Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I won't let my body out be outwait everything that
I'm made done, won't spend my life trying to change.
I'm learning love who I am, A young strong I
feel free. I know everybody of me. It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And that will always out way if you feel it.
But you.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
She'll some love to THEO.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I get the tag day and did you and die
out way?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Happy Saturday outwigh. I'm Leanne Ellington and I'm here for
a solo episode today where we're going to talk about
what I call the Girl who Cried Wolf syndrome and
what's actually causing what feels like self sabotage. So let's
dive on in. So have you ever gone to start
a new plan or program and on the surface your
gung ho like you are ready to take it by
(00:55):
the reins, deeply committed and hoping and secretly praying that
this time really is different, that this will be the
one thing that changes everything for you. But secretly, in
the back of your mind, you're waiting for it to fail.
Perhaps you're even outright expecting it to fail, because you know,
in your heart of hearts that even though the plan
or program itself might be different, you know deep down
(01:19):
that you haven't changed, that you haven't gotten your mind,
your head, your brain, and your heart aligned in a
way that would cause things to be different. But before
we get into the meat of today's episode, I want
to introduce you to a concept, and we've talked about
it a bit before, but it's this idea that we
are master storytellers. Right. We have all of these conflicting
(01:41):
voices in our heads directing us, and some of them
feel good and some of them not so good, especially
the ones that lead us away from self love and
self acceptance, and specifically those voices of shame and blame
and guilt and comparisonitis and perfectionism, which, of course that
inner critic or judgy inner judge Mcjudgerson is the one
(02:02):
responsible for. Right. So, when it comes to the subject
of the voices in your own head, one of the
biggest struggles that my stressless eating clients have when they
come to me before they go do this work is
that inner chatter and internal self talk of what I
call the never gonna inner critic, and that's the one
that's like, you're you're never gonna do this, so you're
(02:23):
never gonna do that, and it's that voice that sabotages
you before you even begin, like you're never gonna get there.
What makes you think that this time is gonna be different?
Or maybe your voice says you're never gonna stick with
this one long term, like you know how this story ends,
or maybe just generally speaking, like you're never actually gonna
get past this, like just face it, you're gonna be
dealing with this the rest of your life, or you
(02:45):
know you're never gonna see this one through, like this
is just gonna be one more thing that you start
and don't finish, So why bother? And I call them
the never gnna inner voices, right, and so yours might
have a different name or a different face, But if
you're any thing like myself or the women that I
work with, you two have done your share of trying
to outdiet them or outmotivate them, or out will power
(03:08):
them or outsmart them. Unfortunately, though, that is the part
that's not working. And I can promise you will never
work because that's not a diet or food problem. It's
not a motivation or self sabotage problem. And it's not
because you're definitely destined to never Gunna the rest of
your life away. It's a thinking problem. It's internal, it's
(03:28):
in your brain. And I would go as far as
say it's a self image problem, and specifically it's a
self esteem problem, but not the type of self esteem
that most people associate with like confidence. No, it's the
self trust factor of self esteem, like how confident and
how much self esteem do you have when you don't
trust yourself and you lose respect for yourself. And I
see it all the time when self trust starts working
(03:51):
against us, because you know, when women come to me,
their self esteem is totally shot because time and time again,
they've witnessed themselves starting, stopping, starting, quitting, starting, or just
saying like screw it that by the time they come
to me, they're at the point where they don't believe
a word that they say when they say things like
this time it's going to be different or this time
(04:14):
I'm for real, because in reality, they've witnessed themselves time
after time making promises to themselves that they don't keep,
or maybe they can't keep them, or maybe they don't
even want to keep them. And so not only do
they not believe a word they say when they make promises,
to themselves that you know, this time it's going to
be different. But on top of that, they believe themselves
(04:35):
less and less every time they go make a new promise,
a new commitment, or a new declaration, essentially ensuring that
their self esteem bank account, if you want to call it,
that stays chronically overdrawn because they're not feeling it back up.
They're constantly taken out, taken out. And again, it's not
a diet or food problem, and it's not a motivation
(04:57):
or self sabotage problem. It's a self esteem thing. It's
that self trust factor. But and I know that might
sound daunting if you're like greatly in I've been doing
this my whole life. It's actually a great problem to have.
