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The Psychology of Eating Podcast

Letting Go of the Need for Approval from Others – In Session with Marc David

September 18, 202438 min · 5,529 words

Show notes

If you're of a certain age, you've probably noticed that young people – teenagers, especially – have a strong need for approval from others. Young adults want to fit in and feel accepted, a natural desire that is part of our normal developmental process at this stage of life. Feeling that we belong helps us to grow and expand, and gives us the confidence to explore our world. As we grow older, however, people can become unknowingly stuck at this developmental stage. And when this happens – life can get miserable pretty quick. Left unchecked, we may never outgrow our desire for acceptance. In fact, this need may even increase, creating intense worry as we obsess over whether others like and approve of us. This can take many forms, but frequently shows up in our relationship with our weight and appearance. When we continue to solicit outside approval into middle-age and beyond, we find ourselves unable to find the gifts that are available to us at this stage of life – gifts that are discovered when we defer to the one opinion that truly matters: our own. When we reach our 40s and beyond, life is calling on us to once and for all love and value ourselves, to know our true beauty, and to stand in our power. Sadly, in today's world, women especially have gotten the message that their value comes from their youthful appearance and slim figure. It can therefore be really hard to tune those messages out, and allow a deeper wisdom to come through. These concepts are explored beautifully in this episode. Maggie, 68, is a culinary and baking teacher who is so afraid of gaining weight that she won't eat her own cookies. She's fearful that gaining weight would almost certainly mean being rejected by others – even though she admits this has never happened to her before. Her caring husband and family have always loved and accepted her, no matter what. Even so, Maggie has been dieting for 50 years – and continues to be caught in an internal weight loss conversation where her efforts are never enough, and where she doesn't feel good about herself, unless she has lost weight. As you'll hear, Maggie's fear of rejection points her to an important realization, one that can forever change her relationship with herself and her body. Episode highlights: ✅ How staying trapped in the need for "other" approval limits our potential and joy in life. ✅ How to take your personal power back from the collective voices around weight. ✅ Why the temporary high of reaching your goal weight doesn't last – and what really satisfies instead. ✅ Developing a daily practice to kick unwanted negative self-talk. ✅ And much more! --------------- Learn more about us at The Institute for the Psychology of Eating: https://psychologyofeating.com/ Ready to call a ceasefire in your battle with eating, and find peace and freedom with food? Learn more about our newest program, The Emotional Eating Breakthrough! https://learn.psychologyofeating.com/ Interested in becoming a certified coach in eating psychology? Then tune in to hear Marc talk about our Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training, and download a copy of our School Catalog: https://psychologyofeating.com/info-kit/ Learn our powerful, cutting-edge approach, and discover how you can create a unique career helping others find peace and freedom with food. Follow us on social: - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Psychologyofeating - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IPEfanpage - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatingpsychology/ - Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/eatingpsych #selfacceptance #bodypositivity #foodfreedom #wisdom #dietculturedropout #psychologyofeating #innerchildhealing #selflovejourney #healing

Highlighted moments

I teach cookie decorating classes. I make really pretty cookies and everybody loves it. And my classes are always full. And I had never tasted one of my cookies that I made because I always felt like I couldn't eat it because it was a sweet and it would make me fat and I'd be out of control.
Jump to 28:17 in the transcript
If getting to that number was truly the promised land, then every time you got there, you would have stayed there.
Jump to 21:30 in the transcript
You're going to let a little machine that has no intelligence whatsoever, let that machine report to you how you should feel that day. And you're going to let a number, 130, determine your value as a person.
Jump to 18:55 in the transcript
but if you're a woman of queen's age and you're letting the princess run the show, you will be miserable.
Jump to 16:27 in the transcript

Transcript

Introduction

0:01Welcome to the Psychology of Eating podcast, where food and body challenges are the doorway into a happier, healthier life. Now, here's your host, eating psychology expert and founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, Mark David.

