Phit-N-Phat...Making Fitness and Weightloss a Lifestyle

Creative Walk and Treadmill Routines to Burn Fat

The other day I talked about doing things outside of the norm to get the results you need. When I checked in on my Facebook weightloss accountability groups, I had this from one of members...

I was thinking this morning while getting ready for some kind of workout in my basement while out of town from my normal schedule and remembered I had a resistance band and went to Pnp and found the travel phit section! Corinne really gives you no excuse to workout in most situations! We give ourselves excuses! If you take time to look for help it's right there! Thanks Corinne!

I love this! It's why I created something called a hood workout a long time ago for my clients on PNP. A lot of my clients can't run but they are some MAD WALKERS. But, they also get adapted quick to walking and rather than going LONGER I have them go HARDER with creative breaks in their walks. Thus, we call it a hood walk because you just need to hit the street and get busy.

This video is one of me a few years ago discussing a hood walk. 

Intro to Hood Walk

The Circuits

Conclusion

I also found this article on Women's Health that has several types of circuit finishers to a walk. What I would do is pick one and do a ROUND ever 3-5 minutes of your 30-60 minute walk depending on fitness level. You can even do this by hopping on and off the treadmill if you can't get outside.

Hot Tip! Buy a 3-ring binder. When you come across creative workouts you like, type it up, print it off, and then put in the binder. Each day it's time for cardio, open the book, and then choose a workout. You can make a cardio calendar at the beginning of the month listing each workout OR you can have a goal to not repeat a workout for 7,15, 30 days once you collect plenty!

And, a long-time client and now dear friend wrote a blog about hood walks last week. Give her blog a read. If you like the Queen you will love Angela!

For my PNP private members you have the Work Your Butt Off Book and all kinds of fun and creative workouts in your materails I give you with enrollment. If you don't know where to find them, just ask in the forums and we will hook you up with awesome workouts to keep you busy. I come out with new workouts frequently so take advantage of them to shrink THY BOOTY!

Losing Weight Means Doing Things Outside the Norm

Over the years I've written all kinds of blogs about things I had to start doing to lose the weight. A lot of it was stuff a (former) fat girl would never do. 

• It got funny looks and we don't want to be looked at.
• It got remarks from people and I didn't need anyone peer pressuring me.

The last few days I've been reminded of a few KEY changes for me. And I also started thinking about how I need to get back to a few basics consistently to have the structure I love.

The first is from an OLD blog of mine...Igloo Your New Purse. In fact this blog made me smie because it reminded me of some of the things I used to eat, my olders workouts, and such. I should blog more like that...if you girls ask for it. If not, then you don't care how I workout. LOL

The blog is about being prepared when you leave your house. Don't go places without snacks! When I leave my house I always take a meal or two with me. It just depends on how long I plan to be gone.

For those of you who always are  "gone so much longer than you planned", keep a bag or small box of food in your car. Baggies of almonds, beef jerky, tuna packets, plastic spoons, a few bowls, etc., all keep. They are built to last and it keeps you out of trouble ladies.

This is some advice I gave in one of my many weightloss challenge groups this month. If you belong to PNP or buy Beachbody products from me, YOU TOO can get such great advice! Her aunt died and she has to go to her parents for the funeral. She asked if it's OK to bring your own food to avoid eating a bunch of stuff you don't want.

I think brining your own food is fine for your weekend away is fine. I do it all the time to this day. You might get funny looks and such but just tell them you are working to improve your health and it all starts with what goes in your mouth. If they say live a little, tell them you’ve been living a lot lately and now it’s time to live a new way that you can enjoy just as much.

Another huge change in my BODY was when I got over myself with my workouts. It took me a long time to realize no one in the gym was worried what the "fat girl" was doing in her workout. I can't tell you how often I casually rode the elliptical not getting a quality workout, not changing my body, all because I was worried what some person thought. 

You, me, and everyone else who walks in the gym or decides to get off their butt deserves the BEST workout to change. I know it's mentally hard, but at some point if you don't want to look the way you do you have to do things that will make a change. Being an elliptical jockey isn't it. 

My PNP member and friend, Angela, wrote her own blog on the famous Hood Workout. When you workout I want you doing things you normally don't do, challenging yourself, breathing hard, and not being ashamed to get a workout in that shoves you straight out of your comfort zone. 

