0:00: What happens when releasing weight doesn’t just change your body, but starts opening up your whole life.

0:07: In this inspiring conversation, I sit down with Darlene, who has released 40 pounds and kept it off for more than 6.

0:15: Months.

0:16: And here’s the exciting part.

0:18: In her 60s, she was getting ready to head off on a big hiking adventure in Chile with her partner.

0:25: Something she told me she would have never dreamed of doing before her weight mastery journey.

0:30: We recorded this interview before that trip while she was preparing for the W trek and reflecting on how releasing weight has given her not just more energy, but more confidence, freedom, and trust in herself.

0:44: In this episode, Darlene and I talk about the real transformation that happens beyond the scale.

0:50: We talk about hypnosis, maintenance, and what it means to build a life where you don’t just hope you can keep going, but you know you can.

0:59: So join me for this amazing conversation and come on in.

1:11: Did you know that our struggle with weight doesn’t start with the food on your plate or get fixed in the gym?

1:17: 80% of our weight struggle is mental.

1:22: That’s right.

1:23: The key to unlocking long-term weight release and management begins in your mind.

1:28: Hi there, I’m Rita Black.

1:30: I’m a clinical hypnotherapist, weight loss expert, bestselling author, and the creator of the shift weight mastery process.

1:38: 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.

1:51: And after two decades of failed diets and fad weight loss programs, I lost 40 pounds with the help of hypnosis.

1:58: Not only did I release all that weight, I have kept it off for 25 years.

2:04: Enter the Thin Thinking podcast where you too will learn how to remove the mental roadblocks that keep you struggling.

2:12: 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.

2:25: Sound good?

2:27: Let’s get started.

2:28: Hello, hello, hello.

2:29: Come on in.

2:31: I have been thinking about you this week as we are into April and all that spring energy starts waking us all up.

2:41: I hope you had a wonderful Easter holiday, if you celebrate Easter, and that you managed to stay away from the marshmallow bunnies and all that stuff.

2:51: Although, honestly for me, it wasn’t the marshmallow bunnies.

2:54: When I struggled, it was the jelly beans.

2:58: Isn’t it amazing how those super sugary candies can just light up your brain and you know be like a drug-like experience.

3:09: you can tell yourself, I’ll just have a few, and the next thing you know, you’ve powered through half the bag without even blinking.

3:16: I know I certainly could.

3:18: But this Easter, I kept things pretty healthy, I have to say.

3:21: I’m pretty proud of myself there.

3:23: I stayed away from those jelly beans.

3:27: and I went hiking with my friends and came home to a delicious dinner, and I felt really good about that.

3:34: But whether you indulged a little or stayed on track, I hope you had a happy, safe, healthy holiday.

3:41: And speaking of spring, I know many of you are going to be traveling in the coming months, which is why I’m so excited to share today’s interview with Darlene.

3:50: Darlene was busy getting ready for one of those hikes of a lifetime, the WTrek in Chile.

3:57: I will be honest with you, I had never heard of it before speaking with her, but wow, it’s exciting to hear her talk about it.

4:05: It sounds absolutely amazing.

4:07: And since we recorded this conversation, Darlene and her partner, both in their 60s, have gone on the track and come back glowing.

4:16: She shared that they met plenty of younger hikers along the way who are really impressed to see them out there on the trail.

4:24: I, I just wanted her to tell those hikers, Hey, being in your 60s, it ain’t so old.

4:34: So back off.

4:37: Oh dear, oh dear.

4:39: But anyway, before we dive in, I do want to remind you that we are currently enrolling for the upcoming spring live shift weight mastery process and of today, we have one week left to enroll.

4:53: So if you want to learn more, the link is below.

4:56: or you head over to shiftweightmastery.com/spring.

5:02: So we are closing the doors on the 15th, and we don’t open them back up again, and the next one will be in the fall, in the latter part of September, for those of you who are thinking, can I make this or not?

5:15: But come and join us.

5:17: we have such a wonderful group and I’m so excited.

5:20: I just love these processes.

5:23: I give 100%.

5:24: That’s why I only do it twice a year.

5:29: Oh, boy, we’re all, we, we love it so much, me and the coaches, but boy, we’re, we’re just like, oh my gosh.

5:37: That was amazing.

5:39: they are truly magical.

5:41: And Darlene is going to be one of the coaches inside the process, and we have 50 other coaches sharing their experience, strength and hope as they guide you out of the weight struggle and onto your powerful weight mastery journey.

5:53: So go check it out.

5:55: And now let’s get into my interview with the fabulous Darlene.

6:05: Hello, Darlene, and welcome to the Thin Thinking podcast.

6:09: I’m excited to have you here today.

6:12: Oh, thank you.

6:13: I’m really excited to be here.

6:15: I’ve, I’ve been looking forward to this.

6:17: Well, me too.

6:19: No, Darlene has been all, I, I, I, I followed her this last year because she’s been in Maine, she lives in Idaho, and now she’s heading out on an epic trip to Chile, which I want to hear all about.

6:33: I’m sure our listeners want to hear about this too.

6:36: But as usual, Darlene, with all of my guests, I like to ask them to tell us a little bit about you and your, your, the beginnings of your weight struggle journey and And Sure.

6:49: So, you know, I’ve been heavy my whole life.

6:51: I, I come from a family of heavy people.

6:54: you know, my earliest memory of, is one of my earliest memories is that my uncles, who adored me, used to sing this little song about roly-poly when I was about 5 years old, and that’s what they referred to me as, and I was not offended.

7:09: I mean, it was all done in love.

7:11: I know today.

7:12: We would look upon that differently than back then, but back then that was, that was nothing traumatic or or offensive to me at all.

7:19: I didn’t know enough to be offended.

7:21: And I, you know, I stayed heavy pretty much all through high school.

