129 - How To Get Better At Sticking To Your Plan
Making Your Plan Work for You
It's crucial to create a plan that you actually want to follow, not one you think you have to. If you find yourself binging or not sticking to your plan, it might be because it doesn't fit your real needs. Plans aren't set in stone; they're meant to be adjusted until they feel right. Start by asking yourself if your plan includes foods you enjoy and if it satisfies your hunger throughout the day.
Ditch the Diet Mentality
The key to a successful plan isn't to eat as little as possible or to stretch out the time between meals to an extreme. This approach often leads to overeating later on. True progress comes from finding a balance that works for you, where you don't feel deprived or hungry all the time. It's about making choices from a place of self-care, not restriction.
Small Changes, Big Impact
If you're struggling to stick to your plan, consider making small tweaks. This could mean adjusting meal times, adding more protein, or planning for snacks. The goal is to make your plan more manageable and enjoyable. Remember, the best plan is one that makes your life easier, not harder.
Listening to Your Body
It's essential to listen to your body and give it what it needs. If you're constantly ignoring hunger signals or forcing yourself to eat foods you don't like, you're not taking care of yourself. Planning should be about nourishing your body and meeting its needs, not about adhering to strict and unrealistic rules.
Breaking Free from the Cycle
Many people get caught in the cycle of under-eating during the week and overeating on the weekend. This pattern keeps your weight stagnant and makes you feel like you're failing. The solution is to create a balanced plan that includes enough food to prevent binging and aligns with your goals. It's about making sustainable changes, not following a rigid diet.
Transcript
[00:00:00] Oh yeah! Welcome to the[00:00:10]
[00:00:16] Maggie: podcast.
[00:00:17] Ryan: Good morning.
[00:00:18] Maggie: Do you know something that I learned the other day? [00:00:20] You can leave reviews for podcasts multiple times. What? Amazing. So my guess is that those of you who've been listening for a long [00:00:30] time, like you've probably got new insight. You've probably grown a bit, probably like, you know, had your brain changed a little bit.
[00:00:38] Maggie: You're out there burning fat with your [00:00:40] brain.
[00:00:40] Ryan: You're a new person.
[00:00:40] Yeah.
[00:00:41] Maggie: Yeah. I mean. Go through the reviews that exist already like they're they're pretty insane. So if you've already left a review,
[00:00:49] Ryan: okay [00:00:50]
[00:00:50] Maggie: You could leave another one Just like with whatever new insights and if you haven't I understand it's a pain in the ass I really do like it's it's bugging there are some [00:01:00] podcasts that have like changed my Actual literal life that I didn't leave a review for until like I heard them remind me like for the 47th time So,
[00:01:08] Ryan: you know what?
[00:01:08] Ryan: I think would be better than a review [00:01:10] is if you go to our podcast Instagram account, follow the account and, and share it with your friends.
[00:01:19] Maggie: I love that [00:01:20] too, but the reviews on Apple help the podcast get to more people too. I
[00:01:26] Ryan: don't think they do, to be honest. I've looked [00:01:30] into
[00:01:30] it.
[00:01:31] Maggie: Okay. Well, don't leave a review then and just follow the Facebook account.
[00:01:34] Maggie: It would
[00:01:36] Ryan: be cooler if you get, if you get something out of this podcast. [00:01:40] to share it with people who don't listen to the podcast. Maybe they will get something out of it too. Maybe they'll change their lives. Who knows? You never know. Recommend it to your friends. That'd be awesome. [00:01:50]
[00:01:50] Maggie: All right. What are we talking about?
[00:01:52] Ryan: We're talking about how to get better at sticking to your plan. I've had some experience [00:02:00] with this lately.
[00:02:04] Ryan: What do you think? What do you think? I think, so here's my opinion. The way you get better [00:02:10] at sticking to your plan Is you have to, you have to be able to identify what is not working in your [00:02:20] plan that is making it difficult for you to stick to it. A lot of people will make a plan and never question that and then get mad at [00:02:30] themselves because they can't stick to it.
[00:02:33] Ryan: But your, your, your plan isn't concrete. It's very, uh, liable. Is [00:02:40] that the word?
[00:02:40] Maggie: Yeah.
[00:02:42] Ryan: You make the plan, so.
[00:02:45] Maggie: Well, I think a lot of people are just making plans that they don't, they're not making a [00:02:50] plan that they want to follow. They're making a plan that they think they have to follow.
[00:02:55] Ryan: Yeah, I just saw, didn't you, didn't you just post something about this in Vibe Club?[00:03:00]
[00:03:00] Maggie: Uh, like today?
[00:03:02] Ryan: I don't, I thought I saw something recently about you saying something along those lines. Maybe I'm dreaming.
[00:03:08] You're dreaming. [00:03:10]
[00:03:10] Maggie: Like, planning food you hate, or?
[00:03:13] Ryan: I can't remember, sorry.
[00:03:14] Maggie: Um, I think that I, well, I talk about this in my course in Vibe Club, which is [00:03:20] just like most people, when I say make a plan, they're like, got it.
[00:03:23] Maggie: So I'm going to make a plan from all from my diet brain. And that's what they do. That's what you said. Yeah.
[00:03:29] Ryan: You're [00:03:30] they've, they've. They filter.
[00:03:31] Maggie: Yeah. They filter. This is the thing, you guys. And you're probably doing it if you listen to this podcast because I, I watch my clients do it. I teach you something and I'm very [00:03:40] specific with exactly what I mean.
[00:03:41] Maggie: Like I'm not, I don't speak in parables, okay? Like I give you shit very straight and I say exactly what I want you to do. Right? Like [00:03:50] exactly the coaching that, like, this is, this is the direction, right? And people are like, got it. And then they filter it eight times through all of their diet thoughts, which is like, yeah, [00:04:00] I know you said we don't need to track, but I actually do need to, I really like for me.
[00:04:05] Maggie: And so they just start filtering everything through like, yeah, I know you said you don't need to fast, but [00:04:10] I have to fast because. blah, blah, blah. Like they take what I say and they filter it. So when I say make a plan, they say, got it. Eat as little as possible. Go as long as I [00:04:20] possibly can without eating.
[00:04:21] Maggie: They're coming from all of these, you know, unspoken and spoken diet rules when they make their plan.
[00:04:27] Ryan: This comes up a lot when people are eating off plan and then you just [00:04:30] tell them to plan that thing.
[00:04:31] Maggie: Yeah. And you see it because of the resistance comes up. Yeah. Because it's like, okay, if you put this thing on your plan, you know you get to decide whether or not to eat it.
[00:04:39] Maggie: And they're [00:04:40] so unwilling to put it on their plan, and then they're eating it every single day. It just makes no sense. It's like you don't understand the calming that your brain can have when you're [00:04:50] like, it's on the plan. If we want it, we can have it. We're eating it because we're not allowed to have it versus eating it or not eating it because it's on the plan.
[00:04:57] Maggie: And then if we eat it, we followed [00:05:00] our plan, but we're so resistant. Why? Because we're like, that kind of stuff doesn't go on plans that lose weight. Yeah. So no, I will not be planning that because then I will [00:05:10] gain weight. Instead, I'm just going to binge eat it. And it's like, yeah, that's what makes you gain weight, you know, like, it's just a lot of thought errors and [00:05:20] miscommunication from all of the messaging that we've had of what it takes to lose weight, that our brain is just like, less is better.
[00:05:26] Maggie: Going longer is better. The more I can just kind of [00:05:30] suffer, the better. That's the way you get results. But again, like if that worked, we would all, none of us would have a weight problem after like the age of 15 because we all, we all [00:05:40] tried that kind of stuff when we were teenagers. It's, it's doesn't work.
[00:05:44] Ryan: Right.
[00:05:46] Maggie: So a big thing to investigate if you are in the [00:05:50] habit of planning but not following your plan, like do you even like your plan? Is your plan something that you want to follow? [00:06:00] It might not be. Are you planning enough food? If you find yourself binging every night, the chances are you're not planning enough food for the day.
