00:00 – Speaker – Josephine 

Hi everyone, welcome to the Love to Live Healthy show. I’m Josephine Fitzpatrick. This week’s topic is stop being afraid, and I know in today’s world that sounds so much easier than it feels. I mean, look at last week. In one week we had an earthquake, we are in retrograde and we experienced an eclipse. It’s a lot for people. We have been through a lot with world destruction, political issues. It can go on and on. But the truth is it’s life and it’s not always supposed to be easy and we’re not always going to have all the answers. But what we do know is we are here and we are so lucky and blessed to be here, and that is one thing we can and should never forget. 

00:42

When it comes to weight loss, it’s very easy to be afraid. I see my clients all the time. I see what they’re afraid of. They are afraid of failing, they are afraid of self-sabotaging, they are afraid of being hungry, they are afraid of temptation, they are afraid of working so hard and being disappointed. And that’s okay. It’s okay to be afraid, but what’s not okay is to not try because you’re afraid, because everything I just said failing, self-sabotage, being hungry, temptation you’re in control of most of them. 

01:16

I know it’s not easy and we will never have all the answers. We’re not supposed to have all the answers. You know no one does. You don’t reach a certain age, a certain social status, a certain position in your career and suddenly have it all and have all the answers. It doesn’t work like that. There is no secret potion, there’s no lucky token and there’s no prayer that will change the course of your life in the snap of your fingers. You will never know all the answers and sometimes, because we don’t know all the answers, that’s what makes it so uncomfortable. But when we talk about weight loss, what we can find comfort in is that you have a plan, you know what you have to do, you know if you prepare and follow through your menu you don’t eat in between your meals and you work really hard and you are consistent you will absolutely see results. And you know this because so many of you have already done it and those of you who haven’t done it know clients that have done it and you see the results. 

02:14

But again, it’s not easy because you also know the results won’t come unless you try. So, whether you’re afraid or not, you have to try, you have to start, you have to work hard, you have to push yourself. You have to be okay with being outside of your comfort zone. Because think about it that’s why it’s so scary, that’s why you’re afraid, because you’re outside of your comfort zone. 

02:37

You feel like you need to have all the answers because you’re outside of your comfort zone, but the truth is, like I said before, there’s no one who has all the answers. There’s no perfect time. There’s no perfect situation. What is most important, you have to just start. You have to follow and be consistent. You don’t need to know all the answers. You just have to put the work in. That’s what gives you the results. 

03:01

And what you need to know is that every day you follow, you will learn more and more. You will see more and more results. Every day that you are consistent, you will feel better and better. You’ll feel better outside of your comfort zone. You will no longer be afraid. Think about it, for those of you who were always on the innovation program, when I introduced the five-hour and the detox program, you were completely out of your comfort zone. 

03:26

Yet you trusted in yourself, you listened, you follow, you learned, you worked hard and the results have been absolutely amazing. I mean, I have clients who have never been so thin in their entire life and all ages 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, even eighties. I have a client yesterday it was her birthday, 85th birthday she texted me and she has been at her goal with me for some time. That’s incredible. I just love that. But again, it doesn’t mean that it’s not scary, it doesn’t mean that you’re not going to be afraid. You won’t be afraid if you keep trying. If you keep trying, you will see how you get less and less afraid and will believe more and more in yourself and the results.

04:07

This is a game. You know life is a game and I mean that in the very best way. You put the time in, you work hard, you learn, you learn the rules, you see how it goes, you see the results, and this is in all aspects of your life. You have to try and work hard, you have to get over the fear if you want to reach any goal. And when you do that and you try really hard and you put the work in, I truly believe that, even if they are not the exact, 100% results you wanted, you will still get results, results that make you so much happier than doing nothing at all. Is it challenging? Yes, of course. Everything in life can be challenging, especially if you think of it that way. 

