One of my clients, Chris, joined the Fat Loss Fast Track because though she had already lost a lot of weight, she was beginning to put it back on.
This wasn’t a new cycle but it was one she didn’t want to continue. She didn’t want to keep doing what she’d always done – losing weight, gaining it back, working hard to lose it again.
Today we’re having a candid conversation about why she turned to the Fat Loss Fast Track to help avoid weight regain and how she broke out of that cycle.
Not only does Chris talk about what worked for her like journaling and switching to more fat loss friendly breakfast options, but we discuss what’s not going so well. We talk about overeating at night and struggling with the pursuit of perfection.
I think you’re really going to enjoy Chris’s story!
Oh! And there was a huge announcement at the top of the episode! I’ve launched a brand new podcast! It would mean the world to me if you’d check it out! If you find it helpful & enjoy it, please take a couple minutes to subscribe, leaving a rating and write a review!
After beginning to put on weight she had lost, Chris joined the Fat Loss Fast Track. She shares that some of the most effective strategies she adopted include journaling and eating a fat loss breakfast.
Today’s episode is an activity I want you to go through with me. I’m going to ask you a series of questions and I want you to write your answers down on paper.
Sometimes, we aren’t doing what it takes to make progress because we haven’t defined the work we need to do. If that’s your problem, I’m going to help you define it today.
Other times, we aren’t doing what it takes because of mental or emotional barriers. As I’ll share in today’s episode, many people’s issues aren’t food or fitness but rather self-talk, self-discipline or self-doubt.
We’ll start with a basic question “Do you know what to eat for your goals?” and take it from there.
Interested in the Fat Loss Fast Track? The fall group is currently closed but you can get on the wait list for our first group of 2017!
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Lots of people are spending lots of money buying protein bars thinking that they’re a healthy, convenient alternative to processed snacks and candy bars.
Not so fast.
In most cases they are highly processed, expensive candy bars with added protein & a sprinkle of synthetic vitamins and minerals.
Can we do a little science before we tackle the products & marketing?
I really need everyone to understand this: your body is constantly working hard to keep your blood sugar stable. It’s dangerous if it gets too high or too low. Plus, when it gets too high, fat burning is prohibited.
But do you know what stable blood sugar looks like within the blood stream, approximately? It’s 1 teaspoon of sugar dissolved throughout your entire blood volume.One single teaspoon.
That’s 1 teaspoon of sugar dissolved in roughly 5.5 liters of blood for your blood sugar to be steady and stable.
Now, how much sugar is in the bar you’re buying? Heck, how much sugar is in anything you’re buying?
Here’s a quick tip: 4 grams of sugar = approximately 1 teaspoon.
Why do you think there are so many bars on the market, with more added every day?
Because we buy them.
Because it’s pretty easy, through marketing & packaging, to make us feel like they’re healthy even when they’re not.
Why do you think there is so much sugar in them?
So we continue to buy them. So that eating one makes us crave a second! (Ever had that happen? Eat one bar and find yourself going back for a second?)
Let’s take a look at how much sugar is in some of these popular bars.
Ever had the Chocolate Mint Cookie Crunch Balance Bar? Totally tastes like a Thin Mint. No surprise – each bar has 4 teaspoons of sugar! Four times as much sugar, in just one item, as your body needs to maintain stable blood sugar.
How about the Zone Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough bar? Pretty great marketing in the name, no? I’m not quite sure what’s perfect about a bar that has 4.5 teaspoons of sugar in each one!
Lots of people look at Lara Bar as a more fat loss friendly choice because it seems more “natural” and they tout that this bar only has 4 ingredients. Sounds healthy, right? Except that each individual bar contains 4 teaspoons of sugar!
Here’s the important thing to consider: when you eat these bars, it’s not the only item that introduces sugar into your system each day! This is 4 teaspoons in a tiny bar which is only one of MANY things you eat each day!
You have to consider – do these bars work for you?
Do they represent an improvement for you?
Do they satisfy your hungry?
Are they REALLY fat loss friendly or are you believing what the marketing hype tells you?
What is food guilt? We’ve all done it to ourselves, one bad food choice leads to throwing in the towel on the entire day. That gross feeling and disappointment with ourselves, that is food guilt. Beating yourself up and assigning emotion to your food choices is the essence of food guilt.
