The Modern LeadHer Way

[109] Finding Your Way: Identity Shifts and GLP-1 Medications

Emma Clayton

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What happens when we stop viewing weight management as simply a matter of willpower and start seeing it as an opportunity for profound identity transformation? In this deeply personal episode, I pull back the curtain on what my journey with GLP-1 medications has to do with business, and the conversations they've sparked about shame, health, and authentic leadership.

After years of studying nutritional therapy and mind-body eating psychology, I know sustainable change isn't about quick fixes - it's about becoming a new version of yourself. After all, the medications themselves don't do all the heavy lifting; they simply create a window of opportunity where we can establish new habits, process emotions differently, and fundamentally shift how we see ourselves.

This episode explores the full-circle moment I'm experiencing as I prepare to launch new resources for those using GLP-1 medications who want to approach their journey with intention, health, and sustainability. Drawing on my experience creating the Food Freedom Academy years ago, I'm developing a comprehensive program that addresses not just the physical aspects of weight management, but the emotional, mental, and identity elements that create lasting change.

The Modern Leader Way has always been about finding your unique path forward - one that honours your whole self rather than conforming to external expectations. Whether in your career, business, relationships or your health journey, true leadership begins with self-knowledge and the courage to follow what lights you up, even when it doesn't match conventional definitions of success.

Ready to approach your health journey with confidence and clarity? Join the waitlist for my upcoming "No Bullshit GLP-1 User's Guide" here: https://www.emmaclaytonxo.com/f/mj-support-waitlist

Together, let's remove the shame and create sustainable transformation that stays with you long after the medication ends.

If you're open to completing my survey in the name of research for this project, please find it here: https://forms.gle/XZxU5F2RGtVnLZ727 

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Speaker 1:

This is the Modern Leader Way the podcast for ambitious, driven career women who want to feel good on the way to the top. I'm Emma Clayton and I'll be sharing with you tangible advice to help you stop sacrificing your soul in the name of success and experience more balance, confidence and fulfilment both in and out of work. Hello, welcome back to the Modern Leader Way work. Hello, welcome back to the Mom Leader Way. I am coming at you a little bit raw today with some insights off the back of a lot of activity that's happened since last week's episode and just generally since the weekend and a number of conversations that I've been having with friends and clients and just people in my DMs all around the subject of the glp1 medications, whether that's manjaro, we go v or a zen pic. I am having more and more conversations off the back of you know my openness to talk about this um in a way that is hopefully empowering for others listening that might have carried some shame into their own journey, purely because people out there are judgmental. Right, there are a lot of people with opinions on this and I face potentially a lot of backlash by talking about this and thankfully I haven't had that yet in the same way that I haven't actually seen a lot of horror stories, because it's just not in my sphere of awareness, because I am deciding to approach it very positively and that serves me, right. That's, that's what I see more of out there in my feed, in the news and all that kind of thing. So, um, yeah, I just wanted to come with some fresh thoughts around um this topic and what I am like really passionate about and yet another full circle moment that I find myself in and I have a lot of these, as you'll probably imagine. If you've been listening for some time now, you would have heard me talk about full circle moments. And it's so fascinating that my coach because I generally have a coach myself my coach in business, slash, body, slash, self-expression the incredible Carrie Russell, who's been on the podcast earlier this year talking about using your voice in a very authentic way. She reminded me of something recently because I had a bit of a let's call it a Debbie Downer. Like we do, we're human, right we can't be happy all the time.

Speaker 1:

It was cycle related. It was coming off the back of like a really busy period where I was helping out my friends with their food truck. I was physically tired. I was coming into my menstrual cycle and, yeah, just really feeling it, and um, it was followed, thankfully, by a period of time at my sister's, which was, um, kind of welcome. Actually, that was all offline. I had to cancel and reschedule all my calls that week because I just couldn't get on zoom. Um, I couldn't actually download the podcast episode or upload the podcast episode until I got home, which is why it was a little bit late last week. But you know what, it was all good.

