There is so much weight loss advice out there. How are you supposed to know what the right way to lose weight is? The good news? There is no one right way to lose weight. Optimal weight loss is as individual to your body as anything else. I’m joined by my friend, Dr. Siobhan Key, an obesity medicine specialist, to discuss some of our biggest weight loss pet peeves.

 

Measure Your Progress Without the Scale

1. Body composition
2. Measurement
3. Quality of Life

 

About Siobhan Key, MD

Siobhan Key, MD is a Weight Loss Coach for Physicians and an expert in emotional and binge eating. She is also a practicing Obesity and Family Physician, a mother of three amazing kids, and an avid runner.

Through her coaching and weekly podcast, Thriving As a Physician, she helps physicians go from feeling overwhelmed and out of control with their eating to finding relief from stress and binge eating without relying on willpower. Siobhan can be found at www.weightsolutionsforphysicians.ca.

 

There is No One Right Way to Lose Weight

I’m joined by my friend Dr. Siobhan Key, an obesity medicine specialist, to discuss some of our biggest weight loss pet peeves. With so many people spouting off weight loss advice, it’s difficult to know the right thing to do. But that’s where this beautiful piece of advice comes in: There is no one right way to lose weight!

Every body is different. You can take knowledge from other people, but ultimately, what will help you successfully and optimally lose weight will be personal to your body. 

One of our other pet peeves is about health at every size. We are all for body acceptance and believe every body is worthy of love. However, carrying too much (or too little) weight may lead to adverse health conditions. Finding that balance between weight loss and body acceptance is important to do.

 

Why Food Rules Don’t Work

Siobhan and I also talk about the food rules. No sugar. No carbs. No eating after 7pm. These hard and fast rules don’t work for everyone, and they’re very restrictive. Following food rules set a precedent for ourselves and is often too difficult to follow – and when we inevitably fall off the strict “no whatever,”... we only blame ourselves. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. 

Siobhan encourages you to have gentle conversations with yourself about food and weight loss. Talking it through and coming to realistic decisions that suit your needs and body is much more reasonable than cutting something out entirely.

Finally, we discuss the problem with the scale. This is only one way to measure change in your body, which doesn’t give the full picture. There are so many ways to track your body’s changes, including how your clothes fit, using in-body scans, and, perhaps most importantly, how your quality of life improves.

What are some of your weight loss pet peeves? How do you track your body composition changes? Let me know in the comments on the episode page.

 

In This Episode 

• There is no one right way to lose weight [4:15]
• How to find the balance between weight loss and body acceptance [8:15]
• What you need to know about “food rules” [17:15]
• How to have a gentle conversation about food with yourself [21:00]
• Why the scale isn’t the be-all and end-all of weight loss [26:30]

 

Quotes

“The reality is that the right answer comes from, yes, taking knowledge from outside, but ultimately, the right answer comes from applying that knowledge in a way that actually works for you.” [4:52]

“What if that gray wasteland of deprivation and restriction to get to the skinny jeans didn’t even exist? What if you could love yourself and wear the skinny jeans now, even while you’re losing weight? There are so many different angles. There’s an infinite number of ways to approach anything. When we view it like that, and we get that abundance… man, it feels so much better.” [6:43]

“When I talk about weight loss making our life better, what I’m talking about is every little piece that you’re doing in order to manage your eating and weight feels good and makes your life better.” [12:41]

“As an adult, you can eat whatever you want. But we need to work on how we think about the different food choices to make it actually work for us. You always had the right to eat that food. The problem is that when you’re trying to adhere to an outside rule, when you eat it, who do you blame? You blame yourself.” [18:53]

“The reality is that we can always eat anything that we want. Anytime we tell ourselves that we can't, it’s going to mess us up.” [20:54]

“Regardless of what you’re doing to improve your health, you have to actively look for ways that you’re going to see the progress and see the positive things that you’re creating.” [32:02]

 

Resources

Check out the weekly Thriving As a Physician podcast on all podcast platforms.

Check out the FREE GUIDE FOR DOCTORS! Learn the 3 surprising habits that every female physician has and how to overcome them so you reach your health goals faster.

These habits are not what you think - and they have nothing to do with more willpower or yet another diet. Visit www.weightsolutionsforphysicians.ca/3habits to download your free guide today.

Find Dr. Siobhan Key Online

Follow Dr. Siobhan Key on Facebook

 

31 Days of FIT.  Learn more HERE.

Muscle Maintenance During Fat Loss. Waitlist HERE.

Fit Woman Collective™. Learn more HERE.

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*** Ali Novitsky MD, this podcast, and podcast write-up are NOT providing medical advice ***

 

Related Episodes 

Episode 146: Exercise Mistakes Preventing Optimal Weight Loss

Episode 144: Mindset Mistakes Preventing Optimal Weight Loss

Episode 145: Nutrition Mistakes Preventing Optimal Weight Loss