1)    Eat at least 7 fruits and vegetables each day – each a variety of foods

2)   Drink at least 2 litres per day – it helps flush our body. Did you know that overnight your body loses about 1 litre of water through sleeping and breathing?

3)   Eat a nutritious breakfast – when you wake up each morning your body needs to be kick-started into action. I know someone who the only change they made to their diet was to start eating breakfast and they lost weight.

4)   Make sure you are getting enough rest

5)   Say no if you have too many things going on

6)   Make sure your body is getting excellent nutrition and all of the vitamins it needs – if you aren’t getting everything in your diet, then consider taking a multi vitamin. The Herbalife Multi vitamins are taken 3 times a day, because your body can’t absorb most nutrients all at once, so having them spread throughout the day, ensures the body absorbs them and you get maximum value from them.

7)   Exercise regularly

8)   Each healthy snacks – fruits, yoghurt, protein bars.

9)   Include whole grains and fibre in your diet

10) Maintain balance in your life – don’t go extreme anything – if you are trying to lose weight, make sure what you are doing is sustainable.

If you want further information about any of the above please feel free to contact me on 0438 687 542 or go to www.sickofyoyodieting.com

To simplify our world we seem to stereotype what people should be doing next in their life journey by our definition and sometimes I think these sorts of questions offend people.

Please let me give you a few examples of scenarios where these questions offend.

What do you do for a living? or What work to you do?

I was once asked this question when I was first meeting some of my now husbands family and I found it very confrontational and it really made me feel uncomfortable. Yes how we spend our time does form a part of who we are but it isn’t everything.

Imagine someone who has been actively trying to get a job. How are they going to feel if you ask them this question? Is it going to build them up or make them feel worse about their unsuccessful job search so far?

What about full time mums? This is the most important job in the world and yet the most underpaid and unappreciated. For some reason we don’t consider caring for our children to be a valued job or way to make a living. Some mums are torn between working and caring for their children, so asking them what they do can make them uncomfortable or make their very important job feel devalued.

When are you going to get married?

If you ask someone who has been dating someone special for a while when are they going to get married it can be very embarrassing. Imagine the scenario of one person really keen to get married and the other person in the relationship isn’t quite ready. So if you asked the person who is really keen to get married, do you think this helps them feel better about their situation? No it doesn’t.

How is married life?

I got so sick of being asked this question when I first got married. Everyone talks about the honeymoon period… well my husband and I had heaps of arguments in our first year of marriage as we adjusted to living in the same home and doing life together as husband and wife. Asking this question can be tough – because the person you are talking to, might just have had a big fight with their spouse…. then how does this make the spouse feel? Rotten… and wondering why their marriage isn’t in the honeymoon phase as per the stereotype.

When are you going to have children?

Paul and I were married for 7 years before we had children and once again I was so sick of being asked this question. It was incredibly annoying. I wanted to have children for longer than Paul did, so it didn’t make me feel good when I was asked this.

I have quite a few friends who have had huge struggles in conceiving and having children and this can be a massive disappointing roller coaster for these couples. It is a challenging journey and it can be very hard when they are asked this question… so my suggestion is don’t ask it.

When are you going to have another child? 

For some reason we assume that where there is one child there will be another. I know someone who has one child and absolutely no intention of having any more.  Why do we ask people insensitive questions like this?

The other thing is couples might be having a tough time conceiving another child, so this then refers to the above question.I know of a scenario where some meaning people asked a lady 10 days after she miscarried when she was going to have another child. Obviously this couple didn’t know about the miscarriage… but it just demonstrates how our stereotypical questions can really make someone hurt.

So what questions should you ask?

Perhaps:  How do you spend your time? What are you plans for the future? and general questions that a person who might have other things going on in their lives can easily answer without cringing when they give a reply.

I think I have demonstrated the hurt these questions can cause and would strongly encourage you to think twice before you ask these questions and perhaps consider slightly different wording that is a little more sensitive.

As a parent, I can’t even imagine ever wanting to physically or emotionally harm my child. I guess that before I became a parent I didn’t realise that unfortunately accidents happen and one of my worst nightmares has happened on several occasions.

When my daughter was very little I was clipping her fingernails and if you have ever had the privilege of doing this you know how hard it is to keep little twitchy fingers still long enough to clip them.  So I accidentally clipped her skin and it bled and she screamed. I felt so rotten and upset that I had harmed my precious girl. It was my first experience of realising that life as parents and for children isn’t perfect. There is absolutely no way I wanted to harm my daughter, but unfortunately it had happened.  I was doing my absolute best and in this instance by my standards it wasn’t good enough.

From then on I was very reluctant to clip her fingernails and fortunately I have a wonderful gentle husband who more often than not clips her fingernails for me.  To date he hasn’t ever drawn blood when clipping fingernails.

