No-calorie self-care treats for YOU

We’re nearing the end of the 30 Day Self-care Challenge.  Mother’s Day is approaching, and I’m continually being asked—

“How do I fit in self-care?”

“How do I actually indulge and reward myself without turning to food?”

“I’m out of practice—what are some do-able and easy self-care ideas?”

High quality self-care begins with good intentions, but it only counts when you find ways to follow through, put yourself first, and prioritize and act on the things that make you shine and feel fabulous. There are at least two types of self-care.

The basic foundational pieces include things like sleep, good nutrition, regular activity and stress relief. These keep you functioning and in good condition. Then there are the lovely, special self-care actions you take on your own behalf—the ways you indulge, treat yourself, and gift yourself with kindness and good stuff. Unfortunately, this is the fantabulous aspect of self-care that too many busy women decide they don’t have time for—or that they don’t deserve—or that they need to work even harder to earn.

Important note: you don’t have to earn the right to high quality self-care and every single one of us deserves to be treated fabulously.

You know what happens. When you don’t get what you need, or when you expect to do without and live solely on hard work and the things you “should” do, life not only gets tedious, but stress builds, and so do habits like overeating and emotional eating—ways women try to make up for not getting what they are really craving.

Treating yourself is important. And yet, if you aren’t used to doing it, if you are busy and overloaded, you might have a tough time figuring out where to start. Guess what? I’ve made it easy. Whether you’re looking for ways to continue the self-care challenge, treat yourself, or even find the perfect Mother’s Day gift for another busy woman, I want you to have new, do-able, fun ideas to get the ball rolling—no matter how busy you find yourself.

Full disclosure: In my search to bring you some fresh ideas, I put the word out about what I was looking for. I learned about some of the ideas featured on this list because companies sent me samples to try. Other ideas are some I’ve come to love all on my own. I am not receiving any  compensation from any of the companies featured here.

Fun Self-care: Simple Ways to Savor and Indulge Without Gaining Weight (no matter how busy you are)

Indulging is about savoring and experiencing fully, and this means really engaging your senses. Any time you are looking for fun self-care, think about ways you can really engage and delight your sense of touch, taste, hearing, smell, or sight.

The Perfect Mother’s Day Delight

I used to think the smell of roses was too old and too much, but lately, it seems like the rose scents have changed. The One Hundred Roses line is perfect—and how fitting if you are looking for a special Mother’s Day gift for yourself or someone else. The One Hundred Roses Bubble Bath is infused with essential oils of fresh cut roses and summer flowers, rosewater and natural extracts. Take a mug of tea, or a glass of your favorite wine into the bath with a great book and you may just have created the ultimate self-care indulgence. No time for a bath? The body lotion smells just as good.

Spa Day for the Time-challenged

If a bubble bath sounds delightful but you just don’t have the time, an Aromatherapy Shower Burst might be what you’re looking for. When taking a bath isn’t an option these 100% natural Shower Bursts transform your ordinary shower into an aromatherapy experience. Place one burst on the floor in the shower and let the indirect spray activate the aromatherapy experience.  Made of 100% essential oils, you can pick a scent that fits your mood. Oh, and in case you wonder like I did, they don’t make a mess or leave gunk in your shower. 

A Facial for your Hands

That’s what I labeled the experience that I got when I tried out the therapeutic hand scrub and cream from Seed. In the time it takes to wash your hands, you massage a bit of the 100% natural seed scrub into the backs and the palms of your hands. It feels great and exfoliates (something I’ve never done to my hands before). Then you use their hand cream—I loved the relaxing lavender. My hands felt great, the quick treatment was stress relieving, and the smell of the hand cream lingered. This is truly simple self-care.

Sink into Yourself

Gift yourself by giving yourself time and the opportunity to connect with yourself. One of the most powerful tools for knowing yourself and staying tuned in to what you need, want, and feel is journaling. Make it a treat by downloading your words into something gorgeous and substantial. I love the feel of a brand new, blank journal—just don’t let the beauty of the book intimidate you. These are made for free associating, scribbling, and, yes, making mistakes. It’s all good. Paperblanks makes beautiful journals and they are widely available in stores and online.

