It’s that time of year when the diet ads are running and kale and protein powder have replaced the peppermint bark and Almond Roca on the shelves in your favorite store.

Even if you didn’t struggle with weight, you would probably feel compelled to jump on the diet bandwagon going with everybody else.

And I’m saying, “Stop! Don’t do this.”

There are very many compelling reasons not to impulsively jump on a diet, January 1st. One of them being that more than 55% of people who do this fail.

So please for your sake, in episode 41 of Thin Thinking, hear me out and hear what advice I have to offer you instead so you can head into the happy, healthy new year feeling awesome, and really ready to consistently release weight in the long term.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

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Transcription

Rita Black (00:00): It's that time of year when the diet ads are running and kale and protein powder have replaced the peppermint bark and Almond Roca on the shelves in your favorite store. Even if you didn't struggle with weight, you would probably feel compelled to jump on the diet bandwagon going with everybody else. And I'm saying, stop, don't do this. There are very many compelling reasons not to impulsively jump on a diet, January 1st. One of them being that more than 55% of people who do this, fail. So please for your sake, in this episode of Thin Thinking, hear me out and hear what advice I have to offer you instead so you can head into the happy, healthy new year feeling awesome, and really ready to consistently release weight in the long term.

Rita Black (01:08): Did you know that our struggle with weight doesn't start with the food on your plate or get fixed in the gym? 80% of our weight struggle is mental. That's right, the key to unlocking long-term weight release and management begins in your mind. Hi there, I'm Rita Black. I'm a clinical hypnotherapist, weight loss expert, best-selling author, and the creator of the Shift Weight Mastery Process. And not only have I helped thousands of people over the past 20 years achieve long-term weight mastery, I am also a former weight struggler, carb addict, and binge eater. And after two decades of failed diets and fad weight loss programs, I lost 40 pounds with the help of hypnosis. Not only did I release all that weight, I have kept it off for 25 years. Enter the Thin Thinking Podcast where you too will learn how to remove the mental roadblocks that keep you struggling. I'll give you the thin thinking tools, skills, and insights to help you develop the mindset you need. Not only to achieve your ideal weight, but to stay there long-term and live your best life. Sound good. Let's get started.

Rita Black (02:24): Hello and happy boxing day. How many of you know about boxing day? Well, if you're listening the day after Christmas and you are in the UK or Canada or Australia, New Zealand, you know, in a number of other places, a lot of people celebrate boxing day. That's the day, in the olden days where people used to take boxes of goods whether it was food or presents to the poor. I believe that that was the main thing or to your neighbors too. It was like the day to take things over, around to the neighborhood and kind of meet and greet people. I remember when I lived in England, and this was probably, you know, when I lived in England, it was such a shock to me because I went from living in New York city, which was like open 24/7. To England, where, you know, even in London, in the late eighties, early nineties, everything shut on Sunday. So, there was nothing open. You really only like the convenience stores, I think even the grocery stores were shut. It was crazy. So, when we spent our first winter holiday in England, everything shut down for literally four days. You just, all you could do was be inside, listened to the Queen's speech and then, you know, kind of hang out with your friends and family, which was great, you know, but there was no other activities really going on.

Rita Black (03:54): So, I remember this one boxing day, we went, we were in, my husband is from Herefordshire in England. So, or his mom's from Herefordshire, just north of Wales and England. And there, and they are from, their farmers, right. They sheep, sheep people. So they have sheep farms out there and they farm. And, my husband's aunt, aunt May, put us in her little car and put, I swear to God seven or no. How many places did we go? We went to five relatives' houses on one day and she puts five fruit cakes. It wasn't fruitcake. It was that British version of fruitcake, but it was like, what do you call it? I'm forgetting now. But it's like the dessert holiday cakes. It was, you know, a thick, spicy cake made of all of these different types of fruit. I mean, I'm going to call it fruitcake, but I think there's a different name. And then you put a fondant on it and then also put another thing on top when you eat it, it will come to me, I think.

Rita Black (05:02): But anyway, long story short. So we started at one farm and everybody, so here's the thing, we would go and sit down and be served this amazing meal, right? Turkey, Brussels sprouts, swede, which is our rutabaga, here in the United States, they call it swede. And, you know, it was their stuffing, no, but roasted potatoes. And so, you know, the first meal we eat, it's delicious, yummy, you know, I'm not managing my weight at that time at all. But, and then we have that dessert and then we go to the next place and I think, oh, now we've eaten. So we're just going to hang out and, you know, have some tea and talk. Oh no. Now there's another meal. And it is the exact same meal that they, you know, that none of these people are talking to each other, like, yes, we're serving them the Turkey dinner. No. And it was the same Turkey dinner. And this time at this house, I remember this because I was full and I, so I was just like, I would eat a couple of Brussels sprouts, but the woman who was the head of the household, the women in these farmhouses wouldn't eat with us, you know, they'd stand in kind of hover and walk around. And as soon as you ate anything, they would replace it with more food. So, I need a couple of Brussels sprouts and then a couple of Brussels sprouts would up here where I ate them.

