For this month’s podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Caroline, a client of our Swords Clinic and a wonderful example of how a positive mental attitude can benefit us, regardless of how difficult our situation is.Caroline had breast cancer in 2018 and went through a challenging time. She began gaining weight as a result of two operations, rigorous chemotherapy and radiation, and the treatment with medication.Do you think this prevented Caroline from having a proactive and optimistic attitude? Absolutely not! Caroline is a fighter and her journey will inspire you to beat whatever obstacles you may experience. Speaking with Caroline made me realize that when we’re going through a difficult moment, negative thoughts are all we can see and we often neglect our own wellbeing, while in fact, being active and optimistic may help us clear our brains and keep going.I hope you enjoy my chat with Caroline! Her story has truly inspired me, and I am sure she will inspire you too.
 
 
 

 
 

What an emotional story we have for you in the latest podcast. Elaine, who did an incredible job losing 3 stone, 4 pounds. She was close to having to get a hip replacement, facing serious surgery she instead decided to take control of her eating, once and for all. Focusing not on what she was eating, but why she was eating.  She improved her health to the point where she has been able to come off medication and doesn’t need to have the surgery anymore. It is people like Elaine that make what we do worthwhile and we think you will agree that her story is an emotional rollercoaster that just grabs you.

Welcome to the second episode of Connecting the Dots, a three-part podcast series that aims to help parents and their adolescent / teenage children to understand and address some of the most pressing issues they face both at home and in society today. The theme or title of today’s podcast, Understanding Risk Taking & Peer Pressure in Adolescents, is a natural progression from the 1st podcast where we looked at body image and self-esteem.
I’m absolutely delighted to have Stuart Wilson from Zest Life back in the chair with me and I have to say, Stuart’s input is invaluable. My message to parents and adolescents: please tune in, you will be so much the better for it. We may not have all the answers but oftentimes, knowing how to identify the problem and being able to handle it in the most appropriate and effective way is the critical part.
Also, if you think you are the only parent / adolescent facing these challenges. Rest assured; you are not. There are communities out there with support frameworks to help you. Remember…..
You are not alone.
So, to the topic at hand – understanding risk taking & peer pressure in adolescents.
Risk taking is actually part of the process of developing as a young person.
Before we get to risk taking, we need to spend some time looking at the various development stages from baby through to adulthood. As toddlers, kids are embedded. That is, they are utterly dependent on their mother and father for everything. At the age of 5 or 6 when they start school, they are starting to disembed a little. The disembedding is an entirely natural process where the child is learning how to decide for themselves and make their own choices, be it friends or activities that they prefer. This is normal behaviour and it’s good, though naturally, for some parents it can be emotionally challenging.
This disembedding stage lasts a while and leads into the interiority stage. Typically, this is around the first year in secondary school. This is where the adolescents begin to define their own friendships and groups. It’s all about fitting in and belonging.
This interiority stage lasts for 5/6 years from which they progress to the integrated stage, where they feel they’ve landed, kind of know who they are and perhaps, know what they want to do with their future.
Then they launch into adulthood. Depending on how embedding, interiority and integrated went, this has a defined impact on whether the launch into adulthood is a good one or a bad one.
Adults can get trapped in the interiority stage and addressing that issue requires assistance.
____________
Adolescents want to speed through interiority. They will try to fit in with various groups and to do so, may engage in risk taking or activities deemed appropriate by the group – alcohol, vaping, sexual encounters.
So, they will take risks and it’s important to note that risk taking is normal. It’s good that they are in this state but as parents / adults we have to be careful of the risks we allow them to take.
You are not alone.
What can we do that will help our children move safely through the interiority stage where risk taking is part of that life?
Talk. Talk. Talk.
As obvious as it may seem, talking is the most important thing you can do.
Parents can often feel that their children don’t want anything to do with them during the interiority stage. The opposite is the case and you bridge this by bidding. Bid for their time by continually offering your time to listen and to help. To be there.

