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This episode of eat the rules is brought to you by you on fire you on fire is the online group coaching program that I run that gives you a step by step way of building up your self worth beyond your appearance. With personalized coaching from me incredible community support and lifetime access to the program so that you can get free from body shame and live life on your own terms. Get details on what's included and sign up for the next cycle at summer innanen.com forward slash you on fire. I'd love to have you in that group. This is eat the rules, a podcast about body image self worth, anti dieting, and intersectional feminism. I am your host summer Innanen. a professionally trained coach specializing in body image self worth and confidence and the best selling author of body image remix. If you're ready to break free of societal standards and stop living behind the number on your scale, then you have come to the right place. Welcome to the show.

This is episode 240. And it's the season premiere of season eight of eat the rules. I'm giving you a personal update on these past couple of months off what to expect from the season of the show. Some highlights from past seasons to check out if you're newer from this show as well, you can find all the links mentioned at summer innanen.com. Forward slash 240. Before we begin, I want to give a shout out to M fan who left this review. I love everything about this podcast summer is amazing and gives constructive ways to improve. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. If you haven't already done so definitely take a minute to leave a review for this show. So that I can share it and show you my appreciation, you can do that by going to iTunes search for eat the rules, then click ratings and reviews and click to leave a review or give it a rating. And you can also take a minute to just click the little subscribe button or whatever button notifies you when new episodes drop. That's another way to make sure that you don't miss an episode and to help support the show. And it's free. And if you haven't already done so make sure you grab the free 10 Day body confidence makeover at summer innanen.com/freebies with 10 steps to take right now to feel better in your body. And if you are a professional who works with people who may also have body image struggles, then I have a separate free guide for you. It's the free body image coaching roadmap with 12 ways that you can support your clients with body image. And you can get that at summer innanen.com forward slash roadmap. All right, this is going to be a bit of a short and sweet episode. As we kick off this new season, I always like to do a bit of, hey, here we are, let's start this new season before we get into the real meaty stuff and the juicy stuff that's going to come at you over the next few weeks. So I'm recording this on September 8. And it is officially six weeks since I had my surgery. If you don't know anything about that I did record an episode earlier in the summer, about my experience with a dental meiosis and anxiety and as a result of the IUD that I had in as a result of the adenomyosis that I had. So anyways, end of July, I had my hysterectomy. And I feel amazing. Now it's been six weeks. And I have never felt better, since maybe like before I had my son but not even then because I was still really struggling with pain then. But I just feel so much more like myself again. And I think I didn't realize how much of a stressor it was on me. Until now it's gone. So the chronic pain is gone. I don't have that week of my life where I'm getting up multiple times a night and wearing a heat pad to sleep and all that other stuff that I think was just like this chronic stress on my body both physically and mentally. And it's just like the most amazing feeling. And I'm so so grateful that I was able to have the surgery and that there was a solution for the pain that I was experiencing. I really have so much empathy for individuals who have chronic pain because it's just really takes you away from from living your life fully. And so I'm just so grateful that there was a solution to that. And it kind of reminds me a bit of you know, when I stopped dieting and when I really started to eat more because when I first kind of went through that like awakening we'll call it where I had that moment where my hormones were like that of a post menopausal woman, and I just wasn't feeling like myself. And I went through a healing process of several, several months where I took a lot of time off from, from any kind of, you know, intense movement, and I started to really intentionally eat more. And I started to feel more like myself again. And it's kind of the same thing. It's like, I feel so much more like myself again. And I know part of that is also having that goddamn IUD removed, because that made me just not feel like myself at all. But it's like this really interesting thing that happens, I think when we have something that happens to us, that takes us away from feeling like ourselves, we don't really notice it. And we don't realize how significant that impact is until it's gone. And so as I was saying, when I first stopped dieting, obviously, there was like a really rough period, trying to eat more and not exercising and dealing with all the mental stuff that came along with that. But once I was on the other side, I realized, like, Wow, there's so much more peace and freedom in my life, this is really amazing. I'm not like thinking about food all the time, I'm not, you know, structuring my day around, you know, what I'm going to eat, or whether I have to cook something, or how I'm going to move my body like, it just felt so much easier. And I didn't realize how much of a significant impact it was, I didn't realize how much brain space that was taking up from my life until I was on the other side. And I think I hear that from clients all the time, they say the exact same thing to me, it's like, you don't realize like how much mental space that takes up. And it just feels like this huge load of baggage off your back once it's gone. And I think in the case of my Donald meiosis, it was the same thing. It was just like this constant struggle, because when I was in pain, I was just, like, miserable, like, it was really stressful. I had to structure my whole life around it, it was like, if a friend wanted me to go out for dinner, I had to be like, you know, I don't know, if I'm going to be able to make it or we have to, I have to make sure that like, I'm going to be able to eat something that's not going to aggravate the pain, because the pain was really sensitive to things like, for example, alcohol, or like heavier foods, like pizza and stuff like that. And so too, that was a huge, you know, weight on my shoulders. And then when I wasn't in pain, it was kind of like, Okay, I gotta enjoy this one week where I feel good, because the pain is going to come back again soon. And I just I don't think I was ever able to really relax, like, I just wasn't able to kind of live life. And so it just feels so incredible now, and recovery was was pretty good. I think I probably recovered really well, I haven't I've had my post checkup with my doctor next week. So I haven't met with my doctor again since the surgery. But I, from what I gather, I think I'm doing really well. There was really minimal pain. And I am pretty much back to normal. Now, in terms of what I'm doing, I'm not like lifting any weights or anything like that. So I still can't do certain movements. But in terms of you know, like working and living my life and going for walks and being able to do stuff like that's I'm all back to normal there. And that's really great. I think the biggest challenge for me was just asking for help. There was one point in time where my mother in law had to ask her to vacuum a room while I was sitting in it. It was like watching her vacuum in front of me. And I was like this is really challenging for me to witness this. But it was a really good practice in terms of just asking for help and and once I got into the habit of that it became good. And I actually kind of leaned into it. I was like, You know what, I'm really just gonna take this time to like, watch some trashy TV and read some books and nap. Because what else in your life do you really get? You got to remove an Oregon right. And so that was that was actually kind of nice. And it helps me really just recover? Well, I think I think that gave me a lot of time and space. And that's probably why I recovered. So well. I had a lot of help. I had my mom out here for bed, I had my in laws out here for a bit. And my husband obviously helping a ton as well. And so those things, those factors all played into into my recovery. But it's I'm I just feel so great now. And yeah, just so much more excited about, you know, working and creating stuff for this podcast and seeing clients and energy that I didn't have before. And I'm hoping it lasts, I don't know, I kept my ovaries. So hopefully there won't be a lot of hormonal changes until later. But you never know from what I gather, when you have a hysterectomy, it can put you even if you keep your ovaries, it can put you into menopause a little bit sooner. So we'll just be monitoring that. And I'll get support in that if if I need to. And I also took a social media break, it was a little more spontaneous. I just sort of decided, You know what, I'm just gonna take some time off of here. And that was really refreshing as well because I felt so much more in my life than focused on an external things. And again, I think that's another thing that kind of happens when we stop dieting. We're much less worried about what other people are thinking of us. We're much less worried about food or what we're eating, and we're just so much more present in our Life. And again, it's like, I don't think you realize the impact that sometimes social media can have on you until you step away from it and take a break and realize, oh, wow, like it really can be this, like chronic stressor in your life, especially as if you're a creator. And I don't really even I hate using that word for myself, because I'm like, I don't, I'm a coach, I'm not a creator. But I have to do that as part of my job. And I find that to be such a struggle, especially being someone who's Generation X, who like did not grow up with the internet, there's this constant pressure to feel like you have to share things. And I'm a really private person, I don't like sharing stuff, it's doesn't really come naturally to me, and it often feels very inauthentic. Even just watching other people's social media, like, I don't know what it is, it just doesn't feel authentic to me, I don't know, I just missed the disposable cameras, let's just put it that way. And there's this pressure, as someone who has an online business to always be on their hour, you feel like you're gonna get punished, you feel like, you know, people aren't going to follow you anymore, and you're gonna, you know, your business is gonna go into the shitter, and all this other stuff. And so, I hate that pressure. I hate being at the mercy of these, you know, nerds in Silicon Valley. And so I'm trying to really think about how to navigate that to still leverage it. Because I do feel it's important to have a presence on there. I do love certain aspects of it, there are certain things I do enjoy consuming on there. Most notably, like the bands that I love and things like that. But it doesn't highlight what I'm actually good at. I'm a coach, I, my my place to shine is when I'm talking to people like when I'm asking you questions, when I'm like, really being intuitive with what you're feeling and, and helping guide you like that does not come through on social media at all. And so there's always this huge disconnect there for me in terms of, I just don't feel like I'm not good at it. And it's frustrating. And I wish I could just like live and run a more analog business. But I also love having an online business because it allows me to work from home and work with people all over the world. So I don't know, the point is, I don't have that figured out. But I do need to remember that taking breaks from it is so important. And I actually said this last year in the season premiere of the show, and apparently I didn't heed my own advice, because I did not take a break from it for that entire year. So I really need to put it on like post it note, maybe take a week off every month, something like that it needs to become more regular. And I think it's just like it's a good experiment for any of us. If you feel like it's it's draining you. And I think that's always a good question to ask yourself, you know, is this draining you? Or is it recharging you and there are certain aspects of it that do recharge me there are certain aspects of it that I really do love. But often as a creator on there, I find that to be incredibly draining. So I don't have the answer. But I'm going to figure it out and try and put more my energy into this podcast and not doom scrolling and things that do not add to my life. Because I feel really good right now. And I think it's combination of having had a break from it and and also just obviously not being in pain anymore. So what you expect from this season, there's going to be new episodes of the body image series, because those seem to be ones that everybody really likes. And I love creating those in terms of the format and the number of episodes per month. I don't think I'm going to change anything. We're just going to kind of keep it consistent, and probably about three episodes per month. I've got some really good interviews coming up. And so yeah, not really much is changing, I guess, the kind of more of the same because why if it's not broke, don't fix it. And so if you are newer to this podcast, welcome. I'm so excited that you're here. If you want to hear more about my story, you can check out episode 174 There's two parts to it. That's just more about my story. If you are looking for some really great body image support I have the body image series is a series of podcasts I usually do a cluster of them in a group. But I've been doing those for about three years now so you can find all those episodes at summer innanen.com forward slash body image series, specifically an episode that I want to call out there's episode 188 which is called when you intellectually get it but still feel bad in your body. I would say this is like the majority of people I work with are people who intellectually get it but still feel bad in their body and so if that's you check out that episode because I think that you will find it very helpful and just give you a different perspective on how you can move past that intellectually getting it phase. If you are looking for information related to changing your relationship with food or understanding more about weight loss and how why diets don't work, then two episodes that I would highly recommend. One is episode 170 with Christy Harrison. It's the anti diet and intuitive eating 101 And as well, Episode 218 with Alexis conocen and in that episode she goes into what the research says about weight loss and health and it is such a great episode. Both of those are really great episodes. I created them specific Really what's the purpose of having a resource that people could listen to or share with other people if they want to learn more about why dieting doesn't work and and what the what, what we really need to understand about health and body size and things like that. Another episode I want to call out it's a bit of an old one. I did it three years ago, but it kind of came up recently in a conversation I was having with with a client, and that is the episode with Graham Seabrook, where we're talking about the mental load of parenthood, the name is a bit tricky. It's called How patriarchy and capitalism shaped self worth. But actually, the majority of the episode is really on the mental load of parenthood. And that's episode 151. So if you're a parent, I highly, highly, highly recommend that if you're a parent who's burned out, I recommend it even more. And then another episode that I love is the one that I did with Joy Cox a couple years ago, it's episode 184. She shares her story about growing up as a she's black woman. So growing up in a black community, and the influence of religion and church on that, in her book is amazing. And so she shares a bunch of stories from her book there. And her book is called fat girls in black bodies, if you're interested in reading that. And if you are a professional, so if you're someone who works with someone around body image, I, myself and my colleague and friend, Danny, I'm a pancake autumns. We run the body image coach certification program. So if you are interested in participating in that, Episode 221 gives you all of those details. And you can also just go to body image coach certification program.com Actually, no, that's not the URL, hold on a second, it's body image coach certification.com Sorry, I always mess that one up. If you just put it in Google to it'll pop up as the first thing. And that's all I wanted to do for this episode. If you are looking for support around body image, I would love to be your coach, check out my group program you on fire. It's an online group program, giving you a step by step way to build up your sense of self worth and really feel confident in who you are outside of your appearance. It's an incredible program and you can get all the details at summer innanen.com forward slash you on fire. Thank you so much for being here today. The next episode is going to be an episode in the body image series and I'm gonna be talking about Superwoman syndrome. All right, I'm excited about that. I'm gonna be talking about that and how that intersects with body image and things like that. So thank you so much for being here. Thank you for listening to me. And hopefully you'll enjoy this season of the podcast, rock on.

I'm Summer Innanen And I want to thank you for listening today. You can follow me on Instagram and Facebook at summer Innanen. And if you haven't yet, go to Apple podcasts search eat the rules and subscribe rate and review this show. I would be so grateful. Until next time, rock on.