The days go fast and before you know it, this week will be over and done. You want to look back and think “I did it and I feel great!” – Summer is a hop, skip and a jump away and so are your goals. They are right there and you can reach them if you stay on program and continue to follow what makes you feel good. Isn’t it funny that eating clean and staying on program makes you feel your best? So where is the challenge? When you don’t do the right thing you don’t feel great. It should be a no brainer and yet, somehow the temptation to do the wrong thing can overcome us in a heart beat. But the truth is, when you are mentally strong and in a really good place you will stay stronger. When you are seeing the results you will stay stronger and the longer you love to live clean the easier it is to stay mentally strong. The temptations will always be there and they will only win if you let them. It’s you against them. It’s feeling good against feeling horrible. It’s feeling thin against feeling thick. When it comes to doing the right thing and feeling your very best it’s simply making the right choices against the wrong. Most of you know what they are and you know how to stay on program and what works for you – It’s all about doing it. And when you know it makes you feel the happiest, lightest and thinest then there should be no thinking – you just do it.

If you look at those around you that make it look so much easier than it is and wonder how do they get through the snow days and how do they stay on program continuously without fail – It’s because they already went through the challenges that you are experiencing but they learned very quickly that not being on program or doing the right thing makes them feel out of control and unhappy. Once you really come to realize that it’s not who you want to be – or how you want to feel – especially over food – then you will start saying “no thank you” and realize that saying “no” or simply walking away is such a better feeling than eating something that you didn’t need or want, and that will not take you to where you want to be. Follow what you want and remember your goals. The days go fast and the weeks and months go faster.

Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness

8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797

211 E 43rd Street Manhattan, NY 10016

I have been addressing the clients that have been really amazing. We have more clients than ever who have really learned to live healthy and have stayed true to the program and themselves. Maybe because after a while you realize this is it. You eat clean and do the right things and in return your body does the right things for you. Maybe it’s because our food options have expanded and having the yummy meals and snacks help keep you on program and in a good place. I mean, they are called Magic Muffins for a reason 🙂 Whatever the reason or reasons are that have kept you on program and in a great place – stay with it and continue on your path. Because for those of you who are in a great place – you know there is no better feeling. For those of you that are not there – here is a question for you….

Where are you right now? Have you prolonged this? Is this crazy weather making you struggle more than normal? Or maybe something in your life is going on that has you “off”? We all know as fast as we can be motivated we can be unmotivated. So if you are unmotivated and really struggling I want you to do this: I want you to just get on program and get back in control. The way you do that is you need to start with your menu. You have your menu and you follow it and have your meals and snacks. If you need to add an extra on program snack that’s okay. You need to do whatever is going to give you some control back. Once you get the control you will feel so much better. Don’t look to be perfect, just look to be as close as you can. I would rather you incorporate an extra On Program snack than to be snacking all day. That’s part of getting the control back. Of course you won’t lose as much but the most important thing is getting the control not the scale. After you get past that first week back on – then you can focus on the scale because you will feel so much better now you have that control back. It’s one day at a time. You need to put the time in to see the results. One day adds up to one week and each week adds up to a month. Before you know it, you are feeling amazing and the scale is moving! But you need to start somewhere and stop putting it off. Start today – start right now. Don’t wait until after the snow ends, and don’t wait until after Passover. The feeling of control that you can get from now until then is priceless and you will be so happy that you did it.

Don’t complicate it. If you are not where you want to be and need to get back you just get right back. It really is that simple You start texting us your meals again and/or send your weight or come in for an appointment. We never ask what happened or where you were. It’s so not about that. It’s about moving forward and taking all that energy and putting it toward a positive next week. As many of you know, we will do whatever it takes for anyone and everyone that walks in our office or signs up online. We all have a bad week or even a bad couple of weeks and sometimes it’s months, but then you text me or come in and say, okay I’m ready to get back. I don’t even ask questions about why or what happened. None of that matters. All that matters is that you are ready to move forward and use all your energy to get you to where you want to be. So never ever feel like you are embarrassed to return. We have clients come back all the time and they get right back on and right back to a happy place because for us that is what this is all about. It’s about getting you to a place that you feel great again. The reason I bring this up is because of a client that came in Saturday and this is what she said:

