one exercise you don’t want to skip!  Your weight and body depends on it.  If you really pay attention to this it’s hard to overeat!

1) Read today’s WEIGHT LOSS TIP and do it, really try it.

Today make sure that your plate is 1/2 to 3/4 filled with greens!  Let me repeat that… Today for lunch and dinner (and for extra points: maybe even breakfast!) make sure when you look at your plate, it’s at least half (50%) green, maybe even three quarters (75%).  Greens are not only HUGELY nutrient dense (so really nourishing for your body) BUT since they are not very calorie dense (unless you slather them with a heavy dressing!) you can eat an unlimited amount of them.  FILL UP ON THE GREAT STUFF your body needs…  If you don’t have time to make a dressing, just squeeze a whole orange on your salad! Try it 🙂 

Raw greens: e.g. Arugula / rocket, spinach, lettuce (e.g. romaine lettuce)

Lightly cooked / steamed greens: e.g. Kale, mustard greens, collard greens, callaloo (Caribbean) broccoli, bok choi, asparagus, brussel sprouts

2) CARDIO WARMUP VIDEO – do it twice if you can manage it!

3) EXERCISES: Watch the video playlist for today and do the exercises – get those sexy arms, back and boobs 🙂

PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW YOU’RE DOING  SEND ME FACEBOOK MESSAGES, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM!  Use the HASHTAG #LifestylistaFitness so I see your message and your sweaty & fabulous exercise photos too 

SUBSCRIBE to my channel on www.YouTube.com/LifestylistaTV to get new videos every week!

JOIN ME on Twitter.com/TheLifestylista, Instagram/TheLifestylista and Facebook.com/Lifestylista

I love you and I’m here rooting for you!

Kara

The Lifestylista

xox

MEDICAL / FITNESS DISCLAIMER – LIFESTYLISTA LLC:  The information provided is for educational purposes only.  Not all exercise programs are suitable for everyone. Please check with your doctor before starting this or any new exercise program or diet.

This is particularly important if you have pre-existing health problems.

It’s Day 7!!! You’ve come a long way baby 🙂  Today is your rest day!  It’s a chance to recover from all the exercise and celebrate yourself!

Today’s WEIGHT LOSS TIP is a little unusual…  Go with it girl!  Give it 100% and you will see something shift.

The look of love

1. Stand in front of a mirror and look yourself in the eyes. Really look into your own eyes and connect with yourself and say ‘I love you’ slowly ten times. At first, this may feel hard / weird / silly but it gets easier!

2. Now close your eyes and think about someone in your life who genuinely cares for you. Put yourself in their body and see through their eyes – see what they see when they look at you, feel what they feel, hear what they hear… They value you just as you are right now.
Put yourself back into your own body. Allow yourself to feel those great feelings of being loved and appreciated. Let them go all over your body. Are there things they love about you that you hadn’t even thought of before?

3. Now think of a woman you know (or know of) who likes what she sees when she looks in the mirror.
Close your eyes and imagine that confident, gorgeous woman is right there in front of you. Put yourself into her body and stand the way she stands, smile the way she smiles and feel the confidence, the happiness and the self love she feels. Allow these feelings to fill your body.

4. Now open your eyes, still standing in front of the mirror. Look yourself in the eyes. Really look into your own eyes and say ‘I love you’ slowly three times.

How do you feel?
In what ways are you feeling better about yourself?
How you see yourself is a crucial part of losing weight AND keeping it off long term!

Have a gorgeous day my love!!!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW YOU’RE DOING  SEND ME FACEBOOK MESSAGES, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM!  Use the HASHTAG #LifestylistaFitness so I see your message.

SUBSCRIBE to my channel on www.YouTube.com/LifestylistaTV to get new videos every week!

JOIN ME on Twitter.com/TheLifestylista, Instagram/TheLifestylista and Facebook.com/Lifestylista

I love you and I’m here rooting for you!

Kara

The Lifestylista

xox

 

Welcome to Day 10!  The final day of the 10 Day #LifestylistaFitness Challenge!!!!  If you have given your all to this 10 Day process A HUGE CONGRATS to you!  I am so pleased for you and proud of you! You have built a foundation for real transformation of your health, your body and your life.

