Why the Weight Loss Journey is Profound

I always say that the weight loss journey - done well - is a journey of profound personal evolution. What do I mean by this?

I've identified 4 distinct phases of the weight loss journey, and most people stop at the first one. What are these stages, and how can you utilize them to make sure you are able to not just lose weight, but keep it off?

Tune in as Marchelle and I discuss this important topic. You'll never think about weight loss the same way again!

Episode Highlights:

2:26 And if you've been listening to me for a while now, you may have heard me say that the weight loss journey done well is a journey of profound personal evolution.

10:53 The reason the reason that people struggle so much is because first of all, they don't understand that they're dealing with a chronic disease, a chronic relapsing disease. And second of all, they're so used to dieting and they're so used to doing something for a little while and they don't realize all the other stages that have to occur.

24:59 The more you discover about yourself and the more you're setting boundaries and the more you're learning to love yourself, it just gets better and better and better and better and better all the time. But you're never done.

--- Full Raw Transcription Below ---

Dr. Angela Zechmann (00:27):
Hey, and welcome to this week's podcast. Hey Marcelle. How are things going with you this week?

Marchelle (00:34):
They're going okay.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (00:35):
Yeah. Okay, good. Yay. Well, today I wanted to talk about some specifics about the weight loss journey that I've hinted at in other podcasts, but I've never really sort of presented it in a, in this concise of a way before. And I think this is great timing because we, a few weeks ago, we heard from Dr. Angie golden about the top 10 obesity myths. And then last week we talked about how processed food is actually an addictive drug. And then what I have to say today is going to follow along with all of this really nicely in case you're ready, I'm ready. So I'm going to combine all of this information and help you, our listener get the big picture and actually a more profound picture on weight loss.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (01:28):
And by the way, I just wanna say, if you've been listening to this podcast for a while and you're getting some value from it, would you consider going to iTunes and rating and reviewing the podcast for us? Wouldn't that be great Marcelle. If we had like a whole bunch of people just go right now and just rate and review the podcast, it takes almost no time and more ratings and, and reviews means more other people can find us and can get ahold of this valuable information. And I do think that we have information on this podcast that isn't really talked about in other weight loss programs and other weight loss circles. It's really valuable information. So please, please, please go rate and review as soon as you're done listening today. Okay. So that's my, that's my request. All right. So I titled this podcast, why the weight loss journey is so profound.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (02:26):
And if you've been listening to me for a while now, you may have heard me say that the weight loss journey done well is a journey of profound personal evolution. I say this frequently, and I think it's a pretty big statement. And I wanna explain what I mean when I say that. So the weight loss journey, when done well goes in stages. So we watch people go through these stages all day, every day. And I've personally been a witness to this for nearly 15 years now. And Marcelle, you've been doing this for how long now? Like four or

Marchelle (03:02):
5, 4, 4 years. Well, I mean, I've been actually doing this my whole life.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (03:06):
Yeah. as a witness though, to helping other people,

Marchelle (03:10):
Helping other people. I've done it for four years.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (03:12):
Yeah. Awesome. Okay. Now, when I say the weight loss journey, when done well goes in stages, I'm there are two words in there that I really wanna point out because I use them very specifically and those two words are done well okay. I know.

Marchelle (03:31):
I was kinda wondering what you meant by that instead.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (03:33):
Yeah. Cause I said the weight loss journey done well is a journey of profound personal evolution. So what do I meet? Well, what's the opposite of done? Well, it would be done poorly or perhaps more accurately done in effectively. So what is a weight loss journey done in effectively? Can you take a guess Marcelle what would be a weight

Marchelle (03:56):
Say? Yeah. Gain effectively means that you are dieting.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (04:00):
Yeah, basically exactly. Going on a diet. So the weight loss journey done in effectively, isn't really a journey at all. It's someone who decides they hate their body and they need to lose weight. So they join the latest, greatest diet plan, whether it's some sort of crazy new supplement or maybe ideal protein or weight Watchers, or actually it's called WW now, the new name for weight Watchers, WW, or maybe it's Jenny Craig meals or a keto diet or something else that's short term and frankly, a little bit extreme and a little bit crazy. And sometimes it's what I call dieting for a deadline. So maybe you're getting married or you're the mother of the bride or the groom, or you've got an event or a trip coming up and you wanna look good for that event. So it's short,

