Hi there! Welcome to Weight Wise Revolution. I'm Dr. Anu Gupta & I am so thrilled to start this podcast, something that I was planning on doing since long…and now the day is finally here…so welcome. Im so glad you are here…Today, I’m going to shed light on the real reason you are still struggling with your weight along with the missing piece of the weight loss puzzle AND then I will teach you a super powerful tool to solve the weight struggle for good.
So what do you thing is the real reason you are still struggling with your weight?
Chances are that your mind is going to places like diet, exercise…may be your metabolism or perhaps genes!
But let me tell you that its not what you think…its not at all about the right diet , the right exercise regime or your love for food… get ready to have your mind blown because understanding the real reason why you still struggle with extra weight is critical in getting to your ideal, goal weight once in for all…
First off if you are wondering if this podcast is for you, then lemme spell out who this podcast is exactly for. If you are a professional women who is tired of feeling like a failure at weight loss…you’ve tried losing weight multiple times & been on numerous diet plans but nothing seems to shed those extra kilos…are super busy & are doing pretty well in all areas of life except the weight department which takes up so much of your mental space.
You have so much of knowledge regarding what to eat, exercise, lifestyle changes yet somehow you feel out of control around your favourite foods and you notice this especially when you are stressed or exhausted.
You tend to binge eat and emotionally eat at times and you are actually aware of this, yet do not know how to cope your emotions without food.
Or maybe you are someone who has resigned from losing weight yet secretly keep searching for the next best diet & keep dreaming of a life with your best, most comfortable body weight.
If any of these sound like you, then YOU MY FRIEND ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE. And let me tell you, I know exactly how you feel because I’ve been there.
I will be teaching you not just how to lose weight permanently but to actually end the weight struggle & stay at your ideal, happy weight for life.
And the way I’m going to do this is going to be through a very different approach…the kind that my guess is that you may not have heard before…its actually the BRAIN SCIENCE OF PERMANENT WEIGHT LOSS…
It actually addresses the ROOT CAUSE of why you are overweight in the first place.
When I heard this for the first time some 15 yrs back, I was kind of relieved as well as curious. And that is because, I had only heard about different kind of diets, exercise programs, potions, pills, quick fixes etc but never about the root cause of my extra weight. No one had ever told me that figuring out why I am overweight in the first place would lead to a life with my ideal goal weight.
Well, my curiosity led me to not just discover the mental & the emotional piece of weight loss but I went ahead and extensively study this & got myself certified regarding the same. And now I’m on a mission to teach & coach you on what I know as the best tools on the planet that lead to permanent weight loss.
But first, I'm going to give you a little background story about me so you can get to know me a little bit better, and then I'm going to teach you today the foundational principle that all my coaching is based on. My background is that I am a Medical doctor, Consultant Radiologist & I’m also trained in Functional Medicine, Nutrition, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy & Mindfulness. I am also a Certified Weight & Life Coach & Holistic Transformational Coach from San Diego, US. I’m married to an absolute gem of a guy & I’m a mum of two amazing kids, who are 6 & 4 yrs old.
I also wrote a best selling book called the Weight Wise Revolution which I’m very proud of. But what is the most interesting part of my story is that I have lost & gained the same 30 kilos of weight many many, many times in my life. Yes, you heard that right… I used to 30 kilos overweight in my teens & most part of my twenties too.
Ok, so I’ll be telling you a lot more about my weight story, about my weight pain is what I call in more detail as we go along in future podcast episodes. But right now what I want to share is that I went on my first diet when I was 12 yrs old. My parents took me to a naturopathy retreat where you know they literally starve you. I was given boiled veggies, some lemon water for days. I did lose a good chunk of weight but what I internalised was that there is something wrong with me…something wrong with my body…my extra weight is an issue with my parents & so its definitely an issue with me…and I started internalising a lot of shame around my weight, my body & myself. My 12 yr old brain couldn’t comprehend as to why I was made to starve…why I was punished actually, that s what I thought…and so I also internalised that in order to be “accepted” by my parents and by the people, by the society, I had to lose weight.
