The Urge Jar

The Urge Jar

Jul 1, 2022

So what’s an urge jar, and how does it work to help you stop snacking when you aren’t hungry?

Well, here’s the idea behind it.  If you aren’t hungry and still want a snack, that feeling of wanting the snack is an urge.

If you remember the story of Pavlov’s dogs, the dogs were trained to anticipate being fed and to drool every time a bell was rung.  The way they untrained the dogs was to ring the bell but not feed them, so eventually their brains were reprogrammed to not associate the bell with food any more.

You can do the same thing with your own brain.

Right now you are trained to eat every time you feel an urge, which strengthens the neural pathway of urge to snack.

The next time you feel the urge, instead of rewarding the urge, you just want to allow that urge to be there for 1 minute.  If you do that, you’ll learn that an urge is just a feeling, and feelings usually pass after 60-90 seconds if you can stay with them in your body.

Not rewarding the urge with a snack over time will weaken the neural pathway, and over time the urge will stop coming up for you.

Once you’ve sat with the urge, give yourself the reward of moving a bead to the jar.  It seems silly, but you are actually using the primitive brain against itself.  The primitive brain loves to watch those beads fill up the jar.  So instead of rewarding the urge to eat, you are rewarding the practice of allowing the urge.

Feel Better Without Food – NOW

Feel Better Without Food – NOW

Jun 10, 2022

There are ways to deal with boredom, restlessness, stress, and cravings besides food.

So if we aren’t going to be eating as a way to deal with feelings like restlessness, boredom, or stress, what do we do with those feelings?

Well, we feel them. But don’t worry – it’s not as bad as what you are probably imagining.

I teach my clients a technique I learned from Krista St. Germain through The Life Coach School called the “NOW” technique.

NOW is an acronym that stands for Name, Open, and Watch.

So when you are feeling a feeling, the first thing to do is to name it. What feeling is it?

Then open up to that feeling. Instead of trying to get rid of it or change it or solve it like a problem, really allow it to be there. Where is it in your body? Imagine and visualize where it is, what it’s doing, and what it looks like.

Then, watch the feeling. Just be with it. Try to stay in your body with the physical experience instead of getting back into your head and overthinking the whole situation.

Often when we just the Name, Open, Watch technique with the physical experience of an emotion, we realize it’s really not that bad.

P.S. It's time for your to lose the weight.  You absolutely can do this once you have the right support.  Jump on a Zoom call with me and we'll get you started.  Just find a time on my calendar.

 

3 Keys to Losing Weight

3 Keys to Losing Weight

Jun 3, 2022

Habit eating, neglecting to manage your hormones, and not knowing how your mind works are huge components in weight problems.

There are three main areas I suggest clients examine and better understand to lose weight.

1. Habits.

Are you in the habit of eating every time you pass through the kitchen? Every time you are in a restaurant? Every time someone has food on their desk and you pass by? Start to pay attention to the times we are eating even though we are not hungry, and cut out some of this habit eating.

Some of my clients find breakfast is just a habit – that they aren't hungry, and that they can cut a whole meal out without even noticing. By starting to pay attention to mindless habit eating and by asking more questions about why we are eating when not hungry, we can start to break a lot of bad habits.

2. Hormones.

The main hormone I educate my clients on is insulin. When we have a lot of refined sugar, our blood sugar shoots up, and insulin answers the 911 call.

Our body starts to move sugar out of the blood and into our muscles and liver. Then it starts to store the excess sugar as fat.

If you are constantly snacking on sugary food (or refined carbohydrates, which quickly break down into sugar), your insulin stays permanently high and you stay stuck in fat storage mode. By eliminating sugar and refined carbohydrates (factory foods) and by eliminating snacks between meals, your body gets a chance to shift out of fat storage mode and into fat loss mode.

3. How your mind works.

This is where the coaching really comes into play. Using tools like The Model, I can help clients get a better understanding of what thoughts and feelings are driving their overeating, which is leading to being overweight.

Once we stop the mindless habit eating, take breaks between meals to allow the body to actually burn fat, and cut out emotional eating by getting to the root cause of the thoughts and feelings driving emotional eating, clients are able to lose weight without going hungry.

P.S. It's time for your to lose the weight.  You absolutely can do this once you have the right support.  Jump on a Zoom call with me and we'll get you started.  Just find a time on my calendar.

