Jamie G. Dougherty | Spa Week Daily

Lose Weight By Accident: Take These 3 Steps Towards Change

July 16, 2012 | By Jamie G. Dougherty

By Jamie G. Dougherty

Weight loss is all about changing your thoughts, actions and feelings around your body and your food. Sometimes it happens by accident and sometimes it’s a serious pain in the patootie! Before starting on any new eating routine or life change, it’s imperative to set yourself up for success. Yes, tossing out the balance bars and frozen snickers certainly helps, but I’m talking about digging a little deeper. Here are my 3 life-altering action steps to take before making any new life change. Use these whenever you want to change your thoughts about your body, your food, or how you engage in any new and exciting endeavor. With these easy 3 all lined up and ready to go, you are certain to rock the casbah!3

Find community and a mentor

You don’t have to do this whole foody/body change thang alone. Community is the quickest way to make sure you stay focused and supported throughout your new (or current) endeavor. Build a group around you that will party with you during the highs and pick you up and dust you off in the lows. After giving yourself permission to not do it alone, find someone who inspires you, enthralls you and makes you say, “Damn, I want to be like that!” And then…connect. Reinventing the wheel is no fun and honestly, unnecessary. Find someone you admire, who rocks your world and get their energy in regular doses.

Trust your own pace

Stop the cranky comparisons right now. Everyone is on their own path so trust your pace and the speed at which you progress. Some people move fast while others take more time. Either way, we all end up in the same place so you might as well trust your intuition and enjoy the ride.

Success is NOW

You are doing wonderfully now. Not when you kick Diet Coke to the curb forever (though that will be awesome!), but when you finally believe your are worthy and deserving, or when you’ve got your dream body. N.O.W. Everything you do now is making way for the desires and dreams that lie before you. Appreciate each moment so you can fully connect with your purpose which keeps you gently on task for all you want to create.

Good stuff, right? So here’s how you are going to get started! In the comments below tell me, what do you wish you had known before taking on new change? Which life altering action spoke to you most and how will you incorporate it?

Jamie G. Dougherty, founder of JamieLiving.com, empowers busy women to break through food barriers to see their bodies and life bloom! If you feel hungry, stuck and unsatisfied with your food and body be sure to visit Jamie’s website to get her FREE 5-Step Guide to Fabulous. Seriously ladies, get ready for Jamie to rock your world!

Filed Under: Food + Drink, Good + Happy Tagged With: jamie g dougherty, life tips, life tricks, lose weight by accident, weight loss tips, weight loss tricks

Lose Weight By Accident: Eat Your Onions!

July 3, 2012 | By Jamie G. Dougherty

It may not be as hot as kale or as sexy as spinach, but the marvelous onion has certainly got it going on in the healthy weight loss department. Onions are part of the allium family, and besides being crazy tasty are loaded with the antioxidant quercetin. In preliminary studies, quercetin has been shown to increase the body’s calorie burning abilities and simultaneously reduce inflammation. Obviously burning more calories is awesome but the reduction of inflammation is also important as physical inflammation is one of the symptoms of weight gain.

Now I know you are thinking, “But what about onion breathe?” Ok, my lady, you’ve got two options here. One, is to simply not care (which is my favorite personal option), OR, when eating onions make sure they are well cooked. Heat minimizes any detrimental onion after effects so simply grill or saute them and you will be good to go.

Want to know the radtastic type of onion I cannot live without? Watch and enjoy!

In the comments below tell me your favorite way of preparing onions and the benefits you’ve seen when including them into your cooking.

Jamie G. Dougherty, founder of JamieLiving.com, empowers busy women to break through body and food barriers to see their life and body bloom! She is also the creator of the Delicious Detox Program: 10 Days to a more Divine and Delicious YOU! If you feel hungry, stuck and unsatisfied with your food and your body be sure to visit Jamie’s website to get her FREE 5-Step Guide to Fabulous. Seriously ladies, get ready for Jamie to rock your world!

Filed Under: Food + Drink Tagged With: are onions healthy, healthy onions, lose weight by accident, Lose Weight By Accident: Eat Your Onions! Jamie G. Dougherty, nutrition tips, onions, onions for weight loss, tri, weight loss tips

Lose Weight By Accident: Are You a FOMO fanatic?

June 18, 2012 | By Jamie G. Dougherty

By Jamie G. Dougherty

No one likes to miss out, right? We all worry about missing out on that perfect dress or fantastic boyfriend or not getting that ideal job we wanted. This, my lovely ladies, is a condition I call FOMO…AKA Fear of Missing Out.

FOMO is present in all aspects of our lives but no where is it more prevalent than in our interactions with food.

Have you ever downed the rest of a pint of ice cream, a cupcake, candy bar or bottle of wine because you thought, “I might never have something this good again!” You gobble up what ever is in front of you thinking this present delicious joy will never be experienced again. Your afraid of missing out on a single last drop of food fun.