This podcast series, Connecting the Dots, is about awareness and trying to find out why adolescents are overeating in the first place.
We find that there are three main reasons or triggers that are at the root of why adolescents are overeating. Bear in mind, overeating is but one of the escape or safety valves that adolescents may turn to.
In today’s podcast we will deal with the first trigger and that is Body Image / Self Esteem and the Influence of Social Media.
We need to be very real about what is happening to our young people and how challenging the environment is for them to be growing up in.
Adolescents are growing up in a world of social media and can only see one world. The parents grew up prior to this super connected, always-on world, so they can see two worlds. Parents can call this the online world or the internet world but for the adolescents it simply is the world.
Body image is hugely impactful on your people’s lives. This manifests itself in two ways: How they see themselves and what they think of themselves when they see themselves in their world.
You are not alone.
The culture in which adolescents are growing up is a pressurised and instantaneous one. So, pretty much everything that see thy can get their hands on pretty quickly. There is a keen competitiveness attached to that – FOMO.
Parents have inadvertently added to this. If you’re like me, you are coming from a generation that grew up knowing what it’s like to have to do without. We naturally want the best for our kids – there is a genuine goodness and kindness behind it but as a consequence, we are adding to the pressure.
Also, incorrectly, we used to think that body image was exclusively a female issue but it’s very different now and body image is a significant issue for boys. The pressures of what they look like or should look like is incredibly difficult to deal with and manage.
As parents, rather than managing or criticising that culture, we need to understand it.
‘Culture’ is used to encapsulate the world of the adolescent. Their world. Culture today is ever-on, it has no down time. From a generational aspect, say 30 years ago, you had to go out of your way (that is, get off your backside) to find information on any given subject, be it to your library, newsagent or to borrow a book or magazine from a friend.
Today, that search and discover cycle is shortened to an on-demand model with an over-supply of near perfect bodies and superstar lives.
Mobile phone usage is not an adolescent issue – it is a household issue. There are various levels of addiction but a basic level, many teenagers are addicted to their phones. Protracted absence from the phone, in most instances, leads to an inability to think straight other than to get the device back.
As parents, we have to role-model this. So, the big question for parents – when and how often do you use your mobile phone at home in front of the family?
You are not alone.
This leads on to the concept of the numbing effect. Th numbing effect originally came from watching TV. You simply zoned out or got engaged in something that was showing on the TV, resulting in a numbing effect. Remember, 30/40 years ago, many households had one TV with only 1 or 2 channels).
But with mobile phones, the numbing effect has an impact on the central nervous system. This is due to the back light on the mobile or tablet device screen. This back light leads to an over production of cortisone which leads to increased stress levels. Our serotonin levels also drop and to counteract the stress and the lowered serotonin levels, we look to paths of least resistance which leads to coping strategies, and one of them is……..eating.
For adolescents this is a problem. As mentioned previously,

This is the remarkable story of Eoghan Brennan who lost 6 stone with Motivation Weight Management. Eoghan, who just recently turned 16, was topping the scales at just over 19 stone / 120 kg in 2021. Over the course of his weight loss programme in our Swords clinic, Eoghan shed an amazing 6 stone / 38 kg.
Eoghan tells his story in the podcast below and it’s aptly titled, ‘A Teenager’s 6 Stone Weight Loss Journey’.
There are two audiences that this podcast is aimed at.
First of all, and the most important is other teenagers who are struggling with their weight. For you, this is an important reference point as there is hope and there is a way out of your current situation. One thing to note – where you are now is only temporary. Fix that in your mind. It’s temporary and we can help you lose that weight and move on to where you want to be. Listen to Eoghan’s story and you’ll find it parts of it should resonate with your own situation.
Secondly, the parents of the teenager that probably has had several false starts in trying to lose weight. It’s a story that’s played out over and over so you and your child are not alone in this. It’s not easy and the traps are many but with the right guidance and framework it is manageable, and your son / daughter can lose that excess weight in a controlled and safe environment. You too should listen to Eoghan’s story and hear what the story sounds like from a teenager’s perspective. As adults we’ve forgotten what those teenage years were like so it’s important to listen to Eoghan. At just over 10 minutes, his podcast, ‘A Teenager’s 6 Stone Weight Loss Journey’ is short but it’s well worth the listen.
In addition to the podcast, please feel free to download our short eBook, ‘Teenage Weight Gain: What You Can Do?’
On the day that we recorded Eoghan’s podcast, his mother Roisin was in attendance. Aisling Connolly, our clinics director and chief podcaster-in-arms, asked if Roisin, as she was in the clinic, would she like to tell how she viewed Eoghan’s 6 stone weight loss from the mother’s side. Roisin agreed and what followed is another great podcast. A parent’s perspective is also a critical consideration for any other parent in a similar situation and we are very grateful to Rosin for donning the microphone and telling her story.