Escape and Savor your Surroundings

It’s so easy to miss the delights that are happening all around us. That’s why I loved the suggestion I received from Sweet-seed. Recovering from surgery a few years ago, my husband discovered a whole new, relaxing world as he sat trapped in a recliner and noticed the birds in our backyard in a new way. Since then, we’ve added more bird feeders and learned that the quality of the bird food makes a difference in the birds we attract—and we’ve had a great time just sitting, watching, and listening to all the life that happens right in front of us.

And for the Really Time Strapped

Let’s get one thing straight. Self-care is not optional and I don’t believe there is no time for it in your life. I challenge you to claim the time. That said, in writing this article, I was reminded that there are simple ways to feed your senses well in the midst of all kinds of experiences. Even cleaning your kitchen. Doing simple acts, like scrubbing your sink, mindfully and with your senses engaged can ground you, help you quiet your mind and reduce your stress. The key is being aware and being present. Creating a rewarding sensory experience helps a lot with this. If this is how you are spending the moment, why not upgrade the experience? Lemon Road introduced me to their all-natural scented kitchen cleaners for your home. These handcrafted cleaners for your sink contain essential oils and actually do smell great. The citrus spice scouring powder really does help shift the experience and just might help pull you back into yourself in the midst of a busy day.Take this idea and run with it. How can you upgrade the sensory in your day to day?

Give Yourself Permission

I hope these ideas have helped. That said, it might not be a lack of ideas that has you stuck. Easy and consistent self-care requires a mindset that allows you to prioritize your own needs and possibly a new approach that allows you to find the time. Putting yourself first isn’t selfish. It’s actually critical for thriving in your life and creating long term success. If you struggle with keeping yourself on your radar and claiming the time and the energy you need and reserve, the How to Put Yourself First 7 Day Blast-off may be just the place to begin.

Life is too short not to live your best version of it. I hope this list helps you infuse more high quality self-care into your days.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

How to get rid of mental clutter and create more success

Is your brain working for you or against you these days? Whether you are trying to reduce stress, take more time for yourself, stop overeating, or simply enjoy life more, if you don’t believe you can, you probably won’t. March is National Nutrition month and the theme this year is one I love—Get Your Plate in Shape. While the holiday itself is promoting good nutrition, whenever I hear the slogan I think of everything we have on our plates and how essential it is to take charge of our thinking and our lives if we want to get healthy, get happier, or yes, even stop overeating. One key piece of this process is addressing mental clutter.

My good friend Lorie Marrero teaches people how to de-clutter by going on a Clutterdiet®. It’s a great metaphor because we all know how clutter can bog down our lives and lead to stress and feeling overwhelmed (and if you are looking for help in this area, I strongly recommend Lorie’s program). Clutter goes deeper than our surroundings though. As we head into spring, I’d like to support you in something much bigger than airing out your home and clearing out your closets. While the results from these actions feel great, I’d like to suggest that you can get even bigger results if you focus first on de-cluttering your brain, refreshing your mindset, and doing a bit of internal spring cleaning.

Ready to get started? Grab something to write with.

Simple steps to start de-cluttering your brain and refreshing your mindset (so you can make healthy changes):

Let’s start by clearing out some of the overwhelm, time pressure, and to-do list clutter. What are your top 1-4 priorities for the next 30 days? Write these down. Do you know what you need to do to address these? If not, where will you get help? If you know what you need to do, have you allotted time for this in your schedule? If you haven’t, do this NOW. Break things down into even smaller chunks. What is your priority for today? If you haven’t already, assign the space you need to devote your energy to it.

Take charge of the mental clutter that can drain your energy. What is draining your energy or your motivation? List anything that is getting in your way, anything that you are tolerating that isn’t working for you, anything that is distracting you or wasting your energy or focus. Now comes the hard part. Imagine that I’m standing next to you as your life coach. Our aim is to make your life work for you in the best way possible. I challenge you to write down an action next to each item on your list of energy drains. Your choices might be:

1. Stop wasting my time on this. Stop participating in this activity, relationship, etc.
2. Delegate this to _______________________
3. Postpone dealing with this until _______________________
4. Set a date for resolving this and put it in my calendar here:________________
5. Put this on my master to-do list to get to at some future date (and stop worrying about it now)
6. Limit the time and energy I give to this to (choose a specific amount of time or specific hours of the day or month) ___________________________________
7. Acknowledge that this is something I will choose to focus on until (specific date) _______________________ because _____________________________
8. Change the way I’m addressing this by _____________________________

The point of this de-cluttering is to own where you are spending your time and energy.

