Rita Black: Did you know that many people reach their ideal weight, but less than 10% will maintain that weight longer than a few months. This week, I am excited to bring the first episode of a special Thin Thinking podcast series that will roll out into autumn this year called The Mindset of Maintenance. In the series, I am interviewing members of the Shift Weight Mastery community who have been successfully maintaining their ideal weight. With each of our interviews, we will be diving into the mindset it takes to keep the weight off long-term. It is my hope with hearing these amazing stories that have similarities and differences that you are able to see, weight mastery isn’t about willpower, but it is about mind, power and maintenance for each person is uniquely theirs. In our first episode, you are gonna meet Sarah, who will be a coach in our upcoming fall 2024 Shift Weight Mastery process. Sarah will walk us through the insights that she has gleaned through maintaining her 40 pound weight release for almost two years. So get ready to be inspired and come on in.

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 long term and live your best life.

Rita Black: Hello, hello, hello. Come on in and welcome, welcome newcomers to the Thin Thinking Podcast. Come on in. There’s a seat over there for you or right over there too. Plenty of room. And for you, veteran Weekly listeners, there’s always room for you. So welcome back and welcome Autumn. It’s been autumn now for a couple of days. I can feel the change a little bit but I am just back from seeing my family up in the Pacific Northwest where I was really feeling it and seeing it. And it’s so green up there at this time of year is probably the best ever time. I, you know, I live in California and there was a time there where everybody was moving to Seattle from California. And really funny story is, and and I’ve had many clients who have made that move and then moved back. And the funny thing was, and maybe you know this, but you know, you go to Seattle or the Pacific Northwest in late July, August, September, there’s very little rain typically. The skies are blue. The weather usually is very, very lovely. And it’s so green and people you know, from Brown California, because that time of year it’s, everything’s dead. Just get so inspired. They like, we have to move to Seattle, but they don’t know, is that come November, December, January, February, March, April, it’s gray pretty much all the time. And it rains. And hey, nothing against, if you live up in the Pacific Northwest, you know how beautiful it is and how amazing it is. But for us, spoiled southern Californians who are used to perpetual sunshine and, you know, the fabulous weather, well, fabulous ish weather. You know, a lot of people kind of get overwhelmed, freak out and move back to Southern California.

Rita Black: But I love Seattle and I love the Pacific Northwest. I like being able to visit though and see my brother and I, my nephew got married, and it was just wonderful. We went hiking up in the Cascades which was glorious. I love hiking and I’ve done a lot of hiking recently in the Sierras. So it was a completely different terrain and a completely different weather and microclimate. And so it was fun. We mixed it up. So a lot is going back. I’m coming back to a lot going on this week. I have a series of free master classes that I’m hosting, and if you haven’t signed up yet, please get yourself into one. There are just a few seats left in each one. They are limited. And you can go to www.shiftweightmastery.com/live. That’s www.shiftweightmastery.com/live. And this free masterclass is all about why our brain is set up to self-sabotage our best weight release efforts, and how to use your mind differently to get better weight results. The good or bad on or off thing just keeps us going around in that crazy weight struggle cycle. Merry-Go-Round. So I love teaching this stuff. I love empowering people to see that the answers are within them and they can shift their mindset and do some hypnosis with me and leave that masterclass feeling supercharged and inspired and ready to go, begin their powerful weight journey.

Rita Black: So go sign up, like I said, shiftweightmastery.com/live. Get yourself in there. Also, my friends, the doors are opening for the long anticipated live fall 2024, 30-Day Shift Weight Mastery Process, which will be led personally by me. And the process is starting October 3rd. Every day you get hypnosis, meditation and coaching in our online portal. But we have weekly workshops with me, coaching with me and lots of love and a huge community that we, us we usually have a a lot of people going through this process, 6, 7, 800 people going through this process. And so it’s, it’s a very exciting process. ’cause You start on one date and you all work through the process together. There’s so much transformation. A lot of people who are, are former shifters are gonna be coaches this time. And so I I love this.