In this old blog I have a motivating video and a Hood Treadmill routine you can do. And if you are one of my private PNP members you have the new camp routines available to you. After testing them out on my local bootcamp ladies I know they are challenging and that all fitness levels can make it happen IF THEY WANT TO!

Just typing all this motivates me to tighten up on making sure I have the cooler ready to go. Every now and then I walk out without one and, even though I don't stop and eat out, I do come home TOO HUNGRY. 

And for the workouts, I do tons of mixing it up. I got vidoes, machines, and such all around me. I think it's time to teach my local ladies all about the famous hood workout so at any time they can kick up their own training when I'm not there!

Going Back to My Old Ways

In therapy this week I was discussing (and crying) about my fear of going back to my old ways. Most people I work with on PNP  have the same fear that when you take a day off, eat an unplanned meal, or slip up that it might be THE ONE TIME you back to being fat.

I have struggled with this over the years. As I told my therapist it's one of the reasons I can become anxious when the scale fluctuates, I get sick and can't exercise, or I go on vacation and my routine is not comfortable. Most of my life I weighed 200-250lbs. Only six of my 37 years on earth have I maintained a healthy weight. 

See, I never had a lifestyle. I was either ON a diet or OFF a diet. My 'diets" were starving, planning to eat a bunch of crap I didn't like, and trying to exercise WAY out of my comfort zone until exhaustion. I would always have a "plan" but it was so rigid, strict, and unrealistic that the first roadblock was the end of that diet. 

As I told my therapist all of this she said something that struck me. I'm working through trusting myself and my six years of success I've built. To successfully lose the weight, I've created many rules for my life to work within. Those rules worked to get me here but it's now causing anxiety to stay here. 

At a point some of the rules have to change. Just as I blogged Monday about Happily Maintaining, in maintenance there can be some wiggle room without fear of going back to who I was. As I told her of my weekend she wanted to know was I anxious. I wasn't. I said, "for some reason even though I was bloated on Sunday just knowing I was prepping my food and getting everything ready for the week got me in routine." 

She then asked did food prep make me anxious. Again, no. I actually get a thrill from getting all of our food ready. Our weeks go so smooth when we can just grab what we eat and dinner can be on the table in ten minutes.

And that's when she said I have to look at all my rules and regulations I have built. Which ones lead to anxiety and which ones do I enjoy? My weightloss should be enjoyed. The things I've put in place that make it fun should stay. The rules that don't make me happy need to be changed.

I never thought of it that way. Guess I have some self-reflection to do. My rules have provided comfort. There's no reason to think they are wrong unless they make me or my family miserable. But, I do have a few that could change. 

Just hearing this helps me see what a habitual and automatic, healthy lifestyle I have created. That's what I have always craved - stability. I didn't have a lot of it growing up and now I do. I finally see that this time I have built a stable lifestyle and not a chaotic, extreme, plan doomed to fail.

Therapy - best money I've ever spent - well next to my ladies. ;)

Happily Maintaining...

Talking with Chris this weekend I've decided to blog a little more on my daily life. My blog has always been a source of working out what goes on in my head WHILE helping other people see what it feels like to be a girl who had to lose 100+ pounds and keep it off.

After six years, maintenance is still so hard for me. My life is spent reading through weightloss journals, diets, workouts, etc., to help my clients lose weight. I also use my own life experience to help them so it's easy to get caught up in feeling like MY LIFE must be one giant diet. It never really occurred to me the influence my job has until the last few months.

Another tough aspect is a tangled body image for myself. I've privately on PNP struggled with what do I want to look like. The short of it is I have admired figure competitors and competed for four years now that I couldn't let go of a look I'm just not willing to maintain these days.

It's not that I am ready to gain a bunch of weight. Not at all. I just train and eat different now. My life is filled (happily) with half-marathons, Tough Mudders, and eating to compete rather than dieting for a specific look for a show. I can still look great but I'm just not going to have the specific look I admire.

Truth be told I miss the shows...I miss working hard for the stage because I enjoy that sport, but I don't miss dieting and sacrificing Vegas trips, date nights, Subway, and pancakes with my son just because we feel like it that night. 

On our date night this week, Chris and I talked about all of this. The last few weekends I have not tracked my food and just ate more intune with my brain. I also ate things I don't eat Monday through Friday and had wine with my man. In my BRAIN I know it's fine. It's my emotional side that feels guilty or like if my girls see me enjoying my weekends then the whole site is going to be in a downward spiral. 