Speaker 1:

Once I'd accepted that, I kind of just thought well, it's the universe sending me a sign that I need to chill out, relax, kick back and just see what breakthrough is going to come through this latest breakdown Because that's what it feels like when you're in the moment. Right, it really did feel like a breakdown. I was actually having an existential crisis where I was like talking about potentially looking for jobs and going back to corporate, just because I didn't feel like I was cut out for it anymore. And, yeah, like, honestly, this happens, this is a cycle, it's a pattern that I have recognized in myself, and what Carrie reminded me of was that always, always, when I have these little meltdowns, the breakthrough just brings so much more clarity and confidence in my next moves, and so the key for me is to not get sucked into the doldrums, right? Don't get sucked into the debbie down when it's here. Just embrace it, just let it flow through me, just ride that wave, knowing that these two shall pass, and on the other side of this will be great clarity to be had.

Speaker 1:

And so I guess some of the the conversations that I've had kind of since then and over the weekend were really around what other people see in me and as a two line in human design. It is very difficult for us two lines to see what we're really good at and I think I've got a lot better at this and human design has actually really helped me with that at. And I think I've got a lot better at this and human design has actually really helped me with that. So I know I'm a really good fricking listener. Like when you get on a one-to-one call with me, I am listening on a level that you perhaps haven't been listened to before. I will listen to what you're not saying as well as what you do say.

Speaker 1:

I listen with a real open heart, and actually what that does oftentimes is it invokes emotion in people, like it brings up emotion and they're able to bring it out because they feel very safe and secure in my holding of the space. And this was reflected back to me actually in three calls that I had. I offered a free coaching call in the week that I had some time before my Debbie Downer actually, and I jumped on the call with three different ladies at different times and you know a couple of them actually had tears and they had just met me, didn't know me before, might have been following me, but certainly didn't know me, hadn't had a conversation before, and they were surprised by how that emotion came up and out of them so easily. And I'm like I know that that's part of my human design. So I know I'm not surprised when that happens now and I can actually hold the space really beautifully so that they don't feel any shame, but they actually just get to liberate that emotion and leave the call feeling so much lighter. So that's something I know like I used to think I was quiet in rooms, but I now see that I was very observant, very I was a very good listener and you know I'm able to really reflect back to the person once they finish processing what I see for them and connect the dots for them, and that's a really powerful thing in my arsenal, if you like, that I use in my work. And then there's other things that just come very naturally to me and I guess one of the qualities that can sometimes bite me in the bum is that I am determined Like I am a real determined person.

Speaker 1:

I'll never forget I was in Australia with my friend Bridget, who I met when I was like 18 and we kind of were estranged friends for a while when she went back to Australia and then we reconnected and we went and saw her in 2015 I think it was last time we were in Australia and it was really beautiful because we went out for the day on a reservoir lake and with their speedboat, their wakeboarding boat, and I really wanted to have a go, but I struggled to stand up on the board. So we had many, many, many, many, many many failed attempts, many, many, many probably 40, 50 plus attempts of the boat being powered up and me not quite getting myself out of the water before I let go. But I was determined. I was like, no, we are not leaving until I have got up on this board and I got up on that board and I have never felt so liberated and freaking amazing. And I'm so glad that I pushed on through and my friend was like my God, you're a determined little stubborn shit, and I know this about myself.

Speaker 1:

When I set myself my sights on something, I am determined and I also have to know when to let something go right. And for me, have to know when to let something go right. And for me, there are a few things that I have been gripping onto in my business, which is coming up for eight years now, like it's nearly eight years since I left corporate, and one of them is speaking to the version of me that was in corporate eight years plus ago and that will make sense to those of you that are in business and talk to clients through marketing and things like that. And if not, then basically then what that means is I'm still trying to solve problems for my clients that were the same as what I had when I was working in corporate.

