Have you ever wondered why some women are successful in their weight loss journeys, and why some are not? Or perhaps your friends rave over a program that they love, but you find yourself failing after the first 48 hours.

There is more to losing weight than simply following a program. Preparation, thyroid issues and your hormones are just some of the factors that need to be taken into account. Here are my top suggestions that you should read before you embark on any weight loss journey.

Make Changes Before You Start the Program

Do not wait until you sign up to a program to start making changes. You can make a start the minute you finish reading this article.

You can decide to get up off your seat and go for a walk. You could make yourself a cup of tea and instead of adding a teaspoon of sugar, add ½ teaspoon. Just do something that gets you started, and tell yourself that this time you mean business.

Have a Support System in Place

You may think you can do this alone, but research shows that people who have a support system in place are more successful in reaching their goals. You do not have to announce it to all the world.

Simply having a group you can go to, even an online group like the group of women that I give encouragement to, can make all the difference.

You will feel empowered and motivated and will know that you are not alone in your journey. Be sure to reach out and ask questions to get the most out of any group that you join.

Create Meal Plans

The saying, “Failure to plan is planning to fail,” is ever so true in this situation. This means taking the time out of your busy schedule to organize your meals for at least three days ahead.

It also means grocery shopping at least one day prior, to make sure you have all the ingredients you need. This leaves no room for error or hindering in your success.

Be Open to New Recipes

I know it can be quicker and easier to eat the same meals time after time, but you need to keep variety in your diet to stay motivated. Be adventurous and have fun with your food. There are so many wonderful recipes online, in magazines and in programs such as my 7-Day Program.

Do Not Focus on What You Cannot Eat

Do not dwell on what you cannot eat. You can still enjoy the occasional piece of chocolate or a piece of cake, but keep the portions smaller.

If you were used to eating a sandwich laden with fries and tomato sauce, this is not healthy by any stretch of the imagination. Once you start eating healthier foods, you will be amazed at the great buzz you get. Focus on what you can eat, and not on what you cannot.

Monitor Your Sleep Patterns

Are you going to bed late, or is stress keeping you awake at night? Stress can increase the levels of cortisol in your body. Cortisol is also known as the stress hormone.

It interferes with your weight loss success, increases appetite, often making you crave the wrong foods, and can make your body hold onto its fat stores. Try and keep to a routine, and get in bed before 11pm. Also, it would be helpful if you can find ways to decrease the stress in your life.

Focus on the Journey

This might sound strange, but there was a lot going on in your life when you were gaining weight. There will also be a lot going on now that you are starting your weight loss journey. You will feel more alive, have more energy in your day and you will sleep better.

Enjoy the journey of discovering what you are able to do each day that you could not do when you were overweight. For me, the biggest achievement was being able to go for a walk without having to collapse on the couch and rest for an hour afterward.

Is Your Thyroid Sluggish?

I have had a few clients who were not able to find success in their weight loss journey until they addressed an underlying low functioning thyroid. If your thyroid is sluggish, then following certain weight loss programs can do the opposite.

You may find yourself gaining weight as opposed to losing weight. This is why I have created a quick 5-minute quiz to help my clients. If you would like to see if your thyroid is sluggish click here to access the quiz.

Do you think your thyroid is sluggish? Do you have any tips that helped you in your weight loss journey that you would like to share with others? I would love to know what experience you have had. Let me know in the comments below.

We all have grief on some level at this stage of our lives. As we navigate the difficult, sad, and challenging journey of grief, Yoga for Living with Loss offers the perspective of how our chakras are both impacted and can relieve physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual congestion of grief.

While grief is certainly universal, our own personal grief is like no other and no one else’s. When I lost first my best friend of over 40 years and then my cherished big sister, my yoga practice gave me a place to breathe, cry, be present, and simply survive.

I have created Yoga for Living with Loss Video Series to share how I continue to navigate my losses through gentle yoga and studying the chakras. I hope you can find some comfort in joining me on this journey.

What Are Chakras

The Chakras are our seven main energy points of ‘wheels’ that relate to specific areas of our entire beings. Chakras are thought to be spinning disks of energy that should stay “open” and aligned, as they correspond to bundles of nerves, major organs, and areas of our energetic body that affect our emotional and physical well-being.

Grief, loss, and mourning shift our chakra energies both for the short- and long-term journey. Being aware of how our chakras are impacted by our grief can immediately bring us into more alignment and less chaos.

Our Fifth Chakra and Grief

Our fifth chakra is named Vishuddha which means purification. It is located in our throat and neck area. It is the center of our communication, and therefore, our creativity. It is our chakra of expression, whatever form that takes.

It is the gateway and translator, where we speak and express and where we listen and hear. How we communicate through words, art, music, cooking, walking, knitting, and everything we say and do is our creative expression.