I had tried to encourage my husband to clip our baby boys’ fingernails, but unfortunately he was at work and Myles woke up with scratches on his face, so I just had to clip them.  Oh the joy I felt when I had finished and no injury had been inflicted. Well this happened a few more times until finally it happened again.

Oh I felt rotten and I called my husband and told him that “I resign from clipping fingernails”. Fortunately, Myles didn’t cry as much, but there was the tiniest bit of blood and I had caused it.

Life isn’t perfect, because we aren’t perfect and sometimes we can be too tough on ourselves about the things we do. In both cases I was doing my best and definitely don’t want to cause any harm to my children, but it happened.

The rather funny thing is that on a number of occasions my children have caused me heaps of pain through typical childish behaviours. My daughter jumped up into my face one day and gave me a big fat lip. I had had many a bruise inflicted on me and right now my little boys favourite thing to do is hit me while he is feeding and then pull my hair. Ouch!

As mothers, I find it invaluable to connect with other mums who are on the mothering journey. They can understand, laugh and cry with you. This encouragement is invaluable and I find I learn so much from sharing my mothering journey with others. It makes me a better mother!

Trying to do life alone can be tough, and I would encourage those who might feel alone to reach out and connect with someone and start doing life with them.

Balance is very important when working from home – you need to set your office hours and stick to them, otherwise your work will end up taking over your family life and defeating the whole purpose of working from home.

I know people who have ended up going back into an office set up, simply because it gave them a better work life balance, so it isn’t for everyone.

When you leave your home office, you need to knock off and try to stop thinking about work. It is important to make sure you find time to relax even though your office is at home.

Before you begin working from home it is important to consider your personality, your priorities and establish some boundaries. It is important to understand why you have chosen to work from home and make sure you keep focused on the why.

Initially I began working from home because my corporate office was several hours drive away from me, and all I needed to complete my job well, was a phone, a computer and an internet connection.

At the time I didn’t have any children, so working from home was a convenience to save me a heap of driving.

When my daughter arrived, I continued working from home and she has grown up knowing that I work in our office on the computer and phone.

Now I work from home because I love it and the balance it brings to my life.

Personality

You need to be very disciplined if you are going to work from home.  If you need people to energise you to get you motivated, then you need to find a way to do this – whether it be a daily phone call or email with someone who will help get you kick started.

If you don’t get this people energy, you will find things really tough. Depending on your working from home business – it might work to get out and about and interact with people initially to help get your energy levels going.

Calling clients is also a great way to get energy. Imagine you are having a face to face conversation with them and make sure you smile – even though they can’t see you.

I know of several extremely competent professionals who slowly withered away when they began working from home. They needed the office style people interaction and they soon recognised this and got back into the office environment.

If you are the procrastinating type of person, you need to make sure you get yourself kick started each day. This might be through a reward when you have achieved something.

Priorities

It is important to balance what is most important to you and make your decisions each day based on this.  So if your family and children are most important then make sure they stay number one when you are working at home.

This is especially true if you have sick children. This is when you need to adjust your original goals for the day, to ensure you care for the child.

Boundaries

For some reason when you work from home, people don’t seem to think you have a real job and that you have real work to do. I found that I am way more productive working at home than in the office because there are way less unproductive work interruptions.

But then, what seems to happen is that people call you up during work hours and want to chat for ages. Or they stop by and want your help with something. Would they do this if you were in a corporate office? I hope not. So it is important to establish boundaries and gently remind these people when is a more suitable time to catch up.

If you work for yourself, you have a bit more flexibility in managing this, but you need to continually make sure these interruptions don’t become your whole day, and as a result you get no work completed.

Tips

Always work as though your supervisor is standing in the room and watching.

If you have young children who want attention, teach them boundaries of when they can and can’t interrupt.

I reward my 3 year old when she plays quietly when I am on the on the phone and she knows when to whisper and when she can be noisy (most of the time).

It works well to get your children involved in the business and teach them how to do things – for example my daughter loves stamping my literature and she loves doing letterbox drops.

Dedicate a part of your day to planned play with your children.

Always get showered and dressed and mentally prepare yourself that you are about to start work.

Try and have a the same routine every day or at least every week.

Make sure you take a lunch break – don’t work through at your desk – get outside and have a quick walk (even if it is 5 minutes – you will be way more productive)

If things aren’t going well have someone you can call or connect with for encouragement.

If you are getting frustrated or things aren’t doing well take a quick break.

Now that I work for myself I always give my children first priority. So if they need attention, I officially knock off and give them my whole hearted attention, I don’t sit there playing with them and thinking about work – I live in that moment with no regrets. I haven’t always functioned like that, when I worked in my corporate role I didn’t do this very well, as I felt guilty (even though I worked heaps more hours than required).

