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Half-Size Me Episode 626 brought

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to you by the Half-Size Me Academy. To

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join us go to

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half-sizeme.com/ join. Don't

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you know it feels good to be alive.

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You could be larger than

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the world. Living out the

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boy and every girl. You could

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You know you're good. Hello

0:58

lovely listeners. As of this February

1:01

craziness to even think this. We

1:03

have been a podcast show for

1:05

the last 12 years. This month

1:08

we celebrate our 12-year anniversary. In

1:10

January I celebrated my 12-year anniversary

1:13

of maintenance and I put up

1:15

a really cool post in

1:17

the HSM Academy with our members and we all celebrate

1:19

it was a lot of fun. I'm actually

1:22

thinking about putting a post out publicly

1:24

just to kind of bring everybody up

1:26

to speed. One of the things

1:28

that I really want to just emphasize

1:30

is I do this because I have

1:32

a passion for it. I have a

1:34

passion for seeing people grow change and

1:36

learn. I love seeing people

1:39

morph from the way they used to

1:41

think and behave to a new way

1:43

of thinking and behaving. That feels really

1:45

good to me. It feels really good

1:47

as a coach. It feels really good

1:49

as a teacher to see people transitioning

1:51

over time. I see it really

1:53

clearly for them. I know a lot of

1:55

times they might miss it because it's small

1:57

and it's incremental and I'm really excited to

1:59

see it. Unfortunately, everyone has a negativity

2:02

bias, so we only see ourselves through

2:04

a negative lens. We have a very

2:06

hard time seeing the things we do well. So as a

2:08

coach, I find I spend many, many, many

2:10

of my sessions trying to make sure people

2:13

do see they're positive because ultimately, that's what's

2:15

really going to change things for them. But

2:18

one of the things that I want to talk to

2:20

you about is in this particular episode, I

2:23

got a chance to really help somebody,

2:25

her name is Ashley, really

2:27

dissect how to use the paper

2:29

and pencil journal correctly. I

2:32

see this very often. I see a lot of

2:34

people hearing what I'm saying. They might try it

2:36

for a few days, but they really

2:38

don't understand it. And honestly, this is

2:40

why I created the

2:42

HSM weight management plan. I created

2:44

this because it bridges a gap.

2:47

It is not me telling you what to eat

2:50

or what to do, but I am using the

2:52

same tools in the same

2:54

way that I would use with my

2:56

one-on-one coaching clients. And what's

2:58

really cool about the HSM Academy is

3:00

everything is time released. So for example,

3:03

if for the first two weeks you're supposed to be collecting

3:05

data, you can't access the rest

3:07

of the course. You have to finish the two

3:09

weeks first. And

3:12

I've designed this on purpose because I also

3:14

understand how your brain works. It's

3:16

always going to jump ahead. It's always going to

3:18

try and see what's next and coming up so

3:20

you can maybe skip a few steps. And

3:23

there's nothing wrong other than the fact it's

3:25

really problematic when it comes to anchoring

3:28

yourself in doing the actions today. But

3:31

one of the things I want to be clear on,

3:33

the HSM weight management plan is actually

3:35

a tool. It's a tool that I

3:37

use as a coach to assess what

3:40

somebody is struggling with. So

3:42

that way I can help them build a

3:44

program that's going to fit them where they

3:46

are right now. I actually

3:48

created a post in the HSM Academy and

3:50

I just kind of want to share it

3:52

with you here so that way you know

3:54

what the weight management plan is all about.

3:56

It's a plan that's designed to help you

3:58

identify necessary changes, providing guidance what changes

4:00

to make and to help you overcome any

4:02

obstacles. It is a tool that you will

4:04

likely revisit in the future as behavior related

4:07

to food can change over time. So you

4:09

treat it like, let's say you're sick and

4:11

you go to the doctor, right? And the

4:13

doctor gives you a medicine, he says, hey,

4:15

let's work on this for the next six

4:18

months, come back and we'll reassess.

4:21

That's what the HSM weight management plan is.

4:23

It's not a way that you have to

4:25

do things indefinitely forever. It's

4:27

a way to assess your current situation.

