You are listening to the Drink Less Lifestyle podcast with Dr. Sherry Price, episode number 152.

Welcome to Drink Less Lifestyle, a podcast for successful women who want to change their relationship with alcohol. If you want to drink less, feel healthier and start loving life again you’re in the right place. Please remember that the information in this podcast does not constitute medical advice. Now, here’s your host, Dr. Sherry Price.

Well hello, my beautiful and epic friend. We are coming towards the end of summer and if you are ready and willing to lose weight and get tone, then I have a solution for you. I am launching a new program for those women in midlife and beyond to take their health, their wellness and their fitness to the next level. I am so excited about this program. In this program you will get straight talk on what works for burning fat, how to eat healthy so you have a better body composition.

It is so critical to know how to take care of your body and your health as we age as women. And what I was doing in my 20s and 30s has stopped working for me once I hit perimenopause. And I particularly noticed for me that my shape was changing, particularly around my midsection, and I have been engaging in a program and a system that has been working to change that. And so I want to teach this program to others who want the same results.

And this program is really for beginners up to the intermediate level, so not for advanced bodybuilders and for those women who really want to feel comfortable and confident again in their bodies and in their clothes. For me it was really obvious that what I was doing wasn’t working and so I needed to do things differently to get the results that I was seeking. If this sounds like you and you want to change your body shape and get more toned and fit, particularly before the holidays, then you want to join me in my new program called Tone in 10.

Tone in 10 is a 10 week program where you’ll be building 10 healthy habits to improve your body composition, meaning you’re going to burn fat, gain more muscle strength and learn sustainable healthy habits that give you greater energy and better mental health. I wanted to make this program easy, doable and buildable. So it’s 10 weeks, 10 habits for a toned body that you will feel good and confident in and we get started on September 10th.

I’ve designed this program to have lots of accountability and tracking so that you can see the progress you’re making each week with results that matter because I find nothing is more rewarding and satisfying to see that what you are doing is paying off. Spots are limited for this program. So this is the first time I am announcing it, so I want you, if you are interested in this, to grab your spot. And because it’s the initial launch of this program, I am offering a discount to those of you who are registered on my email list.

If you are on my weekly email list you will know because you get an email from me every Sunday. And so we will be sending out a discount code in the Sunday newsletter. If you are not on my email list and want the code, just go to epicyou.com and click the Start Here button in the upper right hand corner so you can sign up for my weekly newsletter. I promise you, this program will not disappoint and I’m so excited to help you take your health, fitness and wellness to the next level inside Tone in 10.

And ladies, I have to say, putting this program together was such an amazing and epic journey for me because it got me thinking on a deeper level about one of the quotes that I really follow and try to embrace in my life. And in designing all the workbooks and the content going into this program, this quote has been hitting me on a deeper level. And it’s something that I think we can all benefit from so I want to share it with you today.

And it’s a quote that comes from Zig Ziglar and he says your input determines your outlook. Your outlook determines your output and your input determines your future. And so I’d like to say the quote again, especially if it’s the first time you heard it so it really sinks in and we can really noodle on this. Your input determines your outlook. Your outlook determines your output and your output determines your future. And I like to simplify this by saying it’s our inputs that determine our outputs, the results that we get in our life.

So as I’m doing the steps inside those 10 habits for Tone in 10, I have evaluated and reevaluated my relationship with some things in my life, namely my inputs. And one of the inputs I reevaluated was my relationship with food. Now, I would categorize my relationship with food to be pretty decent, I eat pretty healthy. And when I say decent, it means that I know I could do better and I know many of us can improve in certain areas of our life. And so I wouldn’t say the way I was eating was terrible, but it wasn’t getting me to the goals that I wanted.

My output didn’t match what I was expecting. As I was noticing my body shape changing and some belly fat, I wanted to lose that belly fat. I wanted to lose that midsection that was seeming to be growing on my body. And so I needed to do things differently if I wanted my body composition to change. And so again, evaluating my inputs, what are they?

Well, first off, I think a critical input we should all evaluate because it’s one of the biggest factors that determines our level of happiness, health, how we see the world, our outlooks is our sleeping. So first off, how am I sleeping? And really looking at that, because what we know from the data, if we don’t get a restful night of sleep, our hunger hormones, our sex hormones, our mood hormones, they’re all thrown off and they make us prone to eat sugar and carbs and we get more cravings and we tend to overeat.

So when we feel tired, we’re not really well rested. And so we reach for a snack or we reach for some soda or other caffeinated beverage, or hit Starbucks, or go out for an energy drink for that dose of focus and mental concentration and a little bit of pep in our step. Now, while a one off of that is not bad, over time if we keep doing that, those choices add up and begin to change our gut lining, making us want to crave more sugar.

Because we now have this overgrowth of bad bacteria that creates an overgrowth of yeast that can furthermore want us to increase our intake of processed foods, to sugar, more carbs, more cookies, more cakes, more ice-cream. And over time, that has downstream effects. We know that if we alter the gut lining and we increase the population of the bad bacteria, well, our gut lining cannot synthesize some important neurotransmitters, one namely being serotonin.

And serotonin we know is our happy, our calm chemical that our gut produces and then it goes up to the brain. So if we are on this heavily processed or a lot of sugar in our diet, instead of feeling happy, because we are producing normal levels of serotonin, we’re not producing that serotonin so we become sad, unhappy, depressed and even anxious. And so looking at the input of the type of food we eat directly affects how we feel.

We can all come back to times where we’ve overstuffed ourselves or ate too much and then how do we feel after that? Usually not good, bloated, some of us get self-loathing that we didn’t stop when we felt that we were mostly full. We went back for that second piece of pie or that second dose of something sugary just because it tasted good. And again, it’s not to say never do that, it’s just to limit that and not make it a daily occurrence.

And then we can move on and look to other inputs and inputs such as alcohol, because similar to sugar as we talked about, alcohol poisons our mitochondria, which is the powerhouses of our cells. So when we damage those mitochondria, they’re responsible for creating ATP and the energy of our cells. And the cells go on to do other biochemical processes to keep the entire body working properly and optimally. And so when they’re damaged, we get unmotivated, we have loss of energy.

And oftentimes, the next morning, after a good binger, we will skip workouts, we won’t feel the normal energy level. And then we’ll start reaching for other inputs to give us that energy. Not only that, we know alcohol kills the gut lining as well. So if we’re damaging the gut lining, we’re also not producing the serotonin and that further impacts how we feel. Plus, when a lot of people drink, I know I fell into this category as well, I would snack mindlessly. I would eat more popcorn or finish a bag of chips and think nothing of it until I look at the bag or the bowl and it’s all gone.

So if we’re consuming a mitochondrial toxin on a regular basis, we really want to just examine if that input is leading to outputs that we like in our life. Another input is what we consume mentally. How do you spend your time, what do you fill your brain with? And this can take the form of what news you read, how often you’re reading the news, what type of news you read, how much are you on email and what’s in your email box, is it all things trying to sell you more things and products and things that you may not need?

Or are you scrolling on the internet or on social media? And if so, just notice how does that make you feel when you’re using those sites and when you get off. And I know for a lot of people, when they are on those sites they can start to feel, goodness, I’m seeing everybody’s highlight reel. It’s making me feel inadequate or jealous or envious as they’re vacationing there or doing these things or have these things in their life. And they’re comparing themselves to other people, and sometimes they don’t even know these people, they could just be people they follow.

Also, what books do you read? So you want to temper things that aren’t adding value or aren’t adding quality outputs to your life. So for me, I know I temper my use of social media and I’m acutely aware if and when I do use it. Because I know what I scroll through will shape my outlook and how I feel about myself and where I should be and comparing myself to others. And I’ll be thinking of all these things that I should have or should be doing and shoulding on ourselves never feels good in my opinion.

Now, I’m not against social media, I’m on it, maybe some of you follow me on Instagram or on Facebook. And I also have a private Facebook page because I think social media can be a great thing, especially if we’re getting out quality information to educate people or find your people or find people who are on the same journey as you or have similar goals and they’re crushing it and you want to learn from them. Or maybe you just want to use it to connect and support others. So it’s a great tool if we use it wisely and appropriately.

