Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
In this Fun Fact Friday' episode, Lindsay emphasizes the importance of applying fitness knowledge to personal situations, reflecting on her own journey and misconceptions in fitness. Lindsay discusses the value of mindful eating, addressing emotional eating, and the importance of understanding hunger and fullness cues. She shares insights on how overeating on occasion doesn't drastically impact body composition and stresses the importance of consistency and understanding over time.
Creators & Guests
What is LiftingLindsay's More Than Fitness?
Dive into the joy of fitness with Lindsay and other guests exploring how it goes well and beyond the gym floor, the number on the scale, the size of your waist or the calories you're counting.
Lindsay: Hey guys.
Welcome to the Lifting Lindsay podcast.
I always love being here
with you guys today.
Today is gonna be one of those fun fact
Fridays this new thing that I'm doing.
I hope it's useful to you guys.
It's just gonna be, um, a little tip
or just a small, uh, fitness fact.
And I'll usually state
what the, the fact is.
More importantly, how
does it apply to you?
I feel like it is so easy to
get swept away by all of the
fitness information because.
Unless you're doing this for your, your
business, your job, you have a background
in nutrition or a background in, uh,
biomechanics for exercise selection and
stuff, it can be hard to kind of weave
through the information and then say,
okay, but how does this apply to me?
That's the first question.
Does this even apply to me?
If so, how does this apply to me?
There's a lot of nuance to fitness
that I love diving deep into, but it's
interesting because after diving so
deeply into it and coming out of it
and working with normal human beings.
Who a lot of 'em are like, I just wanna
be healthy, I just wanna be strong.
I just, you know, maybe they
have body recomp goals, but
they're not stepping up on stage.
So does this information
even apply to them?
And I think it's a really, really
good question because 99.9% of
the time it doesn't apply to them.
And was interesting because you have
to understand, um, I, I got swept away.
By a lot of this too.
I'm not above this.
When I, when I first got into fitness, I,
I did all of this stupid weird movements.
Literally, guys, I literally
did squats on bosu balls.
I thought it was going
to somehow miraculously.
Increase my internal stability
and, and work on Core Plus all
these other, all of the things that
you're told that aren't really true.
Um, I, I did all of the stupid things.
In fact, I had my, uh, friend
Val on this show probably a year
ago, two years ago, maybe even.
We were just laughing about because
we got into fitness around the
same time and we were just laughing
at all of the things that we did.
And do you know why?
It's okay.
It's okay to, to go through
and try these things and to
learn for yourself that, yeah.
Well that one didn't work out.
So I've been there.
I've, I've tried.
Yesterday I had a live on, uh, for, um.
My community, my be strong community,
and I had my husband Alex, join me for
the live because, uh, I get questions
from people who are on the live, but
also if you can't make it, the lives are
recorded and put on our membership site
and you can ask any question you want.
And I love it because I can
talk like they're Zoom calls.
So I'm talking to you face to face,
answering your questions, hearing.
Your history.
I can ask questions.
We can really have a good discussion.
Like yesterday, we talked about one woman.
We talked about different ways that she
can find maintenance between hiring a
coach, between using macro factor, but
also how can she do it on her, on her own.
And we talked about all of
her options that she has.
Anyway, I, I really do love those live
calls, but I got a question about.
Making it a lifestyle.
And so I brought in Alex and we were
talking, um, both of us together on
how we have tried to create a home
that was rooted in health and fitness
without making it an obsession.
You know, that's a fear of mine.
That is definitely a fear of mine,
of, and I have had some personal
feelings lately, that my children
are not to see me weigh things.
, I, I've had that feeling very strongly.
Uh, and, and I am so grateful that years
ago I dived into mindful eating and
I have a mindful eating course where
I just use all of those principles.
But I even told Alex 'cause
he, he weighs things.
Waste his food, and I told him it's, I
have this strong feeling that our children
are not to see us weighing everything.
Now, I'm not saying there's
gonna be somebody out there
who's internalizing this.
She's calling me a bad parent.
I'm not calling you a pet parent at all.
I am merely stating in my situation
with my children, that, um, I, I have
felt very strongly you need to focus
on your mindful eating approach and
not have them see you weigh everything.
Now, obviously they're gonna see me
weigh stuff when I'm making recipes
'cause, 'cause that's part of it, right?
But, um, if I am going to have some chips.
If I'm gonna take out some chips for my
lunch and have that be part of it, then
they're not to see me weigh everything.
