A survey conducted by the American Psychological Association in 2020 found that 61% of adults in the United States reported experiencing undesired weight changes due to stress eating.

It makes sense. 

Afterall, eating something to calm ourselves down has become a national pastime–so much so I think that the packaging on salty crunchy foods or soft baked sweet treats could be called “comfort food” instead of “snack food”!

For this week’s Thin Thinking Episode, you can finally ditch the stress eating, the comfort eating, and the mindless eating because I am going to teach you this one very simple hack. This powerful mindfulness tool will help you tune into with the negative feelings you are feeling, and tune out of the need to reach for food.

So close the cupboard and come on in.

MARCH REVIEW CONTEST!! PRIZES!!

WE ARE CELEBRATING THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE THIN THINKING PODCAST!

In honor of this amazing milestone, throughout the month of March, we are having a Thin Thinking Podcast review contest.

  1. Write a Review of the Thin Thinking Podcast (go to your favorite podcast platform and leave a review)

  2. I will send you a coupon to choose a free weight loss hypnosis download!

  3. Also, you will be entered into a drawing for a Free ONLINE Live Shift Weight Mastery 30-Day Hypnosis Based Process on May and get the chance to become an honorary participant.

Thanks for your review and take advantage of this contest and help us honor our second anniversary!

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

The Shift Breath–I will guide you creating this powerful mindfulness tool for yourself.

The importance of checking in with yourself and asking what you need and what you are feeling.

How often you can use your new mindfulness/self-care tool to check in with yourself on a weekly, daily and even hourly basis!

Eating to “calm down” has become so normal that chips might as well be labeled emotion food. But it’s not really the chips that soothe you—it’s what happens around the food: stepping away, zoning out, and chewing while your brain finally gets quiet. The truth? That pattern trains your dopamine system to expect a reward whenever stress hits—so you feel agitated until you eat, and then you think you’re calmer when the agitation simply stops. Meanwhile, the original stress (and the habit loop) stays put.

In this article, I’ll teach you the exact one-minute practice I use and coach—the Shift Breath Check-In—to cut through mental noise, engage your body’s rest-and-digest system, and ask, “What do I really need right now?” You’ll learn the science-in-simple-English, the step-by-step breath (in for five, out for five), how to anchor calm confidence, and when to deploy fast check-ins across your week so cravings shrink and self-care rises. This is mindset over willpower, and it works.


What actually calms you when you stress eat?

Citable statement: It’s not the food that calms you; it’s the context—stepping away, quiet, zoning out, and the physical act of chewing—that nudges your system toward calm.

When you reach for something salty, crunchy, sweet, or creamy after a hard day, notice what happens: you walk to a quieter space, you’re often alone, your attention narrows, and you chew. Chewing increases blood flow to the brain and stimulates the parasympathetic “rest and digest” response. That can reduce anxiety temporarily—but the food gets credit it didn’t earn. After a few repetitions, your brain fuses that food with relief: “Oreos calm me down.” In reality, the quiet + zoning out + chewing soothed you—not the Oreos.

This mis-attribution wires a habit loop: stress → agitation → food → brief relief → same stress still there. Over time, that keeps you from meeting your true needs (rest, connection, nourishment, a break), and you start doubting your ability to cope without food. The fix isn’t more willpower; it’s a new ritual that delivers the calm first, so you can decide wisely.


Why does the “need to eat” feel urgent—and how do you break that loop?

Citable statement: The urgent “gotta eat” energy is agitation from your brain’s reward center expecting food; the relief you feel afterward is relief from agitation—not from the original stress.

Once your brain expects a treat under stress, dopamine creates an internal nudge that grows into agitation: Go get the chips. When you finally eat, that agitation drops—so it feels like calm. But the source problem (fatigue, overwhelm, loneliness) remains, and the habit gets stronger.

To break the loop, you need a fast pattern interrupt that:

  1. quiets the mind, 2) signals safety to your nervous system, and 3) makes space to ask, What do I need? Enter: the Shift Breath Check-In. It creates calm before a choice, so you aren’t bargaining with a triggered brain.


If stress eating is a recurring challenge for you, you may also find Episode 224: Prevent Stress Eating with this One Easy Hack incredibly helpful as a companion to this practice.


What is the Shift Breath Check-In (and how exactly do I do it)?

Citable statement: The Shift Breath Check-In is a two-part micro-ritual—regulated breathing (in for 5, out for 5) plus one simple self-question: How am I, and what do I need now or later?

