The Lean & Serene Method

When people ask me, “How have you lost and maintained your 130 lb weight loss with no GLP-1 shots, no surgeries, no pills?” I typically answer, “It is 80% Mindset, and 20% nutrition, exercise and connecting with nature.” Changing your Mindset is the beginning to maintaining a healthy weight and having high functioning body performance.

This shift in mindset involves cultivating a positive self-image, setting realistic goals, and developing resilience. It’s about understanding your triggers, managing stress, and embracing a healthier relationship with food and body image. By prioritizing mental well-being, you’re not just aiming for a temporary fix but a sustainable lifestyle change.

 

Lisa Wessan, January 2018

 

Lisa Wessan, October 4, 2024

 

Here I am holding up my old Size 3x pants, which were snug on me. I went down 12 dress sizes, and reduced from a ladies Size 3x to Size Medium. Yes, prior to this recovery process, I was a hard-core food medicator! Now, I no longer use food to self-soothe. The good news: If I can do this, so can you…YES, there is a solution, you CAN do hard things. Never give up!

To that end, here’s a brief overview of my multimodal treatment plan for weight loss. I know this to be true, both personally and professionally. Working through this method is effective, powerful and will help you shed your extra weight and successfully maintain it for years to come.

 

• “Self-Talk” is the beginning of Self-Care:
  Narrative therapy techniques have been proven to reshape self-perception and behavior. You will learn to name your hidden cognitive distortions, belief systems and personal myths. As Dr. Dan Siegal says, “When you can name it you can tame it!” Then you will turn these unhelpful thoughts around into more compassionate, affirmative Self-Talk. This is similar to writing new code for your brain. Whatever words follow the “I am” become part of your identity and create a strong Mindset. For example, over time, you might shift from your belief “I AM IMPOSSIBLE!” to “I AM POSSIBLE! I can do hard things…I never give up.” Plus much more. Your inside journey will lead you to learn techniques to communicate with your “Future Self.” Your Future Self will guide you to meet all your weight loss (and other) goals.

 

• Learning and applying Neuroplasticity principles:
  Neuroscience will help you understand your brain better, and how to grow new neural networks faster for better results. Fun fact: you can rewire your brain at any age!

 

• Emotion Regulation strategies:
  You will learn empirically verified turnaround skills from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (“DBT”), Solution-Focused Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Grief and Loss processing, and other sources of Emotion Regulation science and wisdom. These are all backed by extensive studies in effective neuroscience.

 

• Psychospiritual Tools – To gain mastery over your 3F Challenge – The Food, Fat, Fear Trifecta:
  You will need to learn and practice accessing Spiritual energy. Your Ego’s Willpower is not sustainable; it is often very flimsy and wears away quickly by the end of each day. You cannot cure Willfulness with your Ego…you need to tap into some supernatural energies, e.g. Wise Mind, Mindfulness tools, the Quantum Field, the 5th Dimension, accessing the Angels, your Ancestors, Source Energy, Higher Power and/or your personal Deity. There are 10,000 or more names for this field of energy that helps us transform. This is an important part of this work, and it is how you will shift from Willfulness to WILLINGNESS.

  The key to a comfortable, sustainable weight loss is to be able to make more consistently loving choices with your food. Unfortunately, as you probably already know by this point, you cannot force yourself – with your Ego – to make more loving choices. This loving, compassionate energy is derived from Spiritual practices.

 

• Focusing on the Five Pillars of Excellent Health:
  These include Mindset, Nutrition, Exercise/Movement, Sleep, and Forgiveness/Compassion tools and strategies. Of all the Pillars, your Mindset is the most important. As I shared above, I think it is 80% of the work. When you change your Mindset, you are then able to make more healthy choices and reduce the inner conflict and friction which causes relapses and setbacks.

  In my Lean & Serene program, The Five Pillars require you to learn and absorb a rich science-based curriculum. This will strengthen your mind, body and soul to become someone who no longer uses food to self-soothe. Once you learn and gain mastery over your favorite tools, you will have success as you live within your non-dualistic “Progress not Perfection” Mindset. You will break free from the painfully polarizing All or Nothing, Black or White, Good or Bad Mindset and then continue to Cha-Cha down the Red Carpet of your beautiful new life!

 

• Brief note on Nutrition, from the Good Food/Good Mood school of food science:
  As a former full-time science reporter, I still enjoy researching and reviewing science breakthroughs. You will benefit from current elements of nutrition science that will make your weight management journey easier and more relaxing. You will learn to “Stick with the PROS: Protein, Produce, Fiber and Fat.” One of my favorite bullet points on this topic is borrowed from Dr. Amy Shah’s research. I use her 30-30-3 formula. Each day, you aim to eat at least 30 grams of protein per meal, 30 grams of fiber per day, and eat three probiotic foods (yogurt, kimchi, fermented vegetables, pickles, sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha or other probiotic foods). Your biome creates 90% of the serotonin for your brain, and by being conscious of your biome and gut health, you get a huge boost in mood and energy. This is essential for optimum weight management and having a good Mindset.

 
 

• Your Customized Solution-Focused Treatment Plan:
  Are you ready to begin NOW? This requires six minutes per day of practicing your new psychoeducation tools and spiritual techniques. I require six-minutes per day to help you shift your Mindset successfully. If you can’t schedule six minutes/day, then you are not ready to get well. That’s no problem. When you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, you will reach out to me again.

   

  My door to this multimodal practice will remain open and ready for that exciting time in your life!

  May you get there soon.

  Onward and Upward💙

  Lisa Wessan