7:24: I was very athletic.

7:25: I played basketball, softball, field hockey, even through college, you know, I think the first, and I was always on a diet.

7:34: I can remember going to Weight Watchers with my mother and my aunt and some of their friends, and I probably wasn’t, I probably was in junior high.

7:46: and I remembered this about it, which will tell you something about my mother and my aunt and her, their friends, which is, we, the meetings were on Tuesday nights, and we would go to the meeting, we’d get, of course, weighed in.

7:58: And then afterwards, on the way home was this place called Week’s Ice Cream.

8:04: And we would stop at Weeks Ice Cream and we’d get these giant sundaes with whipped cream and nuts and everything else on them because the theory was you didn’t have to weigh in again for a whole another week.

8:15: So you had a whole week to burn off that Sunday, right?

8:18: It was, you know, probably why I kept going to the meetings, to be honest.

8:23: But, can I ask you, so were your aunts and your mom self-conscious about their weight like that you grew up in the 70s, right?

8:32: 60s, late 60s, early 70s?

8:35: Yeah, I was born in’59, so, you know, graduated from high school in’77.

8:40: and so yeah, it was, it was that time frame, and no, I don’t really think they were, they were very well settled, comfortable.

8:48: They were people that were comfortable with themselves, but having said that, they were always dieting.

8:54: So do you think they were dieting because it was, I mean, I’m fascinated by this because I think everybody in our generation, like went to a Weight Watchers meeting at one point, you know what I mean?

9:05: And, and sometimes I do think it was a way for women, especially stay at home women, you know, who didn’t have a career, to have a social life.

9:16: You know, you, you would meet at the meetings, like you said, you’d go out and have a Sunday after, you bring your dog, like.

9:24: It, it, I, it’s beginning to dawn on me that Weight Watchers was really a social network, and, you know, a paid social network where you had this weird way.

9:35: I mean, of course, there were people who, you know, but like it was a way to get recipes, a way to talk about food.

9:43: I, I don’t know.

9:43: I just like think it’s so because I, I was like you, I was, I, my mom didn’t really do Weight Watchers, but I did, and I went with my friends, and I remember going, And eating after Weight Watchers, but starving the entire day, and even like in the dead of winter, wearing really lightweight pants and a lightweight shirt.

10:02: Like, I don’t even know if I wore underwear.

10:04: I just was like, I didn’t even want like that weight, so I could, you know, like, leverage my lighter weight, and then I’d go and pork out afterwards, you know.

10:13: Right.

10:13: And then eventually, we’d fall off and stop going.

10:16: But then, you know, somebody would start it up again, and we, you know, we kind of just would go and not go and go and not go, and And you’re right.

10:23: I do think it was a social thing.

10:25: It was a social thing with, with, you know, the weighing part was always sort of, I wouldn’t call it traumatic, but it was, you know, one of those things that definitely got me a little bit of scale phobia, right?

10:37: I mean, I, when you said weigh every day, I was like, Oh my goodness gracious.

10:42: You know?

10:43: Can I even do that?

10:45: There’s a lot of trauma around the scale.

10:47: I mean, and shame.

10:48: It’s like when you think of the scale, you just think shame.

10:52: But that’s interesting that you’re, I’m glad to hear, because I know you were saying that you had a very happy childhood, that your mom and your aunt weren’t like.

11:02: Obsessive or super, like, didn’t put pressure on you to lose weight, but it was more like, hey, come along and join the fun more.

11:11: Yeah, and, you know, I mean, even in high school with my peer groups and stuff, you know, I mean, I was a jock, I was athletic, and so I played all the sports and And, you know, they were friends that I grew up with, and, yeah, I was heavier than they were, but I never remember feeling bad about that.

11:28: I don’t remember anybody ever saying, you know, hey, Darlene, you’re fat, you know, I mean, I don’t remember any cruelty associated with it.

11:36: It was just what it was, you know, and, and, it, I mean, I don’t know, I guess I probably could have been better at some of the.

11:43: Sports, had I not been packing as, as much weight.

11:45: And when I say as much weight, I want to say I was probably, I’m 5’7, and I was probably weighing 175, 180 pounds, which, you know, is, is not thin by any stretch of the imagination.

11:58: But, well, and I think in the 70s too, the aesthetic was a lot more skinny than it is now, you know, for younger people.

12:07: Right.

12:07: And I’ve never been, I don’t know if it’s because of my weight, but I have never been into fashion, makeup, hair, any of that stuff.

12:15: I’ve never cared about it.

12:16: And to be honest, during my high school years, I did not, I did not want to date boys, or I didn’t want to date anybody because, you know, I thought boys were bossy, and I didn’t know why they thought they had to tell me.

12:31: Tell me what to do when they clearly weren’t any smarter than I was.

12:35: and so from that point of view, I was a late bloomer.

12:37: So, if there had been any negative side effect in that part of it, I wouldn’t, I would have been completely and utterly oblivious to it.

12:45: Interesting, yeah.

12:46: Well, and you were an athlete, so I don’t think the hair and makeup thing.

12:51: aligns with the athletic aesthetic either.

12:54: So, well, that’s super cool.

12:57: So, you were dieting, but not like in earnest to lose weight.

13:01: It was more just like, yeah, that’s what everybody around me is doing, so I’ll do it too.

13:07: Right.

13:07: And then I went to college, and so I graduated in’77 and went on to college, and, and, you know, I mean, I was I was still playing sports and I remember in the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, I came home from college and I had 3 jobs and I, there was a an exercise salon thing called Gloria Stevens.

13:31: I remember that my mother and I joined it, and I remember the only thing I really remember about it was that they had those.

13:38: Those vibrating belts, you’d stand on the platform, and there’d be this belt that would shake you all over.