I have this mindful eating course and
it's available just as part of the app
membership for all of my, my Be Strong
members and my training app members.
I got a question that I
thought was really good.
There's this one, module where it's like
this 20, it might even be like 35, 40
minute module where I go over restricting
foods and how a lot of times, like over
restriction actually increases cravings.
Because the brain will label the
food as scarce, which usually
makes the brain want to do what?
To stock up on it.
It's a scarce resource.
Therefore, when it's available at
this party, at this, you know, holiday
celebration, well that food is scarce.
What do you, and and I've
completely restricted it.
Your brain is going to may increase
the cravings because it's labeled
it scarce and it wants to stock up.
And, and these are just things that
as we've developed as humans and as
part of just like survival of our
species, our brain works a certain way.
And so some people can have grit to just.
Fight through that other
people, it makes things worse.
So I have a module on how to work through
emotional eating and it talks about how
to step away from that scarcity mindset,
but it also goes over how emotional
hunger needs emotional solutions.
So I teach something called the Pause.
So before you eat, you need to pause
and ask yourself, why am I eating this?
Am I physically hungry or
am I emotionally hungry?
So spending time with that pause and
getting curious is this physical hunger.
Is this emotional hunger.
And then if it is emotional hunger,
then it needs an emotional solution.
Otherwise, it just spirals into
these, uh, binge, these binges.
As you are trying to fill a void with
food that cannot be filled by food, and
I know that there are women listening
to this right now saying, that's exactly
what I do, because think about it, when.
After a, a stressful situation,
a stressful discussion, uh, your
baby's been crying for two hours.
What do you want?
You wanna feel good right now?
What can make you feel good right now?
Food can do that, but the problem
is, is it's an emotional hunger.
It needs to be filled by finding
peace or by not avoiding, relationship
conversations, confrontations.
It oftentimes, and I talk about this
in this mindful eating course too,
oftentimes, um, we use food to as,
as a means of finding a solution
without really finding a solution.
But we feel appeased in the moment.
It's just a way for us to
avoid, it's an avoidance tactic.
We are avoiding finding
real solutions in our lives.
So under this particular, it's
section three, uh, emotional Eating
of the mindful eating course.
And I got a question from somebody
that I thought was really good.
she said, uh, Lindsay, I've
loved and needed all this
information, so much so thank you.
Wondering if there are times you
have ever over eaten or eaten over
your calories of maintenance for a
special occasion or whatever, you
know, and that that may be, I wasn't
dealing with my emotions very well.
And I chose this, this easy out instead
of finding an emotional solution, an
easy out of, I'm just gonna feel good
in this moment by stuffing myself.
And then, but, but notice how you just
feel good in the moment because an hour
later it's like, why did I do that?
And I'm still dealing with
the same emotions because that
didn't really solve anything.
I still have this, whatever it
may be, hanging over my head.
So you didn't really solve anything.
In fact, I made it worse because
now I'm adding on this, why
did I do this, this regret?
So there's a multiple reasons
why somebody may, as they're
figuring out mindful eating, eating
over their maintenance, right?
Like she said, a special
occasion or maybe it's one of
these emotional eating moments.
And she said, and if so.
What do you personally do about it?
Because I feel like even with
mindful eating sometimes we
all overeat here and there.
Right?
So my answer to this is
really, really simple.
Beyond the, the tips that I give
in the mindful eating course of
the pause and the learning to,
am I really hungry, um, or am I.
Searching for something else.
I, I, I feel good.
Am I using food right now to just numb
out, in a way, avoid, uh, feeling emotion?
Um, so beyond the tips of using
the pause and journaling method.
I do think it's important that we
have a lot of grace with ourselves
as we are learning these things
and, and aside from using those
tactics to look back and learn, what
could I have done better next time?
How could I have handled
that better next time?
How could I use the fullness?
Hunger scale that I
teach better next time.
Um, beyond that, 'cause
there are those elements.
I just want to remind you of
something you already know that
is actually really, really simple.
'cause I do agree sometimes.
We all do overeat.
Even though we know these mindful eating
tactics, even though we've been practicing
them, we go to a party or an event or
whatever and we enjoy ourselves, or, um,
those that drink may accidentally like
find that they're drinking too much.
Right?
We all have these, these moments,
but just like how one day
of eating salads or fasting.
Or really driving into a low
calorie deficit or whatever.
