What Successful Slimmers Wish They’d Known at the Start

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's episode is one that really hits home, and it's going to be fun. We ask our state-of-slimmers (people who've been in our State of Slim program and our listeners) if the wiser you could talk to the younger you or the younger self about weight loss, what would you say? I was going to say the older you, but it's not really. It's the wiser you, the person who's been through some stuff. What would you tell the younger self about weight loss? What would you say?

James Hill:
Yeah, Holly, the responses we got were pretty incredible. They were honest, funny, and often packed with the kind of wisdom that you only get through experience.

Holly Wyatt:
Absolutely. This conversation isn't going to be about a checklist. I couldn't limit it to 10. It's not about something you read. It really is about something you experience. It's about the truths that come up when you've lived it. And you can't just read that in a book, right? It's about experiencing it. The things you wish you'd understood sooner about your health, about your mind state, about what it really takes to make lasting change, especially when it comes to your weight.

James Hill:
And I think, Holly, with time, you realize that weight loss isn't just about calories or carbohydrates. It's really about understanding yourself.

Holly Wyatt:
So today, we're going to share the insights that show how far we've come and what really matters most along the way.

James Hill:
All right, let's get started.

Holly Wyatt:
This is an interesting episode. We haven't done one quite like this. We've had people on to talk about their success. But I've never had a group of people say, okay, what would you want to include in a podcast? What learnings would you really want to tell yourself? And then let's tell other people's. Because I do think we can learn from each other. I think our own experiences are the most impactful. But other people's experiences, we can use them.

James Hill:
Yeah. I mean, we're trying this out. We'll see. Hopefully, it's some information that our listeners will find useful.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. So what I did, it was we got a lot of words of wisdom. I'm calling them words of wisdom. And so instead of trying to come up with the top 10, because how do you rank these? You really can't. They're very important to each individual person. Decided to put them into themes or categories and kind of lump them together. So we, I think, came up with maybe five themes. And then there's words of wisdom within each theme. So maybe we can talk about a theme, Jim. We can say what the words of wisdom are. And then we can give our own kind of ideas around that theme.

James Hill:
Let's give it a shot.

Holly Wyatt:
All right. So theme number one, kind of lump together things around the mind state and self-worth, kind of setting the tone for long-term success. I think that's where change really begins. I like that a lot of people were talking about the mind state.

James Hill:
Yeah, but it's often ignored. I mean, traditionally in our lifestyle programs, this is some part that hasn't been given a lot of attention.

Holly Wyatt:
Right. So, you know, it made me happy when I saw lots of these words of wisdom coming in and a lot of them were about mind state. So it's like you realize that. That's something you realize the more the more you do this. The younger you, the beginning you may not have recognized that the mind is really important in any kind of behavioral change or in your life, but especially in losing weight or maintaining your weight.

James Hill:
So what did you hear from our folks, Holly?

Holly Wyatt:
All right. Let's kind of go through a couple of what we heard, and then we can expand on each of them, and then we'll keep going into another theme. But one that came up over and over again, and I'll quote this one, is progress over perfection.

James Hill:
Aha.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, the idea, progress over perfection, and then they talked about how the setbacks are part of the process and it's a journey where you're always evolving and discovering who you are and what you like. That kind of came up. What do you think about that? Progress over perfection.

James Hill:
Yeah, I think sometimes perfection is the enemy. We want to get it absolutely perfect when you don't need to have perfection to make progress. So I like that one a lot.

Holly Wyatt:
And why that's kind of falling under mind state is that is a mind state shift that people talked about. That was, that happened in my mind, that it was about the progress that I was going through, not necessarily that I had to get it perfect, and when I started out, it really was. It felt more that my mind felt like perfection was associated with success. So another one in this category is put yourself first, tell yourself you're worth it, have self-confidence. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Also a big mind state piece.

James Hill:
Yeah, we hear this over and over. We heard it a lot in the National Weight Control Registry where people said, you know, basically I spent my life taking care of others and not taking care of myself. And I realize that I have to take care of myself.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. So that was a word of wisdom. Also set realistic goals and be kind to yourself. Once again, someone saying kind of putting the two together.

James Hill:
Yeah, the be kind to yourself is a good one because we see people that aren't oftentimes. They're their own worst enemies and they self-sabotage themselves. And so I love that one. Be kind to yourself.

