Doubt Is Slowing Your Weight Loss: Here’s How to Work With It

160 - You know that feeling when you’ve been doing so well… and then you “mess up”?

Doubt creeps in and you start wondering if you’ll ever be able to get the pounds off. You might even think, “Maybe it’s just not possible for me at this age and stage of life.” That can feel discouraging.

In this episode, I share a client conversation that highlights a common pattern: wanting to move forward, but also wanting doubt to disappear first.

You’ll hear how to take action while doubt is still there, how to use it as a check-in instead of fighting it, and why working with your mind leads to more consistent follow-through.

We also touch on decision fatigue, planning ahead, and how your brain and nervous system influence your choices in the moment, especially around food and habits.

What you’ll take from this episode:

• A different way to approach doubt so it doesn’t delay your progress
• A simple way to reduce daily decision fatigue
• More clarity around how to build self-trust over time

Next Steps:

If you’re tired of second-guessing yourself and want a clear, simple way to move forward, book a complimentary 20-minute consult.

We’ll look at what’s actually getting in your way and map out your next step so you’re not left figuring it out on your own.

Book here: https://calendly.com/clarendasempowerment/exclusive-20-mins-session

You can always find out more at:

 https://www.clarendasempowerment.com/

Transcript

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If you're waiting for doubt to disappear before you lose weight, you'll be waiting a long time. I'm Clarenda Price, former Nurse, Certified Life and Weight coach, and host of the Feel Light Mind and Body Podcast. I help women reduce stress, lose weight, and actually feel more like themselves in a way that lasts. Welcome to episode 160 - Doubt Is Slowing Your Weight Loss: Here’s How to Work With It. Doubt is that feeling of uncertainty, hesitation, not fully being convinced that something will work or that it will last. And when it comes to weight loss, it shows up a lot. This episode comes from a client session I had last week. Lisa gave me permission to share whatever I wanted to share to help you, the listener. She had been away for a couple of weeks, so we started with her micro wins. Things that she was proud of, things that may have shifted and also looking ahead at possible obstacles as she got back on track. She shared that her mindset was healthier. She had less judgment towards herself and more appreciation for her body. In fact, she said that now she's grateful for her body, how it supports her, and the strength that it has, no matter what this number on the scale is saying. She wants to continue to give her body good nutrition, movement, good quality sleep, and connection no matter what. Her face lit up when she shared this: "I see myself differently. I feel closer to God, the more conscious and present I become. I'm honoring myself. I feel so much love and gratitude now. I feel renewed." That is so beautiful. She's been putting the work in and now that's freeing up a lot of extra energy for her. She said that she feels safe and empowered and then she added, "But Clarenda, I don't want to take doubt with me." I want you to hear that again, "I feel safe and empowered, but I don't want to take doubt with me." Kind of sounds reasonable, doesn't it? But as soon as she said it, I could see it. Her face tightened, her body got tensed up and she even leaned forward. Like I could feel it through the screen as though she really wanted to get that point across to me because it was very important. I immediately knew that tension wasn't doubt itself. It was her resistance to the doubt being there. She's tired of it holding her back, and it goes against what she logistically knows. She's a nurse as well. And that makes sense because doubt can really mess with our mind, but it's not realistic. So then I said to her, what if that thought is delusional? She paused, kind of tilted her head and said, tell me more. I think she was confused. I said, doubt is part of the human experience. Your brain is wired to offer doubt when there's uncertainty or when you're about to do something outside of your comfort zone. It's protective. And I said it was delusional because really the only way to eliminate it would be something like a lobotomy. And we're not doing that. So as long as you're alive and human, doubt is just coming with you. And that's actually where the shift started for her. Because up until that moment, she'd been operating from a thought like, "I need to get out of this doubt. I need to get rid of the doubt. The sooner the better." And that was creating pressure, resistance, and more tension in the body. So I asked her, what if you could have doubt and still take action? She looked a little uncertain. So I said it can come along with you for the ride. Just think of it like carrying that heavy purse with you. It can be heavy, maybe a little uncomfortable, and you still can do what you said you were going to do. I could see her leaning in. I knew this was something different that she probably hadn't heard before. And you probably know that feeling when just something hits you and you're like, "Hmm." It gets your attention. I'm going to consider this. I hope you're considering this as you listen to this. Because when you accept that doubt isn't going anywhere, you stop waiting and you just start. It brings relief just knowing that you're not alone. Others have doubt and it's very normal. How empowering is that? To know that you don't have to keep delaying your life. You can start creating it. Doubt and all. We stayed with it for a bit, just working through the charge around it. And she said she felt more empowered seeing it this way instead of fighting it. Because what we resist, persists. It just tends to stick around. It keeps showing up as a problem when it doesn't have to. Doubt can actually be useful. It can help you make better decisions when things feel uncertain.

