Hello, my friends. Welcome back to the Healthy Eating for Busy Women podcast. I’m happy you’re here. And today it is the perfect time to talk about how to eat healthy and lose weight if that is your goal on vacation.This is one of my specialties. It is something I have helped hundreds of women through. And I think the reason for that is because, as some of you will have seen from this podcast, I teach women how to eat healthy naturally. And what that means is being able to resourcefully create the results with your body that you want, […0.5s] no matter what situation you’re in. And when I talk about naturally healthy eating, I mean being able to make really tactically healthy eating decisions for your body, for your weight loss without sacrificing ease.And if this concept is new to you, like it was to me in the past, maybe this sounds a little like a fantasy or, you know, maybe it’s a pipe dream.But really strategically, there is a way to learn how to do this. And I want to use […0.5s] vacation and this concept of summertime and taking time off as a lens for you to see how this work. As a lens for you to see how this works.What’s really interesting is when clients learn my process of naturally healthy eating, so much of the time they will end up losing weight while on vacation.And it’s really a moment that blows their own minds because so much of what my clients learn and what you will learn in this podcast is that your weight loss results aren’t created from more effort with food, not even more knowledge or organization with food.It’s just really dependent on you […0.4s] learning how to lower your stress, so you don’t constantly think about food all the time, so you can make really resourceful food decisions.And I’m going to lay all of that out today, so you can start to piece together how to do this on vacations during the summertime. […6.4s] And I think the biggest point of suffering I see around this time is you want to have a break.You, […0.6s] You’re tired, you’re burnt out, you want to just take advantage of a vacation, and you don’t wanna sacrifice any of that enjoyment specifically with food, but then you also want to lose weight, you wanna feel better in your body, and, you know, you would enjoy this time so much more […0.6s] if you had those results.And so it leaves us with this gap in the middle right where we’re like, what’s it gonna take for me to identify as this person who can be healthy and have the body I want, and the results I want while on vacation, but without sacrificing me enjoyment with food I wanna have? And this is such a real thing.I think many women who work with me and those of you who resonate with my work, we align with wanting this middle.We don’t want to constantly perform with our eating habits, and we want to enjoy foods, maybe that aren’t the Pinnacle of healthiness, and we want to have enjoyable eating experiences, but we also wanna be in a body that deals healthy.We want to have our ideal way and we want to, you know, really exist in this balance where we can have it all. […1.6s]And I think it’s so fair to be skeptical of this being possible and being able to have a more enjoyable vacation cause you have control with food and the fact that you can lose weight while enjoying vacation this way. But it is possible, my friends. […5.3s]And again, this back and forth, part of you feels like, well, it’s vacation, I wanna take advantage of this time, it’s just one week. I’ll start again when I get back. […1.9s]And then another part of you might feel shame cause you think, well, I should be able to stay committed, I should be able to just follow a plan and enjoy my time.And food really shouldn’t be so important. And now we come back to the all or nothing spectrum with healthy eating again, where it feels unsolvable and contradictory. […3.4s] And in most basic terms, this is us […0.5s] staying really on track and organized with healthy eating where we’re following through all the time or we give it all up and stop making intentional decisions altogether. […5.5s]And what I want most of you guys to know is, of course, this all or nothing trap with healthy eating is the problem. But a lot of you think the solution is more discipline and to commit yourself and exert yourself even more with healthy eating. And that’s not the solution. It’s never gonna be the solution. That’s only gonna burn you out.What actually is the solution is changing your beliefs around solving this problem. That is so much of why this podcast is such a crucial first step to so many of you.It’s how all of my clients find me because the very first step is changing the way you’re viewing losing weight. […2.3s] And the belief system so many of us have is that weight loss requires rigidity, routine, perfection and constantly doing it right.It’s like, If we don’t check everything off the list and perform highly, then we will not create the results at all, which creates really high stakes and pressure into getting these results you want, which are not going to be accessible when you want to enjoy a vacation. […3.1s]So of course when, […0.6s] So of course when vacation takes away any possibility of perfection, we just shelf our, […0.4s] we