Dr. Kerri Fullerton ND

Intuitive Eating. Health At Every Size (HAES) Doctor

weight loss

How do YOU Measure Success?

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Measuring success is deeply engrained in both business and personal development. Sadly, we are often encouraged to measure something that is actually irrelevant to our real goals.

For instance, measuring the number of followers that I have doesn’t reflect how I’m doing financially. Just like measuring my weight or inches doesn’t actually reflect my health or my worth.

When my patients choose to work with me they are often perplexed on how to measure their progress. “How will I know if it’s working?” is a common question.

Since September is the unofficial new year and therefore wrought with weight-loss ads promoting themselves as get healthy schemes, I figure that now’s a good time to review some non-scale related measurements of success.

It’s important for me to take a moment here and speak to context. Any of these can become a substitute for the scale if we give it veto over how we’re allowed to feel about ourselves. For instance, if I use the fact that I ate outside of biological hunger cues as evidence that I’m failing, then that’s really no different than using the scale.

Measurements are data. And data doesn’t have a moral value. It’s not good or bad, it just is. If you’re not yet at a place where you can’t separate data and morality, then measurements are not likely a healthy part of your progress at the moment.

All of that to say, stay curious. Start your sentences and ponderances with ‘isn’t it interesting…’.

Here are some of the measurements that my patients have come up with over the years:

  • How peaceful are they with food and body
  • How often did they honour their hunger/fullness cues
  • How far past comfortable fullness did they go? Did they let themselves get as hungry as they use to?
  • How much time are they spending thinking about food or their body
  • How many times did they say no to issue or guard a boundary
  • How quickly did they pivot out of food police voices and into IE voices
  • How many did they choose calm over chaos
  • How many times did they check in with their body for direction? (Even if they weren’t able to fulfill the request)
  • How long did they feel the feels before using a coping strategy
  • How is their energy
  • What about strength or endurance? Have they changed?

In the September MLR we are going to walk through all of this in greater detail. If you’re looking to make some diet free goals, then here’s your group support.

Join the MLR today!

A game that can’t be won isn’t a fun game at all

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Nobody wants to play a game that can’t be won.

Weight loss is one of those games.

Early on in our weight loss careers – and for many, it is a career – we did lose weight, and usually it was easy. That set the belief that weight loss is achievable, so we keep playing the game without realizing that we never get to play THAT game again.

That first weight loss attempt was unique. Our body wasn’t prepared for it. So while it sorted out how to protect you from starvation, the weight dropped off.

But your body is brilliant. It’s especially brilliant at taking care of you, and that means making sure that you don’t starve. And no, you don’t have to do anything extreme like drinking only shakes or fasting for this to happen. It will happen with ANY energy deficiency – even moderate ones.

Your body will ready for the next time. As soon as the energy starts to drop, it will pump out a bunch of hormones that will force you to think about food. You may be able to distract yourself a bit, but your body will keep pushing food as the priority – the same way that it would push air as a priority if your breathing were impaired.

Adrenaline will start to be pumped out more frequently, giving you a slight illusion that you’re kicking ass and taking names – feeling like a million bucks. Best. Diet. Ever! But that can’t be carried on long-term either. That system is meant to get you away from danger so that you can rest. It’s not designed as a permanent state of being. So the next time, that won’t last as long either. Your body will pump out cortisol that will leave you feeling more hungry, not less.

The weight loss game is rigged to fail. You cannot stop your body from protecting you – and you should not try. Instead of being mad at it, give it a quick thanks. It’s had your back this whole time.

So what then? Just give up?

The Game Is Rigged In The House’s Favour

Am I suggesting that you give up a game that rigged? Yes, yes I am.

I’m suggesting that you acknowledge that you’ve been tricked into playing this game for other people’s profit and agendas. Get mad! Take your ball and go home! Start playing a new game!!

In this game, you have your body’s back and it has yours. Together you can work as a team.

And the best part is that with this game … you can win on the regular. You become “the House.”

What makes this game so different?

You spend your time and energy focused on things that are within your control – your behaviours.

Ante Up for You!

How is this legal?

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I’m reviewing some documents given to a patient by a medical doctor. The claim on the website says “weight loss maintained” and I’m like “What? Really?” 🤨

Thankfully they provided citations to this claim. Kudoos there 🙌 (PUBMED ID21673653)

Being the geek that I am, I read the research and I’ve included an image of the long-term data.

You’ll notice that the initial weight loss in year one looks pretty exciting right? That’s what we see in virtually every weight loss intervention. The first 4-12 months are pretty ‘impressive’ (for those who’re able to stick with it). This is what they use to tell you that it’s scientifically proven to work.

But then look what happens to the line. It steadily increases over the next two years so that by year three, they are ‘almost’ back to their starting weight. It’s reasonable to assume by this line and from other longer term studies to show that this like will continue to rise BEYOND the initial starting weight 🤦‍♀️

How is this legal?
Don’t we have measures for accuracy in advertising?
Do you not see this as misleading?

Is this what you imagine when you start on your weight loss journey? Is this what you call successful weight loss?

I have yet to meet anyone who wants to lose weight TEMPORARILY.

They KNOW that you’re going to gain the weight back. And they’ll sell it to you anyway 😤

Please hear me. There is NO scientifically reproducible way to KEEP you thin.

BUT! There are MANY scientifically reproducible ways to improve your health that don’t require you to go through another round of weight cycling 🎉

If you want to talk, I’m here. Connection calls are free.

Book a Connection Call

You can do everything ‘right’ and still not get the outcome that you desire. That makes it hard to stay in the game. So what if you changed your focus to what is within your control?

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We’ve been told that all we need is grit and will power and we can have any outcome that we desire.

Guru’s abound with the secret formula for weight-loss, list-building, six-figure launches…you name it, it’s out there.

The trouble is, outcomes are not within our realm of control.

We can do all of the right things and still not get the outcomes that we want.

An athlete can train right and still not make the olympic team.
A musician can do all the right things and still not make it big.
An entrepreneur can follow the script and still have a launch fall flat.
You can exercise every single day and not need smaller pants.

There are too many variables outside of our control to guarantee a particular outcome.

This is why I focus on behaviours.

Behaviours are within my realm of control (my OWN behaviours anyway 😆)

This shift in focus allows me to celebrate my success based on whether or not I performed the behaviour, not on whether or not it produced a predetermined result. I can define my own parameter of success.

By not being single minded in my outcome (ie. lose xyz by such and such date), I’m able to see the many other beneficial outcomes from said behaviour. This motivates me to stay in the game instead of my self-esteem being chipped away. I’m far less likely to say eff it and let the pendulum swing way too far the other way.

This is the heart of weight-neutral care. It allows the space to focus on behaviours. After all, it’s the long-term behaviour changes that actually improve health outcomes. No one has ever achieved a long-term benefit from a week long behaviour 🤷‍♀️

Let’s chat

What Working on Your Health Can Look Like Without a Diet to Lose Weight

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Spring is here. That means that weight loss season is here again.

They know that dieting isn’t trendy anymore so they won’t be dieting or weight loss ads. No, they’ll be called health challenges or fitness challenges, maybe a Post Pandemic Reboot.

A diet by any other name is still a diet. What makes something a diet? Intentional weight loss. Restriction (even if that’s called moderation or sensible portions or just eating clean). It is intentional weight loss that has the dismal stats.

And I get it. You want to DO SOMETHING towards improving your health (that’s if health is something you value. It may not be and that doesn’t de-value your worth in any way). Lucky for you I have compiled a list of ways that you can work on your health without falling victim to yet another gain-lose-gain weight cycle.

10 ways to work in your health without intentional weight loss:

  1. Sleep: improve glucose regulation and mood regulation
  2. Mindfulness: improve mental health and reduce cortisol levels
  3. Movement: reduce your cardiovascular risk
  4. Debt counselling: reduce stress and improve relationships
  5. Counseling: develop emotional intelligence
  6. Self-compassion: increase motivation, self-worth and resilience
  7. Join a group of like minded people: develop a sense of belonging
  8. Social Media cleanse/Unfollow challenge: reduce your intake of not-enoughness
  9. Values work: spiritual health
  10. Laugh: improve sleep, improved stress response

Bottom line: If you’re feeling ‘meh’ there are so many things that you can be DOING to support your health that don’t involve restricting foods that you enjoy or trying to shrink your body.

Learn more about Living Life As A Rebel here. It’s how you can hold onto your anti-diet values AND work towards some specific health goals.

Join the Rebellion

Is Food the Answer to Your Mood?

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“I just need to get my weight down and my food under control. Then I’d feel better.”

Have you ever thought that? It would be shocking if you said no.

I’ve seen so many books, blogs, and posts claiming that if you want to take care of your mental health you need to take care of your diet.

While I won’t disagree that food can impact mood, I’d like to talk to you about how your mood impacts your food. And more importantly, how you can take care of it.

When I was about 12 years old I told my mom that I wanted to lose weight. I truly believed that if I could change how I looked then I could change how I felt. And who could blame me? Look at the message of every weight loss or fitness commercial. The before is sad and frumpy. The after is happy and confident.

My Mom didn’t want me to do anything crazy so she took me to see the doctor. It was the best of the options that she had at her disposal. The doctor proceeded to ask me what I wanted to weigh, and then told us that I didn’t need to lose weight. But if I was determined, then Weight Watchers was the way to go. It was then, as it is now, viewed as the ‘healthy way’ to lose weight (I’ll do a rant on that another time).

Off we went to the first meeting and weigh-in. I was already within my BMI range (again, another rant for another time). But that didn’t stop them from signing me up and helping me lose weight.

That was the beginning of my dieting cycle. From age 12 to age 30 I lost and gained 15, 20, 30 lbs, over and over again. Each time I lost, I gained a few more.

Now I don’t blame my mother or my doctor. They only did what they thought was best.

If they knew then what I know now, they would’ve referred me to a psychologist. Someone who would’ve helped me understand why I thought that my happiness and confidence would be found within how I looked. Maybe they would’ve had me read More Than A Body by Lindsay and Lexi Kite.

You see, I was struggling with anxiety, but nobody knew, me included. And the repeated failures at weight loss only added to my anxiety. I developed depression as well. I couldn’t understand my lack of will power. I developed binge eating disorder that progressed to bulimia. I didn’t tell a soul.

Here’s what I know now.

Food is very powerful at affecting mood. In fact, in can raise neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. It can also decrease the stress hormone cortisol.

Lately this has been seen as a bad thing in the media. It’s been called “addiction” when in fact it’s not at all. To create the environment for addiction-like behaviours around food, first you must restrict. That’s worth repeating. In order to create the food addiction model in mice and humans, they must first RESTRICT the food.

My dieting created more food cravings.

Then to add insult to injury, being in a state of depression, anxiety and or stress, actually limits your ability to implement lifestyle change.

Research published in Basic Clinical Neuroscience last year showed that when we are in a state of stress, depression, and anxiety that our memory is diminished, our impulse control is decreased, it’s harder for us to plan, and we aren’t able to go with the flow as easily. All skills that are required to make lifestyle changes!

What can you do?

If this feels a little depressing and frustrating, I hear ya.

The good news is that there is a way out of the endless loop of hanging your hopes on the next big thing only to be left feeling like you failed again.

Step 1: Get a proper assessment done

I get it – you want to feel better. And yet very few doctors, nurses, naturopaths, dieticians, fitness trainers or nutritionists are going to first assess your ability to make the necessary changes.

Find someone who is going to assess your stress levels, and your mental health status. These pieces need to be addressed first, from a chemical perspective.

Does that mean that you have to go on meds? Of course not. There are wonderful herbs, amino acids, and other natural solutions available. Just be sure to seek out professional help – someone who has the training necessary to support this. Someone who won’t shy away from telling you that meds might actually be the best option right now.

You can find professionals around the world who have been trained in Intuitive Eating and understand the dangers of prescribing a diet by using this link here: https://www.intuitiveeating.org/certified-counselors/.  Yep, I’m on there.

Step 2: Get Treatment

That sounds silly I know but you’d be surprised how many people don’t get treated once the problem is identified.

Whether it’s “just stress” or it’s depression and/or anxiety, it won’t go away with awareness alone.

Some don’t want treatment because they see it as a weakness. They ‘should’ be able to just figure it out. Please know that the chemistry is strong and real. Getting treatment makes you stronger not weaker.

Maybe you don’t want treatment because you think that it’s a forever thing. While sometimes that’s true, often the treatment is just a temporary thing. Like using a crutch with a broken leg. Once it’s healed, then you can start rehab and create a lifestyle that will support your healed self.

This is where the team approach can be very helpful. Maybe the psychologist identified the problem and you need the naturopath or the MD to help with the treatment side.

Step 3: Make lifestyle changes that will last

This is the step that we all want to start at. We want to exercise more and eat better.

When you have steps 1 & 2 in place, you’ll be in a position for step 3 to be successful.

Lifestyle changes need to be slow, steady and sustainable to have any lasting impact. And that’s what you really want right? You don’t a temporary solution. You’ve been there and done that.

It’s time to put the horse before the cart.

Dedicated to helping you find peace and power with your body,

Dr. Kerri

P.S. If you’d like to chat, book a connection call. It’s free and there’s no pressure. If I can’t help, I probably know someone who can.