One of the things I love to use social media for is I love to travel and explore new places and new countries and new parts of this country. And so I love to follow people and see their pictures and learn about new places from people who are visiting places that I’m interested in. And I know it gets me excited because I get excited, I share the photos or the reels with my husband or the stories and I’m like, “Look at this, and should we do that?” And so it’s kind of fun to chat and to dream, where we are going to plan our next vacation.

And so right now I am scrolling through looking through where we plan to go for next summer. And we just get excited ahead of time talking about it and planning for it and how do we want it to look and how are we going to manifest this? So I see that that’s an input that adds value to my life, value to my relationship with my husband and doesn’t subtract from it. So consider all the inputs, there are other inputs that you can monitor in your life.

And I will do a deeper dive into these inputs in Tone in 10, particularly as they relate back to healthy habits, because we want fitness, we want wellness and we want health. And so there are certain inputs we certainly need to monitor in order to achieve those goals. But if you’re not joining us in Tone in 10, notice for you what inputs in your life that serve you and fill you up and make your life epic.

As I was putting this podcast together, I put a list of some common inputs that I get enjoyment out of, I love to do and that make me feel good. And some of those inputs include serving, it could be something minor like holding a door open for somebody, giving somebody a smile, helping somebody out. I love to give. I love to listen. I love to eat for fuel and energy for my body and to feel good a half hour later, an hour later and two hours later after I eat. I enjoy working out. I enjoy traveling. Traveling is a big one. I love being with my family.

I particularly love date nights with my amazing husband. And so these are just some of the epic inputs that produce epic outputs in my life. One other input I love to do is I love to create new programs to empower others to take control of their health and their wellness. When I’m putting together these programs, it feels so invigorating, so empowering because I know that they’re going to change lives.

I also enjoy putting together this podcast. I love helping others figure out their journey and their relationship with alcohol in a way that’s going to support what they want out of their bigger picture of life. It’s just not a silo of just looking at drinking, but how does it fit into the overall picture that you have for your life. So what is on your list? What are those inputs that are having you live your best life? And it’s also good to ask, do any of these inputs that you’re currently doing need to be modified to get better results?

I just recently shared how I needed to modify moving my body because it wasn’t sculpting me and it wasn’t losing belly fat and it wasn’t changing my muscle tone, which is something I need to focus more on in this stage of my life. Now, I discovered other changes in some of my inputs as well and so I’m making changes in those areas. And then finally ask yourself, are there any inputs that you just need to stop for now?

Maybe those inputs are no longer adding any value to your life and it would just be so much easier if you just took it off the table. And one of those could be your drinking. Maybe your drinking is feeling off the charts right now and you just can’t get a handle on it. You feel like you go to all these social events and you wind up binging on four to six drinks every time you go out.

Or maybe you keep hitting the bottle in your own house at night and you’re just feeling lethargic and stuck and in a slump and you just can’t figure out what this new relationship of alcohol is going to be for you. So right now just take it off the table. So that may be an input, you just want to halt for a period of time, so you can feel better about yourself and you could feel more proud that you’re taking action to better yourself.

Because here’s what we really know about problem drinkers is they never wish their drinking gets worse, nobody says that. We all want things to get better. So what’s stopping you from that? What’s holding you back from improving? Is it a lack of knowledge? Because sometimes it is.

I mean recently I just had a lack of knowledge about how best to support my microbiome. I thought I was doing well, but I got some testing done and I realized I could be leveling up in this area. And so once I learned how to improve it and change it. I started implementing those changes so my inputs changed recently to support a better and healthier microbiome. So is it a lack of knowledge for you? Are you struggling with what to do or how to carry out something or is it a lack of support?

Maybe you know what you can do and what you should do or what you want to do, but you feel you can’t do it alone. And if that’s the case, join a group, find people that resonate with you, where you can learn from them and be supported by them. Find your team, you want to feel supported because oftentimes it’s so much easier to do things together than go at it alone. And finding support can make all the difference in getting your success.

