Ep 44: Finding Your Authentic Body with Dr. Ali Novitsky

Imagine waking up each day brimming with energy.  We no longer feel a burden, but are able to enjoy a lightness in our mind and body.  We have the emotional and physical reserves to face whatever comes today.  We feel optimistic about what we can accomplish not only in the next 6 months, but in the next 6, 16, and 36 years.  How do we cultivate the energy to live our dreams?

As physicians, we demand a lot out of our bodies, whether it’s taking 30-hour call shifts, seeing a full day of patients back-to-back without a food or bathroom break, or even intensely working out for the sake of losing 10 lbs.  We don’t often think about giving back to our bodies.  

How can we develop a loving relationship with our bodies?  Do we believe in the possibility of achieving an authentic body?

This is the path to optimal health:

💪 Know our “why” and honor it.

💪 Stop blaming our bodies for not being enough.

💪 Decide that our health is non-negotiable.

💪 Commit to being kind to our bodies. 

💪 Be curious and build awareness of our bodies.

💪 Honor our unique body types.

💪 Acknowledge our emotions and sit with them.

💪 Fall in love with the journey, rather than obsessing over the result.

This was an absolutely phenomenal conversation with Dr. Ali Novitsky, a certified life coach and neonatologist, who is the Founder and CEO of Life Coaching for Women Physicians.

Tune in to this week’s Dare to Dream Physician Podcast episode! 

Dare to Dream Physician Resources:

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 https://daretodreamphysician.com

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Resources for Dr. Ali Novitsky:

Join Jump Start CME program (last day to enroll on 5/8/22)
https://www.goals-society.com/g-o-a-l-s-society

Coaching for Women Physicians Programs and Podcast
https://www.lifecoachingforwomenphysicians.com

Transcript

Dr. Gray, Host 0:00

Welcome back to another episode of the dare to dream physician podcast. I am so excited for the conversation that we're going to have today with our guests. Sometimes I question I'm like, should I keep doing my podcast? And then when I get an opportunity like this, I'm like, oh yeah, no, I'm going to do my podcast forever because this is just, it is such a privilege and an honor to be able to speak with amazing people in the world. And Dr. Ali Novitsky one of them. I, it was, I think it was in a Facebook, posts where somebody else asked her to be on their podcast. and I said, oh, well, if Allie's going to be somebody else's podcast, I'm going to ask her to be on the dare, to dream physician podcast. And I Definitely heard of alley and other areas. But since, we made the schedule to do this podcast interview. I actually got to know her a lot better because I joined, a seven day challenge, that's hardware program. And then I also started, working in her program called jumpstart. And we can talk a little bit more about these things, one of the reasons why. I was so excited to have her on is, when you hear her talk, I just get the sense that wow, she's so down to earth and she's Just so energetic and vibrant and she just seems so happy. And here she is, she's a female physician and she just has such a great presence. And, not just me, a lot of people are drawn to that. And then the more I started learning more about, this is what she puts out into the world. I'm even more fascinated So she started saying she would love to talk about optimal health and that just really resonated with me. Cause in dare to dream position, one of the things that, we work on is. Just, casting a vision for what, what is that dream life that we want to live? And there are four things that we talk about when life planning there's money. There is time, there is energy and there's talent and all of us, each, every physician, has these four assets. And, we, sometimes we focus more on one than the other. With Allie, the energy just overflows out of her. And I just would love to talk to her about, optimal health because of this. if optimal health is, the presence that she exudes. And I think all of us can learn so much from her. Let me just tell you a little bit more about her. She's a certified life coach. She's a national speaker. She's a blogger and host of the podcast. Life coaching for women physicians. She is a pediatrician and neonatologist, she's also married to a physician, her med school, sweetheart, mark who's a child and adolescent psychiatrist. They have two strong daughters together and a labradoodle pup. so welcome Dr. Alli and the Mitski.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 2:44

Thank you so much. It's such an honor to be on your show and I'm so excited to talk with you. So thank you for having me.

Dr. Gray, Host 2:50

Tell us a little bit more about how this all started. So you are a neonatologist. how did you go from being a neonatologist to, being, A life coach. Neonatologist is this very, niche part of medicine. And then now what you're doing is. To me, it's like one of the most comprehensive programs that are out there to help physicians with their wellness.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 3:15

