Monthly Archives: March 2020

Mom Mentality – for Moms of all Ages!

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“The kids, work, the house, the bills, the shopping…I do it all while trying to maintain a positive attitude and feel good. I love my family and would not have it any other way. Sometimes I just wish I had enough time and energy to take better care of myself, but I don’t even know where to start.”

Being a mom is hard.

It’s wonderful and amazing and beautiful, but it’s not easy.

You are constantly thinking about taking care of someone else.

You are giving your love, your time, your body, your sandwich, your energy, your compassion, your everything.

You are always planning your day around the schedules of your kids, whether they are little or grown!

When you are not cleaning up, you are probably prepping something or doing one of the 3984929 things you do each and every day just to function.

If you aren’t doing something, you are thinking of doing something – which can be worse!!

You love love love your job as a mom, and you feel so lucky but there is a part of you that wants to get yourself back.

You want someone to take care of you.
You want to feel light and less stressed.
You want to feel like your clothes fit well and like you have energy to do all the things you want.
You want to feel confident that you are being the role model you want to be to your kids.
You want to feel amazing!

This is possible!
I promise.

As I try to balance my 3 girls, work, and everything else, I am constantly feeling the stress and pressure of life. I have found that when I take better care of myself, through nutrition, mindset and movement, I am able to handle everything so much better.

I used to rely on willpower to help me resist certain foods. I used to rely on motivation to get me to workout.

Now I know better.
I know both of these things come and go.
They leave you when you need them most.
They are not there for you during the hard times. So I have found a better way.

Habits.
When you develop habits you don’t need willpower and motivation. You have trained your brain to do things when you don’t want to.

You don’t need to spend so much time thinking about “if” you want to workout, you just do it and you feel amazing.

You don’t need to spend time thinking about what you are going to make for dinner and “if” it’s going to be healthy – because it’s a habit.

Habits are the secret to a whole new world for you and I have just the perfect program to help you create the ones that fit your life.

Credit: Ali Hively; Fitness instructor here at The Wembley Club, and owner/founder of Kijia Living!

4 Ways Stress is Keeping You From Weight Loss

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Something very easily overlooked when it comes to weight loss and weight gain is STRESS. Stress is often underestimated. I don’t mean just the huge stressful events in life (although it does include those) but I really mean, the stresses of daily life.

What is for dinner?
How are the kids going to get to the 5 different things we have this evening?
Why am I always running 15 minutes late?
Why can’t I get these pants to fit?
Where is my water bottle?
What am I going to do about XYZ?
How come I am so exhausted?
I could go on…
This is stress.
It’s the stress of everyday life and it has a big effect on your body – whether you realize it or not.

You may notice a few extra pounds creeping on, despite no drastic changes in your diet, or you may notice you need the next size up and wonder why. Stress may be the culprit.

Here are 4 Ways Stress May Be Keeping You From Shedding Pounds

Hormones

When we are stressed – big or small, our body goes into fight or flight mode. This happens because our flight or fight response (survival mode) kicks on to protect us even though we are not in real danger. When the adrenaline wears off, cortisol comes into play and stimulates us to eat to protect ourselves for next time.
Many of us become overeaters when we are feeling pressure or stress. Once this starts to happen on a regular basis, it can create a habit of eating when we are stressed or holding onto calories we have eaten. This also causes us to crave more sugary, fatty foods.

Environment

Space is so important when it comes to shedding weight and keeping stress down. When your spaces, like your kitchen or bedroom are cluttered with papers and clothes or toys, your brain has to go into overdrive to process the stuff. The more “stuff” you have in your life, the more your attention and thoughts are consumed, and the more your stress is triggered. Not only does this leave less mental space for thinking, it also has a huge effect on your willpower and motivation. Having too much stuff around is a huge trigger for stress and snacking.

Cravings of Junk Foods

When we are chronically stressed, we crave “comfort foods,” such as a bag of potato chips or a tub of ice cream. These foods tend to be easy to eat, highly processed, and high in fat, sugar, or salt. We crave these foods for both biological and psychological reasons. Stress may mess up our brain’s reward system or cortisol may cause us to crave more fat and sugar. We also may have memories from childhood, such as the smell of freshly baked cookies,, that lead us to associate sweet foods with comfort. When we are stressed, we also may be more likely to drive through the Fast Food place, rather than taking the time and mental energy to plan and cook a meal.

Anxiety

Anxiety can be a big trigger for emotional eating and also for lack of sleep – which affects weight loss. When you are anxious, you eat more “mindlessly” as you churn around worrying thoughts in your head, not even focusing on the taste of the food, how much you’ve eaten, or when you are feeling full. When you eat mindlessly, you will likely eat more, yet feel less satisfied.

You may notice that when you are more stressed, everyone in your family is more stressed.
I notice this with my family. My mood often sets the tone of my family.

One way to really get a handle on this common situation is to minimize the stressors of everyday life.

This can include things like making dinner, getting regular exercise in, having less clutter in our environment and understanding what stress management activities feel good to you!

When you decrease the daily stresses, you can feel more relaxed, more in control, less chaotic and happier so your body can shed excess weight and allow you to feel more energy.

This can have a huge effect on you and your family.

Credit: Ali Hively; Fitness instructor here at The Wembley Club, and owner/founder of Kijia Living!

It’s Not Willpower, it’s Your Environment.

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You can immediately change what’s around you. This includes things like:

  • Your daily routine
  • What tools you have available to you
  • The people you interact with
  • What foods you have near you (or far away from you)
  • Use smaller plates and cups. We’re often used to just filling the dish and eating till the food is done.
  • If there’s a food you don’t want to eat, get it away from you. Don’t keep it in the house. Make it hard to get.
  • Conversely, if there’s a food you should be eating, make it easier to get.
  • Sign up for a CSA box so that fresh, healthy produce and/or organic meat is delivered to you.
  • Have fresh, healthy whole foods on hand and prepared. If necessary, buy pre-cut veggies.
  • If you have more money than time, consider signing up for a healthy meal delivery service.
  • Put the TV in an inconvenient place or make the seating in front of it uncomfortable. Cut your cable package down so you don’t have 200 channels of junk. Or better yet, get rid of the thing altogether.
  • Park your car farther away from where you’re going so you have to walk. Or sell the car and get a bike. (Check out Large Fella on a Bike to see an example of a guy who went from a near-death 501 lbs to a lean, fit 170 lbs after getting a bike and deciding to ride it every day.)
  • Join a social group organized around activity: a class, club, or meetup group (e.g. hiking tours). Find a workout buddy. Surround yourself with people who are also working on their health, fitness, and nutrition.
  • Organize your social events around activity — get a bunch of friends together in the park for some Ultimate Frisbee!
  • Get a dog that needs walking — one that will chew up your couch as punishment if you don’t take it for a daily spin around the block.

You’ll notice that these tips share two features:
They make problem behaviors inconvenient.
They make healthy behaviors convenient.

Credit: Ali Hively; Fitness instructor here at The Wembley Club, and owner/founder of Kijia Living!

Habits are a Hidden Secret!

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Have you ever gotten home and you are too tired to think so you go on autopilot?

Auto pilot for you may mean you throw some chicken nuggets in the oven and then eat them with your kids? Then you feel guilty and your energy is drained.

Or auto pilot may mean that you pour a glass or red wine (or two), and sit down with some cheese and crackers. Before you even know what you are doing, they are gone. Then you may just pour another and call it dinner, but that is not what you wanted to do.

Our routines and habits allow us to access a part of our brain that runs on relatively little energy. This means that you are able to skip the energy needed to decide what you are going to do, because your brain just does what it does.

This can be where the problem lies, if you habits are not designed for you happiness.

Our habits are our most critical cornerstones for happiness.

But, there is great news!!! You can create new habits and break old habits!

Make your dinnertime routine so that it creates feelings of calmness and gratitude rather than annoyance.

Create a morning routine that doesn’t make you want to lay our heads down and cry before you even get the kids to school.

Create bedtime routines for yourself that doesn’t leave you exhausted and irritable.

It is completely possible and it’s not that hard!!

All you need to do is commit to yourself!

Credit: Ali Hively; Fitness instructor here at The Wembley Club, and owner/founder of Kijia Living!