Why Your Body Is Holding Onto Weight (And How to Fix It)
In this episode Dr. Tabatha Barber and co‑host Ashley field rapid‑fire questions from their Fast to Faith coaching community, covering why women often plateau or gain weight despite dieting. They explain how prolonged under‑fueling triggers a thyroid‑adrenal alarm that slows metabolism, how trauma and attachment wounds drive emotional eating via subconscious programming, and why journaling framed as a spiritual practice can surface hidden beliefs. The discussion moves to protein’s true role as a building‑block for tissue repair—not merely an energy source—and debunks the myth that protein deficiency causes hair loss, pointing to inflammation and micronutrient deficits instead. They offer a single actionable tip for better sleep: write worries down and hand them to God before bed. The conversation also highlights the importance of magnesium (their MagLift supplement) for hundreds of enzymatic processes, and how proper supplementation can aid mood, blood sugar, and sleep. Finally, they outline red‑flags of under‑fueling (low energy, poor recovery, afternoon naps), the need for carb‑cycling for women, and the unique value of their coaching model that combines medical expertise, faith‑based healing, and community support. The episode closes with a Proverbs 3:5‑6 encouragement and a call to join their 40‑day program and virtual events.
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As soon as you aren't eating enough for more than probably two weeks, your thyroid will just like start alarming the system, and then your adrenals will hear that alarm, and they'll be like, "Oh, she's starving us. We better turn down that metabolism." And then women wonder why they've plateaued or even started to gain, especially around the belly. So welcome back. This week we are pulling back the curtain on. Our coaching academy because the truth of it is we are constantly mentoring women and we are helping women help other women. And when we have these calls every week and I'm training, Ashley's training, we sometimes see themes happen and we realize, okay, this narrative is being spun out in the wellness world right now or in the conventional medical space. And it's a lie, or it's not helpful, or there's some truth of it and it needs some clarification. So we just thought, why don't we bring this to the podcast? Because every woman is probably asking this question because we keep hearing it in the coaching calls. So we're gonna dive in and you're just gonna like rapid-fire some stuff at me for us to discuss. I might even ask you a few questions.
Oh, bless. That was not in the plan, but let's do it. No, I'm just kidding. So I think the importance— let's go back to the episode about Awaken, Restore, and Rise. And we take Rise really serious at our coaching academy. We are constantly upleveling ourselves. Um, if people knew how much time you spend pouring into yourself to learn, and, um, they would probably be like, wait, what? Because that's how I feel sometimes. Because I will text Tabatha and I'll be like, and I'm done. Like, I, I can literally— I'm tapping out of this little training that we're doing because I, I can consume no more. And so we all learn differently, but we take it serious to continue to rise so that our coaches rise. This is really important to us. And so here we go, we're diving in and we're not messing around today. Are you ready? Okay, let's go. All right, so the first one, one of our coaches is seeing a pattern across her clients of childhood wounds and the attachment injuries, and they're showing up as emotional eating, FOMO around food, trouble journaling, old hurt surfacing mid-program. So meaning mid-40-day program. And she wants to know, how is trauma and attachment actually driving this? It's a big loaded, here we go question.
Yeah. And we've done episodes on this. I would love to encourage you to go back and listen to the episode with Dr. Russ Irwin.
Absolutely.
Um, the episode with Lydia Hatton where we talk about subconscious Programming, and here's something that I've really learned this year from Dan Duvall, who is the director of Bride Ministries. Is our subconscious is actually in our heart, and that is a wild concept because in medical school I learned that your subconscious is just deeper in your brain. It's just like the part of your brain that you're not conscious or aware of. But there is a good argument that. What desires you have in your heart, what thoughts you have in your heart is what flows from it. That that is what the Bible explains to be your subconscious. Your driving behaviors are from deep beliefs and desires, and so that's your subconscious. Wherever you believe it, it lives. It is running the show. It is a program. So. You know, when you turn on your phone, it does something. There's a program running it in the background that you don't think about. You don't think, how is this text going to get to Ashley? The text just gets to Ashley, right?
