Too busy to lose weight and work on your health goals right now? This is something I hear commonly from women over 35.
"I can't work on my health goals right not because it's the holidays."
"I can't work on weight loss right now because I'm too busy.... I have this going on, a work travel trip, this vacation, etc."
"I can't sign up for nutrition coaching right now because I have too much going on and can't focus on this right now."
For those of you who are planning to start losing weight in January and you’re waiting to do anything until January because you’re just too busy right now. I want you to think about what it is exactly that you’re going to have to do that you’re too busy for?
Do you think you’re going to have to be super strict, super rigid, cut out certain foods, do all the things and be super perfect?
Because if that’s what you’re thinking you’re still thinking like a crash dieter not like someone who is going to make this a sustainable lifestyle they’re going to do until they’re 85 years old to keep weight off.
You’re not going to have to scale mountains. You’re not going to have to spend 3 hours a day meal prepping and 2 hours a day exercising.
Oh no, you’re going to start with the basics. One or two simple basic stuff like going for a walk around the block every day or just adding 30 grams of protein in your breakfast.
You’re telling me you’re too busy to do that?
You mean to tell me you can't do one or two basics things like a 10-minute daily walk and including protein with your breakfast while navigating your real life - your job, vacation, work travel, a wedding, the holidays, etc.?"
You see most women still struggling with sustainable weight loss and health habits, keep falling into a self-sabotaging pattern of thinking they can’t do anything until their life is free and clear, and the reason they think that way is because they are still thinking like a dieter and they're still living in a diet prison.
Your brain thinks I can't be focused on this right now. Might as well wait until January! Might as well wait until after vacation, after this work trip, after this wedding, etc.!
Our brains picture this ideal scenario where we shed pounds left and right and look our best and we have this insane amount of willpower.
And that image creates a nice dopamine hit which feels really good in the moment. So we negotiate.
Alright... come January I'm all in! But you're not.
Because dopamine doesn't last long. And then you end up chasing results: a number on the scale, measurements, body fat percentage and if you don't get the instant gratification that your brain is seeking... you get frustrated.
On again, off again, on again, off again where it stops no one knows!
It actually feels better to IMAGINE the results you're going to get than to actually DO the work that it requires. Because when you imagine it, your brain gives you the dopamine hit.
Tricky thing that brain of yours!
If you've been on a weight loss journey for some time and struggling, it's time to learn why waiting until the right time is actually sabotaging you and why you're not too busy to lose weight.
Hear the secret to stopping this pattern in this Dish On Ditching Diets podcast episode!
In this Dish On Ditching Diets Podcast Episode, You Will Hear:
- Why Telling Yourself Yourself You're Too Busy To Lose Weight Is Sabotaging Behavior Pattern
- How Your Brain Tricks You With Dopamine
- What You Need To Focus On To Start Losing Weight & Why It Can Easily Fit Into Your Busy Schedule
- The Two Paths People Are On With Their Health
- How To Gain Freedom From The On Again, Off Again Diet Pattern
Never Miss An Episode! Subscribe to the Dish On Ditching Diets Podcast on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify or Amazon Music
Related Dish On Ditching Diets Podcast Episodes
- All Or Nothing Thinking
- Are You Living In A Diet Prison
- 10 Mindset Shifts To Escape Your Diet Prison
- Get Back On Track
- What Most Women Miss About Sustainable Weight Loss
- High Protein Breakfast Recipes
Too Busy To Lose Weight Dish On Ditching Diets Podcast Transcript
Hello Friends!
It’s one week until Christmas! I hope you all are doing well and surviving the holiday season. It’s a busy time of year and I want to jump right into our topic of being too busy to lose weight and take care of your health.
For those of you who are planning to lose weight in January and you’re waiting to do anything until January because you’re just too busy right now. I want you to think about
what it is exactly that you’re going to have to do that you’re too busy for?
Do you think you’re going to have to be super strict, super rigid, cut out certain foods, do all the things and be super perfect?
Because if that’s what you’re thinking you’re still thinking like a crash dieter not like someone who is going to make this a sustainable lifestyle they’re going to do until they’re 85 years old to keep weight off.
You’re not going to have to scale mountains. You’re not going to have to spend 3 hours a day meal prepping and 2 hours a day exercising.
Oh no, you’re going to start with the basics. One or two simple basic stuff like going for a walk around the block every day or just adding 30 grams of protein in your breakfast.
You’re telling me you’re too busy to do that?
You’re telling me you can’t do one or two simple basic things like that during the holidays, or anytime your life is busy? Y
ou must put your health on hold, you must put your goal of feeling your best in your body and losing some body fat on hold until life is stress free.
