4 Key Steps to Healthy Weight with Tracy Pleschourt

Today I'm visiting with Tracy Pleschourt, founder of Self-Made U, which helps people reach goals and create self-made wealth and wellness through life coaching.

Tracy has some wonderful advice today about how to follow your dreams even if your current career is going well, and keeping in tune with yourself and how you're feeling. We'll talk about some brain hacks and mindset shifts that can help get you un-stuck from whatever situation that you feel trapped in, including when it comes to weight and health.

Learn more about Tracy at https://www.self-madeu.com/

Transcript

Magic Barclay: 0:59

welcome back to a Magical Life. I'm your host, magic Barclay, and today Tracy Lesh Court joins us now. Tracy is the founder of Self-Made You and the. The host of Secrets of the Self-Made Podcast, which helps men and women create self-made wealth and wellness Through life coaching, Tracy has mastered and now teaches the critical skills necessary to manage your mind and overcome any obstacle, including overeating over drinking, time management career, and relationship changes. Just a few years ago, Traci was a successful advertising executive stifled by the rigorous time consuming demands of the corporate world. She traded in her 20 years of advertising to pursue her real passion, life and weight loss coaching. Traci is a student of her own work and has stopped overeating, overdrinking, and created multi six figure businesses while mastering metabolic health. Today, Traci coaches people all across the country and the world who want to become a student of themselves and do the same transformational work. Traci dedicates her work to ambitious lifelong learners. Yearning for answers and seeking a better way to create the results they desire and deserve. She instills confidence and a call to action that leads to unlimited wealth and wellness.

Tracy Pleschourt: 2:35

Welcome Tracy. Thank you. Magic. I could sit here and listen to you talk all day long. Your accent is absolutely beautiful.

Magic Barclay: 2:46

Thank you. I guess as an Aussie, I don't hear it anymore, but having us people on, I guess it stands out a little bit more, so thank you.

Tracy Pleschourt: 2:56

Yeah, it is stunning. And yeah, to hear you articulate my name, I'm like, oh, I don't ever think I've heard my name. Sounds so pretty. So, so fun to be here. Thank you for having me. Now

Magic Barclay: 3:08

look, I think you're a perfect fit for this podcast because you talk about what we talk about and uh, so there's a couple of things in your bio that I just wanna ask you about, because I'm sure the listeners have, you know, the ears are pricked up now and they're like, wow, you know, what can we get out of this episode? You threw in 20 years of advertising an established career to follow your passion. First of all, hats off to you. And second of all, what was going through your mind when you did that? That's very brave, and I know a lot of listeners will be thinking, you know, I wanna really follow my passion, but how do I do it?

Tracy Pleschourt: 3:50

Yeah. So I think if I was to give any advice after having done that, it would be, just because you love something doesn't mean that you can't call it complete. You know, if you love something, I think that the consideration to leave, you know, if that's something that you're feeling pulled to consider, um, don't let the fact that you love it. Keep you from moving on. So I love to look at that part of my life as complete. It was spectacular. It taught me so many things that I was actually able to kind of bring forward into this new chapter of my life, like working amongst creative people and how to really kind of, Be energized and fueled through other people's energy because you know, when you're in a creative environment such as advertising, you feel a real special type of energy. And so I really allowed that to fuel me. I loved it, but I also knew that there was a calling for me to do something more. And even though I was really kind of at the. Height of my career, I made the very intentional decision to leave on such a great note, and I always look back with such fond memories. There are absolutely no regrets, and it was just kind of that point in time where I considered it to be complete, but, You know, it was, it was just an outstanding career. And like I said, I, I learned so much that I could actually like, allow those skillsets to lend themselves to owning my own what started out as a small business and is growing even today. So, thank you for the, um, accolades, but I think that that's the advice that I would give other people is, you know, Think about it as complete. and don't let the fact that things are going well actually keep you in a place, especially if you feel like there's a calling for something more.

