November 24, 2025 • 44 mins
Want weight loss that actually lasts? We sit down with Dr. Pavy Cannall, a surgeon with nearly two decades of experience, to unpack why the breakthrough most people need isn’t a new meal plan—it’s a new mindset. From identity shifts to social pressure, from emotional eating to constant digital distraction, we pull apart the hidden forces that derail progress and share simple, repeatable tools that put you back in control.
Dr. Pavy explains how his most successful patients treated surgery as one tool among many, then rebuilt their habits and self-image to match the life they wanted. We explore the difference between physical and emotional hunger, the circuit-breaker question that stops autopilot snacking, and the power of journaling to reveal patterns you can actually change. We dive into mindful eating—no screens, slower bites, clearer signals—and how short daily meditation builds the presence you need to make better choices under stress.
You’ll hear how to visualize high-risk moments before they happen, design an environment that removes “weight gain enablers,” and use community and accountability when your current circle resists your growth. We also challenge outcome obsession: goals set direction, but systems deliver results. When the scale stalls, your process—sleep, movement, protein, mindfulness—keeps compounding until the body catches up. If you’re ready to shift from willpower sprints to identity-level change, this conversation gives you a practical path forward.
Subscribe for more mindset-first health conversations, share this with someone who needs a nudge, and leave a review to tell us which tool you’ll try this week.
Want to be a guest on Playing Injured? Send Joshua Dillingham a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/playinginjured
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:07):
This episode is all about the truth behind lasting
weight loss and how real changestarts with your mindset
effects.
In this episode, we're joined byDr.
Pavy Cannall, a surgeon whospent nearly two decades helping
people lose weight, and who'slearned that real transformation
happens when your mindsetshifts.
In this conversation, we getinto why mindset is the key to
(00:31):
sustainable results, the deeperreasons people struggle with
weight gain, and how identityand self-image shift after
weight loss.
Dr.
Pavy also breaks down practicaltools, mindfulness, journaling,
meditation, and simple dailyhabits that help you stay
consistent and make healthierchoices more days than not.
(00:55):
Let's get into it.
SPEAKER_02 (00:57):
All right, Dr.
Pavy.
I always love starting a showwith who is Dr.
Pavy and how does he spend histime today?
SPEAKER_00 (01:07):
Well, thanks again for having me on your show.
That's a good question.
So, you know, when I think aboutmyself, I think about you know
my personal life and myprofessional life.
And obviously, I think the mostimportant you know thing that
defines me is my family.
So I have three children, uh, aneight-year-old, six-year-old,
three-year-old, so it's busy.
I'm married, my wife's asurgeon, also, so it's a busy
(01:28):
household, lots of things tobalance.
I've lived in Canada my entirelife.
I just live outside, I grew upin Toronto, I was born in
Toronto, but I live outside thegreater Toronto area right now,
and my family's there.
So I feel very connected uh toToronto and uh Canada.
I work as a surgeon.
I've been practicing independentpractice for 17 years.
I've had a real focus in weightloss.
(01:50):
I performed hundreds of weightloss procedures, but I also
focused on mindset and how itcan lead to lasting change.
So that's a big part of myclinical practice.
But I also, you know, do otherthings like you know, I uh do a
lot of abdominal surgery, coloncancer, things like that.
SPEAKER_02 (02:05):
Yeah, yeah.
You know, I know before we kindof hit record, we talked about
your book, Shift Your Mind toShift Your Weight.
And a lot of folks, I don't knowif they think about the mindset
focus of weight loss, right?
And I'm thinking about you andhow you perform weight loss
(02:27):
surgeries on people.
And I'm pretty sure you foundpeople who they haven't
necessarily changed theirmindset or their habits around
this new kind of body that theyhave now, right?
And so along the way, you wereable to find out like, hey, this
should be a mindset shift asopposed to just the physical,
(02:50):
right?
Talk to me about that, how youkind of came along to this
journey.
SPEAKER_00 (02:53):
Yeah, that's a good question.
So, you know, initially when Istarted out working with people
to, you know, get healthierthrough weight loss, I used to
really focus just on thetechnical aspects, how the
surgery's done, the angles.
And that's obviously veryimportant.
But I started seeing as youknow, you start doing things for
long periods of time, you startseeing that not everyone
(03:16):
succeeds to the same degree.
There are some patients who didreally well, there's some
patients who did you know whatyou expect, and some who didn't
do as well as you had hoped.
And what I found was that thepatients who did the best were
the ones who, for example, usethe surgery as a tool to help
them lose weight, but not thenot the only thing.
They use it as a tool to alsohelp them change their mindset,
(03:39):
their habits, their lifestyle.
And those are the people who Ifound had the most lasting
results.
And that's when I started torealize that you know, the
surgery is obviously important,but changing how your
relationship with food, changingyour habits, what you do
day-to-day are just as importantto have that lasting change.
And that's kind of where Irealized that you have to, and
that starts in your mindset.
(04:00):
Because ultimately, the onlything we can control in life is
how we think and what we chooseto do.
And yeah, so teaching the skillsto actually first understand why
you're doing what you're doing.
First understanding why youactually do what you do is the
first step to then makinglasting change.
Because a lot of times we dothings we don't even know why we
do it.
We just do it because maybe ourparents told us to do it or our
(04:21):
friends, doors of learnedbehavior.
But we've never really slowedthings down and tried to
understand why we're actuallydoing what we do.
And I think that goes to oftenwhy are we eating?
A lot of times, patients afterwork, it's instinctive.
Okay, I'm done work, I'm tiredat a busy day, you know, maybe
my coworkers are bothering me.
And then you just routinely goto the drive-thru and go to
(04:42):
Starbucks or whatever, and yougrab a snack.
And you may not even be hungry,but it's just something you do
to give you some comfort andmanage your emotions.
And over time, those habitsreally do compound into like
sometimes detrimental effects inyour health.
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
Yeah.
You know, so doing kind ofresearch on you and kind of your
story, the work you do.
Have you heard the bookpsychocybernetics?
I have I have, I have not readit though.
So obviously it's a it's a verypopular book, but the author,
Maxwell Maltz, he also was aplastic, he was a plastic
(05:17):
surgeon, right?
And he realized that patientschanged their appearance, but it
didn't change their self-imageor their identity, right?
And therefore it didn'tnecessarily change their lives.
And so hearing your work, it's avery similar story of how you
found it, right?
And one thing I'm thinking aboutis identity or or self-image and
(05:42):
and how they think, right?
How have you found that into thepicture of the identity shift in
the way somebody thinks thosetwo kind of factors?
SPEAKER_00 (05:56):
That that is something that we try to prepare
our patients for becausesometimes, you know, after
surgery, you can have dramaticweight loss.
Right.
And it can happen, you know,sometimes you know, quite
quickly.
And sometimes how you'veperceived yourself is different
than how how other people areperceiving you.
And sometimes the world changesquickly because unfortunately,
(06:19):
you know, a lot of times peopleare judged for you know exterior
reasons, yeah.
And now all of a sudden that'schanged, and now the world's
relating with you differently.
And sometimes it can stressrelationships you've had.
You've had friendships wherepeople expected you to be a
certain way, and now you're notthat person anymore in those
people's eyes.
And sometimes people losefriendships where people don't
(06:41):
relate to them the same way, orthey feel like they're being
judged because they tooksomething, they took a positive
step to change their life, andpeople are judgmental of that.
And and it can put strains onpersonal relationships.
You see it sometimes inpeople's, you know, marriages or
relationships with co-workers.
So it it really these are, youknow, how it really hits to who
(07:03):
you are and how people perceiveit.
It changes that.
SPEAKER_02 (07:06):
You know, um you mentioned it, I'm thinking about
people when people want tochange, period, right?
They want to change the way theylive their life as a whole.
They have some identity changeor identity shift, uh, where
they want to do something betterfor them for their life.
The people around them actuallystart to judge them, right?
(07:29):
And I I that wasn't evensomething I thought about with
this.
But the people around you wantto keep you in this box.
They don't want you to leavethis box.
And so it can cause some type ofstrife and friction in the
relationships that you have.
And so when you go throughchange, you have to not only
change your own identity, but alot of times you your
(07:51):
environment and the peoplearound your environment when you
have change.
And so it sounds like you youhave to prepare your patients
for that.
I don't know.
What do you tell them?
How do you help them throughthat process?
Like, what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00 (08:07):
Yeah, that's a really good point you bring up.
You know, I I would say thatlet's just step back from even
weight loss and just think aboutlife in general.
Yeah.
A lot of times if you try toimprove yourself or you want to
have a better life, you want tobe more successful, whatever it
may be, have a better job, youknow, be more athletic, uh lose
(08:28):
weight, whatever it may be, thatcan be triggering to the people
around you because if youactually do those things that
you're supposed to do and starthaving the life that you want to
have, it then highlights to thepeople who are not doing those
things that it is actuallypossible.
And and it can then affect thembecause now they have to face
look themselves in the mirrorand say, well, I didn't, I
(08:49):
didn't do those things and shedid, and look at her.
So that that sometimes is a lotof the reasons why people don't
react positively when someone'strying to change or improve
their lives.
And I try to tell patients thatlike you need to know things are
gonna change for you, and inmany ways positive, but in some
ways they're they're they'resometimes negatives because how
(09:09):
people relate to you, thosefriendships, they may not be as
supportive as you want.
So you have to have thatemotional resilience to sort of
manage those emotions becausesometimes those emotions can
trigger you to make bad foodchoices.
Yeah.
Because a lot of eating isemotionally triggered.
You know, when we grow up, ifyou're having a bad day, your
parents say, Oh, grab an icecream or you know, have a candy
(09:31):
bar.
That's kind of a way to make youfeel better, or you know, see
you've you've achieved a bigsuccess.
Let's go to the restaurant, havea party.
So we a lot of a lot of emotionsin for humans are tied to
actually eating.
So it's not surprising then thatemotions can drive you to make
bad food choices.
SPEAKER_02 (09:49):
Yeah, you know, it's uh and you don't even realize it
unless you're conscious, right?
About your decisions and youremotions and how you process
your emotions and how you try toregulate yourself and soothe
your emotions.
And a lot of times it is througheating.
(10:10):
And I mean, you see it all thetime.
I can even think about myselfwhen I'm super hungry and I'm
cooking something and I'mdancing, right?
You're in a good mood, you'reabout to regulate your emotions,
right?
But being conscious though,right?
The the the mindfulness piece ofit, to be aware of, okay, how am
(10:30):
I feeling?
I need to take a second topause, take a deep breath.
Am I actually hungry or or am Itrying to sue certain emotions?
