The 5-Step Fall Checklist for Sustainable Weight Loss

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. Holly, today we're going to dive into a five-step plan to set you up for weight loss success this fall.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, fall seems to be kind of a prime time to kickstart weight loss. People like to do something in the fall with the change of season. Actually, it's my favorite time myself. This is where I like to concentrate if I've gained a few pounds to concentrate on weight loss. I thought it was appropriate. This is a perfect time for us to guide you through. We did a five-step checklist to help you out how to get started in the fall.

Jim Hill: Yeah, I love this idea of getting started, Holly. You know, I always use the car analogy. If you're going on a long trip, you don't just get in the car and go. You check the washer fluids and the tires and the oil. You try to get everything set up as possible.

Things can still go wrong, but you figure out as many things as you can to get right, and then you start. I think that's kind of the way people should approach weight loss.

Holly Wyatt: I agree. Although I think there are some people who just jump in their car, but I think then they experience some of that unnecessary troubles that can occur.

Jim Hill: Well, we can help both. We can help you prepare, and then we can also help you figure out how to correct it if you don't prepare and things go wrong.

Holly Wyatt: I agree. We can troubleshoot. But I think fall is an ideal time for weight loss because it gives you a chance to put some effort in, lose some weight before the holidays.

Jim Hill: So to get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas, you've got some time. September, October, November, you can accomplish a lot in that time period.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, especially I think I like to start in October. And in State of Slim, we usually do a fall, lose 15 pounds in the fall, some kind of fall 15 challenge where we do October and November and December kind of as a set. And what people really like is, okay, I'm going to kind of hit it hard in October and part of November, lose some weight, and then I'm going to maintain through the holidays and not regain.

Jim Hill: I love that. The holidays should be a time where you're with family and friends and enjoying yourself, and you don't want to gain weight, but it may not be the time where you put lots of effort into weight loss.

Holly Wyatt: Exactly. But if you've lost a little bit, you actually feel good in the holidays, right? You have that momentum. You don't want to regain the weight that you've lost. You actually enjoy the holidays. And I love it because you get to practice weight loss maintenance, which you know, whenever wants to practice.

So it kind of gives you a time to practice that and then start the new year deciding what I want. You're right. You're not making up old ground. You're in a new place.

Jim Hill: I love that. So let's break it down. We've got a five-step checklist to prepare you for weight loss this fall. Ready to get started?

Holly Wyatt: All right. Let's go. We got this.

Jim Hill: All right. Let's talk about our first step. Our first step. I love this one, Holly. This is important. And oftentimes people don't think about it. Establishing your baseline. This is about getting a clear picture of where you're starting from.

Holly Wyatt: Yes, Jim. It's about data. That's why we love it. I think you're right. People sometimes don't want to do this because they don't want to see where they are. You know, they're uncomfortable or they don't like their weight or they don't like whatever their current situation is, which is the reason why they're maybe wanting to change something, which makes sense. And so they tend to say, I don't want to take any time to see where I am.

Jim Hill: But I think that's the wrong approach. Well, you've taught me that look at it the opposite way. Look at it that expect that you're going to succeed. So it gives you a chance to look back and say, oh my gosh, look at what I've accomplished. So you've gone out and you've lost 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 pounds. And people say, how much weight you've lost? And you really don't know because you didn't weigh yourself to start with. And you didn't know, well, is your health improved?

And is this and that improved? You're not going to know until you get the baseline. So start out assuming you're going to be successful. And you're going to look back. This was the old me and look at how far I've come.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, that's exactly what I say. I said, people don't like to do it at the beginning, but trust me, you're going to want to be able to see the change. So do it, put the data away.

You don't have to obsess about it. But trust me, as you progress, you're going to want it if you need to troubleshoot. But you're also, like you said, going to want to be able to look back and see the change. We're wired to see change. We like to see change.

Jim Hill: What do you think about pictures? Do you think people should have the before and after pictures?

Holly Wyatt: That's up to them. I do think you can kind of decide, for some people, taking a picture just puts them in their panic zone. I mean, they just can't do it. And that's okay. But some type of data I do think is important to get uncomfortable, get it, put it away. Now, we have two things we like people to track.

Jim Hill: Okay, what are the two big things?

Holly Wyatt: So the first one is not going to be a surprise to anybody. We talk about it all the time is you got to measure your weight. And while pictures are great, and I think you can add on pictures, I really think getting on a scale, having a scale, and having that really objective data point is important for your baseline.

Jim Hill: So what do you think about all these people that say, oh, I forget the scale, throw away the scale, the scale is not your friend?

Holly Wyatt: I understand why they say that, because there are a lot of emotions tied to the scale. And we've learned and used the scale in a way that sometimes is not helpful.