I know from losing my weight that it takes TIGHT weekends to get the weight off. But I also know I did my time already and I deserve to enjoy myself on the weekends. Often, though, the girls do as they see without remembering they haven't earned their golden ticket just yet. I know I cannot keep living my life as a diet "model" but just coach them on how they should eat now and SHOW them how it works in life when you are done.

My Weekend...

On Friday, I took a day off from exercise because I had a huge active week and another 8 mile run Saturday morning (already did a 10-miler two days prior). The family stayed in and we ate our normal healthy stuff.

Saturday I fueled up for my 8 miles and was STARVING all day. I ATE on cue and kept it healthy. Knowing we were going out for a date night I didn't want to bust in like Kool-Aid Man to the restaurant and eat whatever was in front of me.

Before we went out at 7:00 pm I had some brussel sprouts and pork from my weekly meal plan. Well, I was full so we decided to go to our local bar and hang out. At 11:00 pm I had drank a good bit of wine, danced with my man, snapped our usual silly pictures for Facebook, and we were starved. We decided on Ruby Tuesday to-go since we had to beat the babysitter.

I ordered a Turkey Burger on dry whole wheat toast, a dry baked potato, and was going to have a salad. When we got there the salad bar had all of Logan's favorites and not many of my own so I decided I really would rather split a dessert than choke down salad at midnight. I made Logan a salad for lunch on Sunday and we got the Blondie! I'm just saying it is my all time favorite dessert in the world and when the Queen has dessert this is what she gets!

I ate every bit of my dinner and a few nibbles of fries off Chris' plate. Yep, I BLT, too! But, I gave Chris the ice cream from our dessert since it's not my favorite and I ate only 1/2 of the blondie. Let me say, that's a big win in my book. I am a clean plate club member and I can put down VOLUMES of food, y'all. I did eat past full but I can eat until miserable and I didn't. Baby, stinking-steps. 

Sunday rolled in and I was TIRED (hungover). I made myself workout but just a lighter workout of some sculpting and 25 minute HIIT from Turbo Fire. I ate healthy but at lunch I really wanted the leftover blondie so I had it. Now, the win here is that normally I gulp food in front of the computer. I made myself sit at the table and ENJOY the dessert. If I'm going to eat 400 calories in dessert then I better ENJOY IT!

Later that day I did a great food prep (starting at 3:30 pm) that was wicked fast and then the boys wanted Ruby Tuesday. Honestly, we love going as a family once a week for family night and it almost always happens on Sunday. After cooking all day to post on Facebook, Logan playing, and Chris and I doing laundry we just want to relax at our favorite spot. We went and I had a big salad and pasta with marinara and chicken/shrimp mix. I also had a couple of Skinny Mojitos since Chris was driving. 

We came home, messed around the house, put Logan in bed and watched Ice and Cocoa. It was fun and Chris has been teasing me all weekend because he thinks I'm his Cocoa. LOL. Can you tell which couple is which?

I guess I'm redefining the way I see Corinne. My desire to just be really lean and hard is waning a lot. My mind for months now has been focused on being sporty, having fun, and healthy. Sure I keep an eye on the scale and such, but I'm also starting to see that body image perfectionism does nothing but make me crazy.

I could never obtain the goals that my head has for me. It doesn't mean throw in the towel; just means my goals are WRONG. I'd love big, firm, muscular legs but my skin can't do that. I also love Tough Mudders and that DESPITE my skin on my legs, ARE strong and conditioned enough to leap and climb. That's a goal worth smiling about it and working hard for.

So, that's my weekend. Today I'm sure the scale is up a bit but I didn't weigh. It's not a reflection of my week. It will be back down by Wed or Thur when I do weigh. I'm back to my good foods, regular programming, and such. Every day can't be a weekend and to have a little more there I gotta have a little less now.

I'm honest in the fact that if I was to lose a few pounds I would smile but it's just got to be a byproduct of a good life. My goal is maintaining, having fun, being athletic, and happy accidents on the scale are always welcomed. 

And, if my husband's words aren't enough, I saw this post from Scott Abel today. Timely and true.