just shelf our results altogether because vacations gonna take that away. […2.8s] But what I wanna offer is what if vacation is the perfect time to teach yourself that none of this is true.You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to have a rigid eating structure in order for your body to release weight. And in fact, allowing yourself more ease and relaxation on vacation in all areas can put your body in the best conditions to lose weight.I can tell you this is true from coaching hundreds of clients and watching in real time their bodies release weight on vacation. And I really want you to give yourself that opportunity. […7.8s]So the solution to eating healthy and losing weight on vacation is not to push through the week and stay on track with specific food rules. That is not something I recommend. If you know that you want to enjoy play foods on vacation, […4.3s] the intent is also not to completely throw your goals away.There is a middle that is available for you to access right now. […2.9s] The middle is going to be practicing the version of healthy eating that is sustainable, that will actually be with you every day […0.4s] for the rest of your life.The reason why vacation feels like we’re massively going to […2.3s] throw everything away and fall off track is because you have not created a version of healthy eating that is actually sustainable with the decisions you wanna make on vacation.Okay, So what I mean by that is a lot of you have a […0.6s] version of healthy eating that you think you need. That […0.4s] is too perfectionistic, too rigid, the stakes are too high.What if the version of healthy eating you need to adapt, […0.7s] you need to adopt for weight loss results is the same version that can come with you on vacation? So here’s one example of that in my coaching. The skills we learn.One specific skill is optimizing pleasure with food without […0.5s] over eating. So you’re able to still honor your fullness but also increase your pleasure with your meals.One specific way you can do this is to actually start being in your body when you’re taking each bite of food. So this is very, very real, especially in […0.6s] western culture. It’s very easy to get distracted and to not be present with a meal.And you’ll notice you’re enjoying something that might be a favorite dish or that you find very pleasurable, but you’re not even really experiencing the taste and the textures of the food you’re eating.That actually will sacrifice pleasure. So one skill is to sit with the pleasure even more. Teach your body that you can […0.4s] really savor the foods you’re eating and you can honor your natural fullness when it’s time. […1.6s] This is a skill that a naturally healthy eater has mastered. It is something that you can learn how to do and that is something you can do in everyday life now as a naturally healthy eater, this isn’t something you’ll feel the need to stop doing just because you go on vacation because you’re always prioritizing pleasure with foods, right? This is something that’s always happening. You’re not saving up the pleasure for vacation. […2.8s] So this allows you to be in a position when you have the skills of naturally healthy eating versus dieting, where vacation doesn’t need to be this big lifestyle overhaul. It can just be business as usual. […4.8s]Another concept is emotional eating. So how you can learn to stop emotionally eating is to regulate your stress. This comes from thought awareness and emotional awareness. Once you practice these skills, your cravings are gonna go down, and you’re gonna feel less inclined to emotionally eat.This means you are now actually in a position to honor your hunger signals, and it becomes a lot more clear how to do that once you develop that skill.Now we are in a more natural position to enjoy vacations and maintain progress. Because you’re not gonna have cravings to emotionally eat while on vacation.What I’m really getting at here is when you solidify skills of naturally healthy eating, which are more internal and were always meant to be there, you don’t have to worry about something like vacation knocking you off your access and preventing progress. […2.5s] Because you’re not depending on routine or certain foods or a plan to lose weight. You traded that up for resourceful natural healthy eating, which is developing the behavioral skills as an eater. […1.3s] When you focus on behavioral changes with food rather than external changes where you switch up plans and protocols. You are able to adapt to healthy eating anywhere in any conditions, especially vacation. […3.5s]So what I wanna offer is you don’t need rigidity and control to maintain progress. You just need resourcefulness. And resourcefulness can be the most freeing thing that you can provide yourself when it comes to healthy eating while wanting to enjoy your time as well. […2.7s] The goal is not to sacrifice enjoyment.It’s to stop linking enjoyment with losing control here. What we’re gonna talk about today is how to make your enjoyment with food and how to eat healthy on. What we’re gonna talk about today is how to enjoy food more deliberately while on vacation. So you’re maintaining that