But we can relearn that. And I really try to help people see this as truly a data point. It has nothing to do with your self-worth or your happiness. Can we really start to see your weight just like I look at a blood glucose value? We don't judge a blood glucose value in terms of, are you a good person?

Or you're doing, I think we need to work on that. And to me, the weight is a really objective. I know you can do pictures, I know you can do clothes, but I'll be honest, I can suck it in and make my jeans fit and gain about 10 pounds. I mean, it's not quite as good to me as this objective weight measurement.

Jim Hill: The scale is a tool, and I think we can't give that tool emotional power over us. It's a tool that you can use. You can choose when you get on it. You can choose how you use the data.

But I agree with you. If your goal is to lose weight, you darn well better know what your weight is. And particularly, we talk about this in weight loss maintenance. When we look at people that have succeeded long term, they weigh themselves because it's an early warning system.

The scale tells them if they're in trouble before they get in trouble. And so rethink how you use that tool. That tool is totally under your control. You decide to use it. But I think it provides data that can be helpful to you over the long term.

Holly Wyatt: One of the reasons I suggest doing this as you're preparing, so even before you start, is so you can get that baseline so that you can start to get used to just getting on the scale. The more you get on the scale every single morning, just like brushing your teeth, the easier it becomes.

Jim Hill: So I weigh myself every day and my weight's not always the same. For my weight, it can vary maybe four or five pounds from day to day, even if I'm not doing anything different. How does that work for most people?

Holly Wyatt: So that's incredibly valuable information that you have about your weight. So you know you have this kind of five-pound leeway, that if you're going up three or four pounds, that you're going to come down three or four pounds. You know that about yourself. And everybody has a little bit different variations and patterns. But because you've weighed yourself every day, you know what your normal is.

You have some great data to use. And so that's really why I think establishing this baseline, doing it even before you try to lose weight, to understand that pattern is so important. So I have people get on the scale every day, write it down. I like to look at an average over the week, Jim.

So taking all the data points you have and averaging them. And then I also like people to look at lows. What was their low? So you can track weight once a day, average baseline. What's your average?

So get that even before you start. You kind of know what that average was, because weight does go up and down. And then what was the lowest weight you had that week? That's how I like to start off in terms of baseline.

Jim Hill: So that's cool, Holly. So over time, you can track your average weight. You can track your low weight. You can track your high weight. This is data that you can use to understand more about your weight loss success.

Holly Wyatt: And so we're talking about checklist. How do you get started? I think you do that for a period of time before you actively start losing weight. So preparing. So when do you weigh yourself? Oh, I think definitely think first thing in the morning, get up. I recommend just get up, make it part of your routine. I go to the bathroom, weigh myself, brush my teeth. That's the order I do it in. Now, it doesn't have to be that exact order, but don't wait till afternoon or anything like that.

Jim Hill: Routines. You know, we talk a lot about routines. And that's a routine. So you get started doing that. You don't even think about it. You just automatically go in, boom, step on the scale.

Holly Wyatt: So baseline, let's establish that weight. I mean, we can talk about what else could they track. I mean, I think they should track weight, but you could also track something else and establish a baseline at this point.

Jim Hill: What about the scales that also give you body composition, percent body fat?

Holly Wyatt: You know, they are getting more and more accurate. I think when they first came out, there was a lot of variation depending on your hydration status and some other things.

But they are getting better and better. And if you like all that data, if you're a data geek, I think that that could be something to look at too. What do you think?

Jim Hill: I think it's up to you. I think the important thing is to track weight. One of the things that we know is as you lose weight, you're going to lose most of that from fat, some from lean body mass. But if it's something you're interested in, it's another cool data point to track. So I love data. And to me, it would be fun to track another thing and to see that change.

And I agree with you. Those scales initially weren't very accurate, and they're still not super, super accurate, but they're getting pretty close. And if you use it, look tracking averages over time, what you're going to see as you lose weight, your percent body fat is going to go down.

Holly Wyatt: Right. One of the things I am kind of picky about, though, is if you do use those electronic scales, that you still write down your weight. The scales can keep track of it. You can just get on the scale, have it set up where it records your weight, and you don't really even have to look at it. And I've definitely had patients who, when I've asked them, well, what was your weight last week or what, they're like, well, I don't know. It's just in my scale.

And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I think writing it down, even if the scale keeps track of it, is part of you recognizing this data and using it to your advantage. So I do like you to write down your weight on your own in some fashion, instead of just getting on the scale and not even looking and letting the scale record it.

Jim Hill: One of the other things, Holly, sometimes people talk about is waist circumference. How do you feel about that one?