Vishuddha, the space of communication, is the place from which we speak truth, declare love, express belief, proclaim opinion, expound philosophy, send forth prayer, sing love songs or lamentations, whisper deepest wishes and share the language of our hearts. It is both how we express and how we listen.

Grief and loss can settle right here, in our fifth chakra. In our grief, we cannot communicate the depth of our loss. In my own grief, I experienced a painful stiff neck, that was telling! This is where our grief lands as we speak of the death, the loss, the loneliness, the despair. We get a ‘lump’ in our throat. We can’t speak. “I swallowed my tears.” ”Her voice was choked with emotion.”

We cry and even wail, letting this chakra open to our grief. We need to clear our throat. Expressing our grief releases the energy that can be withheld. But it must be with safety, and trust.

The throat chakra is also about speaking about our loss to close friends, with support groups, therapists, and wherever we can find comfort. Many times, we don’t bring up our loss or the name of our loved one… like we forgot.

In truth, we honor our loved ones by saying their names, recalling times we spent together and celebrating all that person brought into our lives. In certain religions, we name children after the departed to keep the name alive and present.

Characteristics

The color is blue. Our throat chakra is located at the center of our throat and swirls around our neck to the upper cervical spine. It is the narrow passage to the most ethereal of the chakras, intuition (6th chakra) and wisdom (7th chakra.)

Vishuddha encompasses the shoulders, jaw, mouth, and thyroid. The element is sound. Sound is a connection to spirit. It is also important to remember that sound isn’t always heard physically. We feel the vibrations of sound waves throughout our being.

Balanced

When in alignment, you can speak and listen with compassion and feel confident when you speak because you know you are being true to yourself with your words.

Unbalanced

When out of balance, there can be deficiency and excess. A deficient Vishuddha is seen as one who has lost their voice, speaks so softly as to be unheard. Excessive Vishuddha is one who speaks gossip, talks excessively, and interrupts often.

People with an imbalance in their fifth chakra can have variety of health issues like thyroid problems, throat, dental or jaw problems as well as shoulder, arm and neck stiffness, arthritis etc. An unbalanced Vishuddha centers on the throat and neck area.

Shadow

The shadow side of Vishuddha is the lying, to ourselves and to others. Have you noticed how people change their tone when not telling the truth? When we neglect to tell the truth, we send negative energy to every cell.

Gentle Yoga Poses for the Throat Chakra

1. Child’s pose: Sit bum towards heels, head between extended arms
2. Full or half, very gentle neck rolls open the throat passage
3. Lion’s Breath: Inhale then a deep exhale with mouth wide open and tongue out
4. Sphinx: Lie on belly side on mat, bend elbows with forearms on the earth, lift chin

Fifth Chakra Affirmation

Affirmations are sayings that you speak to yourself silently or aloud to give you a space to shift away from negative thoughts and feelings. Affirmations are positive statements that can help us to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts.

When you repeat them often, and believe in them, you can start to make positive changes. In our grieving process, affirmations allow us to say what we need to hear.

• I hear and speak the truth about myself and my beloved.
• I speak with compassion to myself.
• I listen with compassion to my inner voice and the voice of others.
• I speak my truth and wisdom freely to others.
• I express myself with love and truth.
• I can communicate easily.
• I give and receive communication in a balanced way.
• I can find solace in silence.
• I can receive and hear clearly the messages of the Universe.

Let’s Summarize

The seven main chakras are energy centers that can be like guideposts to navigating deep grief. By recognizing that our throat chakra is the key to expressing love, compassion, loss, sadness, and creativity, we can release the ‘lump in our throat’ and find a bit of ease in our journey of grief.

EXTRA: Visit Yoga for Living with Loss for opportunities for classes, workshops, and the Yoga for Living with Loss Video Series as we navigate our grief without getting lost.

Do you connect your throat with your emotions? Have you considered what stands behind common phrases, such as, “I have a lump in my throat,” or “I choke on my emotions”? What do you know about the throat chakra and how it can help you deal with grief?

I caught myself dancing in the kitchen this morning as I waited for my coffee to drip. Rain was coming down at about two inches an hour, but it couldn’t drench my mood. I’ve been feeling happy. Really happy.

We all know the happy feeling. We smile as we do our chores. We’re not stressed about any particular thing. We’re not hungry or sad, not in pain or suffering any grief. At our lowest moments, we’ve all wondered when or if we’d have the happy feeling again. We get so blue, we can’t see the sky even on the sunniest fall day.

Save It for a Gloomy Day

If anyone else is hooked on Netflix’s series Maid, you’ll recall the scene where domestic violence victims are asked to remember happier times. They write and share as part of group therapy. The point is to learn how to feel happier at any time, by remembering when they were happy.