Sad to think a 'perfect or ideal' body or its pursuit makes you “happy” - it doesn’t. It only makes you tired and exhausted from the pursuit, which makes you more unhappy and unsatisfied with yourself. No diet in the world or the results from it, will leave you feeling "good about yourself" if your default position in life is that you feel you are never good enough - no diet will deliver that kind of salvation to you - stop being in a place where you are only comfortable with life, by feeling bad about yourself within your living of it!

 

No Quick Fix to Weightloss....Sorry!

Lately I've worked with loads of women in person and online. Something that strikes me is regardless how much I preach a lifestyle, women are still desperate for the quick fix and just KNOW that...

- they shouldn't eat carrots

- no carb diets are the ONLY way to lose weight

- you need to be uncontrollably hungry to lose weight

And countless, COUNTLESS other crazy things. It breaks my heart to look into the eyes of a woman who wants to lose weight more than anything and see hopelessness. They are in such a rush yet deep down they know it is ust not going to work LONGTERM.

What I can't understand is how some of you will work SO HARD in the short-term on starving, crazy diet notions, eating things you hate, etc., but when I suggest planning a menu (or following one of mine), prepping your food on Sunday, and scheduling moderate weekly activity that it is just CRAZY TALK!!!!

Honestly, if most women would give me ONE month of honest listening, honest feedback, and honest reflection I feel confident I could change A LOT about you. I know it's easy for you to read this and think "not for me" but I've simply worked with too many women and it's worked. The ones that didn't make it didn't do the basics. They looked for the "fix" rather than implementing my lifestyle help. 

I'm excited for the month of March because I have 100's of women now in different groups working with me on PNP, in a local support group, and on Facebook. Not all will succeed but a lot will. Those who listen to me that this is not about a diet but a change in how you and your family live your life will be forever changed.

I leave you with a quote and a picture of my local church and school group I co-lead with my dear friend Jennie who is in the middle of her journey. We're starting our THIRD month together and today we had a SMALL group. We have 20 or so REGULARS who volunteer to show up and work hard.

Most of these ladies are also training for their first 1/2 marathon. They are YOU. You don't need me there to do what they are doing each day. It's a matter of believing you can do it and that this life can happen for you. When that times come you can join me on PNP. 

I am amazed everytime I workout with you at what I can do. Thank you for pushing me! Because I CAN do this. I just have to believe I can do it. Guess what...I do believe.

 

Tropical Shakeology FINALLY Arrived

Dang, I think I was the last person to get their box of samples shipped but the little jewels are here. So many of you requested samples over the past two months! Please re-email me if you wanted one so I can get them out before Monday. 

And, I should be blogging more next week. I'm having MINOR surgery tomorrow and will have a lot of time to work. To be honest, it makes me nervous to not workout for a whole week. Silly, but ever since losing all my weight I haven't loved taking too much time off. Time off sends the old signals through my body of will you go back to working out? Will this be when you gain back 100lbs?

My mind knows the lifestyle is MINE but I was overweight for nearly 30 years! I've only been this weight for six! Something in me says that it is very normal to have the old thoughts racing through my head. What's not normal is ACTING on them. 

My plan for this week is to stretch, center, do some light yoga, journal my food, and work from home. Just because I can't exercise for an hour or so a day training for my races doesn't mean I have to donk off and eat my way through recovery. Recovery needs healthy foods and I intend to give it my healthy best!

See everyone on the other side of surgery, hope you are ready for a great weekend, and get active for me! I have lots of food plans ready to go for the weekend so that the King can take healthy care of me...which he always does.

Your Weightloss Circle of Influence

I've been getting signs from the world it's time for me to give this talk about enabling.

Most of us are trying to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle. We have PNP and other online support groups that I am a major part of and we share and learn from each other how to have a better, fitter, and healhier life. I think most of us got to this point of finding a new lifestyle because we don't eat right and/or move enough from day-to-day. What do I mean?

1. We don't prepare ahead of time so we grab junk food.

2. We have a bad day and decide a burger and shake will make us feel better.

3. After battling all day with our jobs, kids, and life we sit in the quiet of our home eating ice cream and cookies to relax.

4. Our day was long so we skip workouts and then sleep in never feeling like we get enough rest.

These are not "treats". These are faux fixes to problems we don't want to face. We don't want to prepare for life; we let it happen to us. We don't want to tell someone they stomped on our feelings; we smile and keep taking it. We don't find ways to cope through the day; we await a few moments of peace and avoid what's coming AGAIN tomorrow.

