Shift Success: Mike Stathopoulos

Shift Weekly: Shift Success: Mike Stathopoulos

Hi Shifters,

Well it’s almost the end of the official summer and I know many of you are heading away this weekend for Labor Day.  Have great, safe journeys and please remember to plan for your Shift success so that you can come back on Monday feeling light and connected to yourself and not like a stuffed Labor day hot dog.

This week I got a chance to interview Mike Stathopoulos for Shift Talk Radio: Mastery Success Series.  Mike has released 39 pounds to date with the Shift since the March Shift of this year (2011).  In addition to hypnosis and mentioning his favorite hypnosis CDs (Graze-less and Lights Out on Night Eating),Mike shares some of the strategies that helped him Shift out of his night eating habit that was contributing to the excess weight.  He also talks about getting support, exercise and Shifting his mind around portions.

Mike is now just 2-3 pounds away from his original Shift goal (see pics below and click for interview below).  Way to go Mike –congratulations and keep on Shifting!!

It’s not too late to get the discounted prices to RE-Shift at this upcoming Shift Weight Mastery Process beginning September 24, 2011—call to join in and refocus your weight release 323 988 4574

If your friends or family wish to Shift September 24, 2011 they will receive discounts but the Shift is filling up so please have them contact me sooner rather than later—thanks!!

Happy Labor Day

Oxox Rita

Click here for interview:

 Shift Talk Radio: Shift Mastery Series: Mike Stathopoulos

Mike before Shifting

Mike now

Shift Weekly:The Unbearable Lightness of Tracking Your Food

The next Shift Weight Mastery 30-Day Process and RE-Shift begins September 24^th—please contact 323 988 4574 to sign up—there is a discounted rate up until September 1, 2010.

Shift Weekly: The Unbearable Lightness of Tracking Your Food

Dear Shifters,

Do you know where your calories are right now? 

Are they recorded and with you or are they out running around in the food fog ether of "I think I just ate alot but I am not quite sure", "Am I gaining weight today or losing?--I kinda don't know."

Have you been recording your food latley??  If you haven't been, are you getting the results that you want??

“Why should I record my food? I hate journaling food—it’s so boring—it takes time—it makes me too focused on the food!” I hear you lamenting. And I agree that maybe record keeping isn’t the most glamorous of the 9 skills of weight mastery but the mounting evidence that supports it’s correlation with success cannot be denied.  Did you know that, according to the National Weight Registry,  6 years after reaching their ideal weight over 60% of masters of weight release are still recording their food every day? 

If you want long term weight success you will need to track your food intake, exercise expenditure and weight with some consistency.  It’s a brutal fact I am not going to lie to you——but here is the good news—when you are recording your food as a loving scientist and not as a dieter—it can be a fun and interesting challenge that gives you valuable information about yourself.  When you “bite it and write it”—the actual act of writing down your food and exercise calms you down because it allows you to see everything in black and white—it takes you out of the illogic and into logic.

 You see, most people (even skinny ones) underestimate how much they eat up to 100% (food psychologist Brian Wansink’s research shows non-dieters 20-30%, dieters 40-50% maybe even up to 100%) that means even if we think we are eating only 1200 calories a day—we may be eating 2000 or more calories per day.  I know this sounds crazy but I cannot tell you how many clients I have had come to me sure their have a super low metabolism because they are eating virtually nothing—but when they start weighing and recording their food and staying within their body’s daily caloric budget for weight release—they can and do release weight.

The few minutes a day I invest in writing down my food–versus living with low level anxiety all day feeling a bit chaotic—not quite sure if what I am eating is causing me to lose maintain or gain-as time and enegy saving—the effort is worth the payoff—so “when you bite it—write it”.

The majority of masters of long term permanent weight release do.  Remember—your Inner Coach needs facts—not fiction—to work effectively with you.  The “I’m feeling lighter”—“my pants are a bit looser” not weighing yourself and “trying” to eat less does not drive the brain towards your vision—it needs a clear cut map—and your food and exercise data is part of your map.  For those of you how don’t know my struggle with weight—when I refused to weigh myself and write down my food I found that I could wear the same pair of pants 20 pounds up or down the scale—so going by how my clothes felt and just “eating lighter” clearly was not a plan for my success. (see story below)

Q: But writing down food takes so much time Rita—I don’t think I can do it.