The Laura Grant story is a story for the ages.
There is something in this story for everyone, small and big nuggets of advice that will help you in so many aspects of your life – weight loss, physical and mental health, and being able to face up to and overcome issues of confidence and self-belief.
Laura Grant joined Motivation in 2019, just after the birth of her third child. As Laura herself noted, it is a very stressful, busy and full life being a mother of a baby (x3). Her immediate experience of Motivation was the me-time, that time and space she now had to herself. For the first time, she realised how manic your life can be, as she herself says, “how busy, not only your head, but how life itself is.”
Through her weekly consultations, it was evident that stress was a significant contributor to Laura’s overeating. Motivation helped Laura to identify her stress triggers and to take on board new coping mechanisms to deal with stress. This transformed Laura so much so that when I describe the stressed individual I first me, she replied by saying that she didn’t recognise that woman any more.
As Laura remarked, “It’s as if you are talking about someone else.”
Laura quite rightly points out that she still gets stressed but she doesn’t let it implode on her anymore. She’s now able to identify her stress triggers and is able to manage them very well.
It’s important to note that stress occurs naturally in all humans. It’s how we cope with it that is crucial to our physical; and mental wellbeing.
I mentioned triggers above and this leads me quite nicely into the next part of Laura’s story. Laura was aware of issues in her life – she was overweight so there was obviously something amiss but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
With our help, Laura identified four key triggers that were at the root of her overeating:

* Loneliness
* Stress
* Perfectionism
* Guilt

Laura is one of eight children and she’d describes herself as a socially orientated kind of person so she was astonished when loneliness was identified as an issue.
Laura’s Mental Weight report identified loneliness as an issue and when she saw it in ‘black and white’ it made her, for the first time, question what was happening and going on in her life.
Words can sometimes not do the justice that such a revelation deserves. For over 25 years, I’ve sat with thousands of clients who’ve had those light bulb moments, when like a flash of intense bright light, they are startled and awakened to a whole new world, a world in which they are now in control.
When I asked Laura about negative and positive motivation, she agreed that when she started with Motivation, she was engaged mainly with negative motivation, that is thoughts and behaviours associated with failure and lack of self-belief.
Laura has tried any number of weight loss programmes – she’d tried everything and nothing worked for her. Her next thoughts were noticeably negative – am I setting myself up for failure, again? or will I be able to do this?
Laura’s fears are not unique to her and fear of failure is normal. As humans, we are predisposed to being influenced by how good or bad events or experiences went for us in the past so it should come as no surprise that fear of failure with weight loss is so common.
The tools we use and share with our clients are the tools that equip you for life. Weight maintenance is a journey and our programme enables you to embrace milestones (weddings, special events, holidays), not fear them.
Laura now feels empowered as she no longer has that fear of not having achieved what she set out to do. What she now has is a sense of purpose and positivity that sees her through and beyond those significant miles...

In this Motivation Assist Podcast, we turn the table as Meabh Coyle becomes the interviewer and Aisling Connolly the interviewee.  The subject of the podcast is the Motivation Initial Assessment.
Every person that comes through the door of one of our clinics has to complete an initial assessment. That initial assessment is a critical step in helping clients to reach their desired weight and just as important, to maintaining their desired weight once they reach their weight loss target.
The podcast walks you through what you can expect at your initial assessment and provides great insight into how useful and beneficial an assessment it is, all for only €25. In fact, while we call it an initial assessment, it is in fact a 45-minute consultation as you walk away with a wealth of information about yourself and aspects of your life that you can adapt or change straight away.
The first thing you do is to complete a Personal Impact Form in the clinic and we use this as a discussion document so that the weight loss consultant can get some background to your lifestyle and eating habits. It’s important to understand this as we tailor each weight loss programme specific to each client’s lifestyle and personal circumstances.
We will look out for the key trigger(s) that made you book the assessment and examine what you feel are the key reasons behind your weight problem.
We also look at WHY you want to lose weight. This can be for an event like a wedding but the WHY can also be an emotion such as wanting to feel better or to have better self-esteem.
Interestingly, there is a marked increase in those people attending for health reasons; in that they are more aware / better informed as to the health risks from being overweight.
The initial assessment caries out a number of key measurements:

* Body Fat Analysis

With the body fat analysed, we identify what more and more people are interested in finding out about and that is visceral fat, that internal fat which is the most dangerous to your health.
We measure your visceral fat with our Tanita Scales (this can be done regularly so you can enjoy watching the visceral fat rating decrease and come into the normal category, which is 1-12). A rating of 13 or above is a warning sign, which we always point out in your initial assessment.

* Height and Weight for BMI or Body Mass Index

We measure you BMI which is an estimated healthy weight for your height.
If you’re 14 stone or 89 kilos and a 6ft tall man, you’re probably a healthy weight, but if you’re the same weight and much shorter than that, like a 5ft tall woman, you’re going to be overweight.
One thing is for sure, the ideal weight certainly isn’t one size fits all!

* Metabolic Age

Your metabolic age is how your basal metabolic rate (BMR), or how many calories your body burns at rest, compares to the average BMR for people of your chronological age in the general population. BMR is just one measurement of a person’s overall health and fitness.

* Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is an accurate indicator of overweight and we take your blood pressure at every consultation and along with the other measurements, map them and as with most clients, watch them fall over time to within in a healthy range for your height and weight.
For most people taking the initial assessment, we find that this is the first time that they have been able to open up and talk about their weight issues. By and large this is not a planned outcome but the private and personal nature of our 1-1 initial assessment affords people the opportunity to talk about how they really feel about being overweight.
For many, being overweight is a deeply personal issue and the group-based programmes are not the ideal venue for this type of discourse. What we generally find is that the initial assessment hel...

This is a podcast about weight loss procrastination.
Before we dive in, what exactly is procrastination?
Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing something so it’s not just a weight loss issue, it can be anything.
How many of you have said something like this, “Here I am, 4 stone over weight. If only I had done something about this when I was just a stone heavier.”
Obesity over the years has been described as a disorder or a disease of procrastination.
Why do humans often procrastinate and in particular, why do overweight individuals put this off and not fix their weight problem sooner, rather than later.
There is no one easy answer but there are common thinking patters that Maebh points out in this podcast. She opens by (briefly) taking the discussion away from weight loss procrastination and instead focussing on something else that you must have put off doing. For Maebh it was putting off cleaning her attic for the last 18 months. She argues that when we’ve negative connotations associated with the activity we are about to undertake (it’s hard, it’s boring, etc), this in effect acts as a block and causes us to …… procrastinate.
Now apply this negative connotation approach to your own weight loss efforts. If you package the same negative thinking, then you’ll probably think:

* it’s going to be hard
* I’m going to have to give up things that I enjoy
* It’s going to be boring

Now, try and switch it up and think of what’s going to be good about doing it:
If it’s Maebh’s attic:

* It’s going to be clean
* She’ll be able to see stuff
* She’ll have a sense of satisfaction of a job well done
* She’ll feel more on top of things
* It’s done

With weight loss, it can be any or all of the following:

* You’ll have more energy straight away
* You’ll start to feel in more control
* You’ll feel more youthful
* You’ll be able to do more things
* You’ll be able to wear nicer clothes

A lot of people procrastinate because they have a fear of failure. They are waiting for circumstances to be just right before they do something.
Jump onto the Weight Loss Procrastination podcast below and listen to Aisling and Maebh as they provide some solid advice on how overcome procrastination and move forward with your weight loss efforts.