And I want to reframe that for you because the
great news about that and about addressing your self esteem
and self image is that it's totally treatable. Right, It's
(05:19):
something that you can transform almost immediately with the right
strategies and the right tools. But unfortunately, most women don't
do that right. They simply go commit to the next diet,
the next plan, the next program, or that next kind
of like shiny short term solution or band aid. I
know they're they're like seductive, right, but they never go
(05:39):
address the real problem, and they never address all the
other stuff that's bogging them down and bringing them down
and weighing them down. And you've heard me talk about
it a lot on this podcast. It's the weight of
the weight that I keep mentioning here on otwigh, because
you know, the weight on your body isn't the real weight.
The real weight is all of this other stuff that
we as women carry around with us in our heads
(06:01):
and in our hearts, and the real weight can be
found embedded in our thoughts and inside the walls of
the stories that we're telling ourselves to ourselves and about ourselves.
But once you focus on that, once you make that
shift and you ditch that weight, then everything works right.
Every plan of action becomes actionable, and everything begins to flow.
(06:23):
And it's like, well, why is that? Well, it's because
you start working and then you become the cause of
the action and then you begin to flow.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
But I promise you this, this is the kind of
transformation that cannot be found in another diet or plan
or program, or following somebody on Instagram or even reading
a book, because a lot of those things are. First
of all, that's not the problem. It's solving the right problem,
the wrong problem, I should say, because what I would
say is that you are the problem, but that means
(06:52):
you're also the solution, right. I don't mean it in
a shameful way like you're the problem. It's like, no,
you're causing it, but you can also transform it, right,
And yeah, wow, what a beautiful opportunity that is once
you take that on, because that means that you don't
have to stay on that roller coaster, and that means
that you can just ditch the disempowering self image and
self esteem and self worth and the self talk that's
(07:15):
driving you absolutely bonkers, let's be honest. And that means
that you can opt out of that dieting madness or
obsessing over your body, or the food obsession and the
stress and emotion that comes alongside that. But it does
not have to come alongside that any longer, because then
you can just flip and breathe and think and feel
(07:36):
how you want to feel, and you're not worrying anymore
about being good enough or thin enough, or pretty enough
or fill in the blank, which we know it will
never be enough. Until you transform that. But that is
the power that you hold when you take a self
image solution aka a brain approach to your struggles with
your health and your body. And it's a power that
(07:57):
any woman can cultivate. Okay, but I promise you this,
and I mean this was so much love. It cannot
and will never be found in another diet, another program,
another plan, because you can't outdiet, outperform or outsmart your
current brain and your current default thinking in your current
self image. And so that is where I invite you
(08:19):
and every woman in this world to start. So back
to this idea of losing trust in yourself. One of
the most common struggles that my clients face is what
I call the girl who Cried Wolf syndrome, and it's
essentially when you've tried so many things that haven't worked,
each time declaring something along the lines of like, you know,
this time, I'm really going to do it, this is
the time, or this is the one, like the program
(08:42):
plan diet that's going to work for me, or this
is the last one. I know how many times I
said that, right, this is the program plan diet that's
going to end all programs, plans and diets right, But
then when it comes time to start the next diet
and the next plan and the next round of grit
and determination and willpower, not only do they not believe
themselves that it's going to actually be different this time,
(09:03):
but honestly they're terrified to share it with anyone else,
like whether that's their partner, their friend, their colleague, out
of fear that they won't even believe them or take
them seriously because they've gone through that song and dance
enough times that they've now officially become the girl who
cried wolf. And honestly, women think that other people are
thinking this about them, but honestly, it's in their own brain,
(09:24):
and I see it happen all the time, because heck,
that's how I used to feel each time I started
out a new plan or method that eventually I just
stopped talking about it or telling anyone altogether, because it
gave me some solace knowing that when I eventually strayed,
at least I could confine the disappointment to me and
not have to explain it to anyone. But this only
adds another layer of struggle, which is shame and loneliness,
(09:48):
or the feeling that you're alone in this journey, both
of which are silent killers. So what is the solution? Okay, well,
first let's talk about why this keeps happening. Found that
it usually falls into one of the following categories. So,
