The Health Huns
The Messy Side of Health and Fitness!
Your favourite amateur athletes keeping it real, discussing the messy side of health and fitness
The Health Huns
EP.4 WEIGHT-LOSS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
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The conversation around weight loss can feel like navigating a minefield – fraught with judgment, toxic messaging, and shame. We kick off this raw, honest episode with a content warning because we know these topics touch deep nerves for many.
Weight loss, dieting, and body image sit at the intersection of health, identity, and societal pressure – and we're diving straight into the messy truth of it all. Drawing from vastly different experiences but arriving at surprisingly similar viewpoints, we unpack our personal journeys through diet culture's darkest corners.
Amber reveals her history with numerous fad diets from the 90s "heroin chic" era – everything from Weight Watchers to being hypnotized to losing weight. Meanwhile, Rhi shares her complex relationship with weight as a personal trainer whose body was directly tied to her livelihood, leading to binge-eating cycles disguised as "fun food challenges." Both stories highlight the psychological damage that occurs when we attach our worth to our weight.
The conversation shifts to a fascinating exploration of the body positivity movement's origins among Black, queer, fat activists fighting for basic dignity – and how that revolutionary stance has been co-opted and commercialized. We examine weight loss drugs, surgery, and the surprisingly judgmental attitudes that can emerge from all sides of the weight conversation.
What makes this episode special isn't just our vulnerability, but our journey toward finding neutrality in a world that demands extreme positions. We celebrate the emotional and psychological growth that comes with healing our relationship with food more than any physical transformation. Whether you've struggled with your weight or not, this conversation offers a refreshing perspective on finding peace in a culture obsessed with thinness.
Tag us on Instagram @thehealthhunspod and share where you're listening! We'd love to connect with you and hear your thoughts on these complex topics.
Hello and welcome to episode 4 of the Health Huns Da da da, we need a jingle.
Speaker 2:We need a jingle because I can't sing jingles. Should we go now?
Speaker 1:Should we freestyle Da? Da, da, da, da, da, da da da da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da da da da da da da da da da, da, da da da, da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da. We just had the pug snorting over the microphone.
Speaker 2:They were snoring in the last episode, so if anybody heard, that it was the pug.
Speaker 1:They're our biggest fans, our loyal supporters. I mean Betty's literally on the edge of her seat, but there's a whole other side of the bed that she could get onto. This is a live show for them every week. They are lucky. They really are, do you think you're lucky?
Speaker 2:She's like how did I?
Speaker 1:end up here. Well, these two yappers, and in today's episode we are tackling a big topic, a really big topic. Go Amber, what is it?
Speaker 2:Well, so today we're basically going to be talking about weight loss, different diets and everything around that.
Speaker 1:And before we get into it we wanted to kind of give a bit of a content warning. We will be talking about maybe some triggering topics for some people.
Speaker 2:Yes, triggering topics, difficult topics, and we wanted to say that this is just our views and our opinions, our experiences, and if you wish to get professional advice, you should speak to your GP, and if you are suffering or think you could be suffering, or somebody else is, from an eating disorder, a really good place to go alongside your GP is beateatingdisordersorguk and we'll put that in the show notes.
Speaker 1:We will put it in the show notes. Yes, so we are the health funds and I don't think either of us want this to be a toxic place no where it's all about how you look and how much you weigh and what size clothes you are.
Speaker 1:That's not our vibe. It's really not in in this place, in real life and everything we do. It's really not our vibe. But we can't talk about health and our experiences and people's experiences without talking about this topic, because it's such a big part of it it's such a big topic whether we like it or not, it's there and I think most people listening to this will have some sort of experience.
Speaker 2:Good, or bad. I don't think it has to be. I think it needs to be talked about because people are always going to want to change their weight, and I think it needs to be talked about in a way that it can be healthier and more normal and less toxic yeah, which we'll get into.
Speaker 1:All the nitty gritties of it, yeah, sure, but we thought a good place to start would be to talk about our own personal experiences with weight loss and being in that world and having goals or stuff we've done in the past or stuff we're doing now, and our personal views on it as a topic. Yeah, would you like to take the lead of that, amber?
Speaker 2:yeah, and we were saying earlier. It's interesting because we sort of have a similar view now, but we have grown up in very different times in terms of what is socially acceptable and what people do around weight loss.
Speaker 1:So we have quite a unique perspective here right now. Yeah, we've kind of landed in the same place, think kind of with our attitude towards it, but had completely different experiences of it.
Speaker 2:Maybe completely so. I mean, I grew up in the 90s. I was born in the 80s, grew up in the 90s and, um, you know, the one thing that people talk about from the 90s is like that heroin chic Kate Moss, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. That is a lie, it's a scam. Yeah, um, and when I was writing my notes for this, I was thinking, because I've always been bigger, um, I mean not when I was like a small child, but from the age of like nine or ten, um, and I was thinking about all the diets that I've ever done. I was listing them Slimming World, weight Watchers, atkins, I took Slimming Pills, the Special K Diet, lighter Life and Cambridge Diet, where you have 500 calories worth of milkshake a day.
Speaker 1:I was hypnotised. Please stop, stop, please, please stop, stop, please tell this?
Speaker 2:please tell me. I've never heard this story. Oh well, I mean, I went and saw this woman. I got hypnotized. Did it work? I mean, I felt like it really worked for a month, so what?
Speaker 1:was she kind of getting you to stop doing or start doing or believe? Well, I don't remember, I don't really remember like out of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was out of it but I did feel like it worked. But then this is the trouble with how I was in the past everything would work really well for a month yes, and then it wouldn't, fad diets.
Speaker 1:Yes, they're fad for a reason exactly, uh.
Speaker 2:And then I remember I mean god, I remember being on a diet when I was like 13 and having a book that like a book of calories I brought from WH Smith's and it had all these calories in and I was like 13, 14 years old, having a thousand calories a day, like going puberty probably yeah, like mental it's crazy and and.
Speaker 1:Was that because of the media that you were consuming or being exposed to? Was that because of people saying stuff to you? Was everyone around you doing it like what was that?
Speaker 2:I would say it was the media, my family, my family sorry family, but you know, everybody is obsessed with losing weight. Yeah, um, I, you know. Some of my earliest memories are my mum going to weight watchers doing the cabbage soup diet, and she was, she wasn't, she was like I've seen pictures of her then and she was pretty skinny. Um, but you know, I just think, in the 90s, everybody if you were bigger than a size 12, you were disgusting and didn't you know about it?
Speaker 2:you did know about it. I'm reading the history books myself yes.
Speaker 2:So I mean it's mad and you know, I did get to a point where I weighed, like on the scales, I weighed a lot and uh, I I don't really know what made me. I think and we're going to talk about this later like body positivity and stuff and that almost it's really hard to describe but I, when I first started trying to lose weight this time around, where I have been successful I actually felt almost like ashamed for wanting to lose weight because I couldn't be happy, I couldn't be positive about my body because I couldn't walk very far. I had a bad back I said this before like I had type two diabetes, I had high blood pressure. I'm like how could I be positive about that body?
Speaker 2:it wasn't healthy, it was failing me yeah and I started to get really worried about having a heart attack like, or having a stroke, because things like that happen and I I did feel a bit like, oh god, better not tell anybody I'm trying to lose weight. Um, because people are really people are so judgy about other people's bodies big, small, small. In the middle there's always somebody that's got something to say about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think the body positivity movement, when you actually look back as to when it started, it wasn't what it has become now. It started in America. I know America's very big somewhere, I can't remember but I'm pretty sure it was um it started in america. I know america's are big somewhere, I can't remember, but I'm pretty sure it is black, um queer women who were in bigger bodies, um they would probably call themselves fat, because fat activists kind of reclaim the word so that's what they would have called themselves.
Speaker 1:It wasn't about this kind of instagram. Perfect, I'm slut, I'm a size 14. Look at me in my underwear, like look at my you know artificial roles I'm trying to create. They were really protesting for equality and it was intersectional and it was a feminist movement originally and I think the they just wanted to be treated like humans, and I get that. Yeah, I said that's where it started from. Yeah, and I think it is so unrealistic in this society to be like. You should love your body all the time, no matter what size it is, because body you're expected to have that, whether you're a size 8 or a size 28 yeah, that's just not possible, is it not?
Speaker 2:all the time, though? So I wanted to lose weight because I wanted to be healthier and feel, to feel better about myself yeah for me.
Speaker 2:I did need some kind of what's the right word? Structure, so I did go to Swimming World and I found that for me really helpful. To begin with, because it made me I wasn't counting calories. It just made me cook all of my food rather than buying, like having takeaways, buying pre-made stuff, and it just, I think I just was eating less processed and, like you know, just being a bit more mindful. And then I mean, my sort of journey is so. I started in August 2022, so it's nearly three years and I'm nearly, you know, at the point where I want to maintain. But I have had big periods of time where I have maintained.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like I lost about six stone and then I just went up and down the same stone for about a year and usually I would have given up, gained it all back and more. But there was just something inside of me that and I think it was probably actually nothing to do with dieting. It was more the fact like I had quite a lot of therapy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I was feeling better about myself, that I didn't want to feel shit again.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That is kind of the main thing really is this I don't want to feel like that again. It's not that I don't want to be that size again, I don't want to feel. I don't want to feel like that again. It's not that I don't want to be that size again, I don't want to feel like that again. But then I switched it up and, like you know, I started counting calories and there was a big kind of.
Speaker 2:I think if you just go on one of those calorie calculators and you put in your height and all of those things, it gives you about 1,200 calories. Yeah, no matter how tall you are, no matter what you do. Yeah, and actually I put all my stuff in and it was like you can have 2000 calories a day and I was like, oh my god, this is actually loads. And I'm like you can actually eat food. Yeah, I don't have to starve myself and restrict myself, and I am a really big advocate now for eating enough food. Yeah, and even when I was at Slimming World, I was like the thing that has made me lose weight is the fact that I eat, yeah, consistently yeah, regularly if I'm hungry, I eat something.
Speaker 2:I don't starve myself like I have done in the past. Like I, I eat lots and that has made my relationship with food better. And I don't you know, I have off days, Everybody does but I do think like that. I have an okay relationship with food now.
Speaker 1:And it's taken probably from what you said years of figuring it out, Years Trying things yeah, Trying trying different diets going to therapy, I mean, and that is the thing like it is.
Speaker 2:You know, I think people say to me a lot like you know, how did you lose weight? Because you know even people who, personally, I don't think they need to lose weight whatever, but it's their body. Um, you know they, lots of people want to lose weight and they're like well, how did you do it? And I think you really have to look at why and before you think about you know, if you're, if you're like how I was and your relationship with food is so bad, I think, really, before you even think about losing weight, you've got to do some real digging yeah into why you do what you do, have some therapy if you can access it.
Speaker 2:you know, even if it's just looking at some like I don't know off the top of my head any positive kind of Instagram accounts, but I'm sure there are some out there, you know, looking at them and it's not just, it's not just what you eat, which is what so many people do with diets.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they're like if I can just find this magical combination of foods and routine and they exercise, it'll be, it'll all just come off. Yeah, and actually I think a diet is much easier to do initially than doing that hard undercover work yeah of what's going on in your mind, the experiences you've had, and it takes. It's not a quick fix it's not.
Speaker 1:It takes a lot of time and you might even get to the point and and that you don't have to do that stuff in order to lose like, just to lose weight. You're going to get so much probably out of that process, regardless of whether you lose weight or not yeah, whether your body changes, you'll probably start to feel better, just having an understanding of things and feeling more in control of certain aspects of your lifestyle. Um, but that is hard.
Speaker 2:But that's where you'll see the longevity, in whatever progress you make and whatever habits you build I think another thing that is like a hangover from the 90s is that everybody should weigh 10 stone yeah, that's something that I've never had is a number in my head like I have no.
Speaker 1:Like 10 stone, 25 stone, like to me it just doesn't mean anything, like I don't understand. I do understand, but like when people come to me, I just want to be at nine stone, I just want to be at 10 stone.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking why yeah, and I definitely used to. When I done light a life, I was I done it for my 30th birthday and I was like, right, I just want to get down to 10 and a half stone. Yeah, I'm five for eight like I'm never going to be 10 and a half stone.
Speaker 1:Isn't it weird, though we have these numbers, that we just attach all this meaning to?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but another interesting thing now is you speak to different people and not that it's people my age that talk about stones and pounds. A lot of people talk in kilograms. Now, I'm a kg girl. I mean me too now sort of. But, you know, that is a real thing from the past and like, actually, you know, you say ten and a half stone to somebody like your age or younger and they're like what's ten and a half stone? Yeah, what's that in kilograms?
Speaker 2:I need to go on google and convert so I mean, I, yeah it's, and, like, I do still think about the scale and I do weigh myself, but I also measure myself. And you know, this year I have brought a pair of jeans. Oh, my goodness, can you hear the plug? Are we boring you um jeans? So yeah, I bought some jeans from Lucy and Yak and I wore them. I went to London in January and I wore them and they fitted me fine, and then about three weeks later they were really big but I hadn't lost any weight.
Speaker 2:So it's like, well, obviously, and when I say they were too big, they were, I can't wear them yeah like, and I mean I have lost a bit more weight since then now, but like it's, things are happening sometimes and you don't see it on the scales.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I'll. I'll talk about my like opinions and stuff in minute, but I think the issue I see time and time again isn't necessarily people wanting just to lose weight. It's the power and the control it ends up having over some people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's the attachment to self-worth, to progress, to success, to so many things. That, for me, me is where the issues become more apparent and maybe start to cause negative effects. It it isn't then about being healthier, isn't then about improving your life? It literally is coming down to you. You're happy if the number goes down and you're having the worst day if the number goes up. Yeah, that, for me, is a sticking point. I and where I think we need to then have these open discussions, talk about experiences and not make it such a taboo, because even though it's talked about so much, it's one of these weird topics it's still a bit of a taboo. Yeah, to like.
Speaker 1:Talk about it openly yeah question things yeah it is strange isn't it?
Speaker 2:and it's funny as well, going on from our last episode comparison when it comes to weight loss. Now I don't compare myself to anybody else, so I feel like I I feel very lucky that I really seem to have got to a good place with weight loss, and it's you know it's. I don't, I don't feel, I don't feel like I'll ever go back to how I was, because I feel like I have quite a just a more of a a neutral kind of feeling towards it.
Speaker 1:Um, it's not like an all or nothing anymore. Maybe no and I'm.
Speaker 2:I weigh myself every single day. Sometimes I weigh three pounds heavier on one day of the week, on another day of the week, on another day of the week, and I do not worry about it. Yeah, because bodies fluctuate and, especially if you're a woman, it depends where you are in your cycle, depends what you've eaten the day before. Like you know, if I go out at the weekend and I eat loads of food, of course I'm going to weigh more. The next day. I've eaten more salt, so I'm going to be bloated. Yeah, if you've exercised so. Personally, for me, I I don't have issues with tracking calories and I don't have issues of weighing myself every day, but I know a lot of people that's a really tricky thing yeah, it is and it can.
Speaker 1:Hence why we had to like give a kind of a content warning on top of this, because it can be really, really damaging to some people yeah and I think maybe, if I'm, if I'm wrong, I apologize at some point. Maybe that would have like, really, but you've had to kind of go through.
Speaker 2:Yes, this work, that the deeper level work, absolutely like I used, if I'd stand I mean, I've always weighed myself every day and sometimes I'd weigh myself and I'd be this way and the next day I'd be two pounds heavier and it would literally be the end of the world. And that would then cause me to like, have an absolute meltdown and be like fuck it, I can't be bothered to do this anymore. And then I just, you know, end up like binging and you, you know that would be that for that, that weight loss period of my life, whereas now I, I don't, like you, don't need to weigh yourself every day. I like to weigh myself every day, but I feel, you know, I feel quite confident if I see three pounds more, that it's, it's gonna, it'll come off yeah because it's just fluctuations maybe there's also not as much riding on it anymore for you yeah maybe I don't know.
Speaker 1:I feel like, like I said a minute ago, it can have so much power over someone's life and so much it can dictate their whole day, their whole mood, mood, their whole week.
Speaker 1:And it's about removing that power. And I think for a lot where I see people who have had lots of weight loss or have felt that they've had success in their health and fitness journey, whatever that looks like, it's when they remove that pressure and power that these numbers have over them. That's when they kind of get into their flow and because there's that pressure removed, the things happen.
Speaker 2:Well, that is the thing, isn't it? The pressure is removed. If I never lost another pound now, I wouldn't be sad. So although I do want to, there is less riding on it. Yeah, and I guess as well you know, from an outsider perspective people treat you differently and life is different.
Speaker 1:That is. That is a sad fact. Yeah, because I think we're both of the belief that if you, whatever body you choose to exist in, and if you're very happy being like a bigger size or a smaller size or whatever, everyone deserves to be treated well, absolutely equally. And unfortunately we live in such a fat phobic society that people aren't given that chance to choose to just exist in the body they have. Because we can all accept and understand that some people are bigger than others naturally. Yeah, no, it is just how they're built. If you can accept that some people are naturally smaller, you have to accept that some people are naturally bigger, absolutely.
Speaker 1:But it is right, like I've gone through my own weight loss stuff lost like loads of weight and the difference, the way you said people treat you was unreal. And then you get so used to that and you thrive off the compliments and for me I don't think I ever got to the point where you've got to like it was everything to me, losing more and more weight, more and more people noticing like the bigger the difference the better. Like I like a bit of shock factor in most of the things I do, like um, but I was like, oh my god, this is amazing, like a whole new lease of life for me. Like going out was fun because I had stuff to wear, like it was positive attention. I was getting free drinks and as like a 19, 20-year-old, that's actually all you want.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is all you want. That's literally all you want. That's all I want now. That's all I want now.
Speaker 1:Or we'd get free drinks if we don't be silly, we literally wouldn't be able to drink enough. We'll be out soon, um yeah, and so I lost loads of. I lost a decent amount of weight. I've always been bigger like I literally was born a chunky kid, like that's just how I was, and when I did lose the weight I then got into personal training, so automatically my body became completely linked with my business and how I make money and how I sell myself.
Speaker 1:And I was only little, I was only a baby. Yeah, in my head, the skinnier or the smaller or the more in shape I looked would directly link to how well, how good of a coach I was, how I was viewed in the industry, if I was being picked by clients over other personal trainers. So that was such a toxic kind of mix for me at the time it fucked me it's so funny because I would actively not choose somebody who is like really hench and skinny.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would rather somebody who looks like you or me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, funnily enough, the most successful time in my business is when I stepped into that yeah and I stopped trying to be that picture perfect person and calorie counting for me became an absolute obsession and I would really, really restrict and I would then binge eat. And at the time I'll tell you what I used to do. It was before Ziggy was born my kid, not my puppy, because he's got a dog's name, he's got a dog and I was trying to like get ready for a bodybuilding show, which is, I think, is an absolute joke. Now, when you meet me, if you know me in real life, you would never, ever think I were you tanned with one of those little sparkly bikinis I would I would have had to go on stage and do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know ridiculous right? Um, if you don't know what I look like, go rrt underscore coach on instagram and have a laugh and imagine me in a sparkly bikini and heels.
Speaker 1:okay, um see, amber, can't even I love that. So I would restrict heavily all week and just like, oh god, it was awful, my pudding, my treat at the end of the day was protein powder mixed with water Put into the microwave so like some sad fucking souffle. So I'm like shit brownie and I was like this is the highlight of my day. What a treat. This is Like health is fun. I mean we're laughing, but this is awful. This is like health is fun.
Speaker 1:I mean we're laughing, but this is, this is like a real experience, guys anyway so that was my like monday to friday, and then I was so hungry at the end of the day I used to fall asleep watching like food challenges on youtube, because it's like my dopamine like I would get high off watching people eat food in masses of amounts it's so funny you say that when I don't like a life, I was exactly the same. The brain knows what the mind knows what it wants.
Speaker 1:And then at the weekend I would go to my partner oh, let's do a 10,000 calorie eating challenge for fun this weekend. I'd make it. I'm laughing now, but this is trauma. This is crazy and I'd make out like it's just a bit of fun, like what a laugh, like let's do a little mini vlog.
Speaker 1:I was binge, like that is binge eating disorder I would eat until I literally was like, wanted to trigger warning, throw up, yeah like. But I I conditioned myself into thinking, oh it's just, it's just a fun little game. But I was binge eating and then the next day I'd feel so guilty, I would be like over-exercising.
Speaker 2:But the interesting thing is, you would do it in public on a vlog, yeah, and I would binge eat in secret.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:When no one could see me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but and to the rest of the, I guess to the outside eye, I assume you know she's really in shape, she works out.
Speaker 1:She's got this fun morning routine, like I was that douchey PT on Instagram and at the same time, I'm trying to teach these other coaching people weight loss and healthy habits and all this kind of stuff, and I'm thinking, well, this isn't healthy for me. I might be the lightest I've ever been, but god, I hate myself. Yeah, so that was my experience weight loss and it it just didn't. It gave me initially what I thought it would, and then it just became something quite toxic for me, but I think I think because it was so linked to my job and my whole identity was then my weight loss and making money through getting clients because of my weight loss it was a bit of a head fuck, to be honest. What?
Speaker 1:was the turning point for you the turning point for me was I we just had Ziggy, my son. Well, meg did. I didn't want to do that and so, like I was a new mom, parenting, so the stress of that. And then I just started falling out of love with personal training so much because I was still setting weight loss as that, like my, I'll help you lose weight, blah, blah, blah. And I just hated it. I had no passion for it. I didn't want to create content for it, I wasn't. I was so switched off from it and I still hated myself, my own body.
Speaker 1:And then the turning point was well, I haven't got another job, so I kind of need to stick at this. But is there another way to do this where I'm still helping people, like I wanted to do at the very beginning of this all, but in a way that aligns my values? And that's when I then started looking into the world, like more weight neutral approaches to fitness, which then led me on to like anti-diet culture stuff, which is people kind of talking out against the toxic diet culture that we've all grown up with. Yeah, and mindful eating, getting away from the calories and the obsession and that. Looking into all that and doing the work reading the books, listening to the podcasts, watching the shows then kind of led me to how I approach things now, which is, if you want to talk to me about weight loss, I'll talk to you about it.
Speaker 1:If you've got questions, I'll answer honestly and give you my opinion. If you want my support, I will support you, but I'm never gonna make that the be all and end all of our journey together or what you should be doing. And if you want to live in whatever body you want to live in and you're telling me you're happy and you're telling me you feel good, I am not questioning you. I'm, that's not my place. But if you want to come train me and create and I'll, I'll be your safe space to come and exercise, yeah, if that's what you want yeah that's kind of where I am now.
Speaker 1:I don't really talk about weight loss much in my coaching stuff no, you never do but that, but that works for me that works. My clients, I think yeah, but I'm always open to the conversation if you need it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's my experience with weight loss and I think, like you know, I think when it comes to nutrition, I really feel like you just have to oh, there's a fly in the studio, get away. I really feel like. I feel like nutrition is really important, but it's important to keep you healthy and to make you feel good, yeah, and to keep you full and give you energy, not because it's not.
Speaker 1:It's low calories.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's low calorie. Oh, it's got no sugar.
Speaker 1:It's this. It's low calories. Yeah, it's low calorie. Oh, it's got no sugar. It's this, it's that, like I would say, I eat so much better now in terms of variety, getting like actual meals, in giving my body what it needs, than I ever did when I was at my smallest weight, because I've got, I've given myself, like this, unconditional permission to eat yeah, and because I'm not in this kind of binge restrict cycle anymore.
Speaker 1:When I'm like my day-to-day is just normal, it's like what do I fancy? But because I'm not trying to lose, lose weight or whatever, I'm not panicked about it. So I give myself more freedom in my food choices and that has just ended up with me eating like a really pretty much balanced diet. Yeah, I have the chocolate when I want the chocolate, but most of the time I'm actually probably choosing, you know, a very normal, simple meal with everything I need in it yeah, and that's. I'm probably much healthier than I am.
Speaker 2:If I was to do some markers, I'd argue I'm healthier mind, body and soul yeah, I mean, I think I mean I am obviously healthier because I have not got some of the medical issues that I had before. And this, this isn't the smallest I've ever been, but it is the smallest I've been for a considerable time period and it's the healthiest I've been because the fly, the fly. I've added exercise in, so I know that my heart is much healthier than it was. Yeah, because you know you can be a smaller size and not be as healthy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you can be a bigger size and you can be healthy. Yeah, absolutely we're not. But we're not talking in absolutes.
Speaker 2:You're not saying you have to be this or if you are this I just think we need to get rid of judging other people because we don't know what they've been through. No, you know, and in terms of you, know people that judge other people like, stop giving yourself such a hard time. Like when I was on lighter life, oh my god, did I really need to do a diet where I had four milkshakes a day that had five flavor, were they? Oh, so I used to have banana strawberry disgusting.
Speaker 1:Why would you not? Let's forget about lighter life, banana and strawberry oh, oh, my God, low-calorie milkshakes.
Speaker 2:I love banana milkshake.
Speaker 1:No Right quickly in the comments what's your favourite flavour? Chocolate, banana, vanilla or strawberry. Which one are you going to go for? Oh, not vanilla Chocolate all the way.
Speaker 2:I mean I'm banana, but whatever. Okay, Moving on, but you know I had four milkshakes a day. That came to 500 calories In total. In total, Jesus Christ, and that's all I had. Like, why did I ever think that was a good idea? Because it sold you as a good idea. Well, it was sold to me as a good idea Pauline Quirk from Birds of a Feather. She lost all of her weight. But actually I lost a lot of weight and then I put on probably an extra five stone. Yeah, because I went mental.
Speaker 1:And I think what's good about we've been through. We go through cycles, obviously society does. We've been through like the heroin chic. We went through the body positivity, we're now going through the weight loss drug thing. But I think with every cycle, our awareness of the toxicity of the fad diets and the diet industry that's preying on the vulnerable yeah, is becoming more and more so. Most, most people of your age yeah, I age know that that's not okay. Yeah, there is more awareness now, definitely, which is a good thing yeah for sure.
Speaker 2:So I guess we could move on now. We could move on to weight loss drugs, weight loss surgery. So we asked for some of our listeners to send us some questions and, um, we had one person ask what is a glpP-1 and what is WLS? So WLS is just short for weight loss surgery and GLP-1 is the and I think there might be more than one. That was just all I could think of when I was doing my research. Glp-1 is like Manjaro and it stands for glucogen, like peptide one, and it regulates your blood sugar and your appetite.
Speaker 2:And, uh, there's, there's a I mean, it's such a big topic at the minute and I'm sure we both have our own views on it. And one of the questions that came in well, it was more of a comment than a question and it basically said I definitely have some sort of internalized snobbery about weight loss drugs, specifically, like there's no difference between dieting and taking weight loss drugs. Really, you're doing either of them because you want to lose weight. Um, but for some reason in my head, you can't be a feminist and take weight loss drugs, but I know that's not true. Basically, I have a lot of complicated thoughts about it and I mean I agree, I think I think I have a lot of complicated thoughts about it I mean, I think that there really is a place for it. I do, I think if you, and not just if you've got diabetes, obviously if you've got diabetes, yes, you should take it because it helps to regulate your blood sugar, lose weight, because it controls your appetite and so, yeah, like you know, in terms of diabetes, yes, I think it is a good thing. Also, I think if you are, if you have a lot of weight to lose because you want to lose it and you want to take it, then I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 2:I think if somebody was really depressed would we say you know, we laugh, don't we, about the doctors that are like, oh, just go and have a lavender bath, yeah, that'll cure your depression, like it's a medication for a reason. For a reason, and I think if it is used correctly by people that have a higher amount of weight to lose, then it's good. But I think people need more support with what they're going to do afterwards or even on it, because you still need to eat and you need to be eaten. You can't just and this was my experience on lighter life. You know, when I came off it, my stomach had obviously shrunk and rather than wanting a meal, I'd be like I'll just have a bar of chocolate yeah and if you've got a small appetite, it's very easy to be like, oh, I'll just have like this small snack, but you're not getting the nutrients you need.
Speaker 2:You're not feeling good if you're not going to the gym. You're losing muscle mass rather than fat a lot of the time. So I think there is a place for it and I think there's a lot of people that are misusing it.
Speaker 1:That is just my personal views yeah, I mean I've worked with people, uh, like personal training clients, who have used it and they've had in their opinion. They've had success with it and they've they've just done what they've wanted it to do. I think it's interesting from like a someone who, like, works in the health fitness industry. A lot of coaches and personal trainers were quite worried when it really rose in popularity because a lot of people won't need us to lose weight anymore. But because that wasn't my thing anyway, I was like, oh, I'm not that worried, but what I found for people who have taken it not everyone, just people I've met that initial weight loss or kind of having a sense of control over certain things, certain lifestyle aspects gave them the confidence to then step into the gym and want to work a trainer and want to build healthy habits.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So if it's something that allows someone to take that step to building a lifestyle that, in their eyes, is better for them and and healthier for them, it can't be a bad thing. But I do agree with the support. So I know someone who's who's had it, you know, maybe not, uh, the most legit of ways. We all know someone who knows someone, right, yeah, and I've known people who have done it through the doctors and nhs, and I think the difference is the support, like you said, the. They're coaching them on nutrition, they're giving them healthy lifestyle tips and tricks and you're being monitored your health markers and all that kind of stuff whereas if you're kind of going a bit wild with it, yeah and you're just taking it, not doing anything else, and you're losing weight.
Speaker 1:You can't you, you cannot take it forever, you can't take it.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, they are saying, you can take it forever.
Speaker 1:I doubt if it is like any other weight loss thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're probably not going to take it forever. You're not going to take it forever. And this is where were you saying like you know, personal trainers were worried about it. Um, I don't think it's the personal trainers that worried. I think it's weight loss clubs so weight watchers has gone into administration. They've made themselves bankrupt, haven't?
Speaker 1:they has and Slimming World is.
Speaker 2:I'm sure there's a lot of people now that don't go to Slimming World. Well, why would you exactly? But is the weight loss drug gonna be the new Slimming World? People will take it, they'll lose their weight, they'll come off it, they'll put the weight back on, they'll go back on it.
Speaker 1:It's just another cycle in some ways, unless they get the support and make those changes well, I think, of course, I think you know, like the weight loss pills back in the day I've heard what they call them? Was it like the equivalent, like taking speed or something?
Speaker 2:yeah, it was like there was one that was called ephedrine or something, and it was basically just a stimulant and I'm assuming at the time that was a miracle drug. I don't know, I don't think it was a miracle drug, because actually it gave you heart palpitations and you felt terrible.
Speaker 1:You know, and I've heard a lot of ethics or is it just another thing that people are going to take to try and reach a standard that we've set for them? You know is it? Is it going to then fade out in 10 years time and the people who took it are going to be back where they started? Probably, probably it's.
Speaker 2:It's really interesting, isn't it? It's really interesting weight loss surgery.
Speaker 1:Oh, what do people who've had weight loss surgery as well and I went to the doctors and asked to have it, and I think some people would say they it has changed our lives for better, because it isn't as simple as eat less, move more. And if it was, we wouldn't be on this podcast.
Speaker 1:I don't think, right now, no it it goes so much deeper into things and sometimes you know the only way you're gonna be able to get to a point where you are living a healthier lifestyle, whatever it looks like to you, is with a little bit of assistance. Just like you wouldn't say getting a personal trainer's cheating, would you no? No, you wouldn't say getting a personal trainer is cheating, would you?
Speaker 1:No, you wouldn't say well you've got to suffer and learn and do everything wrong before you wouldn't say that, or you wouldn't say getting taught how to drive is cheating. No, you've got to go and crash your car a few times before you're road worthy no. So why do we have such? It's because I think we've been taught that you have to suffer for this life.
Speaker 2:Well, I got into an argument with somebody on Instagram the other day Because she I can't even remember what she's called, she's probably blocked me now, but it was on my work account. It wasn't like a fitness account, and she was like some woman that had lost 10 stone and was running marathons and she posted a reel. And it was like some woman that had lost 10 stone and was running marathons and she posted a reel and it was like you know, you don't, I lost the weight the hard way, you don't have to take these things. And I was just like I've lost 10 stone, like the hard way. And I'm not judging anybody else, because people do whatever they do for whatever reasons and you're not better than anybody else that's had weight loss surgery or has taken like weight loss medication.
Speaker 2:Like you've just done it your way. Like you don't get a medal because you've slogged it out and it's been hard yeah, she was comparing herself she was comparing us.
Speaker 1:Well, because you should listen to episode three of the podcast she should, and what she's comparing herself to is.
Speaker 2:She doesn't want people to think that she hasn't worked hard and she thinks that she's almost better than them because I've done this the proper way, the natural way. Yeah, who cares really?
Speaker 1:well, this is it, and I think you you know you get those comments oh, she's done so well, or yeah and yes, changing your habits, changing your lifestyle, doing the deep psychological work, is fucking hard, and seeing people overcome their things and getting to it and making progress in their goals, yeah, well done.
Speaker 1:But one thing that I struggle with is like people finding any weight loss the most impressive thing in the world yeah and I think, okay, that is a byproduct of all the work they've done, but all you're focusing on is how they look still yeah you're not focusing on the fact that they can now leave their house, that they've started this new thing that you know, um, they've had the confidence to go like and they're in a relationship now, or they've started this business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're just impressed because they're now a size 12 instead of a size 20, and I think that's the most boring part of the journey for me, we wouldn't have the health hums if I hadn't have lost weight, because I wouldn't have come to the gym and I wouldn't have met you exactly so.
Speaker 1:Weight loss, yeah, maybe is an element of why you did those things, but when you give the credit, all the credit to weight loss, that's what annoys me yeah, but the most, the most impressive thing to me is that I go to the gym. I can run 10k, yeah, that I'm going out and I'm doing things and I'm living my life was it just the weight loss that led you to that, or was it all the work you did as well?
Speaker 1:it was all the work and that's what I think we need to just be like, have a more neutral approach to weight gain, weight loss, weight maintenance yeah. I think it's the neutrality part which is really powerful. The body positivity part is a bit fake, I think at times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's gone the wrong direction, but it did serve a purpose, I think yeah, I think it definitely did serve a purpose and I think, you know, actually the world does need to be more accepting of people of all sizes.
Speaker 2:I mean, the world is very accepting of people if they're smaller yeah um but that's a huge societal issue, yeah, and you know the fact that you know trigger warning just talking about eating disorders for a second. But you know if you have an eating disorder where you are underweight, that's, you know, like seen as something where you need help and it's a medical condition.
Speaker 1:If you have an eating disorder where you are overweight or you're lazy and fat, yeah, or the same behaviours which they would be concerned about in someone who's underweight are the same behaviours they prescribe to someone who is overweight. Yeah, what the fuck. It's madness, but we could go into millions of episodes talking about this because it's such a big beefy topic and I feel like we will definitely come back to this.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, for sure for sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:But I think, as a little kind of intro into our views and experience of it, it's uh pretty balanced, I think yeah, and I hope that you know.
Speaker 2:I hope that it's been. I don't want to say helpful, but I hope it's helped people to just maybe see things from a slightly different point of view, to know that we're pretty neutral on it.
Speaker 1:We like accepting of all, like we don't have any expectations anyone to do anything with their body if they don't want to. No, if you're happy, you're happy. If you're not, maybe do something about it. I don't know if you can, but we know that's always easy.
Speaker 2:But also, maybe sometimes it's not your body, it's your brain I think we could wrap it up, to be honest yeah, just gonna say again you know, if there are any things that you want professional advice on, see your GP or beatingdisordersorguk.
Speaker 1:As always, like, share, review, subscribe, download. Follow us on Instagram at the Health Huns Pod.
Speaker 2:Share us on Instagram, we would love more.
Speaker 1:Tag us in your stories, we want to see it. Maybe you can start your own little Health Huns group on Instagram. We would love more. Tag us in your stories, we want to see it. Maybe you can start your own little health huns group. Maybe you get a community together and you go off and do something fun together. That'd be cute, wouldn't it? That would be cute.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to see where you're listening to the health huns.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what are you doing? Are you on a walk? Are you in the bath?
Speaker 2:I'm usually in the bath when I'm listening to things or cleaning I always listen to our own episodes.
Speaker 1:To be fair in the car, do?
Speaker 2:you. I listen to them when I'm just doing stuff around the house.
Speaker 1:I made meg listen to it in the car the other day. She was like oh, it's really good. So he was like mama, where are you? I'm on the radio. We will be back with another two episodes next week, won't we? Yes? We will Two very good episodes and if there's something you want us to talk about write in.
Speaker 2:This is your new podcast yeah, we will talk about whatever you want us to talk about Literally. Make us do some hard research, please.
Speaker 1:We love that. Amber does I don't it's fine, I can practice Okay. Amber does I don't, it's fine, I can practice Okay.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening and we'll be back next week. Bye, bye.