From that time, I began a battle with my weight that continued for more than a decade.
I used to be so miserable and was always searching for a permanent fix that could liberate me from diet prison. My crazy obsession with particular diets, foods, calories and working out was increasing as the years were passing by. Even though I had managed to lose all the extra weight in college, inside I was living in a diet hell, literally.
And this insanity had given birth to a whole set of behaviours that I resented but felt out of control of, like avoiding going out with friends & spending money on useless slimming gadgets. I used to eat compulsively, binge eat or deprived myself of food altogether, which use to result in constant weight fluctuations.
I still remember this one time in college…I was so anxious the night before my 2nd year pharmacology final university exam, I was polishing off packets of biscuits n along with multiple cups of coffee, while studying…at around 2 am at night, I puked everything out. I just couldn’t figure out why I would seek food to feel better…why I had this compulsion around the sugary desserts, even though I had will power of steel.
Long story short, I discovered the neuroscience of permanent weight loss aka the mental & emotional piece which is another way of saying that I worked on the root cause of my overeating, compulsive eating, binge eating resulting in extra weight & and I was able to lose all the extra weight, that is 30 kilos, for good….the last time…and in between I got married, I had two kids by C-section, yet I am maintaining my body weight at my dream weight.
And I this is not the ultimate success, it feels great to get & stay at my goal weight after battling with it since childhood… but what is a bigger, more awesome victory is that my struggle with food has ended.
I don’t use any power to “control’’ myself around food. I love my body & feel home in this vessel. I enjoy dressing up, vacations, weddings, parties without worrying about my weight or how will I navigate social scenarios. In short, the weight suffering, worrying, the weight misery has ended. There is this food freedom & body confidence which is what has been the experience of the clients that I’ve worked with as well. And my friend that is the vision I have for you as well.
It's really really crazy. I'm not even sure I totally believed that this was even possible. And guess what, besides the weight management, learning how to manage my mind & learning how to process my emotions, have transformed all areas of my life. My experience of my entire life is so much more powerful now. My relationship with my family, my children, husband, my self has totally changed. It's been absolutely amazing and I can't wait to teach this to you guys. Because in my opinion, for smart, driven, high performing women, unlocking the power of their brain & tools to up-level their emotional intelligence is really not a skill that is taught.
Now, what I believe that it not about the weight…but its also about weight !
When I say, its not really about weight, what I mean is for sure weight is an important aspect of your body but the more important & critical question is - Why food…Why the extra food…what is it about food that keeps you in the compulsive drive to overeat, even if it at occasions…that is what requires your attention & exploration.
And I promise the answer to this question will solve your weight issue.
It’s your sacred responsibility as an adult human to manage your body as well as your mental & emotional life and that's exactly what I'm going to teach you on this podcast.
Let's just really start diving into what I wanted to talk to you about today.
What I wanted to teach you today is the real reason you are still struggling with you are weight…I want you to examine the question - Why aren’t you at your ideal weight yet ? Think about it for a minute…
There is absolutely no shortage of actions that you know you could be taking to lose weight…to get you to your ideal weight…isn’t it? Like deep down, you do know about actions that if you take them or about certain actions that if you stop taking them….would move the needle in the direction of our happy weight …Right….but Are you taking them? Are you consistently taking them?
Here’s the thing, if you are not at your ideal weight, you are not taking actions that you need to be taking…obviously !
So then the question is why aren’t you taking all those actions?
This is not to confront you or make you feel guilty or anything…this is simply to deepen your understanding…
So, if you don’t have results that you want, it is because of your actions or inaction’s…right..