Step 1 — The breath:

  • Breathe in through your nose (or mouth if you prefer) for a slow count of five.
  • Breathe out for five.
  • Repeat 2–3 cycles. Counting matters: it regulates your breath, slows heart rate, quiets racing thoughts, and engages your parasympathetic system.

Step 2 — The check-in:
Quietly ask:

  • How am I right now? (tired, stressed, lonely, wired, grateful?)
  • What do I need now? (water, a pause, protein, fresh air, a text to a friend)
  • Will I need something later? (a snack packed for the commute, a plan for a busy evening, a 10-minute reset at 4 p.m.)

This takes about 60 seconds. The more you practice, the faster the answers come.


How do I anchor calm confidence to my breath in under 60 seconds?

Citable statement: Pair the 5-in/5-out breath with a quick memory of feeling calm and in control; then “turn it up” a notch as you breathe to encode confidence onto your breath.

Try this once today (not while driving):

  1. Close your eyes. Recall a time you felt calm and in control (a beach walk, a quiet morning, a small win). Notice where that feeling sits in your body.
  2. Imagine a “thermostat” for that feeling and turn it up one degree.
  3. Breathe in for five, hold for three, breathe out for five—letting that feeling ride your breath.
  4. Do 1–2 more breaths the same way.

You’ve just created a calm anchor. Later, a single 5-in/5-out breath will fetch that calm more quickly, so you can choose what truly helps instead of grabbing what’s handy.


When should I use check-ins to prevent comfort eating before it starts?

Citable statement: Pre-schedule three tiny check-ins—weekly, morning, and afternoon—to shift from defensive living to proactive self-care.

A. Weekly “Sunday” check-in (10 minutes):

  • Ask: What am I creating this week? Where am I vulnerable?
  • Pre-solve the usual traps (e.g., “Thursdays run late → prep a simple dinner, move two tasks to Friday, plan a walk”).
  • Decide movement, meals, and buffers for stress points. That’s offensive living—creating the week rather than reacting to it.

B. Morning check-in (1–2 minutes before getting up):

  • Breath: 5 in, 5 out.
  • Ask: What are my intentions? What do I need to show up well?
  • Note logistics (pack protein, water, schedule a mid-day reset, leave five minutes between back-to-back calls).

C. Afternoon reset (around 3–5 p.m., 60 seconds):

  • Breath: 5 in, 5 out.
  • Ask: Am I getting hungry? Tired? Overstimulated?
  • If hunger is real, stabilize early (protein + fiber) so you don’t hit dinner starving and “graze through the kitchen.”

These micro-moments keep blood sugar steady, mind quiet, and choices intentional—long before cravings try to run the evening.


What do I do when emotions show up instead of cravings?

Citable statement: Give the feeling five minutes of space and care; your inner system wants attention more than it wants food.

After your breath, if you sense loneliness, stress, or sadness, try one of these quick care moves instead of food:

  • Lonely: hug a pillow; text or voice-note a friend; step outside for light and air.
  • Wired/stressed: eyes closed + two slow rounds of 5-in/5-out; weighted blanket for five minutes; gentle music.
  • Blue/heavy: a short walk, a warm shower or bath, or 5–10 minutes watching something that makes you laugh.
  • Tired: a real break—lie down for five, dim lights, breathe.

The inner “kid” in you isn’t asking for cookies; it’s asking to be noticed. Hearing yourself shifts the urge.


How do I turn evenings from danger zones into calm, nourished nights?

Citable statement: Evenings improve when you stabilize earlier, pre-decide your unwind ritual, and rehearse a simple after-dinner plan.

  • Stabilize before home: If hunger signals show up at 3–4 p.m., eat a protein-forward snack then. It prevents the “I’m home, now I inhale everything” spiral.
  • Pre-decide your unwind: One show after dinner with tea, 10 pages of a novel, a walk with a podcast—write it down at your afternoon reset.
  • Rehearse the “after dinner” move: Mentally practice clearing the kitchen, making tea, and going to your chosen spot. Your brain loves routes it has already “walked.”
  • If cravings spike: Do one anchored breath, name the state (tired, bored, lonely), meet that need, then reassess hunger.

FAQ

How fast does the Shift Breath Check-In work?
In about 60 seconds. Two or three 5-in/5-out cycles usually quiet agitation enough to choose wisely.

Do I have to breathe through my nose?
Nose is ideal, but mouth is fine. The consistency and counting matter more than perfection.

What if I still want the snack after I breathe?
Check hunger honestly. If you’re truly hungry, have a balanced option. If not, meet the real need (rest, connection, break), then decide again.

Why does chewing make me feel calmer?
Chewing and pausing can stimulate rest-and-digest and increase brain blood flow. That calm gets misattributed to the food instead of the context.

