When Weight Loss Seems Slow

Sometimes, weight loss just seems… well, SLOW. Really slow. Like that elderly woman in the checkout line at the grocery store who decides to write a check… and you're left thinking, can we please get on with this??

Tune in as Marchelle and I discuss this all-too-common problem in the world of weight loss. There's actually a LOT to think about!

Episode Highlights:

23:24 You don't have to have an emotional relationship with food.

25:24 Are you planning your meals 24 hours in advance? If you're relying on decisions in the moment, you're gonna be relying on your primitive brain to make your food decisions.

31:34 Just remember the weight loss journey is a long game. It's not any sort of short thing. This is the long game where you're learning how to manage your life. You're learning how to nourish your body.

--- Full Raw Transcription Below ---

Dr. Angela Zechmann (00:00):
You are listening to the Keep The Weight Off podcast with Dr. Angela, episode number 53.

Introduction (00:07):
Welcome to The Keep The Weight Off podcast, where we bust all the dieting myths and discover not just how to lose weight, but more importantly, how to keep it off. We go way beyond the food and we use science and psychology to give you strategies that work. And now your host, Dr. Angela Zechmann.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (00:28):
All right. So welcome to everyone. And welcome back Marchelle. Like we've had to have a little break here cuz you've been sick. How are you doing? .

Marchelle. (00:38):
I'm doing, I'm doing really good actually. Yeah. I came back pretty strong. Yeah. For a little while, but I'm looking, yeah,

Dr. Angela Zechmann (00:46):
she had a COVID exposure and she was really sick. She never tested positive though. So she…

New Speaker (00:46):

Marchelle. (00:51):
Actually tested negative.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (00:52):
Yeah. But boy, man, that poor girl was sick. So I am super, super happy to have you feeling well again I do wanna say to each everybody in our podcast listening audience, like COVID is out there and just want y'all to be really, really careful. Because it, even though it's theoretically milder than the Delta variant, the Omicron variant is milder, but it's still it just still pops a wammer and, and puts you down for a while.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (01:22):
So just be careful. All right. So today I wanted to talk about a common problem that we see when people are on a weight loss journey and that is slow weight loss. And I wanna address this in some detail because weight loss can cause people to give up. I mean, how often do we see this Marchelle? Like people come in and they're just like, oh, it's so slow. .

Marchelle. (01:51):
Yeah, I hear that all the time, all the time.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (01:54):
And then, you know, they, they tend to wanna give up and they get all discouraged and then, you know, the minute they up, then they have very little chance of ever thriving in their healthy, vibrant body that they're proud of. And they have a higher chance of becoming one of the 300,000 people that die of obesity every year. Did you realize that 300,000 people die of obesity every year in the United States?

Dr. Angela Zechmann (02:21):
Does that not just blow your mind?

Marchelle (02:24):
It makes me sad, but I totally believe it.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (02:26):
Yeah. And you know, that's not, that's not just people who die from diabetes and hypertension and heart attacks and stuff. That's people who die because of obesity. So I mean, it's crazy. So I just want you to know, like, this is a serious disease that we need to take seriously. So when somebody comes in and they're like, oh, they're so discouraged because they think their weight loss is slow. The first thing I always ask is how do you know your weight loss is slow? in other words, how are you assessing weight loss? Because you have to have the right assessment tools. If you feel like your weight loss is slow. And the reason is because you're getting on your bathroom scale and you're using that as your assessment tool, you're gonna be wildly misled.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (03:14):
And that's because your weight is made up of three different and elements that can change. There's not just fat changing there's body water, that's changing. There's muscle mass that might be changing. So it's entirely possible to lose body fat, add muscle mass, and happen to be retaining a little extra water. And the scale is not budging. But what you will notice is that your clothes feel looser. You'll be experiencing some of what we call in the weight loss world, non-scale victories or NVS, like more energy, butter sleep. The ability to do things you couldn't do before less aches and pain, climbing up a flight of steps and not being winded. Those are the kinds of things that are non-scale victories. And you'll be noticing that, but the weight just doesn't budge. So what I want you to know is, do not use your bathroom scale as your indicator.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (04:14):
And we had a whole podcast episode called scale woes - that's so nine. So if this could be you, I want you to go back and listen to that podcast and make sure you're using the right assessment tool to determine if you really are losing weight slowly or losing fat slowly. So that's the first question I always ask. If you think weight loss is slow make sure that you get a body composition test done and find out for sure what's actually happening. And I do recommend getting body composition tests done on a regular basis every month, every two months, minimum every three months, just so that you know what's happening now. Okay.

