Program Yourself Thin Live 7-1-26

I knew it. Everyone, welcome to today's program, Yourself Thin Podcast. Today we're talking about how junk food companies market their products by making it fun. So this really— I don't know if I have to point this out, like how you do it, um, so much as just pointing out that they do it so that you can realize Uh, is junk food really fun? Is it fun? Uh, to understand how this works, I think we need to take a step back and think of Pavlov's dogs, right? So when we think about Pavlov's dogs, what we're really talking about is conditioned responses. And what we found out with Pavlov's dogs— and by the way, you can do those exact same experiments with humans and have them salivate with conditioned responses as well— um, is that You take these dogs and every time you show them food that naturally makes them salivate, you make the sound of a bell. And what happens in the dog's brain is it wires together sound of a bell, dog food, salivate. And eventually all you need to do is ring the bell and the dog will salivate. No food available. No, no food around. And so we have to understand that first, because this is what a lot of marketers are using in order to trick us, in order to link and associate feelings to their products that really have nothing to do with it. Okay. And you see that a lot. You certainly saw it with cigarette companies, right? They would make cigarettes cool. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Years of cigarettes seem cool. Now, again, you take a step back and disconnect from the marketing and you contemplate how inhaling combustible tobacco smoke into your lungs is cool. Smelling like cigarettes, having yellow fingers, yellow teeth, dying earlier, having health issues. These logically, that's not a cool thing. Okay. But through association, through conditioning, it becomes cool. And for a lot of years, cigarettes were seen as cool. You see movie stars smoking them, right? Famous people smoking them, all this conditioning. And eventually it becomes real in our nervous systems. So we have to understand that our brain and bodies aren't primarily logical. They're associative. They link things together and they can link things together, have nothing to do with each other. Again, the sound of a bell and food, they have nothing to do with each other, but they can be linked together to elicit the same response. And so once you understand this basic idea, you can start to see it in all the advertising, but certainly with the junk food, because I think you'll notice that junk food is really marketed around certain feelings. Feelings of fun, right? Feelings of youth, feelings of excitement, adventure. And when you start to see that, the next step is to take a step back. Let me consider this, okay? Let me consider it. Once I get past the bright colors, once I get past the quick edit commercials, the jingles, that fill me with all this emotion, the celebrity endorsements. Once I get past that, I just look at what exactly am I putting in my body here? What's going on here? And again, it depends on the specific junk food, but when you really start to consider the ingredients that are in there, what you're putting into your body, the physiological, psychological effect it has on you, is it really fun? No, it may taste good for a minute, I'll give you that. It may be exciting to look forward to it. I'll give you that. Okay. It might be enjoying— enjoyable to eat it in the moment. But how much fun is it actually? How much fun is it actually? And you can't really answer this unless you compare it against something that's genuinely fun. Now, that's different for each person, but we could say going, you know, again, it depends on what someone likes to do. It could be going to watch a movie. It could be reading a book. It could be hanging out with friends. It could, you know, be any number of things. But it's important to recognize the distinction between doing something genuinely fun and sitting on your sofa and eating sugar or eating additives, chemicals, junk food, processed food. How is that fun? And that's just in the moment. Never— don't even get me started. If we go into a year, 10 years, 20 years of eating this junk food, is that fun? Is dealing with diabetes fun? Is dealing with obesity or extra weight fun? Is dealing with tooth decay fun? I don't know. It's not up for me to decide that for you, but my goal is to just help you to see through the marketing bullshit, just like we did with cigarettes. Again, I think that's your reference point. You know, if you're, if you're a little bit older, you remember what it was like to grow up in a culture where cigarettes were everywhere, right? We used to— I'll walk into a restaurant, there'd be a vending machine right there where you could just get them. And it was just kind of weaved into our lives. And I think it's up to you now to realize that what they did with cigarettes, they're doing with the food. And they're linking together emotions with these foods that have nothing to do with them. I'll give you one more example. If you ever look at Coca-Cola with their cans that have your name on it, That is one of the most profound examples of associative conditioning, because once you see your name on this can of soda, sugar water, you start to personalize it. Starts to— you start to have weird feelings. I'm just going to be straight, it's weird. You start to identify with this aluminum can full of sugar water, uh, you know, and you start to feel some connection with it. And of course, that's just a microcosm of feeling some deep connection with the whole brand, you know. But again, when you really consider it, Sugar Water is a great one, right? I mean, it's colored sugar water, you know. And so what exactly— how exactly— how much fun am I going to have doing that? How much fun am I really going to have? So it's important to put things in a hierarchy, right? So again, we get conditioned like the Pavlov's dogs and the bell rings and we salivate. It doesn't make a lot of logical sense, but the secret to it is to take a step back and realize that that's not really fun. And even if you think it is fun, it may be an opportunity to start expecting and wanting more fun in your life than just sugar or preservatives or chemicals or flavorings that give you a initial response, right? Because once you can see through that, it's a lot easier to make different decisions. We've all been tricked, folks. We have been exposed to tens and tens of millions of food ads in our lives, and it conditions our nervous system with how we think and perceive and conceptualize these foods. And once we can see it more clearly, it's a big step forward to being able to make better food choices in our lives. Now, by the way, I'm not saying you never eat these things, please understand. But I am saying that if you are consistently eating these things to the point that it's causing weight issues, health issues, self-esteem issues, when you look at the whole thing, is that how you define fun? Because I hope it's not. I hope you define fun as things that genuinely fulfill you and give you fun while you're doing it. And afterwards, you go on a fun trip somewhere. You enjoy it. And then after you're done with it, you're happy about remembering it. Are you ever happy remembering eating junk food? Sometimes, but most of the time not. Okay. So the more you can see through the marketing bullshit that junk food isn't really fun, and I'll leave that up for you to come up with your own answer. But once you see that, it can be a lot easier to make better choices. And if you want some support in seeing through the bullshit, being connected to your true goals, click the link in my bio or go to programyourselfthin.com and go get the free hypnosis session that I made for you. It is called The New Thin Me and is designed to kickstart your weight loss by clarifying what your goal is and how you can achieve it. Very powerful sessions, completely free. Go check that out. If you're over in Facebook or YouTube land, I just put the link in the comments. And, uh, yeah, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them. How's it going, Kevin in Lakeland, Florida? And, uh, Vincenzi, am I saying that right? I know there's a lot of letters there, so I'm just stopping at the I. Vincenzi, we'll say, um, from Montreal, Canada. All right, I'm gonna be in Montreal in a couple weeks. Can't wait. Uh, I hope you're all doing up there. Montreal might be hot. It's hot where I'm at. We got a heat dome. Um, I know I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt here where I am in my room. It's cold. So I'm actually doing recording, so it's like I have to freeze the room up so that I can turn the air conditioner off so I can record with, you know, without the sound. But, uh, it's so funny. What's up, Carolyn? Carolyn, you from Canada? Happy Canada Day! Is it Canada Day? I