It’s our 50th episode (I know, it says episode 038 – confusing, right? It’s because the Q&A episodes are numbered differently but this is totally episode 50!) So exciting! In this episode not only am I announcing a free transformation challenge but I also go through 5 of the most common weight loss mistakes people make and how to avoid them.
Did you hear me share about the 1-A-Day to Transform in May free challenge!? We’re gonna start it up on May 1st and our goal will be to commit to just ONE healthy decision each day for the month of May to help move us towards our goals. If you want the details get on the VIP e-newsletter list now!
The 5 Common Weight Loss Mistakes include:
Eating too much of the “good stuff” – clean, healthy foods. Even this can be overdone!
Over restricting your food choices or amounts, leading to over indulging down the road (later that day or later in the week)
One of the best and worst days of my life was the day I realized that I was in my own way. I wanted to lose weight, to get control over my relationship with food and feel confident & comfortable in my own skin for so long but I hadn’t done it. I obsessed over it. I cried over it. I planned, prepared and even took action. But I hadn’t yet been successful. I had achieved other things – promotions at work, financial stability, degrees & accolades…but what kept me up at night was my dissatisfaction with my body. I never went a day without thinking about it. Heck, I hardly went an hour without thinking about it. But I was fat. Obese. Depressed. Frustrated. Tired. Ashamed. Lonely. Almost entirely hopeless.
And then it hit me: it was my fault. It wasn’t about my metabolism. It wasn’t about my upbringing. It wasn’t about temptation or working too much or anything else under the sun that I had become accustomed to blaming. It was about me. No one was force-feeding me hostess cupcakes, Ben & Jerry’s and pita chips. No one was holding a gun to my head and telling me to give up on eating clean and go back to routinely over-indulging. It was me. I was giving up on me. I wasn’t being consistent. I wasn’t making it a priority. No one forced me to value my job more than I valued my health. I did that all on my own. Ouch.
I was making excuses for myself. Those excuses kept me from reaching my goals. I was too tired, too stressed, too overworked. No one else controlled my food choices. Just me. It was always only me. I was obese because of my choices and my thoughts. I was obese because I chose to be. Super harsh but super true. I chose McDonalds. I chose ice cream. I chose to quit over and over again. I chose to routinely feed myself the lie of “I’ll start tomorrow”.
That reality was a tough one. But, as tough as it was, the flip side was insanely empowering. No one else could stop me. I was 100% in control of my choices and I was the only person who had to be on board with me reaching my goals. I had to make choices about what to eat no matter how much I worked, no matter how tired I was, no matter how frustrated I was. So ultimately, I had all the power and if I really wanted it (and I did!) I could create it. Woah. 100% ownership. Full potential. Completely unstoppable if I chose to be. Talk about POWER.
“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself” ~Jim Rohn
Are you where you want to be? When you look in the mirror, is what you see what you want to see? Are you as energetic as you want to be? Are you as confident as you want to be? If not, who are you blaming? Sure, there are external factors but none of them put food in our mouths. We do that ourselves. Our results, or lack thereof, are totally on us. I know that sounds harsh but it is also incredibly empowering news!
In his book “The Success Principles” Jack Canfield writes, “you have control over only three things in your life – the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take (your behavior).” And you know what? Those three things are the only things you’ll ever need to reach your health goals. Whether your goal is to lose 20 lbs, 120 lbs, to do 10 pushups or to run a marathon, all you need is those things.
If you’re mentally running through a list of all the reasons you can’t, consider this:
Double amputees run marathons
People lose hundreds of pounds with unsupportive families
People tranform their health and their lives with stressful, full-time jobs and many other personal obligations
You can tell yourself why you can’t or you can tell yourself why you can. Either way, you’ll be right.
I have a quote on my wall that is a powerful reminder to me each day. It says, “When you argue for your limitations you get to keep them.” Be careful what you argue for.
You are where you are because of what you have thought or not thought, what you have done or not done, what you have visualized or not visualized. Period.
I want to be the best version of myself. Life is short and I want to give it all I’ve got. The best version of me is possible. It’s possible for you, too.
Let go of excuses and limitations and do the work. In fairness, I know this isn’t always an easy thing to do. Our excuses and our justifications are comfortable. We’re used to them. They protect our ego. Change is hard. Change is scary. I want to help you make these changes. Get in touch with me, will you? I want to know what you’re struggling with and I want you to feel free to email me so we can overcome YOUR challenges. The best way to do that is by getting on my free VIP email list where I send out weekly tips, suggestions, workouts & recipes. Then you have my direct email address and can respond to any/all messages and let me know how I can help YOU. I mean that. So do it, k?