How often should I check in?
Minimum: weekly, morning, and afternoon. Many people add quick hourly breaths for a week to build the habit.

Can this replace therapy or medical care?
No. It’s a self-regulation tool, not a medical treatment. Use it alongside professional care as needed.

Will this help with evening wine or dessert habits?
Yes. The same loop is at play. Breathe, check in, meet the true need, and pre-plan a satisfying evening ritual.


Conclusion — Calm first, choice second

You don’t need more willpower to stop stress eating; you need a faster way to get calm. The Shift Breath Check-In delivers that in one minute. Breathe five in, five out. Ask, “How am I, and what do I need now or later?” Then meet that need. Do this at your Sunday preview, morning intentions, and afternoon reset, and watch evenings transform from danger zones into peaceful, nourished nights.Try it today: pick your three check-in times and set tiny reminders. One week from now, notice how much more in charge you feel.

Want to learn more? Check out my free masterclass, How to Stop The “Start Over Tomorrow” Weight Struggle Cycle and Start Releasing Weight For Good.

If you found this episode helpful, you might also enjoy this related Thin Thinking episode:

Rita Black: Eating something to calm ourselves down has become a national pastime. So much so, I think that the packaging on our favorite, salty, crunchy foods, our soft baked foods, could stop being called snack food and instead be called emotion food. Potato chips, not Prozac. Right? Well, in this week’s Thin Thinking Episode, I’m going to teach you a simple hack, if used consistently would help you check in with your stress, your emotions, and boredom, and allow you to tune into your true needs and tune out of the need to reach for food. So close the cupboard and come on in to this week’s episode of The Thin Thinking Podcast.

Rita Black: Did you know that our struggle with weight doesn’t start with the food on your plate or get fixed in the gym? 80% of our weight struggle is mental. That’s right. The key to unlocking long-term weight release and management begins in your mind. Hi there, I’m Rita Black. I’m a clinical hypnotherapist, weight loss expert, bestselling author, and the creator of the Shift Weight Mastery Process. And not only have I helped thousands of people over the past 20 years achieve long-term weight mastery, I am also a former weight struggler, carb addict and binge eater. And after two decades of failed diets and fad weight loss programs, I lost 40 pounds with the help of hypnosis. Not only did I release all that weight, I have kept it off for 25 years. Enter the Thin Thinking Podcast where you too will learn how to remove the mental roadblocks that keep you struggling. I’ll give you the thin thinking tools, skills, and insights to help you develop the mindset you need, not only to achieve your ideal weight, but to stay there and live your best life.

Rita Black: Well, hello there. Come on in. I hope you are well. I have an exciting announcement. I’ve had a couple of exciting announcements in the last few months. Well, this one, this month is our second anniversary. Number two of the Thin Thinking Podcast. Can you believe it? We started in the March of 2021, and now it’s the March of 2023. Wow. And that woo, that went by super fast. So in honor of this amazing milestone, throughout the month of March, we are having a Thin Thinking Podcast review contest. Woo-Hoo. So please give us a kind review on your favorite podcast platform. There should be a review link somewhere there, and then take a screenshot of that review and forward it to Rita, rita@shiftweightmastery.com. That’s rita@shiftweightmastery.com. And you will get a coupon for a free hypnosis download, a free weightloss hypnosis download, and from the Shift Store. And then, where there are lots of great downloads, just by the way.

Rita Black: And then you will also, also also be entered into a drawing for a free live shift. We are doing the next live online Shift Weight Mastery process event coming up at the beginning of May. The end of April is when we are enrolling, on the beginning of May. So you will become an honorary participant in that upcoming process, worth hundreds of dollars. So it’s worth your effort. So I hope you take advantage of this contest and help us honor our second anniversary.

Rita Black: So, moving on. Did you know that the snack food industry is an $82 billion dollar, that’s a B, billion dollar a year industry here in the United States alone? I mean, think of how rich I would be today if instead of eating all those snack foods, I spent that money on investing in those companies that made it instead. Ugh. Okay. So I was thinking about this week’s episode on preventing Stress and Comfort eating, and I did a poll of the members in my monthly mastery group and I said, Hey guys, what are some of the, your favorite stress eating foods that you used to eat or reach for all the time?