Holly Wyatt:
So as people are getting wiser, they're saying, okay, it works for me to be nicer to me than for me to kind of be the punishment type, right? It's always stricter care. It helps to be nice to me instead of punish me or feel like I need to punish me when I'm going through weight loss, when I'm managing my weight, when I'm dealing with my weight. What else, Jim, on this category?

James Hill:
Focus on long-term, not short-term. This one is so important, and it really is a mind shift. So many people go into this looking at next six months, next six weeks, etc., and they don't even think about the long-term. And weight loss is a lifestyle change, not a temporary fix. I think this is one of the best pieces of advice. When you're starting out on your weight loss journey, look at the long term, not just the weight loss. How do you keep it off? How do you live your life?

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. And I like this. The one caveat I would say, just to make sure people thinking of it this way, I think when you say weight loss, they are thinking about the whole process.

James Hill:
Yeah. Permanent weight loss. Yes.

Holly Wyatt:
Permanent weight loss. So really the weight loss maintenance piece is the lifestyle piece. The weight loss itself is short term.

James Hill:
Yes.

Holly Wyatt:
It's not forever. So what you do to lose the weight isn't what you have to do to maintain it. But what you're going to do to maintain it is that lifestyle piece and is not a temporary fix. So I like where that was going. And then the last one in this theme is find your passion. Continue to do what your heart loves. Enjoy more in life. Worry less. Oh, yeah. That one's a big one for me. Don't let anyone, including yourself, reduce your worth to just what they see, right? And this, I think, was really getting into the inside stuff, your identity. Find your passion. Find who you are and recognize it.

James Hill:
Yeah, we deal with this a lot in our book, Holly. It's not like finding a lifestyle that's just miserable to maintain. Nobody can do that. You've got to find a lifestyle that you enjoy. The good news is we've seen so many people do that. They change their lifestyle and they lose and maintain the weight, but they love their life. Their passion is fueled by their weight.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. And they allow that passion. This is the other really key about this. And this person got it exactly. Their passion. Don't let anybody else determine your passion or decide what that is by them looking at you. You know the inside stuff, that identity stuff. That's what you have passion about. That's who you are. That's your self-worth. And really getting in touch with that, definitely think as we get wiser as you experience this, that starts to come out and you start to recognize that.

James Hill:
Yeah, your weight loss journey can change your weight, but it can also sort of refocus your identity on becoming the person you really want to become that fuels your passion.

Holly Wyatt:
And I think that's a lot when you look back. Don't you always kind of want to tell the younger or just starting out the things you've learned? And I think that's a big one, right? Don't let other people how they're valuing you or don't let, you know, don't perform. We've been talking about this a lot in State of Slim. When are you performing and when are you really doing what's important to you from yourself, not what others expect you to do?

Holly Wyatt:
All right. Theme two. Why don't you take this one?

James Hill:
Okay. Movement and momentum. This is a good one. The body follows where the mind leads. You and I, Holly, hit over and over the importance of movement and being physically active. And, you know, it just irks me when I read in the media, oh, exercise isn't important. You just to eat more. Everything we've learned is that it is. And here's what we hear from some of our people. Working out is a way of life. Consistency is the key. So it's not looking at movement as something, oh, I'm going to go over here and do this and then maybe this. It's figuring out how to integrate it so that movement is a natural and consistent part of your life.

Holly Wyatt:
And that really is the wisdom. Right?

James Hill:
It really is.

Holly Wyatt:
You've got to figure that out. We know we talk all the time about the importance of physical activity and why and all of that. But you've got to figure out how it just becomes something you do, you have passion about, and it needs to be consistent because that is the forever part of the lifestyle changes that really create that metabolic flexibility and so many other good things. And so, wow, that was really a great wisdom for sure.

James Hill:
One of the other pieces of wisdom here, I love this one, is find physical activity you enjoy and surround yourself with positive influences. If you don't find a way of movement that you enjoy, you aren’t going to sustain it. And we hammer this home over and over. There are so many ways to move. Try them out. Find something you like. Don't settle for, oh, I have to do this. I hate it, but I'm going to do it. You're not going to do it over and over unless you like it. So find physical activity you enjoy and surround yourself with positive influences. Surround yourself with other people that value physical activity and have incorporated into their lives.

