Confessions of an Overeater

You've lost weight, great.  Now what?  Maintenance is a dance.  It is a dance of trying new things, keeping what works and being realistic about what doesn't work.

Life had sent me an invitation to evolve, message received.  But nothing was working.  Listen today to find out why we need to know who we are to respond to life's invitation to evolve. 

How do we know when life is sending us an invitation to evolve?  It finds us exactly where we are, it contains the potential to disrupt our life and those around us, and it does not give up.

None of us know the end of our story from the beginning.  But knowing where our story begins can help us to write a new story.  Join me today to learn the beginning of the story I am telling next.

The last time you heard from me, it was on a ski trip in the Alps.....then nothing for six months.  Curious about where I've been?  I've done what I set out to do - stop overeating - and lost 60 pounds.  I always thought losing weight would be THE happy ending.  Turns out, it's just the beginning.

While I was off skiing last week, I kept thinking about the word fluency.  Is it just limited to language?  What is fluency?  Why is it important?  What does it have to do with changing our eating habits?

January is over, but the work never stops.  Today, we're talking about food indulgences at the cinema.  Would you eat a food if the label said these 2,500 calories will make your body swell, gain three pounds overnight, cause sore gums and digestive distress?  Being curious about the food we eat, and the impact it has on our bodies is my passion - weight loss is sometimes a byproduct of that curiosity.

What are the benefits of being an insulin sensitive person?  Being able to fully enjoy your life at any eating situation is top on my list.  Listen today to hear about a festive Burns supper that left me forever altered.

I am fascinated by hormones.  They are sophisticated messengers in our amazing human body.  Many of us are familiar with hormones - thyroid, estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, adrenaline.  But the hormone that has had the greatest impact in my life?  Insulin.  Without even being aware of the powerful affect it was having keeping me stuck in a decades long cycle of overeating.

What does a chance drive by tell us about learning new things?  When we first encounter new information, it can be hard to process.  When I first learned about insulin resistance, I had more questions than answers.  Every time I study the information, my understanding and ability to apply the concept deepens.  Today, we're starting a series revisiting the science of glucose, glucose monitoring and insulin resistance.

Many of us engage in excess behaviors that we want to stop - overeating, overdrinking, overspending, but we struggle to change the behavior.  Changing our mindset can help us change stubborn behavior patterns.  Changing our mindset is just committing to telling a new story in our own brain.  Listen today to learn how to tell a new story in your life.

Looking back over the last 18 months, I can see clearly what worked to lose 50 pounds.  It is a list that is unique to me, but contains many unexpected lessons.  

There is much to celebrate this year end - I've lost 50 pounds and I've recorded a year of podcasts.  Today's episode is just for fun - a look at all the things I tried that did not work for losing weight or changing my eating habits.

I've accomplished so much this year - I've lost 50 pounds, I recorded 52 episodes and I reached over 1,000 people.  I've recorded these episodes in real time, once a week over a year.  As such, no one was more surprised than me to unwrap my best gift this year - being someone who struggles with overeating.  No return receipts needed for this gift - I'm keeping it.

There is much joy this year end reflecting on what I've accomplished - I've lost 50 pounds and I've recorded a year's worth of podcasts.  But there are also other emotions - sadness about the prison of overeating that I still remember, empathy for those who are still trapped in that prison, and anger for a diet culture that preaches weight loss is a simple equation of calories in, calories out.  What do I do with those emotions?  Tune in today, and meet the world's first glucose data evangelist.

Are you searching for the perfect gift this year?  How about a sense of purpose?  It sounds so beneficial - something we all need.  We know it feels terrible to feel like we don't have a sense of purpose, and that angst can lead to overeating.  But guess what?  We are purposed.  We don't need anything outside of ourselves to live our purpose.  

I set out to solve the puzzle of my overeating with this podcast.  This led me on a journey to unravel everything I thought I knew, and everything I thought I was.  Here I am now, 49 episodes later, 49 pounds lost.  That unraveling has shown me the reasons why I overeat.  I hold those reasons like precious gems - and decide if I want to be a person who continues to overeat in response to those reasons.

Every year around this time a funky mood rolls into my emotional life, a holiday mood.  What is it that is challenging about this time of year for some of us?  What do I want the holidays to be about?  How can I take excellent care of myself no matter the holiday mood?  How do I want to get ready for the holidays?  Hint - it's not to be found in creating a longer to do list.

