Rita Black: Have you created an "I am too old to lose weight" myth that is keeping you stuck and afraid to even try? Creating myths helps us deal with the uncertainty of life by telling ourselves stories about our abilities, limitations, or personalities, traits. We give ourselves a sense of control and predictability. In a chaotic world, these myths can be empowering or limiting. While some serve to boost confidence and create positive habits, others can keep us stuck in patterns of fear, self-doubt, and self-sabotage. Recognizing and challenging these myths is an important step towards personal growth and transformation. Many of my perspective students who struggle with weight have created personal age related myths that can keep them trapped in a mental prison of self-sabotage and distrust. Today, I'll dive into the three age related myths that I hear the most, so that you can shift from self-sabotaging myth to a more empowering narrative, one that you can move forward on and be successful with. So grab your own "I am too old to lose weight" narrative, and come on in.

Rita Black: Did you know that our struggle with weight doesn't start with the food on your plate or get fixed in the gym, or 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, bestselling 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.

Rita Black: Hello, and come on in. I hope your week is going well, huh? I am doing a major pivot as both kids are now out of the house officially. Phew. And my daughter is off for a year of teaching in Valencia, Spain, and my son is now back at college, and I can just take that deep breath and focus on you.

Rita Black: I have a great episode today, sharing with you three age-related myths that own us and keep us from really having weight success. It, you know, "I'm too old to lose weight." I hear that a lot. So we're gonna dive into that. I also have a lot more focus for my new and lovely shift members coming into our Live Fall 2024 Shift Weight Mastery Process. I'm so excited. And we're beginning October 3rd, and it's running through November 9th, 2024. So if you have already enrolled, wonderful.

Rita Black: We have such a fabulous group who are super excited to start. And if you haven't enrolled, please consider joining us. The live shifts are so powerful, like to call them magical just because there's such an amazing momentum with all these wonderful people going through the process. At the same time, it's a 30 day process with hypnosis, daily hypnosis, meditation and coaching, which takes about 30 minutes a day total, you know, with the meditation in the morning, coaching in the during the day at your own timeframe and hypnosis at night. And then we are meeting online in Zoom weekly for coaching, and then we have Saturday workshops as well, not every Saturday, but there's just a lot of transformation going on over the 30 days. And it maybe you've heard like Sarah one of our coaches who will be in the coaching community.

Rita Black: She spoke last week on her maintenance. She's been keeping her weight off now for a couple of years. And during the course of the shift like I said, I'll be leading some workshops. One of them is called Carbs Savvy, which is everybody's favorite because we get into really how to become powerful over your relationship with carbs. It's not about not eating carbs, but it's really about figuring out your relationship with carbs for yourself because everybody and every body has a different relationship with carbohydrates depending on our genetic propensity, depending on how we were you know, emotionally connected to carbohydrates. So we dive into that. It's very eye-opening for everyone. And we have a big kickoff that is also an online event on October 5th. So if you are interested just check us out at www shift weight mastery.com/fall, or you can check out the link in the show notes. The link is just gonna take you to a lot more information about and answer probably all of your questions that you would have about the process itself, the timeframe, time, date, the meeting times. And really the focus of the process is to break free from the subconscious beliefs and habits that have kept you from being consistent. You know, how to lose weight. You know, I'm not gonna teach you how to lose weight. if you've struggled long enough, you know what to do. But it is really about removing the roadblocks that are keeping you from that consistency, believing in yourself you know, really having a different mindset around and a different approach around weight management. Because the way that we were learned in the diet culture, which we're gonna talk about some today is just completely wrong.

Rita Black: But when you can apply your thinking and your powerful brain in the right way with a hundred percent both conscious and subconscious mind aligned, you can be powerful and release the weight and have long-term maintenance as many of our shift members have. And many of our coaches have had sustained maintenance now so they can share their journey with you in the groups and, and it's just a wonderful process. And there's so much love and generosity in our community. If you're not a group person, not a big deal. The online part of it, you do at your own pace with your own self, but there's a lot of support in our Facebook community and also in the weekly meetings. So check it out www.shiftweightmastery.com/fall. We won't be doing another one until the spring. And I'm not quite sure what those dates are gonna be because we might be changing it up a little bit this year.