13:44: And I don’t know what it was supposed to do for you.

13:48: but we all did it.

13:49: We thought it was the magic bullet, if you will.

13:52: and, anyway, I did nothing social that summer.

13:56: I, I mean, I was working all the time to save money for college, and I lost 40 pounds.

14:01: In the 3 months, I lost 40 pounds.

14:03: And I went back to my sophomore year.

14:06: And I looked good and I felt good, and I thought, hm.

14:11: I’m a new person, right?

14:13: But then, of course, I wasn’t a new person.

14:15: I was still me.

14:17: and so I went back to college and by Christmas, of course, I gained it all back and then some.

14:23: and so, you know, I think I might have told you that I had a pair of jeans that somehow ended up in the back of a closet through all the moves and whatnot that I’ve done since 1978.

14:35: And, I recently put them on, and I’ll be darned.

14:39: I mean, they, those jeans probably fit me for two months before I grew out of them.

14:44: I put them on recently, and they fit just fine.

14:46: They fit like a glove, and I was like, well, I’ll be darned, and they’re in perfect shape because they almost never got worn, right?

14:52: But you know, that, that was my life, you know, I went through college and then I went through law school, always heavy.

15:00: I started working.

15:01: I ended up working at IBM, and I don’t know if it’s OK to say that, but I worked at IBM in the corporate lawyer program, and, you know, my specialty was negotiating and, and, drafting these very complicated.

15:16: Technology licensing agreements, and so, you know, I would sit still for very long periods of time because it was like putting together a very complicated jigsaw puzzle, but there were hundreds of millions of dollars riding on it, and so, you know, I, I would, I would, I was very sedentary, and I was very successful, but I was also very overweight.

15:38: I mean, by the time I was 40, I probably weighed 220 pounds.

15:43: and, you know, at that point in time, I also, I was doing a lot of travel specifically to the Asian countries, because that’s where we were licensing our technology, and, you know, I just came home for Christmas one year and I got sick because all my nieces and nephews were around me, and I wasn’t used to it.

16:00: So I was laying in bed and I said to myself, literally I was 40 years old, maybe it’s my midlife crisis.

16:05: I said, why am I doing this?

16:07: I don’t need to do this for the money.

16:09: I’m making myself sick.

16:11: And so I quit.

16:12: I went back and I quit, and they were like, you know, everybody was shocked.

16:16: Oh my gosh, why are you quitting?

16:17: And I said, cause I just don’t want to do it anymore.

16:20: So I went back to Maine and I prosecuted criminals for 3 years, still very heavy, but, you know, OK.

16:26: and then I got lured back into the corporate world, which is why I’m in Idaho, And still very heavy, and in 2008, the company I was working for, we sold it, and I started just teaching at a local university, and I had a lot more free time, and I had access to facilities like the pool and the and the workout room and all of that.

16:47: So I very, very slowly, very slowly started whittling my weight down.

16:52: And so, you know, when that happened, that was a seesaw for from 2008 until I found you.

16:59: I would be down 20 pounds.

17:01: I never got to an ideal weight, but I would lose 20 pounds, and then I’d take my eye off the ball, and it would creep back up, and then I’d lose it again.

17:09: And I just did this.

17:11: And so I had You know, I was in, in, in last year in 2025, I, you know, had I had lost weight and then it came back, and I was talking to a friend of mine, and she said, Write down this name, Rita Black.

17:30: There’s a book you like to read, buy the book.

17:33: And she said, you will not regret it.

17:36: And what she said, and I know you, you’re a skeptic.

17:39: When you do this, you just have to give yourself over to it.

17:44: Don’t say, 00 no, I can’t be hypnotized, or, oh no, I’m not ever meditating, right?

17:50: She said, Don’t do it.

17:51: Give it 30 days.

17:52: What’s 30 days in your life?

17:55: And so I did, and I bought your book, and I, and I read it.

17:59: And I said, OK, this makes sense.

18:01: I’m going to give it 30 days, and I’m gonna do everything.

18:06: It was that self-study.

18:08: Every email that comes in, I’m, I’m just gonna do it, and I’m not going to think about it.

18:13: I’m simply going to do it.

18:15: And so, and I did, and I, I, I lost maybe in that 30 days, I probably lost 8 or 9 pounds.

18:25: But the important thing was that I felt good.

18:28: I really felt good.

18:30: And, you know, so by this point in time, I’m, I’m 60, let’s see, I’m 66 now, so, I would have been 65, and I said, I’m going to continue on with this.

18:41: So I joined the monthly program.

18:43: And, and, you know, this, and I, I got down in within that year’s time.

18:48: And the reason I say it took me a whole year to do it is not because I think that’s a bad thing.

18:53: In fact, I think it’s a good thing, but it’s not my history.

18:57: I had always dieted.

19:00: And then perfect for whatever that period of time is, right?

19:03: Whether it was those 3 months back in in the college days, or whether it was a month at a different period in my life, or even 2 months, I would, I would not socialize, I wouldn’t go out, because I was on a diet, right?

19:17: And, and I would succeed until I wasn’t on the diet anymore, and then I didn’t have any skills.

19:25: I didn’t have any skills to fall back on, to be like, you know, to, to keep it off or.

19:32: To even go further, because you can only do that, or at least I can only do that kind of thing for so long.

19:37: And so, I just said, you know, the, the beauty with this is that, you know, during that year’s period of time, I can’t even tell you how many times I went off track.

19:46: None of it was, like, not for like a, not for like a week or a month or anything like that.

19:52: But, you know, I’ll bet you every two-ish weeks.

19:57: I went out and did something.

19:59: I had, you know, a 2nd margarita, which, of course, led to the whole basket of chips and some enchiladas on top of that, you know, whatever it was.

20:07: But I, the thing that resonated the most with me really was the, the, you don’t ever start over.

