I Cut My Food In Half And Haven't Lost Any Weight

Everyone, welcome to today's program yourself, Thin Podcast. Today we're talking about I cut my food and a half, but I haven't lost any weight. What's going on with me, Jim, I say this because I hear this all the time. You can certainly put your own specifics in there, right? So I cut my food by half, and it's been two weeks and I haven't lost any weight. I cut my food by 75, it's been three weeks. I haven't lost any weight. It's been a month, and I don't eat anymore. I haven't lost any weight. This is so common, and I wish I had a clearer explanation for why this happens, but I don't. And I will tell you a saying I always use in order to deal with this, is that weight loss is very inconsistent and unpredictable in the short term, and it's very consistent and predictable in the long term. And I have been studying weight for over 30 years, and I have never seen a real compelling, clear answer for why some people can cut calories and start losing weight immediately. And some people, it's delayed and it's slower. I don't know why. Okay, I'll give you a few of the general ideas that I kind of think are probably at play, but I've never seen a crystal clear, scientific explanation for why this happens. And yet it happens all the time. I see it regularly. It is almost the norm. I almost expect it, that people are going to cut calories and then come back and say, I'm going to cut the calories. I haven't lost any weight. So let's talk about why this happens and what we can do about it. And I will let you know a lot of this. Right. So we talk about mindset and strategy. In my opinion, this conversation is really primarily steeped in mindset, and it starts really with what your goal is. Right. That's again, we're going to talk about the cause of it, we're going to have the solution, and we're going to kind of blend those two together a little. And so getting impatient about your weight loss is probably one of the number one mindset saboteurs that ruins your progress. You start doing good things and you start weighing yourself and you look and the results don't come as fast as you want them to. So that's how I'm going to talk about this. So regardless of how many calories you've cut, how long you've done it, how little weight you've lost, this is applicable to all Those no matter what the situation. Because no matter what the situation, no matter what your experience, I can almost guarantee you the weight loss will never feel fast enough. That's just a fact of life. Reality is relative. And when we start paying attention to our reading, start paying attention to our weight, it almost never happens fast enough for us, okay? So we have to recognize that. And I think the solution to that, again, the cause of the problem is one and the same. It's the timeframe in which we look at this process. And dieting has conditioned us to look at the weight loss goal as a temporary one, where the goal is to get to your goal weight. And when you think of it that way, you think of it as a temporary thing and you just wanna get it done as quick as possible. And now you start falling into more extreme plans. So typically when you feel like you're not losing weight at all or you're not losing weight fast enough, that is relative to how hard you're trying as well. Okay? And so a lot of people, when they start their weight loss plan, they're starting a diet and they're jumping into it 100%. Now, the second you consciously try and control something that's really primarily automatic, you get drained. Let me give you an example. If all of a sudden you decide you're going to use your other hand, what are your non dominant hand to brush your teeth, to use your phone, and to use your computer mouse, you could do it, right? You could do it, you could get that other hand to brush those teeth, you could get your hand to use the other phone, you could get your hand to use the mouse, but it would be slow and tedious and you would have consistently pay attention to that. Whereas usually those things you just do on autopilot, you're thinking about the day, thinking about the past, thinking about stuff, and you're just doing those things automatically. The second you want to use your non dominant hand now you have to think about every little thing you're doing with it and it's draining. And this is what you're doing every time you start a diet, you're jumping into the diet and you're saying, I'm going to completely change how I eat. Now, it's estimated we make over 200 food decisions a day, so it's the same thing. Now all of a sudden you have to think and plan and come up with new ide and control yourself, whereas before you hadn't and your energy goes whoop. And typically we can't stay on that. And so the other side of that though, experience is that you get really fixated on your weight and you literally start to experience time distortion. And I mean this. And you could test this out tonight when you're brushing your teeth. You go brush your teeth with the other hand and I promise you will be counting the seconds till you're done cleaning them and want to be done with it. Because now brushing your teeth with your non dominant hand is a energy intensive exercise where usually brushing your teeth is just an automatic exercise you do. Okay? And so when you diet, this is what's happening. And when you do these extreme things, you start to experience time distortion. Days start to feel like many days, weeks start to feel like months. And you spend a week eating really well. It feels like you've been doing it for three, four weeks and you're never going to change that. It's always going to feel that way. There's no way around it. Every time you diet that week, that first week feels like a month. And when you go and step on the scale, you know, it's only been a week on one level, but emotionally, God, Jesus, this has been hard. It feels like it's been forever. And I haven't even lost any weight yet. So there's absolutely time distortion. And I would suggest one of the strategies to deal with that is to write down your weight. I would strongly suggest writing down your weight. I suggest weighing yourself every, every day. But however often you want to weigh yourself or track your weight loss success, I would strongly recommend that you write down how long you've been focusing on it and days that you've weighed yourself because this will help combat the time distortion that you experience. And you're going to experience time distortion, you're going to start eating better and it's going to feel a lot longer than it is. And unless you have a clear, clear plan for how you're going to deal with this, you're going to most likely get discouraged and quit because your results will never come fast enough. Okay, so that being said, what happens? Well, it's been two weeks, Jim, I wrote it down and I cut my calories by 50% and I haven't lost any weight. Okay, so to that person, and you're going to experience this too, okay, in some form or another to that person I say, okay, so what? So