278: Getting The Support You Deserve

0:00hello hello hello how the heck are you oh am i right were you asking me i was actually asking a rhetorical question to see whether anyone uh answered anna's thrown her glasses on the floor she was half asleep and i think i woke her up i literally was like where am i oh you're working ella that's what you're doing i'm great right this idea about getting the support you deserve well

0:36support is such a big subject in similar world because this is more than a plan of what you should eat and when you should eat this is about finding a personalized flexible um lifestyle i suppose that really works for you and often the the best kind of part of support and motivation can be from seeing and speaking with others or hearing from who have been in our shoes and are a few further steps along the journey that for me really made this idea this dream i had of finding

1:09a way to live a healthy happy lifestyle actually tangible like seemed like it was achievable do you know what i mean it turned a want and a hope into a reality for me it was that knowing i wasn't alone because we've talked about this massively we felt so alone in previous weight loss journeys that getting that that support on those weeks when it was really tough but also being the support to people when they were finding it tough is is a process that i don't think you experience much

1:40in life unless you're in a group like slimming world where you can or an online member where you can see actually people who are 10 steps ahead of you but equally people are coming up behind you and need that knowledge and understanding that you've got so i don't think without my group i would be here today like i wouldn't be the slim person i am now if i hadn't have got that knowledge that understanding and that care because that's what i really needed that's so true isn't it and you know we're rolling with um the challenge 100 campaign at the moment within uh similar groups and also the

2:12online community challenge 100 is about making sure that we come back to 100 as much as we can anyway food optimize over the next few weeks well and i guess for the period of our journey really but one of the things we really wanted to look around as part of challenge 100 was around motivation um and things to think about and uh later on we're going to finish this episode by hearing from some of you uh some of our listeners who are maybe a few further long steps ahead long steps long

2:46strides i'm not quite sure you're further along in the journey and you wish to offer some words of advice or tips maybe you need to hear that maybe you need to hear from a variety of voices and people um just to kind of give you that burst and that motivation to keep going because this phrase inspire and motivate you know i always think motivation is a bit of a weird one anna because i feel like motivation and willpower kind of wane sometimes but it's how you keep going when they when they

3:18kind of lull or or lack motivation is something that we know has its uh peaks and troughs doesn't it and sometimes we're highly motivated and other times that motivation dwindles what i always think is there and we need to activate it is choice power because i don't truly believe that willpower is something exists that exists because i don't have any willpower but i have the ability to choose and i have the ability to choose to food optimize i have the ability to make better choices but i need to get support when my motivation wanes so i need to to tap into the support systems i've got

3:53like group like the online real help on the website and the app the podcast being a motivator as well but utilizing those those things that maybe i haven't done previously because weight loss is not a linear process it is something that is so up and down and takes so many curves that we need to know that we've established habits that are sustainable when motivation dwindles so that they carry us along until we get the motivation back yeah yeah that's that's kind of key isn't it i mean you've sorry i stood

4:23on your shoe there lovely shoe it is as well you've opened your pack actually um to page 131 i have is it a plane is it a train is it a bird is it an automobile it's a plane okay um get ready to love the new you why did you pick this particular page in the pack because these are um habits that are so important at being in place to help us stay motivated but also helping us to lose weight and

4:53keep it off i thought it was such a a great kind of statement to think about get ready to love the new you because so many of us come with such negative emotion around our weight loss or the weight we started at that this is about celebrating the habits that we've changed the amazing achievements we've made but also grounding us in am i doing the things that is really going to keep my weight loss happening or maintain my weight loss so it's a kind of great little snapshot into thinking are these things i'm doing but also are they things that i could maybe work on if i need to to ramp it up a

5:25little yeah i mean i think it's um i i looked at this right and i did a bit of a one to ten on these these boxes and thought where am i at on the scale of 10 being absolutely nailed it bed in don't even have to think this is such an easy habit versus one never actually really contemplated this okay right and and i kind of thought where am i at and then i looked at which one had like the lowest score and i thought let's spend the next few weeks building on this habit what is it that i need to learn

