Transcribed using AI transcription, errord may occur. Contact Mikki for clarification

00:05
Hey everyone, Mikki here. You're listening to Mini Mikkipedia on a Monday and I want to continue what I started last Monday and talking through some of the strategies which I've been listening to lately with regards to shifting our mindset on things. And of course, this is in my job, I think a lot about mindset in relation to weight loss, success and the ability to stay consistent and adhere to the plan.

00:34
I get a lot of clients who really struggle with this aspect of it. And what I find is it's not until they understand the importance of it and start working on mindset that they actually start to make real change. And by real change, I don't mean that they're always going to be perfect with their diet because that's not what it's about. It's about recognizing that times will be hard. And it's how you deal with those hard times that impact on the thing that you do next.

01:03
Even if you quote unquote fall off the wagon, you know where to go to get back on. And you recognize that this isn't some sort of failure of you, it is just part of the process. And last week, if you remember, I chatted through a couple of the strategies that Brad talks about in his work. And of course, I will link to Brad in the show notes. And the first one is setting unrealistic, almost unattainable and inspirational goals.

01:33
orientate and direct your behavior in that way. And the second one was about understanding and recognizing self-limiting beliefs in order to start breaking them down. And that self-limiting beliefs are by very nature of them, they are things which we wouldn't easily recognize and aren't easily observable. And this is where a bit of the deep work sort of comes in with sort of challenging

02:01
challenging yourself on some of these narratives and stories that you tell yourself like you were big boned or I'm stubborn. I'll never lose the weight. My mother was overweight. I'm just going to be overweight. You know, comments like that, that sort of speak to this underlying belief that you can never change the situation you're in. And our beliefs drive our actions. Our actions drive the outcome. And that outcome.

02:27
impacts on how we view ourselves and our realities and so, and essentially our beliefs. And so it's this cyclical thing, which if we are aware of that relationship and start to break down some of these unhelpful self-limiting beliefs, we may be able to crack into different ways of doing things which will change those outcomes for us and subsequently change our beliefs. So it's very cyclical, I understand.

02:56
Now, the third thing that Brad talks about is emotional mastery. And this really is quite an important piece of things in the nutrition space, particularly because how we feel really impacts on our food decisions and what we eat. And a lot of people struggle with that sort of emotional eating as well, and emotional overeating. And part of it is to do with a perfectionist mindset, which I know a lot of people probably acknowledge of themselves.

03:25
and that if they can't do it perfectly, then what's the point? And if they have one sort of slip up in the diet, they catastrophize this thing and they may as well just, it all blows up in their face. Well, if they can't do it perfectly, then I'm a failure, and that can subsequently impact on those food decisions they make in that moment. So we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be perfect and do things perfectly. And that pressure is part of this

03:55
sort of emotional mindset we have around what we should or shouldn't be able to do. And it isn't just about perfection as well. A lot of people emotionally eat due to stress, due to anxiety, due to depression, sadness, overwhelm. So how do we look at these emotions and understand better how they impact on how we act? Because a lot of emotional eating is in fact a coping mechanism.

04:24
for what it is we're experiencing in the moment with regards to how we feel. And one of the problems is potentially that we don't really acknowledge some of these uncomfortable emotions that we experience. And we feel like we shouldn't be feeling this way, you know? And the emotional overeating is really about us suppressing our emotions and we are distracted from them. And...

04:51
If you instead of being, instead of trying to distract yourself from that emotion, if you instead remain present and sort of live in it and try to think about why it is you're feeling this way and allow a pause between sort of your, how you feel and the next thing you do, that in itself can sort of change that behavior pattern around emotional eating. Like that is, I think, like one of the first steps that you would do. You sort of.

05:19
sit in that space and sit in that emotional undertone and acknowledge what it is and why you feel that way. Because that emotional eating that is almost like trying to suppress or dampen down how we feel doesn't allow you to do that. You almost get distracted immediately and then what comes from after the fact is guilt and punishment around the fact that you have quote unquote failed again at your diet.

05:48
Another thing with emotional mastery is sort of recognizing your usual default behaviors and emotions actually. You know, those are the things that we're going to go to much more quickly. There's a bit of a flavor of emotion that people experience. For example, frustrated people tend to get more frustrated. Angry people tend to get sort of angry. Anxious people tend to get anxious. And this isn't a sign that...

06:15
that this is the only emotion that they can experience, but it's that these emotions are the ones that are practiced most often, and they're just more comfortable for you to live in, actually. They're the devil you know, and how to deal with it is easier than the devil you don't know how to deal with. And so part of this emotional mastery is recognizing what your flavor of emotion is, so you then can go to some steps to potentially change for a more appropriate emotion. And again,

06:45
Part of this is that being present in that emotion is really just noticing how you feel and why something is driving you towards acting in a certain way. So for example, if you notice that you're anxious or you start feeling anxious, what if you were to just feel anxious and just really sit in there and go, I wonder why I feel so anxious about this. It must mean that I care about the

07:15
sort of try to sit and try to not necessarily problem solve in the moment, but just even acknowledge that that's how you feel. And then if you, for example, engaged in some breathing type exercise that allowed you to shift your nervous state system into something that was a little bit calmer and a little bit more stable and grounded, then maybe that moment would pass. You'd be less likely to sort of dive into some sort of emotional eating to try to suppress that emotion and, and behavior.

