You're Not Stuck (at the Weight That Makes You Unhappy)

It's the new year, witches, and we are diving into all things resolutions, goals, rituals. Since most resolutions tend to fizzle out mid-January, we're going to make sure we arm ourselves with the butt kicking we need to keep going. In this episode, I'll discuss one of the most popular resolutions-- weight loss! As a former personal trainer (surprise! I got all sorts of tricks up my sleeve) I'll tell you my tips, tricks, and journey to a healthier and happier me. I even went all out this time and did something I never thought I'd do-- but you know what? It worked! Listen in as I share the struggle. You and your scale, aren't stuck!

Thank you so much for listening! I hope you enjoyed this podcast. If so, please leave a rating and review so we can spread the word to the women who need it the most. Below you'll find links to my website, social media, and resources for victims. If you believe you're in danger, please seek help immediately. There are people out there who want to help and who truly care. Myself included! You're worth so much more.
Also, some links in my show notes may be affiliate links. This means I earn a tiny amount of money if you buy a product I recommend. You should know, I never recommend crap.

Buy the You're Not Stuck book and start your journey today!

Please fill out this form for topic suggestions, to tell your story, or for any interview requests

Join the journey by signing up for my newsletter and getting a free, hilarious rom-com!

Follow me on TikTok

Follow me on Instagram

Head on over to my website for a full list of books and laughs!

Visit my darker side for paranormal rom-com under Fritzi Cox...

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

It's time to wake up witches. I'm your host, cat Adams, and I'm here to remind you that, no matter where you're at in life, you're not stuck. Welcome back to the show. It feels like it's been forever since I've recorded, but I think it's only been like two weeks. But I guess just a lot has happened in the last two weeks. And like a lot, a lot, because every now and then I get so restless for a change and I'm like I'm gonna do my hair, I'm gonna get a new tattoo, I'm gonna like take a huge trip, I'm gonna do something crazy.

Speaker 1: 0:57

And this year it hit me and I was like I need a new office because I spend all my time, so I work from home in this office, and I need something more grown up, because my office was decorated with like most of my rom-com stuff. So it was very bright colors, bright pink, funny stuff, and I was like you know what? I'm not to be 40. I need to elevate this. So now I'm sitting in my brand new office and it is colored burgundy from floor to ceiling. So I have dark wood floors, my walls are burgundy, I did the trim and burgundy and the ceiling and burgundy, and that's called color drenching. It's an actual thing. And why you do it is because it like draws your eye up and it makes the room look larger. And I already have high ceilings in here.

Speaker 1: 1:57

And I found this mirror and it was super, super tall and I was like I need that. But I need it to like fit. You know what I mean. Like I need it. I need everything in here to look oversized and grand and luxurious. And I just do Because I do and because I can. So I'm sitting in here now and I'm looking at it and it is just so pretty.

Speaker 1: 2:20

I still have a lot to do. I need to get, I think, get like some kind of plush wing back chair or something. Maybe I would love it if I could find like a small corner fireplace, just, you know, like one of those obviously fake fireplaces to put in here. I think that would be awesome. Don't know if I'm going to do that, but it's a work in progress. But at least I got my mirror up and I got my walls done and this shit looks to bomb. Do people say that anymore? The bomb, the bombcom? Am I showing my millennial age? Oh, my goodness. Well, as I'm recording, it's actually Christmas Eve and I got shit to do because I have to pack. I will be on a jet plane to New York City here very soon and that's where I'll be celebrating my 40th birthday. And I know I've mentioned it before. I'm just excited so I will mention it again. I can't freaking wait.

Speaker 1: 3:13

Never been to New York City but I'm trying to give myself experiences instead of buy things, although I have a problem because I'm kind of doing both lately. Don't recommend it for your checking account. But yeah, christmas Eve and I'm working because we celebrated Christmas actually a couple days ago and we did the crab again, which I'm going to shout it from the rooftops. If you've never ordered from Gold Belly, do it. Especially Pikes Place Market, you can order straight from Gold Belly in the overnight crab. I got the email Thursday night that hey, your crab is on its way and by noon Friday it was on my front porch Like four whole crabs and they were so good. So highly recommend Gold Belly for like a special occasion or not. I mean I was on there looking at Italian cookies, because I'll get to that in a second.