What is the role of exercise for weight loss?  If you are like me, it's counter productive to weight loss.  My history with exercise was sporadic and intense, and totally ineffective for weight loss, for reasons that surprised me.  Join me today for my personal exercise history and what I am doing now.

Some days, I flirt with 145 on the scale, and I can say I've lost 50 pounds.  In this last phase of active weight loss, I rigorously examine the causes of my overeating.  This allows me to anticipate events that have led to overeating in the past.  Lucky me, I learned this skill just in time for election season.  Elections are many things, but never a reason to overeat.

Lately, I've been trying to tell myself that I've been dealt a bad hand of cards.  I want to tell myself that if I were dealt a different hand, my outcomes would be different.  And I don't stop there.  I want to tell everyone about the bad hand I've been dealt.  But have you ever noticed that getting sympathy is like eating Halloween candy?  There is momentary comfort, followed by an emptiness and an immediate desire for more?  Listen in today to hear about playing the hand you are holding.

Making progress on my health and wellness goals will never be done on autopilot.  Losing 45 pounds has required consistent attention and focus.  Sometimes, life gets in the way.  Today I’m sharing the story of what I learned from a lost month.

What is a blamestorm and how do we tame it?  Tune in today for a dispatch from the middle of a blamestorm in sunny Portugal.  

Last week, I was walking down the High Street in Edinburgh, and I saw an El Camino idling at the light with California plates.  I watched, stunned, as the car in the front, truck in the back drove off down George Street, and I had so many unanswered questions.  For listeners joining in the middle of my story, today’s episode is a lookback at lessons learned so far in my life as a glucose monitor evangelist.  

When it comes to managing the thought playlist in my brain, both thoughts served up to me by other people and those I create myself, I like to imagine myself walking through life with a badminton racket casually in one hand and a Whac-a-mole mallet in my back pocket.  Thriving in my life requires mental agility.  Errant and pernicious thoughts impede that mental agility.  What thoughts require a racket and what thoughts require a mallet?  

Failing to navigate the double binds in our lives keeps us stuck in the stories that other people tell about us for us.  But failing to navigate the cognitive dissonance in our own brains keeps us stuck in the stories we tell ourselves.  In these last fifteen months, I’ve learned that keeping my glucose low and steady does lead to weight loss.  But, more important – low and steady glucose gives me the mental agility I need to navigate the double binds and cognitive dissonance of every day modern life.

A double bind is an emotionally distressing dilemma in communication in which an individual receives two or more contradicting messages.  This creates a situation in a successful response to one message results in a failed response to the other.  In my life as an overeater, I was trapped in double binds that were invisible to me, but certainly distressing.  Things I accepted as truth, like “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, were actively working against ever changing my eating habits. Join me today as I share the way we author a way out of these double binds that is unique to who we are.  

On my first audit episode of social media, I answered the question about when to use social media and things I’m trying to limit compulsive behavior.  Today, I cover the what, and also, the who.  What do I want to use social media for?  And who do I want to be online and in real life?  Can lessons learned in the complex human network of social media help me evolve in my real life interactions?  Listen today to find out.    

I had an incredible summer. I lost five pounds, I upped my game in how I collect data from my glucose monitors, I learned that my true food labels change over time, and got a glimpse of how my personal fat burning factory works.  Taking it all in, I realized that what I practice is Evidence Based Dieting.  Listen and find out more.

Are you a habitual phone checker?  Is there a compulsivity about the frequency you check your social media feeds?  And what does that have to do with overeating?  Listen today to understand how the "magic of maybe" can lead to compulsive behavior with social media.

I’m recording a follow up on my first Purpose Driven Drinking experiment.  Listen to find out what I drank, what I learned and why I’ve spent so much time thinking about alcohol, fructose and my liver.

As an overeater for three decades, I often used overeating to generate dopamine and it’s associated feel good affects in my brain.  Which led me to audit all the behaviors I use in my life to generate dopamine.  Join me today as I discuss the science on the impact of alcohol on our liver and weight loss efforts, my history with dopamine and alcohol, and my plan for alcohol in my life going forward.

I’m committed to doing a full audit of the behaviors in my life that produce dopamine.  One of the ways that I do that is to build good bricks.  Bricks are memories – but I’m making them into super memories.  Memories that I am creating intentionally – to help my brain learn the ways I want to get dopamine.  Today, I’m sharing with you 5 of my favorite dopamine bricks from the summer.  

