Lia Pinelli Coaching

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Ep 66: The Unexpected Role of Mindfulness in Weight Loss

Lia Pinelli
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05/09/22 | 27:16 | Episode 66

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When clients start my 90 Days to Food Freedom program we dive right into the practical side of things so they can start losing weight and feeling really good in their own skin right away. 

But we’ve all done that before, right? Started a new way of eating (i.e. diet) and felt good, only to fall off the wagon shortly thereafter…?

The difference between those old diet experiences and my 90 days program is, first of all– the changes we make feel GOOD and are totally doable for a lifetime. But just as importantly, the biggest difference is that after those changes are implemented we begin to do the transformational work of shifting our identities to  become someone new with food, and that requires a strong commitment to mindfulness. 

Here’s how we do it:

  1. Get very intentional about what it is you WANT: it’s about more than weight loss. 

  2. Ask yourself: if I had these things, how would I FEEL. You can even start with just weight loss– if I lost the weight, how would I feel? Some common answers are:

    1. Confident

    2. Sexy

    3. Good!

  3. Allow yourself to imagine who you would BE if you were someone who lost the weight and created this life you crave

  4. Use meditation, visualization, and/or journaling to imagine yourself there

  5. What is one thing I can do today that will take me just one step closer to being her

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Transcript

Story: I used to HATE mindful eating. 

  1. The raisen thing is fine– not problem there.

  2. Don’t ask me to slow down!

    1. Swallowed glass story

    2. I’m busy! 

    3. I’m a yoga and mediation teacher– but I hated mindful eating…

    4. More importantly, I discovered my guilt

  3. Fast forward– I still eat fast, but I use mindfulness differently in my life now and with my clients because I learned that mindfulness is a crucial element for permanent, sustainable weight loss, but not in the raisen type of way. 

When clients start my 90 Days to Food Freedom program we dive right into the practical side of things so they can start losing weight and feeling really good in their own skin. 

But we’ve all done that before, right? Started a new way of eating (i.e. diet) and felt good, only to fall off the wagon shortly thereafter. 

The difference between those old diet experiences and my 90 days program is, first of all– the changes we make feel GOOD and are totally doable for a lifetime. But second and just as important, the biggest difference is that after those changes are implemented we begin to do the transformational work of shifting our identities to  become someone new with food, and that requires a strong commitment to mindfulness. 

Think about Weight Watchers, or Keto… you can change how you eat to change your body, but nobody is there for you when you’re having a really strong craving for pizza, or you’ve had a hard day and all you want is to open a bottle of wine after the kids go to bed and eat popcorn while binge watching RHWOBH…changing what you eat doesn’t help you in the larger context of your life… but mindfulness does.

With my clients we use mindfulness as a tool to reimagine ourselves and reimagine our lives. We first become very intentional about who it is we want to be with food, and by extension who we want to be in our lives. 

Example: admin traffic wine story + preschool graduation + leaving at 5am to squeeze in exercise

I didn’t want to be someone who was away from my child that much, who had to squeeze in exercise, who was pressured to prioritize crowd management over my own child’s preschool graduation… so I ate and drank my way through that dissatisfaction.

I then learned to use mindfulness to reimagine my life in order to create a new life for myself, one where I didn’t need food or booze to cope with what I had created.

Side note: we create our lives. I chose my path and was successful– but I discovered after nearly a decade of higher education and tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt and 15 years into my career that that path didn’t satisfy me, not completely.

So I used the tools I teach in my 90 Days program, including mindfulness, to reimagine a different life, and then systematically dismantle all of the obstacles in my path to create that life.

Today, I have exactly the life I wanted and imagined 5 years ago.

  1. I am at peace with food AND I live at my natural weight with minimal effort, meaning I don’t struggle with food or weight and I feel damn good in my own skin.

    1. I don’t struggle with overeating or pants tightening unexpectedly.

    2. I am no longer afraid of what I might weigh 5 years from now

    3. I weigh less now than I did in high school

  2. I don’t set an alarm clock (what??)

  3. I am able to drop off and pick up my son from school everyday

  4. I set my own schedule so I don’t miss school or other events in my son’s life

  5. I am able to volunteer in his classroom

  6. I go to pilates 4x/week during normal work hours + daily walks with my dog, Taco

  7. I am living my purpose which is to fulfill my mission– I am deeply satisfied

Here’s how we do it:

  1. Get very intentional about what it is you WANT: it’s about more than weight loss. I wanted to feel FREE– free from a job I hated, free from the over obligation everywhere– at home, at work, with friends. I wanted to have a life that was BETTER than food. I wanted more TIME with my family and less time in traffic. 

  2. Ask yourself: if I had these things, how would I FEEL. You can even start with just weight loss– if I lost the weight, how would I feel? Some common answers are:

    1. Confident

    2. Sexy

    3. Good!

  3. Allow yourself to imagine who you would BE if you were someone who lost the weight and created this life you crave

    1. Warning: your lizard brain will tell you you can’t do it, but that’s his job. 

      1. Put that bitch in the back

  4. Use meditation, visualization, and/or journaling to imagine yourself there

    1. My morning routine

  5. What is one thing I can do today that will take me just one step closer to being her

    1. You should call me! ;)