Holly Wyatt: I think it's a good one. I have people take a ribbon, measure their waist circumference, cut it off, hang it somewhere, come back in six weeks, a couple months, relook at it. So I think it's another thing you can follow.

Jim Hill: What does waist circumference tell you that maybe some of the other measures wouldn't?

Holly Wyatt: Well, it tells you where you're carrying your fat. So if you're carrying it in that midsection around your waist, we know that that's fat that can be more harmful than fat you carry in other places. So it kind of tells you not just how much fat you have, but if you're carrying it in your midsection, it's a little bit more, I would say, metabolically dangerous, Jim. I don't know. Maybe that's an overstatement.

Jim Hill: But so you really want to see that belly fat go down. That's the one that's really going to lead to health improvement.

Holly Wyatt: So I would say if you really just cannot look at the number on the scale, then waist circumference might be my second option. What about you?

Jim Hill: Yeah, I do think waist circumference is pretty good. They're giving you basically the same information. If you're tracking weight and you lose weight, you're going to lose fat from probably all different places. And some people might be particularly interested in where that fat comes from. And that's where waist circumference could be helpful. Again, what I would say is track your weight. And if you want to do percent body fat, you want to do waist circumference, they give you a little bit of different information, go for it. But you don't have to. You can totally stick with weight and that's okay too.

Holly Wyatt: So how long do you think they should be getting a baseline weight before they start? Like how much, how long is this prep period, planning period?

Jim Hill: I would like to see their baseline weight for at least a week, right? Five weekdays and two weekenddays. I agree. You can do it longer, but if you track over one week, you're going to get a sense of the day-to-day variation. You're going to get a sense of what was your high and what was your low. And then as you start losing weight, you can compare your new weights to those.

And it might be might be useful every week to go back and look at your week average. You can look at it on a day-to-day basis, but over a week, what was your average weight loss? How much did your low weight go down?

How much did your high weight go down? I mean, this is fun information for data geeks like us. We love this, but it does give you a sense of how successful you're being.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. I say one week minimum, two weeks maximum. I kind of have that window. So I think we're on the same.

Jim Hill: More than two weeks, I don't think. And you want to pick a time where it's a usual sort of thing. You're not doing anything radical during that time. A typical week, yeah.

Holly Wyatt: All right. What else? What's the second thing that we measure?

Jim Hill: Before we start to the second thing, what about all the metabolic measures? Do you recommend that people go to their doctor and say, measure my glucose and lipids and blood pressure and get a baseline for your metabolic health?

Holly Wyatt: You can do that. And if that's important to you, I think if that's tied to the reason why you're wanting to lose weight, then that can be very motivating. And so getting that baseline, I think, could be very helpful. I don't think you have to have that data. I think we know that losing weight improves those outcomes.

So you don't have to prove it per se. I think we have plenty of data to show, you know, losing weight or maintaining weight is helpful for those things. But if you have some, if it really motivates you, then I say go for it.

Jim Hill: Yeah, I kind of like that. I agree. I don't think you have to do it. But I kind of like it because we've talked before about engaging your healthcare professional in your journey. And having that and then, you know, a lot of people love it when they come back in and the health care person says, what did you do? Your lipids are down. And they're amazed. And it sort of gets them to maybe buy in a little bit more to your journey.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, I do like if you pull your healthcare provider into it. So by going and getting a baseline, letting them know what you're doing, especially if you have some medical conditions that they need to know that you're losing weight, that it might be helpful for your doctor to be involved, then that is a great idea.

Jim Hill: Yeah, that's actually a good one, Holly, because sometimes if you have type 2 diabetes and you're on medications, as you lose weight, you're going to need to adjust those medications downward or you could get into some problems.

So that's always a good idea if you have type 2 diabetes to let your primary care provider know that so they can be prepared to actually lower your medication dose as you lose weight.

Holly Wyatt: Agree.

Jim Hill: All right, you want to go to step two?

Holly Wyatt: Not step two. We have one more thing that we recommend measuring in step one. Yeah, we measure weight, but you're going to like Jim, this is this is yours. This is what you've been really talking about is yes, you're going to measure your weight, but we also want you to start measuring your life before you start.

Jim Hill: I love it because no matter what people will tell you, the real reason people want to lose weight is to make their life better. Weight is part of that, metabolic health is part of that. People want to be happier and you know what? That's a perfectly good reason to lose weight.

Holly Wyatt: Probably really the reason you want to lose weight, you're tying it. There's something about losing weight that you think is going to improve your life. That's why you're doing it. So why not measure that? Right? Why not start with that? A measurement, a baseline?

Jim Hill: I love it, but how do you do that? How do you measure your life happiness or your quality of life? What do you recommend to people?