Rita Black: We only do it twice a year and it’s just quite remarkable. People call it magical, I think it is too but you are the magic. That’s what’s so magical about it. So if you wanna find out more about it you can go to www.shiftweightmastery.com/fall, FALL – where you’re gonna find out more about it. It’s like I said, 30 days, it’s weight release program and it’s in an app form and an online course portal. So it’s really easy to use. I lead this process, like I said, only twice a year. And I think this fall is going to be the best yet. I’m just feeling it. And there’s just a lot of excitement around this one. So come join us. The links are also in the masterclass but if you have any questions, you can also email me at support@shiftweightmastery.com. That’s support@shiftweightmastery.com.

Rita Black: Okay. Now I would like to share my conversation with Sarah who went through the Spring 2022 Live Shift. She has released 40 pounds, and better yet, she’s kept it off for two years, despite being a busy mom of twin girls and having been promoted to a much higher level position at her job, which is way more demanding. And so I want you to hear in Sarah’s own words, her journey of keeping the weight off. That is what this whole series inside maintenance is about. And that we’re gonna be rolling these out, you know, episode like maybe one episode a month. So I’m super excited about that. You know, we all know that it, a lot of people have a lot of anxiety approaching maintenance because they’re really afraid that they aren’t going to be able to maintain it. With the shift Weight Mastery process, we really shift the focus off of willpower and having to be good and deprive yourself to really building long-term weight mastery skills based on science, based on the studies of people have taken weight off and kept it off.

Rita Black: So once you understand the skillset and can build it, it you can be a lot more confident in your ability to maintain your weight. So Sarah talks about that. She just talks about some of the skills that really helped her, but also, well, I’ll just let her tell you in her own words. Let’s just welcome Sarah.

Rita Black: Hello Sarah. Welcome back to The Thin Thinking Podcast. I know we’ve had you here a couple of times before and we are talking about maintenance, but maybe for some of our listeners, give us a little brief synopsis on your weight journey before you, as you went, all the stuff that happened, like speed dating in a short time before you got to where you are today, maintaining for a year and a half, a 30 pound weight release, which is awesome.

Sarah: Yeah. Thanks for having me, Rita. So my journey with weight, like a lot of people began, began in my teenage years. Always was overweight but was always tall. So it was kind of felt like I could kind of hide it kind of. So it was when I turned 18 that I thought, I’m gonna finally do something about this. So I went on my first diet south Beach was my diet of choice at that time, and lost about 20 pounds. And then, you know, the moment the diet ended or I felt like I, I hit a weight, I liked, I regained it pretty quickly. And thus begins, you know, the circle. So between South Beach and Weight Watchers and a number of those programs I lost and gained back the same 20 pounds I maybe 20 times. And so was looking, looking for something different.

Sarah: I had a friend who had quit smoking through hypnosis. And so I thought, I wonder if that could work for emotional eating and overeating. I kind of thought, I zoned in on those as my kind of repetitive issues. And so looked up hypnosis for weight loss. I actually found someone local to me and, and had two or three hypnosis sessions with that person and, and liked that, but didn’t maintain that. They kind of said, after a few sessions, you’ll be good. And so I thought, okay, that’s what I need, you know, to be fixed and I’m using air quotes fixed. And so that, that didn’t stick as well. But I, I did like the idea of working on my mindset as opposed to just something, you know, outside of myself to track and, and those kinds of things like other diet programs.

Sarah: So, so I like that. So I was looking up other hypnosis for weight loss podcasts and came across your podcast and so learned about the Your Shift program through that. So I did my first shift in September, 2022. And didn’t really have an ideal weight to set out. I just thought, I’m just gonna do this. Of course, the timing wasn’t right and thus was going to be Thanksgiving and the holidays and all those things. And I just thought whatever I’m doing is going to be better than what I’m doing today, which was a diet really heavy in, you know, fast food and convenience food and lack of exercise and all those things. So I just, I just started and trusted the process and within about six months, lost 30 pounds got to my lowest adult weight and kind of said, okay, I think I’m good here. So that’s where I’ve been for a year and a half now. And yeah, so living, living the maintenance life and excited to talk more about that today.

