10 Motivational Health Tips to Help You Maintain Your Weight During the Holiday Season

1. Eat in Moderation.

Don't overdo eating during the holiday season. Eat only what you need to eat, and don't simply eat because the food is there. Eating a small meal at home before you go to a holiday party can help too. Eating in moderation can take extra discipline during the holiday season, because there is just so much food available, but it can be mastered.

2. Parking farther away when going shopping.

When you are out holiday shopping make it a habit to park farther away from the door. I know that you may live in an area where it is cold outside, but this is an almost effortlessly way to assist you in maintaining your weight during the holiday season. If you are one that shops a lot all of those longer walks to the front door of the department store can pay off. I myself enjoy getting a great parking space as well during the holiday season. But I enjoy maintaining my weight more!

3. Think About It.

Practice thinking about how good you are going to feel after the holiday season is over, and you have maintained your weight. Think about how you will feel after the holiday season is over if you have picked up those extra unwanted pounds. This in itself can be a great motivator!

4. Write yourself a note.

Write a note to yourself before that big holiday meal or big family gathering. Tell yourself what your plans are to maintain your weight, then read it again during the meal and then after. Put the note somewhere where you can read it quickly and privately (a sticky note on a dollar bill in your wallet will work).

5. Buy yourself a new outfit at the beginning of the holiday season.

Purchase yourself a new dress or new outfit your current size, and tear off the tags and throw the receipt away. If you can afford it buy an expensive dress or outfit. This should help you work extra hard to maintain your weight, especially when you have tossed the receipt and torn off the tags! After all who likes to waste money? An extra motivator to fit into your new dress or pair of pants is to plan to wear your new threads somewhere special on New Years Eve.

6. Reward Yourself.

Write down a list of things that you will reward yourself with for maintaining your weight. Make your reward date the day after the holiday season has officially ended for you. Your rewards can be small for example a magazine, manicure, trip to the beauty salon, etc.

7. Keep Track of Your Eating and Exercise.

Keep a holiday journal and keep track of your healthy and unhealthy holiday habits. Set healthy habit goals, and stick to them! Try your hardest not to get off track, but if you do remember that everyday is a fresh start!

8. Positive Talk and a Positive Walk.

Tell yourself every day, several times a day "I maintain my current weight with minimal effort." I look good at ______ pounds." "I am amazed at how I maintained my current weight during the holiday season." And walk with confidence in knowing that you are fabulous at your current weight (no matter what that is)!

9. Be accountable to someone.

Share with a friend or family member how important it is to you to maintain your weight during the holiday season. Initiate a H.A.T. (Holiday Accountability Team), this can be your spouse, children, or any other individual who will help you stay on track. Maintain frequent contact with them during the holiday season and develop a tool or list of questions that you will discuss related to maintaining your weight (doesn't have to be in-depth), during the holiday season.

10. Be EMPOWERED!

If you think you can do it, then you can! The holiday season is a difficult time for those of us who are seriously working on maintaining our weight. It is important for us to be empowered from within to maintain our weight during this holiday season, and believing that WE CAN DO IT is vital!

Shauntel Peak-Jimenez is a Certified Life Coach for women, and a Certified Life Coach Trainer. She went back to college as an adult and as a single mother of 5 chidren, and she knows how it feels to have to change your life for the better. She is the founder of The Character and Self-Esteem Institute a provider of life coaching, life coach certification training, and professional development training. If you are ready to be transformed visit the website http://www.thecaseinstitute.com and obtain free resources or contact Coach Shauntel by e-mail: thecaseinstitute@gmail.com to schedule a free 30 minute "life makeover" planning session or to become a Certified Life Coach!

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Yoga for Depression: Motivation and Trust

Yoga is an excellent motivational tool. When you consider starting your day with Yoga meditation, Pranayama, Japa, Yoga postures (Asanas), warm-ups, Sun Salutations, or a combination of any of these - Yoga offers many useful motivation techniques for all of us.

However, some of us like to sleep late, skip work, unplug the phone, and wonder where the day went. This lack of stress can cause depression. This is not an endorsement of a stressful lifestyle, but the reality is: We all require a little daily stress to stimulate, strengthen, and motivate ourselves.

How could an early morning Yoga meditation create motivation for the entire day? There are many types of meditation to choose from, but you could choose a form of positive visualization to raise your level of motivation.

This will require you to set aside a little time and solitude. You could start with a 15 minute Yoga meditation session and allow your mind some forgiveness - if it wanders. Do not judge your mind or any distractions around you.

This is a key to Yogic meditation, and Yoga in general: Be mindful, be kind, do not judge anything, avoid extremes, and live life in moderation. The purpose of your meditation will be aided - if you write down your goals, for the day, and meditate.

With this form of Yogic meditation, you will be pleasantly surprised with how often you accomplish your daily objectives. Keep in mind that Yoga meditation is just one technique to stimulate motivation. Pranayama, Japa, Asana, and Sun Salutations, all work well for stimulating the body and mind.

Another factor, which causes depression, is lack of trust in others, and from deep within our inner being. We must believe in ourselves before we have faith in others. This lack of trust can cause a form of scaring to our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

Can Yoga turn any of us into "eternal optimists?" The answer is, "maybe." Most eternal optimists are born that way; but optimism can be conditioned, and you have the power to harness it, if you want to.

A Yoga student asks, "Teach me about self-empowerment." The lessons are within all forms of Yoga, but you will find more answers within Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Karma Yoga.

Most Yoga students, outside of India, practice Hatha Yoga sub-styles. This is fine - but are you learning anything beyond the physical aspects of Yoga? Yoga is a vast topic, with solutions to many of today's health problems.

However, can the world learn to trust a 5,000 year old health maintenance system, with a proven track record of success? On a global scale, most of the world's population still seeks short-term health solutions in the form of pills.

Sometimes prescriptions are required; especially, in the case of severe depression. It is promising that Western medicine now embraces Yoga as an alternative therapy. This will create an evolution in health care which will improve the quality of life for humanity.

© Copyright 2006 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in Attleboro, MA. http://www.riyoga.com He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. To receive a Free e-Book: "Yoga in Practice," and a Free Yoga Newsletter, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html

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