Dr. Alicia Shelly on self-care through exercise

Full Transcript Here

This week’s episode features Dr. Alicia Shelly - she is board-certified in Internal medicine as well as Obesity Medicine and practices in the Atlanta metro area.  She is also the host of the podcast: Back On Track: Overcoming Weight Regain, where she shares her advice and personal experience to help others with weight regain after significant weight loss including from bariatric surgery.  

We had a wonderful conversation about her practice of exercise as self-care, her marathon-prep, and the ways she combats comparison and perfectionism.  You’ll love this conversation!  You can find more about Dr. Shelly at the links below. 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/drshellymd

Podcast: Back on Track: Overcoming Weight Regain

Website:  https://drshellymd.com

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Transcript

Hi, I'm Rebecca Lauderdale. I'm an internal medicine doctor in the deep south, and I'm on a mission to make this statement true: Women physicians flourish. During my experience of burnout years ago, when not many people were paying attention to physician burnout, I eventually found my way and learned to flourish. I created this podcast to bring you the things that helped me most: the science, the stories, the people, and the evidence-based practices that will help you if you're struggling. because the world needs doctors like you to not just be free of burnout, but to flourish. 

Hello, my fellow flourishers! welcome to the first of a series of interviews with amazing doctors who have found their own unique ways to flourish. 

This week, my first interview is with a very special woman physician, Dr. Alicia Shelly.  She's board certified in internal medicine, and also certified in obesity medicine. She practices in the Atlanta Metro area at WellStar Douglasville medical center, where she has a practice in primary care internal medicine and obesity medicine. She is a marathon runner who is currently training for her sixth marathon, the New York city marathon in November. And she has personal experience with obesity and weight regain after bariatric surgery,which we talk about some during our conversation. She has recently launched a podcast called Back on Track:overcoming weight regain, where she talks about the issues that she herself has gone through and ways that she helps her patients and others with dealing with weight regain. I love talking with her today because she's lived through the difficulties that she helps other people through. And I admire her so much.She has learned to thrive. And as an example of someone who's truly flourishing and you guys know that's what this podcast is all about. So here is my conversation with Dr. Alicia Shelly.

 Dr. Alicia Shelly, thank you so much for spending some time with me today. I'm so glad to have you here. Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here.

Dr Shelly: Thank you for having me today. 

Dr. Lauderdale: Sure. So as we get started, I like to start with a couple lighthearted questions just so we can get to know you a little better before we get into the real juicy part of the talk. So I have a question for you. I know that you're a runner and you've done multiple marathons and you're training for one now, right? 

Dr. Shelly: Yes. I'm training for the New York marathon in November. 

Dr. Lauderdale: So when you get finished with the marathon, after you've done all that preparation and all the hard work, and you get a chance to catch your breath and rest a little, what is it that you want to do first? Is there a meal that you want to have? Is there a place you want to go like,what's your post marathon recovery? 

Dr. Shelly: You know, the funny thing is I don't usually have a post marathon recovery because I'm always looking for the next race. The one thing that I enjoy about running is actually the training. So the funny thing is like each week trying to train and getting better and having a goal. And when I get to the actual marathon,I get really nervous. And I, and I started second guessing myself. I'm like, when was this a good idea to train for? You"ve got to actually run 26 miles and that I get nervous right before race. And so I think my next goal, I think after this, I still, I find that I need to run. running actually is not only a release, it helps me staying in shape. when I stopped running, that's when I gained weight. So my next race or my next challenge. I'm, I'm very challenge oriented. And so one of my challenges prior to this was to, to try to do all the five Abbott marathons. So I've been in Chicago and now I'll be doing well, I've done one Chicago,and then I'll be doing New York. So that'd be two. And then I have three. But then after that, my goal is to actually try to Ironman. So, wow. Yeah. So usually that's about, well, my understanding is about a year training, so there won't be any time off. I think I'll probably keep it more into high gear after that, but I that's, that's my goal. That's my goal. Next year, 2022, I put it out there. Ironman, whether it's the half Ironman or full Ironman, we're going to do one of the iron mans. 

Dr. Lauderdale: Oh, that is amazing. So tell me, tell me how running and exercise has been part of your taking care of yourself. Has that been something that you've done since you were young? Or did you learn this as a skill as you got older? Where did that come from?

Dr. Shelly:I wasn't very athletic as a child. They tried to put me in like karate and volleyball and basketball, and I just was not very good at it at good at it at all.I remember, like I tried out for the volleyball team in high school and I got cut like the first game there, like hit the, with the opposite direction. And they were like, thank you so much. 