AND if you haven’t done the challenge or done it fully… Don’t sweat it.  Good on you for taking one step in the direction of the body and the life you want.  Go back to the beginning and REALLY GO FOR IT, GIRL!

1) Read today’s WEIGHT LOSS TIP (see below) – it’s a specific technique that helps you to STOP OVEREATING.

2) CARDIO WARMUP VIDEO – do it twice if you can manage it!

3) EXERCISES: Watch the video playlist for today and do the exercises knowing you are giving yourself a gift.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW YOU DID 🙂 SEND ME FACEBOOK MESSAGES, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM!  Use the HASHTAG #LifestylistaFitness What were these 10 days like for you?

Day 10 Weight Loss Tip: FEELING STRESSED AND WANT TO OVEREAT???

FEELING STRESSED AND WANT TO OVEREAT??? Fight emotional overeating with this quick & effective technique:
4-7-8 breathing:

1) Put your hands on your lower stomach.
Close your mouth.
BREATHE IN and hold it for a count of 4 (counting silently in your head!)
Important: Only your stomach should move when you breath in, NOT your chest or your shoulders.

2) HOLD YOUR BREATH and count silently to 7.

3) BREATHE OUT through your mouth for a count of 8. As you breathe out make a ‘wooshing’ sound! Really get the air out!

4) Do this 4 times.

WHY THIS WORKS:
– Breathing this way (deeply and slowly) tells your body that you’re safe and all is well.
– Breathing in your regular stressed way (quick, shallow breathing etc.) when you’re stressed causes your body to pump out cortisol and adrenaline – stress hormones. When you have increased levels of these hormones, guess what??? YOU OVEREAT!

This 4-7-8 breathing thang works girl! At first it’ll seem odd but when you get the hang of it, you can use it in all sorts of situations and you’ll feel calmer and more in control.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW YOU’RE DOING  SEND ME FACEBOOK MESSAGES, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM!  Use the HASHTAG #LifestylistaFitness so I see your message and your sweaty & fabulous exercise photos too 

SUBSCRIBE to my channel on www.YouTube.com/LifestylistaTV to get new videos every week!

JOIN ME on Twitter.com/TheLifestylista, Instagram.com/TheLifestylista and Facebook.com/Lifestylista

I love you and I’m here rooting for you!

Kara

The Lifestylista

xox

MEDICAL / FITNESS DISCLAIMER – LIFESTYLISTA LLC:  The information provided is for educational purposes only.  Not all exercise programs are suitable for everyone. Please check with your doctor before starting this or any new exercise program or diet.

This is particularly important if you have pre-existing health problems.

Welcome to Day 2… The second day of the 10 Day #LifestylistaFitness Challenge!!!!  How did you enjoy the Mindful Eating exercise from yesterday, Day 1? If you haven’t done it yet, go back and make sure you’ve done it.  Do it all of today.  That’s one step you don’t want to miss.

1) Read today’s WEIGHT LOSS TIP (see below) and do it, really try it.   Give this exercise your all today – it could make all the difference!

2) CARDIO WARMUP VIDEO – do it twice if you can manage it!

3) EXERCISES: Watch the video playlist for today and do the exercises – get those sexy arms, back and boobs 🙂

How to prepare your mind to lose the weight and keep it off… How you can make it different this time…

Hey girl – today we’re going to look at what you tell yourself every day, what you believe and we’re going to see how that’s affecting you.  I want you to get a journal or a notepad and I want you to sit down in a place you won’t be disturbed.   You have your life in your hands now!
Write down the answers to these questions.  Be as open and honest as you can. No one is seeing this paper but you and if you commit to this exercise fully, the more you will see a change.

