Wellness Beyond Weight Loss: A Conversation with Denise Chakoian

Wellness Beyond Weight Loss sits at the heart of this DG Speaks story, where culture, travel, food, and personal reflection meet.

There comes a point in many women’s lives when the endless cycle of diets, fitness challenges, and pressure to achieve the “perfect body” starts to feel exhausting.

I know I’ve reached that point more than once.

As women, we are constantly told what health should look like. We are encouraged to shrink ourselves, count every calorie, and chase unrealistic standards that often leave us feeling frustrated rather than empowered.

So when I sat down to review the thoughts of fitness professional and cancer survivor Denise Chakoian, owner of Core Cycle and Fitness Lagree in Rhode Island, I was struck by how refreshing her perspective felt.

Instead of talking about six-pack abs or the latest fitness trend, Denise talked about something much more meaningful: how wellness actually feels.

And honestly, that’s a conversation more of us need to have.

What If Wellness Isn’t About Weight?

For Denise, wellness starts with a simple question.

How do you feel when you get out of bed in the morning?

“Do you have energy, are you sleeping, can you move without pain?” she explains.

It’s such a simple shift in perspective, yet it changes everything.

Rather than focusing on appearance, Denise believes wellness shows up in everyday moments. It appears when you can take the stairs without becoming winded. It shows up when you can play with your children or grandchildren without needing to stop after a few minutes. It is having enough mental clarity to focus at work and enough emotional resilience to handle life’s challenges.

As someone who has spent years working in food systems, public health, and women’s empowerment, I found this approach incredibly relatable. Too often we separate health into categories. We talk about fitness, nutrition, mental health, and stress management as if they exist independently.

In reality, they are all connected.

Wellness is not just about how we look. It is about how we live.

When Cancer Changes Everything

One of the most powerful parts of Denise’s story is how surviving cancer transformed her relationship with her body.

Like many people, she once approached exercise with a focus on changing how she looked. After cancer, that mindset shifted dramatically.

“Cancer completely changed the way I look at movement and health,” she says. “I stopped exercising to change my body and started moving because I was grateful my body could move at all.”

That statement stayed with me.

Gratitude is rarely discussed in fitness conversations. We hear plenty about discipline, motivation, and transformation. We hear far less about appreciation for what our bodies are already capable of doing.

Recovery taught Denise that rest, stress management, and mindset matter just as much as exercise itself.

She learned to become more patient with herself and to respect what her body needed from day to day.

Today, she sees fitness as a way to support life rather than punish herself.

Imagine how different our wellness journeys might be if more of us adopted that philosophy.

The Problem with Modern Wellness Culture

According to Denise, one of the biggest mistakes the fitness industry continues to make is promoting extremes.

“The fitness industry still pushes extremes instead of habits people can actually maintain long term,” she says.

I couldn’t agree more.

We live in a culture that celebrates dramatic transformations. Social media rewards before-and-after photos. Quick fixes generate clicks. Yet sustainable habits rarely go viral.

The problem is that most people don’t need a 30-day challenge.

They need a realistic plan they can maintain for years.

Denise believes the conversation should focus less on becoming thinner and more on improving energy, strength, mobility, and mental health.

Those outcomes may not always produce flashy social media content, but they create something much more valuable: a healthier life.

Why Low-Impact Fitness Is Having a Moment

One reason methods like Lagree continue to grow in popularity is that people are increasingly seeking balance.

According to Denise, many individuals are tired of workout routines that leave them feeling completely depleted.

“People are craving workouts that feel effective without completely draining their bodies.”

That observation feels especially relevant today.

Many women are already carrying demanding careers, family responsibilities, caregiving roles, and countless daily stressors. The last thing they need is another source of exhaustion.

Low-impact approaches offer an alternative.

They build strength and endurance while reducing stress on joints and the nervous system. They also support better posture, stability, and body awareness.

Most importantly, they tend to be sustainable.

And sustainability is where real change happens.

Rethinking Healthy Aging

Perhaps my favorite part of Denise’s perspective is how she defines healthy aging.

It has nothing to do with chasing youth.

Instead, it focuses on maintaining strength, mobility, energy, and independence throughout life.

“Strength should be measured by how you feel and function, not just how you look.”

That statement challenges much of what women have been taught for generations.

Healthy aging is not about becoming smaller.

It is about remaining capable.

It is about preserving the freedom to travel, explore, work, create, dance, play, and fully participate in life.

As someone who spends a great deal of time traveling the world, I understand the importance of that freedom. The ability to walk through a new city, carry luggage through an airport, navigate unfamiliar streets, and embrace adventure depends on more than appearance.

It depends on health.

Real health.

The DG Speaks Takeaway

What I appreciated most about my conversation with Denise Chakoian is that it brought the wellness conversation back to what truly matters.

Energy.

Mobility.

Resilience.

Joy.

Connection.

These are the things that allow us to show up fully for our lives.

The scale cannot measure them. Social media cannot quantify them. Yet they are often the clearest indicators of well-being.

Perhaps wellness beyond weight loss is not a trend at all.

Perhaps it is simply a return to common sense.

And maybe that is exactly what we need right now.

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