Confident Eaters

Do you struggle with staying motivated? Lots of people love the fresh start of the New Year to create health goals. Have you been feeling that or riding that high? But what happens if motivation wanes over time or you suffer a setback? Is it just a matter of having "enough" discipline to push through? Or could something else be going on? 

In this week's episode, join coaches Georgie and Christina as we dive into the topics of motivation and curiosity. Both of these are significant for understanding and approaching behavior change and sometimes misunderstood and underutilized. We are going to share some real life examples of how you can learn to strengthen your motivation, intentionally practice curiosity towards the habits in your life, and how to use experimentation to break out of a rut. We are committed to helping you learn to create the life you want to live and become a confident sensible eater. 

If you need support or have a question you want us to answer on the podcast, we'd love to hear from you! 

Connect with Georgie and the Confident Eaters Coaches: 
Have you ever thought, "I know what to do, I just need to consistently do it"? Who hasn't? Sometimes we need accountability. Sometimes we need specific strategies, new tools, or a bit of help. If you want help learning to become a confident, sensible eater with 1:1 shame-free personalized attention, sign up here.

If you are someone who struggles with binge eating or emotional eating, be sure to check out Coach Georgie's other podcast Breaking Up With Binge Eating.

What is Confident Eaters?

We believe everyone has the right to love their food and feel proud of how they choose to eat. Join the coaches at Confident Eaters as they share their insights and advice to ditch diet culture and step into your power. They've guided thousands of people out of emotional eating, compulsive overeating, and stressful relationships with food. With science based tools and inspiration, what awaits you? Body confidence, food freedom, and joyful ease with eating.

Motivation and Curiosity: Your Biggest Tools for Success
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Georgie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Confident Eaters Podcast, where you get proven methods to end overeating, emotional eating, and stressing about food. We are heading for harmony between your body, food and feelings, hosted by me, Georgie Fear, and my team at Confident Eaters.

Hello everybody. Welcome to the confident eaters podcast. I'm coach Georgie and I'm joined today by coach Christina, and we are talking motivation. Since we've just turned the calendar to a new year, a lot of people are feeling highly motivated right now.

I'd say it might be the high of the year in January, at least when it comes to health and fitness behaviors. Now, why is motivation so high now is a bit of a mystery that we'll talk about. We're also going to talk about what happens when that wears off, because from the high point, There's only one way to go and we don't want you to quit when your motivation feels like it's flagging.[00:01:00]

So we'll talk about some real life tricks, strategies, and tactics you can use to keep moving towards your goals. Even when motivation seems to be in short supply, Christina, why do you think motivation might be high at the beginning of the year? Like, what is it? I don't think it's the cold weather that's motivating us all.

Christina: No, certainly not. I think it's this time of year. There's just like a natural fresh start and a blank slate that people feel excited about. There's also lots of people trying to make goals at the same time. So there's that shared sense of we're doing this together! Yeah, I think those are a couple of reasons why. Do you have any to add?

Georgie: I do like the blank slate idea. I always loved blank notebooks at the beginning of the school year. It was like, for one day I'm completely organized. Yeah, and I think after coming off the holidays, which for a lot of people are marked with pretty frequent socializing and lots of festive food and drink.

you know, [00:02:00] richer foods a lot of times around the holidays. Those have, a lot of upsides. They're really nice. But then we sort of are missing some of the upsides, like the feeling we get when we're working out consistently and feeling healthier and more well slept per se. So yeah, we kind of like get thirsty for those sorts of rewards again.

you mentioned something to me earlier about Katy Milkman and the sort of fresh start effect. Is that only a January thing?

Christina: No, actually, she talks about it in her book, How to Change. She's a behavior change psychologist, and she talks about that fresh starts are all around us. We don't have to wait until January 1st, but you know, when we have a birthday, when we have a milestone, when we have some kind of health diagnosis, when we have a new season, a new chapter of life, a Monday, the beginning of a month, you know, any of those things can be

Georgie: Like moving.

