Last month, we discussed the psychology of losing weight, how the mind can affect the body and its potential to impact your success or failure. This month, we continue the topic with some additional tips and positive habits that can help you overcome psychological blocks that may be preventing you from reaching your weight loss goals.
How Can the Go Figure Program Help With Emotional Eating?
One of the unique aspects of the Go Figure Program is that we offer individual consultation every week so we can help identify patterns of eating. Each staff member brings an aspect of health that will benefit you with your weight loss goals and overall well-being. We help you to establish new patterns of eating as well as coping skills and behaviors that will lead to a healthy life. Such coping skills include exercise, self-care, tips for traveling.
Even though we are emotional beings, we can still use scientific methods to make positive choices and changes in our lives. Here are some examples:
Be aware of what you are eating. Research suggests that people with eating difficulties frequently don’t pay attention to what they are eating. Just paying attention or making a log of what/where you are eating can help.
Eating regularly instead of skipping. Rather than skipping meals and then binge eating at lunch or dinner, it is healthier to eat regular meals. Skipping meals can slow your metabolism and make you feel hungrier than you are, making over-eating more likely.
What do you associate with food? Our behaviors are learned and become habit. Our minds associate certain activities and foods together. A good example of this is going to the theatre and eating popcorn. So many people have to have popcorn with their movie because of the behavior pattern they have built by doing these things together. Instead, build new, healthy patterns.
Are you active or sedentary? Just moving around during the day makes a big difference in our health. Many people have desk jobs, or daily routines that have them not moving much during the day. At Go Figure Medical Weight Loss Center, we teach that you can lose weight through diet and life changes rather than a workout routine, but your body does need to move during the day. Just a walk, or some sort of activity is healthy.
Make positive changes to your ideas and behaviors. Changing your behaviors and replacing them with healthier ones is not punishment. Managing your weight loss is not an all or nothing game, it’s a process. If you choose to eat something that doesn’t contribute to your health or losing weight, you aren’t a failure or “off the wagon,” you simply continue on. Keep reinforcing your positive behaviors and you will succeed.
Fall Soup Recipe: Warming Broths
During the colder months, consuming hot beverages throughout the day not only warms us up but it also helps us to avoid reaching for heavier foods. A nice herbal tea or packaged chicken or beef broth are great options, especially when you are on the go. When you have time available, this homemade broth recipe from Go Figure supervisor, Mardie, is a much more nutritious alternative to store bought broths. You can also easily freeze the broth to store.
Use any combination of the following ingredients:
- Green beans
- Zucchini
- Celery
- Spinach
- Kale
- Collard greens
- Beet greens
- Parsley
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Cilantro
Simmer the fresh vegetables and herbs. When tender, add to blender and puree until it is thick and smooth. Pour the blended vegetable puree into clean ice cube trays and freeze. On those cold nights when you are craving something, choose warm herbal teas or the above soup. Just pop a few cubes of soup out of the tray and into a mug and microwave for several seconds. You can make a quick meal by heating the broth and adding some pre-cooked protein.
To season your mug of soup: use some Mrs. Dash, Mrs. Braggs Liquid Aminos (tastes like soup broth), tamari sauce or salt and pepper.
Many holiday foods are very acid-producing and it is not uncommon to suffer from “sour stomach” after consuming heavy proteins and sweets. Alkalinizing soups help to improve digestive upsets and provide the sensation of warmth and comfort.
Go Figure Medical Weight Loss Center – Featured Testimonial
I attempted tons of different fad diets and supplements, and found no lasting results. Then I heard about Go Figure and saw an ad for the 2014 Slimdown Challenge; I convinced my husband to apply with me as a team, and I was so extremely thankful when we were selected to participate! In the first five months alone I lost 60 pounds — talk about a life changer!!
Over the last six months I’ve maintained my weight loss and lost a few additional pounds as well. My husband and I spent the whole summer doing things we never would have thought about doing previously; including a 12 mile hike in the Gallatin National Forrest!
Looking back at the things we’ve accomplished and done over the last year, I cannot thank the Go Figure program and staff enough for everything they’ve done for us. Go Figure provided us with the tools and support we needed to finally lose this weight for good and take back control of our lives!
~ Sara. (Belgrade, Montana) Lost 102 lbs. in 29 weeks.
We hope you have enjoyed this edition of The Skinny, weight loss newsletter. At Go Figure, we want you to succeed in maintaining your health, losing weight and keeping it off. We think of our people not just as clients, but as friends whose lives we can improve by helping them get more health and happiness out of life.
What you may not know is that restarting the program is even easier than before with our restart discount. If it has been less than six months since your last appointment with us, you may restart the program for only $50. If it has been over six months, your restart fee is $129 (includes TWO WEEKS on the program and your EKG), plus $68 for labs. This is a savings of $201!
If you are starting the program for the first time, the startup fee is $398, which includes labs and the first two weeks of the program. After that, it only costs $50 per week for our medical weight loss program.
