If you feel like you’re on a hamster wheel of dieting, yo-yoing, and feeling out of control, this is the episode for you. My former client, Jana, and I are discussing how she went about breaking the cycle of dieting for her children.
I’ve been talking all month about my Grounding Day process and how transformative it can be, especially for women who feel as though you never have enough time to do all.the.things. This is not just about losing weight or meal planning.
This is about reducing the overwhelm you struggle with on a daily basis and it’s about learning how to care for yourself so that you can better care for your family.
If you want to know more about how to take your life back and lose the overwhelm, please grab the free checklist I created for you! You can get it by going to Feel Amazing Naked.
And be sure to tune in to the bonus podcast content I am releasing every Sunday that goes along with the checklist! No more excuses!
I want to begin this episode with a quote I read recently:
“To my daughter: ‘You have more to do than to be weighed down by pretty or beautiful. You are a fiery heart and a wicked brain. Do not let your soul be defined by its shell.’”
“I Wanted the Cycle to End with Me.”
When Jana and I first spoke on the phone, there was an immediate connection between us. We both felt it and we knew that spark was an indicator that we needed to work together.
Jana had some fears though, and her biggest fear was investing in herself.
I find that many of my clients have a hard time with the thought of investing in themselves and it’s mostly because they’ve failed so many diets in the past.
But after a lifetime steeped in diet culture, Jana knew one thing for certain: she didn’t want her new baby girl to ever go through what she had gone through. She wanted the cycle of dieting and deprivation to end with her. 
Becoming You Again
As Jana began to experience some success in her weight loss journey, something even bigger happened for her, and it’s the thing that meant the most to her.
She started having people who knew her saying things like, “Oh my gosh, you’re Jana again!”
Jana had spent so many years on that hamster wheel of dieting and depriving herself that she lost her joy in life. The light had gone out. So to have her emotional and mental health begin to heal was a huge thing for her.
It became the biggest part of her journey. It became more important than any number on the scale, what size she wore, or what others thought of her.
Consistency, Consistency, Consistency
All of my clients have their own specific aha moments during our time together. Jana summed her biggest aha up into a single word.
Consistency.
Before Jana and I started working together, she says she was always taking in information but she never took action on any of it. She never had a plan for her meals or her days.
For example, she loved inspirational quotes but she had trouble putting them into action. She learned through our time together that when she faced a challenge, it wasn’t enough to have read a quote about facing challenges.
She had to go a step further and create a plan for when she faced challenges.
When it came to food choices, Jana was overwhelmed with all of the information and choices available to her.
But because I teach the simple method of a balanced plate, she was able to go into the kitchen and create meals that met her needs without overthinking everything she had heard or read about nutrition.
Give Up Your Need for Instant Gratification
Jana struggled with moving her body before we started working together. She wanted to be a runner so she would plan to run.
But every time, she got discouraged when after a couple of days of running, she didn’t see changes in her body. She was wanting instant gratification and that just isn’t the goal when you’re trying to be a healthier version of yourself.
Instead of always wanting to fast forward to the end so you can see all the progress you’ve made, try sitting in the here and now. Today is where you are building the foundation that will get you where you want to go.
In the past, if Jana missed a day of exercising or she ate a meal that wasn’t balanced, she would immediately give up and think she had to start over.
Now, she recognizes that for the lie it is, and she has the ability to pick herself up, dust herself off, and start right back on track.
If It’s Broke, FIX IT
One of the things I see all the time is that women are hesitant to work with me because of the things I don’t offer.
For example, I won’t give you:
- A food plan.
- An exercise plan.
- A goal that involves weight loss.
- A calorie count to meet.
Why don’t I do these things? Because they freaking don’t work!!
Listen to me, friends; how many diets have you been on? How many times in your life have you restricted calories? How many times have you done hours of strenuous exercise 7 days a week? How many times have you denied yourself every good and pleasant thing just hoping to see some kind of results?
Now, let me ask you a question. Did it work for you? Any of it?
My guess is no. That’s why you’re listening to this podcast. That’s why you’re considering hiring a health coach. That’s why you are looking for the next thing to try.
Our society’s views on health, weight, and weight loss are damaging to women. Who decided that a set of scales was the way for us to measure our health? Much less our worth??
The system is broken. And I’m here to start fixing it for the women who reach out to me.
The COVID 15
Jana brought up such an important topic during our discussion which was her realization that she had fallen back into some old habits due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I wanted to touch on a few things that relate to that.
First of all, don’t ever let what the culture says define what you believe and how you behave.
Just because everybody is laughing about gaining the “COVID 15” doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to let your health go out the window. Now, more than ever, we need to make sure we are actively monitoring our emotional and physical health.
Secondly, when so many things are out of your control, what better time to put all your energy toward the things you can control? When you aren’t having to get dressed to go into the office every day, you can use that time for meditation or moving your body.
When you aren’t having to do lunch with colleagues at a restaurant, you can focus on having a balanced plate for lunch.
What better time than during a pandemic, when we are all home and more in control of our time and our lives than ever before, to get serious about developing habits that will get us where we want to go.
You can come out of this crazy time healthier than you were before.
What Are You Being Offered?
As Jana and I wrapped up our conversation, we talked about the offerings that are being thrust at women and the empty promises these offers hold.
You don’t have to look far to find a weight loss program that promises a certain number of lbs lost in a very short timeframe. The advertisements are everywhere; from television to radio, magazines to Facebook.
But if you stop and think about it for a minute, what are these companies and programs actually offering?
They are offering a quick fix that has zero long-term actual solutions. You may indeed lose 15 lbs in 30 days, but why do you think that’s a good thing? Once the 30 days are over, will you have any new tools for keeping the weight off?
Will your daily actions have changed at all? Will you have taken a deep dive into your emotional health? Will you have a better understanding of what your body needs and how to better serve it?
NO!
Women are being sold a bill of goods that is 100% BS. We are told that we just need to be skinnier. We need to look like some starving models, or be able to wear clothes that only look good on the mannequins because of the way they pin them back and tie them up.
These programs offer empty promises.
You have the power every day to make choices to live a healthy life. You can make decisions to do things that will sustain your health and wellness for the rest of your life.
Isn’t that more valuable than losing 15 lbs in 30 days, only to gain it all back and more, and to deal with the emotional fallout that such things cause us?
There may be many layers of this onion that you have to peel back before you get to all the root causes. If you don’t know where to start, I am here to help.
SCHEDULE A FREE DEEP DIVE CALL WITH ME HERE.
XO,
Amanda
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