[00:00:00] If you have struggled with your weight for years, chances are you already know how to lose weight.

[00:00:08] The harder question is, how do you actually keep it off while living a normal life?

[00:00:15] That is why I brought Jane Schofield to the Thin Thinking podcast.

[00:00:20] Jane was a lifelong yo-yo dieter who went through the shift weight mastery process with hypnosis three years ago, released 35 pounds, and has maintained that ever since.

[00:00:32] And these haven’t been three perfectly controlled years, folks.

[00:00:36] Jane has retired, traveled extensively, enjoyed restaurants and celebrations, and even dealt with an injury that kept her from her usual walking routine.

[00:00:47] So today, we are talking about what she has learned about long-term weight mastery, how she handles travel and getting back on track after getting off track, and the simple practices that help her stay connected to herself without feeling like she’s spending the rest of her life on a diet.

[00:01:05] So if you ever thought, “I know I can lose the weight, but how do I keep it off this time?” come on in.

[00:01:14] This episode is for you.

[00:01:22] Did you know that our struggle with weight doesn’t start with the food on your plate or get fixed in the gym?

[00:01:29] 80% of our weight struggle is mental.

[00:01:33] That’s right, the key to unlocking long-term weight release and management begins in your mind.

[00:01:40] Hi there, I’m Rita Black.

[00:01:41] I’m a clinical hypnotherapist, weight loss expert, best-selling author, and the creator of the Shift Weight Mastery process.

[00:01:50] 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.

[00:02:02] And after two decades of failed diets and fad weight loss programs, I lost 40 pounds with the help of hypnosis.

[00:02:09] Not only did I release all that weight, I have kept it off for 25 years.

[00:02:15] Enter the Thin Thinking podcast where you too will learn how to remove the mental roadblocks that keep you struggling.

[00:02:23] 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.

[00:02:36] Sound good?

[00:02:38] Let’s get started.

[00:02:40] Oh, hello, hello.

[00:02:41] Come on in and good day to you.

[00:02:43] I am so happy to be back here with you after a very, very, very hot week here in Los Angeles. Ugh.

[00:02:52] We hit 105 degrees, so, ugh, thank goodness things are finally cooling down.

[00:03:00] And I’m gonna be honest with you, after last month’s heat wave, you should’ve seen the DWP, the, the electric and water bill we got.

[00:03:11] Oh my gosh. I, you know, I could’ve put a down payment on a car with that thing.

[00:03:15] So we’ve been cheap, and we have not been turning on the air conditioning 24/7.

[00:03:20] So I have spent a lot of time wiping my brow and having fans, three or four fans pointed at me at my desk.

[00:03:29] So I’m so glad that we are heading into autumn, I cannot tell you.

[00:03:34] So I recently had an amazing conversation with Jane from our Weight Mastery community, and I wanna share it with you.

[00:03:42] We have such a wonderful and growing maintenance community inside Shift, and I love talking with people about their maintenance journeys and to share them with you because no two are exactly alike, and I would like you to see that.

[00:03:57] There’s no cookie cutter maintenance plan being perfect.

[00:04:00] There’s just you powerfully leading yourself.

[00:04:06] And with Shift, we don’t give people a diet and tell them to follow it forever.

[00:04:10] The goal is for you, like I said, to become the leader of your own journey, so that by the time you reach your ideal weight, you have the skills, awareness, and connectedness to yourself to keep guiding yourself.

[00:04:24] And I think you’re gonna hear that in Jane.

[00:04:27] I hope her story inspires you, whether you’re maintaining, actively releasing weight, or simply beginning to think about doing things differently.

[00:04:36] And most of all, I hope it gives you a little momentum this week to take good care of yourself and keep moving forward.

[00:04:45] And if you’d like to experience some of the work for yourself, you can join me for my free masterclass and you can just go and sign up for free at www.shiftweightmastery.com/free.

[00:04:59] We’ll work on breaking through some of those mental roadblocks, moving you forward, becoming a leader of your own journey, and you’ll get to experience some hypnosis as well.

[00:05:09] So without further ado- here we go … let’s take it away, Jane.

[00:05:13] Well, welcome, Jane to the Thin Thinking podcast.

[00:05:16] I’ve been waiting a long time to talk to you. Yeah.

[00:05:18] So I’m really feel lucky that I have you here today. Welcome.

[00:05:23] Welcome,

[00:05:23] welcome. I’m glad to

[00:05:23] be here.