Today we cover an interesting bit of research about the role dopamine plays in creating expectations for future enjoyment.  When you think about events in the future under the influence of dopamine, you could develop higher expectations for enjoyment.  Tune in to find out the connection between overeating fueled dopamine binges and disappointment. 

What is dopamine, and why is it so important to understand if we want to stop overeating?  Dopamine is one of the feel good chemicals in the brain, understanding the way it interacts with our eating habits might be the missing piece of the puzzle to permanently change your overeating patterns.

Buffering is engaging in activities like overeating to distract ourselves from negative emotion.  What’s the big deal?  Why not just buffer?  Today’s podcast explores what Blaise Pascal knew in the 1600s – distraction is the greatest of our miseries.

Thai cave rescue, Chick Fil-a, cross cultural observations on civility…..today’s episode takes the scenic route through my goal of being an ordinary hero.  An ordinary hero is someone who strives to emulate the best of human nature, not just the inclinations of human nature.  Taking excellent care of our physical and mental health is foundational for the ordinary hero.    

Where do we find the courage to change?  This week, in honor of the 4th of July holiday, I’m going to convince you that the answer lies in the Declaration of Independence.  We have to know and name the forces that bind us.  When we understand the big picture and declare our grievances, then we’re ready.  Ready to declare our independence from food.

Food labels tell us only a fraction of the information we need in order to make an informed choice of whether or not to eat a food.  If you let it, your body can be the most powerful food detective – but we have to pay attention.  Only your brain can give foods their true labels for you - but there are competing narrators in your brain.  How do we solve this mystery?

Join me for Part 5 of the million part series, Why Do I Overeat?  Today, we’re talking about desire for food.  Is that a good place to spend our desire?  If the answer is no, what do we do about it?

I’ve been on this journey for nearly one year, and the last 3 months have been the hardest yet.  Where do I find the energy to keep going when recent struggles have left me feeling bruised, bloodied and weary?  Today’s episode includes a visit to the Time Phone and epic World War II battles.  Join me as I share the four areas I am investing in to generate the energy I need to keep up the fight.

We’ve studied the research on the impact of stress in our lives, and I’ve shared with you my consequences of a lifetime of poorly managed stress.  Join me today as I discuss my four cornerstones of successful long term stress management – personal responsibility, social support, professional support and faith.

Join me for Part 3 of my series on the impact of stress on overeating and weight loss.  Today’s episode is a little bit of everything – a beach read for your summer reading list, revisiting a story about mass hysteria, a love letter to my personal stress history and some additional stress research which tells us why stress is so hard for many of us to overcome.

In today's episode, learn my theory about the mechanism by which chronic stress can halt active weight loss.  If the theory is right, how do I solve it?  Answering that question led to the development of a stress protocol, a set of changes to implement during times of acute stress.

What does the science tell us about the effects of stress on our weight and eating habits?  Today's episode is a perfect listen for anyone who thinks stress might be holding them back in their goal to stop overeating or lose weight.

Today's episode is short and sweet, a love letter to my mom.  My mom taught me everything I needed to know to be on this journey.  Tune in to find out what I learned from my mom.

Hearing a work story from my brother taught me a profound lesson about love among strangers.  Part two of that lesson taught me about love among people who love each other.  Listen today to hear how the way we love ourselves determines how we love others, and how thoughts about our relationships with others impacts our desire to overeat.  

Have you ever been confused by your own brain?  Do you ever experience a storm of emotions in your brain that defy understanding?  What if understanding the weather patterns in your brain was the key to stopping overeating or losing weight?  Join me for today’s episode as we talk Harry Potter and magical inventions, and the tool I learned to map the emotional life of my own brain.

One of the gifts of this past whirlwind month was dropping into my life in Carlsbad for two glorious weeks.  Seeing friends, soaking up the sun and being astonished at the progress I’ve made.  Why has this change been so dramatic and effortless to maintain?

It’s tempting to think of a plateau as a waste of time.  You are stuck somewhere in between having already accomplished something to be proud of and wanting to accomplish something even bigger.  How do you take advantage of what a plateau has to offer?

Coronado, Carlsbad, Edinburgh, Morro Bay, Rome, Venice, London, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Barcelona These are all places my scale has been since starting my new eating protocol 270 days ago.  Every morning, I use the data from my scale to tell my story.  In my story, I’m always the hero, I’m always learning, I’m always my own biggest fan.  What story do you use your scale to tell?