Summary 

What does it really take to navigate sticky situations, overcome emotional obstacles, and prioritize yourself while juggling a demanding career and family life? In this heartfelt and inspiring episode, I have my client, Dr. Julie Whittington, for a candid conversation about her journey to reclaim her health and confidence.

Julie shares the highs and lows of her weight loss story, including her experience with Ozempic, the shame and assumptions she faced, and the mindset shifts she achieved through coaching. Whether you're curious about the role of GLP-1 agonists in weight loss or looking for actionable strategies to build resilience and hit your goals, this episode is packed with powerful insights.

Learn more about the group: https://www.burnstressloseweight.com/group

Get the Hormones Training: https://www.burnstressloseweight.com/hormones

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

• Why prioritizing yourself isn’t selfish—it’s essential for success at work and home.
• How Julie transitioned off Ozempic and achieved lasting weight loss without it.
• The importance of cultivating clean pleasures and breaking free from emotional eating.
• How group coaching provides personalized support and accountability for real results.
• Why active implementation trumps passive consumption when it comes to achieving your goals.

Listen to the Full Episode:

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Featured on the Show:

• Want to work with me? Learn about The Burn Stress, Lose Weight Group by clicking here. 
• Get the Hormones Training by clicking here.

Download the full transcript here.

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  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Hello, my unstoppable friends. I am so excited to have this conversation on the Burn Stress, Lose Weight Podcast today. It's a conversation I have never had with one of my most amazing, amazing clients. This is Dr. Julie Whittington coming to share her story. She's going to talk about her story with ozempic being on it, having embarrassment and shame around it, how we coached through it, and even how she made the decision to get off of it and lose a lot of weight. One of the things that I really love doing on this podcast is not just sharing stories of winning client results. I really love telling real stories, stories where professional women have to encounter and navigate sticky situations, real life obstacles, challenges in the workplace and at home and with your kids, and how, as you navigate those real life experiences, how you can still prioritize and hit your weight loss goal, your wellness goal. I don't think it ever has to be either or one of my biggest missions in the Unstoppable group, which is my intimate six months. Small group coaching program is to show smart professional women, how they can have both. Now, this doesn't mean that it's always easy. It doesn't mean that we're not going to hit sticky moments together and have challenges, but having a coach in your corner and a community, a group like the Unstoppable group support you and create accountability for you. Is how we collapse the timeline on you hitting your dream goals. If this is something you want, I want to invite you to join the Unstoppable group. The upcoming cohort is starting soon, and I am opening up the last few spots to you. It is an intimate six month, small group coaching program. That is a combination of live coaching curriculum, coursework, and mentorship. One of the things that I really love in how this group has been created, and I've really paid a lot of attention to this is for my clients to experience a personal and customized experience. And that's what Julie's going to be talking about today on the podcast, where one person's coaching journey and their coaching experience is different than somebody else's yet. At the same time, one of the massive benefits of being in a small group is you get to learn from the experiences, the obstacles and the coaching of other smart, professional women. If you've been eyeing the group for a while, thinking maybe next time, maybe I should wait a little bit, maybe I should lose weight first. I want to encourage you to stop. Waiting on your weight loss and wellness goals, deciding to prioritize yourself right now is going to be how you hit your dream goals in 2025. And I don't want you to wait on that. So if you know that this is something you want, head over to www.burnstressloseweight.com/group. And you'll see a button there where you can click. We can talk on a consult call. We'll discuss whether we are a good fit to work together and you can claim early access now. So even though our group starts next month, you're going to be able to access the whole entire curriculum, all of the call replays, and so much more simply by starting now without further ado, let's get into my conversation with Dr. Julie Whittington. Hey, unstoppable friend. You're listening to the Burn Stress, Lose Weight Podcast.I'm your host, Dr. Priyanka Venugopal, a physician turned a stress and weight loss coach for professional working moms and the founder of the Burn Stress, Lose Weight, Feel Unstoppable small group coaching program. This podcast is going to inspire change at the root for you on and off the scale. I've lost a little over 60 pounds while being a busy physician mom with two young kids and an unpredictable schedule. And along my journey, which was full of many, many imperfect moments, I have learned how to skip past the fads and the gimmicks. I am on this mission now to share with you how you can have a real strategy and mindset skills to really have more of the life you want that you have worked so hard for. Let's get into it. Friends. I am so excited to bring on my client. This is Dr. Julie Whittington. She is amazing. We are going to be talking about some topics on this podcast that I have not really talked about before, which I'm so excited that Julie, you've decided to share your story with us come back to the podcast. You've been on the podcast before. Tell us a little bit about you so that people can kind of get to know you in the boat just jump in to today's story.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I'm 51. I am a physiatrist. I have two kids, a 19 year old son who is in college, and a 16 year old daughter who's a junior in high school. I've been married for almost 25 years. And in terms of this program, I've I definitely found success in the program and I have had some falters, but I'm back now and on a good path. That's kind of, I guess, my quick sum up about who I am.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: What is a physiatrist? Cause I can hear some people be like, what, like, what is that? Tell us a little bit about that.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I usually tell non medical people that I am a rehabilitation physician. So our training is essentially surrounding disability, strokes, amputees, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury. I take care of inpatients after events like that. And that side of our field is more musculoskeletal medicine, things like that.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Just maybe briefly, if we can just talk a little bit about before you ever came to coaching with me in Unstoppable, what was your experience like just in Day to day, the life of a busy physician, you have two kids, you're kind of trying to navigate all of the things, all of the roles, what was your life like in terms of how you were experiencing your work?

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I think I've always really enjoyed my work, and I still do, but I also feel like balancing a job that feels like a lot of times things can't wait, where patients need a hair in the moment, or a nurse has a question in the moment. And then simultaneously having kids, you know, they're older now, but when they were younger, I think it just felt like there was not ever a break. And it felt like nobody was acknowledging all this amazing hard work I was doing. So I think that was probably a big part of my work was just realizing why I had certain eating patterns because I felt like that was my way that I rewarded myself in all of this busyness. And before coaching, I didn't realize any of that. It just was a habit that felt very normal. I'm not saying it's abnormal, but I didn't really understand why it happened.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I remember one of the first things that we I mean, we've been talking about over the last few months is this tendency, and if anyone's listening and this sounds familiar, you're not alone in this, being a professional working mom who loves what you do, and obviously you care about your kids and your family, especially the coaching that we did with you was this habit to prioritize everyone else first. Let me prioritize the kids and let me set up the family and let me make sure that my patients are taken care of. And then what would inadvertently happen, and this was not purposeful, was your kids Personal needs started to slip lower and lower and lower. And that was what we coached on. So can we talk a little bit about that? What was it that you think led to that? And then how did you start to make a change?

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I think what led to it is I kind of feel like it's my personality that I really enjoy making people happy. And I think that is true in my work and it's true in my family. And I think I sort of just adopted this. Almost indignation when people would say, well, what are you doing to take care of yourself? I would just say, I don't have time to do that. And it was almost, almost as if I thought it was ridiculous that someone would ask me that. What time do I have to take care of myself?

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: What's your self care protocol? It's kind of annoying when somebody's like, what do you do? Yeah. Yeah. I remember that.

   

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: And I think being challenged to really realize that how I was neglecting myself really snowballed over a period of several months and how orally I felt as a result. I think that part of it made it feel really worth trying to figure out what I need for me to take care of myself, which then obviously allows me to. do better at work and at home. But the coaching that you did around putting my own needs was really important for me because I had never taken, truly, it just sounds so, so silly, but I had never really taken the time to define exactly what I need for me. I was always worried about what everybody else needed and I felt very prideful in it because I do it well, but then I wasn't doing it so well for myself.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: We've talked about this in a few different ways. One is this idea of self care is like, maybe that's a mani pedi or like a monthly massage or a bubble bath. And I think that that's the part that feels a little ridiculous. I'm almost like, what, what kind of self care activity are we talking about? Like lighting a candle and meditating? Is that self care? And I think what we were able to do in our work together was to dive a little bit deeper on what self care actually means and what it actually feels like for you. So focusing on yourself first, it does help to trickle into how you show up as a mom, how you show up in the workplace. What do you think?

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: Yeah, I think that's exactly how that felt. I almost felt like they were just an annoying thing to have to do. Until this time, the coaching that we've done most recently has been more about, why do I want to be doing these things? And it just feels very different. Having diabetes is always something that is in my mind. And because it is something that I manage complications of diabetes in my patients every single day, the way that I would approach that was as fear of those things happening to me. If I don't manage my diabetes perfectly and I manage it well. But I, I think shifting to, I want to do these things because it makes me feel better and it contributes to my ability to manage diabetes feels also very different.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: So one thing, just to take a pivot, one of the things that we really touched on, and I'm so grateful that you're willing to talk about this conversation, is ozempic. So we have been talking about GLP one agonist. This is going to be any brand or flavor that anyone is interested in. I'm seeing it. Just take obviously the community by storm, people that want to lose weight or asking about it. Can you share your history with it, your story with it? And then definitely we'll touch on what's happened over the last few months for you.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: Yep. So probably right when I think it started to become pretty popular for weight loss, my endocrinologist had put me on Ozempic. And I don't think I really realized all of the, the media around it initially, but as that became more focal, I felt almost like I didn't want people to know that I was on it. And so I, I was on it for probably a year and a half. And it was during a period of time where I was losing weight with coaching in addition, and I really didn't tell anybody about it. I had side effects from it and wasn't very consistent because it was hard to get it from the pharmacy, just wouldn't have it in stock. So if I couldn't get it filled, I would take a couple of weeks off, but I was fine with that for a while. And then it just got annoying. So I stopped completely. I didn't talk to my endocrinologist about it. I just stopped it and I gained a lot of weight. And I had a lot of thoughts about if that's why I was gaining weight. I had a follow up with my endocrinologist last spring, and he essentially said, I think it was probably not a good idea that you stopped at cold turkey. So he started me back on it. And then I started coaching with you probably about three months into that being back on it.

   

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: So he basically said, you stopped at kind of cold turkey. You didn't talk to him about it. He's like, listen, you're gaining weight. Let's get you on this. This is back in the spring and so over what happened over those few months between when you started it in the spring and when you started inside the group in July,

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I started it in March, and then I did started coaching in July, and I probably gained 15 pounds when I was on it. I didn't honestly reflect on that until I coached with you, but I went back and looked at the numbers and I was gaining weight while I was on Ozempic. And then I stayed on it when I started coaching in July, but I was definitely having side effects. And I, I think what. What pushed me to do the coaching with you is that I was really trying to eat more protein, but I felt so nauseous from the Ozempic that I couldn't, I really couldn't do it. So that's why I talked to you about it. And I was...

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: You finally told me,

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: right?

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: And actually, I think this is so important. This is so important. I'm so glad we're talking about this candidly because I know that so many women will consider it or be on it and they'll want to hide it or they'll think that it's the quote unquote easy way out or they're cheating with weight loss. And we talked about this really candidly in a coaching call where I coached you on this was the first one that you revealed in the small group. Like, Hey, Pri, I never told this to you. Yeah, but by the way, I'm on the Ozempic. And what was, what was the coaching? I'm just curious, like how did it land for you? What was the coaching that you heard in that moment? And I'm curious kind of what, what role that played for you.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I think the, my overall takeaway was that, that I could use that based on my decision and that if it is a tool for weight loss, that I'm comfortable using that. My work really is around shame about that. That's what I took away. I also took away that I had made a lot of assumptions about my weight loss and the connection to the, to being on Ozempic. And they really were assumptions because when I went back and looked, I was kind of surprised the amount of time that I was on it and still gaining weight. And it's interesting because what is true for me, at least when I've been on ozempic, is that the foods that are healthy do not feel at all appetizing, but any sort of carb or processed food, it did not matter that I was on ozempic, that always felt healthy. Was something that sounded good to me, at least when I was on it. And so I think when, what I sort of connected was that when I didn't have the coaching piece of it, I wasn't really trying to avoid eating because of emotions. And so I was just eating whatever I wanted to, to feel better. So that's, I think my takeaway really was that I could use it as a tool. I think you also helped me realize that if I decided I didn't want to be on it, which I did decide that there was a way to approach that. And I hadn't talked to my endocrinologist about it. So I think I, if I hadn't done that coaching, I think it would have just stopped it again, which was not really the right way to approach it.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Right? The way that I described on that coaching call, I kind of want to use the analogy. If I remember it correctly, tell me if I'm wrong. I described us hitting our body goals or our weight loss goals. It's like building a home. It's building a house. And we need more than one tool to build a house. We need hammers and nails and power tools and saws. And like, I'm not in construction, but we get the picture. There's lots of tools. And I think sometimes what smart professional women will do is they'll try to use a hammer to build a whole house. They'll try to use one tool and then they'll wonder why am I struggling? Why is this so hard? Why is this taking so long? And then because they get so frustrated, they'll give up on building the house and then that frustration builds and builds and builds. And the way that I think on that coaching call, my goal for, for what I want to share with you is I think of Ozempic as one tool out of many, one tool out of many that may be very, very appropriate for you. And also it's not the only tool. I think I'm noticing two different kind of schools of thought and noticing some people just jumping onto the Ozempic bandwagon without accessing the other tools they need to build a home and for it to last. And then I'm seeing the other school, which is like, I'm so scared of it, or I shouldn't be on it, or the shame and embarrassment around it that they don't open up to allow themselves to learn about the other tools. I think that that was kind of the way that I talked about it, if that, if I'm remembering it right.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: It is exactly that. And that analogy was helpful.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: You said, I actually don't want to be on this forever. And I think that this is a common trend. I'm seeing a lot of women. They want to get on it to lose the weight, but then they don't want to be on it forever. What has been your thought process, and especially the coaching that we've done, that's allowed you to slowly get off of it. Now you have been off of it for months and you have lost a lot of weight. In the last multiple months, so I'm curious, kind of sharing on that on that story.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I think for me, I just realized how much of the work for me is my thinking. And it was a controlled way that I, that I stopped it. I think that was helpful. And I think it helped me to have belief that I, I don't need to be on it. in order to lose weight. And if I choose to be on it for medical reasons, that that's also okay. So I, I don't really feel insecurity around it. And that was part of that same coaching call was being mindful about what I want to do and then making a plan to do it. And that's exactly what I did. And it, it felt, it felt controlled and manageable. I think it was the right decision in my situation. There are so many things other than losing weight that I feel very good about. Because things are still happening in my life. I mean, emotions are still there, but I just feel I'm approaching them very differently.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I love to think about if we can maintain our weight loss results or lose weight when we hit the biggest life circumstances that feel the stickiest and the hardest. To me, that's the litmus test of a working strategy. And I feel like that's what this past few months has been. You've had lots of experiences in the workplace, navigating family stuff, home stuff. What do you think it is about the skill set that we have really been focusing on for you in the last six months? It's helped you navigate some really big sticky situations without doing what you used to do. Which is grab a snack, grab a drink, grab whatever to take a break from life. What do you think has been the biggest thing for you?

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I think there are probably two things that have felt different. I think one is really honestly saying why I'm feeling how I'm feeling to myself and spending some time just in my own head saying that I think it's normal that I feel this way, it feels really bad right now. So. Something about that does calm my nervous system down. I think that's one thing. And I think the other thing that has been much different for me this time is I really am trying to focus on reward for myself in the things that I'm doing and in taking care of myself. Filling those areas makes me feel more resilient when things do come up. I don't feel so defeated or overwhelmed or it's just one more thing I can't handle because I think I'm taking time to make sure that I'm taking care of myself on a daily basis.

   

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Right. So it's like when you hit the stickiest moments, which by the way, if you're a professional working mom, they're just lined up for us, my friends are like lined up. So it's like when you come into the sticky situation, you're not running on empty, trying to navigate it. You're feeling maybe you're not full to the tippy top of the cup, but you have reserves to help you weather those moments. And that's actually why I was like, Julie, we have to have you on the podcast because we have been doing, I call this an accountability challenge inside the Unstoppable group. I come up with a new theme. Usually every month we have a new accountability challenge and you've just been, you've just been like on fire in this accountability challenge. And one of the months of the accountability challenge was, I think it was either last month or the month before we were really focusing on rewarding yourself for following through. So there's that moment where you could like eat the chips or not eat the chips. And when you don't eat the chips, what most of us do is we just kind of move on to the next thing. We're like, there we go. Whatever. Not a big deal. We want to move on with our life. But the challenge was to actually take a minute, 60 seconds to reward yourself in your brain, not with more food, but just like reward yourself and how that activates neuroplasticity in your brain is to rewire your brain for new habits. And it starts to create so many results. So tell us about. the accountability challenge, the impact for you and how reward has really been helping you rewire some of these habits.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I have been trying to move more. And so my challenge for myself was activity and to get a certain number of steps per day. And I think what I really took away from it was, first of all, I liked how I physically felt, and I don't think I would have really taken the time to observe that prior to this challenge, but it really did make me think about it when I was getting stronger, and my endurance was better and things that I would have normally the focus of my brain would have been. I can't believe this is. This is hard. That's how I would have approached myself in a way where I disparaged where I was in time. But the framework of this made me look for the positive and that was really, really meaningful. And it, it did stick like it was during the fall when the leaves are changing. And so I had so many enjoyable walks outside that I don't think I would have taken otherwise, but I realized how much I love being outside just for a half an hour before I finished working from home or something. And it just felt like this huge reward. And I was getting this reward as part of something that I wanted to be accomplishing. It was, it's just crazy.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: You know, it's crazy. It's because it's like, wait a second. How is it possible that I'm doing a habit that feels physically good? It's getting me to my goal and I'm getting the break that I've been wanting. Like that pleasure. It's a clean pleasure. The way that we call it clean pleasure. No regret. Win win wins. Yes. Win, win, win. And I think that it's so, I really wanted to highlight this as a concept. I feel like I shared on the podcast and people have probably heard me say it, but hearing somebody else describe their experience of it, because I take you through a step by step process on how to do this, on how to really practice a mindfulness in following through, you know, that moment that you're like, I deserve a break. You do deserve a break, but like, what if it wasn't always food and alcohol or scrolling? And it was like this stuff.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: Yeah. I mean, I remember you talking at one point, it was either on the podcast or in coaching about skincare as a self care tool.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Oh yeah, that wasn't a coaching call,

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: But I really, in the moment, it didn't really seem like it was that relevant to me. And then when I was doing the challenge, it was like, I was looking for all these great things in my life. And There are a lot of them. Things that I think I just take for granted. And it, it really, I think, just shifted the way my mind was working. Where I would just like love putting on comfortable pajamas. Where that just is not something I would have ever taken the time to appreciate as something nice. But I think it just makes, it made me feel very different in the process.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I've been talking so much about hormones and cortisol and of course insulin, leptin, and estrogen. But specifically in this case, we're talking about like certain mindfulness practices that can literally lower your stress levels physiologically. This is like science. And I think what, what is fascinating, what you're describing is, you know, We are going throughout our day, I would say most of the time on autopilot. When you like show up at work, you don't even know how you got there. You just drove there. Like, how did I even get here? Your mind is somewhere else. You might be on the massage table getting a massage and you're thinking about your email inbox or your labs that you have to sign off on or like the kid, you know, the worry with your kid. What we were taught with kind of this, this practice, and this is a skill that is a learnable skill that I want in the hands of every single professional woman is actually taking small moments. It's not even a lot of time, 60 seconds, right here and there of actually knowing how to stop and slow down and be present rewires our brain.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: Yeah, this month's challenge is the one about,

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I love this month's challenge. I love it. This is a good month.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: It's so good because it's then creating a situation where. Am looking for something to do for myself that is fun or play after dinner when I normally am looking for a reward in another way. And I love sending cards and that is something that I just, I don't make time to do it. This challenge, I think I've sent like four, cards just to friends or family and it brings me joy when I'm writing it. It brings me joy when they get the card. It's just something that feels like such a good addition to my life in just trying to look for something joyful for myself every day. And it doesn't take that much more time.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: No. And it's like actually feeling this desire for play, right? So this month's challenge, I think the reason that I really wanted to focus on play is because the holiday season is full of these like parties and celebrations and play is a big piece of cultural and religious celebration, but oftentimes it's always associated with overeating and over drinking. So you end up on January 1st, five pounds up on the scale, 10 pounds up on the scale, when all you wanted was to have fun. So Right. So the whole intention of this challenge was like, how are we going to teach our brains that actually we can have so much fun and also hit a goal by starting January 1st with a head start.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: Right. It feels exciting because you're doing something fun for yourself.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Yeah.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: Yeah.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I love it. Okay. So when you think about, cause there's a, there's an accountability piece to this. There's a small group. You have shared what your thing is going to be at the start of the month. And now we're kind of tracking, not feeling, I don't like track you, track you, but I'm kind of, my eyes are on you. We know what's happening. You're getting feedback on every single thing that you post. What do you think it is about having accountability? That has also helped you create some of these new habits and helped you break some of the bad habits that you've been wanting to break.

   

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I think it's a secure place, so that's not really what you asked me, but the, but the whole Ozempic conversation was with people I don't know, and if I'm worried about judgment and felt safe to talk about that in that context. I think that's pretty amazing, and I feel like everybody on that call was very supportive in their messages to me. And then I think that, like, these recent challenges, it gives me ideas, and I also get excited to see what everybody else is doing. It just feels very supportive, and like you're not going through it by yourself.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: You know what's interesting about this piece? Like this double edged sword, and you know how I am with, with puns and words. Maybe this is not like, you know how I am. Okay. So there's on the one hand, I think a lot of professional women really hold it like a badge of honor doing something independently. Strongly hitting a goal without any help. There's something about, I think, also being in male dominated fields. Maybe we feel this desire or need to do that, but then at the same time, there's something about being in a group and not being alone on a journey and surrounding yourself with like minded women who have similar growth goals to you. So what do you think about the difference going it alone versus being in a supported group?

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I think there's sort of is an inherent vulnerability in wanting to be strong. And I think that it's pretty normal for us to feel that way. But something about the group has allowed comfort in vulnerability, where when you're on it alone, it feels almost isolating. And I have that comparison because in the break that I took, that is how it felt. I felt very alone, especially we are. Moms and we're professionals, that is something that our male counterparts, I'm not saying that they don't feel pressure, but I think it's a different pressure as a mom and just the what you carry as the feeling of responsibility for all of those areas of your life and to have multiple people who, you know, understand that. I think that is really valuable.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I've been on both sides as a client and as a coach. When you're going it alone, you don't recognize when you get into your own echo chamber, like you almost get in your own way without realizing you're in your own way. And I think that that's what I love about coaching. Having a coach show you your blind spot to almost like an uncomfortable edge because you've never answered certain questions, but that's why we keep the results. That we've had when we're alone because we're not seeing what we're not seeing, right?

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I couldn't see it when you are able to know my patterns as well as you do that you pointing out sort of how my mind is working is it's just pretty mind blowing sometimes. I mean, the amount of, Damage that I just continued to do because of how ashamed that I felt that coaching was extremely useful for me because there were points along the path where I was gaining weight where I knew I was off track and I just kept feeling worse. I just kept treating that with eating and I just couldn't get out of my own way and I couldn't really see how to shift it. It was just really interesting to then have you just be able to kind of break it down. It was very clear.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: It's sometimes it's one of those things that we want to have so much. We want to have actually a partner in our corner, a coach in our corner, just like deeply supporting. I don't just mean Lucy Goosey supporting. I feel, I mean, this is me. You tell me whether this feels true, but like in the group, I really feel like it is such an intimate, intimate. Personalized coaching experience. And you know, the coaching that I give you will not be the coaching that I give to someone else. Even if you started at the same time, even if you have similar backgrounds, like our coaching will be very, very personalized and customized to you. So what would you say to someone that's like, you know, I kind of feel like I should do something one on one. I don't know if I'm going to get my needs met in a group. Like, what would you say to that in terms of the experience and the personalized experience that you've had?

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: You can get everything that you need. in the group. And I see you coach other people, so I know that you don't coach everyone the same. And I feel that you're, how in tune you are to each of us with our struggles and how they differ to me is the huge strength of being in your program, because I'm not the same as everybody else on this group. And I don't think anyone else in the group has type one diabetes, but that is a part of my coaching because of how much I think about it and I don't think that people don't learn about other things when you coach me on that. And I would say I feel similarly when you coach people on things that may not be my exact issue. I find threads in whatever you're coaching them about.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: One of my My favorite things that I've experienced as a client, which is why I've tried to bring it as a core piece that I think helps Unstoppable stand apart, is to gain momentum, we have to know where we've come from. So if we're reinventing the wheel every single week, or you have to explain to me who you are and what your story is, This is just, again, this is an opinion. So I just feel like we're not able to gain traction. Whereas in the group, my intention, why I really cap spots, limit the size of the group is because I want to maintain that we get to move forward from it rather than just saying the same things again and again.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: Agree. I agree. And I am often amazed at how much you can remember from coaching from months ago, but it is completely relevant to what you're coaching me on in the moment, which is how I know how well you understand the way I work. And that's the part that feels so personalized for each of us.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: This is a serious investment. You know, somebody might first of all say, what is coaching? Because I could just call my best friend. She's a fitness person. She can just tell me what to do where I can create my little accountability group with like, you know, some of my peers. What's the difference between that and my friend group or that in therapy? Like how would you explain to them what coaching has been for you?

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I would speak to coaching with you because I don't think that every coaches need the same, but in my coaching with you, I have felt that your ability to support the journey and identify where I am getting in my own way allows Need to progress forward and keep momentum going in the right direction. And I think differing therapy for anxiety or depression, I would not say that you would take that on as a role. There have been things we've coached on maybe around anxiety if there are anxiety provoking situations, but I see therapy as a different role. And then friends, I mean, I talked to plenty of friends when I wasn't in the group and they listened, but it didn't exactly get me on the path I needed to be on.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: There's something about investing seriously, number one, and putting yourself in a community. It's like the people you surround yourself with are the people that you start to kind of grow alongside. So if you are surrounding yourself with people that are hitting goals, you are also more likely to go and hit that goal. What do you think it is about investing seriously? Investing seriously. in this experience that also helps you up level your results because it's a serious investment coaching, especially in the Unstoppable group. It's a high touch experience. It's very, very personal. So it is a serious investment.

   

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: For me the perspective is that I I've done it and I've tried to go on my own and that was difficult. I don't think that means I can't get to that point, but to me, making that investment just. didn't let me like mess around anymore. It was an investment in myself and I thought I am worthy of that. And I think that I would probably not second guess it if it was something I felt my family member would need. So then why would I not do the same thing for myself? I knew it worked and I knew I needed it.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: It's one of those things where, especially moms, we're so used to spending on our children or the house or concert tickets even. But when it's just us, there's something that somehow gives us pause. Like it's just me. Maybe I should just be able to do this myself. And I find that that really does hold back women from taking it seriously, like putting in their full effort and kind of going in all the way.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: Yeah. I think it's easy too, because there are competing costs. I mean, I paying. tuition bills for college and our family is figuring all of those things out. You do have to consider all of those costs. But the part that I really made me know I wanted to do it was that I was thinking that I am making the same investment in my son. Why would I not do that for myself?

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Yeah. And that might mean you say no to something else.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: Right.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: This is where we're like, we want to kind of step in and think about our personal values. Am I okay with saying no to something else? Because, and you kind of can share on your end saying yes to this and investing in yourself. What's the trickle effect been for you in your life?

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I mean, I think it's been in every part of my life. I mean, just feeling better in my own mind and body, I think is worth every penny of that. And when I'm feeling better in those ways, then I obviously show up the way I want to as a mom and as a wife and as a doctor. So I think it just, it touches everything.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I totally agree, obviously, because I'm obviously coaching is one of those, I call it an active sport. I know that I've been talking with you about this. It's not a passive consumption piece of content. It's not like a webinar or a training, which I know I've been talking a lot about the hormones training. It's not a book that you can read and just like learn how to do. You have to get in actively. I'm actually kind of curious about that just kind of, as we wrap up, what do you think is the difference for someone that's listening to the podcast And they're feeling better. You listen to the podcast, remember, and you're like, I love the podcast. I'm feeling amazing. It's great.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: Yeah.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: What's the difference between passively consuming the podcast versus actively getting coached?

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I mean, it's so different. It's so different because listening to the podcast is essentially having a nice drive to work and having it be in my mind for that period of time. And then the next week was listening to it again, but there's nobody to say, Hey, Why don't you write down your plan for what you want to do this weekend? I will take a look at it. We'll see how it goes. We'll make adjustments. It's just very different and it's hard to make make good gains and traction when you're passively just ingesting content.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: Well, I think especially for overachieving professional women, this is the part that I really always want to drive home. Passive consumption, especially when you feel good after the passive consumption, it can feel productive. It can trick us into thinking we're being productive. So consuming a podcast or reading a blog or a book or even making a plan, planning. Yeah. It's it really does feel so productive. So our brain is getting dopamine hits from passive consumption. But are we moving the needle on losing the weight we want on hitting the gym if we want to on changing our body composition if that is our actual goal? And that's where I find the biggest difference. Passive consumption versus coaching. We move the needle and we evaluate, we get in and we evaluate week after week after week and make tweaks. So this time next year, you're like already at your goal. It just becomes inevitable.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: And your belief I think grows the more you, the more you're doing things versus just listening to things. Yeah. Yeah.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: I love it. Oh, Julie, this has been so good. I'm so glad you agreed to come on. And especially to just, I really just am thankful because I know that having a candid conversation like this, especially talking on some of the The more vulnerable topics like it can be sensitive. So I appreciate you coming on. I think you're amazing.

  Dr. Julie Whittington-Cirton: I'm curious if people have questions because I don't, I have not publicly like told a ton of people about Ozempic, but now they can ask. Now they can ask.

  Dr. Priyanka Venugopal: And listen, if anyone listened to this has a question on any of the topics we're talking about, you can DM me on Instagram. It's really me responding to you, burn stress, lose weight or on Instagram. Send us an email. [email protected], or decide to join the upcoming cohort of the Unstoppable group is seriously one of my most favorite things ever. Okay, Julie, thank you so much for being here and guys, we'll see you next week. Bye. I hope you all loved this conversation. I am so grateful to Julie for agreeing to come on and share her story and being forthcoming because when we tell stories like this, that are real stories that are not filtered, it really does make a difference for anyone listening to Really see that this is possible for you too. I have clients in the Unstoppable group that have never been on Ozempic that don't want to be on Ozempic. And I have clients that as Julie shared are on it, have been on it and wanted to be one of the tools in their toolbox, whether or not you decide that you want a GLP one agonist to be a part of your weight loss journey, journey, or your body goal journey is really not the point. A lot of what we are doing inside the Unstoppable group is giving you the other tools and skills in your toolbox to make the house that you're building. Really last the litmus test of your life. I want more professional women to know that it's possible to feel better to navigate any sticky situation at work and at home, and to feel deeply taken care of mind and body with some specific skills. Coaching is an evidence based modality that is proven to help women feel better, improve burnout and improve quality of life. If you know that you want this and you want a coach in your corner, I encourage you to not wait another minute. You can actually go and grab your seat in the upcoming cohort. This week, which is a huge benefit because you can binge listen to the whole entire curriculum in a weekend and truly start feeling better and losing weight, even before our very first coaching call, head over to burnstressloseweight.com/group. If this is something you want, we'll talk on a consult call and decide if we're a best fit. And I'm going to also throw in, if you have not yet grabbed my free training, which is hormone secrets to uplevel your weight loss and wellness results, make sure you go and grab that. It is 30 minutes, no fluff. I have timestamps on the training. So you know exactly where to go and how to just maximize your learning. You can grab that over at burnstressloseweight.com/hormones, so make sure you go and grab that training. But regardless, I don't want you to get stuck in passive consumption. I really want to help you get into active implementation because your dream weight loss goal, your wellness goal is inevitable with the right strategy. I hope you guys have an amazing week and I will see you next time. Thanks for spending this time with me on the burn stress lose weight podcast today. I hope that you are leaving today's podcast episode feeling a little lighter and more inspired than when we started. It turns out. that you don't need to have a stress free life to hit your goals on and off the scale. But when you feel more empowered to respond to your real life stresses with true strategy, we will game change how we show up and how we hit our goals. If you want to take what you're learning here on the podcast and put it into real life implementation, it might be time for us to work together in the Burn Stress, Lose Weight Feel Unstoppable group coaching program. Head over to burnstressloseweight.com and you can learn all of the details, the nuts, the bolts when the next group is starting and exactly how you can join. Okay, friend, I'll see you next time.