don't even know what's Canada Day. I'm kind of, I'm kind of in tune with Canada, but I, I don't know exactly what Canada Day is. I get, uh, get a little confused with all different holidays and places, but Anyways, let's see here. I saw a question. Um, no, maybe not. Sometimes on TikTok it's, uh, it's hard to get the question. So if I, uh, if I missed your question on TikTok, just ask it again. I just missed it. It's— it just lists everything and it becomes a giant scroll to get to the questions. Um, but yeah, Donna says, yeah, long sleeve shirt, are you wearing a fleece? No, it's not, it's a light, it's light though. I will, you know, it's a, it's a light kind of thing. Um, yeah, it's freezing in here, I'm telling you. Where I'm at, I'm freezing. I don't know, I'm not proud of it, but like I said, I gotta, I gotta freeze the room up so I can record without the air conditioner on. So I, uh, I freeze the room and then I turn the air conditioner off and record And then once it gets too hot, I put the air conditioner back on, stop recording. That's where I'm at. It's a crazy world, right? It's— what is the temperature? I don't know what the temperature is out. 89 degrees. And I got to be honest, you know, I know it's the humidity is kind of the joke thing now, but it's literally— it's so humid. It is, uh, it is crazy. Okay, July 1st. Yeah, and happy July 1st, everyone. Yeah, okay. Canada Day is July 1st. Oh, it's a national holiday celebrated every July 1st that marks the anniversary of Canada becoming an independent country. Okay. That's kind of funny. What, I guess July is the time to become independent, huh? We got ours on July 4th, you guys got yours July 1st. Um, I suppose the difference— I remember I was talking to a Canadian, he said the big difference is we didn't have to fight a war for our independence, we just, we just got it. So, um, that's a little different. But yeah, any weight loss questions, feel free to ask them. I hope you're all having a nice start of July. I know this is an odd time to talk about weight. I always say this is kind of the counterpoint to the week between Christmas and New Year's. This is kind of that week, that, that time. July 4th is kind of the summer version. Um, I think, I think the week after, or the week of July, I guess. I don't know what, how people define it, but July 4th vacation, whether that happens the week before or after, I don't know. But, um, that week is, is the number one vacation week of the, of the year in America. I remember reading that. I don't know if that's still true. I guess, honestly, I don't know if it was true then. I, I, it's something I read. I just took it as, uh, probably true. But, but anyway, so I know a lot of times when people get in that mode, they're not typically thinking about weight loss and health and eating better. Um, but I am. I do this stuff every day, every day of the year, pretty much. Uh, because again, in my world, um, eating well, managing your weight doesn't mean that you're not having fun. So it's not an either-or in my world. I will go to a 4th of July party on Saturday. I'll have a great time. I'll drink some beers, I'll eat some food, and I'll still be on track with my weight, you know. So I will say, for those of you that are— cookouts coming up, vacations, all the rest of it— enjoy yourself, you know. Focus on enjoying yourself in a more moderate way if you tend to get kind of carried away. But let the goal of being moderate be that you enjoy yourself more. Than— more about that than it is about just losing weight, you know? Because one of the reasons I— like, I'll go Saturday and I'll have a great time, and I've gone to Fourth of July parties and, you know, gotten shit-faced and overeaten. I've done that, and it seemed fun at the time, sort of, but it just gets kind of old, you know? And listen, most of my clients are 45 plus, and so you know, if you've been overdoing it with the food or, you know, alcohol in my case as well, it gets, it gets a little boring, you know what I mean? Like, like you've eaten all the food, you know what it's like to stuff yourself. It gets a little boring. So I will let you know that what's a lot more enjoyable in my opinion, I don't mean just because I can weigh what I want. I mean, because genuinely it's more enjoyable is to go and be more moderate, you know, have a few beers, have some food, you know what I mean? Not to stuff myself silly., and I find that I enjoy myself way more, um, that way. Not only do I actually enjoy myself during the day more, but then the next day I feel a lot better as well. Yeah. Jody says your PYT crew is on track with holidays. True, true, Jody. Right. That's so true. It is funny because I really kind of live in two worlds. I have my, my PYT world where we're always working on stuff. You know, we work on stuff differently. Right? Certainly, especially during the holidays, because the holidays, it's just, it's a bigger thing, you know, than like 4th of July in the summer. Um, but we're always working on some direction, you know. And so, yeah, in that world we're always working on things. But, but then I step back into the, the world that most people are in, the diet world, and there's a lot of people that are like, I don't want to think about weight, I don't want to talk about a diet right now. Um, you know, I'm just trying to get through this weekend. I'm just trying to get through July. I'm just trying to get through the summer. And, um, that's what a lot of dieters do. I mean, it really doesn't even matter the season, uh, you know, because they'll be like, well, I always got to, uh, oh, I gotta get through the summer. Once I get through the summer, September, I'm really gonna hit it, you know. I want to get in shape for the new year. And then that doesn't work. So, okay, new year. When the new year starts, then I'm gonna really— I'm gonna commit, make it happen. The new year comes, they don't do that. All right, uh, summer's coming, I gotta get in shape. But summer comes in and it just keeps repeating and it's a cycle, you know. So, um, good news is I got a new training coming your way. I've been working on that right now. I should have it— well, I have it this week. I think I will. I am more than a third recorded it version, so, so it's good. And the rest of it should go quicker, um, because it's material that I've taught before, but the, the beginning is a little bit different. But it's so good. Reprogrammed How to Live at Your Goal Weight. Um, without the fight. So I'm super excited to get that all to you. That'll be completely free. Again, just one more reason to sign up for the hypnosis session I give you, because when you sign up for that session, uh, it gets you on my email list, and then I send you all kinds of stuff. I have, um, PYT Daily. Oh, share. Um, I have PYT Daily. I have, uh, I just got a bunch of stuff. I got the goal weight quiz. I got this reprogram training I put together for you. A lot of stuff, so go check that out. Um, yep, Sherry, Sherry A, probably not Sherry. Uh, you never know. Sherry says, so true. Yes, um, classic diet move, right? To just keep putting it off, putting off, putting off, put it off, put it off. Um, but you know, within that, there's a lot of— there's a lot of information in that pattern, the pattern of always putting it off, right? Because most of you want to lose weight more than anything, but you keep putting it off. But what one of the main reasons you put it off is because what you're putting off is the overwhelming diet that you think you have to start to lose weight. So pick your poison, right? Whether you want to do a keto plan or you're going to restrict calories or you're going to do 1,000 calories a day, you're going to not eat for 16 hours, you're going to count every point, whatever your plan is, it's intense, it's extreme, and you don't want to do it. And so you keep avoiding it. Uh, I would let you know that I think a better strategy is to dial down what you expect to do instead of trying to do everything perfect all at once. Why not pick one thing and start to work on that? You know, if you look back over the last couple years, you probably have been in this mode of waiting for years, probably decades. And so I know you, you know, that, that's the diet trap is you're, you're so impatient. But when you really take a step and look back, you've been going through this same bullshit for decades. You've been fighting with your weight and trying to diet to lose the weight for decades. So it's like, how can you be in a rush when you've been working on this for 10, 20, 30 years? That's the paradox of dieting right there in a nutshell. So again, you know, what a lot of dieters are waiting for is this Monday when they wake up just totally motivated and focused and ready to go. And, um, it never shows up, you know. Next thing you know, 20 years have gone by. So, you know, that's why I'm here every