At the time of this post – August of 2021 – I fly to Utah every couple of months to batch-film new seasons of Code Red TV.

Because I’m batch-filming (meaning I do a ton of videos in a short amount of time, such as 60 videos in only three days), it takes almost all of my bandwidth to focus and do a good job on the videos.

For that reason, I have to free up the time to focus on my videos by doing the following:

1) Getting stuff done ahead of time
2) Temporarily postponing anything that’s not an urgent priority
3) Saying no

That last one is the one I wanna talk to you about.

Most of my Code Red Rebels are grandmas and moms who put their own needs on the back burner and struggle to say no, because they believe prioritizing self-care and saying no both make them a “bad person.”

They also believe they aren’t worthy of having their needs met.

Please know I come from a place of love when I say this: Your needs matter too, and you are worthy of being a priority in your own life.

Doesn’t mean you cannot or should not also help care for the people you love.

What it means is, you’ve gotta include yourself in that.

And oftentimes, including yourself means saying no more often than you are now.

This is ESPECIALLY true when you’re still in weight loss mode, and you need that extra bandwidth to figure out your food and stay on track… because if you’re saying YES to everyone and everything else, at the expense of your weight loss journey, it’s no wonder you feel too exhausted to stay on track!

I get that saying no can feel uncomfortable, especially at first, and especially if you’re not used to it.

It also doesn’t help if you have someone in your life who lays on the guilt and manipulation if you say no.

So to help you get more comfortable saying no, here are two less harsh ways to think of it.

#1 – You’re not saying “no” as in forever (unless you want to). You’re saying no as in, “not now.”

Once your weight’s off and you’re rocking maintenance, hey, maybe you’ll revisit whatever you said no to because you feel like a million bucks and it actually sounds fun!

If not, that’s totally okay, too.

Either way, try thinking of no as meaning “not now,” and see if that helps you feel better about saying it.

#2 – Saying no to one thing is really saying yes to another thing.

It might mean saying no to requests from family or friends who want you to do more stuff for them, so you can say yes to focusing on getting your weight off.

It might mean saying no to helping out more at church or school, so you can say yes to prepping your simple meals for the next three days.

It might mean saying no to working extra hours again this week, so you can say yes to some overdue self-care.

See what I mean, about how saying no to one thing is saying yes to something else?

This even applies to your food choices. Saying no to wine means saying yes to pain-free knees.

Saying no to that piece of cake means saying yes to a calm, comfortable tummy that’s heartburn-free.

Train yourself to ask, “What am I saying yes to?” instead of fixating on what you’re saying no to.

Seriously. Focusing on what you’re lacking and “not getting” is miserable. Refocus on what you’re getting, which you can do by asking yourself what you’re saying yes to.

Bottom line: I am really, really good at getting stuff done. I thrive on it, actually.

But even I have to say no to things in order to make caring for myself a priority.

Start saying no to what doesn’t serve you, so you can say yes to getting the weight off, feeling better, and a healthy, happy life.

Want to lose 10 pounds in 30 days and feel better than you have in years? Click here to check out the 10 Pound Takedown Challenge!