A: You are not alone—a lot of people think writing down their food is too uncool—too time consuming, too much—I am here to invite you to see for yourself—the time involved in recording your food—whether it’s on paper or the computer or smart phone—takes minutes.  Compare those minutes to the time we spend struggling with our weight, not sure what to eat, if we are gaining weight or losing weight that day, the time we spend taking medicine, feeling pain because of weight related issues.  Think about the amount of time we spend in pain emotionally feeling out of control with food, the time spent trying to find clothes and looking at our butts in the mirror—“do I look as fat as I think I do?”  Come on, the amount of time it takes to record your food is nothing compared to that.  If you “bite it write it”—it will set you free. I know many diets and diet programs have you fill out their sheets and we get a little weary—I myself remember diligently checking off waters I drank, fats I ate—looking to see how many carbs were left for the day. I remember tossing those sheets in the trash—“you can’t make me write down my food—I’ll show you!”  Oh yes I showed them alright—I showed them how quickly I could gain it all back and more.   So I have been there—I know.

When I made my own Shift many years ago and started by just eating more healthfully and moving more I was not recording my food at first—this worked fine for awhile but then I hit a plateau-and boy was I frustrated, —“hey I am eating so little so healthfully and working out like a maniac—why am I not whizzing down the scale???!”  My mentor at the time said, “ Rita write it all down—don’t add it up yet just write down all of your food and exercise for a month and then let’s see what the deal is.”  So I did.  I was very diligent—I wasn’t doing the calories yes but was recording my food and exercise.  I was sure that I would have lost 5 pounds that month—but when I got on the scale I had only lost half a pound—disappointing!  “Okay mentor what’s up with that—see I told you my body is broken!!”  Well my mentor had me add up all that I ate and exercised that month and—gulp--sure enough—I was only owed a half pound on the scale!!!

 What record keeping allowed me to see was that even though I thought I was eating like a bird—I was only doing so a few days of the week. The other four days I was eating more like a big bird and on the weekends—with the wine and the socializing at restaurants- I was eating enough calories to fill in any deficit holes I had created during the week.  As for exercise?  Well, I thought I was working out like a maniac—but turns out my half hour session of cardio 3 times a week were not a huge calorie burn like I had suspected.  So for me to continue to release weight I had to readjust my behaviors and my mindset—which I did—because now I had profound body of evidence to work from—I continued my way down the scale and continue to record keep to this day.

So this week coaching:  Know where your calories are and “If you bite it –write it”

Good places to record keep:

-A journal—like a small notebook from the 99 cent store—nothing fancy.  A client of mine joked and said the smaller the notebook the less she could write on the page and this kept her mindful of how much she was eating!!

-A calorie tracking website

There are many food tracking websites now—for free and with all the bells and whistles—soon Shift will have one too—Yay!! For the time being here are a few that I recommend:

1-www.mydailyplate.com

2-“Lose it”—an app for iPhone users as well as a website.

3- www.Myfitnesspal.com

A tip for easy recording:

The following is something that I do for myself especially when I am busy and writing down food as I eat it seems too labor intensive at the time—this has been a good strategy for me over the years.

-Plan your meals and snacks the day the night before or morning of—making sure you are staying within your calorie budget for weight release and being clear with portions.  Then just cross the foods off as you eat them over the day.  If you deviate from what is written add the additional item and calories or subtract what you didn’t eat.  This gives you the ability to re-jibe your plans for the rest of the day and stay on track and out of “I did bad” fat thinking land.

BTW this only takes a minute or two and it really organizes your mind around your food day—it gives your brain a clear picture—a road map—which makes it easy to follow through on.