Magic Barclay: 5:57

Brilliant. And I think everything else we need to pull from your bio. You are going to tell us in a moment when I ask you our three questions. So I ask every guest the same three questions and everyone gives me so many different answers. You know, I think it's really amazing and informative and shows how diverse. The human race can be. So here comes your first one. What can your expertise do to accelerate health, not just physical, but also emotional and spiritual health? well,

Tracy Pleschourt: 6:29

you know, I would say being very comprehensive in your thinking. You know, I, I love the fact that you are pulling out all of the, avenues or levels of health, because I don't know if you can experience. Total and sustainable transformation if you aren't looking at it comprehensively. So, I am always a student of mental, emotional, physical, and metabolic health. Um, I am always learning about myself on all of those levels, how my body reacts to certain dynamics, certain elements, but you know, not only physically, but. Mentally, emotionally, physically, metabolically, you have to have that awareness to, you know, know if something needs to be changed. So that awareness comes from understanding yourself. And I think I, I like to think in frameworks, that's how I stay so comprehensive. So I think about, you know, total health. From a comprehensive perspective of mental, emotional, physical, and metabolic. And I would say, staying aware of how I'm feeling at all of those levels would be, um, you know, what I would suggest to everybody and to kind of think in that like framework.

Magic Barclay: 7:59

So like doing a self check in. Along your your way to make sure that you're on the right path. How often should people be doing that

Tracy Pleschourt: 8:08

self check in. Yeah, that's a great question. At least daily. I would say, you know, bonus if you can do it multiple times a day. but when, when I'm working with clients, I get them into a routine or a habit. Of checking in first thing in the morning, you know, how are they feeling mentally, physically, emotionally, metabolically. And we teach people how to take metabolic measurements so that, you know, they can make decisions going forward from that data, not just, you know, dramatic type thinking. Um, we also teach our clients how to. Do a brain dump. I don't have a better word for it. I like to use brain dump. It's, it's literally just kind of your opportunity to journal, put pen to paper on how you are thinking, how you are feeling. Um, when it stays up in your head, it tends to stay kind of chaotic. And if you can get it in black and white on paper, you'll find that you can be a lot more objective about those thoughts and about those feelings. So, um, At least once a day. That's, I would, you know, challenge yourself to do that exercise. Like do not only the check-in, but really putting pen to paper. Looking at the data, you know, what is it that my body is experiencing from a data standpoint? What am I feeling from an emotional standpoint? What are the thoughts that are racing through my mind? Putting that in black and white so that you can be objective about all of it. And if you can do that more than once a day, I mean that's even better. Um, You know, there's very practical tools like alarm clocks that you can set and go off as a reminder to just do those check-ins.

Magic Barclay: 10:00

Fantastic. Recently we had a guest on, and I can't remember who it was now. We've just had so many fantastic guests, but we were talking about a brain dump and you know, I was saying how my desk is covered in tiny little bits of paper and you know, those little speech cards with. Stuff that's come from my brain, and then I close the loop by the end of the day by making sure that all those bits of paper are gone, that everything's been actioned, or has been put on my calendar for the next day or the next week. Like it's given a timeframe and prioritized. So part of my brain dump is get it on these bits of paper, but by the end of the day, make sure that. 80% of those bits of paper are done. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, that's even for my own health, like it might be, you know, make sure I take a certain supplement at a certain time. I will brain dump that and then if I haven't done it, I know I've missed the supplement. So. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm a fan

Tracy Pleschourt: 11:01

of the brain dump. Yeah. And then, you know, if you think about it, kind of play that forward and really think about the dopamine hit you get from, you know, holding yourself accountable. Watching those bits of paper start to disappear. Like every time one disappears, it's another bit of a dopamine hit, you know? And so it's going to really fuel and kind of perpetuate the momentum. Of doing that exercise. So yeah, I think that that is a fantastic technique

Magic Barclay: 11:33

and that's exactly why I do it, because I found I wasn't getting that dopamine hit before I did the brain dump with the bits of paper I was thinking about, the one thing I didn't do. Rather than the 80 things that I did do. So this gives me a really tangible way to look in the bin and go, wow, I did a whole lot of stuff. That's

Tracy Pleschourt: 11:53

great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Magic. That is such good awareness of how your brain works. That is something that I love to teach people is, we have. Different parts of our brain that have different purposes. But you know what I like to call our primitive brain? It's meant to keep us safe. So it's constantly offering us thoughts that are very fear-based, you know, because it wants to keep us safe. Don't do this because this might happen. Right? And totally normal. It's totally. human for you to be having fear-based thoughts, but if you have the awareness that that's happening, you'll be less likely to react to that kind of thinking and more likely to respond. And when you are responding, you're actually using the part of your brain that's called the prefrontal cortex that can actually look at data and, you know, more like facts and make decisions based on the facts versus reacting to dramatic things. Thinking. So Yeah, like that's exactly it is understanding how you as a person function and your brain is a big part of that. And I think so many people think that there's something wrong with them because they don't follow through well. There's nothing wrong with you because you're having thoughts that are keeping you from actually following through. It's. Recognizing that you're not broken, it's just your primitive brain offering you fear-based thoughts that you haven't learned to respond to yet. You have by default just been reacting to those kind of thoughts. So, I love the fact that you have the awareness and that you've kind of thought through that and you've found what works for you. That's what I mean when I say. It's all about understanding you, that's self-made you is all about understanding yourself and becoming a student of yourself.

Magic Barclay: 13:56

Totally. And you know, without tooting my own horn too much, I find I'm completely fascinating. I.

Tracy Pleschourt: 14:03

Exactly. I know. Yeah. There's just so much more, you know, to the human beings that we are, than what meets the eye. Right. we don't give ourselves enough credit and, and a lot of my clients will, you know, really kind of go through self-loathing type patterns because of what they are or are not doing. And I love to point out that, You're not broken because you're not following through on a commitment. I. You are again, you're just reacting to these fear-based thoughts, and if you weren't having fear-based thoughts, something actually would be wrong with you. So you're having them and you're reacting to them. I want you to still have them, and in instead of reacting, I want you to learn how to respond. You get an entirely different results from that, but you're not broken. There's nothing inherently wrong with you. If you're having fear-based thoughts that are keeping you from acting. So yeah, we are fascinating as human beings

Magic Barclay: 15:09

just on understanding yourself. Something that might help the listeners is, I see it as a dialect, so we all speak English, but we come from a different country. We have a different accent. Sometimes there d there's a different. Dialect for our region. Well, you have your own dialect as well, so you can't be expecting to speak someone else's language and dialect without understanding your own. So when you're talking to yourself, you know, listen to the words that your brain wants to hear and use those and congratulate yourself with words that your brain, your limbic brain, and your rium brain both acknowledge. Don't speak someone else's language, it just won't

Tracy Pleschourt: 15:58

work. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I think. Recognizing that, that narrative, that language and what it sounds like and what kind of results you've created for yourself from that narrative. Um, if you're looking to create different results from your life, you may want to. Look at how you can start to change up that narrative. For example, I know a lot of people have a very authoritative narrative going on, like, I should have, or I should know better, or I shouldn't do this. or, the kind of more like the coach, you know, no pain, no gain. Let's say that, you know, there, it's a very, encouraging, but yet it's a very like authoritative type narrative. Now, if. That's the narrative that you're always hearing in your head and you don't like the results that you're getting. I would suggest trying more of a nurturing approach, you know, more of a self-loving type approach. So, Turn down the volume on the narrative that sounds like this authority figure and just turn up the n narrative. That sounds more understanding, more compassionate, more, of like the nurturer. Like of course I'm thinking thoughts like I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have eaten that. That is the nature of my brain, but it makes perfect sense that I'm having those kind of thoughts and feelings. Just notice how when you have those kind of intentional thoughts, how you start to feel at peace. You feel a sense of calm versus a sense of defeat from more of that authoritarian type narrative.

Magic Barclay: 17:48

Also, I wanted to add in there that. Know when you're using words like should, would and could. This is part of that old saying, should wood and could are the opposite of good. Right? So don't say I should have done this. I could have done that. I would do this because you are never gonna get the good

Tracy Pleschourt: 18:06

results if you keep doing that. Right. Yeah. My clients. Now, it doesn't sound as pretty as the way you would say it, but I call it you're shooting all over yourself. My clients always get a good chuckle out of that, but yeah, the, the shooting is not helpful. And, um, if you can become a little bit more objective and understanding, around that thinking and what is more of a, helpful. Tone or narrative, I think you're gonna be much better off. So yeah, I, I completely agree with you.

Magic Barclay: 18:41

Okay. Well we really stretched out that first question. I love it. Such a great, honest conversation. Now the second question is around wealth. And people think this is just financial, but it's also emotional and personal wealth. So what are your top three tips to the listeners to create

Tracy Pleschourt: 19:00

wealth? Well, I, I agree with you. I think that wealth is completely subjective. You know what that means to each and every person. I believe that no matter what you're in pursuit of, most people believe that once they attain it or achieve it, they will be happy. Most people are in pursuit of happiness. They do things, they buy things, they create things. They acquire things because they think it's going to make them happy. They think happiness is on the other side of that. And my message is that happiness or whatever emotion that you are after is available to you right now, this very minute. So, I think that you can really acquire wealth on a lot of different levels, and I think if you are looking at it just through the lens of finances, I would ask you why do you want to create that kind of wealth for yourself? And if the answer is, I wanna feel. Free from debt or I wanna feel generous to other people. I wanna give to other people. You know, all of those feelings are available to you right now, and I. I teach a methodology that shows you how to create emotions from within that you don't need circumstances like, numbers in the bank account to feel free, to feel generous. All of those feelings are created from intentional thinking. And so if you understand that you can. Very purposefully find thoughts that are believable, that's key. They have to be believable. These can't be just, you know, pie in the sky thoughts. This has to be something that you believe to be true so that you actually generate that feeling from within. So, yeah, I think I am a very wealthy person and I am wealthy on the level of emotions I have. A innate ability to create from within, from the inside out. And that's inclusive of everything, all of my results, all of my experiences are created first and foremost at the level of my mind. And so if I today wake up and I wanna feel happy, I know that that's available to me right now, and that sense of responsibility, that sense of capability is like no other. I would, I would put the term magic. It feels magical when you know that you have that extraordinary ability to create that for yourself, that you do not need any outside circumstances to create it for you. Very

Magic Barclay: 22:12

well said. And look, Tracy, we talk about weight loss here. Many people battle it quite needlessly. You know, it's something that kind of overtakes our lives. And I guess I started this podcast through my own journey of, you know, Drastic weight loss, then drastic weight gain. Then trying to find my equilibrium. And I know there's a lot of listeners out there in the same boat you know, they haven't found, What we term as a goal weight, or if they have, it's been fleeting. So I know the listeners want to hear, have you ever battled your weight? And if so, what was the trigger to winning the battle? And what can you offer them to reduce their stress around this whole weight

Tracy Pleschourt: 22:58

issue? Yeah. Huh? Well, yes, very definitively, yes. I have battled my weight since I was a young girl. I turned 50, a week ago, and I would say the majority of my life was a, a, was a weight loss battle. And that was because the reason why I wanted to lose weight was not. Meaningful enough to me, it was very fleeting, it was very surface. you know, when I was younger it had everything to do with, you know, my appearance to be quite honest. And as I got older, it had more to do with more longevity. but what I had to understand was I am capable. Of feeling any emotion, and I've learned to just allow emotions to be there without reacting to them. So the only reason why I couldn't lose the weight and keep it off is because I would overeat. I. I would feel urges, right? I didn't know how to not react to an urge. I would have thoughts like that looks good. I have to have that and or I. I can start tomorrow, or all of those thoughts that I think all of us have had a million times, any of us who have ever been on a diet, right? And I have now learned that it doesn't have as much to do with changing my thoughts as it being willing to just feel all the emotions if I'm feeling. Embarrassed or stressed or overwhelmed, I would say those are, or anxious. Those are kind of the big ones that I would find myself face down in ice cream over. I now don't have to turn to food when I'm feeling those things. I don't have to numb those feelings. I now know those are feelings. I'm very capable of allowing to be there. They're very, I. Normal feelings, I don't have to run away from them. That was the game changer for me, is learning how to feel my feelings versus trying to outrun them or numb them. so. And I would say for anybody who is listening, you know, most people will try to checklist their way to lose weight. You know, they'll join a certain program that will promise weight loss, that will hand you a script of here's the things you should eat and here's the things you shouldn't eat. And, you know, go along beyond your way and luck be with you and. That might create some weight loss for you, but it's probably not gonna be sustainable because inevitably you will. Experience the emotions that at one time had you eating over, and that's what we have to learn. We have to learn how to not outrun our feelings or use food as a buffering technique. I not only would use food as a buffering technique, I would use alcohol as a buffering technique. I used food in my younger years and I used alcohol in my adult years. And I'm here to tell you at age 50, I'm really glad I did because it has completely changed me as a person. I now have the confidence that I am capable of feeling anything, and I don't need any sort of out outside elements or. any tools that are outside of me like food to buffer or numb those feelings, I'm perfectly capable of. Feeling them and processing them all the way through, and that it's normal to have those feelings. I think I used to think there was something wrong with me if I was feeling anxious or nervous and I just wanted it to go away. And what I didn't realize is it's totally normal to be feeling that first and foremost. And secondly, I'm capable of processing those feelings.

Magic Barclay: 27:15

Wow. We've certainly covered a lot and I would love to have you back in our next episode if that's okay, because I know that we can explore so much more. So listeners, I am going to wrap this one up. This was your episode 2 0 8 with Tracy Lesh Court in 2 0 9. Tracy rejoin us because there is so much more and. Particularly, I wanna touch on your four basics of losing weight. So listeners, thank you so much for your time. Go forth and create your magical life.