Podcast: Starting Your Health Journey from Rock Bottom: A Realistic Roadmap

Introduction

Feeling stuck at the bottom of your health mountain?

If you're recovering from surgery, dealing with chronic pain, or facing significant weight loss goals that feel impossible, this episode is for you. Dr. Orlena tackles a heartfelt question from listener Beth about starting a health journey when you're facing real obstacles - not just inconveniences.

In this episode, you'll discover why your previous attempts may have failed and how to create a sustainable path forward. Dr. Orlena shares her revolutionary approach that ditches calorie counting and restriction in favor of a personalized system built on four essential pillars.

**You'll learn:**
- How to create a science-based health system that actually fits your life and limitations
- Why focusing on nourishment instead of restriction is the key to long-term success
- The power of 3-month goal chunks to make your health journey feel achievable rather than overwhelming

Whether you're dealing with physical limitations, emotional eating, or simply feeling desperate about where to start, this episode will help you shift from overwhelm to empowerment. Dr. Orlena's mountain-climbing metaphor will transform how you think about your health journey - from a daunting obstacle to an enjoyable adventure.

**Ready to stop dieting and start thriving?** This episode gives you the roadmap to climb your health mountain one sustainable step at a time.

*Perfect for: Anyone starting their health journey with significant obstacles, those who've tried and failed before, people recovering from medical issues, and anyone tired of restrictive diet approaches.*

Sign up for the Stop Dieting and Start Thriving Video:

https://www.drorlena.com/stop-dieting

Looking for support? Book a free call with Dr Orlena: https://bookme.name/drorlena/positively-healthy-chat-with-dr-orlena-fb

Transcript

Hello. Hello. Welcome to Fit and Fabulous with the Dr. Orlena. Exciting. I am recording from so many places. I'm sure something will go wrong. Okay, today I have a question from Beth who says, on your podcast, could you discuss starting the Healthy journey from a really unhealthy point, like recovering from surgery?

Having heart or knee problems, having a large amount of weight to lose, which may make exercise uncomfortable or difficult, et cetera. Some of us start our health journey with obstacles and feel desperate, and then she adds your advice. Always seems so sensible and achievable. I would appreciate your thoughts on making weight loss feel possible.

Thank you. So first of all. I just want to congratulate anybody who is feeling in this situation because I know that it can feel really difficult. I always think of our journey as climbing a mountain, and when you are standing at the bottom of the [00:01:00] mountain and you are looking up and thinking, oh my goodness, that mountain seems a long way away.

It can feel really daunting and really overwhelming. And I don't know if any of you have ever climbed a mountain. I did actually when I was, oh my goodness, I must have been 26 so young and like able to just walk up a mountain without any training. And I climbed the Atlas Mountains in Morocco with a friend of mine.

And actually it was fabulous. It was an amazing experience and we just, took one step at a time and we did we had a guide who took, who went with us and I think it was like two days walking up and a day walking down, and we slept a night there, I think. I can't remember the details. It's such a long time ago, but actually it wasn't as difficult as we thought.

Partly because I would say we prepared, we didn't our guide prepared, but we did have a guide with us. We had somebody to make it easier for us. So first things first, [00:02:00] give yourself, as my dad would say, a pat on the back and really congratulate yourselves for going, okay, do you know what I'm gonna do this?

And particularly if you have tried things in the past and you may have had some success. But ultimately you end up going, this just fell by the wayside, and I know that's a story for so many people. I tried this. It worked for a bit. I tried something else. It worked for a bit. I tried something else.

I work. It worked for a bit. And the problem with that story is. It leads you to believe nothing is gonna work for me. And it's when you start out on your journey with this mindset of, oh my goodness, it's gonna be difficult. It's gonna be hard. Do I really want to do this? Because it's gonna be so difficult.

And part of where you want to get to is mindset. So as I say, number one, congratulate yourself, number two. I think you really need to think [00:03:00] about your system. So I always think this is where you are. Place A, which often is represented by frustration, overwhelm, and where you want to get to is place B, which is confident or ease or freedom or something like that.

And you have to think about how you are gonna get from one to the other. And the answer is in some terms, super simple. There are two steps. You need a system that works for you. I'm gonna repeat that 'cause it's so important. You need a system that works for you. And when I say works for you, what I mean is obviously you have to have a system that is based in science.

