Hello, my friends. Welcome back to the podcast this week. I’m so happy you’re here and you’re spending this time with me today. I am hoping today’s episode provides you some perspective and relief because we’re going to talk about how to take control with food. without hustle. If you have followed me or learned from me for some time, you know that this is my specialty.

I help women become naturally healthy eaters. So kind of going back to eating healthy in that way nature intended, where we’re not meant to put endless amounts of effort or time towards this goal. So we’re going to talk about that today, what you can expect, what’s actually necessary to take control of food without hustle.

But before we get into that, I want to brag on my clients for just a hot moment that are in my Own Your Eating Habits membership. So this is a really special program. And for those of you who don’t know, this is my flagship program where you can get You [00:01:00] come in, you learn my process, four step process to eating healthy, naturally and losing weight for the last time.

And then you do this alongside a group of women who are all going through the same work in their own way. So you get coached. You reach out for support when you need help, and it’s just such a unique, valuable space. And lately, the conversations have been surrounding the holiday season, how to maintain control with food while also enjoying this time.

And it’s just been so wonderful to see women having this goal and then also losing weight around the holidays.

Which is just so, so amazing and how this relates to today’s episode is like I said when you join my membership or any of my containers you will learn to take control without hustle and around the holidays a lot of These women and my clients have expressed that they feel like they have to hold on tighter They feel like they’re going to have to work harder [00:02:00] for their the eating decisions that they want to make because the stakes will be higher around the holidays.

There’s going to be more foods available. There’s going to be less time. They’re going to have to be more organized and plan further. And it’s amazing to watch because this is the time of the year when clients prove to themselves more than ever, that they can have control no matter what, without expending energy, time, or focus, they can enjoy the holidays more than they ever have before. Make healthy, simple eating decisions that only take a moment and lose weight.

And so if you feel like circumstances in your life, whether it’s the holidays currently or your job or anything else, you feel like that’s what’s stopping you. From eating healthy and losing weight because to do so, you’re going to have to try really, really hard. I want to tell you that that is not true and you can do it differently.

So we’re going to talk about that in today’s episode, but if you want to create this result now and stop expending endless amounts of time and [00:03:00] energy, own Your Eating Habits is the place for you.

And if you want to join us inside, you can go to my website, catrentas. com forward slash membership. All of the details are there. Okay. So taking control of food without hustle, let’s talk about it. And what we’ve got to start off with is that most type a women like us will associate the concept of control with spending energy.

So when we think about control, we think about holding on tighter, putting in more effort.

We will be spending our energy and where this becomes a problem is we have a limited amount of energy to spend per day. Your energy is currency and we need to make sure we spend it wisely. So if you associate control with things with needing more energy, there’s things in your life that you’re not going to feel in control of when you don’t have that energy to spend.

See what I’m saying? So we want to just notice this. Are you seeing having control [00:04:00] with food as needing to put more effort, energy, or focus towards it? Energetically, what this feels like in our bodies is that we’ll need to push. In order to maintain control and an analogy I like to use a lot is driving a car.

So when we view control in this way, we will think to get to the destination effectively. We have to hold on to the wheel tightly to make sure the car moves, which is not true, right? But this is the relationship we have to control. Now, why we have this relationship to control. Why we feel like we’ve got to hold onto the wheel tightly in order for the car to move is because we have spent time trying to control more than we actually , have control over.

So in other words, we have tried to get the car to move faster. By holding on tightly to the wheel and stressing out the entire time when the pace the car is going is the pace that it needs to go [00:05:00] and we cannot change that. We are trying to control what is not ours to control in that moment. And this is what hustle is, especially with healthy eating.

It’s when you expend more energy than you have to give because you’re trying to control things with food or body. that are not in your direct control. And what happens when you do this is you waste energy. So it’s like pouring liquid into a cup that has a leak in it. You will be wasting the energy rather than filling up the cup.

And this really, really often occurs with healthy eating because it’s how we are taught to approach it with dieting, Restriction, more vigorous methods of healthy eating. We will be taught to control our environment externally down to a tee. We’re taught to plan everything, track everything, prep everything, which there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.

I think those things can be useful and great under the right circumstances. There’s plenty of people who have that effort [00:06:00] and want to use their effort to put towards those things, but those things are not necessary in order to eat healthy and make those decisions. So what will happen is when we think they’re necessary,

we’ll try and control all of the things in order to eat healthy.

Which causes us to try and control things that are not in our control versus controlling only what’s necessary So let me give you a more specific example

And this is where my clients when they start working with me, they’re wasting energy on the wrong things so the very first thing most of us will be wasting energy on

is Perfection or our level of performance with healthy eating. All right So getting the a plus on our food plan on our calorie count on how we show up We think that eating perfectly healthy and never overeating, never emotionally eating is necessary to lose weight. So that is what we will focus on. We will spend effort micromanaging our external environment so we never do it wrong.

When perfection. is [00:07:00] actually never something that’s going to be attainable. We can’t control this indefinitely and that is something that you are going to be wasting energy towards if that is your focus. Another area where we waste energy It’s trying to control our weight loss timeline from desperation and impatience.

So what will happen is a lot of us will go into a weight loss journey, and maybe we will be focused on long term behavioral changes, but then our weight will stall, it will fluctuate, things will happen, and then we’ll think, oh my gosh, I’m doing it wrong.

We’ll get overwhelmed, doubt ourselves, and then we’ll stop doing anything at all. And this is because your body ultimately is going to determine at what rate it needs to lose the weight naturally, but what you feel compelled to do is to hustle and push so you can control the weight loss timeline. And this also happens with perfection.

My other example, if you make a mistake and you do not perform well, or you perceive yourself not performing well, you will try and push and use [00:08:00] willpower to never fall off track and spend all your energy there versus what would happen if rather than wasting all that energy towards perfection and a faster timeline, you instead only focused on using the minimal amount of energy necessary to make really quick, informed decisions.

Healthy eating decisions throughout the day. And you used energy when it’s necessary to evaluate setbacks that occurred

so you can learn from them and move forward differently in the future. So this is essentially what you do in my membership, is We establish right from the beginning that perfection is not something that we’re going to spend energy trying to achieve. And we’re not going to try and spend energy forcing our body in a quicker weight loss timeline.

You are instead going to create this result with minimal time energy required from you. You are going to train your nervous system that you are not going to push or force your way to this result because that’s what’s necessary to keep it. You’ve got to let it be simpler and easier. So we create [00:09:00] really efficient ways to make eating decisions, build the skills and evaluate progress when setbacks occur.

That’s all that’s necessary. But I want you to really, really think about where the energetic leaks are happening because you’re holding on tightly to the wheel. of your healthy eating and weight loss. You’re trying to prevent the car from never making the wrong turn, let’s say, or you’re trying to will the car to go faster when it’s beyond its capacity to do so, rather than leaning back, loosening your grip on the wheel, and enjoying the ride.

And not sabotaging the car’s progress when you feel discouraged or when you feel doubtful. So I hope this is tracking and I hope you’re able to see some smidgens where this might relate to you now. The solution to this is for you to establish realistically what’s in your control and what’s not.

So the reality is that to eat healthy naturally and lose weight for the last time, you need You will need to build [00:10:00] skills and heal your body. And this is a process, right? What this means is that holding on tighter to the wheel is not going to make the car go faster. You cannot will your body into submission to achieve the results you want.

Your body always knows better than you in terms of what’s best for your survival, even if that means retaining weight. If your body is retaining weight, What that does mean is that there’s stress responses occurring, there’s likely high cravings occurring with that. The body cues aren’t being tapped into, so this is your body saying, Hey, there’s things I need you to do for me to cooperate long term.

But then what ends up happening in our past is rather than listen to these things, we try and will our body to go quicker,

which never works long term. Holding on tighter to the wheel will not make the car go faster. The car may. start back up for a time, but then it’s going to break down. Your only job with a healthy eating and weight loss journey is to get in the car and start driving, knowing that you can’t make the [00:11:00] car go faster than it needs to, to get to your destination.

Your only job is to make sure your car doesn’t break down along the way by taking sustainable steps and not hustling. You must teach yourself that along your healthy eating journey. You have a capacity now to lean back. You are safe to loosen your grip on the wheel and enjoy the ride while getting closer to the results you want.

And along the way, it’s going to be a process of trial and error. You’re going to have failures. You’re going to have setbacks. You are going to be. humbled. You will not meet your expectations. You’re going to have to make wrong turns, maybe, and figure out the way back in order to get to your destination, but you will still always be on your way.

Now, here’s some key things that you will need to do in order to really solve your eating habits and take control with food without hustling. The very first thing I would offer you to do is to make a firm [00:12:00] decision, to decide that you are willing to do what it takes to solve this for the last time, that you will give yourself the time you need to figure this out, that you’re willing to drop performance expectations you have for yourself, and that now you You’re just going to be a scientist of your own body and listen to it as you build skills and devote yourself to that practice.

