Most people start their weight loss journey focused on the number on the scale. But if you've talked to anyone who's actually changed how they eat and shifted to real, minimally processed food the scale is rarely the best part of the story.
The changes like better digestion, fewer mood swings, clearer thinking, and deeper sleep are just some of what shows up before significant weight loss does. And these changes are often what keeps people motivated through the journey.
If you sign up for our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss series, chances are good you'll experience positive results; 90% of the class participants do* and experience some other great health improvements.
Why Whole-body Health and Weight Loss are Connected
Nutrient dense, minimally processed food affects nearly every system in your body, not just your weight. Most of the common complaints people bring to a nutritionist trace back to a small number of root causes. Fix those, and a lot of seemingly unrelated symptoms improve alongside the weight loss.
Improved Digestion
Our digestion and gut health plays a role in so many different things in our body: brain function, metabolism, heart health, joint pain, and the list goes on. Think of digestion as a trickle-down effect. If your gut health is out of whack it can compromise all your other goals in life, including weight loss. We teach you how to get your gut health back on track.
Less Stressed Out
Your emotions are directly tied to getting enough quality protein in your diet. Protein makes our feel-good neurotransmitters, serotonin and dopamine. These brain chemicals help us feel calm, relaxed and happy. If you're only eating protein at dinner, which a lot of people do, then it's easy to feel stressed out. Improving your lifestyle habits to support weight loss can feel impossible if you're stressed!
"Before starting this class I was on depression/anxiety meds and still having a lot of mood swings. I took the class for weight loss, but eating the W&W way has decreased my mood swings and I have been a lot happier in general. I was also able to stop those mediations over the course of two class sessions!"
Better Focus
Healthy fats literally feed our brains, which are comprised of 60-70% fat! Eating enough healthy fats helps your brain clear through those scattered or foggy, unfocused feelings. Maintaining good habits is easier!
Healthier Heart
When people think heart, they think cholesterol. For cholesterol concerns, the biggest dietary culprits are high sugar and processed foods, along with refined oils and manufactured fats. Sugar and bad fats can throw off your cholesterol range. We teach how to eat real, whole food for healthy hearts.
Better Lung Capacity
If you're having lung issues, it often shows up as breathing difficulties or asthma, which are both caused by inflammation. When you include more real foods, you're eating an anti-inflammatory diet, which will help reduce flare-ups in your lungs. Better lung capacity allows you to participate in the activities and movement you love, which is also helpful for maintaining weight loss.
More Energy
Tiredness and dips in energy are often caused by blood sugar imbalance. If you're eating high sugar and processed foods, not only might you gain weight but you're riding the blood sugar roller-coaster all day. Your blood sugar is spiking and dipping, therefore your energy is going to do the same thing, leaving you tired, unfocused and looking for your next sugar fix.
Keeping blood sugars in range reduces the risk of diabetes as well as improve your energy levels.
Sinus Relief
Stuffy noses and sinus issues are commonly related to a food sensitivity, and more often than not dairy is causing the congestion. Think of those sinuses as just another airway, so inflammation can impact them just as easily as the lungs mentioned above. Often inflamed sinuses can lead to headaches and difficulty breathing. Counteracting that inflammation with an anti-inflammatory diet will help!
In our weight loss program, we can help you determine if food sensitivities are an issue for you and the other variables impacting the health of your sinuses.
Clear Skin
To thrive your skin needs hydration (you knew that!) and healthy fats (this one surprises many). Fats are critical for keeping skin plump, pliable and glowing.
Back to inflammation (noticing a theme here?), acne is another form of inflammation, so our real food, anti-inflammatory diet can help.
Also back to gut health, if your intestinal tract isn't functioning well or is also inflamed, it can show up as skin issues, acne, psoriasis, eczema, rashes, etc.
Maybe you've tried medications for your skin. Let's try supporting it from the inside out!
Restful Sleep
Sleep is a common underlying issue for many clients that seek out our nutrition counseling, with good reason! Poor sleep can impact every area of health, including weight loss. Difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep are some of the top complaints when patients schedule their appointment. When your body isn't getting enough sleep, this can cause more cravings and feelings of hunger during the day, which can impact your weight loss goals.
In our weight management program, we share many sleep tips to help you fall asleep and stay asleep so you are rested when you wake up.
Improved Joint Mobility
Good healthy fats are needed to lubricate your joints, and protein is needed to make cartilage in our joints. Food sensitives leading to inflammation may result in more pain and cartilage breakdown.
Your nutritionist appointment, one of the optional weight management tools to include with Nutrition 4 Weight Loss program, can help you reduce the pain and inflammation in your joints.
Strong Immune System
70-80% of the immune system is in your gut, so if you have a healthy gut, your immune system will be stronger. A balanced diet is critical for immune health, which Nutrition 4 Weight Loss explains in detail, with facts such as eating enough protein to make enough white blood cells.
Sustainable Weight Loss
Finally, for all those who have been there, done that, with the “eat less, exercise more” mentality, and still haven't seen the weight loss results (or the results were hard to maintain), the Nutrition 4 Weight Loss program helps explain how eating nutrient-dense food (and a lot of it, no starvation diet here!) will help you lose weight. With our eating plan, you'll finally be working with your biochemistry not against it.
See what we mean? Our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss program isn't just moving the needle on the scale, it's so much more! Progress can feel slow when you focus just on the scale numbers, but you start to feel some of these other health benefits in your body right away.
