Balance Your Life, Balance the Scale: Ditch Dieting, Amp Up Your Energy, Feel Amazing, and Release the Weight

214 Pages·2012·1.15 MB·English

by  Jennifer Tuma-Young

BALANCE YOUR LIFE,
BALANCE THE SCALE
DITCH DIETING, AMP UP YOUR ENERGY,
FEEL AMAZING, AND RELEASE THE WEIGHT
JENNIFER TUMA-YOUNG
Dedication
To the inspirista within every woman
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication

Introduction
Chapter One - We Eat How We Live
Chapter Two - B is for Brain Dump and Breathe
Chapter Three - A is for Assess and Accept
Chapter Four - L is for Let Go and Laugh
Chapter Five - A is for Add In and Appreciate
Chapter Six - N is for Navigate and Notice Nature
Chapter Seven - C is for Confront and Connect
Chapter Eight - E is for Engage and Experience
Acknowledgments

About the Author
Back Ad
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
Introduction
W
elcome to the most unconventional weight loss book you’ll ever read!
Wait—let’s stop there. To be honest, I kind of cringe at the thought of this
being a weight loss book, because I firmly believe that we are so much more
than numbers and that what really matters in life is who we are, not what we
weigh. But I understand that you probably picked this book up because you’d
like to be healthier and weigh less. I get it! I am very grateful that you are here,
and I am excited to share my story and what I’ve learned from working with
thousands of women just like you.
So even though we’re not calling this a weight loss book, it definitely is a
book that will help you release weight. What’s so unconventional about it is that
it will tell you to stop dieting, to eat what you love, to ignore the numbers on the
bathroom scale, and to change the way you think about controlling your weight.
And, unlike most books about weight, we won’t be spending tons of time talking
about what to eat. Instead, you’ll learn about balance, which will help you kick
dieting and self-loathing to the curb.
Listen, I know what you’re thinking: Balance, schmalance. You don’t care
about balance. You just want to get rid of some extra pounds and fit into the
jeans you wore five years ago.
I understand that you want to start getting results instantly. I know how that
feels. I am a recovered yo-yo dieter, and I purchased so many diet books, I could
probably open a bookstore with them all. I used to joke that I could teach weight
loss classes because I knew so much about nutrition and diets from reading so
many books and doing so many diets. Many of the women I meet say the same
thing—they’re pretty sure they know what to eat, but for whatever reason, they
are not committing to their health. And what’s more, I find that the reason has
much to do with the way we live.
Let me explain, I’ve worked with many women—and I realized pretty
quickly, most of us have an idea of how to be healthy, right? I mean, we know
that a blueberry is a healthier choice than a potato chip, and if weight was really
the only issue, why would we even want to eat a potato chip instead of a
blueberry? So, it’s not really about the food (maybe a little if you are skewed by
having done too many diets—we’ll get into that later). And I also realized that
women (and here’s a lightbulb) do too much. We are living in a world where we
are taught that “more” is better when it comes to schedules and stuff, and “less”
is better when it comes to our bodies . . . and it can feel impossible to simplify
when life has become increasingly complex.
I’m not talking about “balance” in the sense of perfectly juggling all of the
balls in the air—striving for that type of balance has only made women more
stressed, gain more weight, and feel like more of a big, giant failure.
Years ago, I began asking the women I worked with a very simple yet
important question, “What do you want?” And this led to the development of my
B.A.L.A.N.C.E. Program, which will assist you in redefining your own meaning
and method for balance, based on something most diets simply cannot factor in
—YOU.
So, by opening this book, you’ve taken your first step on the journey toward
balancing your life and the scale. And you’ll never go on a diet again.
Congratulations, your dieting days are over!
Now, you’re probably wondering why I am so anti-diet. Because diets (in and
of themselves) simply don’t work. Sure, if you lived in a bubble and were only
focusing on following the diet with access only to the foods of the given diet—of
course, that would work to help you lose weight, but think about these two very
important factors:
1. You don’t live in a bubble, and even if you did for a period of time,
eventually you’d have to join in “real life” again. It’s impossible for a
“bubble” to factor in your life realistically.
2. Would the weight loss alone really make you happy and fulfilled?
If you want to live a healthy, vibrant life, you’ve got to move away from the
crazy “on-and-off” world of diets and embrace balance and self-love instead. My
life’s mission is to help all women (including myself) rediscover who we were
each born to be, find balance, embrace our uniqueness, connect with each other,
overcome fear, use our gifts, feel weightless, and smile a lot along the way.
Helping people do all this is one of the goals of my life and of this book.
Balance Benefits
Believe me when I tell you that when you choose to live your life by being in
balance, you will release weight—both in your life and on the scale. No
gimmicks. No starvation. No impossible exercise plans—just a balanced
approach that will improve every single part of your life. Being in balance
reduces stress, and reducing stress helps you lose weight. It’s that simple. I know
this because I’ve seen it happen for thousands of women, starting with myself.
Thirteen years ago, I overcame borderline diabetes and lost more than a
hundred pounds, ironically when I decided to ditch dieting and all of the self-
loathing that goes with it. Sure, I exercised and chose nutritious foods. But there
was way more to it than that—that was just the beginning. I lost all that weight
(and have kept the scale in balance for over a decade) by making a far more
fundamental change than just cutting down on calories—I transformed my life
by learning what it meant to actually love myself. I changed myself from the
inside out—I found my anchor to keep me in balance. And by being in balance,
the scale balanced itself. You will learn all the intricate up-and-down details of
my story throughout this book, as my story is intimately connected to my
B.A.L.A.N.C.E. Program.
Over the past decade, I have devoted my life to assisting other women in
doing the same thing. As a certified wellness coach, author, blogger, consultant,
speaker, workshop teacher, and Curves fanatic, I have helped women release
weight and find happiness by learning how to restore balance to their lives.
Take Donna, for example. When I met Donna, she was exhausted, drained,
and stressed out. She’d been trying to lose her baby weight for twelve years and
had been on every diet imaginable. Her calendar was booked day to night with
housework, a part-time job, carpooling, soccer games, and ballet practice. Her
husband was working and traveling all the time, yet they were barely able to
make ends meet. She rarely saw her friends. Although she used to pride herself
on the way she looked, she hadn’t worked out in years. She felt out of shape, out
of touch, and completely out of balance.
Sound familiar?
With my guidance, Donna redefined her own meaning and method for a
balanced life that in turn balanced the scale. She lowered her stress levels,
increased her commitment to taking care of herself, and reconnected with
friends. And guess what happened after all that came together? You’ve got it—
she lost the weight she’d been unhappily carrying around for more than ten
years. Like so many of the women I’ve worked with, Donna learned that the
more you’re in balance, the less stressed you are, and the less stressed you are,
the easier it is to release weight.
Many of the women who come to me for help are unhappy with the way they
look and feel. They beat themselves up for just about everything. They are
juggling a million responsibilities, but they still feel empty. They come from all
different backgrounds and every age group, but they all tell the same story: They
want to feel better about themselves, but they are blocked by exhaustion,
frustration, self-anger, and disappointment. And they feel totally out of balance.
I have spent the past ten years developing and fine-tuning my
B.A.L.A.N.C.E. Program and in the process have assisted thousands of women
in achieving inspired weight loss (and keeping the weight off) as a benefit of
restoring balance to their lives. The program even offers balance techniques for
when life inevitably throws some curveballs.
The B.A.L.A.N.C.E. Program has grown in leaps and bounds over the last
decade. It didn’t just happen overnight—and quite frankly, neither did my
personal transformation. The techniques and program have evolved through the
influence of my own life experiences as well as those of the women I’ve worked
with. I’ve learned from every one of them. For all of us, this program succeeded
where so many diets had failed. Now I’m thrilled to be taking the next step and
putting my B.A.L.A.N.C.E. Program into a book that will reach more women
than I could ever connect with in person.
Although my B.A.L.A.N.C.E. Program does indeed help with weight loss,
it’s so much more than just a weight loss plan. Most of the women I meet say
they want to lose weight. But once we start talking, we find balance issues or
sturdy roadblocks that prevent them from being the magnificent women they
were born to be. So instead of putting on diet blinders and focusing on cutting
things out, we look at the larger picture of their lives—their careers, their
relationships, their priorities, and their dreams. Once they start utilizing the
balance techniques to find balance in the other parts of their lives, weight loss
happens organically.
It works the other way too. Recently a woman sought me out because she was
having trouble with her business. Using the balance techniques, we solved her
business problems—and along the way she lost fifteen pounds. She wasn’t even
trying to lose weight!
I’ll tell you many more stories like these in the chapters that follow. Over the
years, the women I’ve met have taught me so much, and I know you will enjoy
hearing about their triumphs as well as their struggles.
Now that you know a little about me and how I formed my B.A.L.A.N.C.E.
Program, it’s time to begin defining your own meaning and method for a life in
balance.
I’m so excited for you—you’re about to begin one of the most exciting
journeys of your life.
Let Your Journey Begin
The journey in between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of
Life really takes place.
—Barbara De Angelis
The journey on which this book will guide you is about you: your life, your
values, your body, your health, your mind-set, your happiness. It’s about you
being the most passionate and energetic version of yourself possible, using your
unique gifts and talents to care for yourself and serve the world.
In the pages that follow, you’ll discover everything you need to bring balance
to your life. My highly successful, highly rewarding B.A.L.A.N.C.E. Program
will provide the tools, vision, step-by-step guidance, and inspiration you need to
find balance and lose weight.
Using the B.A.L.A.N.C.E. Program in this book, you’ll learn how to:
Explore and envision what would truly make you happy, and use that
vision to define your own specific balance goals
Define your own meaning and method to finding balance in life and
with the scale—releasing dead weight off your shoulders and your
body
Use fun worksheets and quizzes to help you become an expert
Start restoring balance immediately by finding humor in your unique
imperfections and embracing them
Discover the most effective ways to set and reach goals
Practice self-care in realistic, practical ways
Overcome obstacles by taking my no-excuses approach
Use techniques to stay in balance no matter what changes, adversities,
or curveballs come your way
Use long-buried personal strength to fire up your energy, take action,
and tackle change
Unburden yourself of the negative assumptions that weigh you down
and hold you back