5:57do change in order for this like behavior to feel a little bit more comfortable do you know what i mean and it's that self-evaluation of celebrating the things that you think are going brilliantly but where needs a tweak where i've often struggled has been like right i've decided to do it therefore it should be happening there's no gray area life is the gray area in the middle because in an ideal world i would just be able to think myself into these new habits it would come so easy but there is everything that life throws and all the the entangled emotion we have around food so this can really help you to

6:29celebrate but also then get a starting point to change and move on yeah it's funny you say that because one of the biggest things that i struggled at when it came to i think like making this be like a long-term thing and making things kind of bedding and stick was accepting that i'm not a machine yes like i i i expected myself to be very rigid and fixed and the corset was tight i remember you used that that phrase of like how can we loosen this corset and that that idea about maybe things are a little

7:01bit more like waves rather than straight lines yeah that's one of the biggest changes i've watched you make is perfectionist claire who walked through my doors felt like it had to be exactly on otherwise you were failing and accepting that actually there is room for ups and downs but it's understanding when there is a bit of a down how you have control to change that and take that choice and that power back that's what really helps me i'll tell you something that i i am i'm working at in this

7:32list at the moment this being active in everyday life in um the winter months i really just fell off a cliff like i just wasn't really wanting to get out and do anything but i found now um in february i really thought no this i need to tighten this up now and so at the end of january i began my bronze activity award again i just went back to the beginning and thought let's just come back to basics and and just build it up slowly again and give myself grace rather than expecting me to go

8:06straight back into like right good at the gym gonna go do yoga five times a week and it just wasn't realistic so for me actually um where i'm at in terms of maintaining my weight as a target member and i've lost this five stone and i want to keep it off i know that being active in everyday life is essential in helping me maintain my weight but it was something that maybe i'd lost sight of so that is just something that i've really been focusing on on challenge 100 coming back to that and it makes

8:37you feel so much better like this says not because i think i have to but something you enjoy remember this is meant to be a joyous experience we forget that don't we but what i look at when i look at things like this is really quick wins so you know thinking about have my swips come in at you know 100 miles an hour and there's something that i need to look at how can i get back that balance of food optimizing 100 with free food like i often say free food's your friend filling up and enjoying that abundance of rich free food you know 80 of what you're going to take in each day is going to keep

9:10you full going to keep you satisfied physically but also psychologically like being hungry on a weight loss journey is a road to nowhere so again it's thinking about how can i carve this out to work well for me what does it look like in my week what do i need to do to prioritize myself to prioritize free food or whatever it is that you spot that maybe needs to be taken up a notch but also reframe it in your mind what am i going to get out of this because you know sometimes you can get

9:41stuck in the fact of oh gosh i've got to have my baked potato and my salad and my salmon or whatever it is but actually what are you getting out of out of eating a really beautiful nutrient dense food optimized meal you're going to be satisfied you're going to absolutely help your blood sugar stay stable but you're going to lose weight and you're going to get more energy so again thinking about if you're lacking motivation what's in it for me that subconscious has to know they're getting something greater than the pull of eat the chocolate eat the cake drink the wine don't move so we've got to really help our own mind by offering selling food optimizing to our

10:15subconscious is what i always think yeah the other thing i think they're just listening to you explain that is i think we're really bad at capturing where we've got to so far we're always thinking about what's next what's next now what now what and actually i think this could also be a period of like okay so where have we got how many people do i give out certificates and stickers when i'm the way person in my group and i see them put them in their pack and the next week they're still in there

10:46and they haven't put them on get that certificate and stick it on your fridge get that sticker and stick it on your book or stick it somewhere else like you know really capture and and notice this progress that you're making i mean something like a bronze activity award that's four weeks of commitment right four weeks of consistency is that something that maybe that you could look at doing and that's another potential certificate or um sticker for you to get in