Take control of mental static. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and be present with yourself. Stop and consider the words that most frequently flow through your head and the way that you talk to yourself throughout the day. What are you saying and thinking? Be honest here. Write down whatever comes to mind.

Your soundtrack takes up powerful real estate. The way you speak and think to yourself will impact your confidence, your motivation, your energy, and your focus. As you know, we tend to see what we are looking for. If you are living your life in a place of stress and overwhelm, you are likely to notice and collect more of this and miss out on a lot of good stuff that can make life feel good.

Start a collection of messages you want to have in your head—mantras, reminders, encouragement that will help you stay motivated and feel positive. Write these down too. Consider placing these where you will see them and be reminded of them frequently. Choose your most powerful positive message and set a goal of writing it (by hand) ten times a day to help get it ingrained in your mind.

Examine your beliefs. What do you believe about your ability to be successful with stress, with your ability to stop overeating, or with your ability to achieve your current goals? Take some time to really think about this because your beliefs underscore everything you do. Do you have a clear vision in your mind of you crossing the finish line and a belief that you will accomplish your goal? Be honest here. This is a critical piece of mind clutter—because if you don’t see yourself as having the potential to succeed, than your attempts are like rolling a boulder uphill against whatever mindsets and negative beliefs you are fighting.

Write down any negative mindsets you are aware of that are blocking your path. Common examples are “I’ll always be overweight,” “I’m just lazy,” or “I’m not (fill in the blank) enough to (fill in your goal).”

The first step is to understand that these mindsets are roadblocks. The next step is to begin to challenge them. Begin by crafting statements that are positive instead of negative and that focus on what you do believe is possible for you. Don’t worry if your positive beliefs and confidence in yourself starts out small. You will build these over time by focusing on what you can do instead of on what you don’t believe or have confidence in.

Now, you’re ready to start taking daily do-able action. Get a colorful pad of sticky notes and put it in your workspace. At the start of every day, I challenge you to write down your three priority action items, your positive belief or positive intention for the day, and one lovely thing you will do for you. Attention high-achievers: If it doesn’t fit on that sticky note, you are probably biting off too much!

De-cluttering and de-stressing shouldn’t overwhelm your life. Give yourself time to play around with these steps. Pay special attention to any steps that are difficult for you—these are almost always the areas that need the attention most. If you find yourself getting bogged down repeatedly, get some help. You’ll almost always be able to upgrade your thinking and your actions much more quickly and get on the road to making powerful changes in much less time.

Take good care,

PS: All of our coaching and products address mindset and “mental clutter” because I believe healthy thinking is the foundation of lasting healthy lifestyle change. Here are my favorite quick-start tools for brain de-cluttering:

The Success Soundtrack™: Discover and dissolve the big five mindsets that sabotage smart high-achievers and start creating more ease, focus, and success in ten minutes a day.

The Get OVER Overeating 7 Day Jumpstart: Get your mindset, your habits, and your strategies in place to take charge of overeating and emotional eating.

The How to Put Yourself First 7 Day Blast-off: Learn how to put yourself first and prioritize your needs and wants without feeling selfish.

Melissa McCreery

Five More Beliefs that May be Sabotaging Your Success with Overeating

When I wrote my earlier post on overeating and self-sabotage, I realized that I had just touched the surface. Creating a mindset for success is critical if you want to end overeating and create a lasting peace with food. This is also true if you are trying to break free of struggles with stress, overload, and overwhelm. Little things add up and the way you talk to yourself and approach your life can have a big influence on whether you are sabotaging your success or creating changes that last.

Now is a perfect time to take a look at your thinking to make sure you are not falling prey to these five beliefs that can sabotage your success with overeating and emotional eating.

