Joy+Full Weight Loss with Sarah Wells, MD

Returning from Summer Break, I share what I learned over the summer, as well as about the plans for the upcoming season on the podcast. I describe why I've made the name change and how you can become a subscriber!Support the showGet my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

I'm taking a break from producing new episodes over the summer, but I hope this is the start to a wonderful season for all of you!Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Understanding how our brain responds to inflammation triggered by certain foods can help us strategize how best to stick with our goals.Bringing this episode from last year back for an encore.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

In this episode I discuss another key to maintaining consistency...by setting up an environment that supports not quitting.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Sometimes we get in our own way by overcomplicating things. What is helpful in staying consistent is to take a minute and consider where we can simplify. Usually there is something we can find to change to make it easier. Looking at our schedule, our kitchen set up, how we shop, and the steps we are taking to prepare to exercise each day can help us find things to cut back and streamline.We also can decrease decision fatigue surrounding food choices we make all day by simplifying that process as well.All these ways we simplify can help us stay consistent, which will get us closer to the results we desire.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

What if you could time travel to the future you image where you are enjoying the health you've worked for? And then, what if you could "borrow" some things from that future to bring back to the present that would help you stay consistent in the health changes you've been working on?You'd have more motivation, and a vision for what steps to take next, as well as good reasons to stay consistent.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Many of us struggle with quitting new healthy habit changes because they seem too hard. Too overwhelming. Too taxing for our energy or time. Or just too uncomfortable. But what if we lowered our standards for what we "count" as achieving the healthy habit? You may think this would mean you won't reach your long term health goals. But if "lowering the threshold" of what you consider acceptable in a health habit keeps you consistent in doing SOMETHING in that health area, instead of quitting entirely, there's a strong case to go ahead and do it!Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Another helpful thing to use which can help us in staying consistent in healthy habits is tracking them! Having a visible scoreboard of our decisions benefits us in a lot of ways. We can celebrate success even when we don't see it in results. We can decrease the need for perfectionistic thinking. Tracking helps us NOT FORGET what are the actual habits we are trying to currently build. And tracking gives us the data we need to know what we actually DID across a period of time to give us the results we are reaping. Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

When we can "swallow our frog" and do the hard thing we've been avoiding, we often found the task we've put off isn't all that hard after all. Not only that, but we can then begin to enjoy the benefits of having completed it for even longer! So deciding regularly to call out our own procrastination in putting the time or energy in to our health goals is key to cultivating consistency in our health habits.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

So we've talked about motivation and how to harness it to be consistent in making healthy decisions. But what are we supposed to do when we feel completely UNmotivated? How do we stay consistent then?We can make decisions WHILE we are motivated that do support us later when the motivation wanes. We can set up our environment, our systems, and tap into other people to help ups stay the course.  We can also break up long goals into shorter ones to keep us from that lull in the middle where in the past we may have thrown in the towel. And there are more things we can do. The key is not quitting!Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

We've been talking about things that support us across the days and weeks in being consistent in practicing healthy habits. Today's episode covers motivation. First, we can schedule the time to peel back the layers and uncover all the reasons that we are motivated to change and improve. We can collect those and write them down, and then use those to drive our consistency every day!Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Let's face it. We know it's what we do every day, day after day, across the years and decades that will make the real difference in our health. So why is it so hard to be consistent? Why do we so often fall into an all-or-nothing mentality and then crash and burn with our goals and habit change attempts?Today I open up a series of episodes that will be focused around these questions and uncover the keys to consistency, the supports we can put in place to get us where we want to be in terms of health years from now.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