Rita Black: So as you got to maintenance, because I think what was your, what was your feeling as you approached maintenance? Like, what was your internal feelings and the head speak?

Sarah: I think because I didn’t really know where I was going to land be, you know, I, I didn’t set out and say, I have to be this exact number, and then that’s my ideal weight. I, I just kind of lived the shift program and was liking it, and my weight just kind of settled out at this spot, and I thought, I really like where I am. So I didn’t have a lot of emotion as I approached maintenance, but once I realized I was in maintenance and, you know, had to have a mindset around you know, moving from that kind of gratification of the scale moving and people noticing that I had lost weight and just to kind of find the things that would continue to motivate me. But I had a lot of feelings of, frankly, panic in maintenance because that feeling of, you know, oh, I’m being good and the scale’s, you know, paying off and whatnot.

Sarah: I had a lot of that throughout my releasing journey. And you know, even though I’ve evolved a lot in the thinking of, I’m good or I’m bad, you do still feel like, oh, I’m on track. That’s, that’s good. Because that feels good. And so, so yeah, your question was about kind of as I approach maintenance and you know, thoughts there and so yeah, I was kind of worried that I was here. I go, you know, I reached my ideal weight and if I would have a day where I was off track or things like that, I, my inner critic came in pretty quickly to say, oh, you’re gonna, you’re gonna regain that weight. This, this didn’t work once again. You know? And so it’s really been a, a big journey the past year and a half to quiet that critic and you know, make, make sure that, that I can work through that.

Rita Black: Well, so, let’s look at that. Let’s unpack that because I think that’s an important transition. You know, in the shift process, because some of our listeners haven’t gone through the shift process, you know, we really focus on vision. We focus on shifting out of that sort of like diet or mindset into more of like a learner mindset. And, you know, you have your inner critic, but you also have your inner coach. So I’m, I’m gonna kind of focus in on like how you utilize and the ninth skills of weight mastery. ’cause we really look at skills, building skills versus, you know, being good, being bad on a diet sort of thing. Right? So as you transitioned it, it sounds like, you know, and, and I think this is the same for everybody, is that you, the critic starts to, we start to kind of enter into imposter syndrome because a lot of us never have been at this weight before. We have very little belief, like we don’t have a lot of evidence that we can stay there. I don’t know how long that, like you’d said this was the lowest your adult weight that you had been for a while. So, yeah. Had you lost weight before and like kind of just regained it? Or like, had you had a lot of experiences of that? Or was this, you know singular experience for you with regards to the weight release?

Sarah: So as far as having maintained for any amount of time, is that your question?

Rita Black: They’re just getting down there. ’cause I I’m just wondering how many experiences you had of like losing 30 pounds and then oop, going right back up the scale. I mean, it sounds like there maybe not a lot of it, those experiences.

Sarah: Yeah, I, I mean, I never hit 30 pounds lost. I’d hit 20 pounds lost but then would very quickly start to put it back on. And, and by quickly, I mean, you know, within six months I was kind of back at my 20 pounds gained. So yeah. And, and I think the longest I had maintained any weight loss was maybe six months, and then all of a sudden I’d turn around and I’d be up the 20 pounds again. So without kind of dedicated focus, I do quickly put the weight back on.

Rita Black: Right. So you had had this experience, like, of bouncing back and so your brain had kind of gotten like, oh, this is something that we do, we gained the weight back. Okay, gotcha.

Sarah: Yeah, definitely.

Rita Black: So, so how did you take yourself out of that sort of, you know, ’cause I, I think most people, even through the shift program, they get to maintenance and they’re a little insecure because even though you now have a skillset, you have an inner coach, you have a vision of where you wanna go. Like you said, you are now transitioning from getting on the scale every day and seeing that, you know, oh, it’s down some and yay and all that stuff to kind of like maintaining your weight. How was that? And then I know also well, yeah, I mean, like, so it sounds like you started to kind of panic if you saw the scale go up, but then what did you do to, to transition back down the scale? Yeah. What was different for you in that transition than before?