day though, just tell you a different way. Um, Carolyn says, why do so many people sabotage all summer? I mean, you know, honestly, people sabotage all year round, and I don't think it's sabotaging anyways. I think it's most people don't know really how to manage their weight. I, I think sabotage is a word that's incorrectly used. I, I don't think it's the right one. I don't think you all are sabotaging yourself. I think you all don't know how to live at your goal weight. I don't think you know how to think like a thin, healthy, happy person. So I don't think you're sabotaging— I don't think you know how to live at your goal weight comfortably and enjoyably, and you're not doing it. I think you have no idea how to live at your goal weight in a comfortable, enjoyable way, and so you're not doing it. Those are two totally different things. Again, I sit you at the piano and you never played piano before, and I tell you to play me a song. I'm not going to say you're sabotaging yourself. I'm going to say you don't know how to play the piano, right? So I think sabotage is really used wrong, um, a lot of times. Now, I, I will say everyone's got kind of neuroassociations to different times of year. Um, one of them for me is actually springtime because I remember back in college, my first year, I was down in Virginia and, um, springtime came. And I'm from New England, right? So Springtime in Virginia came at like the end of February. And I remember we, one time we had a sofa and put it outside. We're drinking beers out in springtime weather. It was awesome. And I remember that was just one strong association to drinking beers in the spring. And, um, that's something I had to deal with for years until I finally kind of got a handle on it. And even still, I'm more likely to drink beers in the spring than I am almost any other time of year. You know? So I think for summer. Um, you know, there's just a different set of neuroassociations you have. Maybe it's cookouts, maybe it's ice cream, maybe it's, um, you know, going swimming at the river and, uh, you know, eating sandwiches and chips. I, I don't know, you know what I mean? But again, it's probably not really— honestly, if you're really honest, it's, it's probably not just summer, you know. Summer is just one more season that you really don't know how to control things with, you know. That's probably more accurate. But again, it could also be summer too. It could be a bigger thing for you. Um, Audrey says, can you better— can you use better terminology than saying I'm on a diet to refuse something being offered to you for food? Thanks, you're so informative. Thank you, Audrey, I appreciate that. Um, oh, for sure, for sure. And Audrey's asking something really, really, really important here. Okay, so let's talk about this because this is, this is strategy. And program yourself, then there's really kind of two categories of improvement we focus on. Mindset and strategy. So I would say this is a strategic thing and all of you can benefit from this. Okay. Because usually when someone goes on a diet, they will go, especially when they go into a social situation. So say you're going to go to a cookout. The absolute worst thing you can say, in my opinion, when someone offers you something and you don't want to eat it is, oh no, I can't have that. I'm on a diet. I, I am telling you, that is like a verbal red flag. Like, you know how the matador waves the red flag in front of the bull? Oh, I can't have that, I'm on a diet is the equivalent of a red flag in front of a bull because I don't know what it is. But as soon as most people hear that, it's almost like their whole mission becomes to get you to eat something. It's so weird, right? Because what usually happens when you say, oh no, I'm on a diet, I can't have that, that people say, oh, okay, great, great. Good luck. I hope you, I hope you kill it. You're going to do it. Or do they say, oh, come on, come on. It's just, it's just a couple chips. Oh, come on. It's just one day. Oh, and you get all this bullshit. What I would suggest saying instead, because you want to fly under the radar. That's my opinion. When you are actively working to change your eating so that your weight goes down, you want to fly under the radar. That's my suggestion to you. And it's. In my opinion, a very important one. Okay. Do not bring attention to the fact that you're looking to change your reading because it just triggers people in some way. And now not only do you got to deal with changing yourself, which is hard enough. Now you got to fight off the sabotaging efforts of other people. Now that's a good word for sabotage. Okay. Because these people will try and sabotage you intentionally or not. That's just what they do. And so I think there are better ways to respond to that. Things like, oh, no thanks. I'm actually— I'm really full. I've just been eating that. Oh, no, I'm good. I'm going to wait a few minutes. My stomach's just a little off right now, so I'm just going to wait a minute. I personally have no problem lying and fibbing to these people because they're like a pack of wolves and it's like I just want to avoid the whole thing. So I have no problem saying my stomach feels fine. I got no problem saying, ah, my stomach's a little off. I'm just going to wait a little bit, you know? And I will say things like that just to kind of fly under the radar. And typically when you say things like that, people are like, oh, come on, come on, your stomach, eat these chips. Your stomach will feel better. People don't do that. Okay. So please don't say, no, I can't have that. I'm on a diet. I'm trying to eat healthier. Um, oh, I can't have that. You know, uh, I'm trying to lose weight. Don't say any of those things. That's my suggestion. Now you're going to go say them, say them, but notice the response you get and remember what I said. Okay. Again, please fly under the radar. Don't talk about your weight loss with people if you can avoid it. All right. And when you say, I don't want chips or I don't want a second helping or I don't want the thing that you don't want to have because you're looking to become healthier and lose weight, is you say things like, oh, no thanks, I'm stuffed. I'm full, my stomach's a little off. Now I'm gonna have some in a little bit. That gets all— that gets people off the, off the case. Okay, now eventually someone might catch on, you know, and, um, you know, they might say something and you might say, well, you know, like, like, my stomach's been— I, I always say my stomach's— that's what I had said for forever because people tend not to push back on that, you know. So even if you say, I don't know, yeah, lately my stomach's been a little weird, I've just been feeling a little weird, so I kind of been cleaning up my eating to you know, see what it is. I would take that a million times out of a million over, oh, I can't eat that, I'm on a diet. That is just not the way to go. So great question, Audrey. I think that's an important one, and, um, I hope that helps you out. Okay, uh, well said. I'm looking forward to this training. I learned so much from you. Thank you, Lois. Yeah, and that's why I love being here. Again, this for me is a real, um, this is part of my mission. My mission is to help as many people as possible with their goal weight. So I'm here every day at noon except Tuesdays, I'm here at 1. But I'm here every day at noon to help you all out and, um, hopefully, you know, get you some advice that actually get you some results. I think, uh, you know, a lot of you are good, smart, hardworking people that will do the work if you're given the right plan. Um, but dieting is not it, you know. And so you've probably struggled to make dieting work for a long time and it hasn't. And, uh, I don't think it's because you're not willing to do the work. I think it's because you've become apathetic at this point. You know, you can only try to diet and fail at it so many times, you know, till you finally just kind of quit. And that's where a lot of people are at. You don't say they quit. Most of you probably just feel apathetic. You think about losing weight all the time, but you never actually do anything to make it happen. You know, again, that goes back to that pattern of, oh, you know, once the summer's over, then I'll do it. Oh, once, once the fall's over, then I'll be— then I'll do it. Oh, once, once it's the new year, then I'll do it. Oh, once Easter's over, then I'll do it. Oh, once summer's here, then I'll do it, you know. And it's like, it's just this never-ending, you know, revolving excuse, but it's not really an excuse. The problem is that you're protecting yourself from doing a plan that, you know, doesn't work. You know, dieting doesn't work. Even if you don't know it consciously, you might still believe dieting works consciously, but subconsciously, you know, it doesn't work. And that's the big thing