Episode 4: That Slice of Pizza Didn’t Blow Your Diet

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Welcome to the Reclaim podcast. I’m your host, Leah Van Dolder. I’m a weight loss dietitian and mindset coach and this program is for you if you’re a busy working woman or female entrepreneur, and you’re ready to take charge of your health, you’re ready to lose weight and make lasting positive change in your life. The only kicker is that you’re on the brink of burnout, you’re exhausted, you are frustrated, you’re feeling discouraged and uncomfortable. And this is how I help my clients, giving you simple, practical and savvy strategies to help you achieve your goals while reducing your stress boosting your mood, your energy and your self confidence. To learn more about working with me, check out my website at leahvandolder.com Welcome to the show.

Hey, guys, welcome to this episode of the Reclaim podcast. I am so excited to talk about this today. How many times have you thought to yourself after having a piece of pizza, or a cupcake or a cookie or pasta, and you think I totally blew it. And then you kind of give yourself full permission to just put your hands up in the air and then you are on this total binge for days. And then the thought process is like, Oh, well, I already effed up. So I’m just gonna keep on going and then restart on Monday. Has that ever happened to you before? Let’s talk about changing that up. Because this is something that I do with my clients because it really is an awful feeling as an aunt to feel like you’ve cheated and fallen off the track. And you just want to gain traction in your house and your weight loss. And girl right now if you’re stuck in this mindset that I just described this all or nothing thinking, you’re going nowhere fast. Let me help you with this.

Let’s get right into it. I was talking to a new client Vicki the other day. And she she started working with me because she had weight loss goals in mind health goals in mind. And she’s like, I gotta tell you, I am stuck in this all or nothing thinking hands down. That is one of the biggest things that I sabotage myself with. Because, you know, I I start something or I start a new diet and I am awesome. I’m like following my meal plan for two days. And then you know, I have a piece of pizza. And then I you know, I feel like I’ve cheated. And then everything just turns into this big old dumpster fire for the rest of the week. Can anybody relate to that? You’re not alone. Vicki was feeling this way too. And that’s why we started working together. She’s like, I need to fix this problem. Like girl, you’re in the right spot. So when it comes to the all or nothing mindset is very black and white thinking, right? And Ray Now the problem is you truly believe in your mind that having that piece of pizza or having a cupcake or that cinnamon glazed donut, you believe that having one of those foods is actually blowing your progress. And in your mind, you immediately come to this conclusion like oh, hi blew it. Now I gotta start from ground zero again.

Is that feeling sound familiar? Does that thought process sound familiar?

Here’s the thing about our thoughts. Our thoughts have a lot of power. And if you have tried out a lot of different diets or weight loss programs in the past and the you know, the overall sense of the program is stick to this meal plan. And you know, you’re not allowed to have high carb foods or you’re not allowed to have this food or these foods are bad. Then over time you start to believe that like having these foods is bad.

Like I’m not going to achieve my weight loss or my health goals if I have these foods. And when clients come to me and they start listening to me say stuff like, girl, you can have pizza like pizza is not bad.

You can have a cupcake your cupcakes aren’t gonna ruin your progress. They’re like what are you talking about? Like I’ve never worked with a weight loss dietician before that says Enjoy pizza. The problem right now and why you’re stuck in this all or nothing mindset is because you haven’t learned another way of thinking you haven’t learned another way to help you think differently around, you know these quote unquote, bad foods or these cheat foods, and you haven’t learned how to have a little pep talk with yourself and allow yourself to enjoy your favorite foods.

And you haven’t learned to allow yourself to recalibrate. After enjoying a favorite food, let’s talk about the showing. Because I want to help you the solution is here. And this is how I help my clients. And hey, if you have not reviewed or rated this podcast yet, I encourage you to do so put your five star rating it honestly helps the podcast reach so many women that need to hear this message to so thank you. Let’s talk about the solution. rewiring the old thought process right? Right now you’re in this all or nothing very black and white thinking right? There’s minimal room for error. And you know, if you mess up, then well let’s start again. It’s like you just erase the entire chalkboard. Of all of your progress thus far. I hope you come into the old shades of grey zone right let’s let’s talk about it the sexy sultry shades of grey zone showering. Tip number one, pizza is not a bad food. Pizza is not a cheat food.

If you’re slapping labels on foods such as that’s bad, that’s unhealthy, oh, that’s a cheap food, well, then you’re gonna feel bad for having them, you’re gonna feel like a cheat for having them. Right.

So the first thing, remove that label. Think about food is neutral. Food isn’t bad food is not good. It’s not healthy or unhealthy. You know, not to cheat food, just think about food as food. And just because you had a piece of pizza doesn’t mean that it’s a cheat, it doesn’t mean that you did something bad, you know doesn’t make you a horrible person. Pizza also fits. You are here because you are building healthy, balanced, sustainable habits. You want to be healthy and you want to achieve your weight loss goals for the long haul. Well, I don’t know about you, but a life without pizza that would really blow. You can enjoy it. It fits. You don’t have to suffer in order to be successful. Right?

And really, one or two slices of pizza on Friday night? Is it really ruining your progress? f you take a step back and look at your week in review, is that one slice of pizza really ruining your progress? No. What’s really ruining your progress is the thought process that you have right after you have a piece of pizza. And what’s really ruining your ongoing progress is those preceding behaviors that you have after having a piece of pizza. Let me walk you through a story. You have a piece of pizza. You believe that it’s a bad food, you believe that you just cheated.

