Ep #190: Why You Should Tackle Weight Loss Now

Katrina Ubell:      You are listening to the Weight Loss For Busy Physicians Podcast with Katrina Ubell, MD, episode number 190.

Welcome to Weight Loss For Busy Physicians, the podcast where busy doctors like you get the practical solutions and support you need to permanently lose the weight, so you can feel better and have the life you want. If you're looking to overcome your stress eating and exhaustion and move into freedom around food, you're in the right place.

Well, hello there, my friend. Welcome to the podcast. If you are a longtime listener, I'm so glad to have you back. Thank you for joining me today. If you are new, then this is a fabulous, fabulous episode to start with, so welcome. So glad that you're here.

I am sitting here absolutely alone in my house and it is glorious. Can I just tell you, literally not even the dog is here with me. My husband has the kids out of the house and my dog is on vacation. I keep saying it's like he's at camp. He's at my friend's house and her dog is my little Auggie's BFF. She also has her mom's dog right now so the three of them are just the little Three Musketeers having the time of their lives together. And even though I'm home, she's like, “Just let me keep him because he's having so much fun.”

I think it's good for him to have a break from us too. So I am alone in the house and it's amazing. I am just a total introvert and I love being around people. I love being with people, but I also really, really love being by myself. It makes me really happy, as you can tell. So anyway, that's what I got going on. As far as other stuff, as I'm recording this, I've got my high schooler theoretically, supposedly starting school next week. We're going to see, and then the week after that, my second and third graders are supposed to be going back. So we will see what happens. I am prepared for all of it. The only thing that's hard for me right now is I don't really know when school starts, the time and when they need to be picked up, especially at the high school, since we're new to this school.

I'm just like used to being able to do whatever I want when I want to. I don't have to take anybody anywhere. Now I'm like, “Oh yeah. Okay. I have to get back into the groove.” It's been awhile now. Right? So anyway. All right, so I want to let you know that when this episode airs that in two days, on September 3rd, Thursday, September 3rd, we are closing enrollment for the last Weight Loss For Doctors Only Group, coaching group that I host, of 2020. So 2020 has been a real experience for pretty much everybody, right? So it's a six month long group and I love September as a time to start for weight loss. Let me just tell you why. I have always been a huge fan of losing weight in the fall and through the holidays and into the new year.

I think it's the best, best time. All times are good to do it, but I think this is such a great time because whether or not you have children in the mix, and that's one element of it, school or not having school, it doesn't really matter, it's all of the holidays that are coming. I literally just found out yesterday that this amazing apple orchard that we like to go to is going to be opening up in, not this weekend, but the weekend after. I was telling my husband, he's like, “Hey, when we go, will you just remind me, just get the donuts. The donuts are really the best. Don't get pie. Don't get any of the others. Don't get the crisp. Get the donuts. They're the best.” And I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is what we're heading into.”

Pumpkin spice time, right? All the stuff, all the fall foods that we like. Then before we know it we're into Halloween. We already have in our house Halloween costumes. We don't know if they'll get to wear them outside the home or not. We're going to find out, but then it's just all the candy again. And Thanksgiving, if that's a holiday that you celebrate and then into the other end-of-the-year holidays. It's just challenge after challenge, right? You get through something and then there's more food and more food and it's just baseline a challenging time for us. So then add in the pandemic, add in all the stress at work, add in social distancing and maybe some family members think you should be getting together and some think you shouldn't and all the stress and drama that goes into that, it's so great to know that you've got support. You've got coaching help.

You've got a program that has your back. You've got all the support you need to get through all of that and lose weight. And then the new year when everyone is like, “Oh my God, what did 2020 do to me? Look, what's happened to me,” you don't even need to deal with any resolutions or figuring out what to do because you're already handling it. You're already coasting. By that point things are just rolling forward. There's so much momentum. It's just what you do. It's not like an actual diet program or something like that anymore, because of course I help you to lose weight, but what I really help you to do is to figure out why you overeat and maybe over-drink in the first place and how to stop doing that. Because that is how you permanently lose weight, right?

You can follow any number of plans and actually lose the weight. The problem is the maintenance. The problem is the keeping it off, right? Why are we using food and maybe alcohol to make our lives tolerable in the first place and how can we create an amazing life that's even better than the one we have without all of that excess food? Right? Eating food that tastes amazing to us, that fuels our bodies, having that preplanned pleasure because that is how our bodies are wired and that's totally normal and something that we want, but not eating for the sake of coping or making our lives tolerable, right? So you really just have a couple of days. Like I said, September 3rd is when it closes after that, once it closes, we usually are offering a wait list. So in case anybody backs out or something, we are always able to reach out to you and offer you that spot.

So the way to get all the information about the program just to see if it's a good fit for you, get all the details, find out everything and how to enroll is to go to KatrinaUbellmd.com/info. I-N-F-O. So KatrinaUbellmd.com/info. There's three videos there. You can watch all of that and then it will send you to some other information that will help you to decide if it's the right fit for you or not. Then you can enroll. And if we are already closed, then just put yourself on that wait list.