You’re telling me there is no possible way you can go for a daily walk around the block or just add 30 grams of protein to your breakfast?
You see most of you listening who are still struggling with sustainable weight loss and health habits, you keep falling into a self-sabotaging pattern of thinking you can’t do anything until your life is free and clear, and the reason you think that way is because you are still thinking like a dieter and you’re still living in a diet prison.
You still think I’m going to be so focused and because I’m going to be so focused I will get better results and results will come faster. Because when I’m busy or when it’s the holidays, I can’t be focused. I’m too tired, stressed and busy and if I can’t be focused, I can’t get results.
Might as well wait until January so I can be totally focused and get results!
That’s what your brain tells you. Except it’s a trick your brain is telling you so that right now you can feel more at ease about ignoring your health goals, you get mental relief from the guilt of eating like a jerk and not doing anything to take care of your goals by justifying that you’re going to be so dialed in come January or some other time of year.
You see most people fall into one of two paths.
Path one is diet on and off year-round. Get frustrated when you can’t stay consistent. Fall off the wagon, get back on for a bit. Fall back off then say screw it during the holidays and start over in January.
Path two is focus on sustainable habits year-round. Spend certain periods of time being more dialed in and intentional about losing body fat, but most of the time you are habit focused. All the while you are incorporating freedom and flexibility into your process.
For example, you may be tracking your food but you're also learning how to have untracked days, how to eat at maintenance, how to get your protein and fiber, maintain your body weight, how to get steps, how to include strength training and have times where you just enjoy yourself without focusing on food.
Path one is what most people do and I’m willing to bet if you are listening to this podcast today, you have done path one and you may even be thinking about path one already.
Most of us are desperate to feel better in January because we have paid zero attention to our health so then we do really stupid things out of desperation that we could never do until we’re 85 years old.
We want to feel better. Amazon Prime me a body that feels better! That’s when you fall into the diet trap of doing all the stupid unsustainable things like I’m going to cut out all my carbs, eat carb free, exercise 3 hours a day, do Optavia, sign up for Weight Watchers for the 20th time, try to eat 1200 calories and starve myself, do this shake program, fast and eat one meal a day so I can lose weight as quickly as possible.
Then we justify this with once I lose the weight THEN I will work on my habits. THEN I will work on doing something normal. Or THEN I will learn to eat like a normal person. Except that’s not how this process works.
If you're on path one... maybe consider not staying on path one and crash dieting.
Instead of imagining how focused you're going to be in January, why don't you accept that your brain is playing tricks on you? Not just you but all of us. We all share the same mental tricks and drama.
We're really bad at predicting the future. We all overestimate how focused we're going to be and our brains picture this ideal scenario where we shed pounds left and right and look our best and we have this insane amount of willpower.
And that image creates a nice dopamine hit which feels really good in the moment. So we negotiate. Alright... come January I'm all in! But you're not.
Because dopamine doesn't last long. And then you end up chasing results: a number on the scale, measurements, body fat percentage and if you don't get the instant gratification that your brain is seeking... you get frustrated.
And then, you head right back into the same path one. On again, off again, on again, off again. This is where things get really messed up.
It actually feels better to IMAGINE the results you're going to get than to actually DO the work that it requires. Because when you imagine it, your brain gives you the dopamine hit.
Tricky thing that brain of yours!
It gives you that little dose of motivation to start again. But motivation is unreliable and fades away quickly. And then you're just left with boring habits that require a long time to see the impact. Stop. No more dopamine for you!
And round and round you go. Where it stops, no one knows. Except you can stop it whenever you want. You can decide to become habit focused. You can become aware of your own behavioral tendencies.
You can make decisions based on the future version of you in 1 year from now. The ONLY way the vision becomes reality is if you start small and gradually build from there.
Small action steps over time! Like I said start with walking around the block or start with including protein at your breakfast. Small stuff and keep the commitments you make to yourself.
Stop being a flaky friend who never does what she commits to. Stop chasing shortcuts with crummy diets that make you miserable and make you feel bad.
Stop trying to do all the things all the time. Little by little. Step by step is how you make this a sustainable way of life. No, it's not exciting. But it's kind of like selection bias.
The women who are successful are the ones who can accept and recognize the way their brain works and makes conscious choices that align with a future version of themselves that doesn't exist yet. It aligns with the 70- or 80-year version of you.
Do you want to be the grandma who can’t play with her grandkids and sits in a recliner? Do you want to struggle bringing groceries in the house, getting in and out of a car?
