And while you might have some big goals and resolutions in mind, the reality is that aspirations without an actual plan aren’t going to get you very far.  You need to know how you’re going to take action, because that’s what is ultimately going to get your head in the right place.

Why You Need a Plan

So let’s start by talking about why you really need a plan.

Because I think that for a lot of us—especially those that have struggled with our health and weight for a long time—we have this idea that we should just be able to fix it all on our own, right? That we should be able to eat healthy and lose weight without having to follow some specific program.

And I totally get that. I’m a pretty independent person, and the idea that I would need to rely on someone else’s “system” to get healthy would normally kind of make me bristle a little bit. I like to be in control. I like to do things MY way.

So I can totally relate if that’s how you’re feeling. But the cold hard truth is this:

If you could have fixed it on your own, you already would have.

Seriously.

If all it took to get healthy and lose weight was to eat less and exercise more, then NONE of us would be overweight in the first place. That’s the old conventional wisdom that has been drilled into our heads for decades, and it’s a LIE.

It’s a lie that’s been propagated by the giant food industry and by pharmaceutical companies and by a medical system that makes more money the sicker we all are. It’s a lie that’s backed up by the USDA and the American Heart Association and by so-called “experts” who are paid millions of dollars to keep telling us the same thing—to eat more carbs and less fat and to move more and count our calories.

And it’s a lie that has made us SICK.

So if you’re feeling frustrated, and like you’ve been lied to, well, then you should be. Because you HAVE been lied to.

The Importance of having a proven process

And I think that’s why it’s so important to have a plan—a REAL plan—that’s not based on any of that old conventional wisdom, but is instead based on the TRUTH. A plan that’s based on understanding the science of what’s really happening in your body. A plan that’s based on the REAL data.

So that’s the first reason why I think having a plan is so important. Because you need something that WORKS, and that will actually set you up for success. You need a plan that’s sustainable and that you can stick with long term, because honestly, if you’re just going on a diet—a temporary fix—then as soon as you go back to the way you were eating before, you’ll end up right back where you started.

And that’s why the plan you choose needs to be something that is a true LIFESTYLE plan, not just a diet. It needs to be something that you can actually see yourself doing for the rest of your life, because honestly, it’s likely that you will need to, or at least something very close to it.

So that’s the first reason why having a plan is so important—you need a plan that actually works for your body, and that is sustainable long term.

The Importance of Accountability

But there’s another reason too—a big reason—and that’s because when you have a plan, it’s a lot easier to stay accountable.

Because the truth is this—the best laid plans in the world won’t do you a lick of good if you don’t actually follow the plan.

And that’s where accountability comes in.

Because if you’re anything like me and the thousands of women I’ve worked with in my programs, then you’re probably really good at lying to yourself.

You’re good at making excuses. You’re good at saying you’ll do it tomorrow. You’re good at avoiding the scale. You’re good at justifying the little “cheats” you allow yourself. You’re good at making yourself believe that it’s not that bad.

And when you don’t have a plan, or if your plan is just some vague idea of “eating healthier” without any real structure, then it’s way too easy to just keep on doing what you’ve always done. It’s way too easy to keep on making the same mistakes, and the same bad choices, because there’s nothing in place to keep you on track.

And that’s why having a plan with some built in accountability is so important.

Having actual numbers and metrics to track, and clear guidelines for what those numbers should be, actually does make a big difference. It lets you know you’re making progress. But it also gives you cold hard facts, rather than just feelings. And honestly, it shouldn’t just be ONE number because that one number isn’t going to tell you the whole story.

Because it’s a lot easier to justify it in your head, or to say “it’s not that bad” when you don’t really know the number. But when you SEE the actual numbers that are having an impact—your macro breakdown, your glucose reading, your body measurements, and the number on the scale—it’s a lot more motivating, and it’s a lot harder to make excuses.

That’s why having a plan that includes some built in accountability–and actual metrics to keep track of–is so important.

The Importance of Purpose

And then there’s a third reason why having a plan is so important, and it’s a little bit more intangible, but I think it’s probably the most important one of all.

And that’s just the fact that when you have a plan, it gives you something to focus on. It gives you a goal to work towards. It gives you a reason to keep going, even when it gets hard. It gives you a sense of PURPOSE.

And for a lot of us, that’s what’s been missing.

Because when you don’t have a real plan, then you’re just kind of going through the motions every day, and it’s easy to get off track. It’s easy to get derailed. It’s easy to let life get in the way. It’s easy to give up.

But when you have something that you’re working towards, it changes everything. Suddenly, every choice you make becomes important. You have a reason to say no to that donut, or that sugary margarita or that Chik-fil-A drive through on your way home from work. You have a reason to get up and go for a walk. You have a reason to change your habits.

And that’s why having a plan is so important.

Because a plan really is just a way to set some GOALS, and to create a roadmap for achieving those goals, and that is what will keep you motivated and on track.

Creating Your Health Plan

So then the question becomes, how do you actually go about creating a health plan that will work for you and your life?

And the truth is, that’s a pretty big question.

Because there are a lot of factors to consider. You need to figure out what your goals actually are, and what you want to achieve. You need to figure out what kind of plan will work best for your body and your lifestyle. You need to figure out if you have any underlying health issues that need to be addressed. You need to figure out what kind of support you’ll need, and what you can actually afford.

And all of that can feel a little bit overwhelming, especially if you’re brand new to this whole world of health and wellness, and it all feels a little bit foreign.

Do your research

So I think the first step is really just to do your research.

And honestly, that’s probably why you’re here, reading this blog post. Because you know that you need to make a change, and you want to know what your options are.

And that’s a good thing! It’s a really good thing to get curious and to start learning more. It’s a really good thing to start educating yourself on what is actually available to you, and what might be the best fit for you.

And if you’re just starting out on this journey, then I would say don’t get in a big rush. Give yourself a little bit of time to read books and listen to podcasts or other blogs to get a sense of the different programs and plans that are out there, and to start thinking about what might be the best fit for you.

Because the truth is, that while there are a lot of options out there, not all of them will be a good fit for YOU. We are all unique, and what works for someone else might not work for you, and vice versa.

And so that’s really the first step—to get curious and to start doing your research, and to start learning as much as you can about the different options that are out there.

Get honest with yourself

And then, once you’ve done that, I think the second step is to get honest with yourself about what you’re actually willing to do.

Because the reality is this—if you choose a program that’s not sustainable for you, then you won’t be able to sustain it. It’s why I always say that the best program in the world is the one that you’ll actually DO.

You have to be honest with yourself about what you’re willing to change, and what you’re not. You have to be honest with yourself about the kind of support you’ll need, and the kind of support that is actually available to you. You have to be honest with yourself about what you can actually afford, and what you’re willing to invest in your health.

And I know that for some of you, that might be a sticking point. You might be thinking this all sounds so great, but I can’t actually afford to sign up for a program or to get help or to buy new supplements or whatever it might be.

So can I just address that for a second?

Because honestly, I think that if you’re in that boat, then you’re not alone. I think a lot of us feel that way, like it’s too expensive to get healthy, and it’s a big reason why we’re often willing to just keep on doing what we’ve always done—because it feels FREE.

But the cold hard truth is this—it’s not actually free.

You’re paying for it. Every single day, in big ways and small ways, you’re paying for your health. You’re paying for all the medications you have to take, and the doctor’s visits and the medical tests. You’re paying for the days you have to take off work because you’re too tired to even get out of bed. You’re paying for the bigger clothes you have to buy, and all the food you’re wasting because you can’t eat it fast enough. You’re paying for the impact that your weight and your health is having on your relationships, and for all the opportunities that you’re missing out on because you don’t have the energy or the confidence to do the things you want to do.

It’s not free.

So you have to get honest with yourself, and ask yourself what’s actually more expensive—to keep on doing what you’ve always done, or to invest in your health and in a program that can actually help you get healthy and lose weight in a sustainable way.

Because the truth is, that doing it on your own and without a plan probably won’t work. You’ll just keep on doing what you’ve always done. And the only way to get different results is to do something different.

Commit to making a real change

And so once you’ve done your research and you’ve gotten honest with yourself, the third step is really just to commit. To make a decision, and to actually get started.

Because here’s the thing—you can keep on researching and keep on learning and keep on thinking about it for as long as you want, but if you never actually make a decision, then you’ll never actually get started, and nothing will ever change.

And that’s a shame.

So once you’ve done your research and you’ve gotten honest with yourself, then I want to encourage you to make a decision and to get started.

And that might mean signing up for a program like the Thin Adapted System. Or it might mean finding a local doctor who can help you with a more sustainable, not-some-crazy-diet-plan. Or it might mean finding a health coach. Or it might mean just changing the way you shop and cook and eat, and doing more of your own research on how to do that in a way that will actually be good for your health.

The path you choose is ultimately up to you, but I think that the most important thing is just to choose a path and to actually start walking on it.

Aim for Consistency, Not Perfection

And once you’ve done that, once you’ve actually made a decision and gotten started, then the final and most important step is just to commit to CONSISTENCY—not perfection.

Because the truth is, changing your health and changing your life is not a destination, it’s a journey. It’s something that you have to commit to working on every single day. It has to become a priority. It has to become a habit. It has to become a part of your normal routine.

And honestly, that can feel really hard, especially at the beginning. Changing your health can feel overwhelming, because there is so much to learn and so much to do and so much to change.

But the key to getting through that overwhelm is to just focus on taking it one day at a time, and to focus on forming good daily habits and disciplines that will help you stay on track.

Because the reality is that you won’t be perfect, because no one is.  And so if you set yourself with the expectation that you have to change everything all at once and that you have to do it all perfectly or you’re not going to do it at all, then you are setting yourself up for failure.

And I say this all the time, but it’s worth saying again and again, as many times as it takes—big goals NEVER happen all at once—they are only the result of small steps taken consistently over time.

If you truly want to be successful in reaching your weight loss goals and getting healthy for life, then allow yourself the time to make changes that you can stick to.

Don’t go crazy trying to drastically cut your calories AND start going to the gym AND drinking all the water AND cutting out alcohol AND taking all the supplements and and and…

Because often that’s what we do, right?  We try to do it all, and we try to do it all at once, and we set ourselves up for failure with a crash diet that’s not even a little bit sustainable.

So just don’t do it.

Don’t crash and burn this January.

Let this be the year you embrace progress over perfection.

Let this be the year that you make sustainable changes you can build upon.

Let this be the year you finally get a handle on this piece of your life.

Reading this blog post is a great start.  So keep reading.

And if you haven’t already, go watch our helpful on-demand video—Happy, Healthy & Free in 2024.  It’s really good, and will help you actually map out your own personalized health plan for the next 12 months.  You can find it HERE.

Here’s to you, and to having a real plan to crush your health goals in 2024.

The post The Magic of Making a Plan for Your Health (And How to Set Yourself Up for Success) appeared first on Thinlicious.

Because frankly, it’s easy to fall off the wagon over the holidays, isn’t it? Between all the yummy comfort food and the neighbors delivering home baked goodies every 10 seconds, and the calorie-laden cocktails and even the emotional eating that tends to rear its ugly head this time of year, it’s not hard to find yourself going totally off the rails.