20:14: You just pick back up, right?

20:16: OK, so I screwed that up yesterday.

20:19: Now I’m back on track.

20:20: And, you know, and that’s the thing that I think is, there’s so many secret sauces in this, but that’s definitely one of them.

20:27: And, you know, and I really think for me, it’s been That there are so many skills and tools to utilize that, you know, whatever the situation is that I found myself in, I could always find a tool that would, a skill of some sort that would help me get back on track.

20:48: And, and I’ve never had that before, you know, it was like, oh, you know, there was always, you know, even at the scale on Weight Watchers, you know, you You’re up 1 pound and you get that look.

20:59: Oh, well, maybe next week, you know.

21:02: You know, it’s the whole guilt part of it, and you’re, you know, the, the, there’s nothing to feel guilty about.

21:08: You tell your inner critic to stop, you know, I mean, it’s love yourself.

21:12: That is so powerful, you know.

21:15: And so I, I think that’s, I think that’s what got me through to finally getting to my ideal weight, and I firmly believe that that’s what’s going to get me through maintaining it.

21:26: Well, let me ask you, thank you for, for that.

21:29: And, and Darlene released 40 pounds over the year, cause I, I know you told me that.

21:34: I just want our listeners to know that.

21:38: How was the, how did you find the hypnosis?

21:42: Like, was that something that, you know, you I know your friend said, you know, just be open to it and, and do it.

21:53: was that helpful for you?

21:55: Did it help you to focus your mind?

21:57: I know you had a busy mind since you were, well, I guess at that point, you were not.

22:02: Were you, you were teaching still, or no, I was, I was retired, and so, I, you know, it was interesting because I did it religiously.

22:13: I still do it quite frequently.

22:14: I find it so relaxing, and it’s, and, you know, but When I first started doing it, you know, even whether it was being in the meditation or the hypnosis, there would be, you know, a visualize this, visualize yourself at your ideal weight.

22:29: I got to tell you, I had nothing.

22:32: I didn’t know, I didn’t know what that looked like.

22:34: I had no idea.

22:35: I hadn’t seen that person.

22:38: I don’t, I didn’t know what that looked like.

22:40: So what I did was I visualized my, and you would always say, visualize what are you doing, what are you wearing, right?

22:48: Well, I could I visualized myself hiking, and Doug and I at the top of a mountain.

22:54: And I, what are you wearing?

22:56: I’m wearing hiking clothes.

22:57: How are you feeling?

22:58: I’m tired cause I just, I just climbed a mountain, but I feel really good.

23:03: I’m looking out at beautiful scenery.

23:05: And I had a song that would pop into my head every time, you know, I’m on the top of the world, you know, and, and so, you know.

23:14: I would be laying there and I’d be thinking to myself, man, I can’t see what my body looks like, but gee, this feels really good.

23:21: That is so awesome, because, I mean, that’s exactly what you want is that emotion, which is guiding you, you know.

23:28: I don’t know that you need to exactly look, see what you look like, but that feeling of Alignment with yourself, feeling like you’re on the top of a mountain, and you’re going to the top of a mountain very, very soon.

23:41: Yeah, that’s unbelievable.

23:42: Yeah, Doug and I are avid avid hikers, and we have, we’ve planned this trip to go to Patagonia.

23:49: It’s a huge bucket list item.

23:51: And so we’re gonna, we’re gonna leave next week, and we’re going to, to Chile, and we’re going to do an end to end hike.

23:58: It’s called the W, if anybody has ever heard of that, and So you, you basically put everything you’re gonna need for the week in your pack on your back, and you hike for 66 days, and you hike from end to end.

24:15: so you’re not carrying like cooking stuff or a tent or anything like that.

24:19: You’re carrying your clothes and your, you know, your first aid kits and, and that sort of thing, and it’s about 10 to 15 miles a day.

24:27: with significant elevation gain, and that’s the first week, and then the second week we move on into Argentina and we do a bunch more hiking, similar lengths and heights, and, and then after that we’ll go to.

24:42: Buenos Aires and just play tourist for a week.

24:45: So we’re pretty excited about it.

24:47: That is, have you ever been to South America before?

24:50: No, we, you know, we were supposed to do this trip last year, and I don’t know if you remember this, but of course I was shifting then and, I was really, it was, it was really a good motivator because I kept saying to myself, every time my inner child would say, Don’t you want to eat that cookie?

25:06: And, you know, my inner coach would say, You don’t want to carry that up the side of the mountain, do you?

25:11: And, so, you know, but we were supposed to do it last year, and 2 days before we left, my partner Doug ended up having to have emergency quadruple bypass surgery.

25:22: And so literally, you know, we just had to cancel everything and And by the time he got out of surgery, I had the entire trip, rebooked for a year later.

25:33: And so now here we are, and it does look like we’re actually going to be able to go this time.

25:38: So, but I did remind him this morning that we were, you know, last year at this time, we also still thought we were going.

25:44: So, we’re, our fingers are crossed, but, you know, and, and now this year, I’m not carrying any extra weight up the side of the mountain, right?

25:52: I have is amazing.

25:54: What is the weather like in Chile and Argentina, in the mountains?

25:59: Is it gonna be cold, or is it, is this summer there, or is it because, or is it the same as it is here in the States?

26:06: No, it will be fall there.

26:08: And so the temperatures should be in the 50s, which for hiking is perfect.

26:14: You don’t want it to be too hot.

26:16: I mean, you’re a hiker, you know that.

26:18: And, and the, the, the, the, the, the things that could happen are going to be more rain and wind.

26:25: And so, you know, we probably will get hit with some rain, and we probably will get hit with some wind, and we’ll have some sunny days, hopefully.

