Coaching is short, about 30 minutes, and I have chosen to do mine at 8am on Mondays. Because I have evidently never met myself at 8am on a Monday morning. Ha.
The primary take-away from this session was an important one. There is a huge difference between making a lifestyle change and starting a diet. There is diet language: fail/succeed, deprivation, calorie restriction, etc., that have no place in this program. Where you are either "on" or "off" a diet (and when you are off you are really off), Greenlight is designed to help you make changes that are permanent and comfortable. It is not someone else's plan - it is a plan you deign for yourself based on the information you learn. Instead of a light switch it is a dimmer switch. You can't fail.
I will have to watch to be sure I don't use those dieting terms in my internal dialogue...
We also talked about the reasons for logging. There are 5 main reasons:
- Fluency - you have to understand what you are talking about. Literally. And fluency leads to flexibility.
- Accountability - you have to understand the impact of your choices on your goals.
- Mindfullness - you have to be aware of what you are eating.
- Consequential thinking - you can think through the choices and find the best deal - the best bang for the calorie/fat-buck.
- De-catastrophization - a bad decision (or a bad day) is just that - it doesn't mean anything more than that. It certainly doesn't mean that you should scrap your good decision making until you choose to start over. There is no start or end to this program.
The final take-away was a big one for me: try to judge an activity by how you feel when it is over. No one who is dreading exercise finds motivation while sitting on the couch. Put on your shoes, it gets you one step closer. Motivation builds. Look for progress, not perfection.
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