Rita Black: So, okay, now let's look at the myth of I am too old to lose weight. You know, our mind is so amazing and our brain is a meaning making machine. Everything that happens to us gets added into the narrative of our life. It's kind of extraordinary when you think about it. Some of these narratives about ourselves add value to our lives. They can give us courage and confidence but when we struggle with weight, we definitely have a personal weight struggler myth, or myths I should say, that keep us from success. And these myths can really feel real, even though our brain has made up the myth, they feel real to us. So when negative things happen in the world of weight, which let's face it, if we're struggling, they do, then we reinforce these myths and they become bigger and stronger.

Rita Black: Also, our mind does this thing called selective memory, where it filters only the things that align with these personal stories, narratives, or myths. I kind of like to use the metaphor of, you know, we have two big evidence folders in the back of our subconscious mind, one evidence folder. You know, if you think of your inner critic, like a lawyer who's keeping tabs on everything and reinforcing the negative stuff that inner critic is a lawyer that works full time collecting every bit of evidence, shred of evidence that you are not capable of managing your weight, that you're a failure, that you're all those things. You're too old, you don't have a metabolism anymore. You, like all that evidence gets, puts in there this big thick file folder in the back of your head. And then there's the folder for success. And whoever is manning that folder is kind of asleep at the job. So that's why we really focus on creating a powerful inner coach who can work full-time in your mind really reinforcing all the things that you are doing that are great, and then working upon the things that aren't working so well to make corrections and improve.

Rita Black: Because this evidence folder, we wanna take all that old evidence folder out of the negative folder and, you know, shred it and get rid of it, right? So when students come into the shift weight mastery process, one of the first things we look at is our struggle story. And this is a powerful narrative because obviously it keeps us in the weight struggle story as you can see, like this narrative reinforces itself. But the good news is you can shift the weight struggle story into a weight success story, not just days but seconds. And this is called a cognitive reframe in neurolinguistic programming terms arms.

Rita Black: So one big myth, and so I wanna work on three myths around I'm too old to lose weight. So one big myth is I am too old to lose weight. So I'm just going to say that is the overarching myth. I am too old to lose weight. This is a typical question I get about 30 times a week from various people considering the shift weight mastery process. Rita, I kind of feel like I just can't lose weight anymore. Should I even be bothering? I feel like it's too late. I am too old and I have missed my chance. Now, interestingly, I get this question from people anywhere from their early forties to their late eighties. It's a pretty broad range, you know what I mean? So this makes me sad when I think of so many people holding themselves back because of their age and this like narrative that they have. But this myth runs strong. And again, I wanna dive into three main reason why it gets reinforced in people's minds. The first one is I have failed too many times. Obviously I can never be successful.

Rita Black: I have failed at this whole weight thing. It's too late for me. Okay? So that's the first one I wanna dive into. And this is what I have to say, you are not a failure. Diets have failed you. And I'm gonna repeat that. You are not a failure. The whole world of dieting has failed you. Now, this is a hard belief to break because it really, like I said earlier, it feels real. And if this is you, I would like you to try this on for size. You are not a failure at dieting, but dieting has failed you. Most diets are systems of rules you follow that exist outside of you. They are designed to fail the moment you stop doing them and you stop doing them because they are rigid and hard to sustain long term, and they fail you because they didn't teach you anything about the inner communication skills that are required to really release weight long term, they failed you because they were not set up for you to succeed in the long term.

Rita Black: Just the short term. Okay? Now, the crazy thing is, is if you are in your late forties, your fifties or sixties or seventies or your eighties, you were brought up in the diet culture world where dieting for most women was a part of life. And our ability to be thin was seen as a strength of character, and the inability to be thin was seen as a character flaw, a weakness. So for a lot of women, this ate away at our entire sense of ourselves and permeated not just our weight, but other areas of our life, our self-esteem, our confidence, our relationships, even our finances and the kinds of jobs that we felt confident in seeking, or even the type of education we felt confident in seeking. I remember, you know, I grew up in Seattle and most of the kids, I went to a public high school, but we were really high achievers.

Rita Black: I was in, you know, a, a nerdy program. And so most of my friends were, you know, trying to get into Ivy League schools and most of them succeeded. And I remember thinking, who am I to go to a fancy pants school? I mean, well first of all, I couldn't afford it, but I also thought like a person like me who failed at weight so many times, why would I apply to a high achieving college even though I had, you know, a 4.0 grade average, I was a, you know, I was a super achiever in school, but I didn't think of myself as that person. My friends were all slim and fit and I wasn't. So isn't that interesting that even that level, I, you know, ultimately did apply to an east coast school and got in and went and had a scholarship, which was all very nice.