4:30

It's giving you the things you need to

4:32

work on right now to improve your current

4:34

situation. It has check-in points where

4:37

we're going to see if you've made improvements

4:39

and how to know if you're

4:41

improving or not. It's giving

4:43

you realistic benchmarks. And I

4:45

put together a list of who would benefit

4:48

from the HSM weight management plan because we

4:50

have had a few members who

4:52

are doing fantastic. We had one lady who

4:54

joined us. She had lost 30 pounds last

4:56

year and she said, do I need to

4:58

do the HSM weight management plan? And

5:01

based on the answers to her questions, I actually said, no,

5:03

keep doing what you're doing. If it's

5:05

not broke, don't fix it. But when you

5:07

run into problems, when you start to notice

5:09

you're not making the progress you were making

5:11

before, you notice things aren't going well.

5:14

You feel it's a struggle. You're

5:16

seeing some problematic eating behaviors come

5:18

back. Then come to

5:20

the HSM weight management plan to get those

5:22

fixed. So here's how you know it's the

5:24

right plan for you. You're

5:26

struggling to lose weight or maintain your weight

5:28

loss. You find it challenging

5:30

to create a calorie deficit for weight loss.

5:33

Consistently, journaling your food is a struggle. You

5:35

tend to do it when things are going

5:38

well, but stop when you're unsure about what

5:40

you're eating or how to track something. Or

5:43

if you consume something, you consider inappropriate.

5:46

You struggle with black and white all or

5:48

nothing thinking when it comes to weight loss

5:50

process. You recognize eating behaviors

5:52

that are not helpful, such as overeating,

5:54

grazing, impulse eating, binge eating, sneaking

5:56

food, or emotional eating. You

5:59

often eat out. a lack of daily

6:01

planning or having food that you didn't

6:03

prepare or desire to eat. It's

6:05

also right for you if tracking calories

6:07

or points daily cause you stress and

6:10

your mind is preoccupied with thoughts about the food

6:12

throughout the day. You repeatedly

6:15

start and stop the weight loss process

6:17

without making significant progress. You

6:19

constantly make food decisions and negotiate

6:21

with your lower brain regarding what to

6:23

eat and calorie consumption yet still

6:26

find yourself overeating and not making progress.

6:29

You have a negative relationship with weight

6:31

loss process viewing it as a punishment

6:33

or something painful and you desire a

6:35

new perspective on this journey. So

6:37

that means if you said yes to any of

6:39

those 1 through 10, you would

6:41

benefit from the HSM weight management plan. Those

6:43

of you who maybe might want to wait

6:45

on using it is if you

6:48

can answer yes to these. One you

6:50

are very satisfied with your current weight loss

6:52

or weight management progress seeing consistent

6:54

results with your current approach. You

6:57

don't struggle significantly with problematic eating

6:59

behaviors like grazing binge eating, overeating

7:01

or impulse eating. You are

7:03

in maintenance and effectively staying within your target range

7:05

without contending with problematic eating behaviors

7:08

that require weekly restriction. You

7:10

feel positive about journaling your food in some form.

7:13

You maintain consistency in your process

7:16

and you experience minimal mental turmoil regarding

7:18

the need for perfection in food decisions

7:20

and feel relaxed about making them. So

7:23

if you feel like that describes you,

7:25

that translation to me means nothing

7:27

is broken, right? You are

7:29

hitting a calorie deficit or maintenance calories. You

7:31

feel pretty relaxed about the process. You

7:34

are finding yourself staying consistent with journaling your food even

7:36

when you quote unquote have an off day of eating.

