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The holidays can make weight loss feel ten times harder. Judgment from other people, constant food noise, baking traditions, grief, and pressure to “just eat because it’s Christmas” all tend to show up at once.

In this Weight Loss Wednesday, I’m answering real listener questions pulled from the vault that are just as relevant now as when they were first asked. This episode is about staying grounded through the holidays, setting quiet boundaries, and continuing forward without sabotaging yourself.

In this video, I talk about:

• Being judged no matter what you eat and why you cannot win with everyone
• Why your weight loss is for you, not for relatives with opinions
• Feeling discouraged this time of year and why food becomes emotional support
• How to cope with low moods without turning food into the only answer
• How to spot higher calorie foods when you cannot ask what is in everything
• Holiday baking traditions and how to enjoy them without overdoing it
• Why giving baked goods away can save both your progress and your sanity
• Handling jealousy when someone close to you is losing weight faster
• Weight loss medications, comparison, and staying in your own lane
• Why slower weight loss often wins in the long run
• Navigating the first holidays after losing someone you love
• Creating new traditions while honoring the people who are gone
• Avoiding hurt feelings without sacrificing your goals
• Why saying less usually works better than explaining yourself
• Dealing with family members who pressure you to “just eat”
• What food noise really is and why it does not mean you are failing
• Recognizing your wins even when food noise is loud

This episode is about protecting both your progress and your mental health during the holidays. You do not need to be perfect. You just need to keep going.

If you have a question you would like answered in a future Weight Loss Wednesday, you can reach out through my website or on social media.

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Looking for help on your weight loss journey? I’ve created a couple of resources:
• My NEW Membership Community Flamingo Forum! Join HERE: https://charlotte-skanes.mykajabi.com/disruptor-our-community
• My Immersive Weight Loss Experience: Sustainable 7
• My Cookbook 'Disruptor'
• Free Guide ‘Getting Started for the Last Time’
• Weight Loss Workbook Disruptor, find anywhere in the world on Amazon by searching “Disruptor Charlotte Skanes”
•Get Started For The Last Time LIVE Webinar Replay Sign-Up - free Spread Sprinkle Pour worksheets

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In this episode I dive into part two of my holiday survival series. This stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year’s can feel chaotic, emotional, and full of food that pushes every button you’ve got. So I’m sharing the tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually help you stay grounded instead of getting swept into the holiday eating vortex.

I talk about the power of incentives and why giving yourself small rewards is not cheating. It’s strategy. Whether it is a long soak in the tub or a quiet movie alone, those incentives can carry you through stressful family dinners or long holiday events.

You’ll hear me break down one of my biggest safety nets too. No grazing. No walking and chewing. No standing at the fridge door while grabbing bites. Getting food on a plate and being present with what you are eating is one of the best ways to stay satisfied and in control.

I also walk you through navigating holiday triggers, from difficult relatives to happy memories to grief that sneaks up out of nowhere. I share how I am preparing for my first Christmas without my grandmother and how planning ahead makes a huge difference.

Then we get into the mindset traps. The “I’ll start after Christmas” trap. The “this is my last holiday before I get serious” trap. The “I already messed up so I might as well quit” trap. I help you see those patterns clearly so you can stop falling into them.

Before wrapping up, I offer two tools you can use if the holiday week feels like a true emergency. Weekly calorie spacing, which I don’t normally recommend but explain safely if you choose to use it, and going to maintenance calories for the week between Christmas and New Year’s so you can enjoy the season without losing control.

This episode is all about empowerment, calm, and clarity. You don’t have to dread the holidays or feel like you’re walking into a trap. You can enjoy Christmas, enjoy the people you love, and come out of it proud of the choices you made.

Support the show

Looking for help on your weight loss journey? I’ve created a couple of resources:
• My NEW Membership Community Flamingo Forum! Join HERE: https://charlotte-skanes.mykajabi.com/disruptor-our-community
• My Immersive Weight Loss Experience: Sustainable 7
• My Cookbook 'Disruptor'
• Free Guide ‘Getting Started for the Last Time’
• Weight Loss Workbook Disruptor, find anywhere in the world on Amazon by searching “Disruptor Charlotte Skanes”
•Get Started For The Last Time LIVE Webinar Replay Sign-Up - free Spread Sprinkle Pour worksheets

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In this Weight Loss Wednesday, I’m bringing back something I didn’t think I’d be doing again: a holiday Ask Whatever. I found a bunch of your holiday questions, so we’re doing a full festive Q&A.

In this episode, I talk about:

• How to track holiday meals when you can’t measure anything

• Alcohol over the holidays

• What I eat at Christmas and how I handle holiday food

• Managing cravings and feeling like you can’t stop eating

• Tips for night shift eating

• How to stay motivated when you go home for the holidays

• Handling people who comment on your weight

• What to do when you don’t know the calories in holiday food

• Should you eat before a holiday party

• Advice for staying in maintenance during the holidays

I’ll be back next week with even more holiday questions. Keep trying, keep tracking, and don’t give up. You’ve totally got this.

Looking for help on your weight loss journey? I’ve created a couple of resources:
• My NEW Membership Community Flamingo Forum! Join HERE: https://charlotte-skanes.mykajabi.com/disruptor-our-community
• My Immersive Weight Loss Experience: Sustainable 7
• My Cookbook 'Disruptor'
• Free Guide ‘Getting Started for the Last Time’
• Weight Loss Workbook Disruptor, find anywhere in the world on Amazon by searching “Disruptor Charlotte Skanes”
•Get Started For The Last Time LIVE Webinar Replay Sign-Up - free Spread Sprinkle Pour worksheets

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In this episode, I kick off the first part of my Surviving the Holidays series. With Thanksgiving landing this week and the rest of the season barreling toward us, I wanted to give you tools that help you stay grounded, keep your sanity, and protect your progress. The holidays can be exciting, stressful, emotional, nostalgic, overwhelming, or all of the above. Food is everywhere and so are the feelings that come with it. This episode is all about helping you get ahead of that instead of feeling steamrolled by it.

I talk about how my own experience with holiday eating has changed since losing the weight and why the season feels so different now. Food is still a big part of the holidays for me, but learning how to be satisfied with less, both physically and emotionally, has made the season much less intimidating.

I also get into how deeply the holidays are tied to stress, pressure, and memories, and how all of that affects your eating. I share the safety nets I use to cut down my December stress and explain why reducing stress earlier in the season can help you avoid the mindless eating that comes with overwhelm.

We also talk about tracking during the holidays, even on the messy days. Going over your calories is not the same as going way over them, and the only way to see the difference is to keep tracking. This is where awareness comes in. If you have not listened to episode 12 on the 3A Way, I recommend going back to that one too.

I wrap up with an important reminder about exercise. You do not earn your food with workouts, and trying to build in exercise to compensate for holiday eating is a losing strategy. Your body burns what it burns. That doesn't change because it's December.

Part two of this Surviving the Holidays series comes out next Monday with more strategies and practical ways to fit those special holiday foods into your calorie budget without feeling deprived. I also have a brand new Weight Loss Wednesday up this week with more of your questions.

If you need anything, you know where to find me. And if you are in the States, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Looking for help on your weight loss journey? I’ve created a couple of resources:
• My NEW Membership Community Flamingo Forum! Join HERE: https://charlotte-skanes.mykajabi.com/disruptor-our-community
• My Immersive Weight Loss Experience: Sustainable 7
• My Cookbook 'Disruptor'
• Free Guide ‘Getting Started for the Last Time’
• Weight Loss Workbook Disruptor, find anywhere in the world on Amazon by searching “Disruptor Charlotte Skanes”
•Get Started For The Last Time LIVE Webinar Replay Sign-Up - free Spread Sprinkle Pour worksheets

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In this week’s Weight Loss Wednesday, I’m tackling another round of your questions. I love these episodes because they let me answer the things you’re genuinely struggling with in real time. Keep sending them in. They really do shape what this podcast becomes.

I start with a question I know so many of us wrestle with: how to stop second-guessing the plan every time someone else has an opinion. Whether it’s oats, keto, fasting or the latest shiny little diet gimmick, the noise never stops. I talk about why that noise is so loud, how diet culture keeps repackaging century-old nonsense, and why the simplest approach really is the one that works. Oatmeal isn’t sabotaging you. Bacon and bubblegum aren’t magic. Stick to the calories. That’s the only thing that matters.

From there, I jump into frozen meals. Yes, I eat them. Yes, some are healthy. And yes, some are absolutely not healthy, but also still delicious and easy. The beauty of them is the convenience and the accuracy. The calories are right there and that makes life so much easier on the days when you just need simple and doable.

We also talk about the ten-day egg diet. I love eggs. I truly do. But eating just one food for ten days? Not my vibe. I explain why single-food diets aren’t sustainable, why balance matters, and a little bit about my own digestive quirks that mean vegetables are a non-negotiable for me.

Then I answer a really important question about tracking. Does logging your food help on your weight loss journey? Absolutely. I talk about why it works both practically and emotionally, and why I genuinely believe calorie tracking is the only real shortcut that exists in weight loss.

There’s also a thoughtful question from a pregnant listener about whether to keep working the plan during pregnancy and postpartum. I share my own experience with pregnancy, loss and nursing, and why I would personally focus on nutrient density and medical guidance rather than weight loss during that time.

And finally, I answer a question about my new gratitude journal and how it fits into my daily routine. I talk about how it’s separate from my regular journaling, why gratitude became such a huge part of my life after getting sick, and how it can actually influence a weight loss journey in some really

Looking for help on your weight loss journey? I’ve created a couple of resources:
• My NEW Membership Community Flamingo Forum! Join HERE: https://charlotte-skanes.mykajabi.com/disruptor-our-community
• My Immersive Weight Loss Experience: Sustainable 7
• My Cookbook 'Disruptor'
• Free Guide ‘Getting Started for the Last Time’
• Weight Loss Workbook Disruptor, find anywhere in the world on Amazon by searching “Disruptor Charlotte Skanes”
•Get Started For The Last Time LIVE Webinar Replay Sign-Up - free Spread Sprinkle Pour worksheets

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In this episode, I’m talking about something that has shaped my life in ways I didn’t even understand until years later, something my husband calls an "environment of yes".

After I got sick, Shahn made a conscious effort to surround me with as much positivity and choice as possible. He created yeses in a season of my life that had been nothing but no, and it changed everything for me.

Today I’m pulling back the curtain a little to share what that looked like, why it mattered, and how you can use the same idea to make losing weight easier on yourself, especially when the process feels restrictive, frustrating, or draining.

I walk through what recovery was really like: the physical and emotional toll, the identity crisis, the guilt, the grief, the monster thoughts in the mirror, and the weird contradiction of feeling overwhelmingly grateful and completely traumatized at the same time. I also talk about what it meant to rebuild my life after losing my autonomy for months, and how powerful it was when someone kept handing me small moments of yes.

Then I connect it back to weight loss. Because weight loss can feel like an unending series of no’s: no to food, no to comfort, no to old coping mechanisms, no to autopilot eating. And when we feel boxed in, restricted, and stripped of choice, we rebel. Diets count on that, but your success doesn’t have to.

Creating your own environment of yes helps you stick with hard things without feeling trapped. It might be saying yes to snacks you prepped ahead of time. Yes to a meal you planned for. Yes to a choice you get to make, not a rule someone else handed you. Yes to something that feels good when so much of this process feels hard.

You can’t escape the hard. But you can balance it. You can build pockets of positivity into your day so you don’t burn out on the negative. Hard is hard and pain is pain, but the more yeses you give yourself, the more you’ll be able to keep going.

If you’re feeling boxed in, restricted, frustrated, or fed up, this one is for you.

Looking for help on your weight loss journey? I’ve created a couple of resources:
• My NEW Membership Community Flamingo Forum! Join HERE: https://charlotte-skanes.mykajabi.com/disruptor-our-community
• My Immersive Weight Loss Experience: Sustainable 7
• My Cookbook 'Disruptor'
• Free Guide ‘Getting Started for the Last Time’
• Weight Loss Workbook Disruptor, find anywhere in the world on Amazon by searching “Disruptor Charlotte Skanes”
•Get Started For The Last Time LIVE Webinar Replay Sign-Up - free Spread Sprinkle Pour worksheets

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In this tenth Weight Loss Wednesday episode, I’m answering your questions about navigating the final stretch of the year. The last quarter can feel intense, emotional, chaotic and tempting all at once, and I want to help you move through it with clarity instead of panic.

I talk through everything from holiday body checking to seasonal darkness, guilt and shame spirals, maintenance expectations, and finding accountability without feeling boxed in. This is the season when mindset matters more than ever, and small adjustments can save you from a full derailment.

In this episode, I cover:

• Handling body checking and comparison at holiday gatherings
Why your brain does it, why the mental picture you have of yourself is often wrong, and how to shift your focus back to your own progress instead of sizing yourself up beside cousin Susan.

• Coping with fewer daylight hours and the mental slump that comes with it
Practical strategies for energy, structure, calorie distribution, evening cravings and prepping snacks so the dark hours don’t turn into grazing hours.

• Avoiding guilt and shame after overindulging
How to stop the spiral before it starts, the role of calorie management, and why forgiveness plus a concrete plan works better than beating yourself up.

• Setting realistic expectations for holiday maintenance
How to think about TDEE, tracking, salt-related weight fluctuations and fear around your first holidays at goal weight. Maintenance doesn’t mean coasting, but it also doesn’t mean panic.

• Building accountability into your routine without feeling restricted
Why restriction is individual, how to identify what it looks like for you, and small tactical shifts that can help you stay committed without feeling trapped.

• A personal question about my hair
Yes, I talk about the pink. And the red. And the purple. And everything in between.

If you’re feeling the pressure of the last quarter, this episode gives you tools, reassurance and a plan. You don’t need perfection to get through the holidays. You just need awareness, intention and a little strategy.

Looking for help on your weight loss journey? I’ve created a couple of resources:
• My NEW Membership Community Flamingo Forum! Join HERE: https://charlotte-skanes.mykajabi.com/disruptor-our-community
• My Immersive Weight Loss Experience: Sustainable 7
• My Cookbook 'Disruptor'
• Free Guide ‘Getting Started for the Last Time’
• Weight Loss Workbook Disruptor, find anywhere in the world on Amazon by searching “Disruptor Charlotte Skanes”
•Get Started For The Last Time LIVE Webinar Replay Sign-Up - free Spread Sprinkle Pour worksheets

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In this episode, I talk about something most people don’t even realise is an option on a weight loss journey. We act like when things get hard, the only choices are to keep going or to give up. But there is a third option that can save your progress, protect your mental bandwidth, and stop you from falling back into that old start again cycle. I call it damage control mode.

I explain what damage control actually looks like, why it’s not the same as quitting, and why it’s definitely not the same as starting again on Monday, in January, or on whatever random future date we like to convince ourselves is perfect. This isn’t giving up. This is stepping back just enough to stop yourself from burning out and undoing all your progress.

I walk through the mindset shift required to do this well, why being intentional is the key difference, and how to use damage control mode to maintain your weight when life is overwhelming. I also share how to work out your maintenance calories, what to track, and how this choice respects the effort you’ve already put in.

If you’ve ever hit a wall and thought I can’t keep doing this, this episode will show you how to pause without spiralling. Damage control mode keeps you moving forward, just in a different gear.

Looking for help on your weight loss journey? I’ve created a couple of resources:
• My NEW Membership Community Flamingo Forum! Join HERE: https://charlotte-skanes.mykajabi.com/disruptor-our-community
• My Immersive Weight Loss Experience: Sustainable 7
• My Cookbook 'Disruptor'
• Free Guide ‘Getting Started for the Last Time’
• Weight Loss Workbook Disruptor, find anywhere in the world on Amazon by searching “Disruptor Charlotte Skanes”
•Get Started For The Last Time LIVE Webinar Replay Sign-Up - free Spread Sprinkle Pour worksheets

Website
Instagram
Youtube
...