How To Break Up With Body and Food Obsession

Hey Magic Makers!!
I was sooo excited to have this opportunity recently to have one of my good friends Lisa Mustard on to chat about obsessions, and how to STOP obsessing over food and our bodies!  I have known Lisa for a few years now and I just love when we get to talk about things like this!

 I think it’s always amazing when I can talk to someone, like Lisa, about topics such as obsession because she has personally experienced these hurdles in her own life.  She is insanely knowledgeable from a clinical standpoint because of her education, but she has also lived and worked in the fitness industry for years, which gives her a leg up in understanding how the body works and how people can push their bodies and physics to these insane places!  She has also had to overcome her own battles with her body and food so those personal experiences bring knowledge and a whole sense of community full circle.  

 Lisa is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT) and now, through her coaching and training, she specializes in helping others design a life that allows them more time doing what they love. She is also the host of the podcast, The Therapy Show with Lisa Mustard, and wife to Billy and mama to 2 girls!  She has loved everything about health, wellness and fitness for 20 years, but she still felt she needed to change things about her body. 

 While working in sports marketing she was surrounded by people who are obsessed with health, people who have to do this to be the best, because it was their job!  So while being surrounded by the best and having to work on their bodies the way they did,  this stuff began to rub off and she kept wondering “why can’t this be me’”  Lisa loved what people were able to do with their bodies and she wanted to be able to do that as well. How many of us can totally relate to this!’!’  

Lisa began obsessing over fitness and wanted to add more and more muscle. So she started eating for muscle, then wanted to see things change, so she cut calories and turned to cardio thinking this was going to get her the results she wanted.  She went down the path of cardio and dieting, cardio and dieting and like many of us who have experienced this, she wasn’t seeing any results and she couldn’t understand why!   

She didn’t really have an eating disorder, but she instead called it disordered eating. Lisa knew there wasn’t something right with her thought pattern about food and her body,  and this was affecting her everyday behavior.  She obsessed about everything she ate and it eventually got to the point that she wouldn’t even go out because she couldn’t control the food at these events that she would be at.  Lisa finally had a breakdown..   

Tired of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the results and not getting them, so she turned to her husband Billy who had for years advised her that she had to stop doing so much cardio, begin heavy lifting and eat more carbohydrates.. Which come on ladies, we don’t want to hear that or do any of that! 

There are so many people out there who are stuck on this notion of, do more cardio and cut calories, limit carb intake and it is really not the right way!  Cardio makes us hungry, so the more cardio you do, the hungrier you are, and the more you want to eat!! So we don’t get the results we want because our body is not being fueled and worked out properly. So we HAVE TO CHANGE what we are doing when things like this are not working. 

When it comes to change in your life and wanting better for yourself, you’ve got to try different things, you cannot stay in that cycle of doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.  That is where the change is going to happen, by trying different things to get you to your goal!  But remember, just because you try something different doesn’t mean it’s going to be the ticket for change. You may have to try a variety of things until you get to what works for you.  

When Lisa changed up her routine that she had become so used to, she told herself she would be in this new commitment for the long haul.  This wasn’t some 30-day fix or 60-day program. This was something that would create slow and gradual results from a workout that was sustainable, maintainable and a long term LIFESTYLE CHANGE. And I have talked about this time and time again, your MINDSET needs to be in the right place. You need to be in the right place, have your why and get to a point where you are at peace with your mindset as Lisa had become when she found what worked for her and gave her the results she wanted.  

If you noticed above, I also said that you have to know your WHY, why you want to change.  We know we want to change for ourselves and fulfill our needs, but we also may want to change for the people and loved ones around us.  For Lisa she wanted to raise daughters that were healthy, strong and confident, so she knew that she had to be a healthy, strong and confident mom. And that wasn’t going to happen with her daughters witnessing her struggle over this unhealthy relationship with food and fitness. So if this is resonating deep with you, and you have been in Lisa’s shoes, you have to want to make that change so that the ones you love most aren’t affected by the obsessions.  

Through Lisa’s personal experiences and struggles with food and body obsessions, she has gathered a ton of helpful knowledge that I urge you guys to try if you were Lisa was.  Here is a list of some of the tips, tricks and hacks Lisa has found useful: 

• Get out of the safety of what I used to be. 

• Look to the women who have what you want, or what you want to accomplish, or have been through what you are going through. See what is working for them! 

• HIRE a coach if you need to hire a coach!  It’s a beautiful gift and you will be grateful you did it.  You need someone to help you answer questions you don’t want to ask yourself.  

• Do not do your own program.  Because then you will just have you do the things that are easy for you! You need to be challenged. And that is where a fitness coach will come in handy who can help create a program for you. 

• If you want to do cardio, go for a walk. It’s relaxing, it’s cathartic, and it gives you “me time” to think or reflect on things.  

• Get in the right mindset! 

• Remain consistent! “What you do today will pay off in a couple of weeks.”  

• EMBRACE THE JOURNEY! There will be up’s and down’s, but that is the beauty of it!  

• Give yourself some sort of alone time to reflect within yourself. Write in a journal or read a book. 

Self-reflection will play a huge role in this because it will give you that time to you need to look at what you are doing, why you are doing and what you need to change to get you to a happier, healthier version of yourself.  So whether you are starting a new program, or working on one currently you’ve got to ask yourself these things to find out if you even are on the right path…..  Do you like the workouts that you’re doing or the food you are eating”  Can you see yourself doing this for the next 5 years’  If not, ask yourself what will make you happy’  Are you happy with what you are doing’ What does success mean for you”  Because “What you are doing should lead to your success.”!!! 

Now that Lisa has self-reflected and found what works for her and every aspect of her life, she looks back and doesn’t understand why she obsessed so much!! Now that she has found something that she truly loves and feels good doing, she never gets on a scale, she works out and eats right (and indulges when she wants to because she can!), she is happy, she doesn’t obsess about things, she doesn’t stand in front of a mirror anymore and pick herself apart, and MODERATION has become her Mantra! 

Here is a breakdown of what Lisa did moving from her old obsessions of cardio, calorie-cutting and limiting herself, to finding a workout that got her results and a diet that worked with her lifestyle… (lean out and loose the muffin top!) 

• Eased up on the cardio and started lifting heavy again (4 days a week) progressing my weights. 
• Played around with nutrition. 
• Intermittent fasting, in the beginning, this was helpful because it helped manage her calories. 
• Eating enough protein, vegetables and carbohydrates.
• Eventually, she stopped intermittent fasting and ate in the morning because she wanted more energy for her morning workout. So she kept the same amount of calories, she just shifted her eating schedule.  
• If you drink alcohol, you need to manage that and rein that in.  
• Don’t do more than 30 minutes of cardio 3-4 days a week. You don’t need to be doing anything crazy, moderate intensity on the elliptical is just fine. 
• Or go for a long 60-minute walk for once or twice a week. 
• If there is a day that you don’t feel like working out, then take the day off and if you give yourself that rest, you will come back the next day ready to go! 
• Figure out what it is you like to eat. 
• Lift heavy weights. (sooo important) 
• You won’t get the same results from boot camp classes, bare or pilates.  

“You CAN love your body but still want to change it.”  

What makes Lisa Mustard feel magical”…. When she is with her 2 daughters and she is just connecting with them. That mother-daughter time sharing with each other and talking is where it is at! Having those moments of understanding and validation and just the I love you is so amazing for her.  Momhood and family time with Billy and the girls just being together doing things, having fun or watching a movie is really, truly magical in itself.  

www.lisamustard.com

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