Those Dreaded Feelings

One thing I am certain of as I have walked this unfolding journey of lifestyle change is this; Emotions get a bad rap.  Feelings seem to be the thing most of us are most afraid of.  Why is that? Well I'm sure I can answer that. . . because they don't "feel" good!!! It has been the reason I have used food to stuff them or silence for many years of my life.  As I continue to embrace this journey, I have come to understand one thing for certain.  The emotions I have been given are a gift from God that He hard-wired in me for my benefit.  Notice the words gift and benefit? Let me remind us all that feelings are there to tell me I need something.  As we venture on on our journey of lifestyle change, one of the treasures we are seeking is our emotional self that has long been intentionally piled under years of life. 

Tool:
Talk about how you see your feelings or emotional self.  Do you see it as a terrible painful thing to run from or a treasure that you are seeking to help identify the needs in your life. If I'm guessing, you are somewhere in the middle.  Write about where you are and why. 

HOPE Lifestyle - Nutrtion
Thank you for a great turn out for HOPE Lifestyle - Nutrition.  We touched upon a lot of information regarding nutrition and lifestyle change.  Here are some highlights:

-          Where do calories come from?  Protein, Carbohydrates, Fats and YES alcohol.  Water, minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals do not have calories.

-          Find your BMR.  This is the base calories you need if you laid in bed all day.  You can find your number online at, http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

-          1 pound of fat = 3500 calories or 500 calories per day.  Which means you need to be more active or to eat less calories in order to lose weight per week.  For example, I need 1650 calories just for my body to function.  If I ate 1150 calories per day I would lose 1 pound a week.  I could also eat 1650 calories and burn 500 calories per day and lose 1 pound a week. 

-          Check out www.myfitnesspal.com.  This is a wonderful tool to help you journal and reach your goals.  They will do the calculations for you on your BMR and weight loss goals.  We have a class just on journaling coming up but I am open to questions anytime.

Our next meeting we will talk about preparation.  How to plan your week and set yourself up for success. Please feel free to post any questions on the blog.  You can also send me a private message at mateychristiane@gmail.com.

Recognizing Choices

Why is it so hard to believe that there is any space between ALL and NOTHING. Black or white.  Night or day.  Why is it also so hard to believe that middle ground is where the battles are won.  Where success is found.  Where peace from this raging racket of emotional overeating resides and where lasting lifestyle change can be achieved.  This week in HOPE we talked about the power of choices.  When I have that feeling of being trapped, I can know that it's a symptom of codepndency.  It might sound like this; "I have to take him" or "I'll always be overweight" or "I have to say yes".  I can know with certainty that I am choosing NOT to choose.  Even when I feel like there are no choices (the all or nothing place), there are always choices.  Always.  Those choices are what lead us into the middle ground where health and wellness can be found.  I am striving for progress, not perfection.  I am striving for better.  Better is found in the middle ground, which is the very ground that lasting lifestyle change occurs.  Watch out for the rocks and cliffs of all or nothing, and walk towards the safer middle ground where you can see the choices of your life!

The tool this week is:
a. What choices on your journey of lifestyle change seem to be the hardest to maintain?
b. What would create consistency for you?
c. What would block consistency for you and why?

HOPE Lifestyle - Fitness was just wonderful this week.  Laura Trumbull did an amazing job of leading us in dance fitness for the hour.  I'm not sure the last time we all had so much fun together!! 

HOPE Lifestyle - Nutrition
Here is a note from Christiane who leads our HOPE Lifestyle - Nutrition class:

Thinking ahead.....

Next week we have a great HOPE Lifestyle - Nutrition class.  This is a nutrition class where I will help simplify the complicated world of nutrition in a manner that give you the tools for success.  It will typically be in a discussion form. We will touch upon things like portion control, journaling, preparation and other items which will be classes to come in the next few months.  I HOPE to see you all there.

For your calendars ahead......
Feb 4 - Preparation: The Keys to Success
Feb 18 - Portion Control and Journaling
March 4 - Dining Out
March 18 - Recipe's and Tasting
April 1 - Smoothie's

This is your class, so please feel free to let us know if there is something you would like more information on.  We can certainly fulfill your needs.

Q and A with Christiane Matey (We will post the question and answer each week on the blog)

 

Here is a place for you all to ask away, anything you can think of that I can help with your lifestyle change.  I also want to extend my email for those who may have a more private question, mateychristiane@gmail.com.  You can email anytime. 

Intentions, Motives and Truth

We had a wonderful start of the New Year in the HOPE Program!  We began our 2015 session talking about three things to consider as our new year begins to unfold. 

*Last year has passed, and we can learn many lessons from our disappointments and gain momentum from our accomplishments. This is a new year, with all the hopes and dreams available to each one of us.  Now is the time to set INTENTIONS in order to achieve the very things we would like to occur in our lives.

*Human behavior is almost always motivated by unseen needs that move us into action.  Physical needs are easier to understand than emotional needs, however just as important and powerful.  Understanding underlying MOTIVES are extremely important on the journey of lifestyle change.  Take time to identify the need behind the behavior.

*And lastly, let's take time to see how far our roots go into TRUTH.  If our roots go into the soil of shame, blame and co-dependency (our thinking), then it will produce the same in our emotions which dictates our behavior.  If our roots are growing into the rich soil of love, acceptance and healing, it will produce healthy fruit (our behavior) in our lives as well.  This is a good time to look at the fruit that our lives are producing and be willing to till the soil.

TOOL:  What are you going to sew into your soil that will add health to it?

Also, Christiane introduced us to our new extra hour that follows HOPE from 1p - 2p.  It is called HOPE Lifestyle, and will alternate with nutrition one week and then fitness the next week.  She will be with us the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month helping us with the nutrition piece on our journey. On the fitness weeks, which will be the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, our instructor will be Laura Trumbull.  Here is a small introduction on both of the women that we are so blessed to have instructing us in HOPE Lifestyle. 

 

Christiane Matey HOPE Lifestyle - Nutrition

Christiane Matey has a degree A.S., Culinary Arts from The Culinary Institute of America  and B.S., Dietetics from Kansas State University.  Christiane has been in the restaurant industry her whole life cooking from New York City, Boston to London.  She is a private chef and wellness coach for her own practice The Fit Chef and works now at the Harris YMCA with HOPE Lifestyle - Nutrition.

Laura Trumbull HOPE Lifestyle - Fitness

Laura had weight and eating issues at one time and is VERY excited about working HOPE Lifestyle - Fitness. She teaches many different FUN dance and fitness formats, from chair aerobics and other chair exercises, DISCOrobics, Zumba and Bellydancing, as well as strength, low impact and a little Yoga. She will meet each one of us right where we are and will talk to us the first session to see what will be helpful to each of us in terms of the fitness piece of our journey 

 

Christiane was absolutely great! She has interesting information and the way she delivers it includes us all in the conversation. Here is her summary of the first HOPE Lifestyle class:

Today we discussed new year’s intentions and how to focus on making small changes. When we focus on the big picture our intentions become unattainable. For example, I want to lose 60 pounds. Sure, that can be done but how.It is especially important that we focus on baby steps. Changing something about your diet like eating fish 2 times a week or parking further from the store can make a difference over the course of a few months. Another intention towards losing weight could be cooking more at home or eating more often but smaller meals. A good way to look at this is that 1 pound of body fat = 3500 calories. That means finding 500 calories a day for one week by either swapping out beef for fish or parking further from the Y can help you lose a pound a week. Keeping intentions attainable and realistic is a recipe for success.