Sarah: Yeah, I think a lot of it was instead of that feeling of panic of, oh, I just have to be back to being good again. Like in previous diets, it was more a, a frame of now what skills have worked for me in release that I, maybe I’m not using like I did during release. So for example, when I hit maintenance, I don’t know why, but I quit my morning meditations. I just thought I don’t need ’em anymore. Turns out they’re helpful, And so those kinds of things where, and, and I quit, you know, weighing food or being really diligent about that. Well, turns out that’s a good skill. Those kinds of things where I, I just, I felt like, oh, okay, I’ve, I’ve reached the weight. I I’ve got this. And to realize it’s, it’s okay that I need to keep working those skills and relying on those skills and keeping my mindset good around, you know, myself and my journey and things like that.

Sarah: And, and frankly, you know, conversations with people in the, the Weight Mastery community and, you know, listening to your podcast and content just kind of helps keep my head in the right space. If I start to feel those feelings of, oh, I, I screwed up here. I go those kind of negative limiting, you know, beliefs and kind of previous self-talk, I would just say, okay, time to absorb some reader of content, whatever that looks like, and kind of get my mind right. And next thing I know I am, I’m kind of back to working the skills. So it was, it, it it’s that shame shift in mindset from beating myself up about it to realizing what’s in my toolbox and using that.

Rita Black: That very cool. You, I know you have a life, like a busy life. You have a full-time job. You have twin daughters who are young. They aren’t, you know, they’re, how old are they? Remind me, please.

Sarah: They’re six.

Rita Black: Okay. Yes. Yeah. So you’re busy and you go out on the weekends and, you know, and so I know that you are, I think my, I guess my question is, you’ve, you have found a way to be okay. Like, you have found your own rhythm with your weight release and finding that, because I think a lot of people will see the scale go up and they think, oh my gosh. And that kind of trip wires their brain. So then they’re like, I’m gonna go back to being good, like you already mentioned. But that pulling back then starts to trigger that like oh, I’ll be better tomorrow. I’ll be better tomorrow, and then we’ll eat whatever we want today. And then the scale starts to go up and then we panic and, and then just keeps going up. So you have found this rhythm of, you know, through the week kind of being focused and then being a little more relaxed on the weekend.

Rita Black: You might see your weight go up a couple of pounds over the weekend because you know, it’s, and it’s not fat, it’s, you know, water retention and inflammation and, and then it goes back down during the week. And maybe just speak to that a little bit because I think how long did it take you to kind of get used to that rhythm and to trust that rhythm? Because that’s something that I do as well. It’s just like I’m focused during the week. I’m a little more loose on the weekend. My weight goes up a couple of pounds and it goes back down during a week. And I think people probably think of maintenance as like being at this one weight all the time, rather than this sort of buffer zone of weight that you kind of cycle within, but know, oh, if you get up to your limit, you’re like, okay, now I really need to focus and bring it down.

Sarah: Right? Yeah. Two things come to mind with that. The first is the journey that I go on regularly to forgive myself, to just say it’s okay that I had an extra cupcake, or things that kind of insta forgiveness you talk about is really powerful. And I did think, oh, if I just, and, and sometimes I still do think I forgive myself a little too easily, I should beat myself up. But it, but it is really valuable because it just helps get your mindset in, okay, I can let that go and move forward, as opposed to hanging onto it and feeling bad about it. So that forgiveness journey and just saying just kind of saying, yep, here’s what I did and, and I know what to do to move forward has been huge. The other big thing about, so it, and it took me, I mean, this is a little bit new to me, having maintained a year and a half, it probably took me a year to feel kind of comfortable in that area.

