A question I asked myself hundreds of times over 25 years of yo-yo dieting  was “How do I overcome this obstacle of impulse and emotional eating?” 

I used to think to myself; “If I’m ever going to drop this weight and get a life, I’m going to have to get a handle on this! But how? Change is hard!” 

It seemed impossible for me to break free from my “bad” habits and I wondered what was wrong with me? 

I wondered that allllll the time!  

• Why couldn’t I stop doing things that I wanted to stop?  
• What was that internal force that kept driving me to do things I wanted to stop doing? 
• Why wasn’t I able to stop the hand-to-mouth action?  
• Why did I keep putting weight back on?  
• Why was there always a war raging inside of me when I wanted to stop doing one thing and start doing another more...

Recently I watched a documentary on obese teenagers and the many struggles they have in breaking free from the cycle. It was heartbreaking on so many levels, for them and their families as they all do their best to bring about change and save their lives. 

So much of their struggle rang true with me and I could empathize with them on the level that knowing what not to eat does not stop us wanting to eat it and that will power alone will never concur wanting over the long-haul. 

I also related to the denial that allows the weight to escalate un-noticed.   

I’ve written about this before, we make adjustment after adjustment so we don’t see that we’re gaining: 

• We stop getting on the scales 
• We adjust our belts one notch at a time 
• We wear looser clothing 
• We wear the same sets of clothes 

I always hated the bathroom scales, and gave them too much power...

We think it’s an “us” thing when it comes to our weight. That it’s our fault we have this problem.  

But it’s not.  

Everything you struggle with in regards to your weight, eating behaviours, health habits and motivation is universal. We all struggle with the same thing in very much the same way.  

But we don’t have to. You have the power to lead yourself to health and happiness.

Because even though it’s not your fault, it is your responsibility to keep looking until you find a new solution to this very old problem. 

Tune in to this week’s Best Of The Weight is Over™ compilation and realise that even though you’re struggling, you can be triumphant and take charge through Personal Health Leadership™  and find your freedom, reach your goals, and step into your most extraordinary life with choices, freedom and control.  

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You know, this life of ours has a funny way of throwing us curveballs when we least expect it.  

We often find ourselves tangled up in the web of unhappiness and stress and struggling to break free.  

It's during these challenging times that we often turn to our various coping strategies, and for many of us, that means some not-so-healthy eating behaviors. 

I've been there – feeling like the weight of the world is pressing down on me and the easiest and fastest escape is through the comfort of food.  

Late-night snacks, that piece of cake quickly purchased as you walk past the shop, or the crunch or chewiness of your favourite confectionary. They all offer a fleeting moment of solace, a temporary distraction from the overwhelming emotions that surround us.

It feels like a brief respite, a momentary pause from the chaos of reality. 

We think that food is giving us pleasure but the pleasure...

What would it mean to you to lose weight and improve your health this year? 

What’s your plan so far, have you started, are you on your way yet?  

What help do you need? Can I help you? I’m right here, I can help.  

Too often we go to people to help us with something that we’ve been struggling with only to find that they have no idea, no experience, and no concept of the struggle that we are experiencing, so they can’t really help us. 

I remember very clearly talking to a psychologist about 15 years ago, about my weight issues and not being able to control my own eating behaviours. Whilst she was a lovely person and a great therapist, she was a very slender woman who had never had any issues with food or her weight.  

I went to her though because she advertised that she ran groups for women who had weight problems. But even though she worked with women like me, I never got the...

We all want: Choices | Freedom | Control 

It’s all we strive for in life isn’t it?  

But when I was struggling with my weight for those long 25 years, choices, freedom and control were not my experience. I felt very much out of control.   

I think that’s the appeal of going on a “diet”, a feeling we’re taking control.  

But restricting food isn’t control, it’s controlling.  

And there’s a big difference between them.  

On a diet there’s no connection with ourselves or the driving forces within our mind and body and that’s ultimately why we lose control and end up habit relapsing.  

Our lives are full of situations were control is handled by others, but our weight and health, the way we eat and exercise, that should be something that we enjoy with ourselves. 

Dietless Living® Personal...

This week I released a podcast about will-power and how implausible it is to rely on it to get us to success when it comes to sustainable weight loss.  

I got some interesting comments and thoughts about the relationship between will-power and weight loss on social media: 

“I think it's to do with the short-term desire compared with the long-term need. What do you think Katie?” 

• “Knowing what to eat never negates wanting to eat it and that’s the rub. Wanting doesn’t go away simply because we’ve changed our mind. If we were an ocean liner and the captain says lets do a U-Turn,  it takes time for the message to get through to everyone and then more time still for everything to happen and that boat to actually be pointing in the other direction”  

 
“Keep going and will power grows with stamina to get you there” 

• “Yes, I got there, but it took me a quarter of a century because I was...

This week we’re talking about simplicity. 

A friend of mine was walking one of the Camino trails in Spain and realised she’d packed way too much in her backpack. After many days and walking over 100kms struggling with all the extra weight, she finally asked herself an insightful question; “Where else in life am I carrying too much?” 

I totally related to her story; I had 25 years struggling with excess weight, now that was cumbersome. 

Not just on my body but, on my mind, the constant thinking about it exhausted me.  

From the minute I got up to the minute I went to bed, there was never any peace, and it seeped into every area of my life. 

The constant questioning about why couldn’t I get rid of the fat? Why did I have this burden, and why oh why couldn’t I stop eating so I could relieve myself of the weight? 

Not to mention the endless thoughts about food: 

What can I eat? What...

What’s your plan for the next 12 months? What’s life going to look like come December 31st of this year? Or for that matter, what’s life going to look like come December 31st of every year after that?

This week I’m talking about how short-sighted we are and what we can do about it.

Weight loss New Year’s resolutions are a dime a dozen, everyone has one but it’s a rarity to find someone who actually has a plan in place for achieving it.

Achieving goals takes commitment, planning, focused attention, dedication and determination.

That all sounds like hard work, right? That’s because it is.

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying that if you fail to plan, then you’re planning to fail.

Well, the reality is, most people who make a weight loss plan, who take the time to sit and etch out the steps they need to take to reach their goal successfully, are all planning to fail as well.

Over 25 years of dieting, I can...

There was no skating for me on the weekend! I was down in the lab creating a new short online course, Food Is My Friend™! I had such an urge to put together something special for Christmas and kick start 2023’s weight loss and health goals right now I couldn’t tear myself away! 

We all want to start the New Year already feeling great, feeling in charge and ready to take on new challenges don’t we?  

I remember when I struggled with my weight, I always felt like food was the enemy! Food was this thing I had to have to survive, but it seemed that everything I ate was “bad” for me. You know how it is, you want to lose weight and it doesn’t matter where you look there’s an expert saying what you can or can’t eat to lose weight and more confusing is that they disagree with each other. It truly did my head in! 

I just wanted to be friends with food. I simply wanted to make good...