Stop Stress Eating

Do you struggle with making decisions? Do you agonize in the “what if” scenarios? This week, we discuss a big personal decision I just made and why making decisions seem so difficult. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Get past all the “what if” drama to make a decision.  Know that your decision is the best one.

Do you want to change your habits or behaviors? Have you had trouble taking action on your weight loss goals? This week, we look at stages of behavior and how you can learn to make the changes you need to meet your goals. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Assess your current behavior stage. Get to the action stage.

Do you ever struggle to figure out what to eat when you’re on a diet? Have you ever spent hours looking at healthy recipe ideas on Pinterest and never finding exactly what you want to eat? This week, we discuss the issues that some have around planning their meals and get to the heart of why this is so difficult.  In this episode you’ll learn how to: Recognize why it’s so hard to plan meals. Identify strategies to make planning easier.

When losing weight, the idea of eating for pleasure can bring up a rollercoaster of emotional thoughts. “What if I never stop?” “What if these M&Ms make me gain 10lbs?” Because of this, you may be white-knuckling your way through your journey, which never works long-term. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Realistically plan for joy food Determine when it’s a good time to eat your planned joy and when to pause from eating it.

Every decision you make in a day has short and long-term effects. How often do you think about those effects when making decisions? This week, we discuss an exercise that can help with making decisions through uncomfortable urges and feelings.  In this episode you’ll learn how to: Organize short and long-term effects for decisions.  Identify a decision’s worth over time.

If there was a magic pill you could take to suddenly become thin, would you take it? Of course, you would! Do you think you’d be able to maintain your new perfect body long-term? Maybe not. This week, we discuss how important the process is when losing weight.  In this episode you’ll learn how to: Identify all the drama you may have around your goal weight. Recognize that being thin or healthy is a process.

Losing weight isn’t easy but sometimes it seems harder than it really is. This week, we look at some strategies to help understand why weight loss can seem a lot harder than it is and how you can make weight loss less difficult. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Focus on positive progress. Get out of the negativity rut.

Have you ever assumed that others were judging you when you talk about your newest weight loss effort? Have you ever decided not to start a new program because you’re afraid of what others will think of you? This week, we discuss how you are holding yourself back by paying attention to all of that drama.  In this episode you’ll learn how to: Rephrase your assumptions to identify who is actually doing the judging.  Overcome the drama and fear around starting again.

What do you tell yourself about exercise? Do you hate it? Do you love it? Do you avoid doing it because you are so disgusted with yourself that you don’t see the point? This week, we look at some tips to improve what you’re telling yourself about exercise so that you can be more motivated to do it for a healthier body. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Recognize destructive and unhelpful thoughts. Consider the benefits of exercise other than losing weight.

Do you worry all the time? Does worrying impede your sleeping? Do you find yourself worrying so much that the only relief you can find is in the bottom of a Milk Dud box? This week, we discuss strategies and tips to help you stop worrying. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Recognize thought patterns that cause stress and worry. Identify how worrying is helping or hurting you.

Do you ever notice that after a few weeks of doing well on a new routine, you find yourself falling back on your old habits? Do you stress about why this keeps happening or vent to your support group? This week, we look at how this practice of focusing on the why isn’t actually helping you meet your goals.  In this episode you’ll learn how to: Stop caring about why. Take control of your actions. Stop making excuses.

Accountability can make or break a new exercise plan, food plan, or healthful routine. Having an accountability partner can help keep you on track when you’d rather sleep in or want to stress-eat a pint of chocolate brownie ice cream before bed. This week, we discuss a few ways to ensure your accountability partnership can be successful.  In this episode you’ll learn how to: Set clear expectations and priorities for your accountability partnership. Show up and be accountable for yourself and your partner.

Do you ever find it difficult not to snack when you do certain activities like watching TV or working? Have you ever tried to replace your snacks with healthy options or busy your hands with other distractions to help curb those urges? This week, we discuss why we have these urges when we do these routine activities and how all of those substitute actions may not actually be helping you.  In this episode you’ll learn how to: Understand why you have cravings and urges to eat when you do certain things. Deal with being uncomfortable.

