The Simplicity of Wellness Podcast
The Simplicity of Wellness podcast is about learning how to bring your body into balance so that you get leaner, stronger and healthier as you age. Each week I'll share thoughts and ideas that help my clients build the self-awareness, self-confidence and self-reliance to lose weight, shed inches, manage muscle mass and master their mind so that they can stop dieting and enjoy living at their healthy weight with optimal wellness.
The Simplicity of Wellness Podcast
The Evolution of Weight Loss: Modern, Healthy Weight Loss
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Imagine waking up every day feeling energized, strong, and ready to tackle whatever life throws at you, regardless of your age. In this enlightening episode, I, Amy White, board-certified holistic nutritionist and professional life coach, take you on a journey through the evolving landscape of weight loss. Specifically, we explore how the goals and motivations of women over 40 have shifted from merely attaining a certain look to embracing a life full of vitality and health. By sharing my personal experiences and those of the many women I've worked with, we highlight how focusing on strength, energy, and overall well-being can lead to a much more fulfilling and empowered life.
This episode also serves as an invitation to reframe your mindset about weight loss. Instead of clinging to outdated notions and societal standards, you'll learn how to set personal goals that truly resonate with your desires and expectations. I provide actionable guidance on how to reconnect with your body, transforming your relationship with food and self-image. Plus, don't miss out on the chance for a free consultation where we can discuss your unique path to wellness. Let’s embark on a journey to reclaim your body and confidence, all while enjoying the journey and the foods you love.
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Welcome to the Simplicity of Wellness podcast. I'm your host, board-certified holistic nutritionist and professional life coach, amy White. The purpose of this podcast is to share information that you can use to become leaner, stronger and healthier by losing weight, shedding inches, maintaining muscle and managing your mind, all while living your normal busy life in this modern, sugar-filled world. Hello, simplifiers, as you know, one of my core topics is weight loss, particularly weight loss for women over 40. As I meet new clients and talk with existing clients, I've started thinking about the evolution of weight loss. Today, I'd like to share my thoughts about this because I think it could explain why I believe many women struggle with the idea of weight loss. This is different from what many describe as the struggle to lose weight. In my mind, the struggle with the idea of weight loss comes from our perceived ideas about weight loss, or, in other words, weight loss as we learned it from our mothers. Back when I was young, I watched my mother obsess about her weight. As far as I could tell, dieting and weight loss were about being skinny, having a tiny waist and stick legs. My mother was skinny, but she was also always trying to lose weight. As I look at this now, it seems to me, for my mother and other women of that time, weight loss was all about how you looked rather than what you could do. Appearance was everything. I'm beginning to realize that my learned childhood understanding of weight loss conflicts with my current beliefs about healthy weight loss. The idea of wanting to lose or manage my weight for someone else, for some weird level of acceptance, feels like a personal betrayal. It's like saying that I believe there's something about me that's lacking, that I'm not perfect, that I'm not actually who I think I am. Doubt of any kind doesn't feel good, but self-doubt is the worst kind of doubt. Is it possible that the very idea of weight loss is something we push against because we don't like what that implies, that we aren't good enough as we are? I have to admit I really like how I see weight loss shifting, based on the amazing women that I talk to and work with.
Speaker 1:Modern weight loss is very different than weight loss of my mother's time. Modern weight loss is all about being healthy. Wanting to manage your health doesn't detract from your perfectness. If you think about it, seeking this type of change is how you grow, expand and evolve. Become even more perfect. The reason I've been thinking about.
Speaker 1:How we think about weight loss is because, while I am a nutritionist and do promote a weight loss coaching program, the women who contact me typically don't want to talk about weight loss. They want to talk about how to feel better and have more energy. They want to learn how to take better care of their body. They're active, busy women who want to stay active. Unlike weight loss from the past, modern weight loss isn't primarily about looking good. It's about healthy function and feeling good. It's about being strong and capable.
Speaker 1:60 and 70 years ago, women weren't active the way they are today. The past version of weight loss and body image has very little in common with the expectation we have for our body management today. Yes, we want to like how we look, but, based on what I hear from so many women, how we look is secondary to how we want to feel and what we want our body to be capable of doing. I'm no exception. Yes, I want my clothes to feel comfortable, fit well and look good. I don't want to look sloppy, but let's be honest, we can have all three of these things at any size. The other side of the coin is I want to be able to do more than run errands. I want to climb mountains, literally. I want to have the balance, flexibility and strength to play with my grandkids. I want to be the one playing in the water, building the snowman, hitting the tennis balls and ice skating.
Speaker 1:When I get on a consult call with a woman, the conversation never starts with weight loss. It's always about what they like to do and how can they support their body. Often they're noticing that they feel more tired than they used to. This is the immediate problem. They don't want to give up the fun. They want to figure out how to regain their energy so that they can keep doing all the things they love to do.
Speaker 1:One of my longtime clients told me that she had always felt pressure to lose weight. But every time she decided to lose weight she started with the presumption that it wasn't going to work. She developed a core belief as a child that her lot in life was to be short and fat. That's just how it was in her family. It wasn't until she realized the thing she wanted most, in her words, was to stop feeling like a zombie. She wanted to feel awake and engaged during the day.
Speaker 1:On a recent consult call with a new client. The first 45 minutes was all about how much this woman loved being active. The problem was she lately was feeling tired and even exhausted. She wanted her energy back. She wanted to learn how to use food to stabilize her energy and mood so that she could fully enjoy all of her activities.
Speaker 1:Another woman reached out recently because she has a new hobby weightlifting. She wants to learn how to support her body in a healthy way. She loves to cook but was raised in a family that didn't have healthy eating habits. She said she thinks she knows what she should do but she just can't do it. She can't break her learned food habits from childhood. All of these women did and do want to lose weight, but when they came to me that wasn't their immediate problem. That wasn't the first thing they wanted to talk about. The immediate problem was energy and good health to support the life that they want to live.
Speaker 1:Weight gain is slow and progressive. It's something that we literally grow into. We make adjustments as we grow. The weight is something we know how to manage and live with. It's not an immediate and pressing problem. An immediate and pressing problem is something that stops us from living our lives the way we want to. I'm not saying extra body weight can't be an immediate and pressing problem. It can be, but for many it's not the weight in and of itself, it's the downstream impact of the weight that becomes the pressing, immediate problem. Noticing that your energy is low or dwindling is an immediate problem. This is the thing that will stop you in your tracks and change your ability to do and be the person you want to be.
Speaker 1:When your thought is I'm tired, your feeling is often exhausted. And when you're thinking I'm tired and you're feeling exhausted, you're going to make different choices. You're going to start living differently. You're going to choose sitting on the couch and watching Netflix over going to the gym. You're going to start living differently. You're going to choose sitting on the couch and watching Netflix over going to the gym. You're going to choose to stay home. When your friends ask you if you want to go out at night, you're going to choose to maybe have some ice cream or chocolate as a pick-me-up, rather than the walking or the pickleball that used to give you an energy pick-me-up. Slowly but surely, your behavior will change and so will your body.
Speaker 1:For many of us, it can feel like weight loss is the thing that we want. Our body weight is what we need to change, reduce, bring us back to who we were, but in reality, it's the thing that caused us to change our behavior. The weight itself didn't necessarily cause you to change your behavior. The downstream implication of the weight was Less energy, so you were feeling tired and that was causing you to change your behavior, which in turn, caused you to gain more weight or potentially could cause you to gain more weight. It's not necessarily your weight that needs to be addressed. The immediate problem is that lack of energy. You address that and then that takes care of your behavior and you start feeling better and moving more, and that starts to regulate your body weight. The good news is it's all connected. How you fix your energy and stabilize your mood so you can feel awake and engaged in your life is how you improve your overall health and body function. Improved health and body function is how you release and shed extra weight. The other great thing regaining your energy is a quick win. It's one of the first noticeable positive changes you see when you learn how to eat for the body you want.
Speaker 1:Getting healthy and feeling better isn't about weight loss. Weight loss is a positive side effect of regaining your health. Modern weight loss is about health. It's about stabilizing your energy and mood. It's about a calm and balanced appetite. It's about releasing excess body fat so you have excellent balance, strength and easy movement. It's about eating, not starving. Modern, healthy weight loss isn't about feeling less than. It's not about trying to change for the approval of others. It's about seeing the positive and joyful parts of your life and wanting to focus and build on that. It's about recognizing your personal power and embracing it. It's about being true to yourself and taking full responsibility for your own self-care.
Speaker 1:Let go of your past beliefs about weight loss.
Speaker 1:You're not your mother. This is your time. You get to decide what you want and how you'll get it. If you think you want to lose weight but you struggle to actually do what it takes to lose that weight, think about what else you want. Why do you want to lose weight? How will your life change if you lose 15, 20, 30, or more pounds? What is it that you really want? What do you need to do to get that? Instead of focusing on the weight loss, focus on the thing that you want, the thing that you believe you'll get from the weight loss.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for spending this time with me. I hoped you enjoyed what we talked about, so please share this with your friends. Enjoy the rest of your week and if you want to lose weight, if you have a goal to lose weight, please spend some time this week really thinking about why you want to lose that weight. What will change for you if you weigh 20 pounds less, 30 pounds less? What will be different? What is your expectation? That's the thing you really want, so let's talk about how you get that. Do you like the idea of eating for the body you want? Is there a piece of you that's eager to learn how to become leaner, stronger and healthier without having to overhaul your entire life? If this is you, then you're in luck, because this is what I do. I can help you reconnect and work with your body so that you can enjoy the body, comfort and confidence you deserve, eating foods you love. Click the free consult link in the show notes. Let's talk about where you are, what you want and how you can get there.