Rita Black: And here are some of their answers. It wasn’t actually specific foods, but it was more that you’ll see. Salty, sweet, gooey toast with peanut butter and jam, or honey, if I don’t have any sweetss or chips. Here’s another one. Pasta with either pesto or butter and Parmesan. Salty, crunchy, then sweet. How many of you guys are a salty then sweet, then salty again snacker. You’d be surprised how many people go from salty to sweet or sweet to salty. Crunchy, buttery and salty. And then last one here, smooth and creamy yogurt ice cream, nut butters, whipping cream pudding. So some similarities and yet some differences. So everybody has their little stressed favorite that they reach for. So why do we think reaching for food calms us down? Well, here’s the thing. It isn’t so much the food itself, but what is going on around the food.

Rita Black: So let’s look at some of these things. So first of all, little information for you. Maybe you know this, maybe you don’t. But chewing actually does calm us down. So the actual physical act of chewing, it increases the blood flow to the brain, which can help improve cognitive function and reduce feelings of fatigue or drowsiness. Haven’t you ever noticed? Sometimes if you’re feeling a little tired eating, you know, kind of wakes you up. Chewing also stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the rest and digest response in the body. And this can help reduce feelings of anxiety and promote a sense of relaxation. So it’s interesting sometimes when people stress eat, I have found, because I hear a lot of people talk about where and when they stress eat, and a lot of us go to the kitchen and we’ll just stand there and chew.

Rita Black: And we are alone usually. Maybe we are in our car, or like I said, in the kitchen or in a bedroom, and usually we are zoning out and not even paying attention to the food. Haven’t you noticed that after that first bite or two or three of food, we kind of go into sort of zone like trance-like state, and we are chewing. So we are chewing, our mind is zoning out. We are alone. It’s usually quiet. So there’s all these things going around the food itself that are actually somewhat calming, the quiet zoning out and maybe problem solving because if we’re stressed out, we might be sitting there thinking about the problem and solving it. And your brain, what it happens to do is it will start to make an association with that food. Oh, the Oreos calmed me down. Now actually, the Oreos didn’t calm you down, but your thinking about the problem removing yourself to a quiet place, perhaps chewing that calmed you down, but the Oreos get the credit, not you.

Rita Black: So when we’re in the habit of stress eating, often when we start feeling stress or emotions this trip wires that I need to eat for comfort signal also to the dopamine center in our brain. And this does something else, which is the brain starts to agitate you to go get the food, and we become agitated, and that adds to the feeling of stress. So then when we do finally go reach for the bag of chips or the crackers or the Oreos, what happens is that the agitation goes away because the brain got what it wanted. The reward center calms down and we don’t, but the agitation goes away. So it gives us the perception that we have calmed ourselves down somewhat, but what we are really doing is just relieving the agitation of the expectation that that food is supposed to happen when we’re stressed out.

Rita Black: I know that’s kind of a concept, right? You have to wrap your mind around. So we’re stressed. And then on top of the stress is the agitation of the expectation that an Oreo is supposed to happen when we’re stressed. So we eat the Oreo and that relieves that stress, and then our brain goes, see it relieved our stress, but no, we’re still stressed from whatever caused the stress in the first place. Huh? What a conundrum. So the challenge is, let’s be real. That eating that food, the Oreo, the chips, the crackers rarely solves the problem. And in the long term, it just makes things worse, right? It keeps us stuck in that old habit cycle, eat to comfort ourselves, feel bad about it, then eat some more to comfort that feeling, you know, and then overeat and overeat, and then, huh? Then we, you know, start all over again trying to be good, which makes us feel bad.

Rita Black: And honestly, literally, let’s face it, let’s be honest, it makes us feel gross when we really overeat a bunch of refined foods. So that then adds to our anxiety. We feel unhealthy, we feel out of balance. Our blood sugar insulin is all often wacky, which then puts us into a mood. It really doesn’t solve the problem. And more importantly, we get in the habit of this. And what happens is it keeps us from connecting with our deeper need to truly take care of ourselves subconsciously. Then we begin to lack a belief in our ability to manage our life without food. And that stresses us out even more.

Rita Black: So, my friends, what can we do? Well in my book, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I don’t know who originally said that, but I’m a big believer in preventive action. I want to share a really cool mind and body hack that I think can help prevent you from stress eating or emotional eating in the first place. I know it helps me, and it has helped a number of my clients and students. It can also help you start to evolve new self-care patterns that truly take care of you instead. So I call it the shift breath check in.

Rita Black: So you know how doctors do a checkup? Well, that’s preventive medicine, right? They’re checking you up every year just to check things before they go haywire or to catch them before they do, right? You take a car in for a tuneup to make sure that everything is working properly. So your shift breath is a check in for your emotional state, your inner state for where you are. Your shift breath check in allows you a moment to just tune into yourself and say, how am I doing? Rarely do we do this, right? It’s so simple. We take a breath and then we check in.