Rita Black: But I didn't apply to the Ivy League or anything. And again, at the end of the day, I'm not gonna get into a conversation about college. I really am just talking about how our weight and our conversation about ourselves in relationship to weight can hold us back in all these different types of areas of our life because it permeates our thinking in that way. You know? So on a day-to-day basis, as we go through our lives, if our weight is down, hey, it's a good day. And if our weight was up, life sucks and it just took on a gray tone for the rest of the day. You know what I mean? So this failure after failure sets the tone for every weight loss attempt because every time we try to lose weight in our subconscious, we bring all the past failures with us already.

Rita Black: This sets our belief in our ability to succeed at almost zero. Anytime we attempt to release weight again, there's that big evidence folder in the back of our head that's like, oh, you think you're gonna lose weight?I don't think so. And you know, even if you do get to your ideal weight, you aren't gonna stay there, right? It makes it so easy to give up quickly on ourselves and lose faith in our ability again and again. Giving up actually becomes a habit. And this is something I have seen over the years and we talk about it a lot in the shift that's called the weight struggle cycle. And what happens is, you know, we get to a certain place, we start to feel, you know, we maybe get a little off track, we start to feel bad and there's that, it's an almost an automatic response to give up, overeat, you know, get off track and then say, okay, I'm gonna start again.

Rita Black: And that becomes habituated in our mind as an entire, that entire cycle becomes a habit. Its own self-fulfilling prophecy. So in the shift weight mastery process, we focus on the inner you first, starting with how you see yourself in the world with a more powerful identity as an apprentice of weight mastery, not a struggler. And this reframe immediately changes our view of ourselves and begins a new inner communication system that has respect and dignity and self-belief and allows the mind not to go into the old self-sabotage patterns, but to break through to new patterns that allow for consistent and sustained weight release. And more importantly learning the actual skills of weight management, which you can build and master. You see, you don't have to be perfect. You just have to be willing to learn. And this can be hard. We get addicted to being good and being bad and then giving up, overeating, starting over, overeating, starting over.

Rita Black: Like I said, it is a habit and it's become an epidemic. So many people are stuck in this and it drives such a deep shame. So we need to bring this to the light to say you are not the problem. You were born in a time where this was the mindset that this was the water we swam in. Diet, look good, be good. And you did your best to adapt given the circumstances. And now the patterns and beliefs make you feel like you are a failure, but you are not. Hypnosis and meditation can help break these subconscious patterns, but you can start to sidestep them right now for seeing them what they are an illusion, and that you are capable and that your mind is brilliant. And when you see weight, not as the problem that you have because you are a loser, but instead see it as patterns and beliefs that you fell into because they were all around you. And that when you use your mind in a different way and leave all the diet nonsense behind, you can build a skill set of weight mastery that will allow you to finally release weight, but more importantly, free you from all the emotional shame and guilt and self-abuse that plagues your day-to-day life. Here is a 74-year-old woman who went through the spring 2024 shift talking about her inner transformation. I've kept her name out of it for privacy.

Rita Black: I did the shift this last May, 2024 and have released 40 pounds. I've been overweight my entire life, weighing 35 pounds at age one and over a hundred by age eight. So it has really been an ongoing battle. I've endured a lot of bullying regarding my weight, starting at the age of six and was put on my first diet, that two week grapefruit and egg diet by my aunt that started my yo-yo dieting that consumed the rest of my life. I got to goal when I was 37 years old, only to regain it all a year later. Then I got to goal again in 2009 and was regaining again. I can be disciplined and lose. I've never managed to maintain. When I saw the scale creeping up over 200 again, saw the title of Rita's program that offered the opportunity to break the weight struggle cycle and decided this was a different way forward.

