Paging Dr. Mom

15: Obesity Medicine, Prevention, and Sustainable Wellness for Working Moms

• Angelle Downey • Season 1 • Episode 15

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In this episode, Dr. Kerry Reller joins me for a candid conversation about what realistic wellness looks like for busy, high-achieving women. Drawing on her experience as a physician, entrepreneur, and mom of three, Kerry shares how she helps women move beyond guilt, perfectionism, and the all-or-nothing mindset when it comes to health. We explore the deeper truths about obesity medicine, the power of prevention, and why strength training and sleep are key pillars of longevity. Kerry’s approach is both evidence-based and deeply practical—reminding us that self-care isn’t indulgent, it’s essential, and that sustainable health begins with small, consistent choices that honor your real life, not an ideal one.


Kerry’s links

🌐 Website: www.kerryrellermd.com

🎧 Podcast: Get Healthy Tampa Bay

📸 Instagram: @clearwaterfamilymedicine

📘 Facebook: Clearwater Family Medicine & Allergy

💡 Fat loss & health coaching

This episode includes a paid partnership with BetterHelp. Click the link, betterhelp.com/drdowney, to get 10% off your first month.

Click below to purchase the 365 day journal I created called Enough As I Grow. I am a proud affiliate partner with Amazon and will receive a commission from purchases at no extra cost to you.

🖋️ Enough as I Grow 365 day Guided Journal on Amazon

Email: drangeladowney@gmail.com
Social Media links: Here
🎵 Music: Upbeat Strings by Evan MacDonald

SPEAKER_01:

Today's conversation is all about realistic health and wellness and the kind that fits into a busy mom's life, not the kind that requires hours at the gym or a fridge full of perfectly prepped meals. We're diving into how small sustainable habits, prevention, and even rethinking what success looks like can help us thrive both at home and in our careers. Hey, hey, I'm Dr. Angela Downey, and this is Paging Dr. Mom, the podcast for women who are juggling careers, kids, chaos, and cold cups of coffee. We're talking about the real life behind the resumes, the messy moments, big feelings, and how to stay human when you're doing all the things. If you've ever felt like the only one trying to keep it together, you're not. We're gonna laugh, cry, vent, and thrive together. So here we go. Hello to all my busy mamas. I'm Dr. Angela Downey, and I'm so glad that you're hanging out with us on Paging Doctor Mom. This podcast is for all of us who are just trying to keep it all together while juggling kids, careers, and whatever else life throws our way. We're gonna be exploring those moments that we definitely wouldn't put on our resumes. I want to introduce you to today's guest. Dr. Carrie Reller is a family physician, allergy and obesity medicine specialist, and owner of Clearwater Family Medicine and Allergy in Florida. With a background in engineering and a passion for problem solving, she blends primary care with lifestyle and preventative medicine to help patients achieve sustainable health. She's especially passionate about prevention, realistic lifestyle habits, and evidence-based use of obesity treatments. Beyond her clinic, she hosts the Get Healthy Tampa Bay podcast, where she shares expert insights on everything from heart health to mental resilience. I'm so excited to have Dr. Breller on the show today because she really gets it, not only as a physician and a practice owner, but also as a mom of three who knows firsthand what it's like to juggle career, family, and health. What I love about her approach is that it's grounded in real life, it's practical, it's compassionate, and refreshingly doable. Hi, Carrie. It's so great to have you on Paging Doctor Mom today. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00:

Great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm glad that we finally get to connect. We tried recording before, um, but uh kept crashing, kept kicking you out. So I really appreciate you having the patience and uh for coming back to meet with us. So maybe we can start by having you introduce yourself and tell us about your journey to becoming a physician and a practice owner and a podcast host.