7:39

Everything is looking pretty well and some people are

7:41

in that category. Awesome. I

7:44

applaud you for that. But I find more

7:46

people are in the one where they could benefit

7:48

from it. And honestly,

7:50

always have the attitude when

7:52

you are thinking about this process and this

7:54

is something I cover in the HSM weight

7:56

management plan as well that habits usually are

7:58

like at 70 5

8:01

80% most often meaning you're never going

8:03

to be a hundred percent all the

8:05

time it's just an improbability the longer

8:07

you do this process and life happens

8:10

the less quote-unquote perfect you're

8:12

gonna be at your habits they will

8:14

fall down the totem pole sometimes and

8:17

you'll start to know if maybe old

8:19

habits resurfacing with food and this is

8:21

where the HSM weight management plan comes

8:23

in really good it's a great diagnostic

8:25

tool it's a good way for you to figure out

8:27

what's not working it's a great way

8:29

for you to revamp how you perceive the

8:31

problem eating behavior or what's

8:34

happening and it gives you a

8:36

whole new focus for how to correct those

8:38

behaviors which I actually think is really

8:40

the powerhouse of the plan it's not the

8:42

way that most people think to solve a

8:45

problem it actually goes in a different direction

8:47

so I just want to share that with

8:49

you because since I've launched the HSM Academy

8:51

it has just been a crazy busy experience

8:54

we have so many wonderful members sharing getting

8:56

engaged and I know I haven't shared that

8:58

much here on the show but I released

9:01

the HSM weight management plan because for so

9:03

many years everyone has asked

9:05

me for help with this they said hey

9:07

you've got great courses you have great

9:09

challenges you have great this you have great that

9:12

we put everything into one plan like is there

9:14

any way you can give

9:16

us one concise thing to focus on that's

9:18

what this is this is if you want

9:21

to lose weight if weight is the focus

9:23

if that's what you are concerned about then

9:25

I would encourage you to if you've fallen

9:27

the criteria of those first ten things I

9:29

read definitely in the HSM Academy jump into

9:32

that and for those of you in the

9:34

Academy easily able to find this just go

9:36

over to where it says my classes and

9:38

I think it's the first one there it's got a little star

9:40

next to it you can't miss it all

9:43

right so today you're gonna get to hear me

9:45

walking Ashley through this process of teaching her how

9:47

to use the paper pencil journal which is something

9:49

that a lot of our Academy members have gotten

9:52

a better view of now that we're doing the

9:54

weight loss plan that I just mentioned all right

9:56

you guys enjoy your week if you want to

9:58

join us in the Academy We would

10:00

love to have you. Please

10:02

go to halfsizemey.com/join and I

10:05

will be talking to you soon. Take care of

10:07

yourself Alright

10:09

lovely listeners of the half size me show

10:12

today We have Ashley on the line with

10:14

us Ashley is gonna come on say hello

10:16

and then dive in to what

10:18

you're currently Struggling with so we can get you some help

10:20

today. Okay. Yeah Hi,

10:23

everyone. My name is Ashley Brower and

10:27

I am currently kind of

10:29

struggling with just going into a

10:32

deficit So as everyone

10:34

kind of has heard on the show and

10:36

has kind of struggled with is the yo-yo

10:38

dieting I have

10:40

been on a diet or have been on

10:42

that diet and

10:44

non good bad Since

10:47

I was 10 and so I have lost 80

10:49

pounds before But

10:53

it was kind of like the white

10:55

knuckling approach I would I had

10:57

a binge eating

11:00

disorder That I actually

11:02

have been under control since April

11:05

so I haven't had a binge

11:07

in Over

11:10

what's that six months?

11:12

Yeah. Yeah, so super exciting.

11:14

Yeah, it was my first step So

11:16

I started really listening to your podcast

11:18

in April and decided to join the

11:21

community in May And

11:23

really my first step was to get

11:25

the binge eating under control and I

11:28

started out doing the paper-pencil journal Understanding,

11:32

you know when I was eating unprompted

11:35

basically and not planned and

11:37

so I started that in June

11:39

and Then just really focusing

11:42

on my habits. So and

11:44

then fast-forward. Let's start with August

11:47

is when I started tracking religiously and

11:50

I wanted to kind of find like

11:52

my maintenance calories so

11:54

right now I'm 232

11:57

and right now like based

11:59

off of I have like a spreadsheet.

12:01

I do it in my fitness pal, but I

12:03

have a spreadsheet of calories. And

12:06

it says my weekly calories or my

12:08

daily calories on average for the month

12:10

of August was about 2300. And

12:15

then I stayed pretty much the same 232.6, so fluctuated there.

12:20

Again, can I just pause you

12:22

for a second? Because if I could hug you, if I

12:25

could hug you right now, I would. So

12:27

much of what you said is so, so

12:30

good. OK, so one, you knew you needed

12:32

to work on the binge eating. Number

12:34

two, you were wildly curious about your,

12:36

as you like to put it, your

12:38

unprompted eating. So you did the paper

12:40

and pencil journal. You then found your

12:43

maintenance calories. Like, they're so much good

12:45

in what you've already done. And I

12:47

just had to pause and just tell

12:49

you how amazingly proud I am of you already.

12:52

So anyway, I didn't need to interrupt you.

12:54

So August maintenance calories 2300 per your weight. It's

12:58

so exciting. OK, so can you

13:00

continue on? Yeah,

13:02

so it's just weird because I'm

13:04

like, you know what? I've

13:06

been doing this for so long of just

13:08

doing the strict and binge cycle that

13:11

I'm like, OK, let's just start from

13:13

scratch. It's like, I'm going to be

13:15

doing this for the rest of my

13:17

life. Like, just start on habit, right?

