ADHD-Friendly Weight Management Strategies with Jennifer Watts

Weight loss coach Jennifer Watts often felt defeated by traditional diet plans. Each attempt ended in what felt like failure, creating a cycle of frustration and self-doubt. It wasn’t until Jennifer finally received her ADHD diagnosis, that she could truly understand the reasons behind her weight challenges.

Jennifer’s diagnosis allowed her to transform her approach to weight loss, and discover the strategies that resonated with her unique neurodiversity. Her breakthrough was so profound that she decided to share it with other women facing similar struggles, launching Jennifer Watts Coaching – a place for women with ADHD to find personalized coaching and strategies for weight loss and self-growth. 

In this episode, Jennifer joins me to share some practical insights for navigating the mental load of managing weight with ADHD. Listen in as we discuss the power of small, manageable changes, the importance of ditching self-judgment, and her top two tips for getting started on your journey to weight management with ADHD.

Connect with Jennifer:

Follow her on Instagram

Visit her website

Listen to Jennifer’s podcast: Losing Weight With ADHD

Audio Stamps

01:15 - Coach Jennifer Watts shares her background, the work she does now, and the people she serves.
05:25 - Jennifer reflects on the effective strategies that helped her with weight management post-diagnosis.
14:33 - Jennifer shares some of the common struggles faced by individuals with ADHD when it comes to weight management.
17:26 - Jennifer highlights the importance of tailoring strategies to fit each client's lifestyle and needs and gives us some examples of simple yet impactful changes to start with.
25:20 - Jennifer shares her top two tips for people with ADHD looking to find more success in health management.

Quotes

“It has to be broken down into the tiniest of pieces for it to be effective for somebody like me.” - Jennifer Watts

“People with ADHD experience a lot of masking because we've tried so hard to fit in and be just like everybody else because we think that's the right way to be.” - Jennifer Watts

“We get hyper focused on what we're doing, we're distracted, and we don't pay attention to our bodily cues. We don't pick up on our hunger and satiety, our thirst, those types of things, maybe as easily as a neurotypical person would, so we have to be really intentional about that.” - Jennifer Watts

“The two key areas where I usually start with people are breakfast and water.” - Jennifer Watts

“Don't beat yourself up over the fact that some of these things are hard for you. You have to respect that. And that's why planning and making things as simple as possible for you, and eliminating at least the decision fatigue where you can, can make such a huge difference.” - Jennifer Watts

“Give yourself one minute in the evening for self reflection, because noticing what worked and what didn't is the absolute key to being able to make changes and adapt.” - Jennifer Watts

All of the information on this podcast is for general informational purposes only. Please talk to your physician and medical team about what is right for you. No medical advice is being on this podcast.

If you live in Indiana or Illinois and want to work with doctor Matthea Rentea, you can find out more on www.RenteaClinic.com