Christina: Yeah, exactly. Moving to a new city, for sure. So, that's encouraging because [00:03:00] then we can look for those in life and not have to wait oh, I better wait till January 1st again.

Georgie: Totally. Like you can declare a fresh start.

Christina: Exactly.

Georgie: So, when clients come to us, the most common goal people have is that they want to lose weight. Many of them also want to move away from binge eating or emotional eating, but among those clients too, they want to lose weight most of the time. So when we're talking weight loss, Lots of people's motivation really seems to go up and down, they're motivated on the weekdays, and then it flags on the weekend, and then it's back up on Monday, and then it's down again, and good mood, I eat really well, bad mood, eh, not so much.

So if you want to lose weight and you're feeling like your motivation is up and down weekdays to weekends, it really seems inconsistent. There's a few things we can do to help you out. Now, first, we can broaden the reasons that you're using for these new behaviors. In other words, instead of drawing motivation [00:04:00] just from one well, for example, wanting to improve my appearance, we can draw motivation from multiple wells.

You're nodding your head, Christina. Do you know what I mean by that?

Christina: Definitely. I think that we can see it as, okay, the reason for wanting to change my physique might be why I signed up for coaching one on one with someone at Confident Eaters, for example, but it can only take us so far. So if we can add to that, like, okay, why else? Like, why is that important to you? We can help as coaches. Our clients explore their reasons for change, which is one of my favorite things to do at the beginning of coaching someone is asking them why is this important to you? Like what changes are you wanting to make? And just getting a little bit deeper than I want to lose 15 pounds, or I want to feel better in my clothes. You know, there's lots of. Things we could explore even from that.

Georgie: A lot of my clients are motivated by their children or their families, and they want to set a good example. [00:05:00] So, if there's a particular day where they're not feeling very enthusiastic about their healthy dinner plans, they still might go ahead and make that dinner.

Because they want to set the example for their kids that we eat vegetables every night, not just on nights when we feel good,

Christina: right

Georgie: Some other things that I find can be additional forms of motivation will be health goals. I'm as aware as anybody else that more people are interested in looking better than in lowering their cholesterol numbers.

We're, we're typically an appearance motivated bunch, but it's also nice to think that you don't have to choose either one. It can be really nice to just have three reasons instead of two. So perhaps I want to lose weight for one, my self confidence. Two, the positive role model that I could be for my kids or family. And then three, that I could live a longer, less disease burdened life. And so all three of those added together are, I think a lot stronger than, I just want to [00:06:00] look good in the mirror.

Christina: Right. Definitely.

Georgie: We also see some people lose motivation. So why don't we talk a little bit about what happens? I'm sure nobody listening is like shocked by this. Like I've never lost motivation. What are you talking about? But some people lose motivation more easily than others. I would say, would you agree?

Christina: I would. And why do you think that is? Is it because they don't want it badly enough, Georgie, or they're lazy people, or they just don't have discipline? What do you think?

Georgie: I don't think so. I don't think so. I think just like people have certain styles of clothing that they gravitate toward, or certain styles of cuisine that they enjoy, people gravitate toward using the same flavor of motivation. And some of them are just more effective than others at, Lasting for the long haul.

So one example, if somebody is using guilt or telling themselves you have to do this to make themselves engage in [00:07:00] working out or eating healthfully, I think that's going to fall flat pretty rapidly. We just don't like to stay in guilt or shame. And so we find a way to avoid those behaviors. And we also know that we're adults.

So if somebody tells us you have to do this, even if it's us, like that little rebellion spark fires up pretty darn fast. And it's like, Oh yeah, watch me not.

Christina: Yeah. So I think what I'm hearing you say is that there are different types of motivation. Maybe one is more fueled from guilt or external and they're not created equal, so it's more likely, dear listener, that not that you need more motivation, but that we need to broaden what the source of your motivation is.

Guilt maybe not a super effective one. But maybe for a short period of time, we can guilt ourselves into doing stuff, but I don't know about you, but that does not last very long for me.

