Weight Loss Guru

What does every single one of us have in common ? What do you have in common with the woman sitting next to you on the bus ? Or with the guy who fixes your boiler ? Or even with your teenage daughter ? Male, female, old, young, rich, poor, black or white - each of us has problems.
 
No matter how good your life appears, chances are you’re not completely happy with your lot. In fact, a recent BBC survey undertaken for the programme The Happiness Formula found that the number of people who say they’re ‘very happy’ has fallen from 52% in 1957 to just 36% today.
 
All in all, it would appear that many of us have lost our MOJO, but what does this popular word actually mean ?  Well, many people think MOJO is from the Austin Powers movie. In the film the character Austin has his sexual prowess, that is his MOJO, stolen by one of the characters. This renders him impotent.  However, thanks to the character Felicity Shagwell's encouragement, Austin realizes that he had the MOJO inside him all along.
 
In actual fact, the original origin of this word is a term that derives from several of the 450 Bantu languages of Africa. It carried quickly to the language of African American slaves and was often applied to charms, magical spells, or small bags carried for personal protection as part of the voodoo belief system that evolved during slavery.
 
In its most precise definition, people might carry or wear a MOJO, a small fabric bag. The MOJO could contain numerous things, herbs, small carved symbols or fetishes, or papers on which prayers or petitions were written. Usually a MOJO is not displayed and is hidden under clothing.
 
Now we are not suggesting that you start to carry around a small MOJO bag or that you have lost your sexual prowess. What we are suggesting is you start to carry around what we call MOJO. It's your Motivation, your Optimism, your Joy and your being Outgoing.
 
Everyone can get their MOJO back and be happier, more confident, more successful and healthier – but these things don’t always land in our laps. One thing that each of us has in common, regardless of our background, culture or gender, is problems. Everybody faces challenges and has things they want to change; but have you noticed how some people deal with things more quickly and more easily than others ? It would seem that the way people have experienced life and the problems they have faced has affected their MOJO.
 
Let’s face facts, life is not easy and it’s no surprise that many of us have lost our MOJO, our spark, our enthusiasm and our passion to live life to the full.  Life is not like the fairy tales that our parents used to read to us to send us to sleep. However, life can be so much more and you can get your MOJO back, especially if you are Motivated, Optimistic, Joyful  and Outgoing
 
What do you reckon about our definition of MOJO and how strong is yours?

Why is losing weight so difficult for people and how many times have people tried to lose weight to only fail and then put the weight back on again ?

The answers to these questions are complex and there are many different factors, but in this article I want to focus on just how the two words “losing weight” can be a recipe for disaster.

I have spent the last twenty years of my life helping people not only with weight loss but, more importantly, keep it off. I have come into contact with literally thousands of people through courses I have run, books I have written and my on-line programmes. I have learned so much from working with everyday people and I want to share with you one of the biggest observations I have made during this time.

The reason most people struggle to lose weight is because they don’t enjoy the process.  In fact they associate pain, denial and deprivation with losing weight. As they don’t enjoy the process, is it any wonder that they either give up or put the weight back on after they have succeeded in losing it. The other important factor is to address why we so many people eat. I believe the reason we eat is to stimulate our senses and make us feel good. Emotions like stress, anxiety and depression are very prevalent in our society today and more and more people turn to food to temporarily change their emotional state.

The Western world is technologically advanced but our ever increasing waist line proves that we may not be as advanced as we think.

Look at these stastics from Blythman in 2006

• One in every three Britons say that they do not eat vegetables because they require too much effort to prepare.

• In 2003, Britain ate  more ready meals than the rest of Europe put together.

• In 2004, 40% of British patients entering and leaving hospitals were found to have malnutrition.

Is it any wonder there is a problem here as so many people turn to high fat, sugary and processed foods to feel good. In addition to this, the thought of exercise makes people break out into a sweat and run for the sofa.

For me, the process of losing weight needs to change as it’s not an experience that people look at as fun and enjoyable. Just look at the words “losing weight”. Let's start with losing. What happens to many of the things we lose, like our keys? Well, in many cases we find them and this is what happens to the majority of people who lose weight. They find what they have lost, i.e. they find the weight that they lost and put it back on again !   Also losing is what most people do in the long run, as they never seem to win in their weight loss endeavours by keeping it off. The other word “weight” is just as negative, as weight refers to something that is heavy and also "weighting" refers to have to "weight"for something to happen !

If we are going to make an impact in this area then we need to help people associate gain rather than loss with getting slimmer, fitter and healthier.  The challenge with this is that we are a society that wants immediate gratification and we don't seem to think about long term benefits.

We have to change our mind sets otherwise the future will see obesity spiral out of all control

Check out this great podcast with Fitness Expert and Life Coach Russell Turner

Our goals, dreams and ambitions are very important when it comes to weight loss, fitness and health but what are the ideals we have and are we just setting ourselves up for failure.

Have a look at my latest video about this and let us know what you think.  

Today has been a FABULOUS DAY..... I went to town with my daughter and grandaughter and was delighted to see all the summer sales had started.... like all of us I do like a bargain..... and FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DONKEYS YEARS I TRIED CLOTHES ON IN A CHANGING ROOM!!!!!!!! 

This is not a huge thing for most people but when I started  petecohen.tv on Day 1 i was hardly able to sqeeze myself into a very generous size 36!!!! I had to buy 2nd had clothes online, as nothing in the high street went anywere near me, and I spent most of my life in baggy nightshirts hardly able to leave the house as i was nearly 28 stone on a 5'3 frame, riddled with arthiritis and recovering from major cancer surgery too, so every day I was in so much pain i didnt know where to put myself!!! I would drive out at midnight to do banking in the nightsave so I didnt get the micky taken out of me, or crawl around a supermarket hanging over the trolly for support just to pick u a few essentials, but done all my shopping online...... So TODAY.... THIS WONDERFUL DAY...... I SHOPPED SOLID FOR 4 HOURS, DIDNT HAVE TO SIT DOWN ONCE....... I GOT INTO A SIZE 22 FROM BHS A SHOP I WOULD NEVER HAVE DREAMT OF EVER BUYING IN.... I CAME AWAY FROM ANN HARVEYS WITH 2 CARRIER BAGS FULL OF SIZE 22'S........... AND BRIGHT BRIGHT LOVELY SUMMER COLOURS, NOT THE BLACKS AND BROWNS FROM PRE petecohen.tv........

I stlll have a long way to go , I will be 5 stone lighter, by my birthday in February, and then i will be a size 16 which is the size that dreams were only made of before I joined Pete and his merry band of bloggers.

Today my daughter and grandaughter got tired before I did, and virtually dragged me back to the school screaming and shouting that i had more shopping to do !!!!

So if anyone is wobbling, or weebling or struggling take faith from this entry, and its simple as can be ....... dont just lose weight, become EXCEPTIONAL at losing weight, be as EXCEPTIONAL at losing weight as you are at loving your family and caring for them, or as you are in your relationship and loving your partner, or your work, apply that steely determination that nothing and no one will get in your way of being the best you can be....... and all your dreams will come true as mine are on a daily basis.

Thankyou Pete, my friend and hero, thankyou bloggers for always being there, This is the ONLY weight loss system you will ever have to do ever ever again.

Loads of love and a very happy size 22 Sue here in Norfolk 

 

 

Check out my new video blog of my trip to the great Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. There are a couple of things in this video that might shock you and you must not try yourself. 

We all get confused in life as to what path to take and which direction to go. I meet people all the time that refuse to leave the path they are on and do something different.

Please watch my latest video blog, as I explain how to get out of our comforts zones, break through fear and be fitter, slimmer, healthier and happy.

What do you think and have you ever chosen to take a new path in your life?  

Getting What You Want 

Did you know that a study by Yale University on goal setting was carried out in the 1950’s. The researchers surveyed those who graduated in 1953 to determine how many of them had specific, written goals for their future, only 3% of them had. Twenty years later, the researchers surveyed the surviving members of the original group and found that the 3% who’d set goals had accumulated more personal financial wealth than the other 97% of the class combined! Whilst goal setting and happiness are not all about money, this anecdote shows how powerful we can be when we set our mind to something.

What’s in it for me?

However many of us do not focus on positive outcomes, we prefer to obsess about what we don’t want, or centre on what is missing in their life. For such people, it’s easy to forget what’s great, what’s working in their lives and what resources they have to create even more happiness and success. Because we tend to get what we focus on, when we focus on what’s not working or spend time wondering why bad things always seem to happen, then we merely get more of what we don’t want. What’s the point of that?

It’s also important to remember that few of us have a 100% hit rate so there may be times when you set a goal and make a mistake or find that your goal doesn’t work. This is not the end of the world! At this point you have a choice: you can get all flustered, beat yourself up and go back to wandering about without direction – or you can learn from the experience and move on.

When setting your goals is to clarify why you want this outcome. If your goals are about things that you need in your life and will benefit you and others, you’ll feel happy when you achieve. But if you set goals just because you think you should, or to please other people, you may not feel that special even when you do achieve what you set out to do. It’s important to ask yourself ‘What’s in it for me?’

"Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination."             Fitzhugh Dodson

Please feel to share any of the  goals that you have achieved in your life  as it's great to share what you achieved and how you did it.

 

 Watch me work with Katerina on GMTV who had obsessive compulsion disorder.

 

What does every single one of us have in common? What do you have in common with the woman sitting next to you on the bus? Or with the guy who fixes your boiler? Or even with your teenage daughter? Male, female, old, young, rich, poor, black or white - each of us has problems. No matter how good your life appears, chances are you’re not completely happy with your lot. In fact, a recent BBC survey undertaken for the programme The Happiness Formula found that the number of people who say they’re ‘very happy’ has fallen from 52% in 1957 to just 36% today.

The five problems that people find hardest to deal with are relationships, money, career, body image and fear and when things go wrong we can feel like the world’s coming to an end. But the truth of the matter is that as soon as we start to worry about something - like how we’re going to pay off our credit card bill or the fact we’ve got two weeks to fit into our bikini - we react in the way that we’ve always reacted. Without thinking about it, we fall into the trap of thinking ‘I can’t do anything’, ‘I feel useless’ or ‘I wish this would go away!’ We’re so used to feeling powerless that we don’t stop to think how we could do something differently.

 Do you think it’s hard to change and do we have the power to make our lives  better so we can be happier and healthier? Please share your thoughts about this as I am sure we can learn from each other.