what? So it didn't happen in the time plan you thought it was going to be. Again, I can promise you you are not more of a weight expert than I am. And I have no idea when I start Working with someone how quickly they're going to lose weight. That's why calorie calculators are bullshit. They're guesstimates. And I think more often than not they set you up for failure. But so we go into the weight loss process with a ridiculous idea how much we're going to weight, we're going to lose anyways. But again, there are people, if you go and study metabolic lab studies, they will put groups of people into a metabolic lab and track every calorie going in and out, give them all the same calories, create all the same kind of calorie deficits for them, and at the end of 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, these people walk out having lost dramatically different amounts of weight. And so that's another piece of this puzzle, is that you may be a slow weight loser, maybe you just are. I don't know why it happens. And if you are, what are you going to do about it? Are you not even going to start because you can't accept that you lose weight slowly? Because who gives a shit? This is where we go back to the mindset of what's your goal? If your goal is to lose weight as quick as possible, then how quickly you lose weight in the beginning is going to be very important to you staying on the path. But if your goal is to live at your goal weight for the rest of your life, then slow weight loss doesn't even matter because the goal is to live at your goal weight. So if it takes a month, a year, five years, who gives a I just want to get to my goal weight and that's where I want to live my life. That's the person I want to be. So that mindset and that attitude is completely different. And I think it sets you up for success because you may be a person who loses weight slowly. And if you are, what are you going to do? Are you going to say, I am not going to lose weight because I lose it slowly. It's not fair I should lose it faster. It's not fair that I lose it slowly. So I quit. Because what do you think is going to happen? Because what happens? I didn't lose any weight for two weeks. Well, what if you did it for another two months? Excuse me? What if you did it for another two months? You don't think you'd lose some weight? Well, I doubted. I haven't lost any weight for two weeks. Who gives a. That's two weeks. This is two months. This is what I mean. Weight loss is inconsistent, unpredictable. In two weeks, Two months, it starts becoming a lot more consistent and predictable. You say two months later, Jim, I only lost three pounds. Okay. Where are you gonna be two years from now? Two years from now, that's gonna be 80 pounds, you know, so again, we've got to use our mindset to deal with these issues that everyone's running up against. All dieters run up against this and have no strategy to deal with it. All right? And one last thing I'll give you for what can potentially contribute to slow weight loss is cortisol. That seems to be one of the things I've seen over and over and over again as potentially a decent explanation for why some dieters don't really lose much weight in the beginning, even though they're doing drastic. And so what happens when you do something drastic like instantly change your complete eating pattern? It's stressful and that can raise cortisol levels. And so it's possible that those raised cortisol levels are stymieing your weight loss for a little while now. Long term, your. Your cortisol chemicals aren't going to make a difference. Please understand this too, okay? You're not. If you, If I cut your. If I put you in gym jail and I control your calories and I cut your calories by 60% and you start stressing out and you start holding on to weight, that's only going to be for a little while. Again, weight loss is inconsistent and unpredictable in the short term. It ain't inconsistent unpredictable in the term, because I don't give a fine. I put you in gym jail, cut your calories down by 70%, you're stressed out, you didn't lose any weight the first two weeks. What's going on? Who gives a. Because the next two months, the next two years, I guarantee you your weight's going to go down, cortisol or not. Okay? So again, if we look at things in a short term time frame, we set ourselves up to be very emotional, very inaccurate, very unclear about what's going on, and almost guaranteed to quit. Because we get discouraged when we start looking at this as a long term, forever thing, we really set ourselves up for success. Because weight loss is inconsistent and unpredictable in the short term, very consistent, predictable in the long term. And if you can detach your motivation from your fast, instant weight loss that you've been trained to focus on, you free yourself from a lot of emotional ups and downs that typically are the things that are knocking you off track. So I hope this helps you out and give it some thought. Because I will let you know that the more comfortable and resilient you are in the face of slow weight loss, the more successful you're ultimately going to be. And it is that simple. It is that simple. And so if you want to work on developing a mindset like that, click the link in my bio or go to program yourself, then go get the free hypnosis session. I give you all. I've got a training for you. I just got a report I set up. I'm going to be giving you this week. Again, no one gives you more free stuff than I do. And go check it out. See me, take me up on that and prove me wrong. If I don't give you more stuff than anyone else. And then Facebook, I just put the link right in there in the comments for you. So go check that out. But if anyone's any questions, feel free to ask them. Welcome with purposes. Thank you for the shift. You are welcome. You are welcome. That is what I'm here for. Help people shift their mindsets. What's up, Shereen? Shereen says, oh yeah, two years for ten pounds. Next year, fifteen pounds or more. No, mine's very slow. But I have overhauled so much. Yeah, again, Shereen's on the program and just doing awesome. I love that mindset because again, dieters, how many times have you been on the plan, how many times you've been on the plan where it's like if you don't get the results fast enough, you just, your motivation just disappears, you know, and so if that's the case, if you're someone who consistently starts and then quits because the results aren't happening, your body's not working, you're the person who needs to have a longer term mindset than anyone. You know, again, you, you can get the results you want, you just typically can't get them in the, the speed you want them in, you know, wish it wasn't like that, but it is. So you can't let that stop you, you know, because I know a lot of dieters eventually go into it and it's like the weight and it gets shorter and shorter where you'll do it like a week. And it's like, I did it for a week and I lose any weight, my body's broken. Well, it's not broken. You just did it for a week.