04:47

You know for those of you who know me, you know I’m a big believer in mindset. I believe that what you believe in, what you put your work into, what you put your energy into, that’s what’s going to happen. Dreams and goals are not always supposed to be easy. And everyone’s dreams are different. While it might be weight loss for you, that is your dream, to be a certain size or number, for someone else it’s another dream entirely. But all dreams and goals are challenging, no matter what they are. And the only way to succeed at them is to work hard at it every day. To have a positive mindset, believe in yourself, put your energy into it and work hard at those dreams and goals every day. And if you do that, I can promise you will see results every day and every week you will get closer and closer to what you want. And remember when I say you’ll see results every day it might not be on the scale, but you’ll see results in how you feel, how your clothes fit you, and eventually it will be on the scale, but you have to look at all your results. 

05:50

Let’s remember it’s in the challenges we face every day, every week, every month. That’s where we learn the most and it’s also what makes it so exciting. You know, as you succeed with each challenge, you’re trusting yourself to overcome the next challenge, the next future obstacle, because every time you do it you’re getting stronger and stronger. You gain great advantage when you overcome your challenges because you’re also learning discipline and control. You know, and we have to remember that learning discipline and control is going to help us in every area of our life. 

06:36

I want to quickly tell you about one of my clients that I have that I won’t go too deep into because she’s planning on doing a podcast with me when she reaches her goal, and it will be soon. So I really don’t want to get into the story, but just to give you an idea about her. She came to me about 10 years ago, probably more, and she lost all her weight, got to numbers she never thought possible and she stayed there for a really long time. But then, of course, things happen in life as they often do, one thing or another and you know, like I said, I’m going to leave the details to her. But right before she came back, you know she started gaining weight and in the beginning she was kind of ignoring the extra weight and she would ask me and then eventually she couldn’t ignore it anymore. So when she started back, you know it was really difficult. You know my point is through the story. It wasn’t easy for her. You know she lost a pound, she lost two pounds, but just going back so strict, after not having to be so strict for so long because she was basically maintaining for years, so going backs trick again, she struggled. You know she questioned it, she questioned me, she questioned the food. I kept telling her to trust me, trust the program, trust the food. Everyone eats it, everyone loses. And now she’s just doing amazing. You know she got through the hard part and that’s my point. 

07:46

You have to get through the hard part. It’s not the first week, the first week is not the hard part, it’s the second through like the fifth week. It’s really tough because you have weight to lose. And the second through the fifth week week is you’re really not seeing what you want to see for all the work you feel like you’re putting in, but then all of a sudden, all those pounds add up, all those ones and twos, they add up and by the sixth week you are feeling amazing. Then, all of a sudden, you start to see the better number, you start to see the difference in your clothes. You start to see how you feel. Your body image is better, your confidence is better and you know you can do it. You’re working hard, you’re putting the time in, you’re seeing the results and you feel confident. You’re no longer afraid. So you really have to give yourself that second to fifth week. Get through that. That’s the hard part. It’s gets so much easier after that.

08:45

It’s funny, as I was just telling you that story, I’m thinking to myself. I can guarantee there’s so many of my clients that are listening to this and they think I’m talking about them, because I didn’t realize. But, as I was talking about the story, there are so many clients in the last couple of months that went through this and now they’re in such a great place. Not all of them are at their goal, but very close and very happy and in a place where there’s no turning back because they got through the hard part. They’re so happy about where they are. They’re so happy being back on program. They’re so happy feeling good again. Their clothes are fitting. You know, they all had to restart for one reason or another and they got through the challenge of starting. They got through the second and fifth week and when you can do that, it’s going to make such a big difference. It’s going to take the scariness out of everything. 

09:25

So again, my point is if you can get over being afraid, being afraid of failing, afraid of the hunger, afraid of the temptations, you will do it. You know deep down you can do this. You can do anything you want to if you put your heart and soul into it, if you put your energy and beliefs into it. Yes, it takes a positive mindset, hard work, consistency, but you will get to where you want to be. You have to learn to talk yourself into it. Talk yourself into it and stop talking yourself out of it. 

