Postpartum Weight Loss Plateaus: Is This Your “New Weight” or Can You Change Something? 5 Areas to Analyze, How to Make Changes, and Beat This Plateau
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When you hit a weight loss plateau it is so easy to start to wonder if this is just your new weight.
In the early years of motherhood, all that we're doing and learning and relearning can make it hard to truly dig into the habits and things that affect weight loss and determine if something IS there that's keeping you stuck OR if it's truly your new weight that your body is just happy at.
In this episode you're going to learn the 5 areas you can analyze to see if there IS a change to make, how to make those changes, and ultimately move past this plateau!
If all signs are pointing to yes, there definitely is still weight to lose and where I'm at is not where my POTENTIAL says I can be... what areas should you analyze deeper to see where changes could be made?
Get your mindset right first!
Detach as MUCH emotion as possible!
Remember that your past choices do not dictate WHO you are… so choose right now to let go of any thoughts that come up tying ways things have been to what you're capable of!
Embrace honestly!
This is the hardest part, but it is foundational to change!
5 Areas to Analyze and How to Make Changes
Nutrition
Possible problems:
Forgetting to eat for hours
Stress or emotional eating
Not eating enough
Eating the same things day in and day out
Not enough water intake
Changes to make:
Plan meals, prep if time
Find staple meals that are simple, that nourish your body, and that you enjoy
Food journal
Calculate exactly what you need on caloric level
Phase your diet
Drink at least half your body weight in water (100oz of water if breastfeeding)
Physical Activity
Possible problems:
Less active than you think you are
Only doing one type of physical activity or workout
Not challenging yourself
Changes to make:
Use wearable technology (Apple Watch, Fitbit, etc)
Go for a walk daily
Habit stack
Plan your week and your workouts ahead of time
Do in person workout classes
Follow a workout program
Restoration
Possible problems:
Sleep deprivation
Stress (mental, emotional, or physical)
No rest days from workouts
Changes to make:
Go to bed earlier
Address habits like scrolling or TV
Better communication with husband
Brain dumps
Follow a workout program
Expectations
Possible problems:
Putting yourself on a timeline for weight loss
Weighing yourself too often
Changes to make:
Drop the timeline!
Get on the scale 1x a month at most
Other Lifestyle Considerations
Things like breastfeeding, medication, travel, and time of year really aren’t problems OR changeable.
All of the things we dove into already can help address the foundational factors that do make a difference though so that way you CAN control what you can control!
Want to hear how I can help you figure out which one of these is your problem and come up with a solution?
Listen to a Weight Loss Kickstart Call!
Are you ready to get consistent so you can lose weight and actually feel confident as a mom?
BOOK your weight loss kickstart call and let's get you losing weight the right way! Woop woop!
FULL TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] It is so easy when you hit a plateau to start to wonder, you know, my body went through so much. Hormones could still be all over the place. So maybe this is just my new weight for good. And that could be true, but it also could be false in the early years of motherhood, all that we're doing in learning and relearning.
Really hard to dig into the things that affect your weight and determine if something is there. That's keeping you stuck at that plateau, or if it's truly your new weight that your body's just happy at. So in this episode, we are who we're going so deep in. You're going to learn the five areas that you can analyze to see if there is a change to make.
So you're only in the five different areas to look into. How to actually make changes in those areas and ultimately move past this plateau. If it is one, you're going to learn so much today, but I would be doing you a big, big, big disservice. If I didn't remind you about booking a weight loss, kickstart.
Because even after you gained some insight [00:01:00] from this episode, cause I know you will and I hope you do. I'm I'm truly not holding anything back from you today, mama, like, we're going so deep into this, but even with what you gained from this episode, it can be hard to follow through and actually figure out exactly how this information applies specifically to you in your circumstances, in your journey.
So as you're listening today, if there's anything that makes you go, Hmm, that might be it. And I actually think it might be it, but I'm not sure exactly how to make that change, how to make it sustainable and how this applies exactly to me and how to stay consistent with that new habit. Well, then you just head over to the tough love mom.com, backslash coaching and book your session, girl.
That way we can figure it out and truly apply this to you and get the changes made if you need that. So let's get into the guts.
Hey, mama. Welcome to the tough love mom podcast. I know you're here because you're ready to get consistent and [00:02:00] finally lose that weight. And you're not afraid of a little tough love, you know, what to do to lose weight. But following through on those things feels impossible. You wish you could just feel like your strong, confident self again, and want to be a good example for your little ones.
Thrown off by mom guilt and the unpredictability of motherhood. It's frustrating taking on your journey. Postpartum is hard, but it's not impossible. Okay. I'm Liz. And I've been where you are. I gained a lot of weight in my pregnancies, 90 pounds, and then 60 pounds. I needed to lose that weight to take control of my health.
And honestly just wanted to feel like myself again, with the sustainable approach to wait. Symbol consistency in working on my mindset. I lost it all in just over a year, both times. And I'm here to help you do the same. I believe that we have an ingrained ability to figure out what we need to do, make it happen and do it in a way that AHS the world.
If you're ready to stop falling off the wagon, create solid routine and healthy habits and finally feel your best [00:03:00] inside and out all while enjoying Dino nuggets on your salad, you are in the right place. We're about to transform your journey map. Get pumped up. It is tough luck.
okay. So is this the way you've been stuck out for weeks? Is that your new weight that your body's just happy at? Or is there potential for. Somewhere in your life or your habits that would help you continue down that path to your healthiest life. If you listen for any amount of time, you better know that I don't want you to just picking a weight and to aim for it because you were once that weight in the past, or you just decided on it.