1) What limiting beliefs do you have right now about you and your weight?
e.g. “I’ll never be lose the weight and, if I do, I won’t keep it off”, “I can’t control this”, “I come from a family of big people”,  “Slim is for other people, it’s not who I am”, “I’m too old, it’s too late for me”, “I’m not rich enough to be slim”, “I don’t have the time to eat healthily”.
– How do these limiting beliefs affect your life?  WHAT DO THESE BELIEFS COST YOU?  Get really specific here and DIG DEEP.  Get to the painful truth of how the extra weight is hurting you, remind yourself all the reasons why this current situation is costing you the life you want for yourself…
How do these limiting beliefs cost you: Your health?  Your relationship with yourself… Do you feel good about yourself?  What about your relationships with your friends, family, boyfriend / husband?  Or, if you’re single, how do you feel about yourself in the dating department?

2) Imagine what your life will be like in 5 years if you stick to these beliefs, if you do not change and you stay the same or you keep getting bigger.
Feel the weight and the pain of these heavy limiting beliefs.  Five more years of being disappointed in yourself…  Five more years of not pursuing all aspects of your dreams. Look at your relationship with yourself, how you see yourself.  Your relationship with friends, family, special someone, how you think the world sees you.

3) Imagine your life in 10 years if you do not change.
How many dreams did you give up?  What’s the cost to you?  Are you in a relationship / job / life you love?

4) Imagine your life in 15 years if you do not change.
After all these years of disappointment what does your life look like?
What’s your health like?  What does your body look like?  Do you have a vibrant social life, are you married or are you alone.  Are you happy?  Are you older or younger looking?

Really feel the pain of this!  Really feel the pain of not changing.  Let yourself really go there.  Stack the pain of 5, 10, 15 years.
The more deeply you feel this, the more effective this exercise will be.

***Getting to a healthy weight and staying there won’t happen unless it’s a MUST for you.***
It won’t work long term if you think it’s a “nice idea” or something you’re doing for other people but you don’t really know why.  The pain of NOT changing must be great so you have no choice but to change!

You might cry or feel sad when you do this part of the exercise.  Don’t worry!  You won’t be feeling like this forever.
This is helping you to commit to your new path.

5) Now look around and realize that it’s not 5, 10 or 15 years from now.  You still have a choice, you can still choose what happens.  It’s all to play for!  The game isn’t over until the referee blows the whistle!

6) List 5 things that are in your life now that seemed impossible before it happened but you helped make it happen?
e.g. I was a not that slim kid, always picked last for sports teams – I did Jane Fonda exercises for 30 days and I won every event at sports day when I was 10; Meeting & marrying my husband; moving to LA; creating & building The Lifestylista where I get to serve and interact with so many amazing women!; losing the weight and keeping it off.

7)  Now you’ve been reminded of what you’re capable of and how you’ve overcome in the past…
What are some new, positive beliefs you could have about yourself and your weight?
How would these beliefs affect your life – all aspects of your life?

8) Imagine your life in 5 years, if you start to believe these new beliefs now.
Who is in your life now? What are your relationships like with friends, family, special someone and, most importantly, yourself? How healthy are you?  What does your body look like?  How do you feel about yourself? What’s great about your life?  How different does it look from the scenario where you didn’t change?  What is available to you now that wasn’t before?

9) Imagine your life in 10 years.

10) Imagine your life in 15 years.  What dreams have become a reality?  What does your life look like now.  See it in your mind.

– Now how do you feel about losing the weight and keeping it off?  Is this a MUST for you?
– How much more committed are you than you were before?
– How is this time now different from all the other times you “tried to lose weight”?

How do you feel now?

PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW YOU’RE DOING SEND ME FACEBOOK MESSAGES, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM!  Use the HASHTAG #LifestylistaFitness so I see your message and your sweaty & fabulous exercise photos too

SUBSCRIBE to my channel on www.YouTube.com/LifestylistaTV to get new videos every week!

JOIN ME on Twitter.com/TheLifestylista, Instagram/TheLifestylista and Facebook.com/Lifestylista

I love you and I’m here rooting for you!

Kara

The Lifestylista

xox

MEDICAL / FITNESS DISCLAIMER – LIFESTYLISTA LLC:  The information provided is for educational purposes only.  Not all exercise programs are suitable for everyone. Please check with your doctor before starting this or any new exercise program or diet.

This is particularly important if you have pre-existing health problems.