Okay. Today I want to talk about why you should even consider tackling your weight loss right now and why I even think this is a subject that needs to be addressed is because what I'm seeing and hearing and the collective opinion right now that I'm seeing a lot of in the form of memes and GIFs and just general attitude is that if you've gained weight over the last several months with quarantine or with whatever you've been doing to socially distance yourself and all that, and even if you had a weight problem before, the attitude is is that you shouldn't try to lose it now, that now's not a good time to lose weight. That may or may not be true, but what I'm noticing is this entitlement attitude toward using food and possibly alcohol to cope during this time, kind of like, I deserve to have this and if I have to go through this challenging time in my life, then better nobody take away my food or my drink. This is what I get to have because this time sucks.

That's just how it is, right? What I find is that that's so defeatist. That is so the wrong way to think about it, because here's the thing. Only you, you ultimately are the one who ends up dealing with the negative consequences of that attitude, right? You're the only one who suffers. And I find it so interesting when other people have an opinion about what we should do with our own bodies, but they're not the ones who have to deal with the consequences of using food and alcohol to cope. So let's just talk briefly about what some of those negative consequences are. You might be feeling uncomfortable in your body. I've had many, many people tell me, “Listen, I've gained 10 pounds. I've gained 15 pounds and I just do not feel good. My clothes don't fit properly. I don't feel comfortable in my clothes.

I don't really want to go and buy a whole new wardrobe right now. I'm not feeling good. Physically I don't feel good. I'm not sleeping as well.” You might not have as good of energy. You might just be feeling heavier and slower. You might be feeling like your brain is heavier and slower. You're not thinking as clearly. You might be finding that you're more cranky and more crabby or more irritable with those around you. You may find that you have even less ability to feel negative emotions. When negative emotion arises, it's like, “Where's a drink? Where's the snack? This needs to go away immediately.” You might find that you have a generally negative lens through which you're experiencing your life. I notice this with so many doctors right now, this idea of just this is just a time that really sucks and we all just have to get through this.

Well, okay, but there are other ways that you can think about it so that it doesn't have to suck and it doesn't have to suck so badly that you can't tolerate it and you need to turn to food and alcohol. The other consequence is just all the negative self-talk, that self-regard about what you look like and what you feel like. Then that just leads to more food, more alcohol to cope, because being inside your head with yourself is so negative and so uncomfortable that you need any kind of escape. So the easiest things are food and alcohol and social media and watching shows and things like that. So I think we've all come to grips with the idea that this pandemic, this current situation that we're in, this isn't going to go away anytime soon.

Right? We all have these hopes. I've coached some people where they're like, “I really just thought it was going to be like three or four months and now I'm really disappointed. I really, really thought we'd be passed it by now.” I get that, right? So often we just decide, we're like, “Listen, it's just going to be this long and then it's going to be better.” And then when we get to that point, we're like, “Well, crap. I was wrong. Now what?” Right? “This sucks.” But that's what we're dealing with. Right? This isn't going away anytime soon. We do not know what is going to be happening. There are companies that have closed their offices through the end of 2021 already at this point. We just don't know. So the idea that we should wait until “this is over” is not a good solution.

You don't want to wait to get your eating in check, to actually get connected with yourself and learn to appreciate yourself and love yourself to a place where you no longer need food and alcohol to get through. So therefore you then lose weight, right? You don't want to wait to create that. I'm telling you what, if you can figure out how to do this work when this is what's going on in the world, with all the political stuff that's happening, all of the pandemic stuff that's happening, all the changes that are happening in this world, if you can do this work during this time, you can literally do it during any time. Think of the courage it takes to do that but then the capability you will have to take anything on, right? You're like, “Listen, I lost weight during a pandemic.

I really learned how to do this. I actually really solved the problem.” So bring it life. Whatever the next thing is, the next hard time in my life, I know I can do it because I did it during a pandemic. Okay, so I have four reasons why you should tackle weight loss now. And whether that is by working with me or another coach or doing it on your own or whatever, whatever it is, these are the four reasons that you should be tackling weight loss now and not waiting until you think things are going to be better, whenever that is. Right? Because there's just going to be new problems in case you were wondering, right? This is just the classic thing as a side note. We're like, “Well, I just need to get through intern year. Once I'm a resident, then it will be better.”

Right? “I just need to get through residency. Once I'm done with being chief, then I'll be an attending. Things will be so much better.” And then you're an attending you're like, “Well, once I actually make some money, then it will be better,” right? That's the exact same thing we're doing during this pandemic. Once the pandemic's over, then it'll be better. I promise you it won't be better, okay? Okay. Number one reason, truly number one reason why you should tackle weight loss right now is because it is your birthright to live in a body that is the right size for you, whatever that right size is. Okay? This idea that you need to be perfect in some non-human way, robotically perfect, that you need to somehow earn the right to not overeat or live in a thin body, all of that is work that we can help you with in the program.

If you have any idea outside of the fact that it's your birthright to live in a body that's the right size for you, then you need to dive in. This is something, it's basically aligning who you are as a human with the right size body to fulfill your time here on earth. So whatever size, shape body feels the best to you, that makes you feel amazing, that you think is attractive, that you think is strong, sexy, hot, lean, whatever it is, whatever the right word is for you, that is your birthright. So giving up that birthright every day so you can drown in some wine and ice cream, drown your sorrows, you are giving up what is rightfully yours. It is part of your journey as a human being on this earth to figure out how to experience your life in the right size body for you.