09:56

And, especially in the beginning, instead of looking for excuses to go off program, you have to make all the excuses why you should stay on program, why you want this, why it’s important to you. You know, again, when we’re talking about mindset, if you keep yourself afraid, you will stay afraid. If you make excuses for yourself why you can’t do this, then you won’t do this. Your negative mindset will keep you stuck. You don’t want that, because when you keep yourself afraid or tell yourself excuses why you can’t do something, it’s causing yourself to limit yourself. I really believe that tell yourself excuses why you can’t do something, it’s causing yourself to limit yourself. I really believe that. That’s why you’re staying stuck immediately. It’s going to give you reasons to go off and do the wrong thing. This fear and these excuses keep you going down the same old path, preventing you from reaching your goals. 

10:46

And if you really want to lose weight, feel great and have control over your life and your happiness, then you have to stop being afraid and stop making excuses why you can’t do it. When you start to struggle, I want you to remember me telling you this, Life is hard. It’s supposed to be hard, but it’s also the challenge that makes it fun and exciting. Don’t be afraid of it and don’t make excuses for it. Instead, live it. Live your goals, live your dreams. That’s what’s going to make you happy. Get through being afraid. When you’re through being afraid, it’s going to be life-changing. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about going after what you want and making sure you’re working hard to do it, put your energy in it. So, if you’re one of the clients that are doing all the right things which I know so many of you have been, and I’m so beyond proud of every one of you Keep going, keep working hard. Every day, you are closer and closer to your dreams and goals. Every day you feel better and better, and I love that. 

11:50

Now, if you are someone who has not started or has not been doing the right things and want to start, this is your motivation today. You have to start by following your menu, not eating in between meals and snacks, having the discipline to work through your challenges and fears. It takes planning, preparing and following through with your day. It takes not making any excuses on why you should go off program. It takes consistent hard work and, most of all, it takes you loving yourself enough to walk away from the temptations. You have to be willing to put your immediate wants aside for your future results, and when you can do that, you will see the very best results. It’s time to stop being afraid and start being excited. Start today 

Okay, that’s all I have for you today. I hope this helped. Thank you so much for tuning in. I really appreciate all the feedback. It truly makes my day. I’m wishing everyone a happy, healthy week full of love and blessings. Hugs from me to all of you. 

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

I love this phrase. I am not sure who came up it with but I love it. Don’t get me wrong I know it’s not always easy to do the right thing. At times it can be hard to even know what the right thing is. And while I think we can all agree it’s not so easy to confuse the right thing from the wrong thing – It’s very easy to confuse the right thing with the easy thing. Most of us know right from wrong. But right from easy can be a minute impulse because we are so used to living in the moment of immediate satisfaction that we forget that everything we do and decide in the moment usually has a longer term effect. 

When we choose to make a decision in the moment it’s easy to make the decision that is easier because we are looking for temporary relief of uncomfortableness. We are not thinking of long term or even tomorrow we are thinking right now at the moment of temptation. What is easier and will make it all feel better. 

A great example would be — let’s say for the last 15 days you have been amazing on program following your 6 days on program and 1 cheat day a week. Now you are out to dinner with friends or family and everyone is ordering drinks, pasta’s, desserts- it’s not your cheat day but you smell the pasta, it looks amazing and you are already hungry from eating less on your diet. So you make the decision in that moment to drink the alcohol and eat the pasta and desserts even though you know the other 1439 minutes of that day you wanted to lose weight – but in that one minute you made the choice to eat it – Why? Because you wanted to be out of the uncomfortable feeling of not having what you wanted – so you gave in. At that moment losing weight wasn’t as important as the other 1439 minutes of the day so you made the fast and easy decision to eat it even though you knew 2 minutes after you would regret it. Not the right thing – but the easy thing.

What we have to remember is most of the time, the fast decision is the wrong decision. The easy decision is the wrong decision. The decision that fixes “right now” is the wrong decision.

Most important – every time you choose to do the easy thing, instead of the right thing, you are shaping your identity and becoming the type of person who does what’s easy, rather than what’s right. Is that who you want to be? 