Speaker 1: 4:11

Italian cookies, like I know, you can order straight from New York and they weren't that expensive and they do like this points thing, so you can get, you can rack up points, and so I've got coupons for like $30 off and stuff. And, oh my gosh, one year I ordered a muffa lettu straight from Central Grocery in New Orleans and it tasted amazing. It was just like you're sitting in Central Grocery in New Orleans and, oh my God, it was awesome. Love muffa lettu Although I think some people call them muffa lot, muffa lettu. I don't know how you're supposed to pronounce that my favorite sandwich.

Speaker 1: 4:50

I am huge into New Orleans food and I'm talking about all this food because we're about to talk about weight loss, which I know is not typical for this podcast. But I told you we're going to do some. We're going to do some, like you're not stuck in yada, yada, yada, as it relates to most. You know New Year's traditions that we often hear about. But first I do want to prep you on the next episode coming out after this.

Speaker 1: 5:18

It won't be one of the New Year's resolutions ones, it's just one I had in my back pocket that I need to talk about and it's own accountability and internalized misogyny. And it's coming up because I was reminded about this yesterday, like my husband when we met he didn't really understand like from a victim's perspective, you know, like violence against women. He didn't understand feminists at the level that we wish men did. And so he learned a lot from me, like a lot. And now he will be the first to call out like you know, that's not right, like that's just gross. And so when we you know, I talked about this a couple of weeks ago when we were watching that Matt Reif special, and like the first two, three minutes, he made a joke about someone punching a man, punching a woman in the eye because she couldn't cook, or something I don't know.

Speaker 1: 6:11

He was like no, and we both turned it off, like it wasn't me saying I'm not watching this and I'm like, oh, let's give it a chance. No, he was like no, oh my gosh. No. Well, he got roped in on a conversation on Facebook and I tell him get off Facebook. No one gets on Facebook anymore. This is for old people. This is the problem.

Speaker 1: 6:33

He got roped into a conversation and he got super disheartened because he was sticking up for no, we shouldn't be telling jokes like this and normalizing the behavior, and so many people on this public post came down on him in really harsh ways and a lot of those were women. And he was asking me like I don't understand, why would women accept this behavior? Why do they defend it? And I was like, look, buddy, I just did a whole podcast episode on internalized misogyny and and pick my girls. All right, it's a lot to unpack. It's it's super fucked up.

Speaker 1: 7:18

It's super fucked up that our own people, women, support stuff like this, defend it and even like I've seen women at like those Trump rallies wearing shirts that say I wish Trump will grab me by the pussy. First of all, vomit, second of all. Come on, dude, come on, like what's wrong. What is wrong with women? I can talk all day, every day, about what's wrong with men, but when it comes to talking about women and why we justify behavior that's against us and sets us back and doesn't allow us to move forward, I get so confused because I don't understand why you do it either. I talk about it in the next episode, but still to me it's like I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get how you can be that way, like whatever.

Speaker 1: 8:14

So he saw that and he was just like it made him feel like I feel a lot where it's like you can talk about it and speak out about it. But if you don't have, like those own people, even like victims, were coming out and saying, oh, I'm a victim of domestic violence, and you know, I think it's funny and it's like it's a losing battle, it's like uphill. But you know what it doesn't stop me I keep going, I'm still volunteering, I still work full time in this niche, I'm still podcasting, I'm still writing books, I'm still speaking out because of all it takes, is that one person who needs to hear it? You know, and I know there's plenty of people who are silent on that subject and who are also disheartened, but they're seeing those posts about it being wrong and they're like I'm breathing a sigh of relief, even if they don't speak out, because you know it's those loud fuckers that are like the trouble fuckers, right? So that's just my two cents and that's what's coming up in the next episode all about accountability on where we're at as women.

Speaker 1: 9:20

But first let's talk about all things weight loss, because you're not stuck at the unhappy weight you're at, and I'm not only going to talk about weight, I'm going to talk about like healthy eating and stuff too. So if you're just like. You know I eat like shit. Well, stop, we're going to talk about like, don't eat shit, right, and before, you're like cat. Why are you going to talk about this Turn? Author. You're a podcaster bitch. I used to be a personal trainer. So, yes, I have lots of expertise in this area and I am reminded all the time of like the basics. And also also I have PCOS. If you don't know what PCOS is, it's a bitch. It's like a hormonal something, another that screws you up. It makes you easily gain weight and it's hard as hell to get it all something to do with insulin.

