Congratulations

“I believe our bodies are a direct reflection of how we feel on the inside, so show the world who you want them to see.  If you believe it, you can be it.”

~Ali Vincent

Thanks for much for taking this 30 day journey with me.  Although in reality it’s more of a 30 year journey.  And I want this journey to continue for another 40-50 more years.

The journey never ends so don’t be in a rush to get to the finish line.  Enjoy every day and every moment.  Cherish the changes you see in yourself and pay it forward.

I am here for you.  Just ask.

Decide, Commit, Succeed

Team Beachbody Founding Coach,

Judi Finneran

Opening Up

“It’s a funny thing about accepting the support of others – it can actually make you feel stronger, not weaker and in a position to help someone else when the time comes.”

~Cheryl Forberg

How open are you to accepting help?  Most of us would rather give help to someone else rather than ask for help for ourselves.  Why is that?  Is there something about accepting help which we feel obligates us to another person?  Are we afraid of letting them down after they have supported us?  I am not sure I know.

One thing I do know is this is first time I have been on a mission to reduce my weight where I have asked for help. And you know, it feels really good to get it.  When I gave up diet soda last April (which I never believed would be possible) it was my friends cheering me on which kept me going.  I did not pressured by them to not drink it; I felt encouraged and had a new belief in myself.

Many of my coaching clients don’t have a lot of belief in their self at the beginning and I invite them to let my belief in their ability carry them for a while.  It takes time to create the belief and having other people there who support you can make all the difference.

Thanks so very much for everyone who is supporting me on this journey to change my life.  Please let me know how I can support you.  Really!

Decide, Commit, Succeed

Team Beachbody Founding Coach,

Judi Finneran

Where Are You Now?

Looking back over the last year I can see some obvious changes.  For example a lot my clothes are baggy now and some I have even given away.  I know I can walk further and faster then I could last April.  My mom took me for a spa pedicure this week and I noticed I fit in the vibrating chair more easily.  At one of my favorite restaurants, The Roxy, there is more space between me and the table and I am not afraid of sitting in a booth any more.

However, what I have really been noticing lately are the changes in my thinking.  One of my favorite places to eat back in the day was Los Olas, on the beach in Cardiff and I always ordered the Naches Especial.  I am embarrassed to admit I also frequently ordered extra cheese, as if there was not enough saturated fat on them for me already.

A couple of weeks ago, we had been to dinner at The Roxy and had my favorite chef salad with avocados, sunflower sprouts and tahini dressing.  Driving home along the coast I thought of the times we had visited Las Olas and I mentioned to Kevin we might never go there for dinner again.  He seemed a bit surprised and asked why.  He made the comment, when you are at the weight you want, you could go.

That reminded me of how I always thought in the past when I was on a diet.  The whole time I was losing weight, I was planning on what I could eat when I was done.  I don’t think I had ever considered that I needed to basically change the way I ate for life.  I told him, with what I knew about health and how much work it took to burn off 100 calories, I didn’t think the Nachos Especial would ever be worth it to me again.  And that was a choice, not a rule.  Because life is in session and I loved them, I said I could imagine having a chip or two sometime but I did not even want a whole order any more.

It’s moments like this when I begin to believe this time is different for me.  I am not on a diet; I am building a healthy life.  An excuse I used frequently the last 5 years for not losing weight was “I have never kept it off before, why go through all the work to lose it?”  I am not thinking like that.  It doesn’t matter if I have never kept it off before; I can keep it off this time if I choose.  Remembering it is always my choice is a key ingredient to my long term success.

What have you noticed has changed about you this time?

Decide, Commit, Succeed

Team Beachbody Founding Coach,

Judi Finneran

Make Best Friends with Yourself

If you are not looking out for you, who will be?  Being our own best friend and ally on the weight loss journey is so important.  Making choices on what is best for you will create success; while making choice which will make others happy doesn’t always work out so well.