Yeah.
And so when we see a cookie, we have a subconscious program that makes our hand reach for it and makes us eat it, and it gives us a dopamine hit, and it helps us feel better and it gives us energy and, and it does all these chemical physical reactions. And so it's our job to uncover some of that subconscious programming and, and learn how to be coders, like how to read that programming and then rewrite it. And we look to God to rewrite that subconscious programming. So obviously I can't answer this question on this podcast episode, but I can tell you that we can absolutely tackle it. And we have had countless women in Fast to Faith, including ourselves, heal childhood wounds, trauma, deep, that we didn't even know existed, that we didn't know were running those programs. Because there is a way to Ask God to reveal your subconscious beliefs, to reveal all of that coding, and then to help rewrite it. So that is the deeper part of Fast of Faith that we don't talk about usually, because you can't even think about healing trauma, childhood wounds, any of that. First of all, that sounds really scary. No one— nobody wants to excavate that stuff by themselves, right?
Yeah.
And never should you. You should do it with the Holy Spirit. But you don't even know it's there most of the time. Like, I know that you've shared a lot of your healing journey and things that you didn't realize until we started saying, Holy Spirit, why am I making this choice? What is driving this? And we started to unpack it. So it's such a safe place inside of our sisterhood that we can actually do this work because we invite the Holy Spirit in and we create a safe space for each other. And we have the tools to be able to do it. And that is really how you get healing and restoration. So I wish there was a quick answer.
No, it's not a quick answer. The one thing I do want to hit on is the journaling and the client that's hitting the wall in the journaling. Is that because it's, it's just going deeper than what they really want to go and they're willing to go?
Yeah. To me, journaling is really powerful because our thoughts will continue to swirl and spiral in our mind. We will vociferate, we will ruminate, all those big words of just like, I'm just gonna like focus on the problem and then the solution can't happen. And when you start journaling and you start writing it, and we teach you in the program like How to journal, how to pray. Start with an attitude of gratitude. That is what the Bible says: is you start with thanksgiving, and you start with worship. Thank you, God, that you're amazing and incredible, and that you've actually given me the ability to sit down and do this journaling right now. And that will shift your perspective subconsciously to be looking for more good things, and. Then your brain can start to find the solution. I say like you have to write it down to see it, to, to make it be found. And it's really powerful, but there's blockages in there that we need to work through together, 100%.
Yeah, it's always fun to see what women journal on day 1. If they're willing to share, they'll show their journals. We get this a lot on social media. Women tag us And like day 1, they've hardly written anything. And by day 40, there's not enough room on the paper. And I also think it's really powerful to go back. I talk about this a lot, go back and look at what you wrote too, 'cause you don't even realize how much you've lived in 40 days, especially when you're writing gratitude and how important that is to go back and look at it. So.
Yeah, I, I think about the, how I used to pray. I prayed like a beggar. I used to just beg God.
That's so true.
Save me from this circumstance, remove these people from my life. And he, he doesn't want that.
No.
He wants to change you. He wants to help you get through the circumstance. He wants to empower you. And so journaling is like, it's a revelation. It unpacks that, it shows that to you. It teaches you how to actually do that. But there's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. You can sit and be miserable in your journaling. That's what I call a diary. Just like, oh, woe is me, he doesn't like me, none of the kids picked me at school. Like your, your middle school diary. It's miserable, it's terrible.
That's not journaling.
Journaling is an empowering experience. It is actually learning to hear from God and to get his voice come through and, and get your own crap out of the way.
Yeah. All right, let's move on from the heavy stuff to some protein. Let's talk about proteins, what women like to talk about. So this one comes up constantly. What does the program actually use protein for in weight loss, and how does that change based on a woman's workouts or lack of them?
