Inside My Bag: How I Stay On Track When I Leave The House

Weight loss for women over 40 isn’t about willpower. It’s about preparation. Here’s what I carry to avoid emotional eating and stay on track all day.

You’ll learn:

• The healthy snacks I use to prevent overeating
 • Why portable protein matters for women over 40
 • How hydration impacts cravings and energy
 • Simple tools that stop 3pm spirals
 • What’s no longer in my bag and why

If you struggle with binge eating, afternoon crashes, or staying on track when life gets busy, this episode will help you remove chaos before it hits.

You don’t need more willpower.
You need more preparation.

If this episode resonates, make sure you’re subscribed and leave a review. It helps more women over 40 break free from emotional eating and finally become unrecognisable.

Products mentioned:
Sunscreen
Protein bars
Hydration
Journal

BOMBSHELL BLUEPRINT WEIGHT LOSS FOR EMOTIONAL EATERS

Transcript

If I asked you to open up your handbag right now and pull out everything that's in there, what would it say about you? Would the things in your handbag tell me that you're a woman who's prepared and you've got it going on and you're in charge of your life? Or would it tell me that you're a reactive hot mess? Because let me share something with you. There's something that I've learned after losing 18 kilos last year and then regaining five, potentially now six. It's that weight loss isn't one in the kitchen.

It's one in your level of preparation. And so today I'm literally going to walk you through the items that are in my handbag. Not because the products matter as much as the level of preparation does.

So if you want to stop emotionally eating by 3pm or stop grabbing the drive-thru on the way home from work and stop starting again on Monday, then you need to become a woman who prepares before she gets hungry. So let's open the bag. What is up you gorgeous, fabulous creatures and welcome to another week inside of the Losing It podcast.

You're here with Kylie Pax, Australia's emotional eating coach, and I am thrilled and delighted to be with you once again for another fresh week, new episode. We are heading into the third month of the year. I cannot believe summer's over.

I'm crying on the inside every day now until summer reappears again at the close of the year. But until that time, your girl is going to have to face the fact that I lost 18 kilos. Yay, let's all send Kylie clapping hand emojis.

And then I gained six back. I think I looked on the scale this morning and it was crying when I just jumped on there. It said, woman, what are you doing to me? Six kilos.

Okay. Why did it happen? Because I let my standards slip. And here's what I'm doing about it.

One of the main things that I noticed as I was losing weight last year is that my level of organisation and my level of preparation were a direct representation, try and say that if you were drunk, of the results I was going to achieve. The more disorganised I was, the more scrambled my brain was, the more scattered I was in my external life, the more my inner results reflected that back to me. And I always like to start with the lowest hanging fruit.

So starting with something really small and easily accessible to us, like reorganising your handbag. You all know how good it is when you buy a new bag or a new wallet or a purse. And then we get so excited to take everything out of our old crappy bag and organise it into the new one.

We feel like we have this innate sense of control over our life that previously was just a complete shambles. But there's something about organising your handbag. You really feel like you've got your shit together.

And that's what we're going to be doing today. I'm going to step you through the items that I currently keep in my handbag. Now, full disclosure, I am in my little baguette or pouchette era.

So my bag is quite small at the moment, but I do have days where I carry around my fuller, big hobo kind of bags. Any of the bags that are generally not cross-body because they're bigger bags and you need to carry them by the handle or at least on your shoulder. They're the ones that I use on the days when I know I need to be a little more prepared.

I'm not just ducking out and then coming straight back home. I'm going to be out for an extended period of time. And that's when I carry a lot more items around with me.

Not for the fun of dislocating a collarbone, no, but for the reassurance that I have everything under control at any time that I need it. Because the way I like to look at things, your bag is a reflection of your personal standards. Women who are prepared do not spiral with food.

Now, this episode is not about products, although I will be sharing the products that I personally use throughout the episode, although I'm not affiliated with these companies in any way. These are just the items that I like, I enjoy, and that I've had great results with. But the crux of this episode is about pre-decision, making sure that you can stabilize your blood sugar when you need to, containing our emotions that seem so volatile at the drop of a hat, and making sure that I keep with me identity cues, which if you're not sure what that is, you're going to want to hang around today because I'm going to tell you exactly how using them can help you overcome emotional eating and lose weight that you want to lose this year.

Now, we're going to start today with a hot item that is quite debatable in the weight loss world, but quite frankly, I'd rather stop a binge than I would be in my absolute healthiest zone. Now, I'm talking about protein bars. If I'm feeling like I'm craving sugar, which is pretty much from the time my little peepers pop open in the morning, then I would rather default to a protein bar than a chocolate bar.

Are protein bars the healthiest choice in the world? No, probably not. But I still believe they're better than white refined sugar, chocolate bars, or the other kinds of sweets that are on the market. Now, there's a couple of protein bars that I am currently into at the moment, and I do carry them around with me.

(4:24 - 5:15)

If you are not fussed by whey powder proteins, then there's a company called Nothing Naughty Protein Bars, and they're really enjoyable. I don't have a lot of whey, so I try to minimize milk products. In that case, I am absolutely addicted to Macromic Protein Bars.

I'll link all of these below. Again, I'm not affiliated with these companies. These are just products that I have liked and found good results with.

I've been using Macromic Protein Bars in general for over 12 months now because he uses non-dairy protein sources. I find they don't bloat me, they don't give me a stomach ache, they work really well for me because my digestive system is pretty screwed up from years and years of dieting. But the main point about carrying around some kind of protein that's portable, so we're not carrying around ham slices in our bag, but a portable protein source, is mainly that I'm not leaving my hunger to chance.

(5:15 - 5:58)

If I'm going to be out for hours and hours on end, I may or may not find a deli or a shop or a cafe that has something that I want to eat. Maybe you're in a place where you just can't get anything at all. I mean, Lord knows, I don't know where that place might be these days, but I'm sure there are places somewhere.

And in that case, if you are starving hungry and you feel like you're going to eat anything that doesn't eat you first, then at least you've got a strong source of protein with you at all times. Hunger plus stress is going to equal poor decision-making. When you have a source of protein available to you, that's going to blunt your cravings immediately, stabilize your blood sugar, and that's going to lower the risk of binging or overeating or having one of those fuck-it nights where you just eat everything that's available to you.

(5:58 - 6:48)

This, of course, comes back to the first eating code that I teach, which is eat when you're hungry, don't eat when you're not. Basically, what I'm saying in that eating code is you eat when you're hungry, not when you're emotional, not when you're tired, not when you're freaked out, not when you've got anxiety. We eat only when hungry.

And the best idea and the best way to sort of monitor that is make sure you have reasonably healthy sources available to you on tap. Now, the next thing is something I haven't carried around with me for quite some time, but I used to when I was on the road all day. I know a lot of you are working careers and jobs where you are not in offices, you're actually, your car is your office.

And in that case, I used to carry around carrot sticks, healthy pieces of fruit, well, all fruit is healthy, and rice crackers or rice cakes. They were just little management devices to help get me through. I would also take peanut butter, but that's just me because they all work really well together.

(6:48 - 7:16)

I was planning for appetite, not perfection. A lot of the time, women over 40 are getting into trouble without eating, and we end up binging because we skip meals, we get too hungry, and then we try to overcorrect later. That is never going to be a win.

On those types of days, you're not lacking motivation. What you were lacking was preparation. Now, the habits that we fall into are usually things like stopping at gas stations and eating whatever trash they have in there, falling into delis, eating the snack bars out of the office, candy machine.

(7:16 - 7:42)

Any of those types of things are not only going to hold you back in your weight loss journey, but obviously, they're going to make you feel like crap. You then end up feeling like you've messed it up, quote unquote, and you'll start again next Monday. There's only three ways for you to fix those kinds of habits.

One is to eliminate them altogether. Now, whilst that might sound ideal, it's almost entirely impossible. Eliminating bad habits takes time, it requires rewiring your pathways, and it's not going to happen instantaneously.

(7:42 - 8:54)

The second way to do it is to reduce those bad habits. This is where the carrot sticks and the rice cakes come in and play a fantastic supporting role. That's where you can have those things, still eat your little snackies if that's what you want to do, but you replace at least 50% of them with a healthier choice.

Your third option is to replace 100% of the previously unwanted habits with the newer chosen habits. That's where you would be aiming to end up. Depending on your level of sugar addiction, your level of binge eating, how much emotional eating you actually are doing through the day, you would choose to either eliminate, reduce, or replace those poor eating habits with the healthier options that you're now going to keep on hand with you.

Now, the third thing that I carry in my bag with me as a complete non-negotiable, and this was a tip that I learned from my fabulous friend, Dr. Maria, is gum or mints, sister. Gum or mints are a complete non-negotiable. Why? Because if you were brought up with me in the 70s, they had those hideous, what were they called? After dinner mints.

After dinner mints. Ew. I don't know.

Anybody that likes to mix chocolate and mint together, that is just such an abomination to me. It's like eating chocolate and brushing your teeth at the same time. It just doesn't go.

(8:54 - 11:01)

It doesn't make sense. And yet, here we are. I think those vile things are still available in the supermarket.

In any case, when you eat a mint, it signals to your brain that this is the closure of the meal. It's a ritual that we've grown up with since we were small, and it lets our neuropathways know the meal has ended now. Psychologically, it's like a full stop point in your eating sentence, and it stops the grazing.

Now, you can do your regular mints if that's what you want to do. The amount of sugar in there is negligible, so it's really not doing any damage. Or, as I, and again, my beautiful friend, Dr. Maria, like to do, we eat the Double D mints.

We eat all the Double D products, actually. They are the best. They've been around forever.

I really trust them. We absolutely love them, and I don't go a day without them. Now, the next thing you want to be carrying around with you is either a sachet of electrolytes or a full-blown water bottle.

Why? Because dehydration signals the same way that hunger does in your body. When you're fatigued, your sugar cravings spike. Having a source of hydration on hand equals energy stability.

Personally, I just use Hydrolyte in a pinch, but there are better sources that I have used in the past, such as the Beauty Chef, her Hydration Inner Beauty Boost. I really like that as well, and I've even tried recently, because that previous one I mentioned is a liquid. I've recently tried the Body Chef Body Electric Powder, and that I really like, mainly because it's portable, but secondly, because it contains water-washed creatine and B5 to help with your mental energy and your stamina.

Plus, it's got magnesium, plant protein, amino acids, and fermented kombucha for your blood health. So, that is an all-in-one. Now, the fifth thing that I carry is not so much about the foods or the products, as much as it is about identity and the way I think.

So, we're stepping into the realm of identity tools now. I always carry with me a little mini notebook, or if I am traveling light, I just make sure I've got my notes app on hand all the time. Why? Because if I'm feeling triggered or emotional or anxious, I'm going to write down before I eat.

This is where we talk about follow your plan and not your mood. I make a plan each morning. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks.

What is it that I'm committing to eat for the day? 8am Kylie, I'm just going to say it again. I say it to you all the time. It's coming at you again.

(11:01 - 12:33)

8am Kylie gives a shit about my plans, my dreams, my hopes, my goals, what I want to achieve in my life. 8pm Kylie does not give a shit. She just wants to watch Netflix and eat chocolate.

She's an evil little thing. It's like having an evil twin, except they're both you, and only one can win. Follow your plan and not your mood, people.

If you can just jot down your feelings and look at them, whether that be on your notes app or if you want to carry around a notepad, at least you can see that most of the time what you're writing down is complete bullshit. It's just a feeling and feelings are not things. A structured meal plan or at least a screenshot of what you intend to eat for that day must live with you on your person at all times.

Most women who are trying to lose weight decide in the moment and hope like crazy that their willpower will make it through. You are no longer going to do that. You're going to decide in advance what it is that you're going to eat.

You're going to make a commitment to that because you actually give a shit about achieving your goals, reaching your potential and living in your healthiest body this year. Now if we're going to talk about using our phone for these types of things, then girl, a portable phone charger has to live with you in your bag. That is metaphor gold.

The reason being is because we all just have a mental breakdown if our phones die. Well, I will have a mental breakdown if my standards die. Prepared women recharge early.

It's important. Now with that being said, I also carry around a few little beauty items like lip balm, fragrance, hair clips, sunscreen. The sunscreen I am absolutely obsessed with.

Oh my god, let me grab it. Okay sis, this is my new obsession. Ultraviolet SPF 50.

(12:34 - 14:24)

They come in all the shapes and sizes. You can get a queen screen luminizing sunscreen. You can get a pre-screen reapplication mist.

I mean this brand has everything. One more time for the people at the back, I'm not affiliated. I am just obsessed.

I never leave the home without my ultraviolet pre-screen. Mainly because I'm a little vain and I don't want to look like a decrepit old fossil by the time I'm 60. But secondly, they're just cues for self-respect.

When you feel polished, you behave differently. Confidence reduces that kind of stuff it mentality when it comes to our food choices. Now before we wrap it up today, let me tell you what is not in my bag.

Emergency chocolate, random snacks or the identity of a woman who can't handle hunger. Remember, hunger is not an emergency. You can be prepared.

You can have all the things in your bag. But at the end of the day, it's going to come down to you, your decisions and your self-respect. So before we finish, I want you to really sit with this today.

Your handbag isn't random. It's a reflection of how you move through the world. Are you prepared or are you reactive? And this has got really nothing to do with lip gloss and protein bars.

It has everything to do with whether you trust yourself enough to plan ahead. Because women who constantly spiral don't have a hunger problem. They have a preparation problem.

They wait until they're starving before they make a decision or they wait until they're exhausted or until they're emotional. And then they try and rely on willpower. That's not a character flaw.

That is poor strategy. The woman you want to become, she doesn't hope that she'll make a good decision. What she does is set herself up so that it's almost impossible to make a bad one.

So here's your challenge this week. Open your bag tonight and go ahead, go look inside. Does it reflect the woman who keeps restarting every Monday or the woman who is done playing that game once and for all? You don't need to overhaul your whole life.

(14:24 - 15:09)

You don't need another diet and you don't need more motivation. You just need to become a woman who prepares before she feels triggered. That's how you become unrecognizable.

And if this episode made you think differently about something as simple as what you carry with you each day, then please make sure you subscribe. Share this with the bestie because we're not just out here losing weight. We are upgrading identity.

I will see you in the next episode. Thank you so much for tuning in. Remember to shimmy your butt over to KyliePax.com and join me inside of the bombshell blueprint so you can stop emotional eating and start losing your weight now.

You'll also find helpful notes and resources inside my past podcast that will help you lose your weight without losing your sanity. I will see you next week.