Or maybe you just intentionally chose to give yourself a break during the busy holiday season, knowing you could pick up where you left off come January. Honestly, that’s pretty much the approach I took this year because I knew that in this crazy season of life I’m currently in, good enough was just going to have to do.

But now, with the holidays almost behind us, I’m ready to start thinking about the NEXT season, and that’s exactly what I want to talk about today—how to actually KEEP moving forward, even when we have those moments of setback or those times when we feel like we’re totally off track.

Embracing the Journey

But before we dive into all of that, I think it’s really important to just acknowledge ONE thing about this journey towards better health, and that is this—it’s a LIFELONG journey. It’s not something that has a finish line, or a specific destination.

It’s not something that you can ever really be “done” with. And in a lot of ways, it’s not even something that’s always going to be linear, where you’re always moving forward and always making progress. And I think that’s something that we often forget, especially when we’re feeling super motivated and making a ton of progress really quickly.

It’s almost like we think that if we could just get started and get some momentum, then we’ll be able to reach our goals and then we can go back to doing what we were doing before. We think that if we can just lose those 10 pounds, then we’ll be good. Or if we can just get through that sugar detox, then we’ll be able to go back to eating the way we were. Or if we can just get through the first month of exercising every day, then we’ll be able to go back to just sitting on the couch and watching Netflix. Or whatever it is.

But that’s not how this works. If you want to actually create lasting change in your life, then you have to be willing to change your life. And I know that might sound a little bit scary—like it’s going to require a lot of effort and energy and that you’re going to have to give up all of the things you love and start doing a bunch of things you DON’T love.

But the reality is that it’s often just the little things—the small changes that we make to our daily habits and routines—that have the biggest impact on our health and our waistline. And it’s also the little things that start to slip up and get us off track.

This isn’t a journey that has an end point, and it’s not a journey where you can just do it for a little while and then go back to what you were doing before. It’s a journey that requires you to be consistent with the things that actually work for your body—the things that make you feel good and healthy and energized.

So that’s the first thing I want you to understand. This is a journey—a lifelong journey—and it’s the little things that matter most, both in moving you forward and in setting you back.

How to Give Yourself a Fresh Start

So with that in mind, how do you start fresh when you feel like you’ve gotten off track?

Well, like everything in life, it mostly comes down to MINDSET—changing the thoughts that ultimately dictate your actions. But at some point, of course you do also have to change your actions as well, right? 

So let’s talk about a few strategies that can help you start fresh and get back on track.

Stop Beating Yourself Up

The first strategy is to simply STOP beating yourself up and start practicing self-forgiveness. Because the reality is that we are often our own worst critics, and we tend to be a lot harder on ourselves than we would ever be on anyone else.

And what ends up happening is that we get caught in this cycle of self-sabotage and negative self-talk that just KEEPS us from moving forward. We tell ourselves things like “I’m so undisciplined. I’ll never be able to lose this weight. I always mess things up. What’s wrong with me?”

It’s almost like we think that by beating ourselves up and making ourselves feel as terrible as possible that somehow we’ll be motivated to change. But that’s not how it works. Because the more negative and critical we are of ourselves, the more likely we are to just keep REPEATING the same patterns of behavior that got us off track in the first place.

So the first thing you have to do is to literally just STOP the negative self-talk and start giving yourself more grace. And I know that might sound a little bit easier said than done, but I promise you that it’s a PRACTICE. It’s something that you have to intentionally CHOOSE to do, over and over again, until it becomes a HABIT.

Because the more you can focus on the positive and give yourself credit for the things you’re doing well, the more you’ll start to believe that you’re actually CAPABLE of change, and the more likely you’ll be to keep moving forward and making progress. And the reverse is also true—the more you beat yourself up and focus on all of the things you think you’re doing wrong, the more likely you’ll be to keep repeating those same mistakes.

So that’s the first thing—to simply stop focusing on all the ways you’ve messed up and instead forgive yourself enough to move forward.

Reconnect With Your WHY

The second strategy for getting back on track is to reconnect with your WHY. And I know I’ve talked about this on the podcast before, but it’s so important that I’m going to keep talking about it over and over again. Because honestly, this is the ONE thing that I see make the BIGGEST difference in people’s ability to actually achieve their goals and stay consistent with their healthy habits.

When things are going well, and you’re feeling motivated and seeing progress and getting results, it’s so easy to stay committed and stay on track. But then as soon as you hit a roadblock or a setback, or you have a few days or weeks where you’re not seeing as much progress or not feeling super motivated, it’s easy to lose sight of WHY you wanted to make these changes in the first place. And so you just kind of give up.

So that’s why it’s so important to have a really clear understanding of your WHY—of your big picture vision for your life, and what you want to be able to do and FEEL, and what you DON’T want to have to deal with anymore.

You have to connect with the EMOTIONAL reasons WHY this is so important to you, and why you’ve decided that you’re no longer willing to just stay where you’re at. Because when you have a strong enough WHY, then the HOW will always reveal itself. And when you’re feeling stuck or like you’ve gotten off track, you can always come back to that WHY and use it as your motivation to keep moving forward.

So if you’re feeling stuck right now, or worried about getting your momentum back, then I want to challenge you to take a few minutes to really reconnect with your WHY. Go back and listen to some of the early episodes of this podcast, or read some of the books that really inspired you to get started on this journey in the first place.

And if you don’t have a clear WHY yet, then take some time to really think about it and get it down on paper. Because I promise you, that will make SUCH a big difference in your ability to actually keep moving forward.

Just Start. Right Now. Imperfectly.

And once you’ve done that, then the next step is to just START. To take some kind of action, no matter how small or imperfectly, in the direction of your goals. And I know that might sound like a super simple and obvious thing, but it’s honestly where so many of us get stuck.

We wait until we’re feeling super motivated or until we have a big chunk of time to really dive in and get started. Or we keep telling ourselves that we’re just going to wait until Monday or until January 1s or until after the kids go back to school, or whatever.

But the thing is, the longer you wait to take action, the harder it’s going to be to actually get started. Because that’s when you start to build up this story in your head about how impossible it is or how you’ll never be able to do it or how you’re too far off track.

And you start to lose that little bit of momentum that you DO have. So my advice is to literally just start—to take some kind of action, no matter how small, in the direction of your goals. And that might mean something different for each of us, depending on what our specific goals are.

But I’ll give you a few examples.

If your goal is to get back on your weight loss plan, then just start right now by drinking a big glass of water and actually tracking your food intake today. Or just start by actually reading your food labels today and paying more attention to what you’re eating. Or if you’ve gotten off track with working out, then just start taking a 10 minute walk around the block. Or if you’ve been feeling really stressed and overwhelmed and like you’ve lost your focus, then just start by taking 15 minutes to do a brain dump and get all of your thoughts and to-do’s out of your head and onto paper.

Because here’s the thing—even the SMALLEST action in the direction of your goals has the power to create MOMENTUM. And once you have that momentum, it’s so much easier to keep moving forward and taking bigger and bigger steps. It’s like the old saying—a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

And the same is true for taking action in your life—once you get started, it’s so much easier to keep going. But the opposite is also true—the longer you wait to get started, the harder it will be to actually take that first step.

Create an Action Plan

So now that you’ve started and you have some momentum, the final strategy I want to talk about is creating an action plan. This doesn’t have to be anything super elaborate or overwhelming—it’s simply a way for you to map out what needs to be done in order for you to achieve your goals.

And again, this will look different for each of us based on our specific goals, but the key is to break it down into smaller, manageable steps.

And honestly, I think that’s where it is SO HELPFUL to have an actual program or proven process to follow. Obviously the one I recommend is our Thin Adapted System—AKA TAS—because it literally shows you how to implement everything I recommend in a super methodical, easy-to-follow, step-by-step way.

Our program works in four phases that are all designed to help you heal your body from the inside out—to reverse insulin resistance, heal your gut, and balance your hormones FOR LIFE so that you actually CAN take it easy over the holidays and never once feel guilty about indulging, because you know your body is now what we call metabolically flexible, and it will all be okay.

And if you want help creating your 12 month action plan for this coming year, then I strongly, STRONGLY encourage you to check out our FREE on-demand training video that we have available for you right now, which will not only help you map out your plan, but explain exactly how our program works and how it can help you reach ALL your health goals.

It’s called Healthy, Happy, and Free in 2024, and once again—it’s an on-demand video that is totally free to watch. You can find it HERE. And I promise you’ll thank me later.

The post How to Start Fresh with Your Weight Loss Plan and Get Back on Track in the New Year appeared first on Thinlicious.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the simplest things can trip you up the most? One minute you feel like you’re rocking it, then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, something derails you and sends you spiraling backwards?

Why is that?

Believe it or not, often it comes down to our WORDS—literally our self talk, and the things that we say to ourselves.

Because let me tell you, the older I get, the more I realize just how much the words we use and the way we talk to ourselves actually have a profound impact on our beliefs and our mindset, and our beliefs and mindset are what ultimately shapes our actions—the things we do and the choices we make—which in turn shapes our results.

So, to put it in very simple terms, if you’re using the wrong words, you’ll get the wrong results.

And I can tell you this is something that’s true for me too. Even as a goal setting junkie who’s been working on my own personal development for years, I still struggle with this all the time. It’s a constant battle to be intentional with my words and with my thoughts, and not let them slip back into old patterns and old ways of thinking that have not served me in the past.

And it’s been a good reminder for me that this is something that we ALL need to be aware of and to work on, pretty much ALL the time.

Because honestly, it’s not always easy. Sometimes it feels like our brains are just hardwired to focus on the negative and to look for the problems. We’re hardwired for self-protection and self-preservation, and sometimes that means we’re constantly looking for what’s going wrong, or what’s going to go wrong, or what could go wrong.

And so we say things to ourselves like “I’ll never be able to do it” or “it’s just too hard” or “I’m always going to be this way” or “I’ve always struggled with this” or “I just don’t have the willpower” or “it’s just not meant to be” or “I’m just too busy” or “I don’t have enough money” or “I’m not strong enough” or “I’m not good enough.”

And while it may seem like those are just words, they are actually incredibly powerful, because every time we say something like that, we are reinforcing a belief, not only in our conscious mind, but also in our subconscious mind, which is where our actions ultimately stem from.

And it’s those actions—or lack of action—that will always determine our results.

But what if you could change that? What if you could change your words and change your results? What if you could start to be more intentional with your language and with your self-talk, and reprogram your subconscious mind to BELIEVE that you can achieve your goals?

Honestly, that would be pretty powerful, right?

And the good news is that it’s actually possible. But the first step is always awareness. You have to first recognize the words and phrases that are holding you back in order to change them. 

The 3 most dangerous words in your vocabulary

So, let’s start by talking about the three most dangerous words in your vocabulary, at least when it comes to losing weight and getting healthy. I’ll bet you’re probably using these words all the time without even realizing it. In fact, I pretty much guarantee it, because it’s something almost everyone says, and it’s something that’s become so common in our culture that we don’t even really stop to think about it.

And those three words are “I don’t have.”

Let that sink in for just a minute. “I don’t have.”

Have you ever said that before? I’m guessing that you probably have. Maybe you’ve said it out loud, but even if you haven’t, I’m guessing that you’ve probably said it to yourself in your own head.

