Ep #222: How to Stop Feeling Obsessed with Food with Renae Saager

Welcome to The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you’re a woman who has never felt athletic but you still dream about becoming a runner, you are in the right place. I’m Jill Angie, a certified running and life coach, and I teach women how to start running, feel confident, and change their lives. And now I want to help you.

Hey Rebels, so before we dive into today’s amazing interview, I did want to let you know that there will be mentions of weight loss in this episode. There aren’t a lot and this is absolutely not an episode about losing weight, but rather what it’s like to feel obsessed with food. And how you can begin to shift away from that mindset if it’s something you’re struggling with right now.

So I just wanted to let you know that at the very beginning, so you aren’t taken by surprise. And now without further ado, here’s the interview.

Jill: Hey Rebels. So I am here this week with the one and only Renae Saager. And I’ve got to tell you, I am obsessed with her Instagram right now. It is so much fun. Lots of F bombs, all the in your face stuff that you could ever want. But she’s an amazing person. She’s the host of the Ditch The Binge Podcast, but she’s not a weight loss coach.

She is a self-professed self-doubt slayer. She helps her clients create confidence in their relationship with food and throughout their lives. And I’m just so excited to have her here. So thank you, Renae, for joining me today.

Renae: Thank you, Jill. I’m very excited for our conversation.

Jill: Me too. And we haven’t known each other that long, but I am totally obsessed with your Instagram. So just every single day I’m like, “What is Renae up to today? What truth bombs is she dropping?” But I want to make sure that–

In your own words can you share with everybody what exactly it is that you do? Because I think that most people are like, “Oh, when you talk about food on Instagram, you must be a weight loss coach.” And I was like, “Oh, please, no more.” So let’s talk about it. What is it that you do for your followers and for your clients?

Renae: Yes. So a lot of my clients come to me for the food. I share a lot about that, obviously, my podcast is called Ditch The Binge. I have a big history, we can kind of get into that with my own food stuff.

But really what I do is I help women like themselves again. I help women hold themselves to the standards that they actually want to be living. Because so often these women come to me and they’re not satisfied in these areas of their lives. Especially if they have food stuff going on, it can feel like, in fact, they’re living a double life.

And maybe they present one way at work. And then they come home and they live life another way. Or they go to work but the whole time they’re there, they’re riddled with, “I’m not enough. When is the other shoe going to drop? This can’t be working out for me.” And just so much self-doubt, and just really never feeling like they’ve achieved what they want.

And so I help them undo all that bullshit, stop all the self-sabotage, and start holding themselves in the way and living in the way that they really want as the person they are today and moving forward. So that kind of in a nutshell, is really what I help my clients do.

Jill: So I love that so much. It’s like you don’t need to be different to like yourself. You get to like yourself right now. And I think we’re not actually taught that. We’re just bombarded with all this messaging that you need to be thin, or you need to have a better job, or be married, or whatever it is so that you can like yourself.

And what I’m hearing from you is you’re like teaching people how to do that in the body, and the life, and the personality that they have right this minute.

Renae: Yeah, and I think a big fear, I know this happened for me, is that if I let that go, if I accept who I am, I’ve given up. It’s like that extreme way of thinking, right? Like if I’m not eating the Oreos, I’m eating the grilled salmon Caesar. If I’m not exercising, I’m just laying around and gaining weight. Like this very extreme way of thinking. And that’s just not true.

And that same way of thinking applies to us, is that well heaven forbid I like myself in this body, or at this income level, or in this relationship, or with this car, or this house, or whatever. I’ve just given up and all hope is lost, and I’m never going to progress.

And that’s such bullshit because really, when we accept who we are, when we embrace who we are, when we actually look at it instead of run from it, that is when we can start to actually make the change. That is when we can decide, do I like this or do I not like this? But really confidently owning all of the things about you and realizing that doesn’t mean you’re giving up. That doesn’t mean you’ve lost the battle of being successful and happy. It’s actually the path to everything that you want.

Jill: Right. Because being successful, there’s no standard in the dictionary that says, “Okay, this is what a successful person looks like. And if you don’t measure up to that, then you’re a failure.” You get to decide what successful and happy is on your own terms. And if you’re constantly thinking that it’s something other than you, you’re kind of screwed.