And it's not even just, youknow, eating is is is how people
sue their emotions, but a lot oftimes it could be alcohol, it
could be drugs, it's sex, it's alot of different things that
(10:51):
people do to sue these emotionswith certain vices and food and
sugar a lot of times areprobably one of the main ones
because it's so accessible,right?
How can folks start to handlethat when these emotions come
up?
SPEAKER_00 (11:09):
Yeah, that's that that's a really good question.
And I I think it it goes to theconcept of being present and
mindful.
And we really try to stress thatin our clinic that this is one
of the tools you can use toincrease your control of your
behavior.
Now, it's a you it it's reallyinteresting you brought up all
those things, how peopleeveryone has their vices they
(11:29):
use to manage their feelings, sogambling or drugs or whatever it
may be.
Unfortunately, food's one ofthose things you can't go cold
turkey on.
You can't say I'm not, you know,just like you can say I'm never
gonna touch alcohol again, I'mnever gonna go into a bar again.
You can't do that with foodbecause you need food to
survive.
And that's what makes itparticularly challenging because
(11:50):
imagine trying to tell someonewho's struggling with you know
substance abuse, you can onlyhave a little bit, but you can't
have a lot.
And it it can be a very, youknow, it's almost it seems like
an almost impossible thing thenfor someone to do because you
know you have those tendencies.
So that's why I think you know,one of the tools we talk about
is mindful eating instead ofmindless eating or unconscious
(12:11):
eating.
And you all did to some of thethings that are really
important.
So whenever I, you know, I whenI talk to patients about
strategies to be present whenyou're eating, the first thing
is this just slow things down.
You know, we're in a fast-facedsociety, we're getting dopamine
surges from our devices, TV,lots of things are going on all
the time.
So a lot of times we're justdoing things, we're not actually
thinking about why we're doingthem.
(12:32):
So I think the first step, youknow, when you sit down is or
you're about to grab a snack orwhatever it may be, ask
yourself, am I actually hungry?
Just that question itself can bea circuit breaker because now
you've stopped that unconsciousbehavior of just grabbing
whatever's on the counter, andyou're actually asking yourself,
and if you just ask yourselfthat question, I'd say 50, 60%
(12:53):
of the time, you probably won'teven eat something just by
putting that circuit breaker inthere.
And so we so once you've askedthat question, now if you say,
Yeah, I'm hungry, that's fine.
And we also try to teach peoplethe difference between physical
hunger and emotional hunger, andthey're two very different
things.
Physical hunger is when yourbody needs energy.
You know, you've been exercisingor you've been at work for four
(13:14):
to six hours, now you're hungry.
You need you need calories tofuel your body functions, to
walk around, all those things.
And you those are very distinctfeelings.
You start feeling lightheaded,you feel tired, you feel, you
feel lackadaisical, you have apit in your stomach.
Those are feelings that yourbody's telling you, no, you need
to eat, we need energy.
Whereas emotional hunger isdifferent, it calls it comes on
(13:35):
all of a sudden.
You had a stressful interactionwith your boss work or your
coworker, or you had a badconversation with your wife or
husband or whoever, and then youget this sudden desire for
comfort food, it comes onsuddenly, then you eat it, and
often you have that feeling ofguilt afterwards.
Like, why did I eat that?
I didn't really need that.
Now, you know, it doesn't giveyou that statue that you're
looking for.
So I always ask patients, youknow, that's where journaling is
(13:59):
very important.
It's okay if you do that.
We all do it, we're humanbeings, but it's important to
actually write down why you didit.
See, because if you payattention, if you truly pay
attention to what you're doing,I don't care what aspect of it
is in your life, if you trulypay attention, you will find
your patterns to your behaviorthat that occur in a consistent
way.
You've never spent the time toslow things down and understand
(14:20):
yourself.
But if you do then realize afterwork I'm stressed out, you know,
it's been it's you know, I'm anin let's say I'm an introvert
person, it's taking everythingout of me to get through this
job where I got to interact withall these people.
I'm emotionally exhausted, Ihaven't had any control.
I feel like people are tellingme to go to the meeting, do
this, do that.
Now you're in control, you're inthe car, I'm just gonna, you
know, I need something to feelgood.
(14:41):
I need an upper.
So you go to Starbucks and get,you know, banana loaf or
whatever.
And then you start realizing I'mdoing that every day, right?
So then maybe you startrealizing, okay, well, why don't
I change that?
The cue is the stress from theday.
Instead of going to Starbucks,maybe I'll just keep a you know
a two-liter bottle of water inmy car and just drink that.
You know, that'll become yournew habit.
(15:03):
So that I think that's that'sthat's the one of the most
fundamental things is beingpresent, slowing down, trying to
understand what you're doing.
And also eat and not eatingdistracted.
That's another thing wherepatients or people fall into
trouble, is that they'll combineeating with another activity.
We used to not do that in the50s and 60s.
(15:23):
Nobody had TV sets.
You sat with your family, youate, or you sat by yourself.
But now we, you know, we'reflipping through Netflix or
wherever it may be, and we'reeating unconsciously.
And sometimes when you youprobably noticed that yourself
when you're watching a movie,you eat a lot more than you
would have if you just sat atthe table and eated.
Just because you're not you'renot paying attention to the body
cues, my stomach's full.
You just keep eating, and thenat the end, you're like, oh man,
(15:47):
I ate a lot more than I expectedto.
So I think that that's that'sanother key thing, is you have
to be present when you'reeating.
You shouldn't eat distracted.
SPEAKER_02 (15:54):
Yeah, yeah.
You know, I do that, you know,you try to do that all the time.
Like we see a lot of folks,they'll make a meal and then
they'll try to find a somethingto watch on Netflix, and they
just they, you know, you ittakes a long time to find a show
to watch on Netflix, and thenyour food is getting cold.
So, like, people want toentertain themselves while eat,
(16:15):
as opposed to being more presentwhile eating, more mindful,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (16:21):
And I think that's just unfortunately what's
happened in the world.
We're just all we're justconstantly being distracted by
our devices.
It's actually really difficultto just sit down, you know, for
two, just try to sit down forfive minutes, not talk to
anyone, not look at anything.
People can't do it anymore.
It's kind of a lost, it's a lostskill.
Like people used to go on five,six hour flights with nothing.
(16:43):
They just sit on the plane andright.
If you think about it, right?
People used to do that.
Now if you're if your TVscreen's not working on the
plane, it's like it's anemergency, right?
Yeah.
So like it's gone to that point.
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
Yeah, I'm thinking about that.
I can't even imagine getting ona plane, no electronics,
nothing, just no heads, right?
You just sit on the plane andjust sit there.
Uh well, you have to talk topeople, right?
And one of the things we talkabout with friends and
community, right?
(17:17):
Is like, you know, trying tostay accountable in a world
where you are changing, right?
And so, like we mentioned, maybethe people around you probably
are you're holding up thismirror to them like, hey, I'm
making a change, and you know,you know you should be making a
change too.
And me making my change is iskind of making it more apparent
(17:39):
to you, right?
And so that could be a toughcommunity to be a part of if you
want to stay consistent, right?
They might actually pull youdown.
And then you're also in theprocess of making this change,
and so you might not have thatcommunity quite yet that is
going to encourage you, right?
And I'm sitting here thinkingabout distractions and how, you
(18:01):
know, the example of you beingon a plane, well, they actually
talk to each other, right?
They probably had moreconversations, right, and
develop more relationships.
And I think that happens whenyou're a little bit more
mindful, right?
One of the things I'm thinkingabout now is actually building
new community with the identitythat you want to become, right?
(18:26):
And I don't know if a lot offolks think about that of hey,
trying to find people who are onthe the same journey or on a
similar journey as you.
SPEAKER_00 (18:36):
Yeah, that's really true.
You know, community is, youknow, it's something that's
getting harder and harder tofind as we're getting more
isolated from each other.
Like we, you know, you saw, youknow, we're we're now we don't
talk on the phone to each other,we just text each other, or
yeah, you know, we do we'reworking remotely, we're not
going to the office.
So people are getting more andmore isolated in some ways.
(18:57):
And having, you know, I alwayssay like having an
accountability partner can playa huge role in you achieving
your goals, whatever that maybe, but particularly in weight
loss, I think it's reallyimportant.
And I always tell, you know,people who work with us, you
know, when you are going toembark on a major change, you
should involve, you know, yourloved ones, key friends, like
(19:19):
have them be part of the processso they can actually be a source
of support for you, becausethere are going to be people who
are not going to be, but thepeople who are most important to
you, if you if you really letthem know you're doing something
that this is important, theyoften are ready to support you.
And you and getting buy-in fromyour family is really critical
because sometimes one of thestrategies we talk about is you
(19:40):
have to do you have to do asurvey of your environment, work
and at home.
And if you really want to makelasting change or lasting weight
loss, you need to remove theweight gain enablers in your
environment.
So, you know, the thecalorie-dense snacks on the
counters, deleting the deliveryapps on your phone.
You know, that's another exampleof technology which has made
(20:01):
weight gain a lot easier.
Is because before in Canada, forexample, if it's a snowstorm or
it's you eat a minus 20 degreesoutside, you're not going to go,
you'll just eat whatever youhave in the house.
Now you just use, we get UberEats.
I think you just read the samething.
Uh, you can just order anything24-7, they can bring it to your
house.
So that instead even then, sonow you can get food anytime,
(20:22):
and you've now even lost thecalories you burn, going to the
car, walking, or whatever it maybe to the restaurant.
That's all been taken away now.
So we're, you know, so there arelots of these, you know,
technology has had a lot ofbenefits, but it's also had a
lot of negatives too, becausepeople are less, there's less
movement now in our lives, andwe don't even realize that it's
happening.
SPEAKER_02 (20:40):
Yeah, you know, so e even with the distractions,
right?
To make things more convenientto eat the Uber Eats and you
know, even deliver, delivergroceries, deliver everything,
right?
Everything.
Everything.
You you can use your phone to doeverything where you don't get
out and do different things.
And you probably do these in ain a emotional state, right?
(21:03):
When you have your phone out andyou're ordering food.
I I don't know too many peopleordering a salad on Uber Eats.
I don't know too many peopleordering a it's just gotten too
easy.
SPEAKER_00 (21:16):
It's everything has just been made so easy.
And you know, if you reallythink about it, you could not
even ever step out of your housefor days now, yeah, if you other
than just opening the front doorto get whatever was delivered.
You know, you can work fromhome, you can get everything
delivered, grocery.
And I I don't know if that's agood thing.
I actually don't know if that'sa good thing.
