change

Mental Moment-weight loss strategy

Written by on September 8, 2012

Unlikely pair

I haven’t written anything in quite awhile with regards to weight loss or emotional eating but I had to write a blog about an article I read in the NY Times: A Weight-Loss Strategy From an Unlikely Pair. My thoughts about the article The article is about Steven Kates, a personal trainer, and Myles Berkowitz, an indie filmmaker, who have teamed up to develop Lifesize, a weight-loss company that advocates a portion-control diet system. Although I find it somewhat interesting that these two very different individuals have teamed up, what I don’t understand is how they think their portion control system is going … Continued

Diary of cyclist-what I want

Written by on March 10, 2012

womens professional cycling team

M: I agree that for you making the decision was the hard part. Now you have to deal with the transition of the change but that’s good. We all have to deal with what happens in transition but that is where we really get an opportunity to grow and learn. And you get to realize that although your new coach is going to be different you don’t need to stay stuck with the situation you were in. You’ve empowered yourself to move forward and go for what you need and deserve. Sometimes we just outgrow the people we work with … Continued

Mass media and the portrayal of professional women’s sports

Written by on February 13, 2012

Skylar Diggins

There are certain colors, toys, clothes, and behavior for each gender that occurs immediately upon birth. And as children continue to age not only are they defined by other people but they understand how to appropriately define themselves as separate genders. Some of those understandings are that males are said to be more adventurous, assertive, aggressive independent, and task oriented. Females are thought to be more sensitive, gentle, dependent, emotional, and people-oriented. It is for these reasons that girls and women have had a difficult time being accepted into sports, being competitive and being anything but ‘feminine’. She got game … Continued

2012 is a time for change in performance, weight, diet and exercise

Written by on December 21, 2011

Life is not about...

It really doesn’t matter whether we are talking about losing weight, being an athlete, exercise addiction or emotional eating. When mental and emotional obstacles pop up and get in the way it’s hard to move past them. Although there are some basic, general premise when it comes to moving past obstacles into change, each and every situation is different. The reason behind how you got here is different and the way you are going to push past will also be somewhat different. December 30th webinar Although the webinar on December 30th is geared toward weight loss the same basic principles … Continued

Choose just one resolution and write your story

Written by on December 17, 2011

doodle less, paint more

If you are going to set New Year’s Resolutions around starting an exercise program, losing weight, emotional eating, etc. how do you know what ‘goals’ are important? One way to go about this is to think about the things that continue to get in your way of change and one way to do that is to keep a journal. Write your story Here is a good way to set the stage for your New Year’s Resolutions and your journal writing. And rather than thinking about 5-6 things you want to change this year, choose that one thing that you’ve really struggled … Continued

How do you know when parts of your life are not working anymore

Written by on November 18, 2011

welcome change

In order for change to happen you have to get to a place in your life where whatever you are doing doesn’t work anymore. What does this mean? Your health is failing The negatives outweigh the positives It’s affecting your friends and family It’s impacting your ability to work And even then with certain less than healthy behaviors change is impossible because your brain is out of balance from: starvation, too many hormones, etc. and is unable to think at all clearly; aside from the fact that these behaviors are safe and familiar patterns of coping that up until now … Continued

Breaking Bad Habits

Written by on November 9, 2011

bad habit-smoking

If you were to look in the dictionary one of the definitions of habit states that it is an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary. Acquired means your client wasn’t born with it and fortunately doesn’t have to die with it. Here are a few examples of bad habits: Eating junk food Smoking Eating unhealthy Nail biting Being late Cracking knuckles Emotional eating Bad habits as a way to cope Bad habits are generally acquired through necessity. People need to find comfortable ways to cope with things that happen in life. Bad habits are behaviors learned to help deal with usually ordinary everyday events due … Continued

Where does pain (losing) or pleasure (winning) come from

Written by on September 23, 2011

Paul Bloom

Paul Bloom talks about how humans are essentialists. We don’t just respond to things as we see them, feel them or hear them rather our responses are based on our conditioned beliefs about what we think they are. Pleasure Lets take pleasure for example. Pleasure runs deep. It’s based on our experiences of what ‘pleasure’ means to us. Bloom gives an example of getting kids to like carrots and milk. Kids don’t essentially like carrots and milk until they associate it with (his example) McDonald’s. Kids believe that McDonald’s is tastier and then experience things that come from McDonald’s as being … Continued

Lets work together to help people

Written by on August 17, 2011

Teamwork

Here is my belief: I belief that the team approach is the best approach. Lets all work together! In order for Sports & Exercise Psychology (or anything) to be effective it needs to be embraced by the athlete and exerciser but most importantly by the other people who work with the them. It’s now become really imperative (to me) that all support people of athletes and exercisers: coaches, personal trainers, assistant coaches, mentors, physical therapists, etc. have some knowledge of how important the mental aspect is so they can decide what to do with it for their clients; particularly since … Continued

What do you need to know prior to starting an exercise program

Written by on August 8, 2011

Dancing is a form of exercise

There are two parts to the ‘how to exercise’. There is the physical and the mental and today I am going to talk a little bit about how to start exercise from a mental perspective. Exercise is really not much different than starting anything that is new. With newness comes fear of the unknown, anxiety around the unexpected, lack of knowledge & understanding, etc. You’ve probably felt this way at work when something changes and at work (and sometimes in exercise) it’s particularly hard because the change is coming from someone else. When it comes to exercise why not change … Continued