“I don’t have enough time.”
“I don’t have enough money.”
“I don’t have enough willpower.”
“I don’t have enough energy.”
“I don’t have the right genetics.”
“I don’t have a supportive spouse.”
“I don’t have a good metabolism.”
“I don’t have the right resources.”
“I don’t have the ability to cook healthy food.”
“I don’t have the right gym equipment.”
“I don’t have a gym membership.”
“I don’t have the right tools.”
“I don’t have the right environment.”
“I don’t have the right education.”
“I don’t have the right support system.”
“I don’t have a good plan.”
“I don’t have the ability to stay on track.”

The list goes on and on and on and on. And while all of these things may FEEL true, the reality is that they are simply not true. In fact, they are all just excuses.

None of those things are actually true. But they FEEL true, because they’re the words you’ve been using to describe your situation for so long. They’re the words you keep telling yourself over and over again. They’re the words that have become so ingrained in your mind and in your belief system that you don’t even realize you’re saying them anymore.

And those words—”I don’t have”—are incredibly dangerous, because they’re incredibly dis-empowering.

They take away your power to change, because they make you believe that you’re stuck and that you have no control over your circumstances.

And the truth is that, while you may not be able to immediately change every single circumstance in your life, you ALWAYS have a choice in how you respond to those circumstances.

You can either choose to keep telling yourself what you don’t have, and keep getting the same results. Or you can choose to start telling yourself a different story, and actually get different results.

So the question is, if you’re using the words “I don’t have” and then following it with some kind of excuse, what are you really choosing for yourself? And is that the choice you want to make?

The power of reframing

But what if you could make a different choice? What if you could change your words, and change your outcome? What if you could start to re-frame your excuses and turn them into something empowering?

Well, you can. And it starts by changing just one word. Instead of saying “I don’t have” you can start saying “I won’t.”

“I won’t make time.”
“I won’t invest the money.”
“I won’t prioritize my health.”
“I won’t change my habits.”
“I won’t get off the couch.”
“I won’t cook healthy food.”
“I won’t take care of myself.”
“I won’t get help.”
“I won’t quit the sugar.”
“I won’t do the work.”

Because that’s the truth, right? You’re not actually doing those things. You’re choosing not to do them. And again, that’s a choice you get to make. But at least when you start to recognize it as a choice, you can start to ask yourself some important questions.

Questions like “why am I choosing this?” and “is this really what I want?” and “what would happen if I chose differently?” and “what do I stand to gain, and what do I stand to lose?”

And those are really powerful questions, because they force you to take a long hard look at what you’re really saying to yourself and the stories you’ve been telling yourself for so long.

And I think you’ll be surprised at what you find. I think you’ll realize that a lot of those excuses that start with “I don’t have” are really just fear in disguise. Fear of the unknown. Fear of change. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of what other people will think. Fear of the effort required. Fear of losing the comfort and security of your current situation.

And that’s okay. Fear is a very normal emotion, and it’s something that we all have to deal with. But you don’t have to let it hold you back.

Once you realize that all of those “I don’t have” statements are just a choice, you can start to make a new choice. You can start to choose to acknowledge your fear, and then take action in spite of it. You can choose to be brave. You can choose to believe in yourself. You can choose to take small steps forward, even if you’re not 100% sure of the outcome.

And that is where the real magic happens—when you start to take action based on the new choices you’re making for yourself. Because every time you take action, no matter how small, it changes your momentum. It propels you forward. It gives you energy and confidence to keep going. It allows you to start reaping the rewards of your new choices.

And it all starts with the simple act of changing your words.

How to change your words and change your results

So, now that we’re aware of these three little words that have such a big impact on our ability to succeed—”I don’t have”—and now that we’ve talked about how dangerous and dis-empowering they can be, it’s probably worth taking a few minutes to talk about what to do next.

After all, awareness is only the first step. Once you’re aware of what you’re actually saying to yourself and the way those words are impacting your mindset, you can start to be more intentional in choosing different words.

So, how do you do that?

Well, honestly, it’s as simple as recognizing when you’re using those three little words and then making a conscious decision to choose different words.

For example, let’s say you catch yourself saying “I don’t have enough time.” Instead of saying that, you could say “this is not a priority for me right now.”

Or instead of saying “I don’t have enough money.” You could say “I’m choosing to spend my money on other things right now.”

Or instead of saying “I don’t have the right resources.” You could say “I haven’t found the right resources yet.”

Or instead of saying “I don’t have the right support system.” You could say “I’m choosing to not seek out a support system.”

And that might feel a little bit uncomfortable at first, because it forces you to take ownership over your own choices. But I promise you that it’s a lot more empowering than continuing to tell yourself the same old story.

And every time you catch yourself using those three little words and choose to re-frame your statement, you are taking back control. You are choosing your own path. You are telling yourself a new story.

And that, my friend, is where real change happens.

The post The 3 Words that are Holding You Back from Reaching Your Weight Loss Goals (and what to say instead) appeared first on Thinlicious.

There’s no other way to say it—mindset is everything.

And yet, when it comes to getting healthy or reaching your weight loss goals, we too often just try to focus on the PHYSICAL stuff right–eating the right foods, getting enough exercise, cutting the calories and tracking our steps and drinking all the water.

And then we wonder why so often, we fail.

But the reality is that your mindset is ultimately what will determine whether you are successful on this journey.  It is the only thing.  How you THINK about what you’re doing and what you’re eating and how you feel, and how you allow your THOUGHTS to play out will ultimately be the thing that makes all the difference.

And obviously that doesn’t mean we never talk about the food or what to eat and what not to eat, or the science behind our philosophy and how that all works from a very practical and logistical standpoint.  Obviously we do, and there are plenty of articles here on this site that talk about the nitty gritty details.

But in the end, it will always come down to your thoughts and to your mindset.

What is an Abundance Mindset?

So what exactly IS an Abundance Mindset?

Well, to put it simply, it’s an outlook or perspective on life that focuses on the idea that there is always enough–enough love, enough joy, enough resources–for everyone. It’s the belief that there is always more than enough to go around.

It means believing in yourself and your ability to create the life you want. It means trusting that you have everything you need within you to achieve your goals and dreams, and that any setbacks or challenges are just temporary roadblocks on your journey to success.

And specifically when it comes to health and weight loss,  having an abundance mindset means understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all approach and that what works for someone else may not necessarily work for you. It means letting go of the all-or-nothing, black and white thinking that so often trips us up–the idea that if we can’t do it perfectly, or if we mess up, we should just quit or not do it at all.

So what’s the opposite of this?  A scarcity mindset, where we believe that there is only a limited amount of success and happiness to go around, and that if someone else achieves it, then there’s less for us. It’s the “not enough” mentality–not smart enough, not pretty enough, not thin enough.

And when it comes to health and weight loss, your scarcity mindset keeps you focused on everything you’re NOT getting, right?   Not enough treats, not enough carbs or fats, not enough fun and enjoyment. It creates a constant feeling of deprivation and restriction that’s nearly impossible to sustain long-term.

But when you shift your mindset from scarcity to abundance, everything changes. Suddenly, instead of focusing on what you’re NOT getting, you start to appreciate and be grateful for all the things you DO have. You start to see opportunities and possibilities instead of limitations and roadblocks.

Suffice to say, your mindset is everything.

How to cultivate an abundance mindset in your life

So what then?  How do you actually develop a better mindset and cultivate this idea of more abundance in your life?  How do you step out of that scarcity mentality and into abundance?  What are the actual practical things you can do? 

Because it’s hard to change your thoughts sometimes, especially when you’re stressed and overwhelmed.  But you have to try. Because you actually have a lot more control over how you think than we often realize.

So here are a few practical ways to start cultivating an abundance mindset:

Practice gratitude

The first is to start actively practicing gratitude in your life. And this is critically important, because we tend to see the things we allow ourselves to see.  And so, if we keep telling ourselves the world is bad and everything sucks and people are jerks and getting healthy means missing out on everything good in the world, then that is exactly what we will see.  All the time.  We’ll only get confirmation of the bad things, because that’s what we’re open to receiving.

But when you start intentionally practicing gratitude for everything around you, it changes everything!  It makes you open to all the ways the universe is actually working in your favor.  It makes you open to the miracles that are happening every day, all around you. 

So practice gratitude.  Make it a habit.  Take some time each day to intentionally think about and write down things you are grateful for. And I promise it will have a powerful impact on your life, and help shift your focus from what you lack to what you have.

Celebrate small wins

Along those same lines, the next way you can cultivate abundance in your life is to celebrate your small wins.  And this is especially huge when you’re on a journey to lose weight and get healthy, and it sometimes feels like it’s going SO SLOW, right?

But instead of waiting for a big success, or some magic number on the scale, celebrate the small victories along the way. Focus on the non-scale victories.  The little things.  And write them down.  Every day.  Overtime, this will help you see progress and feel more confident in your abilities, and open you up to how much progress you’re making.

Surround yourself with positivity

The next thing you gotta do is actually intentionally surround yourself with positivity.  And I can’t say enough about this either.  Because ultimately, garbage in, garbage out, right?  If you’re around negative people and negative energy all the time, that’s what you’ll start to pick up on.  If what you’re consuming online is negative and nasty, that’s what’s filling your head.  So take a break from it.  Take a break from all the bad news.  Take a break from the people who bring you down.

And instead, seek out a constant flow of POSITIVE energy in your life.  Spend time with people who have an abundance mindset.  Spend time with people who cheer you on and lift you up and encourage you to be your best self.  Spend time with people who refuse to focus on the bad.   And not only that, fill your head with good stuff.  Listen to podcasts that energize and inspire you, or audio books that motivate you.  Create a constant flow of positivity, and it will flow out of you.

Visualize success

And finally, it’s important to actually visualize success.  Our thoughts have so much power over us, and when we can actually allow ourselves to SEE in our mind the future that we want, it changes things. 

I actually just had this conversation with my daughter yesterday while we were driving to school, as she was getting ready for her cheerleader tryout. And I told her, “all day today you need to visualize yourself doing the routine, and doing it exactly the way you want to, because your thoughts are powerful.”  I don’t know if she actually listened, and as of this recording I don’t know if she made the team, but it doesn’t change the fact that our thoughts are powerful.

So imagine yourself achieving your goals and living your best life. Picture in your mind what you actually want, and visualize yourself having those things.  

I promise it will keep you motivated.

Final Thoughts

It may not be easy to change your mindset, but it is always worth the effort. An abundance mindset can transform your life in ways you never thought possible. By shifting your focus from scarcity to abundance, you open yourself up to opportunities and experiences that align with your goals and dreams.

So don’t let fear or negative thinking hold you back. Embrace an abundant mindset and watch as new possibilities unfold before you. Remember, your mindset is the foundation for everything in your life. So why not choose to cultivate one that empowers you and brings out your full potential? Start today and see where it takes you!

The post The Power of An Abundance Mindset for Reaching Your Health & Weight Loss Goals appeared first on Thinlicious.

Ever wish someone would just hand you a plan for whatever it is you want to accomplish so that you know exactly what steps to take, and in what order?