Thank you so much for that. I really appreciate that. And when you say comprehensive, that's exactly what my vision was for what I would be doing in the space of medicine and what I can tell you first, and then I'll backtrack and tell you how I got here. Is that for me, my purpose medicine has always been part of my purpose, but I wanted impact. And when I was in neonatologist, I loved it. I really did love it. I go into the NICU once a month because I love it. That's what I do. But my impact in medicine is so powerful for me. And it feels exponential in this space because I'm able to help physicians. To help themselves to help all of their patients and then their patients are able to help their people. And so it keeps going and going. In fact, the other day, I had somebody say to me that just by listening to our seven day challenge, we just had, she was able to show up differently in her practice. And there was an adolescent female who was having a lot of body image issues and she was actually confident enough. To really help that adolescent and the adolescents mother with body image stuff, just based on what she was listening to with me. So my story goes that I was an overweight child. And because of that, I was told by many adults in my life that I was overweight. And so I really developed and really. learned about the diet industry and diet culture very early. I was in third grade. And from there, yeah, it was very actually a traumatic, I would say for me now that I'm able to admit it, but because of it really. me to become an expert in all of the things, body composition, and even at one point weight loss, although that is not even my focus now. And so what I realized is I did not like what the diet industry did, but how could I go ahead and still help people to promote optimal health? But scape through and that be part of that culture. And so that really is my purpose. My purpose is to say, Hey, listen, ladies, there is so much that you can do, but we have to gain awareness for genetically speaking, what we were naturally born with and how can we optimize that? So just to kind of back up, I was a college athlete division, one sport. I was very overweight then, because a lot of stress I was overeating and again, I was sick, like dieting from the age of nine. So in third grade cycle dieting all the way through, until I went to college, gained some additional weight was playing at a very high level, had a lot of muscle mass, but I also had a lot of body fat and I did not feel good. I didn't have confidence. I knew this wasn't my authentic body, but I didn't know how to get to a better place. So that I could sustain that. Long-term so long story short, I finished college, got into medical school and I think the belief that I am going to help other people. Then that I really need to help myself first really came on early. So when I was about 21, I really dove into intuitive, eating, mindful, eating, understanding my body type. And I'll at that point, lost, a significant amount of weight. So I'd say that sitting here today, I'm almost 50 pounds lighter than I was at the age of 18 playing a division one sport. And I have more muscle mass. Now at this age of 42.

Dr. Gray, Host 6:27

Wow.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 6:28

But it took me about 32 years to figure it out. So when people say they come into my programs and they say, I'm really upset, the scale's not moving. I'm not making progress. I'm like, listen to my episode, on my 32 years self experiment, this is the long haul, but because of my experience, And really learning things, for good or for bad at the age of nine, I've had so many years to curate the special niche area. And because of that, when I was 21, I figured it out and I really achieved, optimal health at that age. It took about a year to really get to where I wanted to be. Now I'm 42. So for the past 20 years, and that's two pregnancies gaining 50 pounds each time. I've been able to sustain it longterm and I've done it with the exact programming I use now. And it's all about supporting basal metabolic rate, understanding your body type and optimizing it, really knowing the hacks to be able to maintain and, or gain lean muscle mass, especially as we age. And I have women that are coming in and they're in menopause and they have better body composition now because of the things that we do. And so that's kind of my journey. You know my own journey that then turned life coach. I went to, Kathy Stepien is another life coach. I went to one of her retreats out in mere of all. This was in 2018. And I heard about coaching life coaching. And I said, oh, interesting. I was always told I should be a life coach. Always. That's what everybody always said to me. You should be a life coach. And I'm like, what the heck is a life coach? I don't even know what that is, but I met some other physicians that were life coaches. And I said, that sounds good. I think I'll sign up, signed up for life, coach. And the rest is history. A lot of people think, or just assume that I am a coach because I got burnout and found another path, but that's not true. I think I was born a coach who happened to become a physician. And I think I found my inspiration. And I went after it really hardcore. And so I combined the ability for the life coaching with my knowledge of health optimal health became board certified in obesity medicine eventually. And then here I live.

Dr. Gray, Host 8:38

Wow. I love that. I love all of what you said, especially the, you think you're born a life coach and you happen to, become a physician. And then, somebody told you, Hey, this thing exists. So you went for the training and here you are, this is who you were meant to be. I want to go back to one thing you said that really captivated me. and you said, when you're 18, you were 50 pounds heavier and you were playing a division one sport, you were an athlete, which is amazing by the way, because I was sharing with you before. The word athlete and, my self identity was never in the same sentence until recently, until like I hit 40 years old. So I love that that was part of your identity, I always assumed that athletes, th they just naturally felt good cause they're using their body in a way that's amazing, that's stretching themselves. So I just would assume that if you're a division one athlete, if you made it there. Then you would feel great. Like you will have a lot of energy. And but that's not your experience. And then in a short period of time, four years later, you got optimal health. And I want to know if you can think back to when you didn't have optimal health and then 10 wouldn't, you got it. And even now, cause you still have that. What's the difference? Like, how did it feel in a day? if you wake up in your body suit of the non-optimal health, when you're 18 versus now,

