Lisa Diamond: Tired Of Yo-Yo Dieting And Binge Eating, This Determined Mother Hired A Coach To Hold Her Accountable

I do really believe 100% from every part of me that everyone has the capacity to be able to do the things that they want and not to be held back by the mental baggage that's in our head that we want to push through.

Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. In each episode, we get down and personal with people who go after the things they want to make all their wildest dreams come true. Join us as we unveil and dissect a formula for what it takes to do the thing. Here is your host, Stacy Lauren.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy Lauren.

So.

All right, guys, you have a really special treat today. We have Lisa diamond joining us, who actually works out with the same trainer that I just started using. And I heard she had a really amazing weight loss experience, and I was so excited to be able to talk to her, because losing weight, it is really doing the thing. There's so many people out there that have tried to lose weight and struggle, and it's so easy to come up with a million reasons why you can't. And I really wanted to be able to talk to her about how you can and what she did to. To make it happen and what she had to overcome to get there, so.

Hey, Lisa.

How are you?

I'm good. How are you?

I am great.

Yay. This is so exciting. I'm excited. This is my first podcast, so I.

Love being the first.

It's.

I'm actually a lot of people's first, and it's probably because I used to be really nervous to, like, do stuff, and I would say no a lot whenever people would ask me to speak to someone or like a group or whatever. But then I just started saying yes. And then now it's. Now I have a podcast, and it's just fun. So, anyway, I'm excited to be your.

Your first. I was interviewed before by. I'm originally from the Bay Area, so I was interviewed before by one of the news cast members there. His name is Frank Somerville. He was very well known over there. So he posted me on Facebook before. Oh, really? Yeah. That is cool.

What was it for my weight loss?

Oh, it was.

I didn't even know that.

That's cool.

So he kind of talked to you about how you did it and then to share your story and everything.

Yes. So this is actually my second time. I worked with. Our trainer's name is Chris, and I worked with Chris back in 2018, and I lost 70 pounds of fat with him initially, and then I got Pregnant, right when my husband came back from deployment, because it was a surprise for him. And when you get pregnant, you have those cravings. And Chris kept telling me, your body's not ready to get pregnant yet. But I was like, I know what I'm doing. And I got pregnant and I gained the weight, and then I went back to him with my ears back and my tail in saying, I need help again. So now I. This is my second time going to him, and I've lost a lot of weight with him already again.

I love that you lost the weight and then got pregnant and then right back, like, immediately realized, okay, no, I need to get back into the same thing that worked before, and then we're able to do it again. I think that's unbelievable, because I think a lot of people would have come up with reasons why they couldn't. Like, my kids are small or whatever it is.

Yeah, I actually have two kids. I'm on the spectrum, and I have two children on the spectrum. So we're a neurodivergent family. So that made it makes it really hard because my kids have so many appointments. They have aba, pt, ot, speech, and so it's. It's really hard to try to, like, navigate through to do everything. And we have one car, and my husband's in the military, so I have to work around all these things on when I can go to the gym. And it's really hard, but I make it happen.

That's unbelievable. So what do you think was. Do you have a reference between what was harder the first time around or the second time?

The second. This time is a lot harder. What made me want to do it again. So after I had my second born, my dad got really sick. He was diagnosed with pancreatitis, and it was really hard. I wasn't even thinking about losing weight at that point. And it was getting progressively worse and worse and worse, and it started to go throughout his body, and he actually passed away with kidney failure. And so it took me a little while to even want to put in that mindset of, you know, I want to work out, I want to get healthy, because I was mourning my father. So my father passed away in April, and it wasn't until the end of August of 2021 was when I said my dad passed away because he wasn't healthy, and I don't want to pass away early because I'm being unhealthy. I got to the weight of 305 pounds. It got to the point just going up the stairs, I was out of breath. I couldn't do a lot of things. And it was hard to interact with my kids because I'm also short, too. I'm only five two, so. Five two, 305 pounds. That's a lot. I mean, you know, so it was a lot. And I was just so depressed. But I knew I had to make a change, not only for myself, but for my kids. I wanted to be there for them and be able to do functions and stuff and not have to run out of breath or not be too tired or not develop all these pains and stuff. So I remember my husband was playing flag football with his military buddies and stuff. So after that, I said, you know what? I'm gonna call Chris. I called Chris and I said, chris, I'm ready. I'm ready now. And he said, okay. Are you sure? Yes, I need to do this. It's. I'm out of control. I have a binge eating disorder, and it's out of control right now. And he said, okay, when do you want to come in? And I said, I want to give myself time to enjoy the last few foods, because I knew it would be a long time till I could eat it again. So I said, I'll start Monday. You know, Monday's a great start for everything. It's beginning of the week. It starts fresh. So I went that Monday, and it was so hard. I remember I threw up because I wasn't used to working out. I wasn't used to eating right. So I remember throwing up when I. When I was working out with him.

