[POD] 188. Weight loss the "old fashioned" way (w: guest brooke simonson) FINAL VIDEO
===
[00:00:00] Okay, my friends, I am so excited to have a wonderful discussion about nutrition, weight loss, and the use of tracking as a tool, or not using tracking, with our guest Brooke Simonson. She is an expert in this area, and I'm so glad to bring her on. She's already been on the podcast before. And we had to bring her back.
[00:00:23] So, um, will you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit more about what you do and maybe a little more about your story and, and why you teach what you teach? Absolutely. Yeah. So thank you for having me again. I'm so happy to be back. I am Brooke Simonson. I'm a nutrition coach and I specialize in evidence-based sustainable fat loss.
[00:00:45] I have not always been a nutrition coach. I was actually a middle school and high school English teacher for 12 years in my previous life. This was right after college. I was living in New York City at the time and I was going through [00:01:00] all the stuff that I think a lot of your audience and my audience can relate to.
[00:01:05] I gained about 20 pounds after college, didn't really understand how or why. It cracks me up now because I'm 40, but I was 22 at the time and I thought, Oh, you know, I'm just aging. This must just be what happens when you get older. And it was 22, uh, clearly it was not, it was not an age thing at that time.
[00:01:25] I thought, you know, Oh, maybe you just kind of gain weight when you start your job or, you know, I'm not in college anymore, so I don't have as much time maybe. And I was making all my meals for myself. I literally could not figure out what was going on, but I gained this weight. And I had never really struggled with my weight in the past.
[00:01:43] And so I didn't know what to do. And I did what most all of us do. Uh, either are currently doing or have done at some point in our life. I tried tracking. I tried having better willpower and self control. I did these [00:02:00] expensive, you know, New York City juice cleanses that were advertised to me. I I went keto for a time, which was horrible living in New York City because I obviously like pizza, bagel capital of the world.
[00:02:14] I did all these things. I went, I joined a gym. I went. Six, if not seven days a week, 45 minutes minimum on the elliptical every time. And I'm not going to lie, I did lose some weight throughout that time, but I always gained it back. I was doing these restrictive, unsustainable things. They weren't fitting with my unique likes, my dislikes, my time constraints.
[00:02:39] I wasn't. thinking at all about sustainable habit building. I wasn't following science. I was following trends and I was a mess. And so in my twenties, I was tired. I was hungry or hangry, if you will. I remember getting off the subway after work and sometimes I would have to dart into a corner [00:03:00] store. to get a bag of pretzels or an apple, like I couldn't make it home.
[00:03:06] Five more blocks because I was so hungry and I was a mess. So what I eventually decided is I can figure this out. I'm very type A. I'm very determined. And I looked around me and I thought there are people. In this world who have figured this out and they don't seem to be so consumed and overwhelmed and stressed out about every bite they're putting into their mouth and every pound and they're maintaining their weight and it seems effortless.
[00:03:34] And so what are these people doing? And I decided to turn to science and I did a deep dive into books, research articles, podcasts. Eventually. I enrolled in the Institute for Transformational Nutrition and became certified as a coach. At the time, I didn't really care because I was a teacher and I thought, well, that's just kind of cool to have, but I was doing it more for my own [00:04:00] education and knowledge.
[00:04:01] And I figured, I cracked the code. I figured it out what it all came down to and how to make this work for me. And it's been about. 10 years now. It really took me until about 30. So it was about eight trying years there, but at around 30 years old, I cracked the code, figured it out for myself. And then really this became my huge passion, obsession, if you will, of shouting from rooftops what I learned.
[00:04:31] I learned, I also learned very quickly. Not a lot of people wanted to hear what I had learned just in casual conversation. So I started a blog. On my website and started blogging a lot. And then my husband and I decided to move closer to family. We moved from New York to the West Coast, and I at that point had a little turning point and needed to decide, Am I going to get another teaching job or am I going [00:05:00] I wanted to pursue this new passion of mine with this certification I got as a nutrition coach, and I decided on the latter.
[00:05:07] So I started my business, my coaching business, in 2019, and I've coached almost, I think actually about 250 clients at this point, and have never looked back. I think I still get to use. That's what I learned as a teacher, and I still educate in a way, but I'm educating about something I'm way more passionate about, and I just love what I do, and I'm happy to talk about this topic as much as you want.