Five more self-sabotaging mindsets:

1.  This is just something I have to accept/ it wasn’t meant to be. Many women live with the secret belief that they will never be successful. “I’ll always be fat.” “I’ll always struggle with food.” “I’m going to be dieting for the rest of my life.” If this sounds familiar—please pay attention. You are working against yourself every time you start a plan to change with the belief that you will fail. Put your efforts into goals and plans for growth that you can see success with. Start with a goal you can wrap your mind around. If you don’t believe you can lose 150 pounds (and you want to), set a goal that you believe you can achieve—even if it’s losing two pounds. Then, find someone who you trust who believes in you and can help you grow your belief in yourself. Changing this mindset will change your life. Truly.

2.  Faulty filters. We see what we expect to see. Research has proven over and over that our brains are trained to collect information that confirms what we already believe and filter out the rest. That’s one reason becoming aware of mindsets that can lead to self-sabotage is so important. If you believe you are unlucky or a failure or that you are lazy or that you can’t live without dessert, you will find all sorts of evidence to confirm that belief. You will create that reality. You’ll also be highly likely to miss the other evidence—the things you do well, the strengths that you have, or the ways that you can be successful without that sweet treat at the end of a meal. Practice creating the filters that create success. Make an effort to notice your accomplishments and your good moments. Practice acknowledging gratefulness and times that you are lucky. Try this—practice seeing the good in yourself and making a note of three great things about you every single day.

3.  I don’t have time. It’s time to take this sentence out of your vocabulary. Time is the great equalizer. We all get the same amount, every single day. We all choose how we spend and manage our time. How would it feel to replace “I don’t have time” with “I’m choosing to spend my time on something else”? The truth is, claiming time for you is a choice. Here’s another truth: claiming time for self-care and your other priorities can have a big impact on your success with emotional eating and overeating. Try scheduling your needs like you schedule everything else and see what happens.

4.  It will upset people. If you want a sure way not to accomplish your goals, make it your mission to make everyone happy. It’s not possible. People get into self-sabotaging traps with overeating (and other unhelpful habits) when they neglect their own needs and feelings because they are trying to please others or avoid conflict. This becomes even more tangled up because many women overeat as a way to try to cope with conflict and other people’s anger or frustration. If you want to break free from overeating, learning to handle conflict with a degree of comfort will pay off big

5.  I missed out/I’m too old. Do you believe that it’s just too late for you? Here’s a way to turn that show-stopping belief on its head: if you feel like it’s late in the game, than the stakes are even higher. Life is short and every moment counts. Don’t make the self-sabotaging mistake of spending THIS moment looking over your shoulder regretting the past. Take a deep breath and own THIS moment. It’s the only one that you can count on and it is the only one that you can control. Set your sites on where you want to go and then get the help you need to start moving in that direction.

You write the story of your life. That story can stop you in your tracks and it can also propel you powerfully forward. The beauty is that you can edit and rewrite as you go along. Choose your mindset and your story carefully. Be mindful of feeding the beliefs you want to nourish and let the old unhelpful ones go hungry. That’s a powerful approach to taking control of overeating. Let me know what amazing changes you start seeing.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

Five Beliefs that May be Sabotaging Your Success

If taking control of overeating and emotional eating was easy, you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now. The truth is, once you know a bit about nutrition and the basics of “eat less, move more,” finding success with overeating usually boils down to how you manage choices, thoughts, and feelings in the rest of your life. Emotional eating is a big reason women overeat, but the way we think can also impact our success.

When it comes to breaking free from emotional eating and overeating, the head game is huge. If you feel trapped in vicious cycles with overeating and weight or if you aren’t creating the success you want, it’s probably time to take a look at whether your beliefs are sabotaging your efforts.

Five beliefs that may be sabotaging your success with overeating:

All-or-nothing thinking. All-or-nothing thinking is really perfectionism in disguise. It’s the belief that you’ve either succeeded or you’ve failed. It’s a way of approaching life that may lead to thoughts like, “I’ve blown it, now I might as well finish the leftovers because I’m going to have to start over again in the morning.” All-or-nothing thinking never allows you to feel good about what you are doing, because no one can get it all right all the time. The truth is that your relationship with food unfolds all day long. You’ll have good moments and not-so-good ones, but whatever happened a moment or an hour ago does not erase your ability to do something positive in the present. Instead of focusing on getting it perfect, think about doing your best—one step at a time.

