How Physicians Can Start Weight Loss So They Can Actually Keep Going

Another Monday morning. You’re standing in your kitchen at 5:30 AM, meal prepping like your life depends on it. You’ve thrown out all the chips. You’ve stocked up on protein and vegetables. You’ve told yourself this time will be different.

And maybe it is. For three weeks. Maybe even a month if you’re really pushing.

Then clinic runs late three days in a row. A patient codes. Your kid’s school calls. And suddenly you’re eating whatever you can grab between patients, promising yourself you’ll get back on track tomorrow.

But tomorrow is busy too and you feel yourself losing traction on those habits you fought so hard for. And then you blame yourself 😣.

Why Starting Wrong Keeps You Stuck

Here’s what nobody tells you about weight loss as a physician: How you start determines whether you can keep going.

For years, Just like you,  I kept starting the same way. I’d get motivated, change everything at once, put a timeline on it, and white-knuckle my way through with pure willpower. And it worked—until it didn’t.

I thought I was failing. I thought there was something wrong with me that I couldn’t just stick to it like everyone else seemed to.

But looking back now, I can see the real problem: I was setting myself up to fail from day one.

The Six Strategies That Actually Work Long-Term

If I had to start over tomorrow—with everything I know now—here’s exactly what I’d do differently.

1. Chuck the Timeline Out

I know this feels wrong. We’ve been taught that goals need timelines. That you should lose a pound a week. That you need deadlines to stay motivated.

But when it comes to weight loss, timelines create pressure. They make you try to force your body to do something on a schedule it may not be ready for. And when the scale doesn’t cooperate? You feel like you’re failing, even when you’re doing everything right.

The reality is: You’re playing a long game here. Even when you hit your goal weight, you need to keep going. There’s no finish line where you never have to think about this again.

So stop putting artificial timelines on your body. Stop saying “I need to lose 20 pounds by my conference.” Your body is complex. Your life is unpredictable. Timelines just add stress you don’t need.

If you really want a timeline, put it on things you actually control—like working on your evening snacking for the next month. Not on what the scale does.

Quick test: If thinking about your timeline makes you feel panicky or bad about yourself, it’s not helpful. Let it go.

2. Get Clear on What You Really Want

“I want to lose weight.”

That’s usually the first answer. And yes, you probably do want to lose weight. But weight on its own isn’t a very good motivating strategy.

It helps you start. But it doesn’t help you keep going.

I can tell you from personal experience—once you’ve lost some weight, once your clothes fit better, suddenly that scale number isn’t that motivating anymore. You need something deeper.

What do you think losing weight will give you?

• The ability to move without pain?
• Energy to keep up with your kids after a long clinic day?
• Confidence to stop hiding behind your white coat?
• Freedom from obsessing about food constantly?

Find the thing that really lights you up. The thing that makes you feel excited from the inside. That’s your real goal.

For me, it was “I want to be the type of person who keeps up with my athletic friends.” That pulled me forward way more than any scale number ever did.

3. Choose a Simple Habit That Supports Your Eating

Here’s where most of us go wrong: We get really food-focused at the start. What am I eating? What am I giving up? How much am I tracking?

But there are habits that aren’t directly about food that make your food choices so much easier.

For me, it’s this: “All I need to do is get my head on straight.”

That means sitting down to journal. Maybe some meditation. When I do that, I feel calm. And when I feel calm, making choices about food isn’t a big deal.

When I skip that? When I’m just trying to make food choices without getting my head on straight first? Everything feels stressful and hard.

Other examples of simple habits might be…

• “All I need to do is go to sleep 30 minutes earlier”
• “All I need to do is drink more water through my clinic day”
• “All I need to do is pack my lunch while cleaning up dinner”
• “All I need to do is plan out my day the night before”

The key is finding something simple enough that you can do it even on your most brutal weeks. Something that sets you up for success with your eating without being about the food itself.

4. Don’t Change Your Entire Eating at Once

It’s so tempting to flip everything on its head. Out with the bad, in with the good. Total transformation.

But here’s the problem: When you change everything at once, you become inefficient around food.

You have to think more. Recipes take longer because they’re unfamiliar. You can’t just order what you always order. And that increases the mental load at a time when you’re already drowning in work.

At some point, your brain is going to say, “You know what? It’s just easier the other way.”

Instead, pick one or two changes at a time. Give yourself time to adjust. Then add another change.

And here’s the important part: Pick the changes that feel easy.

If you don’t care about bread? Great, give up your sandwich at lunch. If you love bread? Don’t start there. Pick the low-hanging fruit. Build momentum. Trust that the harder changes will get easier later.

5. Track More Than the Scale

The scale is such a one-dimensional measurement. You don’t have direct control over what it does, no matter how “good” you are.

And here’s what breaks my heart: I bet most of you have had times where you were actually succeeding, making real changes—but the scale didn’t move fast enough, so you decided you were failing and gave up.

Track other things:

• Body measurements (more helpful than the scale)
• Consistency scores (rate yourself 1-10 each day)
• Specific habits you’re working on
• Craving intensity
• Energy levels
• How your clothes fit
• How you feel in your body

Give yourself credit for all the changes that are happening beyond what the scale says.

Real talk: I haven’t weighed myself in over a year and a half. I thought I needed the scale to stay successful. Turns out, I don’t. I focus on how my body feels, my energy, what helps my back pain. And that matters so much more to me than a number.

6. Make Small Adjustments, Not Giant Swings

When things aren’t working, we want to change everything. Restrict more. Try a new diet. Start over completely.

Think of this like a science experiment instead.

You don’t change the entire experiment. You change one variable at a time and see what happens. Give it time to work. Assess whether it was helpful.

Variables you can adjust:

• Sleep amount
• Stress management
• Water intake
• Exercise type or amount
• Specific meal timing
• Portion sizes at certain meals
• Types of snacks between meals

Make one small change. Give it a week or two. Notice what shifts. Keep what works, adjust what doesn’t.

When you do this, you build deep knowledge of what actually works for YOUR body in YOUR life. And that knowledge is power. That knowledge means you never feel out of control again.

The Most Important Piece

If you want to start so you can keep going, you have to believe that doing it differently is actually better.

All those times you started before—with the timelines and the perfection and the huge changes—you have evidence that approach doesn’t work for you.

So doing it differently isn’t just okay. It’s necessary.

This is about the long game. This is about creating changes you can maintain for the rest of your life, not just forcing yourself through another three-week sprint.

You Don’t Have to Figure This Out Alone

I spent so many years struggling on my own. Starting over every Monday. Feeling like a failure because I couldn’t just stick to it.

What I needed was someone who understood—really understood—what it’s like to counsel patients on nutrition while secretly eating takeout in your car. Someone who got why the standard diet advice doesn’t work when you’re charting at 10 PM and haven’t eaten since your 30-second lunch at noon.

That’s why I created Thrive Academy for Physicians. Because female physicians shouldn’t have to figure this out alone while carrying all the shame that comes with “knowing better.”

Inside, you get direct access to me. You bring me what you’re struggling with—the vacation you’re worried about, the binge that happened last night, the call week that derailed everything—and we work through it together.

It’s not on your to-do list anymore. It’s not something you have to sort out yourself between patients.

Learn more and submit an application at start2thrive.ca. The application is just your chance to tell me what’s going on. There’s never any pressure to join—it’s about making sure it’s a good fit and that I can actually help you.

You’ve tried starting so many times. Let’s make this the last time you have to start over.

Listen to episode 337 below today and share it with your Physician friends.