[00:06:09] Maggie: So [00:06:10] we bring balance to that cycle By planning more food. And that's just, it's, mostly I think the reason why people are filtering all of [00:06:20] my stuff through their filters is just because it goes against everything they believe. It's not even what they want to believe. It's just what they believe and they probably have done these things in the past [00:06:30] where they've lost a lot of weight quick, which is yet another confirmation that it's working.
[00:06:34] Maggie: Even though it doesn't stay off, it comes off really quick. So it's working and so they filter it through and it's just like, [00:06:40] yeah, I get like what you're saying, but like I am going to do this, this, this, this, and this, even though I don't have to because. Because I, ultimately I do believe that I have to.
[00:06:49] Maggie: And so you end up [00:06:50] hating your plan because your plan, here's the thing, your plan is starting to look like every other diet you've ever been on. And then you're relating me to diet? I don't think so. That is not what I teach. So [00:07:00] like, that's what happens. That's when people start to just be like, oh, this isn't working, blah, blah, blah.
[00:07:04] Maggie: A lot of the time, the reason it's not working is because you're not actually doing it the way that I teach you to do it. You're doing it with your [00:07:10] own filters on and that's fine. But it cannot be connected to the way that I teach it because that's not what I'm teaching. So you have to watch out for like what are those diet filters that your brain [00:07:20] is sticking on what you're learning
[00:07:21] and
[00:07:23] Maggie: saying like yeah, I get the point, but.
[00:07:25] Ryan: Another thing is is like we were these diet filters come from a [00:07:30] place and I'm kind of guessing here But these diet filters come from a place in our past where we tell ourselves I can only lose weight if I eat [00:07:40] as little as possible But you're, but the actual reality of you eating as little as possible is not even true.
[00:07:48] Ryan: You eat as little as [00:07:50] possible and then you binge on the weekends. You overcompensate for the lash. But you don't even remember that. Yeah. You, all you can think about is how little you ate and it worked, but it didn't [00:08:00] work. You, you know what I mean? You had to eat as little as possible because you were binging here and there.
[00:08:06] Maggie: Yeah, like I just feel like this is like very, this is, this has never [00:08:10] gotten easier for me to explain to anybody. You know how you're explaining it? You're like, right? Like, well, like it's hard to explain the fact that like you eat as little as you can Monday through [00:08:20] Friday, right? And you're like, okay, I have it in me.
[00:08:21] Maggie: I can do it. I can just strong arm myself to eat as little as possible. Then like, it's like, we're pulling a rubber band back. All of a sudden the rubber band snaps [00:08:30] exactly 5 p. m. on Friday. You, you binge eat all weekend. And then. Whatever weight that you had lost during the week when things were working so well [00:08:40] you gain back maybe plus more maybe not so like this is this is the situation I see when I talk to clients who are like I'm just my weight is just stalled out and it's like yeah because you're literally in a habit [00:08:50] of under eating and over eating and that under eating and over eating is leading to your weight staying generally the same
[00:08:56] Ryan: or or when people refer to the [00:09:00] The success as eating as little as possible, like maybe their weight is going down, but they have to eat that little because they're not eating a [00:09:10] reasonable amount of food.
[00:09:11] Ryan: If they were eating more during the week, they
[00:09:14] Maggie: wouldn't need to overeat so much on the weekends. Yeah.
[00:09:17] Ryan: I'm not talking about maintenance. I'm talking about like you're thinking [00:09:20] back of when things worked and it was, I'm eating as little as possible. So I need to make my plan that way. It's not. It's not reality.
[00:09:28] Ryan: The brain forgets, [00:09:30] the off plan days.
[00:09:34] Maggie: I know that to an extreme level because that's the first question I ask when someone says [00:09:40] they're not losing weight or they're gaining weight or whatever and they're, they're doing all the things. I'm like, that's, first of all, is impossible. Even I don't do all the [00:09:50] things.
[00:09:50] Maggie: And second of all, it's like, how many times have you overeaten? That's why it's so important to have that data because your brain will not remember accurately. It will remember we have been working so hard. I've been trying so [00:10:00] hard. It doesn't, I don't give a shit if you've been trying hard because a lot of the time.
[00:10:03] Maggie: Like you don't need to be trying super hard. If you're trying so hard, you're probably doing something unsustainable. [00:10:10] I'm not saying it's not going to be a challenge. I'm not going to say, I'm not saying that it's not going to stretch you. But when you say I've been trying so hard, that's like such a good indicator that you're massively under eating part [00:10:20] of the week and probably massively overeating part of the weekend.
[00:10:24] Ryan: It's a good indicator that you're, that you need to change your plan. Yeah. And when, when you make your [00:10:30] plan more doable, it is easier to stick to.
[00:10:33] Maggie: Yeah. Because then, again, you're going to start attributing. what you hate [00:10:40] to planning. Like you're going to start because, because the way you're planning isn't right.
[00:10:45] Maggie: The way you're planning isn't sustainable. And then all of a sudden planning just becomes [00:10:50] another diet. It just becomes another one of those things that you tried, but, but you're following the same formula as diets for planning. Planning is different. The way that I teach [00:11:00] it is different. I get some people like, or like, whatever if I put all my stuff in my fitness pile, lots of planning, whatever.
[00:11:07] Maggie: It's the space that you plan from [00:11:10] when you're planning from, what's the least amount of things I can put on this plan that is coming from a diet mentality that is coming from the less, the better. That's coming [00:11:20] from the, the only way I lose weight is eating a thousand calories. That's what that's coming from.
[00:11:25] Maggie: That's not reconnecting you to your body and listening to your hunger signals. And the other [00:11:30] part of planning, which is like not overeating, not eating, if you're not hungry, not eating past enough, all that stuff. plays into it, but if [00:11:40] planning isn't working, most likely it's the way that you're planning.
[00:11:44] Maggie: And occasionally it's the way that you're thinking about your plan. And even [00:11:50] that, it's normally just a sign that there's an undercurrent of diet thinking. And that's why it's not feeling good.
[00:11:56] So
[00:11:58] Ryan: how do you, [00:12:00] so, okay, so. The best way to get better at sticking to your plan is to be able to evaluate if you need to change your plan.
[00:12:09] Maggie: Yeah. [00:12:10] The best way to like is to join Vibe Club. Okay. I'm just going to say that straight up. Of course. If you feel like this is something that you're struggling with, let me help you take it deeper. Okay. But for [00:12:20] the, for the sense of this podcast, you need to be able to troubleshoot what's not working.
[00:12:24] Ryan: And that's what I wanted to like specifically ask because for me, I've, I, when I, when [00:12:30] I do change things, it's small tweaks. You know what I mean? Like I'll, I'll eat at a different time or I'll eat more protein or [00:12:40] I'll. You know, it's, it's not, it's not big changes. It's just, it's always pretty small changes.
[00:12:44] Ryan: And I, and then I say, and then I ask myself, okay, did that work? What, what made that easier? [00:12:50] You know what I mean? Well and
[00:12:50] Maggie: the goal of your plan, that's a good point, is like the goal of the plan, like if you're not following how to make it easier, remember that the goal of planning is to [00:13:00] make your life easier.
[00:13:01] Maggie: So if you're planning and your life is getting harder, you need to make changes to your plan. So good questions to ask yourself are like, am I eating foods that are [00:13:10] satiating to me? Am I able to go four hours ish in between meals? Four hours plus? Like, you need to be asking questions of like, is the, [00:13:20] like, I, of course I teach my clients you can put anything on your plan.
[00:13:23] Maggie: That doesn't mean that putting anything on your plan is a good plan. For you, you know, like you have to be asking [00:13:30] yourself the questions like, am I drinking enough water? Is this meal actually satiating to me? Do I feel fueled or fatigued after I eat this? Am I planning enough? Am I [00:13:40] going too long between my meals?
[00:13:41] Maggie: Do I need to plan more snacks? It's like, but don't be changing all of that at once. It's best to just change, like Ryan said, small things at once. Like, do I need [00:13:50] to add more protein to my meals? Um,
[00:13:54] Ryan: meal timing is a big one. I feel people try to go as long as they can without eating. [00:14:00]
[00:14:00] Maggie: Yeah, it's again like it all just comes back to your reasons for doing it and It's normally funky diet thoughts that are just like the best thing I could do is [00:14:10] just like go as long as possible.
[00:14:12] Maggie: So then what happens is we go as long as possible and then we're ravenous. I watch it all the time like then we're ravenous and [00:14:20] then we way overeat because we let it go too far. That is not taking care of yourself. Okay, that is, so we're not going to let it masquerade [00:14:30] as like a good choice for you when it's constantly driving overeating.
[00:14:34] Maggie: When you are constantly making choices that are driving overeating, that's not taking care of [00:14:40] your future self. That's not taking care of you at 5 p. m. That's not taking care of the you that has goals to lose weight.
[00:14:45] Ryan: It's never a good idea to let yourself get to ravenous. And here's what happens a lot when you do that.[00:14:50]
[00:14:51] Ryan: When you get to the point of ravenous, you're, you're walking on thin ice. And what I mean is like, There's like, you're much more likely to [00:15:00] do something you wouldn't normally do if you get to the point of ravenous, like, like for me, like if I see a box of scooby snacks, uh, fuck it. I'm going to reach my hand in there.
[00:15:08] Ryan: And then now I'm eating scooby snacks. [00:15:10] Okay. And now, and now I'm going to continue eating them. It makes those things happen a lot easier for me at least.
[00:15:15] Maggie: Yeah. I just think it's like when you said that scooby snacks [00:15:20] obviously reminded me that that's a children's food. And I thought, can you imagine what would happen?
[00:15:26] Maggie: If like our kids were hungry and you were just like, [00:15:30] no, we're just going to push this out further. Yeah. And you just kept like pushing and pushing it. Like sometimes I think we don't take care of that, like delicate [00:15:40] little, like that part of us that like needs some food.
[00:15:44] Ryan: There's a balance though, because we've created this person who, who, you know, is constantly [00:15:50] eating the food when it, when they don't need it.
[00:15:51] Ryan: Yeah. You know what I mean? So it's a, there's a really delicate. Yeah. But that's the
[00:15:54] Maggie: thing of like being on one side of the spectrum or the other. Like I'm either eating every single thing I want just because I [00:16:00] want it, if it's in front of me or I'm not eating till 5 PM every day. It's like, we can't be on either one of those sites.
[00:16:06] Maggie: Yeah. Neither one of them is helpful. That doesn't mean [00:16:10] the middle part isn't helpful. The middle part is the part. That's where you want to be. You want to be at the point where you're not like satisfying every single urge, because [00:16:20] again, you'll always have the safeguard of are you even actually hungry?
[00:16:23] Maggie: We're, we're talking about real legitimate physical hunger here. And it's not, it's not an emergency to go [00:16:30] a little, you know, Past that. It's not, it's not, that's not a problem. We're talking about when you're just like, I am, by the time I eat, all of a sudden I'm like, like Ryan said, [00:16:40] you let yourself get too hungry, you put your hands in the Scooby snacks, then all of a sudden you've screwed up the entire day.
[00:16:44] Maggie: Then it's like, it doesn't matter what I do next. Then it's eating all the things in the house. Then like, it just [00:16:50] triggers the exact behaviors that you're trying to, Yeah. Calm down and bring down, like we create this over desire for food where it gets, [00:17:00] it's ridiculous. It never should have got to that level.
[00:17:03] Maggie: And yet we created that level because we told ourselves that fasting as long as possible [00:17:10] is the best way to lose weight. It's the best way to just keep those calories low. And it's like, what's the balance? There is a balance. And if you're [00:17:20] in that cycle, you haven't found it yet.
[00:17:22] Ryan: Yeah.
[00:17:23] Maggie: That doesn't mean you won't find it.
[00:17:25] Maggie: It just means you haven't found it yet. Stop giving up before you find it and just [00:17:30] immediately detouring back to the diet things where it's like, I tried, because that's the thing about a lot of what I teach and what we talked about here is like, you try [00:17:40] something for a little bit, like, we're like, you know, you could like, Maybe have some carbs every once in a while or like whatever and people try them and they binge eat and they're like, see, I knew that this was no, and they detour [00:17:50] back and they, they quit before they learn how to do something new.