I don’t deserve it. One of the biggest reasons women overeat is because they are using food as a substitute for something else—Overeating becomes a sneaky way to give yourself a treat or a break or to comfort yourself when you don’t feel entitled to let yourself have what you really need. Here’s another hard truth: we tend to attract people who treat us the way we treat ourselves. Treat yourself with pride and respect and indulge in and savor what you crave and you are likely to start commanding more of the same from those who surround you. If you feel like the people in your life don’t treat you very well, take a look at the beliefs you have about what you deserve.

It’s not okay to be selfish. Many of us were raised with the idea that we need to put others first or focus on taking care of the people we care about. There’s nothing wrong with being kind and nurturing—it’s a fantastic strength to have. However, it can lead to self-sabotage if you aren’t also prioritizing your self and shining your nurturing and your compassion on yourself along with everyone else. Putting yourself first isn’t selfish. It’s what helps you to bring your best version of you to your life, your relationships, and your work.

I “should” be able to figure this out. This self-sabotaging mindset is frequently accompanied by self-blame and angry judgments with yourself because you can’t figure it out. This belief tends to lead to feeling alone and isolated and not getting the help and support that you need. Living alone with the feeling that you are failing when you shouldn’t be can also create even more shame and loss of confidence. This is a particularly sticky trap, but it’s also one where you can have an amazing impact if you break free. Many women are astounded by what happens when they reach out for help, share their struggles with another supportive person, or start looking outside themselves for the resources and tools to take control of overeating.

The “should” trap. “I should be able to figure this out” is only one should that sabotages success. Shoulds in general are something to be careful of.  Real, lasting success is created when we combine solid information, strategies, and tools with what we know about ourselves and what works for us. Too many shoulds can disconnect you from yourself and your own inner wisdom. They can lead to overwhelm and can incite your inner rebel to throw in the towel. Ask yourself if your should is really an I want to. If it isn’t, do you have a compelling reason for using it? My client could not get enthusiastic about her doctor telling her she “should” lose eighty pounds. She did get motivated when I helped her find her want. Once she got clear that what she really wanted was to be healthy and fit enough to go bike riding with her daughter again, she felt ready to do some hard work. The should dragged her energy down. The compelling reason she found lit her up and got her moving toward a goal.

Are you trying to break free of vicious cycles that you keep getting caught in? Don’t ignore your head game! Stay tuned, because I’m going to share more beliefs that you might want to challenge in a future post.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

Tackling the issue of weight almost always boils down to how to stop overeating. Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows that when it comes to changing eating habits and fighting cravings, having a plan and being able to stick with it are two very different things.

Busy women can be especially challenged by overeating. Time is always an issue. Multiple responsibilities, stress, and often exhaustion, can all be powerful triggers for overeating. Many smart women know that what they are doing isn’t working. They end up frustrated with themselves and their situation but aren’t sure what else to do or when they are supposed to do whatever it is that will get them unstuck and on track.

If you are trying to figure out how you can move forward, stop overeating, and create changes that will last, I suggest reviewing the following checklist of ingredients I believe are essential to making peace with food and putting an end to overeating. Identify what you have already put into place and set the goal of addressing any gaps or weaknesses in your recipe for success.

The essential ingredients busy women need to stop overeating and make peace with food:

1. Know your why. You eat for a reason. Always. If your reason isn’t your body’s need for food or fuel, there is something else driving or triggering your overeating. Knowing what this is is critical because you can’t address something if you don’t know it exists. Getting clear on your emotional eating triggers, the situations, circumstances, and even relationships that contribute to your overeating is an important first step to creating success.
2. Crack your unique code. If you don’t respect who you are, you aren’t likely to develop a plan that respects you either. A plan for long term success needs to honor the truth about you, your preferences, the realities of your schedule, your relationships, and your life. Setting yourself up for long term failure by ignoring what you know about who you are is not what you want to do. Learn to prioritize yourself and your needs and include this any plan you develop.
3. Get the tools, and expertise to stop overeating effectively. Knowing that you struggle with emotional eating or that you eat to procrastinate or that you binge at night is very different from knowing what to do about it. If you are busy and time crunched you probably don’t feel like you have the time (and who does?) to experiment with lots of things that might not work. Do yourself the respectful favor of seeking out skilled help, emotional eating tools, and strategies that address your triggers and your unique situation.
4. Plan for long term success. Peace with food should feel peaceful. That means you don’t want to set yourself up by doing everything the hard way. Consider your unique strengths and the things that come easily for you. Ask yourself how you can leverage these talents as you move forward to stop overeating and emotional eating.

