Welcome to episode number 312 where we are talking all about calories. And by we, I actually mean past Pahla. You guys I have been digging in the archives to some old, old, old footage of Q&A sessions. I have been having Q&A sessions way, way, way, way back in the day. Well, I used to do written Q&A's. Oh my gosh. That has to have been 6 or 7 years ago that I used to do written Q&As on Facebook, and then I moved to video because the written one ended up taking me, like, 7 or 8 hours of the day because I was answering these questions really thoroughly. So I went to video because, of course, I can talk faster than I can write.
And then I went to YouTube, and then I went to Zoom. And now I am actually hosting my next Q&A session exclusively for listeners, viewers, audience members, people who know and love me from wherever you know and love me exclusively for my email list. So if you do not currently get emails from me and you are listening or watching this podcast in real time, because this is gonna come out on November 5th. Our next Q&A session or my next Q&A session. I will not have past Pahla there. I mean, except in spirit. I will be the only one hosting, but my next live Q&A session is this week.
And the only way to get invited is to be on my email list. So come and join the email list. It's getyourgoal.com/list so that you get exclusive invites to things like Q&A sessions or other fun stuff, and you guys really, really enjoy today's oh my gosh. I got a couple of great questions about calories. I don't remember when this particular session was from I'm sure it was 2022 at some point in time, but I got these great questions that I know you have too, and this really is the power of the Q&A session. You personally think that you have this really specific, it only applies to you kind of a question, and then you come to a Q&A session or you watch the replay later if you're on my email list to get the replay, And you realize that there are some questions that are very universal, and there are some questions that you haven't even asked yet that you totally needed the answer to. So come and join the next Q&A. And in the meantime, enjoy this part of the Q&A from sometime last year.
So I have a question first of all from Mary Lou who says, do we need to spread our calories out throughout the day, or can we eat them in one sitting? Will our body go into starvation mode if we do it this way? I'm 61, and my calories are 1303. First of all, Mary Lou, I love how specific your calories are because I tell you what, those last 3, They really make a difference sometimes, don't they? I know. I know. So here's the thing about your body and starvation mode. And this is why I love this question is because we all tend to worry about one thing As though one thing will be the thing that changes everything. The thing about your body is that It is going to react to the things that you do, not in isolation, but as part of everything you do. So will your personal body go into starvation mode? I don't know.
Somebody's might. Will yours? Maybe, but also maybe not truly. Your body is gonna make decisions based on lots of inputs altogether and not just one thing. This is actually it's not entirely related, but it's kind of related enough, which is why I'm gonna bring it up. This is why I talk about how intermittent fasting just in and of itself is not a miracle cure for, I mean, anything. Well, okay. I say that. It might be a miracle cure for some things that I don't know about, but it's not an automatic every single person who has ever done this will lose weight because you don't eat until, you know, 11 AM.
There's nothing about the timing that is magic. It helps your body do certain things, But if you are in that 8 hour window or 4 hour window or whatever kind of an intermittent fasting window you're using, if you are Significantly overeating or significantly undereating, you're not gonna lose weight because your body still needs to be eating the right number of calories. So having said that, will your body go into starvation mode? Yes. If there are stresses involved in this, and that's What I'm gonna ask you to really be paying attention to. Like, how do you feel when you only eat 1 meal a day? Does it feel good? Does it feel like a relief? Does it feel like, oh, thank goodness. I'm not spending all day thinking about food. I got it all done. Do you feel way too full because you ate 1300 calories in one sitting? Or How does it feel to you and really pay attention to that? I mean, when in doubt, pay attention.
It's kind of always my advice for everything. Right, you guys? Paying attention and really seeing whether or not it feels your body is having a stress response to it. You'll know that you're having a stress response if for example, you are not losing weight. I mean, that's it that's a long firm way to look at your stress response. It's gonna take 4 to 6 weeks before you would really be able to make any kind of a notice about that. But also just, Like, literally pay attention to what you're saying to yourself. How does it feel? What are you thinking about? Does it feel stressful to do such a thing? And what do you notice about your body? What do you notice about your energy? What do you notice about your sleep? What do you notice about your activities and your ability to, you know, live your life and feel good? All of those things are gonna be indicators, and you have to really pay attention to them. And I I say this with love.
It's just that we're all kind of capable of ignoring some of these things. Like, I noticed this in my own life that when I know I have things to do and I'm just kind of plowing through. I've got my, you know, weight knuckling it, and I'm just making things happen. I'm not listening for the signals. I mean, it's always very clear in hindsight. Oh, I was a little stressed out. Oh, I was pushing myself a little too hard. Oh, I was just really trying to make it through, you know, this, that, or the other thing.
So paying attention in the moment, it's a skill, and it's a skill that I'm still working on myself. So let me ask you to develop it also. And, actually, in that same vein, I have a question from Trish who says, I find at times it is close to my bedtime, and I still have a lot of calories to consume because the day just got away from me. Do I proceed to the kitchen and down a lot of calories at once right before bed, or do I just tell myself that I will do better the next day? Yes. To all of the above is actually my answer here. I think the biggest part of my advice, I'm gonna start with Nicole, we have all heard our entire lives that if you eat right before bed, that that's how you'll gain weight. Like, I get asked this question in that specific manner all the time. And, again, there's nothing about that in and of itself, like, as one little tiny thing that makes your body go, woah.
I'm gonna hang on to every calorie. There's nothing about eating before bed that is inherently bad for you or inherently I. I don't love this word, but I'm gonna use it anyway because I know it's how we all think about it. Fattening about eating right before bed, your body can and will digest whatever you take in whenever you take it in. What might happen though is because it takes a lot of energy to digest, your body is kind of active, you might have a hard time sleeping. Like, More than anything, that might be the thing that is the reason why you might not want to eat right before bed is because it might keep you awake. And then and then you go into a whole, like, okay. Now I'm not sleeping, and I'm eating the right number of calories, but I'm not really sleeping very well. And, I mean, digestion wise, you do wanna make sure that you're drinking plenty of water while you're eating.
So then are you awake at night because you have to pee because you just drink all the water right before bed too? Like Like, there are some other factors that might make this not a great idea for you, but it's not just the fact that you're eating before bedtime. The timing of when you eat is not the thing that might make the scale go the wrong way. Having said that though, I personally would suggest 2 things. Number 1 is that you do meet your calorie target for the day significantly undereating. I know we all wish it would work. Like, those of us who have spent our entire twenties, like, trying to undereat, and we used to get results from it, it just doesn't work that way anymore. Your body just can't really handle that. So I would rather have you get closer to your calories however you can.
And further, I'll suggest that you actually take a couple of minutes. I just really plan your day, and that's the part that I'm gonna address next about the day getting away from you. That's kind of a mindset thing. That's the kind of thing that I'm gonna have you really look at your thoughts about your priorities. That word, it makes it sound like I'm telling you. You have to want it more, and that's totally not what I'm saying. I mean, prioritizing self care, thinking about how your day is going to go. That little bit of planning ahead, I am the queen of not planning ahead or used to be the queen of not planning ahead, and I have a lot of sympathy for, like, how much mindset work this is. What it came down to for me personally, and I have absolutely no idea.
There's nothing in your question that makes me think that this is how you see it also. This is just what I noticed about myself When I wasn't planning my day, and for me it was very business related, it wasn't just about eating. For me, it was definitely about drinking water. I have historically had a very difficult time drinking water, and I have historically been a total procrastinator as far as my business, And when I really started digging into my thoughts about that and why I was putting things off and why I wasn't making a priority out of things that Allegedly, I cared about. Allegedly, I really wanted to be moving towards these certain goals, and yet the things that I was doing would sort of believe that. So for me, what it came down to is quite a bit of self doubt. I didn't think that doing the right thing was ever gonna get me where I wanted to go, specifically with my business goals. And there was also a little bit of kind of an I don't deserve it.
And it wasn't it didn't come out exactly like that. And honestly, I'm not trying to be, like, circumspect here. I don't remember the exact thought. It was quite some time ago that I found it, and as soon as I heard it, I was like, oh, that's why I'm not drinking my water. And then I recognized it as unhelpful and I haven't bought it basically since, but it was something along the lines of I don't deserve to feel good or I don't deserve to get where I wanna go, something in that genre. And as soon as I found that thought, I realized just how unhelpful it was, and it was completely untrue. Of course, I deserve to get where I wanna go. Of course, you deserve to get where you want to go, all of you, every single one of you, wherever you want to go with whatever your goal is. That thought, it's just something your brain's offering you.
It's just something rattling around in there that's based on, you know, Fifty plus years of different social conditioning and different things that you've heard that your brain has kinda lumped together into this one thought, It's not true. It's not true, and it's really specifically not helpful for getting you where you wanna go. And this is the kind of work that we do, like, in the Get Your Goal group. It's the kind of work that we talk about Over on my podcast, The Fitness Matters podcast, where we just find our thoughts, really specifically the thoughts that are not helping us get where we wanna go, and we categorize them that way. Your brain categorizes every single thought you have as helpful, and that's deep air quotes on that one because it has kept you alive so far. Your brain doesn't actually care what you're thinking, so it's just gonna keep throwing you the same thing it has always thrown at you because it's easy. It requires no extra energy to continue thinking an old thought, But when you hear that that thought is holding you back, you can take it from the, this is helpful. You're still alive and just tell your brain, nope.
That's not getting me where I wanna go and it's not necessarily immediate. For me, thankfully, I had already been doing quite a bit of work on procrastination and drinking water. So that that last little piece of the puzzle really kinda sweeps the whole thing clean. Like, I get rid of my unhelpful thoughts about that pretty easily, But not all thoughts go away that easily, and I say go away. Some thoughts never go away. There are certain thoughts again, if you've ever listened to my podcast, you've heard me talk about how My brain offers me all the time that I'm stupid. Just all the time in every situation all day long, and I used to really believe that. Like, I used to really feel hurt by that.
I used to feel really, like, bogged down by that. And now I hear it, and I'm like, oh my god. There's this again. Thanks, brain. I hear you. Not stupid. In fact, pretty gosh darn smart. So thank you for that and moving along here.
So whatever it is that your brain is offering you about why you can't plan for yourself, why you're not planning for yourself, I just really encourage you to Find those thoughts, and you can find them through journaling. Like, simply ask yourself, what do I think about planning my day tomorrow? See what your brain thinks. There's something that's probably not helpful for you. So good. Right? So much good stuff at the Q&A sessions, you guys. I cannot wait To see you at this week's live Q&A, make sure you get on my email list, getyourgoal.com/list so that you can get invited and or get the replay depending on when you watch or listen to this podcast. And if you are watching You're listening to this podcast at some time in the deep, deep future. Hello, future listener.
My friend, go ahead and get on the email list anyways. I almost said podcast list. It's not really specifically for podcast listeners. It's my email list where you can get invited to all kinds of fun stuff, Q&A sessions, master classes, The Get Your Goal group, other fun things that I do, virtual book tour things, all kinds of fun stuff over there on the email list. So come and join even if this particular Q&A has come and gone, and thank you so so much for being here. Thank you for always being here, my friend.
