The Questions You're Too Embarrassed to Ask About Weight Loss

James Hill:
Welcome to Weight Loss And, where we delve into the world of weight loss. I'm Jim Hill.

Holly Wyatt:
And I'm Holly Wyatt. We're both dedicated to helping you lose weight, keep it off, and live your best life while you're doing it.

James Hill:
Indeed, we now realize successful weight loss combines the science and art of medicine, knowing what to do and why you will do it.

Holly Wyatt:
Yes, the “And” allows us to talk about all the other stuff that makes your journey so much bigger, better, and exciting.

James Hill:
Ready for the “And” factor?

Holly Wyatt:
Let's dive in.

James Hill:
Here we go.

Holly Wyatt:
Today, we're talking about questions people really want to ask, but, you know, Jim, they usually don't. The ones that feel maybe a little too personal, too weird, or too embarrassing to say out loud.

James Hill:
Oh, yeah. We've heard it all. Why does my sex drive change when I lose weight? Why do I still grab my old jeans even though they don't fit me anymore?

Holly Wyatt:
Exactly. These are the questions people whisper after class. They send the late night text message to their best friend, the ones that deserve some real answers and zero judgment.

James Hill:
So we're going there, Holly, the body stuff, the mind stuff, all the surprising things nobody warns you about when the weight loss starts coming off.

Holly Wyatt:
If you've ever wondered something, but we're too afraid to ask, this episode is for you.

James Hill:
Oh my gosh, here we go.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. So, Jim, we've been kind of accumulating these questions and then I think we added to ones we've heard before, you know, because I do years and years, you hear these things.

James Hill:
There are a lot of them. And people really want to know these things are important.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. So we started making a list. And so what we did, because there was just so many of them and, and I, you know, didn't want to do the top 10 or whatever. So we kind of put them in themes. We put them in five kind of themes or buckets and let's just see how many we get to.

James Hill:
I don't think we're going to get them all, but we'll get through a lot of them.

Holly Wyatt:
No.

James Hill:
And then we'll do another segment on this as well.

Holly Wyatt:
I get it. So, first theme, grouping all these questions into the weird body stuff.

James Hill:
Yeah.

Holly Wyatt:
Does that makes sense to you? The weird body stuff. So, things people don't want to ask but things that happen to your body kind of the weird body stuff. That's that theme. All the strange and surprising and awkward things your body does during weight loss.

James Hill:
You want to take the first one?

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, I'll go with one of the first ones because this is a pretty common one is why does some fat get lumpy while other fat stays smooth? Sometimes when I lose weight, I'll decrease fat in one area, but it actually looks worse. You know, this also fits with why do I have cellulite in certain places? All that kind of why does it all look different? So this is a question that I think has some science behind it and I do think it's important to kind of understand it. That fat cells shrink at different rates, in different places, at different times. I wish it was just you could pick, don't you? Like, I want it here.

James Hill:
Oh, yeah. I want to lose it from here.

Holly Wyatt:
But you can't. And I don't know that we understand completely why the body picks, you know, which fat cells.

James Hill:
Probably some genetic programming going on there that we don't understand.

Holly Wyatt:
Right. But I haven't, I've tried all kinds of things and I haven't been able to direct my body to any one specific area. So the fat cells shrink at different rates. And like you said, I think it's genetics, hormones. And then we have what I call the kind of connective tissue that's around the fat. And the connective tissue anchors the skin down. I kind of think about the connective tissue anchoring the skin down and the fat kind of pushing up. And you kind of get those bumps or those lumps. And that's a lot of what cellulite is and so when you have some weight loss some of the fat may change but you still have that connective tissue and areas that have maybe less connective tissue or collagen support look lumpier as the volumes change. That's why it looks different in different places and we don't want that. We don't like that lumpy stuff. We really would prefer it to be smooth but I just don't think that's…

James Hill:
That’s the way it is.

Holly Wyatt:
That's the way it is.