control. […6.4s] And here is the process to do that. So No.1, the very first thing you’re gonna have to do while on vacation or […0.5s] any period of time where you want to just take time off and exhale. You want to stop delegating your food decisions to your environment.So if you’ve heard, my membership is quite literally called on your eating habits. And this is why so many of us are taught to delegate healthy eating to external sources. And we won’t do this because we have a low opinion of ourselves or because we’re not capable. It’s just what we are taught to do. So we will delegate our eating decisions to a food plan or a protocol or another expert whoever. And really I want you to develop the muscle of taking ownership of your eating decisions rather than delegating them to someone or something else. […3.2s]Why this is so necessary is you need to work the muscle of you being in charge of every eating decision you make, even when routines disappear, you are in charge of every bite you take, regardless of if you have a plan or a protocol or knowing what to eat ahead of time. What can happen is we will build this.We will create the sense of helplessness and powerlessness. We will create the sense of Learned helplessness and powerlessness when we depend on these external things. And really […0.4s] you are always choosing what you eat, no matter what, and no one can take that away from you. […2.3s]When you really realize this, you’re going to be in a mental state to not feel powerless over your decisions with vacation food […5.7s] where you’ll believe, I have to eat this because I’ll never be able to again, this is my one time that is not taking leadership over your eating habits. […1.1s]You also don’t have to give into social pressure where you think I can’t say no and I have to eat things because other people are eating them. […5.7s] If you believe external factors are the things in charge of your eating decisions, you will feel powerless to them.And this is so important for you to feel in control while in a more relaxed setting like a vacation. […3.1s] So here’s what I want you to do instead. I want you to anchor yourself in the actual realization that you are in charge.You are in charge of when you eat, what you eat, how you eat, nothing goes past your consent with your eating habits. It’s all your decision. […2.5s]So 2 is probably one of my favorite strategies and it is a game changer. I want you to let yourself visualize what foods you’re actually going to look forward to on vacations.So you guys, I do this with vacations, holidays, dinners out everything. This is a common practice for myself and it’s something I have taught clients for years because again, it brings us back to our agency in our decision making. […1.5s]Rather than focusing on how you’re gonna keep it together on vacation. I want you to think about what foods you’re most excited for on that trip.Is there a restaurant that you and your family go to every year in this vacation spot? Is there a new place or resort that your friends are going to try when you leave town or whatever it is? Right?You will definitely be able to come up with food items or experiences that you are looking forward to. […2.7s]When you let yourself look forward to these foods on purpose with full permission, it removes the helplessness and guilt from it because now we’re back in our decision making […3.3s] and this also reiterates the, and this also reiterates the fact that pleasure with food was never the problem.The problem that prevents us from losing weight is over indulgence of those foods, which is perpetuated when you think you’re not allowed to have them. It’s not the foods themselves.We are not addicted or helpless with the foods that we come across on vacation. We feel pressure around them because we think I’m gonna lose control and I’m not allowed to have it. Give yourself permission to have them before you leave and let yourself look forward to them. […5.9s] I know this is vulnerable, but I wanna encourage you to give it a try and see how it works for you. […2.0s]So pre decide what foods am I most looking forward to, and how can I enjoy these foods fully without needing to go? […3.8s] How can I enjoy these foods fully without needing to sacrifice my goals? What in What way would I eat these foods if I was identifying as a naturally healthy eater? See where that takes you. […1.7s]Third, and kind of similarly, I want you to decide who you want to be on vacation. So a lot of what I do as well with clients, and you’ll have heard me talk about this on the podcast is changing your healthy eating identity.So much of this work has to do with our thoughts about ourselves. And I want you to decide before vacation […0.5s] who you wanna be. How do you wanna think about yourself? How do you wanna identify as an eater? […1.3s]And here’s the thing, you do not have to recite positive affirmations or force beliefs that you don’t already have. Okay, You go, […3.9s] go down here. It’s okay. Oh okay, […8.0s] You don’t need to force beliefs about, you don’t need to force beliefs about yourself that you don’t already have.But I want you to start picturing what you will look like as a naturally healthy