Why Your Brain Wants to Keep You Dieting | Ep.53

This show is about freedom. Freedom from your constant struggle with food and letting the size of your thighs determine your worth. Join me weekly for no whole fat, unfiltered girlfriend kind of conversations that will inspire, teach and empower you. As we tune into our own body's wisdom and tune out of the diet industry lives, we can live our most radiant, pleasurable and fulfilled lives. My name is Chanci dawn. I'm a non diet nutritionist embodiment and mindset coach. But most importantly, I'm a woman on a mission to grow a deeply connected and conscious relationship with food and my body. And I'm here inviting you to do the same. Let's go

Hello, my darlin, welcome to today's episode. Today I'm wanting to talk about past probability versus what's possible for you in the future. And this is another one of those episodes where I just felt inspired. It's actually good Friday, and I was in my kitchen, making up a nutritional shake and loving it. And I said, I stood there in my kitchen, drinking the shake. And remembering when the shakes used to be wrapped up in dieting for me, where I would feel guilty if I drank anything, or ate anything other than this shake. And I actually had to stop drinking them for a few years in order to be able to support me on healing my own relationship with food and my body. So the same things that I'm preaching to you right here on my soapbox, all of this lived experience that I have that now I'm loving and sharing with other women, and helping them find the same freedom that I have now in my life. So as I'm sitting here, or really, I was standing there drinking the shake, I just thought, you know what, like years ago, thinking that it would be possible for me to be able to have bacon and eggs one day oatmeal one day, maybe not have breakfast the other day, apple pie for breakfast and other day, and then the shake, and just really be led right by my body very intuitively, in two, what is best for me in that moment. I didn't even think that was possible. But here I am. And it took discomfort to get here. And I want to share with you why and and why this might be if you're here right now, like if you're at the place where you're still being strongly influenced by diet culture, right? You're still trying to restrict deprive control your food, willpower, whatever that looks like for you. Okay, counting calories, limiting carbs, fasting in order to lose weight, whatever that is for you. If you're there right now, first of all, sweetheart, it's totally okay. It is absolutely fine. Nothing has gone wrong. And welcome, thank you for listening in. And for even like entertaining, that something could be different for you that there is a door to that actually is sustainable, and works and is so loving and so free. Thank you for being here and thinking this and opening yourself up to this possibility. And if that is you just sink into this episode, and really apply your own feelings, your emotions, your thoughts about moving into the embodied eating way to what you're dealing with right now. And if you've been on this journey for a while now, then also welcome and know that this absolutely still applies because of the way our brains work. So let's dive in. So today we're going to be talking about probability versus possibility. Because we really want to go into the possibility, what is possible for you, what do you want, and I want you to be able to like really sink into this like, that's actually if I can think it, I can actually have that. So the way our brains are wired, we've talked about this many times. Okay, so we have our brat brain. This is our primal brain, the most ancient part of us and I like to call her our brat brain because she's pretty darn bratty. Her only job is to try to keep you safe, to keep you alive. So everything that feels stressful, any difficult to feel emotion will feel like a direct threat to your very life. So this is why she He is on high alert all the time. And as you've learned, if you've been listening for a while, this is why we self sabotage. This is why we buy into diet culture. And this is why it's so hard to make changes, because any change, according to your brat brain is stressful, meaning, ah, you're under threat. So she will do everything she can to keep you where you are to keep you stuck and repeating old patterns that are not serving you. Because she's like, Hey, girl, like you're still alive, why change a thing. So let, that's just the basics of what our brain does. But it's so important to understand that this part of your brain, also she can't actually look to the future, she doesn't have the ability to think logically, or to delay pleasure to let delay gratification. She just wants to feel good now, because as long as she's feeling okay, then she thinks you're safe, right. So she's also the one that drives you towards false pleasures, when it's not serving you fuel wise, we're talking food here, okay, so feel wise or pleasure wise, but she's like, Hey, you should probably just eat all that ice cream. And then it's gone. And you won't have to think about it anymore. And then again, you won't be feeling deprived. So that's actually not in service of you that type of false pleasure, but she thinks it is in the moment. So she will drive you here. And this is why self control and willpower don't work. Because it's going against the very nature of your brat brain. It feels stressful to be deprived, it feels stressful, to be using willpower constantly against yourself, right? So we really want to learn how to work with our brat brain

instead of against her. And understanding the difference between the probability thing we're chatting about today. And possibility this is really going to help you learn how to work with her. So because your brain can't look to the future, right, she doesn't have access to this, she only has the past to be able to draw what is probable for you right now in and in the future from. So she's really, really stuck in probability. So for her, she's like, okay, let's think about diet. So I went on this diet, I went on this lifestyle plan, whatever you want to call it on this program, and I lost weight. And so your bra brains like, Yeah, I did that I lost weight. It is probable, therefore, that if I go on this diet, or a different one, that I will lose weight. But she doesn't understand this is a really important part, she doesn't understand that when you gained weight, that wasn't actually you failing, she thinks it's because you went off the diet. So she thinks as long as I stay on that diet, then I will continue to lose weight, and then I will be happy, okay. But she doesn't understand that the very nature of diets, they go against our biology, they go against our psychology, right, like diets are inherently created in a way that will fail us diets fail 98% of the time. And that actually means that yeah, maybe you lose weight, but you don't keep it off, and then you gain it back. And then some. So 98% of the time, this is what happens. Yet your brain is convinced that it's your fault. She's convinced that if as long as you stay on that diet, and as long as you have self control, and willpower, and all of this stuff that actually goes event against her very nature, but as long as you can do this, then you are strong, and you will be really acceptable and enough and valued and all of these different thoughts that she has wrapped around you and your diet and your weight and your body size. So this is why your brat brain is convinced that you should continue dieting, that you should continue trying to shrink your body intentionally through whatever means you are doing in that time because she is thinking it does work. It does work, it does work. And this time will be different this time I'll be stronger. This time. I won't go and eat you know all the Oreo cookies out of a pantry when I'm feeling bored or stressed or lonely or whatever it is. She is convinced that this time might be it. So let's just love on her for that. Right like she is very confused. She actually just wants the best for you. And she's very convinced because she has been told time and time again that your value is very much determined by the size of your body. So, so much compound Shannon for the sweet rat brain of yours, let's just love on her and go Oh, sweetie, like, if you if you could see me right now I'm holding my heart. Like, I'm holding my heart in my hands and just like, Oh, sweetie, it is okay? It is okay? That you want to keep dieting, it is okay, that your that your brain is so drawn to thinking that you need to do this, it's okay, nothing's gone wrong. But we know better now logically. So we are going to choose better for ourselves. And this is where we access the higher brain I call her our CEO brain or big sister brain. So this is our Neo frontal cortex, the more higher evolved part of us that can delay gratification, that can look to the future, it can plan it can dream, it can imagine, this is a beautiful part of us that we have access to. But so much of this part of our brain needs to be intentionally used, because we're still animals. And we are still very much governed by this brat brain. So awareness first, of course, this is happening. Probability your brain is like, yeah, probably you will lose weight. And then she's like, if you can just stay on it, it'll be great. It'll be awesome. Don't fail this time, beat yourself up, beat yourself up. But don't change a thing. Because we are familiar with this, right? We're familiar with the cycle. And anything new or different is scary, because we don't know what's on the other side of it. So that's your brat brain. So enter in your CEO brain, what does she have to say here? So your CEO brain is so powerful, because she can look to the future, she can actually access that dream of freedom. And she can go What does that look like? Who is that future self? How does she show up for herself? How does she? What is her relationship with food? Like? What does she think about her body? So this part of your brain can think ahead, it can really drop in to these ultimate desires, and this part of your brain can access possibility. Now, my friend, what do you want to be possible for you? I talk a lot about freedom on this program. I mean, it's named after. And but I really want you to tap in to you. How do you want to feel when it comes to your relationship with food? When you look in the mirror? What are the thoughts you want to think and truly believe about your body? How do you want to feel about her? What kind of clothes do you want to wear? What kind of activities do you want to do with your body? Okay, so really, really think about this, allow yourself to think big. Because the thing that's really cool, is as soon as you start thinking about