Weight Loss Success Stories
Real client eating and accountability plans with real results!
Case Study #1
Renee
Female, mid-30s
Workout history: Orange Theory Fitness, (aggressive interval training) 4-5 days week
Food history: Clean eater generally during the work week
Drinking: Both nights of the weekend as well as sometimes during the week for work engagements; mostly beer, some white wine
Weight issues: Feeling stuck even though working out schedule is consistent. Suspects diet is the culprit.
Other factors: History of stress from family and work. Pretty significant PMS around cycle. Does not like to cook!
Weight loss goal: 30 pounds and find her best diet for her weight loss goals and weight maintenance forever.
Here’s What We Did:
What to Eat
Renee started on the Healthy Nest Nutrition Weight Loss Journey in mid-January by balancing her blood sugar and spreading her food throughout the day. She was eating breakfast and a large dinner with no snacking and regularly getting “hangry.”
Next, we strongly encouraged Renee to drink more water. Water can raise metabolism by 30%. From the start, Renee began dropping sugary foods from her diet and swapping them out for higher quality, more wholesome foods. She swapped her Starbucks latte for the egg bites for breakfast, and eventually a homemade egg muffin. She chose salads with protein instead of sandwiches for lunch (or no lunch). She ate snacks as needed (which was new). We stopped the daily office candy habit.
For dinner, we began a new routine of food delivery options that were lower in carbs and higher in proteins and healthy fats. She had never really planned on a regular basis for dinner. We created a plan for her that took her work schedule, activity level needs and level of patience in the kitchen into account that matched her macronutrient needs.
Mindfulness
Most impactful, we changed HOW Renee was viewing her food. She was viewing her food as the enemy (because no matter what she ate, she couldn’t lose weight). Now Renee is viewing her food as FUEL and a couple of moments of celebration per week. She feels in control and is much happier because she is choosing her food for her body.
Accountability
The holistic nutritionists at Healthy Nest connect with Renee 2x/week via an online app. We watch her daily food intake and make helpful swap suggestions as needed. Because there is plenty of support between sessions, Renee feels she has a team helping her succeed. She has more confidence in what her body needs because she is watching her food on a real-time basis and has daily goals to hit (percentages of carbs, fats and proteins). These numbers are individual and can range significantly because of bio-individuality. We worked hard to figure out Renee’s macronutrients for her weight loss goals and monitored them as she moved toward her goals. Healthy Nest personalized Renee’s nutrition plan by finding her ideal numbers.
Outcome
Renee averaged 1.5 pounds per week and lost her weight in about 4 ½ months, all the while, she continued to socialize, travel and maintain her busy engaged life. She has maintained her weight loss because we taught her how to eat for her body. Renee created new habits she will have forever. Her macros consisted of 50%Fat, 25% Carbs, 25% Protein.
Case Study #2
Valerie
Female, mid-50s. Busy mom of two teenagers. Works full time.
Workout history: Walks in the neighborhood with friends sporadically on the weekends.
Food history: Grab-and-go eater
Drinking: Wine every night with dinner
Weight issues: Feels stuck. Has middle weight gain (the beginnings of the apple body shape). Has dieted most of her adult life. Can’t figure out why she can’t lose weight.
Other factors: Self-confessed sugar problem–grabs a handful of dark chocolate chips each night after kitchen clean up. Likes to cook, but doesn’t have a lot of time during the week.
Weight loss goal: 15 pounds, and to keep it off
Here’s What We Did:
Breakfast and lunch were nonexistent in Valerie’s routine. She would grab food at meetings or eat nuts on the run until lunch. Many days, lunch was in the office at her computer. Sometimes she would eat a salad, other times she would eat whatever was ordered for a work meeting. If she was super busy, she would eat protein bars. Dinner was Whole Foods Market or takeout with wine.
What to Eat
We started Valerie with timed eating to ensure her blood sugar was balanced and she wasn’t getting “hangry,” which causes internal stress and promotes weight gain. The timed eating was very important to give her a sense of strength and balance.
Next, we encouraged Valerie to get some glassware with sealable tops so that we could tackle mid-day food planning.
We decreased sugar and increased proteins and healthy fats in her diet via protein shakes in the AM and an afternoon snack of veggies with yummy dip. Dinner leftovers became the backbone for delicious lunches she could count on during her busy work weeks. Dinners were made in advance on the weekend in batches and the freezer was stocked. Some delivery services were used to help with dinners, but they were lower in carb and all whole food.
Mindfulness
Valerie was viewing dinner time as a celebration–EVERYDAY! And had lost sight of the need to fuel her body. She was feeling badly about herself because she was judging herself via her food choices, sugar cravings and energy swings. She was restricting her food during the day and would be starving–and so she would let loose at night. There was a wine habit at dinner. Front loading her food gave her the sustained energy she needed to be calmer about her dinner choices. The wine habit was replaced by wine occasionally–and a kombucha mocktail during the week with dinner. The sweets after dinner habit was dropped slowly but surely.
Accountability
Valerie just needed someone to hold her accountable to HER! She needed someone to tell her it was OK to prioritize her needs as much as her kids, clients, parents and everyone else’s. Her family began to all eat the same foods, sitting down and eating together most nights. Her food became a source of calm for her instead of a stresser. Logging her food helped to break the habit of NOT planning her food life. She realized that if she planned, it was a much more balanced day. If she didn’t, she saw her macronutrients skew toward lots of carbs, which was NOT working for weight loss.
Outcome
Valerie lost 15 pounds over 12 weeks, just in time for summer shorts weather. She needed quite a bit of healthy fat in her diet for sustained weight loss. Her macros were 55% Fat, 20% Carb and 25% Protein per day.
She worked hard, focusing on her food choices, food timing, food prep and planning. She was able to eliminate the party atmosphere of dinner and started a more consistent endurance-style fat-burning exercise routine. She continues to work on prioritizing her needs. This is a true case of “if mamma isn’t happy…nobody’s happy.”
Case Study #3
Paul
Male, mid-30s
Workout history: Weekend warrior exerciser (biker in the summer, skier/snowboarder in the winter). Used to be more active, but now has a desk job and travels for work.
Food history: Inconsistent eater; sometimes salads, sometimes burgers and pizza. Tries to be healthy, but doesn’t always order appropriately. Needs consistency.
Other factors: Likes to cook but doesn’t know how. Does not have a sweet tooth. Has a salty tooth.
Weight loss goal: Stuck at 30 pounds. Needs a reset routine.
Here’s What We Did:
What to Eat
Paul travels for work each week, so his plan HAD to be travel friendly. We found snacks and meal replacements that he could take on trips and tweaked his regular menu choices. Initially, in the AM, whether home or away, he would start his days with eggs and bacon, no bread or potatoes. No pastries. Then, he would have a nut butter packet with a piece of fruit for morning snack. Lunch was salad with protein (chicken, steak or fish). Dinner was normally out with clients at a steakhouse (not a pasta restaurant). Instead of digging into the bread basket, he was ordering differently and including a nice side salad, which was plenty of food to keep him engaged. This was a new routine he could sustain and he felt much much better.
About halfway through his weight loss journey, Paul seemed to stall. We began an intermittent fasting routine of fasting for 14-16 hours. We also upped his workout consistency. He used hotel gyms before starting his days and used apps on his phone to jumpstart his effort.
Paul got a new water bottle and began drinking water instead of Gatorade. He began cooking at home–veggie frittatas, homemade breakfast/snack bars and chia pudding. He learned how to grill fish and meats and roast veggies and make salads. We supported his cooking interest with lots and lots of seasonal and delicious menus and recipes. He learned to enjoy the planning/prepping and most of all eating yummy food AT HOME whenever possible instead of going out.
Mindfulness
We worked very hard with Paul to identify appropriate portions for his body. Since he was OUT of his kitchen, more than IN his kitchen, he was relying on restaurants to give him appropriate amounts of food–instead of listening to his body and eating according to how hungry he was.
Also, Paul monitored his liquor intake during his dinner meetings. We set some boundaries around liquor consumption during work events. We used spices to help with his salt cravings.
Accountability
We set macronutrient goals for Paul. He is very goal-oriented and this seemed to be an easy way to check his food.
Outcome
Paul lost almost 50 pounds in just under a year. It was a low and sustained loss, and during that time he built a great foundation of healthy eating. Paul needed a bit more protein than the norm. He felt best at 35% Protein, 30% Carbs, 35% Fat.