It is both possible and extremely rewarding to break free from vicious cycles with overeating and food. Just make sure you start out with a recipe that sets you up for success.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

If you’re like many reading this, you are a busy woman who is used to creating success. You run a business or are moving forward in a profession where you excel. Maybe you manage a busy family. You juggle, you prioritize, and you get things done.

Except for maybe a few very important things—personal goals and priorities which are important to YOU. Taking control of overeating, changing the number on the scale or the way your pants fit (or don’t), improving your health, your stress level, and your well being. For many of you, your life is going gang-busters, but YOU feel like you’re being left behind.

If you are like many high-achieving women I know, you may have crafted a story to tell that makes it look like you are okay with the way things are. You mask it with confidence and you focus on the other things you are so good at. You may even tell YOURSELF that this is the way things have to be. That you can’t have everything and that there’s just no time for you right now.

You may have “them” convinced and you may even believe it yourself, but please hear me say to you what no one else may be telling you:

It isn’t true.

Not only is there room for YOU in your busy life, there’s a place for your hopes and dreams and personal goals. Go without them for too long and you’ll lose a huge part of yourself that makes you successful, effective, and who you are. If you are like many smart busy women I know, you might already feel like this is happening. Putting yourself at the bottom of your priority list, spending the time and energy struggling with wellness goals that you aren’t succeeding at, and wearing yourself out pretending it doesn’t matter takes a huge toll.

It is possible to make a change and the secret recipe is usually not “more willpower, more tough love, and a dose of more hard work.” The life you want shouldn’t burn you out.

This strategy isn’t for everyone, but if you are serious and ready to get on track with your goals in the fastest, most lasting way possible, here is the power tool I recommend.

Hire a coach–the right coach for you.

You’re used to pushing yourself and working hard, but you probably aren’t accustomed to asking for and receiving high quality support, assistance, and consultation and strategy—at least when it comes to your personal goals. Too many high achievers live their lives by different rules than they’d have for their loved ones or their business. They push themselves too hard, go without the tools and techniques that add ease to the process, and may have never had the experience of having someone in their corner who is invested in getting them to their destination.

If your business was failing, you’d call in an expert or a consultant. You would invest in success. That’s what coaching is—it’s putting a highly trained expert on your team whose job is getting you to your goal. If you mean business, it’s well worth it to invest in yourself. Go for quality. Do your homework and find a coach who has the credentials you respect, who speaks your language, and who has expertise in what you need. Prepare to commit for a length of time that will allow you to be effective. My six month private coaching programs are designed so that we work through the energy of the “honeymoon” and are still working together when you hit the rough spots and places you might generally get stuck—because succeeding through these places is what creates success that lasts.

High achievers are generally good at convincing others that they don’t need help. You are so capable and competent that people tend to assume you know what you are doing—even when you feel like you are failing miserably.

The right coach is going to help you get past that and learn a better way—by leveraging the strengths and skills that you already have, factoring in the demands of your life, and helping you chart out a course that you can actually navigate.

Is this strategy for you? As I said, it’s not for everyone. Are you ready to invest in yourself and to start living the success you really want? Your mind may go to war with you over this, but if you are ready, you know it in your heart. What do you want to achieve in the next twelve months? The next five years? If you were there now, would the investment have been worth it?

Take good care,

My private coaching programs are open to women worldwide. Sessions are held via phone and/or Skype. I have just opened four spaces in my six month private one-on-one coaching program. If you are interested in learning more, please click here to schedule a (no cost) phone consultation with me. All services are customized (of course) to meet your goals and situation.