So you know, you do have different options. It might be that you want to try keto diet. It's not something I teach. I personally don't think in the long term it is super healthy for you, but it can definitely be very helpful for people who have a lot of weight [00:04:00] loss to lose and they feel very stuck. So like it is something to consider.

It's not something that I teach, but you do have different options. So it does have to be based in science. We do have to have some research around it to know is this like reasonable? Nobody's gonna say, Hey, just eat donuts and that's gonna help. Side note, it's not like you can't ever eat donut.

But more than that, it has to fit with your life. You have to enjoy it. It has to fit with your body too. So what I mean by that is, for example, take dairy. Some people don't want to eat dairy, and some people do think about protein as well. Some people want to be vegetarian and some people want to eat meat.

And on top of that, you've got like ethical questions like what you consider important to yourself. You've also got. Where are you gonna get your protein from? So this is this idea that it really has to fit with your life. It can't be somebody just [00:05:00] giving you a piece of paper and saying, here, do this, and keep doing it, because that isn't tailored to you and your life.

So a much more empowered way of doing things is to understand the framework so that you can then apply it to your life. So you need a system that works for you, and then you need to have step two is to just keep doing it and just keep doing that. And on one level that sounds super easy, but on another level, you need to get the system right.

I hear so many people who say, I tried this and I tried that and I tried this, and it stopped working. And when we think about why it stopped working, the bottom line is that system did not work for them. They did not enjoy it. They did not find, they didn't find it easy. They found it restrictive or a challenge or something that just didn't fit in their life easily.

And it was difficult to maintain. Now, I'm not saying you can carry on doing the things that you are doing, because clearly that is what they [00:06:00] say. You can't expect to keep doing the same things and get a different result. You do have to make changes, but you have to think about those changes, and you have to think about those changes in terms of are they sustainable, are you going to keep doing them?

And really another part of this. Is your mindset. So when I work with people, one of the things I do is tell them, do you know what? We're gonna do a reboot. You're gonna give up sugar and flour and alcohol and things like that. And you might say that's a really depriving, that's really restrictive.

And the answer is it's only for two weeks. So it's not for a long period of time, but actually during that period of time, we are really working on your mindset. And so we are really thinking about things that are healthy and good and nourishing and fueling your body, and understanding what impact things have on your body.

Now, at the end of the two weeks, most people are like, oh, actually, I really enjoy this. It's really easy. I've really just found so many healthy [00:07:00] other things that I can eat that I don't really miss the sugar. Having said that, you don't then have to say, I'm never eating sugar again. So you can see how that mindset is really important when we think about restricting ourselves.

Part of that is your brain, because if you are restricting, you desire something that you are not allowing yourself to have. As opposed to if you do the mindset work, you're like, actually, I don't really want to eat this. It's not. Good for my body. It has a negative impact on my body. So for example, take alcohol.

I was a medical student in the uk. Oh my goodness. Medical students drink far too much alcohol. Now I've got to the stage where I will drink a little bit, but not very much, and I. Don't really find that a problem, I don't think, oh my goodness, I'm missing out. I think I don't really like alcohol very much because it makes me feel awful and I don't like feeling awful.

I prefer to not drink the alcohol [00:08:00] and to feel full of energy and joy my next day without feeling hungover, and even a little bit of alcohol has an impact for me. It's not oh my goodness, I have to drink loads and then I feel awful. It's no, I drink a beer and then I can still feel that I don't feel great.

Mindset is really important. Okay, going back to creating your system, you need to find a system that works for you. So I a hundred percent recommend that you watch my video, which is called Stop Dieting and Start Thriving. Now, if you have already signed up for it and you are thinking, okay. I haven't quite make the changes that I want to go and watch it again, I promise you all the information that you need is in that video in terms of what I call the four pillars, what you need to eat.

Exercise, sleep, emotions, stress, all the information is there. Now, clearly that video doesn't apply it to your life because I can't create one [00:09:00] video that applies it to everybody's life. That's the work that I do with my clients, is I help them to create their own system. But the system is there for you.

It gives you the video, it gives you everything that you need, and it also gives you a handout. And the handout arrives like on day two. So if you haven't already signed up. Sign up. I will leave a link so that you can sign up. If you have already signed up and you haven't watched it, you need to go back and find the link.

'cause it doesn't really send it out again. Now, if you are going to go, okay, I want a system, but I'm gonna use somebody else, which, there are loads of people on the internet. What I really. Hope that you do is go with somebody who does not teach you to count calories and does not talk about a calorie deficit.

And I understand that this is really confusing for a lot of people, and I understand that this has been so ingrained in so many people for such a long period of time. But here's the problem with calorie counting and a calorie deficit. The problem for women is [00:10:00] that if we. Starve ourselves. If we do intermittent fasting, if we do calorie deficit, if we don't fuel our bodies properly, what happens is we start to lose our muscle.

Mus, excuse me, muscle mass. We start to use our muscles as an energy source, and that is not a great place to be in terms of short-term weight loss. And long-term strength and health. We want to maintain our muscles. Our muscles are super important for us. Here's a question. When do you get old? You get old, when you get frail, when do you get frail?

When you don't have enough muscle to do the stuff that you want to do? So muscle is really important. Now, you might say, but I've got a friend who does intermittent fasting, and I lost weight, and they lost weight, et cetera, et cetera. Yes, it can help you lose weight, but it's also eating into your muscle mass.

The bottom line is it isn't the best way to either [00:11:00] lose weight and it isn't the best way to have a long and healthy. Life. And all of those studies that were done on intermittent fasting were done on men. So men do get benefits from fasting and they do get benefits from going into a calorie deficit, but the human body is not as simple as that.

And women have a different physiology and it doesn't work like that for us. So what is the answer? The answer is to fuel your body and to be active. And being active doesn't necessarily mean, oh my goodness, I have to do as much exercise as Dr. Orlena who's swimming every single day and cycling. It doesn't have to be like that.

But what I do urge you to think about is, okay, exercise lights me up. I enjoy exercising. So out with calories, out with intermittent fasting. And to come back to Beth's question what do I do if I can't do the exercise? We will get to that in a little bit. So number [00:12:00] one, choose your system. Ideally, the system that I am teaching you, which is as I say, those four pillars, healthy food that is nourishing you, plant-based, doesn't mean you can't eat protein, but you sorry, can't eat meat, but you are looking at protein and fiber.

And fueling your day. Details are in that video, exercise, sleep, stress, and looking at your emotions, particularly if you turn to food for comfort. So you've got your plan, this is what I'm going to do, this is my long-term plan of where I'm gonna get then. Now, if you are starting from a really unhealthy point, as Beth is asking.

Then you are not gonna get there immediately. It's not like you can say I'm gonna get up and run a marathon. You don't start running a marathon tomorrow if you have never run and you want to do a marathon. If you are a healthy person without, issues that are gonna stop you from doing that, of course you can do that, but not tomorrow.

Tomorrow, if you've never run, [00:13:00] you start by running for 30 seconds. You get the couch to 5K and you do that and it will take you, I don't know, like a couple of months to build up to 5K. And then when you've got to 5K, you can do a little bit more and you can get up to 10 and 15 K. And then like in a year's time, depending on like how fit and healthy you are, you could be running a half marathon or a marathon.

Absolutely you can, but not tomorrow. And it's the same with your health and wellness journey. So thinking about, okay, what do I need to prioritize? Right now for me and my clients it, or for the clients that I work with, it depends. Mostly, most people start with nutrition and healthy eating. But some people I actually say, do you know what you need to focus?

You need to prioritize your sleep. You are really getting four hours sleep a night and that is not gonna help you in any way whatsoever. So prioritize your sleep when you've been doing that for a few weeks. We will move on to nutrition. For [00:14:00] other people it might be stress, it might be like the emotional eating piece.

So what is like the worst bit out of all of the pillars and start there. Now, ideally, I would say if you can get some support because it is so much easier for with support, somebody who's gonna tell you, look, do this next, and also work with you so that like it's not. Saying, okay, this is what you have to do.

But like having a conversation with you so that they understand what is going on and saying, this is your best next step, and this is your next best step, and this is your next best step. And that really is the beauty of working with a coach. And there are billions of coaches out there. Obviously I recommend working with me and you are welcome to book a free call and see if my program is what.

Like works for you, but if you want to go with somebody else, I would number one, look at their qualifications to make sure that they understand how the human body [00:15:00] works and they really have a good understanding of what they are teaching, as opposed to just parroting what's, they've done a program and it's given them a bit of information and then you are basically relying on that program being the right program.

So you need to dive into that and you obviously need to have some kind of. Click with them. You can't really have a coach who you don't gel with because they are going to be helping you move forward. So you need a little bit of trust in that person. Now what I also see is a lot of people say, yeah, but it's not that I don't trust you or your your program.

I don't, trust me, I have had so many times when this has failed. I just think this is gonna happen again. That is the mindset piece, and so I really urge you to look at the program that is being offered and think, does it cover the mindset piece? Because if it doesn't, it does depend who you are.

If they're just teaching you about nutrition and exercise, for some people, that is going to be enough, but for most [00:16:00] people it isn't enough, particularly if you're starting from a really unhealthy point, which might mean that you've got some really ingrained habits, which normally are about. Emotional wellness.

But also you're starting from that place of like feeling desperate. That is the mindset piece. If you can start from a place of hope and excitement and enjoyment. It makes climbing the mountain fun. I really enjoyed climbing the mountain in Morocco. It was great fun. So yes, I look up and I think, wow, that like I've got an obstacle I've gotta climb.

But after a bit you are just focusing on the path in front of you and you are enjoying it and thinking, wow, isn't the view amazing? And I never knew I could do this. This is fabulous. So although you've set yourself a daunting task, you should be enjoying it. It should be. Making you feel better. Your energy level should come up.

You should be thinking, yeah, I can do this. So like when I look at my clients, I had a lady recently who just started and she started the [00:17:00] reboot and she said at the beginning, I just told myself, it's just for two weeks. It's just for two weeks. By the end of it, she was saying, oh my goodness, I just feel so great.

My energy levels have come up, and this is so easy that I just feel like I could carry on doing this and doing this. Now you don't have to. You can. Do real life is what I call it, but some people love it so much that they just want to carry on doing it. In a nutshell, Beth, if you are thinking, okay, this just feels like a disaster.

It just feels hopeless and so difficult. It's about focusing on. The next few months. So I think three months is a really good period of time to set a goal for, which is why my program is either 12 weeks or six months. 'cause that's two lots of 12 weeks. But if you start saying, okay, my goal is in a year I'm gonna run a marathon, that's overwhelming.

If you think, okay, my goal in a year is to run a marathon, but by three months what I want to do is be able to do [00:18:00] 5K and then you've got 12 weeks is an easy. Period of time. So if you're thinking about nutrition, it could be okay in 12 weeks, what I want is to have a system where I can eat healthily and it's easy.

I know how to create the food. I enjoy eating healthy food. I've really tackled that emotional eating piece, and I have nailed the nutrition piece and it just feels easy. Then in three months time, you might want to add in another bit, which could be looking at starting to bring in some exercise. And again, if you've got.

Injuries or other issues. You need to think carefully about what exercise you're gonna do, because the first thing you want to do with exercise is not cause an injury. And there's different ways of doing that. It might be that you need to have a personal therapist, a personal trainer to help you or a physiotherapist, but you really want to make sure that you aren't making things worse in terms of [00:19:00] exercise.

So my big message to you, number one, go and watch my video. If you haven't already watched it. If you have watched it and you're thinking, yeah, I need some help, it sounds great, but I need some help, then please feel free to book a call and I will tell you about my program. But really my big message to you is you can do it.

You really can do it, chunk it down into smaller pieces. Let go of overwhelm and just think about the changes that you can do now that feel like, yes, I can do this. It's not the end of the story. After you've made those changes, then you're gonna make some more changes and you're gonna make some more changes and really just keep going, but changing your mindset to.

From weight loss to nourishing your body, fueling your body, thinking about what is in the best interest for your health and wellness. Forget about weight loss. Seriously, weight loss just makes it more complicated. If you focus on health and wellness, the weight loss will follow, but it also makes [00:20:00] it much easier for you to keep going and keep going.

So I hope that was helpful, Beth and everybody. So lovely to chat to you. I hope my live went well. Oh, I'm gonna wave at everybody. Okay. Goodbye.