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 9:53

that's such a good question. So what I will say is that the shift came when I realized that doing the things that I was doing from the age of nine. Clearly are never going to work. So if I want the same results of the cyclical dieting gain, lose, gain, lose, and to remain heavy, I could keep doing that or I could try something different. The only thing that I hadn't done. Compassion for my body, accepting my body, where it was listening to my body, finding an intuitive way to eat for my body. I actually lost the weight in a very intuitive, mindful way. I didn't do it by counting macros, not once. And that's how I developed my programs, which are very much based on not counting macros. I do offer counting knackers cause there is a space for it for some people. I think it brings great awareness for some, but the shift was, I found self-compassion. And I was not willing. It was non-negotiable anymore. Non negotiable to wake up, not feeling well. Now as a much heavier person, I actually. Now look at it in a way. And I say, listen, I have a lot of skeletal muscle mass because I carried around so much extra weight for so many years that I actually do have a lot of natural strength and skeletal muscle mass because of that. So I look at it as a positive thing. it didn't harm my health in any way. Little things. So I have PCLs which, okay. Was that a result of being overweight or was this just more genetic? I do think there's both. do I potentially have insulin resistance right now? My labs look okay. But do I, based on how I have to eat to sustain a certain level? Yeah, I do. But I think that I'm proof that. If the mindset is right, if you have the self compassion, if you don't see your potential weaknesses as weaknesses, but in fact strengths. so PCOS is a strength for me. It makes me more aware of what I need to do for my body. My anxiety is an advantage. I'm a great problem solver. So really taking what we have in a unique way, embracing it, finding compassion. That was the overnight, shift for me. And then the idea. when people target the action and they're like, just tell me what to eat and what to do. I know we're not going to be successful. I already know that. And in fact, I tell them, I say, listen, we're not there yet. We can, we don't. I can give you, action fine, but that's not where the money is. The money is, are you going all in on you And that was the shift for me when I woke up one morning at 21. And because of that, even being 50 pounds heavier, when the mindset shifted and I said, I'm going all in on me now. I felt physically.

Dr. Gray, Host 12:21

Um, so overnight, when made that shift in your mind and how you approach your health.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 12:27

Yeah. I said, non-negotiable in fact, I actually went out that day when I was still heavier and I bought clothes that flattered my body at that point, I really did. I knew I wasn't staying in those clothes. I decided that I wasn't doing what I'd already done for years and years. Cause it wasn't going to work anymore. So I made that shift and I just allowed myself to now was it harder to carry around a heavier body? Yeah. Could I run as fast? No, it blows my mind that being a division one athlete at 18 now at 42. my sprint time in the 60 foot, like from home, the first base, is way faster. I'm actually fast now, but I wasn't fast in college. I was considered a hustler. That's what the coach would call us. If you weren't fast, you were a hustler I'm fast now and I'm 42. So my point is that we can establish this at any age, but it really has to start with the shift of, and this is the shift. My health is non-negotiable none negotiable. The thoughts, I always see the thoughts of, I don't have time. I'm going to fail. I can't do all that. This isn't going to work. Yeah, that's going to continue to give us the same result. So we have to really start shifting that first. And then, like I said, overnight, I could remember the day because I went home from college. I graduated a half a year early, so I actually graduated in three and a half years. Again, I was not happy playing a division one sport. It actually was probably the lowest point second lowest point in my life. I actually had postpartum depression, which was probably the first, but my second. And I can tell you that when I went home, I changed the circumstance. Yes. And I was rid of all of that stress. I said, I'm never going to do that to myself again. And it was so powerful for me and I never looked back. And I think it happens for everyone. I think I could tell, I have people that have been in my program for four years, for example, we're in transformed 4.0, which is my comprehensive program. And I have people who have been at it from the very start. And what I see happen is. Shifts happen. They keep happening, they keep happening, they keep happening. And then all of a sudden you'll see it click. And you're like, yep, they're good. They got it for life now. And I can see it happen every single time. I just had one happen. It happened the end of last one, somebody shifted. I saw it. I'm like, she's never going back. It's amazing. and I know it because it happened to me and I can see it and I can feel it and other people now. So when you were talking about that, aha, that shift. I was like, there it is I can see it happen.