Speaker 1: 10:25

I don't know the specifics, I ain't a doctor, but I do struggle with PCOS. Everyone with PCOS has a bunch of different symptoms. I don't have all the symptoms that normally go with it. So it took me 17 years to be diagnosed. I'm not going to get on that soapbox, but I'm not going to get on that soapbox. But let's just let me say again, 17 years for a doctor to finally listen to what I was saying, that I thought I had PCOS and actually put me through all the tests. So I have PCOS.

Speaker 1: 10:57

They used to just look at me and be like, no, you don't know. You know, because you're not overworked, so I'm not going to get on that soapbox. I'm not going to get on that soapbox. So I have PCOS. They used to just look at me and be like, no, you don't know, because you're not overweight and you don't have, like this deep male voice, blah, blah, blah typical symptoms. And I'm like, yeah, because I work my freaking ass off to stay in shape, like I work my freaking ass off and it ain't easy, it ain't easy.

Speaker 1: 11:30

So let me tell you a story about my weight loss journey and where I'm at now and I think it can help you if you're struggling in this area. If you're not, maybe you know someone who is. But you know we need to be happy with ourselves and we can do all this body positivity stuff. We won't like you should love yourself no matter what, and I agree we do. We need to embrace ourselves. But I know we also have goals in mind and that's okay too. If you want to lose weight, it's okay. Don't feel like this culture now, with this like what's it called toxic positivity, is like oh girl, you should love yourself, even if you know you don't fit in those pants anymore and it really inside makes you feel bad. If it inside it makes you feel bad and I'm talking to myself here change, lose weight, do something about it. You don't have to be stuck at the same weight that you aren't comfortable with. And that's where I have been for the past two years actually now.

Speaker 1: 12:34

So let's roll this back to, hmm, 20 years ago. Well, holy shit, that's a long time. So I've always struggled with my weight, always struggled with my weight, and I'm five two and I'm just going to be transparent with my weights. I'm five two and I had got up to about 150 and I'm a five two frame 150. It was not cute I look like a busted can of biscuits, all right, but I was going through first like realizing.

Speaker 1: 13:11

That time was when I was realizing I was in an abusive relationship. So I was going through like lots of emotions and depression and didn't feel good about myself and using food as a copa mechanism, you know, like emotionally eating, and so it took me to get really, really bad to fuel my first weight loss. Okay, so what am I talking about here? I let me air my dirty laundry and I've talked about how you can use anger to fuel the fire to get you where you want to go. And this was my first experience with him. It was when I walked in to a bar and found my ex-husband with another woman and that hurt to see like him smiling with this woman when back home he was so mean and hateful of me and I don't know why, because, as always, you know pretty fucking good to him. But that's what abusers do, right, that's what narcissistic men do, you know, cheater, cheater. So when I saw that we went through a breakup, obviously we got back together. You know, you know the statistics. I'm not going there, it's about weight loss.

Speaker 1: 14:39

And I used that time my anger, to put on heavy metal with my whatever I used back then. What did we use back then? I think I had one of those Apple, what is it called and I put, I don't know. I went to the gym and I turned my heavy metal music up and I raged out on the elliptical. During this time I also started Weight Watchers, because I didn't know anything about like nutrition and Weight Watchers has like this point system and it was super easy. So all I had to do was stay under, like I don't know, 25 points a day and I would calculate all my little points up and I would go to the gym and I would just again like rage out on the elliptical. I was very, very strict with my diet and I had no alcohol back then Like I rarely ever drink alcohol, which I'm mentioning because I'm going to get to in a second.

Speaker 1: 15:41

So this is before. I had my daughter too, so of course I'm young, it's a little bit easier. The weight fell off me Easy peasy right. Then I got pregnant, shot up to 170 and had my baby and was still like 170 ish and I was like crap. I got to get this off again, but at this time I had learned so much about nutrition.

Speaker 1: 16:08

So I decided that I want to start bodybuilding, because when I lost weight the first time, it's like a snowman melting method. This is what happens if you're not weight training, if you're only doing cardio or you're not working out at all. When you lose weight you're going to keep the same body shape. It's just going to be a smaller version. And I didn't want that because I really liked the look of a toned, muscular body and I wanted that for myself. So I started researching bodybuilding and nutrition and I got into, like the bodybuildingcom forums I don't even know if they still have those. But I got super pumped into all that stuff and I had books on like female weight training and yada, yada, yada, and I was like I'm going to try this. I tried it and I fell in love with it and so I was a bodybuilder for over 10 years. I was weight training, I was bodybuilding, I took professional photos, I was ripped up, I had a six pack for a decade. Okay, like I felt so good about myself and instead of doing the weight watchers.