Over the past 25 years, Aisling Connolly has consulted with thousands of men, women and teenagers on a face-to-face basis in our clinics here in Ireland, and overseas via our online weight loss programme, On The Go.
In that time Aisling has amassed a wealth of first-hand experience and knowledge in weight loss and weight management, and in this aptly titled ‘How To Lose Weight And Keep It Off For Life‘ podcast, she has distilled that experience into 6 key points for you to consider.
For those of you that have tried any number of previous diet regimes or programmes, then this podcast will ring true on so many levels. You are not alone and that is such an important point to make. The challenges you face are not unique to you and are shared by many other people who find themselves in the exact same situation.
Aisling provides great insight into these 6 critical issues and if we were to recommend one thing it would be this – please set aside 35 minutes as that is the time you’ll need to listen to this podcast from beginning to end. Pick a spot at home that is quiet and a place that you will be relaxed and away from the hustle and bustle of life. Why? It’s important to invest the time in YOU. For so many people, they put themselves last and selflessly ignore their own emotional needs. This podcast requires your attention so that you can begin to make those lifestyle changes that YOU need.

* Learn why you feel motivated at the start of your diet but then lose motivation after a few weeks, usually after a slip.
* How to control STRESS/EMOTIONAL eating during these challenging times.
* Learn how to stop procrastinating and making excuses as to why you won’t start your diet plan.
* Understand why most diet programmes fail as they only treat half the problem, treating the symptoms not the cause.
* Why fast weight loss is clinically proven to help give better long-term results.
* Learn about your LIMITING BELIEFS, how they may be holding you back and how to overcome them.

This podcast was originally broadcast as a webinar on November 12th and for ease of playback we have saved the audio part of the webinar as a podcast file.
The How To Lose Weight And Keep It Off For Life Podcast also references our FREE ebook, ‘Break the Cylce of Yo-Yo Diets.’

This is a remarkable weight loss story! Jennifer Wilson was born with spina bifida. She endured many operations in her early years but kicked on and enjoyed a working and family life, the same as you and I.
Jennifer never had an issue with her weight but about 18 months after her daughter was born, she began to have significant discomfort with her right hip. As Jennifer says it was “bone on bone” and as her mobility was dramatically reduced, she began to lead a very sedentary lifestyle. The lack of movement lead to a feeling of despondency and that in turn lead to eating the wrong foods and too much of them – take aways and comfort foods. There was a reluctance on the part of the medics to replace her hip until she was a little but older – at this point she was only in her mid-thirties.
Eventually her hip was replaced in her early forties but despite her positive outlook and feeling better, she had a bad fall and this caused a major set-back. She withdrew into herself and didn’t go out much. The poor eating habits returned and her weight began to creep up again. Also, not that she’d never thought about managing her weight better, she just didn’t commit herself to doing anything about it. Her pattern of feeling low and comfort eating was an all-consuming depressing cycle.
At this point, Jennifer was tipping close on 18 stone / 114 kilos. Bear in mind that Jennifer is 5ft 1 inch / 154 cm. Jennifer’s BMI reading was 47.6 and her official BMI result: At this BMI, your risk of weight-related health problems and even death, is severe.
Jennifer began to look online for options and advice on what to do about her life-threatening situation. What’s interesting and also so, so familiar about Jennifer’s research is the ever-present fear of failure that paralysed her many attempts to pick up the phone and call Motivation.
What’s revealing and also so, so familiar is how happy and content Jennifer was at having made contact and attended the Beacon clinic for her first assessment.
As Jennifer says, “It just felt great. I knew that I’d made the best decision, you know, that this was going to work for me.  And I haven’t looked back. This is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself.”
This podcast reveals the inner turmoil and excruciating pain that Jennifer endured in the months and years up to her losing over 7 stone / 44 kilos with Motivation. Jennifer’s story is one of remarkable perseverance and an indominable personality that once it was channelled correctly, was able to, literally, move mountains.
Join Jennifer Wilson as she recounts her incredible weight loss story in the podcast below.
Before you do, a question:
What’s holding you back?
Think of this when you listen to the podcast.

This podcast will address what we call a weight loss plateau, the reasons behind it and some of the tools we have that will help you to deal with it and successfully move on.
What is a weight loss plateau?
A weight loss plateau is where you are losing weight and then it stops for some unknowable cause / reason. According to the Oxford Englsih disctionary, to plateau (out) is to ‘stay at a steady level after a period of growth or progress.’ In this instance your progresss would be the week-in, week-out steady weight loss until you plateau.
Plateaus are a normal part of the weight loss process. When we look at the weight loss graph of clients it is generally not linear, it will be in step-wise fashion – lose weight-plataeu-lose weight-plateau. This is normal but for some people this plateau can be naturally frustrating where, despite you best efforts, there is not weight loss in that week.
What’s going on?

* First of all, do not panic. Have faith that this plateau will pass and that you will continue to lose weight. Because it will pass.
* Switch things up. Open your Motivation Food guide and look through the rich array of foods that you can add to your weight loss regime. Try new vegetables. Check out the Motivation website or the mobile app for new recipes. Change is key. Try new protein sources. You may be getting most of your protein from meat and chicken. Try fish or plant-based proteins. We do know that when pope change their food that it tends to kickstart the metabolism as well.
* Shake up your routine in terms of exercise. It is not a requirement to exercise to lose weight but if you do it will considerably improve your weight loss results.
* Are you keeping track of things by using your Food Diary? If you are not keeping track of your intake then calories can easily creep back up, thus undermining your weight loss efforts. We can’t stress how important it is to maintain your Food Diary. Those that do are 50% more likely to lose weight and to maintain that weight loss.
* Complacency is a common occurrence – ‘I know everything and I’m doing ok’. Take the opportunity to go back to the clinic, weigh in, reinvigorate your enthusiasm with the help of your weight loss advisor.
* Check your fibre intake! Variety is important so look to broaden the range of vegetables that you eat.
* Cut back on salt. We advocate an unprocessed diet but we acknowledge that due to time constraints, people may have to elect for processed food on occasions. If so, pay particular attention here as salt-rich foods can lead to water retention which can act as a foil to your weight loss efforts.
* Are you drinking enough water? A bad day for a client might be one glass or water or none at all. Overlook water intake and it will have a detrimental effect on your weight loss efforts. Dehydration causes fatigue and you won’t be as motivated to exercise and in addition, and we don’t know why, but when you are hydrated, your metabolism fires at a higher calorie burn rate.
* Are you overwhelmed or stressed? This can happen during a plateau and the negative voice can creep back in. You can spend a few days becoming aware of your negative thoughts or perfectionist ways of thinking.
* Try and note them in your daily diary and you might be surprised how often they are coming up. Your audio programming files are important here. Reconnect asap with your weight loss advisor and they will help you address this issue.

If you’ve fallen off the wagon altogether, don’t set yourself excessive or unrealistic goals.
Don’t say you are going to hit the gym five days a week.
Start small and build on that. Commit to small changes and celebrate each one along the way. All these successes add up.
GET EXCITED!

This podcast title Slip And Learn: How To Deal With Perfectionism And Guilt is probably one of the more important podcasts we’ve recorded.
The first and probably most import thing to note – everyone has them, slips that is. Let’s get that out of the way – you’re not on your own.
We learn from our mistakes and it is inherent in the human condition that we don’t always get things right, be it at the beginning, middle or close to the end of any programme (weight loss, stop smoking, etc).
It is how we deal with these slips that is crucial to our long-term success (and happiness).
At Motivation, from day one with new clients, we get them so sign a commitment form and we let them know there will be slips along the journey – you are only human. We show them how to think about slips differently as most clients will have tried and failed any number of conventional weight loss programmes due to quitting after a slip or series of slips.
Thinking about slips or failure differently empowers our clients to be able to slip, to learn and to move on without missing a step. No pangs of guilt of feelings of failure.
As Maebh points out, when somebody relapses, it’s not if but when and it’s either going to go one of two ways:

* If they have been listening to their weight loss advisor and if they have been using their Motivation tools, they will react quite well to the slip. Most importantly, they will recognise and see it as part of the process and they will just carry on with their journey and get back on track. Learning to deal with perfectionism and guilt is a core aspect of the programme.
* The other option is those people who beat themselves up. They too are perfectionist but unfortunately haven’t used the tools and worked on the issues. Critical to this point is Maebh’s observation that perfectionism is a trait that can be worked on; people do change and you can work on this side of yourself.

The perfectionist’s outlook is that if they are not doing it perfectly well all of the time then they shouldn’t do it at all.
The reality is we all relapse or slip.
The reality is that as weight loss advisors we know that when clients stick to the programme 70/80% of the time they will be successful.
You will deviate and you will relapse and it’s important that when this happens you act with compassion towards yourself.
How do you know if you are a perfectionist of if you suffer from feelings of guilt?
For Maebh, her perfectionism and feelings of guilt were both identified and confirmed when she completed the Mental Weight Questionnaire.
Maebh adopted the mantra that it’s ok to make mistakes but as she points out, it took a while to trickle down from the head to the heart.
Now, Maebh is able to park a mistake (be in parenting, eating, whatever) and get on with it.
This podcast runs to just over 18 minutes and it’s an invaluable tool in helping you to learn about slips and relapses but most importantly, how to deal with perfectionism and guilt.

This podcast covers how best to approach setting weight loss goals in 2020 and it’s also worth noting how it covers the challenges new year goals bring.
Key to getting the most from this podcast is taking on board Maebh’s assertion that change is a skill that has to be learnt and practised. It takes time and as Maebh points out this is not what the general public want to hear. They want change and they want it now – why not as that’s what all the quick fix and fad diets claim.
The genuine reality is that, and maturity most definitely tells you this, is that is takes time and you can’t rush these things.
It’s important to point out that losing weight is a positive change that you are making and it’s important to try and enjoy the journey rather than seeing it as an endurance test. If you pigeon hole it as an endurance test you may well be setting yourself up for failure. You frame of mind is critical to success.
Be careful of guilt and perfectionism. If for some reason you slip up don’t throw the towel in. Slips are common and happen to most people. It’s how you deal with the slip that is important. They key is to see the slip for what it is and move on. We will help you with that process.
As both Aisling and Maebh point out, your ambition or goal to lose weight is best approached by breaking it down into a series of small steps.
What’s important to recognise is that when you start out on your weight loss journey, we will be there for you, supporting you on every step.
While the end goal will be ever present, we work with you to focus and celebrate the many minor achievements along the way. We will help you to feel better both physically and mentally.
Another important consideration for people when looking to a new year goal is to think about how they want to feel rather than the goal itself.
If you were able to achieve that weight loss how would that make you feel and how would that transfer into your daily life:

* Better health
* More energy
* Less stress
* Feeling really proud

All these things are far more effective that focussing on the end weight loss goal as such.
Underlying this is our approach to changing the habits and behaviours that are causing you to overeat in the first place.
By working on those habits and behaviours you will come to notice significant changes in your mental wellbeing with the physical weight loss as a very happy companion.
Setting weight loss goals in 2020 need not be so daunting or off-putting. Previous years and previous failures can be consigned to the past by signing up to a Motivation Weight Management programme.
Enjoy the podcast.

After years of fat being health enemy number one, we now know that sugar is the main cause of obesity and the overweight epidemic. And it’ a highly addictive substance that the body has very little use for it. The World Health Organisation has lowered its recommendations for daily intake for both adults and children.
Some key takeaway from The Truth About Sugar Podcast:
We don’t need sugar. There is no nutritional value in sugar. It provides empty calories and we already get sufficient calories from our food.
Reactive Hypoglycaemia. A lot of Motivation clients, when they start, will say they have a problem with sugar. They don’t realise that physically what they are doing is taking a drug every day and by consuming sugar they are feeding their addiction.
What happens is their blood sugar soars through the roof. They feel a bit better which is then followed by a crash and they don’t realise they when they are experiencing a low that it’s their body craving sugar.
Many products in our supermarkets are pumped fill of sugar. We now know that this is a significant contributor to obesity but on top of that, heart disease as well where the arteries are hardened.
The average Irish person downs about 100 grams of sugar per day. This equates to 25 teaspoons of sugar and the WHO says, at most, we should only be consuming 6 teaspoons per day.
For a child, two Weetabix biscuits contains about half of one teaspoon of sugar but a bowl of Frosties contains about 9 teaspoons, already above the recommended daily intake.
There are ten teaspoons of sugar in a tin of coke.
There are thirteen spoons of sugar in a large tin of Red Bull.
All this excess sugar is a significant contributor to heart problems, issues with immune systems and it accelerates ageing. If you want to begin to look after your weight, then start by checking your body mass index or your BMI here.
Scientific research and evidence support the claim that sugar is as addictive as cocaine. Sugar hijacks that part of our brain that deals with dopamine and reward. So, basically, what happens is our brain gets a lovely little pleasure kick after the sugar and it feels good (like cocaine). You get that kick and the body gets used to that amount of sugar and the brain craves more of the same drug to get the same effect.
We hold our client’s hand as they come off sugar and we’ve lots of helpful tips:

