Diving deep with Physician Assistant, Kelsey Wickenhauser, where she talks about the topic of weight loss and the struggles that come with it as a mom.
Kelsey is a Lifestyle Medicine Certified Physician Assistant, host of Kingdom Fit Moms podcast, and founder of Kingdom Fit Moms Academy where she is helping women get to the root of why they’re struggling with weight. She helps women break free from the diet culture by inviting God into the journey.
Dedicated to providing women with tools, knowledge, and support to live a life of freedom and wellness, she understands the frustrations and struggles that come with being on the diet roller coaster.
Today we talk about the topic of weight loss and the struggles that come with it as a mom.
Let’s jump straight into the interview with Kelsey.
Q: Thanks for being with us today. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do.
A: I am a Physician Assistant. I’ve been in medicine for gosh, over 10 years now, just crazy. And I’m certified in lifestyle medicine. And ever since I was little, I’ve always been interested in health.
And God really led me on this journey to being interested in weight management. In medicine, we’re kind of limited by insurance and those 20 minute appointments. And so I, over time, grew increasingly frustrated at my ability to really, really help people get to the root of why they’re struggling with weight and to change and to impact generations.
So I started a business in 2020 doing some health coaching and the program has grown to Fit Moms Academy and Fit Moms Accelerator where I really focused on helping women get to the root of why they’re struggling with weight.
But on a more personal note, I’m married, I have three little kids, we live out in the country and we’re kind of crazy trying to do this homesteading thing. We just got a puppy.
Q: Awesome, What is your approach to weight loss and what makes it different from an average weight loss program out there? There’s so many out there. So how are you different?
A: Yes. So by the time I work with women, they have usually tried all the things. They’ve struggled with weight for years and years. And there is a lot of diet damage to undo.
Most of the time the conversations I have with women, they feel hopeless. They feel like this is just the thorn in their side, the thing that they’re going to struggle with for the rest of their lives. So my goal is to teach them freedom to break out of that diet culture. Really embrace abundant living, including with their health.
So how we do that, you know, I really want women to understand how to invite God into this journey to heal. The way I explain it: picture a target has three rings, we call this our Fit Mom’s formula. And for the outer ring, most diet programs focus on some sort of calories in calories out metabolic change. Which does work for a season typically, but the problem is it’s not sustainable.
It’s just hard if people get off track and go back to doing their own thing. In Fit Mom’s Academy, we replace that outer circle with really focusing on eating real food. Eating the food that God made. If God made it you can eat it. It’s very simple.
And then maybe, if you hit a plateau we’ll dive into how to get you out of that plateau, but I never count calories. I don’t want to count calories. I think that that sounds like another form of enslavement, right? So I just want to live and be healthy.
With the outer ring, we teach you to go back to the basics of real food. Then the middle ring is the implementation piece. Some diet programs out there will teach pieces of this. So you have a program like Noom, which may help some of the psychology and that’s important to understand.
What we call thought errors, so ways of thinking that are not necessarily true. Things like you know, I hate exercise or I don’t like to cook or whatever. We have to rewire your thoughts. And then the implementation of your schedule. So how do I fit health in as a busy mom? How do I overcome all those barriers that come up? We work through that a lot.
And then the middle circle of that three ring target is the inviting God in. And so most women I talked to when I asked them the question, “Have you invited God into this journey?” They’ll say something like, you know, I’m praying for more motivation or they’re basically white knuckling their way to lose weight.
But they’re not healing and so what we have to do is teach you number 1: Identity.
So who am I?
What do I have access to?
Including abundant health.
I’m a daughter…
I don’t have to strive.
All these things going back to the core of my identity in Christ. And then recognizing roots, like where the root lies. Meaning where is there a disconnect between that identity and what I’m actually walking out with?
So most of these start in childhood, or their generational bondage, etc. We have to help you to break out of that and see how it’s connecting to your weight.
And then once we bring those lies into the light, then it gets really fun because we get to really talk about your kingdom purpose, why I’m on this earth, who I’m designed to be and how all those things will be better when I’m not constantly thinking about weight or feeling tired or you know without confidence.
And then declarations is a big part of that. So declaring truth over our lives, so that we stay in that mindset of ‘this is for me, and I can totally do this.’ So that’s kind of the overview of what we do in our fitness community.
Q: Wow, this is amazing. It’s such a different approach. But the approach is so key because it’s not as simple as, like you said, counting the calories. That’s so stressful. And it’s hard. And it’s not realistic to do that throughout the day.
But it really starts deeper and I love the analogy of rings. You know you’re getting deeper towards the center of your rings. That’s so good. And having God at the center of everything is key. I love it, so good.
So what advice would you give to someone who is struggling with their weight for a long time? The weight loss journey can be a long road so what kind of advice would you give?
A: Yes. Well, if it’s been a struggle for a long time, then we have to figure out why. So as I’ve alluded to already, many women have generational strongholds. So sometimes you’ll see your mom, your aunt’s, your dad, your grandparents struggled with weight. And there are often deeper heart issues as to why. Same thing with emotional eating.
Why are we coping with food instead of dealing with that emotion and healing?
And this could be a variety of things that we go through and teach you how to invite the Holy Spirit into that.
Sometimes, women will also hold on to weight for safety. I’ve had plenty of clients who have been abused in some way. And so being overweight, even subconsciously, is keeping them safe.
So my number one piece of advice would be to say let’s dive into why there’s a struggle.
And it takes some courage to go there and to dive into those heart wounds. We all have them in some way. And if you have struggled with weight, there are probably wounds that are linked to that.
And then the other thing I would say is don’t be afraid to take a season of life to really relay these health foundations from the ground up. If you think about any other skill that you’re committing to, any skill that your kid is learning, like they’re learning the very basics and so if you’ve grown up in a house that wasn’t very healthy, or maybe even the house you’re in now. You have to kind of relay all those things and so it takes time.
Many women feel bad about making their health a priority like they should be doing all of these other more important things.
But actually if you don’t have your health, what do you have? You can’t do all those other things that you want to do.
So getting back to the basics, and then real food is really important. Simplifying your journey, getting back to those other foundations of real food, time management and diving into
‘Who am I in Christ?
Who does God say I am?
Am I believing that?’
And if so, why not?
And all of these things will trickle into this life of purpose and energy and zeal and confidence.
It’s so worth it.
And I guess that would be one of the last pieces of advice that I would give.
You are worthy of abundant health. And you can have access to that no matter how far gone you feel.
Many women feel shame like, ‘I’ve let myself go. There’s no way back.’
But I promise you there are ways back.
I have one client who I just interviewed on my podcast. She’s down 86 pounds. She struggled with this her whole life. She’s in clothes sizes that are almost a medium. She’s been an XXL for years. And so I think that we have to shift your thinking to actually believe that it’s possible.
The Bible talks a lot about rewiring our thoughts and the way that we think is so important. So when you’re around a group of people who are encouraging you to think differently, then everything can change.
Q: Oh, yeah, I fully believe in that for sure.
Can you share any other examples of anyone that you’ve worked with that’s done that inner healing which led to success? I love hearing success stories. So if you can tell me more about weight loss success and what other clients you’ve had.
A: Yes, so one that comes to mind- if you look at my YouTube channel, I did an interview with her if you want to hear her whole story. But Chantal had struggled with weight for a long, long time.
And through the process and Fit Mom’s Academy, we uncovered some memories from her childhood where she had been bullied, and it was related to her weight.
And in those moments, she had subconsciously agreed with the lie that was spoken over her. And so that lie has continued to manifest in her life and then there was also some bitterness about the adults in her life that didn’t protect her from that bullying.
And so this is where that inviting God in piece is so key. We’re not just praying for more motivation. We are recognizing where this began.
And we worked together- she really embraced the Holy Spirit speaking to her and she learned how to forgive and release those burdens. And I actually just talked to her the other day.
She’s down 30 pounds and she’s really redeeming her relationship with food and her mindset. She’s thinking of herself as a fit mom. She makes decisions saying, ‘No, I should do this because I am a fit mom.’ And she knows her goal weight is possible. And one of the quotes that she said in our interview is, “I’m no longer trying. I’m training.” So it’s just this inner shift, she’s rocking it.
Q: Oh yeah, it’s amazing. This is so interesting to me that we’re putting so much emphasis on our love for Christ, but also our mindset. It’s not all about the food and there’s so much distraction out there with diets. It’s just a distraction. But we need to go deeper. What you’re teaching these women is absolutely amazing.
Please tell everyone here what is the one main takeaway, one action item that you would suggest everyone to go do this week or to focus on this week?
A: Yes. So the simplest thing you can do, if you are confused with diet culture, which to your last point, let me backtrack real quick. I think it’s funny to think about God, or Jesus, looking at diet culture, like, ‘This is not how I designed it.’ right? And, ‘Why are you guys making this so complicated?’ I just think of that all the time. And yeah, it’s cool that there is advanced nutrition science and we know all these things. But we’ve taken it and twisted it so much- it’s so complicated.
Q: Simplified is such a key word for me. Like Postpartum Abs Simplified, which is the name of my course. But also simplifying food. You know, going back to the basics of what God made us. I’ve just been teaching my girls the difference between processed foods and whole foods. And did God make it? I just ask them, ‘Did God make that?’ Yes, Okay, we’re good, then we’re gonna eat that.
A: It’s so true. So that would be my biggest piece of advice moving forward. If you want to take one action step, go look at your pantry. Go look at your refrigerator and ask yourself how much of this is real food and if you have a bunch of stuff in there, that’s not, you have full permission to go throw it away.
Some people feel so bad about that, but it’s not serving you. So get rid of it and just start filling your house with real food.
I don’t know if you’ve heard of Blue Zones before? So Blue Zones are areas of the world where a high percentage of the population live to 100. So this guy went and studied it. There’s a book on it called the Blue Zone solution, but I teach this a lot.
The thing about Blue Zones is the healthy choice is the easy choice. People can easily, you know, access real food that’s in season, their gardening, they’re moving, they’re in community. And so it’s really fascinating to study but I would say along with looking at your pantry in your fridge like make your home a Blue Zone make it easy to choose the healthy choice so that you don’t feel that internal battle of like, ‘Oh, I want to get the Oreos but I also know I should eat the apple and the pepper or whatever.’
Q: So that was so interesting, because I don’t know if you know this about me but my number one goal in life is to live to 100. I need to look that one up. I’m so interested in this! This is great.
And now I have another question I’m gonna throw out there for you. What is your number one go-to snack? I’m always on the go. And I do avoid those like packaged snacks but what is something that if you’re really in a rush, you need to grab it, what would you grab?
A: I love hummus and chickpeas. I love it because it’s almost a complete protein. So it’ll bulk you up a little bit you know, feeling full. And you can pair it with a lot of things. So I eat hummus pretty much every day in some shape or form and then a little bit further to your point, like chickpeas mixed with quinoa can make a complete protein and it’s the easiest dinner you can throw whatever else you have veggies, spices, whatever. So my community is like, ‘Oh Kelsey is the chickpea girl.’ I just love it. I think it tastes so good.
Q: That’s good. That’s awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here. We learned so much. I’m so excited. So where can everyone find you and follow you? Just tell us every place we can go.
A: Sure. So I love hanging out on my podcast, it’s probably my favorite. Kingdom Fit Moms is the name of the podcast and we talk about everything, weight loss, real food, faith, fitness, all the things.
I have a free Facebook group called Kingdom Fit Moms. You can look that up and join us.
And then Instagram @kelseywickenhauser.
And then if you go to my website, KelseyWickhauser.com/freebies. I have all sorts of goodies for you. I have an emotional eating guide. I have a fit mom starter course. It’s 10 days to help you to drop weight fast. I have a meal plan like a pro guide and then my favorite thing if you really want to know how to invite God into this journey, you should go sign up to watch my free training Kingdom Keys To Weight Loss and it’ll really teach you even more in depth, how to bring God into this journey.
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