Episode 142: Your Body's Always Talking to You: Here's What It's Saying

We have a favorite expression in MindStrong: "Your body's always talking to you, whether it's what we want to hear or not". When you learn how to understand its language, you better understand how it is (or isn't) responding, and how to adjust accordingly.

Here's exactly how to speak your body's language. 

If you prefer video, you can watch these podcast episodes on YouTube as well: https://www.youtube.com/@mindstrongfitness2541

Check out my (free) workshop, How to Fire Up Your Metabolism in Menopause and Beyond right here: www.MindStrongFitness.com

Transcript

Becoming MindStrong: 142: Your Body's Always Talking to You

Speaker 1  0:00  
Welcome back to the coming mind strong podcast. My name is Rachel, and I am the founder and CEO of mind strong, where we are

Unknown Speaker  0:07  
all about educating on the why my joke,

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that's not a joke, is I never grew out of that

Speaker 1  0:12  
little kid phase. But why? Boy, boy, because I believe the things that overwhelm us, the things that scare us, are the things we don't understand. And unfortunately for a lot of women, because of diet culture, that's nutrition. So we are here to put you in the driver's seat, educate you on the why. So on the other side of this, you don't need me or anyone else you understand nutrition as a skill. So today we are talking about a little weird expression that we use a lot within the world of mind strong, and I think it's such an important one for women in menopause to understand. Something we say a lot is that your body's always talking to you, whether it's what you want to hear or not, and when we dig under the surface of that statement, which we're going to do today, we can start to understand why the guidelines that I give on this podcast, but that we teach and do with our members inside ignite our signature 12 week program. Why these guidelines are what they are? Right? I always talk about this is not Rachel's 12 week diet. This is human biology. We can understand how the biology of our body is working, what it's saying to us and what the path ahead looks like. So in today's episode, we're going to define what I mean when I say your body's always talking to us whether it's what we want to hear or not. And most importantly, the whole point of this, the why is so we can follow that feedback to get results. Check it

Speaker 1  1:41  
out. Welcome to the becoming mind strong podcast, the official podcast of mind strong fitness. My name is Rachel, and I'm the CEO of mind strong and we are here for two things. We're here for hope in a stage of life where it feels like we are doing everything right and nothing is working. I am here to tell you you are not broken. This is

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fixable, and I promise there

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is hope. And number two,

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we are here for truth in

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an industry that is designed to keep

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us confused with shake systems and point systems and frozen meals. I promise you it doesn't have to be that difficult. Someone can teach you the skill of riding a bike, someone can teach you the skill of knitting, and I can teach you to master the skill of nutrition. So are you ready? Let's rock and roll.

Speaker 1  2:39  
In the intro. You heard me say that, you know, one of my favorite expressions is, math is always going to math. Science always going to science, and biology is always going to biology. That's when people say, Rachel, what's your success rate? That's always my cheeky answers. What's the success rate of biology? Because we haven't seen the results that we have over the past decade. Because I invented Rachel's magical 12 week diet, my superpower is educating, and what I teach, what we teach now, at Mind, Strong is welcome to a menopausal body. The old rules of our 20s, 30s, early 40s, they don't work anymore. Here's the new tool bag, according to your biology. Now, with that tool bag, according to biology, means learning to listen as your body's communicating with you. So as promised, an intro, we're going to define what that means, and then, of course, most importantly, I'm going to teach you how to decipher it. So the best way that I can define for you what that means your body's always talking to you, whether it's what we want to hear not, is by giving you a very specific example. And I'm going back years now to when mind strong used to be a one woman show. I was I

Unknown Speaker  3:45  
was the only coach.

