#38: Mindset Shifts - the key to long-lasting results in weight loss & fitness

Resources mentioned in the episode: 

• Power Hour with Lynn: reach out via email to lynn@befitafter40.com to book a session. $127 (US Dollars)
• 1-to-1 coaching: Apply for 1-to-1 coaching with Lynn >>

About the episode:

✨Studies of weight loss show that most people who lose weight gain it back within 1-3 years. 😬

So how can you maintain your weight over the long term?

👉Well, when they've studied why people have been able to maintain the weight loss, it's because they've made an identity shift.

And that's what I talk about in this episode. 

I cover:

• Why most people gain back the weight they've lost
• What you can do to maintain your fitness progress over time
• How to build sustainable fitness habits
• Why an all-or-nothing mentality does not work. 

Enjoy the episode!

x Lynn
40+ Fitness Coach for Women

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#fitafter40 #fitnessmindset #sustainableresults #loseweight #healthyweight #fatloss #buildinghabits #fitnesshabits #fitforlife #onlinefitnesscoach #podcastforwomen #fitnesspodcast #menopausefitness #fitafter50

Transcript

#38: Mindset Shifts - the key to long-lasting results in weight loss & fitness

[00:00:00] Welcome to 40 + Fitness for Women. I'm Lynn, your host, and today we're having a little bit of a different discussion because I've had a couple of things happen in the past week, which really got me thinking about what it takes to be successful in fitness and in weight loss. And I think it's something that so many women are kind of missing in their thinking.

It's about an identity or kind of a mindset shift that you need to be making for things to stick over the long term so that you're not constantly on this hamster wheel of starting things, stopping things, starting things, stopping things, trying to look for motivation from somewhere, being attracted to the next shiny object and always failing, you know, in the end and looking for the next shiny object.[00:01:00]

So let's talk a little bit about how you can get off that hamster wheel and get to a place where you are getting the results that you want. You're feeling the way you want to feel your weight is at a healthy. Place your fitness is in a healthy place. And so, so let me tell you, what were the things that kind of set me off today?

So first I'm in several Facebook groups for 50 plus women. Cause I, myself am 52, you know, 50 and fabulous women, these kinds of things, because it's really nice to compare notes with other women and hear what kind of issues they're having, and maybe even give out some health and fitness tips since.

That's what I do. And there was one woman who was there and she said, how do you guys, you know, motivate to get to the gym? And I said, [00:02:00] well, motivation is something that is really, really hard to , have every day. None of us has motivation every day for anything, right. But it is about building habits.

That's what all of this is building habits. And for me, what habit has helped me make sure that I make it to the gym. Um, is that I calendar things. So I just explained to her that, you know, at the beginning of the week, I look at my calendar. I know when my kid's stuff is. I know when I got to cook and drive and whatever.

And I find those two hour slots cause it takes me about two hours, change clothes, drive to the gym, do my workout and then drive home. Right. So I need to find two hour slots to get to the gym and I stick them in the calendar and If it's in the calendar, I go and for example, yesterday, oh my God, it was Friday yesterday and I was feeling so [00:03:00] trampled by the week.

I mean, , what a rollercoaster ride. So I'm dating and I had probably the rudest thing that's ever happened to me on Tuesday. And then, A couple days later, I

had an amazing time with another man. Uh, you know, so it was like this, uh, and then, yay, kind of experience.

Plus, working a lot and, and also my day job was taking a lot of time. Anyway. And I'm sitting there on Friday yesterday thinking, oh my god, the last thing I want to do is go to the gym. I just want to go sit on the couch and pop open a beer. And I'm not even a beer drinker, but that's what I felt like doing.

And I said, Darn it, you know, I can see my week and this is my chance. My days are not so flexible. I need to just get up and go. And I went. So anyway, but back to the woman in Facebook. So I thought here I am giving some [00:04:00] tips that really, really helped me stay on track. And she answered. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what everybody says, you know, kind of thing.

And she's just kind of nasty about it. And it's like, you know, if you're not going to put in any effort, it's, it's not like there's some magic pill that you could take. If somebody would invent that motivation for fitness pill, that person would be a gazillionaire, right?? So in any case, the thing I wanted to really talk about is that I see so many. Women, my friends included, the women around me, the women in these groups, my clients who are really always looking for the next magic bullet.

And the thing is that I think the answer lies in something far more simple, but maybe boring, right? It's not exciting to think, okay. [00:05:00] I am going to become somebody who does weight training and I'm going to do it twice a week for an hour, you know, somehow when you want to plunge into something you want it to just encompass your whole life.