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about intermittent fasting and if I think it is a healthy or sustainable approach to fat loss. My answer: it depends. Intermittent fasting can mean a lot of things to a lot of people and none of the concepts are really wrong (or right). We all intermittently fast to one degree or another between our last meal/snack of the day and our first meal/snack of the following day. The reality is that most of us are overfed. We eat too frequently and we eat too much. That does not, however, mean that “fasting” is the right approach for everyone. In today’s episode I talk about the prevalence of overfeeding, the reality of our metabolisms and our ability to burn fat, the benefits of fasting and the risks and warnings.
The Problem: Fasting is a healthy, natural thing. We were not designed to graze all day long. Most of us are overfed. We can look in the mirror and see evidence of that (harsh, but true. I’m including myself here). However, there is no hard-and-fast “right way” to intermittently fast. There are undeniable benefits to intermittent fasting but it is not a one-size-fits-all proposition.
When I say that we are mostly overfed, I’m considering the fact that there are really only 2 states in which we can be:
Anabolic/Post-prandial (fed)
Catabolic/Post-absorptive (fasted)
Most of us spend most or all of our day in the first state. That disallows fat burning. That is a problem when the goal is fat loss! We are so used to responding to behavioral or habitual hunger that we’re overfueling and keeping ourselves in the fed state all day long!
The Solution: Intermittent fasting may be part of the solution but it is not the only solution. First and foremost, we have to spend more time in the catabolic or fasted state. Intermittent fasting isn’t the only way to do that. We can reduce the quantity of our fuel and/or we can fuel less frequently. Intermittent fasting may be one way to fuel less frequently.
Practical Implementation:
If you are getting results doing what you’re doing and you’re feeling good: don’t change a thing!
If you are fueling every few hours based on habit, try extending your fasted window by just 30 minutes
If you feel ready to take on more, consider a 12 or 16 hour fast but remember that means no calories (creamer, sugar or bulletproof coffee all break the fast)
If you try a 24-hour fast, consider doing it from 2pm-2pm or 6pm-6pm so you still eat every day. Psychologically than can be easier.
Always consider if what you are doing is sustainable or feels good
Are you on my VIP e-newsletter list yet? It’s a great place to hang out with me and get my fat loss tips, fave workouts, recipes and be able to ask me questions directly! Join me there! We have a lot of fun and share a ton of good info!
I had so much fun interviewing Tim Bauer a few weeks ago we decided to do an encore episode! Tim and I both happen to be big fans of stoic philosophy or the notion that there is opportunity in all adversity and in this episode we take a deep dive into how we have both used stoicism to help us reach our fat loss & health goals.
How Tim defines stoicism: Becoming anti-fragile. Anti-fragile is not the same as resilient. Tim explains how working towards being anti-fragile means letting adversity actually make you stronger.
How Elizabeth defines stoicism: The practice of turning adversity into opportunity for growth and strength.
Things we talk about in this episode:
Dealing with plateaus and weight gain and using those situations to actually accelerate and solidify our progress
How to use post-mortems and SWOT analyses to help you reach your goals
We aren’t unique in your struggles with temptation
How we each use stoicism in our daily lives
Loose skin and skin removal surgery
How to know if it is your perspective that is causing your challenges
Hey, have you signed up for the VIP e-newsletter yet? It’s totally free and is the best way to keep up with my fave recipes, fat loss tips, motivation & workouts! Hang out with me there!!
I kinda like giving you what you want. You guys have let me know that these WIAW (what I ate Wednesday) posts are helpful so I want to do them as often as I can! A quick disclaimer about what I eat – I eat what I love. I eat foods I really enjoy and look forward to and I listen to my body. Some days I am more hungry than others so I eat more. Other days I’m not very hungry so I don’t eat much. Some days I snack. Some days I don’t. Some days I workout really hard. Other days I’m pretty sedentary. I listen to the hormonal cues from my body and eat accordingly. There is nothing magical about these foods other than the fact that they work for MY body. I love them, they satisfy me and they help me reach MY goals.
I was in a bacon & eggs mood this morning so I made it happen. Plus macadamia nuts. Why? Because bacon and eggs don’t really fill me up but I didn’t have any veggies so I added more fat. I’d have preferred this breakfast with brussels sprouts but I was fresh out. Bummer.
I wasn’t feeling too hungry for lunch but I was craving texture. Ready for this super random combo? I took hormone free cream cheese and mixed it up with some little pieces of cooked pancetta and filled endive leave with it and topped them with pistachios. Seriously y’all. So delicious!!
I was craving legit veggies for dinner! I try to eat several cups of veggies each day and always fit in cruciferous veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage) because they really fill me up and help to balance my hormones. I made a slight modification to a recipe I love – PaleOMG’s Coconut Cashew Curry over cauliflower rice. It calls for pumpkin but I omitted that because I didn’t feel like I needed the carbs.
A couple weeks ago I did a full podcast episode on the common meals & snacks I eat plus how I adjust for hunger, cravings and low energy. Just don’t forget: these foods work for me because they are foods I love! There is no magic. My food rules are simple:
I eat foods I love
I make enough for leftovers (to save time and energy and make my life easier)