 

What to Do Instead of Eating to Feel Better

What to Do Instead of Eating to Feel Better

May 27, 2022

Use a calorie-free approach to deal with your feelings, and you will lose weight.

So if we aren’t going to be eating as a way to deal with feelings like restlessness, boredom, or stress, what do we do with those feelings?

Well, we feel them.  But don’t worry – it’s not as bad as what you are probably imagining.

I teach my clients a technique I learned from Krista St. Germain through The Life Coach School called the “NOW” technique.

NOW is an acronym that stands for Name, Open, and Watch.

So when you are feeling a feeling, the first thing to do is to name it.  What feeling is it?

Then open up to that feeling.  Instead of trying to get rid of it or change it or solve it like a problem, really allow it to be there.  Where is it in your body?  Imagine and visualize where it is, what it’s doing, and what it looks like.

Then, watch the feeling.  Just be with it.  Try to stay in your body with the physical experience instead of getting back into your head and overthinking the whole situation.

Often when we just the Name, Open, Watch technique with the physical experience of an emotion, we realize it’s really not that bad.

P.S. It's time for your to lose the weight.  You absolutely can do this once you have the right support.  Jump on a Zoom call with me and we'll get you started.  Just find a time on my calendar.

 

Why It’s Hard for Women in IT to Lose Weight

Why It’s Hard for Women in IT to Lose Weight

May 20, 2022

There are aspects of an IT career that make it uniquely tricky to lose weight.

Most of my career has been in information technology.  And while there are perks (we figured out we could work remotely AGES ago), there are some challenges as well that I believe make it hard to lose weight.

1.  We are sedentary.

While this is not a challenge exclusive to IT workers, IT folks do a lot of sitting.  Whether you are writing code, trying to troubleshoot something as an admin, or logging hours on Zoom and in conference rooms as a manager, the fact of the matter is most of your day will be spent sitting.  It's a really unhealthy way to spend the day.

 2.  We are global.

Whether you come in early to support clients in Europe or wake up in the middle of the night for calls with your team in China, IT were the first to truly become global.  And while that creates all sorts of opportunities and efficiencies, it also means your sleep may be disrupted.  And when your sleep is disrupted, your hormones get messed up in ways that make it much harder to lose weight.

 3. It's a guy's world.

While there was a time when IT jobs were considered secretarial work (check out the movie Hidden Figures if you aren't familiar) once IT jobs started to become high paying it magically became dudeworld.  And while most of the guys I've worked with in IT were good humans, let's face it, some dudes are creepers.  And in that environment, having a womanly body is at best a distraction and at worst can feel unsafe.  You may be unconsciously hanging on to weight as a way to be perceived as a human with a brain instead of as a woman with boobs.

 4.  Stress.

While this again isn't exclusive to IT, let's face it, there are some stresses that go with working in IT.  Many teams have members who (to put it nicely) are on them despite their people skills, not because of their people skills.  I once worked with a guy who we were told should never be put on a call with a client because he'd made a client cry.  Great we are protecting the clients, but what about us?

On top of human challenges, often projects seem set up to fail.  Instead of asking project managers how many people they need and how long the project will take, management often hands over the team and the deadline without much thought as to whether or not the result is humanly possible.  Like construction projects, the only thing we know at the start of the IT project is that it will not finish on time, yet, as with construction, we seem never to figure that out and account for it.  So opportunities for drama abound.

Stress, as I've mentioned elsewhere on the blog and my YouTube channel, leads to an increase in cortisol, which leads to your body depositing fat around your belly, which is the least cute place to store fat.

 So in the face of all these challenges, is weight loss possible?  I believe so.  But you'll need to put on your engineer hat (even if you didn't train as one) and see where you can optimize.  Hiring a coach would be a great place to start.

P.S. It's time for your to lose the weight.  You absolutely can do this once you have the right support.  Jump on a Zoom call with me and we'll get you started.  Just find a time on my calendar.

 

Stardust Bars for Weight Loss

Stardust Bars for Weight Loss

May 13, 2022

Are Stardust Bars the secret to hitting your weight loss goals?

Be honest – are you looking for the link to buy?

Because that's what diet culture has trained us to do – always be looking for the next new product we can add to our routine to solve our problems.

But you don't need a new product.  You need some new ideas.  Here's one you might find helpful.

One of my mentors, Brooke Castillo, encourages her clients to start to view food as fuel instead of a source of happiness and entertainment.