eater on vacation, who doesn’t fear the foods on vacation, who actually can have a controlled relationship with them. […1.5s]What we can guess is that the version of you who eats healthy naturally doesn’t think about these foods in a negative light. She doesn’t assume that you’re gonna lose control with these foods. She likely feels like she can enjoy those foods fully without sacrificing her goals. […1.9s]And I don’t want you guys to overthink an exercise like this. I want you to just be willing to explore it and see how the version of you who you perceive as eating healthy naturally would think about vacation and the foods that are […1.5s] available to you on vacation. […4.2s] And this can even be interesting when you consider the decisions.So you go to that ice cream place or your favorite restaurant, or you’re at the beach bar, and you can think about this version of you and how does she make decisions in that moment.Does she still order the […0.5s] Margarita? Does she […0.8s] order the crab legs or […0.6s] always make room for dessert? What is it about her that allows it to be a sustainable lifestyle where she can enjoy those indulgences and have the results she wants?This is one of the most fun exercises that will really, really benefit you. Because, you guys, the priority right now isn’t necessarily losing weight in the fastest way and not considering any of the behavioral work. It’s to really consider how this is gonna be a sustainable change for you for life. And this is what work like that is about. […6.9s]Next, I want you to consider your […0.4s] flexible equation for weight loss. So, So much of the time as Type a women, we will think we know what’s necessary to lose weight, but what we’re not realizing is because we’re very smart, and we have a lot of knowledge.We will pigeon hole ourselves into one version of weight loss. So for example, um, women will come into my coaching with a specific belief system about how weight loss is created.I’ll give you guys one example, so maybe someone believes that they cannot eat a lot of sugar and lose weight, or they believe they can’t have carbs and lose weight.Right, so this means that they’re believing, okay, 5+ 5= 10, let’s say. And they’re really, really sold on that belief. So this means any […0.6s] civic situation where they’re gonna have sugar, cause maybe they want it, they’re not gonna lose weight.So let’s say on vacation, they know that they’re gonna want this […1.5s] ice cream that they always get. Well, weight loss isn’t available, cause they can’t have sugar. 5+ 5 is the only thing that equals ten.What I want you guys to start doing is to find your 5+ 5= 10. What are the rules you have around weight loss that you think if I’m not doing it that way, I can’t have it? And then consider a different equation. So I know this is a very basic example, but let’s say someone believes no sugar.Well, what I’d want them to consider is, okay, what is another equation like a 6+ 4 that maybe we’re not able to see because of the assumptions you’re having about how weight loss is created.One rule of thumb is that the dose makes the poison with anything, with food. And so sugar is a really common example, […0.7s] and we’re all very different. I know how my body reacts with sugar is gonna be different from yours and a lot of other people’s, but really it’s learning what makes our body tick.So one client actually in this example did believe that she couldn’t have sugar. And she was going on a trip with her girlfriends and the girlfriends and her always have a lot of food. They bake things together. They have these potlucks.And so she was thinking, okay, I need to shelf weight loss until I come back. And I told her that’s not why you’re here. You’re here to teach yourself that you can lose weight in any conditions. Is that something you want to do? She said, yes.And what she really was able to teach herself on this vacation, on this vacation is a 6+ 4 equation of I’m going to have the foods I want that have sugar in them because that is a priority for me on this trip, but I’m going to honor my fullness with them and I’m going to fill my pleasure meter enough so I can taste it but not over indulge in it. So these are skills that you learn in own your eating habits.But what I’m really getting at here is you likely have an interpretation of the rules you will need to follow to lose weight.And all that is doing is, it is preventing you from experimenting. It’s preventing you from seeing what makes your body tick, and what lower stakes are available to you to lose weight in more relaxed settings. Because you think there’s only one way.So I hope this makes sense. This actually covers the exact reason why so many of my clients lose weight on vacation. Cause I’m able to help them catch this […1.3s] single equation thinking where they believe. If I don’t do it in this way, I can’t have the results I want. Your results with weight loss and healthy eating are available, no matter where you’re at. It just requires us to be resourceful and come up with the equation that’s gonna fit the circumstances best.We always wanna find your path of least resistance, […6.7s] so the last thing I want you to