Looking at yourself as good or bad based on your food choices – that is food guilt.
Here’s what I want you to consider: Is it working for you?
Is it improving your choices or is it keeping you stuck in a negative cycle of your own creation that leads to more choices you feel badly about?
Does it help you feel better about yourself, or help you make a better choice the next time you think about cheating? Chances are it doesn’t, and it never will. So you’ve got to stop beating yourself up over FOOD!
In today’s episode, I’ll be diving into why food guilt doesn’t work, why you should stop it, and what you should be doing instead.
The choice you made was in the past! Don’t let a past choice affect your current emotions or your future choices. Let it go, and MOVE ON. Instead of focusing on your bad day, focus on what is next and how you are going to push forward to achieve your goals.
Create a Different Strategy
Food guilt is only making yourself miserable about choices you’ve made in the past. You can’t move forward if you are focused on the past. It is time to get rid of old bad strategies and create new strategies to move towards your goals in a positive light.
We have to eliminate what doesn’t work & embrace what does. Does food guilt work for you?
Be Objective
Don’t assign unnecessary emotions to decisions that should be objective. Food is neutral!
Take a step back from your food choice and ask yourself, does eating this get me closer to my goals? If I eat this how will it make me feel immediately? How will it make me feel in a couple of hours? How will it make me feel tomorrow? Take your answers into consideration, make the choice, and MOVE ON. Don’t spend time dwelling on the choice you made. Focus on your next choices!
Practice looking past the immediate consequences. Ask yourself hard questions about the choice. How will this food choice make you feel about yourself as you are laying in bed tonight? Will this choice stall your overall progress towards your larger goals?
Examine 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Order Consequences
Don’t ignore 2nd and 3rd order consequences for immediate satisfaction!
A 1st order consequence would be what happens immediately after a decision is made (i.e. The great taste of the cookie!). People who focus solely on 1st order consequences struggle and sabotage their overall goals.
A 2nd order consequence is what happens later, but not necessarily long term (i.e. The cookie may trigger cravings and doesn’t satisfy your hunger). A 3rd order consequence would be a long term consequence (i.e. The cookie does not push you towards your fat loss goals).
Examining your 2nd and 3rd order consequences may not come easy, and can take a bit of practice. Those who consider these consequences are more aligned with their goals and are more likely to achieve them.
Every Choice You Make Is A Lesson To Be Learned
Find a lesson in every choice you make, and implement that lesson into future decisions. Make your choices productive for you and you will accelerate progress towards your goals.
Not every correct choice will be an easy choice, but it is important to understand objectively why you are making that choice and move forward after the choice is made.
When I was nearly 350 lbs, I’d stop at Chick-fil-A every morning on the way to work. For breakfast, I’d order a 4 count of chicken minis (probably would have ordered a 12 count if it was possible), hashbrowns, a chicken biscuit and a large Diet Coke, no ice. (Sidebar: despite the fact that that’s A LOT of food, I’d be hungry 90 minutes later because of the blood sugar bombshell it represented.)
When I decided to stop yo-yo dieting and take a sustainable approach to fat loss, I made one change to that breakfast order: I skipped the chicken biscuit.
I was still having chicken minis, hashbrowns and a vat of diet soda, but the change represented an improvement to me & I saw progress.
It was a better choice. At the time, better was good enough for progress.
But here’s the thing about “better” – it is relative. Better doesn’t guarantee progress.
Better doesn’t entitle you to anything.
Relative improvements evolve. Your choices must continue to evolve or will find yourself stuck in the trap of better.
We have a tendency to let ourselves off the hook or talk ourselves into indulgences with the rationale that one choice is better than another. While sometimes this is an indication of progress, at other times it’s just a more intelligent form of excuse making.
For example, if you know that eating ice cream isn’t going to help you reach your goals, you might be sabotaging yourself with the routine argument that having a bowl of ice cream is better than your past behavior of having a pint.
Better, yes. Deserving of results? Maybe, maybe not.
You might talk yourself into one glass of wine because it’s a better choice than drinking 3 glasses.
The obvious question is, “When do I shoot for improvement and when is focusing on improvement keeping me doing my best and pushing myself to reach my goals?”
The simple answer is: do what works, not what you think should work. Not what you think ought to work.