James Hill:
And one of the things that people always want to know, is there a certain exercise I can do to target certain fat depots? And the answer is no, you can't. You can't target belly fat with sit-ups, for example.

Holly Wyatt:
Right.

James Hill:
You're going to lose it in a pattern that's probably genetically determined.

Holly Wyatt:
I think the important part to know is it's normal to have some, you know, the lumpy, bumpy cellulite type stuff that you can be losing fat and it can look like that. And that's just it adjusting, right? It's fat changing and the connective tissue. And that's just kind of a normal thing. It's not something that is abnormal in any way.

James Hill:
All right. So here's a good one, Holly. I get this one a lot.

Holly Wyatt:
I know. I was going to give you this one because this is right up your alley.

James Hill:
So when you lose fat, what happens to it?

Holly Wyatt:
I know. What happens?

James Hill:
Does it melt? Does it vanish? Well, the answer, it's magic. It just goes. No, that's not the answer. The answer is in biochemistry. So if you think about it, fat is energy. Your body needs energy. Where does it get energy? Fat, protein, carbohydrate. So when you use fat, your body is essentially taking that fat, generating energy, and then the byproducts of that are carbon dioxide and water. So essentially, you're breathing out a lot of that fat when you lose it. So there's not magic. It's biochemistry going on here.

Holly Wyatt:
So if your body goes in and needs to use some of the fat for fuel... It's going to take that cell, and it's actually going to take the fat molecules, burn it, and in the process of burning it, the byproducts of getting rid of it or burning it or using it for fuel is carbon dioxide that you breathe out in your breath, and then the water just comes out, right? In your...

James Hill:
That's right. Like your muscles, for example, have mitochondria, little engines that take the fat and use the energy and get rid of the byproducts, which is CO2 and water. So a lot of the fat you lose, you breathe out in CO2.

Holly Wyatt:
That's kind of cool. So in a way, it kind of melts. It kind of melts.

James Hill:
It kind of does melt and vanish.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. But I think a lot of people think it turns in, like it can turn into something else.

James Hill:
No, no.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. I think a confusion in here, talk a little bit about this, about fat cells shrinking. And what does that mean when people talk about fat cells getting smaller?

James Hill:
Well, fat cells, these are cells that capture fat and they can grow bigger. As you, for example, if you overeat, your cells are going to get bigger. At some point, you can actually make new fat cells. So we think that once your cells get to a certain size, they actually recruit new fat cells so you can store more fat. But when you lose weight, you lose that fat. And so the fat cells shrink a little bit. The fat is taken out of those fat cells, not all of it, but some of it. So there's less fat there and that's used for energy. And if you regain weight, guess what? You put the fat back in and those cells become bigger again.

Holly Wyatt:
So the cells are shrinking and then what's happening to the fat inside the cell is it's going into that carbon dioxide and water. That makes sense. All right, I'm going to take the next one because it fits.

James Hill:
Good.

Holly Wyatt:
It fits with me. I'm going to just say this. Why do you lose weight in your boobs first? Like of all places, Jim, if I'm going to try to, you know, let's keep the boobs.

James Hill:
You probably wouldn't pick that as the first place.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. I mean, I probably should be saying breast, but that's what people say. Why do I lose it in my boobs first and not why you want to lose it there. And once again, you can't choose why. But breast tissue contains more fat than muscle. So it makes sense in a certain place, you know, that has a lot of fat there. The body chooses to often to use that fat first. It is an area that responds to a caloric deficit. And so, it's just one of those places you're carrying a lot of fat and your body will use when it needs it. I would prefer it for it to come off my stomach, but it just doesn't.

James Hill:
Yeah, it's too bad. It's too bad you can't choose, Holly.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. Some people do talk about strength training may help kind of not prevent the body from losing fat.

James Hill:
It builds up muscle.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah.

James Hill:
And that's something you can do. So you can use exercise to build muscle. And there's a lot of muscle around the different fat places as well. So it can actually help, but you can't actually target the fat. It's your body's going to determine where it comes from.

Holly Wyatt:
Yep.

James Hill:
All right. Here's one that, again, we get all the time is, why am I cold when I lose weight? And one of the big reasons, Holly, is fat is insulation. So if you think about it, particularly subcutaneous fat, you essentially have a layer of insulation. As you lose that layer, you're a little bit prone to being sensitive to cold. So it's not at all uncommon for people to feel that they're cold when they lose weight. And additionally, your resting metabolism goes down, so you're burning less energy. So there are real reasons why you might feel a little more sensitive to the cold as you lose weight.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, I think as you're losing weight over time, you're losing that insulation, but also your body does become a little bit more efficient and may kind of not burn as many calories in that resting metabolic rate or even for warmth. I do notice when I go on a diet or I've lost a lot of weight, I do need to put on a sweater. So it definitely is something that I personally have noticed. All right, I'm going to take the next one because this has happened to me and I've gotten this question before. So with weight loss, why does my hair fall out?
And of all things, you're wanting to lose fat. You're not wanting to lose your hair. And so this is common. But rapid weight loss and or low protein intake definitely can trigger it to feel like your hair is falling out. And really what's happening is your hair goes through phases and a shock, like not getting enough calories, especially if you're really cutting on your calories a lot, cutting down your calories a lot, or if you've lost a lot of weight. So it's a big shock to the system. The hair follicles will all, a bigger percentage of them will go into what they call the resting phase. And so normally I think there's like five to 10% of them in the resting phase, but when a big shock, it may trigger them to go into this resting phase, 30 or 40% of them. And you're going to notice it in your brush. You're going to notice a bunch of hair falling out, but it's temporary. It's reversible. And when you get your calories back up and you're no longer in a negative energy balance and you're getting good nutrition and micronutrients, it will come back. But you can definitely notice some hair loss. And I think people are seeing it, especially with the GLP-1s, because they're getting rapid, a lot of weight loss.

James Hill:
Okay. Well, this next one sort of relates to that. It's just losing weight make you look older or younger. And again, it totally relates to where you lose the fat from. I know in the news was a Ozempic face, right, where people would lose a lot of weight, a lot of fat in their face. And some people didn't like that look. The good news is in most cases, losing weight will make you look younger, but it really depends on where the fat comes from. And the other thing we talked about, the thing that you have no control over where the fat comes from, you have control over building your muscle, and that can really contribute to making you look young. But in most of the cases, people will say, losing weight made me look younger.

Holly Wyatt:
I agree. And you're more active and vibrant. And I do think it overall can definitely make you look younger, definitely feel younger. But if you lose a little bit of the fat under the skin of your face, you can notice those kind of wrinkles that everybody's talking about or the emphasis of the lines or, you know, that type of thing. And then with that, I think the last one in this theme is why do I suddenly have loose skin? We've talked about that, the fat loss under the skin, and can it be tightened back up? What do I do about it? If I do notice in my face that I've lost some volume because the fat's now gone and the skin's kind of hanging loosely or any other part of my body where I've lost a lot of fat and the skin doesn't always shrink back with the fat loss, what can you do? And it really depends on age, genetics, how fast you lose it, the type of skin you have even can make a big difference and how much elasticity it has. What can you do about it? You know, once the skin is kind of stretched out, it's pretty hard. Surgery is one way to tighten it back up. You can try the resistance training like you talked about, making sure you're hydrated. But the only way to really remove a lot of excess skin is probably through surgery.

James Hill:
All right. Holly, this next theme we've called mind games and mixed feelings. And let's look at some of the questions we often get about how your thoughts, fears, and emotions shift once your body starts changing.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah.

James Hill:
I'll take the first one.

Holly Wyatt:
Okay.