[00:05:24] Yeah. I was just saying how great you look, and radiant, and you have been telling me, about retired life.

[00:05:31] And I know you’re, our Thin Thinker listeners don’t know you yet, but I would love for them to get to know you, and I was just wondering if you could start with your struggle story, like where you started struggling with your weight.

[00:05:46] Yeah, that’s, you know, it’s probably the best place to start for all of us.

[00:05:50] I have … my whole life I’ve been a yo-yo dieter, and I mean, I can remember being a young child and doing SlimFast and things like that, and it’s just kind of my whole life.

[00:06:01] And I could lose it, but I couldn’t keep it off.

[00:06:05] And as I all of a sudden started to have a few health issues about three years ago, a little over three years ago, I decided that I needed to do something different because I needed to keep the weight off on a permanent basis, and what was that going to take?

[00:06:20] And so I found actually my daughter found Rita on her podcast ’cause my daughter listens to her, and she says, “Mom, you should check this out.”

[00:06:28] Well, I did, and I was like, “This is perfect for me.”

[00:06:33] I’ve always wanted to try hypnosis in a more serious way.

[00:06:36] I’ve done it before and it’s worked, and so I’m like, “Okay, let’s, let’s see if this is gonna stick.”

[00:06:42] And it did, and the whole program allowed me to lose about 35 pounds, and I’ve been keeping it off.

[00:06:51] And I’ve got systems in place that help me recognize what it takes and when in order to make that happen.

[00:07:00] But it’s been a really probably one of the best journeys that I’ve been on, and I’ve learned a lot about myself, probably more than anything.

[00:07:11] And the things that I needed to do differently in my life, not just from a food consumption perspective, but from a lot of levels of life.

[00:07:25] Yeah, I think that’s the thing that people find, well, not just different about the program, but what it takes to keep weight off long term isn’t about the food as much as it’s about how you relate to yourself in those moments when life gets sticky.

[00:07:41] And it doesn’t stop getting sticky once you lose the weight.

[00:07:46] No, it, it doesn’t.

[00:07:49] And in this time I’ve retired, I have traveled, because to me that’s an important thing for me to do.

[00:07:57] And I’ve had some tough things happen to me. I, just last month I lost my father, and so-

[00:08:02] I’m so sorry …

[00:08:04] thank you.

[00:08:05] But all of those trigger things that historically would have put me on a different trajectory, and I was able to say, “No, this is what I need to do for myself,” because I’ve committed to leading a healthy life and so that I can be around for my grandchildren.

[00:08:27] My goal is to dance at my grandchildren’s wedding.

[00:08:31] Oh, I love it. How old are your grandchildren right now?

[00:08:34] Two of them are seven, and one is five.

[00:08:37] Okay, so you’re gonna do the jig.

[00:08:41] I am, I am gonna be out there dancing with my arms in the air and just celebrating them, so it’s gonna be a few years, but

[00:08:49] That’s a great vision.

[00:08:50] I love that.

[00:08:51] Yeah.

[00:08:52] When you were in weight release mode and you were doing hypnosis, what was, I mean, what was the most when you went into it, you had done hypnosis before. Right. I guess you’d done some other hypnosis.

[00:09:08] Just a little bit, yeah. Mm-hmm.

[00:09:10] What was helpful about hypnosis for you?

[00:09:13] Like, what did you find gave you access, or where did you feel like it

[00:09:18] helped

[00:09:18] with-

[00:09:18] So I found that for me, I never really went off into this really super deep place where I lost consciousness and all that, but it was the repetition.

[00:09:29] I can’t get up, I can’t wake up now without feeling like I’ve gotta get out and take a walk.

[00:09:37] Mm-hmm.

[00:09:37] And I don’t always get out and take a walk, because there are reasons sometimes.

[00:09:40] I’ve been injured and things like that, but that desire to get out and walk is still there.

[00:09:48] So, and no matter what I do, it’s that mindset.

[00:09:52] Then the other thing that has happened is that as I look at- food, I look at it as nutrition.

[00:10:01] And instead of good or bad, and these are both of these, all of this is what I learned through the hypnosis that you provided in this program, that food is neither good or bad, it’s just how is it gonna serve me?

[00:10:16] And do I need more protein?

[00:10:19] Looking at my macros.

[00:10:20] All of those things were part of what I built on from, from the hypnosis.