Speaker 1  3:47  
I was the only everything in mind strong. And this is a true story of of a member that I had, and obviously I'm not going to say her name out of privacy, but I think it's an important story to share. I have a five part series on this podcast called What weight loss actually looks like in menopause. And if you haven't listened to that series yet, I suggest you do. It's one of my favorite it's one of the deepest dives into the education piece around metabolisms. And this story is going to make a lot more sense when you understand the the wording, the language that I use there. So this woman It was not an outlier. She's like the vast majority of women that we work with, in terms of how she started. She came to me she'd been eating 1000 calories a day for the past 10 to 20 years. She wasn't sure the exact number, but she's like, it's been at least 10, it could be 20. So blanket statement, very long time under eating. So again, if you haven't listened that five part series, go do it. But we talk a lot in this podcast about a healing stage, meaning she was already eating very low calorie. She was not losing weight. We did not have to wish, hope, pray and guess. Her metabolism was not very good at burning calories. We needed to put her through a healing stage, meaning slowly increase. For calories, so that the old rules of eat less, move more, go back to working. That's the essence of that's a healing stage, in a nutshell. So we started the climb. Now you can imagine, after 10 to 20 years of eating 1000 calories a day, it was a slow process in our world, we talk about this a lot. We celebrate hunger because we have sensors in our brain and body whose sole job is to communicate hunger. So never in the history of ever has someone come to me eating 1000 calories a day saying, Rachel, I'm starving. We always hear the Yeah, but yeah, but I'm not hungry. And the answer is, of course, you're not hungry, because the sensors in your brain and body whose sole job is to communicate hunger, they shut down. Humans are pleasure seeking creatures, why would we keep pushing on the bruise? So in our world, we celebrate hunger because it's a sign your metabolism is coming back on. Well, after 1020, years of eating 1000 calories a day, her hunger sensors were taking their time, right? So it was a very slow, tedious process going through a healing stage. By the time we got her up to 1800 calories, which is great progress, right? 1000 to 1800 calories a day hadn't gained a pound. Energy was better. Sleep was better. All the all the check boxes we're looking to check. But she came to me one day, and I remember, I mean, this was years ago, and I remember the story like it was last week, because the the trauma behind it is real. And she said, Rachel, this is me waving the white flag. I don't want to raise my calories anymore. I'm done. I want to get into a weight loss stage. And I told her, Listen, I've been doing this a very long time, right? I have a crystal ball, so to speak. I can tell you what's going to happen if we don't, number one, go higher and number two, stay there. We need a maintenance period. It will not work. And if you've hung out here, you know I'm not a sugar coat person, so that's exactly how I told her I'm like, this is your body, your choice. As the professional. You hired me because I'm the expert. If we go right now from 1800 calories into a deficit, into a weight loss stage, it will not work. And how will we know it won't work, because your body is going to clearly communicate it, it is not going to lose weight. What I suggest instead, and you hear me talk about this in that five part series, is healing. Stage is like climbing up a mountain. It's slow, it's tedious. No one, maybe there's people who want to do it. Most don't, right? So if we're getting tired, if we're getting frustrated. If we're getting sick of this whole process, it makes a lot more sense to set up camp and take a little break than to roll down the mountain knowing that the only way to the top is to start over. Right? Why would we start over? Let's just chill here for a little bit and keep the climb real quickly before we keep going. In this episode, we are talking a lot about metabolisms in menopause in today's episode. So I want to offer you a chance to deepen your knowledge. If you haven't yet checked out my free workshop how to fire up your metabolism in menopause and beyond. It is one of my go to favorite pieces of content that I have out here in the interwebs. You can use the

Speaker 1  7:58  
link in the show notes below, or go to mind strong fitness.com and you'll get a cute little pop up that'll get you straight into the workshop. Now let's get back to the show. And she hard. No, absolutely not put me in a weight loss stage. I don't care. Let's go. So we did, and to this day, it is a whole body visceral reaction telling that story, because her body clearly communicated that the trust was not there. Her body did not Yes, she did a lot better. She gone from 1000 1800 calories, but we're talking about 10 to 20 years of under eating. We're talking about skipping an entire maintenance stage that tells her body this is who I am and what I do now. We didn't go high enough. We didn't stay there long enough, it was not ready. So how did her body communicate? It didn't lose weight, and there was unless she was going to go on a drug right? Unless she was going to go on a GLP one, there was no other option but to flip it, reverse it, and go back into the climb. Something I talk a lot about with our Ignite members is I am not a gambler. I am someone if I want to do if I'm going to do something, if I'm going to put my time, my money, my energy, my focus on something, I want to know that I am doing everything I can to ensure it works, which is why I am always a fan of healing stages taking a little longer. Let's push a little higher. Let's stay at maintenance a little longer, because on the other side. Here's the whole point of this story. On the other side, our body is always going to communicate with us, whether it's what we want to hear or not. Meaning if we did not do our due diligence, if we did not go high enough with our calories, and again, I get deep in the weeds in that five part series of what that looks like if we did not stay at maintenance long enough. Also, in that five part series of how high do I have to go? How long do I have to stay there if we did not do those things, and we try to get into a caloric deficit, get into a weight loss stage, our body is going to clearly tell us, hey, I see what you're trying to do. I appreciate the effort, and I'm not ready. The trust isn't there. You are not going to lose weight. And the only thing doesn't mean you're broken. The good news is that doesn't mean you're broken. The only path is to flip it, reverse it, and go back into a healing stage. So for me, as someone who's not a gambler, I'm always going to err on the side of, let's go a little higher. Let's stay there. Especially that's the most important part, is let's stay there a little longer, so that when it's time for the weight loss stage, our body communicates the other way. Our body says, Ah, I see you. I like to think of you gave me all my Christmas presents and you ripped them away, right?