So the question is if you want a specific result in your life, why aren’t you taking action that you NEED to be taking…
Let me give you an example, lets say, you want to lose weight & so plan a healthy dinner for yourself. But then after a busy day, you come back home exhausted…and instead of the healthy dinner you promised you are going to have, you order fast food from swiggy. Or another example, at night, you put an alarm in your phone, thinking the next morning you will get up an hour earlier & go for a brisk walk, but then when the morning alarm goes off, you sleep instead.
One more example, you say to yourself that you will not eat fried & dessert at the party, but then at the party, you end up eating exactly that. And should I add to this that sometimes, even not eating much at the party, I would raid my pantry & overeat after coming back from the party. Hmmmm
Here’s another example…recently a friend of mine who loves low carb way of eating said to me, “Anu, If I could stop myself from eating all the unplanned deserts that I eat, I would be at my goal weight, but I don’t understand why Im not able to do that?”
And this friend of mine doesn’t eat much desserts…like way less than most people, yet she struggles with controlling her sugar intake & after years of struggling with her weight, she is still not at her happy weight!
So what do you think is the driving force of all these actions as well as inactions?
Well, my dear, the actions of your life are all driven by how you feel. Your emotions drive every single action of yours in life…I don’t care how logically you think or how rational mindset you have…how you feel matters…because feelings drive your actions and the actions cause your results. There is another piece to this which is at the root of this cycle…that is your thoughts…
Guess what exactly causes your feelings…your thoughts. Those sentences in your brain tigger a bio-chemical reaction in your body…and that biochemical reaction is actually felt by you as an emotion or a feeling.
So your thoughts cause your feelings & your feelings drive your actions & your actions cause your results. And this is called a thought model…I learned this from my coach & mentor, Brooke Castillo, the founder of the Life Coach School who completely transformed my life, my body image, my weight…so grateful…
Coming back to the thought model, what is so so fascinating is that your results always prove your thoughts to be true. So here’s the thing, there are circumstances in your life…these are the facts…the verifiable facts by every single human on the planet…like for example, I’m a woman with B positive blood group…this is a fact…Im a pretty woman, ugly woman, average looking, smart, stupid etc are all what…thoughts…
And here s the best part of this thought model…circumstances in your life are always neutral. But your brain is constantly spinning out meaning to the circumstances via your thoughts…
Research shows that our brain thinks around 60, 000 thoughts in a day. Just imagine. And each of these thoughts are a neural pattern in your brain. Most of these thoughts are unconscious, meaning you aren’t aware of them. They are simply running in the background & creating the results of your life. And you know what, our entire experience of our life is caused by a series of thoughts that we are thinking.
You aren’t aware of all of them which is a good thing…but creating greater awareness around the thoughts that ultimately are creating the results that you do not desire is the key…what I mean is if you don’t like the result, you have to start becoming aware of what you are thinking that is causing you to feel a certain way which in turn is creating your actions & ultimately your results. And and I want to add, I not talking about some woo woo or law of attraction stuff…that your beliefs are attracting your experiencing. No. Im talking about the most logical, sophisticated part of human existence, your brain…how it is designed to function & how it leads to your routine behaviour which ultimately creates your results.
Now, at the most basic level, the extra weight on your body is caused by eating more food than the body can burn as fuel. And my friend I known as overeating. I know I know, I meet many women who say to me, Dr Anu, listen I don’t overeat at all, and so if this is you, I hear you. In fact, I was coaching one of my clients who sweared that she indeed was under-rating & putting on weight. And this is not possible at all.
Now, what is possible is your brain playing games with you that is you forgetting about the sweet you had that your co-worker offered…the weekend binge meal…may be the alcohol…or random here & there snacks which might be slipping from ur conscious brain…so overweight caused by overeating & the action of overeating is caused by….
Drum roll please…your thinking… The core reason why we consume more than our body requires is because of our ―thinking.