Like we're not pulling, we're not pulling numbers out of hats here. Okay. We have to have purpose, a deeper purpose behind picking a specific number. If you do, we don't just pull numbers out of hats. Okay. But I do want to encourage you. If you're working towards this and you're stuck, we can find a solution.
So at about nine months postpartum, both times after both of [00:04:00] my boys, my weight loss plateaued for a long time, I don't remember specifically how long after my first was born, but after my second, I mean, there was a plateau that was like at least four months and a few times. Total transparency during that plateau, I got really frustrated and I was wonder, I truly started to wonder if this was just my new weight, even though I knew deep down, I had this deep down feeling, just this gut feeling that I could get healthier.
And when I say that broad, I knew I could get healthier phrase the way I felt when I woke up. The lack of mobility and my back still the bloat that I felt on and off the fact that physically I knew I could feel stronger and be a bit more lean. Yeah. More leaner. Oh my gosh. I can't even talk, be more leaner.
I knew all of those meant that there were still some pounds to lose. I mean, all those together we're indicating there's still probably a few more pounds for me to lose, but I was so stuck. And how many [00:05:00] pounds specifically? I didn't really know. But I knew I could be and feel healthier still. And weight loss was part of that.
So there, you got a quick little mini lesson on one way to determine if not how much, but if you still have weight to lose, I told you I'm not holding anything back today, but. So if for you all the signs are pointing, yes. There's definitely where I'm at is not where my potential says I can be. You know, if all the signs are pointing to yes, what can we do?
What areas should you analyze deeper to see where changes could be made? So. I'm gonna do a quick overview right now of the five areas. And then we're going to dive into how to analyze these areas broadly, like the mindset you need to be in, and then we'll go into each area specifically and how to make those changes.
So the five areas that I want you to analyze the first is nutrition. You knew that right? It's nutrition. The second is physical act. The third area to analyze is restoration. The fourth is your [00:06:00] expectations and the fifth is any other lifestyle considerations. So how do we analyze these areas? What kind of mindset do you need to be in before even getting into that?
We're going to talk about that real quick. And it's two simple steps, simple, not easy but simple. The first is you need to detach as much emotion as possible from this process, your choices that you made in the past that have you where you're at right now, do not dictate who you are. So choose. Right now to let go of any thoughts that are going to come up in the future, as we're doing this, that tie your choices that you've made or ways thing things have been, or the habits that you've had in each of these areas, let go of any of those thoughts that tie those choices in the past to what you're capable of or.
Okay, let it go. They are not connected. You are not defined by your choices. You are not defined by your past. Okay. Detach the emotion, the attach, the emotion after you do. [00:07:00] So from this, if you detach that emotion from this process, I want you to embrace on it. If I could be a fly on the wall and buzz your ear every time you were knowingly self-sabotaging or making an easier choice that was taking you down the road to, you know, not making you better or healthier and more confident, you know, You know, I would, but I can't, and I don't want to be a fly.
So I can't be a fly on your wall. I can't buzz your ear and bother you every time herself sabotaging. So you have to be empowered to do this for yourself. And to be honest, this is the hardest part. It's the hardest part, but it is foundational. So mentally prepare yourself to get uncomfortable. It is worth it, and it is hard.
But if you aren't able to be honest with yourself, the rest of this episode will not be. Because of the changes you're going to try to make will not last, I see it all the time. So get honest with yourself first. You gotta let go of that emotional attachment to, you know, letting [00:08:00] these, all these feelings and thoughts be like, oh, that makes me bad or good.
No, let go of the attachment, like detach the emotions from this process and then embrace the honesty that you've got to sit in for a little bit while we address these areas. Yeah. Now this whole, like being uncomfortable with being honest, this is why it's a big reason why I offer my weight loss kickstart calls, because what we dig into gives you the ability to sit in that self honesty for our time for those 45.
And I get to hold this judgment free space for us to uncover those things that are keeping you stuck in your journey and stuck at that plateau. If you want to see what those feel like and what those calls sound like, you can listen in episodes 46 and 51 I'll link up below for you. But those are the two main steps, you know?
Do to get your mind in the right place to analyze these five areas. So detach the emotion, embrace the self honesty. Now let's dive into those five areas we just covered. We just listed out and talk about the changes [00:09:00] you can make. First up nutrition. He knew this was coming first because it's foundational to weight loss.
And it's usually the area we get tripped up in most. Right. Like me personally, too. So I'm right there with you. If this is your weakness, if this is the area that you're like, yeah. That's probably, what's holding me back. Let's dive into it. So, because at the end of the day, Remember, we keep it simple here.
Weight loss comes down to energy consumed versus energy use. And if we don't address that area, that calories, calories were taken in versus the ones that we're expanding throughout the day. You not taking care of our kids, exercising, walking around, cleaning the house, going to work, whatever loading the kids have, the car seat that should count as exercise.
Where are you at on my apple watch for real, but when they really should make a workout, that's like loading the kids into the car. Cause that is a workout. But. At the end of the day, that is the foundation. And a lot of there's a lot of areas. And we're going to talk about them in a second, that we might not realize that we're actually off in the [00:10:00] expanding more than we're consuming if you're wanting to lose weight.
So again, this is where honesty is. And where I'm going to remind you one more time that the choices in your past, or the habits that you have right now do not determine who you are or your worth. Okay. Remember that? So a few things to get specific with and to analyze and to reflect on and to go, Hmm, this is ringing a bell or, oh my gosh.
This is like hitting me in my gut right now. That's probably what I need to address. So I'm going to go through a couple of these and if something comes up for you, make a note, you know, type it in the notes, in your phone or whatever. So you can come back to this in and decide how you're going to make a change.
