Ep. 02 Jumpstart Your Weight Loss
So it’s been said a million times, there are no quick fixes when it comes to weightloss. If there were a magic pill, Oprah would surely have found it and put it on her list of favorite things.
And then when you do reach goal weight, you now have a lifetime in maintenance mode. Now you are working on sustaining your healthy lifestyle. It all requires managing your thinking, being curious, asking yourself powerful questions, and practicing unreasonable levels of self-compassion.
That said, If you opened your closet this morning before work and stared dumbfounded for 10 minutes because nothing fits anymore and you’re feeling physically and emotionally uncomfortable in your body, I got you. I totally understand that you want it to happen like NOW. It’s really hard to be patient when you’re at this point. Even the most enlightened among us will find it challenging.
So what can you start doing immediately for the lowest amount of effort and highest return? Where should you start?
In this episode I’ll tell you how to jumpstart your weight loss so you can hit the ground running.
1_Get clear on what you do and don’t want for you future self
Either now or later when you get home, get out a notebook and answer 3 questions. There’s power in writing things down. It forces us to have complete thoughts and allows us to review them.
How are you feeling about your weight right now? List out every emotion you have - is it frustration, embarrassment, maybe you’ve been making some strides, and you’re feeling good, hopeful and excited. Write it all down.
What are the real consequences of feeling this way? Whether you’re feeling negative, positive or both, this is how we get clear on seeing the connection between how we feel and the result is has for us.
For example…
Are you avoiding social events?
Avoiding the gym because you feel self conscious of your body?
Ruminating on overeating?
Or alternatively, if you’re feeling good, are you going to the gym more, in a better mood at work?
What would your life look like if you continue on this path?
So think about where you were physically and emotionally last year at this time. Every choice you’ve made in the last year has brought you to this moment physically and emotionally. So most likely, if we don’t start thinking and acting differently this year, we’ll likely be in the same spot we are now when it comes to our weight.
And then on the flip side, get clear on what you want your future to look like. What is your Big Why? Is it wearing the clothes you want? Is it feeling sexy with your partner? Is it to make your ex see just what he’s missing. Seriously, it doesn’t matter what your reason is. No one but you needs to know your motivation. Use whatever stimulates your desire to inspire you in the moment.
What would reaching your goal weight mean for you? What would it say about who you are as a person.
Maybe it’s a woman who respects herself and her body.
Maybe it’s a woman who does what she says she’s going to.
Maybe it means feeling confident and at ease in your own skin.
Maybe it means self mastery.
This is personal to YOU.
I personally don’t think there are any superficial or vain reasons for wanting to change your shape. I’m all for health at any size and body positivity. Absolutely. AND I’m all for women who want to change their shape. That’s because I know that for women who struggle with this, and if you are someone who’s been trying to reach and maintain their ideal weight for 5, 10, 15 or even 20 years, for some of us, then this is about more than body weight right?
If this describes you, I’d like to offer that even if you just want to feel good in a bikini, it’s all the same.
This is your path to being in alignment with your authentic self.
And I just want to take a bit of a tangent here to explain what I mean by authentic self. What I mean by this is your true self. The highest expression of yourself who remains immune to any self-limiting programs we inherited from our childhood and hasn’t been scarred from trauma’s, and everything it takes to navigate an unpredictable word.
Your authentic self knows what you need to survive and thrive. It’s your vitality, the inner wisdom that speaks to you in stillness and guides you towards activities in which you can be in your flow state.
How do you know when you’re in alignment with your authentic self? You feel expansive, powerful and come up with creative solutions to problems.
I don’t care how much you weigh, you are not broken and you don’t need to be fixed. Self coaching is all about realigning with our authentic self when we get a little (or a lot) of track.
I hope that clarifies what I mean by authentic self because I’ll be using that term a lot throughout this podcast. Especially in the beginning I’ll be building the concepts on top of each other as I record each episode.
2_Stop overeating
Extra weight on your body is simply extra food you’ve eaten. No need for judgement it’s just a fact.
Even if you’re eating mostly “healthy” foods, if it’s more than your body needs you’ll gain weight.
So many of us eat to avoid discomfort, negative feelings or emotions. Instead we want to tune into how we’re feeling so that we can honor our body’s natural hunger signals.
Ask yourself if it’s emotional or true physical hunger. If it’s emotional, work to allow the emotion to pass without resisting, reacting to it, or distracting yourself from it by eating something.