And I get that. And maybe you could start like the first 12 weeks with going four days a week. But. If you overwhelm yourself with the requirements of whatever it is that you're trying to do, then it is a recipe for you giving up at some point. Uh, in fact, I just had a discussion with a client who originally thought she could train three days a week and she's noticed that nope, that's just not working for her.

And what's happened is because she can't train the three days a week, she's ended up training like no days a week. And, and that's not the answer. It's not all or nothing, right? It's rather that you go to. One day a week or well, preferably the two days a week and then we just do short [00:06:00] sessions. So in her case, we just cut the sessions down like drastically, really short, but two days a week.

So let's start with that. Let's get consistent with that. Let's see how it goes, but at least do that because that will already take her a huge step over doing nothing.

So when they've looked at people who have undergone weight loss, so they've been on diets and lost weight, what they find is that the vast majority gain back that weight within one to three years. And you know, empirical evidence would suggest that the gaining happens a lot, lot faster. So we end up with.

So many women riding this diet rollercoaster, right? They lose some weight and then as soon as their diet's over, they start putting the weight back on. Then they go on a diet again and lose the weight and then they stop the diet and [00:07:00] they gain the weight back slowly but surely. And keep in mind, this is not the same 10 pounds that you're losing and gaining over and over again, right?

When you lose weight and you're not weight training. You are losing muscle, not just fat. You're losing 25 to 30 percent of that weight as muscle. So you lose 10 pounds off of your body weight. That's like two and a half, three pounds of that is going to be your muscle. Putting two and a half, three pounds of muscle back on your body takes some doing.

So, and then when you slowly gain weight again, and you're not weight training, then most likely that weight that you're gaining back is primarily fat. So you see where I'm going with this? You come back up the 10 pounds, you lose it again, you lose some of the fat and Muscle, then you gain back mostly [00:08:00] fat and you are wreaking havoc on your body composition.

Okay. That was an aside, but so, but these studies of people who do the weight loss, they are gaining back the weight in one to three years. And when they look at the people who have not gained back the weight, they have found something that I think is exactly what I want to discuss in today's episode, which is a mindset shift.

So they have started to identify as somebody who does different things in their life. So instead of identifying as The person who on Friday night sits on the couch with a beer and a bag of potato chips, they identify as the person who on a Friday night is exhausted. They sit down on the couch with a bunch of carrot sticks or they go for a walk instead.

They start to think of [00:09:00] themselves differently. Right? If I think about myself, I Because I was an athlete for so many years of my life, really, from when I was a small child all the way through college playing division one sports. That is such a strong part of my identity that I am an athlete that, that, that, that thinking about myself that way.

I would maintain is one of the reasons I go to the gym, I go for a run, like I can't imagine my life without movement, physical movement. And now that I've become focused on protein and lifting weights and everything, I'm identifying as a woman who goes to the gym. I'm a woman who has muscle. I'm a woman who eats protein.

And if I go on a date with a guy and he asks, Hey, so do you have any food preferences? I say, you choose the restaurant as long as I [00:10:00] can get protein there. So that's my one criteria. And when I look through the menu, I look for a meal that has protein. So I am not going to have a veggie. you know, dinner.

And I think that is something that is possible for everybody. Start thinking about yourself a different way and start thinking about yourself that way right when you start on your fitness kick, right? Every morning, maybe you need to put a little piece of paper on your mirror that says, I'm a woman who lifts weights.

I want to get strong. I want to have a wonderful next 40 years of my life. I don't want to use that jar opener, you know, I am a protein eater. I eat. 140 grams of protein a day, or whatever it is that is your calculated amount. If you do the one gram per pound of body weight [00:11:00] and just start thinking about yourself that way.

Brainwash yourself that you are that person. I am somebody who stands at her desk instead of sitting all day. I am somebody who walks on a walk pad because I want to make sure that I get in my 8000 steps a day.

I prioritize my sleep so I don't stay in bed scrolling every night through social media, you know, change those habits little by little. And I do believe there is really help that you can get through coaching, joining a program. joining a course, something like that, for example, with the eating piece or with the training piece, because it gets you started with that habit.

And if you are somebody who really needs that accountability, then by all means, invest in yourself, stay with that coach, [00:12:00] stay in a program, have somebody who looks after you, who you have to be responsible to, but with the eating piece. I would say that it is a fabulous opportunity for you to learn what you should be choosing as far as your food.