How many times have you heard one of these phrases or something like it?

~Just one won’t hurt.

~I made it just for you.

~You are no fun.

~You’re making us feel bad.

~What fun is that?

~You look good just the way you are.

~You’re thin enough.

In each case, the person making this statement is not looking after your best interests.  Often, there is a whole other agenda at work.  These are the times you need to remember to take of you like you would take care of your best friend.

Be your own best friend while building a healthy life!!

Decide, Commit, Succeed

Team Beachbody Founding Coach,

Judi Finneran

Love the Mirror

Yikes, after years of perfecting a perfect system to look in the mirror and only see from the neck up, this can be a frightening thought.  Success in this journey begins with accepting and loving who you are now and moving forward from there.  Many of us have believed the mirror has been our enemy and just did not want to go there.

Self acceptance is the price of self improvement in the area of healthy living.  We all have to start at Point A to get to Point Z and visit each stop along the way.  It’s so important to recognize and congratulate ourselves on small victories.  I am down 51.5 pounds so far and with 136 left to still release, many people do not even notice I have lost weight.  While I wish that were different, that is how is right now.

The other day I noticed in the mirror the top 2” of my arm from my shoulder down looked visibly thinner.  For a minute I thought something was wrong until I turned around and looked at the other side and it matched.  All of a sudden I was pretty excited about the workouts I have been doing.  Now I find myself looking at arms almost every day.

Losing weight is not easy and it is not fast.  So take time to look in the mirror and congratulate yourself for the steps you are taking every day.  All of us get somewhere else just one step at a time.

Decide, Commit, Succeed

Team Beachbody Founding Coach,

Judi Finneran

Becoming a Role Model

As a Founding Coach with Team Beachbody, it is my responsibility to walk the talk.  For my first two years, I did not have it together and because I felt out of integrity was not there in the way I should been for my coaches and customers.

In April of 2009 when I committed to putting my health first, all of that changed.  I can’t make up for when I wasn’t there.  What I can do is be there 100% for the people who have put their trust in me now.

One of the biggest joys in my life now is coaching calls with my clients who are changing their lives.  One of my clients has lost 8.5 pounds his first month and gone from a 44” to 40” waist.  Another has lost 15 pounds in her first six months.  Watching people make a health a priority in their lives is nothing short of amazing.

My role is to be the example for what I am saying and I take that responsibility very seriously every day.  One of the things I talk about constantly is none of us are perfect.  That is an unrealistic expectation.  As such, when I make a bad choice I own up to it and figure out how to make a better choice next time.

No matter who you are or what you are doing someone is always watching you.  You are someone’s role model.  Are you taking the actions you would want other people in your life to mirror?

Decide, Commit, Succeed

Team Beachbody Founding Coach,

Judi Finneran

Confronting the Menu

Many times in the past when I have been on a diet, I either avoided restaurants all together or ordered only something to drink and watched everyone else eat.  When we are building a healthy life, neither of those are good options.  We will most likely continue to eat in restaurants occasionally for the rest of our life.  And we don’t want to sit there and sip water.

Learning to make healthy choices while in restaurants is a skill we can learn as well as a habit we can develop.  One of the topics which come up often with many of my weight loss coaching clients is the fear of eating out.  Here are some examples of suggestions which have worked in “real life” for my clients:

1.  View the menu online before going and determine what your best choice is and order when you arrive without looking at the menu.

2.  Order food grilled and dry.

3.  Ask for special orders.  Most kitchens have the ingredients to make something healthy and giving them a few options allows the chefs to be creative and usually agree.

4.  Order several healthy sides instead of one healthy entrée.  One of my personal favorites I find in lots of places is sautéed spinach.

It is all a matter of making a choice and you are in charge of that.

“Almost 25% of Americans’ meals come from eating out.  So it’s important to make your next restaurant visit a healthy one.   Don’t be shy about making special requests.  Look for steamed, boiled, baked, grilled, poached and roasted foods.  When in doubt, go the salad route.”