You may spend your entire life thinking that it‘s your circumstances that caused you to feel a certain way which then drove your actions. And in the context of weight, you may have convinced yourself that its the uber delicious food or its your metabolism or your genes or your inherent lack of will-power that drives your overeating…
But the reality is that there is this missing piece wherein lies all our power, i.e. your brain. The thoughts in your brain are causing you to overeat which then is resulting in extra weight. There is a way you are thinking about food, body & weight which is the root cause of your extra weight.
The thoughts in your brain ultimately determine the results in your life. Or stated the other way, the results that you produce in your life always prove you right!
So here’s an example to illustrate this thought model to make it more clear for you.
Let’s say you weigh 70 kgs right now. The number 70 kgs is a completely neutral fact…your current circumstance. That 70 kg which is a fact has absolutely no power to make you feel any which way…zero, zilch…it is only & only when you think a thought, that generates an emotion which drives you to either not an action or to take one…That is why all the humans who weighs 70 kgs will feel differently because its not based on that number 70…that feeling is based on how one is thinking.
So moving on to this fact 70 kgs, triggers a thought in your brain,
“My body is heavy & ugly”. Now this thought cause a negative emotion in your body, say you feel shame. And this shame drives you to eat a full pack of chocolate cookies…something you might not have intended to but you wonder why you did that! And that overeating results in your extra weight. And this result is directly providing your brain the evidence of your thought, “My body is heavy & ugly”
Another example
Lets pick up the same fact which is your weight is 70 kgs…and you think a thought “I need to go on a diet”…such a common one, right. The moment you think, “I need to go on a diet, you feel deprived. The action which is driven by the emotion of deprivation will always be a half hearted effort at your diet as well as deprivation will drive your occasional binges…overeating in between…and ultimately instead of creating the result of losing weight, you will continue prove your thought right which is “I need to go on a diet”…you see how this works…the cycle is self fulfilling & self perpetuating…
That is why so mannnnyyy of us when we go on a diet, we constantly are fighting our inner emotions of deprivation, restriction, confusion, indecision, overwhelm, frustration…all being generated by your default thinking such as “I have become fat, I need to lose weight. I need to it fast. I hate my body. I have a fat tummy. I can’t give up sugar. I love food so much. I do not have will-power. I don’t have time. Its easy for them….The last diet did work until I became pregnant. Nothing works for me. I cannot give up carbs or fat… and for the longest time, I had this sneaky thought which is…overweight runs in my family. I have the overweight genes.….I can go on and on and on….all these innocent sounding sentences are your thoughts….these are not facts…you may argue with me, that Dr. Anu, you have no idea, this is not my thinking…its a fact. But let me tell you, that your willingness to explore this concept itself will open up more awareness wherein you can actually look at these and inquire…and when you do that, you will be able to understand that..ahhhh these are not circumstances, these are my thoughts.
Here‘s another example: When you think, ―I‘ll never lose weight, your brain will seek to prove it true.
That is why when you try to lose weight using the latest diet or fad exercise, i.e. when you try and change your actions without first becoming aware of your emotions and your thoughts, there is a constant cognitive dissonance. It‘s like you are literally fighting against you and you will always end up losing the battle.
You can‘t make a permanent change in your physical world, until you make a change in your default programming .
Your extra weight is a direct result of your thinking…or should I say unhelpful thinking…
And this is very…VERY GOOD NEWS…
Because this means that once you get to know your brain, i.e. become aware of your thoughts, examine them and re-write your programming, it‘s way easier to take the weight off and keep it off, for good. Once you understand how your brain functions & how it is creating your experiences & outcomes in your life, the weight anxiety is lifted & you are left with clarity and freedom.
Understanding your current way of thinking, unpacking why you are doing what you are doing or not doing, learning the skill of feeling your emotions instead of reacting, resisting or avoiding them, is literally your golden ticket creating magic.
Yes, using the tool of the Thought Model, you can create any result…absolutely any result for your self in life.