Speaker 1: 17:23

So for nutrition and this is what all diets come down to it's calories and calories out. So I tracked my calories and I tracked my protein, which is huge you have to have. I think the statistics are a little bit lower, but just like in general, one gram of protein per one gram of body weight. So I wanted to get down to 120. So I'd always track 120 grams of protein. And for me to lose weight because I'm a shorty and the suck shot sucks so bad my maintenance weight, my maintenance calories is 1500, but my weight loss calories is 1200. So to lose weight, I could only eat 1200 calories a day and I had to stick with 100 to 120 grams of protein to keep muscle. It was a bitch, but again, back then I didn't really drink alcohol, so it was hard, but it wasn't too hard. I was also breastfeeding at the time when I started this weight loss stuff, so that accounts for like what an extra 500 calories burned. It wasn't too bad.

Speaker 1: 18:34

But I fell in love with bodybuilding and like the nutrition stuff so much that I did get my personal training license and I opened a little personal training business, got my live building insurance, I started training outside of our, inside my home, so like I was working from home and it just it was just. When you're a personal trainer, people think you're a therapist and so they want to tell you all their problems and I'm like I don't care, I'm here to help you get in shape. But I didn't like it. So I quickly realized I love weight training for myself and nutrition and all that good stuff. I don't like it for other people so much.

Speaker 1: 19:17

So during this time when I was like best shape of my life, I got down to 110, which probably was like not the best, because there's going to come a point if you're really serious about this weight loss and like kidding, I don't know if you want to get ripped up or you just want to lose weight, whatever. If you get thin enough with a low body fat percentage, you're going to have to choose between your face and your body, because if your body is at a low body fat percentage, your face is going to be too, and especially as you get older, you might look like what's his name the Crip Keeper guy, the Crip Keeper or Skeletor. You're going to look bad, like I looked bad my face and I had to get fillers, and that's a whole other subject. I love fillers, by the way. But yeah, it did not look good at 110, but my body was banging, I mean like no fat on me, hardly whatsoever.

Speaker 1: 20:17

Now I did struggle still with body image and it was also going to a little bit of a dangerous territory where I did feel guilt, you know, for like eating certain things or whatnot, and I'm going to get into that in a second. But yeah, 110, no, 115 was still a little bit for me. Now, that was very hard for me to get down to those levels, very, very, very hard. I'm talking about restrict. I ate nothing but like chicken and broccoli pretty much, and eggs it was. It's horrible. I don't recommend it. It is not a long term thing you can do. I only did that when I had like professional photos coming up and I wanted you know my body to be at like the leanest, but more like 115 to 120 was my happy spot, which is where I want to get now.

Speaker 1: 21:16

So if you want to lose weight, the best thing I can tell you right now the best way I have ever found I've been told recently I'm going to give you my new hack here in a second is calories in, calories out, and I am a big fan of if it fits, your macros diet. If you don't know what that is, it's basically like your macros is how much carbs you're going to get a day, how much protein you're going to get a day and how much fat you're going to get a day. So I already told you you're going to take about if you're serious about changing your body one gram of protein per body weight goal. So mine was always 120, because 120 is like my goal weight. If you're doing 120 grams of protein, you can use whatever's left for carbs and fat, although I always try to go lower carbs because I have that insulin thing with a PCOS and carbs just like I can't process them right or whatever.

Speaker 1: 22:21

It's so hard for me to lose weight, especially if I'm eating a lot of carbs. That's just me. I don't think carbs are the devil. Some people can tolerate them, so you do. You just make sure you get your protein in, but if it fits your macros, means if you're getting your 120 grams of protein and you're 1200 calories a day because I'm using myself as an example this is what I have to do to lose weight. You can eat 1200 calories in broccoli and chicken, or you can eat 1200 calories in Chick-fil-A, it doesn't matter. It does not matter. As long as you're hitting those macro goals and your calorie goals, you're going to still lose weight. That is what I have used for years and years and years. So I would eat sensible all day, very nutritious stuff, and I would save about 300 calories for my little reward snack at the end of the day. And it worked, and I'm kind of going back to that right now. So I would always make sure that at the end of the day I had a little bit of calories left for a treat.