Transcript

0:28

Welcome. Welcome everybody. I'm so excited to have you back on the podcast today. We have a really amazing guest. We have Jen Watts and she is a life and nutrition coach and she works with women that have ADHD and I came across her Instagram profile came across it a while back and I just loved what you were sharing. And so I'm so glad that you agreed to come on today. Something that I shared with you in the DMs before we kind of, when we started to get to talking, I said, Hey, you know, half my patients have ADD or ADHD, and there are some unique challenges that present themselves. And with you being in this kind of life and nutrition coaching space, I'm sure that you encounter that. So can we just start out with you introducing yourself, how you help people just give us a little bit more background about you. Yes, well, I am so happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me. So yeah, I'm Jen. I work with women with ADHD mainly, who are pursuing weight loss. And I kind of stumbled into this based on my own experiences. I, myself, have ADHD. I was late diagnosed, as a lot of women are. I, it wasn't until my early 40s that I was, well, I'm still technically in my early 40s, but it was only within the last couple years that I was diagnosed. And I really saw that connection. for myself that I struggled with my weight since I was about 13 or 14. And it seemed like everybody else could figure it out or could find ways to make it work. And I just, it wasn't connecting for me. And I always thought I must be the problem. Like there's something wrong with me. But once I was diagnosed with ADHD and recognize the ways that that Know, perpetuates itself in my life. I was like, there is such a connection here, and it seemed like nobody was talking about it. Yeah. So I'm actually a C. Yeah. I'm actually a CPA and totally made a big pivot. Like it's always, always been best though, right? Yeah. When it comes out of your own struggle where you were like, wait, but this actually makes sense for me, right? A hundred percent. Yeah. So can you tell me though, if you're willing to share kind of Sure. What did you, once you got the diagnosis, first of all? Mm-Hmm. We had a little conversation about this as well, that women. A lot of things in medicine were not studied. And so, and we also don't quote unquote present normally often. We're not the typical, you know, little boy running around the playground, can't sit still in class. So we can look different. Right. And so, so finally I got caught and what, what were you able to look back on that? And maybe we can, like you said, like we can focus on kind of the weight loss space, kind of nutrition, things like that. What did you look suddenly see that before you had maybe judged yourself for you really hadn't noticed? Yeah. Well, first of all, my diagnosis, well, like a lot of women came about because my, one of my kids was diagnosed and even then it didn't come, they didn't say like maybe we should test you or see if you have it or whatever. It wasn't until I kind of did the digging on my own to realize, wait a minute, like I, I, a lot of these things are happening for me, but they're very different from my son. So, In retrospect, some of the biggest things were, well, so I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression when I was About 13 or 14, which is usually, like that's very common for women with ADHD is that it kind of gets glossed over and is seen as being that because a lot of the ways that it presents for us is very internal for boys and men, or boys in particular is, is very like outward. It's more the, hyperactivity. type of behavior. And then it's almost like it seems like they, they kind of refer to it as it almost looking like it goes into remission as they become adults because they kind of calm down. But for women, so much of it is internal. And so it's almost like an internal hyperactivity, right? So I, it was like, I just thought everybody was like me. Like I constantly had like a million thoughts going on. My working memory was terrible, I had such a poor self concept, that's another really big one, is just, you don't see yourself the way you really are, and planning was a big issue, like, Because we're time blind, and so I would, you know, have all the great intentions to do something, but to actually physically do it, remember that I was going to do this thing, and execute it was such a struggle. And then that really perpetuated the sort of, like, self defeating, like, self judging behavior, because you think, like, what, why can't I just do this? Like, what's wrong with me? But, neurologically, It makes sense because our brains just operate that way. So it was all these little things that I'm like, these are all the things that, to me, go into successful weight loss or weight management, and I just don't operate that way. So of course it makes sense that it was a struggle for me and I need to approach it differently. Yeah. Oh, I love that you brought that up and just kind of how you came to the awareness and how you saw all of it differently. Right. It's like, wait, this is just the way my brain works. It's not like I didn't choose this. I didn't pick this right. My brain is this tip is this way. And so what kinds of things did you find then once you had that awareness that that were helpful for you, like things that you weren't doing before that you were then able to start doing. Yeah, well, I, of course, I've tried every diet known to mankind, and, I know this is the experience for a lot of people, but like, it would, something would work because you could white knuckle your way through it for a few weeks, even, and, but, prior to my diagnosis, I had found, Corrine Crabtree through, yeah, through the Life Coach School and all that stuff, so I kind of had this, understanding that, like, your thoughts and your emotions actually relate to all of this stuff. So that was sort of in the back of my mind, before all of that. But what I found ended up working for me was just the biggest thing was dropping the judging of myself. Because once I understood that, it makes