26:33: but, you know, we’ve got, we’ve got our rain suits, and we’ve got, you know, we’ve, we’ve got all the equipment.

26:38: So, and, and you, you know, there is no not going because you don’t have a bed.

26:43: Until you get to the next place.

26:45: So it might be driving rain, but you know what, you’re going, you know, so that is fantastic.

26:51: Is it the same thing that you’re doing in Argentina?

26:54: It, the, in the end because that sounds very much my friend went on a hike to, she went to the Dolomites and she went from, you know, whatever they call those, the, the little places that they would stay at that, but basically end to end.

27:08: Yeah, no, in Argentina, we’re not going into end.

27:12: We have two different cities, little towns, they’re not cities, they’re little hiking towns.

27:16: One is El Calife, and I’m probably butchering the name of that because I don’t speak Spanish, but, we’re going to go there, and that’s in near the Los Glaciers National Park, and so we’ll be doing, seeing a lot of glaciers and doing some hiking there, and we’re in an Airbnb.

27:33: and then we take a bus to El Chaltan, where there’s some significant hiking, and we have an Airbnb there as well.

27:40: So we’ll just go out on day hikes after this first in to in thing.

27:45: That sounds so, that sounds so beautiful, especially since it’s gonna be autumn there and Patagonia, Patagonia is supposed to be just breathtaking.

27:55: Yeah, we’ve been looking at some of the pictures and videos and, and all of that, and, you know, I mean, fortunately, for the first part of it, you know, the end to end, you’re going to hike that 10 to 15 miles every day, and so we, we have a meal plan.

28:10: So where we’re staying, they’re going to give us.

28:12: Breakfast, and they’re going to give us a boxed lunch, and then we’ll hike to the next place where they’ll give us dinner, and then the next morning they’ll give us breakfast and a boxed lunch.

28:22: And I don’t really know what those things will be.

28:25: I mean, I’ve read some reviews that says the food is good and, and whatnot, but, you know, it’s, it’s all geared for hikers.

28:32: So I’m not terribly worried about it being, you know, like a lot of A lot of super processed food that’s, that’s not good for you.

28:40: And, you know, on the other hand, it, we’re also, I mean, on the same hand, we’re also going to be hiking and being so very active that, you know, from a, from a calorie and deficit point of view, I, I’m not terribly worried about it.

28:54: And then, of course, in the other, the rest of it, we’re all in Airbnbs for the rest of it.

28:58: So we’ll control a lot of that, you know, we’ll have what we have for breakfast.

29:03: You know, at our Airbnbs and pack a lunch for a hike or whatever, and then come back and probably have dinner at the Airbnb.

29:10: I’m sure we’ll eat out once or twice, but, you know, I mean, it’s, it should be all pretty controllable, You know, and, and given the activity level, I think, you know, my plan is that, you know, it should be fine.

29:25: I’m sure at some point in Buenos Aires, we’re going to eat a big steak, right?

29:29: I mean, you know, but, but, and, and, you know, I’m looking forward to an empanada, a real one.

29:35: You know, but, you know, it it’s, you know, it’s the sort of thing where you just, you know, you kind of plan for it, you know, it’s, it’s, I’ll have a healthy breakfast.

29:43: I might have an an empanada for lunch, and then a healthy dinner, and in between, I’ll move my body a whole lot.

29:50: And so, Yeah, and I think when you’re, yeah, like you said, when you’re kind of thinking it through ahead of time, you’re not, You can make anything work.

30:03: It it’s.

30:05: I, and I think you’re, you’re training from like taking your time releasing your weight that first year.

30:11: I, it sounds really helpful because like you said, You got off track so many times.

30:17: You got that real.

30:20: You know, you, you really lifted the muscle of getting back on track, which is the heart and soul of consistency, right, which a lot of people, you know, don’t.

30:30: Do because, you know, we’re so trained in that be good, be bad, on off, you know, lever that being in that gray area of, you know, oh wow, I just really went to town there.

30:46: Well, I guess I’m gonna get myself right back on track and, you know, refocus.

30:51: Yeah, I mean, I had an incident in Maine, last month where I had gone to pick up something and the woman who, it was a loaf of sourdough bread, and the woman had put these 3 chocolate sourdough chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips in the bag, and I got it home and I opened it up and I was hungry, and I ate all 3 of them.

31:15: And I was like, it was lunchtime, and I was like, you know, my first, my inner critic jumped right up and said, Oh, you stupid idiot, you should not have done that.

31:24: You’ve blown the day.

31:26: And, and I was painting a room in my house then, and so I, I went and started painting, and as I was painting and I got a little bit away from it, I, my, you know, my, my inner coach kicked in and said, you know, I’m not so sure you screwed the whole day up here.

31:40: OK, you had 3 cookies.

31:42: You had a very, you know, healthy breakfast, which was probably no more than like 150 calories, and, you know, maybe you can save the day.

31:51: And so I literally put my paintbrush down and I went out and picked up my phone and I’m tracking, you know, How much calories were in those cookies and, and then, you know, I planned a dinner that was, you know, basically some fish and some vegetables.

32:06: I ended the day within my, my calorie budget range and, you know, I thought to myself, you know, any other diet or program, or this isn’t a diet, but you know, I mean, any other time in my life, I would have said, Oh darling, you had 3 cookies.

32:23: What else have you been craving, right?

32:26: Let’s go get, let’s go get some ice cream.

32:27: Oh, we wanted pizza the other night and we didn’t have it.

32:31: Let’s go get that.

32:32: And I would have just, you know, it would have been a license to eat for the rest of the day, perhaps the whole weekend.

32:37: and now it’s just like, you know, OK, look, so you did that, you know, even if you blew the day for the calorie budget, you know, you, it’s, it’s no big deal.

32:46: You just carry on, you know.

32:48: Yeah.

