This transcript was created with AI’s help. please forgive any weirdness.

Hi and welcome to the mindful shape podcast. I'm Paula Parker. I am a life coach and I specialize in helping you release excess fat off your body and really feeling in charge when it comes to food. Okay. So let's get right into it. Weight loss is not a linear, smooth, process, and you will have setbacks.

So if you were here on this episode, you really want to learn how to get back on track quickly. So whether that's your, you know, just listening to this because you listen to every episode that comes out when it comes out. I know there are a few of you who do that. That's great. So this will help prepare you for future setbacks.

And if you are listening to this specifically because you want to get back on track quickly after overeating, then this is going to be perfect for you too. Remember, you're human. This is going to be an opportunity to relish in your humanity and be kind to yourself no matter how hard it feels to do that.

So it can be challenging to be a friend to yourself when you are reeling in the aftermath of an overindulging with food. You may have some physical discomfort from the water retention, especially if we are eating high carb, that's going to be felt in our bodies. We can even feel it in our clothes because it was just retaining more water.

And you might be thinking, well, here I go again. Like I always do this. So then you're feeling disappointed in yourself, maybe discouraged, and maybe even, you know, disheartened or disillusioned with weight loss in general and reaching your weight loss goals. But you're here, you're listening, which means you have just enough willingness to lean forward.

Even when you're wanting to get back on track and you're leaning forward, you might notice that there's resistance. because it means less comfort and more pain. We're so used to being in comfort and now our tolerance for discomfort is really low. So as soon as it gets cold in my office, I'm cranking that heat up, right?

We just, we are adverse to discomfort. And if you've been recently overeating, say in the last few days, you've been practicing saying, yes, To comfort and immediate pleasure from food, and it will feel even more uncomfortable in contrast. It'll feel more uncomfortable to experience the discomfort of stopping that.

Also, if you've been eating flour and sugar and you stop, you will experience more hunger and possible cravings. Because there is a physical withdrawal when you stop eating those foods. So that is why, just as a side note, if you are into any kind of fasting, this is why it's so important that if you do overeat or you have a high carbohydrate day, you don't then crash diet the next day with fasting.

It will be very miserable for you. Okay. You want to instead do a low carb day following a high carb day. So that's going to be more keto ish. That's going to be high fat, high protein, lots of vegetables to balance out your body before you go back to your fasting protocol. So we need to make peace. With the fact that in order for us to be at our natural weight, we will have to embrace some temporary discomfort, both physical and emotional, because otherwise we live in perpetual discomfort with our weight.

We don't feel good in our clothes. We don't want to go to social things. We don't want to be seen. We know the discomfort with our weight and being in a body that doesn't feel like us. But our brains do this because the misery of being overweight is familiar, but the misery of feeling an emotion in the moment without eating is unfamiliar.

I want you to picture It's a little meme that I saw on Instagram. So I want you to picture a toddler standing in a doorway and there are two pieces of tape stretched across the doorway, one high and one low, preventing him from walking through. So he wants to walk through and the tape is blocking him.

So he's crying. He's really upset. He's having what we call in my coaching program, a big, big feeling cycle, temper tantrum meltdown. And then another toddler walks up and he sees the tape. And he simply removes it and he walks through, I want you to decide in this moment, which toddler you are, both are a hundred percent lovable and 100 percent adorable.

Okay, cute as a button, one is going to get where they want to go sooner. You must know what I'm about to say as you're about to get back on track. Your brain does not want to follow through with eating only when you're hungry, stopping at enough. And choosing foods that serve you, if that is not your normal way of eating right now.

Why? Because your brain is a bit lazy. Your brain is not inclined to do something new. It wants homeostasis and for things to stay the same. It wants you to eat when you're not really that hungry, but simply whenever you have the idea of eating something or food is offered or it's simply there, it's available.

It's on your plate. It's on the counter. It's in the cupboard. It's in the fridge. Your brain will continue wanting to eat. When you've had enough physically and you are comfortable, you're satiated simply out of habit because it's just practiced it so many times when you say no, we're following through on this weight loss commitment.