No matter what you want to accomplish in life, there are so many times where it’s really, really good to have a plan.  Because otherwise we just look at this big goal, this big thing we want to accomplish that looks so far away, and we get overwhelmed and frustrated before we even begin

And when it comes to getting healthy, I know how vitally important this is, because for so long in my own journey to lose weight, I just didn’t have that.

But at some point, a few years ago, I finally had an epiphany–a moment where I knew I needed to do something dramatically different than anything I had ever tried before.

The only question was WHAT?

So for the first time ever, instead of just diving into yet another diet plan, I decided to step back and do some research.  To actually figure out what works and what doesn’t.  To learn about the science of weight loss, and why we gain weight in the first place.

And then I created a plan.  A whole new framework, if you will.

And you know what else?  It worked.

I lost 40 pounds in 6 months.  Without drugs, without dieting, and without making myself miserable. And not only that, I’ve kept that weight off for several years now.

Because for me there is NO going back.  This is the solution I wish I would have had years ago.

And honestly that’s why I’m here. Why I started Thinlicious, why I take the time to record my podcast and write a blog post every week, even when I’m totally scrambling to get it done.

I can’t not share it, because it has changed my life in every way imaginable.  I have more energy.  I’m happier & have more fun. My joints don’t hurt and I don’t collapse in bed at the end of the day.  I dare to wear clothes I would have never worn before.  Sex is better. I look YEARS younger. There isn’t a part of my life that hasn’t been transformed, and it’s too good not to share it.  Because the solution is SO simple

And it starts with these three keys to mapping out your health plan.

Key #1: Don’t Try to Do Everything All At Once

The first key is to take it slowly and not try to do everything all at once. Trust me, I understand the urge to just jump in and change everything immediately, but that’s actually just a recipe for burnout and failure.

And I was the exact same way.  Diet after diet after diet.  And not only that, every time I decided to diet, it was the exact same story.  Cut my calories.  Exercise like crazy.  DO all the things.  Because that’s what we do, right?

We eat less and exercise more, because that’s what all the experts tell us to do.

And it wasn’t until I took a step back to look at the bigger picture that I finally realized the problem wasn’t just with my diet, it was a whole lot deeper than that.  Yes, food is obviously one important piece, but I had other problems too, that I had never considered before.  I was expecting everything to happen way too fast.  I also didn’t understand HOW certain foods were affecting my hormones.  And wasn’t focused on my mindset.  I just wanted instant gratification. 

But now, through my own journey and also after working with thousands of women in our program these past couple of years, I’ve actually realized what the framework success looks like and why it works.

I call this framework the Thin Adapted System.  And that’s the framework that our TAS program is based on.

And the reason it’s so powerful is that it accounts for the fact that true, sustainable weight loss doesn’t happen all at once, and only for one reason. 

Instead, it happens in phases, and in order to be effective, each of those phases have to have a clear objective with clear milestones, and they’ve got to address both the physical and emotional aspects of weight loss, while also being based on proven metabolic science that actually works.  If you take away any one of those pieces, it won’t work.

So in Phase 0, you’re not even really changing anything quite yet. And a lot of people skip this phase, but it’s probably the most important. Because the objective of this phase is to both mentally and physically prepare yourself for transformation.  And that’s a big deal, because it is what will set you up for long term success.

Next, there’s Phase 1—what we call the Acclimate Phase.  And the objective of this phase is to actually “flip the switch” on your metabolism and get your body to become what we call “Thin Adapted”, which is kinda like if your body was a car running on low-grade fuel, and all the sudden you switch it to high octane and it starts running way better. It’s awesome.  So that’s the goal.

From there, you move into Phase 2—the Ignite Phase. And how long you stay in THIS phase will really depend on how much weight you want or need to lose.  Typically most people in this phase of our program will lose 1-2 pounds a week, so it could be anywhere from 3-12 months or more.

Honestly, I think where so many of us go wrong is that we think weight loss is supposed to happen much faster than it actually does. Because any time you’re trying to lose weight, the first 10 pounds or so that you lose are usually water weight, and that water weight comes off fast. But FAT comes off a whole lot slower. So your weight loss slows down and then you get frustrated because you feel like it’s not working. So you’ve got to make sure that you’ve adjusted your expectations and that your mindset is in the right place so that you don’t start self-sabotaging.

And then finally, there’s Phase 3—the Maintain Phase.  Because, believe it or not, your health journey DOESN’T END just because you’ve reached your goal.  And the Maintain Phase is where you get to stay for the rest of your life, because the main objective of this phase is to establish healthy habits that you can easily maintain, while you continually challenge yourself to level up.

A lot of times we don’t think about this either–what it means to establish new healthy habits for life. We just go back to our old ways. But it’s important to be intentional here, because the longer you’ve had to establish BAD habits, the longer it is going to take to permanently replace those with new, better habits.

So that’s the first key…Not trying to change everything all at once.

But there’s another piece that’s really important, and that’s making sure that the physical changes you DO make are actually based on what WORKS–not just following the same old bad advice.

Key #2: Stop Relying on Willpower

And that’s why Key #2 then, is to stop relying on willpower to lose weight and get healthy! Because often what we think is the problem is that we just don’t have enough WILLPOWER to be successful, and that’s why all these diets we all keep trying don’t work.  Right? 

Because as women, we’re really good at internalizing all that blame.  It can’t be the SYSTEM that’s flawed….it must be US.  And I know, because I was the exact same way.

For so many years, I tried diet after diet, all handing out the exact same advice in a slightly different way:  just eat fewer calories.

But they always failed. I could never stick with them long enough to see any real results.  And then I’d get so hungry that the minute I fell off the wagon, I’d eat everything in sight and gain all the weight back….usually and then some. 

But when I started diving into the actual research, I discovered something that literally changed everything.

Weight loss is about how the foods you eat impact your hormones. 

It has nothing to do with calories.

And that means the only real way to lose weight in a sustainable way is to focus on eating the right things that will impact your hormones in the right way.  And yet, that’s not what anyone tells us to do, isn’t it?

And the reality is that there’s actually a much better solution. It’s a framework I call the NO WILLPOWER SOLUTION.  And it’s very simple.  It looks like this:

So that’s the second big key to mapping out your health plan–stop relying on willpower.

Key #3: Focus on Healing Your Body, Not Shedding Pounds

But the third key takes this concept one step deeper–it’s to focus on healing your body instead of just shedding pounds.

Because we tend to believe that the reason we don’t feel good or we’re struggling with a variety of health issues–whether it’s type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure or inflammation or heartburn–is because we’re overweight. And that’s often what our doctor tells us too.

And for so long, I thought my excess weight was the problem too.  I thought the reason I was so exhausted all the time, and that I was puffy and inflamed, and that my joints hurt and that I’d have headaches all the time was because I was overweight and out of shape.  And so I kept trying to FIX the problem by dieting—by treating the excess WEIGHT as the problem.

What I didn’t realize is that the weight wasn’t actually the problem—it was just a SYMPTOM of a much bigger problem.  Not only that, all the other health issues I was struggling with were symptoms of the SAME underlying problem.  Not realizing that this was really just like putting a bandaid on a shotgun wound….a totally superficial solution to a problem that was actually SO much bigger than I realized. 

And that means that the real key to permanent health and weight loss success is to fix the root causes at the sources.  You’ve got to actually heal your body from the inside out.  You’ve got to address the insulin resistance and the hormonal imbalance and the leaky gut that have created ALL of your other health issues, including your weight gain. 

And when you actually fix the root cause of your problems, the weight just comes off. Your body rebalances itself. It’s easy.

So focus on healing your body, not shedding pounds–that’s the third key.

A Few Final Thoughts

There’s SO much more I could say, but this blog post is already pretty long so I’m going to try to wrap things up.

But I want to leave you with this….

• What would happen if you stopped trying to change everything all at once and instead slowed down and made sure you were not just focusing on food, but on your heart and your head as well?
• What would happen if you stopped relying on WILLPOWER and started getting your hormones to work FOR you instead of against you?
• What would happen if you started healing your body from the inside out, instead of focused on just trying to shed a few pounds?

12 months from now, your life could look completely different. You could finally be FREE.

And that’s what I want so much for you. Truly. I want it for everyone. Because now I’ve experienced it, and I know how life-changing it is.

So if you want to dig deeper with me, and actually SEE the frameworks that I just described to you in action, be sure to catch the encore presentation of our Healthy Happy and Free workshop.  It’s a game changer.

The post  The 3 Keys to Mapping Out a Clear Plan for Better Health appeared first on Thinlicious.

Is the life you’re living right now the life you actually want?

It’s not a question we always dare to ask ourselves, because quite frankly….we might not like the answer.

And yet, every now and then, I think it’s important to step back and look at the bigger picture and get honest with ourselves about where we’re at right now…..and where we want to go.

It’s actually the question that inspired me to put together my upcoming FREE workshop, Healthy, Happy & Free in 2024. 

My goal is to help you lay out a clear path for transforming your health–and really your whole life–over the next 12 months. It’s going to be SO fun and empowering and honestly I think it is going to be life changing for everyone who attends.

Because so often we just get STUCK not moving forward because trying to figure out how to get from where we are right now to where we want to be just feels so big and so hard and so overwhelming.

So if you haven’t had a chance to register yet, be sure to do that HERE, because it’s going to be awesome. Truly.

But as I’ve been preparing for this workshop, it’s had me thinking SO MUCH about this topic of just living a life that is healthy, happy & FREE and what that actually means.

Because it’s a big deal.

And it’s also made me realize that in order to actually CREATE the life you want, to find that health and happiness and freedom, you’ve got to get some CLARITY on what that actually looks like.

I talk to SO many women that tell me they just don’t know what they actually want.

I think it’s maybe this stage of life that so many of us in our 40s and 50’s and even beyond that get to, where we’ve spent the last 20 or 30 years just trying to raise our kids and pursue our careers and do all the things, and then suddenly we wake up one day and realize that life is passing us by and our kids don’t need us as much as they used to and yet we haven’t really spent any time intentionally pursuing the things that matter to us or crafting a life that feels meaningful.

It’s like there’s this void and we don’t know how to fill it. We don’t even totally know what it is that we want, we just know that there’s a part of us that feels like something is missing. So we just keep doing all the things, hoping that someday it will all make sense.

But over the course of my own journey, which I talk about in more detail in this week’s podcast episode, what I’ve learned is that you can run and run and run and keep running from yourself and from all the things you are trying to avoid, but eventually it WILL catch up to you.

There WILL be a reckoning.

Something will happen that will force you to reevaluate where you’re at and where you’re going, like a mirror being held up in front of your face, where you’ll be able to see yourself clearly and you’ll have to ask yourself “do I like what I see?”

For some people it’s a tragedy. For others it’s losing your job or getting divorced or facing a financial crisis or even a global pandemic.

And all the sudden you’ll realize that you need to get clear about what you really want.

Why Clarity Matters

Because here’s the thing…..without clarity, you’ll only ever be DRIFTING.

And believe me, it’s easy to drift. Honestly, most of us spend our whole lives drifting, not really sure where we’re going or why.

We just go through the motions, doing what’s expected of us and what everyone else is doing. We follow trends and societal norms without ever stopping to question if it’s actually what we want for ourselves.

But drifting is dangerous. Because when you’re not actively steering your own ship, you can easily end up in waters you never wanted to be in.

