Why Your Weight Loss Is Stuck: Biofeedback, Food Quality, Labs, and Real Coaching with Kim Pelicano

What should you do when you feel like you’re doing everything right, but your progress has completely stalled?

In this episode of The Rooted Method, Kaycee Hines sits down with Kim Pelicano, Rooted Coach and Director of Education & Nutrition at Rooted Coaching, to talk about what actually happens when clients get stuck in their health or weight loss journey.

Kim shares her path from nutrition, to nursing, to functional health, and how her own experience with night shift, burnout, and adrenal fatigue shaped the way she coaches today. From there, she and Kaycee walk through the way Rooted approaches plateaus, looking far beyond the scale to understand what may be holding someone back.

They discuss why biofeedback matters, how sleep, digestion, energy, stress, menstrual cycles, movement, food quality, and tracking accuracy can all influence progress, and when it may be time to take a deeper look through lab work. They also unpack common patterns like under-eating, over-exercising, insulin resistance, and relying too heavily on quick fixes instead of addressing the foundations.

In this episode, they discuss:

- Kim’s path from nutrition to nursing to Rooted Coaching
- Why so many people get stuck in their fat loss journey
- What biofeedback can tell us beyond the number on the scale
- How food quality, tracking accuracy, and movement impact progress
- Why eating too little and training too hard can backfire
- When lab work may help uncover deeper issues
- Insulin resistance, blood sugar, stress, and foundational health habits
- Why coaching can help you troubleshoot what you may not see on your own

If you’ve been dieting for months, doing “all the right things,” and still feeling stuck, this conversation is a helpful place to start.

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The Rooted Method is produced by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:15

Welcome back to the rooted method. I'm Casey Hines, CEO and founder of Rooted Coaching, and today I have our Director of Education and Functional Nutrition, Kim Pellicano. Hey girl. Hey girl. So today we're gonna talk a lot about uh when clients get stuck and when you get stuck in your health journey or your weight loss journey. Uh, but first I want to tell people a little bit more about you so and hear more about that. So tell us a little about how you got into coaching in the first place and how you got here, where we are.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Well, you are a big part of that. So um I I would say my love for nutrition started uh like when I went to college. Yeah. I actually went to school thinking I was gonna do nursing right away, and everyone scared the living bejebis out of me about how hard censor. Thank you. Did you like that? We have kids. Do you like that catch? Yeah. Can you tell? Um so it everyone scared me and were like, no, nursing school is the hardest thing you'll ever do. Like, you can't do it. I'm I don't know if you ever got told that, but yes. So I was like, well, shit. I was like, I'm out of here. So I actually switched to nutrition because it was something that interested me. So um I went to Georgia, got my uh nutrition degree, and then did nothing with it.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Do do just like my business degree.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

I use now, but you love it for me. Um I did do personal training for a little while, but I was so all over the place I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I ended up moving to Charleston and was like, I still want to be a nurse. I'm like 24 years old, and I'm like, I still want to be a nurse. So I started applying um and working in the hospital and got into Clemson's second degree program here in Greenville. Um, and that's where we met.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Yeah, the best.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

So I was like, you know what? I don't care what anybody says, I'm doing it. And it really wasn't as bad as I anticipated, and met some amazing people, including my best friend Casey.

unknown 2:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

Um because I told you in the random hallway that your butt looked good.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Honestly, first day, orientation. And I was like, this is my best friend.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

And since then, but here's the rule, and I know you live by this now is like if somebody like works hard on something and somebody looks great, like you always compliment them. Or if you have good energy, I'm gonna tell you have good energy. So I was walking behind Kim and I was like, You hey girl, you have a great butt. And then you were like, What? I was like, Can we hang out? And here we are, 10 years later.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

She's like, Do you want to come to CrossFit? I was like, for sure. So anyway, that's how I got like into the nursing side and just like the overall health side.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

But all along all of this, you were still coaching people too. Like you were already coaching one-on-one nutrition people even before nursing school. Totally. And like held some clients through school, trained people, which is great because you had like both of those worlds kind of going at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

For sure. And then I realized how intertwined they were. And I was like, oh my gosh, because I mean, I think you remember this too. Us being in clinicals, I would see so so many sick people, obviously, were in the hospital setting, but preventable. Yeah, you know, and like that's what killed me is I was like, this is absolutely preventable. And that's kind of where we came in. And so I think we both decided, okay, these things go together. Yeah. And we can do this and help people and and help them have live a longer life, a healthier life, and a better life. So I feel like that was such an easy transition into this side of things. Totally. But let's be real, the hospital setting is not for us.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

The 12, 13 hour shifts, the night shift, not for me.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

So that was how I fully went nutrition side, um, but pulled over a lot of those nursing skills, which has been so awesome.

SPEAKER_03 3:50

And you still use so many skills because you were night shift for a lot longer than I was, that you can use with your shift workers because we coach a lot of people that work in healthcare.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Totally.

SPEAKER_03 3:58

Uh, I remember your first Instagram handle, Night Shift Nutritionist. That's it, baby. That's it. That's but like, you know, that you were able to and still use that because we lived that experience also. Because we coach a lot of doctors, nurses, PAs, where like, hey, not only do I know the science behind like why we need to shift some of these things for your circadian rhythm, but also I've lived it. And that's I think a huge experience factor that not everyone has.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

100%. Which kind of goes hand in hand with like the mom stuff too. You know, I didn't realize how much I didn't know about being a mom until I became a mom. And then I was like, oh, I can relate. I can relate to you not having time to do this, or how do we make it more feasible? Which I think you can also relate. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so that makes total sense.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Yeah, sorry, I interrupted you, but carry on.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

No.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Nursing.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

That's it. Okay. I mean, yeah, just transition uh into actually night shift, surprise, surprise, gave me adrenal fatigue. And I had to find somebody to help me work through that and get me through that so that I could function because I was spread too thin. And so boundaries. I started learning boundaries with work, with I mean, and there's things you can't quit your job, right? Like I'd never tell my clients, well, if you can't get off night shift, you gotta quit your job.

SPEAKER_03 5:10

But it wouldn't be nice if it was that easy.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

I wish. But you know, we've learned coping skills and um how to best set yourself up for success, even with working night shift and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

So totally. So you became a nurse, then on alongside of that, because we have been crazy, and you and I have both worked three and four jobs at certain times. So we're it's always funny when people are like, How do you do this full time now? And I'm like, because you didn't see us when we were working four jobs at one time. Crazy. But you were nursing in the hospital and you were also working as a functional nutritionist for another company, yes, right? So tell me a little bit about that, and then coming down to Greenville, what you did here. I mean, it's just kind of crazy. You've done a lot.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

I yeah. You've done a lot. I flew by the seat of my pants and held on real tight and prayed. And it's working out. It worked out, it worked out great. So, again, you have been such a huge role. I'm gonna cry, but you've been don't do it. You have been such an adamant part of my life because you've been through so many of the ups and downs with me and helped me make decisions that got me here. And this is ultimately where I wanted to be, but I didn't know how to get here. Yeah. I was too scared to bet on myself. I was too scared to do those things. And so um, I was working night shift in the NICU up in Ohio, and um, I was married at the time, and my spouse was deployed, and it was just a really rough period for me. Um, you and I were both so busy, we hadn't talked for quite quite some time. Six months. Like six months, which is crazy to me. I mean, like, you know, the typical like text and like flowers on each other's anniversaries, like little things like that. But it was so hard to just keep our day-to-day like how we normally were.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Um, and at one point, I think you texted me and you're like, hey, like if you're free, like let's hop on a phone call and let's just catch up. It's been so long. So I'll never forget. I walked out of my apartment in Ohio and just started walking and we were talking, and you had just started working for a functional practitioner here as her nurse. And I was like, no freaking way. Like, I just started working for this company as a functional nutritionist. Like, this is so crazy. We were basically doing the same thing. Yeah. Um, which was so cool.

SPEAKER_03 7:19

So wild without even talking about it ever.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

That was weird. And then I was like, all right, something's something shifted here. Like, I gotta, I gotta get out of here, you know. Um, and you were like, hey, it's our friend's birthday this weekend, you haven't seen everybody, like, you just need to get out. Come hang out with us for the weekend. And this was Monday, and so uh, I think the party started Friday, and I was like, you know what? I'm not working this weekend. You know, I was like, sure, I'll do it. So I drove six and a half hours and um came to hang out with all my old friends that I hadn't seen in gosh, almost two years at that point. Yeah, which was crazy. And I think all of that just kind of came flooding back, and I was like, this is home. Like it just felt good. And I was like, I miss talking to my best friend every day. I miss being able to do CrossFit together and like just the things we enjoyed.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Um, and you were like, hey, how about you move? And I was like, All right.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

You want to make a huge life decision in a split second with me on the phone right now? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Sure. Um, all that to say, like, you know, I was I knew I needed to get out of the night shift life, and that was prime COVID. That was right when COVID hit. And so I was like, if anything, I can travel nurse and do something. You know, like I just gotta get out of here. Um, and so that was kind of my original plan. But I also met my I I say met my then husband. I knew him previously, but we rekindled and he was a cop and we were both on nights, so we were just up all night talking in Asheville, and then I did not move here for him. Love you, honey, but I did not move here for you. Needs to be said. But obviously, that was a big piece of all this too. So yeah, it was uh a little crazy, but it was the best decision I've ever made.

SPEAKER_03 9:08

And so you moved down here, you started working for the same doctor that I worked for, which was great.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

And now you were like, here, here's my job. I was like, what? And you're like, you're like, yeah, it's fine. Here's my job. I was like, uh oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

Well, in the moment, I was like, you'll be great at this. I can do something else. This will get you to Greenville, and that's all I wanted ultimately. So here's the job. Which was great, though, because then we got the same learning experience from a phenomenal practitioner who is one of the first people in Greenville to be doing all of the things. I mean, we were learning about peptides in 2018. Literally. And now everyone's like peptides. I'm like, oh my gosh, wow. Here we are, full eight years later. So, you know, it was like I think necessary for us. And, you know, from there, then just started coaching together again. Which and it's been awesome.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Also crazy. Yeah. So like it it was just every stepping stone, if it happened any other way, it wouldn't, we wouldn't be here, you know.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Yeah, like it worked out for the best.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

I think it's just so crazy. And the having that knowledge background.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Totally. And now here we are working together, which is so fun. We have babies, you know. I have two. Kim's pregnant with our third, like wild. So crazy. So now talking about work, because which is so fun being best friends and working together, because every day that we're we talk on the phone every single day, and it's like, let's talk about work, let's talk about personal, let's talk about, you know, it's all mixed all together for us, but we have a blast with it. So when it comes to work, we're gonna talk about a lot today about just like when clients get stuck. And it's happened to me, it's happened to you, it happens to almost every client that I work with. You're going to have a point where you're stuck. And I want to know from you from a coaching perspective, like what are the first things that you're gonna dive into when your client, let's say that you know, there's all sorts of goals, health-related, weight loss related, but let's go with weight loss as our as our example for today. So if somebody has a weight loss goal and they are totally stuck, what are the first things that you're auditing and doing to see, okay, how do we get things moving along again?

SPEAKER_00 11:07

I love this question. I also think a big piece of this comes from the fact that we work with people for a really long time. So, like you said, it is bound to happen.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Because the people that come in, we don't do a quick three-month diet in and out and then send them on their way because then we wouldn't know. They probably do plateau, but we wouldn't know because they're not with us anymore.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

So I think it's so important for people to work with somebody who knows you and learn learns you because what works for Karen is not gonna work for Susie's not, you know, right. That's always how it goes. And that's I what I think we've learned with having retentive clients that stay with us for the long haul. But uh to to that point, to answer your question, every single week we ask on our check-in form about biofeedback. And when I say biofeedback, I mean other things besides what is the scale say.

unknown 12:00

Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:00

Which most people are honed in on. It's this one little thing. And it's like, wow, that's actually the least important.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

But exactly. So we look at energy, we look at digestion, sleep. Um, honestly, women's cycles. Yeah, that's a big one. A lot of people don't know that, like not having a normal, like that's your another vital sign. If you are not having a regular cycle, that's another vital sign. And so these are red flags that we look at. Now, if the everything looks great, awesome. Like that's first and foremost what we're gonna look at.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

Stress management, digestion. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Yeah, um, and I think like uh we have learned over the years that peep what people think is normal isn't necessarily normal. So when we ask about digestion, I put on there there is no such thing as TMI. Right. Like, don't tell me good because or normal for me, that's my favorite answer. Yeah. I'm like, I don't want to know what that means.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

But I do. But tell me everything.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah, yeah. So how frequent is it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Um, and I think it's it's hard because people just think that they're coming in for the nutrition piece, and it's so much more than that that we look at that determines your success in a nutrition coaching.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

Totally. So, first thing that we're gonna do is look be looking at their biofeedback. So then beyond that, so we we go past biofeedback and everything's great. Everything's in a great spot, right? We didn't need to fix anything, but the scale still isn't moving. So now what are we doing? Are we looking at their you know, nutrition or their movement? Like, what other things are we now auditing next if biofeedback's fine?

SPEAKER_00 13:34

So biofeedback's good. I do a really heavy audit on people's food diaries. I am that girl. And I feel like we gotta be that girl. That's our job. I will call you out because that is where I find a lot of the problem.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Sometimes I'll even ask them like, hey, did you cook this in something? Because a lot of people don't even track their olive oil or something if they're cooking in it. And if we're in a deficit, that can throw you out of a deficit.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Easy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

You know? Um, and same thing with I've seen people do cooked versus not cooked or a random entry, which yes, that is better than nothing, absolutely. But if you're telling me you're hitting six out of seven on your adherence, but you're not necessarily hitting your macros within that five to ten grams that I look for on maybe you only did it two of the days. I'm gonna tell you and help coach you and teach you how to hit it a little closer. Yep. And let's see if we can get the skill to move. Um, I think that's the biggest because you know we always say this to nutrition is 80% of it. You can out train a bad diet, you can't not, I hate to say not track. I mean, yes, there's other things that we can do.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

But if you're in a deficit and you need to be really tight and right, like tracking is gonna be your best friend.

SPEAKER_03 14:46

So fastest distance from A to B. Always say it.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Exactly. So I would say that. And then I always look at movement. So movement's a little different too for everybody. Yeah. If somebody comes to me walking 2,000 steps, I'm not gonna push them and be like, all right, go get 12,000. They're gonna be like, you're insane. And also, yeah, um, we slowly bump them up, but there are some people who just respond better to other styles of output and training. So troubleshooting that sometimes and doing steady state cardio versus steps, right? You know, and we also have to shift on time, what people have time for. But um, you know, trying new things with movement and output um is a big one.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

Yeah. And you talked about like looking at food logs, we're always looking for tracking accuracy. That's a big part of it. But then we're also looking at quality of food because 100% people don't realize, and I think that, you know, back in, I can't even remember when this even started, but the whole if it fits in your macros, then it goes, diet, and it does, it did work for a lot of people body composition wise. And then people's guts were wrecked and they felt like trash. It's me, been there, got abs, and then uh felt awful for a year afterward. Totally. So we're going in and we're looking and assessing like, are what does your micronutrient status look like? Is your body even able to lose body fat? Because are you getting what your body needs to literally to function?

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Totally.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

So tell me, I mean, like you're going in and you're looking at what, like for each meal and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

So that's a great, that's a huge point. I mean, huge point. I am I'm an 80-20 girly for the most part. So I'm like, hey, look, we're moms, we're busy. Sometimes you're busy for work and stuff. You have to have grab and go options. That that's not a problem. Hey, my kids' goldfish yesterday. Literally. Yeah, it's a good thing. I logged it. It's in there. Check it. I even weighed it. No, 10 fish. It's my favorite. Ten fish. Portion control. Um, but you know, like, yes, there's gonna be some processed stuff in there, and that's not to say like you're shame, shame, shame by any means. Um, same thing with like protein. My protein's really high. So there, I I do allow myself to have supplemental protein. Sure. But if I open up someone's food diary and they're having two protein drinks and a protein bar, and then I mean, everything's got protein. That's this is a different podcast. We're gonna do that. Protein cereal, protein, you know, what pop protein pop tarts. I'm like, oh my gosh. So that's where I really say, hey, like let's try to flip-flop, you know, uh more whole foods for breakfast. And then you can save that protein shake for convenience for a snack in the middle of the day in between meetings. Right. You know? Um, so I really for 80-20. I do push a little closer to 9010 during fat loss, just because, again, food quality is so important. We need to make sure you're getting the micronutrients that your body needs to function properly, B vitamins, you know, all of that fiber. Oh my gosh. Totally. And real fiber, not like fiber one cereal.

SPEAKER_03 17:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

No, no hate on fiber one cereal, but you know.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Yeah, that's not the only source that we can get. Totally. So, and that's a great point, too, to bring up that like when we go into a deficit, the reason that that shifts more to that 90-10 is because you have less food moving through the system. Totally. So we have less of an opportunity to get your body all of those micronutrients and to absorb all of those micronutrients. And so, really helping people understand why that shift happens when you're in a deficit. And so that's why it breaks my heart when I talk to people on a discovery call that are eating 1200 calories, and majority of that food is not coming from whole food sources because you know they're not really getting what they need. And there's no wonder that you feel like trash and you the scale won't move. Absolutely. Like, not only are you metabolically downregulated, but inflamed and the whole shit. Yeah, you're not getting everything that you need to for your brain to fire on all cylinders, for your digestion to function. I mean, everything. So I love being able to go in and do those audits. Um, on that, on a similar note, calories in versus out, right? Everyone, this is a fun topic. And this is we'll we'll do a whole podcast on this at some point too. But we can dive into it a little bit because, like, at the end of the day, science is science, thermo thermogenic. I mean, it all matters, right? So calories in versus out, yes, like a hundred percent. That part has to be a factor, but then there's other things that influence it, right? There's other things that are gonna infl influence how your body burns or or doesn't. So tell me a little bit then about we've got this client then that we've done the biofeedback audit, everything's pretty much fine. We've got um, you know, done their food audit, everything's pretty much fine, and they're still not losing weight. Like, then what are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Frustrating.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Frustrating. Because then we gotta whip out the big guns a lot of the time. Yeah. Um, this is where we have to do this is where we dive a little deeper, um, which is my favorite.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

What you mentor other coaches on how to do it.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Yes, I do love it because it tells us so much about your body specifically.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

So I am a lab girly. I do like to get baseline labs on my clients just to see where they're starting. Yeah. And then that way, if we do hit a roadblock, roadblock, roadblock. Got you. Nailed it. Um, or like a plateau or anything like that. We have something to compare it to and be like, okay, so what happened? Or where are we missing the mark? Um, and we can dive deeper into so many different areas, but I usually just start with a basic lab panel that's gonna cover um blood sugar management, thyroid function, um, hormones. And that way we can just kind of see what does it look like underneath the hood? And is there something that is holding us back?

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Totally. And there's oftentimes something that we will find that we might need to go in and fix from a nutrition and supplement perspective, work with their doctor or the doctor that we just brought on staff with rooted. Whoop whoop. Um, but so we can take those deeper dives. So I would love an example just because you know, not everyone listening is gonna even know what we're talking about when we're talking about like blood work and things like that, which is fine. We don't we don't expect them to or need them to, but let's talk about a couple of client examples then of like when someone was stuck, when we got lab work and what we saw, and not necessarily all the hows on how we implemented it, because again, I don't want people to take these strategies and use them for themselves because it's also individual, but I want people to know like how do we approach that? So if you have anyone in mind, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

So I feel like I see this one a lot. Um, talking about somebody coming in, you know, eating 1200 calories or doing a call with somebody and you're like, oh, you're eating 1200 calories, it and they've been doing it for three years. Um and the scale hasn't moved in three years, yes, and they're frustrated and they're like, I can't eat any less. Yep. Um, a lot of times, you know, we do all of our troubleshooting where we do try to reset them metabolically and get their food intake up because they're eating what my toddler needs to be eating. Um, and that's usually where we start. But I have a lot of clients who also got into the hit era, which guilty. You love hit. I love hit. I love it. Like it's my favorite, and it's the the endorphin rush, the whole everything. About it. I'm obsessed. And even knowing what I know now and knowing my hormones and all of that too, I knew it wasn't conducive for me. Sure. But I would, I still wanted to do it. So, you know, you find that give and take and that balance. And so you have that conversation. But I will say I have had a lot of people who were doing lots of HIT exercise for an extended period of time while eating 1200 calories. Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

So we're talking, and you know, there's a lot of women that it's that are in this boat, men too, that are doing very high intensity, and I won't name specific types of workouts or gyms or anything like that, but very, very high intensity six days a week. Yes. And that calorie deficit. So we're putting that physical stressor and the stressor of not eating enough, and then the stress of normal daily life. And I think that's what people don't always realize is they always just think like, okay, if I just eat less and I move more, it's gonna happen for me. For sure. When realistically, like you're just putting yourself in a in a hole there. And I don't want to hate on HIT because HIT's phenomenal. It can have a it can be great in someone's workout routine, but it might mean that that woman who's working out six days a week could do it twice a week and strength train three days a week. And see phenomenal. See two have two rest days, or even have three rest days. Feel good. Guilty. Yeah. So, like, you know, giving people permission that, like, hey, you don't have to kill yourself every single day is like, I mean, it's mind-blowing for some people.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Totally. And they also, I'm sure you can relate to this too, early morning workouts when you're busy or you have you have a full-time job or you're a mom and you have to get it in at 5 a.m., we're going in fasted. So now we're doing HIT, which burns straight sugar on an empty stomach. Yeah. And there's nothing for them to burn but muscle. So now they're like, why am I not putting on muscle? I'm working out so hard.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

So there's so many factors. So I will say I've seen a lot of that. And when I do pull labs or see biofeedback, a lot of times it points in the direction of adrenal fatigue issues.

SPEAKER_04 23:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

And your adrenals are what help function your metabolism and your energy and your sleep. So people that are waking up at 2 a.m. wide awake, rare in a go, they're having a lot of cortisol dysregulation. And cortisol is such a buzzword in the space. And unfortunately, it's true. It's not all true. Well, yeah, not all of it, but that it is, it can be a problem for a lot of people. And so I did have, um, I'm thinking of one specific client who I love. And we actually used to work out together doing it. We loved it. Um, we would feed off each other's energy like crazy, but she was so depleted. Like she was like, I'm tired, I'm, you know, 40 pounds overweight, and I'm working my butt off and I'm not getting anywhere. And she's a mom of five. Homeschools, like, I mean, the whole shebang. And she's a superhero. Yeah, I've literally, I'm like, I don't know how you're functioning. And she's so positive and happy all the time. Anyway, but so I was like, let's just take a deeper dive. And when we got those labs, we saw that her cortisol was totally bottomed out, like gone. And so I was like, okay, I love you, and you know I love hit, but we're gonna stop for a little bit. And she's like, I'll do whatever you say. I don't feel good. Yeah. Um, so you know, we we switched up her training, we focused a lot more on strength training just because that's what her body needed right now. We gave her more food, literally more food. And then we supported with some good supplements and nutrition-wise, things that have are like rich in B vitamins and vitamin C. Vitamin C is amazing for adrenal health. So lots of vitamin C rich foods and um took six months off of it. And I told her after a three months, I was like, if you want to go back two days, you know, it's like, let's do it, let's try it. Because she was feeling so much better. She had dropped almost 20 pounds. Like, it was amazing. And so she was like, honestly, like, I don't want to mess this up. Like, I feel really good. So when we rechecked her labs, her her adrenals were back in working order and everything was looking really good. So it was nice to see that. And she's sleeping better, her cycles regulated. I mean, it was just it was a win-win-win. We love to see it.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Love to see it. Yeah, and it's so frustrating for women who are eating that amount and working out that much and not seeing loss. And then I've got men who I've worked with who are eating 1700 calories and are doing a certain HIT class six times per week. And same actually, a more recent guy was seven days a week. And this was this one was really fun. Uh, I talk about him relatively often on my stories, but um, working out six, seven days a week felt guilty if he didn't. So if I don't run or if I don't do high intensity, if I don't do something, then he felt guilty. So overworking out, absolutely undereating, because he wanted to be leaner. He, you know, growing up was always felt like he was the chubbier one in in his family or, you know, was teased or whatever. And so those two things just like bred him to want to, okay, I'm gonna under-eat and I'm gonna over-exercise and I'm gonna see what happens. And one of the first things that we did, and I didn't even pull blood work with him. I just knew I'm like, we I already know what we gotta do here. We don't we don't even need to see the blood work and pulled him away from doing it didn't take him away from my intensity, I just brought him down to four or five days a week. And then, you know, really tried to talk him through, and a lot of this is psychological, but like talk him through the scale and what energy inverse out actually is and all, I mean all of it, but really speak to like his mindset piece of things too. And for him to, first of all, for the first time in his life, be like, I am the fit one. Like I am taking my if I take my shirt off somewhere, everyone wants to know what I'm doing. I mean, pr thank you because he's getting us a lot of referrals anytime he takes his shirt off. But but he's like, I just cannot believe that like this all happened from pulling back my workouts a little bit and fueling more appropriately. Now, yes, I've also taken him through depth two deficit phases. So, like, you know, built his calories back up. We've done we're on our second deficit phase right now. But he's like, I've he's I've never looked this defined before.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

And it's like and it's manageable long term.

SPEAKER_03 28:07

Totally. So sometimes when we're talking about these more advanced things or what we know is gonna pop up on blood work, it's funny because we've been doing this so long. We were talking about this the other day. You can look at someone and work with them for a little bit, and I'm like, I know what your blood work's gonna look like.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

For sure.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

And it's funny. Like I'll still get it drawn, of course. Duh, I'm not like I'm not a psychic, but there are some moments where I'm like, I think it's gonna say X, Y, or Z. And you get it drawn and you're like, there it is. It's exactly what I thought. Cool. We're this approach is the right approach moving forward, which is always fun to do. Totally. So as far as any other clients go, do you have anyone else where you're thinking of like either insulin resistance or a different scenario that maybe like listeners might relate to? Because I think the the under-eating overworking out is a huge one. But then what about someone who like really doesn't do all that, you know, like has hasn't been dieting for forever, but they we get blood work done and we see something else.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

I feel like insulin resistance, now that you say that, is honestly a big one nowadays. And I wanna, I I'm not, you know, again, I'm not a research psychologist or anything like that, but I will say a lot of this I think stems from food quality. Yeah. Oh, I hate it. I hate it. I hate that we are in that place. Yeah, but it started probably with the low fat phase. Um, and now we're in this protein phase where now protein is being added to things. It sh really shouldn't be. I saw something for a protein teeny the other day, and I literally almost threw my phone. I was like, I can't. Buffalo Wildlife.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Stop.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

I can't.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

I really can't. But I do think, you know, it has to be replaced with something. Like the low fat was always replaced with sugar and all of these things. And then we add stress in the mix, and it just puts a lot of stress and strain on our body.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

And so there's so many factors that go into causes of insulin resistance, but you can see it on somebody. When I see someone's progress pictures, I can be like, I think you're insulin resistant. Like you said, and it's like, let's get labs to really see where we're at. And then we start implementing lifestyle things that can help with that. So managing blood sugar better so your body doesn't have to do it. Right. Like walking 10 minutes after you eat. Not only does it help with digestion for us gutsy girls, but also say us, that's you. It's just me. It me. So it helps with digestion, but it can also keep your blood sugar from spiking too high, which when it when your blood sugar spikes, you're gonna have a big insulin dump. So if we can help manage that a little better, we can slowly reduce. Same thing with like fiber, yeah, and quality foods and you know, all these things that bog down our system. So I I do see that one time and time again.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

Yeah, for sure. So for people that are listening to this, that don't even know what insulin resistance is, let's just talk about that a little bit. Some basic strategies, because there's a large part of the population that is insulin resistant. Right. Um, and some some strategies for people.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Insulin resistance can come from a zillion different things, kind of like we talked about food quality stuff, but even underlying hormone issues. So when hormones aren't functioning properly and things like that, it can cause insulin resistance. High stress. There's that again. Everybody's stressed, everybody's burning the candle at both ends, and that just downregulates everything. And our first line of defense is dumping insulin, trying to regulate those crazy blood sugar spikes and things. And so at some point, our body's like, okay, bro, you've been dumping a lot of insulin and I don't know what to do with this. Like, and your body's like, Well, I'm trying to regulate this and I'm trying to regulate that. So it just keeps pouring it out. And then our body's like, I'm not touching that. So we it becomes resistant to using insulin. So now insulin is cycling through your body and it causes us to store belly fat. So a lot of people have talked about that too. Again, on the social media kills me when they're like, Do you have cortisol belly? Because then you need to take XYZ. No, you don't. You just you need to manage your blood sugar and your stress a little better.

SPEAKER_03 32:12

Could it be your stress? Could it be your blood sugar? Could it be estrogen dominance? Or could it just be that that's the last place that you're gonna lose fat anyway for most people and you just have some, you know? And so it's two, don't take the supplement, don't do the do, don't do the thing. Yes. But they're trying to sell you 100%.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

So things that we always start with are the foundations. Yeah. You know, the are you sleeping enough? Yeah. The dumb questions. But people are like, well, yeah, I'm sleeping like, you know, five, six hours and I sleep pretty good. I'm like, what does that mean? Yeah. Are you getting through all the sleep cycles? Like, are you having a wind-down routine? You know, what time are you waking up in the middle of the night? Um, water. Water dilutes sugar, right? So we don't need as much insulin. So those simple things are really where we start, people are the foundations. Water, food quality, nutrient timing. You know, we talk about that. That's a whole podcast that we could do too, honestly. But are your meals balanced? Right. No naked carbs. Right. We talk about that one all the time. Can't be naked. No, no naked.

unknown 33:12

Dress them.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

Dress them with some protein, some fats, you know. Yes. Um, and I do think that that can go a long way for a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03 33:19

Yeah, totally. And I mean, walking, moving, walking after meals, all of that is beneficial. So, you know, on the getting stuck, there's a lot of different things that are going to cause someone to get stuck. And it can be anything from very, very basic little things to advanced blood work issues that we need to approach and tackle. So if someone's listening to this and they're not a client and they are not working with a coach, whether that's us or someone else, what are what would we say to those people of like, wait, you're currently stuck. What should they do? What should they do now? Should they reach out to a professional? Should they talk to their doctor? Should they work with a coach? Like, what is the best next step for someone who is actively feeling stuck?

SPEAKER_00 33:59

I mean, I'm a little biased, but I'm always gonna say, you know, I think coaching is one of the best things because we do look at all the things. I'm not just gonna say, well, we need to pull blood work. You say you're not losing weight. Like we need to audit and together troubleshoot what is going on. Yeah. Whether it's food or energy or sleep or movement. And I always say start there. Now, obviously, if there's if somebody's concerned of their health, please go see your doctor.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Like if you are like I have a mass and I'm like gaining what, you know, like please go see your doctor. But like if you have been dieting for a year and now you're stuck and you're plateaued and you think you've tried everything, have somebody else audit it. Totally. So get a coach.

SPEAKER_03 34:44

At what yeah, and at what point is it time to reach out to a professional to to get that help? And I think that's a great point of like if you've been trying to do this for six to 12 months by yourself, there is no shame in admitting that like I need some support with this, I need some help with this because we all do. Two heads are better than one, but we all have coaching.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

Yeah, we all need to be. Accountability, I mean all of it. 100% and I think somebody to call you on your BS. Yeah. I and I don't mean to be mean, but like I've always I was the nice coach for way too long. And I let people tell me that they were doing everything, and I would just take it instead of ask the hard questions. Totally. And be like, okay, are you being completely honest with me? You know, all these things. What it doesn't even have to be necessarily food related. But like, like I said, people tell me, Oh, my digestion's normal. Well, ask the hard questions. Are you pooping?

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

How often are you pooping? What does it look like? You know, I mean, let's talk. For real. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:39

Okay, well, I think that was great for today. I think we hit on so many topics that if you are a listener, just know that there will be so many more episodes on all of these topics where we'll go more in depth um beyond just what being stuck, but like each of these small things, insulin resistance, estrogen dominance, all these little buzzwords that we've thrown around, we'll do more topics on. I love it. Love it. Um, but thank you for being on with me today. It was so much fun. Thank you for having me. If you're interested in working with us or even just following along, we're gonna put some links below. But first of all, if you want to follow Kim on Instagram, she posts a lot about functional health and uh nutrition and fitness and also our real lives and our families. Her Instagram is at Kim Bel Kim Pelicano with an underscore. We'll put that in the show notes. And then I'll put our uh social as well and then a link. If you do want to hop on a discovery call with one of the rooted coaches just to see would coaching be a good fit for you, or can someone even just help me troubleshoot some of the things that I'm dealing with and point me in the right direction? We always want to be a resource to help people. So we're not trying to just get you on a call to sign up for coaching. We will tell you, hey, go see your doctor and ask for X, Y, or Z, or maybe go look at this coach or refer you where you need to go. So just know that if you want to do that, we'll also put a link to schedule a call with us below. Thanks for tuning in.