I think when we fall into these instance we have to remember- Doing the right thing is always the right thing. Deep down you know what the right thing is. And you know it because in this example above for the prior 15 days when you were doing the right thing you saw the weight loss and felt great – lighter healthier fitter. You did the right thing and you saw and felt the results of it. 

If you were going to take away anything from this blog it would be —The knowledge you need to make better decisions always comes from doing the right thing and seeing the results.  And 99% of the time the hardest thing and the right thing are the same. How do we stop doing the easy thing – we must look beyond immediate gratification and see the big picture. The results that come from doing the right thing are crystal clear and they’ll give you the evidence and results every time to prove to you that you need to keep on doing the right thing. You stay on program – make the right choices – exercise – walk away from temptation – you get the results. 

Another great example — One of my clients – I love her dearly but she knows the right thing from the easy thing because lately she chooses the easy thing all the time — and then she gets so upset when she sees her number on the scale. But just to be clear she knows it and gets upset over it because she has also had straight months of doing the right thing and seeing those results which she loved — Which is why she gets so upset. She has done the right thing and loved when she felt great and her number was down — but lately she just isn’t choosing to do the right thing and easier is winning out over right and she is paying the price both mentally and physically. 

So the bottom line –– choosing the right thing or the easy thing is the life changing moments that will ultimately decide on whether or not you will reach your goals and how you feel in the process.  

Final Thoughts For You: The right thing may be the toughest and most painful thing to do, the more reason why we should keep doing it. We have to remember that nothing good comes from anything easy.  Whatever success you are looking for – I promise you doing the right thing will get you there faster. 

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

Innovation Weight Loss

& Healthy Market

8031/8037 Jericho Tpke

Woodbury, NY 11797

516 802-5055

www.innovationweightloss.com

“YOUR FUTURE IS CREATED BY WHAT YOU DO TODAY” and when you apply this beautiful quote to your life you will get the best results: 

IT IS TALKING ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF TIME and opportunity for all people. It’s about planning and preparing and having goals to reach. And most of all it’s about time. One of our biggest mistakes in our life is that we think we have more time. Time is free but it is priceless. You can not own it but you can use it. You can not keep it but you can spend it. Time is flying faster than 186,000 miles per second and nobody can stop it and if it is lost, you never get it back. So you can get more money, you can buy more food, you can purchase many beautiful clothes and drive multiple awesome cars and buy beautiful homes. But you can never get more time. 

What I am trying to say is you all have the same chance time and potential to reach your goals if you want to. We all have the same 24 hours in a day – it’s really a matter of how you want to use them that will determine your success. If you do not want to work hard you will not see results and if you are willing to put the time in you will see great results. So think about the time you are using everyday. Are you throwing it away or are you using it to be successful and reach your goals. Only you can answer that question and only you can change the answer. 

DON’T KEEP MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE OVER. Successful people learn from their mistakes. Always remember a mistake is the normal process of learning and the more you make mistakes the smarter you will be – but only if you learn from them. But if you keep making the same mistake over and over then you are not learning you are just wasting your time. You should apply this to all areas of your life- but as an example for Health and Weight Loss: you want to plan prepare and follow through with your day. When you have a hiccup and it throws you off your path – figure out why you had it and how you can prepare for it so it doesn’t affect you next time. Now you won’t have to worry about that one thing throwing you off your path anymore. You have learned from the mistake that made you fall off your path and you have come up with a strategy for the next time it happens again. This way you won’t make that same mistake twice and it’s one less thing you have to worry about. 

THIS ALL NEEDS TO BE ABOUT YOU: What we don’t always realize is weight loss is so much more than just the number on the scale. Because everything in our life stems from how we feel and how well we take care of ourselves. Feeling good or bad will result in having a good or bad day. Feeling good and treating your body healthy — is going to result in how you approach life and all the good and bad obstacles that come with it. If you are feeling happy, healthy, fit and strong you are going to get through the rough days a lot better than if you are feeling heavy, bloated, sick and depressed. In fact, studies show that overweight people have an 80% higher rate of depression than people of a healthy weight. Why? Because you always feel better about yourself when you are taking care of yourself. Sometimes just having the feeling of control over what you are and are not eating can change your day from bad to good. You have to decide what is important to you. 