Marchelle (04:57):
So if I can break in on the, on the body. Yeah, yeah. There's been in many, many, many times that patients have come in and they say, I don't wanna do the body comp because I had a bad month. Okay. So they think for some reason that getting on the body composition is gonna reveal something bad that they've done. Okay. So mm-hmm they just wanna get on the scale. Okay. So mm-hmm, I let 'em get on the scale and they're like I've gained four pounds and I say, get on the body composition mm-hmm and when they get on and they they're super reluctant and they're like, no, I don't wanna do it. I said, yeah, listen, just trust me, get on this. So they do it. And then we do the math and they have gained muscle. They have lost fat.

Marchelle (05:41):
Even though this scale has gone up a couple pounds or they haven't, you know, or it's like equal, they haven't gained or not lost and we start to break it down and then you go in there with them and you do the math. And you're like, oh, you've lost four pounds of fat. And you gain two pounds of muscle. And that has nothing to do with the weight that, that you were when you got on the scale. Right. And people walk outta the clinic going, whoa, I have no idea that I did so well. I thought that I did bad because I gained a couple pounds and, and they just, they just don't have any idea because, because as this program has nothing to do with your weight on the scale, it has everything to do with dumping fat and gaining muscle. Yeah. And you can't, then you can't assess that by stepping on a scale. That's exactly why you say throw away the scale because said you get on the scale, you know, you're gonna, you're gonna be yourself. And, and you just can't determine whether or not you're losing fat by getting on a scale. And I've seen it over and over and over again,

Dr. Angela Zechmann (06:46):
Over and over and over ad nauseum.

Marchelle (06:49):
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I'm like, I just want like, even in the clinic, sometimes I just wanna get rid of that scale because people are so conditioned to like measure their worth mm-hmm by what's on the scale. Yeah. Like that, that, that that's your worth. If you didn't lose weight, then you're a bad person and, and you walk away going like, oh, I'm a failure. Yeah. And we do that. Like, especially women, like we've been done that out for so long. Yeah. That we don't even know how to not do it anymore. Yeah. And, and we, I know even, and even though you tell patients, and I even know this, you've told me still I'll get on the scale every morning. I have one in my bathroom and I get on it just because I haven't really conditioned myself to not do that. So actually this is a really good topic because I I'm struggling with myself. I need, you need to throw that scale away.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (07:46):
Yeah. Well, the, the research does show that once you've gotten down to a good stable weight plateau, that it is a good idea to get on the scale, like once a week, just to kind of check and make sure. But you know, if you are planning your meals ahead of time and, and you're not having a bunch of overeats, you're gonna be fine. You know, like, yeah,

Marchelle (08:07):
You, you wouldn't, if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, you don't even worry about the scale. The only time that anybody ever focuses. And this is including me. Yeah. The only time that I'm ever focused on scale is when I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Right. And then I, and then I get on the scale to see like, Ooh  

Dr. Angela Zechmann (08:25):
How bad's The damage?

Marchelle (08:27):
Yeah. And that like, can I get away with it? Did it show up? Like, yeah, look, you know, what can I get away with? And so really, if, if you just get rid of the scale mm-hmm and you just focus on being healthy and feeding your body full of wonderful things to eat, mm-hmm that are healthy for your body. And, and you're, you have a clear mind and you're doing the wonderful things you're supposed to do for yourself to make yourself happy. You don't care about the scale.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (08:54):
Yeah. Well, that's the goal is to eventually get people to the point where they're just living in a healthy, vibrant body and they're nourishing their body properly, And they're not addicted to sugar and flour. It's right. Yeah. It's a whole different way of looking at this.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (09:11):
So yeah. So thank you for that. That, that was really good Marchelle. Because this is exactly what happens for people and they use the scale to judge themselves and boy, wouldn't it be nice if they had never been invented, it would be great. right. Like why, who even invented that?

Dr. Angela Zechmann (09:28):
I don't. I know.

Marchelle (09:30):
I don't know. I mean, it's not, it's not like somebody I've ever heard of, so that does, it's irrelevant.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (09:35):
Yeah. Yeah. all right. Now I wanna go into what could be going on if weight loss actually is slow based on body composition testing. Okay. All right. So let's say that we have a body composition test and we that in the last couple last, say in the last month or so in the last four weeks, you haven't lost any fat and it turns out you've actually lost some muscle mass or things just are slow. So I wanna know, I want everybody to know the process that my brain goes through when this is happening for someone. Okay. I say, if you're averaging a pound of fat loss or more each week, so in a month's period of time, if you've lost four pounds of fat then, and you haven't lost a lot of lean mass, I say, congratulations, you're doing fine, but let's say it's averaging two pounds of fat loss a month or less.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (10:34):
And you're losing muscle mass and nutrition is sound. Okay. So this is when I want to talk about how to address what's going on. There are two really common problems that I wanna focus on first. And the first problem is alcohol intake. So I talked about alcohol in a previous podcast, that was podcast number 34. And I just want people to know that if you're drinking a glass or more of wine or a beer or two every night, then your body's going to have a hard time releasing fat. And what I talked about in that previous podcast is that the reason is because your body's going to use the alcohol as an energy source, preferentially, and then what it doesn't need for energy, it's gonna store as fat. So, and then that's not to mention that. Usually if you've been drinking, you end up eating more than you plan to eat.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (11:34):
So it's so interesting how just one drink can cause you to, succumb to urges to eat things that you didn't plan to eat. So if your weight loss is slow, truly slow based on body composition testing. That's the first thing to look at. Now, I wanna say something here. If you find that the idea of not drinking sends a tons of anxiety coercing through your veins, then there could be an alcohol dependence going on . So, and I don't want anyone to ever feel ashamed of that because I want you to understand this is brain biochemistry. This isn't any sort of character flaw on your per especially if you have family members with alcoholism, you're at higher risk of having biochemical changes in your brain from alcohol. And I also want you to know that just like the food industry, the alcoholic beverage industry is out there marketing and making all of us think that drinking every day is perfectly normal.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (12:36):
And so I just want you to ask yourself very kindly and compassionately, if it's possible that there's an alcohol dependence going on, because if there is, you might need some extra help. Okay. So if you think that that might be going on for you again, I don't want any, anybody to feel any shame about it at all. It's brain biochemistry. I want you to, there's a couple of things you can do. You can either send me an email at DrAngela@JourneyBeyond WeightLoss.com. If you want extra help. Another great resource, you can check out on your own. If you don't wanna go. The standard AA route is a book called "This Naked Mind" by Annie grace. She's amazing. She's got a really powerful online program that could be helpful. Okay. So I just, I just really wanna address that possibility for slow weight loss. Okay.

Marchelle (13:33):
So I think that what Angela's is White Claw Uhhuh, or boozey seltzers, and you still gain weight, even though they have no galleries. yeah.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (13:43):
We talked about the White Claw

Marchelle (13:46):
Don't feed into the White Claw hype. They're bad for you. Yeah.  

Dr. Angela Zechmann (13:52):
Okay. True. True. True. Now, you know, that's, it's not to say that a glass of wine when you're out on a Saturday night is a problem. I'm just saying if you're somebody who is drinking every day, there could be a dependence. I'm not saying there necessarily is, but there could be. So just, you know, be curious and be compassionate with yourself and ask yourself if that could be an issue for you. All right.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (14:16):
The second problem that I really often see is under eating and over exercising. So most people who've struggled with their weight have been dieting for decades, and they're really steeped in this calories in and calories out mentality. So they'll starve themselves. They'll eat less than like a thousand or 1200 calories a day. And then they'll exercise. They'll over exercise. So what we'll hear is somebody will come in and they'll say, I'm working so hard and I'm not losing any weight. And those are the people that I know are struggling with over exercising or undereating or both. So if this is you, I want you to listen really carefully to what I'm about to say next, you ready? ready. Marcelle.

