Speaker A [00:00:02]:
Welcome to the Paralysis Nutrition Podcast, where changing your eating habits is the key to losing weight, improving bowel health, and feeling your best. I’m your host, Fatima Fakouri. I’m a registered dietitian who’s married to a quadriplegic and specializes in nutrition for paralysis. Get ready to be inspired, educated and motivated so you can take control of your health using the power of food. Let’s get started. This is the Paralysis Nutrition Podcast. Hi, everyone. Good afternoon, good morning, wherever you are.
Speaker A [00:00:34]:
My name is Fatima from Paralysis Nutrition. So today we’re going to talk about how my client lost 20 pounds in three months. So this is an uncensored true story of how this particular person did it. So I hope you are ready to learn some effective habits that will help you lose weight and feel better in your body. I’m Fatima. If you don’t know me, I am a registered dietitian. I am the wife of a quadriplegic. That’s my husband, Ray.
Speaker A [00:01:04]:
He is a C67 incomplete quadriplegic for 20 years now. If you follow me on social media, you know, my passion is really in helping people with paralysis, specifically the paralysis community, learn to eat right so that you can have a happier, healthier and longer life. So today, going to switch things up a little bit. I’m going to tell you one particular client’s 20 pound weight loss journey. So we’re going to go step by step through the exact process of how they did it. And the reason that I’m sharing this story is because I want to inspire you to take similar steps so that you can start losing weight too. And you may be wondering, why am I sharing this particular story? Because as you’ll see, kind of an imperfect story. And so I figured today, instead of telling you what I think you should do to lose weight, which is honestly what I do most of the time on social media or in my podcast.
Speaker A [00:02:09]:
But today I want to shift gears a little bit and tell you the raw, uncensored process that one client went through that worked. So no two people are going to take the same path. But I’m hoping that today, by being a bit unscripted and really honest about this one real person and how they lost weight as a full time wheelchair user, that this will help you see that it’s possible. Right. Rather than telling you this is what you need to do, I’m going to show you what one person did. And maybe some of this stuff will resonate with you and maybe you will see, you know, similarities or, you know, some sort of path ahead for you. So before we get into it, I just want to say I believe that weight loss is not hard, but it’s also not easy. So what do I mean by that? I think that the actual steps to losing weight aren’t hard.
Speaker A [00:03:11]:
It’s the devil’s in the details. The steps only work if you actually do them. So many people know what is a healthy option for lunch, but the actual doing of that is the hard part. So that mental and emotional work that is behind the actions that you need to take in order for your habits to stick, that is the hard part. Habits are what help you change your diet, maintain, you know, your habits so that you can lose weight and keep it off. So when I say it’s not hard, I don’t mean, oh, it’s so easy, I mean that it’s not easy to get started. But once you learn the right way and you break down these barriers towards changing your habits, that’s when the weight loss happens. So we’re going to go through one client’s experience and this was this year, by the way.
Speaker A [00:04:11]:
So step one in this rather imperfect journey. Again, this is just one person’s journey and I wanted to share it because it’s a success story and it’s not perfect. So step one is this person hit rock bottom and they were kind of freaking out. And it’s not fun to say, but this is true. This particular client got to a place where they say they felt absolutely powerless over their body. Things were getting harder to do. This particular client is in their early 40s and is a full time wheelchair user with a spinal cord injury. This is a paraplegic client who was slightly overweight even before injury.
Speaker A [00:04:55]:
Okay, so in about three years there was a 60 pound gain and it’s no surprise that things were getting harder to do. You know, self esteem was at an all time low. Clothes weren’t fitting properly, transfers were getting difficult even with a sliding board. Mental health was poor, unfortunately, motivation was low and health was declining. And when I mean health is declining, I mean medical things started to spring up. So this is where we were at. And I don’t normally start my masterclasses off on such a womp, womp kind of note. But today we are unscripted.
Speaker A [00:05:34]:
Today we are telling the truth of what real life weight loss looked like for one person. So for this person, there came a moment where they decided what I’m doing isn’t working. And what they were doing was pretty much trying to restrict calories during the week by Doing intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting meaning not eating breakfast, eating for a window of eight hours, and trying to eat as little as possible most of the time. So that was not working. And so this particular person decided that they were going to invest in solving their problem. The weight kept coming on and there was, I remember the first call, the first, you know, interaction with this person was a sort of a panicky place. And this particular person, this was their first step.