Speaker 1:

So the imposter syndrome piece, the never feeling good enough, not being able to use my voice in the boardroom, not being able to speak up and say no when I meant no, and I just take on more and I would overwork and overgive and people, please, and all those things and, to be honest, I couldn't be further away from that version of myself anymore, and so for me to keep on talking about that stuff it doesn't feel aligned, like I can absolutely help women that are still there and I do like I do all the time, but it's not really where I want to be talking about, and actually what someone else reflected back to me is what they see in through my content online is just someone who's very authentic, very much unapologetically in her truth, as she shows up and creates content online, and actually with a lot of joy oftentimes, and also very open to be imperfect, right, so never particularly worried about what I look like, what the hair's doing, if I've got makeup on, what my background's like, really taking imperfect, messy action, because I am not about being perfect. There's not a single part of me that is about being a perfectionist, and so it's important to me that I show up online as my authentic truth and you know, this is what I have been harping on about all, along with the Modern Leader way. This is the journey that I have been on myself and this is what I love taking people on is that identity shift and when I say I'm not the same version of me as I was eight years ago, I am a totally in every element of my being it's different, and that is possible and open to anyone that is open to change and to improving their life in a way that is on their terms, because they're unhappy with one thing in their life and they know that they get to. They have the power within them to change it right. So it doesn't really matter if I am still talking to that person or that version of me back then, because I know I can still help her because I've got myself out of that. But actually I desire to be talking more to a kind of closer version to me right now.

Speaker 1:

And where I'm at right now is really heavily focused on how I can finally crack some nuts around business and who I'm talking to and what it is that I serve and what it is that I'm good at and actually like really start to own it online so that my audience know whether I'm, for them or not, right to crack the nut around my, my eating habits and behaviors and my weight, um, my health and overall, just vibrancy and energy levels and and body as I move towards 50, right as I move through this transitional phase that we're in in our 40s and early 50s, and that's like really present for me at the moment, as is really following the breadcrumbs of what lights me up, really following my own path of what lights me up, even if it doesn't look like the conventional definition of success. And all of this is kind of under that umbrella of the modern leader way. So, the modern leader way being not my way, your way, right? I've said this many a time. If you've tuned in before, you'd have heard me talking about this. The modern leader way is not my way.

Speaker 1:

What I want to do for the modern leader way is help you find your way, your definition of success, what lights you up, what your path is, what your breadcrumbs are to follow, what your passions and your qualities and your strengths and your gifts are, so that you can actually see them and amplify them out in the world, whatever that looks like for you, whether that's in your corporate job, whether that's in your business, whether that's in your home with your family. But the common denominator is here. I'm talking to the leader, right? I'm talking to the female leader and a big part that I think in the past I've really underestimated how important it is is the healthy part Is, when I talk about it's time for a new era of healthy feminine leadership, I am talking about all those things that I've just mentioned around tapping into you, reconnecting you to the truth of who you are, so that you can work out what it is that you want from this life, what it is you're creating. Then go out and actually create that and almost course correct if you've actually got on the on a path that wasn't for you because it's what you thought you had to do after school or university or whatever you know um, it's okay to course correct.

Speaker 1:

And actually we're seeing more and more women go through phases of their life where they are recreating themselves each time. So whether that is know the really gung-ho, ambitious, career-driven woman in her 20s and early 30s moving into shifting priorities around having a family, you know, giving more time to her kids and her family, reprioritising how she feels at work, but then, rather than when the kids are flowing the nest, going back into that career-driven mode, they're actually looking at where can I make more of an impact in the world, like when the work at the corporate doesn't really light you up anymore and you feel that kind of emptiness in you. It's not just an empty nest, it's a lack of fulfillment, it's a need and a desire and a real calling to make more of an impact in the world. And as women, we are seeing these transitional phases throughout our lives, in these kind of like transitional periods around those kind of ages 35, then 50 and even into the 60s right, maybe in the 60s it's more like how can I give back to the community, how can I be more philanthropic in with my wealth and with my success? How can I give back? Um? So there is no shade here when we're talking about growth and evolution and change. So healthy feminine leadership is all those things. But it's also the health bit, right. It's actually putting our health first, whether that is our physical health, our emotional health, our mental health, our spiritual health, and those things have been something that I've had my eye on for myself for so long, and this was reflected in the path that I took when I left corporate. And this is where I'm having this full circle moment, because I realize it's always been the same thing, right. So whether that's actually.

