80. The Answers are an Inside Job for your Life Change - A Favorite 2024 Episode

Listen again for the prequel to your transformation story! Podcast No. 52 ran in May and I've probably talked about this one more than any other when out and about! Whether you embark upon a new path from learning through this podcast, self-coaching, or working with a life coach like me, there’s a backstory that sets you up for an optimal journey. How do you tap into that without falling into the protective brain’s typical negative messages? Listen up to level up.

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.

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Hi, and welcome to the Fire Up at 55 Plus Podcast, a show about how to put yourself first in your second act of life. I'm Certified Life and Weight Loss Coach Lori Adams, here to empower you to let go of guilt, take charge of your health, then find and fulfill your dreams. It's never too late, so let's get started. So, fresh start flips for weight loss. Fresh start. That sounds like a good thing, right? Well, not always. If you have too many fresh starts, what's going on? Let's begin by flipping through the weight loss Rolodex of my life, and most likely yours. Let's see. Counting calories, counting points, Atkins, keto, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Diet Center, Jenny Craig, Deal Emil, really, Richard Simmons and back in the day. Dr. Stillman's The Grapefruit Diet South Beach Diet Susan Powder. She was scary, huh? Apple cider vinegar and B six. Honestly, I think almost every girl in my high school was drinking that. AIDS candy. Each one began with a fresh start, hope and a prayer, and sometimes some initial success. The mindset then was to get to that goal. On the scale, a number. Or fit into those jeans. A wedding dress. Even a bikini. The rules would get us there. But who could follow the rules for long? Not me, and I bet not most of you. Enter Yo Yo Dieting and the feeling of failure. You know I love a quote, so today I'll start with one from Corinne Crabtree, the amazing founder of the No BS weight loss program. She says, and it's a great reminder, you can't hate yourself then. Today I'm giving you the secret weapons to flip your mind off false fresh starts and into a new way of thinking. But first a little background. Diet mentality refers to the mindset characterized by rigid rules, restrictions, and an excessive focus on weight loss or appearance. People with a diet mentality often approach food with a good or bad mentality, labeling those foods, and then feeling guilt or shame for eating them, and then constantly striving to achieve a desired weight or body shape. This mindset tends to overoccupy us and prioritize external factors, like that number on the scale, like rules from someone else, instead of thinking about internal cues and overall well-being. Diet mentality often leads to an unhealthy relationship with food, an obsession with food, and negative effects on both your mental and physical health. The shift in weight loss trends from these restrictions, from counting calories and points to more intuitive eating, began gaining traction in the late 2000s and early 2010s. This approach, which I endorse, emphasizes listening to your body's cues of hunger and fullness, making peace with food, and focusing on overall well-being rather than strict rules or restrictions. But remember, if we have a diet mentality, it means we've had something we've internalized for a long time. So making this shift sounds wonderful, but it does take a little bit of understanding more about yourself, journaling, and maybe turning to some coaches or programs that can really guide you along the way. So I'm going to give you the secret weapons from this new way of thinking, and then I'm going to talk about three different programs that represent what I'm talking about and can really get you going if you want that. So secret number one, doable, doable doable. Instead of restricting yourself, hating yourself then, and punishing yourself with rules that just are impossible, the emphasis now for successful weight loss is on what you can really do and making an easier, more enjoyable process, yes, more enjoyable. Secret weapon number two, mindset, always mindset, yours, not your instructors, or the counselor at the head of the room in a program, not program rules. This is really important and the best part of change in weight loss advances with mindset. Positivity, knowing your why, habits that reinforce the process of eating and living for ongoing health. Mindset, again, how to address the negative thoughts, and feelings that tell you it's too hard. Instead, emphasizing that the discomfort you feel from time to time is mostly fleeting and will help you address the change, help you understand what you've been covering up with eating. Secret weapon number three, customizable. Make the program your own with level ups. Level ups are ways of growing over time these healthy habits, from small to greatest, but at your own pace. Things like well the other day, I was watching the salad girl, and she talked about I count colors, meaning vegetables, not calories. That's a level up. Secret weapon number one, two, three, four. Supported programs with webinars, educations, maybe a private