Done with Dieting BONUS Episode: Feel Good Sisterhood Announcement

Hey everyone, welcome to today’s episode. So, I wanted to create a short episode about the feel good sisterhood because the program will be open for enrollment soon. Now, you might be asking yourself what the heck is a “Feel Good Sisterhood.” The Feel Good Sisterhood is a small group coaching program for women who want to lose weight but who are done with dieting, just like this podcast.

The Feel Good Sisterhood is an opportunity to take what we learn here in the podcast and apply it to our specific situation in our lives. It’s just an amazing way to take what you learned from this podcast and apply it so that you can be successful.

So, that’s the short answer. But the longer answer is that it is so much more than that. The women who come together in this group are in a transition point in their lives where they’re realizing that not only do, they not know what comes next, but they’re not really sure how to put themselves on the list.

Kim: Coming into the group, I didn’t have a lot of expectations around what sort of engagement we would have with other people in the group, and how individual issues that different group members are tackling, how that would apply to me.

But some of the most useful, I think are the most impactful things that I felt in the program, or just hearing other people talk about their struggles, and even though they’re different than your struggles. That the same sort of tools apply to getting from the struggle to the success side of it.

Elizabeth: And that’s why so many of us have problems managing our weight is because everyone else is coming before us. And we’re putting everyone else’s needs in front of ours. And so, the women who joined this program, they just aren’t sure what they want or how to get it.

So, in the Feel Good Sisterhood, we talk about the actionable steps that it takes to become healthier by implementing practical habits. But the other part of that is who we need to become in order to grow into that version of ourselves who never goes on another diet ever again. Getting to our goal weight, doesn’t magically make that happen. Right?

How many of us have gotten to our goal weight, but then we still feel like we’re white knuckling it. The program takes all of my teachings, tools, and resources from my private one-on-one coaching, as well as the teachings that I’ve been doing here on the podcast and puts them all together in a sequential format that is actionable, practical, and helps you to make the changes that you want and need in order to be successful. Not just with weight loss, but you can apply these concepts to pretty much any goal or any part of your life.

Many group coaching programs consist only have weekly meetings. Maybe a workbook or some worksheets, but because I’m a recovering perfectionist, I need to give you more support than that. So, the program is actually quite robust.

Renee: I feel like your program is the Netflix of weight-loss, and self-care, and nutrition, and working out and all, like you could totally geek out about your body and educate yourself so thoroughly. And it’s so much wonderful information there are.

And that’s why I’m glad, I don’t know if you’re always going to offer this but I’m so glad that we get access to it for longer than the program runs. Because it will take me longer than that to get all the information to do it all and look at it. And I’m one of those ones that I’d like to do the homework and do the worksheets.

So, just so you know, like that is worth it along. Seriously, there’s so much information, you’re brilliant. You’ve like really to put some time into this, it is a very robust program. You’ve got so many like a worksheet for every possible thing that you could have a question about access to this alone is completely of a no brainer, it’s amazing.

Elizabeth: Through the coursework, we address the areas of diet, physical activity, sleep management, stress management, relationship with ourselves, and our body. And then, all of the other topics as they relate to how we practice self-care and the person who we desire to become in the future. You know that person that you’re dreaming about, the person who we will become, who doesn’t worry about having ice cream on a random Sunday or going out to dinner with your partner or friends.

The program has three different components to it. There’s coaching, there’s content, and then there’s community. For the coaching piece, we meet weekly for live coaching calls and the calls are about an hour in length, calls are recorded and available to you to rewatch, or if you’re unable to make the call, you can watch it whenever it’s.

For the community piece, you will be invited to participate in a private community for only the women in the group. In the private community, you can ask questions, get clarification, or if a problem crops up between calls, you can ask for coaching. Of course, you can crowdsource with trusted members of the group, the other women who are there by sharing recipes, funny memes, or acting as accountability partners in publicly proclaiming your goals for the week.

The content aspect of the program is especially rich. Each week, you will have access to several new videos and other resources that will allow you to go deeper in the subject areas. So, what that looks like is a mix of journaling, podcast episodes, and other media to support deeper exploration of the topics that we discuss each week. And I’ll explain a little bit more about that in a minute.

Now, I created this group because I know how powerful group coaching can be. I personally have joined many groups over the years to help me in different aspects of my life. And even when I started my weight loss journey, it was so helpful to be part of a community of other women who are all going through the same struggles. We are all trying to figure out how to make it work for each of us. What I especially love about the group coaching aspect is that the topics that come up on our calls that you might not think are related to your health.

So, for example, another member might need coaching on her job, which at the surface doesn’t seem like it’s really related to eating or our health. But when we unpack the problem, we can clearly see that how we do anything is how we do everything. And we can clearly connect the dots between not asking for what we want in our professional career and how that relates to not asking for what we need at home. Which in turn relates to us not getting what we need, which is practicing self-care.

But also, as I mentioned before, going through this process with a group helps us to feel like we’re not so alone. And when the other people in our lives don’t fully understand what’s happening, you know, that you have a safe space, a group who gets you, that you are not an anomaly. And what you’re going through is a shared belonging.

Of course, you also get my personalized attention and what that brings with it. Fifteen years of experience helping women just like you in midlife, established the habits that we all know will help you to feel better, help you to remove all those barriers that seem to get in your way when you try to commit to something, and then later give up on yourself. And the other women in the group will not let you quit.

The program opens for enrollment just a few times a year. It’s a six month coaching program and the six months was absolutely intentional. See, you might be thinking that six months is way too long. And if you were having thoughts like that, I would totally understand. We’ve been conditioned to believe that weight loss should come in short little packets of eight weeks or twelve weeks, that we should be able to jumpstart everything, that we need to hit it hard and then be done.

But I think about weight loss, like I think about studying for a test. When I’m focused on the next eight weeks, where my brain goes is that we have to be compliant, we have to follow the rules, we have to do it right.

Heather: I feel like when we put time limits of like, eight weeks, or thirty days, or twelve weeks, that it just adds another stressor to the journey of; I have to do this in thirty days, or I have to do this in eight weeks. And for me, if I set a goal like, I’m going to do this, I’m going to lose this much weight in eight weeks, when I get to week four and I’m not halfway there, I’m done. Right?

I’m just like, “well, I’m not going to get there, I’m not going to achieve my goal.” So, I think and I’m going to get this wrong, but I’ve heard it said that, if a goal feels too hard, I think it’s less than the goal, change the goal, or increase the time.

And that’s why I really liked the six months because I think it’s somewhat eliminates, especially in a program like yours that entails so much detail and there are so many things available. Like that would be really overwhelming for eight weeks. But when you’re like, “oh, I have six months, I can let go of,” like six months always seems like a long ways away.

No matter like, even if you’re three months in, you’re still like, “oh, it’s so like far away,” like I said, all this time where I think when you’re like eight weeks, you’re like, I got to get like down, I got to get buckled, I got to do this because I only have eight minutes to do this, and I got to hit my goals, and I don’t know. I feel like it takes that time piece out of it, which just makes it feel more doable. I think it feels more like, I can achieve this in six months where maybe I can’t in eight weeks.

Elizabeth: And now you’re probably thinking, I can’t possibly follow the rules for six months, and you know what? I don’t want you to, I don’t expect you to. And in this program, you don’t have any rules. Yes, we have best practices. But in this program, you create your own guidelines and I show you how to do that. Folks will often come to me wanting accountability, and being accountable to someone else for six months, it’s a long time.

What I want to teach you, what this program will teach you is, how to become accountable to yourself. See, the problem with all of the diets that shout “lose 30 pounds in 30 days and drop a dress size in seven days,” is that they, the folks who sell these diets create the rules for you.

And when those people aren’t around, you’re probably going to be thinking, “F” those guys I’m hungry, I want to eat a burger. And then, what happens is the inevitable fallout created by your inner critic that you, “God forbid,” ate something that wasn’t on the plan and therefore, you EFT up, you’re a failure, and you may as well eat a quarter of ice cream while you’re at it because you haven’t had it in forever.

And once you go back to the plan, you’ll never be able to eat it again because ice cream is fattening. And then, the additional brain spin that ensues. I want you to learn how to eat for yourself because it makes you feel good. I want you to learn the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger.

Not so that you never eat out of emotion again, because that’s impossible, but so that you can make the conscious decision. What do I want to do? Do I want to eat this cookie because my kid made it? Or do I not want to eat it because I’m not hungry? And I don’t really feel like I need to.

I want to help you stop believing that food has power over you. When we allow ourselves the space of taking up the next six months and really paying attention to; how food makes me feel, not just when I’m eating it, but then in the hour later, tomorrow, and after that, how I feel when I’m active? How I feel when I’m not active? How much sleep I need?

And then, the thoughts that I have about all of this stuff that isn’t serving me. Thoughts like, needing to do things perfectly so that we avoid criticism, fearing failure when we know that failure is part of the process, and that all or nothing thinking. Which we know doesn’t serve us, yet we have a hard time looking at our situation differently. I will help you conquer these issues.

So, you may be asking yourself how exactly does group coaching work. As I mentioned before, in addition to the weekly resources, you’ll also be invited to participate in our private community, where you can also ask questions, get coaching, and support on any topic at any time. Or you can just celebrate your wins, that’s totally encouraged.

And as a note, we don’t use Facebook because there are a lot of folks out there who don’t use it and who don’t feel safe using Facebook. And so, you only share what you want with the other members of the group. We’ll be using a tool called slack, which is super easy to use, but also allows us to have better visibility, control, and segmentation around the discussion. And I think that you’ll really like it.

Christine: I joined because obviously I love working with you. And I was also looking for a community that like we had discussed previously. And so, it really was the one-on-one coaching concepts, police philosophies, all the things that you teach and coach on, while also having that community of like-minded people to really bounce up ideas and learn from.

And it isn’t always just learning from you, it’s learning from other people, and their experiences, and applying, how they’ve been coached to my own life? Sometimes, I don’t even realize I needed a little help in an area until we go through this. And then, I think about I’m like, “oh yeah, I know that applies to me in this way.” I never would have thought of it or realized it.

Elizabeth: I’ve been part of several groups and it’s always shocking, of course, in a good way to me. How much I learned from the other group members questions and coaching. Even though, I’m not being coached on my exact problem, I can take pieces from the concepts and apply them to my situation sometimes even more easily when I’m not getting coached on my own problem.

Now, where are the type of coaching that I do really differs from most coaches, nutritionists, or personal trainers is that we really get into the “why?” We all know what we’re supposed to be doing. Right? Everything that I mentioned here is Googleable.

Though, through coaching, we will get into; why we don’t do it? Why can we not stop eating after dinner? Why do I feel the urge to pick at my plate when I’m no longer hungry? Why do I have those 3:00 PM cravings? Why am I resistant to planning my meals? Why do I know that I feel better after I exercise, yet I don’t do it? But then, more importantly, how do we get ourselves to do the thing that we really want to be doing?

Renee: So, the reason that I picked you was because I really felt like you understood the life phase I was in, and I know that coaching is effective being a coach myself. But I still really knew that you would get it because you and I are in the same light phase and you really understood not just from like books smarts, but you’ve lived this stuff.

You understand what it’s like to be in the midlife and wanting to lose weight for those reasons. I wanted somebody who really got the stage of life I was at. And you have just shared with us how our body changes and some hacks to get around that, like hot flashes or other symptoms.

Elizabeth: Now, some of the time, the answers are hormone imbalances. That if we do things that our body needs, in order to be healthy, the symptom and quote unquote, bad habit will go away. Things like cravings, insomnia, and energy dips. But other times, it’s just that it’s just a bad habit. Perhaps the habit started in response to one thing, but we’ve kept doing it and we want to stop. So, how do we change the behavior that we want to stop doing?

Many times, our instant gratification monster brain is running the show and getting in our way. So, we want to put her in her place so that we can do what we want most, which is feeling good, over what we want in the moment, which is what tastes good.

Although, coaching is becoming more and more popular and mainstream, there are still a ton of folks who’ve never done it before. And may not even know anyone personally, who they can ask about the process and what it’s like? Which is why I’ve interspersed this episode with comments from the women who are actually in the group and what they’ve said about it.

But also, every coach is a little bit different in how they approach coaching. Even if you’ve worked with a private coach before you may be wondering, how I’ve designed the program and how it works? And for what it’s worth, I have 100% confidence that the way I’ve structured the Feel Good Sisterhood and the resources that I’m offering, you will get the same, if not better results than you would working with me, coaching privately.

Christine: I will say this about it. One thing I’ve loved that, that you did I think that is really beneficial is you really made sure that it’s not like jumping in balls to the wall. Like, it’s we’re going to get there, let’s start slow, let’s identify these things. Let’s slowly change habits and not hate ourselves for not jumping in the way we’ve always thought we were supposed to. And it’s really help transform mindset around it being a progression instead of immediate results. It’s just, I love that.

Elizabeth: Most of the women who come to me know what they should be doing. They just aren’t doing it. And in fact, most have really good habits, they have a really good foundation. And what we need to do is just tweak those little habits a little bit, so that they’re not following someone else’s rules, but rather their own.

Therefore, my coaching and the program are based on the eight basic habits that healthy people do. If you’ve listened to my podcast, I explained each of these habits in the episode, the foundation, which is episode number three. You may have even received the free guide and checklist.

The themes and topics that we discuss in the program are a variety of knowledge transfer. For example, this is why you want to eat vegetables and how they help your body function. But then, also practical tips and techniques like, how to plan out what you’re going to be eating for the week, or how to do a kitchen make-over, how to create a sleep environment that beads to proper sleep and not waking up in the middle of the night.

Each month has a different focus, we’ll start with awareness, and then move into goal setting, and vision creation. Month three is all about emotional health because everything we do, all of the actions that we take are because of how we feel or how we think we’re going to feel when we do the thing. In month four, we cover belief and commitment to ourselves. Month five is all about relationships, relationships with ourselves as well as others. And we will finish the program addressing self-trust discipline, and eradicating ourself doubt, negative self-talk, and our inner critic.

Every week, there’s a theme and topic for the week and you have access to several different videos that range anywhere from 2 to 25 minutes in length, addressing the concepts for that week. There’s some knowledge transfer again, nutrition, how the body works, habits to focus on, and then the mindset, and self-reflection as well. Included, you’ll get optional homework that will reinforce these weekly topics.

So, you might be wondering, how exactly does this group help me to become healthier? If you’re pretty sure that there are things that you could be doing that would help you to take better care of yourself. So, for example, stop overeating or have a consistent physical activity habit. We explore all of the reasons that get in our way of us taking better care of ourselves.

And so, here’s a little bit more about coaching. The way that I work with my private clients is that weekly we establish habits that the client is going to focus on, that’s you. The following week when we check in, you’ll evaluate if you followed through on your commitment to yourself. If you weren’t 100% with your habits, we’ll explore, why? This can happen on the group coaching call or within the community.

Now, unlike how we do this to ourselves, we are not asking this from a place of judgment, but rather from a place of curiosity. And I’m going to teach you how to do this for yourself. When we can identify that breakdown, why we didn’t do what we said we were going to do, then we can figure out the solution. Was it a process problem, or do I have a tool that can help? Or was our brain just being a petulant child? We all do that, don’t we?

And then, we can coach around that. Why are we resisting doing the thing that we want to do? I bring this same method and use the same approach in the group and on the live calls as well as in the online community.

Not only do you get all of the tools and resources that I’ve cultivated over multiple certifications in nutrition, physical activity, general health, and life coaching, but I have seven other coaches who have stepped up to provide the group with amazing-amazing bonuses.

Like seriously, you do not want to miss this. You are definitely going to want to head over to the sales page right now. I’m completely blown away at the content that I have been able to provide in this program.

Renee: Just the level of support and caring we get in your program is off the charts. It’s such a steal, it’s probably worth at least twice charging and I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t buy it.

Elizabeth: See, as a one-on-one coach, I understand that not everyone will be able to hire me to work with them privately. But at a significantly less than half of my normal rate, I want this program to be a more affordable way to get the coaching that you need. I would love for you to join us.

The Feel Good Sisterhood October 2021 group is now enrolling. Although, we already have a few folks committed when it comes to the group, the more we have the conversation becomes so much richer. The cart closes on October 25th. So, go to elizabethsherman.com/groupcoaching to learn more or shoot me a message from the sales page.

So, if you like what you hear on my podcast, you at least owe it to yourself to head over to the sales page to see if it resonates with you. Clearly, there’s no obligation to buy it’s just information. So, if you’re interested, go to elizabethsherman.com/groupcoaching to learn more, or shoot me a message. All right?

Thanks for listening, have a great week.