13:19

Like, it's just like, so

13:21

I really did take your message and I did. And

13:23

you didn't just listen. I

13:26

did. Oh, my God. I've

13:28

explained myself. You know, I did. I

13:30

know I did like have that lower brain chatter

13:32

of like, yeah, it was

13:34

like, oh, my gosh, well, we were not

13:36

losing any weight. Like you're tracking your calories

13:38

and you're not losing any weight. I'm like, OK, you

13:40

have to just keep telling yourself like it's just all

13:42

about the data right now. And I just move forward.

13:45

And I'm going to flip it around and I guarantee

13:47

your brain didn't say this. You're

13:49

not gaining weight either. Right. Like

13:52

if we go back to the pre April,

13:54

actually, I'm sure this 230 ish pounds didn't

13:56

just come because

13:59

you over. ate one meal

14:01

one time. Right, exactly. Yeah,

14:03

exactly. So now I'm just looking back

14:06

at my like ones that I did

14:08

like have like there are days that

14:10

I did have two oatmeal

14:12

cookies or something but then it was

14:14

like okay I knew it was just I was

14:17

just being more conscious of just what I was

14:19

putting into my mouth and then it just made

14:21

me more accountable to myself. I love that. All

14:23

right so let me go to where you are

14:25

now because you've done everything like textbook great and

14:27

the thing is again you did the stuff

14:29

you didn't just listen go oh that sounds

14:31

good in theory for those people. I'm gonna

14:33

I'm gonna actually do it. So now since

14:35

August and kind of defining your maintenance calories

14:37

at 2300 what has the attempt

14:41

to create a deficit look like what are you

14:43

trying to do to do that? So

14:46

what I'm trying to do to do that

14:48

is right now I'm just trying

14:50

to shave off where I can

14:53

so like I make

14:55

I have gotten into like the one habit

14:58

I built up was making overnight

15:00

oats for

15:02

every morning so I would have like a

15:04

stable breakfast. So like I was noticed I'm

15:06

like hey I could shave off some calories

15:08

here by not having any granola on top

15:10

whatever it may be. So I'm

15:12

just trying to shave off calories where I can but

15:16

kind of where I've noticed

15:18

so far is what is why

15:20

I'm struggling with is like my

15:22

afternoon eating is like I don't

15:24

I used to have a nighttime eating problem but now

15:27

it's like more towards three to six like

15:29

I am like super hungry in between

15:31

there. So I've been trying to do

15:33

protein shakes within there and

15:36

I and I can tell it's emotional eating but

15:39

I just really need to get into that

15:41

deficit because I really am ready for that

15:43

next step. I just don't want to I guess

15:47

sabotage all the progress

15:49

I've made so far with you know not

15:52

binging and restricting. Yeah so let

15:54

me go back to August for a second. In August with

15:56

the 2300 calories what were you

15:59

do what were you eating between three and

16:01

six during that month? Let

16:03

me look here. The thing is,

16:05

is I don't have times on my

16:07

MyFitnessPal, but I'll see

16:09

like snack wise. Okay. That

16:12

I was doing. And September was, September

16:14

I've had so far, because

16:16

I also did September and it was like 2400. I

16:20

had a wedding, my brother got married. So

16:22

it was a little higher and it wasn't

16:25

as rigid from a schedule standpoint, but I

16:27

still tracked everything, which is great. Yes. So

16:30

let me go back to August. Looks

16:35

like I was doing a lot more,

16:37

like I was eating watermelon, it

16:40

was in season. And then banana

16:43

oatmeal cups that I was doing.

16:46

Looks like I had a lot more protein.

16:48

I was focused on a lot more protein.

16:51

Like protein is higher. Right, now

16:53

let me ask this question because I'm just curious. In the

16:55

month of September with the calories going up to 2400,

16:58

what was the beginning weight and the ending weight

17:01

for the month, the average? Okay,

17:04

let's see. My average was

17:06

232.6 monthly weight average. And

17:12

I'm doing this on a spreadsheet.

17:15

Oh, okay. So, well, compared to

17:18

August, wasn't August 232. something as well? Yeah,

17:24

so I stayed pretty much stable, 232.6.