FIND A MOTIVATION TO HELP GET YOU THERE and make a commitment to make your health and weight loss a priority. Think about what motivates you. Is it when you feel lighter, healthier, fitter? Or maybe it’s when you feel in total control of your thoughts and days. Maybe it’s when you are getting dressed and everything fits or feels big, or maybe it’s your vacation or big event coming up and you know exactly how you want to look and feel. Whatever your motivation is you have to focus on it to help you reach your goals. The more consecutive days the easier it all becomes. 

I KNOW YOU HAVE HEARD THIS FROM ME BEFORE but I need to repeat it. You need to start somewhere. If you are already in a good place then I am super excited for you to continue to be amazing! If you are not feeling great and have no control then you need to get right back on program today. I promise you, after one week you will feel good after two weeks you will feel great and a month you will never want to go back to your old eating habits. I can’t even begin to tell you how many people wrote to me that they were just so happy they got back on program right after vacation. Trust me if you have not started do it now. Whatever day you start it’s always going to be hard. It was hard to start during the holidays, and now it’s hard to start after vacation – no matter when you begin it will always be hard. The longer you delay it the harder it will be. Just do it – start today you will be so happy you did.

DO IT NOW

SOMETIMES LATER BECOMES NEVER

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

INNOVATION WEIGHT LOSS

& HEALTHY FOOD MARKET

8031/8037 JERICHO TPKE

WOODBURY, NY 1797

516 802-5055

WWW.INNOVATIONWEIGHTLOSS.COM

I have a Healthy 2023 New Years Challenge for you. It’s for you to become the very best version of yourself. I just did a podcast on the importance of your resolutions and goals and part of the importance is to know what you want and make sure you are doing what it takes to get it. You can listen to it here:  LISTEN HERE

What does it mean to be the best version of yourself? Being your best self means living authentically. To be your best self, you need to stay true to yourself and your values. You also need to make sure you’re doing what brings you a sense of happiness, purpose, and meaning.

How do you start – First you have to Imagine what your best self could be like?  Living your best life is really learning how to step into your own control, your own power and really owning who you’re being. Even if you’re not the ideal person that you want to be yet, knowing that you are on your way and working towards being that best person is how to start becoming the best version of yourself.

It’s also important to remember that the best way to live your life and become the best version of yourself is not how others tell you, including me. If living your best life and being the best version of yourself is living fabulously and spending money, then go and do that. If it means you want to eat everything in sight then go do that. The only thing you have to remember living your best life and becoming the best version of yourself is not only in the moment — you have to be okay with the results. For example if you are living fabulously and spending a ton of money on parties and clothes – well you have to be okay with paying for it. You can’t cry you have no money in a month. Or if you eat whatever you want because it makes you feel good in the moment or you don’t want the restrictions of being in control to lose weight well then you can’t cry when you go on the scale and it’s not what you you want to see.  Living your best life and becoming the best version of yourself isn’t only living it in one moment or one day or week. It’s learning to live it daily and continue building on it. It means being in your power and happiness in what you are doing and how you feel and most important you want to LOVE THE RESULTS of everything you are doing and who you are becoming. At the end of the day everything you do and work hard for should result in building on the person you want to become. It should be a life long aspiration of always working in the right direction improving everything you want to improve.

HOW TO START BEING THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF.

1. Start by Doing some inner work. When we don’t do it we have no idea how powerful it is. Two of my favorites are:

Journaling: Just like When you were a teenager, you might have kept a diary hidden under your mattress. It was a place to confess your struggles and fears without judgment or punishment. Now it’s called journaling. It’s simply writing down your thoughts and feelings to understand them more clearly. And if you struggle with stress, depression, or anxiety, keeping a journal can be a great idea. It can help you gain control of your emotions and improve your mental health.

Meditation: Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health. Journaling is putting it on paper and Meditation is doing it in the mind. Both meditation and journaling create an “open-hearted space of discovery, learning and building.