11:17but yeah i think that idea about looking at where you are now compared to where you started is still really helpful because i think that can also inspire you and motivate you to keep going sometimes that the advice can just be just carry on you know and it's understanding that this is something life is not a straight line there are the dips the peaks and the troughs life is a roller coaster just got to ride it let's not talk about ronan keaton claire keeps singing it to me but we love

11:52it um other versions are relevant but again what i and i always go back to that term that margaret came up with being fascinated that so that you can forward plan if you know i don't know you find a dip after three weeks in your food optimizing journey because actually you were too strict in those three weeks that's about learning and thinking about how you may need to reframe your food optimizing is about understanding that your motivation waned because you put too much pressure on yourself you were seeking six stone off in 10 minutes and that's not humanly possible understanding your behavior so

12:26that you can tailor your plan and your motivation and the tools that you need to get access to to your lifestyle i think is really key because where we where we often go wrong is we think right sandra down the road is doing x y and z therefore i need to do that to make it work remember food optimizing and slimming world isn't a big umbrella that we can tailor to our own specific needs and everybody's motivators are very different so understanding what motivates you but also

12:56understanding what derails you will allow you the freedom to plan and get strategies that will then allow you to food optimize 100 percent yeah and do you know what i think there's great examples here when you go to group in in chatting with people who are at target to find out how have you navigated through this especially when they've got the same supermarkets and the same restaurants yes in the in the same area yeah i had two ladies get big awards in group the other week and we were talking to them about you know they'd struggle what's different and again what they spotted one lovely

13:29lady spotted that it was something as simple as actually only having one cup of tea in work that each day because she knew the tea bought the biscuits and actually the biscuits were something she needed to change then hearing from another lady that was really eloquent about actually it was the booze that needed to change so getting that knowledge from people who maybe have struggled but are now coming out into the light can be so inspiring because you go right actually she did this and that worked for her what does that need to look like in in my life it gives you that hope doesn't it really gives you hope and where there's hope there's a real ability to go and change and

14:02make these things happen so when you have a wobble and you feel like you're just a little bit off track what is the place that you start the meal or is it journaling or is it a walk or like what what for you i'll share mine in a minute but what's your place two things i have a full-length mirror at the top of my stairs and i often like literally just get down into my bra and my knickers and be like look what you've achieved look at your body look how strong and what you've done and how

14:36much weight you've lost you're a 45 year old woman and you you're in a much better place so get down into your knickers and your bra first one and then burger and chips uh very very ridiculous comparing those two but that's my meal if i know i'm having a wobble it's normally that i've tried to get too much broccoli in my intake and actually i need a good old slim and wild burger with some homemade slaw and chips and remember how much i love food optimizing so reaffirming actually anna you've been doing this 27 years look how far you've come but also eating the food that i love oh okay i don't then eat the burger in my knickers and bra i will get dressed yeah i mean

15:11definitely clarify that just for anybody who's like me a real visual listener where they're like now imagining me at the top of my stairs my knickers and my bra i feel like if this was a newspaper article they would get a cartoonist to draw that scenario probably a much better look than the reality yeah see i think one of the things i've come come back to recently is i get to group yes and just sitting and meeting with my friends and then chatting with them and seeing them do well it does collectively like inspire everybody the other thing i've started doing is i know i can't

15:45get it immediately but in four days time i can just get a summer world kitchen book box booked in so quite often then if i'm feeling really overwhelmed of where to begin i do begin at chips there's no doubt about it slimming world chips so then i will maybe just it feels not as hard to plan three days meals and then the slim world kitchen and then i know that's me sorted for a week so the get into group the feeling inspired and seeing other people do well i think it reminds you why

16:19we do this and you feel connected to i think people who understand it because there's guaranteed to be someone else who's in that room that actually maybe feels the same but you still turn up anyway do you know what i mean because it's just that's where we go that's just what we do i watch my members you know i've got five different sessions and you can watch people come in looking a bit despondent looking a bit fed up and they always go out with a smile on their face chatting to their friends having had a brew having got some support and we always talk about the nodding dogs in my group so