Rita Black: With using my mind with hypnosis and meditation, different ways of thinking about myself and weight management, I decided to enroll. I have not been sorry, I really needed something different. Weight Watchers new program was not working for me. Way too much freedom. I could easily gain weight on zero point foods after doing the live shift. I felt mentally freed up. I found myself able to resist gakki food. Gakki is a term we use for like refined and, you know sugary foods and not feel deprived. I could eat a small piece of family dessert or follow the three bite rule and not be triggered and want more. This is huge. Rita gives a thousand times more than she charges for a real bargain. I have since the beginning of May released 40 pounds and have only 15 pounds to go for goal that I set.

Rita Black: And maybe this is a little higher than weight loss programs would want, but more realistic for me at my age. I hope and am attempting to be confident that with Rita I can finally maintain for the last few decades of my life. I'm 74 years old, it has taken me a long time to get to this with Rita. I'm also slowly learning to master my very negative body image. That in itself is worth every penny. Thank you so much, Rita. I feel good. I feel supported and optimistic that I truly am releasing weight for the last time. So thank you for that. And I'm just sharing a thank you with a person who wrote that. And thank you, I believe for inspiring people to see that you, when you can shift your mind, it opens up a whole new world for you. Okay, now, so let's shift this belief. Repeat after me if you dare. I am not a failure. Diets have failed me.

Rita Black: Again, I am not a failure. Diets have failed me. Good. Okay, let's move on to that second belief, shall we? My body is just not capable of losing weight at my age. So the second belief with I am too old that my body is not capable of losing weight anymore. I see haunting many people as well, and there's a good reason for this. Weight management does change as we age. It doesn't keep us from success. We have to change our approach mentally and physically. The biggest mental roadblock I see is expectations of how fast we can release weight compared to our younger selves. Back when we were in our twenties and thirties and going on crazy fad diets led to that led really, let's face it, mostly to water loss. In the first couple of weeks we could lose seven to eight pounds a week, but it usually wasn't safe, nor was it true fat loss.

Rita Black: And it wasn't really sustainable. And most of us would admit, admit it never lasted. But what it did do was it trained our subconscious to expect that as soon as you start changing your diet, you should expect to see these big dips in weight. When and when it doesn't, we give up. Or another case scenario is I have students coming into the shift saying, I eat so healthfully and I'm doing things like yoga or Pilates every day and I haven't had any weight loss. This usually is that our minds need to reset expectations of how much our body actually requires as we age. One of these students, for example, was Dana who had gone through menopause and she was now 56 years old and she came and she was a very healthy eater. She was a vegetarian, she didn't eat any junk food or fine food, never ate sugar.

Rita Black: She rode her bike to work every day and she was upset. She said, I'm gaining weight, there must be something wrong. I'm sure it's hormonal. So we measured her metabolism. 'cause In my machine, in my office in la I do have a metabolism measuring machine. Now, you don't need to do this. You can gauge it from you can, there's many ways to gauge it. There's apps online, you can go and do that. So you don't need a machine, but we did it. And so my machine is very accurate and it was actually a healthy metabolism. It was appropriate for her weight and age. And I told her, Hey Dana, I'm sorry to tell you this, but your metabolism is normal. You know, and I gave her the amount of calories per day that her body was burning at rest which is called RMR, resting metabolic rate. And she scoffed at me. She was like, your machine is broken.

Rita Black: Well, I said, you know, trying to be diplomatic, maybe it is, but let's try this on for size. Let's have you just stay within the parameters of your body's energy needs for weight release for a pound this week. Just, you know, would you be willing to do this as a test? And she said, okay. So it is very funny because she emailed me in about five days and she said, I don't believe it. The scale has moved. When I started measuring and getting clear on how much food I was eating, it became clear really fast that even though I was eating super healthy food, I was eating way too much of it. And those calories added up and I was consistently going over what I thought was a pretty high daily energy reading from your machine. Well, I guess I wasn't, I also measured how much I burned biking on flat roads to work.

Rita Black: And I was shocked to see that it wasn't much and neither was my yoga or my Pilates. No wonder the scale hasn't moved. So Dana reset her expectations and made some changes in her eating and exercise. And she added some more cardio, eating pretty much the same food, but in different portions and upping her protein, which really created way more satiety. And Dana went on to release weight predictably, once she was clear on the parameters of what her body at her age needed. And she released 56 pounds over the next year and has never felt younger. I'm gonna be honest with you, I have been maintaining my ideal weight for 29 years. Many of you know this already, but in that time I've had to adjust for metabolic slowdown from the age of 40 to the age of 60, which I just turned. I think everybody knows that.