So are you eating enough throughout the day or are you forgetting for long periods of time and then eating a lot because you're starving this very simply, very easily leads to overeating because we're going for an. Y'all we all do it. Like we're moms, we're busy. I have days I forget to eat. Never thought I'd say that, but I sure do.
Now there's days where I forget to eat for like [00:11:00] seven hours and then all of a sudden I'm starving and I eat a lot of food because I'm so hungry. Okay. If we constantly do that, it's become a habit and there are probably things we can change. So we're not constantly forgetting to eat if it happens every once in a while, it happens every once in a while.
But if it's happening with. It's something you need to address and it could very easily cause you to be over-consuming and thus leading you to either gain weight or stay at a plateau. Another thing to get specific with and analyze is stress eating avoidance, eating, emotional, eating, whatever you want to call it.
Does it have. Is it during nap time? Is it after the kids go to bed, when you can finally turn your brain off and relax, is there a time of day that's triggered and you find yourself mindlessly eating to avoid certain feelings or certain tasks. Again, this leads to over consumption and it's something I think we subconsciously realize we're doing, but again, it's more comfortable to turn to food than it is to face the things that we don't want to face.[00:12:00]
So another thing that could cause this plateau that you're stuck at. Are you eating enough? This is a big one that can come up, especially if you're breastfeeding. But if we, and, and even if you're like dieting, if you're in a constant state of deprivation, especially if you're breastfeeding again, if you're under 1800 calories a day, this can start to affect your supply, especially the first few months, but your body can go into preservation mode and it will hold on to weight.
And this is often a cause of plateaus. If none of the previously mentioned issue. Our issues. So if you're not eating enough, you're constantly in a state of caloric deficit and it's a bigger deficit than your body needs on a daily basis to actually lose weight. And this is very specific person to person.
So I can't get into numbers here for you, but if you aren't eating enough, Consistently day-to-day over time that can affect your weight loss and cause a plateau. Another thing to consider are you eating the exact same things every single [00:13:00] day, your body does need variety in your nutrition, just like it needs variety in your exercise.
And then last thing I want you to think about is your water intake. This is part of nutrition and it is huge. Well, tough love for you. Coffee is. T is not water. Any of those electrolyte drinks. Like I'm not gonna mention them. I won't do it, but none of those electrolyte drinks are water. And I know, you know, I know you know this, but I'm gonna tell you just to give you a little like bull buzzer era here, pop soda, whatever you want to call it, I call it pop.
Cause I'm from a good old Midwest. It is also not. Those lead you to literally drinking your calories and not leaving you full. And to be honest, I probably should have said this one first, because this is one of the main colors. Two over-consumption of calories. And this will lead you to feeling hydrated when really you're more dehydrated than you were before, especially with things that contain caffeine, a survey, get this.
And this is probably going to [00:14:00] really hit home. A survey of over 3000 Americans found that 75% likely had a net fluid loss resulting in chronic dehydration. Chronic. That means like, Yikes. Drink your water and drink a lot of it. Now I know I'd like pointed out the problems and you're probably going well, how do we change it?
How do I fix it? That's what we're diving into next. So honor the nutrition area, how to make changes to address these specific issues. So one simple, simple way, not easy, but it's very simple is to plan your meals and prep. If you have. Now, this is personally something I really don't do because I've got a good flow.
We've got a good system for food in our house, but this is, this is probably the first solution you should turn to if you're winging it right now in nutrition, because winging, it leads to making easier choices and that harder ones. Cause we're not planned ahead. So just start planning out so you don't have to.
And this is the biggest thing, because if you're like me, [00:15:00] you got all or nothing. And I do not want you doing this. We've talked about it before, but if you're, if you're starting to clean up your nutrition, don't go from what you're doing right now to saying, okay, Monday, we're going to plan out every single meal and every single snack, and I'm going to make all the food and I'm going to prep it all.
You're going to burn out. Don't do that. Start with one meal, start with one snack. Start with one time of day that you're going to start cleaning. That you're going to prep for. When I got back into this after both kids, it was breakfast. I started with a healthy breakfast. That was well-rounded to start our day.
Well, because it made me feel better the whole day. Then I got focused on dinners, so we could eat as a family and actually eat something nutritious and not like a bowl of cereal. And then I got focused on snacks cause we started leaving the house and this was like a month, months, long process. So start planning your meals.
Prep. If you have. Another change that you can make. And these are like specific changes that you can say. Okay. I have noticed what my problem is. Nutrition's probably that your issue, the bigger issue, that's one of the five, right? It's going to be a long episode, so, you know, buckle your [00:16:00] seatbelt. But we talked about the issue.
So if you identified which issue it might be, see which of these solution. Line up with what you need right now. So the next change that you can make solution you could find is finding staple meals that are simple and easy, and that nourish your body and that you enjoy. Again, like I said, after both kids, I started with making a staple, simple breakfast that nourished our bodies, and then I love, and we still do it to this day.
So some ideas for you for snacks and meals that are simple and easy, but that you can make nutritious. And I'll start with snacks. Um, energy bites. I kept these like the oatmeal and peanut butter and honey ones and put protein powder in them too. I think. But BS, I kept by the bedside the first few months postpartum for when I was like waking up in the middle of the night, really hungry, uh, protein bars, certain kinds of those fruits, certain veggies, all of those are grab-able.
All fruits and veggies, you can just throw them in your purse and just take them with you. A lot of them, a lot of sandwiches too. You get so [00:17:00] many macronutrients in a sandwich. If you do you get a carbohydrate, you can get a protein. You can get healthy fats. You can throw the veggies in there. I mean, sandwiches are all.
Grabs. And if you don't mind leftovers, casseroles Kesha's Crock-Pot meals, these are all phenomenal. They're simple, they're easy, and you can make them nutritious and find nutritious recipes. So again, that second solution is find a staple meal or snack that is healthy, that will nourish your body. And that's simple that you can just start working in consistently to your day to day.
The next change you could make. And this one's awesome is to food journal. You don't have to do this forever, but doing it for even just a few days. Is is very transformational. It's one of the best self accountabilities that there is, and it lets you on emotionally reflect on what you're eating. And if there are any times of day or feelings or events that trigger certain behaviors and certain choices consistently, now don't obsessive the food journal like forever, [00:18:00] but keep paper in your kitchen for a few days and write down what you eat, how much you're eating.
Bonus how you feel before and after physically, mentally, you know, any hunger cues you were, or weren't feeling any like stressed or happy or whatever feelings that you had just like quick note, those things. And after a few days, you'll start to reflect and see connections and what you're eating when you're eating it, why you're eating it, and this will make you more mindful and lead to more control over time.
And what you're putting your body. Giving you more attention to your hunger cues and why you're eating and lead to less mindless eating. So food journaling is a great, quick implementation you can make as well to help address this area of new nutrition. Another change you can make. And I got, let's see, three more left for the nutrition area.
So again, like I said, this is the biggest one we're tackling is calculate exactly what you need on a caloric level. Um, and this is specific person to person. So again, I'm not going to get into numbers here, but if you do, if you have the capacity [00:19:00] right now to calculate that you'll take into account your current weight, your activity level, hopefully you can find a calculator online.
That helps that that takes into account breastfeeding or not in any specific goals you have, but either, right. No matter what you do, you can take that number and plan generically, like make a meal plan for what you'll buy and eat week to week and follow through. Or you can just track day-to-day and see if you fall around that number.
Um, you don't have to hit it specifically. I think that's another important thing to note is when you do find out, okay, my body needs about this amount. Day-to-day you're not going to hit it. Exactly. And I don't want you to, you should be aiming for. Around that because it will fluctuate day-to-day and that's normal.
Okay. Another change to make that will help address any issues that are coming up in nutrition that you were like, Hmm. This might be, it is phasing your diet. If you don't know what this is, basically it means approach nutrition differently. Not don't have the same meals. Don't eat the same types of [00:20:00] foods.
Don't follow the same diet. Forever. You have to have variety. We're not designed to eat one way forever. The same things, day in and day out. The same diet, whatever is going to cause stagnation in your product. Phasing your diet is a good thing. Changing up what you eat week to week and season to season is so good for your body.
And in my opinion, it's really good for your mind too, because you'll have seasons where you're more intentional about your nutrition and more disciplined. And none of that will also allow for seasons for flexibility. I mean, I just came off of literally being out of town for 19 of the 30 days in April.
And. I let April be a totally flexible month. I didn't track what I ate. I just went by what my body was telling me if there were treats around and I wanted to enjoy one with my family. I did. And that's a season I was in when I was doing 75 hard last fall. Yup. I was being disciplined and intentional.
There are seasons and we should be living that way. Okay. It's going to save you a lot of mental stress too. So phasing, your [00:21:00] diet is another thing you can do. And this is like a broad solution. Again, if you need help, figuring out how to like tangibly apply this exactly to your situation. I can help you with that.
The last thing I want you to address with nutrition is water. So generically, there's some statement out there and I think it's great, just so we know what to work towards, but you should be wanting to drink in ounces at least half. So like if you weigh 180 pounds, that would be 60 ounces of water. You divide that by two 60 ounces of water.
If you're outside the U S oh, I need that. I need to culture myself and learn the different systems, but I don't know them. So I applaud you that you guys figure them out and do the conversions, but per American standards, you want to do half your body weight in ounces. If you're breastfeeding, you want to do at least a hundred ounces of water a day, especially that first year, because like I said before, 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated and to hear a tough of moms so that ain't going to be you okay.
Ways to make this easier. Like [00:22:00] these simple, quick changes you can make. To help your water intake, get some reusable water bottles, have more than one, fill them up at night. So they're all ready to go the next day. And you know, okay. If I drink all these water bottles, I'm going to hit my water goal for the day.
You don't have to track it. You just say, I'm going to drink those three water bottles and we can be good. And then bring them everywhere with you. I think this is the thing people fall through on. And I think I was just kind of like mentally trained to from high school on playing volleyball, but bring your water bottle with you everywhere you go.
Drink water with every meal set alarms. If you have to, there's so many ways to make it habitual. So you're not part of that 75%. I'm not gonna let you be part of that 75% if you listen to this podcast. So get your water bottle. And drink it and bring it everywhere. Tell me where you bring it. Tell me the fun locations you brought your water too.
Okay. Okay. Moving on to the next area. Nutrition, that was a doozy, but like I said, it's usually where people get tripped up the most. And so that's why we [00:23:00] delve in so deep. So the next area we're going to talk about is physical activity. So let's talk about first things to consider an analyze. What might be causing issues for you the first are you less active?
Then you actually think you are, we often feel like as moms that we're more active than we actually are because we're busier, but busy-ness, doesn't always equate to physical activity. Okay. We're on, we are on our feet more. Absolutely. We do have more of a mental load and more on our to do list most of the time, but this does not always equate to being reactive.
Again, the foundation of weight loss is being in a deficit. And if assuming that you're, if you're assuming that you're expending more. Caloric energy than you actually are. This could be leading to taking in too many calories. It literally leads to those numbers being off, even though you think there are different way.
