Summary 

In this episode, I’m taking you on a walk and talk, diving into a crucial topic that's been resonating in many recent conversations: how to achieve consistent follow-through on our plans. Discover the secrets to creating accountability and self-trust, not just for achieving weight loss but for maintaining those results over the long term.

 I’ll share my personal story, highlighting the challenges of balancing professional and personal life, and how you can develop strategies to stay committed to your goals. This episode is packed with insights on overcoming the obstacles that prevent us from following through, offering practical steps to build intrinsic motivation and accountability.

There are only 2 spots left in the Unstoppable Group! You can get all the details over at https://www.theunstoppablemombrain.com/group.

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

• The importance of consistent execution and how to develop accountability to yourself.
• My struggles and triumphs in balancing life and maintaining weight loss journey.
• The three main reasons why high-achieving women struggle with consistent weight loss and how to overcome them.
• The significance of a rested brain and how guilt-free rest and pleasure play into consistent weight loss.
• Specific mindset skills and tools to push through discomfort and follow through on your commitments.

Listen to the Full Episode:

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Featured on the Show:

• Want to work with me? There are only 2 spots left in the July group! Learn about The Unstoppable Group by clicking here.

Download the full transcript here.

• Hey, this is Dr. Priyanka Venugopal and you're listening to the Unstoppable Mom Brain Podcast, creating accountability and self trust so you have consistent weight loss follow through. I am on a walk and talk. If you hear some trees, birds, construction, you're not gonna hear the trees, but you will hear the birds in the trees where I live then it's because I'm outside recording this podcast episode on a walk and talk on a topic that has been coming up in so many conversations that I have been having with many of you around this idea of how to create consistent follow through on your plans. We all know that we can have a plan, but what we are often lacking is consistent execution and how to create accountability to yourself that you're actually going to follow through on what you said. And I'm going to share a little personal story and then really walk you through my process on how you can also create accountability and self trust that won't just create weight loss results, but maintenance. Also, before we get into today's podcast conversation around creating inner accountability and self trust following through consistently, I want you to know that I have two spots left in the July cohort of the Unstoppable Group. So if you were on vacation traveling while enrollment was open, I want you to know that this is your chance. I have two spots left. We are starting this Sunday. If you're listening to this podcast episode in real time, you can grab one of these last two spots. The Unstoppable Group is an intimate six month stress and weight loss coaching programs. spots were capped and limited. I have two left. We are going to seriously help you navigate how to create a strategy to make you a fat burner. But then more importantly, and we're going to be talking about it on this episode, how to create a feeling of trust and inner accountability that you actually follow through on what you said you were going to do.

  We're going to talk about that on this podcast episode, but this is something that we do in spades in the Unstoppable group. The July cohort is six months. We start on July 14th with the strategy workshop and we go all the way until December 21st. Live weekly coaching calls, written coaching, personal mentorship, truly an intimate community of like minded women who all have invested in this and really have amazing growth goals just like you. So if this is calling to you, it is not too late. If you missed out on the enrollment period, there are two spots left. One could be yours. And if you want this, head over to theunstoppablemombrain.com/group. You can read all about the group and nuts and bolts, client testimonials. There's a button to book a consult call. I've opened up one or two spots. If you want to claim one of those spots, we can talk through your decision, or if you know that you just want this and email me at info at theunstoppablemombrain.com and let me know. Okay, let's get into today's episode. If you want to reach your ideal weight and create lightness for your body, you need to have simplicity, joy and strategic decisions infused into your life. I'm a physician turned life and weight loss coach for ambitious working moms. I've lost over 60 pounds without counting points, calories, or crazy exercise plans. Most importantly, I feel calm and light on the scale and in my life. There's some delicious magic when you learn this work and the skills I'm going to be teaching you. Ready? Let's get to it.

  Recently, I was having one of those no good, terrible, very bad days. Have you guys heard that? I think it's from a story or book Nate the Great's no good, terrible, very bad day. I was having a string of these terrible days. I was feeling just in the thick of the hardest parts of being a working mom. I felt like my time felt really, really stretched with summer, with camp, with the kids activities. My list of responsibilities felt too long for me to fit into my day. And I found myself just feeling. really frustrated, very overwhelmed and very stressed. And in the past, what would typically happen is I would feel that stress and that overwhelm and that frustration. And the very first thing to go would be my personal body goals, meal planning, the way that I would be eating, me hitting the gym in the way that I said I would, would take a back seat so that I could get more work done. I would opt for immediate breaks from my stress and overwhelm. And what this used to look like for me is I just wanted to do, um, Netflix plop down in bed, ignore everything, put everything off for tomorrow, cancel the gym, cancel my meal, cancel all of it just to sit with my Cool Ranch Doritos. I talk about this a lot. Cool Ranch Doritos with my Netflix and just like everybody leave me alone. That's what I would want. That's what I used to do. And every time I did that, Yes, I got a break from my stress and overwhelm of the moment, but I also chipped away at my self trust. I started to think, number one, I undid a lot of my weight loss wins, I would sabotage my goals, I would gain a pound and I would feel terrible about it after the fact. I've talked about this before, but yeah, it felt good for a few moments, but the trouble is I didn't actually solve anything. The stresses, frustrations, overwhelms of my very busy life and the tactical responsibilities that I had never got better. I just took a break from really stress. And so we've talked about this on the podcast before, but I would do this all the time. And it's not a surprise if you do this, if you're taking a break from your life stresses and overwhelms and frustrations with food or alcohol, that you're continuing to sabotage your weight loss wins. But that's not what this podcast episode is about. This podcast episode is about what happens to our self trust. When we continue to not follow through on something that we said we were going to do, what happens to your feelings of self trust when you don't follow through on what you said? Not following through on what I said I was going to do created a massive intangible cost. When I say it's an intangible cost, it's not something that you can wrap your heads, your, your head around, your hands around it. You can't like grab it. Like for example, yeah, the number on the scale would be up. It's very tangible. I can see the number on the scale is up. I ate my Cool Ranch Doritos, I totally ignored my exercise plans, my movement plans, my food plans, and I can tangibly see the number on the scale is up. There's the tangible cost of sabotaging yourself and not following through. I'm talking about the intangible cost. The intangible cost is my trust in myself got chipped away my belief in myself chipped away I started to think and believe see I didn't follow through this time What makes me think i'm gonna follow through next time and this is why so many of us are chasing that feeling the desire We want accountability Because we are not trusting ourself. What I wanted to really highlight in this podcast episode is it's not actually that you are not an accountable person. I would say across the board, professional working moms are deeply accountable. You're very disciplined. You're very resourceful. You have a lot of grit and ability to follow through. Really look at your working life, your mom life, how you are showing up in all these areas of your life. You are actually an expert at consistently following through. When it pertains to work and children and family. So it's not actually that you don't have the ability to consistently follow through. The difference here is that you have eroded self trust. So if you have ever been someone that's like, I just want to find accountability. I just want to have accountability. You actually already have that. I want to talk about how to create intrinsic accountability with weight loss in just a moment. But I want to share with you what you are really missing is a feeling of self trust because you haven't followed through in the past.

  So before I get into my process for how to create In our accountability, how to feel that accountability. So you start following through consistently because it's true. That's how you're going to create consistent weight loss results. We have to first ask ourselves what has been in the way for me to have that with weight loss for me to follow through consistently and in my experience, and this is after coaching clients for hundreds of hours in every industry, high achieving women have certain very very clear and specific tendencies that I've noticed coming up again and again and again. It breaks down with three reasons that has gotten in the way of you following through consistently and really creating an accountability and truly a trust with yourself that you are going to do what you said you're going to do. Let's get into what all three are. The very first one as it pertains to weight loss is you didn't actually like your strategy. I have talked with so many of you, so many women, who are willing to muscle down and double down just to lose weight, but then you do it with a strategy that you can't actually sustain forever. I was just talking to one of my new clients who was saying like, I am just like a woman on a mission. I'm just going to, I can just, I can do anything.

   

  Listen, you and I can do anything for short periods of time. It's how we got through school and academics and graduate school and you're able to do things. You're able to grit and grind and muscle and willpower for short periods of time. So your brain has simply learned that that works as an effective strategy to have achievement. But the trouble is with weight loss, weight loss is not a short term thing. It is a forever thing. So if you don't love your strategy, if you don't love the way that you're losing weight, it is not any surprise to me that you're going to take a break from it. You're going to stop doing it at some point along the way. This just goes to show that if you did not continue to follow through on your weight loss strategy when you didn't love it, actually had nothing to do with accountability or motivation. It had to do with the fact that you did not love your strategy. It is so essential for us to uncover the truth of this because we tell ourselves, I'm just not accountable. My motivation just left me. It just stopped being consistent. You didn't just magically stop being consistent. What I want to really help you see on this podcast episode is why, why did you stop being consistent? Why did you stop feeling motivated? Right? Number one reason is you did not love your strategy. It was not sustainable with a lifestyle that truly made you a fat burner. It was not simple. It was not something that could be built into the structure of your real life. And so no surprise after a few days, weeks, months, even for after a year or two, you cannot keep it, keep it going. So this is an essential part. Something that we have to learn from because it's going to be part of our solution. The second reason that we are not following through consistently on what we said we were going to do is because most women, most professional women, especially working moms, do not have a rested brain. We are so addicted to productivity and overworking and like literally going a hundred miles an hour. All the hours that we are awake, that our brain is not having an opportunity to rest. And when we don't have a rested brain, and I don't just mean high quality sleep though, yes, that is a huge part of it because we are not giving ourselves guilt free play and pleasure and rest that is by the way, separate from food and alcohol. I'm talking about truly putting on your calendar, guilt free, fun, play, rest on a routine and regular basis. Your brain is going to steal it from you. This is why that moment that comes where you just feel like I just deserve a break, I'm working so hard. It's not that you're not accountable, it's that you're not rested.