it, as soon as you start feeling the emotions that these thoughts create case. So like possibility, and hope, excitement, as soon as you start actually embodying these emotions, your brain that brat brain is going, oh, oh, okay, I'm feeling this, there must be some truth to this. And then that brat brain will start to look for evidence in your environment for that truth. Because if you remember, your thoughts are going to create these vibrations of emotions in your body. It's these emotions that lead your actions, your actions and your interactions. And it's the actions that you take and that you don't take that create the results in your life. So when you can look at this, and when you can kind of go, oh, this is something that I'm actually believing as possibility. And your body actually feels that you will start to take actions accordingly. And you will start to see results in your life. And the results will prove your thought, right. So this is the evidence I'm speaking of evidence in your own life, and your brain will also start to seek out evidence in your environment. So tuning into this podcast, listening to my own lived experience, go back and listen to the episode that Cheryl did. I don't remember how many it was ago, but I will put that in the show notes. Because this is a client of mine who is now living in freedom. And so gather more and more evidence from those around you from stories from this podcast, from your own lived experience of what is possible for you. This will increase your belief and you will start taking more and more actions and you will see the evidence of it in your life. Now if you are I ate at one right out of 10. On the belief scale of this is possible for me, then gladder thoughts come in very helpful. And I've used the words What if a lot. So if you want to say for example, I want to feel free around food in my body, the thought is feeling free around food in my body is possible for me. Hey, and if you're like, yeah, no, I actually don't believe that I'm not seeing these results in my life. Just adding what if in front of that sentence in front of that possibility statement can change so much. So it's like, what if feeling free around food in my body was possible for me? Even that will help your brain it'll help your brain Calm down, and it'll help her consider possibility. What if you're not saying it is you're just getting curious? And again, curiosity really helps to calm that Bradbery down. So what if is a really powerful one? Also,

how would I show up? If freedom around food in my body was possible for me? How would I show up? Again, this is a question. And this is like a hug consideration, curiosity. So think about more of these latter thoughts for you, that might really work. Okay, what registers as truth what kind of helps this possibility settle into your body so that you can actually embody it as truth for you. And as you're doing this, another thing that I encourage you to do is to clean up your environment. So if you have a whole bunch of dieting counts that you follow on Instagram, please get rid of them on notify from them, stop following them, whatever it's called. I'm almost 45. And my kids laugh at me because I, I use all the wrong terms, apparently, when it comes to social media, but that's okay. I'm still on it. We're still connected there, hopefully. So it is what it is. I just think it's funny. So yes, unfollow. I think that's what it is, unfollow those accounts. And if you have old cookbooks, if you have journals, if you have any sort of like diet paraphernalia in your life, exited, get rid of it, donate it, even better, throw it out, no one needs that crap, just get rid of it, sacrifice it to the gods on a full moon, like whatever you want to do, just do it. Because you do not need more evidence in your, to your bright brain that you need to dye it, okay. And anything like that will be like peeking her right, she loves the pattern, she wants you to go back there for all the reasons we talked about before. So we need to intentionally create an environment that supports possibility, and intentionally create an environment that is void of all the shit that we are no longer available for came my friend that that is it. Possibility versus probability your brain wants to keep you in probability. There's nothing wrong. She's just trying to keep you safe. But so much more is possible for you. And I really hope that this episode helped you understand that. So now I have created a document. It's just on ladder thoughts, new thoughts to think these are the ones that you put in front of these new possibility thoughts that you're creating, to help your body embody it as truth more and more and more. So if you go to the show notes, just click on the link there, and it'll take you to the place to download this document. It's super helpful. I actually used to have this up on my fridge, I think I should put it back there because it's really good not just for this, but any new beliefs that you are trying to believe and embody as truth so you can actually get these new results in your life. Now before you go, I want to ask you please go rate this show, review this on iTunes, it really helps bump it up in the algorithm so more women will hear this, like absolutely life giving message. So please do that. I am so appreciative to all of you who have and thank you so much for listening in. And we will talk next week.