What if you were playing a sport and aiming for the wrong goal? Not only would it be pretty embarrassing, but it would also not win you any points. And even if you did all the right drills in practice all week, and your agility and speed and skill was refined…if you are aiming for the wrong goal—-you'd hurt your team! SO how do you know if you are accidentally aiming in your mind for the WRONG GOAL in a way that will keep you from getting the health or weight loss you desire?Today I talk about how I discovered I was aiming for the wrong goal and what I did to fix that. Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Today is the final episode in a 3-part series about weight regain, where I discussed the common causes of weight regain. I then detailed what worked to help me keep 90 pounds off for 4 years, as well as what happened to cause me to deal with some regain this past year.  Finally in this 3rd episode of the series, I'll talk about what I'm doing now to lose that extra regained weight. Hopefully this will encourage you that even if you've regained, there is a path forward and you can be successful. Entering into losing regained weight from a place of gratitude as apposed to anger can make a huge difference!Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Today is the second in a 3-part series about weight regain, where I discuss the common causes of weight regain. I then detail what worked to help me keep 90 pounds off for 4 years, as well as what happened to cause me to deal with some regain this past year.  Finally in the 3rd episode of the series, I'll talk about what I'm doing now to lose that extra regained weight. Hopefully this will encourage you that even if you've regained, there is a path forward and you can be successful. Entering into losing regained weight from a place of gratitude as apposed to anger can make a huge difference!Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Weight regain is so very common after weight loss. But why? What is driving it? Why can't we just lose weight and keep it off? Today is the first in a 3-part series about weight regain, where I'll discuss the common causes of weight regain. I'll then discuss what worked to help me keep 90 extra pounds off for 4 years, as well as what happened to cause me to deal with some regain this past year.  Finally in the 3rd episode of the series, I'll talk about what I'm doing now to lose that extra regained weight. Hopefully this will encourage you that even if you've regained, there is a path forward and you can be successful. Entering into losing regained weight from a place of gratitude as apposed to anger can make a huge difference!Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Maybe you've seen these machines in your local gym or in a Physical Therapy clinic:You look over and see someone standing on a small platform that is shaking them all over!What are they, what do they do, and why would anyone use them?Today's episode covers an overview of some of the reasons people may try them, and I'll discuss the data I found as I searched to understand if they really carry any benefit.People try them hoping to increase muscle, or decrease fat, or both. They are used in hopes of increasing bone density and preventing fractures from osteoporosis. They've been used by people with pain stemming from knee osteoarthritis and chronic low back pain, as well as those with fibromyalgia. And they are used by many to try to improve lymphatic flow and drainage. Do the studies offer proof that they actually help with these issues?  Listen in as I discuss what I learned and talk about how and why I use one.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

I todays episode I discuss a study from Frontiers in Psychology about the mindsets surrounding healthy behaviors, and this week focus on finding surrounding our mindset around healthy food. How can we think differently about the food we know is healthy, to get to a place where we also actually desire it?Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

If you took 10 minutes to adjust the way you thought about exercise, and it meant that in 7 weeks, not only would you have exercised more already, but you'd be signing up to KEEP exercising...what would that do for you?I todays episode I discuss a study from Frontiers in Psychology about the mindsets surrounding healthy behaviors, and specifically: exercise. People studied who made some adjustments to the way they thought about exercise--to begin to believe it is fun, rewarding, enjoyable, relaxing--they kept coming back for more! I'll discuss how they did it and what we can learn from it today.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Its about that time of January again where many 'throw in the towel', so to speak, in reagards to their health goals for the New Year. We might get distracted with all the other things on our plates, or run out of motivation to continue. But for many of us, perfectionism is rearing it's head! We can get tricked into thinking that if we can't do it perfectly, why even bother? In this episode, I'll give all the reason why we SHOULD still bother. I'll explain how imperfect progress is STILL progress. When you get back on course, learn from mistakes, and keep trying, this is how you achieve lasting change in your health. Don't let perfectionism keep you from cultivating a healthier life.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

We are in the season of the year where there are lots of bright, shiny, fancy plans available to offer you a healthier year. Some of them are great, others not so much. Some of them will only leave your wallet lighter! So what are actually the changes that need to be made to get the biggest bang for your buck (or for your time and effort?). Which 'hacks' are a waste of your time and energy and what gimmicks are just ripping you off? In this episode I talk about some of the KEY CHANGES  to consider and put your focus toward as you shift to a healthier lifestyle you can maintain. These are the low hanging fruit--pick them first as you focus on improving your health!Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

So many of our plans when we set out to make changes in health, wether it be at the New Year or at other time, seem to have a lot to do with what we determine to cut out, or to cut back! Maybe its sugar, or desserts, or carbs, or chips, or diet soda, there is usually a temptation to focus on what we WON'T be doing or eating.But approaching the changes we want to have by shifting our focus to what we can ADD to our lives and days and plates will both 'crowd out the bad stuff', as well as help us avoid a mindset that leaves us feeling deprived. Today I talk through a few ideas about what kind of thing we can add to our plans, our days, and our plates that will help us see health results.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Key to success for me has been having a written plan. It starts with creating a planned time on the calendar TO plan. Then starting with the big picture of a year of goals and goal-setting, then breaking that up in to quarterly and monthly goals and plans. From there, it works best to break it down further to weekly plans (I'll talk about my favorite weekly calendar format). Then dialing in the plans to the Day by Day level. I'll describe what I put on my daily plan and what I have learned to write on it to optimize success.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

This week I'm sharing my 3 top goal-setting strategies that WORKED for me in 2022, which I'm planning on utilizing to drive success for myself in 2023. Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

What motivations can drive Christians in making decisions that benefit their health? Where does gluttony come in? How do we glorify God in our eating? Is it wrong to turn to food for comfort? And what are we missing out on when we do? Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Here I'll give you 12 tips--things that have worked for me--in enjoying healthier Christmas seasons.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Let's take an approach to Christmas feasting where we get to strategically enter in to celebrations while learning to exercise restraint. Let's find ways to extract the wonderful feeling of the season in new ways that we haven't been able to appreciate before, because we were SO focused on the food and the struggle of food decisions. I'll talk about tactical physical/food strategies as well as mindset shifts to make which will support the ability to feast with joy during the festive food gatherings of the season.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

What if you turned your hardest hour of the day, in terms of eating, into your most powerful hour? An hour where not only did you not overeat, but instead you flourished and fulfilled all the demands on your life within that hour with an overflow of joy. What would happen? How would your life change if you did this on a daily basis? Today we are going to talk about and break down what is happening in that hour to make it so challenging, and flip it upside down, creating strategies and approaches that help you show up in that part of your day and thrive. This is something that's been helpful for me as I've taken this approach, and I hope it can help you as well.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

I am so excited to talk about one of the KEY habits that has driven my personal success in weight loss and maintenance that has to do with this time of year. And it is gratitude! Practicing it regularly, and getting better at it has driven my success in actually enjoying healthy habits SO MUCH.If you want to work on your health and increase success in enjoying healthier habits, you've GOT to approach beginning with gratitude. Gratitude is the path forward.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Perhaps you've heard that Obesity is associated with an increased risk for a number of different cancers. Why is this? What is behind the connection, and what can be done about it? Does this mean that if you can't seem to lose the extra weight you are doomed to bear all this risk, or are there specific steps you can take to mitigate your risk even if the weight loss seems to stall? Understanding the potential drivers of this association can actually help us take practical changes in our lifestyle habits, and that can likely decrease our cancer risk even if the scale doesn't budge. Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

Let's do a but of a dive into the topic of insulin resistance: What is it? What is happening in the body when someone developes it? Why is is dangerous? How do I know if I have it? What can be done about it?Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

If you listened to Part 1 on cortisol you know that having chronically high levels of cortisol can really work against our health. But what can we do to lower those levels naturally? There are a number of strategies we can glean if we look at the studies on cortisol levels and what reduced them in subject of these studies. In this episode I'll review what some of those approaches can be.Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

What really works when you have a house containing candy when it comes to sticking with the health and eating plans you'd like to maintain? This question might be closer to the front of your mind as Halloween night approaches. In this episode, I'll talk about ways to engineer your environment so you aren't maxing out your willpower, obstacles you can put in place to make it less likely you will overindulge, how to plan your evening to maximize enjoyment wether you are indulging in a little sweets or avoiding them completely. Either way, there are steps you can take to make this a better night for you than past years. Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

What is cortisol and what does it do? This episode details how cortisol is designed to work, what it does in the body, and what happens when it gets out of whack. How does stress impact it? What does it have to do with achieving a healthy weight? And is 'adrenal fatigue' even really a thing? Get my newsletter, The Extra Helping, right in your inbox! Click here to sign up for The Extra Helpingwww.joyfullweightloss.com

This week we'll revisit one of the most popular episodes last year!This episode I explain the importance of playing the long game in terms of achieving health results. Nimbleness, or the ability to be flexible and shift approaches in terms of specific tools and strategies used, is KEY. But how do you know when it's time to shift strategies? How do you know what kind of tool to try next, when you find that what worked in one seasons of life isn't working anymore? I'll cover ways to use a flexible approach successfully as well as how not to let it trip you up.www.joyfullweightloss.com

We know there are so many benefits to exercise in general, but what kind of benefits are specific to focusing on building strength and lean body mass? Is it really worth my time to focus on building muscle? In this episode I walk through an overview of some of the major benefits to strength training across so many body systems. I'll talk about what benefit surprised me as I've added it in more regularly, too.www.joyfullweightloss.com

Once you've established a baseline exercise routine, and you are getting consistent movement into your day that is building your overall health, how can you "level up"? There are a number of ways to tailor what you are doing in movement to what your goals are, and for many people, there are benefits to adding a few sessions a week of brief high-intensity interval sessions. Are these for you? What are the benefits, and why would someone want to consider adding them? As someone who personally loves moderate, slow and steady exercise that builds endurance, I've always been a bit resistant to to my tried and true slow zone 2 runs. But after reading the literature surrounding the benefits of HIIT, I decided to commit to adding at least 2 sessions a week. What convinced me, and how is it going? That's what I talk about in this episode.www.joyfullweightloss.com

Have you ever noticed something like a 'brain fog' after eating too much sugar or processed food? What is behind that? And you just don't seem to feel satisfied by what you are eating...And why is it that you sometimes completely forget the eating goals you set in the morning by the time 5 o'clock arrives? It turns out, not only is processed sugary food hijacking our reward centers in the brain and making it hard to enjoy the rest of life, but it is also causing inflammation in specific parts of the brain. Specific parts of the brain that we NEED to have functioning well when we are working toward living healthier. This is part of why processed foods end up working like self-perpetuating cycles that can be hard to break! Tune in today and I'll discuss the two parts of the brain that have been shown by fMRI studies to become inflamed by poor dietary choices. Sign up for my FREE newsletter: The Extra HelpingMy website:www.joyfullweightloss.com

Is meditation really beneficial for our health? And if so, what does it accomplish? How is secular meditation different that Christian meditation? And how does someone go about Christian meditation? In this episode I'll give a brief overview of the scientific literature about the benefits of meditations, I'll discuss different approaches to what meditation is, and look at a Christian perspective on it.www.joyfullweightloss.com

When healthy sleep happens, a cascade of events is occurring. Each stage of sleep seems to have a number of things happening that are vital for your long term health. This episode details what is happening in each stage, and what happens when you are deprived of sleep in the short or long term. The DNA in your brain cells gets signals that turn on and turn off various genes, and those impact so many things: your immunity, your ability to process memories, and your insulin resistance.  This, in turn, will impact the extra fat stores you carry or don't carry. Understanding the way sleep works can help motivate you to prioritize improving the habits that cultivate healthy sleep.

This episode touches on just a little of what has been revealed about how exercise can be a helpful tool in the toolbox to fight addictive behaviors. Many studies have been completed surrounding substance abuse recovery and exercise...can they be extrapolated to help explain why exercise also seems to be a key part of maintaining weight loss in those who have achieved it? The evidence seems to support that.

This episode dives into what happens in the Dopamine receptor levels in people carrying extra weight. And why is it that sometimes the amount of anticipation you have for certain foods is completely out of sync with how much you actually enjoy it when you actually eat them? What does that mismatch have to do with dopamine?

Does it seem hard to get back on track after you've relapsed for a period of time to old eating and health habits? If so, you are not alone! Getting off track is a normal part of the process, and getting back on track is something that you have to practice over and over again. In fact, learning to get back on track, and practicing it over and over, is what moves you forward toward a long term healthy lifestyle. In this episode, I cover a number of steps to take to move past discouragement and get back on the path you want to be on.Sign up for the Extra Helping newsletterwww.joyfulllweightloss.com

Is it really true that 'pear-shaped' bodies are healthier than 'apple-shaped' bodies? What can be done about a larger waistline than is healthy? This episode dives in to 3 things that impact the measurement of your waist, why they matter for health, and what to do about them!www.joyfullweightloss.com

Its summer which means fresh sources of fiber from the tastiest fruits and fresh from the vine veggies abound. But what exactly is fiber and why is it good for you? How does it work to improve your health? And what does it mean when companies add it to their products--does that processed kind benefit our health as much as plants?Remember to sign up for The Extra Helping, my email newsletter!

What benefits can you expect to see when you "only" lose 10 pounds? Or even 5 pounds? Sometimes, like many, you might find yourself questioning whether your efforts are worthwhile if you lose 5% of your starting weight, when you've aspired to more. Instead of quitting in discouragement, this episode is the one to pick when you are looking for some stats from the research that reveal just how beneficial these seemingly small changes can be. The good news is largely explained by the kind of fat the body releases first as the weight comes off. It gets rid of the most dangerous fat first! This is great news, and drives all the health benefits that are associated with these little changes.For more inspiration, tips, and even recipes, sign up for my newsletter, The Extra Helping:www.joyfullweightloss.com

This episode is all about expectations. We will talk about what sort of expectations we have in regards to weight loss, and what the studies currently find MOST people have when they start a weight loss plan. We'll also discuss what typical weight loss happens when addressing behavioral changes in studies. Is it going to hamper your success if you are dreaming big in regards to weight loss? Or will that fuel your efforts more than if you were focused on a small amount of loss. Today we'll unpack all of that and also review the data surrounding weight loss expectations.Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter, the Extra Helping:www.joyfullweightloss.com

When there is a 'failure' or a 'misstep' in your progress towards your goals, how do you handle it? This episode walks through ways to glean the growth these opportunities can offer. If we breeze past the mistakes without sitting down to pull out the opportunities for growth they offer us, we will have trouble moving forward. We need to learn to consistently step back and take out the emotion we bring to them, to give ourselves the space and grace to examine what went wrong. We also need to record things in handwriting on actual paper, so we can process the scenario for the best results in coding the information into our brain's memory center. Then we can brainstorm other ways to handle the challenging situations and be able to move forward in building new neural pathways that grow out of these opportunities.www.joyfullweightloss.comFor more inspiration, subscribe to my free newsletter: The Extra Helping

What if you actually loved the foods that are good for you, the ones you "ought" to eat?And what if you truly DIDN'T like the foods that are not-so-good for your health? What if you actually WANTED the good stuff and DIDN'T want the bad stuff? Wouldn't this make eating healthier SO MUCH SIMPLER? You wouldn't have to use nearly as much willpower on a day to day basis, since you'd find eating how you want to eat moved you toward your health goals.The good news: there ARE ways to train your brain to love specific foods and dislike others. In this episode, I'll detail some steps you can take to do just that. www.joyfullweight.comDISCLAIMER

Let's think outside the box about what we can do with our food choices when we are on the go. From nice restaurants to quick gas station stops, we actually DO have options and choices we can make to nourish ourselves well and support our health, even when we are away from home.

Listen in to discover what one study discovered in people's kitchens that made a 20 - 30 pound difference in their weight! I'll talk about ways to apply what they discovered in our own kitchens to help decrease the amount of willpower we need to expend on a daily basis.