Do you want to retire and go on your dream vacation and not be able to enjoy it because you’re out of breath walking around or you need to take a scooter? Do you want to live out your years in a nursing home or in your own home?
I spoke about this in episode 127 – what most women miss about sustainable weight loss. Most women think this health stuff is just about looking cute in clothes, being skinny and losing 20 pounds. Sure, those things are nice.
But they’re really just bonuses of you attending to your health, but the real reason we go on a weight loss journey is to improve our quality of life as we age and be able to be independent and do all the things we want to do.
Learning to change habits and do this stuff when you’ve had 10, 20, 30 or more years of chronic dieting and following diet culture nonsense is not easy. Which is why the REALLY smart women don't leave it up to chance or try to fly solo on this complicated mission.
They get support. Accountability. Guidance from a coach.
Do you think that someone who always focuses on the negative is like... hey, wait a minute, I really should be more intentional about focusing on the positives and what I can control?
No... they don't! Because it's hard to be aware of something when it's running on autopilot. Our default coping mechanisms are to hide, suppress, avoid, distract. Even listening to me right now you may be nodding your head but will end up doing nothing about it.
Because it's easier to be like... "YES! I love this message!" and then go on about your day without taking any action. Because it made you FEEL like you took an action. It's a lot more difficult to be like... ok... I'm going to change.
I’m going to get the support, help and coach that I need. I'm going to finally end this cycle of putting myself in dieter's prison. I'm going to start with a 10-minute daily walk. I’m going to start with including 30 grams of protein in my breakfast.
It takes a special person to actually do the work. Are you that person? If you are, then you’re not too busy to start now. One week before Christmas. You can start with walking around the block every day.
Or you can start by including that 30 grams of protein in your breakfast. Don’t know how to do that? I’ve got this thing called a website with a ton of recipes. I have a free high protein breakfast download you can grab in the show notes.
Lots of ideas there for you or like I’ve said in the last few episodes, breakfast could literally be two yogurts and a piece of fruit. Stop overcomplicating food.
Stop saying you’re too busy. If a woman tells me I’m too busy right now, I have to wait to sign up or I have to wait until next June to start this work I know they’re still thinking like a crash dieter. They have all or nothing thinking.
I also know they don’t really believe in themselves, and they do not believe the small things will matter.
They don’t believe the small things will lead to anything, so they do nothing, and they justify doing nothing with I’m going to be so dialed in and perfect come January or when my life isn’t stressful. And that image gives them the dopamine hit which feels really good in the moment.
I lost 80 pounds, and it all started with a 10-minute walk. Anyone you hear who has lost a lot of weight and kept it off for many years, it’s now going on 15 years for me that I’ve maintained my loss, they all started with the small stuff.
They didn’t jump into a calorie deficit. They didn’t jump into calorie tracking. They didn’t jump into a crash diet and then learn after the fact how to create healthy habits and maintain their weight. Oh no… they started with the basic things like creating the routine of getting some daily steps and eating enough protein.
And my life has always been busy - when I was losing weight and even now. When I was losing weight, I was traveling every week as a consultant and working 80-hour weeks. Imagine if I said I had to wait until my schedule wasn’t busy. I never would have lost weight.
I had to learn to be organized, learn to plan and manage my time, and I still have to be organized, plan and manage my time even now.
But I exercise to keep up with my busy schedule. I get steps to keep up with busy life. I eat balanced meals with protein and fiber to stay fueled so I can accomplish all the things I want to do in my busy life.
So, for those of you who say you’re too busy and you don’t have time, and you have to wait, what exactly are you THINKING you need to do? You’re acting like you have to climb Mount Everest to do this stuff. You don’t. Your brain is lying to you.
You do have the time and the best time to start is right now. Immediately. Don’t wait.
Why would you ever wait to feel better? You can start feeling better right now just by walking around the block every day. You can start feeling better right now just by including 30 grams of protein in your breakfast.
Have you listened to any of my clients who have been on this podcast? None of their lives were perfect while we were working together and that’s a good thing because they learned how to navigate stress and busy times.
You’re not too busy to lose weight. You have a broken mindset about your health habits and sustainable weight loss from all the diets you’ve done and the more quick fix diets you participate in, the more detrimental it will be to your mindset.
So, path one or path two? Which one are you going to be this year? Are you going to finally end the cycle of putting yourself in a dieter’s prison?
The weight of being overweight is a heavy load to carry. It all starts with breaking up with your all or nothing mindset. Are you going to do that this year? I hope so because that’s how you achieve true freedom and peace!
Ladies I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. I will talk to you soon!
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