[00:10:26] ‘Cause I think hypnosis probably strikes everybody differently, and it hits, you know, where that mark is.

[00:10:33] And I can remember when I was going through release, there was a hypnosis that you had put together, and you finally brought it back, where it’s here are these two bowls of food.

[00:10:45] One is gak, the other is nice, healthy, colorful, nutritious fruits and vegetables.

[00:10:54] And that still sticks with me three years later.

[00:11:00] Mm. It is and I have to agree with you, that metaphor is impactful too, but – that imagery can be very, very helpful.

[00:11:10] Yeah. Oh, well, that’s cool.

[00:11:12] That’s a great description.

[00:11:14] So you released weight, and I know this, I wanted to interview you because you’ve been maintaining your weight for quite some time.

[00:11:21] And I know many of our listeners know how to release weight or lose weight.

[00:11:26] But I think you said something very interesting to me, and I do wanna touch upon a, a number of things with you.

[00:11:32] But, let’s just talk about the transition from when you got to your ideal weight.

[00:11:37] What was that like, first of all, to get there?

[00:11:40] I know you had lost weight many times, so maybe it wasn’t- Right … the first time you’d been at your ideal weight.

[00:11:45] But what felt different for you?

[00:11:48] I think probably more than anything, I felt different.

[00:11:53] I felt differently about myself this time.

[00:11:56] Mm.

[00:11:56] I felt more empowered, more like I was in control of it as opposed to a, quote unquote, “diet” being in control.

[00:12:06] And, interestingly enough, my sister was going through a program, and it’s a diet for her.

[00:12:13] And I said, “Don’t look at it as this. Look at it as something that you’re doing to be nutritious for yourself.”

[00:12:22] So it felt amazing, ’cause it felt like, oh, this is really, this is what I can do for myself.

[00:12:28] It’s not a diet doing it. I did it.

[00:12:31] Right. So you developed your own system with the eating that you had ownership over, and the way you related with yourself- Right … you felt more confident.

[00:12:42] So, ’cause I think a lot of people will get to their ideal weight and feel almost imposter syndrome.

[00:12:49] Like, “I shouldn’t be here,” or, “This isn’t mine.”

[00:12:52] Are you okay?

[00:12:53] Yeah. I-

[00:12:56] Take

[00:12:56] a moment … I think I just got back from New Mexico.

[00:13:00] And every time I come back there, it’s so dry-

[00:13:05] That I always feel like it’s, I always have like, it’s almost like a, feels like a respiratory thing, but it’s not.

[00:13:12] I understand that, yeah.

[00:13:13] It’s from, I don’t know what it’s from, but I understand ’cause I live in

[00:13:18] a- Dust in the air.

[00:13:19] Yeah, the dust. It’s so dusty.

[00:13:21] Yeah.

[00:13:21] Absolutely. Well, I hope you had a good time there.

[00:13:24] I had a blast. We went to Balloon Fiesta.

[00:13:26] That’s, that’s always fun.

[00:13:28] And there’s always lots of food there, so.

[00:13:31] Well, yeah. So while we’re on the subject, let’s talk about travel. Like, how do you manage travel?

[00:13:35] Do you think ahead?

[00:13:37] Do you- I do … kind of, okay.

[00:13:39] So take us through, because I’m sure our listeners would love to hear somebody who’s maintained their weight, how they’ve evolved their travel or their preparation for travel so that they can maintain their weight through travel.

[00:13:51] And I don’t do it perfectly.

[00:13:53] I don’t, I think that’s the other thing that I was able to overcome, is the need to be perfect.

[00:13:57] So if you consume 1,000 more calories than your budget, does that, is that the end of the day?

[00:14:06] No. My philosophy is it’s the next bite.

[00:14:08] It’s not tomorrow. It’s not even the next meal, it’s the next bite I take.

[00:14:13] But so when I travel, I plan a, I typically will where are the restaurants that I’m going to, so I know in, kind of ahead of time what I’m planning on doing.

[00:14:24] I use an app called Lose It, and that app allows me to track not only calories, but it also tracks, the macros, which are at my age, are really important.

[00:14:35] I gotta make sure I get enough protein.

[00:14:37] I’ve gotta make sure I’ve got enough fiber.

[00:14:39] I need to, because I’ve got a little bit of an elevated cholesterol, I’ve gotta make sure that my saturated fats are lower than they need to be.