Speaker 1: 23:25

Now, of course, if you're wanting to be a healthier eater and stop eating like McDonald's or Chick-fil-A or whatever fried foods. Go into the Mexican restaurant every Friday like I was doing, then don't do the. Oh well, if 1200 calories in a burger, I'm still going to lose weight because I'm eating 1200 calories in a burger versus 1200 calories in cabbage same thing, obviously, dude. If you're trying to be healthier and like not clog your arteries and shit, go for the broccoli and cabbage and veggies. This isn't rocket science. Everyone should know this. I'm not going to sit here and explain to you like what's a healthier food versus a non-healthier food. Everybody should know this. If you don't get on Google, like I want to talk about specifically mostly weight loss here, and this works, so check out the if it fits your macro diet. That is like number one, number one advice. But sometimes you might get more stuck because you might be dealt a shitty hand, like with PCOS, which is what happened to me.

Speaker 1: 24:29

And as I get older and I don't have the time to do one hour of body weight or weight training exercises, yada, yada, yada, and I'm just I'm not as into it anymore. Things shift. So I started looking at my. I use my fitness pal to track my calories and I was looking at it and I noticed I had a problem About a year ago. I was just getting tired of beating myself up over some weight gain I had and I've talked about this before. I gained weight when I started this job.

Speaker 1: 25:09

I'm working now because I worked from home, but it's so demanding that, like when I'm working, I mean people are like, oh, you work from home, you can do whatever. No, dude, when I'm working, my ass is in the chair working for eight hours. I am. I'm drained at the end of the day. I'm too tired to work out. I am too tired to properly make me a proper meal, a nutritious meal. I'm too tired to you know, I'm not going to be baking chicken and making broccoli, I'm just going to be open a box of ramen noodles or something. I'm so tired and the pressure was getting to me so much that we were doing a Friday night comfort Mexican food night, which also added to it. And then I was drinking a lot, like not drinking, like oh my gosh, you got a problem but drinking enough that it was obviously adding to the weight game.

Speaker 1: 26:04

And I had got up these past two years to about 15 extra pounds. And I remember I'm five, two and I was 122 years ago. So I got up to around 135. If I'm being honest, like, I got up to about 136, 37, 38, fluctuated. But I was not happy because I had come from someone who, like I said, six pack ripped up felt amazing.

Speaker 1: 26:35

And if you get to your goal weight you know that feeling I'm talking about you fit into your clothes. You want to go clothes shopping. You want to go gene shopping I know everyone hates gene shopping unless you're fit and you're like, oh, I'm gonna buy 10 pairs of jeans. I look good in this. Look at this ass, this looks good, this feels good, this shit fits me like a glove and you just feel good about yourself. And I love dressing up and wearing cute clothes.

Speaker 1: 27:00

And I was not fitting in my clothes anymore and I was getting so down on myself which is a problem in and of itself I was trying to give myself a little bit of grace. I'm like, hey, look, you just embarked on a new career. You're doing this, you're doing that. It's okay if you gain this weight, but it doesn't matter how much I tell myself that I didn't feel it and I wanted to fit back into all my cute clothes. So it really came down to that Like I wanted. I wanted to feel good about myself again and I just wasn't. So I got in a bit of a funk and then I realized well, you know, while I'm trying to give myself grace and understand that it's okay and I'm working towards being better I noticed on my fitness pal. My streak on my fitness pal was I had logged in for 2,725 days in a row, that's almost eight years.

Speaker 1: 27:59

I had been diligent about my diet and I was so tired of tracking my macros and my calories and I was so tired from work that I just gave up and I realized like that could also be not healthy, being that like diligent, that committed. But then again, maybe it could. It doesn't have to be a bad thing. I just wasn't feeling it at that point in my life and I wanted to eat Mexican food. I wanted to eat some ramanoodles and not feel guilty about not meeting my protein, cause I didn't want to lose my muscle, cause I had worked over 10 years building this muscle, didn't want to lose my muscle. So I got into a funk and it has been hard to get out of this Now that I'm approaching 40, it's also, you know, the older you get, it's harder.