17:27

And then the monthly weight was 233

17:29

in September. So

17:34

basically still maintaining. So

17:36

when we go back to August, it sounds

17:38

like, if I'm hearing you right, you were

17:40

eating more protein. And it might

17:42

also be that these things you were eating

17:45

between three and six o'clock, like

17:47

watermelon, banana oatmeal cups, potentially,

17:49

are they less calories than what you've

17:51

been gravitating towards as of now? Yeah,

17:55

I think so. Yeah, now

17:58

that I'm looking at it, yeah. By the

18:00

way, Pat, you're past self on

18:02

the back for this. Had you not

18:04

been documenting all this, you wouldn't be

18:06

able to figure anything out, right? This

18:08

documentation is super helpful. Just like

18:11

if you go to the doctor tomorrow and he's like, hey, you

18:13

got high blood pressure, what amount of

18:15

sodium are you eating? Well, let me check,

18:17

doc. I can pull up my milligrams of

18:19

sodium for you, right? You actually

18:21

have information now that could benefit you

18:23

with several different things. So when

18:25

you're looking at your protein for August, what was

18:28

the average grams? Are you using like

18:30

a MyFitness Pal? Yeah.

18:32

What was the average grams for like

18:34

a week in August? Like, is it getting over

18:36

100 grams or was it substantially

18:38

more than that? So

18:41

some days were 100, some

18:44

days were lower, like 78, but

18:46

then there were some days where I had like 130. So

18:50

let me see here. So

18:53

if you go down to the three dots and if

18:55

you're on your phone, if you go down to the

18:57

three dots on the right hand side of the screen

18:59

where the menu pops up, you'll see a section

19:01

that says nutrition. Do you see that? Click

19:05

on that and then at the top, you should be

19:07

able to pick in the middle, it should say nutrition

19:09

again. There should be like calories, nutrition, and then there's

19:11

something else. Click on that and

19:13

then it can give, you can select the

19:15

date. So if you were to go back

19:18

to like some week in

19:20

August, you can actually see the average

19:23

calories for a full seven days and

19:25

the full nutrients. You see that? So

19:28

because yeah, you're going to see daily variations

19:30

in protein, but if you're kind of looking

19:32

at it in a seven day average, it'll

19:34

give you the average for that. Okay,

19:37

perfect. So I have that. Okay. So

19:39

my seven day average for the month, for the first

19:41

week of August was 119. Okay.

19:44

My second week was 113. 113,

19:47

okay. And

19:49

then the third week was 136.

19:53

Oh, okay. And

19:55

then the fourth week, so like

19:57

that last blood into September was 120. So

20:01

my protein was pretty high. Now when you

20:03

look at September and even where you are now,

20:05

is the protein still in

20:07

that range as you scroll through the weeks

20:10

coming past that point? Yeah,

20:12

the first week of September, first full

20:14

week was 132 and then it starts

20:17

dropping to 108 and then

20:19

84. Oh wow, okay.

20:22

And then we spiked back up because that was

20:24

like 84 during the wedding so

20:26

I probably had a lot of carbs. Yeah,

20:29

and so now in October, is it hanging

20:32

out around the same 84 or

20:34

is it bumped back up to the 1

20:36

to 120 range? Yeah, we've bumped back up

20:38

to now. It's like last week or yeah,

20:41

this week right now I'm already at 102 average

20:43

and the week prior was 134. So

20:47

perfect. Okay, so protein's back on point

20:49

now and then when I look

20:51

at your day of eating, you're still doing the

20:53

overnight oats at breakfast, you're eating lunch. Do

20:56

you normally play on a snack between 3 and

20:58

6 o'clock? I do.

21:01

It just kind of depends on my kind of

21:03

work schedule. So I have a hybrid schedule so

21:05

I work in office 3 days a week and

21:07

then 2 days a week I'm at home and

21:09

I think it's like those at home days where

21:12

I just really struggle. I

21:14

almost like have to plan a snack so

21:17

I don't graze because at

21:19

work it's easy. I don't graze. Like I'm

21:21

just like there at my desk doing work

21:23

where it's like at home, I can put

21:25

a load of laundry and I'm always passing the kitchen.

21:27

So it's almost like a yeah. Yeah,

21:30

and I love how you already identified it.

21:32

So it's just a habit at the end

21:34

of the day. So like it's a lower

21:36

range of inhabit. You probably feel a sense

21:39

of dis-ease or discomfort because when you're at

21:41

work, it's super clear. What am I doing?