And the worst part? You won’t even realize it until it’s too late.

Clarity, on the other hand, is like a compass that guides us towards the life we truly want. It helps us make decisions and take actions that align with our values and goals. It gives us a sense of direction and purpose.

So clarity matters. A LOT. In fact, it might be the most important thing you ever do for yourself.

But then, of course, the question becomes HOW.

How can you actually get clear about what you want?

There’s actually a few steps I recommend that you take.

Step One: Self-Assess

The first step to getting clear is to take a good, hard look at yourself and your life and where you’re at right now. And honestly, this isn’t always an easy process. It’s that holding up the mirror, and sometimes–if you realize that you don’t totally like what you see, it can be a little painful!

So what would happen if you gave yourself a score, on the scale of 1-10, in the following areas of your life right now?

Health

For your health score, a 10 would mean you are completely satisfied with your current health and weight. You look and feel your absolute best, you’ve got endless amounts of energy, and you’re free of chronic pain, inflammation, digestive issues, and brain fog. You don’t think it would be possible to look or feel any healthier than you do right now.

On the other end of the spectrum, a 1 would mean you are completely UNsatisfied with your current health and weight. On the BMI scale you are classified as obese or overweight, and you’re struggling with a variety of health issues, including possibly Type 2 Diabetes or pre-diabetes, inflammation, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heartburn, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and brain fog. Essentially, you are deeply concerned about your health right now.

And chances are, you’re somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. But if you were to think about it and actually give yourself a number, what would it be?

Happiness

Then, for your happiness score, a 10 would mean you feel totally happy and satisfied with your life most of the time. Your relationships are good, you have a deep sense of meaning and purpose, you laugh regularly, you’re motivated and energized, and you continually seek out opportunities for personal growth.

Or, on the other end of the spectrum, a 1 would mean you feel completely UNhappy or dissatisfied with your life most of the time. You struggle with depression and anxiety, lack healthy & positive relationships, feel stuck and unmotivated, and have trouble envisioning anything different than your current situation.

And again, it’s likely that your score would fall somewhere in between those two extremes, but if you really stop to think where you’re at in terms of happiness and satisfaction in your life right now, what would that number be?

Freedom

And then, for your final number–your FREEDOM score–a 10 would mean that right now you feel completely free to pursue your goals and dreams, without feeling like there is anything holding you back. You say yes to new opportunities. You dare to take risks, and don’t feel fearful or burdened by outside events or other people’s expectations. The people around you support your goals and cheer you on.

Or, on the other side, a 1 would mean that right now you feel completely stuck to the point you are unable to even think about pursuing any goals and dreams. You find yourself constantly saying no, even to activities and interests that you used to enjoy. You avoid risks and often find yourself consumed with fear and anxiety about world events or other people’s thoughts and actions. You don’t feel like you have a good support system around you.

So for your freedom score, where does your number fall?

(And just so you know, you’ll actually get access to a workbook with this assessment and some additional helpful reflection questions as soon as you register for our free workshop, so be sure to do that right away.)

So that’s really the first step…..you got to be honest with yourself about where you’re at right now.

Step Two: Ask Yourself What You Want

The next step, then, is to actually spend some time thinking about what you truly want in each of these three areas of your life–health, happiness, and freedom.

And while that sounds simple, it’s not, especially when you’re feeling overwhelmed and stuck and unsure

But you have to FORCE yourself to actually start thinking about it.

And honestly, it can’t just be thinking in your head. You need to journal on it. A lot.

You’ve got to ask yourself the question, over and over again, “what do I want?”

A few years ago, as I was going through my own personal identity crisis, this is exactly what my husband kept saying to me.

He’d ask, “honey, what is that you want? You don’t seem happy. What does winning look like to you? What do you really want?”

And then a close friend told me that I needed to journal EVERY DAY on the same 2 questions–”what do I want, and what is it going to take to get there?”  She told me that the more I journaled on just that question, the more clarity I would be able to find.

She was right. They were both right. I’m lucky I have good people in my life giving me really good advice, because it was exactly what I needed.

And so that’s the advice I’m going to give you too. If you need more clarity then you need to sit with that question. What do I actually want? What do I want for my health? What do I want for my happiness? What do I want for my freedom?

So that’s step two–ask yourself what you want, over and over again.

Step Three: Make a Plan

The third and final step, once you’ve started to get more clarity on what it is you actually want, is to make a plan to get there.

Because the reality is that nearly everything you want out of life IS possible, even the things that feel impossible right now.

I think so often we just shut ourselves down before we’ve even gotten started because we just get overwhelmed or impatient, when the reality is that there is very little any of us aren’t capable of with enough time and effort and focus.

I say this all the time, but big goals never happen all at once. They are only EVER the result of small steps taken consistently over time. And so to make those big goals happen, you just have to figure out how to break it down into manageable bites.

That’s really all a plan is. It’s this big thing that you want, broken down into smaller and smaller pieces that you can actually tackle one at a time.

The way I often like to do this in both my business and my personal life is to look at a BIG goal, and think, “if I were to achieve this goal, what are the 5 things that need to happen, the 5 major milestones I would need to make happen first? And then from there, I break down each of those 5 major milestones into 5 smaller milestones. And what I end up with is basically a roadmap for what I want to do.

And from there it’s just a matter of accomplishing each step.

While that might sound too simplistic to actually work, it’s actually incredibly powerful. 

So make a plan–that’s step three. But only AFTER you’ve gotten clarity on where you want to go.

A Few Final Thoughts

Getting clarity made me realize what actually matters in my life, and what’s truly important to me.

It restored my marriage. It transformed my health. It changed the focus of my business, and even how I operate as a leader. It transformed my friendships and helped create so much more joy and FUN in my life. And it reignited my faith and my spiritual journey too.

There isn’t a part of my life that isn’t better as a result of getting more clarity.

And I promise it can do the same for you.

So join me next week–either November 5th or 6th for my free workshop, and in the meantime get your workbook and DO the prework! 

It’s going to be a game changer, and I can’t wait to see you there!

The post How to get clear about what you want (and create a life that’s healthy, happy & free.) appeared first on Thinlicious.

Here’s a truth bomb for you: diets don’t work.

I think on some level, we all know that. 

And yet we keep trying. 

The average woman has been on 8 diets just in the past year. And every time we fail, thinking we’re the problem, we feel a little bit worse about ourselves. 

Frankly it’s BS and I’m sick of it.

That’s why today I want to set the record straight.

Because honestly, I know exactly how it feels.

I struggled with my own weight for YEARS, and I tried all the things. One diet after another.  Working out with a personal trainer.  Running a half marathon.  I even considered liposuction.

And it’s not that I NEVER would lose any weight.  Sometimes I’d lose 5 or 10 or even 15 pounds.  Once I even lost close to 25 pounds, which felt pretty amazing.

But then I would gain it back.

Every single time.

And not only gain it back, but gain it back PLUS a little extra for good measure.

For years I was on this yo-yo cycle of on-again, off-again diets, alternating between feeling miserable because I couldn’t eat, and feeling miserable because I had again eaten too much or totally blown it.

Losing weight then gaining it back.  Over and over and over again.

And if you’ve ever struggled with this, then you probably know what I’m talking about.

It takes its toll.

Because often this battle to lose weight, to get a handle on our eating habits, it feels SO isolating and lonely.

We don’t want to talk about it, because we’re embarrassed.

And there’s so much shame that happens when we don’t feel good about ourselves and our body.  It erodes our confidence.  It changes the way we put ourselves out into the world.  It affects our relationships and our sex life.

And it’s exhausting.

And it doesn’t matter if you’re 100 pounds overweight or 20 pounds overweight, because perception is reality. And if you don’t feel good about yourself and your body, then it doesn’t really matter what the scale says. 

And that shame was affecting so many other parts of my life.

But then finally one day, I hit my breaking point. 

I saw a picture someone else had taken of me, and It was the heaviest I had ever been.  And when I saw that picture it was like seeing myself through someone else’s eyes for the first time.

It was the moment I realized something needed to give.

But after SO many previous failures, I also knew I had to stop with the dieting and actually commit to a permanent lifestyle change.  I needed to find a way of eating that would work for my crazy busy life. 

And so, for the first time ever, instead of just jumping into another fad diet, I decided to do something different.

Honestly, I just did what I do best–I started taking a deep dive into ALL the research and the science of sustainable weight loss.  I took what I knew about what had actually worked for me in the past, and compared it to a lot of studies & data related to how our metabolism actually works.

And as I started learning all this stuff, I started to apply what I was learning to my own life. I started to change the way I ate and created a better system–the system we now call TAS (which stands for Thin Adapted System)–for healing my body from the inside out. Along the way, I lost more than 40 pounds but also became SO passionate about sharing what I’ve learned with as many people as I can.

And I think the biggest thing I want to share is honestly just this one simple thing:

DIETS DON’T WORK.

And the really sad thing to me is that I think that for most of us, our experience tells us this is true. Because I know MY story is so similar to SO many women that I talk to. We’ve all tried a million and one diets, and they’ve all failed. 

And yet, we keep going back to the same old diets, hoping that this time it will be different. t’s like we’re all suffering from this weird form of cognitive dissonance, where even though the evidence clearly points us to one conclusion, we keep believing it must be something else.

But if you can actually open your eyes to the truth that diets don’t work and will never work, that’s also when you can open yourself up to the possibility of something that actually does work.

The 3 Big Reasons Diets Always Fail

So let’s talk about why diets fail, and why they will always and forever be nothing but an exercise in frustration and misery that don’t actually lead to lasting results.

First, most diets are not sustainable long term.

Most diets, in one way or another, require you to dramatically cut back on calories and restrict what you are eating. This alone is not sustainable because all it does is put your body into starvation mode. And when your body is in starvation mode, literally all you can think about is food.

And there’s actually a reason for that–your body is designed first and foremost to ensure your survival–to keep your heart pumping and your blood flowing and your organs working. And if it senses that it’s not getting what it needs, it will constantly be sending you signals and cravings to remind you that you need more food and nutrients and energy.

So you might think that you’re weak or that you just need more willpower, but the reality is that it’s impossible to fight the way your body was biologically designed. Eventually you will give in because the cravings will be too strong.

But it’s not just the calorie restriction and deprivation that isn’t sustainable. A lot of time these diet plans are SO complicated and require special foods or they don’t allow you to eat out or you have to cook something separate for yourself or it’s just a big giant pain in the you know what. And that’s not sustainable either.

Because you have to be able to live your life. You still need to be able to go out to eat and go on vacation and if you’re a mom you still have to cook for your family and you still have to live your life. And most diets make it hard to just live your life. It’s like taking on a second full time job.

Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time for another full time job. Whatever I do, it has to feel easy. Because easy is sustainable.

Second, most diets are based on outdated science.

But maybe an even bigger problem with most diets is that they’re based on outdated science that doesn’t actually work and isn’t actually true.

Almost every single diet is based on the same totally misguided idea that weight loss is all a matter of “calories in and calories out.” Basically, if you want to lose weight, you just have to eat less and exercise more, and consume fewer calories than you are burning. And while that all sounds well and good, and even seems to make sense, it’s actually not true.

