TRANSFORMING HEALTH AFTER 60
One of Australia's Most Popular Podcasts with Hundreds of 5 Star Reviews
Grab your FREE Ebook copy now!
Have you struggled to lose weight and keep it off?
Start your journey to boost metabolism and transform your body into a fat-burning powerhouse.
Episode 230:
Show Notes
Episode 230:
Transcript
Dr Mary Barson (0:04) Hello, my lovely friends. I am Dr Mary Barson.
Dr Lucy Burns (0:09) And I'm Dr Lucy Burns. We are doctors and weight management and metabolic health experts.
Both (0:16) And this is the Real Health and Weight Loss podcast!
Dr Mary Barson (0:17) Hello lovely friend, welcome, welcome, welcome. I am Dr Mary and today I am really excited to be joined by a special guest, the one and only fabulous Maria. Maria is one of our Momentum members. She is a truly excellent human. She is a 63-year-old woman who previously has tried every diet under the sun and has found a way to make real health and real weight loss sustainable for her and she's here today to share her wonderful transformation, having not only lost weight and kept it off but also transformed her mindset around food, loving and enjoying real food. She has reduced inflammation, got rid of knee pain and has made fantastic, fantastic long-lasting gains. So excited that you're here. Welcome, welcome Maria. Thank you. Tell us a bit about yourself.
Maria Cunningham (01:21) Okay, well as you said I'm 63 years old and retired this year but I've actually had a last year off as well and I've tried all the diets in the whole world like Dr. Lucy has mentioned in previous sessions and yeah got to the end of them and sometimes I was successful and sometimes I wasn't. At the end of it would start eating the wrong foods again and put all the weight back on plus some. So I think over the decades I've gone up 10 kilos every decade.
Dr Mary Barson (0:02) No that’s alright. So how long do you think prior to your real food revolution, how long had your struggle with weight been going on do you reckon?
Maria Cunningham (02:17) Since I've had kids probably, so my son's 37, so 37 years. Yeah and probably even before that too because of body image and stuff and I look back at photos when back then and I think I wasn't that. No. Yeah and that sort of starts it.
Dr Mary Barson (02:36) You're looking back at those photos, oh yes, yes I can relate to that. And what diets have you tried? Just give us a rundown, it's always, it's always interesting.
Maria Cunningham (02:45) Weight Watchers, Michelle Bridges, Kim Beach, I Quit Sugar, I've been to gyms and done 12-week challenges, actually won one. Amazing! I'm a rule follower. And yeah just everything like the 800 diet, the 500 diet, the soup diet, everything.
Dr Mary Barson (03:15) All the diets, yeah. You say that you know short-term success but all the weight came back on and now you're doing really well. So could you share with us, yeah, your journey?
Maria Cunningham (03:38) There's no turning back from this, yeah. I'm just, yeah, I'm in this journey and like I just, I don't know, it's just changed my whole mindset and it's, this has been different from everything else I've ever done and I was thinking about this this morning and it's because we have you guys in our, in our pocket every week and we actually talk to you. We're not having some video telling us what to do and how to do it and log your thing here and then, you know, you're sort of by yourself. We've got you guys supporting us the whole way and it's just, I don't know, it's life-changing for me. I just, it's almost like my husband watches soccer all the time and for me I watch you guys all the time and every time I watch something, I might even sit in the background and listen to what you're saying but I'm there and you're live and I get a pearl of wisdom every single time. But I mean, someone would ask a question, I'll think, oh, I mean, I did want to know that and I might not have thought to ask it but they've asked it so it's just brilliant. The whole program and the support is just brilliant.
Dr Mary Barson (04:42) Oh, that's wonderful. So you're a member of our Momentum Inner Circle at the moment and we've got a launch of that coming up soon but could you share with us your journey about like how you found Real Life Medicine or how you found our program and the tenets of our program and so share your journey. I would love it if you could share your story.
Maria Cunningham (05:05) Sure. So I went and had coffee earlier this year with one of my friends and she lost a heap of weight and so we got talking. She said, oh yeah, I'll do low carb now and blah, blah, blah and she was telling me about Jimmy Cakes and I said, oh, can you send me the recipe? Anyway, so she sent me the recipe and then she sent me a little link and she said, oh, I also follow these chicks. Check them out, you know. So I did. I checked it out and I love a podcast so I started listening to podcasts. I listen to podcasts when I go to sleep so I started listening to that and I thought, oh wow, this sort of makes a lot of sense. So then I googled you and then got onto the Real Life Medicine and then I joined your, I think I must have joined your mailing list and then I got a thing to say about blah to huzzah.