32:50: Which is, which is beautiful.

32:52: And, and did you find transitioning into maintenance, cause I know we haven’t touched upon your maintenance, when You achieved maintenance when you got to the weight that you wanted to be.

33:06: did you know?

33:08: Like, had you set a weight, or did you say, oh, I’ll get to this milestone, and then I’ll see how I feel?

33:18: Oh, no.

33:18: I, I set a weight.

33:19: In fact, I set several.

33:20: I think I did what everybody does, or not everybody, but a lot of people do.

33:25: My first target was a BMI that made me not overweight, because I really remember a period of time where I wasn’t overweight.

33:32: And so, you know, that was, I’m 5’7.

33:35: That was 159.

33:36: Pounds for me.

33:37: And so, that was my first target.

33:38: But I knew when I was approaching it, that that was not my ideal weight.

33:43: and I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I just knew I had to keep going.

33:48: So, I didn’t do any, I didn’t even consider myself on maintenance or anything.

33:52: I just reset my, I didn’t know what to reset it to, so I set it, I set it for 10 pounds left, 140 not.

33:59: And so then I kept working towards that.

34:02: And then when I was pretty close to it, I was right around 150.

34:06: I had a DEXA scan, and for those who don’t know, a DEXA scan is where they really just scan your whole body, and they tell you what your bones weigh, what your lean mass is, what your fat mass is, where it is, and, it was so edifying, and so, they gave me an ideal weight.

34:24: They said 147 is what you should weigh.

34:27: And it was interesting because I was at 150 and I was trying to decide whether I should be 149 or 145, and they said, you’re 147, and I said, you know what, that works for me.

34:42: And so I got to 147 and I thought, you know, I could change this if I wanted to.

34:47: But I feel really good and I like the, I like the size I am, you know, I, I like, I like the way I look, and so I’m just gonna, I’m, I’m gonna say they’re right, that 147 is my number.

35:01: and, you know, if I, I, I, I had talked to you, there was a, a monthly mastery meeting shortly after I hit maintenance and And I, I asked a question of you, of, you know, what should I do?

35:13: I don’t know what to do.

35:13: I mean, I was like 24 hours into maintenance when the, when the, the call happened, and, you know, you gave some great advice, which is, you know, Don’t really make any big changes, you know, add 50 calories or add 100 calories and see what happens.

35:30: And so that’s exactly what I did, and so I, I tried that for a few weeks, and then, You know, I, I went on, I, I, I had a couple of days where I went significantly over even that calorie budget.

35:41: And then, of course, so I put on a couple of pounds, so then I had to take that off.

35:45: So for a while, I would be like, OK, I’d, I’d eat enough to gain a couple of pounds, and then I’d, I’d go back to my original 1200 and change calories a day, which was what I was doing when I was trying to release weight.

36:00: and so I just kind of did that for a while, and I thought to myself, you know, I don’t know if this is really a very good strategy for maintenance.

36:08: and so then I kind of went back to, and now I’m back to, you know, I, I add 50 calories a day, you know, and then maybe I have a piece of toast with my egg in the morning, you know, or half an English muffin or something like that.

36:21: And, and I see where that lands.

36:23: And so, you know, I’m, I’m right around 1300, 1350 calories right now, and I’m feeling great.

36:31: and so I’m, I’m, and to be honest, I’m not hungry.

36:35: I mean, I’m, I’m well fed, and I feel good.

36:40: And so I, I think I’m just kind of, that’s kind of where I want to be.

36:43: I, I mean, my, my burn, if you will, for staying the same is like, you know, I want to say it’s 1500 and change, but I don’t, you know, I don’t know.

36:52: I mean, maybe I’ll, I’ll have that on a given day if it’s a special occasion or something, but I’m, I’m not, I’m not feeling like that.

37:01: It should be a goal for me to get up to that, you know, And, and you know, there’s always wiggle room.

37:09: Like a lot of times when you’re eating at to a certain point like 1350, chances are you might have a little days where you’re under, days where you’re over, and there’s just always that place where you land and, and it just You seem to lock in at a certain Wait and, and then that feels right.

37:31: Yeah, I mean, I, I have, you know, in the 3 months that I’ve been maintaining, I’ve been as many as 5 pounds over.

37:39: And as many as 3 pounds under.

37:42: And, you know, not all at once, obviously, but, you know, I mean, during, I, I started maintenance at the end of November.

37:50: it was November 20th, to be exact.

37:52: And so, you know, I had the holidays to try to get through with maintenance.

37:57: So, you know, I mean, when I weighed myself the day after Thanksgiving, I was up 4.

38:02: And you know what, I earned every one of those 4 pounds, you know, I mean, my mother wanted me to make her a lemon meringue pie, which I’d never made in my life, but I did, and it came out fabulous.

38:13: And, yes, I had a piece of that, and it was delicious.

38:17: but, you know, and then on Christmas, it was the same thing, you know, I, I overindulged on Christmas, and in fact I overindulged to an extent that When I went to bed that night, I did not feel well, and I said to myself, hmm, there is a lesson to be learned here, girlfriend.

38:32: This is not, should not be the goal, you know.

38:35: I mean, and so now I find that I’m so used to eating in a certain way that when I, if I do go significantly over, then, you know, I wake up that next morning and I, I do feel like I’ve swallowed a brick, and it’s not a good feeling.

38:51: so, you know, I keep trying, I keep talking to myself about when that happens, like, you know, you, you, you don’t like this, so don’t do it anymore, you know.

39:00: I probably will still do it from time to time, but hopefully those will be few and far in between.

39:06: Well, I think it takes time, and I think it’s important for everybody.

39:09: I thank you for speaking so honestly.