What most people don’t realize is that your body is already burning thousands and thousands and thousands of calories every single day, just to keep you alive–just to keep your heart pumping and your blood flowing. And most people simply can’t eat that many calories so the problem really isn’t that you’re eating too much. If it really was about calories in and calories out, we’d all be skinny because we’re all burning a crazy number of calories a day–so many that our body actually has to CREATE more energy.

So if that’s true, why do we still gain weight and have so much trouble losing it? It’s because it’s not just about calories in and calories out. Actually, your body has a really complex system of hormones that play a huge role in weight gain and loss.

And the problem is that almost every diet does nothing to address those hormones–they keep focusing on the outdated idea of “calories in versus calories out” when they should actually be looking at how to regulate and balance your hormones.

Third, most diets don’t address the underlying root causes of weight gain.

You see, weight gain is not just about eating too much or not exercising enough. It’s often a symptom of something else going on in your body–something that is out of balance and needs to be addressed, both physiologically and often emotionally.

From a physiological perspective, the primary root causes of weight gain include insulin resistance, leaky gut syndrome, and hormonal imbalance, all three of which we’ve talked about quite a bit here on this podcast. And these underlying issues can be exacerbated from a variety of factors, such as chronic stress, poor diet and nutrition, lack of sleep, and even certain medications.

But if you’re only trying to cut calories and not actually working to HEAL your body from the inside out, in many cases you’ll just end up making things worse. And that’s why most diets fail–because they don’t actually address the root causes of weight gain.

But there’s also an emotional component to weight gain that many diets completely overlook. Our relationship with food is often tied to our emotions, and we often use food as a coping mechanism for stress, boredom, or other emotional triggers. Most diets don’t address this aspect of weight gain and fail to provide tools or support for dealing with emotional eating.

How to Stop Dieting & Instead Transform Your Health for Life

So what’s the solution? How can we finally break free from the dieting cycle and actually create lasting change in our health and weight?

Honestly, I believe it starts with a mindset shift. We need to be willing to let go of the idea that diets are the answer, and the belief that there’s some sort of “quick fix” out there, and instead be willing to take a sustainable, long-term approach to your health.

And this is hard! I know it’s hard, because I’ve struggled with it too!

I am an instant gratification kind of person, and I tend to want what I want right now. I don’t want to have to wait. I don’t want to have to have it take a long time.

But when I look back at my own journey I see just how ironic that is.

Because I spent years and years and years on that yo yo diet cycle, always looking for a “quick fix” that never actually worked long term. I wasted so much time, so many precious years of my life trying to “lose weight fast,” when the reality is that what I needed was a sustainable lifestyle change.

Because when I finally committed to changing my lifestyle for life, and when I finally did developed a system that was SO easy and SO delicious and SO sustainable that I knew I could easily eat this way for the rest of my life without ever feeling deprived, then the weight loss and health transformation actually happened pretty fast–especially when I look back on it.

I lost 40 pounds in six months, and I’ve kept it off for years.

And so to me, that’s the big secret.

It’s settling in for the long haul.

It’s realizing that what got you to here–whatever weight you’re at, and whatever health issues you’re struggling with–didn’t happen overnight. You didn’t just wake up one morning and find yourself 50 pounds overweight, with all your joints aching and having indigestion and heartburn and feeling totally exhausted all the time.

It happened slowly, a little bit at a time.

And reversing all of that, actually healing your body from the inside out and fixing the ROOT CAUSES of your weight gain so that your metabolism can start functioning the way it is supposed to again–all of that will take some time too. And not only that, even if you lose the weight, you need to make sure you’re setting yourself up with sustainable HABITS that you can stick with long term.

So how much time should you give yourself?

Well, honestly, I recommend committing to at least one full year.

Enough time that you can make the necessary changes slowly and actually see the benefit of long-term results, and also long enough to make your new habits stick.

That’s what I’ve experienced in my own journey, but it’s also what we’re seeing in our program with our clients who have now been in for a year or more–the long term health benefits just keep compounding for them, and it’s pretty incredible to watch.

And honestly, I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and thinking about how it might be helpful to create some sort of actual path for people to follow–sort of a one-year health road map that lays out the blueprint for a sustainable health and weight loss journey.

If you’re interested in seeing this blueprint and understanding how it can help you, I’m going to be hosting a couple of free LIVE workshops on November 5th and 6th, and I really hope you can join me. It’s going to be really fun and interactive and my goal is for you to walk away with your own blueprint for transforming your health over the next 12 months.

So if you want to join me for this live workshop, which is called Healthy, Happy & FREE in 2024, all you need to do is register HERE.  And once again, the workshop is totally free to attend–you just have to get registered.

I’ll see you there!

The post The 3 Big Reasons Diets Always Fail (and What You Should Do Differently) appeared first on Thinlicious.

It’s definitely that time of year–the time of year when everyone around you starts getting sick.

And I don’t know about you, but I absolutely hate getting sick–it feels like such a waste of time, when I’ve got so much other more important stuff to do.

So if I can avoid sickness as much as possible, then I am all for it.

Of course, as always, anytime we’re talking about medical conditions and specific health issues, I just want to start with the disclaimer that I am not a doctor. What I’m going to share with you today is NOT medical advice, and should not be taken as such–it’s just MY OPINION based on what I’ve learned from doing my own research and what I’ve seen work for me and my family.

Why We Get Sick During Cold and Flu Season

So first things first–why do we even get sick in the first place during this time of year? Well, there are a lot of reasons for this but the main culprit is that we’re all just spending so much more time together indoors.

We’re heading back to school and back to work after summer vacations, which means we’re in close contact with other people–and their germs–all day long. And then as the weather gets colder, we tend to spend even more time indoors, which just increases our exposure to those germs.

Not only that, the colder weather and dry air can actually weaken our immune systems, making us even more susceptible to getting sick.

But it’s not just about being around other people and their germs–it’s also about the state of our own bodies. When we’re under stress–whether it’s from lack of sleep, poor nutrition, feeling like we’ve got too much to do, ramping up for the busy holiday season, or just dealing with a lot of changes in our lives–our immune system can also become compromised, making it easier for us to catch whatever is going around.

So basically it’s like the perfect storm–higher stress levels, colder weather, and more exposure to germs.

And if you’re traveling, your chances of getting sick are even higher!

That was definitely MY problem last week–I traveled to a conference where I spent 4 super intense days in close proximity with 5,000 people. I didn’t sleep a whole lot, didn’t drink enough water, didn’t eat super great, and basically just sort of ran myself into the ground. And within a day of getting home, it all caught up with me.

And you know that feeling, right? When you KNOW you’re getting sick, because all the sudden you can feel it in the back of your throat and you feel it coming on. The worst.

And then of course I passed it on to my husband and then to my daughter, so even after I was feeling better they were still dealing with the repercussions. And my poor daughter was so mad because it was homecoming week and she’s a senior and she did NOT want to miss out!

Not fun.

So what’s the solution? Because obviously we can’t just lock ourselves up in a bubble and avoid the whole world for six months of the year, right? It’s not super practical.

Things You Can Do to Avoid Getting Sick

Thankfully there are actually a lot of things you can do to avoid getting sick and naturally boost your immune system. They’re not instant fixes, but they are general practices that will help build up your resistance to a lot of the germs that are out there, so you’re not constantly coming down with something. In fact, some people who follow these practices report that they rarely get sick at all!

So in no particular order, here are some things you can start doing TODAY to supercharge your immune system and stay healthy during cold and flu season:

• EAT WELL. We talk a lot about food on this website and about what you should be eating as part of a healthy diet in order to reduce insulin resistance and heal your gut, so I won’t go super deep into that here. But basically a whole food diet that is low in sugar and carbohydrates and avoids most processed & inflammatory foods, and that is high in protein and includes plenty of healthy fats is the very best way to keep your body healthy all the time. It just is. And if this becomes the lifestyle you adapt to, over time you will not only feel better in general, you’ll improve your ability to fight off germs and all those bugs and viruses going around.
• SLEEP WELL. Sleep is always important, but especially during cold and flu season! Getting enough good quality sleep is essential for your immune system to function properly. So make sure you’re getting at least 7-9 hours of sleep per night–and if this is something you struggle with, then really focus on getting intentional about doing whatever you can to improve your sleep, whether it’s creating a better nighttime routine, shutting off all electronics a few hours before bed, or incorporating some sort of meditation or relaxation ritual.
• DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. Dehydration can weaken your immune system, so make sure you’re drinking plenty of water throughout the day. You may also want to consider adding in some quality sugar-free electrolyte powder once or twice a day as well. Herbal teas, especially green tea, are also full of natural antioxidants. But stay away from soda and other sugary drinks!
• TAKE SUPPLEMENTS. There are a lot of supplements you could take that will help boost your immune system, and it’s a good idea to check with a healthcare professional before starting any new ones. But here are some general recommendations for the specific immunity boosting supplements I like to take every day this time of year:
  • Vitamin D. Most people are deficient in vitamin D during winter months when we’re not out in the sun as much, and this deficiency can greatly affect our immune system. So make sure you’re supplementing with a high-quality vitamin D supplement.
  • Probiotics. A healthy gut is essential for overall health and a strong immune system, so consider taking a good probiotic to keep your gut flora in balance.
  • Vitamin C. This antioxidant is known for its immune-boosting properties. You can either take a supplement or increase your intake of vitamin C-rich foods like citrus fruits, strawberries, and leafy greens.
  • Zinc. Zinc is essential for proper immune system function and may help reduce the duration of colds and flu. It’s also important for wound healing and maintaining healthy skin.
  • Quercetin. This antioxidant has anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties, making it a great supplement for fighting off infections.
• REDUCE STRESS. Stress can have a major impact on your immune system, making you way more susceptible to illness. That means that if you’ve got a lot going on, or a lot weighing on you, it’s important to find ways to actively manage and reduce stress in your life. Sometimes that might mean cutting back on activities, or hiring help if you’ve got too much to do. But it could also mean limiting your exposure stressful & negative influences or toxic people.
• GET OUTSIDE EVERY DAY. Nature has a powerful effect on our health, and simply getting outside in the fresh air and especially the sunshine can do wonders for boosting your immune system. Plus, sunlight is a natural source of vitamin D! Try to make it a goal to spend at least 20-30 minutes in the fresh air every single day.
• PRACTICE POSITIVITY & GRATITUDE. This might sound a little woo woo, but there is actually SO much evidence to support the idea that a positive attitude and gratitude can greatly improve your physical health. When we focus on the good things in our lives, it boosts our immune system and overall well-being. I recommend getting a journal or notebook, and before you go to bed, record 3 wins–something you learned, something you did, something god that happened, or something you’re grateful for. It will you put you in a positive mindset before sleep, and also help you to wake up feeling grateful. It’s a simple thing, but amazing what a difference it can make!

What to Do If You Do Get Sick

While those are all the things you can do on an ongoing basis to keep yourself healthy and keep your immune system strong, there might still be times where despite your best efforts, you still DO get sick. So what then? What can you do to get yourself feeling better and back to normal as quickly as possible?