I think uh it isolates you fromother people, but I also think
(21:39):
it makes us it makes us moresedentary.
We're not moving, you know, allof those simple movements that
we do, like walking to theoffice or taking the stairs at
work or walking to put theletter in the mailbox or grab a
bag of milk.
That actually played it, thatthat was an important thing.
That was like, you know, youcompound that over a year, those
are you know hundreds ofthousands of steps you're no
(22:01):
longer taking.
And that's all kind of beenremoved.
So those are all challengeswe're facing because you know,
to to fight what you know, thatenvironment, that that
weight-gaining environment, it,you know, movement is part of
our is part of the process,trying to find ways to increase
movement in your day-to-daylife.
SPEAKER_02 (22:18):
Yeah, you know, one of the things I I even think
about in myself, right?
I try to get out of the house asas much as I can.
You know, I think about a lot ofthese habits.
One of the main emotions orthings I feel is boredom, right?
Just being bored at home.
So just naturally, I just go tothe refrigerator and open it up,
(22:39):
and I'm not hungry at all.
I'm just bored and I needsomething, some type of dopamine
to get me excited, right?
Something to get me in in a moreexcited state.
And so even getting out of thehouse more could, you know, help
with that.
You know, you you mentionedmindfulness and you're thinking
you mentioned journaling, right?
Journaling to be more aware ofyour patterns, your habits.
(23:01):
Anything else when it comes tomindfulness that maybe you
practice or you encourage yourclients to practice?
SPEAKER_00 (23:10):
Yeah, so I think obviously journaling's great
because it actually slows downyour thoughts.
The process of you know,articulating what you're
thinking, putting pen to paper,it really makes you get deep
into what's going on in yourhead and trying to understand
it.
So there's a lot of value inthat to sort of to kind of
develop those sorts of habits.
(23:32):
But I also think, you know, athing that I found very
important and helpful in my lifeis meditation.
I've kind of grown up doing itmy entire life.
And when people thinkmeditation, oh, they think, oh,
you're sitting on a mountain andyou know, you're you're
contemplating you know highideas, but it's not really that.
To me, meditation is almost theepitome of mindfulness.
It's that process of like wetalked about, just sitting by
(23:53):
yourself, undistracted, even forthree to five minutes, and
really trying to pay attentionto, you know, just just being
present in the moment, payingattention to how your body's uh
functioning, paying attention towhatever's going through your
mind, and just just beingcomfortable with no distraction.
That really slows things down.
And I think that really helpsyou, that teaches you the skills
(24:15):
to be present and also to becomemore aware of your body as you
feel, you know, you take yourbreath and you feel the
inhalation, and then you feeland meditation could be a great
way to de-stress.
You know, with each exhalation,you can let out any of the
stress from the day.
And I think that practice ofmeditation done, and it doesn't
have to be, you know, I wouldsay even if you do it for five
minutes a day, even if you doit, but even if you do it before
(24:37):
you eat dinner, five minutes aday, that will really change how
you approach your day-to-daylife, but also how you approach
the eat because it'll calm youdown.
You'll kind of have a chance todigest or process whatever was
going on in your day, and thenyou can be more aware, present,
and actually more in control ofwhat you do after that.
So I really do think that that'sand I think that's even in
(24:59):
anything you do in your life,maybe you have a stressful
meeting coming up, or athletesdo it before big games to try to
calm their emotions, right?
And you know, and and I think toto to also speak to that too is
one of the things I tellpatients also is one of the
things that can derail patientswhen they're trying to make big
changes in their lives, youknow, that they've worked really
(25:20):
hard to be on a you know aroutine where they're eating
less, they're more active, isthe special events.
So sometimes the wedding, youknow, the big dinner, the
reunion, whatever it may be,those can sometimes derail
people who are making a lot ofprogress.
And one of the things I tellpeople to do is like slow things
down, actually almost get into ameditation state and visualize
(25:43):
how you're gonna handle theevent.
Visualize what you're whatcompromises you're willing to
make, what and and what you'renot willing to negotiate.
Because if you actually thinkahead of time how you're gonna
handle the appetizer table orthe wine or the drinks or the
shots or whatever it may be, ifyou think ahead and you come up
with a strategy, you're gonna bea lot more likely to follow
(26:04):
through on that.
And you're also gonna have theguardrails up that prevent you
from you know getting carriedaway.
And I think that's what we seethat in athletics.
Athletes visualize, they'llvisualize, you sometimes see
them closing down, pretendingthey're taking a shot, but
they're actually visualizing itin their head because if you
think about it, if you'vethought about it ahead of time,
you're more likely to make thecorrect decision.
(26:25):
And sometimes that's the thingwith like a negotiation.
If you think about it, ifthey're gonna say A, this is how
I'm gonna respond, and they sayA, or this is how I'm gonna
respond, is they'd be, it's alot easier to do the right thing
than if you have to make it upon the spot.
So I think that that's wheremeditation and visualization can
really play an important role.
SPEAKER_02 (26:41):
That's that's huge.
I, you know, obviously, youknow, it's especially in
athletics and when I was playingbasketball, like visualization
was something that was huge.
Even even in a big event, maybea big interview, big
presentation, or something likethat, something that's high
stakes you think aboutvisualization, right?
(27:04):
But it's so many examples, eventhat I can think about, uh, and
and anybody that's going throughsome type of change and they're
consistent in doing something,where they're going to an event
and they know that this event ormaybe this environment is going
to be a tough environment to bein, right?
And if you can visualizeyourself being successful and
(27:29):
walking away from thatenvironment, feeling good about
yourself, you'll be moresuccessful in that environment.
Because it's not like it's thefirst time you're there, right?
SPEAKER_00 (27:38):
That's that that's and I get yeah, like I can like
as a surgeon, I visualize myoperations often.
I will think them through in myhead before I go to bed.
Okay, I have to do this casetomorrow.
I start imagining the steps.
What will I do if this happens?
What will I do if I encountersomething that wasn't picked up
on the scans?
Or, you know, you you so youkind of go through, and then
(27:59):
over time you have these kind ofalgorithms, but you also it's
interesting, it's just spendinga few minutes thinking through
or even writing out the steps.
If it's something that you knowthat's not that common, it makes
a big difference when you'reactually doing it then because
you've slowed things down,you've thought it through.
And you're right, when thestakes are high, you have to
have you don't want to just beguessing and you want to have
(28:20):
had a strategy going in.
And I think that's wherevisualization really plays an
important role.
SPEAKER_02 (28:25):
Yeah.
So journaling, meditation,visualization.
And I'm now now that you mentionit, even you as a surgeon,
right?
Like every almost everything youdo in a way is kind of high
stakes, right?
And so keeping your emotions incheck, right?
And and keeping your mind calm,right?
(28:47):
This is something that youprobably practice on a regular
basis yourself, all these threethings.
SPEAKER_00 (28:52):
For sure.
You know, I would say that a,you know, sometimes you develop
those strategies and youhaven't, you they just happen.
You've never really thoughtabout, you know, but when you
step back and think about andreally, you know, when I started
thinking more about how yourmindset's important, I started
thinking about some of thethings that I had developed in
myself, and I didn't evenrealize I was doing it.
But you kind of had justdeveloped those skills because
(29:15):
you have to out of necessity.
Like you said, like if if a caseis not going well or you
encounter something that youdidn't expect, or often when
emergency surgery you have nochoice, something's happened to
someone unfortunately, and youhave to deal deal with a serious
problem and not optimizecircumstances.
You have to stay calm and bepresent and kind of you know
(29:35):
process whatever data's in frontof you and make the right
decision.
And you know, if you let youremotions take over, then you
won't be a you won't be helpfulto the patient or anyone else.
So I think those skills, youknow, I think I've probably
developed them over years oftraining and practice.
And and I and I but I thinkthey're you know, and one thing
I'd say is their skills.
So to me, skills mean they'relearnable, right?
So they're teachable.
(29:57):
So I think all of us are capableof developing these skills.
We just have to one have theopportunity to do it.
And sometimes we need people toshow us how to do it, and I
think that and I think that'sThat's great.
That's empowering because itmeans that we all can develop
these skills over time.
SPEAKER_02 (30:11):
Yeah, 100%.
That's why they call youmeditation a practice, right?
It's a it's a you can practiceit.
It's something that you developa skill set, a proficiency over
time.
SPEAKER_00 (30:25):
That's that's right.
And and I and I kind of think,you know what I try to also
impress upon like pay patientswho are trying to lose weight,
but anyone who's trying to dosomething significant in their
lives, is sometimes we get toofixated on the goal.
And sometimes, like let's sayyou're trying to do something
(30:47):
really, you know, big in yourlife, it may seem like it's so
far away, or you know, it's it'snot doable.
You have to, in thosesituations, like if you let's
say you have to lose 150 poundsand it seems really daunting,
and you're like, how am I evergonna do this?
You know, I've never been ableto lose 10 or 20 pounds.
This is it, it's impossible.
And you people just give up andthey don't even bother.
(31:09):
And I and that's sad because youknow, obviously you want to make
a change, but it seems reallyintimidating and not doable.
So, what I try to tell patientsor people who are who ask for
advice is you have to focus onthe process.
If you focus on the process, ifyou do what you're supposed to
do day in and day out, itdoesn't really matter what
(31:31):
happens because you're doingwhat you're supposed to do.
And if you keep doing thosecorrect things, putting one step
in front of the other, theresults are actually gonna come.
It may not, it may not come asquickly as you want, but if
you're actually doing the rightthings and you do them day in
and day out, if you just focuson what you're supposed to do,
it doesn't really matter whatthe outcome is because you're
(31:51):
doing the right things, you'regonna get there.
And it sometimes it's fasterthan you think.
And you know, a lot of examplesI give are from athletics, but
you know, they always say forathletes, just do your job.
Just do your job you do whatyou're supposed to do.
Don't worry about the score.
If you do what you're supposedto do, it doesn't really matter,
right?
The results will follow.
(32:12):
So that's kind of the same thingwith anything in life.
There's a lot we can learn fromyou know the arts, from sports,
it applies to life in general.
If you, you know, like let's sayyou're trying to start a
business and it seems reallydaunting, and because being a
you know, any type of businessperson is not easy, you're kind
of working for yourself, it'snot a guaranteed paycheck,
whatever.
It can seem really stressful.
(32:33):
But if you just know I have todo these things every single
day, and if I do those thingsday in, day out, you are gonna
see the results.
Whereas if you just focus, Ineed to generate this amount in
this period of time, then itjust seems it becomes too
overwhelming.