0:25Welcome everybody. I'm Mark David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. We are in the Psychology of Eating podcast, and I'm with Maggie today. Welcome, Maggie. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Maggie's Story

0:38Yeah, I'm glad you're here. So for those of you might be new to the podcast, Maggie and I are meeting for the first time. We're going to do a client session and see if we can do some good things together. So, Maggie, if you could wave your magic wand and have whatever you wanted with food and body, what would that be for you? Well, as far as food is concerned, I'd like to be not so obsessed with everything that I eat, the calorie count, if it's good, if it's bad.

1:10It seems like that's a 24-hour-a-day obsession for me. I always check labels. I'm always, should I eat this? Should I eat that? I just like to be more comfortable with my eating, and I would also like to lose 20 pounds. That's where I feel most comfortable.

Dieting History

1:27Uh-huh.

Dieting History

1:27So how long have you been sort of tracking your food and concerned about calories and dieting and such? Well, since I'm about 13 and I am now 68, so a very long time. Okay, so you want to lose 20 pounds? Yes. And what weight would that put you at? It would put me at about 130 pounds. Uh-huh. And when was the last time you were at roughly 130?

2:00About three years ago, but about six years ago, I had bariatric surgery, and I lost about 54 pounds, and I did real well with it until about a year or so ago when I started putting the weight back on, and I'm just worried I'm going to just keep going and get back to my original heaviest, and I don't want to do that. Got it. So why do you think after the bariatric surgery, at some point, the weight came back on?

2:31What would you attribute that to?

2:35I really have no idea. Yeah, I just, well, I was really restricting after the bariatric surgery.

2:44Now I realize how restrictive I was, and then I just got to the point where I decided that I didn't want to be restrictive all the time, and I just started eating things that I wasn't eating, and the weight just came on. Uh-huh. Before the bariatric surgery, had you ever, in all those years of dieting, had you ever gotten to your target weight? Had you ever gotten to your target?

Weight Loss Experience

3:13Yes.

Weight Loss Experience

3:13Yeah. I would lose weight, and then I'd gain weight, and I'd lose, I mean, the whole yo-yo dieting thing. Mm-hmm. So did you ever have a point where you felt, okay, I feel good about myself, I feel good about my body, when you did lose the weight? Like, how did you feel? I felt wonderful. It was a good thing. Mm-hmm. And what was wonderful about it? I just felt more confident. I felt that people took me more seriously.

3:46Um, I just was happier in general. Mm-hmm. I could wear the kind of clothes that I like, that type of thing. So you could wear the kind of clothes you like, you felt more confident, you felt people took you more seriously, and yeah, you just felt better about yourself. Definitely. Mm-hmm. Okay. So remind me again, you said you were how old? 68. 68. Do you ever think to yourself how long you want to live for? Like, do you have a number in your mind?

4:18Uh, yeah, I think so. I'd like to be in my late 80s when I go. The late 80s. So we're talking another 20 years. Mm-hmm. Yeah. On the earth. Yeah. Are you married? I am. Mm-hmm. How long? Uh, it'll be 35 years next week. Wow. Congratulations. Thank you. How does your partner feel about your body? He loves me unconditionally. He's like the best guy ever. Mm-hmm.

4:49And when he sees you go through all your dieting, what advice does he give you? Um, he really doesn't give me any advice. It's, uh, he supports me whether I'm dieting, whether I'm eating too much, whether I'm gaining weight. He really doesn't, uh, pass any judgment or give me advice. Mm-hmm. Do you have, uh, kids? I do. I have three adult children and I have eight grandchildren.

5:19Congratulations. Thank you. I know they're wonderful. Do they live near you? Yep. I'm very fortunate. They do. Oh, that's so great. So 68 years old, you want to live into at least your late eighties. So that's another 20 years. What do you imagine those 20 years are going to be for? Like, like what's, what, what do you want to do with those 20 years? Well, um, I worked in healthcare for 42 years. I was a CAT scan technologist and I retired in 2019.

5:51Um, and then I went to culinary school because I had always wanted to do that. That was on my bucket list. I absolutely loved every minute of it. And I have a little home business where I teach cookie decorating and that's really, really fulfilling for me. I love it. Absolutely love it. So I can see myself continuing to do that, to have the classes and just enjoy my family. That's my main goal for the next 20 years.

6:23Enjoy watching them grow and, you know. Being with them. So you want to be there with your family, enjoy them, enjoy your love of the culinary universe. I love it.