So for me, when I was starting to eat more protein, I thought about, what are the protein sources that I like eating? You need to find something that you like, and that you find easy to use. And I actually did the research of, okay, so how much

protein is in 100 grams of chicken, ground beef, uh, Greek yogurt, um, cottage cheese, tuna?

And I made a little chart and I stuck it on my fridge. So when I started my meal, like when I'm dishing food onto my plate, and I have [00:13:00] some sort of a chicken dish that I've made for myself and my kids, I put my plate on the scale, tear it, and then I take the pieces of chicken from whatever it is, make sure that I have 150 grams of chicken on there, and then I'll take the sauce and the rice and whatever else.

Now, of course, if I'm tracking everything that I eat, like when I was in a calorie deficit, then I would weigh all those other things. But now that I'm really concerned primarily with the protein, then I'm just weighing the protein to make sure that I'm getting enough protein. And then when I have my snack of cottage cheese and tomatoes, you know, I weigh to make sure I'm getting enough cottage cheese, same thing with the yogurt.

And then my final piece of advice would maybe be to not try to bite off more than you can chew. So don't try to add the weight room, sleep, yoga, protein, all that at once. Because Ladies were busy, right? This is not the only thing we're doing in our lives. I [00:14:00] completely get it. And children, partners, friends, work, parents, family, all kinds of other pressures on us.

So do this in steps. I've actually been thinking about having, a Facebook group where like every month we would focus on improving one habit so you could slowly, you know, get better at things. Well, let's see if I, if I get around to doing that, but you know, start with one thing. Like for example, for me, I would start with this sleep.

That is my opinion that middle aged women who are going through perimenopause menopause, especially if you're having trouble in that phase. Feeling the energy depletion, feeling the brain fog, feeling the aches and pains, having trouble with the sleep, focus on your sleep. It is such a cornerstone. When you get that somewhat into place, then start doing the next thing, which might be movement.[00:15:00]

Weight training. Weight training would be the first exercise form that I would include in there. So do it kind of in baby steps like that. Get one thing under control. And I promise you, when you get the sleep under control, you will feel better and you will have more energy to do the next thing. And this, you know, if your next thing is also to eat healthier, eat more protein, cut out the chips or whatever that is, is causing your problem.

Then it is going to be far easier when you've slept because your hunger and satiety hormones will be functioning more normally at that point. Anyway. So I guess that was what I wanted to share today. Just really hoping, hoping that this maybe gets you thinking about, you know, are you somebody that identifies already?

As you know, I am fit. I am [00:16:00] strong. I'm a woman who eats healthy. I'm a woman who takes care of herself. Is that already your identity? And if it is excellent, fabulous for you, I am really excited for you. And if it's not yet. Then, how about if you start working on that first? Forget that you're the woman who is in middle age and has to gain weight because you're in midlife.

No, that's crap. Ugh. There was one menopause coach who posted in Instagram the other day that, Oh, don't feel bad about the fact that you're gaining weight in midlife. That's normal. And I was like, What the heck's normal about that? I mean, okay, you're not going to look like a teenager, you know, when they've just had their growth spurt and they're just like these little twiglets.

But the reason that we are getting heavier in midlife [00:17:00] is because we are losing muscle. We are being more sedentary. We're not adjusting what we do physically and what we eat. It is entirely possible to stay in a very healthy body weight when you're in midlife. You are not doomed to look and be bigger just because the age is going up.

So that's, that's crap. Yeah. Anyway. Sorry. I always go on these asides, but so yes, so what I would like you to take away from this is that please. ditch the 12 week, you know, I'm going to do this for 12 weeks and then return back to your normal life. If you want long term success, you need to start developing habits and changing how you think about who you are.

Are you the woman who loves to go on walks? Are you the woman who loves to eat [00:18:00] protein every day? Are you the woman who loves the way you feel when you eat protein every day? Are you the woman who loves going to the weight room and Lifting heavier this week than you did last week or doing one more rep this week than you did last week, become that woman.

And there you will be able to keep your fitness far more easily than the woman who goes 200%, for 12 weeks and then goes back to being, you know, old self

and if you feel like you need help, if you'd like to have somebody to discuss this with, how to start your journey, bounce ideas off with where you should be prioritizing, I would love to help. I am now offering some power hours, which

is basically a one hour session with me where we can discuss your particular case.

And I can give you my advice. So just one hour and it's [00:19:00] 127 US. And then if you decide that you want to start doing one on one coaching with me, I do have four slots open for this fall. And that would then be something we can discuss in the power hour if you're interested, but check the link in the show notes.

If that sounds like something that could interest you.

And with that, I wish you a fabulous week and happy trainin