sense that I, that it works this way, I was able to, release that kind of pressure and frustration with myself of trying to make these things work that just weren't working for me. So, Yeah, it was a lot of things like getting really granular on Things like planning, not trying to say like, okay, well the goal is to lose 80 pounds or whatever, and you know, this is my big grand master plan, it has to be broken down into the tiniest of pieces for it to be effective for somebody like me, and I need to have it right in front of me. So it could be as simple as, this is what I'm going to eat for breakfast these weeks and I'll put it. You know, colored sticky note in the kitchen. So I see it. So I remember because it sounds silly, but we will like legit forget what we know. Right. Has to be like out there in front of you. I'm definitely like a visual planner person and just stick it away in a computer. If something were right to click, it's like never going to happen. Never going to see it. Yeah. Exactly. Love that. Not only planning, but like really making it, bringing it all the way home. So I love that you gave that example. Like, is it on a stick? You know, is it on the fridge? I mean, I sometimes will leave out like, you know, like if it's a tortilla or pita or whatever we're using, I will leave it out visually. Yes. About it. Yeah. Oh my gosh. 100%. Yeah. All those little things. And then even things like, I'm trying to think of good examples, but yeah, like the, the planning is a big part, but you have to, Be really intentional about understanding how your life works and, and being able to take a few steps back. I know that this is what I want to eat. And so, like, how can I work that in to make sure I actually get that from the grocery store? Really simplistic. But that's another part of it, is, is making sure that it's things that you actually, like and enjoy. Because we also, just the way we work, we're very demand avoidant, and. I mean, not everybody, I shouldn't say that, we're not all like that, but more often than not, with ADHD, we're very demand avoidant, we can't, like, you can't just give us a big list of rules to follow and we'll just do it. Not only because we're probably not neurologically capable, but because we just really don't like being told what to do. And so, Just implementing your own, like, desires and strengths and that kind of stuff into whatever it is that you're going to do makes a huge difference. The autonomy is a big part of it. And so those are the kind of things was making sure that, I understood that what I was eating was going to be healthy for me or like really helped me get towards my goals, but also that it was actually things that I liked, that's the only way it's going to work. You have, you have said so many things. I don't even know if you know how many gems you're dropping or maybe it's just me, but you've said so many things here. Like, I wanted to summarize this for a second. Not only are you going to be planning, it has to be like super granular, like, like broken down, broken down, broken down. Right. Like I always think it's not just, Oh, I'm going to eat this food. It's, when are you going to go shopping? Is it on the list? Are you going to get a meal delivery, like a food delivered to the house? When are you going to order it? Like it gets really deep, right? But you said this leaning into your own desires, your own strengths, your autonomy. I mean, basically. It's like we really need to be counter to diet culture the way you're describing it the traditional way would be like follow this junk right like these 20 steps that like you don't like what you're eating, you hate the taste of it so like your brain is like constantly not getting enough dopamine. And you hate the way in which it is. And then, you can't even follow the list. And so none of these things work. I mean, it sounds amazing. The, the work, right. How do you even start to learn? Like, this is what I like. These are my strengths. Like, I don't think people even know what that means. You know, you're so Right, because people, we have for so long, because that's another thing that people with ADHD experience is a lot of masking because we've tried so hard to fit in and be just like everybody else because we think that's the right way to be, right? And we don't even recognize it quite often that that's what we've done. And so it takes a lot of intention to. Be able to kind of peel the layers off and think like what do I actually even really like and to be okay with that that it's okay if things are different and you're not following some strict set of protocols so the the number one thing I always tell people to do is observe themselves like non judgmentally just get curious we're not trying to see if you're following rules or anything like that but just for a few days to just say like You Oh, that's so interesting. I, I didn't eat in the morning. I wonder why that is. Was it because I wasn't hungry? Was it because I didn't plan properly? Was it because I was too busy? Do I just not like breakfast? Or, why did I, you know, choose this for lunch? Or why did I stay up too late? Or whatever the case may be. But just observing yourself and telling yourself ahead of time, I'm not in trouble. I'm not doing anything wrong. I just want to learn how I operate. And then maybe once we know that, because if we don't know it, we can't understand it. And so just having that information there, and then learning from it, and then we can tweak it to what makes sense for us. It's so powerful you just said, because I'm thinking about every single patient that I work with that struggles with this. I'll ask them that. So there's lots of They are so distracted by other things that are happening during the day. They'll have huge periods of not eating. And then we encounter the problem that they're overly hungry come 5 p. m. But it didn't even occur to them to eat earlier. So then we have to realize, wait, they're never checking in with their body. Or there's no, there's no built in break or there's no alarm to remind. I mean, there's just like, there's tools we can use, but