talkhealth Blog

I am having a day off today – just from the blog writing…not from my eating plan or exercise before you start to get concerned!

The wonderful Will Pike has penned the following for you…which I think you will quite like. Will is the lovely Fitness and Weight Loss Mentor that I wrote about recently – he specialises in helping people lose weight and improve their lifestyle, body image and confidence.

So here goes…

I get it: you’ve probably heard it all. Every week you’re bombarded with the latest craze, trendy workout or faddy diet. High-protein this, low-carb that…it’s easy to get lost, confused and dazed in this sea of information overload.

And yet it seems like it’s just more of the same stuff, rehashed time and time again. Sure, the science moves forwards and provides us with exciting discoveries, but it still only tackles the WHAT: what to eat and what exercise to do, etc. No one is looking at the HOW or the WHY.

From years of experience with clients and my own struggle with my eating habits, I’ve come to realise that in fact the HOW and the WHY are more important than the WHAT. And that if you get the first two right, your weight loss is quasi-guaranteed.

However, with this comes a responsibility to dig a bit deeper. That’s the only way you can drop the weight and keep it off for good: you need to peel back the layers of yourself and dive into the core of your being. You must be willing to embark on a journey of self-exploration; an exhilarating, daunting but rewarding ride, deep into the darkest depths of yourself.

The question is; are you ready?

Identity and the “I SUCK syndrome”

The prospect of diving into yourself may at first sound a bit scary. I mean, there are so many layers to explore, right?

To make things simple, you can think of yourself as having two layers. The first is what we’ll name your Identity. This is made up from all the deeper held beliefs about yourself, notably what I call the “I SUCK syndrome”: the nagging feeling that you’re unworthy, unlovable and not good enough. Sound familiar?

When your focus is on the beliefs generated by the I SUCK syndrome, lots of psychological tension is created within your body (feelings) and mind (thoughts). Naturally, we feel the need to release this tension by any means possible: smoking, television, Facebook, alcohol, or the worse and most visible offender – food. So over the years of focussing on your Identity and relieving the tension, you end up accumulating the kilos.

What you really are

The second layer, and what you are at your core, is love. When you come into the world, that’s what you are: love, light and energy. You are complete innocence, free from perception and the beliefs of the I SUCK syndrome.

The process of diving into yourself is learning to reconnect to this layer: long term weight loss will only happen by tapping into the infinite love, compassion and intelligence contained within you.

Of course, this can sound very theoretical and a just a tiny bit woo-woo. But the exciting fact is that science is catching up. Researchers at the Institute of HeartMath have been studying the heart for over 20 years, and have realised that our hearts are our main computer and that our brains are in fact a subterminal of them. In other words, your mind is your hard drive – but your heart is your Internet.

You know that inner voice that whispers to you? That’s your heart communicating. The problem is, we’re so obsessed by the brain and the mind that we have neglected that very important part of ourselves: the part that knows what we love, accepts and loves every part of us and is willing to commit to our self-care – day in and day out.

For sure, at times we may catch glimpses of the love and joy contained within our core, yet we lose sight of them as soon as the I SUCK thoughts begin to creep back in. So after years of doing so, we forget this second layer, and identify ourselves with the thoughts and feelings of the first one.

How to reconnect to your heart 

To unlock long term heath, happiness and weight loss, you must learn to reconnect your heart and your mind. This is called a state of “coherence”, in which heart and mind work in harmony. This is the state of flow and joy that we all experience when with loved ones or when working on a creative project.

Here are a few tips to begin to reconnect to your heart:
1. Heart Breathing: Put your palm on the middle of your chest (over your heart centre), then take long and deep breaths, and imagine the air flowing in and out through your heart centre. Notice how after a few minutes you begin to relax as you connect to your hearts infinite supply of love, compassion and wisdom.

2. Listening to your intuition: By taking time to be in silence – or during Heart Breathing – you can practice listening to what your heart has to say. Simply allow and observe what arises. Over time and with practice, you’ll even be able to ask questions and receive an answer: direct your question to the middle of your chest, and wait for an answer to come, as an image, feeling or sensation.

3. Connect to the feeling of truth within your body: Your heart always knows the truth. Its’ that part of you that sees you making mistakes and tries to warn you, and that more often than not we avoid listening to. There is a distinct feeling associated with what “rings true”: a glowing and knowing sensation within your body. By understanding this feeling you’ll learn to guide yourself with your heart and to make choices that bring you health, weight loss and happiness.