This is not going to change. In a couple of months it's not going to be any different, except you'll just have spent more time not living in that right size body. That is why you should tackle weight loss now. Okay, number two reason, you are not just going to magically stop overeating and over-drinking once this pandemic is over. I know you think you will, okay? I really, really know that you're convinced that you're like, “No, listen, I'm just doing it because times are hard right now. I totally could stop at any time I wanted to.” If that were the case, my response to you is okay, then stop it now. If that doesn't feel like something you can do, then you know it is a problem, right? Because if it's something you could give or take, then just give it. Give it up. Just stop doing it.

If that seems uncomfortable to you, then you know it's deeper than that. There's more work for us to do. What's going to happen when the pandemic is over is that your brain is going to still function the way it's been functioning. It's still going to be seeing scarcity and lack and showing you that all the time. It's still going to be showing you how things aren't good and sure the pandemic's over, but now there's this problem or this isn't as good as it used to be. Then of course your brain is going to be so conditioned to help you to feel better by offering you food and alcohol, by creating cravings and urges, it's going to be the exact same experience for you. It's really not just going to stop after the pandemic is over. I promise you that. It's going to take you making a firm effort and commitment to yourself to stop this in order for it to stop.

If that's the case, then why let your brain continue this cycle for months and months and months, possibly even years longer if you're still going to have to do the work regardless? We might as well just handle the problem now rather than continuing to overeat and over-drink and stack on the weight and then have even more weight to lose and feel even worse about ourselves, possibly have medical problems, things like that related to obesity. It's not going to just solve itself. I promise you that. And for that reason, you really should tackle your weight loss now.

Okay, third reason, every day that you postpone doing this work on yourself, which is of course managing what you eat, but learning how to manage your mind, learning how to actually create the experience of your life that you want, every day you postpone this work is another day where you aren't living up to your full potential, where you aren't living in alignment with who you really are, because who you really are is someone who is completely worthy, completely valuable, more than acceptable, the perfect amount of enough, is a truly amazing human being. But every day that you are flooding yourself with false pleasures, meaning food, alcohol, all the things that don't really serve you, you aren't living in alignment with that person.

Many of you don't even know who that person is. So every day you wait to do this work is another day that you aren't figuring out who she really is. You're not figuring out what it's like to actually live as that best version of you who's in there inside you. It's just that the part of you that wants to overeat and wants to use alcohol to feel better has a very, very loud voice coming through a bullhorn, and that version of you who's who you really are, she speaks in whispers. You have to learn how to listen and you have to learn how to take the bullhorn away from the other voices.

That is exactly what I can teach you how to do. So it's like we postpone, we postpone, we postpone. I can't tell you how many of my clients have been like, “I wish I'd done this work sooner. I wish I'd known this earlier in my life.” I promise you, next year, the year after the year, after that 10 years from now, you're not going to be like, “I'm so glad I waited.” You're really not, I promise you. Okay, and the fourth reason you should tackle weight loss now is because learning something new is hard, but living with the alternative is harder, okay? I was just listening to Brene Brown's new podcast called Unlocking Us and she was talking about something she calls an FFT, which is an effing first time. I try not to swear on here, but that's what she calls anytime you're doing something new is an effing first time, an FFT.

And so of course it's hard. Of course it's uncomfortable. Of course it feels new and different. It's like what I always say, it's like petting a cat backwards, it just feels wrong, right? It feels like it's going against the grain. But living the alternative is worse because living the alternative is knowing that the real you is trapped in a fat suit. The real you is like, “I would love to come out and I don't know how.” Your body is trying to send you messages and you don't know how to listen, right? So you do other things to try to feel better and they feel worse. So as much as learning something new is hard, it's that FFT, signing up for the alternative is so much worse, involves so much more pain and does not actually help you to create the life that you want.

It just doesn't. So those are the reasons you should be tackling weight loss now. I'm telling you, fall is an amazing time to do it. You are being called to grow and to evolve into the best version of yourself. And you have the opportunity to pick up the phone and answer the call or you can ignore it and let it go to voicemail. But I want to encourage you to pick up the phone. Take the call. Take advantage of opportunities that come into your life. Say yes, even when it feels scary, when it feels unknown and when you feel totally vulnerable doing it. So if you're an MD or DO or international equivalent female-identifying doctor in clinical practice, your opportunity is the Weight Loss For Doctors Only Coaching Group. This is the call coming in for you, okay? You have to decide if you're going to pick it up and answer it or not.

It closes in two days for the rest of the year, so go to KatrinaUbellmd.com/info for details about the program. And if it seems like the right fit, the right opportunity for you, come on in and join us. I promise you it is going to change your life in all of the best ways. And with that, I wish you a wonderful rest of your week. Happy September and I'll talk to you next time. Take care. Bye bye. Did you know that you can find a lot more help for me on my website? Go to KatrinaUbellmd.com and click on free resources.