So here’s the thing, Im going to walk you through the Thought Model in way more detail throughout this podcast. And if you look at the show notes, I’m leaving a flowchart of this, so make sure, you have a look at it to understand it better.
Now, cultivating awareness about your thoughts, literally eavesdropping as to whats going on in your brain is a skill. And once you learn this skill, you will be able to coach yourself in any situation pertaining to life and not just related to weight or food. But it really, really starts with paying attention to what you are thinking. Once you start paying attention & practice this skill, with time you will be able to spot your default thoughts generating your emotions & driving your actions …but in the beginning, you might be like, Anu, I really wasn’t thinking anything before I polished off that chocolate bar. Right. So just remember, its a skill and the more you practice cultivating awareness around your thoughts, the better you get at it.
I also want you to remember that cultivating awareness of what you are thinking is critical to cause long term change in your actions. That is why we are doing it !
You might be tempted to assume that you can skip this step & come straight to thinking useful thoughts…
Which brings me to make a mention about positive thinking…and I want to clarify that is not positive thinking…at all. We all know how that goes. Right…I don’t have anything against positive thinking. In fact, I think affirmations are great… but they are only powerful when understood & used properly. But most of the people, and I mean, most humans are using positive thinking in a problematic way…lets say in a “not so optimum way” and so that is why affirmations never work that effectively…Because it is literally suppressing your negative thoughts & trying to cover it up with positive thoughts…thats how we tend to think about positive thinking & so it is a set up for failure. The more you try to suppress negative thoughts & negative emotions, the stronger they become. Its like, you look in the mirror and you keep repeating, I love my body. I love my body…and your brain’s like, no you don't…your brain’s like…rejection…nop….right !
And this topic is actually a full episode itself…which I’ll be doing in the near future…
But as of right now…this week, I simply want you to start paying attention to your current default thoughts around your weight, body and food.
A hugely beneficial exercise which I make all my clients do is to start a journal wherein you do what I call, a thought download. In the morning, set aside 10 to 15 minutes, do a brain dump in a journal…simply write down all your thoughts…one by one…thoughts about your body, food or weight…because this is the area we want to shift! This is what is thought download…
When you actually can see what your brain is thinking in front of you on a piece of paper, that is immensely powerful & fascinating. And that is the foundation of cultivating awareness at the whole neural pathway level…a circumstance triggering, not causing a thought, which is generating an emotion, which is driving your action or inaction, which is creating your result.
And that is whole essence of this work. It starts with awareness of your current way of thinking that is creating your current results…your current body weight & food struggle.
So friends, start playing with this question - “What am I thinking?”, multiple times in a day…and this question will bring your default thoughts to your conscious awareness…and as we proceed in our podcast journey, Ill teach you how to examine your thoughts such that they are no longer controlling your life without your permission.
Now to conclude all this, let me put it this way - in order to create a different life…the results that you love…the results that stay…which means ending the weight war…getting to your dream weight & staying there effortlessly, you got to change your default way of thinking & feeling which by the way the brain resists…but its actually totally worth the effort & your time.
So here is an invitation to you. I want you to wear a willingness hat from today…a willingness to go on this inner journey with me in order to create an outer tangible reality, the one that your inner being really has been desiring for you since long…as a human, we all experience that nudge…that nudge which is constantly prompting to us, that something better is possible for you…something that wants you to go after your dream and not really up…
That’s A WRAP for this week. Please make sure that you hit the subscribe button and that way you will get all future podcasts into your podcast app. And what will really, really be very helpful & amazing is, if you could leave a review for me on iTunes. Thats gonna be fantastic.
Alright guys, I can't wait to talk to you again next week. You have a fab week.
Thanks for joining me on weight wise revolution. Now take the next step and go to www.dranugupta.com/guide & grab your free guide 6 steps to jumpstart to permanent weight loss. And hey Join me again next week for more support on your journey to happy healthy weight for life.
Join me again next week for more support to on the path of happy healthy weight for life.