Rita Black: Here’s the thing. We live in a virtual reality most of the time, right? We are sort of disconnected from our bodies a good part of the day. We are just lost in our thoughts, patterns of thinking, thoughts that are going on in our heads. It’s a virtual reality, and most of our life is from the neck up. Oh, that’s our experience of life. So we often ignore signs of stress, hunger, feelings and emotions because our brain so wants to avoid things and keep things the status quo. So what happens is we don’t tune in or even notice until it’s too late, and then we’re impulsively reaching for food. And this impulsively reaching for food isn’t conscious because we are not conscious. So let’s employ a tool to get us conscious and present, shall we?

Rita Black: So the first part of this two part process is a breath, and I call it the shift breath because we are shifting into the present moment, out of our heads, right out of our thinking and bringing it with some power. Students of mine from the Shift Weight Mastery Process will know the shift breath. So if you’re listening, you’re all down with this, I know. But I, we are going to add a little to it today. And we use the shift breath a lot for many things. But this particular instance, we are going to use it to get present and bring our attention into our bodies and with it, a feeling of calm confidence. So with this particular shift breath, what we are gonna do is breathe in either through the nose or through the mouth. I leave that up to you. You can either breathe in through the nose or breathe in through the mouth. It’s usually easier to breathe in through the nose and do it to the count of five. So you’re gonna breathe in. I can’t, I don’t know if I can count and do this at the same time, but, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, breathing in, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 breathing out.

Rita Black: So what does this do? Just the breath itself. It regulates the breath. And many of you may have done breath therapy or be working on different breath patterns. This is very in vogue these days, but this is just very simple. In for the count of five and out for the count of five. And it really helps to count as you go. It regulates the breath. Breathing this way it slows things down, slows down our heartbeat, slows down our mind. It stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the rest and digest, as we said earlier, it can help reduce feelings of anxiety and promote a sense of relaxation just doing the breath. And it promotes mindfulness. It cuts through those subconscious thoughts that are causing the stress and forces you to focus on counting and the breath, and it quiets the mind.

Rita Black: So let’s work on it now. So what we’re gonna do is add to the breath if you like a feeling of confidence and calm. So we’re gonna do an anchoring technique right now. If you have the time, hopefully you aren’t driving around in your car. If you are, please don’t do this. Particular anchoring technique while you’re driving around in the car, you can pull over to the side of the road or you can do this later. And it’s very simple. We’re just gonna take a couple of minutes and add this to your shift breath to give it a powerful, confident feeling. And, and then we are going to talk about the check-in part. So go ahead and just take a nice deep breath in and close your eyes and just breathe and tune into your breath. You’re not doing the shift breath right now. You’re just tuning into your breath and tune into your body. It’s so amazing how we live above our neck, and when we just tune into our body, it’s such an amazing experience. Feel all like just to notice all the different sensations going on in your body. Notice the beating of your heart and the rising and falling of your diaphragm and chest. And notice wherever your backside is, meeting a surface that you’re resting on, whether it’s a chair or a bed or a car seat or wherever you are, just notice your body resting on that surface. And now, as you’re tuning into your body, if you’re noticing any sensation of stress, just go ahead and take a nice deep breath in and send a breath of relaxation to that part of your body and give it a little love. Good. And now just bring to your mind a time in your life when you felt wonderful, calm, confident, a time in your life when you felt in control of your life.

Rita Black: Now, this might be as a child, this might be a time as an adult, just peaceful, happy time. I mean, it can be a very simple time walking on the beach, going on a hike, sitting out in your backyard and listening to the birds. Or it could be when you were on a holiday or a birthday, or just a wonderful moment where you felt, hmm, good, calm, connected to yourself. Okay? Now bring that memory to your mind. Good. And notice the feeling in your body, that having that memory in your mind creates good. And now imagine that there’s a thermostat for your feelings in your mind. And just turn that thermostat up a degree or so. So you’re feeling that feeling a little more fully. And as you are feeling that feeling a little more fully, take a nice deep breath in through your nose, intertwining that feeling with the breath and holding it for the count of 3, 1, 2, 3, and let it go. That is your power shift breath. Now, go ahead and let’s do that one more time. So just go ahead and bring your mind back to that memory and notice that nice feeling in your body.