Speaker 1: 28:55

So I had been trying all kinds of stuff to get these extra 15-ish pounds off 10, 15,. I got down to 130 at the beginning of the year and then as recently as six weeks ago, I got back up to 136. I was so mad at myself y'all, and I'm gonna blame like the work pressure I felt, you know, and me drinking wine and eating Mexican food to cope with it. So I should know how to lose weight. If anyone knows how to lose weight, it's me. So what I started to do these past two years was go back to countin' calories and protein Working out. When I came I started.

Speaker 1: 29:43

Six weeks ago I started this weight loss it's called the Iron Series with Carolyn Gurvin, I think, on YouTube. It's free. It's amazing. I haven't done it in like three weeks. I got three weeks through. I'll pick it back up. It's only because the holidays and I know myself I'm obviously very accountable. I'll pick it back up. But I highly recommend that if you do wanna start your weight loss journey with weight training, look that up. It's absolutely free and it's an amazing six-week program.

Speaker 1: 30:09

But anyways, when I started gettin' serious about this for two years I was on this hamster wheel of just not losing, or I would lose during you know the week and then I would cheat on the weekend and or not even cheat. I started gettin' actually super strict with counting my calories and macros again and having no cheat days, because at five two you can't really have a cheat day unless it's once every three weeks, because it takes. 3,300 calories equals one pound, so you have to be in a deficit of 3,500 calories every single week if you wanna lose one pound. And the math just does not add up. So look at the data, do your math. For me it did not add up. I could go one cheat meal and then I'm just gonna destroy my weight loss for the whole week. Everything I worked hard on would go to Mexican on a Friday night and I just I'd swept it under the rug. It's like I didn't do anything the previous week. So that was happening.

Speaker 1: 31:03

But also I was having weeks where it just wasn't coming off and I was like tracking my calories and even if I drank wine I would account for those calories and it just was not budging and I had hormonal issues. So I was. I can tell when, like, my PCOS is really acting up, because I've got all kinds of different symptoms and my body just did not wanna let go of the weight. And so this was happening for two years. It was this cycle of bouncing between, usually 130, 135, not getting anywhere under my goal weight of 120, although 118 is like my sweet spot, because then I get super, super ripped out. So I knew all like the things I'm supposed to be doing, weight wasn't coming off, yada, yada, yada. And we had even started incorporating walking every day for four miles, and my husband and I would take on our little lunch break twice a day. We would go and walk two miles in the morning and two miles in the evening. Recently switched that up to just walking for one hour and that has helped a lot. So the recent changes I have made and y'all, the weight is finally freaking, coming off, and I fought this for so long as I became sober curious, not completely sober Hail, no, no, I am a big fan of craft cocktails on the patio.

Speaker 1: 32:42

I am a big fan of wine, like I used to go to a bunch of wine tasting. I love learning about the different, the different what is the word I'm looking for here? Oh, my gosh, I'm having a brain fart. The different varietals, like I love learning about French wine and Italian wine and it's just, it's kind of a hobby for me. So I'm the ritual of it, like opening a bottle, having a glass in the hot tub or by the fire pit. I love it, I love it, love it, love it, love it, love it. Not like a getting smashed party, you know, frat boy level. I love enjoying a glass of wine, too unwind, because I need to be forced to relax. Unfortunately, that's something I need to work on, but I love it.

Speaker 1: 33:30

I thought it Everyone's like. You know, once you give up alcohol, the weight starts falling off. And I'm like well, I even drink alcohol and stay under my calories and the weight's not falling off. So I knew if I'm doing everything right, I need to, I need to try this, and it's called sober curious. So guess what? You don't have to go completely sober unless you have problems. All right, like if you've got problems drinking, then you need to get yourself some help and learn to become sober. But there's something called sober curious and I was like you know what? I think I can do that I don't have to completely give up alcohol and I can still lose weight because I want to be in my pretty little sundress this spring with a cocktail on my hand and I'm gonna have to turn in and hibernate and do this internal glow up thing to get there. Which is why I was like you know, I'm going off social media.

Speaker 1: 34:21

I was so mad when I started this. Everyone's like, oh, going off alcohol is so amazing. You have this clarity and you just can level up and it's awesome, bullshit, bullshit. The second you're like I'm not gonna drink anymore. It kind of sucks, y'all. I'm just gonna be honest, it kind of sucks.

