Check THIS out!

I've got a giveaway and guest post today! 

Since joining the Slimmer this Summer Challenge, I've noticed that a lot of us have a bit of trouble sticking to our weight loss goals. Journaling is one thing that has helped me significantly this summer. And now, there is something that might just help all of us!   

WOW! Women on Writing is hosting the launch of Mari McCarthy's new e-book Who are You? How to Use Journaling Therapy to Know and Grow Your Life.  

In this book, Mari offers ideas and tips for journaling that lead to self exploration. She explains how to begin journaling and be consistent. With this book, you will revisit stressful situations and explore them, learn to recognize them and discover how to deal better next time

Some of us have some trouble with a nasty inner voice from time to time that holds us back and makes us feel unworthy. Mari can help figure this one out too by teaching us how to recognize that nasty inner voice and how to make him a coach instead of a critic.

Have you ever tried journaling your dreams? Mari even explores the importance of dream journaling to our self discovery.

If you'd like to know more about Mari McCarthy you can visit her website CreatWriteNow. Also, Robyn Chausse posted a wonderful interview with Mari over at the WOW Blog that is worth the read. You will get a greater insight as to who Mari is and her thoughts about about discovering our inner selves.  

Good news, wonderful friends, you have an opportunity to win a free e-copy of Mari's book:Who are You? How to Use Journaling Therapy to Know and Grow Your Life. All you have to do is mention in the comment section that you'd like to enter the giveaway (and leave your email address just in case)! That's all there is to it! I'll announce the winner on Labor Day!

AND NOW, Mari has written a post about journaling and losing weight to share with y'all! ENJOY! 

Lose Weight the Journaling Weigh

You might think that shedding excess poundage and keeping a journal have little in common. How could lounging in your easy chair playing around with a pen and notebook have any positive effect in your struggle to lose weight?

Well, that unassuming pen and journal pack a lot more punch than you'd think. In fact, they can become central to achieving your goals.

Losing weight is a matter of changing your diet and exercising. Everybody knows that. But even more fundamentally, it's a matter of making a commitment, setting a goal, outlining a strategy.

And even more fundamentally than that, losing weight is a matter of honestly wanting to lose weight.

And then the Ultimate Fundamental that is absolutely necessary for weight loss is the belief that You are capable of getting what You want.

This is not simply rhetoric. I'm talking hard core practicalities. No weight loss program will be successful in the long term unless the individual

1.  believes she can succeed,

2.  deeply desires to weigh less and become more healthy,

3.  is willing to make a commitment to stated goals,

4.  makes a detailed plan of action towards achieving those goals,

5.  and finally, amends her diet and starts exercising.

And where does journal writing come into the picture?

I don't know about you, but even though I'm generally self-confident, there is always that far away shadow of doubt, that deep down worry that I might screw it up and fail. This isn't uncommon, I'm sure. It would be suspicious if I had no fears at all.

So the issue is not to become fearless, the issue is to maintain fear and confidence in proper balance.

The journal is where you can keep that balance. Your journal is your repository of plans, records, stories, reflections. Your weight loss journal might include:

·         Thoughts about being overweight

·         Visions of a slimmer You

·         Plans for losing weight

·         Menus

·         Exercise routines

·         Daily reports (calories consumed, time exercising, discussions with pals on the subject, descriptions of how you feel, stories about what happened today)

·         Discussions with your Inner Coach

·         Confrontations with your Inner Critic

·         Helpful quotations or resources you came across recently

… and whatever else you can collect as support for your weight loss project.

From time to time, as you look back on previous pages in your journal, you build an appreciation for how far you have progressed. Even if you've not come as far as you'd hoped to by now, in re-tracing your journey you find new motivation.

Your journal is not just helpful in your weight loss endeavors; you may actually find it indispensable.

By Mari L. McCarthy - The Journaling Therapy Specialist, founder of Journaling for the Health of It™.  Please visit Mari's blog at http://www.createwritenow.com/journal-writing-blog/. In Who Are You? How to Use Journaling Therapy to Know and Grow Your Life (http://www.createwritenow.com/journal-therapy-store#ecwid:category=1077033&mode=product&product=4674145), Mari presents a gentle process for self discovery through journaling. Mari's latest publication is titled, Your Money Matters! Use Journal Writing Therapy to Get Financially Fit Now. See http://www.createwritenow.com/journal-therapy-store#ecwid:category=1077033&mode=product&product=5436679 for details.