Rita Black: And just turn up the thermostat a degree or so. And if you can’t get that extra degree or so, so don’t, don’t worry about it, but just take a nice deep breath in through your nose this time to the count of five, bringing that feeling in, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, in, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 out. Let’s do that again. Just breathing in through your nose to the count of five, breathing, bringing that nice feeling memory in five and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Good. Did you get a sense of that? So in through the nose to the count of five and out to the count of five, and if you can’t do five, do four, do three. There’s no perfectionism here. But the idea is you’re taking an, oops, sorry, I’ve got my notes here. You’re taking a deep breath in through your nose, and what that is doing is kind of like a mind machete. It’s cutting through all the white noise in your brain, all the thoughts, all the stressful thoughts, and bringing you into your body and into the present moment. Okay?

Rita Black: So I taught you the shift breath five in five out with that anchor. But if you can’t do that, do what you can. Take a breath in and take a breath out. We don’t have to get perfectionistic about it. I don’t want you to get hung up on the breath, but the idea is to take a breath in and be in your body. Okay? That’s part one. Now let’s talk about the check-in part. As I mentioned before, we spend most of our time in our thoughts, not in our body, feeling the emotion, feeling the hunger. We ignore that. We ignore ourselves and our needs. Haven’t you noticed? So you may be thrown to ask your children or your spouse or your friends or your coworkers all about how they are. How are you? Are you okay? Can I help you? What do you need? Don’t we do that all the time? But do we ever say, Hey, me, am I okay? What do I need? What do I want? Why the hell not? You check in with these other people or wonder how to make somebody’s day better when they seem down. But you don’t check in with yourself, but check in with the nearest bag of chips, right? So a check-in is simply taking a moment to ask yourself, how am I right now? Do I need anything? And will I need anything later? What do I need to do to tend to my needs? These check-in moments, take only seconds, but help you not only to ward off stress and emotional eating by taking care of yourself before things happen, but can also help you in the stressful or emotional moment.

Rita Black: Before you reach for food, take a shift, breath in, 2, 3, 4, 5, out, 2, 3, 4, 5. Now tune in and ask yourself, how am I? Listen for an answer. Don’t just push through. How am I? Am I tired? Am I happy? Am I grateful? Am I resentful? Am I getting tired? Am I getting stressed? Am I feeling overwhelmed? Am I feeling like I need to be alone and not around all these people? Am I feeling like I need to talk to somebody that I’m lonely? What do I need? Do I need anything? Will I need anything later? Am I getting hungry? Should I start thinking about perhaps nourishing myself with something stabilizing so I don’t need to reach for crap later? Can you see how the shift breath check-in allows you to have a moment where you have a productive self-care conversation with yourself, and you start to learn to take care of yourself to truly address the needs instead of numbing the needs out temporarily with food.

Rita Black: So let’s talk about what I consider key shift breath check in points with yourself. These are ones that I would say you really wanna get in the habit of doing if you can. So the first one is the shift breath check in for the week. And I like to take time on a Sunday. I think many of my students already know this about me because I have them do it as well, is to do a Sunday, sit down with themselves and really think about their week. So we could call this a check-in or just sitting down and planning their week out. But if you aren’t planning a week out, I think it’s really nice on a Sunday or a Monday just to sit down, take a breath, get present, get in your body, get in your life and say, wow, the week is coming up. What am I creating this week? What do I need? Where am I in my life right now? Today our minds are so prone to just rush ahead with plans and, oh, I gotta do this and I gotta do that, and da, da da, da. And we’re responding. It’s, you know, what I call defensive living versus offensive living. We’re living in reaction to things and reactions to thoughts that aren’t necessarily even thoughts that we are having, but they’re kind of having us. Those thoughts, run us and own us that don’t even belong to us, but maybe they belong to our work or our culture, our parents, or do you know what I mean? Like we, so often when we sit and just say, where am I? What do I want? What do I need this week to take care of myself?

Rita Black: We really give ourselves a whole new opening to, for self-care, not out of defensive living, but creative living and offensive living, you know, offensive in the, the form of creation. So what can I create this week? How can I move my body? Is there a way that I can go for a walk and really enjoy nature? Is there a way that I can get food to myself throughout my days this week and be healthy? How can I make those healthy choices? How can I set myself up for success? Am I gonna be vulnerable? This week, this is a great time to look at your week for your social plans. You know, where, where it’s a great time to think about where you usually get stressed out and get off track in your week. We just kind of dive into the week and hope things go well versus saying, gosh, on Thursdays, I know it’s a crazy day, it’s a stacked day.