I think it's really important to understand the point of protein. Protein is a macro, just like fat and carbohydrates, but protein, those are building blocks. So it's a bunch of amino acids all connected in different ways. And so amino acids, I think of as single Lego blocks. Like you got your blue ones and your red ones and your yellow ones, and you can build an infinite amount of buildings and structures with Legos. And that's what you can do with amino acids. You make different proteins. So when we're eating protein, our stomach breaks them back down into their single Lego blocks, and you have all those amino acids, and then your body uses them to make different proteins. So it takes animal protein and it makes ferritin and transferrin and all of these different things that your cells use to make enzymes, to repair muscle, to repair tendons and ligaments, and for your eye health, and like, you name it, it's a building block. A lot of people think that it's just more energy resource. You're not eating protein after a workout because you're tired and you need energy. You're eating protein to restore the damage done to your muscles and your joints, and to strengthen your heart muscle and all of those things. And so this idea of like, you just need 150 grams of protein and you'll be healthy. If you're not in the gym, if you're not tearing that muscle down, if you're not moving your body, there's nothing to repair and to restore. So if you're eating 150 grams of protein and you're sitting at your desk for 8 hours a day, not moving your body, You're going to gain weight. You're not using that protein, it is getting stored. So that's number one. Number 2 is we don't break down muscle for energy until we've expended the fats and the carbohydrate resources. So really, we have to understand macros better, I think. So if you— if your number one focus is to lose weight, Mm-hmm. We do have to look at the macro amount of protein that you're eating, and it very much depends on your activity level. So that's something we really talk about in Fast to Faith is if you are working out and you need those protein requirements, let's get after it. But if you're sedentary and you're trying to lose weight, that's going to prevent weight loss.
Yeah, so this is where it's really important to work with a coach. Because we have different plans. So the general plan is out there. You can find it in the book, you can find it anywhere. But if you need something specific, that's where the coaching comes in. And also, you said this in the very beginning, but our coaches get to ask you these questions. So these are questions you've actually already answered for our coaches. We're answering them for you today. But the coaches can come and ask, like, so let's say Sally has something very specific that we don't have a plan for. They come and they get to ask Morgan and you those questions and get those answered. And I think that's what's really cool and special about having a coach because we don't just train our coaches and then say, best of luck out there. We're constantly mentoring them every single week, which is a rare find. So.
Yeah, you just don't see that in the coaching world anywhere else. The fact that they get to continue to be trained by us every single week after their program is complete. That's why they're such awesome coaches.
Absolutely, and why they can best help their clients. So something else that she said was, she also asked about protein and hair loss and how to get enough without it turning into overeating. I thought this was an interesting question.
Yes. Lack of protein is not the major cause for hair loss. Let's get that right out of the way. That is a myth that's going around. I need to eat more protein because I'm losing my hair. Hair loss is number one, an inflammation issue. We have hair follicles that are inside of our scalp.
Mm-hmm.
And if that little area is inflamed, it cannot hold the hair follicle, the bulb in place, and it will release and fall out. And if you lose blood supply to those little areas, You're not going to regrow a new follicle, unfortunately. And so we see a lot of this with chronic inflammatory diseases, either autoimmune like Hashimoto's, celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease. We see it with gastric bypass surgery and different surgeries that affect your stomach acid production and its ability to absorb vitamins and minerals. So vitamin and mineral deficiency is probably Probably number 2 reason for hair loss or hair non-regrow. And so that's why supplements that really give you back your B vitamins and your vitamin D and those types of things can be helpful.
Mm-hmm.
But I would say inflammation is the biggest one. So it's— you have to be so deficient in protein for that to be causing your hair loss. That's not your problem.
All right, so this next question is something that we talked about all— I guess we'll call it season. So when I first joined you in January of this year, we have so many episodes on this. So we're going to make this super quick. The vagus nerve, cortisol, and how stress and sleep, or the lack of it, affect weight and health overall. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to just give us one thing, because women can go back and listen to the old episodes and learn how much stress is impacting their life. I want you to just give us one thing that women can do tonight to change this.
Hmm.
That's gonna set the tone.
This is what I started doing, and it had the greatest impact. Number one, you have to sleep enough.