Sometimes it can take months. I can't tell you the number of times. And again, I, I wish I had a better explanation for why this happens, but one of the biggest Pat had in my Coaching practice is that when I work with clients and they're not.

They're not losing weight, and it might be a month, it might be two months, I've literally worked with clients and I believe they're doing stuff. I believe they're genuinely making shifts and changes in their bodies and, I don't know, whatever, maybe a month or two months go by and they don't lose any weight. And I'll always say to them, so what are you going to do? What are you gonna do? Commiserate with. You don't give a. Okay, you haven't lost any weight. So. So we can either look at what you did or you can quit. You know, what do you want to do here? What are you gonna do? You haven't lost as quite as quick as you thought. And then one of the magic questions I'll ask him as well. And I didn't go into this just now, but the other thing I'll say is, has there been any other benefits? You haven't lost any weight. I get that, okay? But other than the weight piece, let's just put that aside for one second. Now, again, this is a little different because in program yourself, then we focus on more than just cutting calories. We. We've thin. We really focus on three key areas. Mindset, lifestyle, and eating. Okay? And the lifestyle one's really, really big because it makes you feel better. So again, a lot of most diet and weight loss is just about losing weight. Who gives a shit how you feel, right? For me, I find that how you feel is directly related to what your weight's ultimately going to be. So when program yourself, then it's not just about losing weight. It's about feeling better. And so I will ask these people who have been doing great for 10, two months in terms of listening to sessions, you know, filling out their blueprints, changing their reading, improving their lifestyle, all this stuff. I say, okay, I haven't lost any weight yet. Have there been any other benefits? And I'll regularly hear things. Yeah, well, I'm more calm. I'm more relaxed. I'm sleeping better. I've been drinking more water. I've actually had more energy. I've been eating more fruits and vegetables. I do feel better. I've been walking more. I've walked my dog more. You know, I've just been more calm and relaxed and feeling pretty good. I said, okay, okay. So the weight hasn't come off yet, but those. That's a lot of good stuff. Do you know what I mean? And this is Another piece. I'm not gonna get into this piece, this whole other side. But it's like with dieting, you've been conditioned to only look at the weight, to only look at what size you are. And if you only track your weight and what size you are, you miss so much other things that are improving as well. And if you start focusing on your energy, your physical comfort, your moods, your mental energy, your ment clarity, when you start focusing on these other things, if they start improving, they start holding you to the path. So it's not just about weight loss. It's also about these other things that are a lot more predictable and consistent in the short term. And so we focus and rely on those to get us through that initial phase, where, again, I don't know why it is. I don't know why weight loss sometimes, because what I see. Right. I didn't finish my thought. What I see a lot of times with my clients, I mean, I've seen this so many times, it's. I almost consider it normal. Then again, someone make a lot of changes and I believe them.