Dr. Gray, Host 14:54

Hmm. Wow. You make it sound so simple.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 15:00

Well, it's interesting, our brains, our thoughts make it complicated, but if we can just be aware of what we're thinking, and that's why I spend a lot of time teaching on thought distortions, because thought distortions are just going to be these repetitive. well, their thoughts, but these repetitive type patterns that we all have, and we are all different in how we have them. So some of us really tend towards all or none thinking. Some people tend towards should statements. Some people tend towards disqualifying, the positive. A lot of physicians do that one. That's where we think that our success is by a flu. Like, well, you know, I mean, nobody else was doing it. So I got the award, so we tend to relate downplay and it just teaches. It teaches us really to discount ourselves, discount, everything you do for you take it at a, a price slash you know, you're 50% worth what everybody else is. You have to work harder because you're only 50% worth, but everybody else's, and it's this constant messaging that comes from a lot of the thoughts and the language that we use. And so we had this opportunity. Where we can make it easy and we can flip it little flip.

Dr. Gray, Host 16:04

Um, so give me an example of, maybe a dialogue that would be in your head, like with w when you from, before you decided, Hey, my health is non-negotiable. I am going to have compassion on myself, which cause I'm not sure if the listeners have they haven't made that flip. I'm not sure if they know really what that means. Like it almost sounds like, like, you know, you, you meditate on a Hilltop somewhere and this mystical revelation came to you. So maybe make that a little bit more, give everyday examples of what that shift look like.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 16:35

Yeah. I love that question. I think that's really good. So for example, let's say that I am 50 pounds heavier and I haven't yet decided that it was okay to be 50 pounds heavier right now that I can believe that the body I'm in right now is what. Right. And that it actually is my body right now. And my job is to take care of my body no matter what size it is. So let's say that I haven't gotten there yet, but I desire to lose 50 pounds. I might go Right. to the diet mentality and say, how can I exercise more? I have to do 45 minutes of cardio, six days a week. I'm going to strength train five days a week. I'm going to eat low carb. I'm not going to have any treats or desserts. I'm going to eliminate sugar completely. No alcohol, definitely not. And I've done it this way for my whole life and it's never worked, but this is the time this is going to work this time. It's totally going to work this time. Okay. And I'm approaching my nutrition and my exercise from a place of it's horrible being here right now. I don't want to be in this body. Get me to the goal as fast as possible.

Dr. Gray, Host 17:47

Um,

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 17:47

So what happens is there's a big problem because we marry ourselves to the result. I marry myself to wanting to be 50 pounds lighter and this size and this body fat percentage, and to wear this bathing suit and to do all these things, I'm I'm forgetting my why. Like, why do I want to do it? And so I'm focusing on the action, but I have no thoughts to back it up. That's great for about a week when the willpower is still strong, the minute we have decision fatigue or we get tired and our hunger hormone spikes, or, somebody makes us feel bad and we have a history of emotional eating, all bets are off. And so we give in and we go off of our unrealistic plan of tremendous amount of exercise and very quote, unquote, strict regimen of eating. And we decide that we failed to get. Okay. So that would be an example of my health is negotiable because we haven't set ourselves up for success. We've set ourselves up for failure. Cause I already said that the diet mentality will not work and that's diet mentality. So what happened when I made the shift is I said, working out and having this unrealistic plan and giving up any food that I find pleasure in has never worked in. It never will work. Self-talk about my body, beating myself up about my body. Comparing my body to others has not motivated me to achieve a different result. That's never going to work. Okay. So when I really got real with myself, really got real with myself when I really put it out there and say, These things, this is what I'm doing negative. Self-talk putting myself down unrealistic expectations, not honoring my body type, not honoring my hunger, having no clue what my thoughts are, not feeling my emotions because I wasn't willing to invest in myself to figure those things out. First, I was setting myself up for failure. I had a light bulb moment and I said, okay, well, if this is setting myself up for failure, I'm smart here. I can figure this out. The opposite of failure would be success. What do I consider successful is a size of success is a body fat percentage of success is the amount of times I'm exercising a success. What is it? And I can remember clearly the answer that came to me was just feeling like I'm in the body. I was meant to be. I actually didn't have a number. I didn't have a size. I just knew that where I was was not where I authentically felt like I was supposed to be, but it didn't mean I had to hate the body I was in there. It was still my body. And so it was more of that shift. And then when I had that shift, I said, okay, well, this is not about the food. This is not about the exercise. This is about my belief about how I want to show up in the world. And so what can I start doing? So will I be a person that eats cake again? Yes, I will. Will I be person that has wine again? Yes, I will. Well, I'd be a person that skips a workout again. Totally. Well, I go on vacation again and overeat. Yep. So I started getting real about, okay, there's going to be real life things. I'm going to continue to do. How could those exist? And. How can I go ahead and pursue arriving in a body that is authentic to me? One that feels great. So I committed to the journey. I think the answer is I committed to the journey because I wasn't running away from where I hated being. And I said, no, I'm marrying the journey. I'm not married to the result. And it changed everything instead of being in a hurry and rushed and having time scarcity and having just all this negative emotion, I changed it to be like, huh, what can be amazing about today? How can I find pleasure in today? How can I find pleasure and movement in the body I'm in right now, I really started having all these conversations and I started feeling more motivated, more energized, more hopeful. Those feelings were just driving better at. I started making progress. So I wasn't aiming at the result. I was aiming at the journey, but because it felt so good to be in that journey to show up for myself, I kept getting results, kept getting resolved, skip getting results. And then I started believing and believing and believing. And then I eventually, so I can remember I started med school. And at that point I had lost about. Maybe 35 pounds. So I went and feeling pretty good. I was like, I'm in shape. I feel good. I had so much muscle mass already that by losing some body fat, like I looked very in shape because I had remember played division one sports at a much heavier weight for so long. And I was feeling pretty confident. I have to be honest. I'm like, this is my authentic body and I was 21 then. So I stayed there for about, gosh, let's see. 20 more years. I stayed at that weight. Same weight, 20 years had two pregnancies, but again, rebounded back, because I fought with my principals and then this past year, I'm now at my highest muscle mass, my lowest body fat percentage. I lost 15 pounds of body fat. And I didn't, I was in shape. I didn't know that I had that because I committed at an even higher level than I've ever committed to myself before. And I'm 42. Right. And so what I'm saying is that like it's possible, but it's a journey, but you have to commit to the journey.

Dr. Gray, Host 23:11

Wow. There's so many amazing things that you said there. This is why I I was excited for our conversation. There were so many light bulb moments, as you were saying this I never really thought and I don't know if it's our culture or maybe just as physicians. I just never even think about the body, as much as we think about other things, like we think about the mind. I think we don't often think about emotions. Like emotions are this like thing. We usually push to the side and you've said how important it is to just let her emotions be, let that sit, be okay. Not run away from her emotions. we talked about the different body types and I love that, you share that there are different body types out there. And I think for every body type they're they're the struggles that may be more unique to that body type and. And I would say, as an ectomorph, which is someone who's quote naturally skinny. I think that I, I had my own struggles about my body, but I don't even really think about it or talk about it. And I think that one, what I am learning from you. it is really paying more attention to our bodies. It's just like one of those things where, you can go on in life, w we're learning all this knowledge when we were in medical school and residency, like we're doing all the things for gaining skills, but. We never really Nestle stop and just look at what is the relationship that we have with our body. And this doesn't have to be somebody, I was sharing that, weight games never really been a big concern of mine. So it doesn't have to be someone who's yo-yo dieting or struggling with their body, but it's, what is your view of your body? And, do you, do you love it? Do you love your body? Sounds like crazy as I say this, but what is that? What are the feelings and thoughts that you have toward your body? And it's so important because when we think about our life and when we think about, are we living our best life, are we living our dreams? Oftentimes, we don't necessarily pay that much attention to our body because we're like, we want, maybe we want to achieve this much money in our accounts or we want, to have this many kids or, it's usually we think of what is it that we want to have. But just just looking down and say, well, what about the body? Like our earth suit, right? this is like the, what we have, this is why we're alive. w we have, a heart, a brain, our muscles, like this is what makes us who we are as humans. And really to think about our relationship to our bodies. this is a mind blowing thing for me, because I don't really think about.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 25:41

Hmm. You're not alone. it's either we think about it all the time. It's consuming. We don't think about it at all, but even if we think about. All the time or not at all. my company is actually called mind, body marriage. And a lot of times, even though I operate as life coaching for women physicians, but many people thought that it was all about marriage, like actually being married to somebody. And we did have a podcast that talked about marriages. At one point, we don't do that one anymore, but it really Your mind being married to your body. Because even though we might not think about. our body all the time, or we might think about our body all the time, where the money is, is getting out of our head and into our body. So as physicians, we're in our head all the time, so we're not great at feeling emotions, unless we are actively working at learning how to feel the emotions, but when we can get in our body with how our body feels. I will tell you that that is how we really can honor it way better.

Dr. Gray, Host 26:42

Um, wow. And so I'm starting to get it, this is because optimal health, like that phrase is really captivating to me, but I have to say that, I couldn't really get a grasp of what that really meant. not like in a corny sense, maybe I could, but I was like, I felt like you, you had, there was like more behind this phrase and now I'm starting to see what you mean. and okay. so having compassion on our bodies, valuing our bodies, being aware of our bodies, and so for those of us listening, who may not be there, who's still trying to struggle of what, what is this hot, optimal health and what is this, compassion for the body? what does it feel like, for and for, cause you've seen physicians that sort of made that transformation where they're able to achieve optimal health, where they have this compassion. View of a compassionate relationship with our body. what does that feel like in a day to day that may be different.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 27:38