~Jillian Michaels, Biggest Loser Tip

Decide, Commit, Succeed

Team Beachbody Founding Coach,

Judi Finneran

The Joy of Movement

“You don’t know what you got till it’s gone” is the name of a song in the 1980’s musical Hair.  It is also a line in the song by Joni Mitchell from the 1970’s.  To me this phrase is the epitome of ‘taking something for granted.”

When Kevin and I were first married, we used to play racquetball several nights a week after work.  We would get off work, Kev in San Diego and me in Anaheim Hills and each drive about 45 miles to meet in the middle at our Sports Club.  We would normally play for a couple of hours and then go home for dinner.  And never once did I appreciate that I could do this.

Looking back, this amazes me since for the past 10 years I have really not even been fond of walking up stairs.  Beginning right now I am going to begin appreciating what I can do and that I can move.  I was so excited a month or so ago when Kev and I walked to the Subway for lunch; a little over a mile round trip.  Really not too comparable to several hours on the racquetball court, but a little over a mile further than I could have walked this time last year.

I am making a pledge to myself to not ever say “I hate to exercise” again starting now.  I am done taking my ability to get up and walk across the room for granted.  My daughter Rachael, who will be 26 in June has never taken a step and yet I have complained about having to get up and exercise.  What was I thinking?

Please help me in appreciating my abilities by letting me know if you ever hear me complain again about working out and the wonderful gift I have in being able to choose to do that.

Decide, Commit, Succeed

Team Beachbody Founding Coach,

Judi Finneran

Take a Daily Break

Do you feel guilty when you’re doing something just for you which do not involve work or cleaning or taking care of someone or something else?  This is an area for me I have to constantly work on.  I really struggle with taking a fifteen minute break to read a book or walk outside to fill my bird feeders.

I am not quite sure where this need to ‘be productive’ every moment came from.  If I had to guess; I would say my need for perfection (in the past) in everything I do, did not allow any what I would have called slack time.

This is just wrong on so many levels and I work every day to learn I am worth taking time to spend on me doing something which might not be considered “productive” by the judge of who ever judges time.  I find myself thinking my husband or my employees might be judging me.  And when I ask, I find they are not even thinking about me (what a surprise.)  That harsh, demanding judge is inside my head and my goal is to learn to turn him off at will.

I have all sorts of bird feeders outside my office window and I have been working on stopping working when there are some out there and just watching them.  It relaxes me and I love it.  I turn away from the computer, cross my arms on the desk (so I can’t type) and just breathe and watch.  Taking a few minutes to nourish my soul allows me to not worry so much about nourishing my hunger.

What is something you like to do and you create more time for NOW?

Decide, Commit, Succeed

Team Beachbody Founding Coach,

Judi Finneran

Keep Peeling Back the Layers

And I don’t mean on an Onion Blossom at Chili’s.  Our excess weight can be a symbol of past hurts, rejections, fears and losses we have experienced.  We used those layers to protect and buffer us from the pain.

Be prepared as you lose weight for many different feelings and emotions to come up.  And this time instead of eating to bury them; we need to deal with them. It probably will not be fun or easy.  In fact it may be downright painful.  We need to do it anyway.

One feeling I have used fat to hide is having high expectations for me.  As long as I was overweight, I had a great excuse for not accomplishing what I am capable of.  If my weight is right and I still fail what on earth will I be able to blame it on.  For example, if I am not chosen for a job; I can say they didn’t hire me because I am fat.  If I am not fat any longer, I have to peel back a layer and discover some other reason. Yikes.

To maintain a healthy life, we want to be able to deal with situations and circumstances as they are and not use food to bury our head in the sand (or onion blossom, so to speak.)

You have the tools right now to find options other than eating to deal with your life.  What is one of your strengths you are not using enough?

Decide Commit Succeed

Team Beachbody Founding Coach,

Judi Finneran