Well, I’m sure everyone has their own process, but these are the exact steps I take anytime I or my husband or one of my kids get sick

1. First, we LOAD UP on vitamins, especially Vitamin C.

I’m big into supplements anyway, but the moment we feel something coming on, we go into vitamin overdrive. Specifically, we’ll do what I call “MACROdosing” on Vitamin C–take WAY more than the recommended dose, and then keep taking it in super high doses throughout the day. And you can do this with Vitamin C because your body can’t actually absorb more than it can use, so you’ll just flush out the excess. But I think there is something to be said for flushing out the toxins along with it. We also make sure to take Vitamin D and Zinc and some extra Quercetin and magnesium, but we don’t macrodose on those ones–basically just take the normal amount.

2. Second, we use a LOT of essential oils.

The next thing we do is get out all the essential oils. I’ve been using Young Living for a really long time now–at least 10 years, and I am such a big believer in the power of oils. Our favorite for sickness is one that’s called Thieves. But if we feel sick, and especially if we feel anything in our throat, we’ll usually drop Thieves onto our throat several times a day. I also like to rub one called Immunopower on my forearms and on the bottom of my feet. And oregano is also a good one for the bottom of your feet. Peppermint can also be super helpful for helping with headaches, or with congestion. And if you’re really congested, you can put a few drops of eucalyptus and peppermint in boiling water, and then breathe in the steam.

3. Third, we hydrate with soothing tea & broth.

The third thing is making sure we stay hydrated. We drink a lot of water, but also herbal tea–I like to add peppermint essential oil–and also bone broth is really, really good for you. A lot of times when you’re not feeling good you’re not super hungry, but the tea and bone broth can go a long way.

4. Fourth, we try to get as much rest as possible for the first 24 hours

The last thing that we do, which is not always totally possible, is to just try to give ourselves as much time to rest & recover as we possibly can. It’s not always practical to stay in bed all day, but there’s no reason you can’t go to bed at 5pm if you’re feeling crappy. Sometimes just a little extra sleep can make all the difference, especially if you’re loading up on vitamins and oils beforehand.

Final Thoughts

In the end, the old adage really is true–an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you can make these healthy habits a part of your daily routine, and take care of yourself both physically and mentally, you’ll have a much better chance of staying healthy during the cold & flu season.

But just in case, it’s always good to have some natural remedies at your disposal for when you do get sick. And hopefully, these tips and tricks will help you stay healthy and get back to feeling your best in no time.

The post How to Boost Your Immune System and Stay Healthier During Cold & Flu Season. appeared first on Thinlicious.

It is currently estimated that over 30 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease, and that as many as 10% of women over 40 have a condition known as hypothyroidism, which causes fatigue and weight gain, among other things.

 And that means that if you’re a woman over 40 who has been struggling to lose weight, there’s a strong possibility you’ve got a thyroid problem.

So how do you know? And more importantly—what should you do about it?

That’s exactly what this article is going to cover.

Of course, as always, anytime we’re talking about medical conditions and specific health issues, we need to start with the disclaimer that what we are going to share with you today is NOT medical advice, and should not be taken as such—it’s just OUR OPINION based on what we’ve learned from doing our own research.

If after reading this article, you think it’s possible that your thyroid could be an issue, then we definitely recommend doing your OWN research, and also connecting with your doctor so that you can get tested and figure out a course of action.

Understanding the Thyroid

So first things first….what exactly IS your thyroid, and what does it do?

It’s actually sort of a trick question, because often when people talk about your thyroid, they are referring to one of two things—either your thyroid GLAND, which is a butterfly shaped gland located at the base of your throat that produces a few different hormones, or the actual THYROID HORMONES themselves, which are normally just referred to as T3 and T4.

And the thyroid gland is important because it’s basically the control center for many of your body’s vital functions—including regulating your metabolism, heart rate, body temperature, and more.

When everything is working properly, the brain sends a signal to the thyroid telling it to produce T3 and T4 hormones as needed in order to maintain a balanced metabolism and keep everything running properly. This process is known as Thyroid Hormone Regulation.

But when it’s NOT working properly—your body is producing either not enough thyroid hormones or too MANY thyroid hormones—that’s when you start to experience serious problems and side effects.

When your body is producing too many thyroid hormones, you’ve got a condition called HYPERthyroidism, where your body—and your metabolism—basically speed up. Your heart beats too fast and your body temperature is too high and you tend to lose weight, or have trouble maintaining your weight.

And while that might sound appealing, this is actually NOT a great thing. Left untreated, hyperthyroidism can be really dangerous.

But while HYPERthyroidism isn’t super rare, it’s also not super common. The more common issue is what we refer to as HYPOthyroidism, which is when your body is not producing enough thyroid hormones.

The current estimate is that somewhere around 10% of women over the age of 45 have some form of HYPOthyroidism. And with hypothyroidism, your metabolism slows down and you start to gain weight—even if you’re still following a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

And of course this is the point where you’re probably thinking, “well obviously this is me! I must have hypothyroidsm.“

And clearly, if this is a condition that affects at least 10% of women our age, then there’s obviously a pretty big chance that this could be playing a factor is your struggles to lose weight and get healthy.

But that still leaves 9 in 10 of us who DON’T have it.

Indicators of a Thyroid Issue

So how do you actually know? Well, let’s talk about some of the main symptoms that tend to indicate a specific thyroid issue:

1. Fatigue & Weakness

If you find yourself exhausted all the time—even after a full night’s sleep—this could be an indicator of hypothyroidism. It’s not definitive, but it’s something to look out for.

2. Dry Skin

With hypothyroidism, you may notice that your skin feels drier and less elastic than usual—especially on areas like your face, hands, or elbows.

3. Feeling Cold All the time

Along those same lines, you may also notice that you’re just COLD ALL THE TIME. Even when it’s warm, you feel cold. You’re constantly grabbing a coat or putting on a sweater even though no one else seems cold.

4. Excessive Moodiness

Another common indicator is MOODINESS. If you’re feeling incredibly grumpy or anxious for no reason—especially when it’s out of character for you—then this could be an indication of a thyroid issue.

5. Slow Body Functions

Because not producing enough thyroid hormone tends to make your whole body slow down, you may also notice things like sluggish digestion and constipation, as well as a slow heart rate.

6. Weight Gain

But if you’ve been struggling to lose weight, even after adopting a low carb lifestyle and implementing a lot of the advice that we advocate for here at Thinlicious or in our TAS program, then this could be a BIG sign that something is off with your thyroid and you may need to visit a doctor to get it checked out.

7. Joint Pain

With hypothyroidism, you may start to experience joint pain—especially in your hands and feet—and you may notice SWELLING as well.

8. Hair Loss

You may also notice hair loss, which can actually be an indicator of both hyper and hypothyroidism. But with hypothyroidism specifically your hair may start to thin or fall out in clumps—which is obviously concerning and honestly can feel pretty devastating.

9. Fertility or Menstrual Issues

And finally, if you’re struggling with fertility or menstrual issues, this could also be an indicator that something’s off with your thyroid. These can include things like longer or more intense periods, irregular cycles, and difficulty getting pregnant.

Now obviously some of these symptoms can be associated with other conditions that we talk about a lot here at Thinlicious—specifically insulin resistance and leaky gut syndrome, both of which are estimated to affect 80-90% of the population. That means that more than likely, your main problem is with insulin resistance and leaky gut, and not specifically HYPOthyroidism.

But if you’ve actually worked on the insulin resistance and leaky gut and you STILL find yourself struggling with any of these issues or symptoms, it might be worth having a conversation with your doctor about your thyroid. They will likely do some tests to get a better sense of what’s going on, like a blood test to measure the levels of thyroid hormones in your body.

And then they’ll be able to recommend a specific course of treatment from there.

Understanding How the Thyroid Functions

But to understand the treatment options, it is also important to understand how the two main Thyroid hormones T4 and T3, actually function in your body. 

The T4 hormone makes up about 80% of the total hormones secreted by the thyroid gland. But even though it makes up 80% of your total thyroid hormone makeup, T4 isn’t actually DOING anything because T4 is actually an INACTIVE hormone—meaning that it can’t do much on its own. And that means your body has to convert it into T3 in order for it to actually have any effect, because the T3 is what actually regulates your metabolism, body temperature, and energy levels.

So when your thyroid is functioning properly, it will produce enough T4 and then your body will convert that T4 into just the right amount of T3.  This conversion process is actually really important because if too much T4 gets converted into T3, you can experience hyperthyroidism—which comes with its own set of issues and symptoms.

Treatment for Thyroid Issues

Most of the time, the standard course of treatment for hypothyroidism is a prescriptions for Levothyroxine, (sold under the brand name Synthroid), which is a synthetic version of the hormone T4 that our bodies produce naturally.

And so if you get prescribed Synthroid, your doctor will likely test your T4 levels regularly in order to figure out how to adjust your dose, as it can take some trial and error to figure out the right dosage for your specific needs.

But the problem with this standard course of treatment is that Synthroid only addresses the T4 hormone, so it’s not necessarily addressing any underlying issues with T3 conversion. And because your doctor is likely only testing your T4 levels and not your T3 levels, there is a possibility that the treatment may not be fully addressing your thyroid issues.

In fact, a recent journal article by the Yale School of Medicine estimated that as many as 21 million of the current 23 million prescriptions for synthroid in the United States—which in case you’re wondering is almost 10% of the population—may actually be causing more harm than good.

And that means that if you’ve already been receiving treatment for hypothyroidism, or you’ve been prescribed Synthroid, this is definitely something you need to be aware of and looking into, and talking to your doctor about.

Because if you’re taking Synthroid to produce more T4 but your body isn’t actually converting all that T4 into T3, then you’re still going to have all the same problems. It’s not going to help and you’ll still experience all the same symptoms of low thyroid levels. Because you don’t JUST need more T4. You need your body to convert that T4 into T3.

Luckily there ARE other treatment options that can help with T3 conversion and overall thyroid function, and these are definitely worth looking into and worth having a deeper conversation with your doctor about, especially if you’re still experiencing a lot of symptoms even after taking Synthroid.

The first option is actually a treatment that USED to be the standard course of action for hypothyroidism, before the development of synthetic T4. It was known to be VERY effective.

It’s called Natural Desiccated Thyroid, or NDT.

NDT comes from the thyroid glands of pigs and contains BOTH T4 and T3 hormones in a more natural ratio than what our bodies produce.

So naturally it’s easier for your body to convert this into the right amount of T3. It also has other benefits for overall thyroid function and has been shown to have fewer side effects compared to synthetic T4 treatments.

Another treatment option is adding in a T3 hormone supplement, like Cytomel. This helps with T3 conversion and can be used in conjunction with other thyroid medications.

And finally, there are also natural supplements and lifestyle changes that can improve overall thyroid function and help with T3 conversion. These include things like selenium, iodine, probiotics, and stress management techniques.

But at the very least, you should make sure your doctor is looking at the WHOLE picture—not just your T4 levels, but how well that T4 is converting into T3.

Final thoughts

In the end, hypothyroidism is a big deal, and an issue that affects SO many women, often without us even realizing it. But knowledge is power, and the more you can come to understand about your body and the different hormones and how they all work together, hopefully the better equipped you will be to actually make the real and lasting changes that will help you feel better….FOR LIFE.

And so now that you understand a little bit more about thyroid issues, what they look like, and what the potential treatment options are, you’ll be ready to take action as necessary in your own life.