Dr. Lauderdale: I can identify 

Dr. Shelly: But, and what, interestingly enough, I had a friend who was a runner and she was telling me,hey, you know, we can run together. And I was looking at her like, she was crazy. I was like, run? I've never done this before. And this was in 2016. And so we started off with a 5k to like a couch to 5k type program where we started exercising and getting better. And then on top of that, after the 5k, I was like, oh, this is great. In Atlanta, we have the Peachtree road race, which is a 10 K or a six. And so like, let's do that. And we did that. We trained for, and it was fun. It was great. And then I was like, let's do a half marathon now the half marathon kicked my butt.

Dr. Lauderdale: So, so that's 13 miles, right? 

Dr. Shelly:That's 13 miles. Yeah. 13 miles with a half marathon. I rethought my life. After that particular, it was one of the divas races where they have like men dressed in firefighters, costumes, handing out champagne. We just barely got to the finish. The firefighters were all dressed and on the bus ready to go,

Dr. Lauderdale: oh my goodness, but you did it ,right! You did it. 

Dr. Shelly: It is. And then the only reason why I actually ended up doing the marathon the next year was because they said, if you had done like the Peachtree road race, if you've done the half marathon, then guess what? You can get a prize. If you do the marathon and do all three. And I was like, oh, I would love the prize, but didn't tell you what the prize was. 

Dr. Lauderdale:I don't think that would have motivated me enough

Dr. Shelly: And so my me and my friends started training for it. We trained with the Atlanta track club and ended up finishing the marathon and got our free prize, which is a wooden watch that I've never worn.

Dr. Lauderdale: That's great. So you said that was 2016 or so when you started running, so you were already practicing, like you were already, how long have you been finished? 

Dr. Shelly: It had been about two years. Two years. Cause I finished 2014. 

Dr. Lauderdale: Okay. So tell us, tell us a little about your practice as an internist.

Dr. Shelly: Yeah, I do general internal medicine primarily, and then one day a week obesity medicine. So we call it the centers of best health, where we actually are helping people, not only to lose weight, but actually cultivate a very healthy lifestyle to, in order to maintain the weight. 

Dr. Lauderdale: So have you had obesity medicine as a component of your practice from the beginning?Or is that something that you've added in later? 

Dr. Shelly: It was actually something I added in later. I didn't start the obesity medicine piece for maybe I guess I would say two years. So it's the 20, 21, I would say 2018, 2019,  maybe three years where I started to add it into my practice because women and men, they want to talk about their weight loss. They're like, doc, I need to talk about this weight. I'm like, okay, okay, let's talk about it. And then I started getting into the, I started, I got certified for obesity medicine and I just really enjoyed it. I have to admit, I wasn't necessarily in obesity. I wasn't always into obesity medicine in medical school.I did a research with an obesity medicine doc, but I never saw myself as an obesity medicine doc in the future until, until I just started to enjoy it and actually learning more about obesity and not just, you know, how to hand out medications, but also take care ofthe full person. 

Dr. Lauderdale: So, you know,my mission with this podcast is to help women physicians to flourish and, and whatever flourishing means to us individually. And the reason that I do it is because I've  been in a situation where I know what itfeels like to very much not be flourishing and to clumsily and painfully find myself, find my way out of that.And I know that, you know, a lot of people who, who kind of have a passion for helping other people have a personal experience that is at the root of that. Is that true for you and your work? 