So imagine waking up and you feel lighter, you just feel lighter. There's not the extra drama of. Worrying about picking something to where to hide your body. There's not the drama of how are you going to have to go ahead and eat today? There's not the drama of, oh gosh, I'm beating myself for what I ate last night. There's the idea of the comparison or the fact that you have a vacation to Jamaica in three weeks and you want to fit into your bikini and the constant talk about. You know how you are going to start on Monday. It's like all of these thoughts, they go away, they go away. And the energy that is being sucked out of us from these thoughts that essentially are just automatic ingrained thoughts that we aren't even controlling anymore. They're just happening. It becomes part of who we are because they've been on managed for so long. So imagine waking up. And they are not the first thing that come to your minds. Now, I'm not going to say they're never going to show up. They will. But the tools that you have are so strong that you recognize them right away and they go away right away, because you have another thought that you choose to believe because when you really dig deep and you close your eyes and you take a deep breath, it just feels so good to be. In a body that you are showing up for. So even if you are not the realistic, even if you let's say, have this goal for your body in terms of size and weight and listen, I'm not saying to not have those. I think That is fine. Absolutely. It can be a thing, but to get to that goal, right. We have to come at it with compassion. So imagine that you have this goal, but you're not even at that goal yet, but it's a goal, but you're in no hurry because of. Feels so good to know that at 4:00 PM, you're going on a 30 minute walk because you already have it planned. And that tonight you're making your favorite meal, which is not only very nutritionally sound, but it's also, it also sounds amazing to you. It's not just okay, great. Another night of just eating, something restrictive, but you're actually making choices for your body. Are things your body wants, they're satisfying. See all of that's available. But what happens is we think that we have to restrict, we think we have to be stringent. We think we have to work harder. And we think we just have to keep focusing on the result rather than what does it feel like right now? So I would say, anybody can do this exercise right now. So you're sitting here right now. So close your eyes, take a deep breath. And you're just feeling the sensations in your body and you're seeing, okay, what is going on right now? I'm an anxious person. So I typically have a lot of anxiety. I can feel it in my chest. It's very fast, which makes me want to keep moving. Right. And so I would be a person who would do emotional eating based on being restless, because I don't like that feeling of always feeling fast. And the only thing back in the day that would slow it down would be to. So that I could get a dopamine hit and then that would go away. But now I've learned to process the emotions. So I know for me, my anxiety is just who I am at baseline. So then right now, when I'm diving in, I actually don't have any anxiety right now. Okay. So I actually feel calm. I'm talking and to sit here in my body, I feel really strong. Like I can tell right now that my muscles feel really strong, that if I had to go run. I don't like, I'm not a runner, but if I had to go run a couple of miles, I could totally do that right now. No problem. Even though I don't train, I know that I've eaten quality foods today because my energy level has not dropped once. I don't feel any crashes. I know that I need more sleep. I know I did not get enough sleep the past week. I can feel that in my body right now. Essentially meeting myself where I am, but I'm able to do that because I'm not waking up with that judgment and those constant negative thoughts. And so that's what it looks like on a day to day it's that you're being willing to kind of investigate. your feelings, what are you feeling? What are you trying to avoid? I had somebody reach out the other day and said, I'm having a lot of trouble trying to feel pleasure. I don't know what pleasure is. So I eat. And but if we go into our body and we use our senses, looking around what is pleasurable for you to look at? What is pleasurable for you to listen to? What do you like to taste? What do you like to smell? What do you like to touch? Really going back into our body. I think that's the key. I think that when you can show up for yourself, it's making the commitment of my head is busy. It's CR it has all these thoughts that are creating negativity. But if I go in my body and just check in, I can really generate or focus on the feeling that I really want to feel. And then I can from there, go ahead and create thoughts that are coming from, or the thoughts that are generating these feelings and link them together. So I can have more of those more often.

Dr. Gray, Host 32:33

That is such a, just a beautiful, beautiful explanation. And wow. I feel you're describing, there's so many buzz words, right? Like in our culture. And so what you're describing is really. being, being more like the word mindfulness came to mind, like, you know, like body mindfulness, I don't, is that a thing? Or are you inventing that? For those of us who maybe. doesn't really know what mindfulness means, it's really being curious and being aware of our bodies, which I have to say, I not very good at, and I tried to become better at, but what you're saying is when you're more attuned and when you're more aware of what's happening in your body, the emotions, the sensations that, that's the key to optimal health. When you're more in tune with that part of yourself, this is how you go forward. And, this is, part of the journey of the self-compassion and the self-love and really, as you're describing it, you know, what you described, like waking up, not having that burden, feeling lighter. That that sounds like an amazing life. And, and I think one of the things I love is, As somebody who, wants to live an amazing life, I don't always know what is it that's going to make my life amazing. I think I know I'm like, well, if I, get X, Y, and Z, but as I'm learning more, I'm like, well, maybe that's not the secret, right? Maybe it's it's this body mindfulness that you're talking about that I had no idea even existed. And so I just, I love everything that you share.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 34:04

Thank you so much. And the other part I just want to tack on there is that if anybody's listening, thinking. Hi, this is a little bit, I don't know. How am I really going to get there? I think it's just become curious. That's all. If we can just become curious. That's when we've really started to discover truths for ourselves. And I think what I can tell, well, I know what I can tell you is that, if there is something that you want to go after, I think a couple things, but identifying the why. is number one, definitely because your why will carry you, but then beyond that, it's okay. So taking the why and then how can I just really honor myself on the journey of my why? Because then you'll always have greater impact. And I think, especially as physicians, we so much want to have impact. And so if we can pull it together for ourselves, imagine what's possible with everything that will exude from us. And so when you mentioned energy for me, that's really interesting and amazing because my goal, my, my word of focus this year was energy. And I did a lot of work for myself on boundaries, right? Because obviously. Or maybe not so obvious anymore, but I was very much for a long time, a people pleaser. And I knew that my boundaries need a lot of work. And when I became better at setting the boundaries with myself, Right. So boundaries with myself would look like, okay, Allie, when you're going down a negative thought spiral, you have a decision you can choose to keep going down that spiral. Or you can actually choose to process the emotion that's really bothering you, but you're spiraling and thoughts. Cause you don't want to feel that feeling. You have a choice. Right? And so when I set that boundary for myself and I held myself accountable, Then that's when I was able to set the boundaries that I needed to in my life externally saying no, protecting myself. And because of that, I'm able to preserve my energy so that I'm able to focus it in the areas that I want to focus it. And so when we talk about, I don't have enough time, no, you have time. There's 24 hours in a day. You choose where that time goes. So right now I can tell you that I work more now than I did as a full-time physician, but I don't feel like I ever work

Dr. Gray, Host 36:27

Yeah, It's amazing. When you found something that you love doing so much that it's light.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 36:35

Ah, it's and I think for me, I really started to think about this. what is my purpose? And there's, I can tell you for every hat I wear as a parent, as a wife, as a sister, as a daughter, there's gonna be all these different purposes. But what really spoke to me is my purpose. Is to be able to show women and young girls how great they are in ways that they'd never thought of before. So to offer new concepts. And new ways of looking at things in a way that will make them unstoppable unafraid. And again, I shared with you that I have anxiety. So a lot of what can hold me back is if I go into fear or worry, or, and I've had a lot of CBT and coaching on my own, right? So I've, really been able to develop tools for that. But I think for me, I know it's possible. So I just want others to see how possible it is for them. So I think that my, my purpose is to have impact in that way. And it's very specific. Like it is young girls, like I'm like young girls and women, like I, and it just so happens that I have two daughters, right.

Dr. Gray, Host 37:46

Wow. everything, makes so much. as you're saying it right, especially when, when you share the story of how your struggles really started when you were nine years old and, you were told certain things about your body. this is such a beautiful, beautiful story when you're your purpose now, is tied to your experiences from when you were a child.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 38:09

Exactly. And I think that's one thing to really point out, that was very traumatic for me. And again, there's so many different circumstances that have created trauma in different ways for people's lives and move all. You all have our stories. I think that this is a situation where, I was able to rewrite it in a way, and that's what we always talk about. we could rewrite the story in a way where we can still be faced with something that was so traumatic, but find a way to do good in the world with it. And I that's how I see it for myself. It's interesting, because early on in my coaching, I got lumped in the category of a weight loss coach. That's not, I don't identify as that at all. will people lose weight? Well, okay. I'm going to like, go ahead and say, my goal is fat loss. It's never weight loss, but will people lose fat with me? Yeah, they will. But is that my primary goal for people, they get to decide their primary goal, but I'm going to offer in a way that's going to be competitive. That's my mission. Right? So when I would get lumped into, oh, I do weight loss coaching with Allie. of course it's easy, but that's the diet culture, right? Anything that involves the body, we automatically think, okay, this is for weight loss, because that's what most people need. But as you can tell, I'll share with you. So my mother-in-law, she's amazing. She just lost 80 pounds and we're working together now because there's a certain number we look forward. lean muscle mass loss that we get concerned with as people are losing weight and she hit that number and she was really upset about it. She said, I can't believe I've lost. And I said, listen, we can get that back and literally like a month. So don't worry about it. And this is what we have to do. And I loved that for her. It shifted. So it wasn't even, she saw a shift that it's not even about the number and she saw that shift. And for me, it just made me really proud that I'm even impacting people in my life that I, they're the most important people in my life. And so it's interesting. My mom and my mother-in-law, in her seventies, and they're like going after their health now. And I'm just thinking, gosh, That's inspirational. And if I have had any part of that, this is, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.

Dr. Gray, Host 40:22

I love it. I actually, even when you were saying before, like you're in better health now at 42 than you were. by far than when you're 18. I was just thinking about how I love that optimism. Right? Cause that's the what at least what keeps me going is that life is going to get better next year than it was last year, even though it was awesome last year. And this is, this is what makes me excited to live. part of my dreams is to have life get better every single year. And although in our culture, we have certain views on aging, oh my goodness, it's all downhill right after you hit whatever age. and this is part of what, this is why I joined your program. Al cause I don't believe that I don't believe life goes downhill. Like I think, everything just can keep getting better. Our mind, our body, our spirit, our emotions.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 41:12

Anger that in fact, I went shopping yesterday because I'm going to a conference to do workouts actually. And I bought things that I never would have bought when I was 18. I'm not even kidding. And I was like, I'm going to own it because this is what I want to wear. And, this is awesome. Cause I'm somebody, one of my friends texted me and said, what are you doing? I said oh, I'm shopping for clothes for my authentic body. So the idea is that yeah, we can keep getting better. In fact, when I think about. Have I peaked yet? My mom always says that she always says, oh, Allie, you haven't even peaked yet. She always would say that to me cause I was a late bloomer. Like I just was, even in my relationships, my husband is my first boyfriend kind of thing. Like I was a very late bloomer. In my mind, the way that I really teach mindset and the way that I have adopted my own, I don't believe I have. I think I don't believe any of us have. I think that we can choose to never peak. I think we can always choose to keep getting better. And that's when I say I want you all. I always say this. I say, obviously I care about, where you are in six months. But I care even more where you are in six years, 18 years, 36 years. I care about that and I know, what we're putting into place right now the tools that we are putting into place right now, we'll allow that for you.

Dr. Gray, Host 42:26

and what you said about, enjoying the journey, enjoying, not so much the result, losing X number of pounds or, even whatever percentage of muscle gain it's enjoying the journey to get there loving your body on the way and developing, those shifts in how you think about it. I think that's what makes. My outlook in life optimistic because there's so much to be gained when you're enjoying the journey that I don't have to worry because one of these days I am going to die. Right. I don't know. Is that going to be like tomorrow or is it going to be, when I'm 90 plus years old, but whenever that is, if I'm enjoying the journey along the way, then I'm gaining everything in the moment.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 43:07

That right there. That's it right there because we put all this, somehow we were taught that it's the delayed gratification. Peaceable. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. No, we have the decision right now.

Dr. Gray, Host 43:19

Yeah.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 43:19

My brother just to share. He is, he's a pulmonary critical care doc and he took two years off to travel the entire world. He's gone to every single country. And so my point is that to me is living the dream that is. Not putting things on pause and he had an injury while he was overseas. He had to get medivaced back for one of the trips. And so my point is right, we just, we create it. We have to create it. It's not going to just show up on the doorstep unless we create it. So I love that.

Dr. Gray, Host 43:49

I love it. I love our conversation so much Allie, and hopefully one of these days we'll have you come back and we'll chat more, but please tell our audience, especially if they've not heard of Allina, Wicki tell us how they can find you and, how they can work with.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 44:05

I love it. Thank you so much. for that really easy. My company is life coaching for women physicians. So my website is life coaching for women, physicians.com and you'll find everything right on the website. So I have a podcast. I also have information about my program, so I have two programs. One is called goal society and it starts now with a jumpstart and that offers 12 CME credits. And then I have a six month program called transform. This is an extremely comprehensive program that includes intense group coaching with a group personal training program with obesity medicine, customized nutrition coaching. CME curriculum. There's so many different things that includes, and that's 72 CME credits. And I run that program twice a year. We've just started our spring season for transform. For jumpstart, I'm still taking enrollments through May 8th, and that's an amazing program. It's a four week deep dive, really getting you started on the principles that I teach so that you can be really successful and go into gold society, which is a program that is just. Really full of a lot of other amazing things, coaching workouts, yoga. and we have just an amazing community of women physicians. And so you can get all the information right on the website, along with the podcast and I'm out in the world and I, would love to meet you.

Dr. Gray, Host 45:21

Thank you so much. I definitely put all of that in the show notes. If you got. Value out of this conversation, keep following Allie because she's going to keep teaching you so much and start you on this journey to transform.

Dr. Ali Novitsky, Guest 45:35

I love it. Thank you so much for having me. It was such a pleasure. I loved our talk.