Mm-hmm.
But when you're lying there before you go to sleep, you have a conversation with God and you say, here's everything on my plate that I'm worrying about. I'm gonna hand this over to you tonight because It's not gonna get fixed tonight. And a lot of women need to write it down.
Yeah.
Like, just write down everything you know that you're gonna be worried about tomorrow, or the rest of the week, or the rest of the month, and say, God, I'm handing this over to you so that I can get a beautiful night's sleep. And trust that he's gonna hold it for you. Because I promise you, if you don't do that, your subconscious is going to be working on those problems while you're trying to sleep. sleep and it causes so much sleep disruption. It affects the dreams that you have, but it really does cause a lot of night wakening. And women, you know, they want to blame their bladder. And sometimes that's an issue because of blood sugar, things like that, or hormone dysregulation, low estrogen, alcohol, all of those other things. But it really is the problems that your subconscious is mulling over. So That practice of writing it down, handing it over to God, is really powerful. It actually works.
Yeah, it does. I also think it's super important before you go to bed to take MagLift.
Real quick, I just want to interrupt this conversation for something super important. Even though we need to take care of ourselves spiritually, emotionally, and physically, we do have to take care of ourselves at a cellular level, and that is why I have my Fast2Face supplement line. So let's just take a minute to hear about something that might be the game changer that you need in this season.
Let's lock it down. Let's do a quick overview of MagLift and why it's important again.
So magnesium is a mineral that is from the earth. It is something that is responsible for hundreds of enzymatic processes in our bodies, and if we don't have it, you're gonna feel it. Most people don't get enough magnesium. It's not in our diet the way that I used to. Our soil is very depleted. When you consume certain foods, you only get about 10% of the minerals from the food. It isn't always the case, it's just that is oftentimes can be the case. So it's really important to supplement so that your processes in your body can work well. So we're talking blood sugar, we're talking blood pressure, we're talking anxiety, we're talking depression. Every single process in the body pretty much relies on magnesium. So if you want to function well— migraines, it can be— it's been shown to be helpful depending on your situation if you struggle with the migraines. There was a study where it performed as well as an antidepressant in patients with depression.
So I have been on so many antidepressants over 20 years. I was on Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Lexapro, Effexor, which was impossible to get off. I like Effexor is evil in my mind. It's a struggle. I've helped many patients get off of it, but it's hard. The way I got off of it was getting on Hormone Tame, D3K2 Lift, and Mag Lift. Like I've never once thought I need to go back on those medications. It's It's crazy. Like, oh my gosh, I just needed some vitamins and minerals.
I know. And when you look at how hormones are— I'm sorry, neurotransmitters specifically are synthesized, if you break down the pathway, magnesium is literally required. Vitamin C is required. Like, minerals and vitamins are required. That's where this tug of war keeps coming in. So when you give your body enough of these nutrients in therapeutic doses, guess what? It can work for you.
I don't think people realize that minerals are the spark plugs of our body. They actually help our energy move and go where it needs to go. Like, they give us life.
It's just, it's, it's a pretty, you know, inexpensive product and it does wonders and it just does so many things in the body.
Yeah, I mean, we get our patients and clients saying, I just, I will never live without MagLift now that I understand how well I sleep and how How much better I feel, like, don't ever take it away from me.
Yeah.
All right, 2 more, but the one of them, I'm going to say this. We get a lot of questions about understanding labs and the normal. And again, we focused on this a lot in the last season. Almost every episode touched on the importance of understanding that the normal lab ranges that your PCP is giving you are probably not good. So we have a Read Your Own Lab Guide. That I highly recommend that women get. And again, this is something during the 40-day program, you get to come on and every Monday you're there and women can bring questions to you and ask them, ask you medical questions, which also makes the program really special. So I'm not really gonna touch on that one today cuz I feel like we already have, but this is probably my favorite question that we got altogether is spotting the underfueled client. So in general nutrition troubleshooting for coaches, so what are some red flags? When you're coaching women, and when our coaches are coaching women, or if you're just a woman out there and you're like, you think you're eating enough, but you're actually underfueled, what does that look like? What are some red flags?