Renae: Yeah, yeah. And so it’s still having those ambitions and those goals, and admiring people and looking up to them without using it against you. And I think that that’s what the trap that a lot of my clients fall into, is that they use all of these things and people and information against themselves.

Jill: So do you have people that come to you and say, “All right, well, if I learn to love myself the way I am now, I’ll no longer be motivated to change.”

Renae: Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s the huge, huge fear around body acceptance, is if I accept this body, how could I? How could I? And it’s like, well, how is not accepting it working out?  It’s probably not going that well. And so it’s establishing that trust with yourself first and creating that really strong foundation. So then you can move into these other areas not coming from a place of lack, not coming from a place of insecurity.

Because I mean, I used to do that and that cost me a lot of money and a lot of time of like, “Oh, I hope this is the thing that fixes me. I hope this is the thing that fixes me.” And just constantly looking to all of these things to feel, be, and do better.  And it’s not that those things weren’t helpful, but it’s that I was coming in them with way the wrong mindset. I was coming in with like there’s something wrong with me.

And so it’s really starting to first build up that trust with yourself, that foundation with yourself, the confidence with yourself, and then moving into these other areas, hitting those goals, doing the ambitious things. I’m all for it, but let’s at least get it so you can enjoy it. If we’re going to do these things, let’s enjoy them. Let’s have fun. Let’s not do it because you think you’re worthless if you don’t accomplish it.

Jill: Yeah. Well, and I love– You say something, this is like a slight segue, but you say something on your Instagram that really resonates with me. Don’t miss out on 90% of your life, just to weigh 10% less. So can you say a little bit more about that? Because that quote just like hits me right in the heart.

Renae: Yeah, it got me too. I mean that was my life too. And I see women constantly not living their full life for the 20 pounds, 10 pounds, 5 pounds, 15 pounds, whatever. They’re not going out to social events. They’re not joining the running groups. They’re not taking the vacations. They’re not participating in the activities because they’re don’t have their goal weight. They don’t know what the food is going to be. They can’t eat the way they want so they don’t trust it so they’re not going to go.

And lots of this is just like really small living to try and adhere to some food plan, some body size, to stay in this perfect box this perfect mold so then everything could be okay. And while maybe you keep a body that you like, you’re never really living and you’re certainly not free. And so that quote is about don’t miss out on 90% of your life just to weigh10% less. Just to kind of put into perspective how much we kind of miss out on when we’re just focused on the pant size, the weight, the number on the scale, et cetera.

Jill: Right, because unless you’re a professional bodybuilder or something, your weight is the least interesting thing about you. And I feel like we get it so twisted that we think like, “Oh, my body size and my weight broadcasts to the world my worth as a human.” And it’s like no, not even close to that.
Not even close to that.

Renae: Yeah, and the most judgmental people about your weight are usually the most messed up around food weight, right? People come to me they’re like, “What are they going to think?” I was like, “I don’t know, trust me, but whatever you weigh, they’re going to judge you on something.” I would just never do that, and it’s because I’ve worked through–

I mean, okay, that’s not true. I still get to work through my own judgments and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But as a whole I don’t walk around judging every single person on their body size. I just don’t think about that anymore. And so it’s like really make sure you’re paying attention to whose opinions you’re worried about. Are they worth the energy?

Jill: Right, it’s like if you’re thinking I need to lose weight to be socially acceptable, you’re basically saying, “Okay, a whole bunch of strangers get to decide whether I eat that bag of Cheetos.”

Renae: Yeah.

Jill: Fuck that.

Renae: It’s awful. And that’s the small life, you’re staying in this tiny little circle for people that you don’t even know. And if you do know them, again, maybe it’s time to reassess those relationships because those don’t really sound like people you probably want or need in your life.

Jill: Yeah, for sure. So what do you think that the biggest food issue that women have is? Totally that was like the most poorly worded question ever. But what do you think most women’s biggest food issue is? When your clients come to you, what are they saying like this is my problem that I need you to help me fix?

Renae: It’s almost always– And they’re connected, but it’s almost always I can’t stop thinking about food. I’m always thinking about food. And it’s the nighttime eating. Like I can do good all day and then nighttime comes around and the wheels fall off. Or once I start, I just can’t stop.

So those are kind of the two main things. And they’re really, really connected because most of the clients that I work with, no matter what their size, they’re still under eating and or restricting in some way. And when you’re under eating, for sure, physical deprivation or mental deprivation, it’s going to lead you to food faster.

It’s also going to lead you to think about food all of the time, because you’ve never established that safety with food. For decades, with a lot of my clients, it’s been diet after diet, weight gain, weight loss. Like just this constant aggressive ripping between the two. All the food, none the food, gain the weight, lose the weight. And so they’ve never had that just like, exhale, just like, “Oh, I can just eat it or not and move on and it’s fine.”

Every single one of my clients can’t imagine ever having ice cream in their freezer for more than like 24 hours. And every single time, they’re like, “Holy shit, there’s been ice cream in my freezer for two weeks and I’ve barely had any.” And it’s like, yeah, it’s amazing what happens when you look at food differently and you actually eat enough.

Because there’s often these diagrams that you’ll see on Instagram where it’s like maybe Monday through Friday you eat the salads and you have all the healthy. And then Friday night, Saturday, Sunday is just a binge fest. Or it’s like do good all day and then a binge fest at night. And so both of those come back to just that deep rooted physical and or mental restriction, causing the binge eating or the constant thinking about food.

Jill: And do you think– Let’s try to put some numbers around this. If you were to estimate like what percentage– And maybe you can use yourself as example because we haven’t even actually talked about where you came from, what brought you to this work.

But a typical person that comes to you for help, what percentage of the time do you think they spend thinking about what they’re going to eat, what they can’t eat, what they should be eating? Like just all of the constant food thoughts.

Renae: 85 to 90.

Jill: Oh my gosh.

Renae: I ask them what they do and it’s 85 to 90. I’ve had a couple people say 70, 75. But most 85 to 90.

Jill: And so I’ve heard that we have roughly 50,000 thoughts per day in our brains.

Renae: Yeah.

Jill: And so even if it’s 70% of our thoughts, so that is like 35,000 food thoughts per day.

Renae: So much, it’s relentless.

Jill: Right,  like what could you do with your life if your food thoughts were limited to, “Oh, look at that. I’m hungry. I wonder what there is to eat in the refrigerator. I wonder what would feel good in my body right now,” versus– What if you even cut your food thinking by half, that gives you– I don’t know what half of 35,000 is. 17 and a half thousand thoughts per day to use on something other than food. It’s mind blowing, right?

Renae: I know. Yeah, and this is something I talk about too, is just like what can you– This goes back to kind of what we were talking about, about keeping that really small life is that missing out on that 90% of your life. And you literally do because you don’t have the space. You don’t have the energy and you probably don’t have the time or money because when you’re all up in your food, it’s all you think about.

It’s like breathing. It’s like, “Okay, well, I guess I got to burn this off. Okay, I guess I’m going to eat that. Okay, I guess I shouldn’t eat that. Okay, what am I going to binge? Okay, how am I going to…”

Jill: It’s fucking exhausting.

Renae: it’s exhausting, yeah, absolutely.

Jill: And I mean, I know I talk about this a lot on my podcast, it’s just like we spend a lot of time dealing with the effects of the patriarchy on our lives. And I feel like this is an example– I don’t think men set out to install obsessive food thoughts in women, right? But it’s been a delightful strategic byproduct for them because how many glass ceilings are we going to shatter if we’re like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t fit into my power suit.”

I fucking guarantee you that Hillary Clinton is not obsessing over what she’s going to eat. She’s like, “I got shit to do.” Think of the women that we look up to in our lives. I just fucking love Hillary Clinton. But anyway, think of the women that we look up to in our lives and the ones that are really accomplishing a lot, they are not thinking about food all the time.

Renae: No, you can’t.

Jill: They’re like, “I got so much better shit to worry about.”

Renae: Yes, yes, exactly. Exactly.

Jill: Okay, so the holidays are coming up. So this is going to air shortly, it’ll air next week which is shortly after Halloween. And so we’ve gotten through all of the candy situation. And can I just tell you, I was out of town for Halloween and we don’t really buy candy because we live in kind of a big apartment building. And we we discourage people from knocking on our door.

I had one piece of Halloween candy because I went out to lunch while we were there and they happened to have this big bowl of candy by the door as you were leaving. And they were like, “Here, happy Halloween, have some candy.” And it just occurred to me a couple days later, I was like, “What just happened?”

I just went through a whole Halloween season and the only time I thought about candy was when somebody handed me a bowl and said, “Would you like a Snickers bar?” And I was like, “Yes, I would, thank you very much.” It was so freeing. And I just see all the memes on Instagram and stuff where people are like, “Oh my God, it’s candy season.” And they’re all freaking out.

So with with the holidays coming up I think that there’s going to be a lot of food and body talk everywhere. So can you sort of speak to that a little bit? Like where’s that coming from? And what can we do when our brains start to freak out about like–

Okay, I know I’m talking a lot here. But I think about when I’ve gone to holiday dinners and there are people there that are like, “Oh, I shouldn’t eat that because I’m watching my weight.” As they’re eating it, right? Or, “Oh, it’s Thanksgiving and I’m going to overeat today, but I’m going to run a 5K tomorrow.” Or, “Oh, I’m going to start after the holiday.” And I’m just like, “Can you fucking stop? Who cares what size your ass is right now?”

Renae: Yeah, or ever.

Jill: Exactly. I’m like I don’t want to spend my time with you over this holiday talking about the size of your ass. But can you tell me what are your thoughts on holidays, body talk, all the things?

Renae: Yeah, there’s a couple different ways. I’ve obviously been having this conversation a lot with clients because it’s come up a lot. So there’s a couple different ways that you can kind of approach this. And it all kind of depends on where you’re at in your process, who you’re spending time with. But one thing you can just say is beforehand, “Hey, I don’t really want to do the food and body talk.”

If it’s an intimate group, it’s someone you know and you can just be like, “You know what? I’m doing my own work around food and body.” I’ve been, struggling or not, you can disclose as much information or as little as you want. But you could just let it be known. “Hey, I would really appreciate if we just limited the food and body talk.”

You can also, in the moment, if it happens like you’re at a family thing, you don’t want to send out an email to your 22 aunts and uncles or whoever because they’re not going to get it. But you can also say, if it’s happening in the moment, like, “Oh, interesting.” And leave it at that.

The people commenting on food and weight are going through their own stuff around food and weight. This comes back to me in the beginning, I would never think to judge someone if I saw them in a yoga class if they weren’t the same size. I just wouldn’t. I would have 15 years ago. I would have 10 years ago. But now I’m just like, “Oh, cool.” Like I’ve worked through my own shit.

But people that are eating a dessert the whole time and saying, “I shouldn’t be doing this.” Or are eating the Thanksgiving dinner, but thinking, “Oh, tomorrow I’m going to be good. Or starting January I’m really going to just knock this off and get back into shape.” They are not free around food and body. They are, again, on their own journey, probably not in the best place right now. And I think sometimes that can be helpful to know.

It’s like going into that compassion, because I do think we always assume oh, just because she’s so thin and she looks like that, she must be great. But often it’s the really thin or fit people that are saying, “Oh, I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Or whatever their size, you know? But what we always assume they must not be messed up around food or care about their body.

But if they’re making those comments, something is going on there. There’s a lot of judgment that they’re feeling shame about. And so sometimes it can help to take the lane of compassion of like, “Oh, okay.” And you can always say, “Hey, I used to think that way too, and now I just get to eat and enjoy it. And it’s so much better.” I mean, you get to kind of decide if you want to open Pandora’s Box.

Sometimes when I’m feeling really sassy and my dad will make a comment or something I’m like, “Oh, let’s fucking go. We’re doing this right now.” And then sometimes I just smile and nod. And I’m like, “Okay, yeah, right.” So you get to kind of decide, do I keep it light and polite? Do I say very minimal? Do I dig into it?

And I tell my clients this a lot, that you need to protect your own mental health and boundaries around this conversation because it is as hot of a topic as politics and religion. You need to know that if you’re going into the holidays with families that are dieters or just weight obsessed, exercise obsessed people, if you come in and you’re like, “Intuitive eating, body acceptance, rah, rah, rah!” That is probably not going to go well, because it is a hot topic.

People get really attached to their own ways of eating. And so don’t feel like you need to explain or educate. Sometimes it’s just like, “Cool, enjoy your pie with all that guilt. I’m going to have mine with some coffee.” And just try to move on through your dinner.

Jill: I love that. And just the idea of coming to it with compassion, because we know how jacked up we can get ourselves about food. So if somebody makes a comment about food and you’re like, “Oh, your brain is having a little food attack right now, I get it. Totally been there.”