16:50like you know when you're nodding there's that nod in a slimming world group do you know what i mean i'm doing it now and actually what that nod gives everyone is oh i get it that's what i do or that's what i've done and that reassurance that you're not on you're not alone you're not ridiculous you're not stupid that actually you're a human being and actually we do have these wobbles it's really important yeah right well with that in mind um why don't we hand over the reins uh to our listeners love it we love our listeners we love hearing actually the different people the different walks of life the different jobs the different accents i love so take it away see you uh in a

17:26week's time we'll be back then uh enjoy listening bye for now hiya this is annie ridgley from plymouth in devon i've lost 13 stone following the food optimizing plan with slimming world and my advice to anyone new or rejoining would be to stay to group every week it is really important that you get that support from your consultant

17:56and other group members to motivate you and make better choices even when the scales perhaps haven't been so kind to you or you've not had a particularly good week stay to group get that support and again get that motivation to uh move forward um for a better week hi i'm ann hancock i'm a slimming world consultant shenny bookend group in milton keynes at the start of

18:30my journey i wish i'd have known that walking through the door would change my life in so many ways from opening my wardrobe and choosing anything i want to before that just having five outfits i wish i'd have known how easy it was to eat out and stay 100 food optimizing and still lose weight all the friends that i've met along the way they're a huge part of my life because my group is like a community and i wish someone had told me when i got to target i would have the biggest smile on my face not

19:02quite believe in it and the only regret i would have is why didn't i come sooner and lastly the most important reason of all is i became slimming world consultant 31 years ago because i walked through the door and i've seen how it changes members life so take that first step and walk through the door there will be a huge welcome waiting for you hi good morning i am kathy from harrygate and i attend kate's fabulous tuesday morning group

19:40i've been a member since march 2020 a target member for five years and the advice i would give to anyone struggling anyone just joined follow the plan read the book follow the plan to the letter and it works if you're struggling stay for image therapy because that really helps too ask other fellow members for advice and be kind to yourself if you have a bad meal or a bad day don't beat

20:11yourself up just move on tomorrow is a new day i hope this helps somebody have a fabulous day thanks bye hi i'm caroline williams and i run two of the slimming world groups in south wales and this question really had me thinking and i think the best advice that i could give is to make sure that you stay to group every single week from the word go don't underestimate

20:42how powerful it is to learn all of those lifelong habits that you really are going to need for me i lost a huge amount of weight in a very short space of time and i thought i was one of those people that were cured that once i got to that target weight that was it it was never going to affect me ever again but uh because i got there so quickly i didn't spend a huge amount of time figuring out how i was going to do this for the rest of my life so um unfortunately yes and i'm having to do the experience again but this time i'm going to be able to use all of those amazing

21:15habits that i'm now learning along the way hi my name's jan and i go to bex butler's class on a monday at 5 p.m at bingham if i could give myself any advice at the beginning knowing what i know now is to not get upset and not panic when i don't see the results that i think i expect um because if you stick with the journey it will it will come stick to the plan carry on with your journey the other piece of advice i would always

21:49give is plan plan everything plan your meals plan your shopping shop for the meals that you've planned and write everything down um if you keep a note of everything that you do it'll come also something that i found in our groups is that if we buddy up together and chat to someone all the way through the week if you're struggling that can help as well hi ladies this is hazel from chesterly street if i had to give myself one piece of advice

22:26it would be to not wedge my current lifestyle into a slim and moral food diary but to get on the app look at all the features recipes podcasts and just embrace the whole thing this is the third time i've done slim and moral i think i've been to target twice but this time the penny has dropped your podcasts are brilliant i've got so much information and tips from them clear i love all your data a big

22:57shout out to my consultant victoria who is absolutely bonkers and brilliant she's like my wee monday morning mrs motivator and then i have you guys on the podcast for anybody new or stuck sort to the oldest episode and get stuck in hi i'm rebecca i'm from gateshead my advice would be trust the process there's going to be days and

