The 5 Essentials of Weight Management
In this episode Join Dr Jessica Hehmeyer and I share the 5 essentials that will help you to master weight management for life.
Dr. Jessica Hehmeyer is the founder of Well Empowered and she is on a mission to help us all be the best version of ourselves and inspire others to do the same. She offers support and guidance to allow us to create the health and vitality needed to realise our full potential.
Sounds interesting, but how does she do it?
Using a functional medicine approach combining science and nature equally to provide you with the information, inspiration and care needed to transform your health and boost your vitality.
The Essentials
Dr Hehmeyer shares with us her 5 essentials for weight mastery and explains how these principles will revolutionise the way we think about weight management. It’s not just about the number we see on the scale, there’s much more to it than that.
Midlife Weight Loss Barriers
Listen on as we chat about the common barriers to weight loss in midlife. It may surprise you to discover that we often put barriers in our own way. Stay with us as we share some tools to overcome barriers and reimagine weight management!
Changing Our Views on Weight Loss
Weight management can be a tricky subject to talk about, especially when we are constantly bombarded with conflicting information in the media about weight and weight loss. Later on in the episode you will learn new and interesting ways to look after your body and optimise vitality and health.
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Our Key Takeaways
“What does weight mean?” is the first question Dr. Hehmeyer will ask her clients. Most people will focus on the number on the scales, but if we talk in scientific terms the scientific formula for weight is mass multiplied by acceleration.
Now she had my attention. I have never thought of my own weight in those terms but she is quite right. Now we can think of our bodyweight with less emotion and that might be just what we need to do to move towards a solution to weight management that works.
The 5 essentials of weight mastery
Dr. Hehmeyer teaches us that the following essentials will help you master your weight loss journey:
1. Be kind AND honest
Yes, you heard me; you need to be kind but also honest with yourself. People will usually choose one or the other when it comes to weight loss. Think about this for a moment because you need to be both to succeed.
Being kind to yourself could mean you:
- Stay away from the scales.
- Don’t beat yourself up if you gain a pound here or there.
Being honest with yourself might mean you:
- keep a food diary
- Acknowledge the habits that will undermine your making progress.
Remember this is a journey that will improve your relationship with food and your body and food to become a healthier version of yourself and you can’t do that without being kind AND honest.
2. Be aware that you’re always saying “no” to something
Every day in life we all say “no” to something. Are you saying no to the exercise you had planned? Or are you saying no to the large pasty you’re craving?
Dr. Hehmeyer encourages us to be conscious of what it is we are saying no to. Now pay attention when you say “yes”.
When we’re more aware of what it is that we are saying yes and no to, it can help us make the decisions that carry us towards good health. Our actions have outcomes and we must keep track of and be accountable for our decisions.
3. Be clear on your intentions
Get clear on what you want and why! What intentions do you have for better health and life? Dr. Hehmeyer asks her clients to imagine what their future will look like in five years if they make the changes and achieve the health and vitality goals they desire.
Now she asks us to consider a five-year future where things take a downward spiral. This can help anyone contemplating making changes for better overall health and wellness.
If you want to master weight loss, you need to be specific about your goals and deeply connected to your reasons for doing it or your ‘why’.
4. Automate for excellence
Automation means that you’re not battling to achieve your goals every day. Putting strategies in place to develop healthy habits will secure your success. It could be scheduling which days you will do the types of movement that are the best for you.
By creating habits that become automatic over time, this could be planning your movement, nutrition and even making changes to your environment. Dr. Hehmeyer asks; what do you see when you first walk into your kitchen. Is it a bowl full of fruit on the counter and lots of fresh vegetables in your fridge? Or are you looking at jars or cookies and sweets?
Discover what works best for you, and then instigate new healthy habits and routines that will eventually become automatic in your life. Now you are securing success rather than being doomed to failure.
5. Find a mentor to help you
If you have struggled with your weight over and over again, having a mentor to guide you and help you can make all the difference.
“You need to find someone you trust, who’s a good fit for you and your needs and who will be a great partner to guide you on your journey,” says Dr. Hehmeyer. Feeling a connection with whoever you decide to follow means success will be easier to achieve.
We can access this help in so many ways these days. You can find a mentor through podcasts, social media, YouTube and many other ways. Just be careful when results seem too good to be true because they probably are!
Don’t let menopause be a barrier
Don’t let age and menopause be a barrier to you becoming healthier. Think of age as a bonus instead of a barrier. Dr. Hehmeyer encourages us to honour and be grateful that our bodies are amazing. When you understand what our bodies can do every second of every day, why wouldn’t you want to care for it?
Your “Why” is truly important.
Would you buy a gym membership solely to lose weight? More likely you buy it because you want to be able to move more easily, find it easier to play with your children or live longer and travel to see more of the world.
Whatever your “why” is, keep it at the front of your mind with every step you take towards improved health and vitality.
All-or-nothing is bound to fail
Almost without exception, we get in our own way when it comes to weight loss. This is especially true when we take an all-or-nothing approach. Dr Jessica says this all-or-nothing approach will find you fluctuating between overindulgence and deprivation, neither of which will make you feel good. So instead, she urges us to master our middle ground.
Your middle ground is where success lies. It is a place of self-love where we are kind and yet honest with ourselves. It is where we make habits that will help us to succeed and get out of our own way.
My thanks to Dr. Hehmeyer
Dr. Jessie Hehmeyer is the physician founder of Well Empowered and is available for 1:1 appointments, group sessions and corporate webinars.
Get in touch Here
Join Phillipa for Movement through Menopause
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Disclaimer: Please note that any advice we provide in this podcast is for information only, and if you are unsure of its suitability for your specific circumstances, you should consult your medical practitioner if you have any specific health concerns.