[00:17:53] Maggie: No one's forcing you to do anything new, but just know that when you try new things, you're not going to be good at them. [00:18:00] So like you have to have this willingness to get it wrong and this willingness to have to keep trying. when you're doing something that looks different than what you've done for so [00:18:10] long.
[00:18:10] Maggie: And that includes, like, we still have the diet thinking pop up. Yeah. Ryan just has just talked about it over the last, you know, like in the last [00:18:20] couple episodes where it's like I was trying to do an extreme cut and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna do it. Eating way less than I needed to. And then I have thoughts that are just like, if I would just lower the carbs a little bit more, like we all have our [00:18:30] own special blend of our own diet thinking.
[00:18:32] Maggie: Or like, no, I shouldn't have dessert tonight. I had it last night. Like, that's diet thoughts. Okay. I [00:18:40] had to clarify this with one of my clients. It's not a diet thing to, to just choose not to have. dessert. That's not diet mentality, choosing not to have dessert. Choosing [00:18:50] not to have dessert because you're not allowed to because you had it last night, that's diet thinking.
[00:18:53] Maggie: Choosing, I don't want to have dessert because like I don't feel amazing and I want to sleep really good tonight, that is not diet thinking. [00:19:00] Okay, I want to make sure that I clarify the difference. Diet mentality doesn't have anything to do with what you're doing. It has to do with the thinking that drives the doing.[00:19:10]
[00:19:10] Maggie: Okay, so it's also easy for everyone to start thinking everything is diet mentality. It's not. We just have choices. It's, it's the state and the energy that you make those choices from. [00:19:20] Fasting is not diet mentality. Fasting because you think you can't have more food is diet mentality. Fasting because you have really great energy and it feels [00:19:30] good in your body, not diet mentality.
[00:19:31] Ryan: Fasting because you think it's the only way to keep your calories low. Diet mentality.
[00:19:36] Maggie: Next time we'll just have like, you guys just submit your thoughts, diet mentality, [00:19:40] not diet mentality. Like it's just what's driving it. And the diet mentality comes from, this is the only thing that's going to work.
[00:19:48] Maggie: This is the only way I'm going to lose [00:19:50] weight. This is the only, you know, basically just making it seem like this is the, this is the rule part of my rule book of weight loss. These are the things I have to do when really like the only [00:20:00] thing you have to do is not overeat. That's it. That's the rulebook.
[00:20:04] Maggie: That's the entire rulebook. You get to do that however you want, but [00:20:10] if you're not following your plan, it's coming from a place most likely of diet thinking that's making the plan not doable in the first place. So I think there's a [00:20:20] lot of places to go with that, but that's where I want you to look first, which is like, what energy am I writing this plan from?
[00:20:29] Maggie: Because I [00:20:30] always tell, like, part of my course, like, I tell them, like, we're not looking for you to be your master ascended self, where you're not going to get stressed today, your kids aren't going to bug you today, [00:20:40] you're not going to be in traffic today, you're not going to get hungry today. Like that's, we're making our plan based off of, like, Like, as if we're just going to be sitting in a room all day.
[00:20:48] Maggie: Nothing's going to aggravate [00:20:50] us, and we're never going to get hungry. I probably, that's not going to happen. And yet we write our plan that way. Then we don't follow our plan. Then we tell ourselves we're a failure. Then we say planning doesn't work, [00:21:00] and then we quit. And it's like, that's the cycle. But it's not what we're talking about here.
[00:21:08] Ryan: Make your plan easier. [00:21:10] Get rid of your diet mentality.
[00:21:13] Maggie: Yeah, come from a place of love, not from a place of restriction. Not from a place of, [00:21:20] there's a, there's only one way this can be done. And this is it. And it sucks. Like, there's only one way I can do this. It has 50 different rules. I hate it, but it [00:21:30] is what it is.
[00:21:30] Maggie: And I just need to find that grit to get it done. No, that's not necessary.
[00:21:36] All
[00:21:39] Maggie: right. See you next [00:21:40] [00:21:50] week.