39:12: I mean, I think it takes time, especially once you hit maintenance, to Everybody plays around and sees what the parameters are, and I think that’s, I think that’s a challenge for a lot of people when they don’t have the skills, and they just lose weight, and they get to that ideal weight.

39:33: Well, you know, it’s like on a diet or something like that, and they haven’t really built the mindset and the skill set, is that they’ll, they’ll, you know, everybody hits their ideal weight, and it’s like, oh, now I can relax, or now I can eat that meal, and And then they do, and then, and then they see the scale go up, and then it, it starts that panic, and then it starts that like, oh, I’m rigidity, I’ll be good today, and I’ll be, so, so you’re playing around and you’re seeing, you know, what, what is the high end of this?

40:05: What’s the low end of this?

40:06: What, and, and I think it takes, cause I certainly know for me, I, you know, there are days where I overindulge, you know, it holidays or something, and I’m like, Oh yeah, this is why we never do this.

40:18: And, and I think that, it takes time though, and it takes a number of those events to sort of train your subconscious mind, like, yeah, we don’t do that, not because we’re being good, but because it just, because I I love myself, and I don’t like feeling bad.

40:39: So it’s, it’s really owning the fact that I would rather, who is the me I wanna be tomorrow morning.

40:44: I wanna wake up feeling light and aligned, and that is so much more of a Prize than overeating or whatever I get out of that.

40:55: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

40:56: It’s all about, you know, I mean, one of the reasons why I wanted to really try to nip this whole weight thing in and health thing in the bud was because, you know, I’ve got an elderly mother and I’m watching her decline, and, and she is paying the price for having lived a sedentary lifestyle, and so she’s now bound to a wheelchair and And, and, you know, I, I kept saying to myself as I was watching this, I don’t want that to be me.

41:24: I need to shed this weight because I’m, you know, I’m 66.

41:28: I’m, I’m hitting my golden years before too long, and, and I, I want to be able to keep hiking.

41:34: I want to be able to be as, you know, outdoors and I want to be able to play with the grandkids, you know.

41:41: I, I, you know, and so it’s, that was a huge motivator for me and still is, you know, and so, you know, I mean, it, we’re not getting any younger and, you know, especially, you know, with things like muscle mass, as you get older, it gets harder to maintain, let alone, you know, let alone increase it, but to maintain it, it gets harder and harder.

42:04: And so, you know, it’s, it’s a, you know, that’s, it’s not just about the weight, it’s about It’s about the health, overall, the health, and, you know, I, I, I can’t, I can’t try too hard to do that.

42:19: It’s too important, you know.

42:21: Yeah.

42:21: Well, good for you for getting out there and hitting your bucket list and Doing that big hike.

42:29: Are you guys, what, what other big bucket list hikes or things are you, gonna, once you do Argentina and Chile?

42:37: I mean, I, or maybe that’s the big one, but, but are there other ones that we have a list that’s 1 mile long, but, later this year we’re going to Iceland.

42:47: and so we’ll, we’ll do a bunch of stuff there and then we, we want to do Alaska.

42:53: In 2018, we both retired in 2017, and in 2018, we did a 40-day backpacking trip through Europe.

43:03: and, you know, we weren’t, we weren’t camping, we were staying in Airbnbs, but we didn’t stay in any one place for more than 3 days, and we had everything on our backs, and we did a lot of trains, and we did hiking in the Alps, which was always one of my biggest bucket list ever, you know, I said, I’m going to get up there and I’m going to sing a song from The Sound of Music because, you know, that’s one, that’s what gave me the idea, and I did, and I can carry a tune.

43:28: So, but anyway, you know, and so, You know, we, we want to do Alaska.

43:34: We want to spend, you know, we want to spend some time in the Dolomites.

43:37: We wanna do Ireland.

43:39: We have, I mean, we have so many places we want to go and, and very cool.

43:44: So you got it, yeah, so this is all in line with yours staying healthy and fit and, Keep shifting.

43:54: dar, this has been so great, Darlene.

43:57: Is there A, you know, if somebody was new to our show or new to, you know, wanted to get going on their journey, if they were feeling a little overweight or a lot overweight, and they They were like you.

44:15: They were like, I wanna be fit and you know, lean and have my muscle tone in my later years, and I wanted, you know, just shed this weight and be good to myself.

44:27: Like, what would be the first You know, step, like, you know, how we were talking about like inner code, showing up for yourself.

44:38: Talking to yourself, I like it, what would be your, the first step?

44:42: I always ask my guests, like, what would be the first step you would have them take?

44:46: Well, you know, I would, I would, frankly have them read your book, but, you know, as you, it’s so enlightening, or take your master class.

44:53: I did both.

44:54: But, but, you know, I mean, for me, I wanted, what resonated the most, the message that resonated the most at the beginning was, you, you’re, you know, you don’t have to be perfect, and you, you, you just have to keep trying, because that’s really what it’s all about.

45:13: And so I approached this, like, I’m gonna, I’m gonna do this.

45:17: If I’m going to be successful doing this, I’m going to do it in a way, in the way that I want to live my life, right?

45:25: So, I’m not going to try to be perfect because I’m never going to be perfect.

45:29: I don’t even, I don’t even aspire to be perfect.

45:32: It’s never been a driver for me to be perfect.

45:35: I am an imperfect person, and so, and I was very mindful of the fact that this isn’t going to be a marathon.

45:42: It’s not going to be a sprint.

45:44: And so yeah, you know what people would say to me, well, you know, if you want to lose, if you want to lose your weight, you’ve really got to give up alcohol completely.

45:52: You know, that nightly glass of wine you have with dinner is just going to have to go out the window, and I said, oh no, that is simply not going to happen because that is not the way I’m going to live my life.

46:02: Life.

46:02: So, if I get to my ideal weight, and suddenly now I can have my wine, well, then, OK, now I can have dessert.

