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What happens when a weight loss expert gains weight?
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Feb 18, 2025
In this episode of the Lose Weight by Eating podcast, host Audrey Johns shares her personal journey of weight loss and the challenges she faced after gaining some weight back. She discusses the impact of hormonal changes, the noise of diet trends, and the importance of self-love and kindness in the weight loss journey. Audrey emphasizes the need to listen to one's body and find a personalized approach to eating that promotes well-being, rather than succumbing to external pressures and advice. You can find FREE RECIPES here: https://loseweightbyeating.com/ Check out my Best Selling Cookbooks here: https://loseweightbyeating.com/cookbook/
View Video Transcript
0:01
welcome back to the lose weight by
0:02
eating podcast my name is Audrey Johns
0:04
and I'm your host and this week I wanted
0:06
to talk to you about something
0:09
vulnerable I actually wasn't even sure
0:12
if I would ever talk to all of you about
0:14
this but I thought it's a really
0:16
important to talk about what happens
0:19
when a weight loss expert such as myself
0:23
gains some weight back because I've seen
0:25
it not just with myself and I'm going to
0:28
tell you a story about all of that but
0:30
with other people in this space
0:34
and I feel like we need to reframe how
0:37
we look at this now for those of you who
0:40
don't already know my weight loss story
0:43
I lost 150 lbs and 11 months and more or
0:48
less I have kept it off for 14 almost 15
0:53
years now so I said more or less many
0:56
people gain weight for many different
0:59
reasons and we're going to talk about
1:00
that closer to the end of the podcast
1:02
but I want to explain why I gained
1:04
weight or why I believe I gained weight
1:07
so I had a hysterctomy I was very sick I
1:11
had to have it done it was a medical
1:13
necessity and all the way up until the
1:15
hysterctomy I had maintained my weight
1:18
loss you know maybe a 5B up and down
1:22
that's normal but I had maintained I was
1:25
still fitting into all of my clothing
1:27
and I had the hysterctomy
1:30
and there was a lot of downtime
1:31
afterwards and surprisingly my partner
1:34
and I actually went on a trip once I was
1:36
well again and I still fit into all the
1:38
same clothing so before you think okay
1:41
it must have been the downtime it wasn't
1:44
you know I had my my aunt was here
1:46
taking care of me and my partner was
1:48
bringing me food we weren't living
1:50
together yet at the time and yes I
1:52
couldn't exercise but I was still eating
1:55
really really healthy so it was not the
1:58
downtime it was the hor months and I
2:01
gained a lot of the weight back it
2:05
started out really slow and as I noticed
2:07
things were fitting tighter of course
2:09
this was in summer so it's not like
2:11
you're wearing jeans every day and it's
2:13
obvious but I did notice some of my
2:15
dresses were getting Tighter and I you
2:18
know thought okay well I know what to do
2:21
with this I coach people I know how to
2:24
lose weight in a healthy way I'm just I
2:27
know what to do
2:28
right well my tricks did not work and
2:32
they didn't work because my body was
2:34
going through something major my
2:36
hormones were rebalancing my body was
2:40
healing this was a major surgery and I
2:44
didn't realize how much of it was going
2:46
to affect me now for those of you who
2:48
are wondering I still have my ovaries
2:51
but everything else was taken so I still
2:54
do get some hormones so I assume in 10
2:57
years I'm going to be back here on the
2:59
podcast telling all of you guys a
3:01
relatively similar story again but I
3:04
feel like it's important to talk about
3:05
it because nobody talks about it
3:08
everyone wants to just pretend like oh I
3:10
didn't gain any weight back well it's
3:12
it's obvious I can see you're still a
3:15
great chef or you know you still are
3:17
very inspirational but we don't want to
3:20
talk about it and I feel like I really
3:22
kind of have to so I tried all my tricks
3:26
all of the lose weight by eating tricks
3:28
you know I I thought okay well I must be
3:30
missing the mark somewhere so now I'm
3:32
going to start logging how much water I
3:34
drink I'm going to start writing down
3:36
everything that I eat this is a really
3:38
great way to kind of revisit a diet that
3:42
has worked for you if you were do know
3:44
it so well like the one I wrote
3:46
obviously I know but you know sometimes
3:48
you just got to kind of check in with
3:49
yourself and you don't realize that
3:51
maybe you're having way too much creamer
3:52
in your coffee or or maybe that snack
3:54
you're having in the afternoon is 100
3:57
calories more than you thought it was
3:58
sometimes it's good just to check skin
4:00
and I did and I modified and I tried all
4:03
my tricks and nothing
4:05
worked and that's when I started
4:07
listening to the
4:09
noise I know you all know what the noise
4:12
is it's this is how you lose weight and
4:15
that's how you lose weight and try this
4:16
diet and try that diet and you need more
4:19
protein
4:21
right I tried out keto I tried boosting
4:25
my protein I tried having more protein
4:28
shap all all of these things packed on
4:31
more pounds for me for
4:35
me so it accelerated to the point where
4:38
I had to buy new clothes that's that
4:41
that's really heartbreaking when you've
4:43
lost all this weight and you've
4:44
maintained it for so many years and
4:46
we're talking 20b maybe 30 if I'm honest
4:51
but you know buying new cloth that was
4:55
that was hard I kind of retreated within
4:58
myself cuz I felt like a failure
5:01
because I was listening to all of this
5:02
noise because I was not taking a step
5:05
back and giving myself the grace of you
5:07
know your body is going through a change
5:09
and I'm going to be really careful not
5:11
to call out a male counterpart by name
5:15
who's having a similar weight gain issue
5:19
so obviously it can happen when it has
5:21
nothing to do with a major medical or
5:24
hormonal change right but that doesn't
5:27
matter
5:30
it would be easier if it wasn't a
5:32
hormonal change right it would be easier
5:34
if I hadn't had surgery and I gained
5:36
weight and I was like oh I know what to
5:37
do with this right I want to talk about
5:40
the hardest possible part is that no
5:42
matter what I tried I kept gaining
5:44
weight now I kind of felt like my
5:47
hormones balanced of course my doctor
5:49
checked and he was like okay you're okay
5:51
you're not great but you know this isn't
5:53
a big enough swing for us to be overly
5:55
worried you know fast forward to now I'm
5:59
going to to get lab work done next week
6:01
to check my hormones again and to check
6:03
my thyroid and my doctor has you know as
6:06
all doctors do they try to learn more
6:08
and now he's like wait I really do want
6:10
to recheck all of this stuff for you so
6:12
I will have a followup to this episode
6:15
so that I can share it with all of you
6:18
but you know I I really really struggled
6:22
during this time and what I ended up
6:24
falling into and thank you to all of the
6:28
different people out there PR itic sing
6:30
and preaching self-love and self-care I
6:33
fell into it hard and one of my favorite
6:37
Instagram people that I follow for this
6:40
she goes by Mary's cup of tea that's her
6:43
handle and she preaches self-love and
6:46
this girl had
6:48
been a fitness model and she had been
6:51
rail fin looked amazing and she still is
6:55
just stunning and not that I want to
6:59
only lean on her looks I feel like we're
7:02
all trying to kind of clean that up a
7:03
little bit but she was so wise and so
7:06
much younger than me and so wise and I
7:08
loved that and she had found that
7:11
embracing her
7:13
body was what she needed and I I really
7:18
Dove deep into self-care self-love and
7:20
I'm really glad that I did because it
7:23
helped
7:24
me balance myself in this time that my
7:28
body was just all all over the place and
7:30
I couldn't lose the weight and that's
7:32
why I really want to bring this podcast
7:34
into self- Lov happens in the kitchen
7:36
you know feeding your self- healthy food
7:38
is an act of self-care and self- Lov but
7:41
I digress as I often
7:43
do when I was diving into self-care and
7:46
self-love I was still listening to the
7:48
noise I the biggest noise I
7:51
heard was you need more protein you need
7:54
more protein more protein more more
7:55
protein you're not having a protein
7:57
that's not that's why you're not losing
7:58
weight and so I was listening to this
8:00
noise I was going along with it and I
8:03
was gaining and gaining and gaining and
8:05
at this point now we're talking a few
8:07
years later so I had I should have been
8:09
balanced at that point but instead of
8:12
saying okay let me revisit my water let
8:15
me revisit what am I eating let me go
8:18
back in and try my tricks I was
8:20
listening to the noise and I feel like
8:21
so many of us get stuck listening to the
8:23
noise weight loss everybody's always
8:25
trying to say Hey you know leave me a
8:27
message below and I'll send you my
8:29
weight loss plan and everybody's trying
8:31
to sell you something and even I got
8:34
sucked into that and so I want to take a
8:38
quick note and just say it's okay to get
8:40
sucked into the noise of all these
8:42
different weight loss fads it's okay I
8:45
know better and I
8:47
did
8:49