it's what you said. It's getting curious. Is this working the way in which it's happening? Why is it happening that way? I love that you brought that up and also not judging yourself. It's ultimately not a problem. However, it's happening, but are you getting the results you want? And then if you're not, like you said, tweaking your manual, like how, how you're actually naturally operating. I totally love that. I was just going to say another part of that too is that, because that is so easy, so easily happens to us that we get, we get hyper focused in what we're doing, we're distracted, and we don't pay attention to our bodily cues, but we also naturally, don't, our, our introceptive awareness is just a little bit different, like, we don't pick up on our hunger and satiety, our thirst, those types of things, maybe as easily as a neurotypical person would, so we have to be really intentional about that, but You have to be mindful of it in order to be intentional about it. So it's like this catch 22 thing. So if we are aware that that's how things are for us, then we can, you know, maybe take time to say, Oh, I'm gonna make it put an alarm in my phone as silly as it might sound to some people put an alarm in my phone to say, you know, check in with yourself. How am I feeling right in this very second? Am I hungry? Am I thirsty? Do I need to go to the washroom? All of those types of things. You have to make a point of paying attention to it. Yeah. No, I love that you brought that up. That's actually one of the top things that I work with my patients on. If they, if there's huge chunks of time that they're not eating and then it's creating problems for them, right? Maybe by the time they notice that they're actually like overly nauseous, they're feeling overly sick, you know, depending on what they're doing or. Things like that, or they can't recover with hydration then, right? Like you, you can't necessarily at 6pm at night, if you're gonna go to bed at nine, like maybe you're not getting in all that water then. So one of the things I'm literally like, Hey, can we just, when's your lunch break at work? Right? Like I kind of think about what their day looks like, can we set a little reminder? Check in. Am I hungry? Maybe you brought some food. Maybe you see at times you experiment like does actually feel better for me to get some protein and but but exactly like it's it's a very practical tool that I think works well. And I think I think people underestimate those little alarms and the little reminders. What a big impact they can have. Absolutely, because before you know it, especially if you're, overweight, and I mean, you're the doctor, so you would understand this better, but I think if you're experiencing different things going on with your blood sugar, your insulin, all of that type of stuff, like, it can impact you pretty quickly, I would guess, when you, you know, you get to that state of hunger, and then, of course, when you're in that state of hunger, you're not going to go prepare yourself a balanced meal you're just going to eat what's there. But yes, it's so true, like those little signals, they're, they're really trying to tell us a lot and when we've worked so hard, especially if we've been in the diet culture world for so long and we've learned to like ignore ourselves even more. It's hard to just naturally pick up on it. So, it's so, it's so important. What, what do you think are the top things, like when you work with new clients that come to you, what are the, because I'm thinking like, here's what I'm imagining we have women, we have women, men that, you know, people listening, and this is not just women, but they're listening. And what are things that maybe would tell them, Hey, you may be have a problem with this and they don't realize, like, what are the things that your clients come with and that say that they struggle with, like, I'm wondering, they might not even know that this is a challenge for them. Yeah, well, it is kind of interesting because a lot of it will be similar to everybody else who's struggled with losing weight or whatever the case may be but so much of it does come down to there's a lot of self judgment there, and there's, this sense of like, I don't know why I just can't do this, like, like, yeah, like a lot of, it's hard to explain, A lot of, of history of like trying things for a little bit and then just like ghosting the program or like leaving, dropping everything and leaving. But that habit that you talked about, about just like going for long periods of time without eating is a really big one. That cycle is so common of just waking up, drinking coffee, wait to eat breakfast, and then kind of forget about lunch. And then all of a sudden, and then you're eating all night. That's really common. But that's not specific to ADHD. And really having a hard time, like, planning things out, can't, like, even, even things that they want to do and they intend to do, they just can't seem to find a way to follow through with it. And then also another thing is with the impulsivity that we experience people might notice that they do have that, but food for us is so important because, we have a lot of sensitivities around it. We might be like, texture is really important because we have sensory things going on. But also, like, it can be a way for people to seek stimulation because ADHD people often are looking for ways to stimulate themselves. If they're bored, they'll go eat. If they're excited, they'll go eat. And we don't even realize we're doing it a lot of the time. So, there's so many little things that I just see over and over and over again with people. Yeah. And that's what you're bringing up things. It's so funny. Now that you're, when you're mentioning them, I'm like, Oh yeah, yeah. I see this. So my son definitely is, is hyperactive and the food is such a texture thing, what you're talking about, but it's incredible that, I mean, it started when he was a few years old. I mean, that was, this was not, you know, it's interesting. It's not funny. Like, Oh, it's a choir. You're choosing to do it again. It's very