She has been off program for months. This is a reoccurring thing for her. She is “off” and then “on.” Basically she comes on program, loses the weight and starts to feel good again, and then disappears. When she came in on Saturday I had not seen her for months. She said, “I do this all the time”. She said, “I want to be honest, I lose the weight and then I feel great and I start to cheat a little more and then I start struggling and instead of getting right back on program I hear someone say they are doing some stupid quick fix it fad diet eating fake food, or living on drinks and they lost all this weight so I start to do that and it never works and then I always come back to you heavier then I ever was. Why do I keep doing this? Why don’t I just get back on program? This is what works for me and what makes me feel great. But as soon as I struggle I go off the deep end instead of just getting right back on program. Why?!!!” — She was being so honest that I was so proud of her. I wasn’t shocked because I know that happens to people – sometimes we all just want the quick fix – but she sat there and admitted it and didn’t have to because I never ask. So I explained to her why she does it, the reason is simple: We take the weight off and we think we can go back to our old habits of eating. But you can’t – the older we get the more discipline we need. When you go back to your old way of eating you will gain weight. So when you hear some quick fix that will make it all better faster of course your first instinct is you want to try it. But what you need to immediately realize is that if you were struggling eating real food of course you are going to struggle even more living on shakes and fake food. Mentally we fall prey to the quick fixes but physically our bodies tell us very quickly it’s not going to last on shakes and fakes. The truth is, and the moral to this story is, get back on track and do the right thing. You can’t abuse your body because if you do, it shows you are doing this with how it looks and feels. Even when you do lose weight from starving yourself you see that gaunt look. You never see clients with that On Program. Regardless of how thin they get they always look healthy because they are eating. It’s not always easy to do the right thing but your body reacts the best to you when you do it. You just have to constantly talk your mind out of it when it wants the easy way out.

We can be soooo spoiled. If there was a pill out there that would allow us to eat whatever we wanted whenever we wanted and never gain weight we would take it. And you know what the saddest part of all is – if that were the case nothing we eat would ever feel special again. Because in our mind, to be able to do whatever we want whenever we want is somehow the way it should be. But it’s not. The way it should be in every part of your life is you work hard for something and you are rewarded. You work hard you get a pay check – you work hard you reach your goals – you work hard you get a degree – you work hard you accomplish your dreams – you work hard you feel great – You work hard you get a vacation – You work hard you get a Cheat Day. This is life and just the fact that we have the opportunity to work hard and get rewarded is what makes it so amazing. Why would you want it any other way….

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness

8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797

211 E 43rd Street Manhattan, NY 10017

FOR MY NORTHEAST PEOPLE IT’S GOING TO SNOW SNOW SNOW…how much, nobody knows!!!!

 

4 Weeks in and you are all doing amazing. When you want something bad enough and are willing to work for it the results are endless! Challenges and temptations are always around every corner. It’s up to you how you handle them. One way to handle them is to always be prepared. Being prepared will save you time in the long run. Do it before and you won’t have to worry about figuring it out later.

SNOW IS ON THE WAY…so it’s super important that you keep yourself in a mental place that is strong. Snow lasts a couple of days and the weight gain will last a month! Today is a great day to plan what you are doing tomorrow. Get the snacks and items you need in the house so you are not stuck when you wake up tomorrow morning and can’t drive. Already have your mindset that you will not go off plan because there will be snow when you wake up. Plan to stay home and have your meals and snacks ready so you don’t say to me on weigh in day “I was stuck in the house.” No one is “stuck”  because for my clients that live in the North East you have had more than enough warning that you will most likely be snowed in tomorrow. Get ready for it today. Don’t think, “Oh if I don’t have anything in the house I won’t eat” – that won’t work. There is always something in the house and when you are desperate it’s amazing the things you will come up with. So don’t even put yourself in that position. When it comes to your food make sure you have your plan and know what you are doing tomorrow. And get whatever you need today so tomorrow is effortless with your meals and snacks. Remember it’s a “snow day” not a “cheat day.” At the end of the day you will feel so much better knowing that you stayed on your path and you feel great going into Friday and a weekend where you can pick your cheat day and enjoy it.

There is really no better feeling than when you treat your body right. When you feel good all the time and you do the right things for you body and mind. When you are doing it consistently is when it really makes the biggest difference. Your cravings go away and you know you are on your path to where you want to be. There is nothing worse than being on the roller coaster – up and down and back and forth always ending up in the same place or worse than where you started. In order to be consistent and to get the very best results you need to push yourself everyday. It doesn’t matter how hard it is and it doesn’t matter how challenging it may feel – you need to push past it because when you push past it and you get on a healthy consistent path is when it will start to feel easy. It will start to feel effortless. Remember the hard part is because you are breaking out of the habits that you have created for yourself. It’s moving your body from the weight gain and into the weight loss. It’s paying the price for where you got yourself and working toward where you want to be. Of course it will be hard – but its only temporary. The more you work toward it and are consistent with it is when it will feel easier and effortless. But the more you keep putting it off the harder it will be. The longer you stay on the roller coaster the longer the ride. Face the challenge now. Do the right things and work through the mental pain and create the consistency of working hard everyday for what you want. Because it’s only when you give this 110% 6 consecutive days consistently every week is when you too will see the best results.

Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness

8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797

211 East 43rd Street Manhattan, NY 10019