SPEAKER_00:

So initially I was not always interested in medicine, though I do come from a family medical background. My father is a doctor, and we'll I'll get to that part in a minute. But I actually went to uh undergraduate school for engineering. So I was pursuing engineering, electrical engineering in particular, and I even went to graduate school for it. And I was hoping to work with a like a biomedical component of it. But when I was in all of my learnings in school, I'm like, I'm ready to go and join the real world and get a job. So that's what I did. And during that time, I realized, you know, I didn't necessarily want to be stuck behind the computer screen doing everything. And I was also being exposed a little bit more to different opportunities, like a post-baccalaureate program of how you can get some of those medical credits that we don't always get in electrical engineering. And I um decided to pursue doing a post-baccalaureate studies and eventually jump into medicine and help people directly without hiding behind the screen, even though electronic records make us do that so much anyway. So I did uh go to medical school and eventually found my way into family medicine and I was going to do sports medicine. But at that time I started having a family, and my father, who is an allergist, convinced me to move back to Florida. I was living in Maryland at the time to learn allergy and asthma and everything that he does and kind of start my own family practice in addition to the allergy side. I was convinced to move back, and he did have a private practice and was eventually going to be retiring. So he wanted me to take it over eventually. So that's how I got to where I am today. Of course, I've learned so much along the way. So I'm happy to be here with you today. And podcasting is another thing we've added on since then, too.

SPEAKER_01:

That's amazing. It's always interesting to me these kind of zigzaggy patterns that our lives take. I was an accountant before and I didn't like being stuck in front of a computer screen either. I wanted to be able to like talk to people a little bit more and help people on a different level. So it's it's interesting how you know many of us don't have this like straight shot approach. And we try all sorts of different things. Now you're you're into podcasting. And how how did that come to be?

SPEAKER_00:

So the the podcast came to be because I'm sitting with patients in the, you know, in the office space in the room, and you know, there's not as much I can say that I want to say or help them in like 15 minutes time, right? So one, I want to, you know, help patients learn outside the office setting, but two, also network with network with providers in my area, so and all over really, and teach um patients things that they can learn outside the um office. But in our area, so I try, like I said, I trained in Maryland. I didn't know many people in Florida, even though you know I grew up and know, you know, the physician that works here. I still didn't know other colleagues to refer to or work with or anything like that. So it's helped me kind of focus on our area and get networking as well, but also bring education into the patient. Say, hey, you know, go listen to that episode. We really focused on that, that one, which can be really helpful.

SPEAKER_01:

You're wearing a lot of hats. So you have a history of being an engineer, a physician, a mother, an entrepreneur, podcaster. So, how do you think this like unique journey has shaped the way that you approach health and life balance?

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's a great question because I feel like sometimes I'm all over the place. But I think I try to make things more systematic. Like I think that's the engineer in me, maybe the OCD type A person in me a little bit too. But liking a systems approach, right? So whether it's getting to the root cause of something by, you know, whether it's, you know, a metabolic problem a patient has or something like that. I want to see, you know, what they've done before. Did it work for them? What kind of data do we have on their labs and things like that? And then making recommendations on ways that they can help themselves get better, right? So I think that's more on the clinical setting. I think in the business setting, like this is all, you know, kind of new to me. I didn't learn business in medical school, I didn't learn business in graduate school or undergrad either. So learning how to, you know, work with a team, have team leadership, create systems and processes so that we can keep things consistent.

SPEAKER_01:

So, how do you think it's changed your approach to health and life balance?

SPEAKER_00:

I kind of grew up very active. So my own personal health has been something that I've appreciated over time. And I married a very active person as well. So we've both been wanting to keep our health at the forefront. I've also, you know, been able to learn new things and teach him as I've educated myself on obesity medicine, which is something else that I brought into our practice. And I think the balance of it all has definitely become over the years, right? So I was not, I didn't, I had kids in residency, which you can relate. And it was a challenge, but I had to make sure that we one, you know, we always like to say put your own oxygen mask on first, right? I'm not going to be a successful, health, healthy individual and parent or doctor if I don't take care of myself first. And I I feel like I've been lucky in that respect. I, you know, hear a lot of things about burnout and things like that. And, you know, while I may be stressed, but I feel like it's always something that I've been very good at keeping in the forefront. So I put my own oxygen mask on, and then I'm capable to be helping my family members or patients in that way.

SPEAKER_01:

What does like realistic wellness look like for you on a really busy day?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So I guess this last weekend would be a good example. The laundry piled high, and you know, I don't really have anybody to help with it, though my kids did jump in and help this weekend and my husband too. And meal prepping and planning for the week. I think one of the biggest things that we can do is to plan ahead, right? So whether it's making some meals ahead for the busy week coming or knowing that we're not gonna get the meal that we plan upon, so we can look at a menu somewhere else and plan, hey, is there something that's gonna make me feel good, you know, and be within the goals of the things that I'm trying to eat healthy? Um, I think is, you know, one of the biggest things. And then, you know, working, working it around my schedule to get in that physical activity that makes me, you know, feel very good and ready to start the day. I know for me, if I don't get it done first thing in the morning is not gonna happen, whether whether I have, you know, there's always excuses that I will make. And I've learned that over time. Like I used to be when I was single or whatever, I would go to the gym later in the day, but I could spend as much time as I wanted there. Now that's not gonna happen, right? I have family responsibilities to go to after work. So if I don't exercise, you know, early in the morning, it's probably not gonna get done. So I know those two main things are important. Also, I'm very protective around my sleep. I get migraines if I don't get enough sleep. I even get migraines if I get too much sleep. So if I know I'm not gonna be feeling well from not getting enough sleep, I'm very protective around that. And I know that I have to go to bed earlier, and I will have to say, you know, I think that I can't go to this late night function, or if I need to, then I, you know, will expect to not feel my best, and that's okay, right? So we we make those exceptions if needed. It's just the way life is. Life likes, right?

SPEAKER_01:

So you are very committed to you get up early and go and have your little workout before you start work, but then you also on the flip side, you make sure you're going to bed at a reasonable time so that you're not lacking in energy on the next day.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, absolutely. There's no way I can like go to bed way like after 10 o'clock and still wake up at like 5 15 to do workout. That's just not gonna work for anybody. We know that sleep is very important. I think on our podcast we mentioned it already, but we had a sleep episode today talking about how important it is. So I know from listening to my colleagues and peers that I need it and to be protective around it. It's very important.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I I love sleep. Just crawling into bed just relaxes me and it's such a great feeling. I am very lucky that I've never had a hard time sleeping. So that's that's a gift that's been given to me, which is amazing. So a lot of professional women we struggle with like chronic guilt around self-care. So, how do you reframe self-care so that it feels like something that's essential rather than selfish?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think that that goes with the thing I was saying earlier about putting your oxygen mask on first. It's definitely essential. You cannot be a good person, you can't be, you know, your a good sound mind and having your ability to take care of patients or your family without self-care. It has to be a priority, right? So, and to make it not seem selfish, you know, it just has to be an understanding that there have to be some boundaries set that sometimes you do need to say no to things. You can't absolutely do everything. And it's just you have to accept that, give yourself compassion and grace and the flexibility to realize, you know, you kind of can't do it all, but you have to take care of yourself first in order to function at your highest level and be your best doctor or whatever your profession is and be your best parent as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Time is always it seems to be in short supply for a lot of working moms. So what are two to three small, like really high impact lifestyle changes that you recommend that we can fit in a busy schedule?

SPEAKER_00:

So I think, well, as a family, I think it's very important to try to at least get a couple meals a week sitting down together in a meal without devices and you know, other crazy things to connect, communicate, you know, spend that time actually eating the food and enjoying each other rather than shoveling it down to the next task. Because I definitely find ourselves doing that. During sports season, it's definitely busier, but finding that one day where we can do it is is really nice. Like for instance, last night it was last night we didn't have any sports. We're like, we're sitting down at the table, we're gonna, you know, enjoy our meal together. So a family meal, at least, you know, twice a week, once a week, whatever you're not doing now, up it by one, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. It doesn't take up extra time when you put your phone down, and yet that connection that you get with your family is is just so much more. Even to be honest with you, just having the phone on the table sometimes just tells other people that you're not there for them and that this phone is still a priority. Having no devices at the table is kind of a rule that that we've always had in place, and dinners are are really sacred for us, and we spend our time just talking and getting to know what's going on in other people's lives. And um yeah, I think if we had our phones there, there would be more silence and and it would feel less open to be able to communicate. Do you have any other suggestions of things we can do if we're really busy?

SPEAKER_00:

I think yeah, so I had mentioned planning ahead. I think that's another one, right? Especially with how you could get a workout in. Maybe you didn't get it in in the morning, maybe you need to walk around your daughter's soccer field. I've done that before, right? So you just walk laps while they're pla practicing soccer.

SPEAKER_01:

I've seen another mom the dog with you and and the laps with the dog too, right? Make sure everyone's getting their exercise.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right. I that's what I was gonna say. So this I've seen this other mom do the same thing. She had a couple kids in the stroller and one walking with her, and the other kid was playing the soccer practice. So, I mean, I that's very I was impressed with her. That was really good. So, you know, planning ahead. So if it's exercise, fitting it in in a creative way if you need to, right? Maybe you didn't have the time to do it in the morning, maybe you're not a morning person, not everybody is, but finding creative ways to do it. Maybe it's thinking for walk at lunch, maybe it's you know, doing some squats and push-ups, sit-ups, or something like that at another varying time of day. It doesn't have to be a set like 30-minute thing or an hour thing. It can be little exercise snacks, which we've used to try to fit it in however it works for you, right? So one being creative and how you can get your body to move is another tip. I think the other one is planning ahead with food. So I think that we mentioned a little bit like uh fasting and things like that. I do like having a period of time where my body gets a rest from eating. So we call it like rest and digest, right? So you want to have, I like to recommend a 12-hour interval of that. We weren't meant to be eating all day long. It's very hard when if you have a busy schedule and you're working nights or something like that, but somewhere in there, it's really good to give the body a rest. And I say at least like a 12-hour quote fast if they're if you're there. And then ways to work that in is also, you know, once again, planning ahead with your meals. So maybe, maybe you're maybe you're able to incorporate a dinner earlier in the day instead of later in the evening. There's some studies that show that eating later at night is not as good for your metabolism and your metabolic health. So trying to maybe push that forward. If it takes planning, then that's something that needs to be done. For instance, around sports and things like that, you want to have, you know, the meal prepped and planned and ready for the day if possible, right? Otherwise, planning ahead to say, hey, we're going to a restaurant. What can we eat that, you know, still keeps us making ourselves feel good, fueling ourselves instead of just eating, you know, something that is, I don't know, let's just say McDonald's or something like that, right? So planning.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So you do a lot of obesity and weight management as well. Can you tell me about that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, obviously, you can probably tell from all the things that I've mentioned already. But so I think when I first got into so first of all, I've been, you know, very interested in nutrition and exercise most of my life. My mom was in like a nutritionist, or she'd had some classes in it. I don't know. So we've been pretty blessed with that. But the um obesity medicine component, I didn't even know about it when I was in residency, and then came upon it honestly during COVID time, where I was probably just looking for more education and research because all of my patients were, you know, do hemoglobin A1Cs, so a diabetes screen on them. And no matter what their weight levels were, it was coming back at a high level with pre-diabetes. And I was like, what is going on? So I really wanted to figure out how to help patients in you know, any capacity to improve their metabolic health and weight obviously is a more physical thing that people struggle with than you know, the hidden metabolic part behind it. So looking into, I ended up getting obesity medicine certified and bringing that into the practice. And we call it like a weight management membership, but because it takes more time and effort to really get those lifestyle habits and changes into place. And it's been very helpful for patients and myself too. It keeps you accountable, right? I gotta be practicing what I preach in some extent. And um I think that it's helped better early diagnose patients with metabolic issues so that they can one, never progress to prediabetes or diabetes, and really pay attention now because we're just not finding these things soon enough. And I think that is I've been a big proponent of helping, I guess, diagnose earlier and getting really picky about their lab numbers and things like that.

SPEAKER_01:

There's a lot of stigma when it comes to obesity and weight management, especially for women. What myths do you wish that people understood about obesity medicine?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah. There's definitely lots of myths around obesity medicine. I think the the biggest one is that it's not, you know, it's not about willpower, right? There's a there's biologic, hormonal, chemical changes in the body that drive hunger and um reduce satiety or fullness that make people want to eat more. And sometimes there's things where there's like food addiction or binge eating disorder or other things that have to be addressed and ruled out. And it's really just amazing that people still, you know, think it's all, oh, well, why didn't you just eat that? It's just not, they don't quite understand, I think. So I think the biggest myth is the willpower. The other one is, you know, calories in, calories out. Um, I mean, I still think calories are very important. You do have to be in a calorie deficit to have weight reduction in most cases, but you know, that's when I bring in the metabolic health of things because you can be eating less calories but eating not great food. So those are the two biggest myths. And then I would say the next one would be more pertinent to the um, I guess the news, social media of everything of all the medications that are being available now. And I think they some people think still think it is about cheating if you're using one. And honestly, it's just a tool that we use, including working on sleep and stress and and nutrition and exercise. It's just another tool that we use to help mitigate what happens when you know your body is craving certain foods, when your body is overly hungry, and they are life-changing, the new ones and the GLP1 medications are very life-changing. I would say if they if you want to say it's like willpower in a bottle, sometimes it it can be, you know, some people have classified as that, but but I don't think it I don't think that's a good description because of the willpower thing. But I think that they are not cheating and they are really life-changing for some people, and it they are quite quite amazing tools and only more to come, which is nice. But I think those are the three biggest myths of obesity medicine for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

And just by taking the medication, it doesn't mean that you're gonna lose weight. Weight gain and obesity, it's so multifactorial, and there are so many things that play into it that you know, not one change is really gonna make a huge like a difference. You still need to be changing other things in your environment. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, I have seen people gain weight on these medications. You're you're completely right. And honestly, one of my I don't want to say favorite things, but frustrating and favorite things is that, you know, finding out why someone isn't responding to it or what is going on that why they aren't having any success, I guess. And you know, really diving deep into hormones is what we've been doing. Obviously, you know, checking their thyroid or something like that, right? Also, recently we've been doing a lot of cortisol testing using dexamethasone suppression tests to make sure they're not having elevated cortisol levels leaking from the brain or from the adrenal glands, and diving into other ways that there can be what we call weight loss resistance. So, like really the root cause, right, of what's going on, I think is um something that I've been really diving into recently, this whole journey. But yeah, that's what I feel like I go to the next level, which is why it's nice doing it in a medical setting rather than you know, a med spa or something might just be giving you a medicine and see you later kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Is strength training really important?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So strength training, especially for our patients who are on these medications, but just in general, women overall and men, of course, but we lose, we start losing muscle mass like in our 30s, and menopause is not helping, right? The reduction in estrogen we know causes not just difficulty with maintaining muscle mass, but also creates more of the visceral dangerous fat. But weight training and resistance training has been shown to improve all of these things. And what I focus on most is like not really what's going on right now. Sure, it can change your body composition, it can help you have less, you know, lean mass loss if you're on these medications and losing weight, but really longevity, right? I want to be able to get off the toilet, right? I want my patients to be able to get off the toilet and get off the floor and have a better quality of life. And we know there's so many studies that go back to, you know, having the ability to do that by weight training and resistance training. Can you can you keep this overall health and independence, which I think is way better to have a good quality of life than you know the length or quality quantity of life?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. When you're not strong enough or when you're carrying extra weight, when you're not taking care of yourself, you're not eating well, it's really gonna impact how you function in your career. And as as a mom, not being able to keep up with your kids and being there for your patients and being healthy enough to go to work on a daily basis and being able to get up from your chair and go to the next room without having your knee really, you know, bothering you, things like that. Super important for your long-term health.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, I have my kids like climbing on me still, and the youngest is six, and he is heavy, right? I wanna he's like you know, carry me up the stairs. I'm like, well, you know, this is where I live weights, so I can do these things a little bit longer, right? Like it's it's part of it.

SPEAKER_01:

No, you just uh they they keep getting bigger and bigger, and eventually it's yeah, it was it's tough because you're no longer gonna be their jungle gym. It was interesting because my daughter, who's now 22, she was in an acting class, and she was just saying they had to pick her up and twirl her around, and she was like, No one's picked me up since I was like nine years old. It was really weird for her, and I was like, Wow, yeah, I did kind of stop picking you up at some point. It just kind of it seems like it happens, but the kids they they get heavier and then you just can't do it anymore.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but at least like if you are doing resistance training, you can get on the floor with them when they have grandkids, or you know, you can pick yourself up off the ground and you know, or lift your own luggage to go visit your kid. Like it's it's a lot of things that we don't think about, but you really wanna it's about function in life, right? To be able to um do these things continually.

SPEAKER_01:

So if you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, just starting out as a mom in medicine, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00:

One piece.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, you can give three pieces if you No, one's good.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh you don't, it's just you can't do everything. And you gotta set boundaries and sometimes say no. So I think that's the one piece. But you can't do it all, you know. I think asking for help is very important, whether it be to family members, you know, community friends, or you know, even hired help if you need it, right? Not everybody is uh lucky to have family nearby, so they may need to ask for help, but it's really a challenge to, you know, balance it all. And it's just something that you need to ask, be able to be okay asking for help. Give yourself grace, give yourself the ability to say no if you you can't do it, you know, fit something in, and it's okay.

SPEAKER_01:

What's uh one health or wellness habit practice that you have at home with your own family that we could try this week?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I did like my family dinners, but yeah, let's say you aren't a family that does sports all the time, right? I think walking together after dinner, maybe before, if you had to, you know, would be a great activity. It isn't exactly something we do in our family because we're busy with sports, at least right this moment that we're you're catching me on. But if you're if you're not eating as a family, maybe you can go for a walk as a family at some point, like a after the family dinner or something like that. I think that would be a it's a good one.

SPEAKER_01:

You've mentioned meal prep a couple of times. What does that look like for your family?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, let's see. This weekend, sometimes my kids do help. And my daughter has helped me put together something in the crock pot that we use for healthy lunches for them. This year, actually, I got those um thermos things. So they I don't always I'm like they don't like sandwiches that much. I hate sandwiches. So now I have this option of being able to give them hot food, which I never even thought of. So thank you to one of my friends for that. You always learn something, right? So she helped me make like a white chicken chili. So she, you know, we put in the chicken and it's really not that hard. There's like canned northern beans. We just use a good salsa and then a couple extra spices and let it sit in the um crock pot like throughout the day or whatever you're doing. And then, you know, pull the chicken, and then it made like a white chicken chili. It's so easy, right? And then um, I also, you know, did a lot of chopping and we made some we did the chicken apple sausage with sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts. And the kids don't like sweet potatoes that much, so I made an entire other version with carrots. So we had two things. And I will admit on uh sale at one of the stores, they had one of those giant sheet pans, and that I think has up-leveled my game. Now I can, you know, have multiple sheet pans because my kids are getting bigger and eating more, and I'm like, what am I gonna do? Right. So I was able to put like 12 thin-cut pork chops on there, lean pork chops, and put like salt and pepper on some of them and an olive tapanade on some other ones, which is just like shh olive oil and calamata olives and a not the blender, whatever it's called, the food processor. And I put that on there. So, because of this new sheep hand, which I'm very excited about, I can do multiple meals at once, right? So I knew this week was gonna be very busy, and luckily I did have time on you know my weekend to do it. Whereas the weekend before we were traveling, and guess what? We ate out a lot, right? I had tons of laundry to do the rest of the week from that. And when we ate out, I would, you know, make sure to look the menu. We kind of know the places that we would pick our healthier things from. I don't, you know, we're not going to McDonald's again all the time, right? We're picking healthier things. So we had a backup plan, if you will, right? That's what I like to call it. Have your backup plan if your meal doesn't work out or my entire week didn't work out that week, right? And, you know, slowly catching up on the laundry was, you know, something I had to do when we were out of town all week. But I like routine and that hopeful luckily doesn't happen that often. So that is part of our meal plan, meal prep. That's what I came up with that week. But there, you know, you can use Chat GPT to make stuff up. Actually, one of the recipes I got was from Chat GPT. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So um I tell Chat GPT will make like an entire week's menu for you and then tell you how much of each ingredient that you need to buy to make it through the whole week, which is just incredible that we don't need to think about that. So I have Like a menu, or I used to have a menu that I would cook week one, week two, week three, week four, and it would just end then repeat. And um that just made it a lot easier. My kids learned to cook some of the meals, so they were able to do that. Whatever you can do to make your life easier is super important. So for someone who's listening who's like burnt out and stuck in just surviving day to day, what's one mindset shift or practical step that they can take to start moving forward and living healthier?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think I think one of the biggest things is getting out of like the all or nothing mindset, you know, and realize that you can switch it, right? So it's not, oh man, I couldn't do laundry this week, I couldn't eat healthy this week. It's you know, what one meal can I make better, right? Or um it's just always something rather than all or nothing, right? Is it just drinking water? Because some people just we just don't drink enough water, right? So it might be something simple like that. It might be making your you know breakfast more better, make it have more protein, like start your day with protein can be very healthy as well. So if it it's really just one one new habit to fix, if you will, at a time, because it's not all or nothing, it's always something.

SPEAKER_01:

You don't have to do everything in one day. And just because you did just because you went to McDonald's one day doesn't mean you have to wait until next week to start eating healthy again. You can start eating healthy again at the next meal and not just beat yourself up for the rest of the week and that you stopped off at the McDonald's just that one time. I always say doing it better 80% of the time it is kind of my goal.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm so glad you said the next meal and not the next day, because it's so true. The next day you can, you know, fix it. You don't wait. That's one of my big pet peeves, is like, oh, I'll just wait till Monday, you know. No, you can start right now. You don't have to, you know, eat bad on a Thursday and then wait until the next Monday to, you know, start eating healthy, really. So I I I love that that you said um the next meal, because I think that's excellent advice.

SPEAKER_01:

Because I know when I if I eat bad on Thursday and I'm like, I'm gonna wait until Monday to start again, then I use Thursday to Sunday to eat like the worst I ever have before and get it all in in those four days, and then on Monday, you know, feel like I'm punishing myself by eating better again. Um, so it is you know what you have you have one, you fall back, you you go to the McDonald's at one time. Nothing says that you can't just kind of keep living better 80% of the time. Carrie, how can listeners find you?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so I um I live in Clearwater, Florida, and that is where my practice is. I have a podcast called the Get Healthy Tampa Bay Podcast, so they can listen there. We're on Instagram at Clearwater Family Medicine, Facebook at Clearwater Family Medicine and Allergy, or you can, you know, follow my name on all of those things as well, Carrie RellerMD. And I have I also coach for the faster weight of fat loss. And that is, I think, Carrie Reller MD Health Coaching on Facebook. And that is, you know, a company that is very fitness-based and whole food nutrition forward, and they do believe in fasting protocol. But like I mentioned earlier, I think everybody should have at least a 12-hour fast, which I think is very reasonable, though they may some people like to do more. So I think it's a very excellent program that encompasses a lot of different types of training, like HIT and resistance training, and just you know, making sure you get your steps in walking, you know, very hydration forward and whole food forward, which is why I partnered with them because I I believe and they have a really good product plan. I don't know, lifestyle is what the real word is, lifestyle. So um, you can find me uh there as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Amazing. I want to make sure that all those links are in the show notes so that anybody can uh reach out to you if they need to. But Carrie, thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing your wisdom. I know that a lot of my listeners are gonna walk away with a new perspective and some simple tools that they can actually put into practice. So it's been a real joy having you on the show. And thanks to all of you who are hanging out with us on Paging Doctor Mom. If you enjoyed today's episode, then go ahead and hit follow or subscribe so you don't miss what's coming up next. And if you want to keep the conversation going, you can find me over on Instagram at dr Angela Downey. I would love to hear from you. So take care for now, you're doing better than you think. That is it for today's episode of Paging Dr. Mom. If it made you smile, nod along, or feel just a little more seen, then go ahead and hit that follow button and share it with a friend who needs to hear it. Take care for now, you're doing better than you think.