The truth is that often those final moments of, “I’ve got to finish this before it’s gone and I miss out”, are never as satisfying as we want them to be. They leave us feeling full, uncomfortable and often out of control.

So, what can we do when our FOMO is about to take over?

Here is my #1 way to clear a FOMO food freakout.

Give yourself permission. It’s a simple as that. We get into FOMO food mode because we convince ourselves that after this cupcake, we will never eat another one again. So totally not true! What’s actually happened is you’ve decided you will never LET yourself enjoy a cupcake again. Next time, give yourself permission to enjoy what you want in the moment. When you are satisfied after 2 or 3 bites, save the rest for later rather than mowing it down because you’ve made some arbitrary rule that this can never happen again.

Setting aggressive boundaries only gets your FOMO freight train going full speed ahead.

So tell me below, what causes your biggest FOMO freakout? How has noticing your FOMO tendencies changed how you engage in your life? What are your tips for shifting from FOMO to fully present?

Filed Under: Health & Wellness Tagged With: fear of missing out, fomo, healthy eating habits, jamie g dougherty, Lose Weight By Accident: Are You a FOMO fanatic?

Lose Weight By Accident: Crack Up to Shrink Down

June 4, 2012 | By Jamie G. Dougherty

By Jamie G. Dougherty

When you think about losing weight, there are a few tips that come to mind: eat more greens, yes. Drink more water, sure. Call Julie for a quick phone chit-chat, not really. Getting your best friend on the phone is not usually a go-to trick to shed some lbs (although this tip depends on your BFF relationship and situation). I’ve always had a very strict policy: best friends must be funny. The special BFF in my life has to have the ability to leave me in tears with a cramped stomach from her hilariosity.

Now, your best friend may not be the funniest person in the world and that is totally OK. She just needs to be hilarious to you. Here’s why: laughter raises your energy expenditure and your heart rate by 10 to 20 percent. With 15 minutes of hardcore laughing, you burn about 40 calories, which if done every day equates to 4 pounds a year. Not a huge drop, but nothing to sniffle at either. Laughing also floods your body with the chemical serotonin, which immediately creates a sense of happiness and wellbeing, making it a lot less likely you will need a 4 pm empty calorie boost like a mini snickers, scone, or frappuchino to lift your spirits.

Warning: This tip is going to make you look at your best friend in a different light. If she doesn’t make you laugh, or if in fact makes life a bit more dramatic and frazzled, it’s time for a new one.

So, the next time you are headed down the hall to grab a handful of m&m’s from the office candy bowl or find yourself sneaking into the kitchen for a late night ice cream rendezvous, call your dearest bestie. The sweet laughter she will induce will last way longer than any other sugar fix (plus, it will help rock your waistline to boot). Now that’s what friends are for! In the comments below tell me what cracks you up most about your best friend.

Filed Under: Good + Happy, Health & Wellness Tagged With: bff workout tips, burn calories by laughing, laughing to lose weight, laughing with best friends, lose weight by accident, Lose Weight By Accident: Crack Up to Shrink Down, weight loss tips, weightloss

Lose Weight By Accident: Food for Flight

May 14, 2012 | By Jamie G. Dougherty

By Jamie G. Dougherty

There are so many things to think about when embarking on a exciting trip or vacation. What to wear, where to stay and dine, how many pairs of shoes to pack, should I bring my floral or leopard print bikini? (I assume both, right?)

However, the one thing we usually forget about while traveling… is food. What the heck are you going to eat in the airport, on the plane, or sitting in the back of the screeching cab on your way to the hotel? Airports and airplanes are rife with food that can easily derail all your good Spring eating (or as Ellen illustrates, is a downright humiliation to mankind). And by the time you get to your lovely destination, all the crappy, crazy-salty, under-satisfying food you’ve eaten while in transit makes it tough to get into your super cute outfit. Believe me sister, I hear ya!

As I’m traveling for most of May, here is my personal list of the foods I pack for any airborne trip. They all travel beautifully and don’t need to be refrigerated. Score!

1. Dried fruit and nuts – Favorites are peaches, apricots, cherries, dates, prunes, walnuts, almonds, cashews, brazil nuts and pecans. Make sure the fruit is un-sulphured as sulphur is a preservative that can cause tummy upset. (AKA gas!)

2. Fresh fruit with hard cheese – Apples with cheddar or pecorino work best.

3. Tamari sunflower and pumpkin seeds – A perfect snack when you want something fatty and salty. They also add that crunch!

4. Cut veggies with Muhammara - Celery, radishes, cucumbers, carrots, and sugar snap peas work well. They also help keep you hydrated on the dry plane.

5. Your favorite dark chocolate bar – What can I say? Never travel without chocolate. My favorite is the Alter-Eco BlackOut bar.

6. Crackers – These will keep you way from the baggies of pretzels. The best brands are Ryvita, Dr. Kracker, and Mary’s Gone Crackers.