Ep 64- She Tried Weight Loss Medications, Gastric Bypass, and Therapy- Here’s How Lauren Finally Stopped Binge Eating

May 01, 2025

Today I chat with Confident Eater Program client, Lauren, who had truly tried EVERYTHING to stop binge eating.

Bariatric surgery, outpatient therapy, having her husband hide food, and every diet under the sun from cabbage soup to whole 30.

Lauren opens up about her life changing experience combining the CE Program with GLP-1 medications (Wegovy) and the exact mindset shifts that allowed her to stop binge eating for good.

You’ll learn:

• Why traditional therapy didn’t work for Lauren

• The tactics she used to reconnect with her hunger & fullness

• How she made peace with tiramisu (yes, it’s still in her freezer!)

• Why accountability changed everything for her

• What made the Confident Eater Program different than anything she’s ever tried

Whether you're curious about GLP-1 medications or just feel hopeless about food right now, Lauren’s story is a powerful reminder that it’s never too late to heal your relationship with food.

Transcript:

 Amber:  Hello, confident Eaters. Today I have a very special guest, which is my client, Lauren, who just finished up in the Confident Eater Program, and I am so excited to have Lauren on today to talk about her story with food and really, you know, everyone's story of food is so unique and I think we all have something valuable to offer within it. So you're gonna learn a lot about her history with food, as well as some insights she had in the program. Some things you can take with you today.

So, Lauren, why don't you say hi and introduce yourself.

 Lauren: Hi, I'm Lauren Lawson, uh, live in Ohio, and I did, I just completed the six months with Amber. Prior to that time, my relationship with food, the first word that comes to mind is miserable.

I was constantly tormented with constant thoughts of food and what to eat and how much to eat and when to eat, and. That most of the time I would just say, forget it, right? And just pig out. So I would plan binges in my head, like premeditated all day long, fulfill that need in my head, go to the store if I needed to come home and just binge, binge, binge.

And I did that for. Wow years and it didn't really even know what I was doing at first, or that it even had a name or that it was something. I just thought that that was me. That's how I did things. I hid food from my husband. I made him lock food up and away from me, tormented him during my tormenting of myself.

And then of course, after the binges, you know, you feel horrible miss that cycle of guilt and feeling like. Garbage saying I'll never do it again, just to return the next day and do it again. So it was a vicious cycle of eating and then dieting and then eating some more. And I ran across Amber online and it's been life changing to say the least.

Amber: I remember on our first consult you telling me about like. Your locked food room that your husband had? Yes. That you had to keep it out of your sight, your vision, just all completely away. And I think so many people can relate to this, where they're like, I just don't even want it in the house. But then it's not fair to their kids, to their partners that do wanna bring the food into their house as well.

And so tell me, 'cause I think you are someone who like truly has tried like it all before. So tell me some of the things that you had gone through and tried to help solve the binge eating before this.

Lauren: Well, the most drastic was I did have gastric bypass surgery 20 years ago. I did Weight Watchers. I did, you know, like the cabbage soup.

I remember I did the whole 30. And thought, you know, I ate nuts and rocks for 30 days and I thought surely I was gonna lose weight. And I got on the scale and lost a half a pound and it was the most devastating day of my life. So, I mean, literally, I don't know that there's anything out there that I haven't tried, even just.

For like maybe a day or two just to see. But I mean the colored measuring containers that you put different foods in, you name it. I did it.

Amber: I relate to the whole 30 and only losing a half a pound. I did sugar free for a whole month once, and I was like. This is gonna be the answer, because clearly if I'm binge eating on sugar Yeah.

Then I just need to cut it out and everything will work out well. But the truth is you learn very quickly that you can overeat another foods. Mm-hmm. Too. You can overeat on whole 30. Right. And if we're not tuning into our body and really addressing the psychological part behind it, nothing's really gonna change because we're just trying to put the bandaid solution on it.

Absolutely. Yeah. One thing I had down too was that you tried outpatient therapy for binge eating as well, and it was a big commitment. Can you tell me a little bit more about that and what that was like?

Lauren: Yes. See things I've even blacked out of my memory. Yes, I did try some outpatient. It was four nights a week for four hours, and we.

Made dinner together, like we all went and made dinner and then we would come back. It was online and we would just sit and eat with each other, tell each other what we were eating, and then there was a lesson, but a lot of it was just kind of. Talking about binge eating, but it was the longest four hours and four days.

It was such a commitment and I never felt like I was learning something that I could use like long term. Like, okay, sure I can sit. Online for four hours every night with people. Of course, I'm not gonna sit there and binge in front of them. So during that time, I was safe, but you know, I didn't learn any tools that when I left that group, you know, how was I supposed to be around food.

So that, for me, was the most confusing because I didn't understand what I was supposed to do for the rest of my life unless I just stayed in the group. So that was very, very interesting.

Amber: That's the experience that I've heard from so many people, and I went to therapy for many years for my own eating issues as well.

But I find that unfortunately the research is pretty lacking on eating disorders, especially with binge eating disorder and what's the right treatment for it. And the approach that most therapists take is. This very sheltered approach, which is exactly as you mentioned, which let's just hide these people from the world.

Yeah. And make sure that they are always safe so they don't binge. And that can also look like trying to make sure that you're always happy, you're never triggered, you're not putting yourself into any triggering situations, and it's just a way that makes your life so. Small, and we don't want our life to be like that.

We wanna be able to do like whatever we want. We wanna be able to live a normal life. We don't wanna have to be in therapy for 10, 15 hours a week and to shelter ourself from all of the triggers of the world because that's just like, it's so exhausting to do that. And there is a different way. Yeah. Yeah.

So now when you came in with me too, you also started a GLP one Wegovy. Will you talk to me a bit about your decision with that and your experience beginning that?

Lauren: Sure. So I had reached out to my doctor, you know, when I first heard the hype, 'cause of course it was another diet or something, I could try to lose weight.

And at that point my doctor was like, I'm not even getting you started until it's readily available and you don't have to wait or go. Cross state borders to get it. She's like, you know what, when it comes out and you can have it all the time, then we'll talk about it. And of course, that time came almost exactly the same time.

I had come across the confident eater. And so I was conflicted because I'm like, okay, well do I try this program and see how that works? Or do I try the wegovy? And try that first, or do I just try them together and see what happens? And so I did, I talked to you and admitted, you know, Hey, I think I'm gonna try this.

And I felt like you were kind of like, okay. You know, it was kind of both of us, you know, should I take that step? Is that gonna be right for this program? And I found that it really kind of helped. They worked hand in hand rather well Being starting the week, ovy, I instantly didn't have much of an appetite, but I never had much of an appetite.

We talked about this since my gastric bypass surgery. It's very hard to find that hunger and fullness. So this just kind of really brought to mind again that I have to listen to my body, whether I'm taking, you know, medicine or just. Regular, your body's gonna tell you when it wants to eat, so mm-hmm.

Having the wegovy and then also learning your tools together. I really found, like, it gave me, I don't wanna say an easy route, but it was a, I. Easier route because I didn't have that constant binging I have to eat now type of feeling. So I could kind of say that off, but then also implement what you were teaching me as far as listening to the body, giving the body.

Whatever it wants, you know, there's no bad foods. And just really combining those two tools. For me, I'm really glad that the timing worked out the way that it did might not for everybody, but for me it was perfect. And now I've raised my dose of Govi and still learning. Okay, well, you know, but I'm not starving, I'm not hungry, you know, but not always having the.

Craving constant urges that I had before. So for me, it, it was a win-win.

Amber: Yeah. And I was just telling Lauren before we hit record, how proud I am of her that she was able to take the leap on both of these together. Because I know so many people who would say, you know, I'm already spending this time and this money and this energy seeing other doctors and doing this GLP one, and I don't wanna spend money on, you know, another thing on top of this, but I think it is so important to address.

The psychological things underneath it, because otherwise it just turns into another bandaid solution. Mm-hmm. And we're changing the biological aspects, but we're not really doing anything to change our mental aspects. And the thing about diets is with the diets in the past, you know, we know that diets do not work.

There's a ton of research on it. In fact, 95% of people who lose weight on a diet will either gain it back or even more so it's a yes, very, very low chance that you're actually gonna lose the weight. And you know, I did some quick research before this on, I was curious the people on GLP ones, like how many people keep it off?

But you know, because it's so new, there's not a ton of long-term research, but there is quite a bit of research that suggests that if people lose a significant amount of weight super quickly and they don't do any other additional psychological work alongside of it, there is a portion of people who continue to gain it back once they come off of it.

Another thing that I think is important to consider is, and I know we coached on some, is if rapid weight loss is happening, it has a really negative impact on our body long term. And I remember one week, Lauren, we were talking about like, you're like, oh, I wish I was losing more weight or it was happening faster and I just wanted to like be there already.

And I was explaining how, you know, this is actually the best thing ever for it to happen. Really slow. One of the main reasons is that is, is because when we have really rapid weight loss, a lot of times what happens is we lose a lot of muscle with our fat. Mm-hmm. So yes, we're losing some fat, but then we're losing muscle.

And muscle is more metabolically active. And so then if you go off of it, when we're at this lower weight and we've depleted all of our muscles, we're not going to have a high baseline calorie burn. It's gonna go way down. Even before, like if you had someone who was 150 pounds, who was just naturally there versus someone who.

Rapidly lost weight down to 150 pounds. They would be needing different calories every day because they'd have different amounts of muscle. Anyway, all that to say. I think the way that you've been doing it in the slower, more sustainable, addressing the mindset, really doing it step by step is a way that's gonna be permanent and sustainable long term.

And I see so many people who just want, again, using it as a quick bandaid fix. And that's why I did question it first is 'cause I was like, yeah, don't you to think it's just gonna be the end all, be all solving to it. Because if you ever go off of it. You're gonna wanna make sure you have the tools to listen to your body, to know how to sit with urges, to manage your emotions.

And now that you have been through the program, you've been given those tools and to know you'll have those with you forever, which are permanent tools.

Lauren: Yeah, like I just to kind of piggyback on that, I have a friend who's a different one, but same. Concept about the same time I did and I see her on Facebook and she's lost way more weight than me, right?

And I'm like, oh, you know, maybe I should have gone on a different one. Or maybe I should, you know, what am I doing wrong? Is your first reaction, right? Because you see somebody else, they're doing better, you think you're doing something wrong. And then it hit me. We probably talked about it, but I keep reminding myself 'cause it's probably in a note or a sticky somewhere to remind myself that.

I'm though teaching myself to eat what I want to eat so there's no bad foods. I can have a pantry full of food. I don't have a locked room in my house with food that I can't eat because I'm slowly learning and using tools. The Wegovy is just kind of helping like a little side bar where most likely my friend is, you know, eating salads and you know, doing a, the diet part of these shots, right?

Because if you take the shot and you really wanna lose weight, you're gonna exercise and you're going to not eat 'cause you want to lose the maximum amount of weight. But I'm using it as a tool to help me. Stop binge eating and stop eating, you know, erratically. And so I am not going to lose that amount of weight.

As quickly, but down the road, like every time I get on the scale, I'm down a pound or two pounds or you know, I'm going in there about the same time I did and I see her on Facebook and she's lost way more weight than me, right? And I'm like, oh, you know, maybe I should have gone on a different one. Or maybe I should, you know, what am I doing wrong?

Is your first reaction, right? Because you see somebody else, they're doing better, you think you're doing something wrong, then it hit me. We probably talked about it, but I keep reminding myself 'cause it's probably in a note or a sticky somewhere to remind myself that I'm though teaching myself to. Eat what I want to eat so there's no bad foods.

I can have a pantry full of food. I don't have a locked room in my house with food that I can't eat because I'm slowly learning and using tools and the we go V is just kind of. Helping like a little side bar where most likely my friend is, you know, eating salads and doing the diet part of these shots, right?

Because if you take the shot and you really wanna lose weight, you're gonna exercise and you're going to not eat. 'cause you want to lose the maximum amount of weight. But I'm looking at it like, well, I'm using it as a tool to help me stop binge eating and stop eating, you know, erratically. And so I am not going to lose that amount of weight.

As quickly, but down the road, like every time I get on the scale, I'm down a pound or two pounds or you know, I'm going in the right direction. And that's what matters because on top of the scale, going in the right direction, although slowly my mind is not as bamboozled as it was before around food and the whole eating, you know.

Mess. Mm-hmm. You can lose a ton of weight really quickly on these shots, but like you said, it's like any diet and then you're most likely gonna gain it back. So in some way, shape, or form. And they don't know much about these shots, so you know, you don't know if you have to get off of it. You can't do it long term.

You're going to. Gain the weight back. We're hope. You know, my goal and what I'm teaching myself is if I had to stop the shot today, I still would lose weight because I know how to be around food, like I know how to. Exactly.

Amber: I think the word tool is really the best word for it, is it's like a tool that can be part of your toolbox, but it can't be the full solution.

There needs to be other tools in your toolbox too, to have the complete. Toolbox to changing your eating habits and to stop binge eating and to lose weight. There's many different things we need to learn within that. I think another good example would be your analogy, kinda like building a house like really quickly from.

Thin paper. Mm-hmm. Versus taking the time to like lay the bricks down. Right. And that's what we're doing. We're laying the bricks down, which takes a little bit longer to build our house. Right. But then you have a really strong, sturdy house that can survive strong winds and strong brains and tornadoes and it'll be there because if we built, we took the time to build it really strongly.

Lauren: Yeah, and like you were saying about, you have to have different tools. Like you can't build a house with just a hammer. I mean, you have to have nails and you have to have screwdriver and have all the tools. So yeah, I think the more you build on it, as long as you're kind of using them, each tool for what it's meant to be used for, I think it, you know, it was a win-win for me, for sure.

Yeah. So let's talk about some of the changes that you've made and where you are now. So what would you say is different about your life and eating habits after the program?

Amber: Well, I haven't binged in about four plus months. Mm-hmm. And so that is huge. I mean, just huge. You figure it was something I did pretty much on a nightly basis for years.

My mind is no longer consumed. I think when I first spoke to you before I even started the program, during my consultation, I'm like, I just want to have room in my brain for something else. Like I want to be able to think other thoughts, and I am able to do that. Like I feel clearer and more. I can expand my interests into other things that don't have to revolve around food.

And I think the whole, because everybody's like, there's good foods, there's bad foods, right? Every food is good or bad. And for me, I've neutralized, right? There's no good or bad food. You know, if you wanna have a cupcake for breakfast, have a cupcake for breakfast, because. Otherwise, you're just gonna sit all day and think about the cupcake.

Why do that? It's been so life changing, you know, is the word. Like, I went from miserable to holy wow. I still enjoy food. I still think about food. It's not like. I no longer, you know, food is nothing to me. And I find myself sometimes going down that rabbit hole of, oh, well I'm gonna be home alone tonight.

You know, it's not like I'm completely cured and like I never have these thoughts, but I can pause and stop. And. Think and make some rational decisions, which was never, that just wasn't possible for me. Like, like once I started thinking about food or binging, that's what was gonna happen. And since I've talked to you and even after, I can keep myself front, just get back on track, what's the goal?

What's the purpose? Do you wanna feel like crap? And just talking myself through it, which is mm-hmm. Again. So different than what I ever felt before.

Amber: And that awareness, that pause is the most important part. Because normally when we start out, it's like our urges are just happening so fast we don't even recognize what's going on.

But you know, we're never gonna be perfect eaters. I am not a perfect eater still to this day of I never will be. And like. What even is a perfect eater, we can't even define that. But what's most important is that we recognize what's happening and then we know how to easily course correct. So if we were to overeat and just saying, whoops, okay, I did that, and instead of saying, oh my God, I ruined my entire day, screw it.

Let's just keep going. It's just, okay, I forgive myself. I learned something for it. I have the tools to know how to learn something from it. I know what I'm gonna do differently next time, and now I can actually move forward and do it. Yeah. I like that you pointed out too, that you still sometimes think about food because this is what I always tell people, like I get when you have all this food noise and you're thinking about it 24 7.

It's like I tell me, I just wanna plug myself into the wall and recharge for the, that I don't even want to think about eating ever again. But we're gonna think about food. It just, we change the quality of our thoughts about food and we probably think about food a lot less because we have other things that we enjoy now too.

We're gonna have memories around our old habits. Our brain remembers things, and so sometimes it will feel slightly triggered to be like, Hey, remember you used to binge on this. Do you wanna binge on again? And it's being able to have the new skills to say, oh, hey, that's my lower brain speaking. This is just my brain going on autopilot in an old loop of what it used to do.

But I now know I can sit with this sensation. I don't have to act on it anymore.

Lauren: Right. Absolutely. I mean, it's so cool to be able to stop myself and, 'cause I would always have that angel devil on the shoulder, right? And it's like, oh, you shouldn't do this. Yes you should, blah, blah, blah. And now you can kinda just be like, stop.

You know, this is the right way. You know, like you said, over eaten a little bit, like, you know. Yes, I've definitely over eaten since. Through this program and since, but it now when I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Lauren, you're starting to get that icky feeling like, stop, stop, stop. I'm more aware, I'm more present than before when I would binge.

It was just like you would. Be like in this outer body, like you had no control of yourself. Mm. And now I'm like, whoa. You know, you don't wanna go to bed feeling like this, or you have something you wanna do after work. Don't give yourself a stomach ache. Mm-hmm. So now you're just like talking yourself through it and it's a whole different world For sure.

Amber: Me about tiramisu because this was one of the foods that we worked on and on our last call you told me, I've had tiramisu in my fridge for weeks now, and my husband thinks I'm going crazy because I don't need dessert all the time. Yes, yes.

Lauren: Yeah. I love Amisu. It is absolutely my favorite. And my husband, this is when he kind of noticed like I was making changes 'cause we had gotten, at Costco, they had like a thing of six or eight little, you know, glass cups of amisu and we got them and, 'cause it was actually, what's the, the session that, that you teach that you're supposed to have your favorite foo for so long?

Do you know what I'm talking about? The trigger food process. So that was gonna be my trigger food. So I got it. I brought it home, you know, it's in the refrigerator and my husband loves it too. So he was eating some and we were kind of sharing whatever, and he's like, I know something's changing with you because there's a cup of Tara Masu in there and you haven't touched it.

And it did. It sat there and I think. He either ate it or we ended up throwing it away 'cause it had been in there for so long and currently there is. Some frozen amisu in my freezer and it's sitting there where normally I would be crushing into that thing and eating it frozen, right? Mm-hmm. So it's been in there for a while.

Mm-hmm. So I know that I still love Amisu. I enjoy it. When you said Amisu, I was like, oh, I got excited, but I know that it's there. I can get it anytime I want and I want to be able to enjoy it. And I think you. One of the things that you said to me that was kind of like a woo, my aha moment was when I was talking about the Tara Masu and wanting to eat more, and you said, yeah, but if you don't eat at all, like if you stop when.

You've had enough, then you can enjoy some more again tomorrow. And that brought me much joy. Like, yeah, like why did I never think of this before? Like if you have extra, then you get to enjoy it without guilt and without feeling like crap tomorrow. So that was something I still think of. Things like, oh, oh, don't eat that whole cookie because tomorrow you can enjoy it while you're watching your TV show.

So it's just, again, just that awareness of making decisions that are going to make you feel better. Like it's, you're not going to feel. Worse by making these decisions where binging I think we talked about only hurts you. Like there's really no benefit of of binging where if you turn it around, then there's benefits.

Amber: Exactly. Then you get to notice how good you feel in your life and your body and it's really showing our brain that of. Look brain like not only am I getting more pleasure by not binging right now, but I also get to feel really good in my body. I get to eat this food again later. And I was just coaching someone earlier today too, on slowing down when they were eating and they were like, but the food is so good.

I just wanna get it all in. And I'm like. If you enjoy the food so much, like let's make the experience last 20 minutes instead of five minutes. Mm-hmm. Yes. And then you can slow down and you can use the flavors for a whole 20 minutes. Yeah. Instead of gobbling it up in five. And so looking at when we change our thoughts around it, it can make it so much easier to let go of these habits.

'cause our brain has a new perspective on it where it's like, oh, we actually see the truth of what's happening, which is that. Binge eating sucks and it's never fun and it never brings us pleasure, but like food becomes so much more pleasurable when we are actually enjoying it and being mindful with it and eating in amounts that our body loves too.

That's when like food pleasure is at its max, not when we are shoveling it all in. Standing in her cabinets, like not even being present for that experience.

Lauren: Absolutely. Yeah. Sometimes when I would binge, I don't even know that I tasted the food, you know, it was just get it in there for that quick euphoria or whatever feeling that I thought I was getting.

But yeah, tasting the food and enjoying it and even being able to enjoy it into another day, that's how real people eat. And so, you know, it's really nice to feel like I can eat like a normal person.

Amber: Now with hunger and fullness, because that was an area that we really had to navigate. Based on your surgery in the past and being on a GLP one, what are some things that we did tactically or mindset wise that helped you start to listen to your body better?

Lauren: I won't remember the exact classes or homework type things, but I know that for me, it was sitting and eating my food at a table, having thing, you know, like. Bringing my food, eating slower so I could feel when I'm that full. Right. So not only, I think a lot of it too for me was okay, I feel the hunger.

Okay. Or even if I didn't feel hunger, like I'm not starving, whatever. You know, like you taught me that there are other. Ways to tell if you're hungry because I'm just waiting for like my stomach to growl or something. Like that's what, you know, most people's stomach growl, right? That's hunger. But you said, you know, you might feel a little tired, you might get a little headache.

You might, you know, just kind of check yourself like, how am I feeling? Or it's been four hours. Like I. Still set an alarm every four hours to check myself. Am I? Yeah. You know what? My breakfast was kind of small. Maybe I'll have some of this or this. So it's just constantly checking in with my body and not maybe relying on those common stomach growling things, but think of other ways like, how am I not feeling right?

Oh, maybe that's because I need to eat and then sitting. Mm-hmm. Enjoying the food, you know, putting it on a pretty plate or whatever. Listening to Christmas carols, I remember it was Christmas time. Mm-hmm. And I put Christmas carols on. So just, you know, learning how, like you said, to your other clients, like enjoying the food, chewing the food, slowing down, those are all things that I remember helped and still to this day, helped.

Not every meal, not every time am I going to sit and plate it and make it, you know, sometimes you're at work and you're like, I have to eat this really quickly. You know, it's my sandwich and I know that a half a sandwich is enough right now. You know, sometimes you don't get that experience, but knowing that that's the best way to eat is a good reminder to just.

Slow it.

Amber: Yeah. And we started including some foods earlier in the day because it was for you getting to the end of the day and being like, oh my gosh, I barely eat anything because I didn't even hear any hunger. Now some people when they hear this of, well, you want me to start eating more earlier in the day?

Like, I don't want eat anymore. Do you feel like having more food earlier on and more consistent meals helped you overeat less in the long

run?

Lauren: Yes, because my goal, right, I wanted to binge, so like in my mind, like don't eat much all day and then I can, you know, eat it all at night. So I had to like retrain myself to eat breakfast and one, am I eating at breakfast?

You know, does it have protein and fiber and all those things that are gonna sustain me. So kind of retraining my brain. Basically on how to eat three balanced meals a day. Do I do that every meal? No, but I mean, again, it's that awareness that the best thing for my body to keep me from wanting all the food at night because it was hungry.

Right? I mean, it's not that I was just eating, but if I eat breakfast and it's pretty much balanced if I eat lunch. It's pretty much balance. I eat my dinner, then you're pretty sustained and not feeling that need to just shove the food in late at night.

Yeah, exactly. I love that.

So

Amber: during your time together, what did you love most about

working together?

Lauren: Oh my goodness. So, okay, so I know I wrote notes 'cause I didn't wanna forget anything. But I think the biggest thing was the accountability. You go to Weight Watchers and they weigh you and that your accountability, but it's somewhat humiliating and you know, the whole thing. So accountability, I think it's always good in a way, but this accountability was like.

Every Friday I knew that we were gonna check in and I was excited to hear like, what am I gonna learn next? What tools? And you would just meet me where I was, whether or not it coincided with that lesson plan or that topic of the day or that week. Like I would come in and be like. Oh, you know, my dad is sick or whatever.

When we were talking about that, and this is happening in my back and you know, I have to go back to work five days a week, and you just kind of met me where I was and walked me through those thoughts and feelings, and then you'd always bring it back around like a little present. You would wrap it up with the topic that we wanted to take away from for the week, but it was always something.

That, you know, I appreciated. It wasn't just like, okay, well this is what we're learning today and so, you know, I hope that you have, you know, it was okay. This is what's going on in your life right now and this is how we can apply it to this particular topic. And then I. The best thing, and I'm still not great at it, but I still try to remember, is to celebrate when something happens, like those wins and to say, Hey, you know, you could have done this, but you did this yay Lauren.

And remembering to always celebrate even the tiniest of things because you're making changes and for the better. So with me, those were the two things is how you met me where I was, and then you had me celebrate. Even if I thought it was kind of corny and weird, it was something that I still take away and appreciate.

You know, even to this day,

Amber: It can be hard to celebrate ourselves at time because we're not used to it. Yeah. Like, especially as women too, we're told to like, keep ourselves small and like, don't be too loud, don't boast too much. Just keep it all to ourself. Mm-hmm. And so sometimes it can feel really awkward at first to be like.

Go me. I did awesome this week. Like let me share it with you. But I think it gets easier over time,

Lauren: right? And it can be something. And the thing that's crazy is like you're celebrating something that most people are like, you know, I tell my husband, yay, I only ate a half a cookie when I'm full and satisfied.

And he's like. I always eat a half a cookie because that's like what natural eaters, they don't have that mindset. So for me, at first I'm like, I'm celebrating what I'm supposed to be doing, but that's a celebration, like you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. So yeah, I, I still like mm-hmm. The celebrations.

Amber: Yeah. And you'll know this from working together, but for everyone else, celebration is our neural super glue. It is what sticks in our habits. It makes. Anything we are doing stick a hundred times more just by getting proud of ourself. Because what that does is it releases dopamine for us to say, Hey look, I did it.

I did something amazing. And that reinforces our habit loop of the new habits if we don't celebrate ourself, which is a big mistake. I see. Especially when people get through an urge of, they just say, oh my gosh, thank goodness I got through that urge. It's like, well, that's, your brain's gonna be like, I don't wanna do that again.

That was miserable. That was no fun. But if instead we were like, Woohoo, go me. We do a little party, a little dance with ourself, then our brain's like, Hey, that was fun. Let's sit with that urge again. Let's do that again. And so it makes these habits reinforced in a brand new way. I think with the accountability too piece that is so huge and why it's so nice to have someone working with you one-on-one, or even in my group programs, they're small, so we're not going to be in this course of hundreds of members, and I do give you the steps, but it's not a strict step-by-step plan of you have to do this each week.

It's very flexible to accommodate you and your life because I know that. Sometimes the lessons just aren't that relevant for where you are today. And sometimes we need a little bit of a different topic in order to make sure that we get you support with where you are at. And so I'm really glad that you appreciated that as well about the program for sure.

And so what would you tell someone if they are listening to you today and they're like, oh my gosh, this is me. I have also tried so many things. I'm also thinking about doing a GLP one. I don't really know where to start, and they're on the fence about joining the program. What would you tell to that person?

Lauren: I mean, it took me a minute to decide, you know, it's an investment and I've spent so much money. I think that's the first thing you think is, oh, I've spent so much money and I don't wanna fail again. You know, that was my biggest fear is like to. Keep throwing money at something. Okay, I'll do this, but am I going to fail?

And then it's just gonna be another lost money and failed program. The thing is, it's not a diet and it's not a program, right? It's about working through your mind and getting it straight, right? Getting all the fuzziness. Clear. It's about like facing your issues and fears. Because I wrote down like you're kind of hitting all those things that your fears about food, your issues with food, kind of hitting them head on and then dealing with them.

'cause a lot of times before, you know, you'd be stressed or depressed or whatever, and you just shove it down with some Oreos and then we just move on. And here you kind of bring the things. To the top and like learn how to deal with them and then replace them with tools that will help your current thoughts and situations.

So for me, it was well worth it. It's something that when I was through, I didn't feel like, well, that was a failure, like. You know, there goes my money and you give the money back guarantee. I mean, you can't lose. But it is a big investment. It's investment in yourself and you have to take it seriously. I think if you just go through and listen to you talk each week, you know, you might not succeed, but you have to put the work in.

It's super important that you are open to changing your mind. Mm-hmm. So I would say anybody that's on the fence, you know, I had to. Begg my husband. 'cause he was like, oh, another program. You know? Are you sure? When I was like, oh, I'm gonna do it. I promise I'm gonna do it. And I think I told you one of my biggest things, I'm a fear of failure.

I don't wanna spend all this money and then fail, but for me it was so worth it. Anytime I hear somebody struggling, I'm like, oh, hey, I just got done with this coach. She's amazing and it helped me so much and I've never told anybody that they should go on a certain diet. You won't be sorry.

Amber: Thank you for sharing all of that.

And I think so many people do have that exact thought that you had of like, I've spent so much money on other things before, and especially with all the things you've done. I mean, I can imagine it's. Tens of thousands of dollars of other things. So how did you get over that thought where you decided to take the leap of, you know what, I wanna try something new.

Lauren: It seemed so different because, you know, when I was doing my research kind of into you and what the program was, and then our first consultation and listening that it wasn't that you were gonna tell me what to eat and when to eat it and how to eat it. It was going to be different, you know, when I understood what it ended up being was that it was going to kind of change my mindset.

Mm-hmm. And so for me. There's no diet that says, you know, I'm gonna change your mind. Mm-hmm. It's more like, well, we're just going to tell you what to eat. Program you to, you know, stay on this program and you have to be on it for the rest of your life. Because just like that program that I was in with the.

You know, four hours a night, four days a week, like as long as I was in that community. Great. But then what? Mm-hmm. And this, I was reading about the tools and the way that, you know, to me it looked like a long-term solution. Mm-hmm. And that's what. I needed. Mm-hmm. And that's what I got.

Amber: Yeah. And what I like to remind people too is, you know, you could do a quick fix and have a 30 day program and feel good for those 30 days, but like you mentioned, it's like, well, what happens after that?

What skills and tools are you taking with you after that? And if all that you're learning. How to follow a meal plan. You don't have any skills after that. You've just learned discipline. Right. And that's not something that you Yeah. How to read. Yeah. A calorie counter. And so I really want you to have the skills that are gonna last you for life, which is tuning into your hunger and fullness and knowing how to sit with your emotions, knowing how to handle these urges, because that's what's going to one, like actually rewire your brain.

So you actually have. A different brain, but also give you like tools that you can rely on even when the program is done too. So I am so happy you came on today, Lauren, to talk to everyone. Is there anything else you have to say

today?

Lauren: I thank you so much. It was a great six months. It was a great investment in myself and you know, I put my deposit in.

I'm looking forward to getting back on track with you about other things, but I just appreciate your time and your attention to me and I love to being here today. So thanks for inviting me.

Amber: Thanks so much, Lauren.