Client Weight Loss Success Stories
Lisa wanted help with her digestion, she lost weight too:
Lisa enrolled in our twin cities weight loss program after feeling terrible bloating and upset digestion after traveling. She says, "The very first class was life-changing for me. A light bulb went on in my head—I knew this class was going to help me and I was right. Within two weeks, I was sleeping better and noticing weight loss."
Some of her other health concerns were sinus infections, chronic coughing, arthritis pain in her foot, migraines, digestive issues and excess weight as a result of early menopause. "At times, my health issues held me back from enjoying an active lifestyle and being active every day is important to me."
After taking the Nutrition 4 Weight Loss classes and meeting with a nutritionist in a consultation, Lisa found she was sleeping better, no longer getting sick as frequently, her foot pain was gone, and she was handling her stress better because she now knows how to balance her blood sugar.
"A doctor once told me that I would never be able to lose weight because my metabolism was so screwed up from going through early menopause. This left me feeling hopeless and I thought I’d never lose weight. In fact, my initial goal in coming to Nutritional Weight & Wellness was to get my digestion back on track, not lose weight. But along with getting healthy and feeling so good, the weight just starting coming off and I wasn’t even thinking about it! Now I’m 30 pounds lighter and feeling healthier than ever."
Bonnie enrolled with her daughter...
Before starting our weight management program, Bonnie attended a nutrition consultation with one of our nutritionist, where she discovered she had a gluten intolerance. She made success after healing her gut, but found herself slipping back into old habits... she wanted regular support to help improve her lifestyle habits.
"After hearing about the weight loss program in the newsletter, I called my daughter who was also struggling with her weight. We decided to enroll together since we were both in a place where we were ready to commit to our health."
Through the Nutrition 4 Weight Loss program, she and her daughter worked together to prepare meals and hold each other accountable. Her daughter has lost 28 pounds and Bonnie's lost 23 pounds.
"I am so thankful for this class and what I have learned. I have so many go-to recipes now that I can make so I always have my fridge stocked with real food and can easily implement the real food message I learned from class in my everyday life. My family has always loved to cook, but we weren’t cooking the right things. Now, I feel like a resource for my family and can help them figure out the source of their own cravings. Why would we not keep doing this? We feel good about ourselves again.”
Anita stopped restrictive dieting and has better energy
Anita came to Nutritional Weight & Wellness with the initial goal of losing weight. She had a number of experiences and successes on other diet programs, only to gain back what weight she had worked hard to lose.
"I felt I needed to lose weight and I felt I needed to get tough with myself and get serious with myself because I needed to lose weight. I was tired of being the weight I was and feeling like I did. I got really serious and would start to lose weight, but not feel great. I want to say white knuckling when I look back at it."
When she started her weight loss journey with us, she didn't find the usual starvation diet. Instead of having to deny and restrict herself to have success losing weight (which only caused more weight gain later), she tried our different approach to weight loss, focusing on whole foods in balance throughout the day.
"One of the messages I've gotten from Nutritional Weight and Wellness is that you want to eat to feel good. And if you feel good, you probably have a better chance of dropping unwanted weight and just wanting to do more in your life because you have more energy, more vitality, more zest. And this is from the food I'm eating. And not only that, but who knew; real food tastes good. It really is tasty. And one of my favorite things about this program is the recipes. I think they're just so fun."
Anita stopped focusing on the scale - in fact she donated it! - and now focuses on what foods to eat to make her feel better. She feels good about the health of her body and she continues nutrition education to help her maintain a healthy lifestyle and lasting results.
"That is what keeps me coming back. There's so many resources. There's so much support and I need support. I need daily reminders because out there we get daily reminders of three fast food joints on every block."
Ready to lose weight AND see health benefits?
There's a lot of information in the news about obesity, weight loss surgery, weight loss medications, bariatric surgery, and medical weight loss solutions. We know it can feel overwhelming when trying to figure out the right next step for your health. This is why we provide holistic, sustainable weight management options that have your overall well-being and busy schedule in mind.
Nutrition 4 Weight Loss is Not a Diet.
It's a Lifestyle!
Focus on nourishing and healing your body with real food to support a healthy, natural weight loss!
No gimmicks, no pre-packaged food, no embarrassing weigh-ins, no putting your life on hold, no counting calories, no starving, no fad diet... Simply eat REAL food, in balance!
Nutrition can provide help and hope for every health concern...we have seen many clients successfully lose weight without weight loss surgery, manage a range of chronic health conditions, and feel better in their body than they ever have.
If you are facing challenges with weight management, pain and inflammation, cravings, upcoming surgery, diabetes, losing weight, or any chronic health condition, we can help you change your life with good nutrition.
When it comes to weight loss and/or weight management, and you want personalized care rather than our group class, you can schedule an appointment for a nutrition consultation appointment. We'll discuss your medical history and goal to lose weight and help you develop an individual weight management program for you to achieve your weight loss goals.
Not in MN? No problem, we offer online appointments with our dietitians and nutritionists.
Learn more about who we are and our expertise.
Nutrition consultation is often covered by insurance, so check to see if your insurance policy includes coverage.
*Most people following the Nutrition 4 Weight Loss Program can expect to lose one pound or more per week, but because everyone is unique, individual weight loss results vary.
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