Then we turn to our circle of influence. These are the people in your life that help you be a better person. I know most of us have good people around us. Some of you have a few, ummm, weeds that need to be pulled, but for the most part we all have friends and family who are helping us be a better person.

This the part I need EVERYONE to pay attention to: quit enabling your pals and you quit allowing it.

I can't tell you how many times I read in all my challenges, groups, and boards where someone falls off the wagon and 1,000 people come flying in to tell them it's OK. Damn it! It's not OK!!!! 

If you had a drinking problem and decided after a tough day you were going to just do a couple of shots on the way home, I doubt Susie would be there saying, "go ahead...you can get back to sobriety tomorrow."

When someone has a TREAT, I absolutely know they deserve to have it. I'm not advocating deprivation to lose weight. But a treat isn't at a Burger King, standing in your pantry, in a gas station, or by yourself hoping no one sees you. 

A treat is enjoyed, savoured, VAULUED, and should leave you feeling satisfied. If you show up and blow up in the forums with those feelings then I am the first one to say GOOD FOR YOU GIRL! 

When a friend comes in and posts and it reads sadness, guilt, what was I thinking, etc., then don't tell them it's OK. You know what? That's insulting because you aren't really LISTENING to what your friend NEEDS to hear. Don't give them pity. Give them help, a plan, ask them what was really bothering them, and come up with some real support on how to make the next time better. 

I am so proud to say I have a dear friend who recently broke an eight month binge-free record. Now, she feels like shit, but her words and story always helps so many. As she journaled on PNP what happened, she worked through the WHY, what cues did she miss, what could she do different next time, how she can pray on it, and then faced the music of how she WILL FEEL for days to come.

You know what? She's done that with each binge over the last few years and what was once a monthly thing now is once every eight months. God be with her the next two weeks as she processes the junk out of her body and mind, but also I pray we all learn from her strength that she refuses to just say, "tomorrow is a new day." She says, "tomorrow is a new day AND HERE'S HOW I AM DOING IT DIFFERENT."

Always remember, it's easy to move on; it's a dedicated person who REFLECTS and moves on to a better a plan.

Are Green Smoothies Good?

If you ask my client, Leigh, green smoothies sure are good! She's been with PNP for a long time but recently decided her vegetable intake really had to improve to get the results she wants. I applaud her because she is like so many of you that she just doesn't "like" them.

Amazing right? Someone who hates vegetables will drink green drinks???

I am CRAZY obsessvie about my PNP members eating their vegetables. When I do food journal review on the member site, I'm constantly on their rears about FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. Not only is it HEALTHY but it makes you feel full. When your body gets the nutrients it wants, THEN it craves craptastic food A LOT LESS.

Leigh started asking me questions in our private forums about green smoothies. I told her about Shakeology  but she was more interested in making her own smoothies to drink with food. 

As you know, I'm a big fan of my shakes because they are loaded with nutrients while tasting like a Frosty, BUT I am a BIGGER FAN of my clients being healthy in anyway they can do it! 

We did some research and developed a nice thread full of information about how to start with making green smoothies. Over the past few weeks Leigh has gone from almost no vegetables to a blending machine! She loves it and I'm so proud of her for taking control of her health.

Here's what she wrote in our Beachbody thread (she's a Brazil Butt Lift girl) and check out this SWEET picture!!!

So I went shopping tonight for green smoothie goodies and I went all out. I haven't figured out exactly how much I need each week yet so I ran out again before the week was over. The lady checking me out wasn't even sure what a couple of them were which I didn't before starting green smoothies :)

Here is a pic to show everyone what I bought because anyone that knows me at all, knows I suck at eating veggies!  Bring on the green smoothies!

Leigh represents someone who doesn't "go from Big Mac to broccoli overnight." She kept trying things and found something she can mix into her life. I hope this inspires you to look at how you can bump your own nutrition a little. Make your own smoothies or try what I drink, Shakeology; it doesn't matter. The point is we all have to start somewhere. 

To top it off, she's even inspired many of us to add spinach to our Shakeology! We got girls blending away on PNP. I bet if we ask nicely she will comment on the blog a recipe or two??? 

 

Starting a Trend

Beachbody's motto is End the Trend (of Obesity) and I like that. It's one reason I choose them for videos and such because I wanted to be associated with things whose focus is to help people experience better lives. It's why I lost over 100lbs - my life was terrible. I was unhealthy, sad most of the time, and so tired with life due to my weight. 

Don't get me wrong that losing weight makes you happy. Learning to take care of yourself, prioritizing you life, and learning that food doesn't "fix" things is what made me happy. Being a healthy weight is a nice side effect.

Today I want to talk about something we all can do. I don't want to just end a trend; I like to think we are all starting trends. My friend Jennie and I are co-leading an amazing group of women at our church and school called the Happy Healthy Holy Ladies.

January 1, 2012 this group started two initiatives: to walk or run the Country Music Half Marathon in April and enter a Biggest Loser competition. Jennie and I were thinking we would have a few ladies join us because we love sharing how to change FAMILIES lives. 

We are over 90 strong on our closed Facebook group with a huge number of these ladies doing either the Biggest Loser or the Country Music Half Marathon. This picture is just a few of us who braved rain to do a 5K this past weekend. I'm on the far left sporting a HAWT trash bag.

I also run my webiste www.phit-n-phat.com. It's a private social community with training, education, support, forums, and programs designed to help women become healthy, hot, and Phabulous. I love it because for almost five years now I've watched women lose weight, but more importantly, share this lifestyle with people they love. This is a PNP client and new Beachbody Coach Emily and her husband. This post Les Mills Body Attack at 6am. She's lost over 30lbs and inspires so many of her friends. I just love this girl.

That's what it is all about for me. I want to see people truly change and see that life is worth having. People should feel the thrill of...

• Crossing finish lines they never thought possible with a smile on their mouth and eyes full of tears.
• Looking in their grocery cart and so proud of the food they snap a picture for me and post on my Facebook page.
• Putting on a pair of pants they bought months ago and realizing they can't wear them...they lost too much weight.
• Watching their kids choose fruits and vegetables because it's how Mom eats.
• Catching their husband eye a new butt while unloading the dishwasher.
• Having THEIR friends ask if THEY can help them.

This is starting trends. When you see how your change is effecting the lives around you it brings you a pride that the scale can't give you. THAT'S what I want for all of you and why I dedicate so much of my life to PNP and Beachbody. 

Some people think I'm crazy for the amount of time I spend online in my forums, answering quetions, and just being there for people when they aren't ready to believe in their potential. I think I'm selfish.

Honestly, I'm blessed each day to spend my time helping others find a life I love. There's nothing more enjoyable to me than health and fitness and I get to do that every day. My hobby is my passion and my passion is my job. 

So, I want to thank all my clients, my Beachbody Coaches, my Happy Healthy Holy Ladies, and my friends and family who decided my lifesytle was a trend-setter. All of you are the next Queen.

I'm closing with what inspired this blog. A client posted this in our PNP forum. She's in her 50's and just in the last year really decided she needed to lead a healthy lifestyle. She's lost weight, fitting in sizes she never thought possible, lifting weights after starting from ground zero, and just a joy to work with. It made me proud to know that paying it forward is alive and well. She's changing people with a simple change in pot luck dinners.

"I now bring something healthy to the church pot lucks. People go for the good food if it's there for them. In fact, we're starting a trend. We had more vegetarian and healthy foods tonight than not." 

 

Will Weightloss Make Me Happy?

In our PNP Beachbody February Team Forum we had someone talk about how the TLC show "The 600lb Woman" really got to her. Even though she doesn't that much weight to lose, she felt her pain when she went from 600 to 157lbs but still faced the same mental issues. She still wasn't happy.

I think all of us go through the process of "when I reach X weight THEN I will be happy." Doesn't it just seem like if were thin life would be easy. I know from experience that the what the scale says and what size you wear really doesn't make you happy. Sure, it's nice to not have your weight be up but trust me, if you don't love your life that number isn't going to make the shit around you smell better.

Below is what I responded to my girls talking about this. Hope it makes some sense and I hope you all in our team support group will keep chatting about this. It's key to future success...and happiness.

 

It is true that reaching a certain weight or size isn't what brings you happiness. I don't know the answer, but my thoughts are when you look at your life and WHY you are unhappy, the weight is typically a symptom of the bigger issue.

You might be unhappy because you don't face problems (you stuff them down and cope with food leading to those extra pounds), you allow people to run over you (allowing YOU to run over YOU in the process), etc. 

I mean most of us gained weight because there were things and situations in life that forced us into behaviors of unhealth. When those things are fixed usually our focus on our health can be, too.