Sort of. That's a whole nother story. But, but let's just assume that they did cut the calories down. Let's just assume that they did genuinely cut the calories down. And the weight loss just. It's slow, it lags. I've seen that so many times. So what are you gonna do? I'm gonna keep going. I feel pretty good. And then the weight loss eventually kicks in. I've never seen the weight loss not kick in for someone who stuck with. I've never seen it. And yet it's not that unusual at all for someone to start off and they're not getting results, but then they keep with it and then they kick in. So. So I don't know, how are you all dealing with that? You know, you gotta. You gotta focus on this. You gotta think about some strategy for this, because it's gonna get you. It's gonna get you. I'd say it's the. The number one thing that gets people is the weight loss isn't happening fast enough for them, and so they quit. They get discouraged and they just quit, you know, so you need to have some strategies, some mindset dedicated to getting you through certainly the initial phase and phases when the weight loss stalls or slows down or goes up a little bit. How are you going to manage that? How are you going to handle that?

That's one of those things. Dieters have no strategy for that at all. And you need One, because it's just right there. But anyways, if you all have any questions, feel free to ask them. I'm happy to answer them as best I can. I am here every day, Monday through Friday, usually around noon Eastern. I thought I started early today, but I didn't. I guess I should just start saying 12:30. But I'm not. I'm not giving up yet. I want to get. Make it noon. What's up, Nar? Nar says hi. Coach was wondering if you're hiring a va. I have years experience as a va. Would love to work with you.

Yeah, maybe shoot me an email at gym at Program yourself then. I'm always looking for. For good people to help me out.

But yeah, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask them. What's up, Fred from New Zealand? It's always so funny. We get people from around the world here. It's pretty cool. So, yes.

Yeah, it's funny when Shireen says. Shireen says that, you know, two years for £10, and it's like, oh, my God, that's terrible. Is it? Is it? I mean, I know it's not as fast as you want to get that side of it, but there's always two sides to things. And so the other side of being two years to lose ten pounds is now she's down ten pounds. And it's been two years that she's been able to manage that and work at it. So again, and it keeps going. Would you rather be saying, like most of you dieters, whoa, I'm getting ready to start an extra £10 in two years. That's ridiculous. Well, what's better? No pounds lost in. In two years.

What's up, Stina? Steven's from Scotland. People over the world, Scotland, New Zealand.

I get a lot of New Zealand people.

And Australians. I always say Australia is probably number three. It's kind of neck and neck. Outside of America, it's Canada, England, New Zealand. Those are the big three other countries that typically get the program yourself then. Course. But yeah, but program yourself then. Very exciting things. I am updating kind of a makeover. I was saying Demetrius from Greece. All right. My homeland. One of my homelands. I got two homelands, I guess Greece, Greece and England.

Sanji says have not got my personalized session. Jim logged in and shared details a couple of times.

