Hello, my friends. Welcome back to the podcast this week. We are now in 2022. Can you actually believe it? 2021 flew by. It was such an amazing year for this business for my clients. And it was also a really hard year in some ways. And I know it was hard in some ways for so many of you still being in the midst of a pandemic and other, such things.
So really I am excited to start a new year and see what it has in store for all of us. So I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. And I want to take a moment here to actually honor those of my clients who joined on your eating habits over the holidays. So many of them joined a couple of weeks before Christmas break. I actually had a couple of them join right before they left for Christmas break.
As in they joined and they got access to the course material and they watched some lessons and then they went to the holiday celebrations and it is always such a gift to watch these women overcome their fears and their limiting beliefs and join during the most quote unquote inconvenient time of the year. And I did mention some podcast episodes of go that doing this can be so beneficial because you’re not waiting for the ideal time.
You are teaching your brain that you don’t have to wait until things feel safe and comfortable in order to change your life. So all of the women who ended up joining around the holidays, it was lovely to watch them take that leap. And what ends up happening is these women take that chance, join the program, watch some of the lessons. And then right away, they’re able to see their eating habits differently.
They’re able to have tools to use when things feel hard or when the circumstances aren’t very ideal, such as during the holidays, when there’s a lot of yummy foods. And in the past, we perceived ourselves as losing all control. During those times, these clients came back to me and it was really, really lovely to hear how they’re so happy. They joined at not so much of an ideal time, because they were able to have tools to prove to themselves that they didn’t have to wait for things to be ideal for them to have control with food.
So lovely. It’s such an important realization to have, and these women are just getting started y’all they just joined the program before they went on holiday break and they were already able to prove to their brains that they were capable of having control in situations with food.
That aren’t the most ideal. So I just want to honor them. I am inspired by them. I want you all to feel inspired by hearing that information. And I also encourage you to reflect and think about when you’re waiting to make these changes, because you’re waiting for the ideal time or the time when you perceive that you are more likely to make these changes and have control with food where you’re more likely to succeed.
And really what I want you to know, having coached hundreds of women and being the coach is that it is a gift when you can enter in an opt into change when the time isn’t the most ideal, because when you’re willing to do this, you’re able to teach your brain that no matter what the circumstances are, whether there’s things going on at work, there’s things going on in your home life or the holidays are coming around, your able to make progress and have control with food.
This is how self-trust is created and self-trust with food is what creates your results and the changes that you want. All right. So I hope that was inspiring for some of you and just a little announcement for one-on-one coaching in own your eating habits. We are almost full and we will be full for some time. There are only a handful of spots left. So if you are looking to take action on this and solve for your food struggles in 2022 now is the time to apply.
So you can go to KatRentas.com/coaching to read all of the details, set up a consultation and apply. So you can find all of the information there. All right. So today I want to talk about new year’s resolutions. And this is something that is very romanticized in society. We’re really collectively taught to feel inspired around the concept of a new year’s resolution.
And it’s something that I find, especially as women wanting to improve our health, I’ll find we bond over it, that we’ll kind of share our struggles with it. And we’ll collectively laugh at ourselves when it doesn’t work out. And I want to invite you to not opt into that this year, because 2022 is the year of change. Guys, we can just decide that this year will be different and it can be a decision.
And I want to set you up for success. And I encourage you to do things a little differently this year, where we’re not setting a new year’s resolution. And I’m going to explain the way that we normally set them, where it does lead to self-sabotage and failure. So normally what happens in a nutshell is we will set a new year’s resolution. Now with the food that will look like many things, maybe it’s following a particular diet.
It’s eliminating a particular food group. It’s only eating at certain times, basically setting strict rules with food that we want to stick to, that we want to stay on track with. And sometimes it can just look like you having the goal of eating healthy and not overeating in 2022. And really it’s just perfectionism that you will be aiming for with the new year’s resolution nine times out of 10.
And what will happen is when you set a food goal from this place of perfectionism, you’re going to rely on the motivation of the new year. So what happens is when you have the motivation of the new year, your dopamine levels are really high and your brain is anticipating the reward that is possible if you were to eat perfectly healthy. So what this does is this causes us to set really impossible perfectionist goals with food that really weren’t necessary to get the results we want.
We just aim really high because we think that’s what’s necessary. And we’re really motivated to get the result on the other side. And we want to do so as quickly as possible from this place, because we’re thinking that the other side is better. So you are believing that your human experience of weight loss, better health, eating healthy is worlds better than where you’re at right now.
So the stakes are very, very high. You aim for perfectionism, eating perfectly healthy, following the diet, eliminating a food group, because you want to get to the result as quickly as possible because you think that getting there will remove all suffering from your life and it’ll be sunshine and rainbows. Now the stakes are very high here and what’s going to happen is when you set new year’s resolutions or goals in this way, failure is inevitable.