Georgie: I actually got [00:08:00] an email just yesterday from somebody who was saying that she wanted to sign up for coaching in particular because she wanted to use The elements of positive psychology that she knows are research based to be more effective with behavior change.

And she said, when I feel badly about myself for the fact that I've gained 10 pounds in the last couple of months, I tend to like pinch my belly or pinch my love handles or my rear end or my thighs. And I think that this sort of like enforcement is going to make me eat better, but clearly it's not working.

And I, I agreed with her. I said, yeah, that idea that you're going to punish yourself or rub your nose in the problem that you've created doesn't make it any more likely that you're going to change. And what we can do better is develop more curiosity about how things could be better and think about what we're drawn toward and what Behaviors we need to do to move toward the things that we want.

So it's this positive [00:09:00] pursuit instead of trying to, put barbed wire in front of ourselves to stop doing a thing. Does that make sense? Or am I getting too deep into my similes here?

Christina: No, I like your similes.

Georgie: The way that we interpret setbacks is something we talked about before we started recording, that everybody's going to have setbacks, guaranteed.

And for some people, setbacks are the hallmark of when they start to lose their motivation. And for other people, they're able to ride through a setback without it really Disheartening them. So one thing that I think can be helpful is to anticipate setbacks and not to delude ourselves that we're going to go from A to B without a hitch, that it's going to go at a perfectly linear pace and that we're never going to mess up or be in a bad mood or feel low energy.

So anticipating setbacks, super, super helpful. I think the way we interpret a setback can also make a big difference. Like if I interpret a setback as, [00:10:00] see, I screwed up again. I screw everything up. I'm so bad at nutrition. I'm just doomed to be overweight forever. That's going to have a real disheartening effect.

But instead, I could interpret it as. Whoops, life was extra challenging today and there was absolutely nothing I could do about that. Let's just pick back up and keep going. Or maybe it was something where you were personally responsible. You still don't have to interpret the setback as the harbinger of doom.

You can interpret it as, okay, so today was not a day that I made progress. That's one day out of 365 this year. So why don't I just start back with my intentions anew?

I know I've had setbacks in many ways in my life, and some of them have hit me harder than others. I think if something feels like a major setback, such as the heart condition that I had last winter, it was basically four months of Laying around. So it was a huge setback to my fitness goals, but [00:11:00] sooner or later, those four months passed and I was able to, you know, get back and resume training and the activity that I love.

But Oh, make no mistake. Those were a miserable four months. I did a lot of crying, and a lot of poor me. And that was a really, really hard one. Other setbacks. Like let's say I have. An injured toe, like, yeah, that might keep me out of workouts for, say, a week. It's not broken or anything. And that would be disappointing, but it wouldn't be as hard to handle as the four month setback.

So I think when it comes to health and fitness behaviors, by limiting the duration of our setbacks as best we can, we can also help ourselves not be as thrown off by them. Does that make sense?

Christina: Yeah, it does. And I think what I'm hearing you say, too, is that if we can have a more of a flexible mindset about things rather than a lot of times what we hear is that all or nothing thinking, [00:12:00] which is I'm either full in and doing great or I suck at my nutrition and I'm never going to make progress towards my goals. And there isn't in between there, even when we have setbacks and we can learn from them and we can evaluate like, what can I do? What do I still have the capacity to do? Even if life is a little bit harder right now, because it's not just about, again, this motivation of changing my physique. It's also, maybe for some people, taking good care of themselves is an important thing. I know we talk about that a lot on this podcast.

Georgie: Yeah.

Christina: That's what we, we want that to be your motivation for your nutrition and health goals. And if we can take that approach, we can still find things to move us forward.

Georgie: Yeah. Like even if let's say I had a really overly sized, very low nutrition meal for dinner, I can still take some steps forward immediately without even waiting for the next day of eating. I can [00:13:00] fold my laundry and set out my workout clothes for the morning. I could make sure I've ordered healthy groceries that I might get delivered or pick up the next day.