If you email me at gym at program yourself then.com and let me know what your email is, I can look it in and see.

See what it is. Because sometimes I don't know what happens sometimes People opt in for those sessions and they just, they get lost or something, I don't know. But, but it's usually an easy fix. So yeah, just shoot me an email and I'll get you that. And sorry that's happening. It's annoying. That's why it's fun for me. I am telling you. It's been a very productive couple months for me. I literally got a book, just wrote, I don't have it here now. Got a book, it's really cool, like a real book selling on Amazon everything. And that's cool. But the thing I am probably most excited about in the world right now is I am going through the notification system for the program yourself then system. One big part of the program is every morning for eight weeks. It's set up as an eight week program and you get lifetime access to it, but it's set up as an eight week experience. So you start on day one, go to do whatever and you can repeat as much as you want. But what happens is every day you get an email and it's your morning session. So every morning you get a five minute hypnosis session with a weight loss mantra. That's the morning session. And every week you get a nighttime session with a core weight loss mantra in it. So you get eight of those. And the idea is that each week you listen to that one repeatedly and each morning you get a brand new session, it's a different mantra, all the rest of it and you get these sent to you through email. And so it is very exciting.

It's very exciting for me to go back and just kind of redesign it a bit so it looks nicer, it's got a little bit more content in it to kind of keep you going. And I'm really excited about. So everyone is in the program. Those new formatted emails will be going, they'll be coming online over the next couple days and I know for a fact you're gonna like them a lot more. So I'm excited. And so what that means and don't do it yet, you know, I'll let you know. Because you know, another thing I'm going to be doing is if you're in the program, you can go, you can restart those eight weeks whenever you want, as much as you want. And so there's going to be, there's going to be a, an ability for you to kind of click the link yourself and do it yourself so you don't have to rely on me anymore. So anyways, that's kind of cool and that's going to be really big stuff. Also, Jim AI is getting a complete re haul and that's really exciting too. So Jim AI is definitely getting better and there's going to be better prompts coming your way. I know the nighttime notifications have stopped because they weren't really working the way I wanted them to. So something better is coming.

Bridget says, thank you, Jim. I'm enjoying the program. She's just va. That is funny. We need options for help like yours in the va. Yes.

Great job, Bridge. I'm glad you're enjoying the program. Yeah. So you'll be one of the ones I think you're gonna really like. The emails are just better and it's what it's doing as well. The other kind of other piece of that is that the whole program is just gonna be more stable. I, I had kind of wanted to put everything in the program into circle and it's just not working the way I wanted to. So taking a step back from that and getting it, getting it more stable. So that's gonna be better for everyone as well, me included.

Eric, Andrew says you've certainly been a great inspiration to me. I've lost £150. Great job. Great job, Eric. Wow. It's a lot of weight. That's a lot of weight. Right? Congratulations. So again, focusing on keeping the weight off. Right. Sustainable long term strategies. But to lose 150 pound, that takes a while. So again, I'm going to assume that you've got some of those strategies and so appreciate you listening. Yeah. Bridget, greatly enjoying the program. Yeah, I'm glad. And like I said, there's just, there's really cool things coming in the program. Like I said, in the next week or two, the formatting is changing. That's better. The layout is changing. That's better.

Gym AI is better. And there's other couple cool things coming. So those are good. But yeah, any questions, feel free to ask them questions today. And that's fine too because like I said, I do have a lot of stuff I'm working on. I might, I might call it. I'm gonna call it. All right, very good. So again, if you're not in my world, go click the link in my bio or go to program yourself. Then go get the free hypnosis session I give you. It's called the New Thin Me. It's a kickstart session, completely free. As soon as you opt in, I give you a training three steps to master your weight. Go check that out.

And if you like this, I'm here every Monday through Friday, usually around noon, 12:30 Eastern. So if you have any questions, feel free to ask. And if you like listening to this but can't make the lives, it's also a podcast, so you can go to program yourself then. No, you can't. You can go to any podcast platform and search program yourself then and it'll pop up and then you can listen to it anytime you like. All right. So thank you very much, everyone. I appreciate all the comments. Have a great day and we'll talk soon. Bye.