Marchelle (04:53):
Short term. Yeah. Short

Dr. Angela Zechmann (04:54):
Term, it's short term deprivation for the sake of weight loss. And this is what I mean by the weight loss journey done in effectively. It's not really a journey at all. It's just something that you're doing short term. Okay. So I wanna talk about the weight loss journey done well because this journey goes in stages and completing these stages takes time sometimes years. But you can be doing several stages at the same time, but I've noticed that if people start a weight loss journey without realizing what really needs to happen, they won't be successful. And we're all about keeping the weight off around here, right? This is called the keep the weight off podcast. So I want each of our listeners to know exactly what it takes to do this weight loss journey. Well, because it truly is a journey of powerful personal evolution.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (05:52):
And it's going to serve you in every other area of your life and it's going to make a huge difference and it's going to transform your life completely.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (06:01):
So what are the stages of the weight loss journey done? Well, I've discovered four of them.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (06:08):
And the first stage is what I call metabolic mastery. So this is the stage of actual weight loss. The first part of this stage is typically a decision that someone makes to do whatever it takes to lose weight. And most people entering this stage have no idea that they're actually suffering from a disease called obesity. They just know that they're very, very uncomfortable. Their bodies feel heavy, their joints hurt. They have indigestion, they don't sleep well. And they often feel like they're walking around in a fog and they have these crazy cravings and they feel like their eating is totally outta control and they don't know why.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (06:49):
And they've been on diets before and they've lost weight and they know they feel better when they're eating whole foods and carrying around less weight. But they really have no idea that they have a profoundly deranged metabolism and that their body's not functioning properly because of this disease called obesity. Okay. And usually people at this stage are beating themselves up big time. So getting obesity under control is really, really fun for us. I just love teaching people about their bodies and how they work and how the body responds to different types of foods and how to understand insulin and diabetes and prediabetes and how to get off sugar and flour products and what to expect during that initial detox phase. This is pure joy for me to get to support people through this initial process of reclaiming their health and getting their metabolism retuned and watching them experience all the joy of having a well-oiled machine for a body. Okay. Does that making sense?

Marchelle (07:58):
Yeah, definitely. I remember when I did it. Yeah. And, and I, I felt so good. Yeah. But I think also it's important to point out that, you know, weight loss journey done well doesn't mean done perfectly. It doesn't mean that you all of a suddenly are cured and you do everything right forever. And you know, you and, and everything is fine and everything is rainbows from here on out. Right. It's you know, it's it's, for me, it's never giving up.

Marchelle (08:33):
Yes. Because exactly the struggle never goes away. I mean, there's never been a time when I can say, okay, I'm doing everything right. And I feel like I'm cured. Yeah. I always feel like it's a daily struggle. Yeah. It's a daily fight. Mm-Hmm I sometimes don't make the right decisions even now, even though I've been doing this for four years with you mm-hmm mm-hmm right. And, and I'd have to say like right now, especially mm-hmm in my personal journey, I'm struggling. Yeah. Because it's like probably the first time in four years that I've gained weight mm-hmm and so it's, and it gave me this whole new perspective of the, you know, this is, this, isn't a journey done perfectly. It's just, I know that I can't ever give up on myself. Right. Even if, even if I feel like giving up right.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (09:25):
Exactly.

Marchelle (09:26):
Cause cause sometimes I just feel like giving up, especially yeah. When this scale starts to go up and then I start really the negative day. I mean, that's, that's why this is so complex. Cause it's not just about eating what you're eating. No, it's, there's so much more to it. And if, and if you don't get your brain right, and you don't get the tools to get through the hard times, then it's easy to give up. And I, and I've seen it, I've seen it happen. I've seen patients come and go where they get to their goal weight. And then we see them again in a year mm-hmm and they say, man, I wish I would not have stopped coming because I thought that I was okay. I thought that I was good. Mm-Hmm I had it all under control. You know, I got to where I wanted to be and yep. Because it's still this diet mentality that we always have, like, yeah, we're going to get to this goal and then everything's going to be fine. And it doesn't mm-hmm it doesn't work like that. And, and I'm kinda learning that the hard way right now.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (10:27):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, obesity is a disease and so it's a disease of the metabolism. And so that's why I call it metabolic mastery. Getting obesity under control is the first stage. But if you wanna be successful at keeping the weight off, there's a few more stages to master and that's kinda what you're talking about. Definitely. There's a few more stages to master. And so, and the reason the reason that people struggle so much is because first of all, they don't understand that they're dealing with a chronic disease, a chronic relapsing disease. And second of all, they're so used to dieting and they're so used to doing something for a little while and they don't realize all the, the other stages that, that have to occur.

Marchelle (11:14):
Okay. I feel like that's probably, yeah, that's probably what happened to me is that mm-hmm , I, I became really committed mm-hmm and then, you know, I was listening to journey beyond weight loss mm-hmm and, you know, doing the…

Dr. Angela Zechmann (11:33):
Which is now called empowered weight loss. Yeah,

Marchelle (11:36):
Yeah. Right. So this is so, so I was doing this back, you know, and it was still called the journey beyond weight loss and yeah. When I was really committed and I was accountable mm-hmm then I was successful. Yeah. And then I got to a place where I got to my goal weight, I guess I would say that once I started backing off on some of my commitments, then I started isolating. Mm. Which me and for me, when I isolate, it's really easy for me to mess up because I know that nobody's really watching. Yeah. Or, or, or, or seeing, or I'm not working on myself.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (12:17):
Mm-Hmm . So the next stage is really honing in on the new habits that need to be developed. So in order to keep this disease under control, it's important to develop a whole new way of living your life and to develop habits that support you rather than sabotage you. So in our membership, I encourage all of our empowered weight loss students to develop a real tructure to their lives. So a structured morning routine, a structured evening routine, a meditation practice, a consistent sleep schedule, and of course, meal preparation and exercise habits. So what you do on a daily basis is what brings about your profound results and developing and honing these habits is a skill that you practice over time. And so this is profound change, but it doesn't happen overnight. It happens over a period of time. Is that making sense? Marcelle?

Marchelle (13:17):
Yeah.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (13:18):
Yeah. So then you got your metabolic mastery where you are using medications and nutrition to rebalance and exercise to a certain extent to rebalance your body's metabolism, and getting it humming. And then you are really learning about developing habits that are going to support you.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (13:40):
The next stage is what I call emotional mastery, and this is seriously profound work that we are doing. It's learning how to sit with yourself and allow yourself to experience your negative emotions without eating or drinking or using any other buffer for that matter. And we've talked about this in previous podcasts as well, how easy it is to just eat instead of feel our restlessness or our anxiety or whatever it is that we're feeling. And I've been noticing recently, this sort of gawing anxious feeling has been coming up for me a lot. And it took me a while of really sitting with it before I could truly identify it.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (14:23):
And when I finally did identify it, I realized it was a feeling of insecurity, like not secure. And as I've been kindly and gently exploring with myself, what's going on, I've been working at listening to the part of me. That's feeling this. I'm not shutting myself down, I'm listening and this is not easy to do, you know, I totally get it. But this is also part of the profound work of lasting weight loss is really getting to allow ourselves to know and understand our emotions and to sit with ourselves long enough to discover what's really going on. Right. Does that make sense, Marshelle?

Marchelle (15:07):
Yeah. Yes, definitely makes sense. That's where I kind of think I landed is that in the beginning, you're really motivated. Mm-Hmm, , you're really structured and everything is sort of laid out for you at first

Dr. Angela Zechmann (15:21):
Mm-Hmm

Marchelle (15:21):
And then I think after a period of time, you know, after a year or two years,

Dr. Angela Zechmann (15:29):
Mmhuh  

Marchelle (15:29):
Things start to come up that maybe we didn't know was there. Yeah. And then it's easy to resort back to old behaviors. Mm-Hmm and then of course, it's that, you know, it's in this shame and the guilt mm-hmm and it's especially hard when you feel like you should have known better.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (15:53):
Mm Ooh. So that thought "I should have known better" is can be, can be a really a thought that really creates. We talk about we, I teach a technique called the model or a tool called the model in empowered weight loss. And so we learn how our thoughts can really cause us a lot of pain if we allow ourselves to think them. So yeah. A lot of people have that thought I should have known better. Another thought that can be really painful for people is I should be further along by, by now. I should be further along. That's another thought. So, yeah. So we work with all of these as we are really helping people understand what are some of the profound shifts that, that are going to occur as you do the weight loss journey? Well, so cool.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (16:49):
The last stage of weight loss is what happens as you're learning to maintain your weight loss. And this, this can take several years, frankly. And what it is is it's a profound shift in your identity. So what do I mean by identity? I mean, the thoughts that you think about yourself and who you are in the world, and it's more than just no longer identifying as someone who's overweight, because that's an obvious shift in identity that will happen as you lose weight. You no longer identify as someone who's overweight. But it's also developing the identity of someone who is lovable and who has talents and gifts to give the world. And who's worthy of being seen and heard. It's a real journey into self love this last stage, because when you truly love yourself, you take care of yourself and you don't really care all that much about other people's opinions.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (17:45):
because you realize that they have no idea what's true for you. They can only make comments about you based on their own experience. So you kind of get to a point where you look at others' people's comments with interest, but not with self judgment. And you also get to recognize that you're a human being and as a human being, you're going to make mistakes. And so you get to make mistakes and you don't beat yourself up about your mistakes. You just correct them. And then you move on. This is profound. This is truly profound. And this shift when done well will be a lasting shift that is going to serve you in all of your relationships. It'll serve you in your career. It's going to serve you in every aspect of your life. It takes time and it takes patience, learning how to love yourself. But

Marchelle (18:38):
It's, I feel like this is the hardest part is the last stage mm-hmm because I feel like when you, when you start your journey, you're really diligent. Like you have a goal. Yeah. and you know, and you, and you're going to get there. Right? Yeah. And then once what happened with me in particular is like, when I got to that place, then maintaining it and then that's like, this is what the podcast is all about. Right. Keeping the weight off, off, it's not getting, you know, it's not getting, it's not called getting the weight off

Dr. Angela Zechmann (19:09):
it's, it's called keeping the weight off.

Marchelle (19:11):
Yeah. This is why we do this is because the hardest part is once you get there, then something, what shifted for me is now what, you know, mm-hmm , I mean, I, I got there and now who am I?

Dr. Angela Zechmann (19:27):
Yes.

Marchelle (19:28):
Yeah. Who am I? Because yeah, because, because then there's just like this daily thing that you're living mm-hmm and I mean, and I wasn't, I didn't feel motivated anymore because I'd gotten where I wanted to be. And then once I got there, I started to tell myself, well, I, I look good. You know, I can have a donut Uhhuh. I can have, you know, that hamburger, even if I gained five pounds, I'd be okay, because I know how to get it back off. And once I started that way of thinking, I couldn't stop it. Yeah. Yeah. And then I started to gain weight back mm-hmm and start to feel crappy and started to feel bad about myself and mm-hmm . And so that, I mean, that's why I just feel like once I got to the last stage, I started to backtrack. Yeah. It's not, and not just me. I hear that from our patients a lot too is oh yeah. Is like I said, you know, like I say, they, you know, they they're, they're so motivated at first and you know, they, they get to this place where they feel like they're they're successful and they, they got everything under control and then they disappear.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (20:43):
Mm-Hmm yeah. Yeah. And, and what's happening is let me explain it because, because our brain, our brain's pleasure center or our, you know, the addiction center or whatever is always looking for an excuse to get that hit of dopamine. So what you described as you're like, okay, you know, like I look great, I can have a donut. And so you get that hit of dopamine and it's like, okay, once you get that hit of dopamine, then starts that whole that whole cycle of addiction again, where yeah. You need more and you need more and you need more. And then you start noticing, oh my gosh, I'm putting weight on, but then you tell yourself, oh, okay, well I could get five pounds off. I did it before five pounds. This, I have this, you know, this leeway here. And so your brain is just constantly trying to get you to get back into that addictive substance again. Right. And then you end up in self judgment because you're starting to notice that you're not feeling as good anymore. You're not choosing the foods that you were, you know, that were, that, you know, are going to be healthy for you. You start to notice that your body doesn't feel the same anymore. And then your brain starts to hit you with shame. This is really common, like,

Marchelle (22:04):
Right. Well, I think what was missing was that I didn't change my identity.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (22:09):
Mm-Hmm  

Marchelle (22:10):
Like, I got to the, I got to my goal mm-hmm and I feel like I, you know, a lot of our patients, you know, we, we get to our goal mm-hmm but when you don't really work on changing your identity, mm-hmm that the old behavior is so easy to go back to because yeah. It's just, it's just so familiar. And so yes, when, when I got to that last stage, yeah. I, I just felt like I was coasting mm-hmm , you know, like, oh, I have some leeway. Like I'm, you know, I get on the scale every day in which I'm not supposed to do, but at that point I started get, I, at that point I started getting on the scale every day because it was like, it was like another dopamine hit. I'm like, yeah, I'm still 149. Yeah. You know, and, and then I was, you know, eating that donut every once in a while and I'd get on the scale and I'd still be 149. Yeah. So I, at that point I started to see what I could get away with. Mm. And and, and then I wasn't even focusing on my identity anymore. It was like, I was feeding that I was feeding that addiction again. Yeah. And not really realizing it because if I could just keep it at bay, I could sort of do what I wanted and I could still keep the weight off. And that's, that's just not how this works.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (23:34):
,

Marchelle (23:35):
Anybody's listening to this. I mean, I've done, I've, I've played all the tricks. Yeah. I've done all the, I've done all the things that people do, you know, to, to lie to themselves. But if you don't really actually work on changing your identity, then it doesn't, it's not, it's not going to last. It just doesn't, it's not going to last doesn't last. No, it's still a diet. I means you're still dieting. Like I feel like I just dieted for four years and thought that I had everything under control, but I didn't really do the work. Yeah. And that's what I feel was missing. And that's why I have gone in the other direction. So I guess it's important to,

Dr. Angela Zechmann (24:20):
It's important to it's

Marchelle (24:22):
It's

Dr. Angela Zechmann (24:22):
Important

Marchelle (24:22):
To do the work.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (24:23):
Yeah. It's important to well, you are doing the work because you're here. And, and it's like really, really getting to some of those deeper understandings of how we see ourselves in the world and what makes us tick and what exactly are these emotions that we're feeling it's so profound. It is just, and, and the other thing is it never ends. It never ends it like this journey that is profound and it never ends, but it just gets better and better and better and better. The more you discover about yourself and the more you're setting boundaries and the more you're learning to love yourself, it just gets better and better and better and better and better all the time. But you're never done.  

Marchelle (25:11):
You're never done. And do I just feel,

Dr. Angela Zechmann (25:13):
Keep the weight off. It's never a done deal. Yeah. You just don't ever give up. So that's awesome. That is awesome. So I want each of our listeners to know that this weight loss journey, when started with the right understanding and with the right mindset can be the most awesome journey of your entire life. Because you learn so much about yourself that you can apply to every other area of your life. It really is like this transformation that occurs from the inside out. So it's like you are transforming yourself on the inside and then that's what gets reflected on the outside as opposed to just having this outer transformation without a corresponding inner transformation. Right.

Marchelle (25:57):
Right. That's the difference between doing a diet mm-hmm and, and just changing on the outside and that's it's I mean, it's, it's so easy to fool yourself though.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (26:07):
It is. Yeah. I,

Marchelle (26:08):
I, I feel like I, it is fooled myself for a while and yeah. And I still was in the diet mentality and I didn't, I don't know. Our brains are very, very tricky.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (26:17):
Our brains are very interesting. well I also want our listeners to know that the research clearly shows that you're going to be much more successful in if you do this in the context of a community. So you have a community of people that you can be accountable to and that you can get support from and that you can support in return. So many of us who struggle with this disease tend to isolate ourselves. We just

Marchelle (26:44):
Isolation is the enemy. Don't do it.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (26:47):
Yeah. We isolate. We hold ourselves back. We don't participate, but I want you to know that participation is a huge key in losing weight and keeping it off. Okay. So for our listeners who are ready, I'd like to invite you to get started with us. Okay. We're in the process of doing a four day quit sugar kickoff challenge right now. And I'd like to invite you to join us. It's going on this week. And it's the first step of the metabolic mastery process. You can easily catch up on anything you might have missed because it's all recorded. And in the kickoff challenge, you're learning about what processed food does to the body and the brain. And you're learning what to expect as you go through sugar detox. And then if you want more support, you can join us in the done with dieting bootcamp, which is the first month of the empowered weight loss membership. So if you're ready to join us in the challenge, just go to journeybeyondweightloss.com/challenge to sign up. All right. Anything else that you wanted to say, Michelle?

Marchelle (27:55):
No. I just wanted to tell everybody to yeah, meet me there.

Dr. Angela Zechmann (28:01):
Yeah, there we go. all right, everyone. Remember the four stages of weight mastery we're going to master your metabolism. We're going to develop habits that serve you. We're going to help you understand and really get to know your emotional life. And then we're going to help you to develop a new empowered identity filled with respect and self love. It's a profound transformative journey that will serve you in all areas of your life. So if you're ready for the first step, join us in the kick sugar kickoff challenge happening this week. Take care of everyone and have a great week and we'll see you next week. Take care. Bye. All right,

Marchelle (28:45):
Goodbye everybody.

--- End of Transcription ---

Dr. Angela

PS: If you want help, I'll be holding a Sugar Buster's Kickstart Challenge on Facebook June 13th-19th. You can find out more and sign up right here: www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/challenge. 

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