Life Goals

6:36So, so here you are and you've been dieting since age 13. You're 68. So that's 55 years. Yes. Do you ever think to yourself that you're tired of dieting? I am so tired of dieting. I remember when I was younger telling myself that when I was 60, I was never going to diet again, but that didn't happen.

7:0755 years is a long amount of time to be in the universe of worry about food, body and weight. Absolutely. And I got to understand you want to weigh what you want to weigh.

7:29But your life, as you get older, as you know, life gets more precious. Absolutely. The time gets more precious. And how you spend, it gets more precious. That's why I was interested to hear what you want to do with your precious time. And to me, the worry about food and weight and calories and what you're eating, there's a certain place where that's become a habit for you.

8:03Yeah. It's become very familiar. It's like, it's like a second marriage. Mm-hmm. It's very comfortable. Yes. And it's familiar. Yes. And you know it. You know what you're going to think. You know how you're going to feel. You know if you gain weight, you're going to feel bad. If you lose some weight, you're going to feel good. You weigh yourself. The number looks right. Everything's great. Mm-hmm. And in a strange way, focusing on the food on our plate and the amount of food and the

8:36calories and the fat grams and all that sort of thing, it's like its own religion. Absolutely. Yeah. And it's a way to structure our world.

The Princess and Queen Archetypes

8:47Mm-hmm. So the good news is you have a choice in what your religion is. Mm-hmm. Because you're the one who's doing the worshiping. You're the one who's doing the praying. You're the one who's putting energy and attention onto certain rituals. Yeah. And I just want to offer straight up that why don't you go on a dieting vacation?

9:24But even more than a dieting vacation, go on a vacation from having to change your body so you can feel better about yourself. Mm-hmm. When you say, well, when I lost the weight and I got down to 130, people take you more seriously. Ooh. Don't even answer that question. Don't even answer that question. The people that love you, your husband doesn't care. Yeah. I guarantee you, your children don't care.

9:54Yeah, I know they don't. I promise you, your grandchildren don't care. Nope.

9:59If somebody truly wasn't taking you seriously because of your weight, they shouldn't be in your world. Mm-hmm. I mean, think of how silly that is. Yeah. You wouldn't say to your grandchild, you know, I'm not going to respect you and I'm not going to take you seriously until all your baby fat is gone. No. Or until you lose weight. You wouldn't say that to your grandchildren. No. Say that to your kids. But in a way, I could be wrong, but I think the person who's, the people who don't take you

10:34seriously when you're supposedly not at your target weight, those people live in your head. I see that. Absolutely. Yeah. I'm my own worst enemy. I really am. Yeah. So you can change that. It's, it's, I know you know that. Yeah. But I think personally that this is the time in your life to take that knowing and actually put it into action. Mm-hmm.

11:04So to take that knowing, I know I'm my own worst enemy. I know that the things I say to my own self about my body or my weight, I would never say to my kids or my grandkids. Absolutely not. So why would you say them to you? Yeah. I find like I go on a downward spiral, like I'll go past a mirror and I won't look like how I look. So I just get all these bad thoughts and then, oh, I have to not eat, you know, tomorrow.

11:36I'll have to, you know, stop doing what I'm doing. And, and I just go on this downward spiral. Mm-hmm. So, you know, I believe I've been doing this work for, for 40 years now. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And what I've come to the conclusion. One of the things that I've come to the conclusion is that oftentimes our relationship with food and our relationship with our body and its weight can get

12:08kind of stuck at a certain age. So if somebody starts dieting when they're 13. Yeah. Then in a strange way, it's the 13 year old me. That's always dieting, even when I'm 30 or 40 or 50 or 60. It's that little kid who somehow got the message. You're no good. You're not lovable. You're not okay. Mm-hmm and unless I change my body, nobody's going to take me seriously.

12:40Right. Nobody's going to love me. Somehow you got that message. And trust me, you're not the only person. You're not the only woman who got that message. Like welcome to the club. Yeah. People get the message that your body is not good enough. You have to change it. It has to be shorter, shorter, thinner, more muscular, whatever it is. It's got to change shape. And we get these notions in our head that come from the world. Yeah. They come from the world, but they land in us. And it's our job to decommission them.

13:16Mm-hmm. So all I'm trying to say is I'm asking you to consider that when you're looking in the mirror and you're not liking yourself, that's not 68-year-old Maggie, mother and grandmother and elder citizen and wise woman. That's not who's talking. Mm-hmm. Who's talking in that moment is the little girl who wants to lose weight so people will love her and take her seriously.

13:48Yeah. The good news is you're not that little girl anymore.

13:54By far. He's still, but that little girl still tends to sit at the head of the table when you eat. Mm-hmm. When you eat, when you think about food, it's that little girl worrying. Yeah. That's true. Have you ever heard me talk about the archetypes of the queen and the princess? Yes. Yeah. So quick refresher. So archetypes, you know, think of all the fairy tales that we've heard about, about the princess and the queen

14:26and the princess stage. And princess is, you know, we often use that term pejoratively, but I'm not looking at it in a negative sense. Princess is the younger phase of a woman's life. Mm-hmm. There's a very early princess. There's a middle princess. There's a late princess. But in the princess stage, when a woman is young, when a female is young, she still doesn't know herself because she's young. Right. And in the princess stage, we want approval from the outside.

15:00Mm-hmm. Tell me I'm okay. Tell me I'm beautiful. Tell me you love me. Look at me. Aren't I wonderful? Mm-hmm. We need approval from the outside because it helps build us up. When the big people around us tell us, you're wonderful, you're beautiful, you're cool. We love you just as you are. Yeah. Yeah. In my family, I was the pretty one. My sister was the smart one. So I was always valued for the way that I looked.

15:31Mm-hmm. And that became my persona. Yes. Interesting. So you brought that persona into your later years. Yeah. And what's happening is the princess is still sitting at the head of the table. Mm-hmm. And who should be sitting at the head of the table when you're 68 is the queen. Yeah. The queen is exactly as a sound. A good queen knows who she is.

16:03Mm-hmm. She believes in herself. She's confident in herself. She understands that her value is in who she is and what she has to give to the world. Her value is not in how much body fat she has. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Her value is not in not having any wrinkles and being perfect and having a perfect body. Like, that stage is over with. Yeah. It's gone. Mm-hmm. So, but if you're a woman of queen's age and you're letting the princess run the show, you will be miserable.

16:34Yeah. And I have been. Mm-hmm. So the good news is you could self-initiate into queenhood anytime you want. It is a literal self-initiation. It's a literal decision where you have, it's, it's, it's, to me, it's like a spiritual reckoning. Mm-hmm. It's a spiritual act where you look in the mirror and you be with yourself and you say to yourself, I'm done. Yeah. I am done judging myself.

17:05Mm-hmm. Around how I should look and what I should weigh. Because every moment you spend in worry is a moment where you're not fully available for the world and for the people that you love. That's also true. And it's a moment where you're not able to be in your glory and your queenhood and your grandmotherhood and your wise womanhood. But instead in your mind, you're trying to be the 16-year-old princess.

17:36Mm-hmm. So I'm just raising my hand and saying this because, you know, once you hit your 60s, you know, we're on the other side of the map. Yeah, definitely. Mm-hmm. And so- I do want to be happy for what the time that I have left, you know, I want to not be miserable all the time because of the way that I look. It just doesn't make any sense to me. No, it doesn't make sense.

18:08Yeah. And it is an old habit and it is the kind of sort of viral belief that lives in the

Letting Go of Dieting

18:16world.

Letting Go of Dieting

18:16So it's not yours personally. You didn't invent it. Mm-hmm. But the good news is you can claim at any time, you can claim your dignity and you can say, I will no longer tie my self-worth to how much I weigh. So if it was me, I would love to see you get rid of your scale and never weigh yourself again. Really? Okay. Yeah.

18:47Never weigh yourself ever again. It's not important. It's not important. It's just so- Yeah. Let a scale tell you how you feel. You're going to let a little machine that has no intelligence whatsoever, let that machine report to you how you should feel that day.

19:04And you're going to let a number, 130, determine your value as a person. Yeah.