[00:14:48] So I like to track all of those also.

[00:14:51] So I never miss a day of tracking, even if I have, feel like I have gone way out of where I would like to be.

[00:15:00] I write everything down because that gives me insight into, okay, what do I need to do differently so that I don’t continue it tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that, and then two weeks later I’ve come back.

[00:15:15] The other thing I’ve found with travel is that usually I come back from travel and I’ve lost weight because I’ve been active.

[00:15:23] I’ve been either chasing grandchildren around- That’s right … or I’ve been hiking or whatever.

[00:15:28] And so then I have to figure out, all right, so I come back and then it’s like, oh, I had these great flavors, I wanna go and have…

[00:15:35] and I’m gonna kind of almost eat probably more because I think it’s I’m eating what I was and I lost weight and maybe I’m okay.

[00:15:44] And then, but I have a five-pound limit, and I hit those five pounds and I go, “Nope, this is not the way it is.”

[00:15:53] And usually it takes me about 48 hours to go, “Yeah, I can’t do this.”

[00:15:59] Well, I think you’re, you bring up a lot of important points I want to point out, which is, you go into travel with a mindset, right?

[00:16:08] You aren’t hoping to be good, but you have a plan.

[00:16:12] You have some things in mind, and one of the… or things, structures in mind, and one of those things is, at least for you- is your tracker.

[00:16:21] And that you’re just like that and just for those of you who aren’t tracking or whatever, I think that and this isn’t a conversation about like would, whether or not you should track, but I think what that, for Jane, it sounds like what that does, and correct me if I’m wrong, is it keeps you connected to yourself.

[00:16:38] It does. And to reality.

[00:16:40] Reality, right?

[00:16:41] It’s not to beat yourself up if you go 1,000 calories over or 3,000 calories over.

[00:16:46] It’s just about like okay, that happened today and now I have different choices that I can make for tomorrow.

[00:16:52] And that really connects you to what we in Shift call your inner coach, which is like you kind of are able to coach yourself with data versus emotions, which is usually where we sit when we’re struggling with our weight.

[00:17:05] “Oh, well, I blew it and so the rest of the holiday I might as well just eat everything and then I’ll start when I get back from the holiday.” So-

[00:17:13] Well, and what’s great, too, is that I look at things on a weekly basis so that I can say, “Okay, so wow, I went to a party. We had a great time. I didn’t wanna, you know, I didn’t wanna deprive myself.

[00:17:26] I wanted to enjoy all of the…” and I’ll use this last trip.

[00:17:30] I wanted to enjoy all the New Mexico flavors that are out there.

[00:17:34] So it was okay, but when I look at an entire week, where did I fall in?

[00:17:39] And my, my goal is to always be at neutral.

[00:17:44] I know that over a week I have this many calories that I need to consume in order to be healthy.

[00:17:50] By the same token, if I want to do more than that, well, then I become more physically active.

[00:17:55] Or I say, “Okay, well this day I’m gonna do this, but then the rest of the time maybe I’m gonna shave off a little bit here and there in order to get where I need to be.”

[00:18:06] So it’s, for me, it’s math Calories in, calories out.

[00:18:11] Nothing’s good or bad, it’s just making sure that I hit the numbers and the targets that I’ve laid out for myself based on some of the things that you’ve coached us through, Rita.

[00:18:23] And it sounds like, and I think, this is a winning strategy for a lot of people, is that it, over time, because you’ve become observational, non-judgmental, but tuned in, is that it becomes second nature.

[00:18:39] It’s not something you’re having to hyper-focus on or be super restrictive about.

[00:18:44] It becomes almost this just second it’s mindful, but it’s mindful in a different way than-

[00:18:51] Exactly …

[00:18:52] you know. Yeah.

[00:18:53] And something else that you mentioned that I would say to people who, again, are just unfamiliar with maintaining long-term is I think of maintenance as a range and not as a set number, and I think people get very rigid about a number versus a range.

[00:19:11] And you say it’s five pounds above, and I think for a lot of our maintainers in the shift community, five pounds is, like, kind of the comfort zone where you get up there, but you get there and then you’re like, “Okay, when I get here, these are the behaviors that I kind of pull in and…” But there’s no freak out or anything.

[00:19:31] It’s just-

[00:19:32] No … “

[00:19:32] Okay, I’m getting more mindful here.”