Have you ever started a diet believing that you’ll be successful and then find yourself face first in a box of donuts a few days later? Or do you ever give up on your new exercise regimen after a couple of days because you just want to sleep in? This week we discuss this type of behavior and how it doesn’t mean that you’re flawed or destined to fail.  In this episode you’ll learn how to: Stop telling yourself that you’re flawed. Recognize these thoughts for what they are.

Is there something in your life that you want to change? Do you ever get stuck on the “how” to make it happen? The “how” is important but it’s not the first step. So many believe that if you don’t know the “how”, you can never make a change. This week’s episode will explain why that’s not true.  In this episode you’ll learn: When you know it’s time for a change How to prepare and commit to the change How to get it done.  

Do you ever wish things could be different? Is there an aspect of your job, relationships, or body, that you just wish were different? This week, we discuss these thoughts and how they cause stress in our lives. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Recognize feelings of stress. Learn to let go of unproductive thoughts.

Have you ever thought “I just need to lose 20lbs so I can be happy” or “Once I meet my goal weight, I’ll be happy”? This week, we discuss these thoughts and how gratitude can shift your perspective to be happy right now.  In this episode you’ll learn how to: Find things in your life to be thankful for, even if you don’t think you have very many Find happiness and joy through a daily gratitude practice.

Our brains are constantly telling us that we shouldn’t do things or that we can’t do things because those things are outside our comfort zone. This week, we discuss these thoughts and how to combat them. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Listen to what your brain is telling you. Negotiate and question your brain.

In a departure from our normal podcast format, this week I wanted to take some time to give you all a message of support, love, and encouragement. I know how difficult your journey is and you should know that there is someone out here who is rooting for you!  

Health and weight loss aren’t always about the numbers on the scale. In this episode, I discuss some other healthy habits that I find beneficial to track for my personal health and how these and others could apply to you. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Identify what areas of health are truly important to you. How to have an honest conversation with yourself about what you need to be healthy.

Our beliefs about ourselves drive every aspect of our lives. If negative, these beliefs can deter any progress in meeting goals. Continuing last week’s discussion on weight loss beliefs, we discuss the long-held beliefs that you have about yourself that may not be serving you or helping you live the life you want. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Identify and question your beliefs about yourself. Find examples of how your beliefs may not be true. Decide what you want to believe about yourself.

Is losing weight hard? Do you have to exercise to lose weight? Are you too busy to lose weight? This week, we discuss the long-held beliefs that may be keeping you from losing weight and walk through some tools that will help combat those beliefs. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Question your beliefs about weight loss. Find examples of how your beliefs may not be true.

What beliefs do you have about losing weight? Do you believe that you can eat the foods you love and still lose weight? This week, we take a look at these beliefs and discuss how they might be keeping you from reaching your goals. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Determine what you want to believe about weight loss. See how these beliefs are affecting your weight loss journey.

Starting a new workout routine can be challenging physically and mentally. Do you ever feel like people in the gym are judging you? This episode discusses how to get out of that negative thought spiral and focus on WHY you’ve decided to work out. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Figure out why you’re feeling judged. Identify who is really judging you in the gym.

Do you ever punish yourself with salads and exercise because you overate or ate outside your plan? Do you tell yourself that you’ve “been bad” when this happens? This week, we discuss how treating healthy foods and/or exercise as punishment isn’t helping you lose weight. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Identify how framing exercise and healthy foods as punishment makes you feel. Have compassion for yourself.

Plateaus or roadblocks are common with any weight loss journey. It’s important to track progress in many important areas while also tracking your weight so you can focus on ALL of your success even if the scale doesn’t budge. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Organize the areas of progress you want to track. See the value in non-scale victories.