Sarah: And, and then what that has allowed me to do is really focus in on the nuance of weight maintenance. And so, you know, being able as, as opposed to kind of before when I was done with a diet, I just instantly, what I always felt deprived. Like I was hanging on by the skin of my teeth on like, oh, I’m gonna screw this up any second. Now. It’s like, well, you know, I think through what happened and oh, I for example, where I’m going with this is really working through and problem solving to understand the nuance of what I experienced. And then using that next, it probably took me a year to kind of understand how to use that next time. So for example, this it was two weeks ago, I remember this. I was, it was during the week and I was eating in a really balanced way, was feeling good.

Sarah: My, my carb zombie was asleep. And instead of having my normal salad for lunch, I packed a sandwich, two pieces of bread, and didn’t think anything of that. And then, so I ate that sandwich. I was definitely more full than usual, kind of started to get a little headache in the afternoon. And then I came home and I’m snacking on my kids’ snacks, and I’m kind of like searching the fridge for a snack after dinner. And I thought, oh my gosh, that sandwich ignited my carb zombie. I dang it. You know? And it was whole wheated bread and the whole thing. So I was like, I know what this is. I feel outta control for the first time in a, in a couple days. So it’s just interesting where before, you know, I, I would’ve just thought, oh, sandwich, that’s pretty healthy. There’s protein in the Turkey, you know, fits in my calorie budget.

Sarah: But the, those are the kinds of nuances that really took me a year or to notice be and then think, okay, so a sandwich with two full pieces of bread doesn’t really serve me. I didn’t like that. Or, you know, I know that beer ignites my carb zombie. And so problem solving and saying, you know, I really don’t wanna deal with her today, that carb zombie maybe I’m not gonna do that. Or, you know, is there a different drink that I can have that doesn’t ignite my, I can have a vodka soda and happily order a salad afterwards. So it’s like, I, I, finding those tweaks makes a huge difference and really allows me to problem solve. And that’s my coach coming out too.

Rita Black: Well, I think what you’re describing too, and I think it’s, it, I love how you describe that, is you go, you learned to go, like you, you maybe, you know, get off a little, your carb zombie gets ignited. And the first step is like you’re giving yourself, which kind of starts to bring you into connection with yourself. ’cause I think when we get disconnected and we start beating ourselves up, we’re disconnecting you. Reconnect. And then what you do, which is a very, very important point, is you mechanically bring yourself from the emotional brain into the rational brain just by looking, by asking yourself questions like, w what went wrong? What are the tools that I have? And how do I move, you know, like, what’s my goal now? And how do I move forward? And we, we talked about this. I think you may have been there in the, our monthly, our mastery group, but what, what, what this does, it’s so great for any of you listening out here, is that anytime you’re beating yourself up, you know, you’re disconnecting from yourself and, and you’re in an emotional the emotional mindset is not a good mindset to, I mean, that’s where all of your triggers and all of your old thinking patterns are gonna get unleashed.

Rita Black: But the moment you like you forgive yourself and you’re bringing yourself back to center, then you bring your brain over. And this is what athletes do too, when they’re like, oh, I screwed up and everything, but what do I do next? And they move themselves back into that, that what’s my tool? What’s my move? What’s my, what’s the next play? What’s the strategy? They’re bringing themselves over into a different brain? And, and that brain is the rational brain brings your emotional level down, allows you to think clearly and creatively so that you can move forward. But also what you said, Sarah, as you learned a lesson too. Oh yeah. Beer doesn’t serve me, and it often takes many, many times for us to go, beer doesn’t serve me to really get it on a deep level to go, oh, I really mean it.

Rita Black: It’s not just pretend so that then you, you, you’re willing, the willingness to move on and to surrender to that just becomes a lot easier. And I think you’re right, it takes about a year, and I don’t want you guys, you know, to hear this and go, oh, no, a year, but it’s a year when you know what to do. And when you have the tools, it is just part of a process. And then, and then, you know, guess what, Sarah now has all this ability to, to now move herself from an emotional state into a more rational state and move forward. And, and it’s now become a muscle memory. It’s become a, a much, and, and you have that inner confidence.

Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. And, and I think too, just knowing that it’s not as black and white as I thought it was the nuance or, or of, you know, understanding what foods take my power away from me. Feeling in control and trusting myself were huge goals of mine in starting shift. And so when I think about that beer or that pizza or that cupcake, it’s like, yeah, it would taste good, but I’m not in the mood to lose my power right now. I wanna keep that. And that some, sometimes that empowering feeling sticks and I follow through with what I wanna do, sometimes it doesn’t. And I, you know, eat the thing that I know it kind of makes me feel outta control. So that idea too, that it’s progress, not perfection has been, has been really important. And moving out of all or nothing thinking and the idea that, oh, I, I ate that thing now I might as well go eat whatever I want. It’s just, nope, I ate the thing and I’ll move on and work my skills. So that’s been a huge change.

Rita Black: How does it feel to be able to though also know that you can go and eat a cupcake and that can be part of your life, you know, like that, right? It doesn’t have to be excluded necessarily, that you can manage it and bring yourself back from that.

Sarah: Right. Yep. Yeah, definitely. And, and that feeling of deprivation was definitely part of previous weight loss and weight maintenance journeys, you know not trusting myself that, oh, if I have that one thing, then I’m, I’m back to square one. And now I know how to work through that both mentally and physically.

Rita Black: That’s awesome. What advice would you give anyone heading into, you know, like who’s like, let’s say 20 to 10 pounds away from their ideal weight and who’s beginning to think about maintenance? Like any forms of advice about those first few months heading in?

Sarah: Yeah, I think what I hear a lot of people who are either approaching maintenance or in maintenance say, which resonate, which resonated with me was you know, you think that you’re gonna hit this weight and then you’re fixed or you somehow don’t have to work at it anymore. And unfortunately you have to keep working at it. And that’s just how life is. Parts of it get easier. Parts of it get more detailed, some of the nuance that I’m talking about. But just that idea that you’re, you’re still gonna have to work at it, excuse me, and it’s gonna be part of your life was news to me, I guess. So that, and then I guess probably just that idea of, you know, it, it’s not gonna look perfect and that’s okay. Just being comfortable with that is huge.

Rita Black: What has been the best part about maintaining your weight for you? Like, what’s has part of this journey? Like what, how has it transformed your life? How has it changed your day-to-day life, or your week-to-week life?

Sarah: Yeah, I think what I mentioned about trusting myself and feeling in control, it that works for my personality. I, I wanna trust myself and I like to feel in control. So that’s been huge. And I would say too has built my confidence in big ways both personally and professionally. You know, it’s, when you feel good about yourself, you show up in different ways in all, you know, settings. And so, you know, I, I’ve, I’d like to think I’ve impacted my career positively. I’ve impacted my parenting positively just by feeling proud of myself and knowing that I’ve lived through this journey and am able to keep a healthy mindset around not only weight release, but weight maintenance and my body and those things has, has all been really great.

Rita Black: That’s awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to share with us today. I really appreciate it. And we’ll look forward to having you back on the Then Thinking podcast very soon.

Sarah: Thank you, Rita. Great to be here.

Rita Black: Thank you so much, Sarah, for sharing your story and your inspiration. It’s really been such a joy to see your journey and your evolution into a weight master. So just a reminder you can go to www.shiftweightmastery.com/live and sign up for our free masterclass. There’s a few more coming up this week, one on Thursday, one on Saturday the 28th. And also if you are interested in finding out more about the Live Shift Weight mastery process as starting up very soon www.shiftweightmastery.com/fall. And 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 here next week.

Rita Black: Thanks for listening to The Thin Thinking Podcast. Did that episode go by way too fast for you? If so, and do you wanna dive deeper into the mindset of long-term weight release? Head on over to www.shiftweightmastery.com. That’s www.shiftweightmastery.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 Fact to thin Thinking, Unlock Your Mind for Permanent Weight Loss, and to learn how to subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode.