How to Lighten up Your Excess Weight

For many of you struggling with food and weight issues, you may be identifying your entire self-worth according to some number on the scale. This is both unfortunate and unproductive since one of the biggest lessons I learned in managing to shed my own unwanted pounds AND keep them off, was that the end results are so much more meaningful than just the number on the scale. The number is just that, a number. It has no meaning except for the meaning you yourself attach to it.
When you lose your excess weight, you will not only be physically lighter according to the number on the scale, you will also feel lighter mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Carrying around lots of extra weight is a burden in more ways than one. It weighs you down physically in that it adds extra pressure on your joints and you can't move around as easily as you'd like. It also increases a long list of weight-related health risks such as diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, sleeping disorders, breathing disorders, arthritis, some forms of cancer and more. This can impede on your ability to enjoy your favourite activities to the fullest such as gardening or playing with your grandchildren. The problem is that you get so used to functioning with your excess weight that you don't even know how much better, easier and fulfilling these activities can be without all the excess weight. How can you know if you've never experienced it? Or maybe you've experienced it in the past, but it's been so long that you don't even remember.
A great example is a client I had who at her heaviest weight decided to join a running group. It was extremely difficult for her to keep up and I remember her telling me how her husband would laugh at how she'd come home with her face beet red. She had trouble breathing, all her joints would hurt and it was just too difficult. After a short while, she decided to give it up. However, in working with her we decided that while she was changing her eating habits, she would also gradually increase her activity levels and maintain a more active lifestyle. Over time she lost more than 60 pounds and decided to re-join her running group. From eating properly and being more physically active over many months, all of a sudden she was not only able to keep up with the group, but lead the way. The confidence and reassurance that this gave her was astounding and just motivated her that much more to continue on with her healthy eating and positive living habits. Her weight loss allowed her to "lighten up" on so many more levels than just the scale. Freeing herself of all that excess weight allowed her to experience greater joy and light in her life. The dark cloud of her excess weight had lifted for good.
Too much excess weight can impact your level of self-confidence and make you more self-conscious in your appearance which can weigh you down mentally, emotionally and spiritually. All this to say is that if your weight is getting you down and you want to get your weight down instead, then know that it will help you to lighten up in more ways than one as well. Yes, you will be lighter according to the scale, but you will also walk taller, feel proud of your accomplishments, increase your self-confidence, boost your energy and have a greater sense of control over your eating, your lifestyle and your own quality of life. Just like the lady I described, your new found confidence will propel you to try new things, challenge yourself and take more risks than you ever would have dreamed before. You will lighten up in your life both personally and professionally reaching outside of your comfort zone that your excess weight can so easily keep you trapped in. When you learn to "lighten up" on all levels, your whole outlook on life will change. It is a powerful transformation that can happen for you too, one bite at a time.
Roslyn Franken is the author of The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living, a self-help book inspired by the author's own experiences as a cancer survivor who has also overcome her own food, weight and lifestyle issues.
Roslyn now helps others lighten up the excess weight weighing down their lives, whether on their hips, in their hearts, or between their ears, for a life of greater health and happiness. She offers a personalized counseling program and professional speaking services. She counsels clients by telephone and email across North America who are ready to build a healthy and positive lifestyle maintainable for a lifetime.
Roslyn also inspires and motivates corporate and community group audiences toward the practices of healthy eating and positive living through her professional speaking services.

To purchase The A List book and for more information on Roslyn Franken's personalized counseling and professional speaking services please visit Roslyn online at http://www.roslynfranken.com Be sure to get your FREE 6 Secrets for Less Stress when you visit her site.
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