If you’re struggling with the feeling of being judged by others concerning the food on your plate or the choices you’re making for your health, you’re not alone. This week we discuss these feelings, where they come from and how to deal with them so that you feel confident about your choices. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Recognize where the feeling of being judged comes from. Gain confidence in your choices.

If you had to give up your favorite food for health reasons or to meet your weight loss goal, would you be upset? Would it feel like you were losing a good friend? We turn to food in some of our happiest, saddest, most stressful, and most boring moments. When we rely too closely on food to get through tough situations or to magnify joyous occasions, it becomes harder and harder to let those foods go when we need to cut them out of our diets to meet our goals. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Recognize your dependency on certain foods. Understand that weight loss is an individual journey and you need to do what’s best for YOUR body.

Do you ever wish that the relaxing feelings you have when you’re on vacation carried over to your everyday life? Do you ever wish you could just stay on vacation forever? This week, we look at how our thoughts about those relaxing times on vacation can help form our thoughts on a daily basis. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Reimagine your to-do list from things you have to do to things you want or choose to do. Evaluate your thoughts about these tasks on a daily basis to form habit thoughts.

Do you have to deal with people that don’t respect you, are rude to you, or that you just don’t like? Continuing last week’s discussion on unconditional love, this week we include other people and how their actions affect us. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Let go of preconceived notions of what others are “supposed” to say or do. Accept others as they are.

Is your love for yourself conditional? Are you waiting until you’ve reached your goal weight, gotten a promotion, or found “the one” before you fully accept and love who you are? Building on last week’s episode, this week we explore the benefits of loving and accepting without stipulations or conditions. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Identify what conditions you believe are necessary before you can love yourself. Have compassion for yourself.

Do you hate your body? Has hating your body ever gotten you to your goal weight? So many of us spend a lot of energy actively hating, talking badly, and avoiding our bodies. But, you know what? You can’t hate yourself thin. Trust me. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Identify parts of your body that you don’t hate. Begin the process of having an accepting relationship with your body.

It’s confession time, folks! This week, after almost three weeks of eating all the things, I discuss my thoughts around the types of foods that aren’t fueling my body and why I continue to eat them. . .even when I know I shouldn’t. Sound familiar? I also share a power thought that is helping me choose better options. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Discern a truth from a fact. Evaluate thoughts that aren’t serving you.

What beliefs do you have that you find difficult to change? Are these beliefs keeping you from reaching your goals? Beliefs are simply thoughts that we’ve had for a long time, and they can be difficult to change. But I promise it’s possible. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Use neutral thoughts. Move in a positive direction using ladder thoughts.

Do you ever have thoughts you just can’t seem to get rid of? Thoughts that seem to pop up when you’re feeling vulnerable or upset? These habitual thoughts can be extremely difficult to recognize because they feel so true. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Recognize a habitual thought and call it out. Make incremental adjustments to change your habitual thoughts.

Do you often find yourself judging others for their choices and/or actions? Do you think they should or shouldn’t do, be, or act a certain way? This week we discuss specific questions sent in by listeners and dive into some real scenarios. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Look at the “manuals” you have for other people. Understand the expectations you have for the behavior of others.

Do you believe that people stress you out? Do you often think other people “should” do things differently so you’ll feel better? Continuing the discussion on stress, this episode dives into our beliefs about others’ actions and how they affect our stress. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Challenge your thoughts about other people’s actions. Accept that other people are different than you.

Do you ever look at your workload and feel stressed? Continuing the discussion on stress, this episode dives into our thought processes around the concept of being busy and having so much to do. In this episode you’ll learn that: We don’t have to do anything. You don’t need help to feel less stressed about your workload.

How do you deal with stress? How does stress affect your life, eating habits, personal well-being? Many people cope with stress with food and/or alcohol which can have negative effects like weight gain and regret. In this episode you’ll learn: How to define stress. How to recognize what causes stress.