So, you know, so I think foranything you're trying to do in
life that's significant, youjust have to focus on the
process.
Yeah, you have to understandwhat those things are that you
(32:56):
need to do and just do them.
SPEAKER_02 (32:58):
That's I mean, that that right there is so huge.
Not focus and have the goal inplace for direction.
But don't make that the I guessthe main focus is to focus on
the habits from the directionthat you've chosen, right?
What are the habits?
The small things I need to do ona daily basis and create that as
(33:21):
a system and focus on that tothen build that momentum.
And honestly, you end up furtherthan just 150 pounds, right?
Probably you you end up in atotally different place, place
that you couldn't even imagine,you know.
SPEAKER_00 (33:39):
Sometimes you end up, yeah, you you're like when
you look back, you're like, howdid I even get here?
And and part of the thing that Ithink that people don't realize
is everyone thinks that when I'mwhen I'm here and I want it's
gonna be a straight line.
Every day I'm gonna see thesuccess or progress doesn't work
that way.
It's gonna be up and downcircles, and you will get where
you need to be, but there'sthere are periods of time when
(34:01):
things may you may be doing allthe right things and you're not
seeing the results.
But that and then that's whenmost people give up because
you're not getting thatimmediate feedback.
So you're going to the gym,you're you know, you're having a
high protein diet, you're notdrinking liquid calories, you're
doing your mindfulnessexercises.
Yeah, I've been doing that forfour weeks, I've only lost two
(34:22):
pounds.
Oh, this is gonna be like everyother time.
What's the point?
You just give up, right?
Whereas if you know, if you ifyou just instead take the
mindset that I'm doing what I'msupposed to do, I have faith
that if I keep doing thosethings, the results will follow.
For most people, that they willfollow.
Obviously, there are exceptionsor anything in life, but for the
(34:43):
vast majority of people, if youjust do the things that you're
supposed to do, the results willfollow.
And they're gonna be dips andthey're gonna sometimes you're
gonna have faster results thanyou expected, but that's not
normal.
That may not, that may not beevery week, but that's fine.
Celebrate those things when theyhappen.
But the the real thing is reallyjust control the things that you
can control.
So do the things that you'resupposed to do.
(35:05):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (35:06):
And like we talked about, that will help with the
emotions too, right?
That'll help with the emotionalside of things, of not getting
low and not getting too high,right?
When things aren't going the wayyou want it to go.
And then, you know, a lot oftimes what you'll realize is
that, yeah, it's been two monthsand you only lost two pounds,
(35:27):
and then six months down theline, it can be 20 pounds,
right?
But those two months no movementwere a big piece to it, right?
SPEAKER_00 (35:37):
Oh, a huge piece.
That's where you were formingthe habits, where you're having
the discipline, where you're uhchanging your your relationship
with eating and andunderstanding why you're doing
what you're doing.
And you can understate that.
You may say, oh, those twomonths, nothing.
A lot is happening behind thescenes, you just don't realize
it.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (35:55):
And then that the habit forming piece, right?
Is that's when you start tobuild that new identity.
It's uh so many, like you said,so many things behind the scenes
that you don't see, as opposedto you're you're just thinking
about 150 pounds being lower ona scale when it has to be a lot
of different things that need tochange in your habits, your
(36:16):
mindset, your life, youridentity to get to that 150
pounds.
So people are just focused onthe goal.
And this is more than justweight loss, people are just
focused on the goal of certainof certain things and wondering
why it's taking so long, asopposed to looking at how that
goal has to be the person you'llyou need to become to get to
(36:40):
that goal, right?
SPEAKER_00 (36:42):
That's right.
That that's the most importantpiece, and really what you
should be celebrating is thatyou did the right things.
Yeah.
Or you you did you did thethings that were the most the
things that you could control,you acted on them.
Yeah.
And you can't, you know, lots ofthings of everyone's different,
everyone's metabolism'sdifferent.
It's some things, some thingsare easier for you than me, and
(37:02):
some things are easier for methan you, and we're all
different.
That's what makes us unique.
But what you can focus on arethe things you can control.
And ultimately, what you theonly thing you can truly control
in life are your choices.
Yeah, you can't control whatpeople do to you.
You you can obviously controlhow you react to them, but you
can't control there's lots ofthings you can't control, but
really control what you think,and you can control what you
(37:22):
choose to do.
And and I think that that'sreally ultimately, like a lot of
the skills that we teach, Ithink they're applicable to
every aspect of your life.
It's not just like beinghealthier, but I think it also
will help you in your job, inyour relationships with your
friends and family, or inachieving whatever your goals
are, like just having and beingpresent, really understanding.
(37:44):
Like when you have a a lot oftimes we have conversations with
people, we're not actuallylistening to them.
We're thinking about what thenext thing we're gonna say is,
but we're actually not beingpresent and really understanding
what they're saying.
And when you, and I'm guilty ofit just like everyone else, but
if you actually start making ita point of being present in
every interaction, you'll beshocked how much more you learn.
You'll you'll be shocked atthings that you were not picking
(38:07):
up on before, and you'llactually make better decisions.
And so it's actually reallyimportant.
And you're it's just like when Iwhen my kids, I've had my kids
call me out saying, Hey, youknow, you're not really I'm
sitting there, but I'm notreally participating or paying
attention.
And they'll kind of say, like,you know, they'll call you out
in their way they do as a kid.
And then you kind of realize,like, yeah, I'm just sitting
(38:27):
here, but I know I'm tired, Ihad a long day at work, but it
it you realize it's reallyimportant.
People can tell when you're notreally paying attention or not
present.
SPEAKER_02 (38:35):
Yeah, yeah.
And you have to make that youI'm I'm thinking about every
time I hop on a podcast withsomebody, it's it's that's been
one of the main lessons I'velearned in conversation is being
present.
Because you'll, like you said,you'll miss out on some some
things where it's like, wait, Imissed that when I was
listening.
You go back and listen to acertain podcast, you're like, I
(38:57):
missed that.
How did I miss that?
That's so it was so obviouswhile listening and and being
able to be present in it all.
I know you have a book, right?
Shift Your Mind to Shift YourWeight, the missing link, right?
You know, talk about this andand you know, where is it
available at and and how folkscan continue to kind of find
(39:20):
your journey.
SPEAKER_00 (39:21):
Yeah, well, thank thanks for that.
So shift your mind, uh the shiftyour weight was really, I I
tried to, you know, I was tryingto come up with some resources
for my patients who I found werestruggling with maintaining
their weight loss or kind of youknow rebounding back.
And I started to try to think ofthe tools that I found useful in
(39:41):
my life, but also the thingsI've learned from patients I
worked for them.
And I was gonna make uh sort of,you know, handouts and have
lectures for them and so on andso forth.
And then I started thinking, whydon't I actually try to put this
together in more of a structuredapproach?
So I wanted to make somethingthat was easy to use, easy to
understand, did not require alot of time, because I know
people's time and attention isvery precious nowadays.
(40:03):
So I tried to make somethingthat people could take quick
lessons away from and actuallyadapt to their or introduce into
their day-to-day life.
So the first part of the book isan instructive piece that talks
about the different tools likemindfulness, journaling,
affirmations, you know, all ofthose strategies.
And then the second part is, youknow, one thing is to have the
knowledge, the second part is toactually make it into a habit.
(40:24):
So I created like 90 days ofjust simple journaling
activities with motivationalquotes in each day just to kind
of keep you motivated andempower you, but also to really
drill home some of these habitsinto your life.
Because I do think if you can dosomething consistently for three
months, there's a highprobability it'll become part of
your daily routine, or at leastpart of it will.
And I think that that's wherethe real change happens is when
(40:47):
you do something smallconsistently, not something
drastic for you know one or twodays, but if you can do a small
thing day in, day out, that'swhere the real growth occurs.
So that was sort of mymotivation to create it.
And it's available on Amazon.
They have it on the Kindle, oryou could just order it.
SPEAKER_02 (41:02):
I love it, I love it.
And then I know I'm looking, Imean, this is this is amazing in
my mind, just the mindset pieceof weight loss.
Because this is not just forweight loss.
This can be some, this can befor all kind of journeys of
change, essentially.
Yeah, yeah.
(41:24):
And so when I'm thinking aboutmindset, having your mindset
being a shift in weight loss,thinking it's like that with
everything.
SPEAKER_00 (41:33):
Yeah, you you really truly do become what you think.
SPEAKER_02 (41:36):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (41:37):
If you're an optimistic person, you have
positive thoughts, you'll you'llconduct yourself in that way.
And if you have the oppositesort of mindset, you know, your
if your thoughts are so andultimately so if you really
really if you if you think aboutthe life you want, you have to
align your thoughts with thatlife.
And if your thoughts, your ifyour thoughts, your actions will
(41:57):
then align to your thoughts.
So if if you really truly wantto do something, you have to
kind of create the mindset to toto align with that goal.
Because if you say I want to bea leader of people, but you're a
toxic, negative person, you'renot, right?
And if you're having thatinternal dialogue, you can't be
that person.
It's not gonna be authentic.
People are gonna know it, right?
(42:19):
So ultimately, like you're youhave to really, and you can
change, you can change yourmindset.
That's the piece I really try toimpress upon people.
People think, well, this is justhow I am.
I don't believe that at all.
I do think we can change how wethink and how we approach life.
I'm not saying it's gonna beeasy, it's gonna take time, it's
gonna take work, and it's gottabe deliberate steps.
(42:39):
But if you do those things, youcan change how you think about
the world and how you how youhow you respond to things that
come your way.
SPEAKER_02 (42:47):
Yeah, 100%.
Where else how how else canpeople find kind of some more
information about the work youdo and find more about you?
SPEAKER_00 (42:57):
Yeah, so on our website, it's uh peelweight
lossclinic.com.
We have lots of information on,you know, we have a blog with
weight loss strategies.
But if you also go to our ourInstagram at Peel Weight Loss
Clinic, that's P-E-E-L, WeightLoss Clinic.
I have lots of short videos Iput on the you know on social
media just on uh some of it'smotivational, some of it's on
(43:20):
specific, you know, weight lossthings like GLP1 medication
surgery.
But a lot of it I talk aboutmindset, those sorts of things.
So it's sort of a passionproject of mine.
I do it more just out ofinterest in something.
I find that the the more I dowhen I do this, I actually teach
myself things.
Yeah, and and I think that'sprobably the higher, the the
larger reason why I do it isbecause I learn just as much as
(43:41):
I teach.
Um, and I think that's what theysay.
That's how you become a masteris by teaching.
So that's kind of that's kind ofhow I'm approaching this.