you got to kind of deal with, you know. And I think the best way to deal with it is to stop dieting, do something different. Uh, yeah, there you go, Carolyn. Yeah, I said you're right, I have no idea how to, haven't been so many years. Yeah, again, folks, you're not sabot— you don't— we don't use the phrase sabotaging yourself when you don't know how to do something, right? And you don't know how to— I want my car to be fixed and I say fix my car and you say I don't know how to do it. No, you're just sabotaging yourself. I'm not a mechanic, I don't know what to do. No, you're just sabotaging yourself. That doesn't make any sense. So it's the same thing when a dieter tells me, oh, I keep sabotaging myself. How How, how are you sabotaging yourself? You have no idea how to think like a thin, healthy person. You have no idea how to live like a thin, healthy person, and you have no idea how to eat like a thin, healthy person. And so you don't know how to do that. So what are you sabotaging exactly? No. Kim says, why am I constantly hungry? Good question. A lot of people are experiencing constant hunger. I call it the never-ending hunger. That's how I think of it. And a lot of people are living that reality. Um, there's a lot of reasons, so I can't just say there's one thing, but I will give you some of the big ones that affect the most people that I've seen. And number one is the environment we live in. Number one is the environment we live in. So you're surrounded by hyper-addictive, hyper-palatable foods that have been engineered for you to overeat them. That's number one. Okay, so the food environment you're in, the options that you're conditioned to look at and notice are hyperpalatable, addictive foods. That's how you have to think of the foods. I see. I think a lot of people, you think about the processed food and you have the marketing in your head. You're thinking about, you know, some, some chef's grandma's old cookie recipe and you're— that's what you're eating now. Bullshit. Those cookies weren't created by a chef. They were created by a chemist in a lab. They are literally creating foods in labs now, folks, not in kitchens. Do you understand that? You have to. You have to, to be able to see what you're truly up against. To make it a little more clear, let me be real direct with you. The cigarette industry owns the food processing industry. RJR Reynolds and Nabisco are literally merged together. The parent company of General Foods and Kraft is Philip Morris. So these are not food-first companies, they are addictive-first companies. They are selling addiction in food form. So you're gonna ask me why you're always hungry? Show me what your daily diet is, and I know I'm gonna see a lot of processed food most likely. And processed food is literally created in labs. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Because you probably don't have this example in your mind. Ben Jerry's ice cream— how do they come up with their flavors? Now, the first thing that probably flashes in your mind is two old hippies living in a cabin up in Vermont, you know, all high, making up different flavors of ice cream. What do you think of this one, man? You know, you know that— you know, they make Ben Jerry's ice cream flavors now. They take people, people that'll volunteer They will put them into an fMRI machine so they can scan their brain in real time, and then they will drip different ice cream concoctions into their mouth and notice which ones light up the pleasure centers of their brain the most. No chef needed. And this is what we're up against. I say this to you because you have to stop thinking about the food companies like it's your grandma making cookies in the kitchen. These are multi-billion dollar transnational corporations that have 40,000-acre campuses dedicated and filled with chemists that are focused on creating the most addictive food possible. So that when you ask the question, why am I hungry all the time? That's why. That's why. And then that is reinforced with an environment where we're constantly being cued to think about those hyper addictive foods. You're exposed to thousands and thousands of food ads every single day. Thousands and thousands. Every time you walk in the store is thousands and thousands. Every package you see is an advertisement for that food. It's unnatural. It's completely unnatural. We live in an alien environment surrounded by alien food, and that is why we're con— that's a big part of why we're constantly hungry. Are there other reasons? Sure. But those are the big ones, you know. And once you recognize that and you see things differently, it sets you up. Now, by the way, see what I mean? Like, that's programming. How do you think about these foods? If you think it's, you know, Grandma's 100-year-old recipe that they're making, you think one way about it. If you think it's cigarette companies making the most addictive product possible in labs, you think differently about it. Does it guarantee you're not going to eat it? No. But does it go a long way towards helping you to see it more accurately and then maybe be able to make a better decision naturally? Yeah, absolutely. And that's the power of programming. How you see and think about things is going to have a huge impact on what your behavior is going to be. And then obviously your behavior is the thing that's dictating your weight. You know, so that's a big reason why you're hungry. Again, other reasons for sure. You might be dehydrated, you might be stressed. You might be tired. You're not sleeping well. All of these things are factors as well. You might be undernourished, right? America is literally the home of undernourished, overfed people. So, you know, that's a piece too. Jack says— Jacques says, so Lean Cuisines are a no. Yeah, they're disgusting. And I know this. My mom used to get them all the time growing up, and I would eat them sometimes. The orange chicken, I can still taste that shit in my mouth. It was disgusting. Yeah, I would say it's a no. Now, I also think of things on a spectrum, so I don't think of things as black and white. I spend a lot of my time in the gray area. So would a Lean Cuisine be better than, say, a Hungry Man platter? Maybe because there's less calories in it. So maybe it's a little bit better. But yeah, that Lean Cuisine is not going to satisfy you. It's not going to nourish you. Um, it doesn't really taste that good. It's not that enjoyable, so it's not sustainable. And you're probably going to be hungry after you finish eating it and eat more anyways. And you put a bunch of bullshit in your body. So again, I always say kind of the biggest kind of paradigm shift in terms of food is the difference between food stuff and food. If you can internalize that concept, that goes a really long way towards helping you make better food choices. Okay. It's a— then this is a black and white kind of thing. Okay. Of course, there's a spectrum in the middle, but really we're talking about whole natural foods that come from the ground that we've been eating for millions of years on Earth as humans. And then we're talking about processed foods. And again, that processing is on a spectrum, right? There's ultra-processed foods and there's processed foods. But really, the more whole natural foods you eat, typically it's going to make it a lot easier to control and influence your eating. Okay. And when you're eating a lot of hyperpalatable foods, it gets a lot harder. These foods are literally designed by multibillion-dollar companies to get you to overeat them. So I don't know if that's really a challenge you want to take on. You know, what is it, chips? They say, I bet you can't eat just one. You win. Nope, I'm not going to take that bet. Nope, nope. I'm not going to skip that bet. Thank you. I'm not a big gambler though. Um, I don't really like casinos either, but you know, I'm gonna skip that because again, um, shit, even those Pringles— I think that's what it was for. Pringles, they're a Frankenfood. You ain't making no Pringles in your house. You want me to give you a potato and see you— you want me to give you a potato and say, give me a Pringle? You know what, you may not know this, they had a lawsuit in England with Pringles and, um, Long story short, it had to do with taxes on potatoes. Anyways, so Pringles sued and said, hey, there ain't even potatoes in this shit. There's so little potato in it that we shouldn't have to pay any potato tax because there's hardly a potato in it. And that again is just one more example that, you know, if you haven't looked into food in your life, whoa, you are in for a big surprise. It ain't food anymore. It's not food in the way we've defined it through millions of years of being humans on Earth. It's not food of that definition. And so the effects it's going to have are unnatural because it's an unnatural product. It's a natural substance we're putting in our bodies. And again, I eat unnatural processed foods sometimes. I'm not saying you never eat it, but I'm saying you might want to balance it out a little bit with some more whole natural foods so you can feel like a whole natural human. What's up, Donna? Donna said, I'm tired of going to bed at 6 PM, so I don't eat after dinner, but it works. Yeah, no, it's true. It's a strategy, Donna. But again, that's a strategy. That's one strategy that's working for you. But I bet you could come up with more strategies. And I'll tell you what the strategy may be, because this is a classic one for a lot of people that struggle with nighttime eating. I dealt with this, um, is that you're using food for entertainment. And if you start to look for other things to do between 6 and 8, 6 and 9 that are interesting to you— a craft, a hobby, a book, an activity with friends, a social event— if you start to find things that are genuinely interesting and stimulating to you that don't involve food, you may find that you're able to stay up later and not eat. Okay, so again, congratulations, you did— you've got a strategy that's working, or it's worked at least so far, but it's starting to feel tenuous. So it might be a good opportunity to come up with some other strategies. How can I stay up till 8 or 9, um, without the food? What can I do instead? You know, you might be surprised at what you can come up with by asking that. Um, Donna says, you're 1,000% right, I need to do something else to put my attention on. Yes, exactly. Now Christina says, eat cucumbers. I, I don't— that's— I, I think that's a half answer. Okay, so I definitely think that could be part of a solution, but I don't think it's the main solution because listen, if you're eating a lot at night, it's kind of like you're, you're using that. Again, I'm trying to— it's emotional eating, right? It's, it's a form of emotional eating, but that when you're, you're using the food for entertainment, for stimulation, right? And so what a lot of people do is they have to stop. I have to stop eating. But yeah, but that's your entertainment. That's your stimulation. You're not going to want to give that up. So let's find other ways to stimulate yourself, to entertain yourself. And it's really not as hard as you think. And it leads to a much better solution. For me, I used to watch 8 to 10 hours of TV every night. That, that's what I did. I would watch TV and I would eat. I knew every, every, every, every, every wake up and I'd start thinking about what show was going to be on that night. What were my shows I was going to watch that night? And what was I going to eat? That's what I do every night. That, that's kind of what I thought about. Now I think about my My night is totally different. I'm playing basketball, I'm taking my dog for a walk, I'm reading, I'm hanging out with my family, I'm playing guitar, you know, watching videos and learning shit. You know, I'm working on something. So it's like I have a lot more interesting things to do, you know? So again, I'm not saying that eating the cucumbers has its place if it's used appropriately, but we don't want to use cucumbers as entertainment because it ain't going to— it's not entertaining to eat cucumbers. It may help you feel a little fuller and then be able to control things, but It— I don't think it's the full answer, you know, and I just want to make that distinction. Were you ever fat? Um, I was 50 pounds heavier than I am now. Um, 54 pounds actually. So yeah, again, I mean, my path was one of— I know, you know, I show this all the time just so y'all have a little bit of a reference point for what I'm talking about. In Program Yourself, then we follow the goal weight pyramid. Okay, so it's mindset, lifestyle, eating, and obviously there's subcategories for each, but we have mindset, lifestyle, and eating. And so it's a more holistic, comprehensive approach to changing weight. It's not just changing. I always say, like, what most of you have done weight-wise in terms of this pyramid is you've done about that much. Can you see that tiny little part above my finger, that tiny little tip of the pyramid? That to me is what dieting is. That is your meal plan. That is don't eat carbs. That is don't eat for 16 hours. That is count every point. All right. And I think that it's missing all of this, though, you know, and you all know this, you know, you've never worked on your mindset or really not— you haven't really worked on your lifestyle just because you say, I got— I need a lifestyle change, not just a diet. That doesn't count. You know, that's not detailed enough. So when you use a robust, holistic system to change things, The change goes a lot deeper, I would say. Okay. Christina says, I need to lose 30 pounds, but I return to binging every time. Um, yeah. Okay. Well, let's break that apart. A, you don't need to lose 30 pounds. That's the first part. Okay. When we feel like we need to do something or we have to do something or we should do something, the way to internalize that is that there's some kind of outside force forcing us to do something. So the second we say we need to, have to, should, We feel like we're being pressured to do it. That's how we internalize that. It's, it's not coming from me. There's some force pressuring me to do it and we start to resist it. Okay. So the first thing I would suggest is you start saying, um, I want to be 30 pounds lighter. I want to live. Now, what I would say if I were you, whatever your weight is, 30 pounds lighter, I would say I want to be X amount of pounds. So whatever weight you are, 30 pounds lighter. I would start saying, I wanna be that weight. I wanna be X amount of pounds. And that would be how I would start to frame this, okay? Because this is a huge problem for people. And again, this goes back to the goal weight pyramid. It goes right back to self-image. We always live up or down to our self-image, but most of us have never really learned how to create our self-image. Um, we've just kind of gotten it through life. Okay. So a lot of times when people are dieting, It's always— they don't realize this, but subconsciously they're pinned to their overweight self. Because when you say, I need to lose 30 pounds, how much does that I weigh? I need to lose 30 pounds. Okay, I right now in this moment in time, you're thinking about your overweight self. You're imagining your overweight self in your mind and you're saying, I need to lose 30 pounds. I need to lose— my overweight self needs to lose 30 pounds. My overweight self needs to lose 30 pounds. My overweight self— you're always around building around your overweight self. And never do you think about yourself at your goal weight. So in Program Yourself, then we start from the very first day. What do you want to weigh? Right? What's your goal weight? What is that number? What is that body? Who is that version of you? So stop thinking about 30 pounds of losing and start thinking about the weight you want to be at, the person you want to be at, at that weight. And program yourself. Then we take the weight loss rapid and personal development. So it's not just about the number on the scale, the weight, the pounds. It's about becoming the best version of you possible. Who's the best Christina possible? And this is where we go beyond the 150. So Christina says 150. So let's go deeper than that though, because that one, that number is not enough. You've wanted to weigh 150, you want to lose 30 pounds, I bet, for a long time. So that's proof that that's not motivating enough for you. If it was, you'd already be there. You're not motivated enough and you're not motivated enough because the number is not motivating enough for almost anyone. Okay. So we want to start thinking about what, who is Christina at her best? Let's give this some context. When you're at 150, when you imagine yourself at your best, who are you? How do you work? How do you go to school? How do you interface with your relationships that are important? Whatever you do in your life now, that's most important to you. How will that improve when you're at your best? And when you start thinking of yourself at your best, your weight is a piece of that, not the whole thing, because your weight's never the whole thing of who you are. It's just a component. And so when you start to think of yourself, you make this whole process about, I want to be the best version of myself. I want to be energized. I want to feel good. I want to feel confident. I want to be proud of myself. I want to be in control. I want to be at ease. I want to be peace— feeling at peace and calm. I want to be grounded and know that this is what I weigh. This is how I live, and I do it naturally, easily, comfortably. This is who I am. Now, what's it take to become that person? It takes skills, skills you don't have right now. Probably it ain't just cutting calories. You know, you have to learn how to think. You need to know how to motivate yourself. You need to know how to think of yourself as a thin, healthy, 150-pound person. You need to know how to influence your habits strategically in an effective way. You need to know how to run your emotions. You need to know how to think like a thin, healthy person. You need to know how to maintain, and not just maintain your weight loss, maintain from today to tomorrow, to this week to next week, this month to next month, this year to next year. Program yourself. Then we start day one focusing on maintenance because the whole goal is living at your goal weight, not just getting there. That's the big difference, right? So, um, yeah, that's the starting point. And so Christina says it's emotional eating after hours. Great. So now you've got your number one habit. And program yourself. Then we start by focusing on the What is the number one habit that is most responsible for those extra 30 pounds? And there's a lot of wisdom in how I just framed that, but there you go. So the emotional eating, you dive into that. You don't try and change all of your eating, which I know is what you've done because you started this by asking, why do I keep binging? I'll do okay and then I'll binge because the binging is being created by your over-restricting. I bet, I bet you're over-restricting and then eventually you break that with binging. That's what most people do. Most people bookmark their— bookend their, uh, their weight loss with binges. They start with a binge diet and then they end with a binge, right? And so again, you ask why you're binging, but again, a lot of times where the problem shows up is not where the problem was created. And so for you, the binge is less of the problem in my mind than what you did before that, which I think is probably over-restricting. That's what most dieters do. And so instead of trying to change all of your eating at once, which is what you've typically done, it's what dieting has taught you to do. I would dive into the emotional eating after hours, okay? Because that's manageable, right? Focusing on that. Now, you probably have a couple different emotional eating patterns, right? Sometimes you're stressed and you eat. Sometimes you're sad and you eat. Sometimes you're pissed off and you eat, right? Again, because each different emotion requires a different antidote. Stress requires a different antidote than loneliness. Okay, so the emotional eating is not the problem, it's a symptom of a deeper problem. The deeper problem is that you don't know how to manage your emotions genuinely. So when you feel stressed and depressed— is what Christina said— so when you feel stressed and depressed, you don't have the ability to feel what you want to feel. So I'm going to assume— I'm just going to be vague and generalize here, you can obviously make this specific for your case— When you're stressed, you'd probably prefer to feel more relaxed and calm. When you're depressed, you'd probably like to feel more hopeful and happier, let's just say. So the core problem for you is not that you're emotional eating. The core problem is that you don't know how to feel calm and relaxed when you're stressed that you can reliably rely on. When that happens, you don't know how— when you start to feel depressed, you don't know how to feel more hopeful and optimistic and happier. If you had those skills though, if you knew how to feel those things in those moments, I'm not saying it fixes all the eating completely, but you'd have to agree it's a big step forward to resolving that. Because, you know, the big mistake a lot of people make is, oh, I'm an emotional eater. I eat when I'm stressed and depressed. I gotta stop it. Well, you know what that means? It means you're going to be a stressed and depressed person who's not eating. That's not what you want, is it? Right? Because the food's doing work. The food's doing work. It's making you less stressed and less depressed. Why? Because it's distracting you. And there is a, you know, there's a pain-relieving principle, you know, properties of food. There is that too, right? But primarily what's happening is whatever's stressing you out, whatever's depressing you, as soon as you start eating, you shift your focus. And so now you focus on the food and that lowers the depression, the stress for a little while. And then it comes back. Okay. But really what's going on again, this is why in Program Yourself, the mindset piece, come on, focus. I want you focus camera, uh, emotions, right? How to feel the emotions you want, how to deal with the emotions you don't want to feel. Okay. And so once you have that skillset, it goes a far way towards helping with emotional eating. As you can imagine, right? Um, yeah, Christina says that'd be huge if I managed emotions without sugar and food. Yeah, exactly, right? No, again, I didn't know how to do this. I was a mess. My dad died when I was 9. I was a ball of anger and frustration and stress and all the rest of it. You know what I did? I ate, I watched TV, and I drank. Binge drank, blackout drunk, you know what I mean? Like, I was a mess. I— it's just by the grace of the universe that I found a lot of this stuff, you know? But The big difference now is I've learned how to manage my emotions a lot more effectively. Genuinely, I don't need food to manage my emotions now. I still emotionally eat sometimes. I'm celebrating, I'm overeating, I'm in a real bad funk of a mood and I still overeat. So it still happens. You don't have to get rid of emotional eating 100%. If you get a 50% handle on it, that can make a— that could be the 30 pounds perhaps. You don't know, you know what I mean? But again, we start to work at it strategically instead of trying to change everything all at once. You zoom into the emotional eating at night, stress, depressed. Great job, Christina. Okay. I hope you feel it's a bit more manageable. Okay. Because you're not trying to change everything. Every time you try and change your weight, you try and change everything all at once. But now you've got a plan to move forward and focus on how can I feel more calm and relaxed when I get stressed? And how can I feel more hopeful and optimistic and happy when I get depressed? And of course we would dive into that more because there's patterns to those emotions as well. It's not just in the moment. A lot of times you can deal with those most effectively earlier in the day. So hopefully that helps you. Uh, Floppy Floofs Ragdoll says, your coaching is the best out there, no doubt. Thank you for always sharing the truth. Thank you, that really means a lot to me. I appreciate you saying that. And, um, yeah, it's my pleasure to share this. I mean, that's my mission in life is to help you all as many people as possible live at their goal weight. So again, I'm just the luckiest person in the world that I get to do this all day because I love it. Yeah. Flabby says using food to regulate after any stress or escalates everything. Yeah, exactly right. The food in the moment, just like most kind of addictive behaviors, the food in the moment has a stress-relieving property or whatever emotion you're dealing with. It has a stress-relieving, a negative emotion-relieving property. Because it's distracting you and the benefit of eating the food is exciting physiologically. But, you know, 10 minutes, an hour after you finish eating, all that shit goes back up plus a little extra because you just ate that way. And so that's true too, you know. Yeah. Christina says, honestly, if I just stopped doing that, I'd probably lose some weight. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And that's how we want to start thinking instead of thinking— because again, dieters always do this weird thing where they're like, okay, because again, your weight is a reflection of your average calorie consumption, right? So what most dieters do is they drastically cut the calories out. Like, it's not unusual for a dieter to cut 50, 60, 70% of their calories out day one. It's Monday. That's it. 1,000 calories a day, 1,200 calories a day. That's like a 70% reduction for most people. And I'm just going to stay there until I get to my goal weight and then I'm going to magically bring it up to some maintenance level. Who out there has ever brought it up to a maintenance level and stayed there? I know it's hardly anyone because The statistics show us that 15 to 5 to 15% of dieters that lose weight are able to maintain it. Let me put it a different way. 85 to 95% of dieters that are successful, that get to their goal weight, put it back on. Right. So this idea that you're going to drastically cut the calories down so you lose weight fast and then you're going to magically bring them up to some maintenance level— has that ever worked for you? Has that ever worked for anyone that you know? So my idea is this: same starting point, right? We got our weight and we got the calories we're consuming to make that happen. Let's cut a couple calories out. Let's work on the evening, you know, emotional eating, and let's get better at that. And let's start cutting some calories out and getting better at that. And then the weight comes down. And then do something else, cut the calories down, and we'll do this down to our goal weight. So we're not doing this two-stage process where you cut everything down and get to your goal weight and then have to magically figure out some maintenance thing, which virtually no one's ever done. Instead, we're going to cut a little bit out at a time comfortably till we get to our goal weight. Then we're going to stay there. Then we're going to optimize what we're doing. That sounds way better to me. I don't know, am I, am I just drinking my own Kool-Aid? That just sounds so much better to me than dieting. What's up, Vicki? How's it going? Southern California, I bet it's hot there. Is it hot there? It's probably hotter here. Yeah, yeah. Vicki, give— seconding me on don't, don't let people know you're on a diet. Never tell them that. Laura says, since following you, before I eat anything, I ask myself, how am I going to feel after I eat this? It works. Yes, Laura, yes. Thanks for sharing that because that is one of the best strategies out there, I swear. Um, and again, there's such a great reason for it, uh, because most of our— that doesn't matter. But, but yeah, when you're gonna eat, the consequence phase of eating is the most overlooked one. You know, we've been conditioned not to think about the consequence phase of our eating, and it's the longest, biggest, most impactful phase of all eating. There's 3 phases of eating: anticipation, consumption, consequence. Consequence is the phase that most people ignore the most, but It's the longest lasting one. It's the one you live most of your life in. And, um, so the idea of thinking about, you know, when you're about to make a food choice, calmly ask yourself, how will I feel 5 minutes, 10 minutes after I finish eating it? That is a very powerful question to ask. And if you start asking that habitually, um, it's pretty hard for that not to change up your eating. Uh, yeah, Lois says I crochet instead. Yeah, so that's back to the habit. Thing we were talking about. So yeah, I mean, when you— that's why I say like weight loss, rapid and personal development. Don't let this just be about losing weight and cutting calories. You know, that takes effort. So if you're going to put the effort in, why not get more out of it? And so my goal is like, have a bigger goal for yourself. Don't just want to lose weight, want to be a better version of yourself who weighs less. Okay. And there's a lot more motivation in that. And I think when you focus on kind of hobbies and things that nourish your soul. I, I think that's a smart thing to do, and it also has the added benefit that helps you with your weight typically, you know. Floppy Floof says using food to regulate afternoon— oh, I think I just read that. Um, hey, there's Kent. Kent says small improvements day by day, month by month, year by year. Yeah, Kent's a superstar in the program, um, has been killing it for over a year now too. Um, because he's not overwhelmed, folks. You know what I mean? Like, this idea of dieting that you're going to white-knuckle yourself to your goal weight, and then what? We go white-knuckle forever? It's just— it's miserable. It's a miserable, shitty way to live, and that's why you don't do it, right? So yeah, exactly. Ken's right on the right path there. Um, Christina says, if you're genuinely hungry at 9 PM, should you ignore it? Um, genuinely hungry is an interesting phrase because in Program Yourself Then we have the hunger scale. We kind of balance around So I think mild hunger is the state of weight loss and probably maintaining it to some degree. I would say I'm in a state of satisfied to mild hunger most of the time, but I love it. I like feeling a little bit hungry. I find it to be the ideal optimized state for me most of the time because when I'm kind of slightly hungry, I feel like my brain's clear. I have more energy. It's easier for me to produce and do things and move and all the rest of it. When I'm overstuffed, I feel lethargic and I don't move much. I'm— I don't have much energy. So I like being mildly hungry. That being said, if I'm too hungry, well, then it's negative again and I can't win against that. You're not going to beat your hunger. So genuinely hungry is interesting. Again, we kind of measure on a scale of 0 to 10, but assuming it's a mild hunger, maybe not a medium to intense hunger, probably. But more what I'm looking for is how can I eat during the day so that I'm not really hungry at night. So again, what I'm saying to you, kind of what I was saying before about the restriction leading to bingeing, is kind of zooming out and look at the big picture because we want to understand upstream and downstream principles. So the bingeing is a downstream thing that lives downstream of the restricting, right? So I know if I want to get someone to binge, the easiest way for me to get them to binge is to really restrict their calories, get them really hungry, really fixated and obsessed on food. Then I'll put some food in front of them and the rest will take care of itself. So the upstream strategy of restricting typically leads to the downstream problem of bingeing. Okay, so it's the same thing with the hunger at night. If you're really hungry at night, I'm looking upstream to see how it can affect that. And so I'm looking to nourish myself more effectively during the day. Most dieters don't do this because most dieters are in restriction mode. Oh, I'm not that hungry for breakfast. I'm gonna skip breakfast. I'll save the calories. Oh, lunch? I'm kind of hungry, but I can get through it. No calories for lunch either. So that by the time you get to dinner and beyond, you're starving and you can't control your eating now. So me, I start eating usually within an hour of being up at least, and I'm looking to kind of get my hunger, my satisfaction up right away. And I'm basically— I'm satisfied all day long. So I'm not really doing— I get— I'm mildly, slightly hungry. I suppose I could eat at any moment. I mean, if food's ever put in front of me, I could eat it. You know, I mean, I have a hunger, but, um, it's, it's mild, you know what I mean? It's just in the background. So that's kind of what I think, you know, that's kind of how I set myself up. Um, Judah says that's a really great strategy to think, um, how you're going to feel afterwards. I completely agree with that. Yeah, it's a super strategy. It's very, very powerful. Um, and there's a lot of psychology in that, um, of why it works. So it's not, not just a tactic, it's one that's really rooted in psychology. And a lot of studies we did. Um, yeah, should we ignore hunger at night altogether? Yeah, again, I, I wouldn't do that. Um, because if you're really, really hungry, you know, shit, I see people all the time, they restrict so much, they go to bed so hungry that they'll wake up in the middle of the night and eat, you know, and they'll have an issue with that. So, um, you can't ignore your hunger, folks. Your, your body is literally— the primary purpose of your body after breathing is to eat. So, you know what I mean? You're not gonna— you're not gonna win that battle, I promise you. Because hunger is a funny thing. People think it's just a little rumbly in your tumbly, but it's like, it's an entire shift in your organism, you know what I mean? Like, every sense starts to orient towards food. You can hear bags of chips opening across the, the town, you know what I mean? Like, you can, you can smell someone cooking food, you know what I mean, 6 streets over. So it's like, you're not going to win that battle, uh, not for long. So I would not ignore hunger, you know? Yeah, Christina says, thanks so much for this info. Yeah, you're welcome, Christina. And I strongly suggest that you go get that hypnosis session I was talking about you can click the top left corner, the picture of me, go to my bio, and then go get this session. It'll take you a minute or two, but I give you a ton of free stuff. And like I said, I've got a new training coming out called Reprogrammed: How to Live at Your Goal Weight Without the Fight. It is good. It is really good. I'm not going to lie. I've been working on it all morning, recording it, and I'm really— I'm really proud. I can't wait to give this out to the world. So you'll get that if you're on my email list. I'll send that to you. But I'm also here every Monday through Friday at noon Eastern. So feel free to pop in here. This is what I do. I'm happy to help you out and I'm happy to help you continually. You know what I mean? Like, I have no problem. You come back next week and say, I tried this, it didn't work. I'm happy to help you with that. You know, that's what I'm here for. What's up, Nina? How's it going? Nina says, I'm so aware of my emotional eating. I'm learning so much about myself and it's the best journey I've ever been on. Happy Canada Day. Thank you, Nina, for saying that so much. Because I get— I can't just be the only one saying it. So I really have— I'm so glad you said that. I feel the exact same way. I feel like I have learned so much from emotional eating. It's been like one of the most useful things in my life to go deeper, to understand myself more. It has been dealing with my eating and my emotions and my thinking and what I do. So yeah, thanks for sharing that, Nina. I agree 1,000%. 1000%. Um, oh geez, Lo says it's hot there, they got fires in Colorado. Yeah, those fires get intense sometimes, so I hope you're— I hope you're staying safe. Um, Patricia says starting doing jigsaws to give myself something to keep me concentrating on something other than food. There you go, that's what I mean. Um, that's a perfect solution, you know, puzzles are great. Now I will tell you, usually puzzles will probably be one strategy out of many. You don't want to just have one thing Okay. Because you'll get bored of it. Just like, you know, usually snacks— people don't usually have just one snack they eat. Usually there's a multitude of them, right? So again, that's a great, great strategy, Patricia. And give yourself a couple other ones as well. I think that's, that's a wonderful strategy. And you understand what I mean now, right? Because I bet when you get into that puzzle again, anything we can get into a flow state with, fixated and focused on, the food stuff tends to kind of fade away. You know, again, if we're not starving, if we're starving, there's no avoiding it. Okay. But if you're managing your hunger strategically, that's where puzzles, games, literally anything— I'm not going to name 500 things here, but, but anything you're actually interested in, really, it's amazing how it takes you right out of that world of thinking. And especially if it's a different thing you're doing. Like, you usually sit on the sofa and watch TV, and that's where you usually eat. You now have neural associations to eating while you're doing that. So shifting up the whole behavior can be a real, um, powerful way to change that, that whole behavior up. And so getting up and doing puzzles for a bit breaks up the night routine of what you normally do. So good job. Um, yeah, Lois says, I like what you said about hunger. If an apple or salad doesn't sound good, you probably aren't really hungry. Yeah, and that's a great litmus test, right? When you feel hungry, um, have first line of options fruit or vegetables or something really, really healthy. And if that doesn't sound good to you, you're probably not that hungry, because when you're truly hungry, um, everything tastes a lot— sounds a lot better to you. So that's a good little litmus test to kind of tell if you're really hungry or if it's kind of an emotional thing. All right, um, Audrey says, have you ever been interviewed on someone's podcast explaining your program and mind changes? I'd love to listen to it. Um, you know, I, it is, I will say that is something that's kind of shocking to me. I will say that I have thought that occasionally I have been doing this, I'll say social media for over 3 and a half years, right? Like I got a TikTok account, Facebook, YouTube, podcast. I've been doing all these things for over 3 and a half years. And it's like, you know, I got, I got a bit of a following. I mean, I don't know, I forget where they're at now, but I mean, like, like Facebook and TikTok are up like 170, 180,000 people. I've had millions and millions and millions of views of my videos. I've done over almost 700 or 800 podcast episodes, but I rarely get invited to do podcasts and I do find that odd. But I have done one. There's one I did that I remember that was really good. I used to do a lot of interviews back in the day, but in my new kind of, I would say, the last 3.5 years, this model, it's shocking to me that I don't do more. I don't actively look for them either. You know what I mean? Like, I haven't really been in that. That is something that I'm going to be moving into towards the end of the year, is actively looking to get on more podcasts. But, um, there was a great one I did with— what the hell is the name? It was Melissa— hey, was it Melissa McCarthy? Oh my God, let me look. I'm going to tell you, I can find this real quick. I kind of forget. I don't— I don't listen to podcasts Let me just see this. I'll tell you the name because you can go listen to the pocket. It was really good. It was a good one, and I really enjoyed speaking with her, and, um, I got a lot of good feedback. People really enjoyed that. Um, it's McAllister. Let me just look this up real quick. I think it's not like Hold on one second. I'm kind of curious about this now. Oh boy, let me try one more thing. Sorry, we're getting to the end anyway, so I can just take a second. No, it's not that. Well, I can't find it. I'll look it up, but I can't remember. It was something— yeah, I don't remember. My bad, it was like a year or two ago, I can't remember. But anyways, yeah, um, the guy who does Diary of a CEO does great interviews. Oh yeah, that's great. I'll look at it. I used to do interviews too. I mean, for years I did, I did a series called The Elite Body. I did a bunch of series way back in the day, like 15, 20 years ago. I've been doing this for a while, um, but I did, I did a program called The Elite Body and I interviewed over 30 of the top, um, fitness professionals and trainers and nutritionists on the planet. It was really interesting. I, I always want to put that— I have it somewhere, I should just give it away. Um, they were really good interviews because I would interview them about kind of strategies in the first half and then mindset motivation on the back end. And they're really great people I got to speak with. Um, but yeah, I got to get out there and get on more podcasts. I've been pretty busy too, so I haven't really had a lot of time with it. But yes, I'll look forward to it. Patricia says, not just puzzles but That's what I do when it's too wet to garden, which keeps me occupied for hours. Then there's books, which I disappear into. Doesn't seem to watch much TV anymore. Yeah, that's— I think that's great. And I think that, um, you know, that, that's, that's what I mean, like, like having a multitude of things that you want to do. And, you know, at first it's hard. You know, I would say again, this is— it's weird, right? Because you think like, oh, if I like to do something, I would just know how to do it. But a lot of times it comes to hobbies, you got to kind of invest a little bit in to really want it more.. And, um, I, I find a lot of things like at first I didn't like it, but as I've stuck with it, I enjoyed a lot more now. So sometimes creating that mindset takes a little bit as well. All right. Uh, all right, everyone, we get out of here. Thanks so much. Awesome, awesome day. You all are great, great questions, great comments. I really appreciate them. Um, if you're not in my world, please click the link in my bio or go to programyourselfthin.com. Um, I'll put the link in the chat over Facebook and YouTube. Go check that out. I'll go get the hypnosis session I give you. I give you a bunch of free stuff, so it's all over there. Um, you can go get it, take you 2 seconds. Uh, and I'm here every Monday through Friday, usually. I'm changing what I'm saying because I'm going from the window of 12 to 12:30 to noon. I'm here every day at noon, uh, uh, Monday through Friday. I say the same thing at the end of every podcast, so if I'm not saying everything I normally say, I'm running into a wall. Uh, but yes, I'm here every Monday through Friday at noon Eastern, uh, except for Tuesday, I'm here at 1. And, uh, if you like this, get on here and ask some questions. Let me see if I can help you out. And if you can't make the live and you like listening to, it's also a podcast. Um, go, uh, search any podcast platform, program yourself then, and it'll show up. You can listen anytime you want. Uh, Shel says, uh, yes, the emails are such a great help. Yes, PYT Daily is just another free thing I give you. It's an email every day And it's a support coaching email. It's just pure content. It's so good. Again, that's another thing that you can, um, you know, you'll get access to if you sign in for that free hypnosis session. All of that's free. Okay. And then, um, finally, if you're looking for a book to read over the holiday weekend, um, that'll also make you healthier and happier, uh, check this book out, The Tao of Living at Your Goal Weight. This is my book and it is available over on amazon.com. So go check that out, go get it and, uh, have a super day. Talk soon, everyone. Bye.