Rita Black: I always come home Thursday night, order takeout, overeat the takeout, drink a bottle of wine because I’m just so spent. So why not on Sunday? Think that through ahead of time and start to plan a way of making Thursday a better day for you rather than just trying to survive it and hope that you’re gonna do better. Next Thursday, chances are, if it’s the same Thursday that you’ve always had, you are gonna have the same response. So you wanna think about the new behaviors that you wanna have. If you wanna come home and eat a healthy meal and not over drink, then what would that look like? And how would your day need to occur so that you’re not so overwhelmed and stressed by the end of the day? Can you lower your expectations? Can you have other people help you set yourself up for success? Can you just literally take some things off of your to-do list for that day and move them to Friday or the weekend? You know what I mean?

Rita Black: So it’s just a moment where you’re sitting and looking at your week and being loving towards yourself and really giving your, the, yourself the gift of a week that you create rather than head, you know, heading into the week in reaction mode, hoping it turns out for the best, knowing that it’s gonna be the same reactions over and over again, because your mind is, unless you think it through and create an alternative route, your mind’s just gonna go falling into the same route. You know what I mean? So giving yourself that opportunity at the beginning of the week and doing a check-in with yourself is a, an amazing time. I tell you, it will be well worth the time you take.

Rita Black: Alright, so let’s move on to the next one, which is to, to check into the day. So this is a great morning check in. I like to do this when I’m laying in bed, the, in the morning, and I now I’ll just take a breath. And, you know, again, we wake up in the morning, I was like, oh, okay, I gotta get the kids off to school and I’ve gotta do this and I’ve gotta do that, and I’ve gotta get dressed and I’ve gotta, you know, I gotta, gotta gotta. Take that moment, breathe, settle into the bed and give yourself. I do this. I hate to set a timer. I do a lot of things in the morning before I get up. I do meditation, I do self hypnosis. But right before I wake up, I mean, before I get out of bed, I take a breath and I settle in and I say, what are my intentions for today?

Rita Black: How do I need to take care of myself today? And I really think my day through. What do I need to have that successful day for myself? And a successful day is a day where I show up for myself and I care for myself and I advocate for myself. And I give a lot to a lot of people. So believe me, I’m not the selfless person, but I am really taking that moment to set myself up for success so that I can then be there for others. But I have to start with me and I have to care for me. So before I run and let my dog out the door and I go and make my husband some tea, and I make my son his protein shake for breakfast in the morning, I am thinking about what do I need and taking care of me at mentally first.

Rita Black: And then I will take care of myself. The rest of the day was so much better because I thought my day through, oh yes, that’s right, I need to, to pack the food for my office. I need to make sure I get exercise after work today. You know, I’m, I’m, I’m thinking those things through. I’m thinking, oh yes, I’m seeing a lot of clients today. I may be a little stressed, let me plan in a little downtime. I’m really thinking those things through ahead of time so I don’t get overwhelmed. I make sure I’m stabilized and fed throughout the days and nourished so that I don’t get too hungry. You know? I’m looking after making sure I have enough water, making sure that I’m taking care of me. So that’s a great time to check in. Another time that you can check in.

Rita Black: Now you can check in with yourself all throughout the day. It’s awesome. I would recommend doing it every hour, especially in the beginning when it’s new to you, because you’re gonna start getting addicted to it. It’s really actually super fun to do. But another critical one, I feel is the morning, I mean, sorry, the afternoon check-in. So the afternoon check-in is kind of a refresh of your morning check-in, meaning, okay, here we are, now it’s four o’clock and I’m heading home and, or I’m at home and we’re heading into the evening. And the evening is really a time where most people that’s their most vulnerable time. We have do much way more impulsive eating in the evening. If we’ve been stressed out all day, often we’ll come home and eat to unstress ourselves from the day or pour that glass of wine or pour drink so or numb out with television or YouTube or TikTok. So we’re, we’re numbing versus truly thinking through like, how am I going to take care of myself? So that afternoon check-in time is often a great time to also plan to have like a nourishing protein snack and stabilize yourself. I mean, I’m not getting into how to feed yourself today, but I’m just talking about tune in. And usually for a lot of people, we ignore our hunger signals until we get home. And by that time, our blood sugar is so low, we can’t help it overeat because you put one thing in your mouth and you’ve become so low in blood sugar, it takes a long time for your satiety hormones to catch up with your blood sugar. And then we’ve, you know, grazed through a bunch of crackers and cheese or nuts, or we come home, we just start shoving food in our mouth and, and we can’t seem to feel satiated.

Rita Black: But if we ate an hour or two hours earlier when those first signals of hunger started to come through, then you can come home and have a lot more willpower because you have stabilized yourself and nourished yourself at the right time. So checking in also allows you to start to tune in to where you’re truly hungry in your day and to feed yourself when you’re hungry versus allowing it to get too late. Now, many people think they struggle with their weight, but I think a lot of times it’s just that we don’t tune in and we allow ourselves to get too hungry. If we feed ourself at the right time when our body’s hungry, a lot of those eating challenges go away. People are amazed when they feed themselves appropriately at the right time that they feel a lot more in control of their eating.