SPEAKER_02 (43:49):
Yeah, yeah.
I'm looking at the the Instagrampage right now.
I'm looking at the website, andI'm I'm looking, it's a it's a
lot of knowledge here.
And so I definitely make sure Iput all this in the footnotes
for folks to find you and andcontinue to follow your journey,
man.
This is this podcast is a lot ofvalue.
For even folks who aren'tlooking to necessarily lose
(44:10):
weight, it's still someuniversal principles there for
them to grow and develop, right?
And then folks who do want tolit lose weight.
This is also we we've given somesome real tips and and tricks
here, honestly, for everybody.
So we appreciate you.
We appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00 (44:27):
I I thanks for having me.
I really enjoyed theconversation.
I love it.
This episode is all about the truth behind lasting
weight loss and how real changestarts with your mindset
effects.
In this episode, we're joined byDr.
Pavy Cannall, a surgeon whospent nearly two decades helping
people lose weight, and who'slearned that real transformation
happens when your mindsetshifts.
In this conversation, we getinto why mindset is the key to
(00:31):
sustainable results, the deeperreasons people struggle with
weight gain, and how identityand self-image shift after
weight loss.
Dr.
Pavy also breaks down practicaltools, mindfulness, journaling,
meditation, and simple dailyhabits that help you stay
consistent and make healthierchoices more days than not.
(00:55):
Let's get into it.
SPEAKER_02 (00:57):
All right, Dr.
Pavy.
I always love starting a showwith who is Dr.
Pavy and how does he spend histime today?
SPEAKER_00 (01:07):
Well, thanks again for having me on your show.
That's a good question.
So, you know, when I think aboutmyself, I think about you know
my personal life and myprofessional life.
And obviously, I think the mostimportant you know thing that
defines me is my family.
So I have three children, uh, aneight-year-old, six-year-old,
three-year-old, so it's busy.
I'm married, my wife's asurgeon, also, so it's a busy
(01:28):
household, lots of things tobalance.
I've lived in Canada my entirelife.
I just live outside, I grew upin Toronto, I was born in
Toronto, but I live outside thegreater Toronto area right now,
and my family's there.
So I feel very connected uh toToronto and uh Canada.
I work as a surgeon.
I've been practicing independentpractice for 17 years.
I've had a real focus in weightloss.
(01:50):
I performed hundreds of weightloss procedures, but I also
focused on mindset and how itcan lead to lasting change.
So that's a big part of myclinical practice.
But I also, you know, do otherthings like you know, I uh do a
lot of abdominal surgery, coloncancer, things like that.
SPEAKER_02 (02:05):
Yeah, yeah.
You know, I know before we kindof hit record, we talked about
your book, Shift Your Mind toShift Your Weight.
And a lot of folks, I don't knowif they think about the mindset
focus of weight loss, right?
And I'm thinking about you andhow you perform weight loss
(02:27):
surgeries on people.
And I'm pretty sure you foundpeople who they haven't
necessarily changed theirmindset or their habits around
this new kind of body that theyhave now, right?
And so along the way, you wereable to find out like, hey, this
should be a mindset shift asopposed to just the physical,
(02:50):
right?
Talk to me about that, how youkind of came along to this
journey.
SPEAKER_00 (02:53):
Yeah, that's a good question.
So, you know, initially when Istarted out working with people
to, you know, get healthierthrough weight loss, I used to
really focus just on thetechnical aspects, how the
surgery's done, the angles.
And that's obviously veryimportant.
But I started seeing as youknow, you start doing things for
long periods of time, you startseeing that not everyone
(03:16):
succeeds to the same degree.
There are some patients who didreally well, there's some
patients who did you know whatyou expect, and some who didn't
do as well as you had hoped.
And what I found was that thepatients who did the best were
the ones who, for example, usethe surgery as a tool to help
them lose weight, but not thenot the only thing.
They use it as a tool to alsohelp them change their mindset,
(03:39):
their habits, their lifestyle.
And those are the people who Ifound had the most lasting
results.
And that's when I started torealize that you know, the
surgery is obviously important,but changing how your
relationship with food, changingyour habits, what you do
day-to-day are just as importantto have that lasting change.
And that's kind of where Irealized that you have to, and
that starts in your mindset.
(04:00):
Because ultimately, the onlything we can control in life is
how we think and what we chooseto do.
And yeah, so teaching the skillsto actually first understand why
you're doing what you're doing.
First understanding why youactually do what you do is the
first step to then makinglasting change.
Because a lot of times we dothings we don't even know why we
do it.
We just do it because maybe ourparents told us to do it or our
(04:21):
friends, doors of learnedbehavior.
But we've never really slowedthings down and tried to
understand why we're actuallydoing what we do.
And I think that goes to oftenwhy are we eating?
A lot of times, patients afterwork, it's instinctive.
Okay, I'm done work, I'm tiredat a busy day, you know, maybe
my coworkers are bothering me.
And then you just routinely goto the drive-thru and go to
(04:42):
Starbucks or whatever, and yougrab a snack.
And you may not even be hungry,but it's just something you do
to give you some comfort andmanage your emotions.
And over time, those habitsreally do compound into like
sometimes detrimental effects inyour health.
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
Yeah.
You know, so doing kind ofresearch on you and kind of your
story, the work you do.
Have you heard the bookpsychocybernetics?
I have I have, I have not readit though.
So obviously it's a it's a verypopular book, but the author,
Maxwell Maltz, he also was aplastic, he was a plastic
(05:17):
surgeon, right?
And he realized that patientschanged their appearance, but it
didn't change their self-imageor their identity, right?
And therefore it didn'tnecessarily change their lives.
And so hearing your work, it's avery similar story of how you
found it, right?
And one thing I'm thinking aboutis identity or or self-image and
(05:42):
and how they think, right?
How have you found that into thepicture of the identity shift in
the way somebody thinks thosetwo kind of factors?
SPEAKER_00 (05:56):
That that is something that we try to prepare
our patients for becausesometimes, you know, after
surgery, you can have dramaticweight loss.
Right.
And it can happen, you know,sometimes you know, quite
quickly.
And sometimes how you'veperceived yourself is different
than how how other people areperceiving you.
And sometimes the world changesquickly because unfortunately,
(06:19):
you know, a lot of times peopleare judged for you know exterior
reasons, yeah.
And now all of a sudden that'schanged, and now the world's
relating with you differently.
And sometimes it can stressrelationships you've had.
You've had friendships wherepeople expected you to be a
certain way, and now you're notthat person anymore in those
people's eyes.
And sometimes people losefriendships where people don't
(06:41):
relate to them the same way, orthey feel like they're being
judged because they tooksomething, they took a positive
step to change their life, andpeople are judgmental of that.
And and it can put strains onpersonal relationships.
You see it sometimes inpeople's, you know, marriages or
relationships with co-workers.
So it it really these are, youknow, how it really hits to who
(07:03):
you are and how people perceiveit.
It changes that.
SPEAKER_02 (07:06):
You know, um you mentioned it, I'm thinking about
people when people want tochange, period, right?
They want to change the way theylive their life as a whole.
They have some identity changeor identity shift, uh, where
they want to do something betterfor them for their life.
The people around them actuallystart to judge them, right?
(07:29):
And I I that wasn't evensomething I thought about with
this.
But the people around you wantto keep you in this box.
They don't want you to leavethis box.
And so it can cause some type ofstrife and friction in the
relationships that you have.
And so when you go throughchange, you have to not only
change your own identity, but alot of times you your
(07:51):
environment and the peoplearound your environment when you
have change.
And so it sounds like you youhave to prepare your patients
for that.
I don't know.
What do you tell them?
How do you help them throughthat process?
Like, what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00 (08:07):
Yeah, that's a really good point you bring up.
You know, I I would say thatlet's just step back from even
weight loss and just think aboutlife in general.
Yeah.
A lot of times if you try toimprove yourself or you want to
have a better life, you want tobe more successful, whatever it
may be, have a better job, youknow, be more athletic, uh lose
(08:28):
weight, whatever it may be, thatcan be triggering to the people
around you because if youactually do those things that
you're supposed to do and starthaving the life that you want to
have, it then highlights to thepeople who are not doing those
things that it is actuallypossible.
And and it can then affect thembecause now they have to face
look themselves in the mirrorand say, well, I didn't, I
(08:49):
didn't do those things and shedid, and look at her.
So that that sometimes is a lotof the reasons why people don't
react positively when someone'strying to change or improve
their lives.
And I try to tell patients thatlike you need to know things are
gonna change for you, and inmany ways positive, but in some
ways they're they're they'resometimes negatives because how
(09:09):
people relate to you, thosefriendships, they may not be as
supportive as you want.
So you have to have thatemotional resilience to sort of
manage those emotions becausesometimes those emotions can
trigger you to make bad foodchoices.
Yeah.
Because a lot of eating isemotionally triggered.
You know, when we grow up, ifyou're having a bad day, your
parents say, Oh, grab an icecream or you know, have a candy
(09:31):
bar.
That's kind of a way to make youfeel better, or you know, see
you've you've achieved a bigsuccess.
Let's go to the restaurant, havea party.
So we a lot of a lot of emotionsin for humans are tied to
actually eating.
So it's not surprising then thatemotions can drive you to make
bad food choices.
SPEAKER_02 (09:49):
Yeah, you know, it's uh and you don't even realize it
unless you're conscious, right?
About your decisions and youremotions and how you process
your emotions and how you try toregulate yourself and soothe
your emotions.
And a lot of times it is througheating.
(10:10):
And I mean, you see it all thetime.
I can even think about myselfwhen I'm super hungry and I'm
cooking something and I'mdancing, right?
You're in a good mood, you'reabout to regulate your emotions,
right?
But being conscious though,right?
The the the mindfulness piece ofit, to be aware of, okay, how am
(10:30):
I feeling?
I need to take a second topause, take a deep breath.
Am I actually hungry or or am Itrying to sue certain emotions?
And it's not even just, youknow, eating is is is how people
sue their emotions, but a lot oftimes it could be alcohol, it
could be drugs, it's sex, it's alot of different things that
(10:51):
people do to sue these emotionswith certain vices and food and
sugar a lot of times areprobably one of the main ones
because it's so accessible,right?
How can folks start to handlethat when these emotions come
up?
SPEAKER_00 (11:09):
Yeah, that's that that's a really good question.
And I I think it it goes to theconcept of being present and
mindful.
And we really try to stress thatin our clinic that this is one
of the tools you can use toincrease your control of your
behavior.
Now, it's a you it it's reallyinteresting you brought up all
those things, how peopleeveryone has their vices they
(11:29):
use to manage their feelings, sogambling or drugs or whatever it
may be.
Unfortunately, food's one ofthose things you can't go cold
turkey on.
You can't say I'm not, you know,just like you can say I'm never
gonna touch alcohol again, I'mnever gonna go into a bar again.
You can't do that with foodbecause you need food to
survive.
And that's what makes itparticularly challenging because
(11:50):
imagine trying to tell someonewho's struggling with you know
substance abuse, you can onlyhave a little bit, but you can't
have a lot.
And it it can be a very, youknow, it's almost it seems like
an almost impossible thing thenfor someone to do because you
know you have those tendencies.
So that's why I think you know,one of the tools we talk about
is mindful eating instead ofmindless eating or unconscious
(12:11):
eating.
And you all did to some of thethings that are really
important.
So whenever I, you know, I whenI talk to patients about
strategies to be present whenyou're eating, the first thing
is this just slow things down.
You know, we're in a fast-facedsociety, we're getting dopamine
surges from our devices, TV,lots of things are going on all
the time.
So a lot of times we're justdoing things, we're not actually
thinking about why we're doingthem.
(12:32):
So I think the first step, youknow, when you sit down is or
you're about to grab a snack orwhatever it may be, ask
yourself, am I actually hungry?
Just that question itself can bea circuit breaker because now
you've stopped that unconsciousbehavior of just grabbing
whatever's on the counter, andyou're actually asking yourself,
and if you just ask yourselfthat question, I'd say 50, 60%
(12:53):
of the time, you probably won'teven eat something just by
putting that circuit breaker inthere.
And so we so once you've askedthat question, now if you say,
Yeah, I'm hungry, that's fine.
And we also try to teach peoplethe difference between physical
hunger and emotional hunger, andthey're two very different
things.
Physical hunger is when yourbody needs energy.
You know, you've been exercisingor you've been at work for four
(13:14):
to six hours, now you're hungry.
You need you need calories tofuel your body functions, to
walk around, all those things.
And you those are very distinctfeelings.
You start feeling lightheaded,you feel tired, you feel, you
feel lackadaisical, you have apit in your stomach.
Those are feelings that yourbody's telling you, no, you need
to eat, we need energy.
Whereas emotional hunger isdifferent, it calls it comes on
(13:35):
all of a sudden.
You had a stressful interactionwith your boss work or your
coworker, or you had a badconversation with your wife or
husband or whoever, and then youget this sudden desire for
comfort food, it comes onsuddenly, then you eat it, and
often you have that feeling ofguilt afterwards.
Like, why did I eat that?
I didn't really need that.
Now, you know, it doesn't giveyou that statue that you're
looking for.
So I always ask patients, youknow, that's where journaling is
(13:59):
very important.
It's okay if you do that.
We all do it, we're humanbeings, but it's important to
actually write down why you didit.
See, because if you payattention, if you truly pay
attention to what you're doing,I don't care what aspect of it
is in your life, if you trulypay attention, you will find
your patterns to your behaviorthat that occur in a consistent
way.
You've never spent the time toslow things down and understand
(14:20):
yourself.
But if you do then realize afterwork I'm stressed out, you know,
it's been it's you know, I'm anin let's say I'm an introvert
person, it's taking everythingout of me to get through this
job where I got to interact withall these people.
I'm emotionally exhausted, Ihaven't had any control.
I feel like people are tellingme to go to the meeting, do
this, do that.
Now you're in control, you're inthe car, I'm just gonna, you
know, I need something to feelgood.
(14:41):
I need an upper.
So you go to Starbucks and get,you know, banana loaf or
whatever.
And then you start realizing I'mdoing that every day, right?
So then maybe you startrealizing, okay, well, why don't
I change that?
The cue is the stress from theday.
Instead of going to Starbucks,maybe I'll just keep a you know
a two-liter bottle of water inmy car and just drink that.
You know, that'll become yournew habit.
(15:03):
So that I think that's that'sthat's the one of the most
fundamental things is beingpresent, slowing down, trying to
understand what you're doing.
And also eat and not eatingdistracted.
That's another thing wherepatients or people fall into
trouble, is that they'll combineeating with another activity.
We used to not do that in the50s and 60s.
(15:23):
Nobody had TV sets.
You sat with your family, youate, or you sat by yourself.
But now we, you know, we'reflipping through Netflix or
wherever it may be, and we'reeating unconsciously.
And sometimes when you youprobably noticed that yourself
when you're watching a movie,you eat a lot more than you
would have if you just sat atthe table and eated.
Just because you're not you'renot paying attention to the body
cues, my stomach's full.
You just keep eating, and thenat the end, you're like, oh man,
(15:47):
I ate a lot more than I expectedto.
So I think that that's that'sanother key thing, is you have
to be present when you'reeating.
You shouldn't eat distracted.
SPEAKER_02 (15:54):
Yeah, yeah.
You know, I do that, you know,you try to do that all the time.
Like we see a lot of folks,they'll make a meal and then
they'll try to find a somethingto watch on Netflix, and they
just they, you know, you ittakes a long time to find a show
to watch on Netflix, and thenyour food is getting cold.
So, like, people want toentertain themselves while eat,
(16:15):
as opposed to being more presentwhile eating, more mindful,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (16:21):
And I think that's just unfortunately what's
happened in the world.
We're just all we're justconstantly being distracted by
our devices.
It's actually really difficultto just sit down, you know, for
two, just try to sit down forfive minutes, not talk to
anyone, not look at anything.
People can't do it anymore.
It's kind of a lost, it's a lostskill.
Like people used to go on five,six hour flights with nothing.
(16:43):
They just sit on the plane andright.
If you think about it, right?
People used to do that.
Now if you're if your TVscreen's not working on the
plane, it's like it's anemergency, right?
Yeah.
So like it's gone to that point.
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
Yeah, I'm thinking about that.
I can't even imagine getting ona plane, no electronics,
nothing, just no heads, right?
You just sit on the plane andjust sit there.
Uh well, you have to talk topeople, right?
And one of the things we talkabout with friends and
community, right?
(17:17):
Is like, you know, trying tostay accountable in a world
where you are changing, right?
And so, like we mentioned, maybethe people around you probably
are you're holding up thismirror to them like, hey, I'm
making a change, and you know,you know you should be making a
change too.
And me making my change is iskind of making it more apparent
(17:39):
to you, right?
And so that could be a toughcommunity to be a part of if you
want to stay consistent, right?
They might actually pull youdown.
And then you're also in theprocess of making this change,
and so you might not have thatcommunity quite yet that is
going to encourage you, right?
And I'm sitting here thinkingabout distractions and how, you
(18:01):
know, the example of you beingon a plane, well, they actually
talk to each other, right?
They probably had moreconversations, right, and
develop more relationships.
And I think that happens whenyou're a little bit more
mindful, right?
One of the things I'm thinkingabout now is actually building
new community with the identitythat you want to become, right?
(18:26):
And I don't know if a lot offolks think about that of hey,
trying to find people who are onthe the same journey or on a
similar journey as you.
SPEAKER_00 (18:36):
Yeah, that's really true.
You know, community is, youknow, it's something that's
getting harder and harder tofind as we're getting more
isolated from each other.
Like we, you know, you saw, youknow, we're we're now we don't
talk on the phone to each other,we just text each other, or
yeah, you know, we do we'reworking remotely, we're not
going to the office.
So people are getting more andmore isolated in some ways.
(18:57):
And having, you know, I alwayssay like having an
accountability partner can playa huge role in you achieving
your goals, whatever that maybe, but particularly in weight
loss, I think it's reallyimportant.
And I always tell, you know,people who work with us, you
know, when you are going toembark on a major change, you
should involve, you know, yourloved ones, key friends, like
(19:19):
have them be part of the processso they can actually be a source
of support for you, becausethere are going to be people who
are not going to be, but thepeople who are most important to
you, if you if you really letthem know you're doing something
that this is important, theyoften are ready to support you.
And you and getting buy-in fromyour family is really critical
because sometimes one of thestrategies we talk about is you
(19:40):
have to do you have to do asurvey of your environment, work
and at home.
And if you really want to makelasting change or lasting weight
loss, you need to remove theweight gain enablers in your
environment.
So, you know, the thecalorie-dense snacks on the
counters, deleting the deliveryapps on your phone.
You know, that's another exampleof technology which has made
(20:01):
weight gain a lot easier.
Is because before in Canada, forexample, if it's a snowstorm or
it's you eat a minus 20 degreesoutside, you're not going to go,
you'll just eat whatever youhave in the house.
Now you just use, we get UberEats.
I think you just read the samething.
Uh, you can just order anything24-7, they can bring it to your
house.
So that instead even then, sonow you can get food anytime,
(20:22):
and you've now even lost thecalories you burn, going to the
car, walking, or whatever it maybe to the restaurant.
That's all been taken away now.
So we're, you know, so there arelots of these, you know,
technology has had a lot ofbenefits, but it's also had a
lot of negatives too, becausepeople are less, there's less
movement now in our lives, andwe don't even realize that it's
happening.
SPEAKER_02 (20:40):
Yeah, you know, so e even with the distractions,
right?
To make things more convenientto eat the Uber Eats and you
know, even deliver, delivergroceries, deliver everything,
right?
Everything.
Everything.
You you can use your phone to doeverything where you don't get
out and do different things.
And you probably do these in ain a emotional state, right?
(21:03):
When you have your phone out andyou're ordering food.
I I don't know too many peopleordering a salad on Uber Eats.
I don't know too many peopleordering a it's just gotten too
easy.
SPEAKER_00 (21:16):
It's everything has just been made so easy.
And you know, if you reallythink about it, you could not
even ever step out of your housefor days now, yeah, if you other
than just opening the front doorto get whatever was delivered.
You know, you can work fromhome, you can get everything
delivered, grocery.
And I I don't know if that's agood thing.
I actually don't know if that'sa good thing.
I think uh it isolates you fromother people, but I also think
(21:39):
it makes us it makes us moresedentary.
We're not moving, you know, allof those simple movements that
we do, like walking to theoffice or taking the stairs at
work or walking to put theletter in the mailbox or grab a
bag of milk.
That actually played it, thatthat was an important thing.
That was like, you know, youcompound that over a year, those
are you know hundreds ofthousands of steps you're no
(22:01):
longer taking.
And that's all kind of beenremoved.
So those are all challengeswe're facing because you know,
to to fight what you know, thatenvironment, that that
weight-gaining environment, it,you know, movement is part of
our is part of the process,trying to find ways to increase
movement in your day-to-daylife.
SPEAKER_02 (22:18):
Yeah, you know, one of the things I I even think
about in myself, right?
I try to get out of the house asas much as I can.
You know, I think about a lot ofthese habits.
One of the main emotions orthings I feel is boredom, right?
Just being bored at home.
So just naturally, I just go tothe refrigerator and open it up,
(22:39):
and I'm not hungry at all.
I'm just bored and I needsomething, some type of dopamine
to get me excited, right?
Something to get me in in a moreexcited state.
And so even getting out of thehouse more could, you know, help
with that.
You know, you you mentionedmindfulness and you're thinking
you mentioned journaling, right?
Journaling to be more aware ofyour patterns, your habits.
(23:01):
Anything else when it comes tomindfulness that maybe you
practice or you encourage yourclients to practice?
SPEAKER_00 (23:10):
Yeah, so I think obviously journaling's great
because it actually slows downyour thoughts.
The process of you know,articulating what you're
thinking, putting pen to paper,it really makes you get deep
into what's going on in yourhead and trying to understand
it.
So there's a lot of value inthat to sort of to kind of
develop those sorts of habits.
(23:32):
But I also think, you know, athing that I found very
important and helpful in my lifeis meditation.
I've kind of grown up doing itmy entire life.
And when people thinkmeditation, oh, they think, oh,
you're sitting on a mountain andyou know, you're you're
contemplating you know highideas, but it's not really that.
To me, meditation is almost theepitome of mindfulness.
It's that process of like wetalked about, just sitting by
(23:53):
yourself, undistracted, even forthree to five minutes, and
really trying to pay attentionto, you know, just just being
present in the moment, payingattention to how your body's uh
functioning, paying attention towhatever's going through your
mind, and just just beingcomfortable with no distraction.
That really slows things down.
And I think that really helpsyou, that teaches you the skills
(24:15):
to be present and also to becomemore aware of your body as you
feel, you know, you take yourbreath and you feel the
inhalation, and then you feeland meditation could be a great
way to de-stress.
You know, with each exhalation,you can let out any of the
stress from the day.
And I think that practice ofmeditation done, and it doesn't
have to be, you know, I wouldsay even if you do it for five
minutes a day, even if you doit, but even if you do it before
(24:37):
you eat dinner, five minutes aday, that will really change how
you approach your day-to-daylife, but also how you approach
the eat because it'll calm youdown.
You'll kind of have a chance todigest or process whatever was
going on in your day, and thenyou can be more aware, present,
and actually more in control ofwhat you do after that.
So I really do think that that'sand I think that's even in
(24:59):
anything you do in your life,maybe you have a stressful
meeting coming up, or athletesdo it before big games to try to
calm their emotions, right?
And you know, and and I think toto to also speak to that too is
one of the things I tellpatients also is one of the
things that can derail patientswhen they're trying to make big
changes in their lives, youknow, that they've worked really
(25:20):
hard to be on a you know aroutine where they're eating
less, they're more active, isthe special events.
So sometimes the wedding, youknow, the big dinner, the
reunion, whatever it may be,those can sometimes derail
people who are making a lot ofprogress.
And one of the things I tellpeople to do is like slow things
down, actually almost get into ameditation state and visualize
(25:43):
how you're gonna handle theevent.
Visualize what you're whatcompromises you're willing to
make, what and and what you'renot willing to negotiate.
Because if you actually thinkahead of time how you're gonna
handle the appetizer table orthe wine or the drinks or the
shots or whatever it may be, ifyou think ahead and you come up
with a strategy, you're gonna bea lot more likely to follow
(26:04):
through on that.
And you're also gonna have theguardrails up that prevent you
from you know getting carriedaway.
And I think that's what we seethat in athletics.
Athletes visualize, they'llvisualize, you sometimes see
them closing down, pretendingthey're taking a shot, but
they're actually visualizing itin their head because if you
think about it, if you'vethought about it ahead of time,
you're more likely to make thecorrect decision.
(26:25):
And sometimes that's the thingwith like a negotiation.
If you think about it, ifthey're gonna say A, this is how
I'm gonna respond, and they sayA, or this is how I'm gonna
respond, is they'd be, it's alot easier to do the right thing
than if you have to make it upon the spot.
So I think that that's wheremeditation and visualization can
really play an important role.
SPEAKER_02 (26:41):
That's that's huge.
I, you know, obviously, youknow, it's especially in
athletics and when I was playingbasketball, like visualization
was something that was huge.
Even even in a big event, maybea big interview, big
presentation, or something likethat, something that's high
stakes you think aboutvisualization, right?
(27:04):
But it's so many examples, eventhat I can think about, uh, and
and anybody that's going throughsome type of change and they're
consistent in doing something,where they're going to an event
and they know that this event ormaybe this environment is going
to be a tough environment to bein, right?
And if you can visualizeyourself being successful and
(27:29):
walking away from thatenvironment, feeling good about
yourself, you'll be moresuccessful in that environment.
Because it's not like it's thefirst time you're there, right?
SPEAKER_00 (27:38):
That's that that's and I get yeah, like I can like
as a surgeon, I visualize myoperations often.
I will think them through in myhead before I go to bed.
Okay, I have to do this casetomorrow.
I start imagining the steps.
What will I do if this happens?
What will I do if I encountersomething that wasn't picked up
on the scans?
Or, you know, you you so youkind of go through, and then
(27:59):
over time you have these kind ofalgorithms, but you also it's
interesting, it's just spendinga few minutes thinking through
or even writing out the steps.
If it's something that you knowthat's not that common, it makes
a big difference when you'reactually doing it then because
you've slowed things down,you've thought it through.
And you're right, when thestakes are high, you have to
have you don't want to just beguessing and you want to have
(28:20):
had a strategy going in.
And I think that's wherevisualization really plays an
important role.
SPEAKER_02 (28:25):
Yeah.
So journaling, meditation,visualization.
And I'm now now that you mentionit, even you as a surgeon,
right?
Like every almost everything youdo in a way is kind of high
stakes, right?
And so keeping your emotions incheck, right?
And and keeping your mind calm,right?
(28:47):
This is something that youprobably practice on a regular
basis yourself, all these threethings.
SPEAKER_00 (28:52):
For sure.
You know, I would say that a,you know, sometimes you develop
those strategies and youhaven't, you they just happen.
You've never really thoughtabout, you know, but when you
step back and think about andreally, you know, when I started
thinking more about how yourmindset's important, I started
thinking about some of thethings that I had developed in
myself, and I didn't evenrealize I was doing it.
But you kind of had justdeveloped those skills because
(29:15):
you have to out of necessity.
Like you said, like if if a caseis not going well or you
encounter something that youdidn't expect, or often when
emergency surgery you have nochoice, something's happened to
someone unfortunately, and youhave to deal deal with a serious
problem and not optimizecircumstances.
You have to stay calm and bepresent and kind of you know
(29:35):
process whatever data's in frontof you and make the right
decision.
And you know, if you let youremotions take over, then you
won't be a you won't be helpfulto the patient or anyone else.
So I think those skills, youknow, I think I've probably
developed them over years oftraining and practice.
And and I and I but I thinkthey're you know, and one thing
I'd say is their skills.
So to me, skills mean they'relearnable, right?
So they're teachable.
(29:57):
So I think all of us are capableof developing these skills.
We just have to one have theopportunity to do it.
And sometimes we need people toshow us how to do it, and I
think that and I think that'sThat's great.
That's empowering because itmeans that we all can develop
these skills over time.
SPEAKER_02 (30:11):
Yeah, 100%.
That's why they call youmeditation a practice, right?
It's a it's a you can practiceit.
It's something that you developa skill set, a proficiency over
time.
SPEAKER_00 (30:25):
That's that's right.
And and I and I kind of think,you know what I try to also
impress upon like pay patientswho are trying to lose weight,
but anyone who's trying to dosomething significant in their
lives, is sometimes we get toofixated on the goal.
And sometimes, like let's sayyou're trying to do something
(30:47):
really, you know, big in yourlife, it may seem like it's so
far away, or you know, it's it'snot doable.
You have to, in thosesituations, like if you let's
say you have to lose 150 poundsand it seems really daunting,
and you're like, how am I evergonna do this?
You know, I've never been ableto lose 10 or 20 pounds.
This is it, it's impossible.
And you people just give up andthey don't even bother.
(31:09):
And I and that's sad because youknow, obviously you want to make
a change, but it seems reallyintimidating and not doable.
So, what I try to tell patientsor people who are who ask for
advice is you have to focus onthe process.
If you focus on the process, ifyou do what you're supposed to
do day in and day out, itdoesn't really matter what
(31:31):
happens because you're doingwhat you're supposed to do.
And if you keep doing thosecorrect things, putting one step
in front of the other, theresults are actually gonna come.
It may not, it may not come asquickly as you want, but if
you're actually doing the rightthings and you do them day in
and day out, if you just focuson what you're supposed to do,
it doesn't really matter whatthe outcome is because you're
(31:51):
doing the right things, you'regonna get there.
And it sometimes it's fasterthan you think.
And you know, a lot of examplesI give are from athletics, but
you know, they always say forathletes, just do your job.
Just do your job you do whatyou're supposed to do.
Don't worry about the score.
If you do what you're supposedto do, it doesn't really matter,
right?
The results will follow.
(32:12):
So that's kind of the same thingwith anything in life.
There's a lot we can learn fromyou know the arts, from sports,
it applies to life in general.
If you, you know, like let's sayyou're trying to start a
business and it seems reallydaunting, and because being a
you know, any type of businessperson is not easy, you're kind
of working for yourself, it'snot a guaranteed paycheck,
whatever.
It can seem really stressful.
(32:33):
But if you just know I have todo these things every single
day, and if I do those thingsday in, day out, you are gonna
see the results.
Whereas if you just focus, Ineed to generate this amount in
this period of time, then itjust seems it becomes too
overwhelming.
So, you know, so I think foranything you're trying to do in
life that's significant, youjust have to focus on the
process.
Yeah, you have to understandwhat those things are that you
(32:56):
need to do and just do them.
SPEAKER_02 (32:58):
That's I mean, that that right there is so huge.
Not focus and have the goal inplace for direction.
But don't make that the I guessthe main focus is to focus on
the habits from the directionthat you've chosen, right?
What are the habits?
The small things I need to do ona daily basis and create that as
(33:21):
a system and focus on that tothen build that momentum.
And honestly, you end up furtherthan just 150 pounds, right?
Probably you you end up in atotally different place, place
that you couldn't even imagine,you know.
SPEAKER_00 (33:39):
Sometimes you end up, yeah, you you're like when
you look back, you're like, howdid I even get here?
And and part of the thing that Ithink that people don't realize
is everyone thinks that when I'mwhen I'm here and I want it's
gonna be a straight line.
Every day I'm gonna see thesuccess or progress doesn't work
that way.
It's gonna be up and downcircles, and you will get where
you need to be, but there'sthere are periods of time when
(34:01):
things may you may be doing allthe right things and you're not
seeing the results.
But that and then that's whenmost people give up because
you're not getting thatimmediate feedback.
So you're going to the gym,you're you know, you're having a
high protein diet, you're notdrinking liquid calories, you're
doing your mindfulnessexercises.
Yeah, I've been doing that forfour weeks, I've only lost two
(34:22):
pounds.
Oh, this is gonna be like everyother time.
What's the point?
You just give up, right?
Whereas if you know, if you ifyou just instead take the
mindset that I'm doing what I'msupposed to do, I have faith
that if I keep doing thosethings, the results will follow.
For most people, that they willfollow.
Obviously, there are exceptionsor anything in life, but for the
(34:43):
vast majority of people, if youjust do the things that you're
supposed to do, the results willfollow.
And they're gonna be dips andthey're gonna sometimes you're
gonna have faster results thanyou expected, but that's not
normal.
That may not, that may not beevery week, but that's fine.
Celebrate those things when theyhappen.
But the the real thing is reallyjust control the things that you
can control.
So do the things that you'resupposed to do.
(35:05):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (35:06):
And like we talked about, that will help with the
emotions too, right?
That'll help with the emotionalside of things, of not getting
low and not getting too high,right?
When things aren't going the wayyou want it to go.
And then, you know, a lot oftimes what you'll realize is
that, yeah, it's been two monthsand you only lost two pounds,
(35:27):
and then six months down theline, it can be 20 pounds,
right?
But those two months no movementwere a big piece to it, right?
SPEAKER_00 (35:37):
Oh, a huge piece.
That's where you were formingthe habits, where you're having
the discipline, where you're uhchanging your your relationship
with eating and andunderstanding why you're doing
what you're doing.
And you can understate that.
You may say, oh, those twomonths, nothing.
A lot is happening behind thescenes, you just don't realize
it.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (35:55):
And then that the habit forming piece, right?
Is that's when you start tobuild that new identity.
It's uh so many, like you said,so many things behind the scenes
that you don't see, as opposedto you're you're just thinking
about 150 pounds being lower ona scale when it has to be a lot
of different things that need tochange in your habits, your
(36:16):
mindset, your life, youridentity to get to that 150
pounds.
So people are just focused onthe goal.
And this is more than justweight loss, people are just
focused on the goal of certainof certain things and wondering
why it's taking so long, asopposed to looking at how that
goal has to be the person you'llyou need to become to get to
(36:40):
that goal, right?
SPEAKER_00 (36:42):
That's right.
That that's the most importantpiece, and really what you
should be celebrating is thatyou did the right things.
Yeah.
Or you you did you did thethings that were the most the
things that you could control,you acted on them.
Yeah.
And you can't, you know, lots ofthings of everyone's different,
everyone's metabolism'sdifferent.
It's some things, some thingsare easier for you than me, and
(37:02):
some things are easier for methan you, and we're all
different.
That's what makes us unique.
But what you can focus on arethe things you can control.
And ultimately, what you theonly thing you can truly control
in life are your choices.
Yeah, you can't control whatpeople do to you.
You you can obviously controlhow you react to them, but you
can't control there's lots ofthings you can't control, but
really control what you think,and you can control what you
(37:22):
choose to do.
And and I think that that'sreally ultimately, like a lot of
the skills that we teach, Ithink they're applicable to
every aspect of your life.
It's not just like beinghealthier, but I think it also
will help you in your job, inyour relationships with your
friends and family, or inachieving whatever your goals
are, like just having and beingpresent, really understanding.
(37:44):
Like when you have a a lot oftimes we have conversations with
people, we're not actuallylistening to them.
We're thinking about what thenext thing we're gonna say is,
but we're actually not beingpresent and really understanding
what they're saying.
And when you, and I'm guilty ofit just like everyone else, but
if you actually start making ita point of being present in
every interaction, you'll beshocked how much more you learn.
You'll you'll be shocked atthings that you were not picking
(38:07):
up on before, and you'llactually make better decisions.
And so it's actually reallyimportant.
And you're it's just like when Iwhen my kids, I've had my kids
call me out saying, Hey, youknow, you're not really I'm
sitting there, but I'm notreally participating or paying
attention.
And they'll kind of say, like,you know, they'll call you out
in their way they do as a kid.
And then you kind of realize,like, yeah, I'm just sitting
(38:27):
here, but I know I'm tired, Ihad a long day at work, but it
it you realize it's reallyimportant.
People can tell when you're notreally paying attention or not
present.
SPEAKER_02 (38:35):
Yeah, yeah.
And you have to make that youI'm I'm thinking about every
time I hop on a podcast withsomebody, it's it's that's been
one of the main lessons I'velearned in conversation is being
present.
Because you'll, like you said,you'll miss out on some some
things where it's like, wait, Imissed that when I was
listening.
You go back and listen to acertain podcast, you're like, I
(38:57):
missed that.
How did I miss that?
That's so it was so obviouswhile listening and and being
able to be present in it all.
I know you have a book, right?
Shift Your Mind to Shift YourWeight, the missing link, right?
You know, talk about this andand you know, where is it
available at and and how folkscan continue to kind of find
(39:20):
your journey.
SPEAKER_00 (39:21):
Yeah, well, thank thanks for that.
So shift your mind, uh the shiftyour weight was really, I I
tried to, you know, I was tryingto come up with some resources
for my patients who I found werestruggling with maintaining
their weight loss or kind of youknow rebounding back.
And I started to try to think ofthe tools that I found useful in
(39:41):
my life, but also the thingsI've learned from patients I
worked for them.
And I was gonna make uh sort of,you know, handouts and have
lectures for them and so on andso forth.
And then I started thinking, whydon't I actually try to put this
together in more of a structuredapproach?
So I wanted to make somethingthat was easy to use, easy to
understand, did not require alot of time, because I know
people's time and attention isvery precious nowadays.
(40:03):
So I tried to make somethingthat people could take quick
lessons away from and actuallyadapt to their or introduce into
their day-to-day life.
So the first part of the book isan instructive piece that talks
about the different tools likemindfulness, journaling,
affirmations, you know, all ofthose strategies.
And then the second part is, youknow, one thing is to have the
knowledge, the second part is toactually make it into a habit.
(40:24):
So I created like 90 days ofjust simple journaling
activities with motivationalquotes in each day just to kind
of keep you motivated andempower you, but also to really
drill home some of these habitsinto your life.
Because I do think if you can dosomething consistently for three
months, there's a highprobability it'll become part of
your daily routine, or at leastpart of it will.
And I think that that's wherethe real change happens is when
(40:47):
you do something smallconsistently, not something
drastic for you know one or twodays, but if you can do a small
thing day in, day out, that'swhere the real growth occurs.
So that was sort of mymotivation to create it.
And it's available on Amazon.
They have it on the Kindle, oryou could just order it.
SPEAKER_02 (41:02):
I love it, I love it.
And then I know I'm looking, Imean, this is this is amazing in
my mind, just the mindset pieceof weight loss.
Because this is not just forweight loss.
This can be some, this can befor all kind of journeys of
change, essentially.
Yeah, yeah.
(41:24):
And so when I'm thinking aboutmindset, having your mindset
being a shift in weight loss,thinking it's like that with
everything.
SPEAKER_00 (41:33):
Yeah, you you really truly do become what you think.
SPEAKER_02 (41:36):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (41:37):
If you're an optimistic person, you have
positive thoughts, you'll you'llconduct yourself in that way.
And if you have the oppositesort of mindset, you know, your
if your thoughts are so andultimately so if you really
really if you if you think aboutthe life you want, you have to
align your thoughts with thatlife.
And if your thoughts, your ifyour thoughts, your actions will
(41:57):
then align to your thoughts.
So if if you really truly wantto do something, you have to
kind of create the mindset to toto align with that goal.
Because if you say I want to bea leader of people, but you're a
toxic, negative person, you'renot, right?
And if you're having thatinternal dialogue, you can't be
that person.
It's not gonna be authentic.
People are gonna know it, right?
(42:19):
So ultimately, like you're youhave to really, and you can
change, you can change yourmindset.
That's the piece I really try toimpress upon people.
People think, well, this is justhow I am.
I don't believe that at all.
I do think we can change how wethink and how we approach life.
I'm not saying it's gonna beeasy, it's gonna take time, it's
gonna take work, and it's gottabe deliberate steps.
(42:39):
But if you do those things, youcan change how you think about
the world and how you how youhow you respond to things that
come your way.
SPEAKER_02 (42:47):
Yeah, 100%.
Where else how how else canpeople find kind of some more
information about the work youdo and find more about you?
SPEAKER_00 (42:57):
Yeah, so on our website, it's uh peelweight
lossclinic.com.
We have lots of information on,you know, we have a blog with
weight loss strategies.
But if you also go to our ourInstagram at Peel Weight Loss
Clinic, that's P-E-E-L, WeightLoss Clinic.
I have lots of short videos Iput on the you know on social
media just on uh some of it'smotivational, some of it's on
(43:20):
specific, you know, weight lossthings like GLP1 medication
surgery.
But a lot of it I talk aboutmindset, those sorts of things.
So it's sort of a passionproject of mine.
I do it more just out ofinterest in something.
I find that the the more I dowhen I do this, I actually teach
myself things.
Yeah, and and I think that'sprobably the higher, the the
larger reason why I do it isbecause I learn just as much as
(43:41):
I teach.
Um, and I think that's what theysay.
That's how you become a masteris by teaching.
So that's kind of that's kind ofhow I'm approaching this.
SPEAKER_02 (43:49):
Yeah, yeah.
I'm looking at the the Instagrampage right now.
I'm looking at the website, andI'm I'm looking, it's a it's a
lot of knowledge here.
And so I definitely make sure Iput all this in the footnotes
for folks to find you and andcontinue to follow your journey,
man.
This is this podcast is a lot ofvalue.
For even folks who aren'tlooking to necessarily lose
(44:10):
weight, it's still someuniversal principles there for
them to grow and develop, right?
And then folks who do want tolit lose weight.
This is also we we've given somesome real tips and and tricks
here, honestly, for everybody.
So we appreciate you.
We appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00 (44:27):
I I thanks for having me.
I really enjoyed theconversation.
I love it.
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