I might pack my lunch for the next day. Like it's not self care is such a multi sport. It's like the decathlon at least. There's so many different avenues when it comes to self care that let's say you have a setback in your fitness or in your eating. That doesn't mean that you can't still make headway maybe with like great sleep that day or working on your self compassion and doing things to foster your mental wellbeing.

So I think that can be helpful if a setback happens. Don't let it get you down. Look for the opportunities for where you can still move forward and anticipate that they're going to happen. Everybody who's ever succeeded has had to ride out their setbacks too values. Guided motivation is something that I'm hearing come up more and more. I know Josh Hillis has done some recent work talking about eating according to your values. I think we hear about values [00:14:00] quite a bit in the self esteem realm of things, which I do a lot of reading in. What do you think values guided motivation looks like Christina and this, I might say for you personally, or for some of your clients, like what the heck is values guided motivation.

Christina: I think that it definitely becomes more of that intrinsic. motivation, that internal feeling, if we can identify truly what's important to us and why is it important to us, and then think about behaviors that support what those values are. Like say, I want to be a healthy person. Okay, what does a healthy person do?

Well, maybe they sleep eight hours a night, or they exercise regularly, or they eat foods that are pretty nutrient dense. How can I incorporate that into my life? And what does that look like for me? Then I'm like, I'm more connected to that reason for change, rather than some people who might seek a coach want [00:15:00] them to prescribe them a meal plan and say, tell me what to do, and I'll do it.

But then, How long are people actually able to stick to that if they never really learn why it's important to them, or they need that external factor all the time telling them what to do. And that also has to do with, as humans, we like our autonomy, so if we can identify our own reasons for wanting to change our values, what's important to us, I think that we're a lot more likely to stick with them than if someone else is like, We'll eat these, you know, 1600 calories a day and you're good to go.

And then I'm like, okay, eventually I'm going to get bored of that because maybe one of my values is to connect with my family and we are Italian and we eat a lot of pasta. And like, if I'm just not going to participate in that, because it doesn't fit into this meal plan, it's going to be harder for me to stick to long term.

So I think the feeling of like, I'm making my own decision versus [00:16:00] I'm being told what to do or feeling pressured to do something is more likely to lead to long term changes. What do you think, Georgie?

Georgie: Yeah, I'm nodding because that's a good way to describe it. When you were talking about, you know, most of our values wouldn't lead us to seek out a meal plan or follow it diligently.

Well, obviously we all have different values. And so part of me is going, so what sort of values would a person need to have to really succeed at that long term, you know, like sort of like flip this on his head. And so one thing that comes to my mind would be obedience. Would have to be like one of somebody's values if they're going to stick to a meal plan.

It would have to be not making decisions for themselves possibly independence, which I would say kind of out there. Like some people do really feel strongly about their independence, but you'd have to be so committed to independence that you're happy to go somewhere and eat differently than everyone else who's there.

And really feel sound with that choice. So yeah, you'd have to be disciplined, not make choices for [00:17:00] yourself. I think it also may entail like not having a high value on spontaneity, everything rigid and planned and in place, no spontaneity, like that would have to not be one of your values. And then I wonder about the value of fun and pleasure, you know, I think most of us, we do value fun and pleasure and we see that in the fact that we do want to eat some chocolate or have a glass of wine or something that's not nutritious because it's pleasurable.

And so for somebody to succeed on a very strict 1600 calorie a day plan, or the like. They may have to have pleasure pretty far down on their values list.

Christina: And it also makes me think of that other example you used earlier where there are lots of our clients who are motivated by being a role model for their kids.

And I have one client in particular I can think of who used to have her specific meal plan. And then when sitting down with her kids if [00:18:00] they wanted to enjoy cookies or pancakes together on, on Saturday morning. She didn't feel the freedom to participate in that. And then she had to really think about, like, what kind of role model am I being for my kids here?

Like, do I want them to feel so strict and rigid with their eating that They're not able to sit and enjoy this as a family together. So I think, yeah, what kind of example do you want to set can also play a role there.

