[INTERVIEW] Screw the Scale! Discover How A Long-Time Dieter Who Lived and Died by the Scale Took A Permanent Scale Vacation and Has Never Looked or Felt Better Since.

Paul Salter (male):

If you feel like you know exactly what to do to lose the weight and keep it off but are struggling to do so, you are in the right place. Welcome to The 5% Way Podcast, where myself, registered dietician Paul Salter, and my cohost, sustainable weight loss specialist Micheala Barsotti, have an impactful conversation focused on helping you uncover the root cause of the self-sabotaging behaviors holding you back from achieving sustainable weight loss. Your transformation begins from the inside out, and our purpose is to accelerate that progress by sharing practical strategies and need-to-know information to help you reclaim your confidence, control, and inner calm so that you can feel, look, and be your best.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of The 5% Way Podcast with your host, myself, Paul Salter, and my wonderful co-host, Micheala Barsotti. If you, yes, you listening today, have an incredibly strong love-hate relationship with the scale that really just stays in the hate zone more often than not, than this episode is for you. Michaela and I are honored today to share a transformational and inspiring conversation with our dear friend and fellow member of the 5% community, Rena. And in today’s story, I’m going to give you the opportunity to really listen in to some of their dramatic mindset shifts and relationship upgrades Rena has made in the past 12 months. And before I bring her on and get that conversation rocking and rolling, I wanted to share a little bit more about Rena with you prior to that conversation.

Rena is a wife, a mom, a grandma, as well as a CEO. And throughout her entire life, Rena has always thrived on needed structure, and it’s been structure that has enabled her to rise so high in her career and also enabled her to raise a beautiful family alongside her loving and supportive husband. Now to accomplish all that, of course, Rena also had to develop the skills of incredible grit, resiliency, organization, and an ability to shake things off and move forward without flinching. But in her personal life, there was one crucial challenge that continued to plague Rena and ultimately hold her back from feeling, looking, and being her best self. That challenge, none other than that pesky number on that piece of you-know-what clunk of metal. In fact, Rena has spent more than 15 years dieting, trying to lose weight, losing the weight, regaining the weight, and only repeating that vicious cycle.

And as far back as she can remember, that number on the scale defined he self-worth, influenced her, self-esteem, her confidence, and negatively affected how she showed up on the job, in her marriage, in her parenting and relationship with her kids, and in all aspects of her familial and social life. Stepping on the scale became a major source of stress. It literally set the tone for the entire day. And for the longest time, Rena could not shake it. Fast-forward to today, almost a year later, Rena has not stepped on the scale a single time. And in this year, she’s completely transformed her relationship with not only the scale, but with herself, with food, and with her loved ones as well. Even more, she’s leaner, stronger, and more confident in herself than she has ever been in her entire life. So without further ado, please help me in welcoming Rena to the show.

Hey, Rena. Thank you so much for joining us today. How are you?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Great. It’s great to be here. Thanks for the invite.

Paul Salter (male):

Of course. Like I said before we hit the record button, Micheala and I are very much looking forward to this conversation, and I’m going to dive right in. I would love for you to tell… Micheala and I [inaudible 00:04:25] I think I have an inkling, but also everyone listening, why did you choose to join the 5% community?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Well, I’ve tried many different diet journeys since probably in my 20s, and they did work. I won’t lie and say they worked, but they just weren’t sustainable. It took me a lot of years to realize that. It became obvious that my long-term goals actually ended up being just short-term goals. I was in this vicious cycle of I’d lose weight, gain it back, diet, lose weight, gain it back, diet, and it was just this vicious cycle. And so I needed to learn whatever barriers were standing in my way to be able to sustain the weight loss that I did have. And that’s where the 5% community came in.

Paul Salter (male):

Oh. I love it. I’m curious. Outside of obviously your own personal frustration with one minute I’m gaining weight, one minute, I’m losing it, how did that have a ripple effect into other areas of your life, relationships, works, et cetera?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

For me, there’s a highs and lows of the whole process for me. And it was weird as I was always after a number. It was always this number on a scale, whether it be 120 pounds, 125 pounds. And once I would hit that 125 pounds, even though it was a goal, I was not happy. It just wasn’t enough. I was like, “Oh, my God. I hit 125. Now I want to get to 120.” And then it would just continue. What would happen is I just have more frustration because it became harder to get to that 120, but I also didn’t know why I was doing what I was doing. It was almost like a… Mentally, it really affected me because I wasn’t happy. I hit my goal, but then I want even more.

And I think it impacted me from being able to enjoy my relationships outside of dieting, if that makes any sense. For example, I wouldn’t want to go to the lake because I wasn’t at that number. I would avoid those things. I would just make excuses why I couldn’t go. And so it affected me in that way. It frustrated me. Even in my professional career, if I’d get on the scale and I didn’t see whatever number it was, it wasn’t going the way that I wanted it to go, it just set the tone for the whole day. It would mentally really just mess with me, and I couldn’t get over it.

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

I love all of that so much. And I think that it just shows how much you’ve grown and how much awareness you have now too, to your approach, which we’ll talk about your scale relationship and journey in a little bit, but being able to detach from that so much because you’re so clear on your why of how you want to feel, who you want to be, how you want to act, all of those things. And I loved when you said your long-term goal was really a short-term goal because for so many people, they are stuck chasing this number and they don’t actually even know why they want to achieve it. They think that it’s going to be this magic happy land when they get there.

But if you try to peel back a layer, dig deeper, what does that number mean to you? It’s crickets. We don’t know. We have to think about it. It’s like, “Wait a second. I think I was happier there years ago,” but then it’s like, “Okay. But what has happened since then? What about your life has changed?” So I love all of that so much. But I’m curious. So you tried different diets. You did them for a while. They worked until they didn’t. What intrigued you about the 5% that made you choose that out of all the other different diet programs out there and just hopping on another?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Well, number one, you don’t know what you don’t know. So you go into these diets with this one focus of, “I need to hit a number.” Everybody does it. That’s just the way people feel they need the diet is they’re after this number, and that number leads to, “Okay. Once I get to that number, I’m going to fit into my size, whatever pair of jeans or shirt or whatever it is.” It’s always a number we are chasing. So for all these years, I don’t know what I don’t know. So how do you take action over something that I didn’t even realize was a problem? Or not a problem, but a challenge for me. So I think what happened… not I think what happened. I was working with Paul one-on-one and it really was an epiphany because hey, I’ve been doing something for 16-plus years. I mean, and it’s not working.

I do this in my professional life. I’m so structured that it’s almost like if we’ve been doing something repetitively for 16-plus years and nothing’s changing, it’s not positive, I’m not getting what I want out of it, why not try something different? I had to make the mental change. And what’s really weird in my professional life, I do this. I make the mental changes. I’m determined. I have drive. I set structure. But it didn’t feed over into my professional life, and that’s where I needed the help.

So for me, it was really you don’t know what you don’t know until you’re like, “I’m tired of doing the same thing for 15 years, getting the same result, having a short-term effect or a high just to go back to feeling frustrated again.” And I was tired of dieting, to be honest. I needed a healthier relationship with food. I think that was it. I limited myself on what I could eat. I was afraid to have a piece of cake or whatever because that translated to one piece of cake, I’ve got to do 90 extra minutes that day of cardio or whatever. And it was so unhealthy. It was an unhealthy battle. So that’s what led me to the community.

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

Awesome. And just one more question to piggyback off of that one. So when you came into the community not knowing what you don’t know, were you coming in with the attempt of losing weight or was it, “I want to heal my relationship with food.”? Was the weight still top-of-mind in the beginning?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Yeah, because I don’t know what I didn’t know. It was weight. But I will tell you from previous dieting and working with Paul one-on-one on the previous program that Paul, you were a part of RP. I had the food structure down, but it wasn’t healthy. So my intent was, “All right, we’re going to go in and we’re going to lose weight and we’re going to do this,” but Paul’s like, “That’s not even the focus right now. You need to fix the mental.” And it’s so true. You’ve got to fix what’s in your head before you can even start transforming your body because once you fix your head, it’s amazing, the transformation. Everything else just comes into play. It’s just crazy. And I’ve told this to Paul many a time, it’s so hard to explain, but trust me, if you do the real work, which is all mental, everything else just falls into place like magic, without the pill and without the dieting. But yes, long answer to your question, I did go in with the diet in mind, but I got so much more.

Paul Salter (male):

What a phenomenal answer. And I am just so proud of you for having this awareness and ability to reflect back and distill, “Here’s where I was. Here’s where I am now.” And I’m curious right now, if we put the coaching hat on you for a second, speaking specific to some of the mindset, self-sabotaging behaviors that were occurring, whether it be negative self-talk, a limiting belief or toxic thoughts, what do you think was your number one area to work on that now having conquered it, has allowed you to shine as brightly as you do?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

I had to conquer the scale. I know that sounds so weird, but that limiting belief, that number defines me. That was my big thing, was that number. I had to fix that limiting belief that if that number increased, I wasn’t big. I wasn’t a failure. So I had to get that out of my mind, that I have the drive, I’ve got the determination, I can be successful in the sense that there’s an infinite number of ways to measure your success. And that’s what 5% community has helped me with. And the definition of that success, it’s set by you and your individual goals, not by anyone else. And so that’s what’s really helped me in the 5% community, has helped me truly understand that I define my own success, not a number.

Paul Salter (male):

That pain in the ass clunk of metal you have in your bathroom.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Yeah. Which we don’t even own the scale anymore. My husband and I both don’t even get on the scale. Neither one of us has jumped on a scale in coming up on a year.

Paul Salter (male):

Yes. I want to unpack that. So tell our listeners more about that because yeah, I guess it has been a year, which is crazy. I remember… I’m going to share my perspective and then put the ball back in your court. But when we were working together one-on-one, I noticed some signs like, “Damn, that scale is really eating at her,” depending on what number we saw. And then you brought it full-on to my attention as we started our journey, the 5% community together. And correct me if I’m wrong, but was it a suggestion just to take a few days off from the scale and you took it and ran with it?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Yeah. You had to give me permission. It was so odd. But the minute you told me, “Let’s try not getting on the scale,” I don’t even remember the days it was. I’m like, “I’m all on it.” It’s almost as if somebody needed to tell me what to do, and then I’m just going to go do it. I couldn’t do it on my own, so you gave me that push. And once you did it, I had zero desire to get back on it. And the minute that I stopped doing that, gave it a week or two, I literally looked in the mirror and I was happy with the reflection that I saw. But when I was getting on that scale every day or every other day, I did not like what I saw in the mirror. So yeah, it’s crazy.

Paul Salter (male):

There’s no turning back.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

So now I use different things. My clothes, I really use that as a big definer of whatever it is. Okay. If I’ve had some extra… We just got back from Costa Rica vacation, and yeah, I totally binge and I never once felt guilty. And I got back and things were snug, but I’m like, it’s temporary. I was on vacation. It’s not as if I gained 30 pounds or whatever you want to call it. So I use that. And then every once in a while, I… I don’t even use tape measures. Honestly, I don’t do anything, but I love what I see in the mirror.

Paul Salter (male):

I remember, through 75 hard, obviously that requires that daily picture. Is that something you enjoyed as just another area to assess progress?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

I actually did. And I noticed a transformation at day 75 from the first day. So I did notice that as well. So pictures, you are correct in the sense that really, if you take daily progress, a picture’s worth 1,000 words. Same thing. You don’t need that number. That picture’s going to show and reflect exactly what you want to see or whatever and where you need to work on. So yeah, I’ve only done pictures and clothes. And I did have to get on a scale. I’d gone on vacation prior to Costa Rica, and they had to weigh you before you got on the zip line thing. And I had zero desire to even look at what it was. I didn’t purposely look away, but whereas most people would be like, “Oh, my God. I want to see what it looks like.” My girlfriends did. I just didn’t even really care. But I didn’t look because I was so into something else. But it just doesn’t bother me anymore.

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

Love that so much. All right. I’m curious to know. So you joined the community. You were one of… She was one of her OGs, right, originally, those first few? Then there was a short period of time where you were a little bit out. Can you tell us a little bit about what made you come back in, get more involved, and more than ever? Because you came in with just fire under your butt like-

Paul Salter (male):

[inaudible 00:16:59].

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

… every week, you’re just kicking ass. And it’s like, wait a second. What were you doing during that time? Because you were doing something.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Yeah. Family. Things happened family-wise and you just get sidetracked. But what 5% community does is it’s like a mental transformation. It really gets you to think about the positives, taking small little habits, making these small little changes. It takes a lot of work, but that’s how it should be. Nothing’s going to come easy. There’s no magic pill to dieting or whatever you want to call it. But I didn’t like what I was, I guess, becoming. I was just going back to my old ways, I would say, the limiting beliefs, “I can’t do this because I’m bombarded with work,” or, “I can’t do this because I was having…” There was excuses, and there was just no room for excuses. If you want something bad enough, you’re going to make it happen. And I had to get back to that point.

And what I loved about coming back to the community is there’s like-minded individuals that trust me, that other people are going through the exact same things that you are. And in some situations, their situations is a lot more challenging than your own. So you can feed off one another, and figure out what works for somebody else may work for you. And I love that. And sometimes you just need a group of people that think like you or are going down that same journey as you to bring you back up so that you can get right back on that path. And that’s what I needed, was I just needed to get back to the community and quit allowing all these excuses to cloud what I needed to do.

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

Was there any guilt or shame or overwhelm with you losing your way for a little bit and then coming back in? And I asked that because we have these feelings a lot where people fall off track and then they beat themselves up, and they can never get back to it because they’re continuously living in this state of just shaming themselves.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

For me, it wasn’t, because I had already been in the community for so long and I had seen the positive impacts that it had on me in my life personally and professionally. I was just so much more positive about everything. And then therefore, my diet, my fitness, my nutrition, everything else fell into place. So I knew what I could get out of the community. So there wasn’t that guilt and stuff. It was just a matter of I’ve got to get back there and stop allowing all these limiting beliefs that told me I can’t, and reframe that to, “Yes, you can. You just need to make it a priority again.” I had started not making myself a priority. And when I stopped making myself a priority, I became… For me, I don’t think I was the best wife, the best mom, the best grandmother, the best version of myself, and I did not like that.

And so just to me, it was sheer determination that I got to get back to that feeling of good. And that’s what the community totally did. And so that’s why I’m just like, “Okay.” I made the community my priority.

Paul Salter (male):

Your self-awareness is just so incredible. I’m curious. Have you always been blessed with such a strong level of awareness or is there anything in particularly you’ve done to cultivate it?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

I have, but what it is, is I know what needs to get done. I just need help getting there. It’s weird. I know this sounds weird, but I need you and Micheala to tell me to go do it. Once somebody tells me to do it, I’m all-in. You just need to tell me, “Go do A, B, C, and D,” and I’m just going to go do it. And I have this determination that I’m just not going to quit because I can do it. You’re not going to be able to tell me, “You can’t. You can’t.” No. I’m going to show you I can. And the more you tell me I can’t do something, I’m going to prove to you I can do it.

And what’s even weird is in my career, that’s how I got to be the CEO that I am, sheer determination. So many people told me I couldn’t do it. So many people are like, “You’re not going to do it. You can’t do it.” And I’m like, “I’m going to prove you wrong.” But it didn’t transform into my personal life. And so it really helps to have you guys pushing. And then when I feel a little “down” or like I’m going down this path, I just go into the community and I start reading or something. And it just brings me back to reality. And we all need that. We’re not perfect. I’m still a work in progress. But what helps me is knowing I’ve got support.

Paul Salter (male):

[inaudible 00:21:40]-

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

Yeah. We’re not perfect. Oh.

Paul Salter (male):

I was going to say, people think I’m kidding when I say the 5% community was selfishly created for me, and I’m dead serious. I get as much if not more than every single member in there. It’s incredibly therapeutic, inspirational, positive. Yeah. I couldn’t agree more.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Yeah. Totally.

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

I was going to say too, it’s showing up to the community and continuously showing up encourages you to keep going because there is no finish line. And when we’re doing things all on our own, we can get really content sometimes. And then that’s when things start to slip. And the community, surrounding yourself with people that are like-minded and are pushing you. And like you said, like you drop into the community one day, you might read something that just lit a fire under your butt to just own the day. And that’s the stuff that keeps you going and keeps you successful. It’s who you surround yourself with.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Yeah. Exactly. And so it’s helped me tremendously. I’ve made some great friends, as I would call it, from the community. Several of us are super close. I text them outside the community. We check in with one another, and it’s great to have that. And everybody’s going to have reasons why they can’t do something, and my number one thing is just you have to make yourself a priority. For me, I’ve told my family that too. I mean, I set boundaries. That’s another big thing, is sometimes we have a hard time setting boundaries and putting ourselves first because we feel guilty. But how are you the best version of yourself if you continue to do for others and not for yourself? I’m not saying be selfish about it, but you do have to prioritize yourself first because I think in the end, it makes you a better person.

This community really is even created a better relationship with my husband, and in a weird way. It wasn’t problematic to begin with, but I’m just happier. I laugh more. I talk more. The community’s taught me to be grateful about the little things. Every day, I still write down three things that I’m grateful for. And I swear it does wonders for your day. If you write down those three things that you are really grateful for, it sets the tone for your day. So little things like that. It changes your mindset to be more positive. Therefore, these things with food and those bad habits, they start to change themselves because you want that change. So it makes it easier, actually. So yeah.

Paul Salter (male):

And I’m curious to unpack a little bit. So obviously, our community is surrounded and filled with wonderful mothers who work multiple… whether it’s jobs in school, volunteer, this extracurricular or that, and here you are. I don’t know how many hours per week you work. And it’s a lot. And I was just curious. To someone out there listening who you as a mother, a grandmother, very active with your family, very active in your job, how do you make it all work? Because you have a very demanding job. From a time perspective, emotionally, mentally, and physically, what would you recommend to them to do a better job of putting themselves first?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Take baby steps. Don’t try to do everything all at once. One thing that I did was I knew I needed to prioritize myself, but what does that mean? You have to define it. My daughter’s in the community, and I don’t think she cares that I’m talking about her, but she’s one of those ones that tries to do everything at once. “I’ve got to hit the gym five days a week. And if I don’t hit the gym five days a week, I’m just not going to go.” You have to start somewhere. It starts with some structure. Do one thing at a time. And that’s what I did with the community is I knew that I needed to change some of my habits, but I did it one step at a time. I didn’t overwhelm myself because the second I overwhelm myself and one thing doesn’t go my way, until you’re really there and you can handle it, you tend to just give up, and then you just feel like this failure.

So for me, having the career that I have and the family that I have, I started one step at a time. I’m going to do one thing, whether it be I’m going to make Sundays my day, I’m going to meal prep, or I’m going to hit the gym two days a week, and then I’m going to do it for a couple of weeks, and then add another day. Paul and I have worked together very closely on, I’ve got to disconnect from this phone. I try to do it. Every day, I’m going to disconnect at 6:00 every night. Well, I failed because it was too aggressive. Well, let’s just try to do it two days a week. And from there you build upon it.

So my advice would be baby steps. This is not a sprint. You’ve been sprinting your whole life when you’ve tried to diet. Everybody does it. Everybody in eight weeks can drop 10 pounds, but it’s not sustainable. It’s not realistic. And you’re going to gain it back. You may gain it back twofold. And then you’re just going to be in this vicious cycle. So for me, I was ready for the marathon. I was tired of sprinting.

Paul Salter (male):

That’s such a great analogy. I will be stealing that. But well said there. And one quick follow-up question to that before I put the ball back in Micheala’s court, you’ve mentioned very strong, strong marriage and relationship with your husband, very active and involved mother and grandmother. What steps have you taken to communicate your goals with these very important people in your life? And the reason I ask is I hear so many times, “My spouse isn’t on board,” or, “My children don’t get it.” Yet at the same time, they want to be that role model modeling these healthy behaviors. What does that communication look like for you? Or how have you led by example?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

I have a really super supportive husband. I’ve been very fortunate. He works out just like I do. He’s actually doing 75 hard right now. So I’m supporting him. He and I have always meal prepped together. It really helps when you have that supportive partner. And I know not everybody else does, but on the flip side, I had to have some conversations with my mom, with my daughter, and just say, “Look. Every night at this time, I need my own time.” And I explained it to them, that I’m not the best version of myself either if I don’t put myself first in some degree. And when you have those conversations, they may not be happy, they may not understand, but they love you enough to really… They’re not going to abandon you. They’re not going to be like, “Oh. I’m not ever going to talk to you.”

There’s going to be frustrations or whatever. And my daughter has made some comments about that too. And she’s like, she said some things, but it’s just like, I have to do this for myself. And it ends up working itself out because at the end of the day, she’s my daughter, I’m her mom, and she understands. So you have to have the conversation. And it’s hard. That’s the hard part.

Paul Salter (male):

It is. And I appreciate you sharing that. But yeah, you’re absolutely right. You just have to tackle the situation head-on. And at the end of the day, they’re your closest people. They love you unconditionally and it all works out.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Yeah. And for me, I have supportive friends. I have to admit that there are some friends I probably don’t hang out with as much. And it’s just because different wavelengths, I don’t judge them, they don’t judge me, but it’s just different paths. And those have been hard things for me to realize, but I’ve been at this for a while that it’s just, “I’m on this journey. You’re on that journey. And I just am better over here than in that environment.” I’ve had to remove myself from a lot of negative environments, and that is huge, and that’s hard to do, but I did it, and I’m much happier and content and okay with it all.

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

Yeah. And it does show you the people that you should keep closest because those are the people that are going to support you and understand you. And I think a lot of times, it’s stories in our own head that we tell ourselves, like being scared that maybe our spouse won’t understand if we try to explain our goals to them. But if we actually take the time to do so, it’s like, they start to realize why it’s so important to you. And more times than not, they are on board supporting you. And if anything, you start inspiring them to make that change with you and you become closer. And it’s just that positive ripple effect. But yes, keeping your boundaries, clear communication, all of that is so important.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

I mean, I go to family functions and I take my food. My dad may make a little snide comment and I’m like, “I really don’t care anymore.” You just don’t care. You just get to that point of like… And he’s my dad. He just makes comments. I’m like, “Whatever.” But my mother-in-law and she invites us to dinner and she’s like, “Oh. You could bring your food.” So my whole family knows Rena brings her own food. And my husband, Jeremy he’ll bring his own food sometimes. But I’ve taken it to restaurants that I know it’s okay to take it to. I don’t expect people to do those things, but it works for me. Our entire family knows that my husband and I are… They think it’s a diet, but it’s not a diet. It’s a lifestyle change. And even some friends of mine, they still refer, “Are you still on that diet?” I’m like, “No, it’s a lifestyle change. It’s not a diet. I’m just making better food choices.”

Paul Salter (male):

I love what you’ve shared about your dad because I can relate so much. He always is quick to say something and he’s a jokester, which as you know, I joke and have a good time too. But he’ll always call me out and make a comment on what I’m doing with my food or my workouts when I’m home visiting. And I remember this one time, he was visiting me, and he came into my… Or he was not at my house. He was coming back from somewhere, and I had just made breakfast for everyone. I looked at my mom. I was like, “Over under, two minutes before he makes a comment on my plate.” It was just a big plate of eggs, an omelet. Took him seven seconds. We had the timer running before he goes, “Are you really going to eat all that?”

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Yeah. All of that stuff doesn’t bother me. My husband and I, we don’t drink. We’ve never been drinkers. And we enjoy eating the way that… We’re very bland too. That helps. I think you had posted something recently about bland foods. We’re as bland as it gets. I can literally eat the same thing over and over again and it doesn’t bother me. I know some people need flavor and variety, but it’s just easy for me. And I’ve been doing it so long that it doesn’t even bother me. But I’m that one that… We have events at work and stuff, and I don’t eat the food just because it doesn’t… It’s not that I don’t want to eat it. I just have no craving for it. I crave my food.

Paul Salter (male):

What’s your guilty pleasure if you could have… Are you sweet? Are you savory?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Anything peanut butter, [inaudible 00:32:41] jar and just eat the peanut butter, or cream cheese frosting. I’m a big cream cheese frosting person. I know you didn’t ask the question, but the positive changes, I think also that I’ve noticed here is letting go of that scale completely. We talked about letting go of the idea that I need to be a certain size to be the best version of myself, letting go of the idea that to be a good athlete or being fit, I had to train all the time. And you don’t have to do that. Letting go of the idea, I said, that food and exercise are transactional. Eating a piece of cake doesn’t mean that it requires 90 minutes of exercise. And then just letting go of the comparison, not to just other women, but things you see on social media, but to my former self.

Just because I looked this way when I was 20 doesn’t mean I should be comparing myself to when I was 20. I’m almost 50 years old. So things happen. Babies happen. Kids happen. Body changes. You’ve just got to be happy with where you’re at today. And the community’s helped me with that tremendously.

Paul Salter (male):

Fantastic.

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

That’s awesome. All right. Who would you recommend the 5% community to?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Right now, everybody goes in with weight loss in mind. It is what it is. Nobody goes in and goes, “I need a mindset change.” But if you really want long-term, sustainable results, you have 10 pounds to lose, 5 pounds to lose and you don’t want to regain it, you’ve got to get into this community. It’s a big, transformational change that doesn’t just include nutrition and diet, but a mental change. It’s going to help you sustain that goal that you’re after and not have to worry about stressful dieting. I think over time, dieting has almost hurt my metabolism. This yo-yo dieting, it’s been a constant roller coaster. You talk about it. Atkins to going down to a couple of hundred calories a day, doing crazy, insane workouts a day. I mean, just unhealthy dieting has probably hurt my metabolism today. That’s made it harder for me, I believe, to get to that goal.

But I got to the goal, and now I feel like I can sustain it because I have the right mindset, which I never had before. And I know the why behind the whole thing. I know why I’m doing something. It’s not just, “Oh. I want to lose 10 pounds.” Well, why do you want to lose 10 pounds? What’s that going to do to you not just physically but mentally?

Paul Salter (male):

Yeah. It’s really interesting too. There’s a lot of research that shows that someone who is a chronic yo-yo dieter, significant loss, significant [inaudible 00:35:33] somebody who is categorized as obese, the yo-yo dieter has an increased risk for cardiovascular disease among a handful of other risk factors than the person who had just maintained an obese weight for their life. And it’s just incredibly weird to think about. It seems backwards like this person’s been at a lower weight, then they’ve been higher, and their average might be a little bit lower, but that type of behavior in the depth of the effects of dieting, losing weight, regaining it on your metabolism, your emotion really leads to manifestation of disease, which is a terrible situation to be in.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

But I think what the 5% community’s done is you’ve really taught us that when you’re dieting, your macronutrients, that’s a huge thing that this community also does is you guys really teach us about the macronutrients, where you need to be with dieting, when you’re not dieting, where’s that sweet spot. How to also enjoy foods. I don’t look at foods anymore. It almost my skin crawl when people go, “Oh, my God. That’s a cheat. You can’t have that.” My family still does that. “Are you allowed to eat that?” And I’m like, “Well, yeah. It’s not as if I’m fending off from food.” But I like that. I think it was Cesna and our original group and the community. I love the fact that she calls them happy meals. It’s a happy meal. It’s not a cheat meal. It’s not a bad food. I don’t believe there’s any bad food out there. It’s a matter of portion controls and what works for you and what doesn’t work for you, that kind of stuff.

And that’s what the community also teaches. It’s not just about changing some of those habits, but also about your macronutrients and how to manage them when you’re not dieting, which I didn’t know any of that before. I just was like, “Okay. Tell me what I need to do to get to that number.” And then after that, what do you do? Nobody teaches you that. Nobody explains that to you. Yeah, you sign up for these dieting things or diet programs. But afterwards, what do you do? And it’s not just about pushing a number on an app. I mean, everybody can do that because I think there’s programs there that do help you with maintenance, but you guys explain it, and that’s the big difference is you explain it. You answer the questions. We have our weekly calls with you guys on Wednesdays, the fire calls. I mean, there’s real true content and education behind what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. And that’s tremendously helpful.

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

When you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, you’re more likely to do it.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Yep. Exactly. The why behind it all.

Paul Salter (male):

That was awesome, Rena. Thank you so much for those kind words and sharing that. Micheala, anything else you’d love to ask our wonderful guest today?

Micheala Barsotti (female host):

I guess the last thing I’d just like to ask you is for anyone out there that resonates with your story and then is currently struggling, what’s one piece of advice that you would say to them?

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

If you’ve been trying the same thing over and over again and it’s not working, don’t you think you owe it to yourself to try something different? What harm is it going to do? And for me, this is a huge investment in yourself, and I get it. But aren’t you worth it? I mean, you’re worth it. You’re worth putting money in whatever it is back into yourself in making yourself a priority. But I can’t tell you how much people just go through this vicious cycle and it’s like, it’s not working. So does it hurt to try something else? And you’re worth it. You are definitely worth it.

Paul Salter (male):

So well said. And we really appreciate that, Rena. We really appreciate you spending time with us today and being so willing to be courageous and vulnerable to share your story. Thank you.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Absolutely. I appreciate everything you guys are doing, everything you’re doing with the community, and I’m so happy to continue to be a part of it, and that I was actually invited to join it. So I appreciate it. Thank you.

Paul Salter (male):

Absolutely.

Rena Salamacha (Ep. 202 female):

Sorry. That’s my dog in the backyard.

Paul Salter (male):

No worries. Al’s made several appearances. But for everyone listening, thank you so much for tuning into another episode today. If you found this episode valuable, we would really appreciate it if you share it with somebody who would also find it valuable, who could also relate to some of the frustrations and challenges that Rena shared with us today. And of course, if you have not yet done so, both Micheala and I would greatly appreciate a genuine rating and review on Apple Podcast or wherever you are listening to this episode. Thank you again for listening and we will catch you in next week’s episode.