so with that I want to talk about my
8:53
last episode was how I screwed up in
8:56
2024 I highly recommend that you listen
8:58
to it because in that I joined a gym and
9:02
I started listening to what the trainers
9:04
at the gym were telling me now I
9:06
understand a lot of you were like Gees
9:07
This Woman's got money she's like hiring
9:09
trainers no no no this was a free
9:10
training session you know I joined a gym
9:13
when I there was no upfront fees all of
9:16
that I got a free training session and
9:19
the gal said you're not eating enough
9:21
protein and I get more into that and how
9:23
I screwed up in 2024 but it was as if
9:26
the noise was
9:27
then validated right by somebody who I
9:31
believed had an interest in helping me
9:34
and I still believe that she has an
9:36
interest in helping me but she's
9:37
listening to the noise and I want to
9:39
take a step back and someone had
9:41
mentioned to me after my how I screwed
9:43
up in 2024 episode they said well of
9:47
course the trainers are trying to get
9:49
you to eat more protein they sell
9:51
protein shakes there they sell the
9:53
powder there's even a little bar area
9:56
where you can order a protein shake of
9:57
course of course people are saying more
10:00
protein because it's actually something
10:01
they can sell you right you need more
10:04
protein try my protein powder you need
10:06
more protein try this protein powder
10:08
with the affiliate link which again you
10:11
know might not be the worst thing for
10:14
each person but it was interesting right
10:17
and that kind of brought it around
10:19
wanting to talk a little bit more about
10:21
this so I joined a gym in my okay this
10:26
is the new me I'm not going to be able
10:27
to lose the weight everything I Tred is
10:29
not helping I'm just going to focus on
10:32
Fitness maybe I won't be that size four
10:35
I was again that's okay I'm happy being
10:37
a size eight at the time I mean who
10:40
wouldn't be happy but I'm just going to
10:42
focus on feeling healthy and doing the
10:45
best thing I can for my body because
10:47
that's all I really can do right now I
10:50
joined the gym and I focused on Fitness
10:54
and eating healthy and I try to drown
10:57
out the noise
10:59
and then it kind of came to a
11:01
peek I
11:04
realized I feel like crap when I eat
11:07
animal protein personally I'm not saying
11:11
because you're listening to this podcast
11:12
you have to go vegan I'm not saying that
11:15
and you know later on we're going to
11:17
talk about the hamburger I had yesterday
11:19
so by no means am I a vegan but I
11:22
realized I just feel terrible when I eat
11:25
massive quantities of
11:27
protein of chicken
11:29
of
11:30
beef fish maybe not quite so bad but we
11:34
also worry about microplastics and and
11:37
all of that stuff with the fish even
11:40
protein shakes I would feel terrible
11:42
afterwards a large omelette I would feel
11:44
terrible afterwards I didn't feel so bad
11:46
with the vegan proteins and by that I
11:50
mean you know the beans and the nuts but
11:53
wow those high in calories right so I
11:56
just started saying you know I'm only
11:57
going to eat
11:59
what makes me feel good and it was like
12:03
boom the weight started coming off and I
12:08
started to kind of the haze started to
12:12
clear and I could see that I was
12:14
listening to noise and I knew I was
12:16
better than that and that was just so
12:18
frustrating for me but that's okay we
12:20
all make mistakes it's a human condition
12:22
and that's why I want to be vulnerable
12:23
with all of you because I feel like we
12:25
all do this at some point we know the
12:27
answer and we go the other way it
12:29
doesn't have to be weight loss or eating
12:31
or Fitness it could be anything right
12:35
everybody takes the wrong path from time
12:37
to time so at this moment you know I've
12:41
tried everything I realized I was
12:43
listening to the noise and the noise was
12:46
BS so I started going hard on I just
12:50
want to eat healthy I just want to eat
12:53
what makes me feel good I stopped
12:55
focusing on protein cuz that was the
12:58
noise now the listen really quickly if
13:00
you feel so healthy and energetic and
13:04
you have regular bowel movements and all
13:06
of that when you eat a lot of protein by
13:08
all means eat a lot of protein everyone
13:11
is different so just because I can't eat
13:13
a lot of protein does not mean that you
13:16
can't but what I really want to say
13:18
right now this is what I really want to
13:20
get
13:21
across that noise of eat more protein
13:24
made me gain weight you don't need more
13:27
protein to lose weight
13:32
you don't think about this what about
13:36
the lowfat diet what about all of those
13:40
diets that came before high protein
13:43
diets is it as if for the last 50 years
13:48
people have been trying these diets and
13:49
they never work of course they
13:51
work the rule the the golden rule is
13:56
calories in calories out it always has
13:58
been I believe it always will be this is
14:01
how you lose weight is you have a
14:03
deficit in calories but you need to
14:06
learn how to spend those calories in a
14:09
way that gives you energy right so I
14:13
stopped focusing on
14:15
protein i' maybe on a good day get 50
14:19
grams of protein probably closer to 30
14:22
or less per day I stopped eating
14:26
anything that was healthy but was
14:29
processed in some way so what I mean is
14:32
a protein bar and even like the kind
14:34
bars right anything that was not a raw
14:39
ingredient I stopped eating except for
14:41
on free days and we are going to talk
14:43
about free days also known as cheat days
14:45
next week don't you worry we're going to
14:47
go deep and I'm going to tell you all
14:49
about my In-N-Out moment yesterday but
14:52
anything that I knew had been broken
14:57
down in processed I didn't eat so
15:01
let's let's take a moment and explain
15:04
what that looks like cuz for a lot of
15:05
you you're thinking I don't even how do
15:07
I even do that so what do I eat in a day
15:11
so for breakfast I love to have this
15:14
smoothie whenever I come back from the
15:15
gym it has a handful of spinach baby
15:19
spinach about a cup half of a frozen
15:22
banana and then 2 tablespoons of peanut
15:25
butter all natural raw peanut butter I
15:28
blend that with just some water and
15:30
that's my breakfast that's about 315
15:33
calories then for lunch we I'll just
15:36
have fruit because I'm working working
15:38
working and then for dinner I will make
15:41
something really healthy so for instance
15:43
I would make a tofu bowl with tons of
15:45
vegetables or I would make roasted sweet
15:48
potatoes with beans and vegetables on
15:51
top like pajita vegetables so good so
15:54
this is how I eat I try to eat foods
15:57
that have not already been processed now
15:59
I'm not perfect at it and by all means
16:02
on free day I go a little nutty this is
16:04
how I started eating and the weight has
16:07
flown off because I knew what to do and
16:10
if you're saying well I don't know what
16:12
to do it's so easy all you have to do
16:15
is write down what you eat every day
16:19
just get a notepad keep it in your purse
16:22
keep it in your back pocket keep it in
16:23
your car keep it on your desk wherever
16:25
you need to have it write down what you
16:27
ate and at what time
16:29
time and then I want you to check in
16:31
with your body mentally or put a
16:34
reminder on your phone to go off 2 hours
16:37
after you've eaten and then I want you
16:38
to take a step back and say okay how do
16:40
I really feel am I still hungry if you
16:42
are it either wasn't enough food or it
16:44
wasn't the right kind of food am I
16:46
lethargic then it was either too much
16:48
food or not the right kind of food you
16:51
just kind of drill it down to how do I
16:53
really feel because you feel great when
16:56
you eat a banana split but how do you
16:58
feel 2 hours later you feel terrible
17:01
right so what you want to do is you want
17:02
to get away from just thinking about how
17:04
do I feel in the moment because it
17:05
tastes good and think about how do I
17:07
feel two hours later three hours later I
17:09
want you to start mentally thinking
17:11
about you know how often sorry we're
17:13
going to get gross here how often do I
17:15
have a bowel movement and if it's only
17:17
twice a week then maybe you're not
17:19
having enough fiber right so all you
17:22
have to do to figure out what you feel
17:24
good eating is write it down and think
17:27
about it's
17:29
C so to get back
17:33
into I have started doing what I knew I
17:38
needed to do the energy started coming
17:41
back I was exercising feeling great and
17:44
I am now currently well not today
17:46
because it's filming day and I want to
17:48
be comfy but
17:50
yesterday I am now fitting into my
17:52
skinniest pair of jeans and I did it and
17:59
why am I telling you I'm fitting into my
18:01
skinniest pair of jeans it's because I
18:03
don't weigh myself and for those of you
18:05
who don't understand that listen to my
18:07
podcast the episode is called why I
18:09
threw my bathroom scale away it's pretty
18:12
insightful and this was happening while
18:14
I was going through my self-care journey
18:16
I think you'll find it really
18:18
insightful so let's talk about the
18:21
takeaways
18:24
so when someone that you follow look up
18:29
to go to for guidance any of that gains
18:35
weight we are so quick to judge to
18:42
shame instead of just saying oh my God
18:46
this is so
18:47
great they're just like
18:51
me this isn't some
18:53
superum who you know only ever lost
18:57
weight because she had been pregnant or
18:59
only ever lost weight because he had had
19:01
an injury and couldn't work out for a
19:03
year it's kind of a great moment so I
19:06
want to reframe that so when you look at
19:08
a a weight loss expert or a healthy
19:11
eating expert or and really let's just
19:14
say an expert in any field and they
19:17
screw up I want you to take
19:20
away oh thank God they're human just
19:23
like me which means if I can do it you
19:28
can do it it cuz I am not perfect by any
19:31
means I do not eat perfect I do not hit
19:34
the gym as hard as I should every single
19:36
time I
19:37
go we're the
19:39
same and that's the beauty in it that if
19:43
you lose weight gain some back you can
19:45
lose it again so when you look at
19:48
someone like me who is a weight loss
19:51
expert who had gain some weight back and
19:53
then maybe even before I had lost it all
19:56
again you could say
20:00
she gained weight back I can be a little
20:02
bit more gentle with myself this is
20:04
clearly just part of the
20:06
process
20:09
right we all have ups and downs it's
20:12
just part of the
20:14
journey it's so important to look at
20:18
those that you look up to and see them
20:20
as humans just like you it makes it
20:22
easier now let's talk about being kind
20:25
because as I've been very careful not to
20:28
name name my male counterpart in this
20:30
cuz that would be
20:33
crappy we also want to think about how
20:36
we're talking to these people cuz you
20:37
never know you never know why they
20:41
gained the weight are they suffering
20:43
with depression are they sick did they
20:45
have surgery are they injured are they
20:49
just
20:52
human unless you are perfect it's really
20:56
not okay to call out others for not
20:58
being perfect
21:00
perfect right so
21:04
sometimes one of my last big takeaways
21:07
oh sometimes we do not take our own
21:12
advice let me say it
21:14
again sometimes we do not take our own
21:17
advice how many times have you not taken
21:20
your own
21:22
advice okay here's a good example that's
21:25
not food
21:27
related my is learning how to
21:30
drive terrifying yes but it makes me
21:33
take stock in I should not be screwing
21:36
with my phone while I'm
21:37
driving because I'm teaching
21:40
her I'm teaching her your phone goes
21:42
away you do not need your phone when
21:44
you're driving if you need directions
21:46
then you put it up on the little thing
21:48
put a little magnet on the back of her
21:49
phone for her you know you don't touch
21:52
your phone while you're driving it's not
21:54
safe but how often do I not take my own
21:57
advice I assure you it's
21:59
so this happens in multiple different
22:02
Realms we don't always take our own
22:03
advice so be kind to creators who screw
22:07
up because we are not
22:11
perfect so be gentle with yourself and
22:15
just know
22:17
that everybody has the ups and downs in
22:20
weight loss and I want to thank you for
22:24
allowing me to be a little bit
22:26
vulnerable right now this was not an
22:27
easy podcast episode to do but I'm in a
22:31
good place now I think I kind of had to
22:32
get to the place where I've lost all the
22:34
weight again to be able to talk about it
22:36
but yeah you know life is just a series
22:40
of ups and downs and I feel like it's
22:43
what we do with them that counts so me
22:46
being vulnerable here with you not
22:48
hiding myself and saying yeah I gained
22:51
some of the weight back figured it out
22:53
and lost it
22:56
again so just know
22:59
that life has its ups and downs and that
23:02
happens for all of us it's not just you
23:05
you're not alone I want to send love and
23:08
kindness and happiness out to all of you
23:10
and I hope that you do the same and just
23:13
don't be so hard on yourself for those
23:14
around you because we're all going
23:17
through this Human
23:19
Experience listen to the next episode of
23:22
the lose weight by eating podcast it's
23:24
going to be interesting I'm going to be
23:25
talking about free days also known as
23:28
cheat days and I will tell you all about
23:30
my In-N-Out
23:32
experience um but yeah stay tuned to
23:34
next week it's going to be interesting
23:37
again thank you for listening to the
23:38
lose weight by eating podcast I'm your
23:39
host Audrey Johns be sure to check out
23:41
loseweight by eating.com check me out on
23:44
Instagram at Audrey Johns on Tik Tock at
23:48
Audrey Le Johns and on Facebook at
23:51
loseweight by eating with Audrey Johns
23:53
I'll see you next week bye
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