CLIENT: Wendy

  • Female, late 50s
  • Pescatarian (plants + eggs + dairy + fish)
  • Married
  • Bloated at the end of every day. Digestion is not working well. She wondered why she could not tolerate the foods that she used to eat anymore.
  • Exercises regularly but has gained 15 pounds, even though eating habits have not changed; because of the menopause transition (around the midsection), clothes don't fit, and it's slowly getting worse and worse.

Weight Loss Goal: While working towards better digestion, Wendy wanted to lose 15-20 pounds and gain continued weight maintenance as a lifestyle post-menopause. She wanted a greater understanding of what is best to eat and how to exercise to support weight, health, and longevity.

Here's What We Did

  1. Digestion: Our digestion weakens as we age and life's stressors catch up to us. Wendy needed a stomach breakdown boost. We replenished pancreatic digestive enzyme power as well as stomach acid power so that when she ate a salad, she had the enzymic ability to break down the fibers and food into nutrients. She took supplements for about 3 months to aid in digestion, and we encouraged cooking over raw foods.
  2. Protein + Fat at Each Meal: Eating protein with fat at each meal was super helpful for Wendy. She finally felt full and satisfied with her food and didn't need to grab food between meals like she had been doing for years prior. Giving Wendy the know-how to feel full was impactful, and it allowed Wendy to get off the blood sugar roller coaster and eat for fuel.
  3. Lemon Water + Teatime: Wendy supported her digestive firepower by starting each water bottle with lemon and regularly adding afternoon herbal tea with her snack. This helped keep the bloat away, added hydration, and allowed her to slow down and enjoy her much-needed PM snack.
  4. Salads for Lunch: Wendy's new regular lunch was either tuna salad or egg salad boats with lettuce wraps. When she got tired of that, she would meal prep big salads with hard-boiled eggs, smoked salmon, or garbanzo beans for the week with lots of delicious dressing.

Mindfulness + Portions
We eliminated out-of-control eating in the afternoons. Wendy was under-eating in the AM and overeating in the PM all the way to bedtime. She would undereat until about 3 pm and then graze through dinner prep, dinner, and after dinner. When she started having timed meals and snacks, that gave her confidence that more food would come through the day and less food would be consumed at one time, but she wasn't hungry or hungry. Working on food security via timed meals/snacks helped Wendy to eat more balanced throughout the day.

Exercise Change Up
Wendy continued doing yoga and walking as her regular exercise. She also added some strength resistance band training to her routine for gentle weight-bearing exercise.

Accountability + Planning
Proteins were both plant and animal, and 30% protein meant she had to plan at least one snack to be protein-rich (hard-boiled eggs, smoothies, etc.) Carbohydrates primarily came from varied, colorful veggies (summer's bounty helped keep it interesting), and her preferred pescatarian fat choices were smoked salmon, crab cakes, white fish, lots of olive oil, avocado, and nuts/seeds.

Wendy's husband was the primary cook, and we put him to work so that when Wendy opened the fridge, she had delicious options ready.

The Outcome 
Repaired digestive issues, bloating is much better, and Wendy was able to lose 1-2 pounds per week over 3 months, losing 18 pounds total. Wendy has food confidence and consistency going into the future.

Wendy's Macros: 15% Carbs, 55% Fat, 30% Protein