Even people who are very successful: 4:56

they're consistent, they have results, they all still have doubt. They also have desire and belief. So while doubt is part of the equation, they just don't focus on it. And if you think about it, determination can be powerful, but it can push you too far in one direction. It can blind you to risk, or it can take you out of alignment with what you truly value. So doubt creates a pause, an opportunity to check in. When I feel it rising, I first ask what it's trying to tell me. And I also ask, is this still aligned with my values? For example, my value for family. You might be so determined to reach that goal that you override everything else. Doubt can be useful in slowing you down just to give you an opportunity to say, "Is this how I want to do this?" If we removed doubt completely, we'd miss out on that. We'd miss the opportunity to refine, to adjust, to set ourselves up for long-term success. Doubt can have us rethinking our vision and our ability to reach it. So what we do with that doubt matters. Get curious about it. Use it. Ask yourself, "What would best support me in this area that I'm having doubt?" Give that to yourself. That's true self-care. And then just keep moving. That's very different from just sitting in it. So what have you just expected doubt to be there, but you didn't let it run the show? You didn't try to silence it and you stopped fighting it. What if you listened for a moment to see if there's anything useful before deciding? Sometimes it's valid and sometimes it's just an old pattern. Either way, you're still the one driving. Now I get that in the moment it feels easier to make a decision sometimes than to stay in indecision. We are meant to be decisive if we want to evolve. So that's why I encourage my clients to plan ahead. Things like what you're going to eat, what your activity's going to be, and what rest looks like for you. We work with one day ahead. Some like to plan farther than that, but one day is good as well. How does that help? Well, there are estimates that we make 35,000 decisions a day. So instead of going back and forth all day long between the emotional part and the logistical part of your brain, you just take that time, might take five to 10 minutes and make all the decisions at once. That's less energy than it takes when it's scattered all throughout the day leading to decision fatigue. Then when doubt shows up, you're like, we've already decided this and we decided it with right up here with the prefrontal cortex, with our, the part of our brain that can see in the future and has our best interest in mind. And remember when you are in that indecisive, spinning, and doubtful state, that's when that part of your brain just kicks in, gives you the doubt because it wants to conserve energy. It wants to stay comfortable and stay with what's familiar. You know, the old habit that is the path of least resistance. So yes, when you're doubting in indecision, a quick decision can feel reassuring, but often it's not our friend. It usually isn't considering our future. It's only considering what would provide relief right now. That's the amygdala. Certainty makes us feel like we have more agency over our lives. So of course, Lisa wanted to suppress the distress of doubt. We all know that feeling and we don't like it. And there's a reason for that. Neuroscience says that it's because the parts of the brain that process uncertainty, are close to the parts of the brain that respond to discomfort. It's all tied into safety. I also want to add that acute stress upregulates our dopamine receptors. It makes us much more reactive to things that are in our environment that offer immediate relief from what we are feeling. It's an escape option. That could be food, binge watching, scrolling, drinking, shopping online, or just simply checking out. Even positive excitement can do this. You smell pizza and then suddenly the plan you made last night just doesn't seem as appealing. So one simple, not always easy, step that you can take is to simply pause. Ask yourself, "What is that quieter voice saying inside?" Not the loud noisy ones, the quiet one. What is she saying? What do you intuitively know that's best for you? That is what you really, really want. At the beginning. When this is a new practice, your inner voice may be more influenced to just do it this one time, people please, or simply give in to the pleasure of the moment at hand. It still wants to enjoy that dopamine spike. That's when we know that we need to not only educate our inner voice, but also to connect it with our future self. We want to increase our desires and beliefs for what is possible. Again, those helpful questions like"What is it that I really want?" and"What would help support me in order to get there?" The more you practice that, the easier it will be for you to hear. Here's a real life example. Think about planning a trip. If you just plan from a few pictures and posts online and started booking everything, you could be a bit at risk. Doubt would be helpful then. It could be your best friend. It would slow you down enough to gather more information. When we were planning our trip to South Africa, I had most everything mapped out. Our lodging, excursions, the routes we were going to take, um, the Airbnbs we were staying at. But I was hesitating on the flights and I'm glad there was that hesitation. That's when doubt came in. And instead of ignoring it, I leaned in and I was able to talk with a couple from South Africa. Both were doctors that I knew. And they came, sat down at our table and went through the plan that I had from beginning to the end. They said some routes were great. Like from Johannesburg. We were driving down to Cape Town on through the garden route, but we were planning to fly from Storms River to Johannesburg, or sorry, we were planning on driving from Storms River to Johannesburg and they said, no, that is way too risky. So, so good to know. We were able to book flights instead. We were glad to find out that it wasn't safe. We felt more confident with our decisions moving forward. That's informed intuition. Doubt actually helped us. Without that pause and then support, our trip could have gone quite differently. Instead, we had an amazing trip. Now, back to Lisa. She said at the end of the session that she could see the importance of building strength and mental and emotional, not just the physical strength. Instead of thinking, "I need to eliminate doubt so I can lose weight faster," she's going to visualize herself moving forward with it there. She's now willing to feel that discomfort without thinking that something has gone very wrong. Because that's what's actually sustainable. She said she now feels ready for that next stage of growth. We talked about creating new neural pathways so the old ones can just fade away. That's part of the rewiring process. She loved that she was leaving with more self-trust, working with her body and not against it. In fact, working with her mind and not against it. With her emotions and not resisting them. She also said that she felt a huge sense of relief. That she didn't have to eliminate it. That it was normal to have it, and she could just take it along with her and work with it. It didn't have to keep holding her back. That is one example of how having support is invaluable. Having someone to reflect it back to you. This helps you move through it so much faster, whether it's one-on-one or in a group. Because without that balance in your mind and body, it's really hard to live life and enjoy it to the fullest. You miss out on opportunities and that can feel heavy and depressing. So let's review some takeaways. I'll keep them short. Doubt is part of being human. It feels uncomfortable because we're wired for certainty, but it's not a problem. Not knowing what doubt is trying to tell you can feel more intense. So get specific. What exactly are you doubting? Name it and address it. Do those things really matter to you? Maybe, maybe not. You'll know. Remember your small wins... the micro wins... because they add up to your macro wins. The big wins. The big wins don't usually come from one big moment. It's all the consistent ones that add up. Take an active approach with doubt. Look at the drawbacks and the benefits. Gather your information, and then make the best decision. As a nurse, I used to gather more data than probably was necessary, but you know what? It made me thorough, it made me reliable, and a better team member. Doubt supported me in that. It had me asking, "What else?""What am I missing?" And then I could add it to my assessment. If you ignore doubt, it just sits there and drains your energy. If you look at it briefly, then move forward, it can actually support you. And here's the other piece, you can be doing all the right things... but if your nervous system is in a constant stress state, your body is going to hold on. That sympathetic cortisol-driven state, that's simply safety. When your system feels safer, more regulated, then it will release. Mentally, emotionally, and physically. I've experienced that myself and so have my clients. The Feel Light Mind and Body approach feels different for a reason. So if this connected with you or even just started to shift something, share it with someone. You might be the only link they have to hearing this. And if you're wondering what your next step should be, I offer complimentary 20-minute consults every month. We'll look at where you are now, what's getting in the way, and where you want to go. And whether we work together or not, you'll leave the session feeling clearer. I'll drop the link in the show notes. All right. How about you do something today, even if it's one action step towards something that you've been wanting to do, but doubt has been holding you back. Maybe you've been hesitating or putting it off. Choose something that will require you to put doubt in the backseat or at least in the passenger side. And if you do so, let me know so I can celebrate with you.