first off, you keep getting smarter. So after attempting one unsustainable,
(10:09):
restriction driven plan after another, it's only logical to assume
that willpower and discipline won't magically just show up for
you this time around and anymore than it did the
last time at least, right, And that if things play
out the way that they usually do, it is actually
safe to assume that this new plan or program won't
work either. Right. It's actually smart of you to make
(10:29):
this assumption, because nine times out of ten you would
be right. Another reason is your brain actually keeps getting smarter,
because this is a brain thing, and you can't outsmart
your brain without getting too geeky. It's helpful to know
that short term habits and those long term always have
them actually become a habit in your brain. Kind of
habits live in two separate parts of your brain, and
(10:53):
so the long term part of your brain is driven
by ease and pleasure, and when your brain experiences the
opposite of those two things, like you know, resistance or
force or persuasion or constant hunger. It essentially says, Okay,
don't worry, brain, we don't have to move this over
to the long term part of our brain. You know,
she's not gonna be doing this very long and nine
times out of ten it would be right. But another
(11:15):
reason is your heart and your soul and your intuition
keep getting more tuned in. Okay, Because let's be honest,
this whole food and body and self acceptance journey, it's
not a rational one, right, It's emotional. It tugs at
your heart strings, it nags at your spirit. And it's
rare that I speak with a woman that doesn't know
that her problem is not going to be solved with
(11:38):
a diet because you can't logic and reason your way
through an emotional problem, right Otherwise you'll simply always be
addressing the effects. And as we've talked about before, a
lot of those ways of addressing the problem aka you know,
dieting or the weight loss mentality or obsessing over food
and your weight, it actually makes the problem worse. And
(11:58):
so if you're like me and most women I know,
when you truly get painfully honest with yourself and your
heart and your soul spirit knows that another diet won't
cut it, and your brain and heart and spirit know
that you need a different approach if you got really
real with yourself, right, And that's what I do invite
you to do, is like, get really real because you're
going to need something more and your brain knows it,
(12:21):
and your heart knows it, and your spirit knows it.
So coming back to this question, are you the girl
who cried Wolf? I'd argue to say that absolutely not,
even if it feels like you are. I believe that
you're actually getting smarter, and that your brain is getting
smarter and that your intuition is getting more honed in.
And again, this is not a an air quotes you problem, right,
(12:41):
It's just that the way you've been going about it,
it's really set you up to fail, and it's set
you up to appear like you're the girl who cried Wolf,
But that's not who you are. You've just been playing
a losing game, one that even the most powerful, resilient,
will power driven woman couldn't sustain very long. And I
have no doubt that you do genuinely want to solve
(13:01):
the problem and close the loop and make this time
the last time. But the solution then becomes, how can
you set yourself up for a game that you can win?
How can you embark on a journey that makes you
happy and makes your brain happy and makes your heart
and so happy so that you can stick with it?
And you do stick with it, right, That is where
(13:24):
your version of the solution lives, and the girl who
cried Wolf can't and won't exist in that space. It's
when we keep playing the short term gratification and quick
results and put a band aid on the problem kind
of game aka you know, diets and quick fixes and
never fix the long term solution. That's when our struggles
(13:44):
actually never heal okay, and that girl who cried Wolf
will continue to follow us around until we do that.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So that is it for today, outweigh And if you
want to learn more about how to turn off the
part of your brain that's obsessed with food or obsessed
with your way and rewire your brain for piece in
freedom and peace of mind, then head on over to
Stressless Eeting dot com and sign up to watch the
Stressless Eating sneak preview where I've literally peeled back the.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Curtain and walked you through the exact strategy. I teach
my clients to heal themselves from the all or nothing
diet mentality for good, but without restricting themselves or punishing
their bodies, and definitely without ever having to use words
like Macro's low carb or calorie bird. And so it's
there for you to access over on Stressless Eating dot
(14:32):
com and if you like out Weigh. I actually have
another podcast here on iHeart where I talk about all
of this self image and body image stuff but from
the perspective of where brain science intersects faith. And it's
called What's God Got to Do with It? And you
can access it here on iHeart or wherever you get
your podcasts. So that is it for today. I'm Leanne
(14:55):
Ellington and I will talk to you soon.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Bye.