19:14You wouldn't wish that on your grandchildren. Absolutely not. So why wish it on yourself? It's like undoing a curse. And that's exactly what it is, a curse. Yeah. Absolutely. So it's undoing that curse. And the good news is you got a nice King Prince Charming who loves you. I do. I do. And nobody, nobody is looking for you to lose weight.

19:45Nobody that you know in your world is making your weight conditional upon them loving you. That's so true. Except for you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what I would say is I would get rid of the scale and start to start to live life as if this body right now, this is your body. This is your body. Like this body that you have right now, this is your body.

20:17And I would pretend, pretend for at least three or four months, but this is the body I'm going to have for the rest of my life. How would I conduct myself? Who would I be? How would I show up? If you knew for a certain that this is the body I'm going to have for the rest of my life, you'd be lucky to have this body for the rest of your life. This is true. Right now, you're as young and healthy as you'll ever be. That's very true.

20:48So just really now's the time to live your life and let go of the tyranny. Yeah. A number that you've invented. So you decided, well, I feel better at this number. Yeah. Yeah. Look around you. There's people of all kinds of shapes, weights, sizes, and heights feeling good about themselves. Yeah. Yeah. We invent a number and say, that's the number that's going to make me feel good.

21:19And then we chase after it and then we get it and we lose it. And then when we have it, we think we feel good, but it's a temporary high. Definitely. If getting to that number was truly the promised land, then every time you got there, you would have stayed there. Stayed there. Yeah. Yeah.

21:41So it's surrendering. It's giving it up. It's literally like, I surrender. Yeah. I'm not going to do this anymore. Mm-hmm. And begin to occupy the body that you have right now and appreciate the body you have right now. Because you've been trying to change your body since you were 13. You have no idea what it's like to just go, this is me. Yeah. I'm not going to try to change it. Yeah.

22:12And that's going to mean starting to trust yourself more and trust your life. Mm-hmm. Just trust that, you know something, you'll take care of yourself. You're not going to eat yourself into oblivion. Right.

22:30And if you overeat or you emotionally eat, you stand by yourself. You forgive yourself. You don't torture yourself. Right. It's the self-torture when we eat something that we think we shouldn't eat. Yeah. That's actually the problem. I agree. I think that sometimes I restrict myself so much that then I just say I can't do it anymore. And then I just go crazy on all the stuff that I think I can't have.

23:01Exactly. So there's no time like the present to just literally draw a line in the sand. I mean, really, it's just like that. Yeah. And it's, it's, see, the thing is, there's nothing wrong with you. You're not doing anything wrong. It's. Yeah. The challenge is you're not allowing yourself to live in this body that you have and occupy

23:32it and love it and experience it and experience life without trying to change yourself. Yeah. I mean, imagine if you woke up every day and the person you're sleeping with every day wakes up with you and says, honey, you need to change. You need to change your body. And if you don't change the body, I'm not going to love you. And keeps reminding you every day and every time you're hungry and every time you eat, honey, you better not eat that. Or you better watch what you eat. Because if you don't, then I'm not going to love you.

24:04That's torture. And that would be absolute torture. And I would not stay with anyone like that. No, no, no, no. Yeah. So that's why we want to kick that voice out of your head. Mm hmm. And that takes practice. Yeah. It's literally an ongoing practice because the old voice is still going to be there, but you're slowly letting it go and you're inviting a newer voice to the head of the table.

24:36And that newer voice is Queen Grandma Maggie. She is the queen who has authority over herself, who loves herself, who sits on her throne and is not saying, am I okay? Is this, does this dress look good enough? Do you love me even though I think I have 10 pounds to lose? No, a good queen doesn't say that. A good queen sets an example. For example, I'm sitting in my power and I love me for who I am.

25:09I love you, the people I love for who you are. Yeah.

25:15So it's setting an example for your grandkids. Yeah. I would love to be that type of example for them. Absolutely. You have the power to do that. You really do. And it's literally choosing a new path, choosing to let go of dieting. And it's kind of like jumping off the ledge. Yeah. It feels like it makes me feel anxious thinking about it. Yeah. It's jumping off a ledge.

25:45But if not now, then when? Because you literally go to the grave with this. Absolutely.