interesting. And I remember, when patients come in telling me how it's almost like food is used as a tool for them to keep working and to stay focused, you know, maybe like a popcorn there and like just a little bit. And so I really love that you're honing in on this, not judging because I want other people that are listening to think if you have some type of what you think is a habit or something going on where you're just thinking, gosh, like I just need to not put it on the table. but you might not realize how significant a role that that plays, right? Like, and that that's why it's so hard to kind of break that pattern. Right. So, so when clients, when they bring these things up, how do you, like, how do you even figure out what to help them to work on first? Cause I feel like people sometimes know some of the things, but they don't know, like. One or two simple thing that they can do to kind of get started. Yeah, and that is, that's always a struggle in the first few weeks of working together because just like everybody else, people just want to get results right away, or they're like, just tell me what to do, even though they don't really want to be told what to do. And so it is really such a matter of uncovering how this person operates on a day to day basis. What is their life like? Because the most important thing is Making sure that whatever you're going to do fits into your life. You can have all the plans in the world, but if, like, you know, like, you're a busy mom, or you have a certain type of job, or you're out of the house, or you're traveling, or whatever the case may be, it is so important that it is adapted to how you live your life. So, I really do assess it on a client by client basis, but usually, like, I honestly start with a nutrition component of just, like, let's focus on breakfast most often is where we end up starting, and it's making sure that people are getting protein with their breakfast. is such a big thing. We know all this stuff. Everybody is like, well, I already know that. I already know enough about nutrition. We need to say it again though, because we need the simplest things said again and again. Actually, no one needs this to be more complicated. I'm, I'm like, I'm when you're talking, I'm like, yes, I need to redo that. Yeah, and it's so easy. And then, and people, I'm, you might experience this too, where people are like, well, that's it? That's all you want me to do? I'm like, yeah, just, just notice what you're doing for breakfast and then maybe try to put some protein in or some fiber or something like that. Or even hydration is another good place to start, right? Because that's another thing, just like we forget to eat, we forget to drink water, and then you're trying to like, Loaded up at the end of the night, and then you're up all night, so yeah, those are some of the two key areas where I usually start with people is breakfast and water. I really, okay, so I really like, it's so interesting, every time you're talking, I'm just really seeing how there's like, concrete examples, and I feel like if I'm listening, I'm like, I can go do that, so I like how you brought up, it's not like a massive nutrition audit, where it's like the whole day, we're having, like, every single thing you've ever done all day, we're gonna, we're gonna chip away at it, no. It's like, Hey, let's do breakfast. Let's make sure it's really loaded with some good proteins. You know, things like that. I find with water, like people get it under control and then it goes away. reminded me too. Me too. This still matters, right? Me too. I mean, I'm sitting here. I mean, I still Lot of water. You guys are listening. Yeah. But yeah, I just love that. Now you brought up here, this concept of really making sure that it fits in your life, right? Yeah. I think this is something that. It's interesting because I always tell people like the reason we don't have a one size fits all approach it's because like I have some patients that have a lot of food aversions like they just there's certain foods that they won't eat because of taste, texture, history with it, whatever it might be. Like you were talking about, like, you know, I'm, I'm a professional busy working mom, like, I'm sorry, everything's not getting made from scratch, right? So it's gonna be a steamer bag. So it's gonna be already chopped. So, you know, whatever the case might be. And it's like, but no matter what is happening, everybody can be successful and it's just going to look different. And I think it's particularly challenging. I don't know about your people, but a lot of my people are doing the, like looking around on social media. And so they're thinking that this, like what I ate in a day from someone else or how they exercise or what they do. And I'm like, we didn't have a 24 hour camera on them and we don't know the genetics report and we don't know a family history report, right? Yeah, that about this person. So we can't do that. But it's so human nature, compare ourselves to the people around us. So what do you say when clients like they're working through this stuff? And I'm sure like, inevitably, they're like, well, I'm doing it, but it's like not fast enough, right? Like, do you get a lot of that? Like, weight loss isn't fast enough? Like, what do you how do you talk to them about that? Yeah, well, first of all, I thought of the exact same thing when you said that about, buying pre packed stuff or whatever, It is such a struggle to let people know that that is a okay because that's the thing we, we kind of observe and don't even really realize that we think is like, that's the only way to eat healthy is to cook everything from scratch. And it's not true. I'm like, you could just go buy a rotisserie chicken and a bag of salad. That is good. Like you've done your work. Yeah. So like, that's a, that's a struggle is letting people know, like there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, so. Yeah, it is, it is tough because I think like once people start to realize like after the first couple of weeks where they're actually noticing the connection between their, their