 In trainings she would ask, “would you eat two sawdust bars per day – one for lunch, and one for dinner – in exchange for your weight loss results?”

One of her clients misunderstood her and thought she was saying STARdust bars. 

Not sure what's in a Stardust Bar, but it's already better marketing than the sawdust bar, right?!?

The point of the story is – what if you could get your excitement (your pleasure, your fun) from your LIFE, instead of always getting it from your food?

 What if you could learn how to fix your relationship with food, so eating could still be enjoyable, but not the peak of your existence?

 That's one of the things I help my clients do.  Put food in its proper place, as a source of fuel and nourishment and nutrition, and still delicious and pleasurable, but not the substitute for a good life, but as a piece of that life.

 You can do this.  I can help.  I'm like the Home Depot for weight loss. Let's start today.

P.S. It's time for your to lose the weight.  You absolutely can do this once you have the right support.  Jump on a Zoom call with me and we'll get you started.  Just find a time on my calendar.

 

You Are Worth the Investment

You Are Worth the Investment

May 6, 2022

You are worth the investment.

When was the last time you invested in yourself?

 In your happiness?

 In your health?

 In your personal development?

 Without question we as women invest in our kids.  We understand their education and extracurricular activities put them on a path to get into a good college, get a good job, marry the right person, and be successful.

 And we invest in our husbands.  We take care of things around the house so they don't have to worry about it.  We go to their work functions and smile and nod and act as much like Snow White as we can so everyone knows what a lovely wife he has and feel safe promoting him.

But what about you?

There are some great fathers out there, but that thing they say on the planes about putting your own oxygen mask on?  We know that's not for them, right?  That's for us.

And it's backwards.  We think by putting ourselves last we are making sure there's enough for everyone else.  But living on scraps doesn't work the way you think it does.  It just reinforces the idea of scarcity and leads to everyone rolling their eyes at what a martyr you are.  They don't really appreciate it anyway.

The truth of it is, if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.  And they know you are not happy.

So it's time, it's time to invest in yourself.  There have been new things that have been invented and discovered since college, and you didn't get to take all the classes anyway.

 There's more to learn and more to discover and it's ok to invest the time, money, and effort in improving yourself. 

 And secretly it all comes back to them anyway.  Your husband has a wife who likes the way she looks and isn't constantly trying to get in the back of all the group photos.  Your kids see you eating healthier, and at some point down the road they will remember that and have that to fall back on when they are overweight.

So do it, momma.  Invest in yourself.  You are worth it.

P.S. It's time for your to lose the weight.  You absolutely can do this once you have the right support.  Jump on a Zoom call with me and we'll get you started.  Just find a time on my calendar.

 

What You Need to Believe to Lose Weight

What You Need to Believe to Lose Weight

Apr 29, 2022

We think weight loss is all about getting ourselves to eat the right things or exercise until we “feel the burn”.  But weight loss starts with our beliefs.

 I've had quite a few people jump on consult calls with me over the years, and for most of them, the number one reason they don't go ahead and pay the $395 for the first month of coaching is that they don't believe lasting weight loss is possible for them.

They believe it's possible for me of course.  All you have to do is scroll through my Facebook photos and you can see I used to be bigger, that I lost weight about a year ago, and that I seem to be keeping it off.

If they've been on my YouTube channel they will have seen the testimonials out there, so they likely believe that it works for my clients as well.

But they don't believe it's possible for them.

“I've always been heavy.”

“My whole family is overweight – I'm doomed genetically.”

“I lack willpower.”

I get it.  For the longest time, I thought there was something wrong with me as well.  In fact, I ended up with low thyroid (which has now cleared itself up).

But here's the thing.  I don't care about your genetics or your willpower or your diagnoses.  I know if you eat less, and if what you eat is healthier, you will weigh less.  And I know how to get you to cut out the stress eating and the emotional eating and the unconscious habit eating you are doing.

So change your mind about what's possible for you.  Be willing to invest in yourself.  Thanks to my money back guarantee, the only thing you have to lose is the weight.

Are you ready to lose with Lisa?  Click here to schedule a free initial consultation to learn more.

 

 

You Are Worth the Investment

4 Types of Hunger and How to Beat Them

Apr 22, 2022

Today I’m going to share the four types of hunger and how to beat them to lose weight.

 

So, there are 4 different things that we may describe as hunger. I’m going to teach you how to deal with them so they don’t stop you from losing weight.