Yeah, I've heard. I've heard a few other people that have done that too. And it's common, right? Because both you're not eating right, and then you're pushing your body to the limit. And then he also, I think, does it on purpose because he wants to.

See where you're at. He definitely does it on purpose to see. See, this is what happens when you don't eat good. I was sick for four days. Wow. I was throwing up. I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed. I remember calling him, saying, I can't eat. I'm gonna throw up. I feel so sick. And he's like, yeah, that's normal. And they said, you don't feel bad for me? No. I was like, okay.

And what do you think got you to go back then after that? Because, I mean, it would have been easy for you to be. This is too hard. I don't want to do this. Like, what got you to just get.

Back at it kids and me wanting to be healthy, those, those two things were the main factors.

And then I was curious too, because between the timing of your dad passing and realizing that you had to be healthy and then also because you know, you wanted to be active with your kids, did you remind yourself of that as you were going through this, this weight loss journey or was it just kind of there in the back of your mind?

Well, I'm going to be honest, the main truthful thing, because I had moments where I just, I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. But what made me remind me to was Chris does those in bodies where it like scans everything and it tells you where your body fat is distributed, where your muscle weight is, water weight, all that. And he was actually able to tell me I was pregnant before I took a pregnancy test. Yeah, he looked at my water weight and he was like, you're pregnant. And I said, no, I'm not. And I went home, took a test, I was pregnant. And so based off of this embodies, he can predict your health. I swear it was creepy. But he did the embody with me and he said, if you gained any more weight and if you go back into eating bad right now, I'm letting you know you will get diabetes based off of your in body. And diabetes runs rapid in my family. So I definitely did not want to have diabetes. So I keep telling myself when I see a cake or a cookie or something, I don't want diabetes right now. My body's not ready for that. And he tells me like, you can enjoy those things, but not right now. Later you can. So I tell myself that too. Like, this is a temporary thing. This is not forever. Eventually I can have that cookie, eventually I can have that slice of cake or pizza or whatever. But right now I can't. And it's temporary. It's only for depending on how much weight you have to lose. For me, I had to have to lose around like 120 pounds, maybe more, maybe less. I don't really know the math in my head right now, but I have to lose quite a bit of weight. So I just tell myself the faster I lose this, the faster I can have it. But with fat loss, it's a lot slower. And especially since I had my second child, it's a lot slower. And I was stuck at the same weight for five months and I was getting so frustrated. And there were points where I'm like, this is bs, I can't do this. I'm done. I don't like this. I'm staying consistent. Like, there's nothing is budging. And the nice part about having a dietitian helping you is that they know what to do. So he said, all right, when you hit this point of day, you're going to reduce your calories by 100. And so at first, I was eating, like, 1800 calories a day, which you think, doesn't sound that much, but, oh, my gosh, it's a lot of food. I remember when I first saw him and he told me that my calorie deficit at the time, the first round I did, it was 1700, and I thought, that's not a lot of food. And he said, I can tell you right now, I could fill this table up with 1700 calories. And he had a big table. He had a big desk, and you won't want to eat all of it because it's so much. Yeah, right. Went grocery shopping. You're logging your food. And I said, oh, my gosh. I remember calling him, saying, I can't finish this. This is too much. He said, I told you I had to force myself to eat all that food. And so when he told me 800, 1800 calories this time around, because I was heavier, I needed to slowly lose weight, I said, oh, my gosh, I'm not gonna finish. So I remember again calling him, I can't eat all of this is too much. And he's like, just do your best. Do your best. And so then it went to 1700, and now I'm at 1600-1699. So it was definitely an interesting journey. It's nice again to have the dietitian, because they know how to read your body. And so he can tell me, like, okay, you need to not eat this food, or you need to eat this more of this food. So he's helped me so much. I honestly couldn't have done this without him. Yeah.

And so when you got stuck at that plateau for so long, was that what happened? Was then he was able to look at what your. What time of day you were eating, and then it sort of then reduced. Like, then you were able to get off of that plateau, or was it just like it needed to be at the plateau for a period of time before you could kind of, like, go back down again?

So it depends on a lot. He always tells me, oh, I'm glad you're plateauing, because then it gives your body a chance to not get so much excess skin, because I have a little bit. So he's like, the slower you go, it's better because he's giving your body a chance to go shrink with you. It's good in his mindset. But for me, I want to lose weight. Like, in the long run, I know I will. So, like, okay, okay. But I got to the point where I said, listen, Chris, I really. I'm over this plateau. I want to lose the weight. I know it's good and all, you're going to give me a lecture about it, blah, blah, blah. But I'm tired of being at the same weight for five months now. So he looked at. He had me do the inbody. He looked at the inbody and he's like, what we're going to do is we're going to reduce your harsh carb intake, which is usually, like, for me, I can't have bread right now, but there is a certain bread recipe I found on Pinterest I can use. And sweet potatoes. We're going to reduce it. Instead of having it by 2pm we're going to do. You can have it. You can't have it past 11am and then we're going to decrease your calories from 17, 1799 to 16, 1699. So I said, okay. So we did that. And then I finally got the plateau and I was so happy. Finally. I've been stuck forever, so. Yeah. But it was very discouraging. A lot of times I remember crying to my husband about it, not losing anything. I'm so frustrated. So he's heard a lot of me venting about it.

Well, yeah. Okay, so I have a few questions about that because that's really. I'm glad you brought your husband up. So what would he. How would he respond to you when you would say that? Because that's kind of a hard situation, right? To be there for someone in that way.

It's hard for him because I am neurodivergent and I'm not huge until I don't really like being touched too much. And if he does touch me, he can't use, like, soft hands. It has to be more of a pressure. So it is kind of hard for him because he doesn't really know how to always react to me. And I don't even really know how I want him to react either. So he's kind of just, oh, I'm sorry you're going through that. I wish I can help you. And I'm just, you can't do anything. There's nothing you can do. So I feel bad for him because I know I Am really emotional. So I am harsh on him at times and I. But he understands. He's a very understanding person and he's neurodivergent. He's adhd, so he kind of understands, but he doesn't at the same time. So he's like a typical male times two, if you.

Yeah, it sounds like him listening, though, and being there and just him. You knowing that he's there is helpful. And I'm wondering just because there's a lot of people that when they have a partner, that partner can be a jerk. Right. Or they can be supportive. And it sounds like he's definitely been supportive, which is great. And I think knowing what that looks like for people that are trying to support someone is important because I think he could be a key part of your doing the thing, just having someone to unload it on.

He's also really funny too, because I love going on Pinterest or TikTok or the social media stuff and looking at people eating sweets, cookie, like rating crumble cookies or eating what they eat in a day, things like that, or making different recipes. And he's like, why are you looking at this? You can't eat it or anything. I said, I know, but in my mind I am.

It looks good.

Maybe eventually I'll make it. Or I just like to hear other people enjoying food even though I can't. I just. I don't know, it's just weird. So he doesn't understand that about me because I can spend the whole day looking at people just eat rating different cookies or reading different cakes. And I just love listening to that stuff. I don't know why, but I do. It's cool.

Yeah, you're. You enjoy it. It's part of what makes you happy, which I think is good. That's kind of probably. You're probably a foodie in a way.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then I was wondering, so five months is a long time to be doing the work and then not seeing the results. You definitely, like, cried during it and had a hard time. But, like, how did you keep yourself motivated during this?

I think just knowing that I could possibly get diabetes. And then.

So came back to that.

Yeah, it was always coming back to that. Or my kids or. I would honestly be embarrassed of myself. I also have, I think, a lot of mainly women, but I know men do too suffer with body dysmorphia. And so I just didn't like how I looked in my body. And, you know, you always have people telling you, like, oh, you're Beautiful the way you are, blah, blah, blah. But I didn't feel that way about myself. And so, especially when I was bigger, I just didn't have that self confidence in myself. And so not that me being thinner would make me look more gorgeous, it was just more of how it made me feel. Because even when I lost all the weight the first time, I still saw myself as plus size because I had body dysmorphia. So I still didn't have the self confidence. It's all like a mental thing. So I did have to get therapy to help myself and to help myself feel beautiful. Like, my husband will tell me all the time, like, you're beautiful. Like every day he tells me I'm beautiful, but I just didn't. I was. Oh, I would even tell him, you have to say that you're my husband. I just, just don't feel it myself. And I got teased a lot in school the time. So when you're getting bullied, if you have a eating disorder, especially with anorexia or binge eating, you tend to do more of it because your mental state isn't. You're not good mentally. So you need to have a therapist to help you with all that. So I'm still struggling with it. I have moments where I crave cake. I'm thinking about it all the time, but. And it's really hard because it is an eating disorder and it is a mental illness and a lot of people forget about that. And so a lot of people that don't suffer with mental illness or eating disorder are quick to judge people that are, why don't you just lose weight? Why don't you just eat food? Everyone's quick to point at things, but they don't understand what someone is going through. So with me, I had, I had a lot. I have depression, I have autism, I have adhd. I have a lot going on. My father passed away. I have a lot going on in my life. And so, But a random person doesn't know that. And so all they're quick to say is, oh, look at, she's really overweight, she should lose some weight. But they don't know what I'm going through. And same with someone that's going through anorexia, you know, even bulimia. Like different eating disorders. It's, it's. Something is going on in their life and we don't know about it. And so everyone's just quick to judge.

Yeah. Are you open to sharing some of the work with the therapists that has helped you move Past that. I know you're still moving through it, but like, is there anything that really has helped? Is it reflective exercises or is it just someone being there? Or what do you think's the thing that really kind of stands out to you?

Because I'm still working on it. I'll give you like a little thing. My husband was on deployment and I didn't want to treat myself to anything, not even a cup of coffee because I felt like I didn't deserve it. And it took like, I'll say 10 therapy sessions to just to be able to feel confident and love myself enough to buy a Starbucks coffee. I had such little self esteem and my husband was, he would try to boost me up as much as he could. There's only so much, you know, a person can do. It was just a lot of my therapist and I'm sad because I don't have her anymore. I had her for years. Now I have someone else. But she worked a lot with me in telling me, you do this and that and this and that, like naming all the stuff I do. A lot of people can't do that. And you're neurodivergent on top of it. You deserve that cup of coffee. You worked hard for it. And I'm a stay at home mom, so I felt, no, my husband's out there working hard. He's damage control man, which is like a fireman, an engineer. And I'm like, He's working in 120 degree weather, the bottom of the ship, sweating, working so hard. And here I am at home taking care of my kids. Like I didn't think it was that big of a deal, even though it was really hard, but I didn't feel I was worthy enough for it. And my husband would even say, just go get something, like go get your nails done, go get your hair done. But I just didn't feel like I was worth it. And when my husband watched the kids one day, he said, oh my gosh, I don't know how you do this. I can't, this is too hard. I'm glad I'm at work. I can't. So hearing that really helped boost my self esteem because, oh, I am making a difference. I guess staying at home and my therapist talking about saying that you are beautiful and hearing other random people say it too. You're so beautiful, or I love how you look in that dress or whatever, that helped too. And it's hard though because when you're going through depression, all you constantly hear is all the bad stuff. People say about you. And so that's something I still do struggle with, is when I'm really down, I'll constantly replay in my head all the bad things people have said to me throughout my life, and I get so down. I think honestly, what helps me is I am a Christian. And so praying to God and talking to God, spending that time with the quality time with God, honestly helps me because I don't think I would be here without knowing that Jesus is here for me. And Jesus loves me and he's here to protect me and keep me safe and encourage me. Although having God, having my husband, having my kids, and having my. My mom is my best friend. So having my mom and having also my. My other friends, all that plays a factor and has helped a lot. Having family members that even acknowledge, wow, you've lost so much weight. I can tell. Which I have like a hit and miss with that one because I have had family members where they'll say, like, wow, you lost so much weight. You look so much better now. Thanks. I'm also Hispanic, so you kind of like, take those. They're quote unquote compliments. And so you kind of just, okay, thanks. But it's off. Like, kind of rude, but they're not trying to be rude. But they'll say, oh, you look so much better now. You're like, geez, what did you think of me before? So it's kind of funny seeing what people say as you lose weight and people are so much nicer to you too. It's crazy going out in public. I'll have men hold doors open for me. Never had that. I would struggle with my stroller and people will just watch me. But now that I lost weight, I'll have doors open for me. I have a lot more people complimenting me and it's kind of sad that that's how it is. But I'll even have people just treat me more with respect than when I was overweight. And I don't know what it is, but, yeah, it's crazy.

Well, it's funny you say that, because I wonder and I don't know because we will never know. But I just. And you could tell me how you feel, but I wonder if it's also you walking more confidently too. Almost brings that energy out. And then people are attracted to that.

I'm not sure, but I was told that before too. But I'm always a very bubbly person. It's just how my personality is with other people. So I feel like my personality hasn't changed. At all. I'm the kind of person where if you let me into the lane, if I have my blinker on, you let me in. I'll always say thank you. Got my hand up and say thank you. I'll always go out of my way to help people, even if it's a stranger. I'm. And that's just how I am. And I'm a very, like, I love to make jokes, I love to play around with people. And so, so I, I'm just always a bubbly person and I'm always, always nice. And so I've just noticed, been more observant of, of people just about what people say and, and how people treat me. Things that I just, I've noticed. And I actually saw a TikTok someone posted about that actually that how come when I lost all this weight, all of a sudden people are nicer to me? Okay, I thought it was just me. Another tiktoker said the same thing. And then I was reading the comments and there were a lot of people that said the same thing.

That's amazing when you can see that human experience based on kind of where you're at. Too unfortunate. Also, I wanted to also ask with the binge eating disorder and then also the body dysmorphia. So what helped you with both of those things or what is helping you? Because I think we're still in progress.

But yeah, I'm still in progress. There's nothing really that helps me as far as the binge eating goes. I think because I have Chris watching my every move and reading my food logs and when I do the embodies, he could tell if I cheated or not. I think that helps me not go excessive because there are times when I'm done with my caloric intake and I'm still hungry. And I've called him saying, can I just eat more veggies? I'm so hungry. He'll say, just drink water. I want food. There are moments where I do struggle where I'm like, I really want to eat. I just want to eat. Just because I'm bored or I'm sad, I just want to eat. So it does. I do have moments where it is hard, but I just keep telling myself, chris will know, Chris will know, Chris will know. So I just did learn something. Not that Chris will beat me up or anything, but I know I'll get a little lecture. So I'm just. I don't want to get a little lecture. So. And I really want to. I really want to lose the weight. So I. That all motivates me. My husband and I are renewing our vows next June, so I really want to look good on my wedding day and feel confident. But as far as the body dysmorphia is, I have so many days where I look at myself and I'm like, oh, no. But then I have. I'll have days where I'm like, wow, I look good today. It depends on my. What I see in the mirror that day. And sometimes it'll happen midday, where, like, morning I'll wear something, and I'm like, wow, I look awesome in this. And then later on in the day, I look, I see myself in a reflection. I'm like, what was I thinking? Oh, my gosh, I look horrible today. And then I'll even tell my husband jokingly, like, how could you let me out this? Like, I look horrible. And he's like, you look fine. You look beautiful. Stop it. And, like, I can't help it. And as far as I learned with ADHD as well, every time you see a mirror, you have to look at yourself. It's just an ADHD thing. And I found that out online as well. So I thought that was kind of funny because I'm the same way. Like, if I'm going out in public and I see a window, I have to look at myself, and I'm always looking at myself. And I'll critique myself all the time, and I have to learn not to do that. But it's really hard, especially since, you know, when you're a teenager, that's when you listen more to what the media says about your body. And it's. Sadly, it's going to younger girls and younger boys now. But when I hit middle school, I feel like that's when it really started. I started to have body issues. But I remember my first time experiencing a body issue. I was in elementary school. School, and I'm Hispanic. We have lots of hair on our arms everywhere. And I remember a boy pointing it out, ugh, your arms are so hairy. And I remember just being, oh, I need to. I guess I can't be hairy. So I remember twisting my arm a certain way so you could see the bottom part of my arm, so there's no hair there. And always doing that and wearing long sleeves so no one could see my arms. Because then I started being self conscious about that. And then I remember being the first girl that developed breasts in sixth grade and being made fun of for having breasts, which I thought was weird, but I would get teased on about that. Too. And I. So then I started realizing, like, okay, my body is not supposed to look like this because the other girls in my class don't look like this. And as I got more and more depressed, that's when the eating started happening. And I couldn't stop eating. And I started gaining more and more weight. Then I had to go on medication, hormonal medication, and then all that made me gain twice as much. So then I started gaining more and more and more weight. And I would do a lot of on and off diets, and they never worked. I would pay money to do all sorts of different things and none of them worked. And I remember meeting Chris was. There was an advertisement on Facebook for a free massage, sports massage. And I wasn't even. I was already on this other program called Lady Boss, and I was on that. And I remember saying, oh, I could go for a massage. I deserve a free massage. My son was with my parents, so I was just on my own. And my husband was at work. So I remember booking an appointment. I get there and there's Chris, and he starts talking to me about weight loss and all this. And I remember saying, oh, okay, this is nice and all, but when am I getting my free massage? And he went, free massage? I said, yeah, you have it advertised. He said, my assistant, he had this assistant at the time, booked you for a consultation. And I said, oh, so there's no massage? And he's no, I didn't know you were coming in for one, otherwise I would have scheduled someone to come in. He said, oh, okay. And then I remember being kind of sad, but I'm like, I'll listen to what this guy has to say. And he's just listening. He's showing me the before and after pictures of all the clients he had, how long he's been doing it for, and how he was in the military and all this other stuff. And then I remember, would you like to do an inbody? It'll be free. Oh, okay. So I did the embody. Because I remember thinking, I have a high protein diet. It'll be all great. I'll have so much muscle. And I remember seeing so much fat weight. And I said, I think your thing is broken. This is not true. He's like, it's true. Okay, now I'm considering it. And then he started going on and on about all his benefits and stuff. And I remember saying, you're gonna have to ask my husband, because I don't know. So I asked my husband to come talk to him, and they connected. So fast. They were best buds. And I'm just sitting there awkwardly, okay, what's going to happen? Because my husband's a damage control man, and Chris was a damage controlman in the Navy. So they started talking about Navy stuff. And I'm just sitting there, not understanding anything they're talking about. And I finally said, so am I doing this or not? And because Chris had that connection with my husband, my husband was like, yeah, sure, we'll give it a try. And I was like, okay, cool. I remember just sitting there awkwardly, and I never got that massage to this day.

So, Chris, if you're listening, get the massage.

No, I need my free massage.

That is so cool. And so then you showed up. So. So you told me about the first day, the second time, right? Which was when you threw up, and then it was like, four days in bed.

That was what happened the first day.

The first time.

Oh, gosh, that was horrible. I remember asking him that morning. So. So I dropped off my husband for deployment, and right after that, I went to the gym. But not right after. Like, an hour or two later, I went to him. I remember calling him in the morning and asking him, okay, what should I eat? He said, right now, just eat whatever you want. Oh, okay. So I remember making myself a chorizo burrito that day, and I ate it. I'm just like, okay, whatever. I go to work out. Oh, I got so. I almost passed out. I was so dizzy. I felt so nauseous. And he's like, this is great. I said, how is this great? Because Chris is a very sarcastic person, so you have to understand his humor. He's like, this is great. I love this. I'm like, why? I'm dying. He's like, exactly. That's why. So I don't like this. He's like, you're gonna do it. You're gonna do it. And then I remember saying, what did I get myself into? I regret this, but I paid money for this, so I'm gonna do it. And then he told me what I had to eat and all that stuff. So then it got a little bit easier on, like, day three. I didn't feel like I was gonna pass out. So I got progressively better after that.

So the prepaying of the money then was what got you to keep showing up that first time around, that commitment, knowing that was there. And then you had the other stuff, too, because, well, you hadn't had the diabetes. Not that you have diabetes, but that. That scare of diabetes, that wasn't. Yeah, that was the Second time, right?

Exactly. Yeah.

So the first time was you went for the free massage, didn't get the free massage. The consultation. He connected with your husband. Husband's like, yeah, let's do it. And then you paid, and then that's when it's sort of. That's how the commitment began, essentially.

Yeah. I also promised my husband. I'm like, I'm going to look so different. You won't even recognize me. So I'm, oh, gosh, I can't go back down now. Not that he would care. He would love me nonetheless. Like, he's always told me, I'll love you no matter what. And he's demonstrated that through. Through my mental illness, through my neurodivergency and all that. Like, he's proven that he'll love me no matter what. But I'm like, I made a promise to this man that he will not recognize me. So I gotta keep my promise here. I can't back down. And I had my firstborn at the time, and so he would always sit in the stroller and look at my phone while I was working out. And then Chris would play around with him. He would tell me, okay, do 10 of these five different times. And, well, I'll play with your son. So he used to take Eric out of the stroller and play with him and interact with him. So that made it a whole lot better. He was always so understanding that I had a child because Chris is a father, too, so he was always so awesome. And to this day, my son loves Chris and always gets excited to see Chris, and they're just like, little buds. He actually helped my son lose weight, too, because my oldest gained a lot of weight on medication, and I had him see Chris, and Chris helped him, too. But Eric loved it. He just saw it as playing with Chris. Like, he didn't really see it as a. As a workout. And Chris helped me so much because my son is so difficult with food and helping me find the right foods that will work for my son. So my son lost a lot of weight with him, too. I trusted him. I trusted Chris with my. With my kids as well. So he's helped me a lot with so many different things. And I could always ask him questions, oh, what do you think of this? What do you think of that? So he'll always be there for me, even if I'm at a restaurant. What food should I order? What should I do with this? Or does this have too much sugar? It's like, he's very helpful with all that. So that's all included in the package as well. So it's nice.

Yeah, that's so cool. And obviously Chris is a piece of your accountability, but what do you think specifically has helped you with that accountability piece?

Mainly myself. Yeah, mainly myself. I have to discipline myself a lot and say, no, don't do this, no, don't do that. You have. The only part I honestly truly suffer with, which is also why I have to hire him, is because I have no motivation to work out. I can have him. He's written to me before what to do to work out at home. It's getting that motivation to actually do it is so like, it's. That's really hard. But my son will say, let's do it together. So I'll do it with him. But that's the. And my husband will say, don't you have to work out right now? And I'll say, no, I didn't want to. So a lot of it. He helps too. He'll help remind me of things. But yeah, it's, it's. The exercise part is really hard for me. But the food part, I, I think I got it nailed down. It's just I can't have no motivation to do the other part.

And for anyone listening, because I mean this, they're gonna be. The people that are listening are actually interested in hearing the formula that you use to do the thing, which. So that's one piece of the interview that I think is going to be amazing for people, which is, number one, you had this extraordinary why. Why you wanted to lose weight between the fear of diabetes and then also you wanting to play with your kids and be able to be healthy and everything. And then the other thing was kind of having that accountability piece with Chris and then also with yourself. The third thing for your formula is you have almost thing that you say to yourself, which is the temporary. This is just temporary. It's not long term. So you're staying kind of present minded. Because a lot of people, when they're restricting themselves from anything, I can never have blank. Right. But you're. You've changed that by saying, oh, it's just temporary. Maybe it's just today or whatever it is that that piece is, but I think that's really powerful. And then you mentioned God. And that comes up a lot with surrender and being able to just surrender to that, that power. I think that's another piece that's a pattern that's come up with everyone that's doing the thing, whether it be losing weight or starting A business or traveling or whatever it is, that's another thing. And then I would say another piece is you surrounding yourself with supportive minded people with the help of your husband and then your friends. And then I like that you're exploring different things on Tick Tock and Pinterest and finding that cloud that I'm thinking cloud recipe, because I'm thinking that's what it is. But the bread recipe.

Oh no, it's not. I gotta get the recipe done. I can send it to you. Send it to me for sure.

I want that. And, but yeah, finding that recipe online and different things and actually that's part of it, which is educating yourself.

Oh my God.

And that's another one. Hiring a coach, that's another piece. So yeah, so I don't know if I missed anything, but that's your formula for you doing this thing and you can actually apply that to anything you want to do now. Your formula, which is kind of cool.

Yeah, for sure. Just having the mindset. And then my thing is always putting God first in every situation, no matter how big or small, always praying about it. And then when you're struggling, pray about it. My thing is always pray about it because God will always help you through it. And sometimes it's a you think it's good for you, but it's actually not. So depending on what the situation is, he'll either say yes or no. So a lot of times going through this, I would think, oh, I should do this because this is better for me. And he'll say, no, this isn't better for you. Do it this way. And then I'll be stubborn and say, no, I don't want to do it that way. That's the long way. And he'll say, no, this is the right way. So trusting God is a big thing. And I know God put Chris in my life because I would definitely not have been able to do this at all. I would do a whole bunch of yo yo diets, but that wouldn't have got me anywhere. And he's helped me so much and I, and I know he is sent from God because again, I couldn't do this without, without him at all.

It's amazing. And what do you think if you had one piece of advice for people on doing the thing regarding losing weight or whatever it is they might want to do, what advice would you give.

Them for losing weight? I always, I've told this to everybody. If you're going to lose weight, always see a dietitian. That's my big thing. Because they're able to tell you more about your body than you are about able to tell yourself. And people online what works for them won't work for you. So people online will tell you, drink this protein shake. Drink, take this pill, eat this. It might work for them, but it won't work for you all the time. So it might be hard and say, well, it worked for this person. That's because that's them and it's not you. You're your own person and you do things. Your body will react to things differently than someone else. So a dietitian, their expert at food, don't do a nutritionist. They can't do a meal plan. Dietitians can. And that's what Chris told me. He said nutritionist is like a nurse. A dietitian is like a doctor. So that's how he broke it down for me. So get a dietitian if you can. That's what helped me a lot. Because they're able to work with you based on what? Either like sicknesses you have or disabilities you have. So if you have like diabetes, they can work with you to help regulate your diabetes. So that's my number one advice. If you're trying to lose weight, do that. Also joining a addiction group, I'm planning on joining a food addiction group through a church. I found they work with a variety of different addictions. So having a group of people to discuss what you're going through, I think that would be really helpful too. As far as if you are planning something bigger, planning a business or trying to look for a new job, things like that, my advice is always to pray about it first. But that's my advice. That's how I do things, is I always pray about every. Like I said earlier, I pray about everything I do before I do it. Because if it's something in God's will, it will happen.

This was amazing. Getting a chance to talk to you about this. I can't thank you enough for being able to share your story and I just am imagining how many people it's going to help and inspire.

Thank you so much. I hope it does too. Yeah.

Do you have anywhere any like, social handles or anywhere people can, like, follow your story or stay in touch with you?

I have Facebook and I have a Instagram. You just have to. I have them like blocked from, like, you could send me a request, but you have to make sure you tell me who you are because otherwise I'd be thinking that you're someone that's a random person and trying to hack my information or something. Who's this? So if they send me Facebook, my name's Lisa Diamond. I was gonna say I have a picture of me, but no one knows what I look like, so that would make no sense. I don't even know what my profile picture is. Let me see. Oh, I have a picture of my husband and I. We're holding Mickey ice creams. I did not eat them. We did it for our Save the date picture. Picture. So you'll see me pretending to eat a ice cream. And that is me. You can always add me. Just message me saying, I heard you on the podcast. Can I add you? Because otherwise that would be like, I'll be really confused. My Instagram. If you could do the same thing. It's L.E.C.D.O4. If you're wondering what the heck that is, it's my name, Lisa. My son's name Eric. My other son is Kristen Christopher, and my husband's name is Dustin. And there's four of us.

There's a strategy behind it.

Yes, there is. And then you can put Lisa diamond as well. And I'll pop up in there periodically. I post things about my weight loss or I'll post things about being autistic. And I mainly post things about my family and my loved ones on there. Well, good.

I'm so excited to. Yeah. To be able to publish this and share this. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Thanks for listening to the do the Thing podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. But even more, we hope you'll be inspired to do the Thing. Do you have a burning question on Doing the Thing that you'd like answered? How about an inspiring do the Thing story of your own that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Just leave us a voice message at dothothing callcast. Co or email us at hello at dothingpodcast. Com.