Speaker 1:

When I was still in corporate, around 2015, I signed up for my first health coach and I think I paid her about £2,000 for working in this group program for six months and I signed up for 12 months for 4K I think that's how much it cost me. It was a huge investment in myself, but I was like I'm worth it and like this is it. This is going to be a turning point for me. So I invested, I went full in. I had a really great experience and it was really the start of my inner work, the inner game that I started to play and the inner game that I talk about now when I'm talking to my clients about the work that we're doing together to really unravel some of the stuff that gets us in, gets in the way of us really reaching our potential, and that sounds so cliche, but it's so freaking true. So since I left corporate, I actually before I even left I signed up to do the first year of a nutritional therapist degree. Right, so I could have gone on and done the whole three or four years.

Speaker 1:

Nutritional therapy wasn't for me, but I did complete the first year, which gave me a health and lifestyle coaching diploma, I think level four um. So I was a registered nutrition and lifestyle coach but I didn't really want to use it in my work. I did use it but it wasn't like the overarching thing that I wanted to do. It was more holistic than just health and nutrition. But at the same time as I finished that, I had started working with the Institute for Psychological Eating in, I want to say, chicago or something like that, michigan, maybe somewhere in America, with Mark David and I studied with him. That was a really hardcore um course. Both of these courses, I think, cost me in total about nine thousand pound um, so huge investment.

Speaker 1:

But I qualified as a mind body eating psychology coach and this was really diving into like why we overeat, why we emotionally, emotionally eat, why we have to use food for comfort and how we can unravel that and how we can move through it Right. And I did it first and foremost because I wanted to help myself and I knew if I could help myself then I would be able to help others. And it was around that time I also did an NLPLP neuro linguistic programming program with the coaching academy. Another couple of grand spent on some more education of mine and I came up with the idea for the food freedom academy and it was like a download. I've spoken about this more recently on the podcast, but that was like a download. It hit me, I scribbled it out like I had the core content.

Speaker 1:

I came back on the Monday. I um, I did a master class. I had some conversations with people and six people signed up and I took them for a six-week program and then I made it into a six-month curriculum. The thing was I really wanted to help others with it and I'd come so far on my own journey, but I knew I wasn't quite there yet and this has gone on and on and, funny enough, I looked in my um journal this morning and last this time last year on this date last year I had just given up. So we just finished on the food truck for the summer, which is quite full-on, intense, stressful on the body, like long hours, you know, later nights, and I was also working at the pub. I was doing a little breakfast shift three times a week at the pub and I gave both of those up at the end of August last year. So I woke up on the 3rd of September, I think it was and was like this is my first day of freedom where I can really focus on my business.

Speaker 1:

But also with the september back to school vibes that everyone's got, I tend to start to go into hibernation and start nesting. And this is what like. It's funny because the last two days I've had my um, I've had the proper hoover out. We've got like a shark cordless that just gets whizzed around every now and again, but I got proper henry out and I had it up in the corners of the room getting all the cobwebs out. It's like that real nesting time, that real deep, clean, autumn clean. I guess do it in april as well as september. And it kind of hits me that we are transitioning into season in seasons and it's obvious with the weather that we're having that we're going through that transition. And it just made me laugh because this time last year I was doing exactly the same thing.

Speaker 1:

I was taking some time out to recoup, to re-energize after the summer. That was quite full-on. I really wanted to sink into my vision for my business moving forward. I really wanted to commit to focusing on my business because my energy had been very scattered up until then. And what I also did was I did a week-long cleanse in September last year. This was a week-long fasted cleanse using some very intense products that were also very expensive, and it was a liver cleanse and it was a like intestinal cleanse as well, and it has crazy results. I think I did a podcast episode on it afterwards, actually, and it was a really fascinating experience to go through it, to be fasting on only water and these enzymes that you get and that's all I had. That's all that I consumed in seven days. I'd never done it, I'd never fasted for over 48 hours before and, yeah, it was a really like coming back to myself and really seeing clearly that I want to really work on my health, because I felt amazing after it. I felt so good.

Speaker 1:

Um, so health has always been there at the forefront of my mind. It's always been something that I've kind of moved towards and then just fallen back from, just because I've gone back into some unhealthy, unwanted habits that have been sticking around for decades. And then, when the choice came up around Manjaro, you know, know, if you've listened it was a really big decision for me, as I know it is for most people. Um, because I a I didn't see it as a quick fix. I really knew I know there is no such thing as a bloody quick fix, right, there is no such thing. So I knew I wasn't approaching it from that point of view.

Speaker 1:

I also knew I I was kind of over the whole dieting thing restrictive um eating because I know that the more I restrict, the more I'm going to binge off the other end of the um spectrum and it's going to be monumental and I'm going to make up for it and some, which has been the story of my life right. So I knew that if I was going to go down this route, it was really had to be holistic and I had to be looking at how I was moving my body, how, what food I was going to go down this route. It was really had to be holistic and I had to be looking at how I was moving my body, what food I was putting into it. I knew I didn't want to strip weight quickly, so I knew I had to eat my calories, even though I might not have the appetite due to the medication. And I've approached it in this way and what I've experienced is a lot of conversations on this topic with other women and men who have started taking the medication and perhaps are feeling ashamed about it and haven't told anyone else. And, unsurprisingly, they're confiding in me. Right, because I know that I give off this safety that is key in these kind of conversations to be brought to the table, and is a conversation that is becoming more acceptable than the first time around when I did the Food Freedom Academy.

Speaker 1:

Right, when I did the Food Freedom Academy, it was very difficult to position it to women who wanted to finally overcome binge eating habits. Right, because how many out there actually want to admit that they're a binge eater, secret binge eater, behind closed doors, that they emotionally eat? That was only six years ago and actually right now it's almost like small talk. It's almost like, oh, you're on manjaro, yeah, me too, or my friend or my husband or my sister is on it, like there's. We all know someone that's taking it and someone that's seeing results with it as well. This is like the first time something's hit, probably since I know keto or the Atkins that actually seems to be working for people, and yet there is this underlying fear that again, the results aren't going to be lasting and sustainable and that actually, when you come off the medication, you're just going to go back to your old habits. So I am getting to the point of this, which is three months ago, end of June, adam's birthday, we were camping and I actually had to download the intuitive hit.

Speaker 1:

I wanted to do something to support other people that are on the medications. Do it right, do it in a correct it right, do it in a correct way, do it in a healthy way, do it in a sustainable and enjoyable way, one that's not like riddled with side effects and deprivation and depression because you can't eat the foods anymore. And so I've had this idea percolating for this program that I want to take people through. I want to impart a lot of my process, my thinking, my mindset, my emotional intelligence when it comes to being able to handle the same emotions that come up, which they will, and how you be with them when you're not turning to food because you don't have the appetite or because you are actually watching what you eat.

Speaker 1:

Um, because that's a big part of it, but also the overarching part, which is again back to the modern leader way, is the whole freaking point of the modern leader way is this identity shift, like when you go into a journey like you will do with weight loss on manjaro, you kind of want to declare that this is it. This is the last time, and you are going to use this as a tool to shift your identity, not just change your behaviors and habits, because that is a big part of it, but actually shift your identity so you no longer see yourself as a secret binge eater. You no longer see yourself as an emotional comfort eater. You find different ways to cope with those emotions as and when they come up. You find different ways to fuel yourself, to fill yourself up, right, to fulfill yourself, other than food, so that when you come off, when you taper off or titrate off which is the correct terminology, the other end you don't go back to old habits when your hunger returns which it will, and it will come back with a vengeance if you have really restricted your calories, which is why it's not advisable. But the one thing I'm trying to do is reach my calories every day, and what I'm trying to do is reach my calories every day, and what I'm trying to do is fill them up with protein and um more on that in what I am creating for you.

Speaker 1:

So if you're still here and listening to this and you're interested, either because you're on a glp1 medication yourself or you know someone that's dear to you that perhaps you have concerns for, or you just want to make sure that they're getting the best advice, um, or you're just interested in, like what this whole fad or craze is around, um, the hot topic that is the glp1 medication. Then I have some exciting things up my sleeve and right now, if you're listening to this, anytime after the 4th of September when this is dropping, I am actually running a survey, just a short google form. If you are taking a GLP-1 medication or you have previously taken one, I would love to get your inputs, just looking for honest, open thoughts. It's a quick, short form that you can fill out, and I will make sure the link to that is in the show notes below this episode, and if it's not there, it's because it's no longer accepting inputs, and then what that's going to do is really help me shape what support I get to create next. So one of the things that I am doing right now as we speak or not as I speak right now, but what I will be going back to when I hit end on this podcast episode is a no bullshit GLP-1 user's guide to starting really strong, and so this could be for new users, if people are thinking about taking it or have decided for themselves that are taking it. I am never going to give advice for someone to take it or not, but once you have decided with your own body autonomy to go down this route, if you want to start strong and give yourself the best chance of having a healthy, sustainable and enjoyable journey on manjaro or whatever other medication you're taking, then this guide is going to be for you, and so I'm going to do that as a freebie and you can jump on the wait list. Now. That will also be in the show notes and as soon as it's available, it will go straight to the download for you. And then there's going to be a more comprehensive program that I've really got some stuff I want to share. All right, and this is from my years of training and my lived experience and what I know to be true for most people, most humans that I come into contact with.

Speaker 1:

So that's going to be more around the not just the practical pieces, but the physical pieces, the emotional, the mental, the mindset, but also the identity pieces, and this is going to be like a self-study program that you can take yourself through. You can purchase it, you can take yourself through in your own time, you can come back to it. You can not just do it when you're starting out the gates. You can do it when you want to have a reset because you've been doing it for a few months and you've kind of gone back into some unwanted habits that you know aren't going to serve you in the long run. You can come back to this and you can reset and you can go out the gates again with these new kind of principles in mind. So it's going to be super powerful stuff, really sharing the power of the journey that I'm taking myself on, if you so choose, to go down that route to the modern leader way. And then there will be a support element that you can add on to that if you want to.

Speaker 1:

Because I really do think what I want to do is lift a lot of the shame around needing to go on a GFR1 medication in the first place, help you be able to have conversations with your loved ones, with your friends, with your family, when they start to notice the effects of the weight loss, for example, and how you talk about it. So you actually talking about it from a place of ownership, like, yes, this is what I've done for myself, yes, I've used this as a tool, but actually it doesn't do it for you. You still have to choose what you put in your mouth. You still have to move your body put in your mouth. You still have to move your body in a certain way. You still have to, you know, maintain a certain level of choice that is going to be supportive of your journey.

Speaker 1:

It's not just like you take a jab once a week and you sit back and let the results happen. That is a misconception. I think there's out there that we get to bust by how we respond to people, by how we talk about our own experience of it. So there's a shame piece that I really want to lift and just give people a safe space to be amongst like-minded people that are going about it in a really smart way. So that's coming. So if you have five minutes and you're happy to contribute to the survey, please do. If you want to know first when the freebie drops, if you're thinking about starting or you want to restart your journey strong, then get on the wait list or look out for the actual link to the guide, to the freebie download, which it won't be long after this is posted. So keep your eye out for that.

Speaker 1:

And if you want to know more about the support group and the coaching that I'm going to be able to do, pulling on all my experience so far and pulling in all I know from the Food Freedom Academy, etc. And really helping ensure that you can, you have the confidence to come off this medication down the line and know that you've got. You know that you weren't going to slip back into old habits because you're not that person anymore, you're not that version of yourself anymore. You're a new version, you're a new identity that you're stepping into on the way. And actually the beautiful thing with that is when you do it on the way, when you get there to the end destination, to whether that's your goal, weight or whatever health aspect it is you actually feel amazing and you're not still carrying around this baggage with you because you've dealt with it along the way. That's what I'm truly passionate about. That is what you know the whole principle of the modern leader way of bringing your whole self to the table, of doing it in your own way, of knowing, liking and trusting yourself.

Speaker 1:

All of these pillars of the modern leader way are relevant for your health journey, and that's why it makes sense that I do this now. It doesn't make sense that I hold back on this any longer. It just makes sense that I freaking put it out there in the world. And if you are with me and you want to come along for the ride there are many ways and if you're confused about where to go next, reach out, dm me wherever we're connected on social media and let's have a chat. I am very open to that. That is all for today. I love you. Thank you for being here. Who knows what we'll do next week? I do have some amazing guests lined up, so maybe we'll get back to them, but until then, take care, thank you.

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