So that's the first thing to consider. Are you being less active than you actually think the next one is, are you doing only one kind of physical activity? [00:24:00] You're probably like, oh, variety. Yes. Just like your diet and your nutrition. You need to phase your physical activity. You cannot train the same way or the exact type and intensity and moves for a long time.
You cannot keep doing the same workout and expect to see progress. Okay. I'm just going to say it like it is your body is going to adapt to what you're doing. I literally am saying this because I am speaking from experience. When I was Ironman training, I was trading the same way, the same amount of hours, not giving myself rest.
I was doing the same strength workouts, and guess what? I plateaued like physically, I wasn't looking more toned or lean or stronger actually started to get that like skinny fat look, um, just. That's how I would've described it for myself. And like I said, if you're doing the same thing every day, your body will adapt.
Your body's really smart. It really is mind blowing how smart and intuitive your body is. And over time, if you're working out the same way, month after month after month, the result is that the [00:25:00] caloric. We'll not be as much as it was when you first started working out that way. Okay. Another thing to consider with your physical activity, that might be the root issue is are you pushing yourself hard enough?
This is the last one we're going to talk about in a safe, healthy way, of course, but this is similar to doing only one kind of physical activity. So are you pushing yourself? Are you using the same weights? Are you only walking? Or only jogging at a certain pace and never doing intervals or never pushing herself to like get out of your comfort zone with your workout.
Your body gets used to that, and it will stop changing. So tough love moment here to remind you, you are stronger and more capable physically than you realize, and that you give yourself credit for. Let me say it again. You are stronger and more capable than you are giving yourself credit. So push yourself.
If you are not familiar with the 40% rule, welcome to my world. I love it. But what the 40% rule is is that [00:26:00] when you feel like you're at your max physically, when you feel like you are at 100%, when your brain is telling you that you are really only at your 40% capacity of what your body's capable of. So start thinking about that next time you're working out.
Well, I guess, like I said, push yourself in a safe and healthy way. You don't need to be like doing this every single day, day in and day out. Because again, you will plateau, you'll burn yourself out, but if you're never pushing yourself, if you're only working at 5% capacity, You need to push yourself to 15% every once in awhile, then to 20%.
And then to that 30% capacity where you feel like you're almost at your edge, but you're not, and you don't need to do this every workout, but you should be doing things every once in awhile, you should have a workout here and there that has a burner session or something. That's going to push you when you get in and we'll get you into this mindset of, oh my gosh, can I do this?
I don't feel like I can, [00:27:00] but I'm going to try. And then you. And then you follow through and you're like, wow, I'm more capable than I realized we do this daily. So start doing this for your body too. Okay. Push yourself. So how can we make changes in our physical activity? What are the answers to these problems that I just went over the first one, if you're less active, find some wearable technology.
If you have an apple watch or a Fitbit use that as feedback, it's not insanely accurate with like the calorie burn and everything, but you can get feedback from the steps you're taking per day, how much you're standing per hour. You know, in those first few months postpartum that stuff's going to be a lot less rightly so, but having some sort of wearable wearable technology does give you data as to how active you actually are.
And sometimes we're less active than we think. So it's really good to see that, um, also plan one time a day to take. This is great for your mental sanity promise. Like we love in this house. We love good post snap. Pre-dinner that witching hour, get some fresh air and go for a [00:28:00] walk. It's so good for all of us.
So get outside and go for a walk when you can or plan it in to do it daily, but just move your body, get outside so good for you. You can also habit stack. And what habit stacking is is when you have a habit that you do daily, like brushing your teeth, going to the bathroom. Loading the dishwasher. What you do when that's already habit is you add in a new one with that ingrained one.
So if you're brushing her teeth, you can do squats while you're brushing your teeth. If you have something in the microwave, do some jumping jacks, I'm just giving you random examples here. If it's commercial break, stand up and do lunches instead of scrolling your phone, these are simple ways to get more active.
If you find out, if you realize that you're not as active as you think you are, and that's like the issue you need to address. Uh, the last thing I'm going to say about this and being less active it's a lot of the times that happens because we don't get to our workout cause we didn't plan it in. So plan your week ahead of time, Tuesdays that you will work out and give yourself a minimum expectation that you can uphold and [00:29:00] follow through.
So if you're at a point where you're at zero day, And you want to start getting consistent with that. Say, you're going to go for three days a week. You're going to do a workout. This is the time of day you're going to plan to do it not exact time, but like after breakfast, before the kids go down for a nap or during the kids' nap, whatever it is, you have to plan.
If you don't plan it, it probably won't happen. So if you're being less active, those are some simple solutions you can put into place to address that issue. The next solution is if you need to change up your fitness, if you need to get some variety in there or push yourself, Sign up for classes. This is one of the most fun things that you can do.
Like in-person ones, because there's something about working out with others in person that allows your brain to go, oh, I'm more capable than I realize and more doable. And oh my gosh, you're getting community to which we all need as moms. Okay. So in an accountability. In diversity in your workouts. I mean, it's like you're getting all the bonuses from all the sides, addressing all the issues, a sign up for a few classes a week or a once a week, [00:30:00] whatever it is that you can make happen, because that will help you get that variety in your training and also allow you to push yourself a little harder.
Um, something else to do this is you can do this anywhere. If you work out at the gym at home, you can try. The weights that you're using and workouts. So you can progress, like, like I said, if you're doing shoulder raises day in and day out trying to get your arms more toned, and you're only using five pound weights and you never progress to eights, you never procrast to tents.
Well, you're never going to see progress. You've got to track your weights. And now, especially if you're doing workouts that use multiple sets of dumbbells or machines or whatever, just like, know what kind of resistance you've been using and push yourself change. You know, up the weights have rest weeks, whatever, but if you're tracking right, we can't change what we don't track.