No matter when you started your weight loss journey, dieting is extremely difficult and you’re never going to be “perfect” on any diet plan all the time. Overeating or eating something that you hadn’t planned is very common, but is it self-sabotage? In this episode you’ll learn: How to identify self-sabotage. How to identify where the urge to overeat comes from.

It can be really difficult to follow your diet plan when everyone else is eating junk. It’s easy to sit around and feel sorry for yourself or be upset with everyone else because they aren’t supporting you buy eating what you eat. It’s possible to change how you feel even when those around you are making it harder on you. In this episode you’ll learn how to: Stop believing your excuses. Take ownership for your decision to lose your weight the way you want to lose it.

As 2019 begins, Michelle addresses the questions asked in last week’s episode for her reflection of 2018 and what she will commit to in 2019. In this episode you’ll learn: How to celebrate what went well in 2018. How to examine what didn’t go well in 2018 to gain clarity and optimism for 2019.

As 2018 closes, it’s important to look at all the areas of your life and reflect on how the year went and how you can start 2019 off with a commitment to yourself. In this episode you’ll learn: The questions to ask yourself as you reflect on this past year. How to make a commitment to your health in 2019.

Social functions around the holidays are typically accompanied by food and, with food, comes Food Pushers. Being around those who “push food” can cause anxiety or even a sense of obligation which can have an adverse effect on getting through the holidays with your weight loss goals intact. In this episode you’ll learn: What food pushing actually is. How to survive a gathering filled with people pushing food on you.

Striving for perfection while trying to lose weight is extremely common. Perfection isn’t always realistic and having an “all or nothing” attitude is just a setup for eventual failure. After all, you should strive to lose weight in the same way you want to live the rest of your life. In this episode you’ll learn: Even little steps toward your goal IS moving forward. How to evaluate the commitments you’ve made to your weight loss and make compromises over the holidays.

A new year typically means new beginnings and for many of you, it will mean a new commitment to changing your health and lifestyle. This week Michelle applies Dan Sullivan’s 4 C’s Formula to weight loss and discusses how to apply this strategy to gain the confidence you’ll need to succeed. In this episode you’ll learn: How to get started now on meeting your 2019 weight loss goals. Why you should stop waiting for confidence to get started.

Changing a long-held belief can seem impossible, especially when those beliefs feel ingrained in your identity. The good news is there is a simple tool you can use to let go of those beliefs and move toward a thought that will help you reach your weight loss goals. In this episode you’ll learn: How to recognize when a belief isn’t serving you. What ladder thoughts are and how to use them. How beneficial neutral thoughts can be.

So, you ate the food and you enjoyed the time with your family, but accepting that and planning for it doesn’t chase away the shame and guilt. How are you going to deal with any negative thoughts or feelings on Friday? In this episode you’ll learn: How to plan to wake up Friday ready to succeed. How to accommodate for the intake of different foods. How to deal with those negative thoughts when they arise.

Losing weight in a sustainable way means being able to maintain a diet that includes foods you enjoy. Thanksgiving meals are often filled with lots of carbs, fats, sugar, and most importantly, joy. There is no reason to sit down to your Thanksgiving meal and worry about how that food will affect your waistline. In this episode you’ll learn: How to address your worries and feelings surrounding Thanksgiving food. How to choose joy. How to put the worry aside and just do the next right thing on Friday.

Too often, we blame other people or situations for how we are feeling. Continuing the discussion around emotions, this week’s episode discusses taking ownership of your feelings to feel empowered and to gain control over your results. In this episode you’ll learn: That nothing has to change about your situation for you to be happy. How to recognize when you’re blaming other people or circumstances on your feelings. That you’re 100% in control of how you feel.

For numerous reasons, we learn to ignore or comfort ourselves when we have negative feelings in our bodies with things like shopping, social media, gambling, drugs and alcohol, and food. Building on last week’s episode, Michelle dives deeper into breaking down what feelings are and how you can get through them without turning to food. In this episode you’ll learn: What a feeling actually is. How to feel those feelings without eating.