Welcome to The Weight Loss Secret, I’m Heather Bestel, an experienced psychotherapist & hypnotherapist and I help my clients find a way to not only lose excess weight, but to keep it off for good. On this blog you will find: tips, advice and support on your own weight loss journey. Together with my popular E-course, motivating Coaching and supportive Group Programmes There’s something for everyone . . .
Weight Loss Recipes
I’m very excited to have Lorna Willock on board.
She’s my friend and trusted nutritionist and has been advising me since I came to live in the ‘middle of nowhere’.
Lorna has given me some very yummy and extremely simple recipes (even I can make them lol).
The wonderful thing about Lorna is that she really does ‘walk her talk’. She’s always full of vitality and she looks fab (a great advert for healthy living).
Have a peek at the recipes – then go make something fab for your lunch 
and watch this space for more in the future.
Lorna’s recipes are tried and tested by her weight loss cookery class. You can download her free e-book Top Ten Weight Loss Tips here
Here’s to the New & Fabulous You!
Heather xx
Posted in Recipes
Leave a comment
Are You Obsessed With Weighing Yourself?
Are you obsessed with weighing yourself?
It’s like a slow torture. The fact is – our weight constantly fluctuates. We can weigh ourselves first thing in the morning and be depressed.
Then empty our bladder. Weigh ourselves again and be elated. Eat breakfast weigh ourselves again etc etc.
Then there are different times of the month when we may be retaining water and can’t understand why the scales haven’t moved.
It’s enough to make you scream.
My advice?
Ditch the scales! That’s right – get rid of them altogether. Or leave them at a friend’s house and if you have to, have a weekly weigh in. That will give you a more precise reading – if that’s how you want to measure yourself.
There are other ways to tell if you’re losing weight:
- Your clothes feel loose
- You can see a difference in your muscle tone
- Other people compliment your new shape
- You feel lighter
- You have more energy
- You notice the difference when you look in the mirror
Posted in Tips
Leave a comment
Find Your Yard Stick
Once you’ve reached your ideal weight, how do you keep an eye on it?
- Weighing yourself every minute? No!
- Doing without the things you love? No!
- Over exercising, just in case? No!
Do it the easy way and find yourself a Yard Stick.
Everyone’s yard stick will be different. Mine are my hip bones. When I went beyond my ideal weight it was my hip bones that told me so.
I remember knocking my hip bone on the side of a table as I passed and I realised that I hadn’t done that in a long, long time. All the ‘padding’ around them had disappeared and I was getting too thin. People started telling me that I looked tired and gaunt.
The other extreme is when my favourite jeans start to feel a tiny bit too tight. Then I know I’ve started to go too far the other way. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s good to know that my yard sticks are in place.
Here’s to the New & Fabulous You!
Heather xx
Give Yourself a Treat
We all need motivation to get things done and sometimes we can achieve even more when we know that there’s a nice little treat at the end. Give yourself regular treats every time you hit a milestone. At the end of the week you may like to treat yourself to: a bunch of flowers, a magazine, a lipstick.
As you hit bigger milestones, the treats can get bigger too. Take a moment now to plan how you are going to celebrate. Each month you can set yourself targets and write down what treat you will receive when you hit that target.
Some of the best treats are ways of pampering yourself and celebrating your new shape. Think about new clothes and accessories; make up, a new hairstyle, manicures and massages. Anything that will add to the feeling of creating the New & Fabulous You!
Here’s to the New & Fabulous You!
Heather xx
Have You Got Your Support System in Place?
We all need help and support, especially when we are making dramatic changes in our lives.
This is the time to ask for help. Surround yourself with people who have achieved their own weight loss goals or people who will cheerlead and motivate you when you need it. Enlist the help of friends and family. Give them all roles; tell them what you need from them.
You may need someone to offload to when you’re having a bad day. Or, even better, you may need a trusted friend to challenge you when you are showing signs of weakening.
Here’s to the New & Fabulous You!
Heather xx
Know Your Triggers
Understanding why we do something is the first step to changing it.
Do you always have a chocolate biscuit with your cup of tea? Do you always have a second helping of dessert after Sunday lunch? Can you ever sit and watch TV in the evening without a snack?
This is where you can identify your present triggers (things, people or situations that you associate with overeating). Your triggers may be things like: your first cup of tea/coffee of the day, going out for lunch, having a drink after work with friends.
Write down each trigger separately and then come up with an alternative behaviour that you are going to use instead. For example from now on whenever you have your first tea or coffee you might have a magazine to hand to flick through. You might start to bring your own lunch to work instead of going to a restaurant.
You can get really creative with alternative ideas. Leave a comment below and let me know what your triggers are.
Here’s to the New & Fabulous You!
Heather xx
Keeping Your Motivation Going
Have a really serious think about what is motivating you to lose weight. Is it for health reasons? Have you realised that you may have to get into a swimsuit next summer? Are you just sick and tired of feeling sick and tired?
By having your reasons clear in your mind, it will help you to focus, should you need to give yourself a little push.
Get out your notebook and pen and write down all your reasons. For example, you may write something like: “I want to be fitter and healthier and be able to play with my children more” or “I want to look fantastic on the beach”. Find at least 5 reasons.
Then put them in order of priority and number them 1-5. Now, whenever you have a bad day, just get out your list and remind yourself WHY you are on this journey.
This will help you to get really clear on why you are doing this and keep you motivated.
Here’s to the New & Fabulous You!
Heather xx
Sneak some exercise into your busy day.
Unless we find an exercise we love doing everyday chances are we won’t stick at it for long. My friends who own a gym say that less than half of their members regularly use the facilities. That’s just crazy. You pay out all that money on a gym membership and then don’t go often, if at all. Hands up those of you who recognise yourself in that last sentence.
The good news is that even doing a little exercise can add up to big changes. I bet we can all find ways of sneaking some more activity into our busy schedules, here’s some to ‘get us going’ (did you see what I did there? )
If you usually park as near to your office or the shops as possible, then park further away and walk.
If you usually take the lift (elevator) then take the stairs. You will notice a big difference with this one, believe me!
If you usually have your lunch delivered to your desk, then walk to the sandwich shop instead. At College the staff have organised lunch-time walks. Why not instigate something similar where you work?
If you usually sit and watch your kids play, then get up and join in instead. You will have more energy and your kids will be delighted that you are spending family time with them.
If you usually let the dog out twice a day, put the lead on and go for a nice long walk instead and blow away some cobwebs at the same time. I love our daily dog walks and we usually multi-task by holding our board meeting as we walk LOL.
All these little changes will build up into quite a substantial difference and you’ll feel healthier and more energised too.
Let me know if you have any more ideas to add to our list.
Here’s to the New & Fabulous You!
Heather xx
Using Affirmation to Enhance Your Weight Loss
Affirmations are positive statements that we repeat over and over to bring about changes in our beliefs and our behaviour.
What positive messages and thoughts are you going to use to re-programme your subconscious mind?
Your positive attitude is the fuel for your success. So take a moment now to think of your positive affirmations.
Words that will inspire you and keep you going. Messages you can use to motivate you to succeed. Thoughts to keep you going even if things get tough.
Messages like ….
“I love my new and healthy lifestyle”
“Exercise is a wonderful way to keep my body healthy”
“Healthy food now nourishes my body”
Let me know what affirmations you are using, leave me a comment …
Here’s to the New & Fabulous You!
Heather xx