If you're not tracking, you might think in your head, you know, and you might from habit from doing the same thing for so long, but when you're tracking, you're writing it down on paper, you can see how you're progressing and that in itself, [00:31:00] This positive feedback, that's really encouraging. So that's my little 2 cents there.
Um, another change that you can make, if you need to change it up or push yourself harder is follow a workout program. They are created with purpose and that purpose is perfectly. And results. The quality of a program is important. Um, you want to make sure that you're getting a diversity and training that there's recovery weeks in there where you're not training as heavily.
And honestly, there's so many different types of exercise out there that you're going to be able to find programs that fit your preferences, that fit your goals, that fit your schedule, that fit. If you prefer doing it at home versus the gym, what kind of equipment you have. So many great options out there do look for quality of program.
Um, I used specific ones throughout both my weight loss journeys for my kids that allowed me to lose a combination of 150 pounds. So you can get info and access to those@thetoughlovemom.com backslash programs. But again, following a workout program that's [00:32:00] created by a professional is paramount to getting that diversity in your training, that variety, and being able to push yourself, track that progress and actually see results.
Okay, next area restoration. You might've been like, Hmm. I wonder what she's going to talk about there. You might know, but some things to consider in this area of restoration that might be tripping you up in your journey, keeping you at this plateau. The first is sleep lack of or poor sleep affects everything.
Brain function, impulse control, which affects food choices, right? Body system functionality. And when we're sleep deprived, it's very easy to eat too much, which we know that eating too much, it's going to be overconsumption of calories causing weight gain, or a weight loss plateau. Another thing that could be tripping you up.
Not just mental or emotionally felt stressed, but physical and biological stress as well. So over exert, you're exerting yourself in workouts, sleep deprivation, not giving yourself rest days. And then the emotional [00:33:00] and mental stress that you might feel from just life or motherhood in general, all of these types of stress increased cortisol and cortisol increases your appetite and thus leads you to eat more.
So like see how this all comes back to nutrition, but. Nutrition and just quote, eating healthier isn't necessarily the issue. It could be something underlying that's in another area of life. Another restoration thing to consider. And I hit on this for a second. When we were talking about physical activity is rest from physical activity.
So literally throw back to before kids. When I was iron man training, I talked about this a little bit, but I was over-training hardcore. And this ties into training and adaptation to where your body gets used to the intensity and amount of exercise. And so it needs more or different to see continued results.
And personally, I was training the same way, same strength. And I started to plateau, um, both of my performance, like in how fast I was able to race that plateaued [00:34:00] big time. So that's honestly, it was the biggest indicator that I should have con I should probably rest more, but I was not really aware of that.
Good at it. You know, not as, just not as knowledgeable about how much arrest played a huge role in seeing progress, both, you know, in my body, but in how I was performing and how I was feeling day to day. That's huge. So rest is really important and. Maybe this will blow your mind or maybe it will be like, yeah, I finally heard it for the last time.
I'll accept it. But rest days do not slow down or damping your progress. Okay. Rest days actually help you make progress. I know it sounds so counterintuitive, but it is true. Rest days. Do not slow down your progress. They're not going to make you gain weight. They're not going to throw you off course. They are good for your body.
Okay. So how can we change? Some of these issues, how can we make some habits, some habits in that are going to help us let's talk about sleep. So we can't really control that if our kids are still a factor in us being sleep deprived [00:35:00] aside from getting to bed earlier, am I hitting a cord? Are you. You know, letting the day kind of get away from you or trying to do all the things after the kids go to bed or trying to unwind by like watching my numbing TV, and then you keep watching it because Netflix just keeps playing.
The next episode you got to get to bed earlier. And that could totally mean addressing habits like scrolling TV and time management during the day. And that's uncomfortable. But again, if we're not sleeping well, it's affecting our impulse control. It's affecting our appetite levels cause we're more stressed.
I'm not kidding you if you just go to bed earlier, right? Like sometimes our solution is just going to bed and if you just go to bed earlier, it would make it easier. But it's hard because you've got to break down some of these habits that are mind numbing and you feel like are helping you on wind, like watching TV and scrolling or avoiding certain paths during the day, and then trying to get them done when your kids are asleep, it's just.
And it can [00:36:00] be so layered. So that's, you know, gotta dig into that and figure it out. Stress is another area. So let's talk about some ways we can handle stress. Um, first is the mental load that we're carrying as moms communicate that communicate them with her husband with a close mom friend, not in a complaining way, but like, uh, I'm going through this.
Are you going through it too? Do you have any advice for me or solutions? Like let someone else carry that burden with. Don't try to carry it alone, communicate it, talk through it. Um, have a therapist. I mean, that mental load is too much to carry by yourself. So. You can brain dump. This is something I do probably multiple times a day when ideas or thoughts come into my head or I'm like, oh, we ran out of, we ran out of the standard, moving laundry detergent.
So I need to buy some that literally happened this morning. I wrote it down. I keep like a notepad on our fridge and I just write random things on it throughout the day. And then at the end of the day, I bring it to my planner. Schedule stuff in, I add stuff to my grocery list. I mean, you don't know what's going to show up on that list.
Cause I just write down things when they come [00:37:00] into my brain, some of it's business, some of it's running our household, some of it's life related stuff, or just like I heard something that really struck a chord. And I want to just remember what that phrase was. I mean, that list has all the things on it.
And so I just brain dump them as stuff comes up throughout the day. And at the end of the day, I go put it somewhere where it belongs and I can take care of things. And another thing that can help you deal with the mental load is saying no more often, and that's such a generic statement, but I think we, as moms all are constantly learning that, um, also determine what fills your cup.