[00:19:35] Yeah, and it’s… I think five, the reason five pounds works for me is because if I go further than that, then I’ve had more time to perhaps indulge in things that aren’t really necessarily healthy for my macros.

[00:19:52] And so I’d say- Mm-hmm … okay, at that five pounds, and it just feels like it’s much more work to do 10 pounds as opposed to five pounds.

[00:20:02] And I don’t want any more work than I have to have.

[00:20:05] I agree with you. It’s easier just to have, put those behaviors in place and pull it in than to have to…

[00:20:12] yeah, that, it’s, that’s a good point. I love that.

[00:20:16] You mentioned something else that I think our listeners would be very interested in, retiring.

[00:20:22] Like, how was that transition? ‘Cause you were already maintaining your weight when you retired, is that correct?

[00:20:28] Yes. Okay.

[00:20:28] I had just started into maintenance.

[00:20:32] So on one hand, you have got more time, so you can say, “Oh, well, I’m gonna go exercise.” Well, to me, walking is my exercise. It’s what I really enjoy.

[00:20:43] I like to be outside.

[00:20:44] And I think it’s a really healthy thing to do to be smelling fresh air and getting sunshine and all of that kind of stuff.

[00:20:54] But that’s only part of your day.

[00:20:56] And so I’ve had to say, “Okay, I’m going to do something else with my time. I’m not gonna sit here and scroll or watch TV or whatever.”

[00:21:08] And I’m not gonna tell you I don’t do those things, because I do.

[00:21:11] But I have picked up other things to do. So I will… I took pottery classes for the first year.

[00:21:20] And- Oh,

[00:21:20] how fun … eh, didn’t love it.

[00:21:23] No? Oh, okay.

[00:21:24] No. It gave me, it gave me a lot of anxiety, believe it or not.

[00:21:29] But I have picked up painting now.

[00:21:30] There’s a craft guild not too far from us, and they have art classes.

[00:21:35] And so I’ve been picking up painting.

[00:21:37] And so that allows me another expression.

[00:21:40] But I try to do things that keep me busy so that I’m not sitting here thinking, “Oh, well, what’s my next meal?”

[00:21:48] Because I think especially when you’ve been on a diet, you start to think, “Okay, well, what can I have next?”

[00:21:56] And food becomes very, at least for me, it be- it kind of can be, it can take over my thoughts.

[00:22:03] Yes. And I don’t want that to be the case. I want for me to-

[00:22:06] Life to be taking up your thoughts …

[00:22:08] right. I need, I want fuel so that I can go and do the things that I wanna do.

[00:22:13] And again, this is what’s worked for me.

[00:22:16] And I think part of this a lot of it is the hypnosis.

[00:22:21] And I think a lot of it is just after doing this now for three years, I’m like, “Yeah, this, this makes sense.”

[00:22:29] It’s logical for me.

[00:22:31] And I think for anybody, they have to find what works for them.

[00:22:36] Yeah.

[00:22:36] Not what works, you know, we, there’s general guidelines that you can use, but whatever you can stick with.

[00:22:45] Absolutely.

[00:22:46] I’m kind of curious too, and, and this is something I’d like to pick your brain on because you were saying that you did 10 weeks of physical therapy, that you were injured. Mm-hmm.

[00:22:56] And, and again, you maintained your weight through that. Is that correct?

[00:23:00] I did.

[00:23:00] Could you walk the listeners through that?

[00:23:03] Like- Sure … because I do think that there, I mean, in our community, somebody’s always getting something, we’re always tweaking something, and something always needs to be fixed.

[00:23:13] Right.

[00:23:13] And a long time recovery can be a challenge for people.

[00:23:17] Yeah. I couldn’t walk, and so that was probably the most difficult thing.

[00:23:22] And I had physical therapy, oh gosh, like every other day.

[00:23:27] And so that gave me a little bit, but it didn’t get me where I needed to be, so I actually had to pull back on what I was consuming. Mm-hmm.

[00:23:36] I had to go back to more of when I was releasing as opposed to when I was in maintenance.

[00:23:45] And the reason for that was I knew I needed more protein in order to heal and I did not want…

[00:23:53] it was my, one of my hips had really… It was, I have a torn labrum, and so it had to heal, but I couldn’t… you don’t wanna add weight, so I was really good about saying, “Okay, well, I’ve gotta be really careful.”

[00:24:08] And I’m not gonna tell you that I didn’t get to that five pound mark, because I did.