Notice if you’re willing to come at this journey with that energy, how things would be different. It would all feel different. The next thing you’re going to want to do again is really acknowledge what’s in your control and what’s not. Here’s what is in your control. It’s continuing to show up every day.

It’s not the grade you get. It’s not how highly you perform. It’s not weather. You do the right thing or not make mistakes. It’s just you showing up and I know you can show up no matter what. It doesn’t mean you show up perfectly. It just means you try your best and [00:13:00] sometimes your best won’t be performing highly, but that means the car did not break down and you’re still on your way.

So that is what’s in your control is you just showing up as the scientist. What is not in your control and you want to surrender is the timeline it takes for you to master these skills and your performance level along the way, release the need to always do it right to prove something to yourself and release the need to do it faster.

Your body. And your energy levels will be so much happier for it. And it’s okay if there’s some resistance to this. It’s okay if you find yourself attached to getting the A with your eating habits day to day. It’s okay if you want it to happen faster. I have that too. But just show yourself compassion when that comes up and then say, all right, brain, I see you.

Of course, I want this to happen faster. Of course, I want to get the A plus, but we’re not going to spend energy there right now because that’s just going to burn us out. Yeah. Because that is hustle. Next, I want you to decide, in a similar [00:14:00] vein, to surrender energetically. So, when you feel the urge to rush or hustle your results with food or body, you feel that urge to push.

I want you to decide what you’re going to do differently instead. Here’s what I recommend is I want you to just physically breathe and lean back. This makes a huge difference. I want you to notice how much of the time we lean forward. And again, I know this is so basic, but Breathe, lean back, and notice the urge to control what is not yours to control.

Decide to do things differently with food and weight loss this time, and decide that you’re willing to lean back and let it unfold exactly as it needs to for you to solve this for the last time. All you need to do is show up. That is your only job.

Next, I want you to be foundational skills. Rather than quick fixes. So in our past, a lot of us have relied [00:15:00] on willpower and hustle to follow food plans, diet protocols for a short period of time to lose weight. I want you instead to focus on building skills. And when we think about building skills, that’s an entirely different approach because building skills is trial and error.

We establish that we’re not going to be the best at something at first, and we’ve got to work on it. And. In my programs, these are the skills of stress regulation, lowering cravings naturally, healing your body cues, removing weight retention on your body, and of course, enjoying food more without feeling the need to overindulge.

This is what you learn in the Own Your Eating Habits membership. So be sure to join that membership if you want a process for this that can help you add structure. But then lastly, I want you to know. That control with food is not spending more energy, my friend. It’s having the capacity to make deliberate decisions with food and follow through with them simply.

It’s not [00:16:00] spending tons of energy to make those decisions. Real control is when you can make decisions with food simply and easily without expending effort. If you are spending energy to maintain control with food, This is willpower, and it’s because your emotions, nervous system, and body are not yet primed to have control with food internally.

This means there’s likely stress going on, cravings going on, urges, which is so, so normal, but that’s what we want to solve for at that root level without hustle. This means that internal healing and skill building just needs to happen, right? So when you do this, you can stop needing to force results you want with healthy eating and weight loss.

to have them. The result of this is maintaining healthy eating and reaching your ideal weight without feeling like you had to work for it. You will have created it by continuing to show up each day as that scientist by checking in with your progress, but it won’t have been the same. [00:17:00] This is the feedback I get from my clients every time they get to their goal weight or they start seeing results, they will say to me, I don’t feel like I worked for this.

And sometimes this can bring up some confusion and some doubts in their mind, because especially as type a women, we have a manual that tells us that we should work hard for the things we want. And that can really bring us into hustle very easily where we work harder. and not smarter. And working smarter with healthy eating is getting to the root of your eating and finding where it’s requiring more effort and where it’s not feeling natural.

That is what can be solved for. And this is what it means to create a version of healthy eating and weight loss that is actually going to be sustainable for life. So if this is your jam, and you know that what I’m discussing today is the approach for you, because you are going to if that’s you. Get inside on your eating habits and join us.

It’s the place for you. You’re going to feel seen, held, [00:18:00] and supported. And it is so much fun in there. We coach weekly. You’re going to get access to all of my processes and you’ll form connection with amazing women around the world, all doing the same work. So catrentas. com

forward slash membership to join us. Thank you so much for being here today. I hope this provided you some new perspective and I will talk to you next week.