Dr Mary Barson (05:49) Ah yes, our free challenge we did earlier in the year. Yeah. Free challenge.
Maria Cunningham (05:53) and I thought, I'm going to try this. So I got on into that and then that finished and I said to my husband, I don't want this to stop. It's only been, I think it's a week, isn't it? I can't even remember now.
Dr Mary Barson (06:00) Seven days, yeah.
Maria Cunningham (00:00) And I said, I'm going to join the program and I'm going to give it to myself for my birthday. And he went, okay. He's always struggling to find me a birthday present. So I gifted it myself for my birthday and I got to the end of the tour. I think it was about 11 weeks or 10 weeks. And I said to my husband, I don't want this to stop. And I said, I can join this momentum program. And he went, oh, join it. He said, I've never seen you so happy. And like, it's fantastic. Wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I joined momentum because I just didn't want it, I just didn't want it to stop because I don't think there's an end to the journey. I think this is my lifestyle now.
Dr Mary Barson (06:47) Oh, so good to hear. We love having you in momentum in a circle with such a wonderful group of women of which you are a very important member. Can you share just what is different for you now compared to before trying all the diets and now with this real food lifestyle and this, you know, the support from momentum and all that, the mindset support, what is different? What has shifted for you?
Maria Cunningham (07:15) Everything else, there was always a start and a stop. So, you know, you're on this journey for 12 weeks and at the end of the 12 weeks, you're going to look fabulous. And I have. And I did. But then that was it. Then you're like out in the wilderness by yourself. And, you know, off you go and just keep doing what you're doing. And I call it the thin edge of the wedge. You'd go away somewhere and, you know, you'd have like a weekend away and you'd eat and then you get home and it just rolled on. And now I realise the thing with this is that you guys have explained to us what the food does and why we're, why we get addicted to sugar and why we get addicted to carbohydrate food or ultra-processed food, I should say really. And it just all makes sense. So now I'm just like, no, I'm not going to do that because I know that it's like, it's like giving up smoking. I would never pick up another cigarette because I know what it does to my body. Now I know what that food's doing to my body. And I think it's the education side of it. I've just felt like I've got to three and only just realised, oh my God, that's what food does. It's not just the feeling in your mouth and the taste in your, you know, there's a lot more to it. And I actually went to a friend's place the other day and she said, oh yeah, this is, this cake was made with almond meal. And so I went, oh yeah, I'll have it. And I started to eat and I went, it's got a lot of sugar in it. She goes, oh yeah, it's got a cup of sugar in it. And I was like struggling to eat it. It was so sweet. And I just, yeah, I did not enjoy it at all, but I sort of struggled through it until we got out.
Dr Mary Barson (08:59) Oh my goodness. It's a dedication to eating cake.
Maria Cunningham (09:04) Just changed my whole mindset. And I think the hypnosis, it's everything. It's like the combination of everything just really, really works. It's a brilliant program. And I just, I'm becoming a bit of a, what do you call it?
Dr Mary Barson (09:22) A zealot. I love it. No, that's all right. You can be a zealot. You can be a Real Life Medicine zealot, a real food zealot.
Maria Cunningham (09:30)Taking people into your programs.
Dr Mary Barson (09:33) That's all good. That's all good. So you've mentioned really beautifully the mindset changes that have happened as you've learnt about how real food nourishes your body, how real food helps your body heal and the dangers of processed foods, and that you're finding real food easy and enjoyable now. But like physically, have you noticed any changes? Tell me about your physical changes that you've noticed.
Maria Cunningham (09:58) Because it's gone now, I forget about it. But in March, I was actually booked in to go and see a surgeon about having a knee replacement. And I put it off. And I thought I'll just put this off for a while. I don't know if I'm mentally ready for this. And my osteoarthritis is, I have not had any pains in my knee since I've stopped eating crap. And honestly, I can squat to the floor, the inflammation has gone out of my knees. So well, I can walk up and down stairs without holding on to something. It's just incredible. So that alone in itself is worth every single minute of eating this bread. Yes.
Dr Mary Barson (10:49) Oh, that's fantastic.
Maria Cunningham (10:50) Obviously, weight loss will help that. And someone said to me, oh, that's because you've lost weight. And I said, well, actually, the pain went before I lost the weight. Yes.
Dr Mary Barson (11:02) Yep. So the reduction of the inflammation you noticed before, you noticed the weight loss.
Maria Cunningham (11:08) Yes. Yeah, because food inflames you and does all this stuff to your inside. So it's totally changed that as well.
Dr Mary Barson (11:17) Oh, it's so good. And you're doing so well. It's so wonderful. You've mentioned that hypnosis. So hypnotherapy is a big part of all of our programs to help safely and calmly and powerfully to help with mindset changes. What other aspects of the Momentum program have been helpful for you?
Maria Cunningham (11:52) So it's everybody else in the group, two like-minded people, people asking questions all the time. And it's really interesting because often I'll think, let's go and write that down and ask that question. And then someone else will ask it. And I'm like, oh, I'm so grateful that people, it's just the information and a lot, the light bulb moments and the analogies, like the woodshed analogy is just brilliant. And Donna Freeman, she actually said something. If you went to the gym and got fit, you don't stop going to the gym. Yes. That really, that is so true. And that's what happens with all the other diets. You go to the gym and get fit or you go to the diet, whatever you want to get out of the diet, but you don't keep doing it. Well, this one you keep doing. Yes.
Dr Mary Barson (12:43) Yeah. And do you think it's easy to keep doing?
Maria Cunningham (12:46) It's a no-brainer. I went away with 20 friends just recently. I was actually really trepidatious about it because Friday night we're having a pizza night. So, you know, everybody would just put in, and of course we're all like traveling to get there. And so I thought, how am I going to do this? I could eat the top of the pizza. I don't really, that's not even appealing. So I thought I'll make my own pizza the night before and took it with me. And nobody even batted an eyelid. I just said, yeah, I just can't eat the base. I said, it really inflates my body. And they went, okay. So I said, I just bought my own and they were happy. We're all sitting around eating. And then the next day we went out for coffee and it was later in the afternoon and, or not late, you know, like after I usually drink coffee. So when I got to the coffee shop, there was kombucha in the fridge. I went, oh, I have a kombucha. Good. Yeah. And I got to the end of the weekend and I thought I navigated the whole weekend. I took crackers because we had to have snacks and things and crackers and stuff. And it was just really, really easy. And I ate around the food that I could eat, didn't touch the stuff. And then on the last night we were there, they brought out this big plate of chocolate and everybody's like diving in and eating chocolate. And they go, do you want some? And I went, oh no, it's not really chocolate. And then I sat back and I didn't have FOMO. And that's probably the first time after a diet or at the end of something that I've got to something and thought, I'm not even tempted. I was not even tempted. And we have chocolate. We have dairy milk, chocolate in our fridge all the time. And I just am not even interested. Whereas before I'd buy two and hide ones for myself and say that I was eating a whole block of chocolate.
Dr Mary Barson (14:35) Yeah, totally. Totally. I love that you don't have the FOMO. So it is absolutely true that you can eat whatever you want, but you can also change what you want. You can change just the lovely good food that serves you.
Maria Cunningham (14:52) I wasn't hungry and there was plenty of food and there was plenty of drinks and stuff. And I just navigated the whole weekend. And I always thought I've done that. I can do that. That sort of now set me up to do that forever as well because I know. And there was another time I went out and had birthday cake and the next day I just felt dreadful. It wasn't a guilt dreadful. I felt like it had done something to my body and I went, okay, don't do that again, because that's how that makes me feel. So yeah, learning all the time.
Dr Mary Barson (15:26) So good. So good. You've already talked to us about this a little bit about like the community in the Momentum Inner Circle. So in Momentum Inner Circle, it's a beautiful group of women all wanting to transform their health together. Dr Lucy and I, we're in there every day, helping you holding your hand. And we've got, we have monthly challenges and we have weekly calls and we have got coaching calls and we've got beautiful accountability groups and all of these sort of aspects that help and support people, all the mindset tools like hypnosis. But you mentioned community before. Could you just tell us a little bit more about your experience of the community and how that helps you?
Maria Cunningham (16:11) Well, it sort of shows you that like people will write when they're struggling or if they've had successes and it sort of shows you how human we all are. We're all together and everybody is really uplifting. So if you're struggling with something and you put something up, there'll be like four or five people will come straight on and go, no, this is what you should do. Or you've got this and this happened to me or something like that. And so you just feel like part of a community. You feel like you belong. So it's really nice to feel like you belong somewhere. So that's, I think, one of the main things I love about
Dr Mary Barson (16:50) belonging. Yeah. A tribe. Especially. I mean, you've come so far and you've learned so much. Can you pinpoint any sort of breakthrough moments along the way, little aha moments where you noticed your perspective on health, wellness and weight loss change as you navigated this?
Maria Cunningham (17:20) I think just being able to go out and not be, as you call it, bullied into eating or, you know, it's not a team sport. So, you know, someone sits down and they go, are you going to have cake, Maria? And I go, oh, no, I don't like cake today. And they go, oh, I'm just going to have cake. And I go, you have cake. You don't have to have cake because I'm not having cake. And I think every day listening to a hypnosis really changed because what it does is it puts it into the top of your sponge. We used to say this at work when I was going to bank that whatever was in the top of our brain would like sift down and then we'd sort of forget about it. So it's always been, we're always being topped up all the time on the right way to do things or ideas or, oh yeah, you know, of course I can go an hour without eating now because like hunger goes away and it does because I distract myself. And I actually quite enjoy it when I do get hungry. I think, oh, this is working. And then when I do it, when I, after I've been hungry, I really enjoy it because I'm eating because my body needs it, not because I'm trying to satiate some feeling.
Dr Mary Barson (18:44) Absolutely. That joy of real food.
Maria Cunningham (18:48) Yeah. And I'll eat dinner of the night and I'll get to a point where I'm full and I go, I'm full. I can't eat anymore. And there might be only like three mouthfuls on the plate, but I think my body's not the bin. So I don't keep eating it.
Dr Mary Barson (19:07) I love it. You're sharing these mantras. My body is not the bin. Eating is not a team sport. These mantras are really helpful.
Maria Cunningham (19:15) They've got in, I'll tell you. It works.
Dr Mary Barson (19:17) I totally got it. That's so good. I love it. I love it. What words of wisdom would you have for other women out there or men too, but who I've been like, you're such, you know, you're not Robbins and Crusoe. I've been there. Lucy's been there. We've all been there of struggling with our weight, trying every diet in the world, being stuck in that yo-yo dieting, you know, horrendous diet rollercoaster. What advice would you have for people out there who really do want to change their health and get better?
Maria Cunningham (19:53) If you want a fully supported weight loss program that will not just help you lose weight, but change the way your body feels, there's no better place than here. It's just brilliant. It's changed my life. It's changed my feelings in my body. Like I don't feel like I have to struggle all the time to get up or walk. You know, I've lost weight. I feel clothes look way better on me. I've got more clothes now. I've actually had to get rid of some, but yeah, I can't recommend it any more highly. Yeah. wouldn't recommend any other diet, but this, and it's, I don't really call it a diet. It's a lifestyle.
Dr Mary Barson (20:42) Well, thank you. Thank you. I'm so happy that you feel that way and that you shared that with us. Thank you so very much. I didn't, I didn't tell her to say that anybody. I promise I didn't.
Maria Cunningham (20:57) No, she didn't tell me to say that. And a lot of my friends will say, no, that's what she says all the time. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr Mary Barson (21:03) Good. Good. I'm so, so pleased that you've got such a wonderful, such a wonderful lasting transformation for yourself, your health, your life. It's just so brilliant. It is wonderful. Thank you.
Maria Cunningham (21:15) I'm so grateful to you guys. And like, I think I told you before, I sometimes go to sleep to your dulcet tones. Yeah. And it is brilliant. And I can't ever imagine not doing this. So yeah.
Dr Mary Barson (21:35) Oh, fantastic. Wonderful. Maria, thank you so much for sharing your fantastic story. I just love it. I just love that you got no pain in your knees, that you're feeling good, that you're feeling free. I just absolutely love that for you so much. So thank you so much for joining us today. We are so grateful for your time and sharing your inspiring story.
Maria Cunningham (22:00) Thank you. Thanks, Dr. Mary.
Dr Mary Barson (22:04)And gorgeous people, if you are interested in learning more about our Momentum Inner Circle, now is the best time to join. You can click the link or check out our website, rlmedicine.com/momentum. This December, we've got a wonderful, wonderful inclusion for our Momentum members, our Santa's Little Helper program, which is everything you need to have a wonderful, easy, stress-free, healthy, fun Christmas and New Year whilst staying on track with your health goals. We can't wait to see you in there. So check it out, rlmedicine.com/momentum.
Dr Lucy Burns (22:54) The information shared on the Real Health and Weight Loss Podcast, including show notes and links, provides general information only. It is not a substitute, nor is it intended to provide individualised medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, nor can it be construed as such. Please consult your doctor for any medical concerns.