And schedule it. And I think we know it fills our cup. We're really good at determining that self-care that phrase, self care, mom time, whatever it is, we're starting to grasp that, but something I'm personally learning right now is I need to put it on our calendar is a family, or I won't get that. And it's okay to prioritize yourself and to treat.
Say okay. If we're going to prioritize the kids activities and my husband's [00:38:00] stuff and this and that, I can prioritize stuff that will fill my cup too. So schedule it in. Okay. Those are some tangible ways to deal with stress. Oh man, I like scratched the surface, so, you know, it's not my specialty, but those are some ways we can deal with that.
So again, our cortisol is not as high leading to appetite increases, lower impulse control. That mental draining energy that we carry around when we're chronically stressed. Now, rest, when it comes to physical activity in this restoration category follow workout program that plans and rest, this is such a simple solution.
If you are planning, if you are taking, you know, doing completing a workout program and following the calendar, that's laid out for you. It's very likely. I'm probably gonna, it's probably not a great workout program if rest is not scheduled in because all professionals know that rest is key to seeing progress.
So if you're following our grow up workout program, do the rest. Um, do active recovery. If you've not heard what that [00:39:00] is, active recovery can be walking. It can be foam rolling. It can be yoga or stretching or breath work. I mean so much that is considered active recovery. Um, and if you're not following a workout program, planning your own rest days, physical activity, like I said, stretching, walking, breathing, yoga, but plan it N you have to rest.
Well, now next area that we're going to talk about is expectations. And this might sound not super specific, but we'll get there. So there are some areas that can come up around our expectations that you're like, I can go like, okay. That directly affecting my weight loss. Yes, it can. So the first is timelines that you're expecting for weight loss.
And I know we talk about this a lot, so you're probably like, I know she's going to say. Which is awesome if you do, because that means you've probably already embraced this, but the first is you need to be patient. Um, if you're expecting to lose weight at a certain point, you gotta let go of that. You [00:40:00] know, that logically things like this take time.
So snuff out those emotions with your logical brain, it can be hard as women because we're like emotional beings usually, but you can't be logical about this process. So practice that and implement that and live by that logic side of your brain when it comes to weight, loss time. Now how often you're getting on the scale could in a way this is kind of a stretch, but I do think it's a huge factor for a lot of women.
If you're getting on the scale too often, it's like watch, it's like waiting in watching a pot boil, right? Like you're never going to see the water actually boil. If you keep staring at it, waiting for it to start, we're making Mac and cheese for dinner. You gotta walk up. Same with the scale it stop getting out of every day, stop getting on it every other day.
Like there's your time of the month, your period time of the day. If you've had a bowel movement, any soreness that you're feeling in your body, how much water you had the day prior, if you drank water right before getting on the scale, all of these things affect your weight day today [00:41:00] and even hour to hour.
So getting on too often could be causing you frustration and that frustration. Disconnect between the actions you're taking and not seeing the number move every single day is going to cause stress mental stress. And we know that stress can lead to actions and choices that we don't want to be making that can self sabotage.
So stop getting on the scale so often how to make changes with your expectations. So again, with timelines drop it set smaller incremental goals, like two pounds at a time. That's a great way to start because I mean me, I had 90 pounds and then 70 pounds to lose after both. That's a lot. I did not look at those goals and say, all right, 70 let's go.
I was like, alright, two pounds. Let's go smaller, incremental goals. Okay. When you weigh yourself, in my opinion, don't do it more than once a month and do it like the same time a month at the same point in your cycle, every single time, because, and, and, and if you want to do it more often weekly at. I mean, I even think that's too often, [00:42:00] but your weight can fluctuate weekly.
So you really can't put all your, all your weight, all of the, all of your hope is that the word you can't put it all on that number. You're seeing there's so many other factors that are going to help indicate the progress that you're making. And yes, you're working towards weight loss. So ultimately the number changing is what you want to see.
And that is what. You will obtain like that is what you are working towards and you're capable of making that goal happen. If you do, going back to the beginning, feel like there's a part of you that can be healthier. And weight loss is part of that. The number will eventually change, but you can't keep looking at it.
Okay. Stop watching the. Get your focus off of the outcome and get it focused on the process that you're doing day in and day out to make it happen in your action. And the fact that you're following through and doing the hard things like you need to focus on that, not the number that you're seeing day in and day out too often, too often.
Okay. [00:43:00] Last area we're going to look at and analyze his other lifestyle considerations. So this can be breastfeeding. It can be medications that you're having to take right now in this season, it could be travel and it could be the time of year, like the season of life that you're in. So how to change these things.
Well, they really aren't changeable, so you're going to have to change your mindset. Okay. But all these things that we already dove in. Can help address these foundational factors that are part of weight loss. So you can control what you can control. Like literally legitimately breastfeeding. Like if you're doing it right now, and you're not planning on stopping or pumping and you're not planning on stopping you can't change that.
So go look at other areas to analyze and change. If you're on medications, whatever type for whatever reason, and those are affecting your weight or affecting your mindset or whatever. Whatever it is because those do have side effects and they can affect different things in our bodies and in our brains.
And there's so many things, right. There are so many, that's why I've been very generic here, [00:44:00] but you can't control the app. So you have to go look at other things you can't control. Same with travel. Like I said, we were just out of town for 19 of 30 days of a month. That's so much, I wasn't always controlled.
When I had the option to eat lunch or what was on our, what was on my plate or what was served as well? I do have control of what's on my plate, but what served for certain meals? Not always in control, but that's okay. That was a season I was in. And again, time of year or season. You just have to consider those things and they can't be changed most of the time, but outside of those, there are other factors that you can control.