Speaker A [00:06:27]:
You know, the first step was not a good feeling, but they decided that they were going to do something about it. So this person signed on for my three month weight loss program. Step two is this person had to forget what they thought that they knew about weight loss. And before I even go to the next slide, I’ll just say, what comes up for you when I say weight loss? What methods, what behaviors do you think of when I say weight loss? Are they positive things? Are they scary things? What comes up for you when you think about weight loss? I think for a lot of people, including this particular client, restriction was something that they thought they had to do. They had to eat as little as possible and it wasn’t working. So just wanted to kind of pause for a second and have you think out loud. What do you think about when it comes to weight loss? Is it portion control? Is it giving up sweets? Is it adaptive cardio? What do you think is the way that you should be losing weight? Because I think a lot of us have unfortunately false beliefs about what weight loss has to look like. And so let the dieting deprogramming begin.
Speaker A [00:08:03]:
Yay. So like I said before, this particular client was trying to restrict calories and was trying to adopt an intermittent fasting routine. And so what that means is in the morning, they wouldn’t eat. They would do bowel program, not eat, leave the house, go to work, have some sort of small lunch, have a large dinner, and try their best to eat as little as possible. However, this was not working. And it’s painful. I’ve noticed, because I have been doing this now for three years exclusively with clients who have spinal cord injury or another diagnosis that leads to paralysis. My clients are in intelligent people.
Speaker A [00:08:53]:
These are smart people. And it’s sort of painful for intelligent people to hear that they’re doing something wrong. I know that eating habits in particular are a touchy subject because food and nutrition is something that everyone has experience with, right? And so some people think, oh, well, it’s common sense. You know, this is a healthy food and this is an unhealthy food or Everyone knows that eating less is going to, you know, result in weight loss. Whatever it is, whatever your thoughts about weight loss and healthy eating are, I am here to tell you that proper nutrition for paralysis is not what weight loss dieting is. It’s not the same thing. Proper nutrition for paralysis. Yes, if you want to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit.
Speaker A [00:09:48]:
However, there are special medical considerations that you need to take into account. So, for example, intermittent fasting. I have an entire podcast episode about this. You can, you can check it out. Intermittent fasting is terrible for bowel health, terrible for the gut. And so that’s not a good diet for somebody who has neurogenic bowels. So this particular client, we’re not going to talk too much about the bowel stuff. I could do an entire maybe I will master class just about how, again, this same client improved their bowels by making nutrition changes.
Speaker A [00:10:27]:
But let’s just say the bowel program was a disaster. There was so much constipation, there was so much frustration around bowel program, and this was 100% related to diet. That’s it. It was related to diet. And so when I say special medical consideration, I mean you’ve neurogenic bowel, you have to eat a certain type of way. Intermittent fasting, isn’t it? Not only was it causing crazy constipation and bloating, this person was gaining weight, which, again, it is painful for intelligent people to hear that they are doing something wrong, especially when they’re trying hard. So this client was sort of doing intermittent fasting because this was something that they did Monday through Thursday or Monday through Friday, and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday. There was no plan.
Speaker A [00:11:20]:
There was nothing restrictive about Thursday or Friday to Sunday. So a lot of people do this where they try to eat as little as possible or quote, unquote, be good during the week, and then they go off the rails on the weekend. This is a really, really common pattern. So diets are no good. Eating food is good. Eating the right foods is good. This is what’s going to help you lose weight. Restriction is the perfect path to binge eating.
Speaker A [00:11:52]:
So if you restrict yourself during the week and you’re eating boring, bland stuff Monday through Friday, you’re going to behave really differently on the weekend. You do not have to starve yourself to lose weight. And that’s actually going to make you lose muscle. So. And it’s really hard to build muscle with paralysis. So we need to enjoy meals every day. This all or nothing mentality, it’s really Not a winning strategy. We have to stop vilifying our favorite foods and saying, I can’t have this, I can’t have that.