So now the thoughts that you’re having are oh my gosh, I can’t believe I did that. Like what are you done? You said you’re serious about getting healthy and losing weight. But yet you just had a piece of pizza like unbelievable, where’s your willpower? You know what? Whatever. Let’s just like I already blew it. I already screwed up. So I might as well keep going. So that thought process. How do you think it affects your actions or your eating behaviors for the rest of the day?

If you’re talking to yourself like that, well, of course the preceding behaviors are going to be like, well, I already cheated. So really doesn’t matter. I might as well grab a bag of chips and grab that bucket of ice cream while I’m at it. You’ve given yourself permission to just toss in the towel. Because in your mind, you’re like, ah, you know what, I’m going to restart on Monday. But then you feel like crap about it right? By the end of the weekend comes around you’re like oh, like you just feel like a slug and you don’t feel good about your choices.

So the big solution here and how I help my clients is really cool. I’m sharing those thoughts right after you have a piece of pizza. And instead of giving yourself permission to totally blow it, give yourself permission to recalibrate right there in the heat of the moment in the heat of the pizza.

So what does it sound like? Instead of what I just described, have a had a piece of pizza, I blew it, I’m so terrible. Well, you might as well throw in the towel. I’ll restart on Monday. Because you’re giving yourself permission to go buck wild and restart on Monday. Versus giving yourself permission to recalibrate. And this is what it sounds like. You know what? Yeah, I had a piece of pizza. Did that ruin my progress? Know what’s most important right now is what I decide to do next.

Having a piece of pizza fits. And you know what, I’m going to decide to have some vegetables and dip on side with my pizza next time, because that’s going to make me feel really good. And I also know that having one slice of pizza, it’s not ruining what I have work towards all week. I can keep going. It sounds way different, doesn’t it? So give yourself a little pep talk. Give yourself permission to re calibrate. Because let’s be serious, the whole reset on Monday business, you know it’s not working. Right?

When clients come to me like Vicki, she’s like, I know that reset thing isn’t working. So she’s learning how to recalibrate. And I was just talking to a client the other day her and I worked together for about six months. And she’s like, you know, the biggest thing that I’ve learned throughout this entire process is given myself permission to recalibrate and having that little pep talk with myself like I can enjoy a cookie. You know, I’m not binging here. And this fits. I have my choice. I enjoyed the cookie. Moving on. Afternoon snack comes around cool. I have my apple and piece of cheese like, resilience is key in your journey of long term success.

So give yourself some wiggle room. Here. It’s not a zero sum game. Stop setting yourself up for failure by trying to be perfect. Get out of that black or white zone come hang out with me and my clients in the Shades of Grey world girl it is way more fun, so much more enjoyable. And you enjoy the process. You enjoy the process of eating healthy, losing weight, and you feel a difference within you because can you imagine that it would be so much of a better feeling when you’re like yeah, like I I did not go for a whole weekend bender. After I had a piece of pizza on Friday night. Like I pulled myself back together a recalibrated Saturday morning. I’m back out there in the gym, had my smoothie for breakfast like Man that feels good. Like, I’m all fired up, are you I want to give you an action step that you can practice to help you with all this stuff. 

One question that my clients love is asking yourself when you are you know doing your pizza night or you know you’re going out for breakfast, or you’ve got your pasta for dinner? Ask yourself how can I balance this choice out? Yeah, I’m having pizza. Well, how can I balance it out? While instead of doing breadsticks on the side? Why don’t I choose a side salad instead? How can I balance it out? Say for breakfast, you know, instead of doing the old default hashbrowns, white toast and three eggs, ask yourself how can I balance this out? How would I swap out the hashbrowns for a site of fruit and instead of the white toasts? Why don’t I do wholegrain toast and then have my eggs.

Same thing for pasta right? If you’re used to doing a big old mound of past on your plate with you know meat tomato sauce, asking yourself hey, how can I balance this out? How about I load up the sauce with a bunch of veggies you know you can put in onions, peppers, mushrooms. Loaded up balanced. Today, when I do spaghetti tonight, I love putting a bunch of vegetables in that pasta sauce. And I love having a big side salad with a pasta night.

So does not feel so much better, right? How can I balance out the choice? This is a really good one too. Because Can you feel that it’s kind of pushes you into taking ownership and responsibility and really thinking about making a choice that feels good for you. This is a big thing, too, that my clients appreciate. They’re like, I love how you help me take responsibility for my choices. I think about what I put in my mouth, versus, you know, being completely mindless of it. And it may seem like such a small thing, but it’s really, really powerful. And it’s quite empowering.

So use that. Use that in the next few days. How can I balance out this choice? And remember that pizza? That’s not the problem. It’s the mindset and you have the power to rewire it. So instead of giving yourself permission to blow it and reset on Monday, give yourself to take a pause, have a pep talk and recalibrate because girl that’s what it’s all about. recalibrate you got this.

If you love this episode today, I encourage you to go review and rate put a five star rating it really helps the podcast growth and it reaches women who need to hear this message too. For those of you who want to work with me, check out the show notes you can apply to work with me by clicking the application link in the show notes. Or you can learn more about me by checking out my website. And hey, if you just want to be in my world and the Shades of Grey, come on over and hang out with me on Instagram @leahvandolder. I’d love to see you there. Thank you so much guys for tuning into this week’s episode. I hope you loved it and I will catch up in the next one. Bye for now.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Reclaim podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, I encourage you to follow rate and review. To learn more about working with me check out my website at leahvandolder.com Thank you again for being here. It means the world to be able to connect with you, girl keep doing amazing things. You have everything that it takes to achieve your goals and be successful at anything that you want.