The Simplicity of Wellness Podcast
The Simplicity of Wellness podcast is about learning how to bring your body into balance so that you get leaner, stronger and healthier as you age. Each week I'll share thoughts and ideas that help my clients build the self-awareness, self-confidence and self-reliance to lose weight, shed inches, manage muscle mass and master their mind so that they can stop dieting and enjoy living at their healthy weight with optimal wellness.
The Simplicity of Wellness Podcast
A Scale Moment: Getting Back To Normal After Travel
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What if you could maintain your healthy habits even while traveling and avoid the guilt of post-vacation weight gain? In this episode of the Simplicity of Wellness podcast, I share a personal story about my husband's reaction to gaining some weight after a trip, emphasizing the difference between short-term dieting and a long-term body balance approach. We'll explore how to focus on positive shifts toward normalcy rather than expecting immediate results and discuss various ways to monitor these shifts beyond just the scale, such as changes in physical appearance, gut feelings, and appetite. Patience is key, and context matters greatly when it comes to returning to your balanced, healthy routine.
We'll also dive into the importance of tracking and aiming for high-end numbers on a scale to gauge body balance and positive changes. Achieving a perfect 10 is rare, and what's more important is recognizing an upward trend rather than a constant increase. This awareness tool can be invaluable both at home and during travel, helping you make better choices without being overly strict. Enjoy your travels guilt-free and return to your healthy habits with sustainable boundaries in place. Plus, I'll share tips on reflecting on your day to help you become leaner, stronger, and healthier without overhauling your entire life. Don't miss out on this insightful episode!
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Welcome to the Simplicity of Wellness podcast. I'm your host, board-certified holistic nutritionist and professional life coach, amy White. The purpose of this podcast is to share information that you can use to become leaner, stronger and healthier by losing weight, shedding inches, maintaining muscle and managing your mind, all while living your normal busy life in this modern, sugar-filled world. Hello, simplifiers, it's been a busy summer here in the White House Lots of travel.
Speaker 1:While travel can be fun, it can also be hard on the body because it's a shift in lifestyle. The way you normally live changes when you're away from home. For me, and I suspect most people, food choices change for many reasons when we're traveling. One simple reason is because when visiting friends and family, they often eat differently than I do. Their normal all-the-time foods are different from mine. I try to eat my normal most-of-the-time foods even when traveling, but it's not like being at home. This isn't a problem. It's to be expected. When your normal routine shifts, nothing has gone wrong. The good news is, with travel, this type of shift tends to be temporary. When you get home, you get back to your normal and settle into your regular routine and your most of the time foods. I always love coming home to my normal routine and my favorite foods. My body loves my routine.
Speaker 1:Jeff and I returned from a trip just last Wednesday. Friday morning we had what I'd call a scale moment, which is what prompted this podcast. I'm gonna give you the details of the scale moment to illustrate the difference between what I believe is a dieting mindset versus the long-term body balance process mindset. After that I'll share a big tip on what you can do to tune into your body so that you can watch the body balance magic happen after you get home from a trip. And to end the episode, I'll give you one quick but important reminder.
Speaker 1:Friday morning, one full day after being home from our trip, I saw my husband step on the bathroom scale. So I asked him how did he do? While we were away Meaning, did the scale show a shift? He made a groaning noise and said terrible, which indicated to me that his food indulgences while we were away shifted his body a bit out of balance, away from his normal everyday weight. I then asked if he noticed that he was shifting toward normal, because I knew that he'd also weighed himself on Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after being home. In a grouchy and kind of snappy way he said it's only been a day. I didn't ask him if, in one day, he was back to his normal. I asked him if he was seeing a shift back toward normal.
Speaker 1:These are two very different things. The first an expectation that his weight would have corrected back to his normal overnight is unrealistic. This is where disappointment and self-judgment are born. It's not good. The second watching for signs that your body is returning to balance opens up the door for assessment and more awareness about your routine now that you're back home.
Speaker 1:The food that was available to us and that we ate while we were away was more carb and sugar heavy than what we're used to. Based on what we ate and how we know our bodies respond to different types of food, it's not a surprise to see the scale indicate that we're holding water. I also weighed myself on Thursday morning. I wanted to see where I was after our trip so that I could watch my body move back into balance. I stepped on the scale again Friday morning and I saw a positive shift toward normal, as I expected. Was I back to my normal? No, did I expect to be? No. Was I disappointed? No, it had been one day. I know it takes my body at least three to five days to release excess water. My body loves my normal routine. Even though I know this, it's still fun to watch as my body responds positively when I get back to eating the foods that make me feel good. My brain loves to see evidence that my process to be and stay healthy works. So back to my husband's reaction to my question of whether or not he was shifting toward normal. It wasn't a question of if in one day he was back to his normal weight. I suspected that's what he thought I was asking, hence the snappy comment about it only being one day. I was asking if he was seeing a positive shift.
Speaker 1:The scale is only one way to watch your body shift back to normal. The scale will show the body releasing stored water weight and, as I mentioned, this does take time. What you see in the mirror is another way to notice what your body's doing. How your gut feels is another. Unusual foods can cause gas, bloating and even heartburn. How your appetite and cravings feel is another way to assess how your body is shifting. There are lots of ways to watch your body shift. Don't make the mistake of letting one data point, like the scale, be the whole story. As I mentioned above, this can lead to disappointment and self-judgment, both of which can shift your at-home behavior away from your normal and make getting back into balance a much slower and harder process.
Speaker 1:How Well, if you feel like you've already blown it, you might be more likely to continue to include indulgences that are normal for you when you're traveling, but not a normal part of your home routine, for example, having a glass or two of wine every night or indulging in dessert regularly. So be realistic. Understand that nothing has gone wrong. Your lifestyle shifted for a bit, and so did your body Get back to your normal routine. Do the things that normally create and keep you in balance. This is how you help your body release the excess stored water, calm any gut irritation and normal you in balance. This is how you help your body release the excess stored water, calm any gut irritation and normalize your appetite and sleep so that you shift back into balance. Take what the scale tells you and then relate it back to everything else that's happening. Put the scale data into context. If you don't see the scale shifting the way you expect, after at least five days, take a closer look at everything else you're doing. Have you fully embraced your normal at-home routine or are some of your travel indulgences still hanging around? Trust your process. Now let's get into my tip on how to objectively observe how your behavior is impacting your body.
Speaker 1:How you feel is probably the biggest thing to take note of, but there are different ways to evaluate this. The exercise that I teach my clients for self-observation I call traces T-R-A-C-E-S. I ask them to trace back their day. Keep a journal next to your bed as you climb into bed before you turn off the light. Trace back your day On a page in your journal. Write the letter T on one line, then on the next line write R and then on the next line, an A and then a C and an E and an S. Next to each line you're going to place a score from 0 to 10. 0 being bad and 10 being the most amazing ever. T stands for temperament. Think about your mood throughout the day. Was it all over the place? Were you moody? So moody you scared the dog and people were avoiding you. That would be a score on the very low end of the scale. If your mood was good, stable, maybe even leaning toward reasonable and positive, that would rate on the higher end, r stands for rest. This time you're going to think back on how you slept the night before. Based on how well you think you slept, rate that from 0 bad to 10 amazing.
Speaker 1:A is for appetite. What was your appetite like during the day? Was it all over the place? Did you feel the need to eat constantly, or was it more regular hungry for meals and no real interest in snacks? Rate from 0 to 10. C is for cravings. Were there any particular foods you craved during the day? Pay special attention to foods that might have been carby or sugary. Again, rate this from 0 to 10.
Speaker 1:E is for energy. How was your daytime energy? Was it steady or did it feel like a roller coaster, with dips that needed some sort of a pick-me-up like snacks or coffee? Did you want to take a nap mid-afternoon? Rate your overall daytime energy from 0 to 10. And the last thing is S for stress. How was your perceived level of stress? Were you on edge or were you able to comfortably roll with the unpredictability of the day? Do this every night.
Speaker 1:Ideally, you want to see these numbers moving toward the high end of the scale, toward 10. To me, 10 is an elusive number. It's not often that I'll write a 10, but it does happen. Like most things, you probably won't see a simple upward trajectory. Expect the numbers to bounce around, but over time you're looking for a trend toward the high end of the scale. The more these numbers move toward 10, the more you'll feel in balance and see the results of positive body change.
Speaker 1:This is a great tool. While you're at home. It can help you evaluate how your normal routine is impacting your body. It's also a great tool for travel. It can help you to be more aware of your off-routine behaviors. Can help you to be more aware of your off-routine behaviors. Just that little bit of extra awareness has the power to help you make choices that better support your body, even when traveling. My overall message today is to enjoy traveling.
Speaker 1:Don't be so strict and rigid with your healthy process that you miss out. Be realistic and expect your body to shift. If you're temporarily living a little differently, remind yourself nothing has gone wrong. Then get back to your normal routine, those healthy at-home behaviors, because we aren't dieting, you're not following inflexible rules that can't be broken. We're learning how our body works and using that information to create healthy boundaries that allow us to maintain body balance while we enjoy life.
Speaker 1:Get your notebook and take five minutes every night to trace back your day. Let me know how it goes. I'll be back in the next episode. Do you like the idea of eating for the body you want? Is there a piece of you that's eager to learn how to become leaner, stronger and healthier without having to overhaul your entire life? If this is you, then you're in luck, because this is what I do. I can help you reconnect and work with your body so that you can enjoy the body, comfort and confidence you deserve, eating foods you love. Click the free consult link in the show notes. Let's talk about where you are, what you want and how you can get there.