You will self-sabotage, it will not be sustainable because you will be relying on willpower to get there.
Now here’s the interesting part. Failure may not happen right away, failure and self-sabotage may happen in a month, six months, a year, two years, it can vary. Sometimes willpower can last a really long time for some of us, but here’s why this is never the path I would recommend for you because when willpower runs out, no matter when that is, you will end up back where you started or in a worse place, you will not have sustainable change.
It will all come crashing down. There is a way to do this differently. And before we go into that, I want you to consider, I talk a lot in my practice about becoming a naturally healthy eater. Someone who just makes intentional food decisions without much thought it feels natural to them. And it doesn’t take up a lot of brain space in their minds. Someone who was able to eat naturally healthy is not setting goals or new year’s resolutions with food.
Great. Really think about it. This is just a different way to see this work. And I want you all to achieve whatever food persona you want to have. And if you want to be setting goals with food every year, every month, following food plans, having that more rigid relationship with food, then that’s perfectly fine. You can go to that. There’s no right or wrong, but if you want to become someone who eats naturally healthy, where it’s not taking up more time, effort or energy, how you get there is what you will achieve.
You cannot expect to have a rigid micromanaging approach with food in the new year, and then create results that feel naturally healthy to you. It’s just not going to happen. And a lot of you will believe that this is how habits are formed. That habits are formed by forcing ourselves to stick to the habit.
And then once the habit is formed, now it’ll just feel effortless because it’s a habit. This is not the way it works. My friends, if you are forcing yourself to stick to a habit over time, sure. It may feel easier after a while the habit may settle in, but that habit will be so fragile to you. Anything can cause that habit to fall off balance and what I’d rather have you aim for as an experience of eating healthy, that feels natural and solid and sustainable.
And like no failure or setback can shake that for you. That you always have the answers where it doesn’t feel so rigid and food was just meant to be enjoyed. So that being said, someone who eats naturally healthy, you all probably know someone in your lives that is like this. We sometimes find them very annoying when we think it’s not accessible for us.
Those people are usually not setting new year’s resolutions or goals with food, because it’s just simple for them. This is possible for you to how to actually become a naturally healthy eater. This year will require you to become a different person with food. All right. So I know that sounds a bit out there, but here’s what I mean by that setting a new year’s resolution does not require you to become a different person with food.
You’re still seeing food and yourself as something to be controlled. It’s going to feel very rigid and restrictive to become a naturally healthy eater. You will have to become someone who thinks feels takes action and has results of a naturally healthy eater. This means they are not relying on things like willpower, grit, discipline, determination to eat the way they want to.
It feels simple for them. It feels natural for them.
And once it feels natural, it becomes easy. Now, when we think about building habits, like we mentioned before, this is actually what you all want to achieve. You all want to become someone where the eating habits that you want feel second nature to you, right? That’s what you really want when you want to build a habit. But the thing about food is it’s not just actions that we take food has to do with our bodies needs.
It has to do with our emotions. There’s a lot of deeper work that goes into our eating habits. It needs to be the deeper work, where you become someone who naturally eats the way you want to eat. Now for this year, I want you to make all of the changes with food that you want, because I know how possible it is for you, but I want you to picture your healthy eating goals in two ways, because what you want is to have control with food.
You want to be able to make intentional eating decisions without resistance. So it just feels simple. And it’s not taking up much of your time, effort, or energy. Now, how I see most of you trying to have control with food is a really strong, armed willpower approach. So I want you to picture control in this way. Like you’re holding your fist together and you’re just scrunched up.
And you’re just trying to will that control into existence. Like you’re forcing that control into place. This is how most of you will be defining control with food right now. Like to have control with food, you have to strong arm and willpower, the control into existence. You can’t see me here, but I’m like scrunching up with my fists closed. And it just feels very rigid and restrictive. That is how most of you will perceive control with food.
And you’ll think that that approach is necessary. So this is where you’ll set new year’s resolutions from, this is how you’ll make your meal plans and your diet regimens you’ll believe I just have to control myself and then I’ll get all of the results I want. Once again, I’m closing my fist and scrunching up here. Control will just feel like this rigid, disciplined thing in your mind. Now let’s be real. That feels terrible.
All right, we’ll convince ourselves that it’ll be fine. We’ll get the results we want. And we can do it. That type of control feels terrible. And I would offer that. That is not what control with food is control with food is not willing to control into existence from this place of scarcity and desperation. You know why? Because you are not believing you have control. When you take that approach with food, you are terrified of losing it.
So you’re holding onto it. So tightly for as long as you can, until the willpower runs out. This is how a lot of you will create your food goals for the year or how you will plan for the changes with food you want to make. And I want you to do things differently this year, do not define control by holding on tightly to it and holding onto the changes with food that you want from that desperate place.