46:09: Now I can do this, now I can do that, right?

46:11: It’s a whole different way of, of living.

46:14: So everything that I want to be able to do for the rest of my life has to fit within the way I’m going to lose the weight.

46:22: And that was, I think, one of the biggest, I mean, that was your, the program really.

46:29: Allows that and encourages that.

46:31: That’s what the getting back on track is all about.

46:34: I don’t want to live a life where I don’t eat an ice cream sundae every now and then, you know, or I don’t eat a pizza every now and then, not a whole pizza, but, you know, I mean, so, you know, my nightly glass of wine, I’ve had it throughout the whole thing, you know, and that’s so cool.

46:49: And, and so now.

46:50: It’s not like I’m changing anything, because I did this in a way that was the way that I wanted to live my life.

46:58: And so that’s what I would tell people is really, you know, you, you need to find a way to do this, which is the way you want to live, because other, if you don’t, you’re gonna, you’re going to feel deprived along the way, and so eventually you’re going to abandon it, or once you get to your ideal weight, you’re going to add all that stuff back in, and it’s not going to fit.

47:20: Yeah.

47:21: So, I mean, I think that for me was the real gem in all of this was, you know, you don’t have to be perfect.

47:28: You don’t have, you’re not, you’re not running a race, let it take its time.

47:32: That’s 40 pounds.

47:33: I mean, I, I, I see people in the Facebook group in the community and whatnot, who will talk about how they, you know, they lost 70 pounds in You know, the last, you know, year, and I’m like, wow, I, it took me a year to lose 40.

47:47: I would have taken me 2 years to lose 70, and I would have been OK with that, you know.

47:52: Yeah.

47:53: Well, it sounds like what you did was reverse engineer your weight release.

47:56: Like you said, who’s, who, what’s the life I wanted, like, what are the things I’m willing to do, and who am I willing to be at the end of this?

48:04: And, well, a woman who drinks her glass of wine at dinner, a woman who can have pizza, or an ice cream sandwich, like you said, every once in a while, and that’s who I am becoming.

48:16: That, that who knows her, you know, has boundaries and is, is living life at her ideal weight.

48:22: And I, and I think that that’s really an important point is that Exactly, darling, that, and, and, and, you know, you’re a somebody who, you know, you’re a lawyer, and I am sure when you got your law degree, you knew a certain amount about law, but that you were not perfectly a lawyer either, you know, anything you master.

48:43: You learn by making mistakes and self-correcting.

48:49: And, and, and just doing it, right?

48:51: I mean, you just, you just do it, and you, that’s how you find out what works and doesn’t work.

48:57: And it might not be the same for everybody, you know, I know, I’m sure there are people out there who would say, you know, I couldn’t do that if I were having a nightly glass of wine, right?

49:07: And, and that’s fine, you don’t have to have that.

49:09: I’m not proposing anybody having, I’m just saying, for me, that was important, and, and that’s what I did.

49:16: Yeah, what song are you going to sing at the top of the, you know, the, the Chilean, mountains?

49:24: What’s the Patagonia, it’s probably gonna be, you know, I’m on the top of the world because you know I, I, I sing that a lot when, you know, Doug and I get to a peak.

49:34: You know, I mean, you know, he kind of rolls his eyes because, you know, I freely admit that I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, but, but I sing it anyway, because, you know, there we are, we’re on the top, and, you know, it’s gorgeous, and I’m happy, and so that’s what I sing, good old Karen Carpenter.

49:51: I love it.

49:52: I’m gonna sing that the next time I get to the top of a mountain.

49:55: I’ve never thought about that before.

49:57: Thank you.

49:57: I’m gonna do that.

49:59: It’s a great feeling.

50:01: Yeah, it is a great feeling, and, and you should burst into song.

50:05: You should burst into song.

50:07: I mean, that is, it’s really the moment.

50:10: I had a teacher once and we were learning about musical theater, and, and, and they said the point of musical theater is the feeling can’t be expressed in plain language.

50:20: You need, it needs to be elevated with music and lyric you know, like lyrics.

50:26: And I was like, that you’re absolutely 100% right.

50:29: That’s an elevated state.

50:31: You get to the top of a mountain, you sing, I’m on the top of the world.

50:35: Yeah, yeah, I mean, and I sort of hum that a little bit when I do hypnosis half of the time.

50:41: So, go figure, you know, I love it.

50:45: Well, thank you so much, and I hope you have an amazing time on your journey.

50:51: I can’t wait to hear all about it.

50:54: All right.

50:54: Well, thank you.

50:55: Oh, thank you, Darlene.

50:56: That was awesome.

50:57: Always great to sit down and hear about your life and your journey.

51:03: And I hope that Darlene’s conversation with me inspired you and I don’t know.

51:09: What do you think about going on that debut trek in Chile?

51:12: I’m kind of intrigued, aren’t you?

51:14: I think I’m gonna have to do some, altitude conditioning hiking, but, yeah, sounds really good.

51:22: So, if you want, please join us for the upcoming shift Weight mastery process, the spring 2026.

51:30: www.shiftweightmastery.com/spring or the link is in the show notes.

51:37: Come and learn more about it at the link.

51:39: There’s lots of information.

51:41: We walk you through everything and yeah, take the plunge.

51:48: We make it really easy for you to do so.

51:52: And have a great week and remember that the key and probably the only key to unlocking the door of the weight struggle is inside you.

52:00: So keep listening and find it, and I will be with you here next week.

52:05: See you then.

52:08: If you want to dive deeper into the mindset of long term weight release, head on over to www.shiftweightmastery.com.

52:18: That’s www.shiftweightmastery.com, where you’ll find.

52:24: Numerous tools and resources to help you unlock your mind for permanent weight release, tips, strategies, and more.

52:32: 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.