Have a great and Shifted week! Remember if you bite it—write it!!

 ox Rita



Shift Weekly: Avoid the London “Food” Fog

Hi Shifters,

Here it is August 1, the official beginning of vacation month and, as bad luck or timing would have it, I am leaving for a trip to visit family in England on the same day that most Europeans are leaving for their holidays for the month. 

Ah England, land of Shakespeare and rose gardens, art and architecture, William and Kate, cream tea and scones, crumpets and marmalade and fish and chips, and kabob and chips and chip and chips and chip buttys (basically French fries between two pieces of bread—a French fry sandwich!) and breakfast fry ups with thick buttered toast bacon and greasy eggs, really good Indian curry and Vindaloo and Naan and wine gums and toffee and Mc Vities-- these really amazing crunch salty cookie topped with dark chocolate-- and.. sorry did I get carried away there?  So sorry old chap! 

You see, I lived in England for four years pre-Shift and gained and lost and gained more pounds while living there than the net weight of her Majesty’s Crown Jewels.  Fortunately, I am heading into this holiday with my eyes open and my mouth shut to the pull of holiday weight gain, and I would love to share some mastery vacation strategies with you that I hope will be of service to you should you be heading off on vacation this month as well.

HAVE A PLAN OR PLAN TO BE HAD

As a clinical hypnotherapist and weight release coach over the years, I often have clients who head off to vacation with high hopes of releasing weight only to come back to sadly report they had lost their focus after a few days and got caught up in holiday eating mode with the rest of their family and gained weight while away—yikes!!  Why does this happen?  Well if you have been focused and feeling good and in Shifting mode, it is almost impossible to imagine not being in focused Shifting mode.  But vacations take us out of our structured life and throw us into external chaos coupled with the fact that you are often surrounded by vacation food and family or friends in vacation celebration eating mode.  This will quickly translate into falling into old eating and thought patterns unless you create a powerful inner structure for success—otherwise known as PLANNING AHEAD.  Planning ahead keeps you out of the trap of listening to your Inner Rebel and keeps you focused on the voice of your Inner Coach.

Here are some planning techniques I use:

1-I visualize myself coming back on the plane feeling the same in the seat as I did going.  Do you ever feel like your thighs have grown 3 inches each after a vacation when you get on the plane to go home??  I did!!  I keep the image with me being the same on the flight home throughout the trip—it keeps me focused.

2-I bring food.  I will mostly be staying with my sister and my husband’s cousin while away.  My sister lives in Surrey outside of London.  Both she and I married Brits (too much Masterpiece theatre as kids).  My sister has a higher metabolism than I (we tested it on the metacheck—400 cals higher per day!) and doesn’t understand completely my need to be more focused than she is.  I am stopping on my way in to her house to make sure I have foods that take care of me.  Fortunately, she loves fruits and veggies so that is not an issue—I just want to have grab and go stuff that I know works for me. This goes for staying in hotels too.

3-I will bring food on the airplane.  I am hard boiling eggs and have a TJs salad packed as we speak.  It’s a long flight and I also plan to stay hydrated as that can mimic hunger—“Do I need a bottle of water or a Cinnabon hmmmmm.”

4-I will think about each day ahead of time.  When we are away each day does not look like the day before.  My sister is so excited we are coming—she just emailed me the itinerary she has planned—we are going to be more busy than the Royal family—so each morning I will think through when I am going to exercise (often that will be built into the day with endless walking) and keeping my blood sugar levels stabilized (which will probably mean bringing a little protein—cheese/HB egg/ protein bar-- something in my back pack) and when we are going to get meals.  Thinking the day through takes seconds but makes a huge difference especially for busy Royal Families like ours!

5-I will know some healthy restaurant options or at least some healthy meal ideas.  I love to go on the internet and research healthy restaurants and calories of the food in the places that I am going.  Again just another way I can show up for myself.

TAKE A BREAK FROM THE GRIND BUT NOT FROM YOUR VISION OR YOURSELF

Let’s face it—vacations are the time to let you hair down, to have a good time, to cut loose and dive into adventure or to just stare at a pool all day.  Sometimes in our quest to let it all hang out the rebel in us says, “Eat all you want and drink all you want—screw eating healthy--you are on vacation!!”  The problem with this scenario, of course, is that once we start eating and drinking all we want, that little part of our brain gets tweaked that sends us into wanting more food, thinking about food, eating more and drinking more, ”Hey let’s go get caramel apples and holiday fudge after breakfast!-- and our Inner Coach gets banished by the Inner Critic who starts to make us feel bad and guilty for our excessive behaviors, “you blew it—where was your self-control?—you will never lose weight on this trip now—you might as well give up!”.  So we end up in a food eating frenzy and then feeling like crap and beating ourselves up and in order to escape feeling bad we try to make ourselves feel better …with more food, “we’ll be good after the vacation!!”.  We spend our once relaxing holiday internally stressed and focused on this inner struggle so much that we miss out on a lot of our holiday.

How can we keep this from happening? Be clear with yourself what your energy needs for your holiday are.  The best tip is to plan to not go for weight release while away but to maintain your weight instead.  This way you can eat a bit more and feel like you have more flexibility and allow for dessert or the extra drink without feeling like you “blew it”.  Be clear how much you need to maintain your weight while away and keep writing down your food while away—this does keep your inner coach engaged and problem solving—and best of all it keeps you present and in the moment—truly enjoying your holiday.

AVOID THE LONDON FOOD FOG OR OBVIOUS TRIGGER FOOD TRAPS

When I lived in London, this was a common occurrence for me when I was in “Bad” mode.  I would walk out of the Piccadilly tube station and go to the cigarette stand and buy a pack of Consulate cigarettes,  two packs of Wine Gums (the crack cocaine version of gum drops), and a roll of Mentos and wander down Charring Cross Road smoking a cigarette and popping wine gum after wine gum in my mouth and occasionally a mento for a crunchy minty change up, not even noticing the stunning architecture, the fabulous rhythm of the city and all of the local color.  I was in a London food fog, being engulfed in the thick swirl of my intense relationship to these trigger foods—I could have been anywhere—the fabulous city was nowhere to be seen in my wine gum and nicotine steeped brain.

Now I know that may seem a bit extreme, but that is the pull of trigger foods.  If you want to enjoy your vacation—don’t indulge in foods that take your power away from you.  As much as I love Wine Gums (as much as I love black jelly beans and candy corn—other trigger foods) I will not have one while I am in England.  I want to see the sights and be with my family not lost in the “London Food Fog”.

MOVE YOUR CHIP BUTTY

My sister and friends know how to support me while I am staying with them and luckily everyone in England that I know loves to walk all over—both the city and the country.  Since I will not be making it to the gym, I am bringing my IPod shuffle music player and am planning to move in some way for at least 30 minutes every day and more if I can—it will be my way I stay present in my body, keep from getting too stressed from all the chaos of being out of a routine and staying at other people’s homes, allow me to connect with myself and think about how I can be healthy that day, and just burn those extra glasses of wine that I will undoubtedly be drinking because I am on vacation and will undoubtedly be hooked up to what my sister and I jokingly call—the Chardonnay drip.

STAY CONNECTED AND SUPPORTED

Make a point to have some support at home or with the people you are visiting with while you are away. I have trained my family over the years how best to help me stay Shifted and they are happy to do so.  I told my sister I am stopping at the local grocery store and plan to stock up and do a lot of cooking while staying with her—we save calories and money by not eating out and have a lot of fun cooking together. 

I also will be emailing my food to the Shift community occasionally to stay accountable and share any challenges—this is something you can think about too.  How can you ask for support from those you will be visiting or traveling with?  Can you be accountable to someone back home and send them reports of how you are staying Shifted while away??

I hope that some of these ideas have been helpful.  I will not be sending a Shift Weekly out next Monday so stay Shifting and and safe.   Shifted travels to those of you who are heading out on vacation.  Keep on Shifting through vacation--it is the best time to show up for yourself!

Ta ta and Tally Ho mate! Stay out of the food fog!!

oxox Rita

The next Shift Weight Mastery Process

& RE Shift Process begins September 24th. 

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