Breaking Free From Food with Lia Pinelli

Today's guest, Lia Pinelli, was able to crack the code after decades of yo-yo dieting and disordered eating and now she helps others do the same and reclaim their mental energy that used to be spent counting calories. She knew how to go on a diet, she knew how to lose weight, but she didn't know how to heal her relationship with food and stop sabotaging herself.

As humans, we're hardwired to want things to feel good. If a diet sets us up for constantly restricting and depriving ourselves, that's not fun and it doesn't feel good and we won't stick with it over the long run.  Lia found a trick to really address the reason for her overeating and self-sabotage and has found her body's true size where she feels the most vibrant, energetic, and strong.

Find Lia's free training at her website: https://liapinellicoaching.com/eatingwithoutfear

Transcript

Magic Barclay: 0:59

Welcome back to a Magical Life. I'm your host, magic Barclay, and today, Leah Pinelli rejoins us and we've titled this episode, you Are a Maserati. Now, for anyone that knows Maserati's are extremely sleek, sexy, fast, expensive pieces of machinery, and if you had one, you wouldn't leave it sitting in the rain, would you?

Lia Pinelli: 1:25

No, you wouldn't. You would not.

Magic Barclay: 1:28

So why You are a Maserati. I love our off air discussion about this, and I think this is a real game changer for the

Lia Pinelli: 1:38

listeners. Yes, I, I agree. So, I should preface this by saying that, my clientele, I, I only work with women who I identify as female. So I work with women. And, one of the things that women, I think, kind of around the globe are, unfortunately known for is that we have a tendency. give and give and give and be socially Expected to constantly give to other people, take care of other people. We're raising children, we're taking care of spouses. We're, you know, going to work. We're serving our bosses. You know, we are often taking really good care of everyone but ourselves and. the term you are a Maserati really came out of a session I was having with one of my groups. and in that session I was coaching a woman on her own, prioritization of herself, or I should say her, the lack thereof. And an example of this will be we often feel like we don't have time to prepare a healthy meal for ourselves, or we feel like we don't have time. To really take care of ourselves, maybe to make sure that we are putting on clothes that feel comfortable and good on our skin, or taking the time to One of the things that came up recently was even just moisturize your face, right? Like, we don't have time because we've got children and jobs and deadlines and careers and P t a meetings and all these things. So we don't really take the time to take care of ourselves. And so as we were chatting about this, I was trying to make the point that your greatest asset, the absolute number one most important thing ever in your life is going to be you. And I know that makes us a little bit uncomfortable, particularly because we've been socialized to not put ourselves first. But the truth of the matter is, is I know in my house growing up magic, I don't know what it was like in your house, but if my mom was stressed, we were all stressed. if my mom was unhappy. we were all unhappy, right? Like, and my dad would always say, if mama's not happy, nobody's happy. Right? And yet, my mom never put herself first. She was very much always taking care of everyone else. And for most of us, that often leads eventually to resentment, to anger, to overwhelm, right? And yet we feel like we can't, we don't have a good reason to take care of ourselves. We feel like we have. Have some special occasion to take care of ourselves, and so the point that I was trying to impress upon my client at that time was, If you aren't taking care of yourself, that actually means that everyone around you is also not being cared for to the level that they could be, to the extent that they could be. Because when we don't have the energy or the health or the wellness or the mental health and wellness right, to really give from a place of love and abundance, then we're giving from a place of scarcity and resentment, and that doesn't feel good. We've all been on the receiving end of somebody who's been depleted and is still trying. Give and it doesn't feel as good as somebody who has so much to give and they're just, you know, giving from the overflow. And so when we were talking about this, I was saying, you know, you're your greatest asset. You are your greatest asset because your brain is capable of everything that you create and your body is capable of, you know, getting you there in the long run. So when you care for your brain and your body, you are maximizing your potential. Contribution for growth for health. And you know, my, my client was listening to it, you know, she's kind of taking in Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I still don't really have the time. And I said, look, I said, let's just imagine for a minute that all of a sudden a Maserati shows up in your driveway. You, you win a Maserati. And now I don't even know what a Maserati even really looks like. I don't really care. All I know is that because I'm not a car person. But what I do know is that Maseratis are very expensive, as you said at the intro, right? They're very expensive machines. And so you better believe that if, if any of us was gifted this Maserati, we would find time to take care of it, wouldn't we? We. Get a car cover for it. We would wash it. We would drive it around the block every now and again just to make sure that the engine is running. We would get the oil changed, like we would not treat this Maserati like crap. But for us, when it comes to ourselves, we think, well, I don't have time. I don't have time to walk myself around the block. I don't have time to change my oil or give myself, you know, the actual nice shower that I deserve. I don't have time to wash. I don't have time. But yet we would make time for Maserati and we don't even care about Maseratis, you know? But just because we know that there is, has social value, that it has monetary value, then we're all of a sudden we are going to create time to take care of it. And yet you're worth so much more. We all can agree. we're more worth more than a car, but yet we don't treat ourselves that way. And so what I said to her was, you know, I used the cuss word, but I said, you are, you know, an F in Maserati, you know? And it was just like this light bulb went off on top of her head because she was like, you know, you're right. Like. I don't really care about a Maserati, but you're right, I would take care of a Maserati. So why would I take care of a Maserati, but I wouldn't take care of me? And then the analogy they like to fold battle one into is a million dollar racehorse. If you had a million dollar racehorse, if the racehorse was truly worth a million dollars. you would take care of the racehorse. So you also are, you know, have the potential to make a million dollars in your life. But not only like aside from the monetary value, you are this million dollar racehorse, right? Like you are more valuable than a million dollar racehorse, but yet you're not grooming yourself. That way you're not exercising yourself that way. You're not feeding, you would not feed your million dollar racehorse. Some, you know, slop from a drive-through, you would feed your million dollar racehorse the best food possible because that racehorse is worth a million dollars. And so it's this idea of like, when we start to shift our paradigm around ourselves, and this kind of refers back to the, the first, podcast that I just had with you, which is when your level of self-worth is in the toilet, you're going to treat yourself that way. It's going to be reflected that way, and for most of us, our level of self-worth isn't that low, but it's not as high as a Maserati. And we don't even care about Maseratis, right? So really thinking about elevating your own self-image. And the reason that that's so important is because it ties into what you think you deserve and what you think you're worthy of. And when you think that you deserve and are worthy of exquisite, Health, then you will treat yourself that way. And when you think of yourself that way, that is when you can start to peel back the layers of, so then why am I sabotaging? Why am I stuffing myself? Why do I keep eating junk food? Right? Like, why am I doing, if I'm a million dollar race horse, why am I doing this to myself? And then from there, you can start to make those shifts to what you actually want, the actual lifestyle that you really, truly, most deeply

Magic Barclay: 8:32

desire. Totally. And there's that old saying, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're correct. Yes. So what we do, you were talking about social proof. We do that to ourselves. Yes. You know, when we say I'm not worth it, or you know, everyone else is more important than me, you will actually, your brain will look for things to prove you. Right. So I just wanna put this out there to the listeners. Think of a red car, right? And you put that top of mind, I can guarantee that the next day you go out driving, you will see an abundance of red cars. Doesn't matter what type, what size, all of a sudden you'll go, wow, I didn't realize there were so many red cars. Yes, because you're looking for that proof. And so you will look for that proof within yourself.

Lia Pinelli: 9:24

Yes. I, I can't, I, I can't agree with you more. I remember when my husband and I were first, um, trying to have a baby and all, you know, everywhere I'd go, I just saw pregnant ladies and I thought, I don't remember seeing this many pregnant ladies when I wasn't trying to get pregnant. But all of a sudden it's like everybody's pregnant. You know? It's the same idea. All of a sudden, your attention is drawn to, there weren't actually. Pregnant ladies, but I was looking around for what I was interested in now and also maybe evidence that I couldn't have what I wanted. Everybody else was pregnant, but I wasn't. Right. And so kind of looking around for that kind of proof that, you know, that my beliefs are true about, about being pregnant.

Magic Barclay: 10:02

Totally. And I think we do that with our weight. Definitely. You know, we see other people kicking goals and, and we're bombarded with it on social media. I drank this apple cider vinegar and I lost, you know, so much weight, or I did this, or I just ate leafy greens, whatever. So there's always something new popping up, confusing our minds, and we go, well, that's social proof. They lost weight doing this, and then this person lost weight doing that. What am I doing? So it's almost like we put ourselves down. We look for reasons to make ourselves anything but that Maserati.

Lia Pinelli: 10:38

Yes, yes. Absolutely. That doesn't really work. That doesn't work for me. You know? Absolutely. All of it and, and you know, for my clients, they're very skeptical. Just like I was, I was very skeptical of weight loss coaching, and when clients come to me, they're very skeptical because they've been burned so many times by diets so it does take a good deal of trust building to really understand. That this is different. And so even though, you know, to your point, magic, you know, we gather this evidence right from the social proof. You know, look, look at all the red cars. There's evidence that there's tons of red cars out there. Or you know, look at all those pregnant ladies. That's evidence that, you know, everybody else is pregnant except for me, And so, you know, it's just kind of confirming those beliefs. And so when we believe that something is or is not possible for. We're going to go and gather the evidence. And when you're someone like me who's gone through every diet on the planet, I feel like I have evidence for days that proves that I cannot possibly change my relationship with food. And so then being willing to try just one more time, right? Being willing to have the courage to have hope when I've, my hopes have been slashed so many times. It, it took a great deal. Of courage, to be honest with you, to, to try just one last time. But what made it different this time was that nothing I had ever done before actually addressed my brain. Nothing actually addressed how I was thinking and feeling and my actions and how that was all, you know, tied into my behaviors with food. Nothing had ever really addressed that before.

Magic Barclay: 12:14

I think that's a. Great point to make that it doesn't matter how many times you try or how many times you fail, but yeah, you only need to succeed once. So keep trying, keep going. You're worth it.

Lia Pinelli: 12:29

That is absolutely right. And I actually say to my clients, um, so I only work with clients after we have, I call it a have a curiosity call or just a chat because a, I wanna make sure that I can help you. I can't help everyone. They, you know, for people who are just looking for, I need somebody to tell me what to eat and tell me how to exercise. Like, that's not me. I'm not your girl. I do help you figure out exactly what to eat. There's no mistake about that. But I don't give you a. Um, that's never gonna work because we all know the diets don't really work. But, I meet with each person that I'm going to work with, and that is really important to me because, I wanna make sure that we're a good fit, but also in that experience I explain to people. I say my program. I have a program called 90 Days to Food Freedom, and my program is designed to be the last investment that you ever make in weight loss. Never after my program again. Will you have to? Google the words, slow metabolism, right? Like that's not gonna happen anymore. You're not going to be confused anymore about weight loss or how to do it or how to sustain it, or lifestyle change or behavioral change or any of it. And so it is designed to be the last time. This is the last time you're gonna lose that weight. And, and I love that you brought up in the last episode, magic, you know, As you've gotten older, your hormones change. We go through menopause, perimenopause, you know, and even if you're not there yet, birth control, no birth control, babies, you know, all these things that really screw with our hormones. But what's important is that you understand the actual foundation of how our bodies gain and lose weight, and how you can actually shift that so that no matter what's happening in your life, you always have a really. Science-based foundation to understand how what you're eating or not eating is potentially impacting that. So you can always tweak. You can always play, and you can figure it out for yourself. You don't need to hire me again, or you don't need to hire a guru, or you don't need to get another book about it. Right? You can actually figure it out for yourself because you have this fundamental understanding of no matter what's happening in our lives, hormonally, you know, estrogen or progesterone, or any of it. We can still kind of play and tweak and figure out. Oh, okay. And I like for my clients to come from a curiosity standpoint that basically says, I know how to gather data, and this is exactly what we do in my 90 days program. I take women through the process of gathering their own data to figure out what works, what doesn't. Here's my evidence, and then now I take this data and I create a plan that works for me, and that's why I know two of my clients have the same way of eating because you have to gather the data. And act as a scientist, put on a lab coat, figure out what's going on in there, and once you've done that, armed with the science and background that you need to figure that out. Once you've done that, then there's no more questions. Then you've cracked the code.

Magic Barclay: 15:21

I love it, and I really love your enthusiasm for this. I just know you can help so many people. So thank you for sharing all of this amazing wisdom with the listen. Thank you.

Lia Pinelli: 15:32

Magic. It has been such a pleasure.

Magic Barclay: 15:34

Folks. You can find leah@www.leahpinelli.com on Facebook at Leah Pinelli coaching. Also, don't forget that freebie from our last episode, and that is Eating Without Fear. You can find that@leahpenecoaching.com. Thank you again so much for your time, Leah. It's been enlightening and definitely. You are a Maserati

Lia Pinelli: 16:03

Thank you so much. Magic. You are a Maserati as well. Oh,

Magic Barclay: 16:07

thank you listeners. This was your episode 1 59 in one 60. Vince Kramer is talking about the miracle that is you. So for now, go forth and create your magical life.