And I just had this vision of you wearing your gold lamé bodysuit to Thanksgiving dinner and your dad says something about food and you do like a ninja move. And you’re like, “Okay, we’re doing this.”

Renae: Let’s go.

Jill: This needs to be a TikTok for you, it would be so much fun. So what about folks that are like, “Okay, I get it. I have compassion for those people. I’m on my journey of becoming compassionate for my own thoughts about food, but those folks trigger me.”

Because I think that’s probably a thing. You’re like, “Okay, I’ve got all these new thoughts that I’m going to think about food, and I’m feeling really good about it. And I go to Thanksgiving dinner and Aunt Thelma just triggers me. And not that she’s criticizing me, but she can’t stop talking about herself and it makes me freak out.”

Renae: Yeah, I have got an Aunt Thelma in my life, in kind of my immediate family that I deal with at every single holiday. And you’re right, and she doesn’t talk so much about it, but you can see it in what she’s eating or not eating, or how she’s picking or pulling things off. And I pick up on this, I have a history of all the things. I can see this shit.

And so even for me, where I’m at, I guess at this point I personally find it to be just a little sad and kind of annoying. But I’m able to make it through. Now early on with said Aunt Thelma, I didn’t go to a couple holiday things. I was just like, “I can’t. I can’t deal with this. I just can’t.” And I think knowing that about yourself and the dynamic that you’re going to be walking into and really honoring that within you.

And this is something I try and repeat and really get into people’s heads too, is that when you’re doing this work, when you’re going through food and body stuff, what you need right now, what you need this Thanksgiving or this Christmas isn’t what you’re going to need to do next Thanksgiving or Christmas. You’re going to get so much stronger in your own relationship to food and body.

And so honoring where you’re at. If the truth is you just can’t go because Aunt Thelma is just going to run you up the pole, know that about yourself. Or you can kind of create that quick exit plan of like, okay, I know I’m going to have like 45 minutes before I lose my shit. So we’re going to get in there, we’re going to eat, and then we’re going to go.

And also just kind of doing what you can to create the space. I do think it can be helpful if you are talking to your partner about this kind of stuff, or even have a girlfriend you can text and be like, “Oh my God, she’s doing it again.” And just kind of release some of that steam and feel supported and understood and acknowledged. It can be really helpful kind of going through those family settings.

Jill: Yeah, because I mean that’s part of having a family, right, is there’s going to be people who have different opinions. I feel like Covid has actually given us a little bit of a gift because you can always just say, “You know what, I don’t feel comfortable in groups larger than eight people right now.” Or, “I know Aunt Thelma is not vaccinated, so sorry.”

Renae: Yep, bye, next year.

Jill: Thank you to the little beautiful, unexpected side gifts of Covid.

Renae: Yes.

Jill: There’s another thing that you said on your Instagram, and seriously, you guys who are listening, please– What is your Instagram? Let’s talk about it right now.

Renae: I am so glad you love it. Thank you. This is so surprising and lovely to hear. It’s @Renaesaager. So it’s just my name.

Jill: Okay, and Saager is with two A’s, S-A-A-G-E-R.

Renae: Yeah, and so it’s R-E-N-A-E S-A-A-G-E-R.

Jill: Okay, everybody hit pause, go to Renae’s Instagram and subscribe. But there’s a quote that you have that says, “Your relationship with food ripples into all areas of your life.” And can you just speak to that a little bit? Because I think it’s so true.

Renae: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, our relationship with food is kind of reflective in how we think about ourselves and treat ourselves, honestly. When your food is chaotic, and a mess, and all over the place, and feels stressed and controlled, you do. There’s just no way around it, you do.

And so when your relationship with food begins to just loosen up, when you have more trust, when you have more ease, you start to notice that in relationships, in finances, in business, in exercise, in the way you treat your kids, in your friendships. Literally everything. How your relationship with food is totally ripples into every area of your life.

And this is something I see time and time again, is the women come in that work with me and we talk about food for like three weeks or four weeks. And they’re like, “Oh, I just need to stop binge eating. I just want to stop thinking about food.” And that’s always the first thing that we handle. That’s never a concern. I’m like, “Okay, that’s perfect, it’s as good as done.”

But then it kind of ripples into the other areas because we’re often, especially women with a history of dieting, emotional eaters, we turn to food to cope. And so it’s not the food, it’s just that the food is the fastest thing that we can kind of escape with. And it is, it’s very accessible. It’s like, oh, it’s right there. But the food is often telling us, “Hey, something else isn’t quite right.”

And it’s like, oh, you don’t actually want to be doing this at work, or even be in this job. Or you’re tired of being in this relationship and you want to express new boundaries, you want to have more confidence or more communication.

And so when we loosen that death grip on food, we get to start loosening this death grip on so many other things. And we get to release that rigidity or the chaos, because that’s kind of the two that people vacillate between. They’re either clean eating or on an eating rampage.

And so that extreme way of thinking shows up in many areas of our lives too. And when we release that around food, we get to create more of that balance and calmness and confidence in literally every single area of our life.

Jill: I love that. So it actually has nothing to do with the food, and everything to do with the food.

Renae: Yeah, I’d say it’s like 4% to do with the food. So you definitely have to eat enough. If you’re not eating enough, you’re going to keep thinking about food, and you’re going to keep turning to food when you’re stressed, and you’re going to keep binge eating. That’s just a given, restriction leads to binge eating for sure.

But then there’s also that mental restriction piece. But that’s not even about the food, that’s about the thoughts. That’s about your thinking about the food. So yeah, I would say that the food is about 4% and then 96% s everything else.

Jill: Yeah. So here’s what’s so interesting, I work from home, as you do as well, right? And so I’m around the food all day long and I notice that on the days where my brain feels super focused, and I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff on my schedule that I’m looking forward to and that I’m not dreading or worried about, I don’t think about food at all.

Until it’s like my stomach is hungry. And I actually put lunch in as an appointment with myself so that I’ll actually stop and eat and not eat over the sink or whatever. I’ll actually sit down and have lunch.

But on the days where I’ve got things on my calendar that I don’t want to do, or that I think I’m not going to be good at or whatever, I can’t stop thinking about food. So my energy on those days is a little bit frantic, a little bit overwhelmed. And my energy towards my food is the same way.

And then on those other days I’m just like, “Oh, this is what I’m going to do next.” And then, “Oh look, it’s time for lunch.” And I’ll go make my lunch. And I never have a problem having a salad for lunch on those days because I’m like, “Oh, I’m hungry and I want to fuel my body.”

But on the days where I’m feeling frantic, I’m like, “Clearly I need to go to Panera and get one of those big bowls of mac and cheese.” Because even though I know I’m going to feel gross afterwards, because I’ve tried it over and over again, in that moment I need something to distract me from all the thoughts that I’m having about whatever else is going on that day. So that really resonates with me when you said that it’s like about 4% about the food and then the rest of it is just everywhere in your life.

So if somebody wanted to start shifting their thinking about food, they’re feeling powerless around food right now, either binge or restrict. What’s the first step? What would you say is the first thing? Like something easy that somebody can do.

Renae: I absolutely know exactly what I would suggest. And that is, and if you have a lot of intermittent fasters on here, I know a lot of women find me coming off the heels of intermittent fasting, but eat three meals a day. I would suggest starting there. This is kind of a blanket statement. But again, a lot of the binge eating, a lot of the chaos around food, we think it’s because we’re addicted to sugar, we’re addicted to carbs.

And I’m never saying that sugar is a health food. I’m not saying everyone eat doughnuts all the time forever and ever because fuck diet culture, we can do whatever we want. That’s not what I’m saying. But a lot of the food craziness comes from women just not prioritizing their damn meals.

It’s like, well, no kidding, if you don’t eat breakfast, your lunch isn’t till three and it’s a salad, guess what? You’re going to go to freaking town at 7pm and you’re not going to want to stop. And then that’s when the whole, “Oh my God, I’m out of control around food. I’ve got to get this under control. Starting tomorrow I’m going to get a green drink and I’m going to do blah, blah, blah.” And in reality, you’re just freaking hungry. Your blood sugar is all over the place.

And so the reason I say start with three meals is because it’s going to help normalize your blood sugar so then you can actually focus and think straight. So that is probably the easiest most tangible thing I can suggest to anyone. Following up with a close second have throw your damn scale away, for now.

Don’t even throw it away, just put it out of the bathroom. Just get it out of the bathroom. I talk about how the scale, you never win. You get on the scale and it’s up, your day is screwed, it’s ruined. You’re thinking about it all day. You’re like, “I can’t believe this. I feel defeated. What’s wrong with me?”

The scale is down, you feel good for about five seconds and then you either panic all day long because you’re thinking, “How am I going to maintain this? How am I going to keep this up? I can’t regain the weight.” Or even if you’re not hungry and you walk by the cookies or the vending machine, you’re like, “Well, whatever, I can have it, my weight is down.”

Still not listening to your body at all and then you eat it and then you stand on the scale three days from now and you’re like, “Oh, I’m up so I can’t do this.” And it’s just this chaos. It’s just this absolute chaos.

And so just do yourself a solid and move the bathroom scale for a little bit. You can pull it out later if you want. I always tell people I’m not going to come to your house and make sure you’re not weighing yourself. But for your own sanity, just stop weighing yourself right now.

Jill: Yeah. Oh, I love that because the scale is not– It responds to more than just what you put in your mouth the day before, right? There’s so many factors.

Renae: Yes, especially as a woman. Yes, absolutely. I mean, I had one client, she was obsessed with weighing herself, as many are. But she told me the funniest thing. She’s like, “You’re not going to believe this, Renae.” Because we were working so hard on her not weighing yourself. And she’s like, “I moved my scale to a different tile and it made me gain 10 pounds. I moved it back to the other tile, and I lost 10 pounds.” And I was like that just goes to show you, it just doesn’t matter. Oh, it’s just exhausting.

Jill: Yeah, I think we get obsessed with the scale because we think, “Oh, this is the evidence of whether I’m being good, or not being good, or whether it’s working or not working.” And it’s really not evidence of anything other than your gravitational relation to the earth.

Renae: Yeah. Well, there’s this whole belief of like, well, I need to weigh myself because I just need to keep things under control. I just need to make sure things don’t go out of hand. And yet, let’s look at the history for the last five or 10 years, has weighing yourself ever kept your weight where you want it? Ever? Has it ever done that? Probably not. So let’s just really be honest with ourselves right now, is this really helping?

And really weighing yourself is just a manifestation of anxiety. It’s like, “Oh my God, oh my God, am I okay? Am I okay? Am I okay? I have to look at this number. I have to look at this number and stand on it.” Or trying to control. And anytime we try to control anything, we pretty much always lose.

Jill: Yeah. It’s like nagging your teenagers, it does not get them to do what you want.

Renae: You just wear yourself out.

Jill: Right, it does not get you to eat any differently in the long run. It’s just fucking exhausting.

Renae: Throw your hands up.

Jill: Throw your hands up, walk away.

Renae: I love the way.

Jill: All right, this has been an amazing conversation, we definitely need to have a part two of this. But we’re out of time for today, so let’s just talk about what’s coming up for you. If people are interested in working with you, what are some of the options?

Renae: Yeah, right now I have a one on one space for clients to work with me. And I only have a couple more spots left for that before the end of the year. So if you’re interested in me after hearing this interview, I would suggest you reach out to me on Instagram or you can go to my website and just book a call with me on there.

So that one on one container, and then I also have a group coming up in early of next year. I think I’ll probably start that around February, all kind of based around not as specifically the food, but more around ending self-sabotaging behaviors and starting to really prioritize yourself and take really good care of yourself.

So if that sounds like something you’re interested, your listeners can go onto my website that’s also there and they can get on the wait list under the group coaching tab.

And then I have my own podcast, as you mentioned, Ditch The Binge, so they can follow me there and learn a little bit more about me. And then I’m always on Instagram.

Jill: And so, one more time, your Instagram is Renae Saager?

Renae: @Renaesaager, yep, same as my website.

Jill: Saager with two A’s, because I made that mistake before. And your website is renaesaager.com?

Renae: Yes.

Jill: Okay, and we will have links in the show notes as well. But, you guys, seriously check the dances that this woman does on her Instagram. They give me life on a daily basis. So if nothing else, if your relationship with food is perfect, follow her just for the sheer joy of what she’s posting because it’s brilliant.

Renae: Thank you.

Jill: All right, thank you so much for joining me here today. This has been delightful.

Renae: Thank you. Thank you, I appreciate it.

Jill: All right.

Oh, and one last thing, if you enjoyed listening to this episode you have to check out the Rebel Runner Roadmap. It’s a 30 day online program that will teach you exactly how to start running, stick with it, and become the runner you’ve always wanted to be. Head on over to rebelrunnerroadmap.com to join. I’d love to be a part of your journey.