[00:05:36] Yes, I'm so glad. Well, I want to jump right in, actually, because you mentioned trends, and I think this is important because a lot There's a lot of noise out there, um, with trends, weight loss specifically. So what trends are you seeing that maybe we need to watch out for? [00:06:00] There are so many. There's, I mean, as you know, and as listeners know, there's new ones all the time.
[00:06:08] I would say There's right now, I mean always supplements. There's just always people targeting you with different fat loss supplements Take this pill. Um, you know, a lot of it is just snake oil. It's not going to do what somebody says it's going to do. There's a lot of talk now around, I don't know, I mean, like a client was just telling me about this IV therapy and ozone therapy and then there's like cold plunges or saunas.
[00:06:41] Um, kind of this whole like biohacking your way to health, which is funny because my first blog actually used to be called biohacking with Brooke. And at the time, biohacking had a different connotation. It was just kind of in my mind, it was just like, Oh, I've learned all this cool stuff [00:07:00] that works. Let me share it with you.
[00:07:02] And now I hate that term and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like erase all the history of that. Because I, I do think a trend is through supplements or all of these kind of unique therapies, we're kind of trying to hack our way to health, and we're losing sight of the basic science and what actually works. And all of these distractions just cause us to feel more overwhelmed, and often lose sight of what actually works, which is so frustrating, because if you feel like you're doing all of the things, And you're not getting results.
[00:07:38] I mean, there's nothing more frustrating than that, right? It's like, you're exhausted because you're doing this stuff, but you're not, you're not reaping the benefits and the rewards. And so I, I, you know, can't even name all of the trends, but I would say anything that kind of seems too good to [00:08:00] be true, or I love using the, did my grandmother do this type of thing, right?
[00:08:07] Like. If, if you have a picture in your mind, if you know somebody in your past prior to when all of these new technologies existed, who was living a healthful lifestyle and maintaining a healthy weight, whatever that was for them, doesn't mean they needed to be stick thin. Just, you know, think of somebody.
[00:08:27] In maybe your grandparents generation who had this health that you desire and then ask yourself, were they doing any of this crazy stuff? And the answer is no, they weren't. So let's get back to the simple and the basic and what actually works. And then if you want to do that fun stuff, I mean, by all means, go for it.
[00:08:47] We have, we actually have a sauna in our rental unit, which is crazy. And my husband and I love going in there, but I'm very, aware that it's not going to cure [00:09:00] all of my possible ailments. It's relaxing and I love getting a good sweat in there, but I'm not, I'm not under the belief that, you know, this is a cure all.
[00:09:11] Yeah. And one of the questions I was kind of thinking that you answered, which was lovely, is, you know, how do we spot these? And you really mentioned, you know, if it's, if it feels like something your grandma wouldn't do or wouldn't know about, then maybe it's, It's an extra, and I appreciate that you brought that in, because When you think about when we discuss health, I think sometimes people separate weight loss and health like I'm healthy and or I'm losing weight and Does that make sense?
[00:09:45] I kind of want to I want to make sure that they come together where it's like, yeah, there are very specific science evidence based Um, interventions for weight loss specifically and there are things that [00:10:00] can help optimize health. But when we try to utilize a specific, um, extra, if you would, to throw at weight loss when we're not doing the basics, that's when we get frustrated and we think things aren't working.
[00:10:18] But the reality is we're missing it. It's per, it's perfectly said. Yes. Uh, and what I experience, even something like tracking, I know we're going to talk about weight loss without tracking, but If a client is choosing to track or they've tracked in their past and they haven't done it the right way, I mean, tracking is a tool, but it needs to be done correctly in order to get the right results.
[00:10:43] And so there's different things even in different settings in the tracking app. That you can either turn off or turn on. It will help you get more an accurate sense of your calorie deficit and what you're eating and I'll or you know, somebody will say I track [00:11:00] most things and then I liken it to your finances.
[00:11:02] And I say, you know, if you track most spending at the end of the month, you're not getting an accurate view of actually how much you're spending. If you only track on it. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and not Thursday through Sunday. And, so, even something that can work for fat loss, one of these tools, and does work for many people, if someone's doing it the wrong way, and not using the tool, you know, correctly, they feel super frustrated, and I've been there.
[00:11:33] It's like, I'm tracking, I'm doing the thing, and I'm using this tool that's specifically designed for fat loss, and I'm still not losing weight. And I just feel for everyone because I've been there and it's so, it's really frustrating. Yeah, I haven't used my fitness pal for 10 plus years, but I specifically remember feeling like, well, I don't want to put that in there.