Or is it a lack of time? That’s often what I hear from a lot of people, “I just don’t have the time”, which brings me to another Zig Ziglar quote which says, lack of direction, not lack of time is the problem. We all have 24 hours a day. And I find that to be so true. It’s never really a lack of time. A lot of us have time and we know that we are the person who determines how we spend our time. And how you spend your time is one of the biggest factors that you can control in your life. And since you can control it, you have authority over it, which is an amazing freedom.

So I want to use my time on high quality inputs, I don’t want to squander my time on low quality inputs because low quality inputs will give me low quality outputs. So the higher the quality of the input, the higher the quality of the output. So when you eat healthy real food that has a lot of nutrients, not fried, not highly processed crap that makes you feel bloated and inflamed because we know when we eat crap, we feel like crap. But when we eat healthy real foods, we can sustain ourselves and have more energy and more vibrancy.

The same thing when it comes to drinking, when you’re just mindlessly drinking and the drinks are just going back and you lack direction, you’ll wake up with regrets and shame. So it’s not time, it’s a lack of direction that’s the problem. And so having that direction makes a huge difference, knowing exactly what you want and where you’re headed and then creating a path to get it. So what do you want? Asking yourself, what do I really want?

Because you have the time, especially with all our modern day conveniences and technology, it’s all there. You don’t have to even do your own grocery shopping, somebody will do it for you and deliver it to your house. So I challenge you if you think it’s a timing issue, because I really think it’s not. It could be a lack of motivation. It could be a lack of direction, but I often find it’s never a time issue.

And here’s the thing, when you choose your direction and you choose your goals, it helps you structure your time. Because if you know the results you want, then you just work backwards and reverse engineer it and say, “If I want those results, this is what I have to do.” And it’s enjoyable to get the results that you actually want, not end up with low quality results and settling. And that’s why I’m such a believer in results based coaching.

When I’m coaching clients, I’m always saying, “What are the results that we’re after?” Because if we don’t know what we’re after, we don’t know the path to get there.

And finally, I want to leave you with another Zig Ziglar quote. This one’s actually new to me, I just discovered it and I’m already in love with it. And he states, you were born to win, but to be a winner you must plan to win, prepare to win and expect to win. Oh, my gosh, when I read that I get so empowered. I think this is incredibly 100% true. And when I look at when I apply this to my life, I actually do win.

And I love helping my family members and those around me and others apply it to their life, because what I see is different out there. I see a lot of people, particularly women, not setting their goals high enough. And when they don’t set them high enough, guess what? They’re like they’ll settle. So they don’t really try because it’s not really the goal that they want, they’re settling. So when they don’t set their goals high enough, they show up half-hearted.

It’s like the Katy Perry song, they’re hot and they’re cold, they’re yes and they’re no, they’re in and they’re out. So if your goals don’t get you excited, maybe they’re not big enough. And just think, how would you show up if you knew the last part of that quote was true and expect to win? What if you knew you could win? Whether that’s to be the type of drinker or not drink at all. Whether that’s to lose the body weight, melt the fat away, and change your body composition.

What would that feel like if you knew you could achieve it, you can win at that goal? I’ll tell you what, it would certainly feel better and more amazing to have that kind of energy and to be in that kind of energy that that mindset creates. And not only that, it would obviously increase your chance for success. You would go from being lukewarm, maybe I’ll get it, maybe I won’t, wishy washy, to being determined. And you’re like, “Yes, I’m going to win. I’m expecting to win.”

And so I love this quote because it’s a way to fill your mind, yes, another input, what are you mentally filling your mind with? Because what you fill your mind with will determine your outlook and your output. And when you set your mind straight that you must plan to win, prepare to win and expect to win, you will show up much differently in your life. So try these things out and see if it makes your life better because the journey of life can be more epic and that’s what I’m all about.

Alright, my beautiful and epic friends, have a lovely and delightful week and I will see you next week. 

If you want to change your relationship with alcohol and with yourself then come check out EpicYOU. It’s where you get individualized help mastering the tools so you can become a woman who can take it or leave it and be in control around alcohol in any situation. EpicYOU is the place for women who want to be healthy, confident and empowered to accomplish their goals and live their best life. Come join us over at epicyou.com/epicyou. That’s epicyou.com/ E-P-I-C-Y-O-U. I can’t wait to see you there.