Marvelous Milestones: Savoring Our Success

by Mariana Bozesan

Prior to embarking on our journey toward a new, healthier way of living, it's critical to come up with an effective and empowering method for measuring your success along the way. Everyone defines success differently, so it’s important to articulate exactly what it means to you. Here are some helpful ideas on how you might measure and bolster your progress along the way:

• ENERGY: Assess your energy and vitality levels on a regular basis by keeping track of them in a journal along with your eating habits, successes, things you like and dislike as well as general thoughts. Note, that we cannot buy health and vitality, but yet this is what we all want. Thus, get a baseline understanding of where your energy levels are when you start the process of losing weight, and then watch them skyrocket as you begin to exercise and shed pounds. A simple 1 to 10 scale works well, with 1 being the lowest level of energy and 10 being the highest. It is important that you measure your vitality level every day once a day but also throughout the day. For instance, in the morning when you get up and after your work out. At lunch time or dinner time, take a look at your energy level before you eat and after eating. If your energy level is low before your meal it can mean that you might be low on sugar which may lead to over eating. To prevent over eating, eat less carbohydrates which are high in sugars (including vegetables and fruits such as bananas as well as processed starches) in the previous meal or have a green drink before your meals. Green drinks are superfoods containing highly concentrated nutrient dense dark leafy green vegetables – grasses, broccoli, kale, spinach and sprillina to name a few – that are exceeding efficient in alkalizes the body. The added dosage of alkalinity provides a boost of energy and super charges the immune system. If you are fatigued after a meal that may be contributed to over eating which can result in the lack of proper food digestion – not chewing your food thoroughly is a common oversight that leads to feelings of bloating or stomach upset. Taking digestive enzymes may help with the digestion process. Green drinks and enzymes can be purchased at any healthfood store or simply log on to www.sageera.com/Shop.


• EMOTIONS: Notice both gradual and overall changes with your relationships and emotional life. Write about these in your journal. Exercise and weight loss often bring about improved mood and lowered stress levels, and these should be acknowledged as major accomplishments on par with the weight loss itself. Make a note of how you feel after working out or being in nature for a while. Are you still tense? Are your thoughts still circulating about the same issues as before you worked out or has it changed. Is it better? If yes, why? What did you do to feel better? Make a note of it and next time you feel angry, frustrated or anxious do the same thing. Develop a list of things you will do to improve your mood. Notice that emotion comes from motion. By moving we can and should always be able to change the bad state we are in to a good one. Emotions do not come from outer space and attack us. We are in charge of them and our responses to them. Learn how to be in control of your emotions. Develop loving yourself rituals. For example, before further subjecting yourself to a votile situation, politely excuse yourself and take a walk outside before continuing. You will notice a calming change that will be reflective in your responses.


• BMI Scale: We've all heard that muscle weighs more than fat, but as rational as this explanation is, it doesn't lessen the impact of seeing that number on the scale when we step onto it. Be sure to use the scale in conjunction with other methods of measuring weight loss such as how your clothes are fitting, how your body is feeling, and what your BMI measurements are indicating. To witness an actual demonstration of BMI sizes, please refer to www.sageera.com/BMI. Understand that while the needle on the scale may not be moving at times, your body can still be changing in radical ways.


• Empowering Habits: In your journal, discuss how you implement new techniques and habits, including any frustrations or difficulties you experience along the way. Take note as these habits. Positive changes might include proper food combining - not mixing starches with protein in one meal, daily excercise, eating deserts only once per week, etc¹. The more you practice these positive habits the easier and more natural they become. When compulsive eating habits have been successfully eliminated for the first week, reward yourself in some highly significant way, for you this is a major milestone in your journey toward a new way of life.


• Relapse: Learn how to deal with any mistakes or backslides quickly and immediately and do not use them as an excuse to fall back into old destructive habits such as feeling sorry for yourself or being a victim. First, develop some symbolic way of declaring an end to the backslide, such as drinking an entire bottle of water or green drink. Then, write about what happened in your journal, including how you were feeling when the backslide happened and what sort of things were going on. You'll know that you're on the path to success when these backslides are fewer and farther inbetween, and when you start to feel a sense of mastery and control over them.


• Celebrate: Create a list of things which you like to do to celebrate every one of your successes along the way. Develop a list of songs you like to play to lift your spirits, create a list of things you can do to make you feel well such as call a friend, your buddy, go (window) shopping, contribute as a volunteer to a charity organization, etc. (Include link to music list on website)


• Record and Enjoy Magic Moments: Finally, it can be a really powerful and refreshing experience to savor the compliments you receive as you go through the process of losing weight. Celebrate these and revel in them as the tangible fruits of your efforts and persistence! When you're having a difficult moment, go back to your journal and read the entries that contain these compliments, as well as any that focus on your hopes and dreams and your daily magic moments. This will give you the strength and courage to carry on in your journey.