Speaker 1: 34:40

I was mad about it. I was like you know what? I am so good at all this, this, this, this, and I deserve to be able to unwind with a margarita and some chips and sauce at the Mexican restaurant. But unfortunately, life and my body is like bitch. You don't. You have five to, you're approaching 40, you got PCOS. I don't care If you stick to your calories, you have that alcohol in you. It's not. You're not gonna lose weight. I don't understand the signs behind it. I think it's like inflammation and your body burns alcohol before it burns fat. And this can go on for days and I saw it on the scale, like if I even stuck to my calories. But I had wine, like my scale would go up two pounds and it would be that way for four days and then it would only go back down one pound. So I knew I had to start becoming sober, curious to see if it worked.

Speaker 1: 35:36

It was the last ditch effort and I was in a bad mood, bad mood for two weeks, cause I'm like, damn it, I want to do my routines, my rituals. I have these rituals, like in my hot tub I'm gonna drink some wine, or my fire pit I'm gonna drink some wine, I'm gonna do my Friday night Mexican thing with my family. I love it. I love it. I love it. But guess what? You can still do that. It's just like a moderation thing. But to kick it off, you do need to become sober, curious, and that for me, in my experience, going at least two weeks without any alcohol. And so I did replace it with other little rituals I created for myself, and one is I liked some wine at the end of the night, and so I started doing it with hot chocolate, still sticking to my calories. But guess what bitches. I've been doing this for a month and I'm already down six pounds.

Speaker 1: 36:30

So I have been going upstairs and watching Gilded Age, which is like one of those low stakes shows. So it's a very comforting show and it's not cringe. It's not low stakes cringe like the Good Witch, it's actually really good. And so I will have a cookie. That's what I was looking for Italian cookies. I will have some kind of nice fancy cookie and hot chocolate and I get all cozy and I watch my Gilded Age and I love it and I look forward to it every day.

Speaker 1: 36:59

And I haven't, like, after the first two weeks let me preface this after the first two weeks haven't craved alcohol and been like damn it, I wish I was pouring a glass of wine. Now you gotta get through that two week home. At least for me it was two weeks. It might be longer for you Also. Just create these little rituals for yourself, like having hot chocolate or coffee. If you really want to drink and you're fighting it at the end of the day. Go to bed early. I'm telling you it works and I it sucks. I'm gonna be honest with you it sucks, it sucks, it sucks, it sucks. It's hard, it's hard and it's no fun, but I will say, not having hangovers is pretty amazing. So you after you get through like the annoyance of having to do this and accept this is just your life, it gets easier. It truly does.

Speaker 1: 37:51

And so I've also looked into mocktails which they have you for it drinks. I think one's called Ken, you for ricks or something. Kin They've got like new tropics and stuff I don't know. It's supposed to like make you Calmer and unwind. I've never really felt any effects from it, but it's nice because I still get to have my ritual of I get a fancy glass and I'll pour like ice in it and then I'll pour the little Mocktail over it, or I'll create my own mocktail or tea or just like replacing it with something I can sip on while I watch a movie. That makes me feel like Fancy. You know, like I'll get a special glass for like a special tea by yourself, like I've seen I think it's called magic hour teas on Instagram, a lot that I'm thinking about to order, although I have a love-hate relationship with tea, but it would be great for a little ritual fancy drink and and, honestly, like I don't feel bad about it, I'm not like I miss the wine now.

Speaker 1: 38:51

Did I completely give it up? Hell, no, hell, no. I had been doing this, like I said, for about a month. I Went in a Mexican food the other day and it didn't put the weight on me and I had a big jumbo margarita. Because I'm more moderating myself, I'm not drinking throughout the week, I'm not even drinking on a lot of weekends. I've completely transformed my mindset with alcohol and I just don't need it as much and, like I said, I'm gonna be real with you. I see people all the time saying it's so amazing, I feel like so great, it's the best thing ever. And now those first few weeks it's not. I was mad, just like this sucks.

Speaker 1: 39:34

Why do I have to not only have PCOS? You know, have struggle, struggling losing weight, can only have 1200 calories a day, but now you tell me I have to give up my wine. But it worked, it worked. So if you are struggling, you need to Look at your calories and versus calories out. Go back to tracking your calories. Number one if you want to transform your body with like body fat, weight training and Counting your protein, and if none of that is working for you, you Get sober.

