Everything You Need to Know Before Starting Your Diet

Jim Hill: Welcome to “Weight Loss And…”, where we delve into the world of weight loss. I'm Jim Hill.

Holly Wyatt: And I'm Holly Wyatt. We're both dedicated to helping you lose weight, keep it off, and live your best life while you're doing it.

Jim Hill: Indeed, we now realize successful weight loss combines the science and art of medicine, knowing what to do and why you will do it.

Holly Wyatt: Yes, the “And” allows us to talk about all the other stuff that makes your journey so much bigger, better, and exciting.

Jim Hill: Ready for the “And” factor?

Holly Wyatt: Let's dive in.

Jim Hill: Here we go. Welcome to another episode of “Weight Loss And…”. Holly, today we're going to talk about preparing for weight loss.

Holly Wyatt: I like this topic. I believe one of the big mistakes people make is not preparing for their weight loss journey. They always jump right in with that diet. Many people decide they want to do something about their weight, and then they just start a diet. They don't think about or prepare for it at all. I am well aware of this particular inquiry that I encounter repeatedly at the start of every year: What should be my dietary choice to effectively shed weight? They concentrate on the diet from the very beginning, that action step.

Jim Hill: What's wrong with that? Why isn't that okay?

Holly Wyatt: Well, it's not a wrong question. What to eat is important. We talk about that a lot on this podcast, but I don't think it's the first question. I think for a lot of people, that is where they immediately jump to.

I think several other questions could precede this one and could make the weight loss journey easier or more successful. I think you just plan a little bit. It's going to help you. Starting by planning instead of starting by just, what am I going to eat and jumping right in?

Jim Hill: The more we've discovered throughout the years is that if individuals dedicate some time to preparing themselves, it not only enhances their chances of success but also makes the whole experience more fulfilling. I enjoy car analogies. It's like going on a cross-country trip in a car. You wouldn't just start without preparation. Well, I might, but not if my wife were with me. Now, seriously, you need to have directions. I've got my GPS programmed. I've got to make sure there's gas in the car. Maybe I'm going to check my tires. I prepare to go and as such, my journey is probably going to be a little better. Yeah.

Holly Wyatt: I agree. I like that analogy. It's like you could just start, but you're more likely, you know some of the things you're going to need. You know you're going to need a lot of gas. Starting with a lot of gas may just make the journey a little bit smoother. That's a perfect example, I think when you think about your weight loss journey.

Jim Hill: So what we've done for today's podcast is we've identified eight questions to ask yourself as you start a weight loss journey. So, Holly, I'll go first. One of the first ones to ask yourself is how much time am I willing and able to spend on my weight loss? Now, you know, I have hammered out the idea that weight loss is a journey.

It's not a short-term process. And I think people fail because they say, I'm going to go on a diet. I'll do anything for 12 weeks, and then I'll go back to the way I did before. I think you have to recognize it's a long-term journey.

I mean, think years, not weeks. We want to help people not just lose weight and keep it off for a few weeks. We want to help people lose weight and keep it off forever. You may want to break this into phases. You know, you and I again have hammered on how weight loss is different from keeping weight off. Phase one is losing weight.

Phase two, maybe there are even three, but two is keeping weight off. Those aren't the same. The things you need to do to lose weight are different than the things you need to do to keep weight off. But think of it as a phase. You go from phase one to phase two. And so not planning for that results oftentimes in losing weight and regaining it.

Holly Wyatt: I agree with this. And I think this is one of the things that makes the biggest difference. And I think we talk about this a lot, you know, the idea that you've got to do something forever, a long period. So you kind of got to plan for that from the beginning, realize that 12 weeks isn't going to solve the whole problem.

You can put it in bite-sized chunks. I like the idea of phases because sometimes when you think forever, it's overwhelming. But I do think you've got to think about this as not being something that's going to have an end to it. It may change, but there's not going to be an end. There's going to be an evolution, maybe.

It'll continue, but there isn't an end. And if you think about it as I'm going to go on a diet for 12 weeks, and you don't think beyond that, I do think the chances of you regaining, the yo-yo that we talk about, are very, very high. So preparing with this concept of it's a long-term journey, I think, is important.

Jim Hill: And where you want to get is a lifestyle that you can maintain and that allows you to maintain a weight you're happy with.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. One thing I would just put in here, though, is sometimes people say, you know, what I do at the beginning, when I start to lose weight, is what I've got to do forever. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I think you can do different things. So it's not like, oh my gosh if I'm going eat this way, I have to eat this way for the rest of my life.

Jim Hill: To change. You have to make a permanent change from where you are now. That change may occur in different phases and it may occur gradually. And you may find that you change out the things you do over time.

Holly Wyatt: Let's discuss the diet plan and strategies you're currently using to achieve a 12-week maintenance goal. However, it is crucial to make some necessary modifications. You've got to have a plan beyond that 12 weeks. That's what I think the critical piece of this is.

Jim Hill: So plan on it being a long-term journey.

Holly Wyatt: All right. Number two, here's the second question I think I like to ask people is now the right time to start? It's now the right time to start. And I always say there's never a perfect time. If you're one of those people who's looking for the perfect time when nothing's going on in your life and you have everything just really calm and that doesn't exist. But I do think sometimes starting this process is better than others.

I do think you can pick a little bit. I do think there are better times. So for instance, if you are a tax attorney and start your journey right before the taxes are due, not a good idea, maybe we could wait a few weeks or a month before we start with that.

Not perfect, but let's time it a little bit. Another one, I see this all the time. They come to me, I'm ready to start. I want to program, blah, blah, blah. And then I say, okay, what's kind of what's happening?

Oh, next week I'm going on a two-week vacation with my family to Italy. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don't know if that's the best time to start because we want you to start and get that momentum going. Or if you're having some serious medical problems, it may not be the best time to start. The reason I think this is important is that early success really keeps you going, gives you that momentum, gives you that, ah, it's working, and then , and continue down that path. But if you have a big obstacle at the beginning, sometimes it is, it slows you down and you don't continue. You're going to have obstacles later, but hopefully, you have enough forward momentum by them, and you can get through them. In the beginning, let's not set ourselves up where we have something major that's going to be difficult.

Jim Hill: But you don't want to overdo it. You don't want to say I'm not starting next week because it's Groundhog Day. There's always a holiday or something. So use some common sense here. The big things might cause you to delay, but there's always something little. You're just going to have to play through the little things.

Holly Wyatt: Oh, there's always a holiday. There's always, you know, but you know the difference. I think people can know the difference. You know, you do want to set yourself up for success, but there's never a perfect time, I think that is maybe the key. What's three, Holly? Yeah, the third one is my favorite. No one ever asks me this question and I wish they would. Instead of what should I eat? I wish they would start with Where is my mind state? What is my mindset? What should, where should I be thinking? What should I be thinking?

Not just what should I be eating? I would love to answer that question for people. I would love that to be the start of their journey to concentrate on their mind state or their mindset. And when you're starting, I think this is so important to be aware of what you're thinking. Do you think this is going to be hard? Are you thinking, oh, my gosh, for me, I have to go on a diet?

Kind of that victim. This is going to be difficult. I probably won't succeed, you know, or are you what we call changing that cognitive orientation? Are you looking to possibilities and opportunities and empowerment and getting that mind state, right?

As this could be fun, you know, a positive type of mind state that we talk about. And we know from the science gem and this is what I think is important this is an all-woo-woo. We have science to show that your mind state and what you're thinking about impact your journey. It makes it easier for you to problem-solve, for instance, when you have a positive mind state, and you're more likely to be able to get through some of the things that are coming your way, those curveballs that we like to talk about. So getting your mind right or your mind state, I think should be something you think about and prepare just like you think about the diet. And even before you think about what am I going to do? What diet am I going to be on?

Jim Hill: I don't think many people think about that. And I think that's a big one to think a little bit about your mindset. And number four follows from that, Holly. What are your expectations for this weight loss journey? Now, you know, I used to say it's going to be hard, and you corrected me every time you came down on me and said, it doesn't have to be hard. Quit saying that.

Holly Wyatt: I know how many times I've gone into your office, and you said it was hard again. Stop that.

Jim Hill: And I finally got it. I finally got it. Your expectations are important. It doesn't have to be hard. What I like, I think you came up with the term. It can be an interesting journey.

Now the word interesting is laden with a lot of emotion. But here's the idea. You know, and I know people used to come to our programs and say, OK, I'm going to come to this program, but I know it's not going to work. I've tried to lose weight before. It ain't going to work. I'm going to do it.

But it's nothing that works for me. Well, guess what? Those people aren't going to succeed. Other people come in and they might say, wow, I am ready this time. I thought about it. I'm prepared.

This is going to work for me. It seems simple, but it's the difference between expecting success versus expecting failure. You always say people come in and say, what if it doesn't work? And you always respond, what if it does?

Holly Wyatt: I know. And it's, can you just feel that when they're like, what if it doesn't work? What if I fail? And I'm like, but what is.

Jim Hill: So I'm going to quit saying it's hard because what we've learned is the journey can be enrichment. It can even be fun. You're going to learn so many things along the way. You have to change. And you know, you aren't going to be able to do comfortable things. It may be a little uncomfortable, but I'm going to quit using the word hard. It can be a good journey.

Holly Wyatt: Love this. You know, a lot of times why I've kind of shifted to interesting or be curious or it could be interesting is because it's hard to shift from hard to easy or, you know, I'm going to succeed, you know, fail to succeed. So if I can just even switch it a little bit, it's kind of interesting is kind of a way to start the process of thinking a little bit differently. So instead of, am I going to fail or it's going to be hard? Well, maybe it'll be an interesting journey that feels shifting a little bit on that expectation. And then you can take that next step to, well, what if it was fun? And I did it.

Jim Hill: And it involves personal growth and personal growth can always be rewarding.

Holly Wyatt: I fully believe that the body follows the mind, and we need to work just as hard on what we're eating and how much we're moving our body. That mind state starts it. So preparing with that mind state is just as powerful or equally powerful.

It's an and situation. I watch you eat and how much you move is important too. But that mind state is just important. And I always point out Jim, and, the placebo effect. I think scientists don't use mind states a lot, but we believe in mind states because of the placebo effect. So what do you think about that? The placebo?

Jim Hill: No, I think there's nothing wrong with the good placebo effect. We know from a lot of research that just thinking about something or thinking you're on an active medication can make a difference. That's okay. We want to use everything we can to help you succeed.

Holly Wyatt: Well, that's expectations, right? You are taking a pill, and you expect it to do something. And guess what? It does. Even when the pill is fake. That's how powerful expectations are. To me, that's the perfect example of how powerful what you think is going to happen.

Jim Hill: So if you go into your weight loss journey expecting failure, you're probably going to get failure. If you go into it expecting success, you have a much better chance of getting success.

Holly Wyatt: It's not the only thing, but it's an important thing. That's the key, I think. So then the next question I like is I move right into motivation. So we have expectations in mind state. What is your motivation? Is your motivation strong enough? We know you're going to need some motivation.

Why do you want to lose weight? That's one of the first questions we ask about motivation and can you get to what we like to call and we should do a whole show on this private why. Oh, the why. Yeah.

Jim Hill: Peeling the onion to find your real why.

Holly Wyatt: Have you ever wondered why everyone is so fixated on asking people why they want to lose weight? It's like they expect a profound answer as soon as a microphone is placed in front of someone's mouth.

And you say something that sounds good for a sound bite that you would like everybody to hear. And that may be powerful for you, but a more powerful motivation, a more powerful way is to get in deep and say, why do you, really, really want to lose the weight? What's important to me? And I always say when you get there, it's emotional. And when you get to an emotional reason why you want to lose weight, that is a powerful source of motivation.

Jim Hill: And that's okay. You know, Holly, sometimes people feel like, oh, I have to tell everybody I'm doing it for health or this or that. There are so many good reasons to lose weight and they're all okay.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. And so you have a list of them and the most powerful ones are ones that have the most meaning to you. And a lot of times they may not be the ones you would want to say on the nightly news. They're private. You've dug in deep.

They're private to you, but those are the powerful ones. And the reason why that's so important is we know on this journey to lose weight, there's going to be ups and downs. There are going to be times when you need motivation. There's going to be curveballs. There's going to be things that, that happen. From the very start, have you discovered the energy and motivation you can draw upon when facing challenges? So it's almost like putting some gasoline in your car. Jim, like filling your tank up before you start using your analogy.

Jim Hill: Does it have to be internal motivation or are there different kinds of motivation?

Holly Wyatt: Well, we should do a whole show on motivation too, but you're right. There are what I like to call external motivators and internal motivators. External motivators are things outside yourself that influence your journey and behaviors, helping you stay on the right path. And then the internal or things that are intrinsic to you, that don't involve other people.

I think both are important. External ones may be that you have friends doing this, and you show up to exercise class because your friends are there, or you have, you know, if you lose weight, you're going to go on a trip. That's all work short term and that's external and that can work for short periods. However, it is equally important for us to cultivate what I refer to as our purpose or "private why" - that inner drive that remains with us over extended periods. It doesn't go away. It can stay there for a long period.

Jim Hill: Does your motivation change over time as you go through your weight loss journey? Definitely.

Holly Wyatt: It evolves. You know, you hit certain goals, you achieve certain goals, and then you may be motivated to do something else. Different times in our lives are motivation changes. So it's something you're constantly working with. I think about motivation like a fire, and it's changing, right? There are different fuel sources, and sometimes it's really strong and sometimes it's less and you, but to be aware of it and to keep allowing it to evolve and to use it as that energy to be able to continue down your path. And like we said, this is a long-term path.

Jim Hill: You and I have a colleague. I know you'll know who it is that says when you're losing weight, you get all sorts of external motivation from people. Oh my gosh, you look so great. Have you lost weight?

What have you done? And then you're keeping it off and nobody comes up and says, Holly, congratulations. You look exactly the same as you did last week when I saw you. You need different motivations for different times of your weight loss journey.

Holly Wyatt: That's a perfect example of finding motivation for weight loss, being inspired by others is a great source of external motivation. It works during weight loss, but then during weight loss maintenance, that motivation won't be there, right? People won't be like you're saying come up and say that. So you need to have a different source of motivation.

Jim Hill: So motivation is important. I think you're right. We need to do a whole episode on motivation because you have to know where your motivation is. You have to look for it. You have to know that it's going to change in different phases of weight loss. You need to know what it is that's going to get you out of bed at 6 a.m. to go to the gym when it's snowing outside. Yes.

Holly Wyatt: We got it when you dig deep. You know what's coming on your journey. There are going to be days you're not going to want to do it. Preparing to get your motivation before you start, I think is important. Okay.

Jim Hill: Now, let's delve into a few additional types of bonus questions that revolve around enhancing your journey preparation. And the first one I want you to expand on this one, Holly, is my physical environment set up to support me. What does that mean? Yeah.

Holly Wyatt: So even before you start, right, is that my living environment, the things that are physical environment, anything that is around you. So that's your work environment. That's your home environment. That's your car environment. We understand that the physical environment has the power to either facilitate or hinder your desired behavior, such as maintaining a diet or increasing physical activity. And so thinking about that before you even start and saying, how can I change my personal space, my physical environment, to make it as easy as possible?

Jim Hill: You know, one of the examples I hear you use a lot is if you're at home in the evening, and you have cravings for something, you're going to eat what's in your cupboard. If it's not in your cupboard, you're probably not going to eat it. You're probably not going to get up.

You might, but get up and get in your car and go out. The concept is to acknowledge that these periods will occur, and instead of avoiding them altogether, it's about choosing things that are suitable for you during those times. That's your food environment. Make sure there are things there that when you want something in the evening when you're watching TV, there are good choices available.

Holly Wyatt: And it can be both ways. You know, it can be like you're saying, set it up, so there are good choices and make those less healthy choices. The ones you're trying to avoid if you're trying to lose weight, are harder to get at. That may mean you put them on an upper shelf where you have to kind of go get a step stool to get them. Or maybe it means you don't put them in the house.

Jim Hill: The chip aisle. You stay out of the chip aisle.

Holly Wyatt: I stay out of the chip aisle and chips should not enter my home because I will eat them. So, there is a high percentage chance that I'm going to consume them. And if my physical environment doesn't have them, that's me up for success. I'm more likely to succeed.

So preparing like that. And I always like it, Jim, because you can be so creative with this, you know, really think about it. And there are little things sometimes you can do. I believe that when embarking on a weight loss journey and striving to change behaviors, support not only physically, but also mentally, is crucial. You're changing your body state. You're changing your mind state. You're different. Set your environment up to be different. You want a different body state. You want to lose some weight. You shouldn't be in the same environment.

Jim Hill: But, you know, it also applies not just to food, but to physical activity. And again, we're going to hit you listener hard with the idea you've got to find a way to move every day.

And look at your environment. Are there places near your house where you can walk? Are there walking paths? Do you like to go to the gym? Are there gyms near your house?

These are the kinds of things that if you have a plan, you're more likely to exercise than if you say, I'm just going to get up and see what happens today. Yes. So the physical environment is important. The other one, and we did an episode on this one, Holly, is social support. We talked about how important your friends are. And your friends can be a positive or a negative influence. As you start a weight loss program, you're going to want to change your behaviors. Having friends who support you can make things easier, but they mustn't engage in those behaviors themselves. If your friends are engaging in the wrong behaviors, the ones you want to give up, it's going to be much harder for you not to do that. So look, can you set yourself up for success by looking at your social network? Who's going to support you? Who can you hang out with that are going to value the same kinds of behaviors that you're going to value?

Holly Wyatt: And, Jo, I think we did a whole episode on, are your friends causing you to gain weight? And that's a great episode to look at. But I agree that a question to ask yourself before you even start is, have I identified my support team? Have I identified my super friends? Have I identified and am I hanging out with people that are on the same page and doing what I'm trying to do? So it's a preparation stage or preparation question to ask.

Jim Hill: What's a super friend, Holly?

Holly Wyatt: Oh, so super friend is something we talk about in State of Slim. And I love this term because we all have friends, we have best friends, but a super friend is a little bit different. A super friend tells you what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear.

You know, a lot of times we call up our best friend, and we say all this stuff, and we want him to say, yeah, it's OK, you're right. You don't need to exercise. I would have eaten that cake too. You know, we want him to have that type of support and that's OK. But a super friend won't necessarily do that. A super friend will say, you know what? Do you remember why you want to lose weight?

Do you remember why when you were eating that cake? It won't necessarily tell you what you want to hear, but knows you and can tell you what you need to hear. And the kicker here is it always comes because that person wants you to succeed.

The intention is always of, you know, success and wanting to help you out. So super friends are hard to find. But when you find them, oh, they're a key. They're priceless.

You want to keep them. You want to be a super friend, and you want to have super friends. So preparing and identifying who are my super friends? Who do I call when I'm struggling that's going to tell me what I need to hear?

Jim Hill: Nice. Everybody needs a super friend or a couple. All right, we've gone through seven questions to ask yourself. What's the last one to ask yourself?

Holly Wyatt: This is the final one. This is when, okay, I think I'm ready. I've done this other seven. And then it's just to say, am I ready? Am I ready? Get fired up. It's kind of like that football game you're running out onto the field. Get excited. And then, Jim, jump, start.

Don't halfway do it. You know me. I'm big on it. Don't straddle the fence. If you're ready, you've done it. Now you go 110 percent. You don't kind of do it.

Jim Hill: You jump. And we've talked over and over about when you go into weight loss, go into it. Give it your all. You're going to put everything into weight loss, and then we'll help you transition to weight loss maintenance. But don't do it halfway. I'm going to try this diet. Maybe do it a couple of days a week. Go all in.

Holly Wyatt: It won't work. It doesn't work as well. I was saying, that if you're putting some effort in, then you want to get the most out of it, right? You don't want, if you put in a little bit of effort, maybe you'll get a little bit of a result. But if you're trying, let's go. Let's go big, you know? Let's go in, get excited, and get that mind state right. And then start. Now, another question I want to ask you, go big or go home.

Jim Hill: Holly, can you overdo preparation?

Holly Wyatt: Well, that's what I was going to ask you, Jim. Can you prepare too much?

Jim Hill: Well, I'm a big one. You can always put it off. I need to prepare a little bit more, you know, in the academic world. We need three more meetings before we make a decision. You know, that irks me.

Holly Wyatt: I know it, Jim. I want that. Do it. For papers, when we're writing papers, I'm like, I, and you're like, let's just start writing. And I'm like, no, we need more preparation. And you're like, no, it's time. It's time to start.

Jim Hill: Yeah, you can overdo it. You can always look for a reason why you should wait. We've talked about several things. You can always use those as excuses. But at some point, you have to say enough.

And guess what? It's not going to be perfect. When you ask yourself the question, am I ready?

You might say, yeah, I just worry about something nag. Do it. Get out and do it. Put your all into it. And you can correct it as you go forward.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, I think there's a balance like anything. You know, the people who don't do any preparation, I don't think that that's success. And then I do think you can do too much preparation and never start. And like you said, you can't prepare for everything. But there are things you can prepare for. There are things you know are going to come. Prepare for those. And then you're more ready for the unexpected curveballs and life events that are going to come your way. But at least you have prepared to know they're coming and you have, you know, you have some gas in your your car tank. You're not on empty and you go with it. You go with the flow at that point. But you do a little bit of preparation to keep the car analogy going.

Jim Hill: Holly, you can only steer a car when it's moving. You can't steer it when it's sitting still. You got to get going. Once you get going, you can course-correct a little bit. But if you're sitting still thinking about getting going, you're not going to be able to course correctly.

Holly Wyatt: So that's a perfect balance. It is that balance, you know, prepare, but don't overdo preparation.

Jim Hill: I agree. And then that movement is that momentum, right? When you start, start big, and get the momentum going. And then you're going to be able to course correct as you need to.

Jim Hill: OK, so prepare, go through, and ask yourself the eight questions. But when you're ready, do it, jump, go all in. I agree. I like it. All right. So we always do some personal vulnerability questions. Holly, have you ever made any mistakes in your weight loss journey?

Holly Wyatt: Oh, well, how long do we have? Right. I was going to say no. And I said, you know, of course, I've made a ton of mistakes. We think we could do a whole episode on mistakes that Dr. Holly has made in her weight loss journey.

Jim Hill: That would be fun. We could do that. The ten top mistakes that Dr. Holly has made.

Holly Wyatt: I was focused on diet and physical activity, especially in relation to this episode. I rolled my eyes about the mind state. I rolled my eyes about the motivation. I called it fluff.

I don't need to spend my time on that. And that was a mistake I made. And I realize now that's just as important or more important than what I'm eating, how much I'm moving. But I also say, Jim, those mistakes, I've also learned that I don't have any regret about them. They taught me a lot. And, you know, because of those mistakes, I'm where I am today. So, I call them mistakes, but I think they're just part of that learning process. And that's part of my mind state now, right? There's no regret. It's just a learning, ongoing learning. So what about you? Any mistakes maybe in your thinking around how to start or prepare for weight loss?

Jim Hill: We've talked about it before. I used to think about, OK, you're going to lose. You're going to want to lose weight? Well, just suck it up, and get ready. You're going to do things you don't want to do for a while to get the weight off. And then life will get better. What you've taught me, Holly is the journey can be fun and interesting.

So that's a big change in my thinking. I'm going to do my best to not say that weight loss is hard. So that's the thing I've learned is that weight loss can be a growth. It can be an experience. It can be a good experience.

Holly Wyatt: And you can still be successful that way. I think that the other part is it doesn't have to be hard. You don't have to be a warrior to be successful. I think we teach that a lot, but I don't think that necessarily has to be true.

Jim Hill: Holly, why don't you put the pie on the plate for us for this episode?

Holly Wyatt: I think you've given him a lot of pie on the plate. This was a good episode. I think there's a lot of practical advice. What do you think is the most important thing of all the practical stuff we gave him this time?

Jim Hill: Well, I think the mindset part is the one that people might not think about a lot. People think, OK, I'm going to have to think about diet, what I eat. I'm going to think about exercise. But I think preparing your mindset is something that might be something a lot of people haven't thought of.

Holly Wyatt: What are your expectations? Planning on success? What if it works? What if it's easy? What if it's fun? All right, I think that wraps it up. What a great episode.

Jim Hill: Yeah. And again, we want to hear your questions. Visit our website, weightlossand.com, and share your questions with us. Your input could inspire a compelling new episode.

We want to provide practical advice that helps you. Give us feedback. Let us know if we're hitting the mark.

If we're off the mark, what are the things you're thinking about or worried about that want to hear more about? So let us hear from you and thanks, everybody. And we'll talk to you on the next episode of Weight Loss and

Holly Wyatt: Bye. See y'all.

Jim Hill: And that's a wrap for today's episode of “Weight Loss And…”, we hope you enjoy diving into the world of weight loss with us.

Holly Wyatt: If you want to stay connected and continue exploring the “Ands” of weight loss, be sure to follow our podcast on your favorite platform.

Jim Hill: We'd also love to hear from you. Share your thoughts, questions, or topic suggestions by reaching out at weightlossand.com. Your feedback helps us tailor future episodes to your needs.

Holly Wyatt: And remember, the journey doesn't end here. Keep applying the knowledge and strategies you've learned and embrace the power of the “And” in your own weight loss journey.