2. BE YOURSELF – BUT BETTER:  Be yourself, have courage, have confidence, take calculated risks, improve yourself daily, know what you’re after, and go get it.

3. USE THE POWER OF YOUR MIND:

If you only get one thing from reading this, let it be your understanding that whatever you think and fill your mind with most is what you will become. The power of the mind is not a joke! You are what you think and your future will become what you think to yourself most consistently. We all think– but we all think differently – the difference is some think negatively about themselves and others think positively about themselves. If you think negatively you will be negative and not reach your full potential in life. The last thing you want to be doing is negatively comparing yourself to people and habitually finding faults with others and yourself – Don’t do that.

Instead work hard to always be positive and look for the positives, that way you will be surrounded by positivity and peace. If you think positively and optimistically you will naturally become the best version of yourself and become your best you

4. BELIEVE STRONGLY IN YOURSELF AND NEVER GIVE UP ON YOURSELF

At the end of the day stick to what you’re true to and do not waiver. And if you have a hiccup you just get right back on your path. Whether it’s food, spending or even thinking – when you find yourself stumbling into that negative mindset – you push yourself to get back on your healthy path and you get right back to the person you want to be and the best version of yourself you want to build toward. At the end of the day you’re responsibility is to listen to yourself and trust your intuition. Learn to ignore the negative comments and opinions of others, while consistently building up positivity in your own mind, and always staying focused on living how you want to.

While it’s important to listen to others, since they might show you things you might not see, the point is not to allow them to bring you down when you’re doing what you know in your heart is right. To be your best you, trust yourself, reject opinions that don’t help make you better, and continue to improve yourself daily.

My Final Tips: 

• Smile, be happy, spread love, don’t worry about others, reject negativity, and just focus on doing you.
• Follow your program so you can feel your best everyday. Get in shape with consistent exercise 
• Drink Water Water Water – it’s a natural detox for your mind, body, skin and soul.
• Work hard and keep learning.
• Try new things, make smart decisions, be good to others, pay attention to what you enjoy doing, and above all else, enjoy your life!

One day, you’ll leave this world behind. It is therefore your responsibility to live a good life, the type of life you would dream for yourself. It won’t be easy, but it’s your life right now to live.

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

Innovation Weight Loss

& Healthy Market

8031/8037 Jericho Tpke

Woodbury, NY 11797

516 802-5055

www.innovationweightloss.com

LET’S TALK MINDSET: No matter the situation you find yourself in this year, you need to take time and ensure you have a healthy mindset. If you don’t know by now, everything in life has an upside and a downside—it’s your duty to look at the situation the right way and make the most out of what’s present. Remember, your perception of things frames how you will experience them. Follow these tips to ensure you have a healthy mindset so you can enjoy your holidays as much as possible!

Reflect on What You are Grateful For:  You know I’m always talking about gratitude, and it’s for good reason. Gratitude is what creates a healthy mindset. Practicing gratitude is a great way to get and keep your mind right day to night. Gratitude allows you to center yourself and realize that while your life isn’t perfect, you have a lot to be happy about. Practicing gratitude is straightforward. You simply need to take time to reflect on what you have in your life- not what you don’t have.

STRESS: All of us feel stress at some time or another, but the holidays can push us even further. Between shopping, cooking, planning, visiting family, traveling, weather and holiday breaks — many of us are thrown right off our game. Disruption to our daily routines can distract us, so we have to find ways to stay grounded and in control. Make sure you are stocked with all the healthy foods you need, and look to the future to make sure you are prepared for holiday parties, dinners, vacations, events or other plans. Whether you are spending the day shopping, going out with family, hosting or attending a party or any other festive plans – be prepared.

SPEND TIME WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE: I can’t stress enough how important this one is. Just like the importance of being grateful for what you have – the holidays are all about spending time with the people you love and are grateful for. If you have family or friends you are close to – you should go out of your way to spend more time with them.  Keep in mind – the right people uplift you, appreciate and value you, they are there when you need them, honest with you and want the best for you, and want to see you happy and succeed in life. Being with people we love and care for is good for our mental health as they make us feel loved, and appreciated.