25:54And I know people, I've met people who do. And it's sad.

25:59It's sad because they were the only person torturing themselves. They were the only person who cared. Nobody else cared. Yeah. About them losing a single pound. And it's not fair to the rest of the world for you to diminish yourself and make the best version of you less available to everybody. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, you're no longer doing it just for you.

26:30You're doing it for the people who you love. That's true. And that you want to be an example for. That's very important to me. Yeah. So, when you're looking to make these changes, you think to yourself, I'm doing this with my grandkids. I want to set a great example as a mature woman who loves herself for who she is.

26:58Which means letting go of the princess dream.

27:03I'm going to have this body and I'm going to feel so good because I fit into the clothes that I want to fit into. Throw out those clothes. Yeah. If you don't, throw them all out. Fit into the clothes that you fit into right now. And let those be your clothes. Yeah. And stop setting yourself up for disappointment. I do because I look at the clothes and I don't fit into them anymore. And I say, oh, man, I would love to be that weight again. And I need to stop eating. And yeah, I'm going to get rid of them.

27:35Get rid of them. And begin your journey of making friends with food.

27:45Making friends with food. Because guess what? The way God invented us, all creatures eat. Yeah. We're eaters. If you don't eat, you die. Yeah. So God didn't invent food to torture us. Didn't invent food to put body fat on us. Food is what sustains us. Food is the mana from heaven. Food is wonderful. Yeah. And you've been conditioned to believe that food is your enemy. Yeah. And that you have to fight it.

28:17I teach cookie decorating classes. I make really pretty cookies and everybody loves it. And my classes are always full. And I had never tasted one of my cookies that I made because I always felt like I couldn't eat it because it was a sweet and it would make me fat and I'd be out of control. And so I never tasted one of my cookies before. It's very, it's sad now that I think about it. Very sad. Well, you can change that.

28:47That's the good news. That's the good news. And, you know, sitting in your queenhood means you're trusting yourself.

29:00Because when you say, well, if I eat the cookie, I'm just never going to stop. Right. That's the biggest fear. So that's our fear. I'm never going to stop and I'm just going to balloon and I'm going to weigh hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. Right. Right.

29:16So.

29:19Have you ever done that? No. Well, I. No, I haven't. I mean, I've gained weight, but not like that. No. Not like that. So you gain weight and then you found yourself again. Right. And so all I'm saying is your worst nightmare has never come true.

29:38And your strategy, the strategy you've been doing for 55 years just hasn't worked. It hasn't gotten you to any promised land. If something doesn't work after 55 years. Yeah. Literally, we change it and we try something else. So the something else here is to begin to make friends with food. Make friends with cookies and eat the cookie.

30:09Enjoy it. Yeah. Savor it. Celebrate it. Because that's what you want to do anyway. Right. Eat the cookie. Right. Right. You love them. You're making them. Make other people happy. They make you happy to make them. They're going to make you happy to eat it. Yeah. And give yourself that pleasure, because here's the thing, when we give ourselves a pleasure and we fully embrace that pleasure and we experience that pleasure, we become satisfied.

30:41Yeah. Yeah. I think if I were more comfortable eating a cookie, I wouldn't eat as much. I wouldn't eat all of the cookies if I just enjoyed it and was comfortable. Exactly.

30:56Because if we keep making it bad, you shouldn't do this. Right. Right. It's bad. It's bad. Eventually, you're going to eat it and you're going to be out of control. Right. You're being limited. Right. Right. And you almost have to grasp it. Yes. But that grasping and that desperation comes from the fact that we're limiting ourselves in the first place. Yeah. And we're holding ourselves back and we're saying, no, no, no, you can't experience pleasure.

31:31Well, we're built for pleasure. Yeah. The reason why food tastes good on your tongue is we're designed that way. Food is designed to be pleasurable. So many aspects of life are designed right into our physiology to be pleasurable. So it's about you having a new relationship and learning at this ripe young age of 68, learning that you can trust your relationship with pleasure.

32:01Explore it. Yeah. You might eat the cookies and you might overeat them, but you know what happens? You forgive yourself. You go, oh, you know, next time. Yeah. I want to take a deep breath. I want to slow down. Right. I want to notice myself more and give yourself the opportunity to be in relationship with food as opposed to be fighting it. Yeah. Trying to resist it.