Rita Black: Anyway. my daily energy requirements have dropped by 300 calories a day, which you may not think as much, but it adds up to about a pound per week if I hadn't adjusted. So I did adjust and gradually 'cause it didn't drop down 300 300 calories, you know, in one fell swoop. It was gradual over the years. So as, as my metabolism dropped, I adjusted, adding more energy expenditure through exercise or shifts in, in, you know, how much I was consuming. I actually ate, started eating more nutritionally dense food, but less of it, fewer calories. I never skimped on protein though, and I try to eat 16 grams or more per day. And you might say, well, how many grams do I need? You can look that up online. They do say one gram per pound. I I don't think you need that, but I do think the average woman, especially above the age of 55, should be shooting for 60, 70, 75, 80 calories.

Rita Black: I mean, not calories but grams per day. Just again for, for lean tissue retention. We'll discuss this a little more in a moment. The thing I'm driving here is that we need a mental reset of ourselves and what our body requires, but we don't have to curse it and make our poor body or ourselves wrong for aging and needing different amounts. It is what it is. Here are some hard truths. Our body does require fewer calories as we age. As we age, our metabolism does tend to slow down. But the reasons for this are complex and involve a variety of biological factors. Several studies have examined this phenomenon. The first one is decrease in muscle mass sarcopenia. The natural loss of muscle mass with aging is a major factor in slowing metabolism. Muscles are more metabolically active than fat, meaning they burn calories at rest.

Rita Black: After the age of 30, adults may lose three to 8% of their muscle mass per decade, further reducing the body's calorie burning ability. Study example review in the Journal of Gerontology emphasize that muscle mass decreases significantly with age. And this is one of the primary contributing to a decrease in resting metabolic rate. Women between the ages of 55 and 75 can lose up to 25 to 30 pounds of lean tissue. And this is why getting enough protein is important, but also weight training and resistant training. Something that we should all be thinking about adding or definitely over the age of 50. Okay, second thing changes in hormonal levels. Aging leads to hormonal changes, especially in hormones like growth hormone and thyroid hormones which regulate metabolism. The decline in these hormones results in a lower metabolic rate. A study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that declines in thyroid hormone levels.

Rita Black: Three and growth hormone production led to reductions in metabolic activity, particularly after middle age. Number three, decreased physical activity. Many people become less active as they get older, which contributes to the overall reduction in metabolic rate. The thermic effect of activity, the calories burn during physical activity is an important part of daily energy expenditure and a more sedentary lifestyle can further decrease metabolism. Number four, reduction in total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE studies have shown that total daily energy expenditure, which includes calories burned at rest through activity and through digestion decreases as we age. One prominent study published in science indicated that metabolic rate is stable between the ages of 20 to 60, but starts to slow down at a rate of about 0.7% per year after the age of 60.

Rita Black: Number five, mitochondrial malfunction decline. Another factor linked to aging is the decline in mitochondrial efficiency. Mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of the cells produce less energy as they age, reducing overall meta metabolic function. Six and the last one, adaptive thermogenesis research points to the role of adaptive thermogenesis where the body becomes more efficient in using calories leading to a reduced need for energy and a further slowdown of metabolism. So I know that was a lot, but here's the bottom line. We are not gonna release weight as quickly as our younger self expectations. We need to now reset how much is enough and focus on getting proper nutrition and movement, especially resistant training, not just for weight, but for health and longevity. This is also a mental shift that requires some belief adjustments and also the willingness to make this type of shift without feeling deprived.

Rita Black: Oh, and one last thing. We do actually release weight differently on the scale when we are older, a a lot differently. In fact, instead of just losing weight a little bit each day in a nice linear line down the scale we tend to as older women plateau for a week or two or even three and then see a drop and then plateau and then drop. And we call this in shift 'cause we all see it, the plateau, plateau plateau drop syndrome. In fact, one of our members made a song. I forget how it went, but it was very clever. But anyway, plateau, plateau, plateau drop. And what happens is, for most of us, if we don't know this and if we aren't expecting this, then it's so easy to get up and give up and just say, my body is broken and nothing works.

Rita Black: When in fact you might be releasing weight, but the drop just hasn't come. So when you know this and you're also aware of what you are burning on a daily and weekly basis, you know you can expect the drop and it, it will change your mindset because you're becoming less reactive and irrational. Like being in an emotional state, I can't do this, my body's broken. And more like a scientist, really understanding the data, reading, you know, having a deeper understanding of what your body is doing and how it performs and what you can expect. It creates patience rather than disappointment and emotion. It creates a more powerful lens on what you're seeing. So during the shift, these are some of the major mental adjustments we make right up front. It does require a shift in thinking and that is why the hypnosis and meditation provide a new lens on who you want to be and how much is enough and what foods you truly find that will satisfy you.

Rita Black: We also use my favorite saying, which you may have heard me say before, loving Yourself down the scale we believe in, starting with a loving relationship with our body as it is right now. A self-respecting and self advocating relationship. And shift our minds to remove the way we view our body with disdain and remorse and guilt so that we can start from a place of equanimity of love and own our journey down the scale, not as a journey that has to be lightning fast because we can't stand ourselves, but at a pace that allows you to create a way of eating that you love that allows you to live at your ideal weight. Now here's a share from another shifter in our community. I have been cleaning out my office drawers and came across the Saved Weight Watcher book spanning from 2006 to 2018.

Rita Black: Between 2006 and 2011, I gained 40 pounds from 2017 and 2002, 2018, I lost 30.6 pounds. My lowest weight in all of those years was 174.4 a few days ago. It's been one year for me doing the shift Weight mastery. I hit my goal weight, which I calculated based on Rita's guidance in the preparation process to release weight at a rate. I decide as I look through these books, I felt the hopelessness of all that dieting. And believe me, weight Watchers was not the only diet I had tried. I had injected HGC paid over $600 for a wild fit ending up being all keto and I only lost four pounds over six weeks. I've eaten keto style, paleo style, vegetarian, vegan, raw, fasted, did colonic cleanses, affirmations, journaling and more. None of these programs took me where I wanted to go. The missing element was shifting at the deeper level, the level that Hypnosis Rita's version takes us.

Rita Black: I paid twice for two different hypnotherapist with no results. Rita knows the psychology of weight better than any doctor or writers of diet books. And did I mention that I followed and paid for John Gabriel's method. I also paid and followed Janine Roth's seminars. This is the only approach to weight loss that I've had the grace to come to. I have shifted when I feel my body and my size eight genes. I feel that I am finally my authentic self, the body and person that I should be. I had years of carrying trauma hurt and anger in those pounds on my body. Call it protection. Call it a fear. I was constantly at war with myself. The shift has been an amazing journey and will continue to be for the rest of my years. Thank you Rita. And thank you to all my fellow shifters. Okay, now let's shift this. Just repeat after me. My body is not broken. I am the missing link to my weight success.

Rita Black: My body is not broken. I am the missing link to my weight success. All right, number three and our last one, it doesn't matter. I'm too old. Nobody looks at me anymore. I don't care. Now this makes me the most sad of all. You know, as we age, it is easy to feel invisible. All also our lives can get really busy with taking care of the needs of others. Focusing on weight can seem silly or vain. Something I cared about when I was young, but I shouldn't care about anymore. But here is the truth. You are not invisible to yourself. Mastering this part of your life isn't about weight, but it's about owning yourself, loving yourself, respecting yourself, and taking back your power from your old worn out and abusive view of yourself and your past as a failure. Our weight, as we age, does matter to our health.

Rita Black: Yes, that's obvious. And studies show that the decline in lean tissue from lack of exercise can start leading to serious issues after the age of 70. But here's another thought per you. Our weight struggle and eating over emotions and stress can lead to social isolation. We withdraw from the world and ourselves, our dreams of being our best selves. Fully realized. One of the big reasons that I do what I do is that my mother died regretting never having fully realized her potential. She struggled with weight, a good part of her life. And even though she was an amazing woman and an incredible mother, she withdrew and her life became smaller and smaller as she got older. Loneliness, especially chronic loneliness, can be highly dangerous to both mental and physical health. Numerous studies have shown that long-term loneliness is associated with a range of serious health risks.