23:28weeks where you're on it you're really on plan and it's brilliant equally there's going to be days and weeks where you're really struggling and it's really hard go to group trust the process don't give up and you can do it good luck hello my name's charlotte i go to upper belvedere slim world group and my consultant is the amazing jan something i'd tell myself at the beginning of my journey if i hear back would just be to trust the process eat the food that you know you can eat fill up on all those free foods speed foods and just trust it also if a day doesn't go to plan just start again start on

24:03the next meal start on the next day don't give up don't give the week up you've got this well done hi my name is rachel i'm from plymouth um it's what i did tell myself at the start of my journey i've now lost eight stone um it's stop being hard on yourself and remember you're human it's gonna go wrong but it's what you do about it afterwards so take your time what else are you gonna do um time will pass but you can either use that time well or you can use it badly i suppose and even half a pound off

24:41even half a pound on don't worry about it it's what you do overall and just keep going keep loving yourself enough to keep moving forward and you will get there and you will be so amazed at the results it's not just weight you lose hello it's jason here i'm a consultant in carton colville in suffolk and if i was to tell myself

25:11one thing about walking through the doors of a slimming world group back then um that i know now it would be to absolutely embrace it throw yourself in wholeheartedly and believe because food optimizing works for everybody it will absolutely see you soar and achieve your goals and if there's ever any doubt in your mind your group your consultant will support you every step of the way to achieve your dreams give it everything you've got hi my name's katie i'm at kathy slimming world in cheddar somerset i've just reached my target after

25:48losing seven and a half stone um what i would tell myself is it's not a race there's going to be bumps in the road but slow steady consistency is the key hi it's nikki here i go to the group run by the lovely sam at ruskington near sleaford lincolnshire basically to my former self i would say just do it um i blamed perimenopause um family conflict

26:22work dramas there was always a reason not to do it but my god i feel so much better i've lost nearly a stone i've got another stone to go and i've gone from feeling frumpy middle-aged overweight achy tired to somebody who's full of energy regularly exercising and each week i seem to do better um and i wonder how i feel in another stone or so's time so i'm doing this for life i definitely have emotional issues around eating so slimming world it is for good

26:53hi there i'm zina and i go to the 9 30 group in chin at oxfordshire with claire i would say be patient understand yourself as a slimmer don't compare yourself to anybody else as somebody with an underactive thyroid i was always under the impression that i would never be slim for 24 years i tried and failed every diet every concoction under the sun

27:25and failed and when i joined the slimming world it was simple it was eating healthily living a healthy lifestyle and yes weight losses were slow because of my condition um but they did come little by little it kept coming off and i'm happy to say i've lost over three and a half stone with slimming world and i would never go back and i would never do anything different hi it's kim street consultant for carysburg slimming world group on the isle of wight

28:04and you know if i could go back 27 years and talk to my younger self on that very first day i walked through the doors of slimming world i absolutely know exactly what it is that i would tell myself i tell myself that it was going to be okay that you absolutely can do this and on this journey there doesn't need to be any guilt no drama and certainly no wagon that you're at risk of falling off of and why simple because slimming world is a lifestyle it's flexible it's forgiving and it's

28:35designed for real human beings like me who sometimes do eat chocolate in the car when no one's looking and alongside food optimizing and the support of the group you absolutely can do this oh my goodness i so wish i could go back and tell myself that hi my name's nicola bowden and i'm a member of ann law's slimming group in shyamua on a friday morning at 7 30 a.m the thing i would like to have told myself at the beginning of my journey is to focus on the food you can eat rather than the foods

29:10you can't i've just hit my target in exactly one year and i've lost three stone thank you hi claire and anna i'm tracy and i go to east finchley with the amazing susie cohen the advice i would tell myself is to find a great group that you can get to and commit to don't just weigh and go stay to the meeting it's all about the magic in the room and the support you get stick to the plan as much as you can and you will lose weight listen to the weekly podcast it's like a

29:47meeting between the meetings plus there are some amazing ones from the back catalogue but what i didn't know is that i would find a special slimming world buddy in sam and we have become east finchley's slimming world podcast ambassadors we listen to you guys every week and absolutely love it then we report back to the group for those who haven't had time thanks so much for everything you