For anybody who's ever dieted,
does one day of dieting do much?
No.
No, it doesn't.
It doesn't at all.
One day doesn't, in fact, we
don't, we barely see things move.
Maybe if you're fasting.
You'll see things move a little bit more
because you know you've depleted yourself.
But otherwise, when I'm talking about
real significant amounts of body fat
lost for that day, even though you're
in a calorie deficit of, you know,
like I said, maybe you fast all day.
Or you get into, you know, a
steep calorie deficit of some
kind, like 750 calorie deficit.
How much actual fat loss do
you see in that one single day?
Do you get where I'm going with this?
Not much, and certainly no impactful
long-term effects on that fat loss.
So why would be, why would eating a
little bit over maintenance or even
750 calories over maintenance, a
thousand calories over maintenance one
day, why would that be any different?
One day is not going to greatly impact.
Fat loss and it is not going to greatly
or significantly impact fat gains.
So we have to be better at stepping back
and really analyzing things over time.
Now, if I am consistently eating in a
calorie surplus over time, even too.
Three times a week over time, yes, that
is going to accumulate body fat over
time and if you are consistently in a
calorie deficit over time, likewise,
we are going to see over time fat loss.
So we have to be better at stepping
back and seeing the full picture.
And what's great about stepping back
and seeing the full picture is we see
things for what they really are, that
if you are doing awesome at mindful
eating and you are learning, your body's
appropriate cues and you are respecting
your body and learning fullness and
hunger, uh, and satisfaction cues and all.
And eating slower, and finding
more, filling fibrous foods.
And if we're doing these things
and making steps in the right
direction, then over time.
What we're going to see is we
are maintaining and also enjoying
more of that, that freedom
of not having to track 24 7.
And it, it's so wonderful to experience
that and then experience a day where,
you know, we went on a cruise a
few, uh, well last, last year, last.
October and me and Alex
both ate mindfully.
We were very active, having a lot of
fun playing with our kids, and on a
cruise, it is literally all you can eat.
And I applied all of the principles
that I taught my mindful eating course.
I was not overly restrictive.
I chose the foods that I wanted to enjoy.
I ate them in moderation.
I, I teach in my course, you
know, like I said, the, the hunger
and fullness scale and how to
appropriately read that to your body.
And I applied all of these things and
I came back, I think I was up maybe
one pound or two, Alex had actually
lost a little weight, I believe, and.
It was just this freeing I could
go on a vacation and enjoy myself,
not be in the scarcity mindset
and not put on a ton of weight.
And there were days where I remember
getting, um, really enjoying the dessert.
There was, I think one night
where I'm like, oh, I shouldn't
have gotten my own dessert.
Plus shared one of the kids.
But at the same time, I knew
that one day didn't mean much.
It was the consistency over time of me
doing that behavior that would equate
to me over time putting on weight.
Okay, so if we can learn to step
back both if the goal is fat loss
or if the goal is maintenance, it is
going to help us see things as they
really are and not so emotionally.
'cause a lot of times somebody
overeats one day and they are so
emotional about it that then they
start this restrictive behavior which
drives them further into scarcity,
which can actually drive binges up.
And it is this, this horrible
downward spiral for them.
So if we can learn to
step back, view things.
As they really are, that it's about
behaviors over time, then we will
actually make wiser decisions.
So I hope that this has helped.
Just give you some
tidbits on mindful eating.
On the fact that overeating one day,
this is why so many coaches over
and over and over good qualified.
We've worked with hundreds of people.
We have healthy relationships
with body and food coaches.
Let me preface it with that, because
there are a plethora of coaches
out there that will teach, oh.
You overate one day, then restrictive
behavior, do all the cardio,
starve yourself the next day fast.
All of these things.
You don't actually need to do that.
You don't need to do that
because it is not going.
To greatly influence things very much.
You may see a slight increase in
the scale due to more water weight,
more food in your digestive track.
Um, all of those things.
How much of it is from actual body fat?
Probably next to none.
One day.
Overeating a little bit.
Okay.
So we don't need to live in this cycle of,
oh, if I have that day, then I need to,
you know, overly restrict the next day.
Now, I'll, I'll be honest with you,
sometimes I'm just not as hungry the
next day, and so I don't feel the
need to eat as much, and that's fine.
Listen to your body.
That's part of the, the Mindful eating
course is actually teaching, you
know, when you focused for so long
on the numbers of tracking macros.