We had a time period where we got a big influx of women from another fasting community. And they were stuck in the 16:8 rut or the one meal a day rut. And so there was no appetite, they were barely eating, and so they had low energy, and they just didn't feel good. And then they weren't sleeping as well. And the truth of it was, they weren't eating enough.
Mm-hmm.
So fasting is an incredible tool, but we have to mix it up. We cannot do the same thing every day. And so underfueling often looks like not being able to get through a workout or not recovering well from a workout, being sore for extra days, being tired. Wanting to take a nap at 2 or 3 in the afternoon, that's a big one. Or falling asleep on the couch after dinner. If that is happening to you, get your butt out for a walk after you eat. You really have to get that blood sugar regulated and moving your body.
Mm-hmm.
But then you have to eat more. So, we teach carb cycling in Fasts of Faith. That is, What differentiates men from women? Women need to carb cycle in order to have a healthy metabolism and keep their weight balance and their energy up. So it is really easy to not eat enough when you have a fasting lifestyle. I admit, like, I can fall prey to that really easily because I'm so busy during the day and I don't want to Stop to prepare food or to feed myself or do all of that, but you have to. It's really absolutely essential to maintaining a healthy metabolism. As soon as you aren't eating enough for more than probably two weeks, your thyroid will just like start alarming the system, and then your adrenals will hear that alarm, and they'll be like, "Oh, she's starving us. We better turn down that metabolism." And then women wonder why they've. plateaued or even started to gain, especially around the belly. So there is a better way. Fast to Faith is that way. We can teach you all of that.
Yeah. And that goes back to the coaching again, and having that one-on-one coach, because we have different plans for different places that you're in, and your age matters too, like you're saying.
So absolutely.
Yeah. And it's, it's forced us to grow, because when this program was originally created, it wasn't for every woman, and we have now created that. So that's the cool part. So Every single thing here today that I just rapid fired at you—the trauma, the protein, the cortisol, the labs, the underfueling—if you have a question, that is what's inside the 40-day program. Every single Monday, you get to come; you get to bring these questions to Tabitha, and she answers them for you as a doctor. And it is—it makes the program unique and special. So I highly encourage you that if you're looking for a new program or you're just looking for a Sisterhood of Community to join our 40-day program.
It's actually insane. Like, I don't know any other doctor who gives that much time to just sit and be able to ask questions to. Usually you're paying thousands of dollars to have that kind of interaction with a triple board-certified doctor. I'm not trying to toot my own horn. I am saying, like, I do this because God has called me to, and it's a very awesome opportunity for you to heal in a group setting without breaking the bank. Like, it's, it's gold.
So if you're like, I have a question, we're ready for you. Come on Monday. We can't wait to see you there. Yeah. What scripture are you leaving with us today?
I'm gonna leave you with Proverbs 3:5-6. Meditate on this week. Talk to God about this scripture. Ask him what he's trying to say to you. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight. This is the foundation of Fast to Faith. We ask God, what do you have planned for me? Give me those desires in my heart. Rewrite my subconscious so that I can make different choices and show up as a better version of myself, the version that you have created me to be. So I hope that's what you hear this week. I, I think it's going to be. God wants the best for you. He, he loves you. You are his daughter. He's making a way for you. There's a reason you heard this episode. We are here for you when you're ready. We'll see you next week.
Yeah, and don't forget, we have our Lay It Down one-day virtual event, and we would love to see you there.
Yes, click the link below. Bye, guys.
Bye, ladies.
If you like that episode, I have one favor to ask, maybe 2. Can you hit subscribe and give me a heart? I want Apple to know that this is important information to you because when we tell them that, you will get more of it. So use your voice. Hit subscribe, hit the like button, share with a friend. And the other thing, I want you to download the 5-day challenge and get started on it. Take imperfect action. I will see you in the Fast to Faith Sisterhood. Till next time.