Georgie: I find, you know, the clients that tend to seek us out and have a really good mesh with our value system.

They do value pleasure. They value health. They value their appearance, but it's definitely not appearance is number one and everything else is leagues behind. It's sort of, I don't know, more of a balanced value system where there is a really strong value placed on all three of those, like health, pleasure, and appearance, and then many people also, the relationships with their family, their social [00:19:00] connections, their connections to their culture, all of those things, which really do better with a more habit based, flexible, autonomous approach to food, not so much the Fixed meal plan or liquid diet or endless powders.

So what about movement? Let's just switch gears for a little bit, because I know a lot of times people really want to have the motivation to work out and get fitter, but it can be hard. It can be hard to stay motivated. And by definition, you have to be consistent with an exercise routine. If you're going to gain fitness, otherwise you're just going to be sporadically sweaty, but not really get fitter. So, what sort of tips would you give people if they find they're just losing their motivation for fitness?

Christina: That's a great question and I've been there because I know that There was a time when I was trying to really love running because I heard that running was best for fat loss, and I really don't love running, and I tried, [00:20:00] I did, I gave it my best shot, and it really didn't last, so, instead, and I think what we use with our clients, Is finding movement that I enjoy and, and like also exploring why else would I want to do this besides an appearance based motivation and, finding something like strength training, which is one of my favorite things or walking or hiking.

It has a lot of different things that play into. It's not just, oh, how quickly can I lose weight. It's I love being outside or I love feeling strong. I love taking care of my body and I feel tired at the end of the day because I've worked hard and all of these reasons, I think, can be a way to explore, like, yeah, why else would I want to do this? Besides I heard that it's best for fat loss, so I think, yeah, finding something that you enjoy because you're more likely to show up for it day to day, and how do you feel [00:21:00] when you do it, and really exploring that. Sometimes there are even community based reasons, like you mentioned earlier, like if other people are participating or maybe that's the way I socialize with people, I go to a Zumba class or something, and just having that touchpoint with people can be a reason to continue to show up.

Georgie: That's how I formed my entire social circle was from outdoor activity. It was like I met one person. We started hiking. She introduced me to the ski club and now that's pretty much my family. So yeah, it works. It does. It does. It really works. Like never would have happened if I hadn't, you know, started chatting with somebody else about hiking.

So including your own preferences when you're thinking about what you want to do, and not so much thinking about like, what should I do or what would be the absolute best because even if something was Far more effective for fat loss than other exercises, which I don't think is really true. Like, yeah, there's some exercises that may burn more calories per [00:22:00] minute, but in the long run, the more hours you spend moving your body, the better results you're going to get.

So if you prefer something that's lower intensity, by God, don't make yourself. And do something that's so intense that you hate it because then you're just going to avoid it and do less of it overall.

Christina: Yeah. That's such a good point. Like it's just overall movement and there's lots of fun ways that we can move our bodies and giving ourselves a chance to experiment with that. I think it can be fun.

Georgie: Definitely. Definitely. And variety I think is really, really helpful. So with nutrition and with movement or exercise. A lot of times we get in a rut and it's like, I do the same thing, the same thing. And there's some benefits to having a well formed habit. For example, you don't have to think too much. I tend to eat more or less the same breakfast every day. So even in my still half asleep, not yet caffeinated state, I can stumble into the [00:23:00] kitchen and start pulling things out for breakfast. So there's some benefits to being in that rut. However, you're not going to get the same rewarding, pleasant feelings as if you had more novelty.

So if I felt like my motivation to cook breakfast was really low and I wasn't excited about it, or I started thinking, either I'm too bored of this breakfast. I want to eat something less nutritious, or I just don't feel like eating breakfast is not worth my effort. Then I might say, you know, sounds like I need some more variety.

Like what could I switch up here? So with fitness, I think it's the same. You know, I definitely go through seasons where in the summer I'm doing lots of hiking, roller skiing, and sometimes running depending on my injury state. And then by the fall. I'm tired of all those things and I'm like waiting for the weather to get cold so I can do some snow sports.

