Awareness – Stress & Emotional Eating

Awareness – Stress & Emotional Eating

Nov 18, 2022

In addition to habit eating, in the Awareness phase of my ACE Weight Loss methodology we also often find stress and emotional eating.

Lots of potential clients coming to me knowing they are stress eaters or emotional eaters, but some people are so good at using food unconsciously to cover up their emotions that it's not until they try to cut out eating when they are not hungry that the emotions come up.

Either way, once you realize the problem is your feelings, all you need to do is to swap out the solution.

If the only solution you have for the problem of feelings is to eat, of course you will continue to gain weight – especially when things are tough!

Luckily, replacing the maladaptive coping mechanism of overeating in response to feelings is easy with the tools I teach clients.

Once they master tools such as EFT and self-coaching, they never have to reach for food as the only tool in the toolbox.

We'll talk more about solutions once we get to the Clearning phase of my ACE Weight Loss Methodology, though, so keep following me to learn more about that.

 

 

The Awareness Phase – Habit Eating

The Awareness Phase – Habit Eating

Nov 11, 2022

Stage 1 of the ACE Weight Loss Methodology is Awareness.

Become aware of and start to cut out eating when you are not hungry.

While there are lots of reasons we eat when we aren't hungry, many of the reasons are just habits.

You can cut out your habit eating to lose weight without physical hunger..

The 4 Cs of habit eating are:

1. Clock.
Stop eating because it’s a certain time of day if you are never hungry then.

2. Calendar. You don’t have to gorge yourself just because it’s a certain day of the year. “Halloween candy” is available year round at the grocery store and gas station.

3. Company. It’s ok to gently tell mom that a certain food that was your favorite when you were 4 isn’t your thing any more (maybe try to tell her before she fixes it, though).

4. Clean Plate Club. Real talk, plates were smaller then. Put your leftovers in the fridge. It’s fine.

Stopping your habit eating is a great way to lose weight without going hungry.

Introducing the New ACE Weight Loss Methodology

Introducing the New ACE Weight Loss Methodology

Oct 21, 2022

Eat less move more.

​Meal plans and exercise plans.

​Willpower.

​Absolutely it works – for awhile.

​But do you want to lose weight for awhile? Or would you like for food and weight and your thighs to be a non-issue going forward?

​That's what's different about my methodology.

​We aren't temporarily covering up the true issue by following a program that works short term, only to have the weight creep back up once you go back to normal life.

​It's like painting the stain in the ceiling every 5 years instead of fixing the root cause – the leak in the roof.

​My ACE methodology is completely different.

​Instead of focusing only on what you are eating and how/if you are exercising, we get to how you are thinking and how you are feeling and remove the drivers of being overweight, which means the weight comes off naturally.

​Want to try it out? It's backed by a money-back guarantee for anyone who pays for and attends all 16 sessions.

​It's only $395 for the first 4 sessions.

​Sign up today for a free initial consultation to start.

​​https://lisaduke.net/schedule​

​I look forward to working with you soon.

​

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Hormones & Weight: Insulin

Hormones & Weight: Insulin

Aug 5, 2022

Wondering why you just can’t lose weight?  It’s possible insulin is the reason why.

 

Insulin is a hormone that your body releases in response to sugar in the bloodstream.  It tells your body to store that sugar as a fat.

 

As long as blood sugar remains high, your body will stay in fat storage mode, and you won’t be able to access the fat on your body and use it as fuel.

 

So then the question becomes – how do we get our insulin down so our bodies can switch from fat storage mode to fat burning mode?

 

There are a couple of ways.

 

  1. Reduce the amount of processed sugar you are eating.  Processed sugar doesn’t exist in nature, so your body did not evolve (was not designed) to deal with it.  Processed sugar spikes your body’s blood sugar up really high, which then requires your insulin to spike up really high.  This can also lead to energy crashes and that “hangry” feeling, which you will also reach for a snack to cure.

 

  1. Reduce the amount of processed flour you are eating. Many people don’t know this, but flour breaks down into sugar in the body very quickly and will follow that same process that sugar follows – spiking blood sugar, spiking insulin, leading to crashes and hanger.  Even the starch in potato chips turns into sugar in the body and follows this same pattern!

 

  1. If you aren’t willing to reduce the amount of sugar and flour you are eating, you can still find ways to at least give your body a break between spikes. Cutting out snacks between meals allows your body to recover.

 

  1. You can also prolong the fast you are already doing. You see, everyone fasts – when we are asleep!  Even if you eat the exact same total volume of food and the exact same types of food, if you cut out snacking after dinner and delay or skip breakfast, that gives your body a chance to access fat stores at least during that part of the day before you start spiking up your sugar and insulin.

 

If you are constantly nibbling on sugar and flour based treats from when you first get up until when you get to sleep, your body won’t be able to access the fat on your body for fuel, even if you are watching your portions and calories, because getting blood sugar under control takes precedence over all other functions.

 

Need support on how to get yourself to do this? That’s where I come in!  Go to lisaduke.net/schedule to book your initial appointment today.

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.