32:31How's all this landing for you, Maggie? It's incredible. It sounds great. I'm going to go throw out my scale as soon as we're done here. And I think if I keep on remembering that I'm setting an example for my children and that I need to be confident to do that, I think that would be extremely helpful. And I know sometimes, yeah, I will probably revert back to the old way.

33:02But if I stay present and I remember, then it won't be as bad.

Conclusion and Next Steps

33:09Exactly. And I'll get to enjoy what's left of my life. You know, exactly. Donate, donate the clothes that don't fit. Yeah. If you happen to lose weight, then you buy new clothes. Then I buy new ones. Right. Right. That's all. But yeah. Own this body that you have and just begin to enjoy it and say, you know something, all things considered, this is not so bad. Yeah. And you can learn to love your body at this weight.

33:42You can learn to love your body no matter how old it is. Yeah. Because it's just, it's the same way you love the people you love. You're just loving them unconditionally. And you're not placing demands on how somebody's body should look or weigh in order for you to love them. So just the same for yourself, give that to yourself.

34:10Yeah. And you could, it's going to be difficult because I, for so long, it's a, it's a habit. It, you know, even the bad thoughts are a habit. I just revert right back to the bad thoughts. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So it's literally learning. Yeah. At this ripe young age, it's learning because we're always learning how to begin to harness your mind and your thoughts. So as soon as those thoughts start to come in, as soon as those negative thoughts start

34:41to come in, I'm going to suggest you witness yourself like, Oh, Maggie, there you are speaking unkind to yourself. The first question you could ask yourself is, would I speak that way to my grandchild? Yeah. The answer is no. Therefore, I ought not speak that way to anybody, including myself. Yeah. So it's learning to catch yourself because those, like you say, it's habit and habits, especially the unwanted habits, they're automatic, they're repetitive, and they're unconscious.

35:16So you don't have to wake up in the morning and think, I need to torture myself today about it. It just happens naturally. Yeah. Just defer to that. Yes. So the habit's going to do itself. So because it's automatic and it's unconscious, the way to transform that habit is to introduce consciousness, introduce awareness, just introduce the light and shine light on that habit when it starts to do itself. And the witness part of you who's noticing your life.

35:50So, Whoa, wait a second. That's not, that's not good for me.

35:56Time out. Now, I'm going to cut this conversation in my head right here and see if you can even replace the thought with a better thought in the moment. I'm learning to love this body. Yeah. I'm learning to accept my body. I'm learning to celebrate my body because all things considered, you know, here you are, you're relatively healthy. Yeah. And you look great.

36:26Thank you. So let's start to give your body some love and some thanks and gratitude and look at the good things that it does give you. Yeah. I am grateful that I, I am healthy and that I can move freely. I don't have any problems, mobility or, you know, um, that I can keep learning and that I can keep doing. I'm very grateful because some people at my age don't have that. Absolutely.

36:57Yeah. Well, Maggie, I have all the confidence in the world that you can do this, get rid of the scale, donate the clothes right now and choose to be the queen and say goodbye to the princess part of you that needs to have the ideal body because that's not your life stage anymore, you know, and just embrace this new life stage. This is my body. Yeah.

37:29Yes. Thank you so much. It's so helpful to keep reminding myself that. And, and, um, it, it's been a pleasure talking to you about it. And it really has been, I appreciate you. Maggie and I appreciate you too. It's, it's, it's what a great conversation and what a great example. You're going to be for your grandkids. And I know that you already have. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you so much. And thanks everybody for tuning in.

38:00Hey friends. We're so happy that you've joined us for another episode of the psychology of eating podcast with Mark David. Are you loving these episodes? Then simply subscribe and you'll never miss an episode again. We'd also love it. If you'd leave us a review so we can hear more about your own journey with food and body. And if you're curious about what we offer at the Institute for the psychology of eating, including our internationally acclaimed coach certification training that's rooted in dynamic

38:35eating psychology and mind body nutrition, please head on over to our website, psychology of eating.com until next time, take care. And remember having the body you want starts with loving the body you have.

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