And then by the spring, I'm not really tired of snow sports, but I am excited to like get the bike out and inflate the tires again. So, having a nice buffet of activities [00:24:00] available can be really nice. And with nutrition, I if someone falls in a rut Especially with treats, like, oh, my treat is the same thing.

I eat the same, I don't know, ice cream bar every single night of the week. Eventually, I feel like they're, the way they're talking about it, they're not getting the same amount of joy or pleasantness from it. It's sort of checking the box for dessert for them. Do you feel like you hear that once in a while?

I think we can get bored with things. And so having that variety can make things more exciting.

Yeah, I think so. The ice cream bar probably wasn't the perfect example of a food rut leading to portion creep, but if somebody is like, let's say eating a couple small squares of dark chocolate, I find if they just keep going with that same exact chocolate bar that what started as one square will become two squares and then two squares after a while doesn't feel like enough and I start having a third square and it sort of like increases in portion because The little bit isn't as satisfying anymore.

So if somebody is [00:25:00] experiencing a little bit of treat portion creep, I say, let's try some new things. Can we try something new? That's when we often have that experience of like, Oh, just a little bit was really good. Okay. That brings us to the next big bullet on my notes here, which is curiosity. Now, we put this one in the title because it's one of our favorite themes, at least at this time of year.

Curiosity just speaks to our openness to trying new things and actually being drawn to new things, wanting to have new experiences, as opposed to being closed off, anxious or avoidant of new experiences. So What do you think curiosity can do for people if they're considering, why might I try being more curious, Christina?

Christina: I think it's an awesome tool. We've already touched on a couple of them. But one being, if we have a setback, we can really use curiosity to learn from what was going on there. And, What might I try differently next time or what [00:26:00] triggered this or how was I feeling and the other thing we kind of chatted about is Being willing to try something different.

So if we have a habit, I have a client who has a habit of eating in front of the TV. And it's just this go to thing. And something that you mentioned, Georgie, was what if we tried a different snack? Or what if we tried sitting somewhere else? It's not this, oh, I really have to stop eating in front of the TV.

It's ruining everything. It's more so like, hmm, I wonder if I tried This, it allows us to approach some habits that we don't like in a non judgmental way and be willing to see what else could be fun or what else could be. An activity that we want to do. What would you add to that?

Georgie: I'm noticing that if my brain was engaged in being curious about a setback, then I wouldn't be doing the unhelpful things like flogging myself or calling myself names, or this is why [00:27:00] you'll never succeed.

You know, adding all those unhelpful meanings to it. If I was instead curious, I think it just naturally leads more toward like, what can I learn? Is there a cause and effect relationship here? Is there a pattern that I want to interrupt? So I can see how the curiosity helps there. And I am a creature of habit in so many ways. I like my routines. I I definitely find it easiest to, you know, repeat things. And so when I feel like I am clinging to my rut and I don't want anyone to disrupt my pattern or my life or introduce anything new. I remind myself that the only way nothing changes is if I don't change, like that's the only guaranteed way to never make progress in your life.

If you're curious and you try new things, I mean, some of them may completely flop, some of them may be disasters odds are, none of them will be permanently harmful to you. Especially if we're talking about things like. Workouts and trying a new dinner recipe, but I might find really awesome things.

I made some new recipes last week when my friend [00:28:00] was visiting and we found a couple of really, really good things that we were both like bookmarking that one. Like this was great. We're going to eat that again. And without curiosity, I would have just kept making the same old, you know, five dinners for the rest of my life.

So every now and then I feel my curiosity seep down into the cracks of the floor and like hide and then I do like the same thing like a hamster on the wheel and then I remind myself like curiosity can be really helpful. Curiosity is how you'll be open to new experiences and try new things.

And that's how we find new sports. That's how we find new friends. That's how we find new foods that we like. And I think curiosity can also extend to mindset. Sometimes I'll hear people speaking and what they're saying is so interesting to me because it is a thought I never would have had in a million years.