I see this all the time with my clients. They’re lost in the trap of better and they don’t even know it.
They used to over-indulge all weekend and now they eat a fat loss friendly breakfast consistently but they aren’t seeing the 2 lb per week weight loss they want.
Well, better might not be good enough for the results you want.
They used to drink a bottle of wine and now they stop after a couple glasses but the weight isn’t falling off.
They used to be totally inactive and now they’re hitting the gym a few times per week.
Who said your expectations were based in reality?
Does your body agree with the degree of change you think is required for progress?
Maaaaaybe not.
Yes, your choices might be better. It doesn’t mean they are good enough for the results you want to see.
Your ego & stubbornness might be a real liability here.
I get it, you’ve improved. Congratulations, that’s awesome. I mean it! But it doesn’t mean you “deserve” to burn fat.
Your indignation is not a good use of your energy and your “but it’s not fair” attitude does nothing to encourage your body to burn fat.
Take it to the next level.
And that right there is the other major issue with the trap of better.
It can keep you locked in your comfort zone and hold you back from the progress you desire and are fully capable of.
If you base your decision on what is “better” for you, you might not ever reach your full potential.
You’re so busy looking backwards that you aren’t answering the question, “What am I capable of? What would be the best choice for me? What level of effort do I want to apply to the achievement of my goals?”
Within my Fat Loss Fast Track groups, we work on objectively identifying good, better and best options, independent of the choice made.
For example, maybe you’re debating some chocolate and almond butter after dinner. You might define a good choice as a square of dark chocolate and a tablespoon of almond butter because that trumps the cookies you’re craving. A better choice would be dark chocolate or almond butter but not both. The best choice would be to have a cup of tea and skip the after-dinner snack all together.
I challenge you to work on thinking about the degrees of improvement and making an informed choice based on all the options.
I encourage my clients to share their evaluations of what represents good, better and best with the group so we can all learn and become more aware of our choices. This is what one of my clients beautifully shared:
Good/Better/Best. My husband purchased an apple crumble pie on Sunday night. I have been serving it to my kids the last 3 nights. Last night I am serving up the final pieces. It is warm and smells really good. I am so happy this will soon be out of my house. I love apple pie. Ironically, there is one piece left. After serving my daughters I pause in the kitchen. I am seeking. I am seeking something. Oh, do I see this coming. That’s new. I see it coming. The craving. That alone is a victory. I see it. I recognize it and now I have a choice. I have a choice! My god I have a choice.
I stand in front of the refrigerator. I just stand there. My mind is spinning. What if I just have a small sliver? What if I have a skinny cow ice cream sandwich instead? But I think Blah? I’ve had that skinny cow ice cream sandwich a 1,000 times. It’s nothing special. And this apple pie is 3 days old. It’s from publix. It’s good. But it’s not my apple pie! It’s not my Mom’s apple pie! It’s not my homemade crust. I think, this isn’t Thanksgiving! This is a random Wednesday. Why am I feeling hungry? Am I feeling hungry? Minutes pass.
I pull out the fanciest cup I have in the house. I take out the special ice cube thingie that makes the one big round ice cube – that my husband uses for scotch. I put that in the glass. I pour my La Croix on top. I add two limes and a splash of pomegranate juice. Damn, it looks so good. This is a treat. This is the Best option. I don’t need that apple pie. That apple pie is not standing between me and my goals. I mentally say, The next time I make an apple pie I am going to have slice and enjoy it 1,000 times more than I ever have before.
I join my daughters in the family room with my fancy mocktail. One daughter is literally licking the ice cream off her plate a few moments later. She looks so happy. I am so happy for her. I am so happy for myself. She is 13. It is summer break. What a wonderful moment. Now that is the best choice I made all day.
Powerful, right? You are capable of that. It’s something you can practice.
I encourage you to not settle for just what represents an improvement for you unless that is yielding results. Please know that improvements are often enough for progress but when they’re not, they’re not. Don’t let your ego and expectations hold you back.
Practice identifying your good, better and best options independent of the choice you make.
If you want to learn more about the Fat Loss Fast Track & the types of weekly challenges & support within it, make sure to register for one of this week’s free webinars to get all the details! I’ll be hanging out with you live and I hope to see you there!
