In this episode, Rachel and Ashleigh talk about recent struggles with comfort eating, sharing the reality that nearly EVERYONE has experienced at least once: eating in secret, or feeling shame and guilt over their food choices, and eating in a way that doesn't support your goals even when you know you don't really want to. Why do we sometimes eat compulsively even when we tell ourselves we shouldn't, or don't want to? Why do we feel so much shame around "guilty pleasure" eating?
Rachel also shares where she has been over the past few months, including another heartbreak/grief cycle, a period of depression, starting a low dose antidepressant, and the body image feelings that come with regaining weight.
In addition to sharing some very personal stories, they also offer a range of strategies and tactics for breaking habits that aren't serving you: things like urge surfing, planning, mindfulness and other therapies that can have a big impact.
Some big lessons come out of this episode, including the fact that you are not alone in your struggles; externalizing your fears can make them less scary; and there is always work to be done (and why this is a good thing!)
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Chapters
00:13 What this episode covers instead of fiber
03:44 Listener feedback on the Strong and Sculpted Shoulders program
05:48 Using food to take the edge off
08:36 Why the brain defaults to food under stress
10:16 Shame, guilt, and eating in secret
11:43 Meeting the pattern with compassion instead of shame
15:13 Getting back on track faster instead of never messing up
16:04 Urge surfing and pausing before you react
19:30 Interrupting the pattern and building new pathways
21:16 Setting up your environment and taking a portion instead of the whole bar
24:43 Working with a coach, structure, and tracking as data
26:11 Change takes time, Ashleigh on eating two dinners
28:25 Rachel on the past few months
30:18 Getting lean while depressed
32:41 Starting an antidepressant and what changed
36:27 Body image, postpartum, and pressure in the fitness industry
39:29 Externalizing it and asking for help
41:27 Stigma around antidepressants and weight loss drugs
45:43 What this podcast is for
47:00 The work is not done
48:55 Sponsor break, True Nutrition
51:42 Sign off
Takeaways
- Both hosts say they eat to cope with stress, and both say that knowing the mechanism does not stop them doing it.
- Rachel frames the goal as getting back faster rather than never slipping, and says that interrupting the pattern even once starts building new pathways you can prove to yourself.
- Ashleigh's tool is putting time between the urge and the reaction, five or ten minutes, then deciding, so the choice is a made one either way.
- Rachel's portion approach for clients: take a serving instead of the whole bar, eat it somewhere else, pay attention to it, then step away and pick a different way to cope if the feeling is still there.
- Rachel says a low dose antidepressant has helped alongside therapy and her own work, and she is careful to say the medication did not cause the weight gain.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vehl-lpMXM8
Programs
Newsletter: https://substack.com/@musclescienceforwomen
Ashleigh VanHouten: https://ashleighvanhouten.com , Instagram @themusclemaven
Rachel Gregory: https://rgfit.com , Instagram @rachelgregory.cns