07:45
that then leads on into some sort of like guilt and shame and then sort of self-punishment. So do you have some sort of default emotion that you always switch to? You know, do you find yourself getting, is anger the easiest emotion, emotional state for you to slip into? Like, it would be worth unpacking why that is and potentially understand better that process to then allow yourself like a different way of doing things. And one thing that Brad says, which I really like,

08:15
is never built on self-punishment. You know, no one is ever successful because they constantly are self-deprecating, act in a way that isn't in alignment with their goals as an act of punishment, that they have all this negative self-talk. Like that's never how people are successful. Success is built on celebration and grace and acknowledgement that things go wrong. So having a shift in your emotions and thinking about

08:44
how you respond in a certain situation can help you understand better some of the drivers behind any emotional eating sort of patterns that you experience or just maybe even your sort of general default, how you feel on a day-to-day basis. And it's not about, you know, just adopting a positive mindset. Like, as I said last episode with regards to, you know, it's just sticking pears on an apple tree, wishing it were a pear tree. Like it's not about that, but it just sort of allows you to understand better

09:14
where you're coming from and then make moves to sort of shift that. Brad's fourth piece of advice when it comes to mindset shift and being successful in this space is to recognize the difference between what is needed to be done urgently versus what's most important to do and then focus on the things that are important. And he frames this like we give ourselves and we put together a lot of to-do lists. Like these are just things that we need to do.

09:43
on a day-to-day basis to get through the day. And some of this can really hold people up from achieving what they really want out of life. A lot of people talk about time prioritization and that they've got kids, they've got work, they've got extracurricular activities to take up their time and they don't have time for food prep and they don't have time to exercise and they don't have time to food shop. But these things are not unique. They may all feel unique to you, but these are actually just

10:11
about being part of a normal person in a normal society doing normal things. Yet some people manage to prioritize some of these health behaviors which allow them to live their best life, whereas others struggle. And Brad frames it as that it's easier for those people in the former category because they've actually prioritized what's important in life and not just what's urgent. And if we can recognize the difference between the two.

10:38
then we're able to orientate our actions and behaviors to doing the things that really matter to us. If you have kids, if you have a job, if you have stuff going on, if you have challenges in your life, things always just seem chaotic, well, that's just a part of normal everyday life. So trying to find a way that allows you to focus on what's really important, then you can almost take some of that chaos out of your life. So instead of being

11:06
reactionary to things that happen on a day-to-day basis, you orientate your actions and behaviors around things that make you a more energetic, a more vibrant, a happier, more motivated version of yourself. And then therefore you're able to do all those other things that would otherwise be considered urgent. So it's sort of reverse engineering from what's important and then seeing how that results in changing your mindset around that to-do list. Because a lot of people

11:35
tend to spend a lot of our lives reacting to situations, to events, to others around us, rather than sort of taking control in that sense. So if you instead focused on getting up in the morning and prioritizing being active, that'll change your energy for the rest of the day. It'll change your mindset for the rest of the day in how you approach these things. If you had more, you know, if you distributed your protein, so you ate more protein in the morning for breakfast, that'll help.

12:03
Stabilize your blood sugars so not everything is just an emergency every time you come across it and you're able to make decisions that are much more considered and less as a reaction to sort of what's in front of you. The final thing that Brad suggests doing to help sort of change your mindset to me be more successful in the diet space is to appreciate the journey you're on now, the place you're in right now that's leaving you to where you want to be.

12:31
And I do see this all of the time in Monday's Matter. People are constantly asking, well, what next? What about after this diet plan? And so their minds already fast forwarded to the end of the program, and they want to know, regardless of whether or not they're successful, how they're going to maintain that success. And you hear this a lot, but actually just enjoying the process and being...

12:58
married and wedded to the process is actually going to go a long way to helping you succeed in in the mindset piece and the diet long term because it's the process that gets you to where you want to be and if you're successful there and you successfully adopt the actions and behaviors that will lead to the outcome and you enjoy those actions and behaviors then you're much more likely to continue to do them. The outcome is inevitable if the process is right.

13:28
And if you've got those key pillars for fat loss set up, then instead of sort of accelerating your mind to the end of the program and being concerned and anxious and ruminating over whether or not you'll be successful, just win the day. Just be successful at every meal. Be successful every day in the actions and behaviors that lead you there. Because that ultimately will drive success long term. And this goes back to

13:56
something that Brad said earlier is that, as I mentioned today, is that success is built on celebration. And so part of sort of living in the moment and the present and being grateful for having this opportunity to learn the process, if you like, is celebrating it along the way. So all of these really do intertwine. And some of that might seem a bit woo-woo for some people, and I appreciate that. Mindset is an overused term probably, and people's...

14:25
I guess perceptions of, or not perceptions, maybe perceptions of it may be different to mine, but the best diet and exercise plan by itself isn't enough for long-term success. You need to shift how you think about it. And that doesn't happen overnight. And in fact, it doesn't happen in eight weeks. You've heard me say that before. It takes years to change, but change has to start somewhere.

14:55
setting inspirational goals and recognizing those self-limiting beliefs and practicing emotional mastery, focusing on what's important and not urgent, and then also practicing gratitude for every day and being part of the process. All of these things are just little things that can really help with that overall weight management sort of success from a mindset perspective. So

15:24
Hopefully that's helpful, keen on your thoughts. Hit me up, I'm over on Instagram threads and Twitter @mikkiwilliden, Facebook @mikkiwillidenNutrition, or head to my website, mikkiwilliden.com. All right team, have the best week.