  I talked about this recently on the podcast. I just recorded a 30 minute structure video for my clients in the Unstoppable group. One of the seven decisions that my clients have to make. We make this on day one in our strategy workshop is actually having a tangible, and I mean wrap your hands around tangible plan for rest, pleasure, and play actually on your calendar. This is going to feel awkward. It might feel really uncomfortable and even disconcerting for those of us that are so addicted to being productive all the time. You might feel guilty for taking a break, but I'm telling you because you don't have a rested brain, you're not giving yourself fun, relaxation, and pleasure. Your brain is going to find ways to create it. So it's again, I want you to see reason number two. It's not that you're not accountable. It's not that you're inconsistent. It's not that you don't have motivation. It is that your brain wants to experience rest and pleasure and fun and relaxation without guilt. And there is a whole strategy to this because when you have a rested brain, You will follow through. It is shocking. Actually, it's one of those things I call these win wins inside the Unstoppable group. And it is disconcerting for the high achiever who's so used to kind of tipping their hat to being constantly productive all the time. It will feel disconcerting. And also it is a life changer. It is a game changer when you realize you've woken up decades into your professional life. Always working all the time that your life is literally passing you by and what about you? What about your fun your relaxation your life experiences? I don't want any of my clients I don't want any of you to wake up one day when you're 90 years old and wish that you had had more fun in your Life, this is the second reason for why we are not following through on our plans It is literally your brain brilliantly trying to force you to pause and have more fun and rest Okay, the third reason and this is where I think Learning specific mindset, skills, and tools is going to be essential for you to lose the weight you want. Reason number three that we don't follow through on what we said we were going to, or we aren't feeling that accountability to our plan and to ourself, is because we are not willing to sit with the momentary discomfort of taking action. It's that moment where maybe you said you were going to work out, but just the idea of putting on your sneakers and the sports bra, and like getting up, and like going to the gym, or going to the class, feels like, Oh, I don't feel like it. There's a discomfort there. But when you learn how to take that moment, that moment's discomfort, I call this juicy discomfort of your growth and push yourself. Just starting is the hardest part. But once you start, you feel so good. So let me kind of come back to my no good, very bad day and how this is so relevant. I was having that no good, very bad day. And remember, historically, I would have just canceled all of the things that really do truly take care of my body. And I would have just climbed into bed. You know, once the kids were in bed, Gotten my Netflix plop down going, my Cool Ranch Doritos and felt fine for a few moments. Like yeah, I'm getting a break from my life, but I would have really. I was feeling terrible in my gut. I would have eroded my self trust. Again, that's the intangible piece that so many of us are doing. And I would have felt so much regret the next morning. So let me tell you what I did instead. I was feeling crappy, terrible.

  I really noticed that desire to just quit on my plan. I noticed the desire to just be like, you know what? We'll deal with all this tomorrow. I just want to do my plop down. I felt this is part three. I felt that that discomfort and I said to myself, Priyanka, I love you too much to put this off. Let's go to the gym the way we said we were going to. It felt really uncomfortable for about 60 seconds. But then this is what happened. I go downstairs, start doing my lunges, my squats with my dumbbells in hand, and two things happen. Number one, within about two to three minutes of me starting my exercise, because I was lifting these heavy weights, I was feeling the sweat in my body. I physiologically, like chemically in my brain, my brain started releasing endorphins. It started releasing endorphins because number one, exercise and movement will always do this for you. It will always be something that creates a really positive emotional experience for most people. But the second one was because I was doing what I said I was going to do. I created this feeling of euphoria in my, in my own mind. I actually started thinking to myself like, wow, look at me go. I feel so strong just lifting these dumbbells, doing these lunges, doing these squats, doing what I said, what I was going to do, even though it felt so hard. I feel so proud of myself in the effort. And then the second thing that happened is my daughter, who is five, almost six now. She barges into the room because I can't keep her locked out. I try just doesn't work. And she picks up these like little one pound dumbbells and starts doing some lunges and squats. It's the most cute. It's the cutest thing ever. And she says to me, mommy, I want to be strong like you. I have to tell you, my heart exploded just a little bit because well, we get to do, as moms, as, you know, like a core nuclear piece of our, our family, we get to be the gateway for how we model handling. That really crappy, no good, very bad day feeling. We totally can do the Netflix plop down with the Cool Ranch Dorito chips and just like crawl into bed. Or we can learn how to regulate that feeling, the feeling of discomfort and take action. Anyway, this is by no means a perfect practice. So I don't share this story to tell you that this is what I do all the time. But what I would say is 9 out of 10 times before I used to do the Cool Ranch Dorito, Netflix plopped down, ignore my plan, not follow through and really chip away at my, my personal belief and my self trust and over the years, simply by learning certain mindset skills and tools that teach you to tap into your intrinsic motivation, your intrinsic accountability has turned this practice and flipped it over on its head. So 9 times out of 10, instead of me doing the Netflix plop down and the cool ranch Doritos now. 9 times out of 10, I followed through on what I said I was going to do. And I want to, again, really emphasize that this is a practice. Just learning the mindset skills and tools will put you on the path to creating this and it starts to build so much trust.

  My clients tell me all the time that investing in themselves financially and with their time, putting themselves on their calendar because of our group coaching calls, putting our daily practices that I teach you how to do on your calendar, being accountable to me as your coach, being accountable within this group was the first step. It's like the bridge that takes you from where you are now to really taking this muscle of intrinsic accountability to the gym. It doesn't happen overnight, but it happens in layers and in steps. And what I have found is when you are investing in yourself financially and with your time, your brain is being signaled.

  This matters to me. This is something that is important to us. And it creates that accountability is what creates you following through at the start. In the Unstoppable group, we literally address all three obstacles. Number one, you craft a way of eating that makes you a fat burner on day one while feeling satisfied. Which means problem number one for you hate your strategy is not a problem anymore. Obstacle number two, which is most of us do not have a guilt free rested and relaxed brain. We're so used to overworking is something we solve for in the group. I teach you how to plug into the structure of your life. Guilt free rest. And definitely number three, you have to know how to take that uncomfortable action when you're feeling that discomfort, how to follow through anyway, that is going to over time as you put in the reps, it's not overnight, but you're going to put in the reps. You're going to build this feeling of self trust. The whole intention of today's podcast episode is really to show you that number one, you You are a very accountable person who is consistent, actually at following through, that's never really been the problem. The problem has actually never been your accountability. Your lack of consistency with weight loss has simply been because you haven't loved your strategy, you haven't had a rested and relaxed brain without food and alcohol, or number three, you didn't know how to take action in that moment that you felt uncomfortable. And all three of these things are overcomable and have learnable skills and tools that will truly move the needle for you on losing the weight you want. But the most important thing that I want you to take away from this episode is that you have to have and slowly build self trust again. If you don't trust yourself, you will lose the weight, but your lack of trust in yourself will drive you to eventually gain it back. And that is what I don't want for you. I want you to have results that you can really believe and trust will last a lifetime and you have to trust yourself to do that. The one question that I have for you is, are you ready to let that identity go? That identity of. Having a lack of consistent weight loss results, not being accountable to following through on your weight loss plan.

  If you are someone that identifies as a high achiever, who is literally hitting the mark at work and at home, you're accountable and resourceful in all the other areas, are you ready to shed this identity that you have with weight loss? And if you are, if you want to feel that self trust in yourself, that is going to be the way that you maintain your results for a lifetime. The Unstoppable group is truly going to be the best fit for you. So if you were on vacation or you missed out on the July enrollment, I want you to know that there are two spots left. We are starting this. Sunday with our strategy workshop and then we have six months of live weekly coaching every Wednesday at 12pm Eastern you get real time coaching support in between our live coaching calls in our written coaching cafe We have the best really streamlined on demand video curriculum that takes you through my five step process And you're going to have the accountability And support of a group being in a group with like minded women who have invested seriously in themselves, who have similar growth goals to you is going to be a game changer, who you surround yourself with on this journey is going to be a game changer. And I invite you to claim one of these last few spots. If you know that this is something you want. Well, what we are doing in Unstoppable is more than losing weight. We are really burning stress and fat at the root with science informed strategies, but also with the mindset skills and tools that we talked about on this podcast episode, learning how to create intrinsic motivation, activating your inner accountability. It's going to be a life changer, not just with weight loss, but in every area of your life. That's what my clients tell me. And I want that for you too. So head over to theunstoppablemombrain.com/group if you want to learn about the nuts and bolts and there's a button there to grab a consult call with me if you want, or if you want to just claim your spot, send me an email at [email protected] and we will talk then. I hope you all have a lovely week and I cannot wait to see you next week on the Thanks for listening to the Unstoppable Mom Brain podcast. It's been an honor spending this time with you and your brilliant brain. If you want more resources or information from the show, head on over to theunstoppablemombrain.com.