3_Stop snacking
Research shows that a low-fat, calorie restricted diet isn’t the most effective way to lose weight permanently.
We now know that consistently elevated insulin levels are the cause of the increased weight set point. To lower our natural weight set point to our goal weight, we need to allow our insulin levels to drop more often than just at night when we sleep.
The first way to start doing that is to stop eating between meals, even if we feel hungry. When you make the decision to never snack, you become more familiar with what true hunger feels like in your body and you learn that you absolutely can tolerate hunger without acting on it. Let you body use up the fat on your body as fuel.
4_Stop beating yourself up
As a champion overeater myself, I’m well aware of the dreaded self loathing that comes after you’ve yet again gone off track. We develop a pattern of black and white thinking in which we’re either all in or all out, in which anything goes.
This is a mental and behavior loop. The diet starts on Monday mentality is a recipe for disaster.
Watch the thoughts your brain is automatically serving up. If you’re brain is falling into this trap get curious instead. Can you dose yourself in compassion for going off plan? What do you need to hear? Coach yourself! Where can you be kind to yourself and from this place, get right back on track rather than spinning out for the whole day or week.
5_Put your self care into overdrive
So far you’ve been using food as a way to take care of yourself and it’s been doing waaaay more than it’s meant to. I’d like to offer that food is fuel for your body. It’s totally neutral. You get to decide what it means.
To jumpstart your weight loss, it’s time to start increasing alternative ways of taking care of your body and mind.
Drink more water and sparkling water so that you’re hydrated and energized. Often we misinterpret thirst for hunger.
Prioritize sleep. Research shows tired people eat up to 30% more calories. This is likely because being just a little sleep deprived stimulates more ghrelin (the hunger hormone) throughout the day. Need I say more? Go to bed early.
Meditate. Even if you only squeeze in five minutes a day. There’s a ton of research to support just how powerful meditation is for your overall health and well being. It literally changes your brain. Our body is a mirror reflection of what’s going on in our minds. For example, a relaxed and welcoming state allows you to ask yourself questions about your health and the habits that hinder and promote it.
And if you’re thinking, well 5 mins won’t really have any effect. Questions that thought. What would be good about doing 5 minutes daily? I’d like to offer that it’s 100% better than doing zero minutes. It’s about getting into a self-caring habit.
Finally, do movement you enjoy. Especially if exercise isn’t part of your normal routine, don’t push it in the beginning. Incorporate more walking to light exercise that you enjoy. You can’t work off a bad diet through exercise, so focus on eating responsibly.
If you already have a solid workout routine, that’s amazing because their are so many benefits to exercise. But don’t beat yourself up if you miss a workout. Exercise is great to get your endorphins going and feeling strong, and building muscle but it only indirectly helps weight loss, so don’t sweat it.
6_Get ahead of yourself
You know yourself. You know your patterns and where you can get off track. Make a list of every obstacle thought that could possibly come up and write down a response.
This is so valuable. Take the time to ACTUALLY do this.
We underestimate temptation.
We underestimate distraction.
Maybe it’s simply thoughts of “I don’t feel like it”
What will your response be? Have them prepared so your brain doesn’t have to do the work. Make it easy on yourself.
Common ones for me are:
I’m too tired to do meal prep
I don’t feel like working out
It won’t make a difference if I eat off plan today
Helpful responses to have on hand:
“I’m too tired to do meal prep”
It’s okay that I’m tired, it actually doesn’t take that much energy to meal prep“I don’t feel like working out”
I almost never feel like doing it, but I’ll feel great after my workout“It won’t make a difference if I eat off plan today”
Maybe it will, maybe it won’t but I’m building trust with myself. If I still want this tomorrow, I’ll have it.
Okay so just to recap. To jumpstart your weight loss you can
Clarify what you want for your future self
Stop overeating
Stop snacking and eat 3 satisfying meals
Don't beat yourself up if you make a mistake
Be creative with your self care
Get ahead of your reasons to quit
I hope this will give you a good starting point. It can be a challenge to make a lot of changes at once and you’re less likely to stick with it if you take on too much too soon. So I strongly encourage you to start slow and implement 1 or 2 that you think will be easy for you sustain. And build from there.
And if none of that seems possible today, I still have something for you. Hydrate. Drinking enough water or sparkling water is the easiest, most effective weight loss tool you have in your toolkit.
Talk to you next time.