community on Facebook or in some other venue, interactions with others, private podcasts, optional action challenges, recipes, and other tools, such as maintenance phase changes, binge eating, and advice for eating out, etc. You want someone who has experienced, proven expertise, not necessarily a doctor, but a coach or someone who's been running a program long enough to understand about mindset and this support for you. And the one secret weapon I didn't just mention comes along with the first program I'm going to talk to you about. This is a program, well really it's a podcast, where I first heard the word sustainable. So after doable, you want a sustainable program, something that's going to work for you and keep on working. This is about Heather Robinson, who runs the Half Size Me podcast. She's had nearly 600 episodes of that weekly successful podcast, and she's got thousands and thousands of followers. Heather lost 170 pounds over five years. Now, five years, when you mention a number of years, people who think about diet mentality want, oh my gosh, that seems so long. But we're talking 170 pounds, and she's kept it off. It's been really fun to follow her journey on the podcast because I started listening when she was losing that weight and then was able to witness her transformation to emphasizing weight maintenance or sustaining her weight loss. Heather lives the healthy eating and exercise habits that will serve her and you for the rest of your life. It's about finding yourself, she emphasizes. Okay, mindset again. Her podcast is free, it's advertising free, and on her website you can find affordable audio and visual tool kits and her low cost membership options. But I really want to tell you what was so oh earth shattering, really, about Half Size Me, the podcast. When I started listening, she said, Okay, Half Size Me, the one thing to understand is that it's not about me, meaning Heather. It's not about giving you the pre-prescribed program that you will fix all your problems. It's not telling you what to eat or what to do for exercise, and it's not telling you which plan is best. What really matters is that you redefine your relationship with yourself and your relationship with food, she says. You begin putting in healthy boundaries. You learn how to prioritize your time, and you find foods that you like and enjoy. The foods you are willing to eat within a certain energy balance based on your goals. In other words, a customizable program. That is sustainable for you. And now I get to tell you about the No BS Weight Loss Program, created and prospering under the truly exceptional Corinne Crabtree, my coach and mentor, and from whom I received my weight loss coaching certification in cooperation with the Life Coach School. Corinne went from losing 150 pounds as she modified her own Weight Watchers approach to moving on, losing all that weight, and helping thousands of women, probably more, in her membership program, and then many more with more than a million downloads of her public podcast, which is called Losing 100 Pounds with Corinne. You'll find unparalleled support from Corinne and her team of coaches that she leads inside her membership. Her extensive content hinges on four simple principles that begin you on a path to so much more if you so choose. No pressure. Things like water, doable hunger, making a simple food plan, just learning to keep promises to yourself. But best of all, you can get a taste of what Corinne offers in the free course she provides without strings, and countless number of women have experienced the no BS success using that at no cost. And I said extensive content, right? Well, it's quite extensive, it's quite thorough, and addresses just about everything you could think of, from thinking like your future self to urges, to breaking habit eating to avoiding those nighttime meltdowns. And what to do after an overeat? So many things in Corinne's program if you decide to join, but so many things in her free course too. She's so generous. The common thread doable. Losing weight with Corinne is so sensible and unfolds her process in phases that match your starting point. Her followers are legion because of her integrity, commitment, smarts, and generosity. Like the program founders I mentioned here, she focuses on next best thoughts and actions. And she's updating always to make the program more effective, truly on point, in line with today's thinking, and usually much easier. And she has a potty mouth, and she never apologizes for it because that is who she is. Very real, sassy, and southern, and fun. And Corinne is extremely kind. Finally, the program I'm going to give you at the end of today's episode is from the amazing, strong Elizabeth Benton. She's the number one best-selling author of Chakes and Cupcakes and has over 10 million downloads of her Primal Potential podcast. I met Elizabeth after listening to that podcast when I was considering a coaching program. I joined her twelve weeks to transformation after actually speaking with Elizabeth on the phone several times, which I thought was quite generous for the busy woman that she is. What turned it around for me, what made me think about it's time to do this in a coaching situation was one simple question. You know, so often we hear