Understanding the deeper layers of yourself and how to reconnect to your heart will help you achieve long-term weight loss and happiness. If you’re ready to embark on this exciting journey to health, I would LOVE to hear from you: you may be the ideal candidate for my online love:Fitness Weight Loss mentoring services. Log on to www.willpike.co.uk to find out more and to book your Discovery Consultation.

There you go then…some words of wisdom from Will!

I love that he describes it as a tiny bit woo-woo…as some of it does feel that way. My family are a bit woo-woo and growing up with them was both wonderful and a nightmare at times. There is a reiki master, a crystal healer, a ‘communicator’ and goodness knows what else amongst them. I might have told you about this already but the first time that Mr WLB met them all at a family party, my auntie was dressed as a fairy and jumped out from behind the bush to surprise him as he got out of a taxi outside the house…he didn’t speak to me all night and sat across the room from me whilst they were banging drums and chanting! I didn’t think the relationship would last past that evening!

So the woo-woo stuff I used to shun as it was all a bit embarrassing. Since starting to connect again with my feelings and emotions, I have been making real progress. I managed to figure all of this out for myself and help my clients with this too…so when I spoke to Will about it all, it was like finding a kindred spirit! He really is a truly wonderful person!

Today has been good. I got a nice sleep and woke up refreshed and had been sent a rather lovely parcel and a card and letter from the guys at a Slimming World group I spoke at recently……it was such a lovely and unexpected surprise – what a fabulous start to the day. I then headed to gym and had a good workout. This was followed by a visit to see the horses and another chat with my old schoolfriend. Then it was a quick trip to the shops, followed by a late afternoon of reading something totally unrelated to coaching for a change…an Ian Rankin novel. Tonight is going to be sedate and I am looking forward to Pilates for a good stretch tomorrow morning.

Breakfast: Banana porridge (5 syns).Lunch: Pasta’n’Sauce with veggies and cheese (2 x HEA), and soup (2 x HEB).Dinner: Aubergine and courgette dhal with brown rice (2.5 syns).Snacks: 0% Total Greek yogurt with cherries and Nakd bar (6.5 syns).A nice food day. My usual for brekkie. This was followed by an old Green day favourite of steamed veggies mixed with a Pasta’n’Sauce and topped with cheese. I also had a soup for my HEB choices……the new Covent Garden Skinny Soup. It was rather tasty – half a carton is a HEB, but I ate the lot as I had two HEBs to enjoy today. I must admit that the soup was delicious, but not that filling really – so unless you are a non-SWer and could eat it with half a loaf of bread as Mr WLB does, then maybe pairing it with something else would be a good idea! Dinner was lovely, and adapted from a recipe in the new Slimming World cookbook – aubergine, onions, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, courgette, red lentils, garlic, curry powder, stock and a packet of the Tilda brown microwave rice (2.5 syns) as I am a lazy cook and prefer the microwave rice! My snack was lovely. The cocoa Nakd bar chopped up and mixed with my yogurt and cherries – lush – it was like a healthy black forest gateaux!

Exercise: 5 minutes treadmill, 70 minutes weights, 30 minutes elliptical machine.

Thank you for reading,

Weight Loss Bitch xxx

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WeightLossBitch

On a health and fitness driven journey to lose over 32st / 448lbs / 203kgs – yes, it is a considerable amount – I am committed to losing my excess weight without the aid of weight loss surgery, diet pills, or quick fixes…as there aren’t any! Changing my eating habits and building up my fitness levels, along with addressing the ‘head issues’ will be crucial in order for me to achieve my goal. Living in England as a 31 year old super morbidly obese woman can be challenging to say the least. I have been shouted at in the street and verbally abused far too many times to mention; hence the name ‘Weight Loss Bitch’…the day I am just called a ‘bitch’ instead of a ‘fat bitch’ will be the day that I know I have cracked my weight loss! With many reasons to lose this weight I am documenting my journey for a number of reasons. Firstly, I would like to keep a record of the ups and downs, the highs and lows, and the challenges I face with such an enormous task to tackle. Secondly, I would also like to inspire and encourage other people who are in a similar situation and to show them that significant amounts of weight can be lost naturally…with a bit of motivation, hard work, dedication and will power. Thirdly, all of the blogging, Facebook-ing, Tweet-ing, Pinterest-ing and YouTube-ing keeps me occupied and keeps my fingers out of the fridge!