21:43

I'm sitting at my desk, I'm focusing on

21:45

the spreadsheets or the files or the whatever,

21:47

right? Like everything is super

21:49

clear. What I would encourage you to do

21:51

is give clarity to your at home days

21:54

and what that might mean is writing

21:56

yourself a schedule and putting it

21:58

on your Google calendar. just

22:00

like you would if you were doing work

22:02

at your job and it might be at 3 p.m. Go

22:05

for a 20-minute walk, right? So you so it's

22:08

like a little alarm telling you go for a

22:10

20-minute walk then you come back and

22:12

maybe you work on You

22:14

know an organization project you work on

22:17

an art project you work on a craft

22:19

for Christmas You could give

22:21

yourself specific designated times to

22:24

have specific And

22:26

that's really what your brain is looking for

22:28

it's looking for something to do So

22:31

think of like that desire to eat

22:33

is being Energy that

22:35

needs to go somewhere and

22:37

that's what it is. It's a little bit of anxiety.

22:39

It's a little bit of uncertainty Where should I do

22:41

be? What should I be doing? Oh, there's food. I'll

22:44

eat because it's it's a very low

22:46

thought process Activity, but

22:48

it's you doing something, right? Well, I

22:50

do think you should plan a snack

22:53

in there But what you could do

22:55

just to see if it's hunger or not It

22:58

could be a what we'll call regular meal

23:00

type thing So what I mean by regular

23:02

meal is I just had a client box

23:04

for me this morning She says was this my

23:06

lower brain or was this a good decision? She

23:09

says I was physically hungry and I stopped by

23:11

Starbucks and I got some egg white bites to

23:13

tide me over till dinner And

23:15

she says but I passed on the sugary coffee drink,

23:17

which I kind of you know habitually

23:19

would have gotten and I said Yes,

23:22

this was a this was a good choice

23:24

because you defer to something that

23:27

is what we'll call regular food It

23:29

wasn't like oh, let me hit the vending machine for

23:31

another pack of pretzels or I'm really

23:34

in the mood for chocolate So what I often

23:36

have my clients do is make a

23:38

regular meal. That's like their emergency

23:40

meal So let's say three to six

23:42

o'clock You're actually hungry and you've got

23:44

a nice plate in the refrigerator of

23:47

some leftover pork chop And

23:49

sweet potatoes and roasted, you

23:51

know Brussels sprouts and

23:53

that your emergency meal and you say, okay It's

23:55

between three and six. I'm feeling

23:57

hungry. Would I eat that plate of dinner food?

24:00

And if the answer is nah, I'm kind of

24:02

in the mood for some chocolate or

24:05

some crackers or you know I

24:07

really kind of had my eyes set on

24:09

those leftover graham crackers if it

24:11

says that to you It's always emotional eating.

24:13

It's it's that that need to

24:15

get that emotional energy out But

24:18

if you hear a voice that comes in and

24:20

goes heck, yeah heat up the pork chops, baby.

24:23

I'm hungry Then

24:25

you know, it's physical hunger. You see the

24:27

difference between the two Yeah,

24:29

so when it's showing up for you between three

24:31

and six What are you thinking

24:33

now that we kind of talked this out a little bit? I? Well,

24:36

it's just so funny that you said it's like an

24:39

energy and it was yesterday. I was almost

24:41

I Ended

24:44

up eating a piece of pie that I didn't plan

24:46

right? He's like, okay take the drop out of it

24:48

Why did I eat that? So I

24:50

it was because I was

24:52

procrastinating for something for work and I was what

24:55

can I do in the kitchen right now? Oh,

24:57

there's a piece of pie. I'm gonna eat that. So

24:59

it's kind of like definitely a energy

25:02

Source I'm looking at to almost like

25:05

take away from what I'm not

25:07

trying to do or if that makes sense 100%

25:10

another thing that might work really well for you between three

25:13

and six and this works really well for a lot

25:15

of people Leave the house with your work.

25:17

So you have work you have to do, right? It's

25:19

gonna be going down to the local library

25:22

and just setting up shop for a few

25:24

hours to get your work done It

25:26

could be going somewhere like if you can

25:28

handle something like a Starbucks and just get a cup

25:30

of coffee and sit there and work Sometimes

25:33

it's getting out of your home environment to

25:35

make a huge change or

25:37

it could just be structuring the time differently,

25:39

too But that would be where I probably

25:41

would start with you is Let's

25:43

look at changing those two concepts or

25:45

ideas first and then if

25:48

you still see yourself Gravitating towards the

25:50

kitchen you make up that kind of

25:52

plate or meal of food It could be

25:54

just like a big bowl of vegetable soup, right? Just

25:56

something that's actually what we would call

25:58

nutritionally dense not highly

26:01

palatable. If it's highly palatable

26:03

like pie, it more

26:05

than likely is lower brain driven. It's

26:07

that energy that needs to go. But

26:09

if you're like, no, I'm actually physically

26:11

hungry and soup sounds awesome, then that's

26:13

physical hunger and you should listen to

26:15

that. But if it's not physical hunger,

26:17

that's something else altogether, right? Right.