So, whew, that was a lot. You just got all the knowledge. I mean, Uh, maybe save this episode, like click the three dots and save it so you can come back to it again and just like re re swallow everything I just threw out at you. It's okay. If you feel like you were just drinking water from a fire hose.
Cause I felt like I was just spewing out from a fire hose. So let's make this simple, how can you implement what you [00:45:00] just learned? I know there was something in this episode that struck a chord. You were like, okay, is it my nutrition? Is it physical activity? Is it restoration? Is it my expectation? Or is it something else in my life that I'm not in control of right now?
Which of those five? So technically the first four areas do I think this issue is coming from, so identify that well, and I actually need to rewind first up if you forgot, or if you stopped doing this, detach the emotion and then embrace the self honesty or else, none of this will matter. Now take us.
Because we're going to backtrack in here. So take a second and let all those emotional thoughts come in that do tie your past and your choices to your worth. All the ones that have come in during this episode, let them go shed a tear or a lot if you need to, because I'm right here, you're not alone. Okay.
Deep breath in deep breath out.[00:46:00]
Now I'll get honest with you. It's time to acknowledge what's really going on. What the real habits helpful or not, that are currently automatic in your life. If we don't call them out for what they are, we cannot change them, but you are ready and you are equipped to do so to make those changes. So again, what to tackle first?
Which area is it in? And we're going to pick one, one thing. Okay. Pick one area. Is it nutrition. Is it physical activity? Is it your restoration or your expectations and then whatever struck a chord with you most from one of those areas, pick one, pick one issue that you were like, I think I need to start there that you learned about today.
Just one. How many tell me, I can't hear you say it out loud. How many changes are you going? One that's right. Cool. Okay. Because too much at once will almost guarantee inconsistency over time [00:47:00] and that inconsistency leads to no lifestyle change, but we are here for the lifestyle change. Aren't we? Yes, we are.
I'm literally having a conversation with myself. Okay. So I'm going to stop talking to myself and just expectantly and excitedly. Wait until. To you yes. On your weight loss kickstart call and this one-on-one session, we are going to dig into your biggest struggles right now. So we can uncover that the one thing you need to get consistent with first, before.
That way you can grow that consistency and confidence right now. Like for real, imagine if you no longer felt like you were trying to piece together your journey, but we're actually on top of your habits and your choices, like you felt in control of those things. Imagine if things like working out and eating well, just felt like normal parts of your day, just who you are.
You feel like you have it together. You feel healthy inside and outside, and you're confident because those habits that you want to be consistent. I literally just woven into your day seamlessly. What you learned today, compromises all of the [00:48:00] changes I come up with on these calls with different mamas, but which ones for you, which one did you figure out and how can you make it your lifestyle?
How can you make it automatic? No more forcing these habits. No more forcing this quote, healthy life or healthy eating. No more. That's what we're going to figure out on this call. And then you'll walk away with my custom kickstart habit tracker and my accountability. So you can track your progress and your growth with that one habit and to truly serve you and provide the accountability over time.
Because I felt it felt really convicted that this and this and it, because I believe. It truly takes time to create lasting change. So I decided to start offering a three call package as well as the one-time standalone call. If you just need one to figure out that one habit to really kick yourself back into gear.
But if you do need that accountability and sustainable change, like you just feel like your lifestyle's not where it wants to be or not where it used to be. And you can't figure out how to get out of that rut. I've been there. I was there after both kids and it took so much time to get out of that. [00:49:00] And I had to rely on a lot of piecing it together, myself.
It took a long time and I don't want that to take forever or be impossible for you. So I'm going to walk you through the process I've gone through, through the right habits for you at the right time, the three call package. You literally get three calls for the price of two. Oh, that value will not be forever.
So go grab either one call so we can dig into your journey and find a habit that will help you kickstart your weight loss. Or in my opinion, the best option is go grab that package of three. So we can do that and make any necessary pivots over the course of a few weeks or a course of a month or two. So you can finally get on the road to weight, loss and confidence with simple consistency and a dose of accountability for me.
So now's your time because I'm only opening up eight coaching spots for may. Well it's and there's already two taken. So first come first serve. There's only six left. So go book one. Before they're gone, you can do that@thetoughlovemom.com backslash coaching. It's linked below for you to cause I got to make a [00:50:00] simple, but this will help you get consistent in the right habits in the right way.
So you can finally feel confident while you lose that weight, not waiting until when you get there. Okay. You got to stop trying to figure this out on your own. I'm proud of you for being so bought into this podcast. And this is a resource because. When you are educated and equipped, you are thus empowered to make change.
And you're doing that right now. You're listening. You're still here. So I wish I could just hug and squeeze you because it's hard to like, take that time for yourself to truly learn, but you got to implement. And if you have trouble with the implementing, I'm happy to help on these calls. Let's get you focused.
I want you to leaving this call no matter what you choose to do. Get focused on one thing and get consistent with it. Whichever changed that you were like, that's it get consistent with it? Okay. And if you need the support with that, if you need the tracking system that I use with my clients, if you need the accountability, go to the tough love mom.com backslash coaching.
And I cannot wait to get you on the [00:51:00] path to weight loss, the right way, the confident way, and the simple way go get after it. Mama. Before you go, thank you for spending this time with me on the tough love mom podcast. If this episode encouraged you in any way, the number one way you can thank me is to leave her a review.
Letting me know how the show has impacted you. Then send this episode to another mom friend or. Take a screenshot posted on social media and tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me on this journey to impact thousands of moms. I'm so grateful to be on this journey with you sister until next time.
Get after it.