* Sugar is sugar so don’t replace it with other forms such as honey, for example. Have replacements that we know are very low in sugar such as our own Motivation protein bars.
* Anything that has 5g or less per 100g of sugar of product on the labels is a low sugar product item.
* Alcohol. If you are going to go sugar free you need to park alcohol for a while. It would be a disaster and will lock you into your sugar addiction.
* Exercise. It’s one of the best things to do when you are coming off sugar. Even a little bit on a regular basis.
* Forget processed foods in jars or tins. They are very high in sugar. Use natural products where possible.
* Eat often so you don’t get the blood sugar dips.

Please note, it’s only a matter of a couple of days and you’ll feel so much better.
Our advice is to take step back today and make a conscious decision to tackle your sugar habit. It will be one of the best short-term and long-term health decisions you will make.
Listen to The Truth About Sugar Podcast below.

This is Sinead’s weight loss story and how important it is to stay in touch with your clinic so as to help maintain your target weight.
Sinead started with Motivation and weighed 10st 10lbs. She comfortably hit her target of 9st 6lbs and then we didn’t see Sinead for a while. Summertime came and Sinead disappeared.
As Sinead says, “I thought I’d manage ok but one of my triggers (for overeating) is lack of routine and in particular, having the kids off school.”
Sinead found it difficult to set aside the time necessary to look after her weight maintenance or self-care as she calls it.
When Sinead returned after the summer her weight had crept back up to 10st 3 lbs and more importantly, her Mental Weight read 14st 10lbs.
For Sinead, the Mental Weight was crucial in helping her to pinpoint the root causes of her weight issues. Her key triggers are guilt and perfectionism that she admits she continually has to work on and as she says, “if I don’t carve out that self-care, I find that it just creeps back in so easily.”
Over the summer break Sinead let the old habits creep back in and chief among them was reward eating.
It was only when Sinead returned after the summer that she realised that she had been focusing more on the scales rather than “what I’m thinking and why I’m doing it.”
Sinead says she wouldn’t have figured that out without coming back and connecting with the professional help here at the clinic.
Sinead had lost her way completely with hypoglycaemia. As she remarks, hypoglycaemia is a very effective way of addressing the issues raised by the Mental Weight report. Namely, how’s she’s feeling and the choices and behaviours that she can and will make when she has hypoglycaemia under control.
What’s interesting listening to Sinead is how much she underestimated the negative impact of not managing hypoglycaemia. Once she got that under control lots of positive things started to fall into place.
Sinead was absent for just over a month and as Aisling points out, it’s illustrative of the damage you can do to your weight loss efforts in such a short amount of time. Aisling quite rightly points out that it is critical not to let guilt prevent you from picking up where you left off. Obviously, the sooner you get back on track the better but even if it’s been some time, it’s never too late.
Sinead’s parting words of advice: keep in touch because your clinic team will provide the support to help you though this journey. And it is a journey.
As we always say to clients, weight loss is a journey because once you reach your target weight then it’s all about maintenance. Our maintenance programme, that Sinead will attest to, provides the regular maintenance check-ups that are key to helping her stay on track.
You can listen to Sinead’s weight loss story below.