things like okay, drink more water, get more sleep. I've said these before. And we don't really hear it, right? Are we really listening? So Elizabeth asked me this one simple question, a question I'd probably heard before, heard but never really listened to. She asked me, Lori, is what you've been doing really worked for you? Well, duh no I was still on the diet mentality roller coaster. Elizabeth had weighed in at more than three hundred pounds. She was doing restricted dieting, and she was binge eating. You know, that's part of that all or nothing diet mentality. But this remarkable woman whose inner strength has been revealed through many unbelievable tough challenges just keeps going, and she's dedicated herself to what she calls a limitless life. She tells her followers after trying everything short of voodoo to change my life, and I do mean everything, I finally realized it wasn't me that was the failure, it was the methodology. So I found a new perspective. I shifted the paradigm on how I approached every goal, and it worked. I realized I could build any type of life I wanted. So her first book that I mentioned, Chasing Cupcakes, was self-published, but it took off in a way we call viral now, until she became a best selling author with it. When people ask me what is the most life-changing book you've read, I answer chasing cupcakes. And then they get a funny look on their face. Cupcakes changing your life? Well, the accurate long title is Chasing Cupcakes How One Broke, Fat Girl Transformed Her Life and How You Can Too. So yes, Elizabeth's book does address diet, but that's as it relates to mindset and choices that apply to all of life. So the true quotes recipe of that book is the quote that I just gave you from Elizabeth, and it's worth repeating. So I found a new perspective, she says. I shifted the paradigm on how I approached every goal, and it worked. I realized I could build any type of life I wanted. Chasing Cupcakes The Book details that approach, explaining how you can boost self-control, which makes you feel better, through pivoting, through redirecting your attention in one of three ways to flip your thoughts. And again, I'm going to take you back to what I said about Corinne's program, as Corinne focuses on next best thought and action. Similarly, the redirection that chasing cupcakes talks about can be done in three ways, she advises. One a neutral redirect. So you take your negative thought that comes up to just different one. Flip that thought, think about something else if you could do it. Maybe a more effective one would be her second redirection advice, which is to do an empowering redirect from can't, I can't do this, to think quickly, what you can control just now in the moment. That gets you into a new direction too. And then third, a positive redirect. Flipping attention toward a positive belief about yourself or your circumstance. And this gets easier the longer you do the process because you've thought about a lot more ways that you can do things. You have a more positive mindset overall. So you just want to get into that. It's all about the shift, or as I say, flip to the next best thought, the one that supports you day in and day out for a better life all around. Okay. I will go back to the diet mentality way of when we go into a program, an old program, we say something like, just tell me what to do. I want to know what to do. Give me the directions. Well, this podcast has been all about customizing it, learning yourself what's best for you. But in this case, I will give you a direction. Just read Elizabeth's book, Chasing Cupcakes, or listen to it. I know you'll be glad you did. Now, this podcast would not be complete without me mentioning a few more weight loss coaches I trust and admire who focus on mindset and provide the goods. One is Brenda Lamelli, holistic nutritionist of the last ten podcast and extensive coaching program of the same name. And then Dr. Lisa Oldson, of course, my first podcast guest, highly credentialed obesity medicine specialist, and also a weight loss coach and podcaster. And I encourage you to follow this way of weight loss with me by going back to episodes three and five of this podcast to hear the effective no nonsense advice. And your takeaway for today is to flip your mind away from old rules and into sensible, doable weight loss that will be sustainable for life, yes, for a lifetime of weight maintenance that frees you up so that this start is your last fresh start. As Corinne says, quote, don't wait for perfect conditions to start. Just start, unquote. To work with me one on one for weight loss results at Midlife Plus, please just send an email to me at hello at LoriAdamscoaching dot com so we can schedule an easy conversation about what you want. And to keep the transformational information coming each week, please follow FireUp at 55 Plus wherever you download your podcasts. And if on Apple, share a review and a starworthy rating. It's much appreciated. Hey, thanks for listening. To contact me directly, please reach out via email to hello at laurieadamscoaching.com. And I invite you to take a look at my flaming hot webpage, fireup at fiftyfiveplus.com. That's fireup, the word at 55plus.com. And until next week, make the most of your sizzling second act.