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, that is the problem a little bit. We don't have a scale for you to stand on and it tell you.

Jim Hill: You know, Holly, I went out and googled measurements of quality of life and there are a zillion scales and I look at these and it's like, holy crap, how do you figure out what sorts of things to measure?

Holly Wyatt: Well, when you're talking about scales, you're meaning questions and scales like one to ten.

Jim Hill: Not actual scales, like questionnaires.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, I would love to have a scale you could stand on.

Jim Hill: Let's invent that. Let's invent the quality of life scale. You step on it and it tells you how happy you are.

Holly Wyatt: I wish we had that, but it is something that you have to kind of address yourself and think about yourself and pause long enough to think. So we do one question. I have one question that I have people really look at every single day to kind of gauge where their life is. I call that a life-state score. It's really just a tool that kind of gauges your overall well-being and we use a scale from one to ten. Okay, that sounds simple. Yeah, so one represents really your minimal happiness where you're not experiencing any happiness or joy or fun or satisfaction and ten reflects immense joy and satisfaction and chances are you're somewhere in between, right?

Jim Hill: Not too many ones or tens, but yeah.

Holly Wyatt: Somewhere in between and just like your weight, this scale can go up and down. Certain days are higher and certain days are lower. It's not going to always be the same number.

Jim Hill: Just like your weight, you're looking at a trend, right? An overall trend.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, so your best days are tens and your worst days are ones and most of the time you're somewhere in between and it's subjective, but I do think it gives you valuable insights into your own kind of personal well-being and life. And like we've said, that's really tied to your success and losing weight. It's part of why you want to lose weight.

Jim Hill: I love that because it's so simple. Some of these questionnaires and everything are extensive and I think people, if you want to play around, you can go out and do some of these.

A lot of them you have to pay money to do it, but there are so many things out there. If you want to dive deeper into it, you can, but I love this idea of just answer this simple question each day of where are you on a scale of one to ten?

Holly Wyatt: And so, I do weight in the morning, like I said, brush my teeth, write my weight down, and in the evening is when I do this, brush my teeth.

Jim Hill: Ah, so what kind of day you've had? In the morning, we're all happy, right? We're out of bed, well, maybe we had a terrible night's sleep, but I get it. So the end of the day is the best time to sort of say, where am I now on this satisfaction score?

Holly Wyatt: Well, it's kind of a reflection. So as you're brushing your teeth, you pause and you think, okay, on a scale of one to ten, what was today like? Where was my happiness, my satisfaction?

Did I have any fun? Excitement? And obviously, it's kind of a summation, but the idea is you kind of get, you start to get good at this. You start to say, no, today was a three. Well, today was a seven. You start to kind of get it. And if you tie it to brushing your teeth, then it kind of helps you remember it.

Jim Hill: I love that. Brushing your teeth is the cue both in the morning and the evening. And it's a ritual. I love that. We don't think about brushing our teeth. We just do it. Now you're attaching this to that ritual, which extends it.

Holly Wyatt: And it really doesn't take any more time. You're going to be brushing your teeth anyway. You can manage, well, think about this while you're doing it.

Jim Hill: And do you actually suggest people write it down?

Holly Wyatt: Yes, because just like we average our weight and we look for highs and lows, you're going to average your week and you're going to look for highs and lows. Love it. The data is better to me because it does fluctuate when averages tell you more. So when you see an average in your weight going down or an average in your weight going up, it tells you more.

Same thing with your life. When you see the average over weeks going down, maybe it's time to intervene. Or you see the average of your weeks for this life score going up. Oh, I'm doing something right.

Jim Hill: So really happy people every now and then have a one, have a day that's a one, right? It's you're not going to be 10 every day. And even the unhappy people occasionally will have a nine or 10. So it's important that you don't look at a single score. You look at averages over time.

Holly Wyatt: That's why you got to do it every day. And that's why you want to record it and look at the average. But Jim, why do you think this is a helpful baseline?

Jim Hill: Well, I think it's a helpful baseline because I totally believe that what we're after here is way more than weight. Everybody wants to focus on losing weight. And we know that we've worked with so many people and they just success in the short term for them is losing weight. But I think in the long term, we've got to rethink what we're after here.

What is the end of this journey? I don't think it's a number on the scale. I think it's something more than that. So I think it's important to start assessing things that go beyond weight.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, I agree. I think so many people think I'm going to lose weight to be happy. And they think it's the other way around. I'm going to be happy and it's going to even help me lose weight. I love that. So I think that there's lots of reasons to get in the habit of doing this. And it's just that pause and reflection. And so, once again, baseline before you start. losing weight, you have a baseline, you have a snapshot of both your weight and your life, and that sets you up to move forward.