HOWEVER – and this is a BIG HOWEVER:  Just as the right people provide us with positivity — spending time with toxic friends or family drains us. Unfortunately, the holidays can be draining and unhealthy when we are spending time with the wrong people. And I understand sometimes we don’t have as much control over this during the holidays. But we do have control over how much time we spend with them and how much we let them affect us. So this holiday season, be mindful of who you surround yourself with to keep your mental health balanced. Always remember you are the gatekeeper for who you choose to invite into your life.

SNACKS: Having healthy snacks on hand is essential. When we are driving around from store to store shopping, spending hours walking around the mall, or spending time with our family and friends – a healthy snack will save you. We’ve all been there – we are shopping at the mall, completely exhausted and starving, low energy and just spent. Once you get to that point of starving you will grab without thinking. Don’t let that happen. Always have water and a prepared on- program snack on hand in case you need it. 

Focus on Creating Positive Memories: It’s important to remember that the holiday experiences you create now will be your future holiday memories for you and your loved ones. I know the stress can be overwhelming but if you take the time to step back – give yourself a 5 minute self meditation and just remember that this year is what will be remembered next year. Don’t focus on being 100% perfect – instead focus on  on giving yourself and your loved ones the opportunity to create positive fun experiences this season that you will look back and love and laugh about in the future. Try to laugh a little more at the things that might upset you. Sometimes when we laugh at ourself instead of getting frustrated it can create a completely different experience for everyone involved. I will never forget when I was about 7 years old. My mother and father cooked large pans of baked ziti for all of our relatives. As my dad was walking down the stairs with all the food he tripped and the pans of food went flying all over the floor and all over my relatives. And everyone just froze looking at my big Italian father who just spent the entire day in the hot kitchen. But of course my mother just burst out laughing hysterical and before we knew it everyone in the entire room was laughing including my father. I can tell you first hand that situation could have went a completely different way. But the fact that my mother laughed hysterically made all the difference in the room. To this day – there is not a holiday that someone doesn’t mention that memory in fondness. . It’s a memory we are all love to talk about. So during this holiday season remember everything we do creates memories. It’s up to you how you want them remembered by those you love.

Maintain Your Self-Care Routine: Between the time off from work, traveling to see family, and all the extra activities, it’s easy to fall out of our regular routines around the holidays. While it’s a great time to indulge in some of those tasty holiday treats, it’s important to maintain those healthy habits that you worked so hard to establish during the rest of the year. Make sure to prioritize your self-care habits like exercise, mediation, and hydration. You’ll have a much easier time fighting off those holiday blues if you’re feeling healthy and energized. You don’t need to go to the gym or complete an hour-long class each day. Something as simple as going for a 30 min walk outside or even doing a self workout at home counts. During the holidays my family self care tradition is to walk the neighborhood after dinners to take in all the beautiful decorations and reenergize for the remainder of the evening. Physical activity is important and good for us. Even 20-30 minutes of exercise can be enough to boost your mental activity, reduce stress, and improve your overall mood—something we can all use this time of year. So be sure to keep your body moving. 

TRADITIONS OLD AND NEW: Enjoy your holiday traditions and try Starting Some New Ones – Traditions tell our family story. They enrich the holiday season by allowing loved ones to recognize the culture and history that has shaped their identities. They add meaning to our experiences and enhance a sense of belonging with others. In an uncertain world, we find security in something remaining the same over time that can also be passed down through the generations. When we move from one phase of life to the next, the traditions we cherish and our values can remain a constant. The smells, tastes, and sounds we look forward to each year are predictable, familiar, and comforting. But it’s also okay to create new traditions or be flexible in your own traditions.  The truth is I am big on traditions. I love ours and our family lives by them – and now that my children are older it makes me so happy to get to see them introducing our traditions to their significant others. And it’s even just as exciting and fun to incorporate new traditions.  For example. every year we do cookies, and gingerbread houses and this year my son’s girlfriend introduced us to Sip and Paint. It’s where you sip wine and paint a holiday picture on a canvas. With my children older it makes sense to include something that we could never do when they were younger. So now they have the nostalgia of doing our yearly tradition of baked cookies and gingerbread houses from when they were young and the twist of an adult tradition that we end the evening with Sip & Paint. Now our tradition has a new twist that we all love and enjoy. Adding new traditions and/or being flexible in your yearly traditions is just going to make it fun for everyone and more importantly it’s going to tell the story of your family past and present. 

