278. Your Dream Body IS Possible with Laura Conley

If hunger isn't the problem, food isn't the solution. If you're hating your body, starving it, or overfeeding it, chances are you're hindering your impact on this planet. Because when we don't feel good, we don't want to show up.

Your health is your number one business asset. How you view your body, walk around inside your body, and use your body daily furthers your mission. Today's guest, Laura Conley, is the founder of the Yummy Mummy Method, which has successfully helped hundreds of women lose weight for the last time. Her clients have lovingly labeled her the fun weight loss coach.

This is one of those episodes that will make you feel good about your life and probably help you on your journey to becoming the most successful entrepreneur you can be.

Laura was stuck in corporate as a drug rep. She admits it was a cushy job: she had the company car, a fun lifestyle, and made a lot of money, but it wasn't fulfilling. 

"There might not be such a thing as your passion just dropping in your lap," says Laura. "But when I started to feel the lack of fulfillment, I started to follow just my curiosity."

That curiosity led her to teach yoga. She and her husband developed an exit strategy, and a week later, her corporate boss sat her down. The company was going to be laying off 50% of its workforce. She would be spared, but she didn't want to be. She took a voluntary severance package.

Laura eventually became a life coach and niched down to become a weight-loss coach, body-love coach, and food freedom coach because she didn't want to pass down her diet drama to her daughter.

"When I was six weeks postpartum, and I got out of the shower," says Laura. "She's like cooing up at me, smiling, being so cute, and fat, and chubby and perfect. And I'm beating myself up for not bouncing back into my pre-baby jeans 'fast enough,'"

She started applying the coaching tools and psychology principles she was using to help her clients change their lives to weight loss.

Hormones were a significant piece of the puzzle. Laura always thought she needed to be on a calorie deficit to lose weight – she didn't like it, and it was unsustainable. 

Your hunger hormones are insulin, leptin, and ghrelin. About 94% of Americans have an imbalance in hunger hormones. Once you balance those hormones, your cravings go away. It's like a natural Ozempic. 

"Nobody is teaching us this because the big pharma can't make money off of teaching us how to heal our hunger hormones," says Laura.

The other piece was to stop using food for what it's not for. Laura says she was using food for boredom relief, stress relief, pleasure, and comfort. She points to grabbing a handful of nuts when she is bored or some dark chocolate at 9 p.m. It was the little things.

A lot of people think that if they want to lose weight or change their relationship with themselves, their body, or their food, they're bad or wrong for wanting that. You can approach that change from abundance. 

The question becomes how to give yourself a true pleasure versus a false pleasure. Laura likens it to a check engine light. Ask yourself, what is going on? Do you need to be replenished? For many people, food is a false pleasure because it's a net negative that leaves us hung over. 

The journey to loving your body really does start with two thoughts that feel neutral or in the ballpark of acceptance. What are one or two thoughts about your body that don't make you feel hate or shame?

Our bodies are desperate for our love, and we can give it to them.

Free gift: https://www.lauraconley.com/plan
Laura's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lose-weight-for-the-last-time-w