James Hill:
Because we talk about this all the time and people do it. Why do I panic when the scale goes up? I got on the scale this morning. I was up two pounds. Oh, my God, this is awful. This is terrible. I'm a failure. Well, we say over and over, your weight is going to fluctuate day to day. And most people can fluctuate up to five, six, seven pounds from day to day. So you really have to take a long-term approach. Do not pay much attention to any single weight. If your weight goes up five pounds in one day, you haven't gained five pounds of fat. You can't do that. This is water weight. And water weight is influenced by so many things. And it's temporary. And the other thing we try to tell people, the scale is a tool. Do not give it any control over your life. Detach it from emotion. The scale is not giving you any feedback on your value as a person. It's simply a tool for you to use. So look at the long term. We recommend looking at weight over a week. Average it over a week. If you look day to day, it's going to fluctuate. But over a week, you should see that it's going to be fairly constant.

Holly Wyatt:
I agree with that. I've thought about this. Why do we panic? And I catch myself, even though I weigh every day, it's a common thing. It's a data point. I know this. But there still is sometimes a little bit of panic when you get on and you haven't been expecting it and the scale jumps up a couple pounds. And I think it's just because you want to feel like you're in control. You don't want to start regaining the weight and not understanding why. This is an important topic to you. And so you panic a little bit when you see the scale move. I think it's a normal thing to feel that way. You've got to recognize, though, that it's not necessarily a bad thing for all the reasons you talked about.

James Hill:
Right.

Holly Wyatt:
All right. This next one I'm going to take because this is something I think is fairly common and I get this question a lot and especially as a physician people coming in and me asking them what did they eat yesterday or what did they eat this week so the question is why do I lie about what I've eaten. Why do I maybe not tell the whole truth to, you know, about what I've eaten? So what do you think about that one, Jim?

James Hill:
Yeah, I don't think people are intentionally trying to lie. But I think there's a lot of value judgment associated with our diet. It's like people we're afraid, people are judging us, basically, by what we're eating. And so a health professional, they're saying, well, Holly, what did you eat today? You know what people typically start with? Well, today wasn't a typical day. But again, if you had three sugar-sweetened soft drinks, you don't feel good about telling people that, because you're afraid you're going to be judged.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. I think it's the shame and judgment that has gone with weight, even though now we understand that it's not just about willpower. There's so much going on. We know physiology drives how much you eat, when you want to eat, your cravings, all that stuff. And it's not your fault. It's still there. And so you don't want to admit it because you feel that it is that kind of shame thing. And that I think is that when patients would come to me and say that, I always thought of it as, you know, they've been working hard a lot of times, right? And so they want me to know that. They don't want me to point out that they had the three sodas. They want me to look at these days where I did eat really, really well. And they want me to help them. I always saw this, they're telling me this because they want my help and they're trying to show me , look, I'm really trying even though there may be certain times that I didn't eat perfectly, but they don't want to share that because they're scared that's what I'm going to hook onto and not going to help them with the bigger problem. At least that's how I thought about it.

James Hill:
I think we've made some progress in the whole shame thing of realizing that managing your weight is not simply your strength of your willpower. Are you a good person? There's biology at play here. So I do think we are making some progress there.

Holly Wyatt:
Well, and I'm going to come clean here and say, when someone asks me, because this is my field, what did I eat? I might, you know, it's hard sometimes for me to say what I be 100 percent honest because I'm thinking what they're going to judge me. Here I am an expert and this is what I ate, you know.

James Hill:
Look at what's in your grocery cart. How could you, an expert, eat that?

Holly Wyatt:
Exactly. So this one this one hits home. I can understand it, I think.

James Hill:
All right. Here's the next one. Is it normal to be afraid of gaining the weight back? You betcha. It's completely normal. In fact, we see it so commonly. And this means you care. Fear of gaining the weight back means you care. And the anecdote here is it takes a while. If you're trying to develop a new lifestyle, you've got to develop new rituals and routines. And it takes a while. And it's going to take a while before you feel that you're comfortable in this new lifestyle. And that's, again, we always talk about mind state being so important. And mind state is really having the confidence that you can do it. And at first, it's so natural to fear gaining weight back. And in fact, many people have done it. It's like, oh, my God, I lost weight before, but I gained it back. I'm so afraid I'm going to do it this time.

Holly Wyatt:
Well, you have history to say that could happen. You fear it because it's happened before. Sure.

James Hill:
Absolutely. And it can happen. But the key is recognizing that a new lifestyle isn't something temporary. It's something permanent. And Holly, you have told me this over and over. It's got to be something you enjoy. If it's a lifestyle, you don't enjoy it. You are not going to stick with it.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. So I think you said something really important. The fear means you care. So when I catch myself or someone else, I'm like, okay, this is good. It means you care. It means you have some motivation to prevent that weight, you know, that weight from coming back. And it's the same thing when we talked about the question about do I panic? Why do I panic when the scale goes up? Because you're scared you're going to gain the weight back. These two questions really, really fit together. I think you've said something before on the show that I do think is important. Even though you're afraid you're going to gain it back over time, I think we know from the National Weight Control Registry that it does get easier, that fear does decrease.

James Hill:
They've reached a point where they tell us, I am so confident I'm going to keep the weight off. And it takes a while. It takes a while for people to get there.

Holly Wyatt:
Or I may gain some weight, but I'm confident I know how to get a few pounds off. I am confident I know what to do.

James Hill:
Right.

Holly Wyatt:
Not that I'm never going to gain some weight.

James Hill:
And that's the key.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah.

James Hill:
As we say, weight loss maintenance is not boom, you go down and you maintain this wonderful weight the rest of your life. There are ups and downs and life throws you challenges and it's feeling like you have the knowledge and skill to get through these and get back on track.

Holly Wyatt:
You know what to do. You can do it. You have resources and support and you can figure it out.

James Hill:
Right.

Holly Wyatt:
If life throws me this curveball, if I regain some weight for some reason, it doesn't matter. I know what to do. Confidence in doing it. All right. I like this next one. This is a popular question. Why do I miss being bigger sometimes?

James Hill:
Isn't that interesting?

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, it's true, though, Jim.

James Hill:
It's totally true.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. I think it's anytime you're moving into something that's new for you. If you've had a weight issue your whole life, it's familiar. And familiarity is safety. This is how, what I know versus a new identity, a new size, people relating to you, maybe in a new way. All of that can feel kind of uncomfortable. And you can sometimes think of that uncomfortable feeling is like, oh my gosh, I want to go back to feeling comfortable. And I felt comfortable when I was larger.

James Hill:
Yeah, I think that is so true because most people, they spend a long time being large and they're very comfortable with that image of themselves.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. I would think with this one is it becomes more comfortable over time as you establish your new normal, that new normal.

James Hill:
This next one's related, Holly, because why do I still reach for larger clothes even though I'm smaller? We see this over and over. They lost weight, they look really good, but they still go for these large clothes when they could totally go for smaller clothes.

Holly Wyatt:
Well, I see it. Do you see people who've, and they come in and you're like, wow, that thing is like three times bigger than it needs to be. Or the pants are like falling off of them and they're still wearing them.

James Hill:
And I think it's your mind state is not caught up with your body image yet. And again, we talk all the time about your identity. You still see yourself as an overweight person, an overweight person who just happens to lose weight. And it takes some time for your whole image of yourself and your mind state to catch up with your weight loss. But that can happen if you stick with it. And that's okay. You may need to go through this phase. But what you want to do is to advance your mind state to the point where now you don't worry about your old you and the old clothes. You deal with the new leaner body that you have.

Holly Wyatt:
I think, once again, it just, like you said, it takes time that that body image lags behind the changes. And the longer it is and the more you kind of almost recalibrate to this new size, the more it will become the norm and you'll start reaching for clothes that are more appropriate for your true size.

James Hill:
Absolutely.

Holly Wyatt:
And this goes right into this. Am I being vain for wanting to look good? Is it okay for me to say, you know what? One of the reasons I want to lose weight is I want to look good.

James Hill:
Absolutely. I think it's a great reason to lose weight.

Holly Wyatt:
I do too. I have no problem in saying that.

James Hill:
People say, oh my God, the only reason to lose weight is your health. I'm sorry, Holly. That's bull. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look good.

Holly Wyatt:
That's what I think. If I want to look good and I want to look good in my little black dress, because I want to feel confident when I'm going out. And you know what? What's wrong with that?

James Hill:
So, total good reason to lose weight.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. It's not the only reason to lose weight.

James Hill:
Not the only reason, but it's a perfectly okay reason.

Holly Wyatt:
Yes, I agree.

James Hill:
Let's do one more.

Holly Wyatt:
Okay.

James Hill:
Why do I feel like a fraud when people compliment my weight loss? And again, this imposter feeling is people say, man, you look great. You've lost weight. And you're saying, yeah, but I don't know if I'm going to keep it off. I'm going to regain it. I don't feel like I've succeeded. I feel like I'm in this temporary place and so forth. It takes a little while to be able to accept that praise as showing that you've grown and you don't have to be perfect. But again, it's the mindset catching up with your new body. But stick with it because you can get through this.

Holly Wyatt:
I think some people also can't just step on and say, “Yes, I did this. I worked at it.” Accept that they played a role in this. So many times they've kind of got to say, oh, well, it was this or it was that. I'm like, own it. Stand up there and own it. I'm seeing it more and more with the GLP-1s, Jim. Because people will come into my programs and they will have lost weight with a GLP-1, and the first thing out of their mouth is, “Well, I need to come clean, Holly. I lost 30 pounds, but I did it with a drug.” I'm like, what do you mean “but you did it with a drug”?

James Hill:
You used a great tool. Congratulations.

Holly Wyatt:
You did it.

James Hill:
You did it.

Holly Wyatt:
You did it. Right? But there's this fraud feeling like I didn't, something else did. I didn't really do it. It wasn't me, blah, blah, blah.

James Hill:
We've got to get people to quit thinking that way. The drug is not cheating. The drug is leveling the playing field. It's a tool that can actually finally help you succeed. Embrace it.

Holly Wyatt:
Yes, exactly. All right. Do we have time for another theme?

James Hill:
Let's say one more theme.

Holly Wyatt:
Okay. Relationships, reactions, and real talks. So we'll be talking about how weight loss changes that social world, and sometimes it changes your relationships. Definitely. We talk a lot about this. So first one up is, what if my partner doesn't like me thinner?

James Hill:
Yeah, we see that. And we saw that a lot in the National Weight Control Registry. That was one of the things that people told us. Sometimes they would sabotage progress.

Holly Wyatt:
Change can trigger insecurity in a partner. So you're changing, they're not. That can kind of trigger insecurity or fear. They may also be thinking, well, if you're changing your body state, will you still like my body state? Or how is that going to affect the relationship? So I think this is something that we do see and probably is good to talk about it, to include your partners on your goals, reassure them through communication that you may be working on your body state. Doesn't mean they have to that, you know, that this this is something that's important to you. And maybe you would hope they would support you and what you want to do, but they don't have to do it. I think communication is going to be the key here because every relationship is going to be different.

James Hill:
Yeah, I agree. Related. Will my friends treat me differently after weight loss? And I think you're going to find yes and no. I think there are going to be some friends that celebrate your success and those are the people you need to seek out, but there are going to be others threatened by your success. One thing we know is people tend to congregate with people that are a similar weight. So if a lot of your friends were also overweight and you lose weight, some of those friends may be threatened by that, maybe even a little jealous of that. And what you've got to do is stick with your why, why you did it, who you want to be. But again, look specifically at those friends that are celebrating your success. I think you want more friends like that, that want you to succeed.

Holly Wyatt:
And I always tell people, look at yourself too. How do you react when someone around you?

James Hill:
Yes.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. Maybe it's losing weight. Maybe it's changing something else that's important to them. Some other behavior that results in a change, but it always makes me kind of think back, okay, am I celebrating the changes in others? Because that's the friends that I want to celebrate when I change something. I don't have to change it with their changing there. We don't have to be on the same page that way, but we can be on the same page of celebrating each other for making changes in areas that are important to each of us.

James Hill:
Absolutely.

Holly Wyatt:
And then that goes into why do some people sabotage my progress? Now we talk about this all the time in State of Slim. You are, everybody kind of knows you're eating a different way. They've noticed it, even if you haven't said anything and suddenly they start bringing in your favorite food.

James Hill:
It's like they're trying to work against you. They don't want you to succeed.

Holly Wyatt:
It does. It really feels like it. And I think sometimes it's not that way. Sometimes I think that they're just really trying to give you a treat or give you something good. And then sometimes, I don't know, it may be that they are feeling a little threatened and this is a way they're kind of acting out to bring in your very favorite food when, you know. I also think we're sensitive to it. When you're losing weight, you're more sensitive to that. You may notice it and they may have been doing it before, but now you're like really recognized when they bring in the donuts and put it on the front table where you may not have noticed it as much as before.

James Hill:
Yeah, we saw some of that in the National Weight Control Registry. And again, this is mostly women. And one of the things we found is a lot of times when they lose weight, they started looking good and better. And husbands were threatened by that. It's like, wow, this person's gone out and changed her whole self. She's not going to want to hang out with me anymore.

Holly Wyatt:
And wives can be threatened by it too.

James Hill:
And that's why you got to communicate right up front and make sure your partner's on the same page.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, I think that's important.

James Hill:
All right, let's do a couple more. Is it weird that I eat differently when I'm alone versus with others?

Holly Wyatt:
Okay. Wait, Jim, I'm going to ask you, do you eat differently alone or with others?

James Hill:
I do a little bit. Maybe not a lot. I know some people do it a lot because, again, if you're eating with others, you're almost assuming they're going to judge you. They're looking at what I eat. I'm eating too much or I ordered the French fries and I'm ordering dessert. And so it's this judgment sort of thing. Everybody does it to some extent. I do it a little bit. I might be, maybe have a little bit more fun foods when I'm alone versus with others, but it's pretty common that people will eat differently alone than with others.

Holly Wyatt:
I think it is common and I don't do it hugely. I do it some. I think if I'm going to have something that in my mind, really feels like a splurge or is something that has no nutritional value and tons of calories, I probably wouldn't have it with other people. I probably would have it when I'm alone.

James Hill:
No, that's it. Some foods that I really like that I might do alone and maybe…

Holly Wyatt:
I have to think about that. There's probably why that is. But to be honest, I think that's, I probably would do that too.

James Hill:
All right. Should we wrap up and take the other two later? What do you want to do?

Holly Wyatt:
You know what? I like this. Let's do a round two because we got a lot of questions left.

James Hill:
Let's do a round two. We've still got some good questions left.

Holly Wyatt:
And Jim, let's tell people, if you have some, send them in.

James Hill:
Send them in, no matter how crazy you think they are. If you want to know it, and we won't mention your name that you've got this issue, but we will address, we'll take on anything.

Holly Wyatt:
Give us the really weird ones, the awkward ones, the things you're too embarrassed to ask. It may embarrass us, but we'll still do it. We'll still ask it, right?

James Hill:
Yeah.

Holly Wyatt:
So send us in some more. We'll add them to the ones we already have left. And let's do a round two of this.

James Hill:
I love it.

Holly Wyatt:
Let's do a couple of vulnerabilities. We've gotten a little bit vulnerable during this, but let's end with that.

James Hill:
I'll start by asking you, Holly.

Holly Wyatt:
Okay.

James Hill:
Has there ever been a time where you felt awkward talking about your own body, even as an expert? And if so, what did that teach you about how we relate to weight?

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. Early in my career, I definitely felt awkward talking about my own body. I definitely felt like I needed to kind of be an example. And I wanted to be careful what I said and be the expert. If I'm helping people lose weight and talk about their body, I should always be perfect at that and should be the example for that. And what I've learned is I'm much better at helping people when I'm kind of honest and talk about it and I'm not perfect. And yes, there's times when I've had a whole pizza by myself, in the dark, in a moment, or this is what I think about my body. And everybody knows the reason I went into this field is I've struggled with my weight and my body my whole life. And it's what actually got me asking these questions. And I now have kind of leaned into, I think it's what makes me better at it.

James Hill:
Absolutely.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. So let me ask you one.

James Hill:
Alright.

Holly Wyatt:
As a scientist, you've been asked some pretty uncomfortable or off the wall questions about weight loss. We've been doing those today. What's one or did you have one that caught you off guard or challenged how you thought about people?

James Hill:
Wow. All right. I've got a good one. So, you know, you and I lecture a lot and we'll go to conferences and we'll give a talk. And usually after the talk, you come down and people will kind of line up to ask you questions. And, you know, I know a lot about a lot of stuff, Holly. So most of the time, most of the time I'm pretty good. But this woman comes up to me and says, Dr. Hill, which sexual position burns the most calories?

Holly Wyatt:
No. Really? No.

James Hill:
I know a lot of stuff, Holly. But I didn't even take this one on. I just admitted right away that I didn't know the answer to that one. And she told me that there are actually a couple of books that have been written on that. So I probably should have gone out and familiarized myself so that I could answer that question.

Holly Wyatt:
There's some data. There's some science is what she's saying.

James Hill:
I still don't know the answer to that question. So if you want to do some digging and come back and we can answer that.

Holly Wyatt:
I think on our next, when we do the second version of this, when we do the additional, episode, Jim, I think you need to have done some research and need to come back and be able to answer that question for our listeners.

James Hill:
There are some books that address this. So I guess I should go out and do some research.

Holly Wyatt:
I want an answer next time. I don't know. I don't know that either. I think we've been asked the question, you know, can sex count as exercise?

James Hill:
We've been asked a lot about sex and energy expenditure.

Holly Wyatt:
Or exercise, yeah.

James Hill:
But, yeah, I've never dived into that particular issue.

Holly Wyatt:
Well, hey, that's fine.

James Hill:
I suspect they're different. I suspect there's an answer here.

Holly Wyatt:
Well, Jim, different expenditure, different intensity. Yeah, I can imagine.

James Hill:
Well, maybe I'll do a little research.

Holly Wyatt:
All right, let's do that.

James Hill:
Okay, this has been fun, Holly. There are no bad questions, only unasked ones.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, I think curiosity kind of breaks that shame that we all feel and helps us understand our bodies better. So I think this is good to have some fun with this.

James Hill:
It is, and everybody's journey's unique.

Holly Wyatt:
So if you're wondering about something, anything, chances are someone else is too. So keep asking, keep learning, send us those questions and we'll keep doing the best we can to answer them.

James Hill:
Yeah, and don't be embarrassed to ask. The more off the wall, the better. Holly and I will take them on. And if we can't answer them, we'll go and do some research.

Holly Wyatt:
I love it.

James Hill:
All right, thanks everybody. See you next time on Weight Loss And.

Holly Wyatt:
Bye.

James Hill:
And that's a wrap for today's episode of Weight Loss And. We hope you enjoy diving into the world of weight loss with us.

Holly Wyatt:
If you want to stay connected and continue exploring the “Ands” of weight loss, be sure to follow our podcast on your favorite platform.

James Hill:
We'd also love to hear from you. Share your thoughts, questions, or topic suggestions by reaching out at weightlossand.com. Your feedback helps us tailor future episodes to your needs.

Holly Wyatt:
And remember, the journey doesn't end here. Keep applying the knowledge and strategies you've learned and embrace the power of the “And” in your own weight loss journey.