Here’s what control actually looks like. Control with food. Looks like leaning back energy. So the former approach looks like very leaning forward energy, right? You’re always on guard. You’re always making sure you’re doing things perfectly. It’s very high stress, real control with food has total leaning back energy. You have the trust that you are always in control with food. You know what decisions with food you want to be making.
And you know, you have the food answers. It’s just this level of detachment and calm. We’re not having any desperation. Now for many of you, this may seem a little confusing. Like, what do you mean I can just have control with food and not will it into existence, not hold onto it so strongly. Some of you will try to argue with me a little bit that this isn’t a real thing, which is fine.
I’ve totally been there, but here’s how I can open up your mind to this a bit. I want you to picture things in your life that you do have control over, but no part of you is doubting it. These are going to be things that won’t even be super apparent to you. For instance, or most of you, you will know that getting in your car and driving to the grocery store is under your control.
You’re not questioning it. You’re not willpower in yourself to drive a certain way where you’re getting behind the wheel, telling yourself 10 and two, and then look both ways. No, you know, you have control. You know, you understand how to drive the car to the grocery store. And it’s not even on your mind for those of you who are moms. I work with all of the moms. You do not have any drama about being able to feed your kids, take them to school, take care of them, right?
You know, you have control over that. You know, you’re going to show up and make decisions you want to make. It just feels second nature to you. But notice how that control is extremely different from the willpower control that you’ve been trying to have with food control in those scenarios has total leaning back energy versus the leaning forward energy.
We often set new year’s resolutions from all of this being said, I rarely see new year’s resolutions with food. Be useful because it implies that there is an end point to this work. Most of you will also have that mindset, that healthy eating there is a finish line. And when you get there, everything is sunshine and rainbows and the work is done. We are eaters for life. My friends there’s no finish line, but instead it’s a pyramid, right?
Or a house we’re building. We need to set strong foundations for this house and become someone new with food and create control in a way where nothing can bring down that house. It is solid. It is built. This is the difference. There is no finish line. And that is what a new year’s resolution really implies in our minds. That there’s an end point. Now that being said, I think there is a way to use this motivation.
We have available to us to our advantage, right? Because I am not exempt from the new years motivation. I think that this is something collectively. We all feel as a society and it doesn’t need to go to waste. We don’t need to demonize the motivation, but we don’t want to rely on it. We don’t want to use this new year’s resolution to feed the narrative that our eating habits had a finish line.
We want to make sure we’re using this motivation in a way that serves you. So how I recommend using this motivation is in two ways, first, you can use the motivation of the new year to make a decision now, right? So you can decide right now from a calm place, what will you do differently with food this year? And I say differently very intentionally, because I do not want you to be making decisions for this year, with food.
From that desperation mindset, that’s really attached to these changes and you want to achieve them as quickly as possible. That means you’re going to make decisions based on what you’ve always done. Decide what are you going to do differently this year to move into the naturally healthy eating habits that you’ve always wanted. You can pick one thing. So maybe that’s observing your emotions during the eating experience.
Maybe that’s checking in with your body before and after every meal, maybe that’s questioning all of the food beliefs you have. Now. Maybe that’s signing up for my program and just going all in, but decide what will you do differently this year? That’s based on a long term approach and becoming someone completely new with food.
The second thing I want you to do is expect the motivation hangover. So if you haven’t listened to that episode yet, I highly recommend you go back.
This is a perfect time to do so. Motivation is always fleeting. And it occurs in our brain. When we anticipate a reward right now, your brain is anticipating the reward of better health or weight loss when it eats healthy. So you’re going to have all of the dopamine in January. It’s all going to be there. I want you to expect a motivation hangover because that heightened sense of dopamine, you feel in your brain where we’re anticipating the results we want.
That’s going to go completely away. My friends, I can’t even sugar coat that for you. It will go away and everything else, that’s there for you to work through emotionally will come back. Everything that kept you from the eating habits you wanted in the past, we’ll come back. But this year you can expect it. You can expect what I call a motivation hangover.
You can expect not to feel motivated. So just decide now what you’re going to do when that time comes. I want you to expect the hangover, expect the motivation to leave the building and expect that your reasons and motivations for setting a new year’s resolution will no longer be available to you potentially, right? You may not care about any of that.
When February comes around, that is normal. You are valid in your human experiences and you’re a perfectly functioning human. The motivation is coming for all of us happens in my brain too. It’s not a problem because I expect it. Sure. I can capitalize on the motivation of the new year, in really useful ways. And then I can decide what I will do when the motivation hangover comes around.
All right? So I want you to see new year’s resolutions differently. This year. You can create the eating habits you want in 2022. If you want to take this work to the deepest level and receive a program and support with this work through coaching, then now is the time to join own your eating habits. We still have a few spots available, so you can go to cat rental stock com forward slash coaching to learn more.
All right, my friends here’s to 2022. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week and I’ll talk to you next week.