26:20

Okay. Alright, so that's the only problem time

26:23

or is there another one? No,

26:25

the only question is, so now that I

26:28

know my calories, it's like what's a good

26:30

deficit to take before I or should I

26:32

just kind of experiment? Like should I go

26:34

out like a 300 calorie deficit

26:36

of the like just stick with 2,000

26:39

which I've been trying to do this week? Or

26:42

like what are your thoughts there? Yeah, so

26:44

when you reflect back on on August, are

26:47

you having higher calories on the weekends and

26:49

lower on the weekdays or are they pretty

26:51

universally the same? It's

26:54

funny. I have higher calories on

26:56

Friday and Saturday and then Sunday is

26:58

like my lowest. Okay, so

27:00

just days out of the week. Yeah. Okay.

27:02

So you already were going in the right

27:05

direction when I heard you talk about cutting

27:07

out the granola, those little swamps and and

27:09

honestly, yeah, I would say two to three

27:11

hundred, three hundred being the tops would be

27:13

the amount. Okay. And you might just want

27:15

to do the first month at two hundred

27:17

because again, you don't want your binge eating.

27:19

So binge eating issues can come from two

27:21

separate places, right? It can be biological hunger

27:23

and it can be all this other

27:25

stuff we're talking about these emotional stressors and

27:28

stuff like that. If you were to

27:30

go very restrictive with your calories, it can always

27:32

incite that over time. So it's always better to

27:34

try it with a smaller deficit, especially if you

27:36

know you've been eating in your past just to

27:38

play it safe. So you could just

27:40

start with two hundred and it might be like,

27:42

okay, there's a hundred calories of granola I'm not

27:44

going to use and if I don't maybe have

27:46

that snack in the afternoon the way I have

27:49

been maybe, you know, if I put watermelon in

27:51

there and a cup of cottage cheese or something,

27:54

it's not as high as the pie would

27:56

be. So then my calories come down naturally.

27:58

But where I would include encourage you to

28:00

think about is, you know, having that diversity

28:02

in your calories where those higher days are

28:05

allotted for. So that way you're not feeling

28:07

like you're doing something wrong and maybe creating

28:09

binge tendencies because, oh no, I screwed up

28:11

today, da da da da da da da.

28:13

Do you see what I mean? Yeah.

28:16

Yeah. Because I was in the cycle

28:18

of I would binge and then I would work out, oh my

28:21

gosh, when I lost my 80 pounds,

28:24

it's like I would work out to

28:26

compensate for that too. So

28:28

it's like now that I have, that was before

28:31

I had kids and now I have kids and

28:33

it's like I don't have time to do that as

28:35

well as working full time. So

28:37

I've just also added activity in as

28:40

like at least 30 minutes, whatever

28:42

it is, intentional movement because

28:44

I can't rely, I

28:46

guess, on working out as my

28:49

stabilizer for weight loss and

28:52

then to keep it off because it just wasn't,

28:54

I was white knuckling it for sure. Yeah.

28:56

And just to take that mental pressure off

28:58

you, I know you're busy, you've got a

29:00

full time job and kids, but if you

29:02

get a chance on Audible to listen to

29:04

the book Burn by Dr. Henry Ponser, it's

29:07

a really excellent book on

29:09

basically how your body adjusts

29:11

your activity to not

29:15

basically give you those extra calories. And

29:17

so if you're somebody who in the

29:19

past has maybe misused exercise to try

29:21

to regulate his body weight, it's

29:24

great. It's a science, it means it's about

29:26

science, but he does it in a very easily

29:28

palatable way that he communicates his

29:30

ideas. But basically he has science to

29:33

back up what he's actually saying as far as how

29:35

our body burns calories. So I would read that just

29:37

so that way when your mind tries to play a

29:39

trick on you and says, well, you know, if we

29:41

work out for an extra 30 minutes, you can be

29:43

like, I read the book. I

29:46

know that that's not going to happen. Right.