Speaker 1: 40:10

Curious, or get sober. If you've got like issues with it and you can't handle your alcohol, then get completely sober. I don't know anything about that, I'm don't have those kind of issues, but I just have become sober, curious, and I enjoy it. So you don't have to give up everything. You can have your chocolate at the end of the day. You can have your wine, you know, every two or three weeks. Now I'm about to go to New York. Am I gonna drink in New York? Fuck yeah, oh yeah, I'm gonna have a fancy cocktail. I'm gonna have some red wine with my steak. When I have my birthday dinner, I will drink in New York.

Speaker 1: 40:52

But now, since I have been so fully removed from Having it as much as I was, like at the end of the day and on weekends, I can control that, because I used to, couldn't. I used to feel like, oh, I need to have my wine at the end of a day because I've had such a rough day, or I need to have my wine, you know, on this weekend because I deserve it, or whatever. I just had to change my mindset and I don't have to have it. I can still have my little reward at the end of the day. That is better for me, if you know what I mean. So you know it's. You do get that clarity Eventually when you change your mindset. With wine, with food, whatever it is. You know emotional eating. There are some books out there, for I think it's Alan Carr writes one about emotional eating that I keep hearing about. If you're struggling with any of that, take it from me.

Speaker 1: 41:51

As a personal trainer, I know a lot about weight loss and this Was new to me. This was new to me this year because you know, I used to never drink and as I Got older and felt the pressure, I started to drink more wine and y'all. That's what was making this fat booty on me and I'm changing it. I'm getting down to my goal way. It is falling off me now. I still do the hour walk a day, if I can, even in the cold weather, I Bundle up, got me a parka. I got there a walk for an hour. I try to stick to the weight training. I haven't the past few weeks just because you know holidays and stuff, but I'll get back to it in January.

Speaker 1: 42:33

So if you are looking for Transformation on your body and you're not happy with your body and I'm not gonna give you some toxic positivity bullshit, which is embrace your body you do need to do that too, like you need to. I Said I'm not gonna give it you that, but then I said you need to do it. You need to know your level of happiness. It's okay if you're not happy at the weight you are and you want to lose weight. Don't let anyone tell you what you think makes you happy. You know, like I didn't fit in my pants and I want to fit in my pants, it would make me happy to fit in my pants and I didn't want to embrace my body and be like, oh well, we should just be positive about how we are and it's okay. I Am positive and understand you know my body situation, my PCOS, things about me. But I wasn't gonna be happy not fitting my pants and I'm not gonna settle because that's just not me and if that's not you too. It's okay to want to lose weight.

Speaker 1: 43:33

I feel like people get shamed about at this day and age or like, huh, no, we're just supposed to be happy at whatever weight we are and that's okay too, if you want to do that. But if you want to lose weight, listen to me, get sober, curious, track your calories, track your protein and work out or just walk, and that's my weight loss journey as of recently. I hope to give you all an update here in February. Now I am doing a drag January. So if this is your thing like I am not drinking at all in January Because I'm seeing results and I like it and I do feel better, you know I do have finally have that clarity and yeah, so I'm looking forward to doing this journey with y'all.

Speaker 1: 44:15

If you're out there and you're also Wondering about how you can become sober, curious or on a weight loss journey, and you, you know, have questions, reach out to me. I love this. I'm very passionate about this subject. I have a lot of experience in it. I believe I can be pretty helpful here. So I don't know what the next podcast will be after the accountability, but I'm going down the line on New Year's resolutions and I wanted to kick it off with this one because I'm going through this now and I saw some fantastic results. So you are not stuck at the weight You're unhappy with. You can take control of this, even if it means giving up something you dearly love, like your evening glass are too of wine. So I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's actually good news in the long run and, yeah, I can't wait to see everyone spring glow up, with us all on patios and our sundresses With a well-deserved cocktail and hand.

Speaker 1: 45:20

Thank you so much for listening. If you love the show, please leave a rating, a review, and if you know anyone who also might love the show or who could benefit from this information, please be sure to Share it and subscribe. The more we get this out to people, the more people we can help, and I truly believe there's so many women who need to hear these words, because so many women are feeling stuck. Also, if you're looking for me, you can usually find me on the ground at author cat atoms, and be sure to head over to my website and that's cat atoms atoms with a double d's Dot com. Subscribe to my newsletter for the latest information. Also, when you subscribe, you're gonna get free novella. And Just be forewarned, my or on to rom-com is as dirty as my mouth. So if that's your thing, go for it. It's super hilarious. But thank you again for tuning in. Until next time, please stay safe and I'll see you on the other side. You.