Speaker A [00:12:27]:
You know, there is no such thing as perfection when it comes to eating. So when I say a diet is no good, I mean restricting yourself, cutting out your favorite foods, you know, eating as little as possible, labeling foods as good and bad, this is not good because in the long run, it doesn’t serve you. You know, I touched on mental health briefly. November is, is Men’s Mental Health Health Awareness Month. And the this is a topic that’s near and dear to my heart. And I have to say, emotional eating is something that I see a lot. And I see it late at night and on weekends. You know, we don’t usually tend to emotionally eat at breakfast and lunch, but we also, when we’re trying to lose weight and diet, may skip meals.
Speaker A [00:13:13]:
And so restriction, I. E. Skipping meals. This is the perfect path to binge eating food. Poor food choices. This is not it. And I understand that for so many people, what I’m saying might be like unwelcome. Like maybe you want to hear don’t eat this, don’t eat that, because that’s what you’re comfortable with.
Speaker A [00:13:33]:
And I don’t blame you because learning to have a healthier relationship with food, this is a big topic. This is a lot harder than the black and white all or nothing mentality. Like, I’m either on a diet or I’m eating whatever. That’s sort of easier to do. But the sad thing about that is that one, it’s miserable because first you’re restricting and then you’re eating whatever, which probably makes you feel guilty. So that strategy is hard and miserable and doesn’t work for weight loss. It’s a, it’s a no win situation. We want to educate ourselves, or I want to educate you about food so that you can make better choices, enjoy your meals, still feel full and satisfied in a calorie deficit, because that is how you lose weight.
Speaker A [00:14:27]:
You need to be in a calorie deficit over several weeks, but you cannot do that if you’re restricting for four days, Monday through Thursday, and then for three days the rest of the week, you’re off the rails. That’s not going to be a calorie deficit at the end of a week. So step three for this client was that they started tracking meals in an app. This is something that I have all my clients do. So when you track your meals, I mean that you download a free app, such as myfitnesspal the writing is on the wall. When you start truthfully tracking your meals, you probably be really surprised once you know how many calories you’re supposed to eat for weight loss, which is something that I do, you know, of course did with this client. I gave them a calorie number and then a macro breakdown. Macros are macronutrients, protein, fat and carb.
Speaker A [00:15:27]:
You need all three of those and we set the percentages of how many calories come from protein, how many come from fat, how many come from carbs. Once you know the right numbers and you start putting your actual food intake into an app, it becomes pretty, pretty clear why you’re gaining weight, why you don’t feel well, maybe why you feel hungry all the time. And then so you overeat. You probably also be shocked that you had no idea that this is what you were actually eating. Nutrition wise, not this client, but another client that I have recently tracked a couple of weekends, and it’s nearly 4,000 calories for the weekend. That’s a lot of calories. And he would never have realized that unless he tracked. So this particular client that I’m talking about today had never tracked meals before and had no idea that they were falling short on really key nutrients like protein and like fiber.
Speaker A [00:16:38]:
You cannot feel full unless you have enough protein and fiber. So macro tracking, meal tracking in an app. This is a teaching tool. This is how you learn, first of all what you’ve been doing and you educate yourself about what’s in your food. We don’t know what we don’t know. And calorie counting alone does not work long term. Why? Because when you are a full time wheelchair user and you have paralysis, in order for you to be in a calorie deficit, which is basically, you want to be in the red, you want to be in the minus, and you need to feel full in a calorie deficit and your calorie needs are lower than if you weren’t a wheelchair user and if you didn’t have paralysis. So how is a grown adult going to feel satisfied in a calorie deficit with paralysis? By macro tracking, by eating more of the things that help keep you full and balancing the meals, you know, and so if you have no idea how many carbs are in a bagel, how much protein is in hummus, I don’t know these numbers off the top of my head, but I do know how to portion these things so that my clients can stay in a calorie deficit.
Speaker A [00:18:06]:
And what you don’t know could be the reason why you’re gaining weight and perhaps why you can’t poop. But that is a discussion for another day. Today we’re just going to talk about weight loss. So this is why I really like macro tracking. Nobody really knows what they’re doing in terms of nutrition, right? In terms of what is in their food, until they can start keeping track of it. Step 4 In this client’s journey, they started eating three meals a day, plus a snack. So that’s very boring, right? Very anticlimactic. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but this is true.