Marchelle (15:11):
Yeah, this I am. I am all ears, cuz this is yeah.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (15:14):
Yeah. So your brain evolved to survive. And one of the things that our ancestors had to survive was periodic famines. So famines are times when food is scarce in some to the world, people are still dealing with food scarcity. So our brains know exactly what to do when food gets scarce and our brains respond. So what they do, what our brains are gonna do is they're gonna slow our metabolism down. You're gonna get really tired. You're not gonna release fat, very well. It's gonna burn muscle mass instead. So you may be able to do this for a while. Undereat over exercise. You might be able to do this for several, several months just using your willpower, but eventually your body's gonna win. your body's gonna win. And the next thing you know, you're eating everything in sight and your brain is like, thank God. The famine is over!

Dr. Angela Zechmann (16:20):
We need to make sure this never happens again. Let's store some more fat. So you end up in these starvation and binge cycles. This is all very natural and predictable. I remember the Biggest Loser. Remember that show that was out all those years ago and these people would just starve themselves. They lost fat. Great. But the research showed that their metabolic rates dropped significantly. Even once they had plateaued, their metabolic rate was still dropping and their hunger hormones were going up and most of them gain all their weight back. So I want you to know that when you are starving yourself and over exercising that you're going to end up in a starvation and binge cycle. This is very natural and very predictable. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you. Other than that, you got brainwashed with some bad information. okay. So does that make sense, Marchelle?

Marchelle (17:20):
Yeah. I mean, it kind of like this triggered me in a way that like, okay, I know that we go back to the primitive brain and all that kind of stuff. I mean, that's the science. Yeah. But I think, I don't know if, cause I'm 50, so mm-hmm , I'm not sure. Or like any of our listeners around the same generation I'm in. Oh, I'm sure that, so when I grew up, okay. Yes. When I grew up it was, you need to be part of the clean plate club. Okay. Oh. Had nothing to do with nutrition. It had, I mean, we had, and as a child you have no control over what you eat. Mm-Hmm and you grow up. Not having any control. Yeah. Because your parents, you eat this or you don't get dinner. Right. And, and then you know it, then you would be punished if you didn't, if you didn't eat what was on your plate.

Marchelle (18:05):
Right. So there was, there was not like any kind of awareness given to the children about, Hey, you should eat this because it's healthy or you're nourishing your body or, or any kind of support in that way. It was no, you eat what you get, you don't throw a fit. And if you don't eat it, then you're in trouble. Okay. Mm-Hmm I think that from my generation, what happens is, is we come out of that and we start questioning things. Right. Mm-Hmm and we're like, wait a minute. You know, our parents were kind of jerked for like forcing us to just eat everything on our plate. And if we didn't, we didn't, we got in trouble and it became like this control thing, right? Like right. This, this 'kids against parent', you know, like I'm not gonna eat that spinach. I'm gonna spit it into a nap or whatever.

Marchelle (18:54):
Right. So yeah, cause that's what I eat it to the dog. Yeah. I just actually spit my spinach into the milk that my parents had trying to think that they wouldn't see it and they would, no, it was so bad and, and they would see it and I would be in so much trouble. But anyway, so I was, you know, I, and I'm not sure if anybody else has had to do this, but like I had to, you know, sneak this and sneak that. Cause I didn't wanna eat this. I mean, it just, it was just such a dysfunctional relationship with food. Mm-Hmm that, you know, came in full force when I was an adult, because then when I was 18, I was like, wait a minute. I can eat what I want. Yeah. I'm going to McDonald's I'm gonna eat. I'm gonna eat ice cream for dinner.

Marchelle (19:37):
Yeah. Just because I can, because I'm an adult, right? Yeah. Yeah. So then this, this whole dysfunctional relationship happens with food until you meet Angela Zechmann who comes into your life and then you start questioning every thing that you ever learned. Because when I met you, I remember that I was so ingrained with the, if you don't eat anything, you lose weight. If you do eat anything, you gain weight. Right, right. Mm-Hmm do you remember that about me? Like I, oh yeah. I, I remember questioning like you all the time. Like you, you, you eat. So how would you eat that much food? Yeah. You lose weight. I mean, I was always like watching you for the first year and a half that I worked there. Yeah. And I just really always thought that if you eat, you gain weight. So I would always starve myself.

Marchelle (20:27):
I lived on coffee. Yeah. Until two o'clock and I'd go home and have one meal for dinner. And I overeat because by that time I'm starving. Yeah. And I wasn't losing. And when it's not that I wasn't just not losing any weight. I felt like shit. Yeah. Like I, by two o'clock I was like making mistakes at work. Yeah. My stomach was bloated, you know, and bloated in that way. Like where people ask you if you're pregnant. Oh no. Is anybody how to deal with that? that sucks. OK. When you're not pregnant and somebody asks you how far along you are. Yeah. That's a thing that you have to, you have to pay attention to this, something going on. Right. And I mean, like I was uncomfortable trying to tie my shoes. Yeah. Cause my belly was big, you know, it was just, I just felt like crap and I wanted, I wanted something better, but I didn't think that I was capable or worthy of doing it.

Marchelle (21:18):
That's the problem. Yeah. Cause I didn't, I didn't believe in myself. Yeah. So you know, this, this whole, all these things came up, you know, while, you know, I was doing this five day sugar and flour detox. Well, a lot of things came up. Yeah. I was, you know, I wasn't aware of, because I started questioning, I got resentful. Like why do I have to eat this? And I can't just eat what I want. Right. You know? And am I gonna have to do this forever? Yeah. I feel like all these things went on in my mind,

Dr. Angela Zechmann (21:48):
And that rebellious adolescent part of your brain.

Marchelle (21:51):
Yeah. Because you don't tell me what to do. Exactly. And that's yeah. That's totally mean. So like, like doing this, this shift, this mind shift does not have really anything to do with like you being restricted or having to do. So, you know, like you could own only do this. It has to do with freedom. Mm-Hmm , you know, freedom from like all the things that you were taught as a kid, freedom from all the bullshit you're talking, you know, that people talk about the scale, you know, all the advertisements, all of us comparing ourselves to each other and you know, there's, there's this perfect thing where trying to achieve. And if we're not the perfect thing, then we're not perfect. Which means we feel, and it's all just bullshit. Yeah. Like really? Yeah. Like really there's like ever since I've met you, like this whole awareness has come to my life, which I actually, I really didn't invite and it's been a struggle because I really didn't wanna deal with all of it. Right. Cause it's hard. It's hard things. OK. We just need a podcast on it. It's doing hard things. Right.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (22:56):
Doing hard things. Yeah.

Marchelle (22:57):
Yeah. So yeah, so it's, it's you gotta do hard things if you, if you want a better life and then once, well,

Dr. Angela Zechmann (23:03):
Everything worth having is worth fighting for. right?

Marchelle (23:05):
Right. Right. And it's not just a food decision whether I'm gonna eat that or not eat that. Yeah. It's just not, it's just not about that. It's it's just it's so it's about freedom. Like I said, mm-hmm, , it's freedom from all the bullshit we've ever been taught.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (23:23):
Yeah. Oh, You're so right.

Marchelle (23:24):
And just like yeah. And just learning that, you know, food is, is healthy. It's good for you, you don't have to have an emotional relationship with food.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (23:34):
Oh, you couldn't have said that. That is so perfect. Marcelle because that you couldn't have said anything more powerful. I'm gonna keep that. Can I keep that yeah. Think,

Marchelle (23:43):
Yeah. That's that's ….

Dr. Angela Zechmann (23:44):
You don't have to have an emotional relationship with food. I think we're gonna post that in the, in the Facebook group. That is so great. I love it.

Marchelle (23:51):
We don't have to have an emotional relationship with food. Mm-Hmm

Dr. Angela Zechmann (23:56):
 

Dr. Angela Zechmann (23:57):
And that's so good.

Marchelle (23:58):
I can't, I I know I'm saying it, but even I, in my mind don't really understand what I'm saying.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (24:04):
Not really sure what you made Hannah. No, no,

Marchelle (24:06):
I know. I mean, I'm saying it, but I, I don't, I don't wanna give up my emotional relationship with food because it's been like so far ingrained, but like who am I without that? Yeah. You know, like, like who am I, if I don't go to the fridge and say what feels good to me today? Like what do I feel like eating what's sounds good. Yeah. I'm in the mood for something, but I'm not really sure what it is cause I'm trying to fulfill something. Right? Yeah. So, I mean, it's just, it's, it's hard to come to terms with that, I guess. Yeah. And then, because cuz food is life, right? Like we have to eat,

Dr. Angela Zechmann (24:43):
We have to eat, but we don't have to eat crap. Right. I know just like we have to drink, but we don't have to drink alcohol so no. Or sugar sweet and beverages.

Marchelle (24:54):
All, all of that. All of that's fine. Yeah. Yeah. So,

Dr. Angela Zechmann (24:57):
So doing that. Oh, that was so good. Thank you for that Marchelle That was..

Marchelle (25:01):
I just went off on a tangent. I don't even know…

Dr. Angela Zechmann (25:03):
No, but it was a good one. It was a good one. Yeah. Right. All right. So slow fat loss could be first two reasons. Alcohol. Second reason is over exercising and under nourishing yourself because you've got all of this BS going on in your head from your childhood. right. The other thing I do wanna talk about some some other things that can be going on that can create slow fat loss.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (25:34):
Are you planning your meals 24 hours in advance? Now we've talked about this on previous podcasts as well, because if you're relying on decisions in the moment, you're gonna be relying on your primitive brain to make your food decisions. So you always wanna make sure that you've got your prefrontal cortex, your adult human brain in charge of your food decisions.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (26:02):
And so that means advanced planning. That's the only way that you can know for sure that it's not your primitive brain making the food decision. So do you have a 24 hour plan? Did you sit down the night before and figure out what you were gonna eat the next day? If you're not doing that, that's the next step is to make sure that you've got everything planned because your primitive brain is interested in pleasure and convenient. It wants to just play and have fun and take the easy way out. And your primitive brain is not gonna be your ally when it comes to making food decisions. So that's the next thing. Another thing…

Marchelle (26:43):
It's the hardest thing I'm to say. Yeah, this right here is the hardest thing mm-hmm to wrap my mind around is pre-planning food. Mm-Hmm and not just doing what feels good. Yeah. In the moment, because I I've just never been the kind of person that yeah. I mean, I just, I know, know my lifestyles, not like that, you know, having kids, you know, having a job, going to college, we're all busy. So I never planned ahead. Like in you actually being really nice and just saying 24 hours ahead of time. Because honestly, like if you really want, if you really wanna be a planner, you have to do it for week in advance because we all, we all, like our schedules are always like, you know, weekly. So yeah. If you plan 24 hours ahead, that's the first step. Yeah. To like changing that mindset. Yeah. Right. And, and that's awesome. But it gets promising

Dr. Angela Zechmann (27:42):
A week in advance is yeah. A week in advance is a more advanced weight loss skill so, so you're, you're in the more advanced skill now. Cause

Marchelle (27:50):
You're advance. I've been go home. I mean, like that's what I did right. From the start I did the five day sugar and thyroid detox. And from that's how I learned how to plan my meals was the five day. Yeah.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (28:01):
And, and by the way it was rough, but if you're interest in the Five Day Sugar Detox, we'll put a linkf https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/5-day-detox. We'll put a link to that in the show notes. So other thing go, yeah. The other thing you wanna out, you just do it. Everything's written. Yeah. You just go buy the groceries and you don't have to think about a thing it's all set.

Marchelle (28:18):
Yep. You just do it.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (28:19):
Yeah. another thing to think about is to make sure that you're getting enough water because if you're dehydrated, you're not gonna lose fat. So make sure that your urine is clear if you check your urine and you're noticing that it is not clear then your it's gonna slow your fat loss down because your fat cells need fluid to flush the fat out and toxins and everything else. So make sure your urine is clear. Now there are a few other reasons.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (28:55):
Not enough sleep. So ask yourself if you're getting at least seven hours of sleep every night and most people do better on seven and a half or eight and some people need nine. So anywhere between seven and nine hours seems to be typical your body absolutely needs rest. And if your working swing shifts or graveyard shifts, it's super important that even if your sleep schedule is not what the standard sleep schedule is, is from 10 to six or 11 to seven or whatever it is that most people do.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (29:33):
You have to make sure that you are sleeping solidly for at least seven hours, every 24 hours. So you wanna make sure that you train everybody around you. This is my sleep time. I was up when you were sleeping and make sure that you're getting the rest that you need. The second thing that can slow weight loss down. Well, actually I've, I've mentioned a lot of things.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (29:58):
So, but another thing that can slow weight loss down is stress. So if you're going through something stressful, like you've got a super heavy workload at work, lots of overtime, or maybe you've had an illness or a surgery, or you're having relationship struggles, or there's someone in your family who's sick and need eating extra care. All of this stress is definitely gonna slow your weight loss down. So give yourself some grace here. The weight loss journey.

Marchelle (30:32):
One thing that comes to mind is all the nurses that come into our practice, that work graveyard shifts that have been like, you know, frontline workers…

Dr. Angela Zechmann (30:41):
Frontline with COVID.

Marchelle (30:42):
Triple, yeah. Double triple shifts, because mm-hmm, , you know, that there's such a shortage and you know, in the medical field, like I,

Dr. Angela Zechmann (30:49):
Yeah, not just nurses, but all kinds of hospital workers,

Marchelle (30:53):
All, all kinds of workers and we, and so many people come in and they talk about how stressful their lives are right now. And they're not losing weight and they don't understand why. Yeah.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (31:04):
Well, and that's just because…

Marchelle (31:05):
…Real clearly on this one, because stress yeah. Prevents you from losing weight. It does. And it's biological. It's not like, oh, I'm stressed out. So I'm not losing weight. It's, it's a biological thing. Yeah. So this is where the meditation part comes in or your program. Right. so this is all starting to make so much sense to me now.  

Dr. Angela Zechmann (31:27):
Meditation, self care, stress management, all of that. Absolutely.

Marchelle (31:32):
Yeah. That's that's awesome. I love…

Dr. Angela Zechmann (31:34):
Just remember right now, just remember, you know, the weight loss journey is a long game. It's not any sort of short thing. This is the long game where you're, you're learning how to manage your life. You're learning how to nourish your body. Well. So what if there's a little plateau while you're going through some stuff, big deal, you know, this is no excuse to give up and going back to eating junk that you know is toxic. Okay.

Marchelle (31:57):
It's not a diet.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (31:58):
It's not, it's not now there are some medical issues I wanna talk up out that can slow weight loss down. And for for these, you're gonna need to see your, either your primary care physician or probably even better an obesity medicine specialist. So for example, undiagnosed sleep apnea will slow weight loss down. So what are the signs of sleep apnea if you snore, if you have high blood pressure, if you don't wake up feeling refreshed, if you could just sort of doze at any moment if you have to drag yourself through your days it's worth considering having an evaluation for sleep apnea, there is so much undiagnosed sleep apnea out there. It is unbelievable. So again, this is just another one of the complications of the standard American diet is sleep apnea and we see it in younger and younger people all the time.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (32:53):
So think about sleep apnea as a possibility. Another possibility is insulin resistance which is prediabetes or even undiagnosed diabetes. And I, you know, if you want to join our Done with Dieting Bootcamp, that is available we'll put a link to the Done With Dieting Bootcamp https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/done-with-dieting-30-day-bootcamp-1 in the show notes else. So if you wanna sign up for that, cuz I teach you everything you could possibly ever wanna know about insulin resistance in the Done with Dieting Bootcamp. And that will give you a good scientific foundation so that you understand what's happening. What sometimes happens in people with insulin resistance is that nutritional changes will allow for maybe 10 or 15 pounds of fat loss, but then everything just slows down after that. And so these are the people who come in and they'll say, yeah, you know, I could lose a little bit, but then it just stops.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (33:50):
And it doesn't matter how focused I am. Like I just can't lose any more weight than that. Consistent exercise can help here. And that's not for calorie burn. That is because exercise changes your body's metabolism and improves insulin resistance, but it has to be short bursts of high intensity work and strength training exercise. So that can really help with insulin resistance. So you're building muscle and you're increasing your cardiovascular stamina. The research shows that high intensity interval training can really help correct insulin resistance. Medications can also help here, but again, this is something that you're gonna wanna talk with an obesity medicine specialist about some primary care physicians understand it. But really an endocrinologist or an obesity medicine specialist would get this. Thyroid issues can slow things down. Now, most people are absolutely sure when they come into our clinic, that their thyroid is off and yep.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (34:56):
Sometimes it is. But a lot of times correcting thyroid in and of itself does not cause weight loss. That's one of the big misnomers out there. What correcting thyroid does do though, is it gives you the energy that you need so that you can get your planning and your grocery shopping done, and you can cook food and prepare nutritious meals. And that's what allows for weight loss when your thyroid is off and you're just sort of dragging yourself through your day, you are most likely to choose easy convenience foods because you don't have the energy that you need to cook and to prepare meals. And so that's why that's one of the reasons why thyroid issues can cause weight gain. So any questions about any of that? no, not at all. Okay. That was a lot. I just went through a lot and, and Marchellle, you brought up a lot of really great stuff too.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (35:58):
So, I'm just gonna review very quickly. Here's what I want you to be thinking about. If weight loss seems slow for you, the first thing is check to make sure that your weight loss actually, or your fat loss actually, is slow because it's entirely possible that you are losing fat and you're using your scale, which is not a good indicator. As a matter of fact, a very bad indicator of fat loss. So get a body composition, get a body composition and then do what you're doing. And then four weeks later, get another body composition and find out exactly what's happening. If fat loss truly is slow, ask yourself if it could be alcohol. All ask yourself if you could be under nourishing yourself and over exercising. Ask yourself if you're planning your meals in advance for, are you letting your primitive brain make your food decisions?

Dr. Angela Zechmann (36:50):
Make sure you're getting enough sleep. Make sure you're well hydrated, ask yourself if you're going through stress and if you're going through stress, we just need to have you give yourself some grace and recognize how important it is that even if you are stressed out and you're not losing fat right now, that doesn't mean that you're not capable of losing fat and this too shall pass. From a medical perspective, we about undiagnosed sleep apnea insulin resistance, thyroid issues that can cause slow fat loss. These are the most common issues. They're all fixable, they're all treatable. So I just say, do some troubleshooting and talk to an obesity medicine specialist if needed. Okay. That's all. Anything else? Marcelle?

Marchelle (37:43):
No. Okay.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (37:44):
That's great. Mm-Hmm all right, everyone. The Done with Dieting Bootcamp is open https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/done-with-dieting-30-day-bootcamp-1. So if you wanna join us there, it's 30 days where I send you a an email with a link to a video.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (37:58):
And by the end 30 days, you are going to be a whole new person. You're going to be well on your way to getting into that healthy, vibrant body that you're proud of. You're gonna learn more than most diabetes educators about blood sugar and insulin. There's lots of science. There's lots of really good mindsets stuff in there. It's an awesome program. Worked really hard to put it together for you. So join us in the Done with Dieting Bootcamp and Empowered Weight Loss, which is our membership. And we'll see you all next week. Take care. Bye

Marchelle (38:35):
Bye everybody.

Closing (38:36):
Hey, if you really want to lose weight and keep it off for good, your next step is to sign up for Dr. Angela's free weight loss course, where you're going to learn everything you need to get started on your weight loss journey, the right way. Just head over to JourneyBeyondWeightLoss.com/freecourse to sign up. Also, it would be awesome if you could take a few moments and write a review on iTunes. Thanks! And we'll see you in Journey Beyond Weight Loss.

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/5-day-detox
https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/done-with-dieting-30-day-bootcamp-1

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Dr. Angela

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