Just watching this show makes me grateful my own challenges are so small. I’ve thought about my happiest days a lot since that episode. I was happy at the start of my 60s. Biz was good. I was in the trenches building a fancy new house and loving it. If someone had said, “You’ll be divorced in three years,” I’d have said, “No way.”

We can count on change, and we can count on challenges ahead. Always. When we need a mental health day or even a mood-brightening moment, the practice of recalling happier times and remembering the happy feeling can help. We’ve all got happy triggers, just like we’ve got hot buttons.

The Karma of Better Moods

I was a teenager when my dad died in a farming accident, ending what I consider a storybook childhood. Mom taught me an important lesson about a week after his funeral.

“There will always be better days,” she said. “No matter how bad it seems now, things will always get better.” She told me the best way to get out of the mopes was to go make someone else happy, even if it was a stranger in line at the grocery store.

“That’s what your dad would do. Go make someone happy.” Then she booted me out the door, back to my college dormitory with a piece of advice that’s served me well through life.

Spreading happiness makes us feel better almost immediately. Some call it fake it ‘til you make it. But it works. It is almost impossible to make someone happy without putting a smile on your own face first.

Illusions of Happiness

When I started dating again, I did what the experts tell you not to do. I looked for the same type of person I’d been with for decades. After a few dates, I realized I didn’t need a retired guy looking for companionship.

I needed someone as ambitious as I am, someone who could see the sparkle in my old house with its overgrown garden. I needed someone who’d throw a Frisbee to my puppy without complaint while I soak in the tub with a glass of wine. Bingo!

We chase dreams that aren’t our own and end up unhappy. I had a dream job when I was fresh out of college, but I soured on corporate life quick. What really made me happy was running my own show, and I was lucky to make my way to Florida and find a niche in vacation rentals.

I’m a people girl, so my guests became my family. With the advent of VRBO, my work became all consuming. I didn’t notice how my marriage was disintegrating.

Is Happiness the Ultimate Success?

I picked up a little book at the library called The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. In case you’re curious, here are the laws:

1. Pure Potentiality,
2. Giving,
3. Karma or Cause and Effect,
4. Least Effort,
5. Intention and Desire,
6. Detachment and
7. Dharma or Purpose in Life.

It got me thinking: maybe, when we reach a certain stage and aren’t chasing a paycheck or raising a family, happiness really is success. We’ve been through enough hardship and sadness; we know we will recover from the next bout.

We feel right in our skin and our consciousness. We’ve done enough, though we can do more if we choose. We can appreciate this moment without one single gripe.

Erasing Anger to Make Room for Happy

At one of my life’s lowest moments, I picked up the phone after a long pity party, and I called my almost ex. “You ruined my life,” I screamed at him through sobs. He hung up on me, but I immediately felt better.

Sometimes we use anger as a coping mechanism, but it rarely helps to stay angry. We’ve got to deal with pain and crappy emotions to get past it, but there’s usually a way to choose happy, even when it seems everything sucks.

A walk with Mother Nature helps. You can always go talk to that person in line at the grocery store. Like my fortune cookie told me at lunch, “A single kind word can keep one warm for years.”

Gap vs. Gain

If we are chasing an ideal, we are living in the gap. If we recognize our achievements and where we are now, we’re in the gain. It’s a concept familiarized by Dan Sullivan who wrote: “The way to measure your progress is backward against where you started, not against your ideal.”

I’ve been accused of being driven, and that used to bother me. Truth is, I lived most of my life in the gap. Until I read more about gap and gain, I didn’t understand why so many high achievers are miserable. Now that I’m retiring and in a good relationship, I get the gain. I have made huge gains since screaming at my ex on the phone. Huge.

Bob Marley said, “The day you stop racing is the day you win the race.” I don’t think that means we should ever quit taking the ride. We just need to enjoy more of what we see along the road as we go.

When was your happiest time in the past year? What about the past decade? What progress have you made in your life to this point? Are you happy with your progress? If you aren’t, what do you think you’re lacking?

Amanda Batula’s Light Blue Sweater on The Double Date

Winter House Season 1 Episode 3 Fashion

How cute was this lil double date these four went on?! Probably not as cute as Amanda Batula’s light blue sweater, but still pretty darn cute. I mean idk why Amanda was saying she looked overly casual as the engaged one she rocked the look IMO. Honestly I would have worn the same thing and I’m the furthest thing from engaged. But all I’ll say is the only thing worth shopping is a new 20 year old Style Stealer of this sweater.

Sincerely Stylish,

Jess

Click Here to Shop Her Free People Sweater

Shop Other Colors:

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Originally posted at: Amanda Batula’s Light Blue Sweater