Speaker A [00:18:46]:
Prior to working with me, this client was not eating breakfast, eating a small lunch at the office, and then eating a big dinner at home. And guess what? That doesn’t sound like a lot, but that equaled too many calories for this particular person’s, you know, energy level and level of injury and things like that. So in a nutshell, it was too many carbs, not enough protein, not enough fiber. Also, I should say, lots of bloating and constipation from this eating pattern of no breakfast, small lunch, big dinner, lots of bloating and constipation. But, you know, again, I digress. Today is about weight loss, not about pooping. I will try not to talk about pooping today. But they are related, right? So when you eat better, everything gets better in your body, including your bowels.
Speaker A [00:19:38]:
So when this person switched from this sort of intermittent fasting pattern, 2, 3 meals a day, plus sometimes a snack around 3 or 4pm the total calories went down. So more frequent eating, less calories. And how do I know that it’s less calories? Because they were tracking meals. Macros were balanced. Not in the beginning. In the beginning, it was all kinds of craziness because everybody’s tracking in the first couple days or weeks is chaotic because you’re learning. But as we transitioned to three meals a day and a snack on some days, there were no more, you know, hunger pangs and cravings at night. If you are a person who is very, very hungry at night, I guarantee you are also a person who skips meals during the day.
Speaker A [00:20:30]:
And also, kind of a Note, during the three months that we worked together, we found out that this client was pre diabetic. Very, very early stage. But the numbers, you know, the lab work indicated that this person was pre diabetic. Lots of people are pre diabetic and do not know it. That is, with or without paralysis. So by going to three meals a day, by increasing fiber and protein, we improved blood sugar levels, which also helps with cravings. So when we eat better, when we track macros and we are educated about our, you know, current eating pattern and why that’s problematic, everything gets better. You lose weight and, you know, your health gets better.
Speaker A [00:21:20]:
My husband is quadriplegic. I don’t really care too much about weight with him. He’s. He’s not technically overweight. I know if he. If he wanted to, I know that he would like to lose maybe five, seven pounds, but I really don’t care. I mean, as a dietitian, as a wife, I am more concerned about, like, health because I’m thinking long term, and I think about that with my clients, too. Like, when I hear you have to lose weight and you’re pre diabetic, I’m more concerned about the pre diabetic part than the weight part.
Speaker A [00:21:51]:
Yes, they kind of go together. But I’ve noticed that people focus. I mean, I don’t want to say entirely, but they focus like 80% on the weight. And I am focusing more on the overall health picture, you know, than. I think that. I think people realize because for me, yes, the weight is going to help you feel better in your body. It’s going to help you be as independent as possible. You know, with high levels of inflammation, comes poor blood sugar, comes weight gain.
Speaker A [00:22:24]:
We want to work on the whole body, right? Not just on the weight. So I did want to just include this here, because this is something that happens a lot is during three months, something will pop up. And, you know, I encourage people, go get your blood work done. You know, when was the last time you had your, you know, your labs drawn, you know, let’s talk about it. Because nutrition can improve some of these things, including prediabetes. So step five, they figured out a planning and prepping strategy. And I will just say this. It is completely impossible, implausible, whatever you want to say, to eat better and lose weight if you don’t think ahead.
Speaker A [00:23:05]:
And when I say meal plan or meal prep, does that make you envision a fridge full of Tupperwares that have, like, three different meals in them? And if so, you know, shake your head, get that. Get that vision out and get yourself a new vision. Because when I say meal plan and prep, I just mean thinking ahead. You do not have to spend hours doing this, but you do have to figure out a system that works for you. This will look different for everybody. If you live alone, you’re shopping for one. If you’re like us, I shop for a Family of four. It’s different if you work from home, if you’re retired, if you are a student, you know, if you’re working in an office, everything is going to be different probably for you, Right? So for this client, we started to use an online grocery shopping app.