Dr. Shelly: Oh, yeah, definitely. So I have been one of these people who have struggled with weight all my life seems like I look at pictures as a child and I'm like,Ooh, I was a little chunky one, but it has always been something that, you know, you were teased as a child. Also, even in my family, it was kind of, you were looked down upon, you know, to be overweight. And so it's something that I've always tried to work on. And even I remember in high school, I just started riding my bike, like after school for like an hour, just to kind of work out. And, and I actually lost weight. I don't, I don't remember how much weight, but my clothes were a lot smaller. And then even in college, well, you know, you always gained that college 15. I think mine was college 20 because the food,the food is like, it's very, I had moved off campus and started cooking for myself and thenI was able to kind of lose weight as well. And so interestingly enough, in medical school, I guess I was that stressed out. I was, I lost weight, but then also I was exercising too. And med school. I was trying to have more balance in med school. So I lost weight then, but then residency, I gained it back completely. And I was, I would say after residency, I was my highest weight was 285. And so that's when I ended up actually undergoing the gastric sleeveectomy, was able to lose down to 205 and now I"vebeen maintaining that weight as well now. And it has been a game changer. It has given me kind of another lease on life. I have another tool in my toolbox to kind of help with maintaining weight. What I've realized over time was that with my weight, you always have to be doing something. I'm not one of those people that can just stop. Cause when I, like I said before, when I stopped running or when I stopped exercising, that's when I gained the weight. And so I have to always be consistent where this is more, not just something I do as a hobby, but this is something I do to maintain my lifestyle and to maintain my size. So it definitely, you know, my battle with weight over the years has actually made it easier for me to want to get to, you know, to teach others about weight loss and teach others what I've gone through because I've been there. I've been that person where you're like, I look up and I've gained 20 pounds and it's only been a month and you're like, what just happened? And so I know how it is to kind of get off track and get back on track. And so that was kind of the one thing that fueled me to start a podcast talking about that, how to overcome weight regain. The total title is back on track, overcoming weight regain, because I've done that. I've had to, even as an adult, keep doing it over and over again, it can be extremely discouraging. Sometimes you just want to throw your hands up and just be like I'm done. But I realized that number one, my clothes don't look great on somebody new clothes, but then number two, I realized that it helps me to be in a better place when I'm exercising. Cause when I don't exercise, I feel very guilty. I feel sluggish. I don't feel the best. So you definitely have, there's the, there's the long-term game of maintaining a healthy weight and just the, the long-term health benefits of regular exercise for me. And that's, you know, this is me. 

Dr. Lauderdale: I know it's true for, for some people, not everybody, but there has to be some sort of immediate reward or it's very difficult to do. So you just mentioned some things, the, just the way you feel in general, you feel better. How long after you started running back in 2016,did you, did you realize this was something that you could do like and keep doing and that you did feel good when you did it? 

Dr. Shelly: It probably took me maybe a couple of years because here's what I do. I plan all types of races. And so I have like races throughout the year that I'm actually training for. And it makes it a little bit easier for me to conduct. Cause I always have a goal. Like there's, like you said, that immediate results, immediate reward for me, it's like, okay, another race. And so, and then also on top of that, I've cultivated relationships with our run buddies. So we're always getting together. We are, I didn't mention this, but I was also in a run league for Atlanta track club where we would get together and just run together and train. And we do this throughout the year, which makes it a little bit easier to kind of stay active. So to answer your question, I don't think, I think it took me several years to realize that I could because the first year was me trying it out and just seeing like, okay, how do I train here? How do I do this? And you know, just trying to figure out running per se sounds crazy. It's not that difficult, but you know, you want to make sure your form is okay. You want to make sure you have the right nutrients, the right hydration. So there's all these different elements of it. And me trying to figure that out the first year, I, you know, I couldn't see myself running the Peachtree road race and that was six miles. Like the year before I started running, one of my, the nurses where I worked in, she was like, oh, I do the peach tree every year. And I was like, oh my gosh, you do the Peachtree. You do six miles. I can't believe it.And then, so I think for me, it's just, I'm always having a challenge that kind of keeps me going, but it did take me a couple of years to get there. 

Dr. Lauderdale: So were there, have there been times when you've had to do a lot of self coaching around comparison or, or just around body image in general, you know, and the why for your exercise?

Dr. Shelly: Yeah, definitely. I, I do find, cause sometimes you look at people and you see how they've done and in your mind you compare yourself, you compare yourself to them, you know? And sometimes I look at myself, I'm like, well, this person, all this weight with the surgery and I didn't,well, I actually lost like 80 pounds, but still, you know, you kinda compareyour success to someone else. And I always have to remind myself that, look, you've done good job. Like I, you know, you have that. Self-talk where you're like, you've done well. You've been able to maintain your weight. Number one. Yeah. It's gone up and down, but you've been able to maintain your weight and that you look good. And so sometimes it's just appreciating how you feel and how you look and not comparing, not allowing yourself to compare yourself to others. Is the issue. The other thing I was going to say is, you know, with everything there's always mindset and having to focus on, you know, on certain aspects. I think for me initially, when I started running, I was really ashamed of wearing running pants. They were a little tight, you know, but then my running coach was like, look, you can't wear these little baggy sweatpants running. You need to have like the proper equipment so that you can be faster and then be more comfortable. And so since then I just, I just wear the proper clothing and it helps it helps. So I think definitely body imaging, you always have to be mindful of how you're comparing to others and then having your wins. So I kind of have a picture of myself when I was at my heaviest. And then I compare myself to where I am. I'm like,well,you've done something, man. You know, like, don't look at a number. I once heard a, an, a, a talk, a presentation through the obesity medicine association, speaking about the topic of best health eating that having like, like being a certain weight doesn't mean that you're the best health. You can be a little bit heavier and still have great health, still be exercising, physically still be happy. And I was like, that's kind of where I am. I'm in a place where I'm number one is happy. I'm healthy, I'm exercising. And I may not necessarily get to a BMI of 24, but I'm still at, I mean, I'm still trying to, striving for it, but I don't let that be the end-all be-all of it. I have to get the journey where I am. 

Dr. Lauderdale: Yeah. That's something that I've definitely struggled with. And I know a lot of, a lot of others do too is that waiting-  feeling like, you know, I need to wait. I can be happy when I hit the certain weight goal or I can be happy when I achieve this certain thing. And I had talked some on my podcast last week about, I've had a lot of weight gain during the pandemic, like over the past 18 to 24 months, I've gained about 70 pounds, seven zero. And I've never been in, I've never weighed this much in my life. I feel not so great, but I'm working. I've recognized this time, this is so different than other times I've worked on weight in the past because of the work that I've done in my head about accepting how things are and that my worth is not tied to my weight, but that I also need to go the extra step of having some kind of more fierce self-compassion where I am like, okay, I let's, let's let's work on this. coach myself and talk about ways that I can get better and break unhealthy habits in a way that's not harming my, my self-concept or just the way that I'm living. So how do you talk to your patients who struggle with that?

Dr. Shelly: Yeah. I mean, I thank you so much for sharing your story and being so transparent because we all go through that. You know, we all go through that point where all of a sudden we've we've gained weight and you're trying to kind of get back on that motivation, like you said, trying to get back to your healthy habits. And so what I try to remind my patients because I see patients like that all the time where they're just discouraged.They're like, I'm never going to lose weight. I try to help them focus on the small things that they, that they do instead of looking like, yes, big pictures, we're going to lose weight. Right. But how they're what's the, and so I asked them to make what I call smart goals, where we all use smart goals, specific, measurable, realistic, and timely goals, which are basically small goals that you can actually do. And a good example of that is like, for someone who has stopped exercising, I would say, Hey, how many days a week can you put in your schedule to exercise and for how many minutes? And they'll come up with maybe three times a week, 30 minutes for that particular session, then I'm like, well, what are you going to do for that session? Okay, I'm going to go walking. So we make these small goals to kind of help with number one, like you said, getting back on the, on the habit on a good habit, but we're starting slow. I'm not asking them to make all these total change all at once because sometimes those can be overwhelming. But if you can focus on the small goals that I help you kind of actually what happens is, is that you'll do one you're like, yes, I did it. And then you start getting more competent and you start getting more, more excited. And you're like, well, let me do more. So let me go in here and try to do this.And then once you accomplish that goal, then you'll say, okay, what's the next goal? And so it kinda is like a snowball type of effect. So I guess the, to the first being, do I want to just kind of recognize, and, and actually the word I'm trying to say is not only just recognize what they're feeling, but validate what they're feeling and tell them that, hey, and let them know they're not the only person who's, who's gone throughthis. And then number two, my goal is to kind of give them motivation to kind of make those small goals, to make those small baby steps and let them know it's okay to start slow. You know, we all have different habits that aren't quite as healthy that we're trying to break. And sometimes when we focus on the big picture and you may not get it done, I remember I had tried to do this diet, which had me eating a hundred grams of carbs a day. And for some reason, and I know people who do keto are only doing 20 grams, but for some reason, for me, I felt the world was coming to an end with a hundred grams. Like it was just still wellbeing. And so you just gotta start slow, start small, and then build on it. That's kind of how I try to encourage my patients, especially when they've gone through that. And they're in that mindset, you know, cause sometimes they tell me I know what to do. I just can't do it. And so I'm like,well, let's figure out how we can start doing it. 

Dr. Lauderdale: Yeah. I think as a, as a physician, a lot of us think of ourselves, we approach things differently than we might with patients when we're looking to make improvements like that. And we just kind of want to go all in and that's not the best way to start. And that,you know, all in, I was, when I was in college, I went on a diet,you just mentioned going on a diet. And I went, it was some, like, it was one of those crazy things that somebody it's like a chain email or something, it was like the cabbage soup diet. And you remember that went around the nineties and it was like, you ate cabbage soup. And then like, there were certain things you could eat each day. It was like a can of tuna fish anda can of beets. I had never had beets in my life. And I, I remember the nausea that I had with that, but it was just, you know, the idea I've got to go all in here, you know, I've got to do it all, but it doesn't work. 

Dr. Shelly: Yeah. I always try to tell them we're going for the long game,where this is a marathon, not a sprint because I agree. I remember it was after college, I did the lemonade diet. I thought I was going to die. I thought, 

Dr. Lauderdale: what was that? What was the lemonade diet? 

Dr. Shelly: It was just, you would drink lemonade with cayenne pepper. 

Dr. Lauderdale: Oh, no 

Dr. Shelly: Gag city.  I was like, Lord. So, but you're absolutely right. Sometimes it's just, it's the, it's about the long game that the healthier habits versus the short term rewards. 

Dr. Lauderdale: So tell ushow we can keep in touch with you. How can we find you? Your podcast again is called Back on Track: Overcoming Weight Regain wherever you're listening to your podcast. 

Dr. Shelly: Now feel free to just search back on track, overcoming weight regain with Dr. Alicia Shelly, and then you should see me also feel free. You can reach out to me on Instagram and Facebook at Dr.Shelly MD and have the website, which is Dr. ShellyMD.com. So I'll be happy to answer whatever questions you have or Hey, if you want to just shoot me a message and tell me how you're flourishing 

Dr. Lauderdale: and you're in the Atlanta area?

Dr. Shelly: Yes, I am. I'm in Douglasville outside of Atlanta where we have our Centers of Best Health and our actually primary care,So we're also accepting new patients. 

Dr. Lauderdale: All right. So any primary care and obesity medicine in or around Atlanta? 

Dr. Shelly: Yeah. With the WellStar medical group. 

Dr. Lauderdale: I will, for our listeners in the show notes, we'll have links to your podcast and your website so they can and your Instagram if that's okay. We'll put those in so they can, they can keep up with you in what you're doing. In closing. Are there, are there any things lately that you have been reading or listening to, that you would recommend to other women physicians? It doesn't have to be medical related. 

Dr. Shellly: Yeah, well, you know, I, so I'm always trying to be better with my habits and just with my time management in general, I think we are all trying to be better. And so I recently read a great book called atomic habits, by James Clear. And he really talks about how to, how you can set up good habits in your life. And I have found it so helpful as I not only talking with patients, but just how I can apply to my life because there's always trying to improve. You know, I definitely would recommend, recommend that book, how he kind of breaks down habits. It was, it's a must read. Must read. 

Dr. Lauderdale: All right. I've been seeing that one in the suggestions for a long time, but I ha I don't know that I've known anybody. That's read it or recommended it until now. So that makes me interested.

Dr. Shelly: Oh yeah. I definitely, it was really good. I did audible because I find that it's so much easier. Oh yeah. I loved it. I really did . 

Dr. Lauderdale: well, thank you much for being here. I've really enjoyed talking with you and getting to know you better and I will keep in touch and hopefully we'll have another episode together one day. 

Dr. Shelly: Yes.And thank you so much for allowing me and inviting me on your show. It's been a pleasure. 

Dr. Lauderdale: Absolutely. Thanks so much. 

Dr. Shelly: You're welcome. 

Dr. Lauderdale: Thanks for listening today. I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I enjoyed having it before I go, I want to remind you of the summer of self-love listening parties that I've been talking about the past couple of weeks, those where we're listening to Brene Brown's six episode podcast series devoted to the 10th anniversary of the gifts of imperfection. A book that changed my life. And I know has affected many, many other people that I know. And even though we've already had two of our dates already, we have five more dates left through the middle of August. You'll feel right at home. If you, if you start with us now, even though you weren't able to participate in the first two. So if you're interested, please sign up at the link in the show notes, or you can find the link to the sign up in my Instagram bio. I am Dr.Lauderdale on Instagram. You can find me there. Thanks again so much to Dr.Alicia Shelly . I've included her contact information, her website, and her podcast called back on track, overcoming weight regain in the show notes today, before I leave, I want to leave you with a short blessing. This one again, written by Jan Williamson:

 In the pondering of your past, 
in the contemplation of your present 
in the hungers that persist. 
And in those that fall away,
peace to you. Deep peace.

 much love my friends, until next time