Melissa McCreery

If you read my newsletter, you may have noticed that I’ve been reminding you about the upcoming Too Much on Her Plate Week for a while now and you may be wondering just what it is and why you should care. Well, here’s the scoop.

Too Much on Her Plate Week is an event I created out of appreciation for you. I know you are busy and I am honored that you take time out of your full lives to visit my website, read my articles, and converse with me on Facebook. You are amazing women doing amazing things and I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of your lives.

I also know that for many of you, those lives could be easier. Many of you would love to have things flow better—to have less stress, less clutter, or to have a better handle on certain habits or routines.

In my work, I run across some amazing experts as well—people who have great stuff to offer who are wonderful resources for women with too much on their plates. Too Much on Her Plate Week is my way of thanking you, and, hopefully, adding more ease and joy to your life and your work.

Beginning November 14, my colleagues and I have made available a huge assortment of free gifts for you. No sales pitches, no credit card numbers required. All you do is register and then select the gifts that you want to receive!

Sound good? Keep an eye on your mailbox for news about how to attend. Remember, the doors open November 14 and they will only be open for a week.

Take good care,

PS: Beginning this week, I'll be introducing you to some of the experts participating in Too Much on Her Plate Week by having them guest post, here, on our blog. Let me know what you think!

PPS: This event is open to everyone. If you know a busy woman who might benefit, my best advice is to have her sign up on my mailing list so she will get all the news too. Just send her to http://TooMuchonHerPlate.com
 

Melissa McCreery

It’s Halloween and the temptation to overeat or eat mindlessly is everywhere. Miniature Snicker bars and candy corn seem to be on every desk and counter, not to mention the stash you may have in your own cupboard…

Is the candy haunting you?

Whether they are treats that you love or ones that trigger childhood memories, odds are that it's easy to grab one or two or four without even thinking about whether you are hungry or whether it fits your goals.

We've entered the holiday treat season and NOW is a good time to ask yourself the following questions:

What’s your plan? How do you want to respond to all the treats you will encounter between now and January 1st?  “Don’t eat them” is not a plan. What strategies do you intend to use to avoid emotional eating, minimize temptation, stay in control of your choices and not feel deprived? Do you have the support and the tools that you need to be effective?

Where are your weak spots and how can you be proactive? Take a careful look at any patterns you see with overeating. Do you feel calm and on track until mid-afternoon or does the chocolate only call to you after dinner? What’s that about? If you’re REALLY feeling haunted and it feels impossible to resist (we’ve all been there), then this is about something more than hunger. What else is going on? Is this emotional eating—stress or comfort or even boredom eating—that you are experiencing? Respond to the situation or the emotion and the food will become less compelling.

What simple policies or structures can you put in place to limit your exposure and make life simpler? Of course you know to get rid of that leftover candy you don’t even like, but what next step could you take? What’s your plan for dealing with the treats?

Any tricks or brilliant strategies you’d care to share with the rest of us?

Take good care, 

Melissa McCreery

What do the owner of a 7-figure business, a mom going back to school to begin a new career, a newly divorced professional dynamo, and a fledgling business owner have in common?

• More energy
• A better mood
• Improved relationships
• Less overeating and other unhelpful habits
• And more success?

I’m going to be sharing some of my best tips and tricks for THRIVING in a no-cost webinar next Tuesday, October 4, and I’m inviting you to attend. The presentation is called: How to Prioritize Yourself AND Be More Effective In Your Life. You can attend via phone, Skype, or the internet. I’ll be recording the call and granting access to all who register.

• The hidden (and not so hidden) costs of NOT prioritizing yourself 
• How to eliminate the biggest obstacle busy women face when trying to take better care of themselves and create more me-time
• Five ways you might be sabotaging yourself (and not even know it) 
• Seven things you can start doing NOW to start prioritizing your own needs (even if it feels like you are too busy) 

Melissa McCreery

You know that vibrant health, a winning attitude, and the weight you dream of would be easier to achieve if you took better care of yourself. You’ve lived the reality of getting too busy and watching your good intentions, your workout plans, and your resolve to lower your stress slip off your radar.

Melissa McCreery