[00:11:56] Or, You know, just that anxiety of like [00:12:00] putting food in, in a tracker on your phone. It was so overwhelming for me. Yeah, absolutely. Um, okay. So we are going to go a little bit deeper into if someone really wants to lose weight without tracking, but I want to start make a case for both. Like, when do you teach someone that tracking might be helpful?
[00:12:21] Or when, when do we qualify? to be able to lose weight without tracking. Um, I think the audience here is a little bit more on the end of, I don't really want to track long term. So that's what we're going to work toward, but help me make a case for both of those because I think there, there's a happy middle that might exist.
[00:12:42] I typically on the first call with a client, I ask in their intake questionnaire, what's your history with tracking? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Are you somewhere in the middle? Uh, and Sometimes somebody will say, Oh, I love it. [00:13:00] I've done it. I've done it for like 10 years. But then when we take a look at it, they've done it ish for 10 years.
[00:13:06] So they've, they've logged some things. And so I, I say, here's how we're going to track if you want to track. And then you tell me if this sounds like something you want to do or not. So I say, if we're going to track, we're going to commit to seven days and you're going to track every single thing. And the reason I say seven days is it can be really overwhelming to think, Oh my gosh, I'm going into this app.
[00:13:31] I'm doing this forever. I don't want to do this forever. And then it's like, you have one meal. That's kind of hard to log. And you're like, I'm not going to do this. For the rest of my life. I was like, screw it. I'm not logging that one. And then you get in the habit of not logging some things. And it just, it gets again, kind of messy.
[00:13:48] Uh, so I say, can we commit to this? You're tracking everything like you would your finances. I think that's a really good parallel. And can we do it in a neutral way like we do with our [00:14:00] finances? So if you spend over what you desire to in terms of your calorie dollars, we think all data is good data. And can we look at this as a really helpful snapshot of data on our next call?
[00:14:14] So you get everything in there to the best of your ability, and we have excellent data to talk about. And then when we're talking about that seven day subset of data, we then decide, are we going to do this for another, another seven days? Or Are we good? Did we get a lot of information and some insight in that 7 days and we can leave the app?
[00:14:35] We don't have to keep doing this. Some clients, I mean, it's rare, but I've had a couple who have done like 7 14 days and been like, Oh my gosh, they have these aha moments. They've tracked for 10 years, but tracking for 7 days. Again, like turning off, turning on little things in the app, having me help them set an appropriate calorie deficit.
[00:14:57] Often these apps are putting everybody at [00:15:00] 1200 calories and they're eating too few, which is borderline impossible. So tracking can be useful if you get an appropriate calorie number, if you understand you don't have to track every single macronutrient and build perfect meals. So we do a lot of mindset work around it.
[00:15:17] We think all data is good data. We take a neutral perspective. That can be very useful for some people. Other people, we have this conversation and they're like, you know, I really don't want to. And I say, great. There, we can also do a lot of other tools to lose weight. Tracking is one tool. So if we have a whole toolbox, let's do these ten other tools first.
[00:15:45] Maybe three, four weeks from now, you decide. Actually, I do want to try the tracking tool for a week or two, but we don't have to start with it always. So we could start with all these other things that, by the way, you would use [00:16:00] if you were tracking also. So we set up balanced plates. We talk about protein and fiber.
[00:16:05] We talk about snacking habits, mindful eating habits. All of these tools are important, whether you're tracking or not. So we could just start with these things. And a lot of clients, I just got off a call with a client today. She's seeing beautiful results, and she hasn't tracked a single calorie. So it just really depends, and I think There's a, speak about trends, you know, a big trend in weight loss is if it works for me, it works for you.
[00:16:37] This thinking, or it's one size fits all, and we need to think of one size fits one habits. What's going to work for you isn't necessarily going to work for your sister or your best friend, and that's okay. We should actually be reassured by that, that there are many paths to the same outcome. Rather than thinking.
[00:16:57] There's only one path and [00:17:00] everybody must be on it. And if it doesn't work for you, you're doomed. So we, I have clients get the same results, great results, tracking or not tracking. It's not required. Yeah. So what do you say to someone that says, okay, well, how do I then figure it out? How do I figure out what works for me?
[00:17:18] If you're saying that something different works for everyone that almost feels a little overwhelming. Yeah. Yeah, it does. I, I would say try, I, I know that can feel stressful and overwhelming, but think, okay, this is actually a good thing because in the past, you're also used to diet rules being handed to you.
[00:17:36] And like, if you do A, B, C, D, E, F, G. You will lose weight. Chances are you have lost weight doing A, B, C, D, E, F, G, but then you've gained all the weight back when you stop doing that. And so what I want you to realize is we can take a path that's more, that fits better for you and your unique lifestyle, and we can implement these habits.
[00:17:57] And there are science backed habits [00:18:00] that work for all of us. And so an example would be getting enough protein and fiber. So building your plate with those two nutrients in mind. What's my protein? What's my fiber? Another example would be getting enough movement throughout the day, which doesn't have to be proper formal exercise like strength training.
[00:18:24] How can we just move more, get more steps, even if we work from home, especially if we work from home at sedentary jobs? Can we take 5 10 minute breaks in between meetings? Can we go for a quick walk at the end of the day? Can we take the kids on their bikes? You know, just being creative with how can we work in more movement.
[00:18:46] These are habits that Work for all of us moving more eating more of the right nutrients, but that's not to say that your plate will look the same as somebody else's or you have to eat the same [00:19:00] things or I, for example, don't love doing movement breaks throughout the day. I like going on one long walk at the end of the day.
[00:19:09] I have a client who's like, I don't want to do that at all. And I'm like, great. Let's not do that. Let's do short breaks for you through the day. So we have to be open to making these science backed habits fit in our own lives. It doesn't have to be one long walk at the end of the day. It could be multiple short breaks.
[00:19:28] You're you're still moving more if that makes sense. Uh huh. In fact, I don't remember a lot of details from college You know because that was many years ago, but I specifically remember learning that Metabolically you could go for three 10 minute walks or a 30 minute walk and it's all the same In your body and it was such a cool like mindset shift For me to learn, okay, there are all kinds of ways to do that.
[00:19:54] And what you really mentioned here is that it's about learning the [00:20:00] basics in the categories, right? The basics of nutrition, the basics of exercise, but recognizing that those things can look very different depending on your lifestyle. And you could. We can all get very similar results, um, with those different, um, approaches.
[00:20:17] Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I thinking again of a trend, every kind of nutrient and every food has been trendy at some point or a super food, right? There's like all these terms that, that fly around, but I'm thinking of the cottage cheese trend. Where literally everybody was putting cottage cheese and everything.
[00:20:37] They were blending it and it was like cottage cheese macaroni, cottage cheese dip. And I don't like cottage cheese. So if I was watching all these videos and thinking, cottage cheese is the answer to proteinifying everything, and I need to use cottage cheese in all these recipes. I would be choking down food or [00:21:00] not and feeling frustrated of like, well, that's the solution and I, it doesn't work for me, therefore I'm kind of doomed.
[00:21:07] Same with intermittent fasting. Some people love skipping breakfast. Some people love breakfast. So like if you're a breakfast person, that's not going to work for you. If, if somebody says you can't have breakfast for the rest of your life because you have to be fasting, that's like a doomsday. So we have to realize the basics, like you said, that work based on science for everyone.
[00:21:37] I mean, I don't even want to say everyone, but for the majority of people, and then we tweak those in our unique lives so that we're doing things we enjoy, we're eating things we enjoy, and it's not feeling that difficult. Yeah. Oh, I love that. I think that's a really key piece there is it's not feeling that difficult because if it's sustainable, it has to be simple.
[00:21:58] And, you know, when you were talking [00:22:00] about that, I was thinking about if someone told me that swimming was the only way to lose weight or move, I'd be like, well, then I'm I'm doomed. I do not like to swim. Exactly. And I love to swim. So if somebody said swimming's the only way, I'd be like, yes! This is the best news I've ever heard.
[00:22:17] Well, I mean, I remember, I don't know how many years ago, CrossFit. I think it slowly died down. And The, the, the CrossFit movement is not bad in and of itself, right? It's that we got in our minds that that was the only way to do something right to achieve a particular look or whatever. And it does have a level of fitness that you're not going to get just maybe by walking around the block.
[00:22:46] And when we understand that, like it's important that we understand that, but also it's not required for you. And I think. Maybe some people in their brains may have the idea that weight loss has to [00:23:00] be hard, right? It has to be painful, has to be difficult. And so I want to kind of transition into, we're going to be, I want you to share with us how, how weight loss can be.
[00:23:14] more simple and we're going to talk about it without tracking. So first of all, who might qualify to be able to lose weight without tracking? If they're like, just like, okay, I like this idea. I've used my fitness power. If the only way I know how to lose weight is to track where maybe like, where do I start?
[00:23:37] Mm hmm. I think. If you've, most people have tracked at some point, especially probably listening to this podcast. And I always say you can't unlearn something you've learned. Like you, you have a lot of knowledge about the calories and nutrients and different things. If I were to say, tell me five proteins and five sources of fiber.
[00:23:59] Even [00:24:00] somebody who hasn't tracked would be able to tell me that because we know if I were to say what's healthier a cookie or a cookie or broccoli right healthier in terms of nutrients we know these things and so sometimes we don't give ourselves enough credit and we we think it has to be really complicated and it's like well I know that but it's got to be more complicated than that so I think you first trust yourself you trust that you have the knowledge and you can do this without tracking.
[00:24:26] You don't need an app to tell you what to do. Then we need to understand some common sense, uh, you know, basic nutrition principles that are based on science. So let's go with protein. You could start by saying, let me make sure I'm eating protein at Every meal this week period like let me just start there and you start getting protein on your plate Then if that feels kind of easy if you're like, okay, I worked on that.
[00:24:58] I have a couple proteins I like at [00:25:00] breakfast. I have a couple I like at lunch the next week you say could I include a fruit or vegetable? On each plate and a lot of people are already doing this. So it's like what dinner. So, you know, I had a client the other day who said, I'm good. I eat berries at breakfast and I eat a lot of vegetables at dinner.
[00:25:18] And so really it's just lunch. And then we talked about it. I said, what if you just did raw vegetables and she had this. Lightbulb moment. She was like, Oh my God, raw. Duh. Like, I always think I have to like roast vegetables or do something elaborate. And she said, I love raw carrots and I love raw cucumber and celery.
[00:25:37] And I said, just chop that up, like grab a handful of that. She was like, awesome. Gonna do it. So we want you to gradually layer habits week after week. That's going to feel weird if you're coming from A dieting mindset when you've done a program in the past where you've overhauled everything overnight, you've cut out all carbs or all sugar [00:26:00] or, you know, you've done some extreme.
[00:26:02] It feels very scary and weird to do this gradual layering process. But this is what works and this is what helps you stay consistent and consistency is absolutely critical. It's what helps you kind of get your bearings and figure things out so that you're gradually adding in new meals or even new elements to meals.
[00:26:25] You're not recreating. Everything you make for your family, which is so overwhelming, especially for a parent, it's like, this is what my kids eat, and now I have to make brand new stuff. No, you don't have to do that. You could take the mac and cheese your family makes and ask How can I get more protein?
[00:26:45] Maybe you add some chicken. How can I get more fiber in this, more produce? Maybe in your serving, you microwave some spinach and you throw it into your bowl and mix it in. And maybe your kids won't eat that, but you know, whatever. [00:27:00] You have it in your bowl. So there's ways that you just slowly and gradually add these Like micro habits and micro actions, and then the trick is when you feel comfortable, you add a little bit more.
[00:27:14] So you're getting protein and produce at each meal. Then maybe you start asking, okay, um, is there another source of fiber like a lentil or a bean? Like, could I add even a little bit more fiber to my plate through a whole grain bread or could I do a whole grain pasta? Yeah. Uh, then you say, okay, now my steps, I know I'm sedentary, so maybe we're three, four weeks in now.
[00:27:41] I'm pretty sedentary at my job, so now could I use my tracking device? I have an Apple Watch or a Fitbit. I'm feeling pretty good with my meals, but I'm getting 3, 000 steps a day. Next week, could I aim for 3, 500? And then the week after that, could I aim for 4, 000? And so, I [00:28:00] recommend kind of tracking this somewhere, like, writing it down, how are you going to like, layer these habits week after week.
[00:28:08] But, This gradual process, it may again feel scary, but it really works. And again, you stay consistent, which is the most critical piece. And it's, it's not that hard. It's not that difficult. Yeah. What do you say to the woman who just says, but I feel desperate to lose the weight, and that feels really slow?
[00:28:29] Yes. Uh, first of all, Two truths can exist at the same time. I love talking about this. Like, you can feel kind of annoyed. Like, ugh, but I want to lose weight faster and this kind of sucks. And that, you can hold that space, space for that and be like, yeah, I do wish I was going to lose weight a lot faster.
[00:28:48] Then you can have the trade offs conversation with yourself and ask, Okay, so losing weight faster, if we say everything requires some trade off, what's the trade off? The [00:29:00] trade off would be overhauling your lifestyle and your meals, maybe tracking. The trade off is doing something more extreme. And is that something that you want?
[00:29:12] And if your answer is yes, then you could go a little bit harder. You could do two or three habits the first week. And you will see probably faster progress. If the answer is no, then we have to kind of align our expectations with our reality. And say like, I can't expect to lose two pounds a week. If I'm doing this more gradual process, probably a more realistic pace of weight loss is maybe like a half pound per week.
[00:29:40] The other thing I say to clients is, would you rather this year, so we're recording this in 2025, would you rather lose 30 pounds really fast and gain them all back so at the end of this year you are back at your same weight that you are now, [00:30:00] or maybe even a little bit heavier because a lot of people, they like gain the weight back and then some, or would you rather.
[00:30:06] lose the weight slowly, the 30 pounds throughout the year, and at the end of the year be 30 pounds lighter, so the weight doesn't come back on. And then usually they're like, well obviously I don't want to lose weight and gain it all back, and it just requires mindset shifts of, When it's fast, it doesn't last.
[00:30:24] Not always, but often when the weight comes off really fast, it's because you're doing some type of extreme. It's really kind of fun because the weight comes off fast, but then what's not fun is when the weight comes back on fast. And I would say most people have that experience where it comes off fast and it comes back on just as fast.
[00:30:46] And it's because what you were doing felt too difficult, too extreme. I'm not going to stay consistent with something that feels difficult, difficult and extreme, like there's nothing wrong with you. That's just [00:31:00] unfortunately not going to help you stay consistent. The slow, steady pace of things is going to be slower in terms of your fat loss, but also more likely that you'll sustain your results.
[00:31:13] Yeah. I like to think of it this way. When someone says, you know, I've, I've gained the weight, it's usually that it's been gained over a handful of years. And, and we have to remember that one year to change that is significantly less than the years it took to build up or being in the diet cycle for, you know, I had a client that was in there for 30 years and it, you know, took us a year to work through.
[00:31:42] Um, relationship with food and all of that. And that's actually a really good time frame when you think about 30 years of the struggle. Right? Yeah. And it is just hard. You know, it's annoying. It's especially now because things do come to us so [00:32:00] fast. Yeah. We just are used to immediacy. We order food at the tap of a button.
[00:32:07] We order things. To be delivered at the tap of a button, you know, our TV, we get like all the episodes of a TV show immediately and we can like binge them all. We're just used to getting things. Even now, it's so funny, my husband and I are watching a couple TV shows right now and they're dripping one episode a week and I'm like, What do you mean there's not another episode?
[00:32:26] And he's like, Oh, there's only one a week. And I'm like, What? And I feel that in myself too. This, I want immediate. result. I want what I want now, but it just requires kind of mindset shifts, as you said, kind of undoing that mindset of dieting where I'm going to get really fast results and settling into and accepting the slowness as a really good sign.
[00:32:55] That this is probably going to be sustainable. Yeah, I appreciate that [00:33:00] because I, my husband and I are deep into severance and I felt the same thing last night when he's like we're caught up and I said no we're not, what do you mean? That's the exact show I'm referencing. That exact thing happened last night.
[00:33:11] I was like, I had my popcorn and I was like what are you, I was, I was sitting here for a good two episodes. Yeah, you were ready to binge, right? Binge watch it. Yes. Well, here's what I appreciate, and I think this is a really good takeaway, is you can hold space for both feelings, right, recognizing that the science shows us, evidence shows us that slower, right, more evidence based, science based, um, weight loss is going to last longer, but it might take a little bit longer than a 75 hard, right, because It's, it's just a very different approach, but it's also okay to be in a space of, gosh, I just feel like I want to escape my body and I can hold space for that.
[00:33:54] And I, I so much appreciate the mindset that you've brought into this. And I think a lot [00:34:00] of anyone listening will feel that, that comfort of it's going to be okay, because I think there's a little bit of a fear releasing the control over food. So many women tell me. I can't lose weight without tracking because I lose control.
[00:34:16] So we're going to be jumping into your masterclass in a little bit if people want to dive deeper, but could you give us like, if someone just said, okay, I want to release that control. I want to feel safe without tracking. I want to lose the weight. Where should they start today? Like what is one action that they could start with today?