do is to go deep with your food pleasure rather than wide. So this is something that relates to prioritizing pleasurable eating experiences. And this is a skill you can learn.But so many of us associate vacation foods and pleasurable experiences with foods with overindulgence and weight gain. And really, you guys, it’s not about pleasurable foods, even the ones that are not nutritionally valuable.What’s actually happening is we’re consuming too much of them because we’re not actually filling our pleasure meter when we’re eating them.So let me explain. I often love to use the example of when I was really, really struggling. I would get a McDonald’s cheeseburger, like, every day after work, and I would just inhale the cheeseburger and like a large fry almost every day, […0.6s] very much became a ritual.And something that started happening when I was really focused on mastering the skills is I really focused on pleasure with food, which means I would slow down, really focus on the food, the textures, the flavors, […0.4s] and allow myself and my body to engage with the food.What ended up happening with McDonald’s specifically is I realized I didn’t even like the foods, which is crazy, right?I would have associated that I was addicted to these foods, that I just couldn’t live without them. When really pleasure and the taste and the textures was a completely separate concept than emotional hunger, than needing to fill up with it.So […0.7s] which, by the way, there are other fast food chains that I think are delicious. So this has nothing to do with that.What I’m getting at is the pleasure you get from food is completely separate than over indulging with it. And you can have optimal pleasure with the foods you find yummy on vacation without sacrificing your weight loss goals.What this is gonna require you to do is to slow down and be inside your body as you’re eating. A lot of people ask me, cat, how am I gonna remember how to do that? I’ve got the kids, I’ve got friends, I’ve got everything going on around me, and this is fair. I have a very distractible brain. […1.5s]So, […3.1s] So I completely get it, but here’s how you can do this. I want you to think of your body like another person at the table, so surprise, if you’re a mom, you have another kid with you, or if you are with your friends, you have another person at the table or your family. And you are going to give this person the same amount of attention that you would, […0.7s] you are going to give your body the same amount of attention that you would if it was another person at the table. Include it in this conversation with yourself.Check in on it, see how it’s feeling and actually […1.4s] participate in the eating experience while you’re at these restaurants or while you’re drinking the Margarita, whatever that is.Because if you guys are finding that you need […1.4s] serving after serving, after serving of a food you find pleasurable. I promise you, you will see that you are not taking in the pleasure as much as you could be.And while it sounds silly, I want you to be like those Ghirardelli commercials where the woman eats the chocolate really, really slowly. Um, That was, kind of, […0.8s] I would always see those growing up, and that is what I want you to […0.7s] engage with.When you’re focusing on the pleasure, it’s gonna bring down your cravings, and it’s gonna teach you that pleasure can be a priority even while losing weight. […3.8s] And here’s why this is really important, you guys.The purpose of this episode isn’t to just keep losing weight on vacation for the hell of it.It’s not because it’s morally superior to keep prioritizing weight loss at all times. It’s because I want you to have the opportunity to feel that relief knowing you can do this anywhere, and it doesn’t have to take a lot from you.You do not have to highly perform to lose weight and get the results with your body that you want. That break you’re looking for where you just wanna go on vacation, cause you don’t wanna think about it, and you don’t wanna keep pushing that can be available to you […0.5s] at all times even as you get the results you want. That’s what I want you to provide yourself when you decide to learn these skills. […6.8s] I want you to prove to yourself that you don’t need to rely on structure routine nutritional foods around you all of the time in order to create and maintain the results you want. […3.2s] That is ultimate freedom in this area of your life. And that is what I am always so devoted and so excited to help you with.So I hope this episode was helpful. I hope it could give you a little Pep talk if you’re about to go on vacation or enjoy some time away with your friends or family, […3.5s] and if you want to learn more from me, the next step is to join my free course. So you can go to catrentice com forward slash court, […0.6s] catrentice com forward slash course. This is my how to solve your food struggles in 5 days course. And what I’m gonna do is I’m going to give you 5 days of very quick videos to help you begin seeing results in this area of your life starting now. So I can’t wait to see you there. Have a fantastic rest of your week and I’ll talk to you next week. […2.6s]