Rita Black (06:30): And so this went on, I've told this story before, but I don't think I've told it on this podcast, but if you're in my weight mastery community, you've heard me say this probably, oh my gosh, this meal. So we went to the next farm house and of course it was the same. And then the same. And then, so five meals all the same. I'd never been so full in my life. And when I think of boxing day, I think of that day. Oh my gosh, it was crazy. Of course, what would I want to do? Cause I, I wanted to go on a diet, you know, as soon as that day was over, I just wanted to go on a diet and get out of the pain of feeling so full. I don't think I've ever felt so full or fat and well, no, I had felt more fat in my life, but definitely full. And in today's coaching session, I am going to caution you as to why it may not be in your best interest to start a diet January 1st. And I'm going to also give you some other thin, thinking out of the box, out of the boxing day box tools, instead. It really just start to come at your weight release in the new year from a new way. So I'm not saying don't get healthy, but I'm going to give you some caution how to get in to being healthy in the new year with the right mindset so that you can be powerful, strong, consistent, and really move into the new year in a powerful way rather than reactive. Oh my gosh. I got to go on a diet January 1st and end up not getting the success that you want. Not because you can't have it, but because you're not setting your mind up for success first. Okay. So let's hop into this coaching session.

Rita Black (08:13): Managing your mind, managing your thinking is really the heart and soul of long-term permanent weight management. You know, weight management doesn't start on the plate or in the gym or on your Peloton, but it really starts in your mind. So, let's start the new year from a place of using our mind effectively and not reactively, which is usually what happens at the beginning of the year.

Rita Black (08:39): So number one reason why not to start a diet on the new year, new year's day is because new year's day is the worst day of the year to start a diet. Why? Well think about it? We have just come through the holiday season. And what is the busiest time of year, the holiday season? What is the most stressful time of the year, the holiday season. What's going on? We're outside of our structure. We're overwhelmed. We've been drinking a lot. We've been eating a lot. We might, our bodies are maybe imbalanced. Well definitely imbalanced especially if we have not been eating well. We've been busy with everybody and everything. Our brains are all fried. And so new year's day is actually, we're very depleted and it isn't a good day to actually begin. You know, hopefully the idea is you want to start really taking care of yourself and creating a way of eating and living. That's going to allow you not only just to release the weight, but keep it off for good. And that isn't going to come from starting on one of the most depleted, tired, overwhelmed days of the year. Now, if you want to start something in the new year, fine, just don't start on January 1st. You set a date for yourself and do it for you and really think it through ahead of time and really come from the inside out, come from you're making a change in your life for good, not this mad dash to choose some sort of diet because it's January 1st. Okay.

Rita Black (10:27): Now the second reason is FOMO. Do you know what FOMO is? I love that word. FOMO. It's such a fun word to say. FOMO is the fear of missing out. And that's, we get caught up in that beginning of the year frenzy when everybody's joining a gym and everybody's picking, you know, that's the, Hey look, weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Lindora, you know what a, you know, an online, all the, the diet gurus are hacking their wares at this time of the year. Why? Because they know your brain is like, I don't want to miss out on, you know, like I'm overeating and now I gotta get on that diet. You know, like I go to trader Joe's and then like trader Joe's prior to January 1st, everything that's out in that story is the cakes and the cinnamon buns and the gingerbread houses. It's January, 1st, you walk in there, it's the protein shakes and the broccoli and the chicken and the, you know, like, so they know where your head is at. And your head is that this fear of like, I gotta start something, I gotta be on something. And that's the last place you want to be. Don't act out of fear, act out of inspiration and vision. Start your journey to weight mastery did not, you know, like again, if you want to do at the beginning of your fine, but don't get hooked into reaction mode. You want to get into creation mode. You want to create a way for that's going to be lasting for you. And you want to do it from a place of love and self love, not fear. So, don't get caught up in everybody else's frenzy to get off the holiday five or 10, you know.

Rita Black (12:19): If you really want to release weight and have a powerful lasting journey to weight management, do it for you. Don't do it for everybody else because everybody else is doing it. Take a breath and think it through, you know, get aligned with yourself. Really make a decision. You know, this isn't about a diet because diets are something we go on and just fall off of because there's, they're externally based. So, okay, I'm going to do the keto or I'm going to do this. And you know, we'll do it. We can be successful for a little while, but then what happens is, you know, we lose a little weight. The pain goes away, and then we, we don't have any plan. And then we end up falling back into our old habits. If you really want to make this long term permanent weight management, you got to really start from within, do this for you and start to change the way you communicate with yourself before you start looking at all these other things about like what you're going to eat. And when you're, when you're managing yourself from the inside out, that is the place to start with your own inner coach, your own. What I like to call your own inner weight management coach. It's changing that critic and the rebel into a powerful inner coach. So forget the fear of missing out. Start from yourself and set a date that you're not overwhelmed. You're not exhausted. And you're creating a new way forward rather than reacting.

Rita Black (13:58): And then the last but not least to add on to that idea is that, you know, most of the time we start a diet from a place of pain. Oh my God, I gained 10 pounds over new years. I can't fit into my pants anymore. I got to lose the weight, right? And, and that's a place of pain. But like I was saying earlier, when we start from pain, pain is a great motivator, but the problem is, as soon as we'll go on the diet, we'll lose a few pounds and then the pain goes away. And so does our motivation to go to the gym, to eat healthfully. We go out on a Friday night, we eat the pizza. We're back in our old habits. So, we want to start with a vision. And I suggest getting quiet with yourself and creating a vision of you in June or September light at your ideal weight, and really anchor that to a place and a time and a feeling, get that feeling going of what that would feel like the confidence you would have, that the way it would change you because the you who got yourself to June or September and your ideal weight is, is different than the you January 1st, who's starting out, you're going to have made different decisions. You are going to have been consistent. You're going to be getting up and exercising. When maybe that old you would say, ah, no, I don't want to do that. And you want to get your brain and really excited about that vision so that your brain is really smart. And when you engage that feeling, it engages a reticular activation system in your brain and your brain will start moving towards. It will start to figure it out. Your brain is very smart. It will put the pieces of the puzzle together, but you have to give it the vision to move towards. There's a saying the pain pushes until the vision pulls. So start with the vision and start your new year with a powerful vision of where you want to go. Get inspired and then move forward from that inspiration rather than reacting from the pain. Oh, I'm in pain. Let me get out of it because it will be very short-lived for you. And this is why most new year's goals don't last very long. And that's why, you know, when, you know, when people joined them, gym, the gyms know, you know, by it's, the gyms are very crowded in January and February, but come March, April, May, you know, they're back to the normal members who, um, you know, have been going day in, day out, you know, for the rest of the year.

Rita Black (16:28): So, so really don't start on January 1st, just take a break and have a nice day and give yourself some love and, and rest on January 1st. And don't react to everybody going on a diet around you, or, you know, everybody, or all the specials that are going on in the store, really get quiet internally and start creating a vision and moving towards that vision. And you'll get there, one step at a time, but it's really start to nurture that inner weight management coach within you because they exist. But they're just been drownded out by that inner critic and rebel that, you know, want you to go on some restrictive regime and then the rebels, ah, we'll start again on Monday and into that old weight struggle cycle. Escape the cycle, take the time, really create your way forward.

Rita Black (17:30): And if you want, coming up, I have a new masterclass it's brand new, super excited about this. It's called 'How to Stop the Carb Craving Cycle. You know, because a lot of time with carbohydrates will say no sugar, no carbs. And we'll be able go for a while. Maybe 30 days maybe we'll do the whole 30 or keto or paleo or something, but then what happens? We go off and then we end up back into the old habits and that old carb eating, feeling like an addict again. And then we, you know, say no carbs again. And it's a cycle that we actually get habituated into. So in my masterclass, I'm going to teach you how to break that cycle and how to master your relationship with carbohydrates so that it's not about not having them, but the having, using your mind to have a powerful relationship with carbohydrates so that you can lose weight. You can feel healthier and not feel like an addict, but feel free. Okay. So happy new year. I hope you have a wonderful one. Sign up for my masterclass below. I will look forward to seeing you in my class, in the new year. Happiest, healthiest, safest holiday to you and all that you and all those people in your life that you love in your community. Okay. Happy new year.

Rita Black (18:56): All right. I hope you enjoyed that. And I hope it left you feeling full of ideas, but not as full as I felt on that boxing day all of those years ago. I probably have been as full sense, but I don't think I have been as full of the same foods all the time. So, if you're not listening to this on boxing day, or just listening to it before the, the new year, I hope you head into the new year and I hope you have an amazing new year. Happy, happy new year. I believe we're going to have one more episode before the new year. So I'll really wish that to you then. But if you're just somebody tuning into this at some other point of the year, well there, those coachings are just as good any other time of the year. It's really all about getting your mind in the right place. So have an amazing week. And remember that the key and probably the only key to unlocking the door of the weight struggle is inside you. So keep listening and find it.

Rita Black (20:00): Thanks for watching, listening to the thin thinking podcast. Did that episode go by way too fast for you? If so, and do you want to dive deeper into the mindset of long-term weight release? Head on over to www.shiftweightmastery.com where you'll find numerous tools and resources to help you unlock your mind for permanent weight release, tips, strategies, and more, and be sure to check the show notes to learn more about my book From Fat to Thin Thinking: Unlock Your Mind For Permanent Weight Loss. and to learn and how to subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode.