Words of Wellness with Shelly

From GLP-1s to Real-Life Change: A Nurse Practitioner’s Guide to Weight, Hormones, and Telehealth Care

• Shelly Jefferis • Season 2 • Episode 130

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The most life-changing health advice often starts with more time, not more rules. We sit down with nurse practitioner Aly Johnston as she shares how her desire to spend more time with patients and more education in the area of weight management and hormone care led her to offering tele health care and a more personalized approach to her patients. Aly traces her path from family practice to a specialty in metabolic health, explaining why it is critical to be able to spend time with patients without any limitations. and how video visits, check-ins, and thorough lab reviews can truly help patients feel heard and seen and can lead to real, lasting behavior change.

We dive deep into GLP-1s—where they fit, what they really do, and how to use them without sacrificing nutrition. Aly is candid about the economics and access barriers, and she’s equally direct about the fundamentals: most patients arrive under-fueled on protein, low on hydration, and overwhelmed by ultra-processed foods. Her blueprint is refreshingly doable—protein-forward meals, careful hydration, steady movement, and a plan to protect lean mass while the scale moves. Along the way, she shares additional benefits that her patients experience such as inflammation reduction, better glycemic control, and the momentum that builds when appetite and energy finally stabilize.

What makes this conversation different is Aly has  lived this experience herself. After years of weight cycling and a 2021 bariatric surgery, she lost 130 pounds and did the hard psychological work—trauma therapy, binge-eating recovery, and rebuilding her identity in a new body. Her honesty brings compassion to moments that rarely make clinic notes: not wanting to leave the house, avoiding stairs, dreading photos. She also shares how peptides, functional testing, and careful follow-up can support people who have been perhaps misdiagnosed. The message is clear: obesity is a chronic, relapsing disease; success comes from a system that blends medication when needed, counseling, protein and hydration, and small daily healthy action steps that compound.

If you’ve been confused by conflicting advice, this episode offers some clear explanations to solutions that can be beneficial for some. Take a listen, and perhaps take a few notes and then try one small change today for your wellness perhaps an extra 500 steps, 20 more ounces of water, or a protein-rich meal. If this helped, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find thoughtful, practical wellness conversations like this one.

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Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.

Thank you and God Bless! And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
In Health,

Shelly

SPEAKER_00:

For you know, anyone that is obese or going through a weight management journey, um, I would highly recommend going through counseling. It's not gonna feel good, right? It's like there were times I went to counseling and I was exhausted afterward because I was reliving like this trauma that I grew up with in my early adult years.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you get confused by all of the information that bars us every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated, or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing, what foods you should or should not be eating, how to improve your overall emotional and mental well-being? Hello everyone, I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries, and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more. To share tips, education, and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker, and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you. To bring in guests who can share their journeys so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness, and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will, we all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives full of energy, happiness, and joy. Now let's dive into our message for today. Hello, my friends, welcome back to Words of Wellness. Today, my guest, I am very excited to hear more about what she does and how she helps others. She is a nurse practitioner and she specializes in hormones and weight management, which is a very, very important topic and pretty hot nowadays, and it's really one that should be really important all of the time. Um, but we're excited. I'm excited to hear more. So Allie Johnston, welcome. Thank you, Shelley. Thanks for having me today. Absolutely, and I know we've been we've been working on this for quite some time to get this, get this recording going, and um my partially my my fault for having kind of a lot going on and leading up to my event, and now that has already happened, so I'm excited that this is finally happening for us.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, oh that's okay. I was telling uh my partner earlier, I was like, she's got a son in school and she's got all these things going on, so I was like, we'll get there eventually.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, right? Always it happens one way or another for sure. So you we were talking a little bit before you started recording, but you have always been a nurse practitioner, and in most recent years, you have gone out on on your own, really, and it's amazing to me, and I think it's such a beautiful blessing that we you can do what you do from home now, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So you so you really offer just one-on-one uh patient care and would love to hear a little bit more details of what that looks like.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, absolutely. So I'll give a a brief, hopefully brief backstory. So um my career kind of started before I even became a nurse. I knew I wanted to go into healthcare uh because both of my parents, I feel like, were completely mismanaged in their healthcare, and I saw that growing up. And so I became a nursing aide when I was 15. Um, I graduated high school early and was able to start college early. So I became a nurse like uh three weeks after I turned 21. Um and then I got my master's by the time I turned 27. And um I started working as a nurse practitioner. Um, I I graduated in 2017, got a licensed in 2017, but I was still working as a nurse as an RN. And I started working as an NP in 2019, so right before the pandemic. Um, and I was very grateful to have been out of the hospital system when COVID happened. So um worked in the clinic, and um, as I mentioned to you a little bit ago, um, my specialty like my board certification is in family practice, but I um worked for a physician group where I live in Northern California that was primary care. So my bread and butter every day was, you know, primary care, symptom management, hypertension diabetes, all that kind of stuff. But the doctor subspecialized in weight management. And so before GOP1s were a household name, um, I was, you know, prescribing them very heavily for diabetes. And we found very quickly that we were able to control people's weight. And so people were kind of coming to us much more for weight management than even primary care. So we had, you know, a pretty good mix. And so um, I worked from some other clinics part-time um, you know, in 2020, 2021. And then I thought about it. I was like, you know what? You know, our patients that are coming into us, whether they're for primary care or for weight management, we don't have enough time with them, you know, like 10 minutes, even 15 minutes being a long visit was just not enough to get the patient's questions answered and appropriately educate them. And so I thought to myself, I can do this better. I can do this, you know, on my own, you know, with my own ideas. And so I opened my first practice in 2021 with the help of an incredible business coach. Um, she's a nurse business coach and she's still coaching today. So very grateful for her. And um, I started doing mobile visits initially and telehealth and did a lot of things through 2021, 2022. But since um the beginning of this year, 2025, I've completely transitioned to telehealth. So, like I mentioned earlier, like if I had you as a patient, I would, you know, see you on Zoom, um, you know, go over all of your medical history. And if it was specific to weight or hormone management, I would go through, you know, a series of question and answers and figure out what's the best treatment plan for you while we're on the visit, um, prescribe if necessary, order labs if necessary, um, and give the patient the time that they need. Like some of my visits are an hour long or or greater. So um, you're not gonna get that in a clinic setting.

SPEAKER_01:

Boy, you sure aren't. And this is so I'm so happy you're sharing this. Um two things come to mind is I had a guest on a few months ago who same thing started her own practice. She's still she's in person, but for the very reason that you're saying. So she could actually take more time with her patients. And also, I don't know how you feel, but it it definitely feels like it's it's shifting to more of this telehealth medical, you know, help that we can get from doctors over the phone, which is incredible. We, my husband and I last year, when we got back, this was a year ago, we came back from our family vacation, we both ended up getting the flu. And he found an amazing doctor online through a telehealth. And it's it's something that it's so interesting to me because I would think years ago, we would we would never think that a doctor visit could be on the phone or through Zoom. But like, look what we're doing, right? Look how we have evolved and shifted to it. I think it's it's pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I mean, I will say there are certain types of health care and medicine that cannot be completely achieved via telehealth. So the people that are listening, I don't want anyone to think that um, you know, all types of healthcare should be delivered via telehealth. But I feel personally and clinically that a lot of um medical and nursing visits can be achieved on the phone, um, which is you know considered asynchronous or um like even messaging back and forth with a patient. Um, and then a physical, you know, video, if you have a good connection, two-way audio visual, um, to have a conversation, to give education, to review labs and imaging, um, just to go over a plan and to see the person's, you know, interaction, their body language for the most part. Um, of course, you're not going to be able to, you know, do any kind of procedures or you know, physically touch the patient. But um I even have patients ask me, like, oh, well, like if I'm sick or my kids are sick, you know, can you, you know, do a general assessment to determine what's going on with me if I have like an upper respiratory infection or a sinus infection? Yes. And there's sometimes where I can't fully, you know, assess because I can't look in your mouth or your ears or listen to you. So um, but for what I do and a lot of providers that are offering what I do, hormone, weight management, functional medicine, that kind of stuff, it can be achieved online. Um, and there's, you know, greater satisfaction for both parties, the provider and the patient, because they don't have to drive anywhere or go anywhere. They can sit in the comfort of their own home or office and and get what they need. Um, and they're not spending time and extra dollars to do so.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And thank you for pointing out that not every visit can be done through telehealth. That's a really important fact. I also feel like, as you were sharing earlier, and it made me think too, my husband and I were at a point where we have had, we had one uh doctor that we loved and he ended up moving away and retiring. And we're getting to that point now where we have these doctors who are either retiring or getting near that age of retirement. And so that just brings up a whole other, it's not so much an issue, but it's a tough, it's a little bit of a challenge when you have a favorite doctor and then all of a sudden they're no longer practicing, and you have to figure out what to do. And that was kind of what led my husband last year to looking online and finding telehealth. So I guess it does open up more opportunities and possibilities for that care. However, like back to your point, it still doesn't match exactly being in person, and you definitely need to have certain certain things looked at in person with with a doctor. But I think like you're saying, it's it's great that what you do, you can do for the most part online, and that that that's pretty cool. So you do mostly the weight management and hormone health.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. So if someone, you know, is seeing their provider in an insurance-based system, uh, most of the time I have patients come to me because their insurance doesn't cover it or it's not affordable to them. Or, like in this area, um, you know, we have a lariser healthcare system. Um, and they declared earlier this year that they will not be covering the medication for weight management. And I understand from a business standpoint, a financial standpoint, um, if they had, you know, 100,000, 200,000, even a million patients prescribed this medication and it was covered by the healthcare system, um, that would be a very big deficit, which they can, they probably could not handle financially. Um, so a lot of my patients come to me because they want somebody that offers them more time, offers them more thorough care, and can get it pretty quickly without any you know issues with insurance. Now, um, you know, I'm not a cheap method. So if somebody, you know, is cost sensitive, I do have some more affordable options. But um, some of the medications, even as a prescriber to order or to have you know the availability to order are very pricey. And so um I obviously have to, you know, make a positive revenue. So, you know, passing that on to the patient is the only way a business is sustained, just like you know, Kaiser wouldn't be sustained if they were, you know, dumping out a thousand dollars a month per member. So um, and Kaiser's not the only one. I'm just pointing that out because that's you know my um uh experience here in Northern California. A lot of my patients come to me because their healthcare system doesn't pay for it. And in my opinion, they shouldn't be paying for a very expensive medication. Um, but yeah, so I see a patient, they come to me for weight management and they're appropriate, you know, they um don't have any contraindications. We discuss a care plan, I prescribe to them, I do follow-ups with them. Um, and the same thing for hormones. So if they are coming to me for hormone replacement, men or women, you know, uh estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, um, some other, you know, supplements and nutraceuticals, it's the same thing. I see them via telehealth, um, order lab work, prescribe and follow them and do, you know, regular maintenance with them. So um it's fun. I like it. The weight management, I'm I much prefer to see a weight management patient. I feel like they're more straightforward. And I have my own weight loss journey, which we can always, you know, talk about. Um, I'm not to the point yet of needing hormone replacement, but I understand the need and also that weight management goes hand in hand with hormone replacement because our hormones are what are so negatively affected when we are obese or overweight.

SPEAKER_01:

For sure, for sure. And that's that's an interesting point too, because it's as you're talking, it's so true. I mean, it really does go hand in hand, um, especially when we start to get into those, at least for women, into the premenopause and the menopause years. Going back to when you first started prescribing from your practice the GLP ones, it was initially for the diabetes, like you had mentioned, and then you saw people like we know now that were starting to find results from from weight loss. What do you see now as far as the percentage? Do the majority of your patients are weight management. So you are you prescribing that to many of them?

SPEAKER_00:

So most of my patients that come to me, because I'm a completely cash practice now, um, I do have a small percentage of patients that come to me for like they also have hyperlipidemia or high cholesterol, high blood pressure, andor, you know, some sort of metabolic dysfunction like type 2 diabetes. But I would say 90 plus percent of the patients that come to me, they are seeking out weight loss medication solely for the goal of weight loss or weight management. Um, and they may not have anything diagnosed yet, or they've been mismanaged and misdiagnosed. Um, and a lot of times I do see that. If they have recent labs, whether they were ordered by their regular insurance-based provider or me, a lot of times I see long-term prediabetes, which is technically, you know, type two diabetes, um, and they just haven't had any issues manifest in the body yet, other than maybe like general fatigue or brain fog, and then you know, being overweight or obese. Um, so you know, typically when someone is diabetic or prediabetic, it's not typically diagnosed for about a 10-year span. A lot can happen, like damage in the body wise in that 10 years. And this is not everyone, but um, even when I first started practice, I would see patients come in and their blood sugar was, you know, fasting in the 120s, 130s, 140s, and they're like, oh, my other, you know, provider told me that my blood sugar is fine. Well, clinically, your blood sugar should never be that high fasting. So, you know, I saw that trend more and more and more. Um, and I just think that, of course, like back to the conversation earlier, like providers don't have the time to completely manage every disease process in a in a 10-minute or even a five five-minute appointment. Like when I first started practice, the doctor that I worked with was like, the goal is to see the patient in 15 minutes or less as a new provider and as a seasoned provider in seven minutes or less. Like he used to tell me that. And I was like, oh no, like you can't do everything you need to do in seven minutes. And then I worked for a practice um after that for a very short time before I started my business. Um, and they've said the same thing, like five to seven minutes was the average for the for the visit. And I said, no, no, no, like this this is not possible. Like you can barely manage one thing in five minutes and then deliver the education too. So, so yeah, now my patients that come to me for weight management, most of them are generally healthy. They may have some metabolic dysfunction, which is causing their, you know, being overweight or obese, maybe some hormone, you know, dysfunction. But um, I'm not doing a ton of um disease management because the people, thankfully, are coming to me much earlier um than they were even five years ago. So people are seeing it and hearing it on social media online, they know their friends are doing it and taking it, and they see positive benefits. And there are many more positive benefits than just weight loss. So um there's tons of clinical studies to support it, and I can, you know, dive into that if you want. But um, yeah, GOP ones, I feel like are magic for a lot of people, not only for weight loss and weight maintenance, but also, you know, longevity and inflammation reduction. Um, it's really incredible. Sorry, that was like a long thing.

SPEAKER_01:

My next question is kind of your thoughts on it, because I know from my perspective and in wellness and nutrition, the one thing where we're coming from is to make sure that someone who might be you on GLP1 is still getting sufficient nutrition, specifically protein. And I know that has been a concern, but what are you seeing with that in your patients?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so when I first see a patient, especially if I've never seen them for anything else and they're brand, brand new, um I do do a little bit of a dive on like hydration, protein consumption, um, things to, you know, maybe not eliminate, but to eat less of, especially if they are morbidly obese. Now, if somebody is like, you know, they want to lose 20 pounds, they're not morbid obese, like you know, they have they need to have a little bit of education and I provide that to them. Um, but I would say a majority of patients that come to me that are are in the morbid obese or obese categories, um, they are there because they don't have a good nutritional foundation, you know, they're not consuming the right things already. Um, we are surrounded in this country with ultra-processed foods, and it's very, very difficult, even if you know you have a decent income to eat healthy, truly healthy whole foods because there's so much garbage, you know, just easily available for us. So um, so protein is huge. If someone's kidney functioning and heart functioning is stable, um, I usually tell them a minimum of you know 1.5 to 2 grams per body weight. So, like for me, when I first started my weight loss journey, I was almost 300 pounds. I was consuming almost 200 grams of protein a day, but I'm young and healthy and I have stable kidney functioning. So, um, but most of the people that I see, men and women alike, they don't even eat 50 grams of protein a day and they're obese. And so that affects your skin. It affects like the laxity and the appearance of it, the collagen formation. Um, it affects the ability to, you know, process certain fats in the body. And of course, if we're not consuming more protein, we're going to be naturally consuming more processed, probably carbohydrates. And so that's that imbalance. People are focusing on more carbs, and carbs are not bad. I'm very pro-carbs now that um I've you know gone through this weight loss journey. But um, yes, protein is key. Um, hydration, I think a lot of people, especially once they start on a medication for weight loss, um, they they forget to drink as much as they should, and they already were not drinking enough. So um hydration and protein is what I pound into my patients and I tell them all the time. Um, and and not everyone can have, you know, equal education. Like I have to tailor it to my patients. And that's one reason why people come to me because I'm able to cater to them individually.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's so good. I yeah, you're such a great point. I think that people are generally not getting enough hydration nor the protein that their bodies need. And it's interesting because I see, as I'm sure you do, people will put a post out or be in a group and say, hey, I want to, you know, release 20 pounds or what have you. And and when you start to read the comments, I don't know, this might happen for you too, but I tend to cringe a lot. I don't want to like be like, okay, this is not gonna work, this is not gonna work. But when you see the suggestions that people will say, and one most specifically lately was about cutting, someone was like, Oh, just it was almost like cut your caloric intake by half and exercise. And I'm thinking, and I actually said, that is not cutting your calories is not the answer because, like you're saying, we're not getting enough hydration, nor protein, nor we are, nor enough nutrition. So, again, when you go to that cutting the calories, now we're cutting back again on our nutrient consumption. So it's it's so good that you are educating as you are, in addition to to helping helping your patients, and so that's a wonderful thing. Um, I had another thought, and it's already escaped me. I was gonna ask you another thing. Oh, I know what I was gonna say though, going back to I know you kind of made a reference to your parents, and I know my dad, he's no longer living, but he he had all the the metabolic dysfunction and he had diabetes, and it makes me kind of wonder as I hear you speaking about it, if this would have been a a benefit for him. You know, he definitely needed to release weight, but he also needed to, you know, clean up his diet a little bit, get a little more exercise. Um you know, but oh god love him. He he just he had so many issues at the end of his life, but again, diabetes was one. And he definitely was one that had a sweet tooth and grew up having a sweet tooth. So I'm sure that didn't contribute or help at all. He got his diagnosis in these different, you know, diseases that he was dealing with. He definitely cleaned things up, so it probably gave us a little bit more time with him. But I often wonder if this would have been something that could have helped him.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, both of my parents were diagnosed with diabetes in their early 30s. My dad passed away in 2022 from complications related to diabetes and uh vascular disease, which caused dementia very early in life for him. He was diagnosed with dementia at age 53. Um, my mom is still living, but she has a lot of health complications from her diabetes. Um, she's on a GLP1 now that you know she gets from her doctor because she's diabetic. Um, she's lost over 120 pounds in like the last year and a half. Wow. Um but and this is not across the board for all disease processes. Again, this is not like, you know, uh a true thing for every everybody, but a lot of times when the damage is done to our our organs, our heart, our eyes, our vessels, um, the damage is done and sometimes cannot be helped or reversed. But thankfully and gratefully, a lot of you know peptides, which GLP ones are a type of uh peptide, um, and there are lots of, and I'll you know, make a disclaimer here, they're not FDA approved, but a lot of functional um and integrative providers are offering peptides because we make a lot of these peptides naturally, God-given, and there was some sort of breakdown in the body, whether it is genetic, environmental, diet, um, lifestyle, like all of those play a role. And at some point in the patient's life, something fell apart, and we need that key to unlock it to put it back together, if that makes sense. And so these peptides are this key to you know open up the wellness in our body. And so um it's not a cure all, you know, GLP ones don't cure everything, but I do see a lot of benefits other than weight management with GLP ones. Personally, I take them and in my patients. So um, and there's so many other peptides for other things, like um even dementia. There's there's things out there for dementia, which is incredible. And unfortunately, big pharma would never allow those things to be mainstreamed because they can, you know, look or um appear to be curative. Um, so you mentioned your dad had a sweet tooth, my dad was very similar, and um, you know, so I I think um he was and and this may not have even been understood at the time of his diagnosis, which was over 30 years ago at this point, but I think he was actually either an undiagnosed type one diabetic or what's called latent autoimmune disease diabetes. And he was insulin dependent in the last 20 years, you know, of his life, but um, he was actually somebody who did not need to lose weight. He was very, very thin. And in his last two years of life, he struggled to keep his weight, you know, like 120 pounds, 130 pounds. And he was almost six foot two. So very, very, very lean. Um, and so someone like him, he could have benefited from an extremely low dose of GLP1s for the inflammation and the cognitive help, but he really needed, you know, a whole other plethora of things, diet cleanup included. Um, but you know, there are lots of patients that have metabolic dysfunction that are underweight. And so he was one that just like, even though he was, you know, close to me, he was my father. I took care of him for eight years. Um, even to this day, I was like, I wish I knew what I knew now. Like I'm just starting to scratch the surface. If I knew it 10 years ago, maybe it would be different, you know? And so for the people that are listening that are your followers, like, you know, there is hope. Um, and it's not going to be found in your conventional provider or doctor's office. And so you do have to seek out these like alternative methods for things, you know, like that. Like you're like this mystery diagnosis that doesn't make sense and things keep happening and you know, keep spiraling down. Like my dad had a very rough eight years of life, um, and it could have been made a little easier um if you know these other things were available to him.

SPEAKER_01:

It's so true. Thank you for sharing all that because it's such information that's so important, and and having the education and then also understanding that it's not just the person who is obese, overweight, yeah, who is is having this issue. I mean, I know we have a neighbor whose son was diagnosed in elementary school, and he was a stick, like this little small, thin young boy. And so again, to your point, and I think it's so important that you from what you shared to the fact that it just it doesn't always diabetes doesn't always equate to obesity, right? And vice versa. I mean, it just it's just the way that it is. So I again think thank you for what you're doing and and educating others in this area. It's so important. And I want to uh be conscientious of our time, but I would love to know just a little bit of your your journey because is it is that what led you, I'm assuming, to what you do today?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so when I first began as a nurse practitioner, again, I had already been, you know, a bedside nurse for years. Um, my background was in adult critical care. I cross-trained in many things and um worked in interventional radiology, which is a whole subspecialty that deals with vascular disease. And we have a lot of diabetic and obese patients in that. Um, and so I was working in IR interventional radiology while I was in NP school. And so I was already dealing with that kind of subset of patients that were like, you know, metabolically fragile and broken, um, experiencing heart attacks and strokes, um, and then became a nurse practitioner, worked for a provider, like I mentioned, that um subspecialized in obesity management. And I at that time had already been up and down in weight in my whole life. Like as a little kid, all the way through adulthood, struggled with weight, did you know, severe calorie restriction in the 90s and early 2000s when it was like popular and um you know, did the Atkins diet, lost weight, regained weight. And um, while working with him, I was like, you know what? Like I'm young, I'm otherwise healthy, but I don't want to get to where my parents are. I don't want to be, you know, dealing with diabetes and you know, heart attacks and strokes. And so um, you know, personally for me, one reason why I, other than my parents and all of the patients that I had experienced, one reason for me why I started my practice was I could speak to it. I, the patient that comes to me, man or woman, that says, you know what, like I don't even want to get out of my house because I have nothing to wear, or I, you know, put on what I think is an appropriate size and I look and feel horrible because I can't even get up the stairs or have fun with my kids or my grandkids, or I definitely don't want to go grocery shopping because like I feel like you know, I'm just gonna gain more weight. Like all of those things, like I have personally experienced. And there's so many other things that, you know, we we go through emotionally and psychologically when we're obese. And so I will say, you know, being a healthy weight is different for everyone. And it doesn't cure you or fix you of those issues that you have gone through for many years. And some for some people, it could be decades of their life. Um, and for me, I went through like trauma therapy with a therapist here locally that helped me with my binge eating disorder and um my feelings of you know, all of those things I just mentioned of my you know exterior look and um you know the psychological help helped me to where I am today. Like I even told my partner. Partner recently, I was like, I look in the mirror sometimes and still see a very big woman. And but I see photos of myself and I'm like, oh, like I look good. Like I look, but after losing 130 pounds and being nearly, you know, 300 pounds for a long time, that that really like does a number on your psyche. And so for you know, anyone that is obese or going through a weight management journey, um, I would highly recommend going through counseling. It's not gonna feel good, right? It's like there were times I went to counseling and I was exhausted afterward because I was reliving like this trauma that I grew up with in my early adult years. And so, um, but yes, I I wanted to treat the patients that were like me. And um, and even though I've lost weight and it's it's still a journey for me. And I think that's why it's called a journey because like I'm not like fixed. I'm not like I'm never, you know, gonna feel perfect or 100%, but you know, God didn't make us that way anyway. Like we, you know, go through a journey in different ways, whether it's health related or you know, other things in our life, but I am still on my journey and I deal with it every day. I have to be very conscientious of what I eat, um, what I drink, how much I consume. Um, and I don't think I mentioned I had weight loss surgery in 2021 right before I opened my practice. So um, you know, it is a conscious effort every single day. And I think a lot of patients think that a GLP one or, you know, restricting or whatever it is is going to resolve their obesity. And it unfortunately it's a chronic relapsing disease and it does take work and effort, whether it's drugs, GLP1s, um, counseling, you know, healthy diet, exercise, it's multifaceted. And so um, for the people, you know, going through that that are listening, like just know that it is a journey and you will, you know, get to where you're going if you just keep going.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. Thank you for sharing all that, really truly. And it it really goes back to the point that we're best qualified to help those that are going through what we once experienced, right? And that's exactly what you're doing. And so I I love that because you lived it and you can be very compassionate and really help others who are living through it now, and also to the point of it's a journey. Thank you for sharing that because I feel like that's how it is with all of our facets of life. Like everything's a journey, it's never, it's never gonna be perfect. We're never gonna get to this final stage and go, okay, I've reached it. It's everything's perfect, it's always a journey, no matter what is going on in our lives. And for our listeners, well, you'll see a picture of Allie, but you look amazing, you look healthy and beautiful, so keep doing what you're doing. And I and I just want to give you kudos for what you've gone through because I think it is such an important point to share that yes, you want to release the weight to be healthy for yourself physically, but you still also have that work mentally and emotionally to do. And again, that's that's ongoing too. And I think that's ongoing for everyone. We want to be healthy in all aspects, it's not just the physical part, but it's that emotional and that mental spiritual part. All of that goes hand in hand. So thank you for sharing all of that. It's really, it's really special. So, how can people find you, Allie? Because I really want to encourage our listeners to to reach out, anyone who might be going through their own personal journey and or struggle with with their weight, with obesity, and you're you're hearing Allie share that she can definitely help you. Where is the best place for people to find you?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so um I have an Instagram and a website. So my um Instagram is well by A M. That's my business name, W-E-L-L-B-Y-A-M. And my website is well by AMNursing.com. Um, I am licensed in three states and on the West Coast, California, Arizona, and Nevada. Um, and if you're not in one of those states but you want weight management coaching, I can you know offer that anywhere. It just would not involve any prescriptions. Um, and I can refer to a provider if you don't know of one, you know, in your state or area that you're in. So um, and then also I know we didn't touch on it at all, but for people that are listening that are, you know, nurses or nurse practitioners or even physicians and they, you know, want to start a practice, whether it's weight management related or other related, um, I offer business coaching for nurses and nurse practitioners and other providers um that just you know need help and guidance and in doing this. Of course, the closest to my heart is the weight management and all the protocols for that. Um, and I offer support and one-on-one training and coaching for that as well. So um, you know, if you're a patient or a provider, I would love to help you and work with you.

SPEAKER_01:

That's wonderful. Well, I will definitely add all of Allie's information in the show notes. And um, thank you so much for sharing all of this. It's been really, I feel really beneficial and educational for everyone that's listening and for myself too, and sharing not just you know the education side of it, but you being able to share your own personal journey. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_00:

I I had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01:

I appreciate it so much. So tell us, Allie, what would be some last-minute uh words of wellness or inspiration that you'd want to share with our with our listeners?

SPEAKER_00:

So um, like you know, I kind of mentioned, you know, with wellness and health, even if it's not obesity or hormone related, you know, there are so many things you can do and so many things you can change if you have the mindset and the willingness to you know make an effort to change. And it again is a journey. So um, if you can just make one change, you know, once once per day or add one thing, whether it's you know, getting up and walking an extra 500 or a thousand steps than you did the day before, that's you know, an a positive, you know, movement in your journey. So, you know, you can add an extra 10 ounces or 20 ounces of water a day if you're struggling with hydration. You know, you don't have to go full force, we'll get to where you want to be if you make one little baby change every day.

SPEAKER_01:

I love it. Yep, every little bit adds up over time, right? I love that. So great. Well, reach out to Allie, to all of our listeners, and I'm excited to to have had this conversation and to have you as a resource for for me to be able to recommend you also to to any of my clients. And thank you everyone for listening. And as always, do something for your wellness on this day. And like Ali just said, maybe do a little bit of a longer walk than normal, drink a little extra water. Every little bit adds up every single day. So until next time, have a beautiful, blessed rest every week, everyone, and we'll see you next time on Words of Wellness. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did. And if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review Words of Wellness so that more can hear this message. I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening. And if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries, and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness on this day. Until next time, I hope you all have a healthy, happy, and blessed weekend.