[00:24:12] I just was inactive enough that I did, but the minute I could start walking, I did.

[00:24:17] Right.

[00:24:17] And I’ve just recently, my knee, a couple weeks ago, my knee was bothering me, and I couldn’t get out and walk.

[00:24:23] So now my goal is, okay, to start back at where I was.

[00:24:27] One mile. Just one mile.

[00:24:30] And you eventually build up to where you wanna be.

[00:24:34] Well, it sounds like you’ve approached this all very practically.

[00:24:37] I do wanna mention also, because you are referring to your tracking tool, the great thing about the trackers these days, if you haven’t used a tracker, is you can toggle between calories and macros really easily.

[00:24:50] It’s not a pain in the butt like it might sound.

[00:24:54] No.

[00:24:55] And,

[00:24:55] and it- And it’s fascinating …

[00:24:56] yeah, it, well, it is fascinating.

[00:24:58] And then the one I’ve got, I actually can put recipes in, and it will help me track that even further.

[00:25:06] So if I’m making something at home, and I’m not a super creative person, so I eat the same thing like, if I make something, I will make it again if my husband likes it.

[00:25:18] And, so it makes it a lot easier to be able to go and say, “Okay, well, I made egg bake.”

[00:25:27] I know what a ninth of that pan is gonna be

[00:25:32] Absolutely. Yeah, and I think what makes it helpful is when you’re tracking protein, especially in your satiety levels, and you’re staying within your calorie budget, like, you can see, oh, I felt hungrier today.

[00:25:48] Oh, isn’t that interesting, ’cause I ate that thing, or that made me feel hungrier than I actual- that those calories that I ate in that muffin actually were kind of wasted because they made me feel hungrier.

[00:26:03] They didn’t really stabilize me. Well, and that’s-

[00:26:05] And it helps you just put those pieces of the puzzle together for yourself.

[00:26:09] And that is so true, because while you sit there and think, “Okay, well, you know, I had that,” but then how did I feel afterwards?

[00:26:18] And in the process of all of this, I gave up alcohol, and I was just… And selfishly, the reason was I didn’t wanna drink the calories.

[00:26:31] I love it.

[00:26:32] And so I decided that food served me better than alcohol.

[00:26:37] And I had a drink inadvertently at, when we were on vacation, a year or so ago, and I felt so lousy afterwards. I said, “See? That’s why I don’t drink.”

[00:26:50] That’s

[00:26:51] interesting and everybody can… I mean, I think that’s, if you plan for it, that’s fine.

[00:26:56] But to me, they were empty calories filled with sugar, and that didn’t hit, help me hit my macros.

[00:27:03] Yeah, yeah.

[00:27:05] Well, it’s interesting that you focus I’m curious, and I’m sure our audience is how many grams of protein are you eating a day to- I’m trying to hit a- … maintain your

[00:27:13] health? I’m trying to hit 100.

[00:27:15] Oh, okay. Yeah, so that makes sense that you’re abstaining from alcohol and all those other, like you said, empty calories.

[00:27:24] Yeah.

[00:27:24] Yeah.

[00:27:25] And a part of that, I don’t, I’m not gonna tell you my minimum is 60, and I’d like, and my goal is 100.

[00:27:32] And this comes about because the age that I am, I really wanna keep my bones and my muscles as strong as possible so that I can be on the floor playing with my grandchildren and things along those lines and hiking in the unstable streets of Portugal.

[00:27:53] I want to have that strength and that requires more protein and which causes you to be thoughtful about what you’re eating.

[00:28:05] Yeah. No, I think that’s so smart. I think we’re just, as a culture, becoming more aware of how muscle retention is so important and especially- Yeah … at our age, and our bones, and all of that just is-

[00:28:19] Well, and it’s easy, when you lose weight, it’s easy to start losing the muscles.

[00:28:24] Oh, yeah.

[00:28:25] And so you don’t want that.

[00:28:28] And I, this was the first time through Shift was the first time I really kinda put all of that together.

[00:28:34] Yeah. Well, that’s smart. Jane, I just have one last question for you.

[00:28:40] Sure.

[00:28:40] And that is, if somebody is listening today and they’re just, like, not, you know, like, they’re just, like, haven’t even started anything, they’re just kind of sitting in the struggle, what would be the first step that you would have them take?

[00:28:54] And I’m not fishing for, like, to do the shift. I’m just saying, no, like- But

[00:28:57] that would be- Right … my first thought would be- … to sign up for Shift.

[00:29:01] And to, and- There you go. … to say to yourself, I’m, if it’s not worked before, and you always gain the weight back, what do you think, who’s the common domin- nominator?

[00:29:13] I was the common denominator.

[00:29:14] I had to do something different.

[00:29:18] And I’m not saying, ’cause I don’t believe hypnosis is magic.

[00:29:21] I think what it is it’s repetition.

[00:29:24] And so there were certain things that over and over again you kept hearing in sometimes different ways, but it is, I would say be open to it and do it slow.

[00:29:37] I did this so slow, and the reason was is because I wanted it to last a lifetime. I didn’t want it to just be lose 35 pounds in two months. I

[00:29:50] knew I needed to do it as slow as possible so that it stuck. And- That’s

[00:29:55] smart .

[00:29:58] We do. I mean, that’s something that we focus on.

[00:30:01] I think we come in to any diet and this isn’t a diet, but I’m just saying- Yeah

[00:30:06] we’re our struggler brain is so focused on losing it as quickly as possible.

[00:30:11] So the fact that you took it slowly, which studies all support, doing because then you can retain, and it becomes more of a lifestyle change than it is, like, a drastic, uh-

[00:30:24] Right, and I think, I think- … restriction … people get so frustrated because it’s like, it doesn’t feel like it’s coming off.

[00:30:30] The other thing that, that I found happened with me is that I would release, and then I’d plateau for almost longer than it took me to release.

[00:30:40] And so I had these long periods of time where nothing was happening, but you could see things shifting inside, and you could feel, “Okay, I feel like I’ve got more energy,”

[00:30:50] or, “Oh, gosh, isn’t it interesting that the waistband of these pants now fit a little bit looser than they did before,” even though nothing had changed on the scale.

[00:31:00] And but I do think that I’m, as you know, I’m, I’m a huge fan of this Shift program.

[00:31:06] But I think anybody who’s starting is just, it’s the next bite.

[00:31:11] Yeah.

[00:31:11] Well, that’s, that’s very wise.

[00:31:13] I couldn’t agree with you more.

[00:31:15] And being with yourself is staying with yourself in that moment when you’ve eaten the extra thousand calories instead of giving up on yourself, I think that’s-

[00:31:24] Right, and just saying, “Okay, it’s, it’s all right.

[00:31:27] It’s not good or bad.”

[00:31:28] And I think we put so much judgment on ourselves.

[00:31:31] We just sit there and say, “Oh, I’m a bad person because I did that.”

[00:31:34] Well, you’re not bad.

[00:31:35] The food wasn’t bad. Mm-hmm.

[00:31:37] It just is what it is, and you just move right on through and say, “Okay, next bite is gonna be,” you know, something that, that you like, but it’s much more may have more nutritional value for you.

[00:31:49] And that allows you to learn- Yep, it does … learn about your behavior.

[00:31:52] Yeah.

[00:31:53] And put all the piece- like you said, put the pieces of the puzzle together for yourself.

[00:31:58] Right.

[00:31:58] And what works for you.

[00:32:01] Well, thank you, Jane. This has been so insightful and I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you. Thank you for coming on.

[00:32:08] Great. It was a lot

[00:32:09] of fun.

[00:32:10] Yeah. Thank you for taking the time out of your day.

[00:32:13] Appreciate it.

[00:32:14] I wanna see one of those paintings.

[00:32:16] Ah, well, when I get to a point where it’s ready for public consumption, yes, I will show you.

[00:32:23] Okay.

[00:32:25] Thank you so much, Jane. It was such a joy conversing with you and hearing about your journey.

[00:32:32] Aren’t our members wonderful, amazing, and inspiring?

[00:32:37] And you are wonderful, amazing, and inspiring too, and I want you to have a great week, and remember that the key, and probably the only key, to unlocking the door of the weight struggle, it’s inside you, so keep listening and find it, and I will be back here with you, hopefully it’s cooler weather still, next week.

[00:32:59] Okay, see you then.

[00:33:01] Do you wanna dive deeper into the mindset of long-term weight release?

[00:33:05] Head on over to www.shiftweightmastery.com. That’s www.shiftweightmastery.com, where you will find numerous tools and resources to help you unlock your mind for permanent weight release, tips, strategies, and more.

[00:33:25] 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.