day to day life, what they're thinking, and then how they're behaving and how that's driving. What they're doing, they sometimes are so caught up in these like, I had no idea I was doing this that they, they almost can like put it to the side for a minute and, and, and not be so like, okay, get me like weight loss, like the scales not moving. Oftentimes people are so like, kind of shocked by all of this that they're like, okay with not seeing like immediate results, but at the same time. It does kind of tend to come because so many of the behaviors that we're, we're kind of locked into, that are driving that, inability, I guess you could say, to lose weight, once you kind of start to pick away at them, it does start to, to change. So, I mean, it's kind of, it's kind of hard to answer, but at the same time, like, I, I, I get that. And then people can also like around the three to six week mark, again, I don't know if this is the same with your clients, but that's when people can, it's a lot this mental work that's involved in this is a lot. I call it a mental load. When I think about some other kind of chronic medical illnesses, like I think about with weight management, potentially, if we think about the term, the medical term obesity, it's like, it's a chronic load to have to like constantly worry about. Okay. You know, what you're eating, how you're moving, how you're managing this, right? And there are ways that we can make it easier, but it's like, there is this element of like, for life, we have to manage this. It's not like just today or tomorrow. It's like, no, like what we do has to, it has to work for decades. Most of us, hopefully. Right. Hopefully we're around a good amount of time. Yeah. And what you said is so true. Like the mental load, like. I've talked to so many people about this where you kind of explain it, like, I know everybody has a certain amount of capacity every day, but with somebody with a DHD, as well as other, you know, neuro, not neuro neurodiverse, yeah. Disor, not disorders, but you know there is so much energy, mental energy that goes into things that somebody else might think is just like, you don't even think about that, you just do it. But like, our brains are just running, running, running and doing different things, so you, and you are mentally exhausted by like, You know, 10 a. m. where somebody else is just like, just living their life. And I, I often remind clients of this because you have to account for that. Like, don't beat yourself up over the fact that like, some of these things are hard for you and you have to respect that. And that's why planning and making things as simple as possible for you, eliminating at least the decision fatigue where you can, can make such a huge difference. So, yeah. It's, it's, I like that you, you brought it full circle with the planning. I think people think, Oh, that's more work. That's more effort. It's like, not really. If you in one time period decided, you know, these are the things I might eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And then when it's those meals, you get to decide between them, or if you want to fully plan the 24 hours in advance, I mean, there's different ways of planning, right? Like, yeah. And everybody's different. People think planning is this, like everything has to be a hundred percent written out. It could just be like a veggie, a meat, you know, you can do whatever you want. But that the decision is made. It's a gift. You can free up space for other things. So I love you really that you really brought that up. What do you think if you if you had someone in front of you that let's say you've been working with them for a while, what do you or just in general, what do you think would be like your top two tips that if that if someone did these things, you find that they're more successful compared to other people that you might work with? Hmm, well, the one that I see the most success with, but as well as the most resistance, resistance to is journaling. Yeah. Because people are like, what does that have to do with anything? But honestly, if even if it's one minute, or just like give yourself one minute in the evening for self reflection, because noticing what worked and what didn't. Is the absolute key to being able to make changes and adapt and do, things more appropriate to yourself the next day, right? So, because if we don't pay attention to it, and then the other component of that is, is when we kind of go through the day or assess or get out what's in our mind, is also an opportunity for us to see what went right. Because we so naturally. Just think of all the things that went wrong. And that's the only thing that sticks out in our brain. I didn't do this. I didn't do that. This person was mean to me or whatever the case may be. But if you made one good choice that day, it's so important to recognize it and, and celebrate that for yourself. Because even if it's like, I drove by the, the bakery where I normally stop to get cookies. And I, I just thought, you know what, I'm actually not hungry right now. And I drove by. If you don't like intentionally think about that and say like, That was huge. That was a big choice of me, like, actually listening to myself, you know, like, those kind of things make such a big difference. And so it might not seem like that's, that's really what's going to help somebody, but for real, like, recognize, starting to really recognize what you're thinking, what's working, and what things that you're doing well is, is, absolutely the thing that I see the most success with people when they do, as well as protein with breakfast. I always work on that, but it's so important, especially for ADHD brains, like for our, um, neurotransmitters and all that kind of stuff, like the protein is such a big building block. And so I, I just. I always harp on it. I love, listen, I love, I love how you brought that up. Listen, I'm always, whenever protein is brought up, I'm like, yes to that, right? But, and yes to the journaling as well. And, you know, I think what's interesting is when we think about journaling, I think we