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I want to share with you my 19 foundational beliefs around weight loss through optimal gut health for females.

I was in my 20’s when I started exploring gut health and how it would be that I could heal my gut.

It’s been over 20 years since I first got sick, and during this time I have learned enough things to teach an entire lifetime on.

Don’t Talk About Weight

For years I didn’t talk about weight because I subscribed to the theory that it was a taboo topic.

And honestly?

I’m glad I chose to never touch the topic — until now.

The reason is simple: I hadn’t lived enough life or gone through the things I have to feel as sure and sound as I do on them today.

In my teens, I engaged with every diet under the sun to attempt becoming smaller.

And then in my late teens (first year of college), I fell ill, and never recovered from it.

Once I fell ill that year of college, the weight just creeped up-and-up and so, because I didn’t know any better, I trialed-and-errored with many more insane diets.

My weight would go up and down, but my health only decreased.

It’s only now, in my 40’s that I’m able to look back and truly understand why.

Ugly diets lead to whole-body inflammation; whole body inflammation leads to gut issues galore, and those gut issues galore lead straight back to creeping weight, bloat, and misery.

The cycle is a vicious one; one that I see women in on a daily basis.

19 Foundational Beliefs Around Weight Loss Through Optimal Gut Health for Females

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1. We’ve all heard the quote, “Your weight is the least interesting thing about you.”

I believe this, too.

I also believe that when our weight is way off and you feel miserable, it doesn’t matter. To YOU, your weight will feel like the most important thing to you.

2. You can still have a positive outlook on your body AND want to lose weight.

They can co-exist, and that’s okay.

3. Bloat and weight are not the same things.

But in my 40+ years on Earth I am a firm believe they both have an inflammation component.

4. Mainstream diet culture is rarely synonymous with a true diet for gut health.

…..and this is why, when we follow mainstream diet culture we feel worse.

5. Fat and bloat are not the same things.

…..and even if they were, perhaps the reason we stay fat and bloated is because those are the only two things we’ve stayed hyper-focused on.

6. Doing more does not equal weight loss.

….and doing the right things (for you) will equal reduced weight and bloat.

7. As women, we are usually judged for being too big or too small.

…..but either can be the result of an unhealthy gut, causing gas, bloating, diarrhea, and/or both.

8. It’s only calories in / calories out if your gut microbiome is thriving.

Honestly? That equation is rarely as it seems.

9. You can’t outrun a bad diet, BUT if your gut is healthy you’ll be able to consume all foods, freely.

There should be no reason you can’t indulge from time-to-time. We are not made to be that sensitive.

10. Weight loss can be reversed engineered by understanding your gut.

Believe me on this one!

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11. Losing weight will NOT solve your problems, but healing your gut changes everything.

The more weight I lost on any given insane diet, the unhappier I truly felt. When I lost weight naturally because my gut healed, my life vastly improved.

12. There’s a reason you can’t “lose those last 5 pounds.”

You either:

1. Don’t need to (see “Set Point Theory“) OR
2. Haven’t fixed your gut

13. What worked to lose weight in your 20’s won’t in your 30’s…..

….or 40’s or 50’s or….AND here’s the kicker, so often it’s because of what you did in your 20’s.

14. You can’t TRY HARDER.

No amount of “trying harder” helps. This is because doing so is overwhelming your body even more. As women, we are already overwhelmed and the last thing we need is arbitrary “trying.”

15. Nothing works if the foundations aren’t there.

I stand by my 3 pillars to ultimate gut healing (and weight loss). They are:

1. diagnosis
2. diet
3. lifestyle

And without understanding the nuances of these foundations, bloat and weight linger.

16. Weight gain due to an unhealthy gut will affect every single part of you.

Don’t think that this is only affecting your waistline – far from it. From your mental, to physical, and social being – everything is affected. I see you.

17. Healthy foods are subjective.

Period. End of story. I can’t tell you how many times someone I’m working with has said, “…..why does an apple make me so bloated?” or “I can’t digest chicken and beef.”

On Day 9 in my book, A Gutsy Girl’s Bible, I state,

You are not a pastry – there is no mold that will perfectly fit you.

18. A supplement won’t make everything go away overnight.

…..but they can help get you there a heck of a lot faster.

As I was healing, there wasn’t a day I went without my supplements and I am so grateful for that.

No shame in the added help. We all need it from it time-to-time.

19. The fad diet, weight loss gimmicks, and “gut health” marketing tactics are for the birds.

There, I said it. I already KNOW how you feel because I was once bloated and miserable, too. I had a woman I worked with in the fragrance department at Marshall Fields (yes, totally dating myself with that name drop!) tell me I needed to get rid of my spare tire.

So I KNOW.

And today, on the other side of it all when I see these insane claims; the fad diets, gimmicks and every product out there being marketed for a gut health detox, I cringe.

Because it’s not sustaining. And furthermore, I DARE you to look at the actual ingredients in some of those products. Those exact ingredients will cause more gut inflammation and, in the end, you’ll be left feeling worse than you do now.

Looking Back on Over a Decade of Working with Women

As I reflect on over a decade of helping women heal their guts, there is one common theme —

They are grateful because the bloat is lifted and weight came off.

I think back to Heather, who I worked with in 2012 (yes, over 10 years ago!) who lost 13 pounds after working with me.

At the time, I was only excited because she was healing her gut. But also at the time, I wasn’t even 30 so weight seemed like a non issue to me.

Fast-forward to today and all I’m hearing from women who are finding relief through my resources are those same sentiments; no more bloat and losing weight “without trying.”

And this is because my approach to working with women who are struggling with weight and bloat is to focus on the gut.

If the gut is the seed of the soul, what makes us think we can trash the seed and not expect it to sprout with inflammation, yielding less than desirable results?

That’s right.

It can’t. And it won’t.

What I Know for Sure

Today I am no longer that 18 year old who is suffering in silence with bloating and gas so bad that I can’t even leave the house (eh – dorm room at the time!).

I’m not the 20-something being told everything from Colitis to Perioral Dermatitis to SIBO to infertility and more.

And I’m not even the mid-30-year old wondering if the healing that has occured can last. (Because believe me, once you’ve been sick in the gut for that long, every little sign and symptom feels like it might all be relapsing.)

No.

Now I’m 41.

I no longer engage in anything diet-related; mainstream or not. I’m here to simply eat based on the foundations I created over the past decade.

And I know, with every inch of my being, that’s it’s all because I have focused on one thing and one thing only….

The gut.

Oh, and yes, yes, I DO still wear a bikini from time-to-time and I have no shame in doing so!

If you liked this post on weight loss through optimal gut health, you might also enjoy:

1. Gut Inflammation and Weight Gain
2. Constipation Printable List of High Fiber Foods
3. Can a Food Allergy Cause Weight Gain (Rotten Gut Bacteria, Starving and Weight Gain)

Xox,

SKH