[00:34:39] I feel that because I, again, type A determined. I don't like the term control free because I feel like it has a negative connotation, but I do like control, so I completely feel that space. What I would encourage you to think is that tracking calories in an app is One form of [00:35:00] control, you can have control over your habits and even like on a paper, right?
[00:35:06] So what I mentioned of is we do this week by week. You could track your habits on a paper or there's apps where you track your habits. And so you're still feeling like you have a sense of control. It's not just kind of nebulous. In the ether of like, what am I even working on this week? Like, what am I supposed to do?
[00:35:24] You could literally write down, you could get a post it. You could get a receipt and use the back of it. You could write down this week, you know, what the dates are of this week. Uh, protein first on my plate or something. And you could add something else. It doesn't have to be one thing. You could say protein on my plate at every meal and add a vegetable or fruit to lunch.
[00:35:48] And then again, you assess after seven days, so it's not like we have to say you track in an app or you do nothing and it's just like the freest and like that feels scary to me too. I don't want [00:36:00] to do that. You can still create structure around your plan. It doesn't have to be MyFitnessPal that creates that structure.
[00:36:10] You can do that. On a piece of paper, you could do it in your Google calendar. I put walk in my Google calendar every single day, which sounds silly when I say it out loud. I have to do it. I have to, I put a recurring calendar event Monday through Friday. I have it at 8 a. m. I do not go at 8 a. m., but I have it in the early morning, so I see it, it's a different color than the rest of my events, and I just drag it into the day.
[00:36:39] Where it will fit and so sometimes I go in the morning before calls Sometimes I go at the end of the day with my baby on a walk Sometimes I go in my husband's home and he's watching the baby Sometimes I do more pacing around my apartment because it's raining outside, but I still know here's this intentional movement I have blocked out and [00:37:00] it helps me remember and not lose sight of The steps I plan to get for my health.
[00:37:06] So things like that, like I feel great about having that in my calendar and I see it and it's a visual reminder. So that is me having some control over this time block of when I'm going to get my steps. But I'm not using my fitness pal. Yeah, I love that and I think what it comes down to is being intentional not fearful.
[00:37:29] Yeah, right I mean you're being intentional about your choices, but you don't have to be afraid that it's not the right thing or not The perfect thing it's you're getting what your body needs and you will learn to support it more as you keep practicing Absolutely, and I will say I think The apps, again, can serve a time and a place, but they are kind of like social media, they're, they're sort of gamified and they do make you think you got to stay in here or else, you know, [00:38:00] like, they have this kind of pull over you.
[00:38:04] Again, it's working on that mindset shift of people didn't have these apps 50 years ago. There are millions of people in the world presently losing weight without these apps. So these apps don't hold the answer. There are answers that exist and solutions that exist outside of these apps. So you can't be so fearful that you Never leave it.
[00:38:28] If you're having this feeling of like, I think I could lose weight without the app, and I think that might serve me better, then trust that. Trust your gut. Like, that's probably right for you. Yeah, trust your gut. You're capable of knowing and meeting the needs of your own body. That's the message that we share around here all the time.
[00:38:47] So, thank you. Thank you for bringing Peace to hearts, I think of, you know, when we're in a space of desperation and wanting to get out, out of our bodies, right. And escape and wanting to lose weight, [00:39:00] weight loss is a very heavy goal for some, right. It's a very like, like you said, control type goal where it's like, okay, if I eat this many calories and I do this, this is, this is the exact outcome.
[00:39:10] And I think you. Brought a lot of compassion in it to say, you don't have to do this. There is another way. And here's a way to transition away from that control of tracking. So thank you for bringing that, um, peace to us and giving us a little. a little practical. I love, my favorite thing about you is you're very practical.
[00:39:33] And so you always like think, okay, well, yeah, I want to go on a walk. I should probably put it in my calendar, those kinds of things. So, so important. And I, I think sometimes we think more with our emotional brain and less with our logical brain. And you're saying, let's kind of bring in some of this logic to talk about it.
[00:39:51] So thank you so much for joining me and. teaching us. Will you tell us where we can find you? Because I can already say Brooke's an [00:40:00] amazing coach. So tell us where the best places to hang out with you are and get help. Oh, I appreciate that. Uh, so I'm at the health investment everywhere. It's very easy. So my website is the health investment.
[00:40:10] com and I'm most active on Instagram and TikTok at the health investment. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