think of like this like drawn out pen and paper, and it can literally be a few words. It could maybe be spoken. Like what I've come to realize over time is if I'm really, I talked a lot of my friends on Marco Polo. It's a video messaging app. And you know, we just, whenever we have time, we'll talk. So I tend to, in the morning when I'm doing my walk, I'm talking to them and I'm realizing that's almost my version of journaling. And the reason I say that is when I'm talking, I get insight and I'm like, Oh, this didn't occur to me. It's almost like I need the processing time, though. I need the time to slow down, to think about it, to talk about it, to reflect on it. And I think we're in such a fast paced world that. We need to learn from these things, otherwise we can't do anything different in the future, right? And I think that's really hard for people to hear. A hundred percent. And just for the record, I also do, I have Marco Polo as an option with my clients for how they communicate with me between sessions. And that is exactly what happens. It's almost like they do this verbal processing and visual because they can see themselves. And like so much comes out in that. And that is absolutely like journaling. It's just like journaling. And I really had to get over that myself. Like thinking that it had to be this beautiful journal with like amazing writing. No, mine is like, mine looks like bullet points. I just like write things. Somebody else would not know what I'm doing, but it works for me and it makes sense. So. Totally. I love it. It's, yeah, it's, you get to make it whatever you want. I would do mantra sometimes, like I'm proud of myself for, and do like 10 sentences that start with that. It sounds so cheesy if you're listening, but like just any way that you can hack into today was frustrating because like whatever you need to do. To get something on paper or get something out of you because we tend to, most of us, if we, if we have challenges emotionally with food, we'll suppress a lot of it. Right. So it's like, how can we in any way break that ice a little bit? Yeah. And the protein it's so fascinating. I mean, there's so many physiologic reasons for that, but also I can just imagine that getting ownership of that area, then it just makes you feel like you want to go tackle the other stuff. Once you kind of have one thing kind of locked away. So much. And because that, because it has such a big repercussion throughout the day, right, because that can kind of fend off some of the other tendencies to overeat later in the day, which I'm sure, I'm sure that you see too, that really does, give such a boost of confidence because you're, I know for me, I definitely tend to front load my protein because I find I just, I just can't make it happen all in the evening, you know, so I used to think very balanced, which is balanced is okay if you can do it. But what I noticed is it just wasn't happening that 30 grams at night or whatever I needed to make happen. And so then I was like, okay, instead of making that a problem, like this is how my brain works. I was like, okay, instead of constantly hammering in on dinner being a problem, can we work on the rest of the day? Which Right? Like however, however we need to make it happen. Yeah, and I was just gonna say that's such a good example too of how it's like it's different for everybody and it's okay. You don't have to have this many grams of protein at every meal and like if you're somebody who eats a whole bunch of protein in the morning and then like hardly in the evening. There's nothing wrong with that. Right. Right. Definitely. Well, listen, I have learned so much from you today. I'm wondering, do you think there's anything that we didn't talk about today where you're like, you know, people really need to know this, about anything in general or your work, anything like that? Well, I just, my main message that I always want people to know, I'm so passionate about this, is just that, there is nothing wrong with you. And if you just understand, you have a, it's a neurological difference that you have, and you start to learn to understand how that affects you, then that's, that's the key to making the changes that are going to get you to move forward. It's not like, I don't want to say death sentence, but it's just not like. a life sentence of like, well, I just, I guess I can't do these things because that's how I operate. Absolutely not. It's just a matter of learning how you operate differently and how do I adapt things to my life and do things in the way that works for me. And there's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to do it just like everybody else. You should, and could, do it the way that works right for your life, and you're just going to be so much more satisfied. You're going to feel like yourself, you're going to be calmer, you're going to be more successful that way, and, and I just, I really want everybody to know that they can absolutely do that. They don't have to follow some, like, arbitrary rules, and there's nothing wrong with them. Oh, I love that. I love that so much. That's going to resonate with so many people that are going to hear that message. So tell everybody, how can we find you? Where are you located? Kind of tell us a little bit about kind of how you work with people. Give us a little bit, cause I know people are going to be interested. Yeah, so I'm mainly on Instagram. I'm at jenniferwatts. ca. I have a podcast as well. It's called Losing Weight with ADHD. And, on my website too, like if people want to find me, it's jenniferwattscoaching. com. But that's mainly where I am is Instagram. And I love to chat with people, so people are so free and welcome to DM me if they have questions or anything like that. That's where I hang out. Well, thank you so much. This has been so great, and we'll make sure to link underneath the links to, to everything you talked about, specifically your podcast and everything, because I thought it was amazing when I'm listening. So I'm definitely a subscriber. Oh, thanks. So so much. Thanks. And thank you so much. We'll talk soon.