Ep #16: 4 Beliefs that Are Stopping You from Losing Weight

You are listening to the Weight Loss for Successful Women podcast with Shannan Christiansen, episode number 16.

Welcome to Weight Loss for Successful Women, a podcast for women who are ready to break the diet cycle and end their struggle with weight for good. Here’s your host, Fortune 100 executive and Certified Life Coach, Shannan Christiansen.

Hello, love. I am just so excited to be back with you again today. I haven’t recorded an episode in a couple weeks and I’m just excited to be back in front of the mic.

So, in today’s episode, we are going to talk about limiting thoughts, and honestly, how tricky they can be. And as always, I will leave you with a couple of transformational questions so you can start taking action today.

But as always, I want to give a listener shout-out. And this week’s listener shout-out is to #BFLYlover. I mean, the name alone, I’m in love with, “I just listened to your first podcast from October. I swear you are telling my story. I have been through one of your changes and just started the second. I’m looking forward to learning how to change my brain when it comes to al of these diets I’ve tried. Nothing has worked, and now I know why. I’m so glad I found you, Shannan, and BFLY.”

I mean, I love that review. It is so sweet. And I love that you ladies are listening. I really appreciate it. and if you love the show, please rate and review the show. I would so appreciate it. And also, subscribe so that every Wednesday I’m just in your podcast library.

So, ladies, as I record this it is January 1^st, I just cannot believe we are in 2020. We’re beginning a new decade. I mean, it is just so crazy to me. I mean, I’ve already had so much fun to day, I did two of my free trainings and a Facebook live. And honestly, outside of my family and my grandbabies, it is just my favorite thing. I just love being with all you ladies. And I hope all of you had an amazing holiday.

I mean, it was crazy cold here in Arizona. I mean crazy cold. And so much rain. We have received days and days of rain, which I live in a desert, so I’m not used to all of this. Now, I know I’m complaining, but I’m an Arizona girl and it’s been, like, in the 30s and 40s. I mean, I have so much empathy for all of you who live in the north or the east.

So, we just really relaxed over Christmas break. We spent a lot of time, because it was raining and cold, in the house, resting, and it was just what I needed. I really needed to recharge my battery, and that’s what I did. And I just had the best time. My husband and I, just relaxing. It was the best. And of course, some G-baby time here and there.

So, on this episode, I’m going to dive into limiting thoughts. These are sneaky thoughts that the lizard brain that we have that we think are serving us. We think these thoughts are okay. But honestly, love, they are really sabotaging our weight loss.

And I talked about self-sabotage in episode number four, so if you haven’t listened to it, be sure to listen to it. But I really wanted to dive into some of the trickiest thoughts we have. And I want you to notice these thoughts because they are triggers to sabotaging behavior.

And one of the tools I teach is to become a watcher of your thoughts. It’s so important, ladies, to start noticing all the different thoughts you have running around. I mean, seriously, loves, that lizard is tricky.

The first thought that I want to talk about today and that I believe really limits us and keeps us stuck on the diet rollercoaster is, “I deserve this.” It’s a limiting thought. It sounds okay, but really, love, it is self-pity. It’s a way for us to excuse a bad behavior. It’s a thought that leads to overeating or overspending, I mean, all of the things that keep us from achieving our goals.

The truth is, if we deserve it, we will already have it. and honestly, love, what we truly deserve is a healthy body, love for ourselves, love for our bodies. That is what we truly deserve. So, loves, watch it. I mean, mine used to come on a Friday night. It would be the end of the week, and suddenly, I would have the thought, “Well I’ve been good all week. I deserve this cupcake.”

Love, it was so sabotaging. It’s just another way that we sabotage our success, and we have to really honestly realize when we’re saying, “I deserve this,” and watching that thought and then watching the actions that we take after we think that thought. Loves, it is so important.

The next one is, “I am so tired or busy.” Love, this is in my brain a lot. I mean, even tonight, I honestly didn’t want to record this podcast. I’ve had a busy day, so my lizard was like, “Just tell Pavel you’ll have the episode tomorrow.” But, love, it is not true. I love recording these podcasts. I can record the podcast. I have plenty of time to do it. And I can take actions that are in my best interest.

So, love, watch for these thoughts because they sound like true facts. You could be thinking right now, “But, Shannan, I am tired. I am busy.” But you can make the time. I mean, loves, we have done this; we say we’re so busy, but we make the time to go full-head into a gallon of ice cream. Or we say we’re so tired, and we don’t do the thing that’s going to help us lose weight, like make our realistic plan.

The limiting thought, “I am so tired or busy,” leads to us not doing stuff and sabotaging behavior. Busy is a lie. We all have 168 hours in a week. I mean, from a CEO of a company to J-Lo, to you, we all get the same amount of time.

Busy is just another tricky lie we tell ourselves so we cannot take care of ourselves, so we can put others before ourselves, so we can let the lizard brain control what we’re doing. And honestly, love, we’re worth more than that. You are worth more than that.

So, number three, this one, we just went through the holidays, and so this limiting thought happens to all of us. And it is, “But it’s the holidays. It’s my birthday. It’s my kid’s birthday. It’s my anniversary. It’s Friday.” There are so many tricky limiting thoughts like these. And loves, we’ve associated these beautiful holidays with food and overeating. And we’ve made it okay.

I’ve had a birthday, celebrated with my family, and not eaten half the cake, and it’s been okay. we just went through the holidays and I did not go full off plan. I did not have a binge fest. I did not gain weight, love.

I still enjoy the things that I love. I made cookies with my grandbabies and ate some cookies. I enjoyed pie. I just placed them on my realistic plan. I did not put off me until after the holidays. That is what this thought does. It keeps putting you off.

I plan when I want to eat something and I’m aware of how it feels in my body, no excuses or obsession. That is what the realistic plan is. It’s just freedom. And it keeps me from putting me off.

So, number four, “I just have so much to lose, I will never do it.” This thought just keeps you from taking action. Every person who lost weight started somewhere and it never matters about your starting point. I mean, love, I have started at 315 pounds and 290 pounds. I have started all over. And the last time I started at 247 pounds.

All that matters is that you’re learning and failing and taking action. I was unsuccessful at losing weight until I wasn’t. I want you to hear me again when I say this; I was unsuccessful at losing weight until I wasn’t.

Loves, what are your limiting thoughts or excuses? What are the triggers that you have? And then, when you have a limiting thought, you can be a watcher of that thought. You can be onto yourself. You can allow that thought and not act on it. That is the power of this work.

So, just notice what limiting thoughts that you have. I’ve shown you four here, but there are so many more. Loves, when you have a limiting thought, I want you to think, what is the next best action that I can take and what thought would help me create that best action?

Okay, love, so here are the transformational questions. Number one, what are your limiting thoughts. Number two, how do they keep you from taking action? And number three, do you take negative action when you have a limiting thought? It’s so good, loves.

Thank you so much for listening, I can’t wait to talk to you next week.

If you love this work and you want to go deeper, take my free course. It’s a free mini course. You can learn more about it at bflycoaching.com/free-course.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Weight Loss for Successful Women. If you love what you heard today and want to learn more, come over to bflycoaching.com. That’s B – F – L – Y coaching dot com. See you next week!