Rita Black: Here's an overview of how dangerous loneliness can be. Increased risk of premature death. Loneliness has been linked to early mortality. According to research published and perspectives on psychological science. The impact of chronic loneliness on premature death is comparable to well-known risk factors such as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or being obese. It significantly increases the risk of dying prematurely, particularly in older adults. Two higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. Loneliness has been shown to increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. A study published in heart found that loneliness and social isolation were associated with 29% increase in risk of heart disease and a 32% increase in the risk of stroke. This may be due to stress induced inflammation and higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone which can contribute to cardiovascular issues over time. Three, weakened immune system. Chronic loneliness can impair immune function, making individuals more vulnerable to infections.

Rita Black: Research shows that lonely individuals may have more inflammatory responses and weaker antiviral defenses. The immune system may become less efficient at fighting off illness, leading to a higher susceptibility to diseases. So no matter what your age, it is never too late to own and love yourself and take care of your amazing body wherever it's at. During the shift Weight mastery process, one of the things we do is establish a powerful new inner communication system that takes place of the old defeatist one that gives up on you, your weight release and your dreams far too quickly. We really focus on your building, your voice of your inner coach. And if you think about it, one of the biggest reasons we don't go for our dreams and live life full out isn't as much the fear of what others will think or say because of the worries of that harsh and abusive inner critic that will say, I told you so.

Rita Black: You thought you could do it and you couldn't because you are no good. Imagine what life would be like if when you took a risk on and you had an inner belief system that cheered you on and even patted you on the back when things didn't go as planned. Imagine how much more easily you can release weight without the critic and the rebel telling you you blew it. So you may as well have some more, but instead, an inner coach that helps you self-correct and stay on track even through the tricky bits of weight management. This inner coach relationship is not only the key to consistency and weight mastery, but to you being your best you. So let me share one more share from our shift community. Hey shifters, I wanted to share that I made it to one of my first big goals. I planned a girls night out, a family girls night to see pink back in December of 2023.

Rita Black: I started to shift at 178 pounds in June. My visualization back in June was of me feeling free to dance and fit into jeans. And a sparkly top releasing between one to two pounds a week would get me to a more reasonable weight by the night of the concert. While the concert is on Wednesday and I made my initial goal of 153 pounds yesterday, I tried on the jeans and my sister said they look great. My sparkly top is slightly too big, but I have a hack to make it look more fitted. I'm going to love and honor not reward. I think that tricks me into listening to my inner rubble too much. I'm going to love and honor this first achievement by scheduling a haircut and chopping off some hair for a new look. I am terrible about making time for haircuts and usually go about a year between someone posted that you wouldn't let your own phone battery go down to zero.

Rita Black: Why would you let your own inner light battery go dim? Invest in some self-care. I love my daily meditation time. I work odd hours, so I usually do listen in the late afternoon. It works for me and helps me refocus so I don't have the evening munchies. This is my minimal self-care and I will continue to honor myself down that scale. I'm so looking forward to our girls' night adventure and hopefully sharing when I make my ideal weight goal. Thank you. Okay, so let's shift that last myth from it doesn't matter to and just repeat after me. I matter and I deserve to believe in myself and my dreams. I matter and I deserve to believe in myself and my dreams.

Rita Black: Good. So there you have it. No more myths are holding you back. Number one, you are not a failure. Number two, your body isn't too old to lose weight. And number three, it isn't too late. In fact, the time couldn't be more perfect. I have women and men in their sixties, seventies, eighties, even early nineties going through the program, unleashing their potential. So don't let old excuses, myths and fears get in your way. You can shift and release weight and be your best self. Join me for the fall 2024 shift process. Join me and a number of my coaches who overcame the age barrier and are maintaining their ideal weight and living their best lives. We only do this twice a year and it all begins October 3rd. There are bonuses and discounted. And if you miss October 3rd, really the first week is prep, which you can do in your own timeframe.

Rita Black: So you really have a couple of more days till October 5th when we do our kickoff. So join even if it's the third or the fourth. Join now the close that we do. Close the doors at midnight on the fourth. And like I said, our big kickoff is on the fifth Saturday, October 5th. And if it is officially past the date see what love I have left for you in my show notes. I never leave you without some love. So check out the show notes or go to www.shiftweightmastery.com/fall and learn more and have a great 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. I will see you all here next week.

Rita Black: Thanks for listening to the Thin Thinking Podcast. Did that episode go by way too fast for you? If so, and you wanna dive deeper into the mindset of long-term weight release, head on over to www.shiftweightmastery.com. That's 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 how to subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode.