Wednesday was one of those days that I could have eaten more calories than I probably do in a week. I woke up with an appetite fit for a king…a big king that is. And the fact that it rained, got colder out it gave me even more fuel to get into MINDLESS EATING, as I call it.

As a young girl that kind of eating got me in trouble and helped me to escalate my weight to over 300 pounds. The feeling was there and I wanted to eat all day. For me, and to all food addicts, that is the worst kind of eating. You eat and don’t even realize the damage you’re doing not only to your body but also to your mind. Many years ago I would eat till I could not breathe and hated myself afterwards.

Anyway, I knew I had a business date for lunch, but I kept thinking that’s 4 hours away! You know the damage a food addict can do in a short period of time - but this was 4 hours. ‘Debra you need to get real about this and deal with it’. This is what I told myself or I was not going make it till noon. But that urge to eat was there and it was strong. I could have stayed in my pajamas all day and you all know my feelings about sitting around all day in sweat clothes or pajamas. That is a recipe for a calorie buildup typhoon. But trying to divert myself was not helping and I had to admit that something emotional was going on in me.

So, I made a cup of tea, took a deep breath and sat down and began to write in my journal. As I did, I began to feel better. I began to think of my life years ago when I did not have any skills to mentally help myself and would have just abused myself and not taken action. I taught myself how to be more mindful about eating and the choices I make. For the food addict, mindful eating is one of the toughest but most important things to learn. You can do all of the dieting you want but if you do not deal with MENTAL SKILLS TRAINING the weight will not stay off. Does it work every time? Of course not. But most of the time it does and that is how to win the fight.

I made it through the rain as my man Barry Manilow sings about. I have learned that by harnessing the power of MY MIND I no longer have to surrender control and abuse my body. Using these skills has been my salvation for over 25 years. These skills (known as The Mazda Method) will be available as a 4-pack CD set in our online store in January 2008.

Debra

I woke up exhausted today from a long day in New York yesterday. Once I started to think about my client feeling and looking better I got energized and exicted. Her progress is terrific; she has lost over 11 pounds and really vamped up her fitness routines. I started her at 10-12 minutes on the treadmill, four to five times a week and at a very low walking level around 2.5 on the treadmill. My goal was to have her do more time per session and that would help her to burn more calories. Well, it worked, as I knew it would. She not only went to 15 minutes a session she is now at 30 minutes every time she steps on the treadmill. She has progressed so beautifully and rapidly and did it when she was ready to.

The next step is to get her to do 45 minutes per session and then to incorporate hand weights for a toning and strengthening workout. That will happen in the near future, but for now she is doing fabulous. She is emailing me her food plan daily and although not perfect she is very aware of what she is eating. She is also learning the mental skills technique, THE MAZDA METHOD, to help her cope with EMOTIONAL EATING. I learned these skills many years ago to help me lose over 100 pounds and I am still using them today to get through those days when I want to use food as a way to cope with challenges that come up in life as they do now and will always show up when you least expect then to. All in all, Elle is doing fabulous, as are all of my other clients who are losing weight and getting healthier in their lives. Remember, you have the power to create that change.

Debra

After working so hard on the CURVY GIRL WORKOUT VIDEO last week I decided to take a couple of days to do whatever I wanted to do. I decided to go see my family at the shore (New Jersey) this weekend and hang out. I contacted an old friend who is a tennis partner of mine and we set up a match to play that morning.

I play competitive tennis and see it as a personal challenge. I am very competitive and take the game seriously when I play. I was so happy to see Tina. It had been months since we played or even got together because she lives in Ocean City. We decided to meet that morning at 8:30 am for a match. Now, although we are friends and really like each other, we play to hit hard and win points and get in a good workout. Since we are evenly matched we really enjoy playing and hitting with each other.

So, I get to the courts and it was absolutely gorgeous out and I was really looking forward to the match. I got a cup of coffee and off I went. When I got to the courts she informed me that the courts had been resurfaced and they looked great. We began to warm up and we were getting loose and after 15 minutes we were ready. Now, although I am a very friendly and a good sport, when I play Tina I take our matches very seriously. As the game got underway, she began to kill me. I played the worst tennis. I can’t remember playing that badly and the more I wanted to catch up the worse I got. I could not figure out what was going on. I just knew I had to make some changes. What I was doing was not working and I was sinking fast.

Now, mind you, I came on the courts in good spirits, warmed up, with a good nights sleep, alive and vibrant, and still my performance was not looking good. I was down 5-0. That means she had 5 games and I had none. It was looking very ugly, but it was not over yet. In tennis, when one person gets to 6 games the set is over. Well, this was not sitting well with me. Nothing I tried physically was working; I could not hit a ball to save my soul. I had to re-group and get myself back in the game. And that is exactly what I did. I began to work on some positive feedback with myself and took a deep breath and got right back in the game. She could not believe it, but the next thing that happened was the game was tied up 5-5. She thought she had me beat and I put everything I had in that match and got myself moving and making my plan. Suddenly, it was looking good - I was back in the groove of the game. Did I want to win? I couldn’t have cared less but I wanted to do my best that is all that mattered to me. I was not performing at my best.

The next thing I knew, we were at 10-10,and then 12-12. Remember in tennis, you have to win by two games. The game finally ended at 16-14. Does it matter who won? Of course not. We are not pros. The only stake involved here was what was in our heads. It only mattered to Tina and me on a personal level as friends and competitive women. The only thing I will say is that she bought breakfast and we talked and laughed about how life sometimes is like a tennis match and how she could not believe how it ended.

I remember many years ago watching Andre Agassi getting ready to lose the French Open. One point and he was done. Well, being the champ he is, he turned it around and won the match and the championship. To this day, I have never forgotten that match and was amazed at his comeback. I do not think I need to tell anyone the POINT OF THIS STORY, you already know it. When things do not look good, as sometimes happens, take a deep breath, start over again, believe in yourself and keep moving forward.

Debra