Speaker A [00:24:02]:
So this particular client had family that was involved in cooking. Breakfast was something that was prepared the night before, lunch was prepared in the morning before going to work, and dinner was the more elaborate meal with family. And that was the thing that kind of depended on the day. But the breakfast and the lunch, we would choose like two things for the week and just sort of rotate them. I have had clients utilize different support methods, let’s say. So, like, for example, if you have an aide or a caregiver that is responsible, you know, for your health, eating your meals and prepping meals is part of that. Right. And I have had some difficult discussions with not this particular client, but with others to say, you know, you need to advocate for yourself.
Speaker A [00:24:57]:
If you have an aide that’s kind of sitting around for parts of the day waiting around for you, like they need to be doing something else. And it is absolutely part of the care when it comes to a caregiver to plan and prep food. So if you have no plan, prepare to fail. Because it’s just like anything else in life. It does take effort. The effort is essential. And I’m always, I mean, still surprised that people are wanting to lose weight, but they don’t have a plan for what to actually eat. And that, to me, it’s just.
Speaker A [00:25:35]:
It’s simply not going to work. So when people. I mean, and it’s no one’s fault, but I think people tend to think about what can I do? As opposed to what can I eat, what can I eat? I want to really kind of hammer this point of weight loss is about having enough of certain things. Right. And watching portions on other things. It is not about restricting and eating as little as possible. If you like to eat, which most people do like to eat, I mean, we love to eat in this house. It does take effort in our home.
Speaker A [00:26:14]:
I’ll just share. I. My husband and I use an app, and I would say like 75% of the time, he’s the one who picks up the groceries because it’s like a pickup service. So we use the Instacart app. We can both add things to the cart, and then when we’re ready to check out, usually he will check out because he knows when he’s going to be near that store. You Just drive in. You push the button on the app that says that you’re there, pop the trunk, and they. They put the groceries in.
Speaker A [00:26:45]:
So it’s actually really nice. That is something that has come out of the pandemic is that this grocery stuff is easier for my husband to help with because before it was entirely on me. So it’s going to look different for everybody. The effort is essential. What the execution looks like may look different in your family, in your home, than it does in someone else’s, but grocery shopping is the basis for weight loss because it’s all about what is available, what comes in your house. If you’re buying 90% healthy foods and not buying too many things that you’re going to have a hard time with, portion control that will help you lose weight. But if you don’t have at least the basics in place, if you don’t have a plan for what day are you going to grocery shop? If you are just sort of playing it by ear, that’s having no plan. And so if you have no plan, it won’t surprise me that you also have no success.
Speaker A [00:27:50]:
So, again, it doesn’t have to be this, like, big ordeal. When I still, when I think of meal planning and prepping, I think of, like, gigantic, you know, dishes and pots full of stuff, and you’re eating the same thing over and over again. But that’s not what it has to be. For me, grocery shopping is step one for the plan, and step two is before the stuff goes in the fridge or maybe, maybe within 24 hours, if there’s stuff that needs to be chopped, like peppers or a melon or like, something, I’ll chop it because that makes it easier for us to eat vegetables. But whatever your plan is, just make sure that you have one right, because it is going to look different for everyone. So step six in this person’s journey is that they examined the weekends. Weekends can be a challenge. There are social gatherings.
Speaker A [00:28:43]:
You may be going to restaurants, know, family’s homes. We just went to my parents yesterday for dinner. And these things are not that easy to navigate. So this particular client had been trying to restrict calories, slash do the intermittent fasting during the week. And this was a place of restriction. And so come the weekend, it was like, all right, I worked hard this week. Now it’s time for me to enjoy and let it go. Cheat meals.
Speaker A [00:29:12]:
People say I’m cheating. Oh, this is my cheat day. This is my cheat meal. That is not a thing. At Paralysis Nutrition, we need to call a spade a Spade. When you say cheat meal, you’re actually planning to binge. We do not do that. We do not want to do that.
Speaker A [00:29:31]:
If you track your meals and you put in a cheeseburger and fries and three beers and you split a brownie sundae, sometimes that’s just the perspective that you need to get your act together. Because knowledge is power. You can have a cheeseburger, track it, and see what that looks like. Decide if next time you’re going to eat all the fries or maybe you’ll split. Decide if maybe you’ll order something else, but still have your three beers and your brownie sundae. This is why I love macro tracking, because from my, you know, philosophy, all foods can fit in a healthy diet. All foods, including fries, including a cheeseburger, including beer, including dessert. All of these foods can fit into a healthy diet.
Speaker A [00:30:21]:
You can even lose weight eating these foods. But in a mindful way, it is nice to indulge. You have to be knowledgeable about what you are doing. Though the problem isn’t the cheeseburger. The problem is you have no idea what your day looks like. So what your, what your three days in a row look like, what your seven days in a row look like in terms of calories and protein and fat and fiber and carbs. And so when you track on the weekends, I think that it’s so, so eye opening. And I am a firm believer that weekend eating and, you know, tis the season, so like holiday eating, it should look different than your typical weekday eating.
Speaker A [00:31:08]:
But to what degree, you know, do we want to eat to the point where we don’t feel well? Do we want to enjoy our favorite foods and still be able to, like, you know, breathe and feel. Feel good? Like, what is it that we’re after? So I really, I teach the 9010 rule in all of my programs. So I say that if there’s 21 meals in a week, two of those meals can be out of your, you know, normal pattern and you can still lose weight, right? So in our household, every Friday night is takeout. And then usually one more meal is going to either be a restaurant or maybe, like, I don’t know, maybe something I cook or we go to a family’s house, whatever, two meals pretty much out of the week. But we cannot indulge for days and expect to lose weight. And so this particular client, like I said, four, four and a half days out of the week, was trying to kind of eat as little as possible. And then they had a really rude awakening when they tracked on the weekends and saw how things were adding up. I’m not going to go into it too much, but like, when you eat out and when you drink alcohol and when you eat desserts, these are the things that really, I think are important for us to be knowledgeable about.
Speaker A [00:32:31]:
I’m not saying these are the things we need to be careful of. No, no, no. Make your choice. A perfect example. There is this place near our house that has a seasonal space special. It is a pumpkin cheesecake. It is like one of the best cheesecakes I’ve ever had. And so on Friday nights, I’ve been ordering that, but I’m not ordering it with a gigantic burger.
Speaker A [00:32:58]:
I’m not ordering it with chicken and waffles, fried chicken and waffles. I’m ordering it with one of their really, really kind of like fancy salads, which I absolutely love. And so I’m eating cheesecake and I’m doing this once a week. And there’s nothing wrong with that because I am knowledgeable about what I’m doing. My husband will do the same thing. Like, if he wants something sweet, he’s not going to probably order. He likes this, like, certain panini that they have. He probably won’t do that.
Speaker A [00:33:30]:
He’ll get something else and then get the dessert. So this is because we are knowledgeable about what different foods look like, you know, nutrition wise. And so this particular client here was really blown away and had like a sobering moment once they tracked the wine. The wine was a big thing for this particular client and the food, of course, too. Right. And again, I’m not going to go into it today, but this really, really wreaked havoc on the bowels as well, this eating pattern, which is quite chaotic. Right. I think that when you have more knowledge of what’s in your food, you will start making better choices immediately.
Speaker A [00:34:14]:
So step seven, this client lost 12 pounds in the first month and then only 2 pounds the second month. And they were really disappointed. So that first month they were so motivated and ready to go. They had just signed up with me. You know, it was like a big change. And they lost £12. Felt so good about that, and then became a bit lax. Following month, lost two pounds.
Speaker A [00:34:45]:
I thought that this was still good because we didn’t gain back weight that we lost. I think that would have been really devastating. But I said, you know, you still lost two pounds, so you still doing well. Like you are still in the negative. Ooh. But they were so annoyed and they knew exactly why this happened because they got too Comfortable and let things slide. They did see more weight loss, but not as much as the first month. And this was a great learning experience.
Speaker A [00:35:20]:
So, so good. And I’m so glad that this happened because in the long run, served this person so much experience is the best teacher. So yes, it was frustrating, but it was invaluable to learn. It is invaluable to learn how our body behaves when we eat a certain way. First month for this client was incredible. 12 pounds lost. That’s a lot. And I will just say I should have, oh, I did say it before.
Speaker A [00:35:50]:
This person had gained 60 pounds. So the more weight that you have to lose, it’s kind of like the first couple of months you will probably lose more than you ever will. So like month six is not going to be 12 pounds, but month one might be, you know, because you have a lot to lose. So I thought the second month was still good because there was a loss, but, you know, not as much. And my client knew exactly why. They only quote, unquote, only saw two pounds down. So step eight, they lost six more pounds in the third month and that was a total of 20 pounds down. So this was the victory that we needed after a sort of bad second month.
Speaker A [00:36:33]:
At this point we were minus £20. And that’s incredible. Now here comes the raw, uncensored truth. I don’t even really want to say this because I don’t want to encourage this, but I am being very honest today and very unpolished today. I really just wanted to share this story with you guys. So I would love to say that this client went back to diligently tracking meals. They did not in month two. They became really lax with it in month three.
Speaker A [00:37:04]:
I thought after that two pound month that they would definitely get back to tracking. They did not. And the official statement was, I get it now, I get it now, I get it now. And yes, indeed they did because they were able to lose six more pounds. So again, I think this is way too soon to stop tracking. I do. I don’t agree with this, but this is not my story, this is not my method. This is what the real story of one person’s 20 pound weight loss in three months look like.
Speaker A [00:37:39]:
So as much as it sort of pains me to say, you know, it’s true, they weren’t tracking and I do not support that. So at this point, clothes are fitting better, transfers into bed, you know, into the car are much easier. I mean, 20 pounds less weight, that’s a lot of weight. Confidence was up and I mean, I saw a noticeable difference in mood and even just like in the face, you know, because at that time I was doing video calls. And so leaning into support and accountability, I think is really what Month three was about. Because the tracking, I mean, I really do think that this is something that should be done for at least three to six months. But again, it’s not my story. I didn’t want to get into what my method is today because I feel like I do that all the time and I tell you guys what I think you should do, but today I wanted to share what someone actually did.
Speaker A [00:38:43]:
So here is the exact path to 20 pounds weight loss in three months for this particular client. One, freak out, take charge, invest in, help. Two, learn a new approach to weight loss that isn’t dieting. And I, if you follow me, you know, I am big into macro tracking. I am also really into non, you know, restrictive techniques like, I think food is something to be enjoyed. I think food is one of the, you know, few pleasures that everybody has in common, you know, And I am someone who really believes that all foods can fit into a healthy diet, even for weight loss. So this is a new approach for a lot of people. I have so many clients that it’s so hard to wrap their minds around the fact that no food is bad.
Speaker A [00:39:41]:
Food doesn’t have moral value. You’re not a bad person for eating a piece of piece. Sheesh. You know, three track meals in an app for five weeks. But no, I kid, but it’s, you know, it’s true. Okay, Tracking meals in an app really was helpful. Not sustainable for this person, but it still worked, right? Learning about the macros and the portions, I didn’t even really get into portions, but I should say, you know, I think it kind of goes without saying that this person’s portions when they did eat were way too large. Okay.
Speaker A [00:40:17]:
Four, learn a new routine. So I know it’s boring, but I mean, three meals a day. Three meals a day. You can even do a snack, like depending on the day. I mean, I tend to do a snack also around 3 or 4 o’clock because our evenings are sort of busy. Like I pick up the kids and then we often will have an activity and by the time we get home, you know, so three meals a day plus a snack. The reason I like the snack for a lot of people who tend to overeat at night is because you won’t be starving at six o’clock if you had something at four. So new routine number five, think ahead before you’re hungry.
Speaker A [00:40:58]:
So that’s the planning and prepping for success. And this is going to look different for everybody. Everybody has a different living situation. Six, rethink weekends and that choice, cheat meal mentality. Eating is not a game. Food is not a game. Your health is not a game. Cheating is planning, you know, to binge.
Speaker A [00:41:19]:
I don’t like that. We need to enjoy our meals every day. Like the amount of people who think that croutons and salad dressing are bad for you, you know, that’s not true. Those are perfectly fine. If they make your salad, you know, a happy, good experience, you need to put those in your food. So rethink your mentality, you know, yes, about weekends and cheat meals, but about the moral value of food too. You know that that’s a big, a big thing. Seven, lose weight.
Speaker A [00:41:49]:
See success, get comfortable and then lose less weight. Eight, get wiser. Stop tracking and continue to lose more weight. Again, this is not my method. This is someone else’s exact path to 20 pounds weight loss in three months. And I love that it is imperfect because it is true, it is real, it is possible. And this is not a miserable weight loss story. This is a really, I think, inspirational thing because this person didn’t start restricting and eating weird stuff.
Speaker A [00:42:31]:
To quote, this person who never ate breakfast said the recipes were phenomenal. Okay? Phenomenal. Not my word. And this is a person who said that they didn’t want to eat breakfast and didn’t like breakfast. Now saying the breakfast recipes are phenomenal. Okay? So it’s possible to change your habits and like it. You can like it. If you don’t like it, you’re not going to keep doing it.
Speaker A [00:42:56]:
That’s really the secret of any habit is if you don’t like it, you won’t keep doing it. We can only push through for so long. At the end of the day, we’re not going to adopt any habits that don’t actually feel good or give us some sort of benefit. So I’m curious if you’re surprised because this probably was not the story that you were expecting, but this is reality. They did it their way and it worked. £20 down in three months is a big deal. And you know what did it? I think the education. I think most people just don’t know what their day looks like when they have a bagel for breakfast, a grilled cheese for lunch, and pasta for dinner.
Speaker A [00:43:41]:
I just think people don’t know what that looks like or if they have coffee for breakfast and Panera for lunch. And one of Those, you know, meal kits, like one of those chef, you know, what are the fresh directs or something for dinner? Yeah, you maybe don’t know what that looks like. So I think the tracking, the education, like knowing what’s in the food and yes, the tracking was short lived but I think that was a lot of the education of like seeing the writing on the wall. I think that the live group meetings, the motivation, the support, you know, being around like minded people is really, really powerful. I hang out with a bunch of like dietitian colleagues online, you know, so it’s, it’s like if I wanted to do something right, like I’m a dietitian in virtual practice. So I hang out with other dietitians who are in virtual practice. And so being in a group of people who were wheelchair users, I think was, was really different. Right.
Speaker A [00:44:45]:
And I don’t want to say this, but I have an entire online course as part of my program and this person didn’t even watch my online course modules. Again, I don’t want to tell that story because I don’t encourage that. My online course is, it’s so rich and so full of information. But this is not my story. This is not me telling you how to lose weight. This is me telling you this is what somebody did and lost 20 pounds in three months in my program without watching the online course module but, but participating in the other and the other parts of the program. So that is what it is, you know, it’s the truth. So before I wrap it up, I just want to say thank you for joining me and will 2023 be the year that you finally do it? You know, I hope so.
Speaker A [00:45:37]:
I have so many people that I chit chat with online and who message me, email me, whatever and they say they’ve lost, they’ve gained 40 pounds, 60 pounds, 80 pounds, 20 pounds since injury and they just, they don’t know why they can’t get it off. And so I have something that I think that you will love and that will help you to finally do it. My Vitality 90 Day Weight Loss Program starts in January. This is something completely new for 2023 and we’re going to have a big Black Friday sale this Friday. We’re going to do a Black Friday sale for this Vitality program. It’s a big discount. We also have payment plans because we’re starting in January. So keep an eye on your inbox, keep an eye on your Instagram, social media, wherever you find me, wherever you see me, because we are launching Vitality this week.
Speaker A [00:46:37]:
And thank you guys so much for joining me today. This was fun. I hope that you take the good parts of this story and I hope that you feel, I don’t know, maybe you feel a little bit seen because this is one particular client. But there are so many people that I even just telling this one person story that I’m thinking of other people who did similar things. So we’re all different, but we’re all the same, right? So I will see you guys and thank you so much. That’s our episode for today. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed it and that you learned something new.
Speaker A [00:47:11]:
Remember, if you want to lose weight with paralysis, improve your bowel health and feel your best you can. It’s possible, you just have to change your eating habits. If you need inspiration on how to get started, check out The Paralysis Nutrition Cookbook 101 Recipes to Help youp Lose Weight and Improve Bowel Health. The cookbook comes with a bonus 30 day meal plan and is the perfect way to start eating healthier. You can find it online at paralysisnutrition.com cookbook I’ll talk to you again soon.