Your brain will not know how to handle that, and you will feel that as resistance. You will not feel like doing it. You will not feel like following through, you will not feel like feeling hunger, you will not feel like stopping when the food tastes really delicious and you want more, you will not feel like saying no to yourself, when there's a highly palatable food there, even if you're thinking, you know, I really have been overdoing it, I need to, you know, rein it in, I need to get it together and get back on track, decide it.

In this moment that you want to follow through or not, and answer this sincerely, I want to release weight answer yes or no. We need to start getting your brain on board for doing this. Tell your brain these things. It's not going to be the same with food from now on. It's going to be different. It's okay to not know exactly how it will be different yet.

You are safe. Or you can say I am safe. You're going to get everything you need. I'm going to get everything I need. Your brain just needs to be reassured. Okay, this is all new. Whatever your answer is in this moment, hopefully you are feeling calm. Now you can take action. Keep it simple. We go right back to basics, and create a new plan.

Okay? Here's what I suggest. You can take it or leave it. You can pick and choose. Choose your own adventure around here. Eat again, only when you feel physically hungry. Drink water until then to support your body, choose foods that serve you at your next meal, ensuring that it's balanced. That's going to mean getting vegetables.

You can eat as much as you want when it comes to vegetables, right? It's not a problem. Eat vegetables, eat protein, eat fat, eat whole grains, stop at enough, prioritize your sleep. Take a vitamin, do a stretch, go for a walk, get outside, move your body, maybe do a healing meditation or yoga nidra. You can find the little videos for free on YouTube to reset and recalibrate your nervous system and listen to this podcast again and again, or any other podcast that inspires you to fill your brain with thoughts that will keep you feeling calm and committed.

So that you can stick with it. The best thing you can do when you're in a ditch is stop digging. Okay. I know I've said that before, but it's very helpful to remember. Don't feel the need to start from scratch to get ultra strict with your food. Have your own back, set yourself up to win with a really doable plan, a plan that you can say yes to.

I want you to imagine I did this little exercise in a workshop that I did a little while back, which was imagine that you are in a dark tunnel and what you want in terms of your natural weight is on the other side and you can't even see it. So not only is your natural weight at the other end, but also how you want to show up with food, like how you were eating.

Okay. Whatever that looks like for you, this kind of idealized version of you. Okay. That's on the other end and you have a flashlight. So your flashlight is only going to show so far. You can't even see to the end. But meet yourself where you are knowing that you are so much more capable than you can even see right now.

Your flashlight only goes so far. You can only see a few steps ahead of you in terms of what you can, you know, how you can show up around food and how much weight you can release. Maybe in your mind you're like, okay, I can release three pounds. Maybe I can release five, whatever it is that feels doable for you.

We have a hard time seeing much past that. Okay. Our vision is right in front of us and behind us. So we know what we've done in the past. We can turn around and we can see, Oh, I know how I usually show up around food. I know what my weight loss has been in the past. And I've, you know, been unsuccessful.

And then we only, we've, we very much limit ourselves personally, the way that I'm eating now, how I'm relating to food, It's almost unimaginable from, say, maybe 15 years ago, but I didn't need to know how to do everything that I'm doing now. 15 years ago, I only needed the next skill. I only needed to just keep moving forward to get here eventually.

So you don't even need to see the end of the tunnel. You just need to know intellectually it's there and all you need to do is keep moving forward. Keep it simple. Don't overcomplicate it. I hope this was helpful in terms of getting back on track. Embrace that discomfort. It is your way forward. Okay. If you have found this podcast helpful or any of the podcasts helpful, it really goes a long way.

If you can share it with somebody, tell somebody about it, send them a little message on Instagram. Just tell them about it. That is mostly how, New listeners come to me and come listening to this is that they have heard it from a friend or their sister or someone in their life who told them about it.

And I just really appreciate it when you do that. Thank you so much for those of you who already done that. And if there's somebody that comes to mind that you're like, Oh, they might get something out of this. Please share it with them. And I would really appreciate that. Okay. Thank you so much. Bye