WHY dieting doesn't usually work long-term

Did you overindulge over the holidays and are now trying to shed those unwanted pounds? Is weight loss one of your top New Year's resolutions AGAIN?? As you may know I struggled with my weight for years and have managed to get the weight off and keep it off for 9 years now. I even wrote a book about how I did it called The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living.

The key to my long-term success has been a combination of eating, lifestyle and attitude change which required a lot of self-understanding, self-awareness and self-acceptance.  I continue to apply these keys today in order to keep the weight off. Was it fast and easy? NO. Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY YES. It also wasn't as slow and difficult as you might think. After all the years of dieting the 'fast and easy' way only to lose the weight and gain it all back and more, it was actually much slower and longer than once I made the one biggest change that actually WORKED. 

The biggest change was to stop dieting. Believe me, I know how tempting it is to start a new restrictive and often unbalanced and unhealthy diet or try some new fad, pill, bar or shake. I understand the longing to see some results fast thinking it is what you need to motivate you further. But before you give in to these tempting solutions that usually yield short-term results at best, I invite you to watch this TED Talks Video that clearly explains the brain science behind WHY dieting doesn't usually work for long term results.  

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Roslyn is a motivational speaker, proud cancer survivor, personal coach and best-selling author of The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living who will energize, educate and empower you to live a happy, healthy and resilient life. For more information and to connect with Roslyn, visit http://www.roslynfranken.com.

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WHY women have such a ridiculous standard of beauty

As we start off the New Year, are you one of millions of women setting out to lose weight, get in shape or improve your appearance in some other way? Why? When I saw this short little video on a wonderful website called upworthy.com, it reminded me of how absolutely ridiculous some of our standards of beauty are and how often we set out to achieve beauty related goals that are not only unrealistic and unhealthy, but also unnecessary. This video is only 37 seconds, so go ahead and watch it. You will not believe your eyes.

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As we age, it is so easy to get caught up in the endless world of vanity and trying to measure up or should I say measure ‘down’ to some ideal body and appearance that keeps us trapped in a place of low self-worth and self-esteem  that we forget about what’s really important like our health, wellness and overall sense of self-worth, peace and happiness. I invite you to watch this short little video and send me your comments.

Think about how the magazine covers and other commercial images that surround us influence not just our self-esteem, but the young girls out there who feel this pressure to be beautiful in such unrealistic ways. How do our own obsessions as mothers influence them? 

In my opinion, there’s way too much emphasis on perfection and beauty out there and it is robbing us of our self-worth, self-esteem and ultimately our ability to enjoy greater happiness. Is it worth it? Are you willing to STOP IT? It is ultimately a form of self-abuse, don't you think?

If you want to get started on the right foot for 2014, I encourage you to let go of the constant pressure, just focus on feeding your body, mind and soul what is healthy and will make you happy in the long run. Let go of the need for perfection. Focus on being kind to yourself instead. Let 2014 be your year to let go, ease up and lighten up for good for a happy, healthy and resilient life in body, mind and soul.

Roslyn is a motivational speaker, proud cancer survivor, personal coach and best-selling author who will energize, educate and empower you to live a happy, healthy and resilient life. For more information and to connect with Roslyn, visit http://www.roslynfranken.com.

CONNECT WITH ROSLYN:
 Mailing List |  Facebook |  YouTube   LinkedIn | Radio Show