If you think this could be an issue, go get tested. And if you already KNOW this is an issue, or are already taking medication, then , don’t just settle for the standard course of treatment if it doesn’t seem to be working for you. Have a conversation with your doctor about these alternative options and see what might work best for YOU and YOUR body. After all, it’s your health and you deserve to have all the information and options available to you.

Keep learning, keep advocating for yourself, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

The post Could you have a thyroid problem? Here’s how to know (and what to do about it.) appeared first on Thinlicious.

“I want to lose weight & get healthy, but it’s too hard to do it all on my own. So how do I get my spouse on board?”

It’s a question we hear all the time, usually from women who are thinking about joining our TAS program, and honestly, it’s an important one, because the reality is that anything in a relationship is easier when you’re both on the same page and working towards a common goal. 

But I think what they’re REALLY saying is that “I can see how this would help me, and I really want to make this change in my life, but if my husband is not on board—if he’s constantly complaining about the foods we’re eating, or if he’s not supportive, or if I have to end up cooking twice for every meal, then this is NEVER going to work for me.”

And honestly—I get it.

I really, really do.

Because I struggled with losing weight and getting healthy for a VERY long time—literally years.

And in the course of that struggle, I tried so many different things and so many different diet plans. Honestly I think I’ve tried them all, everything from Weight Watchers to juice cleanses and food delivery programs to crazy things like the Cabbage Soup Diet and something called the GM Diet. That one was super weird.

And while MOST of the time my husband was pretty supportive, he definitely wasn’t interested in joining me in what he viewed as mostly ridiculous plans that would probably just end up making me miserable and not work anyways. Even though he wanted to lose weight too. Every time he’d say something like “yeah, I’m not doing that.”

But as the years went by, I finally realized I needed to do something different. Something I had never tried before. I needed to stop looking for a quick fix and figure out what was causing me to gain weight in the first place so that I could fix it for good.

And that’s finally when I started doing a lot of research–books, academic journals, diving into actual studies that had been done. And honestly, what I discovered shocked me, because it became SO obvious why everything I had ever tried up until that point hadn’t worked. (If you want to know more about that, watch this free video!)

So as I started doing all this research, I started making changes to what I was eating, and I also started talking to my husband about it. Like I said, I was pretty fired up, so honestly I couldn’t really STOP talking about it. And I still can’t, obviously.

But he was open to it, because honestly it made a lot of sense. My husband Chuck is an engineer and he’s super logical and observant. And right away he started connecting the dots and seeing how this new way of eating tracked with the results that he had experienced in the past.

And at that point, he was ready to lose weight and get healthy as well.  We had just gone on a 9 day motorhome trip to Wisconsin with a group of friends, and while we had an amazing time, we both came back the heaviest we had ever been.

So we made the changes together, at least mostly. I do most of the cooking, at least for dinner, so I would just cook meals for the whole family that were in line with how I wanted to be eating. And honestly, it wasn’t hard because the food we were eating was SO delicious—literally the same recipes you’ll find on this website.

And after struggling for so long, it was like the weight just literally melted away. It felt SO easy compared to everything I had tried before. I lost 40 pounds in 6 months, and Chuck lost 30. Our aches and pains went away. We started sleeping better. We had so much more energy. Our sex life got better.

It all sort of fell into place, and honestly it felt like a miracle.

And when I look back, I see the fact that doing it together  was a really, really big piece of the puzzle.

Could I have had the same results all on my own?

Yes, probably.

But doing it together gave us a shared purpose. It gave us accountability. It gave us a reason to cheer each other on. It kept us on track and helped us avoid temptation. And I think ultimately it actually made our marriage stronger.

And that’s a big deal.

And that’s why this topic is a big deal to me too. Because I know how powerful it can be to have your spouse on board when you’re trying to get healthy. It’s like having a traveling companion on your journey to get healthy.

Tips for Getting Your Spouse On Board

Of course that begs the question—how do you actually convince your spouse to get on board?

Because honestly, it can feel like a bit of a dance sometimes! It’s not something that you ever want to be manipulative or sneaky about, because in the end your goal should be to have a mutually supportive relationship, where you both feel seen and heard and valued.

But the good news is that if you approach it with an open heart, and just keep communicating until you find common ground, it’s definitely possible to get your spouse on board. Here’s a few tips to help!

1. Start by talking about YOUR reasons for wanting to make the change.

Honestly, I think the best way to broach the topic is to talk about why it matters to YOU—not to make it a demand that they change with you. Really focus on what YOU are hoping to accomplish and why it’s important to you. Get specific about the changes you want to see in your life, and how getting healthier could be a step toward achieving them.

This website is jam-packed with really good arguments for why changing your lifestyle is important. I would write down the ones that feel most compelling to you, or even ask your spouse to listen to an episode of our Ditch the Carbs podcast together, or to watch our free training video together with you. 

And then ask your partner why they think it might be a good idea—or why they might be interested in joining you. Most of the time, people just want to feel heard and respected.

But start with an open, honest conversation.

2. Respect your Partner’s Goals & Concerns.

Next, be willing to respect their goals and reasons for wanting to make changes too. Maybe it’s something totally different than yours—which is totally ok! Encourage them to talk about their own goals and reasons, so that you can find common ground.

Along those lines, be open to hearing their concerns and reservations. Maybe they’re worried that they won’t be able to stick with it, or that you’ll push them too hard. Or maybe they just don’t know what to do and feel overwhelmed.

Whatever it is, try to really listen without getting defensive. See if together you can come up with workable solutions for their concerns. This will make them feel heard and respected, which will go a long way toward getting them on board.

3. Brainstorm Together.

Once you both have voiced your individual goals and concerns, start brainstorming together about ways that you could work towards them both in tandem. You don’t necessarily have to do the same exact things—but maybe there’s a way to still make progress on your individual goals while also supporting each other.

And be open to compromise. For instance, if one of you wants to focus on exercise and the other wants to focus on nutrition, then why not do both? Or maybe you could alternate weeks between the two…get creative!

4. Find Opportunities to Have Fun Together

Finally, look for opportunities to have fun together as you progress on your journey. Maybe that means signing up for a race or finding new forms of exercise you both enjoy and doing them together. Or maybe it’s just about exploring different healthy recipes, or trying out new restaurants that focus on healthy eating.

Whatever it is, the key is to make sure you’re still having fun together and not just turning it into a chore or task that needs to be accomplished. Because in the end, this should be something that brings you closer together, not further apart!

5. Take Small Steps Towards Change Together

One final tip is to start small and take it one step at a time. Don’t try to change everything all at once—that’s way too overwhelming! Pick one or two things you both can commit to, and work on those until they become habits, before adding something else.

Pitfalls to Avoid When Getting Healthy as a Couple

Of course, as you get started, I also think it’s important to be prepared for some potential pitfalls of doing this together, and for some of the challenges that might arise.

Because while there are LOTS of benefits of having your partner on board, there are also some ways it can go very wrong.

1. Comparing Progress

The first pitfall to watch out for is comparing your progress. Oftentimes, one partner will make faster progress than the other—which can lead to feelings of resentment or jealousy. And that’s not good for either of you!

Remember—and keep reminding yourself—that every body is different, especially male and female bodies. If you are a woman, especially a woman over 40, your progress will probably be slower than your husband. But it’s also possible that one of you is dealing with more underlying issues—like insulin resistance or leaky gut or thyroiditis—that may slow down your initial progress. And that doesn’t mean it’s not working or nothing’s happening—just that the progress is in healing your body from the inside out, which takes some time.

So just remember to stay focused on your own individual goals and progress, and on non-scale victories, like improvements in the way you FEEL, and not to compare yourselves with each other or the amount of pounds you’ve lost.

2. Setting Unrealistic Expectations

Another potential pitfall is setting unrealistic expectations for yourself and your partner. It’s ok to have high hopes, but be realistic about what you can achieve in a given time frame—and don’t put too much pressure on yourself or each other to be perfect!

Take baby steps, celebrate the victories, and don’t get too discouraged if it takes longer than you had imagined to reach your goals.

3. Getting Judgy

Along those lines, try to avoid getting judgy of one another. We all have our own journeys and it’s ok if your spouse is taking a different path or has different approaches than you do. My husband and I have been together for almost 20 years, and in that time, I think the best thing we’ve learned when it comes to keeping our marriage healthy and happy is adopting the philosophy of “you do you boo.”

And what I mean by that is that we each allow each other the freedom to make our own choices, even if we don’t necessarily agree with them. That means that if my husband wants to have a day where he goes totally off the rails and eats a whole box of Cheez-its and a pint of ice-cream, that’s his choice. It means that if I want to spend hours filling up my cute little rainbow pill boxes with 30 different supplements, but he thinks that’s ridiculous, that’s okay too. 

We don’t have to be exactly the same to still be mostly on the same page.

So instead of trying to change each other or criticize each other for the choices we make, just try to focus on supporting each other—and having fun together!

4. Not Having Fun Together

And honestly, that’s probably the final pitfall that you really need to watch out for—not making it FUN. Because the journey to get healthy can and SHOULD be filled with so much joy and light and laughter—especially the way that we do it here at Thinlicious and in our TAS program. There’s so much freedom and flexibility in how you can approach it, and so many AMAZING incredible delicious recipes to choose from.

There’s no reason it shouldn’t be fun and enjoyable.

And as you both get healthier and have more energy, go out and do things! Try new adventures. Go paddle boarding. Go hiking. Start a garden or take on a home improvement project. Start talking about the future and about what you both want, now that you’re on the path to health. Create a shared vision.

For my husband and I, the vision we’ve shared for a while now is LAND—a property on acreage with plenty of room for people to gather. We have this dream of having a place where everyone, all our friends and family, just want to come and stay—for a day, for a week, for a month, whatever—but a place that restores your soul. A place where our kids and future grandkids will always want to come back to, where we’ll spend holidays and host weddings and other important milestones. We want this kind of family compound that we can create and leave as a legacy to our kids and future generations.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I actually shared a couple of videos from the property we just closed on a few weeks ago.

And before we got healthy, we were both too exhausted all the time to make that dream a reality, but now we’re finally making it happen, and it’s SO exciting!

Suffice to say, make sure you are still having fun together as a couple! Health should become something that brings you closer together—not drives an unnecessary wedge between you. So find opportunities to laugh, to play, and to just enjoy the journey of getting healthier together.

Final Thoughts

In the end, starting a health or weight loss journey as a couple can be really rewarding and fulfilling—as long as you go about it with an open heart and mind, and approach your partner with respect, empathy, and understanding.

But what if, after all this, your partner refuses to join you? Well, then you do you boo. It doesn’t mean you can’t still work on making changes in your own life, and you may even find that your commitment to your own journey ends up inspiring the people around you.

That said, know that even if your spouse isn’t on board, you don’t have to do this alone. That’s why having a program like TAS—which if you don’t know, is short for Thin Adapted System—but that’s why it can be SO helpful—it gives you a built-in community and support system, even when it feels like no one else really gets it.

Because either way, there’s no better choice you can make than the choice to improve your health and heal your body from the inside out.

The post How to Get Your Spouse On Board with Getting Healthy appeared first on Thinlicious.