Jim Hill: All right, well, we better get going here. We're only step one and we got four more to go. So what's step two?

Holly Wyatt: Step two, we've talked about this a lot. So we can probably be pretty quick through this. It's an important one, but it's get your mind right. And I think we did a podcast in the past about getting your mind right, preparing for weight loss, you know, but I think a lot of times we spend all our times setting ourselves up, okay, this is what I'm going to eat.

Here's the activity I'm going to do, which is important. And we don't spend any time on what are we thinking? What's our mindset? So in this preparation checklist, number two is get your mind right.

Jim Hill: Yeah, I love that. Because again, you've helped me understand and you know this, we've talked about before, I used to talk about how hard all this was. And you've totally convinced me that's the wrong way to think about it. And the way I like to think about it now, it's an interesting journey where you're going to learn a lot about yourself and you're going to establish new routines and patterns. And essentially, you're going to reinvent yourself. That's a pretty interesting journey.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, you can get excited about that. You know, part of kind of getting your mind right is get excited about where you're going. Don't be dreading it. Get excited that you get to do this, you know?

Jim Hill: And the other one is expect success. You always talk about people that come in and say, okay, I want to try this, but I know it's not going to work. It hadn't worked before. And it doesn't. And if you go in saying, what if it does work?

Not what if it doesn't work? And the mind, I think we're learning is very, very powerful. And the mind and the body are connected in an amazing way. So having the right mindset is actually going to help you be more successful.

Holly Wyatt: So on this checklist, as you're preparing, you know, getting ready to maybe lose some weight, check in with your mind. What am I thinking? How am I thinking about this?

Jim Hill: I guess the other thing I would say to Holly is think long-term. Don't think I'm going to do something for three months. And then we'll go back to the way I was before. Think about: I have the opportunity to redefine my lifestyle, to redefine my success, and it's a marathon, not a sprint. Yeah.

Holly Wyatt: So I know what somebody's thinking out there. I have a feeling, because I've had a lot of people tell me this before, okay, I believe this, but I don't have a good mindset. I know my mind, I'm thinking about how hard it's going to be, or it's going to be suffering and, you know, sacrificing and all of these things. What do you do it to get your mind right?

Jim Hill: Can you change your mindset?

Holly Wyatt: Exactly. What do you do? How do you do in this baseline period or this preparation? If you recognize first, it's always recognizing first, oh, my mind is not where it could be to help me out. That's the first step. But then how do you start the process of changing it?

Jim Hill: Okay, I'm waiting for your answer.

Holly Wyatt: Well, it is something that you do gradually. I know some people think, oh, you can just flip a switch. And I found that not to be true. So you start what I do. All right, I recommend is in the morning, start thinking about this. I once again, tie it to brushing my teeth and say, okay, where is my mind? And where's my mindset for today? How am I thinking about this? And starting the process of being aware of where your mindset is and turning around and facing what could be exciting today, what could be fun today, what I appreciate that I get to do today. And just start that process, that recognizing and every little aspect when you remember it, think if you can slightly turn it, and that'll get you started.

Jim Hill: I love that concept that you're not doomed to the same mindset. You can actually improve it. And that will very much help you in your weight loss journey.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. All right. Are we up for step three?

Jim Hill: Oh, step three is when you and I talk about all the time. And we've come to just believe this with all our heart. You have to find your why. You have to be in touch with the reason you really want to do this. What we're talking about is a big change. You're going on a journey to change your life, change who you are, and you're going to need to know deep down why you want to do that. And I want to think you have to share it with other people. We've talked a lot about having people find their why.

Why do you really want to lose weight? And you need to know that. And oftentimes when we have those conversations with people, we have to dig deep before they get beyond the surface things. I want to improve my lipids and be healthier and da da da da da. And usually, it's more something emotional and something much more tied to happiness than to health. But I think the reason you need to know that is getting in touch with that why may get you through some of the tougher times in your journey.

Holly Wyatt: And I like this in the checklist because it takes a little time sometimes to get to that real why. You know, you can't just do it in one day, taking a week or even two weeks to really go to that deep really why do you want this? Why is this important? Like you said, that emotional reason why you're willing to spend some time and energy and effort to make a change.

And exactly what you said is this is going to be important because this is going to be your energy, your motivation to keep going when things get tough and things will get tough.

Jim Hill: How do you find your why, Holly? For people out there saying, oh my gosh, I don't know what my why is. How do I find my why?

Holly Wyatt: You keep asking really why do you want to lose weight? And the first thing you said is usually not the deep thing. Oh, I want to lose weight because I want to, you know, because my cholesterol is high or because I don't want type 2 diabetes…

Jim Hill: Or because I have my daughter's wedding and I want to look good.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's fine. Start with that. Start with that. That's not wrong. There's nothing wrong with that. But then you go, well, why is that important? So you keep asking why? You keep asking why and you go deeper and deeper and deeper. You know, why is going to my daughter's wedding and that dress important to me? Why is having a hemoglobin A1C that's not, you know, not in the diabetic range important to me?

Jim Hill: Why is looking good important?

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, there's nothing wrong. And because it's tied to something and you keep saying why and you keep saying why, why is that important? Well, why is that important? Until you get to an emotional reason why everything is tied to an emotional reason why some of us will get there easier than others. And some of us have kind of don't like to go there. So it takes a little bit more pushing and pulling and, you know, peeling back those layers. And that's why it's, you may not want to tell anybody because it may require you to get vulnerable.

Jim Hill: So I know you've done this with a lot of people. Do you have an example of someone who dug deep and found their why that you could share?

Holly Wyatt: You know, they're all different. It's all different. I, when I do this with someone, I can tell when they're there by their voice. It's so interesting because I can hear the emotion in their voice. And a lot of times people will cry and they'll even say, I don't know why I'm crying. I'm saying because this is so important to you and you're recognizing it. And a lot of times people think it has to be this big important thing. I want to save the kids in Africa and that, you know, no, no, it can be. But it doesn't matter. And so a lot of times people don't even go there because they don't think what they, what's important to them is really important enough.

Jim Hill: Could be. I want to be a role model for my child. And here I've been overweight and out of shape and I'm not the role model I want to be.

Holly Wyatt: I'll give you one, Jim. That's a wee perfect. This was an older individual. We kept peeling and peeling. And at first, it started out the classic stuff, you know, I, I don't want to, I want to be able to not be in pain and my joints and walk up the stairs.

And we kept peeling and peeling. Well, why is that important? Well, why is that important? Well, why is that important?

It came to, well, I want to have better connections with the people that I, you know, thesis keeping me from doing things. We kept peeling. It all came down to, believe it or not, at the end, I want to feel sexy in my skin. I want to feel, I mean, that was her why, you know, and she was almost embarrassed about it. And I'm saying, no, I can tell by your voice, that's important to you. No one should judge your why.

Jim Hill: Perfectly good why.

Holly Wyatt: Perfectly good why. So I almost don't like to give examples because then people judge themselves, judge themselves and say, I need an example like that.

Jim Hill: What about people are saying, I hear that I'm just going to skip this step.

Holly Wyatt: That is one of the biggest mistakes I think you can make. Of all these check boxes, this checklist, digging deep and figuring out why you want to do this and an emotional level to me is associated with success. And if you aren't tapped into that, I think the odds of you being successful are a lot lower. So I would say don't skip this. What would you think?

Jim Hill: Do not skip finding your why.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. And allow yourself to get emotional. Some people just won't go there because they don't want to get emotional.

Jim Hill: If you're not emotional, you probably haven't found your why.

Holly Wyatt: I would agree with that.

Jim Hill: Okay. Let's move on. We got two more to go. Step four, set a strategic start date. Why is this important?

Holly Wyatt: Well, for two reasons. Some people never start. Some people will stay in the preparation stage too long until it's perfect. Want to get everything, the perfectionists get everything lined up perfectly. And then some people will just jump in and they'll set it on a date that isn't going to be good at all. So they're about to go on a vacation and they decide to do this two days before they're going on a major vacation to Italy. And I'm like, you know, this, that's not the best date to start. Some people never start. So it's really for both types of people setting a strategic and then using it, starting when you set that date.

Jim Hill: That seems pretty simple, but I think it's really important. And again, there are those people that always push that date back. I've got some things to do and maybe next week, I'll start. And the next week comes and, well, I have a dinner on Tuesday, so I'm going to wait the following week.

Holly Wyatt: Right. They're always starting on Monday. And then, you know, they're always starting in the future and the future never gets here.

Jim Hill: Right. Okay. Cool. Set a definite start date.

Holly Wyatt: So, Jim, what do you think is kind of a strategic or optimal start date? What are some of the characteristics? I mean, what do you think you should look for?

Jim Hill: You know, you and I talk about weight loss being something that occurs maybe over a period of three, six months. So I think looking at your schedule and planning some things, like a lot of times, you know, professional people, they'll have dinners and this and that. So thinking about those kinds of things and thinking about, is there anything coming up in the next little while that's going to take so much of your effort that you're not going to be able to devote it to this? We talked about it being an interesting journey, but it takes some time, at least initially, until you establish new routines and rituals. It's going to take some cognitive energy.

So looking at a time where you're saying, look, for the next, let's say, several weeks, I really believe I'm going to be able to devote a lot of mental energy to my weight loss journey.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. I agree. And this kind of ties back to why I think fall is good, starting like in October, because for a lot of people, October and even the beginning of November, they do have some, you know, time that they can concentrate, not everybody, but a lot of people have some time. And then, like I said, maintenance through the holidays, when I do think it's a little bit more difficult for some individuals, you have more parties, you have more families.

Jim Hill: Oh, definitely. There's food everywhere, good-tasting food, candy, cookies, all everywhere.

Holly Wyatt: And it's not that you can't lose weight over the holidays, but for a lot of people, I don't think it's necessarily the optimal timing. So starting in the fall, having a chunk of time where you can lose as much weight as possible and then trying to maintain through the holidays, I think is a really good strategic plan. And that's why I like start dates in October.

Jim Hill: Yeah. So if you're looking at starting, pay attention to big obstacles, but not the little ones. There are always little obstacles. There's no time when you're not going to foresee some small obstacles. Forget those, set a start time, and go for it.

Holly Wyatt: I agree.

Jim Hill: All right. Last one, Holly. This is great. Make it as easy as possible. I mean, that's like, duh, why wouldn't you?

Holly Wyatt: Well, a lot of people don't do this, though, Jim. I believe it's important because one thing we know is if you have success at the beginning, it builds. There's momentum. When you start having success, you have more success.

You feel good and you keep doing it. So I believe make it as easy as you can at the beginning. Get as much weight off as you can at the beginning because it helps you continue down the process. So even though you could be successful without making it easy, because a lot of times you have a lot of motivation at the beginning and I can work past these obstacles, don't do that. Make it easy and that keeps that momentum going.

Jim Hill: So we've come up with three ways to make it easy. What are those?

Holly Wyatt: So the first one is set up your physical environment to help you. I can't tell you how many times people will say, oh yeah, I still have the bowl of candy sitting on my desk at work, but I'm not eating it. And I'm like, why would you keep the bowl of candy sitting on your desk at work?

Set up your environment where it doesn't have temptations and set up your environment so the stuff you need, the stuff you want to eat, your activity clothes, all that is easy to get to.

Jim Hill: Yeah. And I think about it. I mean, you have total control over what food you have at home, what's in your cupboards, what's in your refrigerator. You have control over that and you can choose not to have some things, but you need to be realistic. So for example, if you know you like a snack in the evening while you're watching TV, you better have something that's acceptable, not the candy or not the bad stuff, but something that you say, this is pretty good. I could do this one. So I think that sort of thing is very, very important to do as you start out.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. We recommend sometimes doing even a kitchen audit, kind of going through your kitchen, reorganizing it, setting it up for success. But I know what some people are saying, well, I have a family member or I have a family and I've got to have some chips and cookies and stuff for them. What would you say to them, Jim, when they can't maybe clean it all out?

Jim Hill: Well, again, what you can do is set it up as much as possible. There you have to figure that out, whether it's important for your kids to have chips. Maybe you can talk to them and there's something else you could both agree on that would be good, that is a little bit better than chips. What you do is you keep away the stuff you don't want to eat as much as possible. But at the end of the day, you may have to use a little bit of willpower and that's okay. But your physical environment can help you minimize the amount of willpower you have to use.

Holly Wyatt: One trick that I sometimes use when that happens is if there are certain foods that other members of your family need, put them in hard to get locations for you. So don't make it the first thing you see and you can grab a lazy. So for me, if I ever have chips in the house, I have to go get a little stepping stool to get to where the chips are. So at least it makes it a little bit more difficult. Give your family a certain roar or cabinet where those foods are that you don't go into. So there are other things like that you can do.

Jim Hill: And that kind of relates to our next one, Holly, which is to create your support system. So you want your family with you on this journey. So if your family knows that you're working on this, perhaps they're a little bit more willing to forego some of that bad stuff that they may particularly like, but they know it's a problem for you.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah, I agree. And this support system one that really is under the step of make it as easy as possible, right? Who is going to support you? Think about that. You do not have to do this alone. In fact, I think it is better if you do have a support system. Maybe that's a group that you've joined or maybe that's a friend or a super friend that we've talked about. It may be certain people are not going to be in your support system, but who do you have that can support you? Be a cheerleader. Also help you problem solve. That, I think, is really helpful and makes it so much easier. And so plan for that. Have that set up. Talk to them ahead before you start.

Jim Hill: Remind people what a super friend is.

Holly Wyatt: A super friend is a special type of friend that tells you what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear. I say a lot of times, best friends, you'll call them up and you'll tell them about your day and you know that they're going to tell you what you want to hear. Oh, you had no choice but to do that. That's what I would have done too. And we call them for that reason and that's okay. But a super friend is different. A super friend is going to tell you, you know what, you could have made a different choice perhaps.

Did you think about this? So they kind of tell you more what you need to hear based on your goals and what you've told them is important to you. The key with a super friend though is it comes from a really good place. It becomes only because they want you to succeed. They know you want to succeed and they want to help you succeed.

Jim Hill: So there's a lot of trust there. It's someone that you have total trust in that has your best interest at heart.

Holly Wyatt: Right. Not everybody should you make a super friend for sure. You pick those very carefully.

Jim Hill: The other thing you may want to look about, aren't there people that aren't going to support you, that may actually try to sabotage you? And we've had stories of people that do that and you know, sometimes those are family members and you can't get ready your family. But I think it's important to realize who's on your side and are there people that aren't on your side that at least you recognize that and maybe during your weight loss journey, you want to try to spend a little less time with them.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. If you have a choice, can you spend less time? If you don't have a choice, then to get your mind right kind of around okay, they may not understand my journey. That's okay. I have the people who are supporting me and I know that these individuals may not. And so you're preparing for that.

Jim Hill: Okay, Holly, what's the third way to make it easy?

Holly Wyatt: So I threw this in there. We're going to do a whole episode on this. So we're not going to spend too much time on this, but establish a new fall routine. So routines are little habits you can get into that make the whole journey easier, right?

Make the bigger, bigger process easier. And I like when you change seasons or when you begin to lose weight to think about what's something new, a new routine, a new habit, a new little behavior that I can do that's going to make it easier. And it kind of keeps it different. You're adding something a little different.

It makes you excited about it. So what based on the fall or on going, you know, starting to lose weight, could you change? Could you do that would excite you but also make this whole journey easier?

Jim Hill: Well, that would be fun to do that.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. So I think we can do a whole episode. Jim, I was thinking about like the top 15 fall routines that can help you out, you know, with weight management or something like that.

Jim Hill: Okay. So set up your physical environment, create your support system, and then listen to our episodes on how to create new fall routines.

Holly Wyatt: That sounds good.

Jim Hill: All right, Holly, you want to take a quick question from a listener?

Holly Wyatt: You see, this one looks like it's from Jennifer. We've covered some of these. Let me see. Let's do this one. What are some practical steps to prepare my kitchen for a weight loss journey? We talked a little bit, but Jim, can we maybe give them some concrete things they could actually go in and do?

Jim Hill: Yeah. You know, one that you've convinced me and a lot of people use is like an air fryer. They're little gadgets that can help that you may want to use to prepare your kitchen.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. So think about an air fryer. Sometimes, if I'm going to be using some protein smoothies, if I know like every morning my plan is my first meal of the day is going to be a protein smoothie, I will set up a little station to make my protein smoothies. So when I first get up, it's kind of ready to go with my blender out there, my protein powders, you know, kind of pulling down the blender from the top of the cabinet and pulling this out and pulling that out. So really saying, what can I do in my kitchen to make what I'm planning as easy as possible? Air fryer, I love. I love, love, love that.

Jim Hill: And maybe you want some measuring devices. So if you're interested in portion size, you have measurements and little scales that you can weigh food. If that's something that's important to you, make sure those are available.

Holly Wyatt: Yeah. And along with this is, and it kind of goes in your kitchen because you'll be putting it in your freezers, do some meal prep. Could you prep some meals? Have them in your freezer, have them kind of ready to go. Do that kitchen audit. So I think anything like that, just being really practical, being ready to go, have your kitchen optimized.

Jim Hill: Cool. All right, Holly, well, we covered a lot today. And again, what we talked about were five steps to get ready for weight loss. Step one was measure your baseline. And we talked about a lot of things you can measure at baseline. Step two, get your mind right. Make sure you have the mind state that's going to help you succeed. Step three, and this is when you cannot skip, it's mandatory, find your why. Step four, set a strategic start date. And number five, there are some things you can do to make it as easy as possible.

Holly Wyatt: There we go. Five steps, Jim. We've put it in an easy plan, a checklist.

Jim Hill: Those of you who are really looking at starting a fall weight loss journey, think about these five things. Think about getting ready. Falls the perfect time to start and get going. Set that start date and start on your journey.

Holly Wyatt: Yes. And we will continue to help you. I think we're going to do several fall kind of themes that can help as your journey progresses.

Jim Hill: Well, thanks, everybody. And we will see you next time on Weight Loss And.

Holly Wyatt: Bye, everybody.

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.