29:48

Right. Like that's a misnomer. So

29:51

yeah, definitely give that book a read. So right

29:53

now if we take out the morning granola

29:56

and we make one other modification

29:58

to shaving 200 calories. calories

30:00

off the average seem doable or what are

30:02

your thoughts? Yeah, I

30:04

feel like that seems doable. Like I could

30:06

also do swap instead of egg. I can

30:09

do egg whites, so I can save you

30:11

know some and then bump up my protein

30:13

there too, which I have

30:15

done. I used to do just all

30:17

eggs and then I've slowly have swapped

30:19

egg whites keeping within

30:22

my maintaining so I could easily just add

30:25

in more veggies to kind of add in that volume and

30:28

hunger, make me feel full. Absolutely,

30:30

yeah. So those are all good ideas.

30:32

I would start out modest, keep

30:35

it at the 2-300 calories, see what after

30:37

a month of doing that what your

30:39

average weight is doing. And

30:41

if it's trending down, so if you see

30:44

yourself going from the 233 and now all

30:46

of a sudden it's you know 231 point

30:48

something, well you know you're moving in the

30:50

right direction, right? So that's kind

30:52

of how you'll be able to gauge that based

30:54

on what you're doing. And then like I

30:56

said, I would really think about restructuring your

30:59

afternoons at home and

31:01

I would either give myself a really nice

31:03

plan that I could follow it on those

31:06

days specifically or I would just make

31:08

it easy on myself and I probably

31:10

remove myself from the environment if possible

31:12

to where I could go to an

31:14

alternate work location just so that way

31:16

you're focused on your work and there's

31:18

little to no chance of you procrastinating,

31:20

right? Yeah, yes. Procrastinating

31:23

with snacks. Somebody actually had

31:25

a funny way of saying

31:28

they called it Procrasta Snacking or something

31:30

like that. I love that. They took

31:32

the two words and melded them together

31:35

like, oh that's genius, you know, that's

31:37

exactly what it is. It's

31:39

so true though. It's like Procrasta Snacking or

31:41

something to that effect. But yeah, all right,

31:43

was there anything we didn't cover today

31:45

that you needed help with? No,

31:48

that was really it. I feel like I've done

31:50

like my homework these past months and I was

31:53

like, okay, I think I'm ready for deficit. Like

31:55

I think I'm ready to like start doing

31:57

this. So yeah. I'm

32:00

excited. Yes. Oh, and I am

32:02

so excited. So you said you are in the community,

32:05

correct? I am. Yeah, I am. So here's what I

32:07

want you to do. I want you to post, whether

32:09

it's on Facebook or the forums, and I want you

32:11

to tag me. Maybe check

32:13

in in two weeks and let me

32:15

know what your average calories are and what

32:18

your average weight is doing so far for

32:20

the month, right? So you sound like you

32:23

do an average weight spreadsheet. So just

32:25

checking in, because I'd like to just see if

32:27

you're making that little bit of progress for yourself,

32:29

but that's a way I can kind of connect with

32:31

you outside of the call. Okay? Cool.

32:34

Yeah, I will do that. Awesome, my dear. And

32:37

honestly, you gave me the best gift today because

32:39

you actually did the things that we talk about.

32:41

You didn't just hypothesize about it. You were like,

32:43

oh no, I can actually do some of this.

32:46

And you know what's funny? It did

32:48

take me a while to have it

32:50

click because I had to listen, get

32:52

kind of like, okay, understand the process

32:55

and then put it into action. And

32:58

I feel like if people just kind

33:00

of like take it as your

33:02

own steps and then just you just have to kind

33:04

of put it into action, it's totally

33:07

worth it. Oh yeah, and

33:09

that's the whole idea. It's a program for

33:11

you by you, right? It's a concept and

33:13

you're taking that concept and you're saying, how

33:15

can I apply this to me, my life,

33:17

my structure, what I got going on? And

33:20

that's really what I want people to

33:23

do. But yeah, there's no user's guide

33:25

or owner's manual because honestly, it's individual.

33:28

But you did a lot of the heavy lifting

33:30

and now you've got information you didn't have before.

33:33

You've gotten your editing under control, you know your

33:35

maintenance calories, you kind of can tell me

33:37

what amount of protein you've been consuming. You

33:40

got way more information just by doing

33:42

those steps than you

33:44

would have just listening and letting time

33:47

pass you by. So that's excellent. Thank you

33:49

so much for that. Yeah.

33:51

No, thank you and thank you for the

33:53

community and I really appreciate it. Thank

33:56

you for listening. Be sure to visit halfsizing.com.

34:00

back often for your daily dose of

34:02

inspiration because you are worth it.