I hope this helps each of you a little bit. I absolutely love working from home (as I type this with my 5 month old in my arms), I get the best of both worlds. I get to spend wonderful quality time with them and also continue my career. I highly recommend it, and if you ever want to chat with me about this please let me know and I will be happy to.

If you want to know more about my business then go to www.livethelifeyouwanttolive.com and enter your details and I will send you a free 40 minute online presentation you can watch to learn more.

When I moved to the USA as an 18 year old everyone talked about the “Freshman 15″. Now what the Freshman 15 is that in your first year of University you gain 15 lbs (Nearly 7kgs). This is from the dormitory food and more often than not poor eating habits.

I certainly didn’t gain the Freshman 15, but for the first time in my life I was aware of my weight and the fact that I had a couple of kilos to lose. I was exercising for hours every day playing tennis and riding my bike and still had a bit of weight to lose. It was one of those struggles that I quietly kept to myself and tried to battle alone. The thing was that I was no where near over weight, it was just that I wasn’t the weight I wanted to be.

After I finishing University and moving back to Australia I married the love of my life. We then moved to Queensland where we didn’t know anyone, and we established our live together. Admittedly our first year of marriage was quite hard, as we fought heaps, so we had to do lots of changing and growing to become a team (which we did).

At some point in our first year of marriage I got on the scales and said to Paul “The scales must be broken. They are showing that I am 5 lbs (2kgs) heavier than last time.” Was I in denial or what?

We were married for years before we finally decided to have children.One of my fears in having children is that I would put the weight on and never get it off. That is really sad to admit this, but that is the truth.

Over the years I had steadily put on a few kilos. I knew I wanted to lose weight, but didn’t really know what to do. I would go to events and eat all food, as I never wanted to be one of those people who are on a diet and couldn’t eat what they wanted. I wouldn’t dare admit to anyone that I wanted or needed to lose weight. Yes I know, not very rational.

When I began looking at the Herbalife business opportunity my sponsor asked me if I needed to lose weight. I was almost offended at her question and I can’t remember exactly, but I probably denied that I did need to lose weight.  Oh dear.

So when the package of meal replacement shakes and vitamins arrived I think I finally came to the realisation that I wanted to lose weight. The funny thing is that at this point the only people who knew this were my sponsor and my husband.

So I started using the products (skeptically at first) and the weight came off. Then people started noticing how great I looked. I felt amazing and realised I really enjoyed helping others achieve their weight loss goals.

I lost 12 kgs (26 lbs) and over 40 cm in body fat.

I think that at some point here, I suddenly swallowed my pride and realised there is absolutely no shame in admitting that we would like to lose a few kilos.

Is there some rational reason that we try and lose weight by ourselves and battle it through?

What I loved about the Herbalife products is that my Sponsor was also my Wellness Coach and she gave me tips and support along the weight. She educated me and provided accountability.

When I run the Weight Loss Challenges I am nearly always surprised at people who join. They look like healthy individuals in my opinion, but in their opinion they need to lose weight. I love to see them get results and feel better about themselves.

When I do the weight ins at the Weight Loss Challenges they are very private and no other participants know your weight or how much you lost unless you share it with them. There is no embarrassing announcement if you gained weight – it is all confidential.

It is amazing how a pair of jeans that are a bit too tight can make us get down on ourselves and in many cases it affects other areas of our lives.

Today I challenge you, that if you are in denial about the need to lose weight that you let me know and we can have a private consultation about your goals.

www.sickofyoyodieting.com

Philippa Martin

Phone 0438 687 542

Until about 10 years ago I thought communicating was about me talking and other people listening. I thought my opinion was the only opinion that mattered and that there is only one way of doing things and that is my way. Otherwise it was wrong.

Well then I got married and realised I had some growing up to do. I have found that communicating is about connecting with someone and listening to what is being said. I used to try and figure out what I was going to say next while the other person was talking, so I really wasn’t listening at all.

I also discovered that there are quite a few other opinions out there and that the world won’t end if they aren’t in agreement with me. There are some issues that are very important to me and are non negotiable, but there are many things for example like the order we wash our dishes or the way we peg the washing on the line that still end up with the same result (clean dishes and dry laundry).

I also found it intriguing to listen to people and learn about their journey. Everyone has an amazing and unique journey and since I love to learn, I now really enjoy listening as I learn new things and extend my normal parameters.

Listening is a still that we use every day. We need to listen to our spouses, listen to our children, listen at work, listen to our friends. We each have a desire to be heard and sometimes that is all we need at that particular point in time. If we don’t listen we miss things.