They'll say something like, doesn't that just make you think dot, dot, dot. And I'm like. No, I never would've thought that in a million years, . [00:29:00] And I was like, wow. Thank goodness. There's other people here to have different perspectives.

Christina: Yeah.

Georgie: So I encourage everybody listening. Think about where in your life you are the most curious and where in your life you may be very uncurious or maybe set in your ways and just what would happen if you added a little bit more curiosity on purpose.

Maybe you can be a little bit more curious about what you do after work in the evenings or what you do after dinner in the evenings. Maybe you can be a little more curious about things you eat for breakfast or what music you listen to during your workout. Incorporating these new varieties in lots of areas of our life helps us Discover what we prefer, and then we can just repeat the things that are working out really well for us.

And it doesn't matter what works for your neighbor, or your coworker, or your Aunt Jean. You want to find what works for you, and what feels good for you. And if you're curious, and you try lots of stuff, it's just a wider set of things that you [00:30:00] can choose from. Any words on experimentation, Christina? I know you use experimentation quite a lot with your clients, and they all seem to love it.

Christina: Yes, I think that's like the main way that I would Say curiosity shows up in my day to day clients conversations because there can be some ambivalence or fear when we're trying new things, but if we can view it in the perspective of , I'm just going to experiment with this and see what happens, I find that a lot more clients are willing to try different things and get over that hump of what if Something terrible happens. It's like, what if something amazing happens instead?

Georgie: Yeah.

Christina: And it's worth trying. And then, if we call it an experiment, it's not like, I have to do this forever for the rest of my life? Because that can feel very, very, like, intimidating. But if it's, like, let's give it a week. Let's see what you notice. And I can think of a specific client example who was struggling with eating [00:31:00] really fast and he just got curious, like, where did, like, why am I doing this? He's retired. He doesn't really have to be in a rush. He's kind of like on his own schedule. Notice he was just eating really fast and, you know, his simple answer at first was like, oh, it's just the food is really delicious because he loves to cook and experiment with different recipes.

But the more he got curious about it, he realized, oh, yeah, like when I was growing up, this is when it started because there were a lot of us kids and There wasn't a lot of food to go around and you kind of just had to, like, go for it and, like, every man for himself. And he just developed this habit from a young age to eat super fast.

And he was able to use that curiosity to then experiment with what happens if I slow down a little bit? What happens if I finish the bite in my mouth before I put a new bite in? What happens if I put my fork down? You know, random things. Just to experiment with and see how he was feeling at the end of his meal and [00:32:00] it like really widened his Experience of his delicious meals that he was working really hard to make.

Georgie: Yeah,

Christina: I was able to savor them longer and So that's just like a small example of How getting curious can lead to some experimentation with our eating habits.

Georgie: So it sounds like Coach Christina gets curious about what would happen if her client did A or B, so then she charges the client with the experiment to go find out what happened.

Christina: Yes, exactly.

Georgie: And then they bring back the data. It's just like grad school. I get it.

Christina: Yeah, something like that.

Georgie: You're running the show and then the grad students do all the experiments.

Christina: Yes, yes.

Georgie: And then you publish it and put your name on it.

Christina: Hey, that does not sound nice. I don't know about that.

Georgie: So I love the idea of experimentation. I think a lot of times we want to know if something would work for us, but we don't want to go all in and make a lifelong commitment. So this is perfect. It's like low [00:33:00] commitment, just take it for a test drive, do it for a few days, see what happens. And trying on new ways of thinking can enable us to find new New motivation sources that might be more long lasting, that might be less variable or just might be broader and stronger to keep us moving forward through the low times, the cold days and all of the rough little things like getting sick, other wintry joys.

Christina: Yes.

Georgie: Thanks everybody for joining us today as we talk about motivation, Christina and I hope that you have a spike in motivation after listening to us. And we'd love to hear if you have other questions or follow ups drop us a line through the chat tab at confident eaters. com and definitely tune in for our next episode as I'm talking with coach Shannon about finding the joy in fitness.

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