Not that I demonize that at all.
You guys know that I teach that, and
there's application for all of these
different tools, whether that's mindful
eating, whether that's tracking macros.
There's a time and a place when tools
need to be used, just like we don't
use a hammer on everything when we're
trying to build a house, because
there are different tools that will
actually do a better job at different
points of the building process.
It's the same in your life,
so tracking macros may have.
Spend the right tool at one period,
and now mindful eating is the right
tool at this period, but I think it's
really important to understand that a
lot of times when we hyper fixate on a
number and hitting a number many times,
we then step away from listening to.
Certain cues within our body,
not that they, that they don't
happen and are still there.
And I'm talking about
at maintenance, right?
Sometimes when we hyper focus on
the numbers, we actually step away
from listening to and being able to
listen appropriately to our body.
So there is a time where in
maintenance we do need to learn again,
appropriate mindful eating tactics.
And some people have never learned that.
And that's why I think it's
so important to learn that.
To learn the hunger and fullness scale.
And I'm actually going to tag that in
the notes here so you can see that scale.
And I oftentimes.
I'll share one more tip and
then let you go for the day.
'cause this is already longer
than it's supposed to be.
It's not really a fun fact Friday
if it's, you know, 30 minutes long.
But, um, but I oftentimes tell people,
Don't allow yourself to dip under
four in the, in the hunger scale.
Because what happens
with when you do that.
'cause that's when we start making
really poor choices with food.
And we are so hungry at that point
that we eat a lot faster and it
takes our body time to send signals
to the brain saying, stop eating.
I'm full.
So if you eat too fast because you're
so ravenous, so hungry, then it
increases the chances of you overeating.
So we don't wanna allow
ourselves to get too hungry.
Don't get a below a four.
And then when you do eat, take your time,
eat slowly, chew, and enjoy every bite.
Sit down, don't be watching something
or reading something and eating.
Sit down and intentionally
be in the moment.
Enjoy your food.
Chew slowly, eat slowly, drink your water.
, and then once you hit about a seven
on fullness, and go ahead and look at
that scale and you'll know a little bit
more of what I'm talking about here.
Once you hit about a seven at
Fullness, that's when you're done.
You have hit that.
I'm getting these, these
cues saying, I'm satisfied.
I'm done.
You're not stuffed.
'cause that's an indication that
either you ate too fast or you overate.
Right?
So staying within that like four to
seven is such, that's like the sweet
spot where people won't be overeating
as much, but like, like this.
Amazing, uh, app member brought up.
Sometimes we do go to parties and, and
we overeat and, and we go to an eight or
nine because we are just in the moment.
We're just enjoying.
Then what?
Nothing.
You go back to your normal lifestyle
and if you have been appropriately,
uh, learning these cues of fullness.
Satisfaction, hunger,
all of that the next day.
Depending on how much you
overate, you may feel less hungry
that day and go by those cues.
Maybe you don't need to eat as much.
A lot of times that that food may still
be in your system trying to get out.
So bad idea to just eat something,
force yourself to eat it because you,
you feel like you have to eat it.
Go buy what?
Your body is telling you if
you've learned, appropriately,
learned these cues that you know,
why aren't you as hungry today?
Well, because yesterday you ate
more and that is still kind of
working through your system.
So that, that is my suggestion
for that and I hope that that's
been helpful for you guys today.
You guys are awesome.
You guys have a wonderful weekend.
I'll talk to you later.
Thank you so much for joining me
today on the Lifting Lindsay Podcast.
If you are interested in learning more
about the Mindful Eating Course, in
the notes, I'm gonna have a link to
where you can either join the, uh,
training app and have access to all
of my courses, or you can buy the
Mindful Eating course as a standalone.
It includes, um, modules
where we talk in depth.
You can ask questions.
Um, it has a journal, it has
homework assignments for you.
This is a very, very much.
Hands on.
You've gotta do the work.
It's not just you listening to
some, some podcast or module.
It's no, I invite you to do the work
to see real outcomes and changes.
So if you are ready to step away from
being so fixated on tracking every
tiny little thing that goes in your
mouth, or for one reason or another,
you just find it's not working for
your mental, emotional health, and I
really would strongly encourage you, uh,
click on the links below to learn more.
I would love to help teach you how you can
maintain, uh, your body composition, how
you can even use these tools for fat loss,
but that you can learn more mindful eating
approaches for really a truly long term
healthy mind and body.