My daughter is normally quite loud. But, when my daughter gets scared she talks in a very soft voice. It is very important that at these times she knows I am listening and hearing what she is telling me.

If I am talking with a prospective client or client on the phone it is important to give them an opportunity to share. It is a great way to discover where they are up to and what is going on in their minds.

Effective listening can help me better meet the needs of those around me and ends up as a win win for all involved.

My challenge to you today is to make an extra special effort to listen to those most dear to you!

I have a Herbalife Meal Replacement shake every day for breakfast and so does he. So in about 1 minute he makes both of us breakfast and then brings it to me – wherever I am in the house.

The thing I love about the shakes (beside the fact that my husband makes me breakfast) is that I then start the day out with a delicious nutritional meal. The shake and multi vitamin give my body everything it needs to get my body functioning efficiently.

I feel great and I love having so much energy.

Why is breakfast so important? Breakfast kick stars the metabolism after the overnight fast that you body is in while you sleep. Breakfast can improve your mood and concentration. Breakfast also assists with healthy weight management. A breakfast high in protein and fibre helps you feel fuller for longer.

If you are interested in a free shake trial please contact me on 0438 687 542 or go to www.sickofyoyodieting.com and complete your information and I will be in touch.

These people are invaluable in my life and I would encourage everyone to find at least one mentor.

I have four business minded mentors and a spiritual mentor. Yes I am completely spoiled, but all of these relationships have various degrees of formality. One mentor I meet with about every six weeks, another every couple of months and the other two mentors are there when I have questions and need advice.

In major decisions, I don’t proceed until I have the input from my mentors.

A few years ago I had the privilege of mentoring several teenagers. It was great to build a relationship with these young ladies and be a consistent and stable role model in their lives. It was so enjoyable to collaborate with them and make suggestions in problem solving and looking at their options. It was such a satisfying experience and I really enjoyed watching the ladies grow – even if at times it was baby steps. Anything that was moving forward was a time to celebrate.

I have also had the privilege of training a team on how to be volunteer mentors. What an amazing group of people. I certainly left the training day inspired by these people who were happy to devote some of their precious time in helping others.

I recently had a fairly confronting conversation with one of my mentors and this mentor really hit the nail on the head. She didn’t tell me what to do, but merely asked me a few questions to get me thinking, and think she certainly did make me. This conversation didn’t really feel that good at the time, but the next day I woke up inspired and ready to hit the ground running.

This is the power of a mentor – a bit of well timed guidance and wisdom can make all of the difference. A mentor doesn’t always provide solutions – but they can help guide you into discovering your own solutions. This is exactly what this person did for me and I am extremely grateful for the confrontation.

My suggestion is that everyone find at least one mentor in their life and mentor at least one person.

If you become a Herbalife Distributor, I would be delighted to be your mentor. I would delight in helping others achieve their goals and dreams. If you are interested please go to www.livethelifeyouwanttolive.com and complete your information and watch the DVD. I will then be in touch to answer any questions you might have.

I want to be able to offer my team members the most efficient methods for growing their business as quickly as possible with the minimal time they have available.

I found a quote recently that summarises what I am trying to do each day. “The only busyness that works is meeting people, making sales and duplicating your efforts through recruiting, training and leading productive leaders.

Right now my focus is to help others grow their businesses and live the life of their dreams. I am not talking about a get rich quick scheme, I am talking about rewards for genuine effort that someone has made.

I am a mother of two young children, so right now my children and husband are the most important part of my journey. I need to be able to top up our income to make our budget balance and I so far have been doing this through the Herbalife Business Opportunity combined with online marketing. As I improve my online presence I hope to be able to start dreaming about the things we will be able to do as a family with the additional income.

I love the fact that I can connect with so many people in a global marketplace and help them to change their lives for the better. Using the Herbalife products will change your life. I lost over 10 kgs (over 26 lbs) and over 40 cms (over a 1 foot) in body fat from my body and felt amazing. The extra energy I had from not carrying this weight around was great for me chasing after a young toddler. At least once a week someone tells me how healthy and good I look and this is purely from using Herbalife.

I have a 4 month old boy and I used the products all the way through my pregnancy and nearly every day someone told me I looked great. I felt great too and really noticed the difference in the latter stages of pregnancy of not having an extra 10 kgs to carry around. As soon as my boy was born the weight has consistently dropped off – this is unusual considering I gained a heap of weight when I was breast feeding my daughter. So I am very happy about that.

So if you want to lose weight and earn some money please comment below and I will be happy to show you how to get started.

If you want to find out more about working from home go to www.livethelifeyouwanttolive.com

If you want to find out more about losing weight go to: www.sickofyoyodieting.com

If you want to find out more go to www.livethelifeyouwanttolive.com