Rita Black: So tune in, check in and think your night through too. Think about the evening where you’re gonna be vulnerable if you’re prone to after dinner eating, maybe come up with a plan for what you’re gonna do after dinner so that you’re, you’re practicing that ahead of time in your mind and thinking that through. So that’s can be part of a check-in, but sometimes your check-in is just tuning in, going, wow, I’m feeling a little lonely right now, or I’m feeling a little stressed out right now. I need to take a break, or I need to calm myself down. I need to maybe do some deep breathing. Once you start to tune in and give yourself that loving care and attention, it there, it’s, it is so wonderful because it, there really is that subconscious part of you saying, wow, somebody really cares for me. And it’s almost like a part of you calms right down because there’s a part of you that’s down there screaming all the time saying, Hey, I’m down here.

Rita Black: Nobody’s paying attention to me. And a lot of times, this little kid in us it doesn’t know how to ask for true help, it will just say, give me food. Give me those donuts, give me a cookie. What it really wants is just for you to pay attention and for it to be heard that part of us to be heard. So here are some ideas I have for calming yourself down. When you do tune in, loving on yourself and just allowing the feeling to occur, oh, I’m feeling lonely right now. And give that lonely feeling just some space to feel that lonely feeling in your body. You know, our brain will try to avoid that and will take us to food, but if we just allow ourselves to feel vulnerable, it’s a vulnerable feeling. If it’s a little stressed feeling, then you can recognize, okay, I’m feeling a little stressed out now. How can I take care of some of the, that stress or that feeling? So here are some ideas. What, as you’re allowing that feeling to occur, maybe you can hug a pillow, right? I know that sounds silly, but hugging a pillow when you feel lonely and just allowing yourself to feel loved by yourself is really nice. Or you can take a bath, or if you’re feeling stressed, you can just shut your central nervous system down by shutting your eyes and just tuning into your breath and your breathing. Just beginning to, you know, shutting your eyes just begins to shut down your senses. If you want, maybe put on some soothing music. Sometimes it helps to just if you’re at home, to get into bed, crawl into bed and just give yourself five minutes in bed with a weighted blanket over you just to calm yourself down. Just allow your body to slow down. You could meditate, you know, if you’re feeling sad, you could turn on a YouTube channel and of your favorite comedian or Saturday Night Live or something in laugh. You can make yourself a hot tea. Or if you’re feeling lonely, you could text or call a friend.

Rita Black: So, I hope this has been helpful for you. The idea is we take that breath into 3, 4, 5 and out, 2, 3, 4, 5. We’re, we’re cutting through all the white noise of the day and then we’re checking in. How am I? So let’s try one out right now. So let’s just all take a nice deep breath in. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and out, 2, 3, 4, 5. And now let’s just check in. How am I doing? What do I truly need right now? Am I hungry? How can I take care of myself now? How can I take care of myself later?

Rita Black: And just see what comes up. The more you do it, the quicker the answers come. So in the beginning, the answers might not come right away, but just listen for them. I promise you they will come and you’re going to start to create a subconscious level of trust that you can take care of yourself, which builds confidence and belief and consistency on your weight release or weight maintenance journey. Alright, so take another deep breath in, 2, 3, 4, 5, and out 2, 3, 4, 5. Awesome. I hope this was helpful for you. And remember, it’s our second anniversary, so please leave us a review. Take a picture, a screenshot of that review, send it to us at rita@shiftweightmastery.com. It’s in the show notes if you need a prompt and enter that Thin Thinking Podcast review contest. And the contest is running through the March of 2023, and we will be ending on March 31st and one Lucky Contest participant will win the prize of the online Shift Weight Mastery Process for the spring 2023 Shift.

Rita Black: But also everyone who participates will get a free weight loss hypnosis download of their choice. Will send you a coupon when you send us the review. So I have an amazing week. And remember that the key and probably the only key to unlocking the door of the weight struggle is inside you. So keep listening and find it. I will see you next week.

Rita Black: You wanna dive deeper into the mindset of long-term weight release, head on over to www shift weight mastery.com. That’s www shift weight mastery.com, where you’ll find numerous tools and resources to help you unlock your mind for permanent weight release tips, strategies, and more. And be sure to check the show notes to learn more about my book From Fat to Thin Thinking. Unlock Your Mind for Permanent Weight Loss.

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