The best things in life are spending time

with the people we love and the memories we make.

It’s not only about the food on your plate –

More importantly it’s about the love and laughter that surrounds your table. 

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

INNOVATION WEIGHT LOSS & HEALTHY MARKET

8031/8037 JERICHO TPKE

WOODBURY, NY 11797

516 802-5055

Innovationjeff1@gmail.com

innovationweightloss.com

innovationhealthymarket.com

What is your MARCH GOAL?

With Spring and Summer around the corner – March is a month of Irish kisses and Shamrock wishes and an amazing month to focus on a goal. Yes ONE goal that you want to achieve in March.

What is a goal: A goal is what a person is trying to accomplish, it’s the object or aim of an action. It is usually something that is difficult to achieve, but doable. We know that waiting, wanting and hoping for a goal to happen – does not make it happen. You have to visualize, define and plan your goal. You have to put the work in to get the results. But before you can do that you must know what your specific goal is.  

Your goal must be clear and well defined. Vague or generalized goals are unhelpful because they don’t provide sufficient direction. Your goal should be very specific. The more specific, the easier for your brain to achieve it. Your goal should also have a deadline – in this case our deadline will be March 31. What do you want to achieve by March 31? 

Why only one goal: Choosing one goal will allow you to decide which area you want to work on first to best improve your life! What is most important for you to achieve right now? What will make you happy? What will make you feel good? What will improve your life both mentally and physically the most.  

When you make the decision to go after one goal with a deadline it will also help you gain a sense of purpose. With purpose, we can better focus on what we want to accomplish in our day – knowing each day is attributing to this one goal. This purpose gives us drive and motivation to keep pushing! 

TIP: you want to keep the goal doable. It’s one month that you have to achieve this goal. So think of it like a mini goal each month that will keep adding up and contribute to your big goal.  

So what is your specific goal for March? 

Here are some examples: 

• Fit into a specific size pants by March 31
• Fit into your favorite shorts or bathing suit
• Maybe it’s to clean up your weekends and only have one cheat day a week and not 3 mini ones.
• Stick to your meals and snacks without eating in between
• Fasting and eating only in the 5 hour period each day. 
• Exercise 5 days a week
• Run 1 mile everyday 
• Text Josephine EVERY night
• Lose 10 lbs (2 lbs a week) 

Once you figure out what your ONE specific goal is – then you can put all your focus on achieving it.

Goals should always be challenging, they should force you to leave your comfort zone. Contrary to what may seem, when a goal is difficult it actually generates more concentration and is more likely to be achieved. Of course they also need to be realistic and doable. They have to be possible.

Once you decide on what your goal is for March – now you have to put the work in. Any goal requires determination, discipline and a lot of hard work. Like I mentioned earlier – you will never reach a goal by just wanting or wishing for it.  

Bottom line is Action: You know your goal now you plan each day for it. You prepare how you are going to achieve it and you follow through everyday with your plan. If your goal is to do the 5 hr fasting — then you know it will require you to plan your hours that you will fast – and you have to know what you are eating each day and you have to follow through with that plan.  It’s always going to be more than just having a goal and all about putting the action in to achieving that goal.  

Final thoughts……Know your specific goal — put all your focus on it and work hard everyday for it – you will feel so accomplished and thrilled when March 31 comes around (so quickly) and you have one of your mini goals achieved and you will be ready to plan your next goal for April. 

“The difference between who you are and who you want to be is What you do”

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick