How Can Connection Help Overcome Binge Eating and Fuel Athletic Success? With Jane Pilger

In this episode of "Spirit of an Athlete," host Amanda Smith interviews Jane Pilger, a world-championship-qualified Ironman athlete and coach specializing in helping women overcome binge eating. Jane shares her journey in triathlons, detailing her training, significant injuries, and the role of faith in her athletic pursuits. She discusses her aspirations, including qualifying for the Boston Marathon, and the importance of prayer during runs. Jane also delves into her battle with binge eating, her podcast "Binge Breakthrough," and her upcoming book that explores the reasons behind binge eating and offers solutions.

In this Episode: 

• Jane Pilger's journey as an Ironman athlete and her experiences in triathlons.
• The significance of training methods and personal challenges faced by athletes.
• Jane's aspirations, including qualifying for the Boston Marathon.
• The role of faith and prayer in Jane's athletic pursuits.
• The impact of a significant cycling injury on Jane's athletic career and recovery.
• The relationship between disordered eating and significant life transitions, particularly for women.
• Jane's holistic approach to addressing binge eating and fostering healthier eating habits.
• The importance of connection with oneself and others in overcoming binge eating.
• Insights from Jane's upcoming book on binge eating and its underlying reasons.
• Encouragement for listeners to reflect on their own journeys and seek support in their health and wellness.

Please connect with Jane here: 

Email: hello@janepilger.com

Website: https://www.janepilger.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janepilgercoaching

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janepilgercoaching

Why do I binge quiz: https://www.janepilger.com/quiz

What to do after a binge: https://www.janepilger.com/after

Watch Spirit of an Athlete on YouTube!

Check out more from Amanda:
Website: Body Whisper Healing
Instagram: @Amanda.G.Smith
Facebook: Body Whisper Healing
Pinterest: AmandaGSmithBWH
LinkedIn: Amanda (Ritchie) Smith

Take the Gutsy Chick Quiz to find out how your athletic mindset might be holding you back from healing your chronic health issue: https://gutsychickquiz.com

Transcript

0:19

Welcome back to another episode of spirit of an athlete. I'm your host, Amanda Smith, and on this episode I interviewed Jane Pilger. She is a World Championships qualified Ironman woman. If that isn't impressive enough, she also helps women with binge eating. She also has a podcast called Binge Breakthrough and a quiz that we talk about at the end of the show. So stick around until then to find out about that. She also has a book coming out. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. And read more about the eight reasons why you binge and the solutions. Check it out right now. Jane Pilger, thank you so unbelievably much for being on spirit of an athlete with me. I have to ask, what inspired you to be an Iron Man woman? Well, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and for our conversation today. You know, I've got to say, I really the initial inspiration was never to do an Ironman triathlon. My one of my girlfriend, she called me and she was taking a class at a local college. And at the end of the class they she was going to participate in a sprint triathlon. And as she told me about it, I was like, that sounds amazing. I would love to do that. I wonder if there's something like that around here. And so I got online and I was searching and this was back and this was in 2002. So just getting online to look for something was not as easy As it is today. But I got online. I found a local sprint triathlon. I found a local master swimming group, I found a local running club, I found a bicycle and I decided I'm going to do that. And so that was my first triathlon back in 2002. And I mean, I, I got on the bike with my helmet on backwards. My husband was yelling at me, you're helmets on backwards. And so I stopped and I took it off and I put it on the right way. And then there was a traffic person with their hand out, and I thought he was telling me to stop. And so I was just waiting for him. And he's like, no, I'm trying to stop the traffic. You get on your bike and go, so that was my very first triathlon. But what happened was every single time I would do a race, I would think, oh, what else can I do? That was amazing. What else can I do? Either? Can I go faster? What could I potentially go longer? And so over time, I kind of just graduated into longer and longer events. And then at some point, probably after it was ten years, it was 2012 when I did my first Ironman. And so it was probably nine years before I decided, yes, I think I'm ready to take on the full Ironman distance. Oh my goodness, I love this. I love that that there was this graduation into it. I'm happy you didn't just go, I'm going to do an Ironman and and just go for it. There was training I'm guessing a lot of training. And you mentioned it was 2002. I'm pretty sure that was AOL dial up that we were dealing with at that time. Mhm. Pretty close. Oh Right. So how many Iron Man's have you participated in since then? Oh my gosh. You know what's funny is I lose track. I lose track of the numbers, I lose track of my even my times and those types of things. A lot of people remember these things, but I want to say I've done seven full, full Iron Man's and as far as a half Ironman distance, I mean, I've probably done maybe at least 30, maybe more, but I don't really I don't really keep track. I have all of my bibs from probably not the last 20 years, but I would say at least maybe I started 16 or 17 years ago keeping them all. I have them all on a big ring. Um, and so I love that, but I don't really count. Okay, that was number XYZ. You don't count because there's just too many. That's really what it boils down to. Okay, what's the difference? So let's educate the audience. What's the difference between an iron man and a half iron man. Wow. So. So an Ironman triathlon is a 2.4 mile swim. A 112 mile bike and then a marathon. So 26.2 mile run. And so you're your time basically is calculated from the time you get in the water that you start the swim until the time that you finish the run. So that's a full Ironman triathlon. And so a half Ironman is half that distance. So 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. And my brain's just going no, no, no, my brain stops at the swim. Actually, you and I talked about this in the pre-interview, but any time I've ever contemplated doing anything like this, it's a hard stop when it comes to the swim. But you've you educated me about how the swim has changed from when you first did it till now. Please share. Yes. So when I first did my first Ironman in 2012, it was Ironman Canada. We were in Penticton, British Columbia, and we all there were, I want to say there were about 2800 of us. Maybe we all started at the same time. So cannon goes off every single. We were just in this huge long line along the beach, and we all started at the same time, which is it's pretty nerve racking, quite honestly. I mean, there's just kind of people everywhere and arms everywhere. Um, and it can be it can be challenging. Well, what they've done over the last I would say, I don't know when they started it, maybe 5 or 6, maybe five years ago, something like that. They started changing the start of the swim. So instead of now being a mass start, they do what's called a rolling start and it's a self seated. So you put yourself in line based on your predicted finish time. And so what that does is it has the faster swimmers get in the water first. And then based on your predicted time, you kind of place yourself. So ideally you're swimming with people that are close to your same ability. So what it does is it prevents the really fast people from swimming over the top of the slower people. Um, and it just makes it a lot safer in the water for everybody. And so then what they do your time, you wear a timing chip on your on your ankle, and your time starts when you get in the water. So whether you are one of the first people in the water or you're one of the very last people on the water, you all have the same amount of time to finish the race and your time at the finish line. There's a running clock and so you'll see the running clock. But you know, that's not actually my time because I started, you know, unless you happen to start in the very first, you were one of the first people in the water. You just know your time is actually going to be different. So so what they do is there's maybe 4 or 5 people go in the water at a time like every 3 to 5 seconds. So they just gradually kind of it's almost like gently pouring people into the water instead of just dumping them all in there at once. It's it really is a much better it's much better for everybody involved. I could imagine, and I'm sad that they didn't think of that when I was thinking about doing something like this. Which event is your favorite and are you one of the first people in the water? Um, I am not one of the first people in the water. I am a strong swimmer, though I do. I do love the swim. Um, so I'm one of, I mean, I, I, I put myself towards the front, but I'm not in the very front. Uh, I'm a strong swimmer. I love the swim. Actually, what's really interesting about this, when if I think about my journey over, uh, my journey to doing this, I've always been reasonably comfortable in the pool. I swam on the swim team when I was younger, but I had a lot of fear in open water when I first started doing this. And we would go to the lake and I would try to put my face underwater and just, you know, I would really kind of hyperventilate. I had a lot of fear. I had a lot of nervousness. Um, and it really just took getting out there over and over again and just doing it multiple times to to now I'm very comfortable in it. But for a long time there was actually interesting. My husband and I, we train and race together a lot, which is amazing. When we started he had this very he had a lot of comfort in open water, but he wasn't really the he didn't really swim on swim team. So in the pool, I had a lot more comfort than he did. I was actually faster than him in the pool, but we would get into open water and with his wetsuit and his comfort in open water, he would be flying and I would be really nervous. And so it's interesting for me to kind of reflect back on how much more comfort I have now in open water than, than I really ever, ever used to. so. It's a skill. You got to build it, right? Yeah, yeah. So is swimming your favorite event of the three? You know, I, I don't know the swim and the bike. I love them both. I'm I'm fairly strong at both the swim and the bike. I really enjoy them both for for different reasons. I'm working on falling in love with the run and just working on having as much confidence in the swim and the bike that I as much confidence as I do on the swim in the bike. I'm working on having that much confidence on the run. So that's my that is my current, uh, growth edge. Uh, in the, in the sport right now. I love that. Okay. What are you doing to give yourself that edge when it comes to the run? Yeah. So great question. I'm actually, uh, my current goal right now is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Um, it is for sure. Uh, on that it is on the edge of my capability. I think it's it's possible, but it will take a lot of work and a lot of things coming together physically and emotionally for me to do it. So I ran my first attempt to qualify at the end of April and was not successful. So I have another attempt coming at the end of August. And so what I'm doing is, you know, I'm working with I'm working with my own coach. I'm surrounding myself with friends and runners who are faster than I am. I had a I had a workout this past weekend that had some kind of tough speed work in it that I was very much finding myself thinking, oh, I don't know if I can. I don't know if I can do it, I don't know if I can hold it. And, um, I was talking to a friend about it and she offered to, to help me. So we went out together. She really kind of like, walked me through. She gave me some tips. She encouraged me. You know, she kind of helped me believe in myself in those moments when I, uh, you know, might want to doubt myself. So I think there's just so much in surrounding yourself and other people who can believe in you when your own belief wanes, because I just think as humans, we're all going to have those moments. And, um, and then just being having people to be honest with about our doubts and our worries and our insecurities, because I also think it's so human and so normal for all of us to have that. And I think so many people, myself included, we try to keep it to ourselves because we don't want other people to think like that. We're not strong or we don't have it together or whatever that those are. Those are some of my own personal thoughts. But what I have found is like when I can share that vulnerability and the doubt and the uncertainty with other people, then, number one, it gets out of my head and then they can help me see things that I just can't always see on my own. Well, I'm seeing a little sign right behind you that I'm, I'm guessing probably plays a role in this as well. So it says trust in the Lord. Yeah. That piece of the puzzle. How does that come in? Especially during the run. Yes. Oh my gosh I you know I really think what's so what I think is so amazing about it is like the, I think part of having the challenge of the run and the challenge in my own kind of like belief in myself as a runner is I've really kind of had to like, figure out how do I get through these really challenging times when I just want to walk or I think I can't do it or whatever, and I don't even know how it started. But years ago, I started praying while I ran, and I would go out on long runs and I would just use it as my prayer time. And it has since turned into it's almost like my own little ministry. So what I do is before I have any before any race, I post on my social media. Hey, I'm getting ready to do this. Run. Um, I pray during the run. And so if you have any prayer requests, please send them to me. And I have a list for every single race. Here's all the prayer requests that were sent to me, and I will end up with just a huge list of prayer requests, often things I didn't even know about people who reach out to me. Um, you know, in a separate private message to let me know of something that is very much in need of prayer. And so I start the run. Sometimes I'll I'll start on the bike, too. It depends. If my list is really long, I'll start before the run. But, um, gosh, I'll start on the. I always at least start on the run. And I just tell God I'm like, all right, you make my feet go, and I'm just going to pray with you like, this is kind of your run. And we are just going to we're just going to have a conversation. And I literally spend the entire time in prayer. I have specific miles that are for specific people. The last mile is always for my family, my husband, um, have other certain miles that are for specific people. I always wonder who's going to get the first prayer. Like, I never really know, but God does. And it's always interesting to me to see, you know, kind of who gets the first prayer. And when I'm in those really challenging times, I can remember I was doing, um, Ironman Coeur d'Alene one year. They were having a crazy heat wave. It was like 107 degrees outside. It was so hot. And I remember just just like wanting to quit and wanting to stop. But I was praying for this man that I swim with. His daughter was going through a third round of chemo and breast cancer. And she had she had several more treatments ahead of her. And I remember just thinking, this is going to be over in just in a few hours, this is going to be over. And her journey is not going to be over anytime soon. Like, you can do this. So a lot of times that like that Really taking the focus off of myself and off of my pain and my discomfort and whatever little thing is related to the race itself. And being able to just kind of bring that into prayer for other people has been just a really, really powerful part. And I have people who are like, oh, I was waiting for your prayer request post or um, and I and I will often then follow up with people afterwards to let them know specifically what I prayed for. Or, um, it's just a it really has become a really powerful part of just my process. I love that, and you are. You're inspiring me to do something similar when I am at my powerlifting meets, especially because those are all day events, I. I have the time. Yes, I might as well dive in and I oh, thank you for sharing that. And and thank you for doing that and Probably inspiring a lot of other people now to do something similar. So cheers for that. Oh my. Wow. And I mean, that is just it literally has been a God thing. I mean if, if, if there was I don't even remember how it happened. But if there was ever any spark of a, oh, you know, it would be great. It certainly came from the Holy Spirit. You know, it definitely is. Not even I just can't even take any credit for it. But it's been it has been. So it's been such a powerful thing for me as well as for so many other people. So, um, yeah, it's it's great. It's your faith that brought that into your life. And that is beautiful. Yeah. Okay. Wiping tears, calming it down. You fractured a part of you. Yes. Qualifying or attempting to qualify for the world champions for Iron Man. What happened? Yes. So. Oh my goodness, I was. This was November 19th, 2019. I was in Arizona, um, writing down a pretty steep hill with my husband. I was on his wheel, like, just right behind him. And we were. It was it was an an open, open area that had it was basically like an open pasture. So there were there are cows out there and usually you see them off in the distance. But in this particular instance there was a cow on the side of the road and I didn't see it. My husband was ahead of me. He saw it and and he made eye contact with his cow. And then all of a sudden the cow literally crossed the road he started. He or she started walking across the road right in front of where we were coming down the hill, 25, 30 miles an hour. And so my husband yelled out cow! But I all I heard was just that he was yelling something and so he put on the brakes to avoid hitting the cow. He did not hit the cow, by the way. But, um, I ended up hitting his rear wheel. And so I went down a pretty hard and, uh, ended up fracturing my pelvis. Oh, yeah. How was the recovery for that? Oh, it was really challenging. Really, really challenging. I remember, you know, this was also. So this was November 2019. And then we kind of went into Covid and just before that in August. So three months before this happened, I had qualified for my first world championships at the half Ironman distance. And this is this was going to be in New Zealand in in December of 2020, of course. And I remember um, I remember it happened and I remember thinking, okay, I am going to I'm going to recover, I'm going to do all of this. And I, I, I held this vision of myself racing in the half Ironman World Championships. It was going to be like one year and one week later, I think was was when the New Zealand World Championships were supposed to be. And I held this vision for myself. And with Covid, obviously it didn't happen, but I was almost so glad that it didn't happen because there's no way my body was not ready. I it really it took me probably over a year to, over a year to, to really heal and recover. And the, the, the healing of the fracture itself wasn't too bad. It was not displaced. So it healed by itself. But what I never understood is just how many muscles attached to the pelvis. It's a lot. And so I had this situation where all of those muscles were once they kind of came back online, then my the other side of my body that had been doing double time while the one side was injured, then that side of my body was like, okay, we're done. We've now overcompensated to try to help. And so then I went through. I had months of then healing the that side. So I had a lot of compensating and, and everything else to, to really kind of adapt and try to heal from. But I did spoiler alert I did. I was able to overcome that, and I was able to qualify for um, for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, actually. And it was at that. It was at that race that I was talking about in Coeur d'Alene, where I was 100, and whatever degrees it was at that race that, uh, that I qualified for the for the first time. And so it was really just a just an incredible experience. They didn't qualify for the half Ironman. You qualified for the full Ironman. Qualified for the full Ironman. Yes. Okay. So I yeah, I qualified for the full Ironman. And I ended up I raced there in Kona in 2022. And then I went back to Coeur d'Alene in 2023. Last year I went back to Coeur d'Alene to try to qualify again, and I did. I qualified, so I called. I qualified for Kona twice. I went back to Kona last year, last October and during. So I got I got through mile 15.5 on the run and I ended up rolling my ankle like severely rolling my ankle, and I wasn't able to finish. I tried to walk on it for four miles and I just couldn't. I just couldn't do it anymore. And so, um, so I pulled out. So I did not I did not finish Kona last year, which was it was such a roller coaster of emotions. It was at the same. It was heartbreaking, of course, to get there and to not finish. And I also just knew there's no way that I can get to the finish line without causing further damage to myself, which I'm just refused to do for a race. And I was so grateful that I had the finish line experience from the year before, so I knew what that was and I had that. And then I could also just know I was making the right decision for myself. You qualified for worlds, but it doesn't sound like you went. Is that right? So in New Zealand. Yeah. Not the New Zealand from from uh, Covid, but after that was that in New Zealand also. So the, the Ironman World Championships were in Kona. The two that I qualified were in Kona. So I did both of those. Okay. But then what's, what's interesting about the, the, the half Ironman World Championships that I qualify for, qualified for in New Zealand back in August of 2019 that were supposed to take place in 2020. They are they have been deferred every year because of Covid until this year. They are finally happening in in New Zealand. They've had them in other locations. But this New Zealand race specifically has been pushed off and pushed off and pushed off because of Covid. And it's finally happening this year. So this year on December 15th, I will be in Taupo, New Zealand for the Half Ironman World Championships. Oh, gosh. Yeah. Okay. That just wow. Ah, yeah. Ah. So I'm going to guess New Zealand's probably going to be the farthest you've traveled for this sport. Is that. True. Or if it will be the farthest. Yes. I have been to British Columbia. I have also been to Spain, um, for this sport. But I've been to two different places in Spain and two different places in British Columbia. But New Zealand will absolutely be the farthest. Yes. That's that's a dream of mine. I yes, I qualified for worlds in powerlifting in January of 2020 and it was in Germany. And that's a country that I definitely want to go to, but still have yet to be in that country. Yeah. And then the next year it was in Australia. And that's a whole nother story for me. But being an international athlete, that's so cool. It is so cool, so cool, so cool. Agreed. All right. So yeah, on the other side of what you do in the world, you have your own podcast and you coach people. What's your podcast and what do you coach people on? Yeah. So my my podcast is called Binge Breakthrough. And I specifically coach people on binge eating. So I have my own very long history, 25 plus year history of binge eating disorder. My very first binge was my first semester in college, which is not uncommon at all for many people going through just that transition period in life. And I spent a long time trying to figure out how to stop. And I remember telling myself, if I ever figure this out, I am going to help other people do the same thing. And it really was a very long journey of, you know, I went through two rounds of eating disorder treatment intensive outpatient therapy here locally, um, therapists, podcasts, books, you name it, all of the things. And through everything, it's almost like through every, like, race, right? We learn something new, you figure something out, and then there's always, like, another piece. But for me, there was like this very big missing piece of the puzzle that would have me like, I would be okay for a while, and then I would start bingeing again. I would be okay for a while, and then I would start bingeing again and I could. I just felt so broken and I couldn't really figure out, like, what is wrong with me, that I can't do this? What is wrong with me that I'm so in control and every other area of my life and I have it all together, and people would look at me and just be like, wow. But yet I have this deep, dark secrets that I would just be mortified for anybody to know. And what I really discovered was that so much of that, like missing piece for me, was really around understanding the nervous system and that I didn't have safety and trust with myself and with food, lots of foods. And so really, once I learned how to work with myself and cultivate that safety in that trust, then that's like when everything really shifted for me and I was like, okay, now this is what I really want to help other people understand. And it's like, once you can understand it, you have this completely different view of it. Instead of just needing it and wishing it just was not a part of your life and would just go away. So that's the work I do in the world now. And I mean, it's incredible. I literally have client talk about like internationally, I have clients from all over the world. Um, and it's just it's amazing, powerful work that I feel very privileged to do. The statistic that you highlighted. I want to I want to share that one again. First year of college. Big transition point in life. We're trying to figure out who the heck we are. And then all of a sudden disordered eating not just binge eating but any any version of that. Yes. Do you know what the statistic is? You know, I don't offhand, I don't I, I am sure I have read it, but I don't. But here's, here's the thing that's actually it's it is high. And here's what's fascinating to know is there are specific times in life that a person is much more likely to develop disordered eating sometimes kind of make sense. And other times you're like, oh my gosh. And the last one I'm going to tell you will surprise you, likely will surprise you. So number one is around kind of the teenage years. So when we have our hormones are changing, right. Like our bodies are changing, our hormones are changing. We don't really like being in this body. That is different. We're starting to get attention. There's so many messages and all of that. So kind of around the teen years is is like one of the very first times. Not really surprising that when we go to college, that transition time from college, you're away from your primary attachments, your primary relationships. Like you said, you're kind of trying to figure out who you are. You don't have anybody looking over your shoulder and kind of telling you what to do. So sometimes there can be some rebellion there, but you're also trying to fit in the last time. That is super common. That really surprises a lot of people, is around the age. I don't know how old you are, but around the age that I am is in our when again our hormones start shifting. So we get into the perimenopause and the menopausal years. Yep. And so hormones, I mean hormones, the shift in hormones is going to change our bodies. It just that's How bodies work. And so it makes sense that it happens in kind of those teenage years. But what we don't really see is how it makes sense that it happens in these later years. So there is a pretty big prevalence of disordered eating around the time of perimenopause and menopause, especially for women, because our bodies are changing so much. So we see our bodies and it's like, oh my gosh, what is happening? I need to change this. I need to fix this. And so that can really become a very prevalent time for really any sort of disordered eating in women specifically. I would think that by the time we get to that age, it's more of a binge situation than it is a bail situation. Yeah, for a lot of. People it is. And we also have what happens, especially with women in those later years. I will just use, you know, my I'll just say, like myself, I am I'm 40, 48, I'll be 49 before too long. And but we have this very long history of dieting and this very long history. So for myself, you know, I have this long history of very, like, very highly restrictive eating and also a long history of binge eating. So there's kind of like the pendulum. I like to think about it as like you, you swing on the pendulum from restrictive eating to, you know, the binge eating. You kind of get in that cycle. Well, if my body and my brain and my nervous system know she has tried to, like, literally starve me to death on multiple occasions, when my brain, my body, my nervous system gets a whiff that that is coming again. It's like, no, no, no, never again. And so this is why when you've been able to so a lot of times people will be like, I don't understand why I can't diet like I used to. I used to be able to go on a diet. I used to be able to pull this stuff out of my food, and I could do it for weeks or months on end, and now I can do it for like a day, and then I'm in the pantry, or I'm in the drive thru, or I'm eating an entire dozen donuts. Whatever it is, it's because your body has those memories and it's like, no, no, no, you will not do that to me again. Okay. So that we have that like when we're younger, we don't have all of that. Like those kind of like memories. We're kind of still we're still just creating all of that. So it's it's a really interesting time in life. And so you have these very natural things going on in the body. But between that and then the inability to quote unquote, diet like you used to makes then you feel even more broken. Out of control. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yeah. We see a lot at that age frame. It's what we saw in the last generation was a lot of yo yo dieting. Right. And and now we're seeing trends of like, okay, let's do keto. And it's it's kind of extreme and unsustainable. And we're seeing those patterns over and over. You're really, uh, shedding some light on it for me right now. So thank you for that. It's it's interesting to hear it because I know in my family that that was a time when my mom was going through perimenopause, and she had no idea that that we saw those kinds of yo yo dieting trends with her. And I've talked about that on the podcast, but also that that binge and bust situates. Yeah. That's epigenetics in me. And I'm starting to catch myself doing little things like that now because I'm in perimenopause 42. So right there with you and yeah, it's really interesting to think of it in that, in that pendulum perspective. So thank you for that. So I am I am no I am no proponent of weighing yourself, but I will give a statistic in that the average woman gained like naturally with the changes in hormones and the changes in their body, the average woman will naturally gain 7 to £9 through just as a result of shifting and changing hormones. Um, but. What happens is so what happens is that women will see this shift upwards in weight and they'll think, oh my gosh, they panic. Exactly. And then I've got to fix this. So one then what do they do? They they end up putting themselves on that restrictive binge cycle. And because of that, they end up gaining way more than the 7 to £9 that truly, literally are just a natural effect of the shift in Hormones in your body. It's truly if if we, you know, we go back and we think about what happened between when I hit puberty and when I went to high school. Right. Or if you got your period in high school when you went to college. It's that window of time where we gained weight. Yes. But we were also like, oh, well, that's boobs and a butt, right? Yeah. For some of us. I gained one of those and not the other. But later in life that shifted. But it's it's it's, you know, recognizing oh that happened then why not recognize it again in this time frame and, and be open to it and allowing for it. Because ultimately and this is this goes back to understanding what the body does. Our estrogen wants to be in fat cells. And because our body is slowing down the production of estrogen, it's got to store somewhere so that we can use it, continue to use it through the rest of our lives. So it is just that natural progression of gaining weight. Now, I think this is where I'm looking at, like, what have I seen on the scale for me? And it's been like £5 every year and I'm like starting to panic. But I also know epigenetics. I've got things to deal with because of my lineage and what my DNA has been thrown at. And from an emotional perspective, what my DNA has been put through. And I know I can reverse that. And that's that's kind of one of those beautiful things I know I can. The the buck stops here with me. My daughter is not going to experience this. Hopefully. I'm sure she'll have some pieces of that, but I'll at least be armed to help her in the future. I'll carry and bear that torch. Absolutely. Yeah. I am just a huge proponent of when it comes to really figuring out what do I want for my life, what do I want my eating to look like. I am a huge proponent. The three words that I just shout from the rooftops is eat in a way that feels nurturing, supportive, and sustainable. It's like it has to be all three. Yes. Is it nurturing? Is it supportive? Is it sustainable and supportive for whatever it is that you're doing in life? Whether you're doing an Ironman, whether you're doing powerlifting competitions, whether you are running around chasing after your grandkids, whether you are gardening, whatever it is, is it supportive for the life you want to live and does it feel nurturing and is it sustainable? And if not, there's a lot of reasons why we eat in ways that aren't nurturing, supportive and sustainable. And none of those reasons are because you're broken. None of them. But there are a lot of good reasons. And so if we can kind of then see, oh, okay, if there's a good reason, then let me look. I like to see when we when we binge, I, I call binges. There are lights on the dashboard. They tell us something is going on under the hood that we need to look at, so we don't have to, like go and change the take out the food or change what we're eating. Oh, we need to see what's causing the lights to come on in the first place. When we address that, then we can get to a way of eating that is nurturing, supportive, and sustainable without having to just only look at what, when and how much we're eating, which is not actually addressing what's causing those lights to come on in the first place. Oh my gosh, I love that analogy. It's like all of a sudden I have to remove the engine and replace it with a new engine. Like what? Right. Yes. And I think a lot of people just like, it's almost like they just put a duct tape over the dashboard. It's kind of like what they're trying to do. Yeah. Oh, could you imagine driving like that? I'm pretty sure if you got pulled over, that wouldn't go well. Right? Oh my God. And your car's still going. This is the thing. If you did that, your car is still going to break down. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. It's still runs. Not well. For some period of time, but. Yeah yeah, yeah. Oh, Jane I love that. I love that nurturing. What was the second one. And sustainable. Supportive. Okay. So when when when I'm repeating those words in my head and one of them slips out, that's the one that I know I'm not doing. So maybe. Uhhuh. No, no, that was the one right there. Nurturing, supportive. Sustainable. Thank you for sharing. All. Everything that you've shared with us. Yes, we know you have the podcast. I want to mention that one more time, but where else can people find you? Yeah. So you can find me on my website at Jane Pilger dot com. Uh, I also have a I'm also on Substack And on Substack. Right now, my Substack is called The Peaceful Eater, but it might be getting a name change, but you can look for, um, I'll give you the link to the Substack, which even if the name changes, the URL won't change. So I'll give you that for the show notes. But that's a great place for to read about if you're interested in anything, whether it's whether it's the food aspect, whether it's the athletic aspect, a really kind of share all of that. My journey. Um, and that's a, that's a great place to, to kind of just follow along. The binge on. Jane. Yes. If you. Want to. Yes. If it feels nurturing and supportive. Right. Yeah. And sustainable. Yes. Uh. You also have a quiz. Tell us a little bit about your quiz because I'm in the process of launching mine. I'm so excited. And I love finding out that other people have quizzes. Yes, yes I do. So I developed a quiz. A lot of people, especially people who binge, they're like, why? Why do I binge? Why do I do this? And so I developed a quiz to just help give you a sense and an idea of why you binge. So in the quiz, I have kind of four primary reasons why people binge. And so you can go to Jane Pilger dot com slash quiz and take the why do I binge quiz. And it will just give you a sense of, again, it's like those things that are happening under the dashboard that are under not under the dashboard under the hood, that might make the those lights, those binge lights come on. Oh my gosh I love it. Yeah. So you'll get that result. And then you'll also get um when you once you receive the result, you'll also get some emails from me with some suggested based on this. Here's some suggestions. Here's a few things you can do right now. Here's some questions you can ask yourself. Here's a specific podcast episode that will help with that. So then once once you get your answer, then you'll also get some additional resources. And support. For that in that very specific area. I thank you. Thank you for the work that you do to help support people. Especially this audience. If you're noticing that you're a binge eater. Go check out what Jane has in store for you to help you better understand what the heck is going on under the hood. Well. I also want to say, if you're listening and you're like, oh, I can resonate with sometimes, like not eating in ways that I would like, but I don't really binge like, I don't I don't really resonate with that. I highly encourage you to listen anyway. Almost everything that I talk about really applies to any sort of disconnected eating is really kind of what I call it is like if you disconnect with food in any way, what I talk about on the podcast will be supportive and nurturing for you to just kind of figure out why, like, why do I do that? Why do I disconnect with food? Even if it's like, oh, I don't really binge. But yes, I for sure disconnect. Sometimes though, there is a lot of resource and support for you there. All right. One last thing I have to bring up. Yeah. You're writing a book. Yes. Tell us about your book. I am, you know, it's very in the very early stages. So but it's going to be about literally it will be about binge eating. It will be about really the reasons why. Um, in the podcast, in the very first few episodes of the podcast, the Binge breakthrough podcast, the very first one is really just my story. And then I talk about the eight reasons why we binge. And each reason has its own solution. So the eight reasons and the eight solutions I'm that the book is going to be about the reasons and and the solutions, the reasons we disconnect with food and, and and how we can kind of reconnect with ourselves. It really is about when we binge, when we disconnect with food. It really is a way to disconnect from our experience, right? Whether it's disconnecting from our emotions, disconnecting from our body, disconnecting from some other people, whatever it is we. I used to say that when I would binge, it was literally like turning the lights off on myself. And, you know, there's not a lot of ways that we can do that. And a lot of us figure out, oh, here's a way that I can kind of unplug from myself and unplugging it. Unplugging yourself really isn't that in of itself isn't bad sometimes. It's actually a really good strategy. But if we can find strategies to kind of unplug that don't have the consequences that binge eating does, that's really kind of a much better approach if we can not if, but when we can get there. So the book is really going to be about like those eight reasons the eight solutions really understanding, oh, this is why. And then this is what I can do to kind of work on reconnecting. I love that. Ah, yes. Stay embodied. That's. I mean, if we can stay embodied while we're doing things that are inputs to our self. Yeah. Then then we've figured it out. Yes. I, I really say that if if the closest thing to a magic pill that you can get for binge eating or disconnecting with food in any way, if it's all about disconnection, then the answer is connection. So the closest thing to a magic pill you can get is connection. Connection with yourself. Connection with your body, connection with other people. And it sounds. It is simple, but it is not easy for so many reasons. Yes, yes. Yeah. It's like making friends in your 40s. It's not easy. Yeah. No it's not, it's not. Ah, Jane, thank you so much for being on and sharing your journey as an iron man, woman, key man, woman hater, anyone? Little rascals. But. An Iron man woman, as well as the work that you do in the world around binge eating. Thank you. Thank you Amanda. Thanks for having me. I've enjoyed, uh, chatting with you today. Same. Thanks for listening to spirit of an athlete podcast. If you're struggling with your own gut issues and want more direction, you can get an initial body scan from Amanda at Body Whisper Healing Comm. In 20 minutes, you can find out what's wrong. Get clarity. Map the path forward. You get on track to get back in your game. If this episode hits the spot, please let us know by rating, reviewing, and sharing it with a friend. Subscribe now to hear more inspiring stories from other female college athletes who overcame their health issues. Want more Amanda? Get inspired by finding more at Body Whisper healing.com.