Atlanta Wellness Clinic Podcast

Beyond the Scale: Rethinking Your Weight Loss Approach

• Catina Wilson • Episode 6

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What Are The Biggest Mistakes Women Make When Trying To Lose Weight?

Struggling with weight loss despite your best efforts? You're not alone. In this eye-opening episode, licensed nutritionist Catina Wilson tackles the most common mistakes derailing women's weight loss journeys—and you might be surprised by what's actually holding you back.

Catina shares a refreshingly honest perspective, drawing from both clinical experience and her personal weight loss journey. She explains why obsessing over the scale can be counterproductive and how to shift focus to non-scale victories that better reflect your progress. "Weight can fluctuate not only during certain times of the month...but also throughout the day," Catina notes, emphasizing how emotional attachment to that number can sabotage motivation.

We explore the surprising truth about exercise: why many women over-index on cardio when strength training might be the missing piece in their routine. Catina dispels the myth that women will get "bulky" from lifting weights and explains how building muscle creates a metabolic advantage that keeps burning calories long after your workout ends. The conversation also unpacks why irregular eating patterns trigger your body's starvation response, how proper sleep directly impacts weight regulation, and why personalized approaches—including when strategies like intermittent fasting work (and when they don't).

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Atlanta Wellness Clinic podcast Hosted by licensed nutritionist and clinic owner, katina Wilson. We're here to kickstart your weight loss journey Because, let's be honest, the only thing we want gaining weight is our wallets. From medical weight loss and nutrition coaching to body contouring, we help Metro Atlanta women get real results. Let's dive in.

Speaker 2:

Many women start their weight loss journey with the best intentions, but common mistakes often prevent them from seeing lasting results. Understanding these pitfalls can help you take a smarter, more sustainable approach to reaching your goals. Welcome back everyone. Millie M, co-host producer, back in the studio with licensed nutritionist and clinic owner, katina Wilson. Katina, how's it going?

Speaker 3:

It's going well. How are you?

Speaker 2:

I'm doing quite well. Thank you so much. Everyone listening wants to know what are some of the biggest mistakes women make when trying to lose weight.

Speaker 3:

How much time you got Right. You know I've made a lot of these mistakes myself. But before we jump into some of these different patterns, I do think it's important to say that everybody's journey is unique, right? So what works for one person certainly may not work for another, and we should all appreciate that, and so my attempt is not necessarily generalizing any one person's experience, but really just kind of highlighting, you know, different kinds of patterns that I've seen and even personally experienced with my own weight loss journey.

Speaker 3:

So I think the first thing that we tend to make is we focus on a number, on the scale right and you know that that number it's a powerful thing, it's an emotional thing, right, and when it goes up, we feel some kind of way about it. When it goes down, we feel some kind of way about it, and when it doesn't move, we feel some kind of way about it, and there's a lot that makes up that number. One of the things that I've learned in this journey is you got to not just focus on the number but focus on what they call kind of these non-scale victories. Right, Because weight can fluctuate not only during certain times of the month, because I can tell you when it's that time of the month or it's close to that time of the month, my body naturally gains about five or six pounds. I don't even have to keep track of that time of the month on the calendar, because if I step on the scale, it's going to. All of a sudden my weight has jumped right, and so I know that it's coming.

Speaker 3:

You're going to feel it in your clothes. You feel it in your clothes Absolutely, and your weight even fluctuates throughout the day, right, depending upon what you eat or how hydrated you are and that sort of a thing. So it's important to think about weight loss is not just the number on the scale, but also how you feel. So one of the things that I like to track is the non-scale victories. Am I sleeping better? Am I feeling better? How are my stress levels? Are my clothes getting better? Because there was a time during my own weight loss journey where that number on the scale didn't move but the clothes were getting looser, and so there are different ways to track, and so I would not get so emotionally hung up on the scale anymore. Again, I think we should track, kind of like these non-scale victories. So I think that's the first thing. I think another thing that women do is, once we get that, decide that now is the time. Today is the day. You know they go all in, especially like with the cardio, especially when it comes to exercise. We go all in. Cardio is good. It certainly is good to relieve stress, it's good for cardiovascular. But I would like to see what women do more and more strength training, especially like as we get older, the strength training actually becomes more important than just the cardio, and one benefit to muscle building and strength training is you're burning fat. Your metabolism is raring to go all throughout the day, not just when you're doing that cardio exercise, but it's really pretty much that caloric burning, that metabolism, that stops the minute you stop doing that exercise. Start to over-index on strength training and, don't worry, I hear women all the time say, oh, I'm afraid of getting bulky. We don't make enough testosterone in our body to really like, see the kinds of gains right, muscle gains that men have. So it's, it's okay, right, it's okay. So do more strength training.

Speaker 3:

I think the other thing that I see is that we don't really schedule our eating, and that's something that again in my own weight loss journey and even in my practice that I see with patients, when you don't eat on a certain schedule, what that does to your body is it tells your body that you're kind of in starvation mode. So your body's unsure, actually, when it's going to eat and so when it does finally eat, what is it going to do? It's going to hold on to it because it's not sure when you're going to eat. And so when it does finally eat, what is it going to do? It's going to hold onto it because it's not sure when you're going to eat again. So if you're somebody that maybe today you have breakfast, tomorrow you don't, the next day you have a big brunch, but maybe you skip lunch, that confuses your body. And here's what's interesting about that.

Speaker 3:

When I first started my weight loss journey, I had a small child and I remember hearing this and it resonated with me almost immediately. It's because most women, most mothers, our babies, are on feeding schedules. Right, they don't have a clock, they don't know what time it is, but over time their body gets used to knowing that. Okay, at this time I'm going to have, you know, my first meal of the day. I'm going to have my snack. I'm going to have my middle meal of the day. Right, I'm going to have my snack. I'm going to have my middle meal of the day. Right, I'm going to have my snack. I'm going to, I'm going to go to bed. The babies, their bodies, just know.

Speaker 3:

And I can tell you, as my daughter you know, her body got comfortable with the schedule. It was like clockwork. She didn't know it was five o'clock in the afternoon, it was time for dinner, but she was walking in the kitchen letting me know she was hungry, or she was. It's because her body got used to it. Our bodies work the same way. So when your body knows when it can expect fuel, it's going to burn accordingly, but when it doesn't know that, it's actually going to hold on to it because it's fearful that you're in some sort of starvation mode and so it doesn't know, like when it's actually going to expect the food. So it's important to eat on a schedule.

Speaker 3:

And then I think the other thing that I think is really important that we don't do enough of is really prioritizing mental health, and lack of sleep is a big contributor to weight gain and it also can prevent weight loss.

Speaker 3:

Your body really does need rest. So prioritizing sleep, getting at least seven hours a night and I know it's difficult, especially because we're all busy, but at least trying to prioritize that is super helpful. Doing things to help reduce our stress I love to meditate, now that I've gotten really in tune with my body, like I can feel when the stress is coming on. I feel it here in my shoulders, I feel it in my stomach right, and so when I start to feel that, just take, even if it's five minutes, just take five minutes to just focus on something else, to meditate. Whatever it is that you can do to relieve that stress, it is super helpful. So those are just a few tips that I would recommend and a few things that I see. But I think if women did more of the recommendations that I suggested, I think it would make their weight loss journey a bit easier.

Speaker 2:

Well, quick question what about people who say they utilize fasting in their weight loss? How does that factor into the things that you were saying about your body feeling like it's starving?

Speaker 3:

Dr DeRionne Pollard, fasting is just another way of eating at a schedule right. So for most people, they do a 16 hour fast and then they have this eight hour window right when they can eat. Fasting is a great tool because now your body it's not so much that it's starving, but now it's starting to convert. It's starting to go after the fat and burn the fat for fuel versus the carbs and whatever you ate five hours ago. So fasting is yet another tool. But it is important, though, that you stick within that fasting window and you stick within some of those tools. But it is a tool, a very similar tool when it comes to weight loss, and fasting doesn't work for everybody.

Speaker 3:

Women my age, sometimes, we tend to struggle losing weight with the fasting and a lot of it comes with hormones. As I said at the top of the podcast, everybody's journey is going to be different. What works for some people, like fasting, works for some. It doesn't work for me. It doesn't work for others. So for me, like that strict schedule, I need to eat, I need to eat healthy, I need to eat on a regular schedule, but fasting, from my perspective, it's still a schedule Like again, if you're doing your 16 hours, as long as it's still pretty much the same 16 hours and then the eight hours that you eat. Your body gets used to it and it knows to expect, right within that eight hour window, like okay, now it's time to eat again. When you start trying to move it around and jump around, I think that's when people start to see less results when it comes to fasting.

Speaker 2:

Makes sense. One more question what are some examples of nutrient dense foods that support weight loss?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you know protein, right, you'll hear me talk a lot about protein. So, whole protein your chicken, your lean meats, your fish right, Fruits and vegetables are always good. Whole grains right, those would be like your nutrient dense foods. It takes longer for your body to digest them, and in a good way, right Versus highly processed foods where your body burns through it very quickly and you're feeling hungry like an hour later, and so it's just going to cause you to want to overeat. The more whole foods you can focus on. And really, when you think about whole foods, these are things that you just kind of see in nature. Or even when you go to the grocery store. A lot of the nutrient dense foods that you see are on the outer perimeter of the store, whereas the processed foods are actually like in the middle of the store. So, as you think about your shopping, focus on that outer perimeter. That's where your meats are, that's where your produce are Usually, that's where your whole grains are right. So focus on that outer perimeter when you're shopping at the grocery store.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate that. That's when I know I'm doing the right thing, when I stay on the perimeter and I don't go down those middle aisles too much.

Speaker 3:

It's hard, though I mean, I like to go down the middle sometime too. You know it's hard though, but it's okay. It really comes down to everything in moderation. Right, you can go there every now and then you don't stay there. I think if you use the 80-20 rule and you focus more on the nutrient-dense foods and being healthy, you can be successful.

Speaker 2:

That's what we want success for those who are looking forward. Thank you so much, katina. We'll catch you on the next episode.

Speaker 3:

Thank you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you. That's a wrap on this episode of the Atlanta Wellness Clinic Podcast. That's a wrap on this episode of the Atlanta Wellness Clinic Podcast. If you're ready to kickstart your weight loss journey, and not just your bathroom scale and frustration, visit atlwellnesscliniccom or call us at 770-726-8978 for a free 10-minute weight loss consultation, because the best time to start was yesterday. The second best time Right was yesterday. The second best time right now. See you next time.