Holly Wyatt:
So this person who gave us this word of wisdom put two things together. They're like, oh, you know, find activity you enjoy. And my guess is probably part of the reason they enjoy it is they like to be around other people. So they put other people in it. But we also know that that social environment that when you hang around people, so I think what they mean by positive influence is people who are doing that physical activity, who figured that out. Hang around with them and you're more likely to do that physical activity.

James Hill:
Here's another piece of advice someone gave to their younger self. Start each day with a few minutes of quiet and listen to yourself. Get your mind right. Be in the moment. Then plug in, pause, play, and punt. So it's sort of taking a few minutes in the morning to think about your day and in terms of physical activity, think about what you're going to do. Plan your day. Get in the habit of just taking a few minutes each morning to check in and get your mind right.

Holly Wyatt:
I think this is kind of going under the momentum. We talked about movement and momentum being the theme for this group. And this is how you start your day with the right momentum, get the momentum going. And we talk about a morning routine, and it can be different for different people. But this person's using the plug-in, pause, play, and punt, which then we should do a whole episode on that. That's kind of a way we can outline or you can think about a morning routine. But when you get your morning started in the right direction, when you get that momentum going, it can impact the whole rest of your day. And I think that's what this person is saying. It takes just a few minutes at the beginning to really listen to yourself, get that morning routine going, get your mind right, and then it can impact whatever happens after that.

James Hill:
And one more, and this is a good one. It's never too late to start. Sometimes we say, oh my gosh, that's too late. I've missed the opportunity. When it comes to movement, it's never too late to start. We have so much research on this that shows at any stage in life, when you start moving, you get positive benefits.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. We had a recent episode where we talked about that was true with even resistance training, building muscle, preserving muscle that at any age. Because I think some people think, oh, it's too late.

James Hill:
It's not. It's never too late.

Holly Wyatt:
It's never too late. What a great piece of advice.

James Hill:
Exercise, we think, is the single best predictor of keeping weight off. Not of how much weight you're going to lose, but of keeping it off. And everywhere we look, we see that this is what separates those who maintain their weight from those who gain it back. So movement is medicine for metabolism. It helps with mood. It helps with motivation. If you want to be successful, you've got to figure out a way to incorporate movement consistently in your life.

Holly Wyatt:
Right. And make it fun. Make it be what you love.

James Hill:
Make it fun. Enjoy it.

Holly Wyatt:
And some of that is that identity shift we talk about. It's become someone who moves. Become someone who's physical active.

James Hill:
You're an athlete.

Holly Wyatt:
I tell myself that all the time. All right. Third theme of grouping some of these words of wisdom. Put kind of the food and fuel or food freedom, things that kind of help with the food aspect and the fuel aspect. So here is one of the words of wisdom that came. Don't let corporate America determine your diet.

James Hill:
I like it.

Holly Wyatt:
So I think what I kind of take from that is you decide what you're going to eat.

James Hill:
Yeah. And Holly, the good news is in today's environment, you have good choices. You have bad choices, but you have good choices. You can go in any grocery store and there's a whole bunch of good, healthy stuff. There's a whole bunch of stuff that's less healthy. So you do have choices and you can make those choices to fit into your lifestyle.

Holly Wyatt:
Right. You can make the choices that work best for you, that work for your health. You know, I always say sometimes I'm glad I have choices. I'm glad I don't just have one thing that I get to choose from because we all know we're so different. Some people need different types of food. And I think we have to remember that. But I like to say, don't let other people decide what you're going to eat or corporate decide what you're going to eat.

James Hill:
Yeah, I like it.

Holly Wyatt:
All right. Another something they would tell their younger self, eat healthy and avoid junk food and processed food. So maybe they were thinking that's something I wish I'd started a little bit earlier with. Just kind of a practical advice right there. Here's another one. There will be plenty of dessert and snacks in the future. I love this one. They're not limited, right? They're not going away.

James Hill:
You don't have to eat that snack right now. There'll be plenty tomorrow.

Holly Wyatt:
They say you don't have to eat like it's the last time you'll see it. Oh, my goodness. That's true.

James Hill:
That is true. I like that one.

Holly Wyatt:
So many times you're like, oh, my gosh, I'm never going to get to eat this again. Well, yes, you are. It's going to come back around. There'll be plenty of time to do that. I love it. And then the last one in this section is it's about a food journal. If you food journal, you know where you stand with nutrition. You can't lie to yourself. So they're talking about food journaling.

James Hill:
Keeping a food journal is a good way to give feedback to yourself. The analogous on the physical activity side is like a pedometer or step counter. It just gives you feedback. A food journal will give you feedback. It's not to try to find out how many calories you're eating because it's not very accurate for that, but it just reminds you of what you're eating. So it's just a feedback tool that can be very useful.

Holly Wyatt:
It's just awareness. We talk about the importance of awareness. And if you're not aware of where your physical activity levels are, then it's harder to change it. Same thing with your food. If you're not aware of your patterns of what foods you're eating, of maybe how many calories you're eating, if that's something you need to watch, then you really can't make changes. And I do think that journaling allows you really to do that. And a lot of people don't like to journal. But if you see it as something that just gives you information that allows you to make good changes, you can kind of change that relationship with logging. So this person sounds like they wish they maybe had started food logging a little bit earlier in their life.

James Hill:
I think it is true that our modern food environment sort of encourages overconsumption. And to push back, you have to start with being aware, being aware of that. That's why food journaling works. It gives you that awareness. And then you do have plenty of choices. It's not like there aren't healthy choices available. And I think if you recognize this and make the effort to make the healthy choice, you don't have to fall into that trap of the environment pushing you to overeat.

Holly Wyatt:
I agree. So some good stuff there. All right, let's move to theme four.

James Hill:
Okay, theme four is self-care and support, the secret weapon for staying in the game.

Holly Wyatt:
That's what a lot of people said. They said this, they really think that, you know, taking care of yourself, but also support being around other people and making sure you ask for help.

James Hill:
Yeah, we got some good advice here. Here's one, practice self-care, especially when you feel you don't have time, energy, or deserve it. What they're saying is, this is so important, you have to prioritize it. And don't use all these excuses to avoid taking care of yourself.

Holly Wyatt:
Well, I think we see people do the opposite. So what they're trying to tell their younger self is don't do the opposite. When you get busy, what's the first thing you let go of, Jim?

James Hill:
Yeah, your self-care. You're taking care of everything else and your self-care sort of gets the back seat.

Holly Wyatt:
Your to-do list gets full and when you don't feel like you have time or energy, that really goes to the end. And what if you did it the opposite way? What if when you're really busy is when you need to take care of yourself so you'll be more effective at getting through that list of doing more things, of not burning out or being overwhelmed?

James Hill:
Here's another one. Surround yourself with like-minded people. Value and cherish the power of connections. So that very much relates to self-care. Taking care of yourself is easier when you surround yourself with other people that value taking care of themselves. That's a really interesting insight. The power of connections.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, I can tell this probably came from a state-of-slimmer because they are so connected together. They so believe in the power of their team, so to speak, the power of them connecting to each other. And the other piece of this is a lot of times when you're busy, I'm going to pull the busyness in, that's when you stop connecting. And once again, that's when really I would tell my younger self, that's when I need to connect more, not connect less.

James Hill:
And the last one sort of reinforces this. Take time for self-care, routines, and rituals. We talk a lot in our book about routines and rituals. Most of our behavior is kind of automatic. Think about you go through the day, you get up, you have your morning routine, you drive to work, you have your routine at work. And part of the challenge in changing your lifestyle to one that's more healthy is getting rid of those rituals and routines that support the old lifestyle and develop ones that support the new lifestyle and self-care. That awareness can really help facilitate that transition.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. The other thing I think may be important to kind of let people know, because I know some people are still saying, you know what, I have a long list of things I have to do. Self-care just can't be up there. One thing that I think about sometimes when I catch myself wanting to say I don't have time to take care of myself is that self-care helps me regulate stress hormones. When I'm busy and stressed and overwhelmed and the holidays are coming up, Jim, that tends to be a time when people have a lot on their plate, extra things and taking care of other people and wanting to do things around to help other people. But when I take care of myself, it helps me regulate those stress hormones. And what do the stress hormones do? I mean, what do they potentially impact? When someone's really, really stressed, a lot of times they have signal you or you use food to, you know, you get cravings, you eat to help try to regulate those stress hormones. So self-care can help regulate those stress hormones and you don't have to turn to food. You're not as likely to turn to food. So there's a biology piece to this, not just, oh, I want to take care of myself.

James Hill:
And when you feel that you don't deserve it, that's exactly when self-care matters most. And people will go through this period of where I don't deserve to take care of myself. And that's when you have to do it.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. So I tell my patients and clients, let's just do this as an experiment because this is a really, really hard one when you're busy to say, I'm going to take some time for me like that. That's really not as easy as it sounds on paper. And I love that people have figured this out and they want to tell their younger self this. But I still think even as someone telling you, you'd be like, yeah, I don't know if that works. Just try it. So I've caught myself on a really really busy day with a long long to-do list and me saying I don't have time to do my morning ritual or I don't have time to do my breath work or I don't have time to go for a walk at lunch or the things that I feel like are self-care for myself. Just try it, Holly. Today, do that and see what happens see if you still get through your to-do list. Because I think what you're thinking is I won't have time to do other important things right. But what if? This is what I just tell myself. What if? It's like an experiment. What if I do? And it actually helps me get through the other things and I get through them easier and quicker. And it's not that I give up anything. It's that I do it better, that I do it and enjoy it more. So it's not like I have to do this and I'm going to not get something done on my list. Because if I look at my list, I'm like, all these things are important. I can't not do these things. So just try it out and see how it works. And then that may allow you to say, huh, I'm a little wiser now. I've had my own experience and I know that this is actually a good thing that can work in my favor.

James Hill:
That's a good point. All right, what's the next theme?

Holly Wyatt:
All right, the last theme that we have, what do we call this? Oh, reality checks and life lessons. So these are things like we just were talking about that really comes, you experienced it in some way. And I think you even maybe had like a shakabuku where you went, aha, now I get it. Maybe something that you didn't get at all at the beginning.

James Hill:
Yeah. A lot of this kind of reality wisdom does come from experience, right? A great example is the scale. How many times do we talk about the scale and what it means for people? And we hear people say, oh, I just hate to get on the scale. The scale is a tool. The reality is, do not put any emotion. Scale does not tell you your value. Simply a tool for giving you information.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. So one of the things that someone said or gave us as a word of wisdom was make friends with your scale.

James Hill:
Yes.

Holly Wyatt:
Weigh daily, log your weights, study your trends, and learn about your choices, your triggers, and your strengths. Oh, I couldn't have said it any better. I mean, that is a total word of wisdom. And the more you do it, the more you experience it, the easier it gets.

James Hill:
Yeah. I remember talking to people from the National Weight Control Registry who weigh themselves regularly and asking, well, why do you weigh yourself regularly? It's when a woman looks at me and says, well, duh, how do I know if I'm gaining weight if I'm not weighing myself?

Holly Wyatt:
So a total reality check. Yeah. And so once again, though, if you do it, you experience it, then you start to understand it better. If you do it episodically, you don't get the same learning, I think, or potential learning from it. Here's another one. Working out and food journaling are ways to learn about yourself, not punish yourself. Ah, this has really got some good wisdom in it. Because I think a lot of times people log and then what do they immediately do, Jim? I didn't get enough steps in.

James Hill:
Makes you feel bad. Logging makes you feel bad because you see what you didn't do.

Holly Wyatt:
Or I ate this when I wasn't planning on eating this. Therefore, I'm going to hold back a bunch of calories the next day or punish myself or not feel good about this in some way. That could be how you used the journals, but it doesn't have to be.

James Hill:
They're tools. They're not a source of your value.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. So this is a mind state shift. When you log, what's the purpose? To see when you're off and punish yourself?

James Hill:
No, just to give yourself information that can guide your future behavior.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, to just learn about yourself. And that's a great way to just think of it. I'm going to log to see what could I learn?

James Hill:
Yeah.

Holly Wyatt:
What could I learn from this? Love that one. Here's one more. Visualize your goals. Be thankful for the life and body you were born into. Be uniquely you and marvel at the miracles.

James Hill:
I like that one.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. That's talking about using your mind to see where you want to go, but also just that gratitude and appreciation that we've talked about so much. And just to start to kind of say, wow, there's some really good stuff going on right here and using that to fuel you to move forward.

James Hill:
And I love the idea, Holly, of visualizing your goals. Think about where you're going. Can you actually see what your life is going to look like when you achieve the lifestyle that you want to? I think it's so important not just to have it vague, yeah, things are going to be wonderful in the future. What's it going to look like? What's your life going to look like? What's your diet going to look like? Who are your friends? To think about these things as you're starting your weight loss journey.

Holly Wyatt:
It's interesting. I just thought about this. Visualization and gratitude, which that person had both of them in that sentence in their words of wisdom. Visualize your goals and then be thankful for the life and body you were born into. Both visualization and gratitude shift your brain, right? It's actually causing your brain neuroplasticity. It's shifting your brain to be wired and fire in a different way and really provide emotional stability and a better way for your brain to react as you're moving forward.

James Hill:
I love that one. I love it.

Holly Wyatt:
So I think we've talked about a lot of things or we've given lots of words of wisdom. How I would have listeners maybe think about this is pick one or two things that someone else would tell their younger self and maybe something you hadn't thought of before and then try that out. Use someone else's words of wisdom to see if they might apply to you. There's a lot of them. So I would just pick one or two that I'm like, huh, I wouldn't have necessarily thought that.

James Hill:
Yeah.

Holly Wyatt:
But what if? And see if you can use someone else's wisdom to help yourself right now.

James Hill:
Yeah, I like that.

Holly Wyatt:
All right, let's do a quick vulnerability. You know what I'm going to ask, Jim. You do?

James Hill:
I do.

Holly Wyatt:
Okay. So if you right now, sitting right in that chair, Jim, sitting across from your younger self, you're just starting out on your life journey. This doesn't have to be about weight, Jim. This can be about anything, right?

James Hill:
Yeah.

Holly Wyatt:
What would you tell them?

James Hill:
Well, I think in terms of my research career, what I would tell my younger self is to start studying the mind-body connection. It took me decades to realize that was important. I focused on diet. I focused on physical activity. I focused on behavior. I think in recent years, I have learned that the mind state may be the secret sauce to all of it. Unless you get the right mind state, you can't sustain any of the other stuff. So that's the advice I would give my younger self.

Holly Wyatt:
Oh, my gosh. Coming from a physiology, right?

James Hill:
I know. It's amazing.

Holly Wyatt:
Oh, metabolism, physiology person.

James Hill:
Right? So what about you? What advice would you give your younger self?

Holly Wyatt:
And mine's a general one. It would apply to my weight loss history, my career, just my life in general. I think I would love to tell my younger self, just ease up a little bit, Holly. Have more fun. I was such a serious kid. You don't have to control everything for it to go well.

James Hill:
Interesting.

Holly Wyatt:
That I don't have to try. I think I've told this before. When I was in high school, I got the Worrywart Award. They actually gave that out because I was constantly fixated on trying to control things, worrying about things that could go wrong, trying to control them so they would not. And I think I thought that's what was required for my life to go well. And now I'm like, eh, I think I would do that a little bit differently. And I am doing it a little bit differently.

James Hill:
It's never too late, Holly.

Holly Wyatt:
Well, I'm practicing it now. That's why I always tell you, don't say it's hard, Jim. It can be easy.

James Hill:
Oh, yeah.

Holly Wyatt:
We don't have to control everything. We can go with the flow a lot of times on these podcasts, right? We have a general idea.

James Hill:
We definitely go with the flow.

Holly Wyatt:
It's like, don't have to control everything we say.

James Hill:
So the takeaways on this one, Holly, every experience teaches you something, if you're willing to listen. And hopefully some of the advice that you heard today will help some of you, that you can act on some of this. And the real progress isn't just losing weight. It's what you learn along the way and where you end up. You may end up to weigh less, but are you going to end up with a happier, more self-fulfilling lifestyle?

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah.

James Hill:
And sharing that wisdom is a good thing. When we asked these people, they were happy to share the information. Because they felt like they could help someone else, maybe do it a little easier or avoid some mistakes that they made. And you don't have to be perfect to inspire others. The people we talked to, they weren't perfect. They were real, though. They gave real advice, and they took time to be self-aware of what worked for them along the way. So keep showing up, keep learning, and keep passing it on.

Holly Wyatt:
That's what it's really all about. If you see success as being I'm learning along the way, it really changes everything. And then sharing it, cherry on top.

James Hill:
Absolutely.

Holly Wyatt:
Let's close it up.

James Hill:
Final thing, we'd love to hear from you. What would you tell your younger self about weight loss? Send us your reflections. And remember, every stumble and every restart, every “I'll try again Monday” moment, it's all part of becoming the person you were meant to be. The journey isn't about being perfect. It's about becoming you.

Holly Wyatt:
Very well said, Jim.

James Hill:
All right.

Holly Wyatt:
Words of wisdom coming from you.

James Hill:
See you next time on Weight Loss And.

Holly Wyatt:
Bye, everybody.

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.