Now, let’s be clear, I don’t teach starvation. I eat food and I recommend you do, too. But most what I am going to describe below is actually false hunger that we let stop us from losing weight because we think they are emergencies we need to deal with by eating immediately.

1. Low blood sugar.
For most people, this is a light-headedness and a sort of hangry “feed me now” violent sort of emotion.
What you are actually feeling is NOT hunger. It is the symptoms of withdrawal from your drug of choice, sugar.
There are some people who truly do suffer from medical low blood sugar, but if you don’t have a diagnosis from a doctor, what you are actually feeling is what we expect any addict to live through when they quit their drug of choice. If you quit using sugar (and flour, which breaks down into sugar) and break your addiction, this feeling will permanently go away.

2. Cravings.
A craving is an intense mental urge, either for a specific food or a category of foods. It usually is more mental than physical. If you pay attention to your mind, you will likely start to hear the thought that goes with this. It may be a thought like “I’d like just a little something sweet” or “two mint Milano cookies won’t hurt anything.” The best way to deal with this is to shine the light of awareness on these thoughts and realize where they are leading you – to a continuation of your weight problem. Then treat them like an urge (check out my other videos on how to deal with urges).

3. Emotional discomfort.
Again, we’ll need to get a little more introspective to pick up on this one. Most of us have been trained (or trained ourselves) that if we are feeling an unpleasant emotion, the solution is food. A great time to observe this is when we are sitting on the couch in front of the TV after dinner and have the desire to go get a snack. What emotion are we also feeling? Is it boredom? Restlessness? Loneliness? Let yourself actually feel that feeling instead of covering over it with a snack.

4. Physical hunger.
Physical hunger is a sensation that starts in the body and then lets your mind know something is going on. It can be a growling stomach or other feeling, perhaps in the throat or mouth. This is the most legitimate of the 4, because it is at least a physical sensation, so it makes the most sense to give that a physical solution, like food.

One thing to note, here, is that physical hunger, while it is legitimate, is like a warning light coming on the dashboard. It’s like needing to pee. It’s not healthy to completely ignore it, but you can wait a little while until you get to a safe place to address it.

It’s also important to note that sometimes physical hunger is programmed. If you eat at noon every day, you may start to get hungry at noon every day. It doesn’t actually mean that you will die if you don’t eat right that minute. It just means your body is reminding you “hey, we usually eat now.” It’s the same way the dog knows when it’s time for him to be fed. So while you may choose to pay attention to it, if you are 40 pounds over weight, you are unlikely to die within the first 5 minutes of feeling hunger. You do have a reserve source of fuel on your body that you stored for a moment just like this that can be utilized.

So now let me ask you: when’s the last time you felt a feeling you thought of as hunger? Knowing what you know now, what was it actually? Do you have some different strategies you can use going forward? 

If you’d like to learn more about how I can support you in your weight loss journey, make an appointment for a free initial consultation using my online calendar at https://lisauke.net/schedule

 

“The Only Thing Between Me & Happiness is 50 Pounds.”

“The Only Thing Between Me & Happiness is 50 Pounds.”

Apr 15, 2022

 All I Believed I Needed to Change Was One Impossible Thing….

 

Are you living a perfect life on paper, but still unhappy?

 

I had a great business that gave me both income and flexibility, a fantastic husband, a beautiful home in sunny Florida, and a super cute dog.  So what was between me and happiness?

My weight. 

I'd attempted many different things over the years, and had some success at slimming down.  But eventually I stopped whatever I was doing (Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, high intensity boot camp, hiring a nutritionist or one of many “book diets” I tried), and ever so slowly the weight came back.

Sound familiar?

Now I still have all those things I had before – the business, Mr. Lisa, the house 10 minutes from the beach, and of course the dog is still super cute.  And while I don't think being happy all the time is possible in this human experience, things are really really really good.

 My relationships with my spouse and friends are better than ever.  I am more productive and less stressed at work.  There are still times when I fall short of my own standards, but I handle it way better than before.

And did losing 50 pounds do that for me?

Well, let's just say that they came out of the same journey.

That's the journey I want to invite you on.

Ever been on a really great trip and when you get back you want everyone to go there with you?

That's what this is like.

Let me be your guide.

 Ready to learn more?  Schedule a free initial consultation today at https://lisaduke.net/schedule.