Unknown Speaker  10:32  
Like you made me believe this is who I am and

Speaker 1  10:34  
what I did in higher calories. Then when you take them away, the old rules of eat less, move more. Go back to working. Your body's communicating, hey, my metabolism is back online, because we're losing weight. So I say this because, again, as someone who's not a sugar coat person like this, journey can be frustrating. This is why my my joke, that's not a joke, is if there was an option, C, Sign me up. If you're already eating low calorie, not losing weight, you hear me say all the time on this podcast, it is either a drug like a GLP one, which I zero out of everything in the universe. Recommend you're going to take a six inch hole. Make it six miles long. Option two is a healing stage. That's it. And the reason that I harp so much if there was an option three, sign me up is because I know how slow and tedious and frustrating this process is, and I know that it's biology. And when you've done this as long as I have, you see people get frustrated. You see people get upset, right? And part of our job as coaches is, of course, holding space and and validating. Of course, it's frustrating. Those feelings are real, and our body is always talking to us whether it's what we want to hear or not. So our job is to listen to the signs, right? If it's feeling like a lot of food as we're going through this healing stage, we're never going to say, suck it up buttercup, like open your pie hole and shove more food in. No, your body's telling us, I need a little break. Let's set up camp in that mountain and chill for a little bit before we keep climbing. Right if we're getting into the higher calories and we're getting frustrated and we're getting annoyed at the process, same thing, let's set up camp and give ourselves a mental break. There's physical breaks and mental breaks, because on the other side of this, we're going to get one of two responses, we're either going to lose weight, which means your body saying,

Unknown Speaker  12:24  
thumbs up. Way to go. You did your

Speaker 1  12:26  
due diligence, or you're not, which is your body saying, Hey, I appreciate the effort. We're rushing the process. We're not there yet. Now the last caveat, the caveat I'll add to this, is I have seen it happen, where people do their due diligence. They go high enough, they stay there long enough we get into weight loss, and their body's not ready. And that's why, when I say as coaches, part of our job is holding space and validating and gearing the conversation back to the biology part of this right. You can do your due diligence. But the one thing right now, and I pray this changes in the next 10 years, I have no idea if someone's working on this or not, if, if not, steal my idea and go work on this. If you're a scientist, we can't measure how much goes on what I call under the surface, right? You hear me on this podcast. A lot relate back to, you know, those cheesy self help posters where it's an iceberg and it's like what people see, and it's the success at the top, and what they don't see under the surface is the hard work and the dedication and the blood, sweat and tears. I always use that visualization for weight loss. Weight loss is the tip of the iceberg. The tiniest little thing we can see what right now science can't measure. And please somebody steal this idea and go figure out a device that measures it is what went on under the surface. How many years of yo yo dieting? Have you been cutting carbs for 10 years? Or have you never thought about this stuff until menopause? Right? Have you been eating 1000 calories a day for the last 20 years? Or were you eating like 1700 1800 and then when menopause hit, it just stopped working. We can't measure how much has gone under the surface. So I say all that to say there are times it's rare, but it happens that people do their due diligence. They climb up to higher maintenance, they stay there for we always recommend a minimum of three months, and they get in a deficit, and it's slow moving, or it's not moving at all. And man, oh man, is that frustrating for all of us, and your body is communicating whether it's what we want to hear or not, right? The good news in situations like that, if you have done your due diligence, is it's not usually as long of a journey. We just got to flip it reverse and go back to maintenance for a bit longer, and then your body will respond. So I say all of that to say I'm using the expression a lot because I want to drill it into our heads. Because one of the biggest stumbling blocks that I see in almost well over a decade, I've had mine shrunk for almost a decade. I've been in this industry over a decade, what I see time and time again is that women give up because they don't believe it's working. And I. The thing you hear me come back to a lot is biology is always going to biology. What we have to do is change our focus away from black or white, yes or no. Is it working? Is it not working? This is why I talk so much about leaning into the power of curiosity. Right? Interesting. All right, man, okay, I thought I raised my calories high enough. I thought they say maintenance long enough when I got into that weight loss stage, it just Yeah, it wasn't there. So okay, it's frustrating. I'm not suppressing my feelings. And what my body is communicating with me is that I need a bit more time at maintenance. Maybe this time, right here's the power of cure curiosity. Maybe this time I can think of the maintenance period as the runway to success and rate weight loss. I hear Rachel say that a lot, so maybe my focus when I go back to maintenance this time is on food choices. Can I raise my fiber intake? Can I focus on antioxidant rich foods? Can I get in some more omega threes, all the things that are going to support that weight loss stage, my body is telling me, number one, I need a little more time and maintenance. And number two, I wonder if I can dig a little deeper this time for a more successful weight loss. On the other side, it doesn't mean it's not frustrating. It doesn't mean it's not slow and tedious, and we can hang our hat on the fact that our biology is always going to biology. Our body is telling us what it needs, what our job is. And this is so much easier said than done, but it is capital T truth what our job is, to the best of our ability, is to pay buckle in our patients belt right, go through our checklist of am I doing all the things that my body is asking for, because I've learned this, this skill of nutrition, I've learned how to master these menopausal symptoms, all the things that we teach here at mind strong, have I gone through my checklist that I'm doing the best that I can? And number 3am, I zoning out, zooming out? Am I paying attention to my body's cues? Am I giving it the time and consistency that it needs, and if so, it is just a matter of a bit more time and consistency, because biology is always going to biology, and on the other side of it will come weight loss,

Speaker 1  17:17  
for more information on mind strong fitness, or to Apply for a free one to one strategy session with my incredible all female team. Visit www dot mindstrong fitness.com, you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai