She had tried a trainer for two to three years, Weight Watchers, tracking apps, and six week challenges. Every single time she made progress and fell right back. Walking into the program her biggest fear was not that it would fail. It was that she would.
She had tried a trainer for two to three years, Weight Watchers, tracking apps, and six week challenges. Every time she made progress she ended up right back where she started. When she reached out she was considering medication - not because she was against it, but because she knew herself well enough to know it was not going to fix the root of what was happening.
This is not a story about a surgeon with a perfect schedule who figured it out. It is a story about someone whose schedule is genuinely unpredictable, who had genuinely tried everything, and who finally decided to ask for help.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Why she was considering GLP-1 and what made her look for a different path first
- How a busy surgical day made consistency feel impossible and what changed that
- Why she always thought she needed at least an hour to work out and what she thinks now
- How the mindset and behavior piece was missing from every other program she tried
- Why her biggest fear was not the program failing but herself failing again
- What a Friday night workout date with her husband looks like now
- Why she says you have to whole ass it not half ass it
- What she would tell any busy woman who has tried everything and still feels stuck
If you have been telling yourself your schedule is the reason you cannot make progress, Loretta's story is going to make that excuse very hard to hold onto.
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Podcast Transcript
The Surgeon Who Said She Would Fail Again and Then Didn't: Loretta's Story
INTRODUCTION
I introduce Loretta as someone I have been wanting to bring on the podcast for some time but who is genuinely, legitimately busy. I note that our initial conversation and how far she has come in such a short time has been remarkable. Loretta is a Powerhouse Academy member joining us from Brooklyn.
LORETTA'S BACKGROUND
Loretta is a surgical podiatrist at a hospital in Brooklyn, a mom of two small children aged five and two and a half, and her husband is also a physician who commutes to New Jersey. She describes her life as mostly working and managing schedules, with a lot of extended family dynamics layered on top.
WHAT WAS HAPPENING WHEN SHE REACHED OUT
Loretta was deeply unhappy with how she looked and felt, had no energy to push through her days, and was stuck in a cycle of making changes, falling off the wagon, and starting over. She had started considering medication but knew she was not doing what she needed to do first - and that the medication alone was not going to fix that. She describes knowing herself well enough to look three years into the future and not want to end up right back where she started.
THE MICRO SIGNS
The clearest signs were social - any engagement she had to get dressed for, she dreaded. She did not want to look for something to wear, did not want to be in photos, and started saying no to things. She describes now having an engagement party coming up that she is actually looking forward to. The contrast between those two versions of herself is something she notes with quiet surprise.
OTHER PROGRAMS SHE HAD TRIED
Loretta had worked with a trainer for two to three years who gave her protein targets and calorie goals - but the schedule mismatch made consistency impossible. Her surgery times were unpredictable, she would have to cancel last minute, and the rigid targets sent her off the rails on weekends. She also tried Weight Watchers for about three to four months, saw a small improvement, and then just lost momentum and moved on.
WHAT MAKES POWERHOUSE ACADEMY DIFFERENT
Loretta highlights three things - the simplicity of the meal plans, the efficiency of the workouts, and the mindset and behavior coaching. She recalls me telling her we were not going to ask her to source sea salt from the top of a mountain. The workouts are twenty five minutes and over before she has time to talk herself out of them. But the piece that sold her was seeing that the behavioral and psychological side of things was going to be addressed - because she knew that was what every other program had been missing.
THE SKEPTICISM
Loretta's fear going in was not that the program would fail but that she would. She had signed up for too many things and fallen off too many times to feel confident about herself walking into something new. She describes getting off the call, filling out the paperwork, and making a decision that failure was simply not an option this time. She went all in and did not look back.
THE RESULTS
Three months in Loretta describes better stress management at work, more brain space available during surgical days because the planning at home is handled, a workout date with her husband on a Friday night, more energy to play outside with her kids, clothes fitting better, and a level of daily consistency with movement she has never had before. She also describes rolling with her unpredictable OR schedule without spiraling - something that used to derail her completely.
ADVICE FOR WOMEN ON THE FENCE
Loretta's advice is to go all in and trust the process without reservations. She says she spent years half-assing everything she tried and the shift came when she decided that was not an option anymore. Her line - you have to whole ass it, not half ass it. She also says that if she can do it with her schedule, anyone can. And the single biggest difference between now and three months ago is that she finally asked for help.
CLOSING
I close by noting how incredibly coachable Loretta has been and how that open mindedness is exactly why the results are speaking for themselves. The skepticism she came in with was never about the program - it was about herself. And the fact that she is here giving this interview is the answer to that.
