It's Just Food!

As many of you know, I have spent over 30 years struggling with food, weight, eating, exercise, body image and self esteem.   A few years ago, I'd had ENOUGH....and began a journey to freedom, peace and joy.  

I have since been working as a Lifestyle Strategist, with many women who have struggled as well.  

I have decided to share the 5 step formula that saved my life (from a life full of the continued shackles of dieting and the thin ideal) 

If you are interested in hearing about the webinar...read on...if not, a new blog will be us soon :) 

The low cost on-line webinar is Wed night August 15th (starts at 7PM, last approx. 1 hour including questions and answers)  AND it will be recorded. (in case you can't make the time)

You can click here to register.

The webinar is something I've put together to educate, support and empower women like you to have a better and brighter healthier future.  If you are ready to transform your relationship with food, eating, weight, mind, body and self this webinar is for you. 

During the webinar, I will be sharing a proven life-changing 5-step formula on how to be Finally, Free, Fit & Fabulous Once and For All. 

Based on my own personal experience (yes, I understand completely), my 30+ years of experience in the health, fitness and eating disorder fields, education and specialized training I wanted to give overwhelmed women a different way of looking at and addressing their relationships and behaviors around their weight, food and body image... thus I created a simple 5-step formula. 

It is my mission to share this formula with women of all sizes, shapes and weights to help them gain the confidence and courage to  LOVE WHAT IS, LIVE WITH JOY and CONNECT MORE DEEPLY WITH THEMSELVES AND OTHERS.

Once you know the formula you are able to: 

• Feel like food is your friend and not your enemy.
• Enjoy and eat food with more pleasure.
• Tune into your hunger and fullness cues (become an Intuitive Eater).
• Start to make peace with your body.
• Quiet your self-sabotaging negative inner voice and replace it with a life-changing positive self-talk simply by listening.
• Ditch the food rules and fire the food police.
• Know how to avoid fad diets and the conflicting and confusing nutrition advice
• Get off and stay off the failed Dieting Hamster Wheel/Roll Coaster once and for all.
• Gain mental clarity, confidence and courage to live to be the best version of YOU.
• Work towards and achieve your health, fitness and wellness goals even when life gets busy, hectic, is stress-filled and overwhelming. 
• Move, play and exercise with more joy
• Use easy, time efficient Self-care methods/strategies to lower stress (one of the keys to releasing fat and weight)

So, that's what the webinar is about.  A simple 5-step success formula for improving your health/well-being, living authentically and how to become the best version of you.

You'll have a chance to join me, my team and super like-minded women as we discover how to get unstuck or overcome the challenges that have been holding us back plus, you will get a roadmap (a proven simple 5-steps) to achieve your health, fitness and wellness goals and dreams. 

I'll share... 

... How to use a revolutionary mindfulness-based approach (Intuitive Eating) to nourish your body, mind and soul. 

... How to use cutting-edge 21st century technology and tools to make the change process easier, faster and sustainable so goal achievement can be obtained regardless of your everyday life situation.

... How to reduce stress and why Hoping on the Dieting Bandwagon not only doesn't work BUT causes even more stress on the body leading to an increase in the fat storage hormone cortisol. 

... How to use our practical, time-tested and client approved  2x2x2 Movement Formula to get you out of pain, keep you out of pain and release more fat while having more fun. 

... How to appreciate, honor, respect and accept your "here and now" body

The cost is $49, however through Monday August 13th I'm offering a special priced ticket for only $15 which includes an informative, beneficial 4-part education guide called Calorie Counting DEBUNKED Infographic Bundle, a $59 value).

Just click here to enroll (you will find payment information there)

Your Story

To know your purpose and then find the path that leads you there is my hope.  The questions I ask myself are:  Why am I here?  Why was I born?  What am I supposed to be doing with this life I have been given?  

Our purpose is more than any of us think.  It is an understanding that we might need to stop trying so hard, stop asking the questions, being ok not knowing what it is.  Our place on this earth is to Trust...To trust that our path is out there waiting for us to get out of our own way.

I believe that if we can share our bliss...our enthusiasm, our love, our light; of which comes from our talents. It doesn’t  matter how insignificant, or irrelevant we may think these talents are-     we own them and they are OURS.  They are ours to share with others.  It could be the way you tell a joke, the way your laughter is contagious, the way you tell(or write) a story, the way you draw an elephant or flower, the way you do a jumping jack, navigate your computer, thread a needle....

Living our lives with joy, happiness, and laughter...that is the path we are to follow...

Not the path our parents wanted us to pursue, not the path your husband or wife wants you to follow, not the one our teachers, our bosses, or society want us to go after...

We have lived our lives believing that we should be successful, make a lot of money, raise a happy family, hold down a “good” job, be a wonderful friend, be fit, healthy, attractive, thin and of course happy...

All these are thoughts and beliefs that have been made into stories...stories that we have told ourselves for years, and stories that we have been bombarded with through society, and the people that surround us.

It is time to release all these stories, for they are not yours.  It is time to write your own story, pave your own path.  What does this fresh new story of your life look like?

My story includes helping others find their way out of pain, out of struggle, out of the story they live in where they don’t belong, are not enough,  or don’t believe in themselves...

It is your turn to begin to pave a path where beauty surrounds you, where your mini me is in awe of your strength, where your mind is quiet, and your body is at peace with itself.  Breath the fresh air, trust in yourself, trust in your story, trust in your life...trust the amazing and overwhelming beauty that is within you...Follow the paved path and trust...

The NEW normal

I overheard a woman at the gym the other day(an attractive and fit woman in my eyes) say that on January 1st, she was going to "Reclaim her Fit Body".

It got me thinking...what does that mean?  What defines a "Fit Body"?  I used to measure my own fitness with thinness, low body fat levels and perfect symmetry.  The lower the body fat, the more fit I was...

I look at myself now and I know I have an average amount of body fat, not too low, not too high. Not that long ago I would have been describing myself as "Out of Shape" and "Fat" because I am not as "thin" as I have been in the past.  I now know that is not true.  My body can do almost anything I ask of it...from carrying heavy boxes and picking up children, to running up and down stairs or down the street.

How do you define being fit?  Is it the amount of weight you can lift?  How many pushup or squats you can do?  How many miles you can run?  How many days you can cleanse or eat "Clean"?

I have struggled my whole life with accepting the body I was blessed with. I have tried many methods to either CHANGE IT or HIDE IT. (and still try to hide it on occasion).

The Acceptance of What Is...This is a hard concept for many.  I am learning to accept what is....still knowing I can change, learn and grow within certain areas if I so choose AND/or I can accept what is.

For Example...

I can accept my body as it is or I can try to lose weight and try to lower my body fat level, by going on a "diet".   This would make me "fitter" right?   

This is what I know from experience...after experience ...after experience...

It would make me:

1. Feel Deprived
2. Feel Punished-Like I am not good enough
3. Feel Weak, Tired, Lethargic
4. Be Emotional 
5. Be Short Tempered
6. Feel Depressed
7. Look critically at myself more in the mirror (increased body checking)
8. Be obsessive about my exercise and calorie intake
9. Withdraw from hanging out, talking or just being with friends
10. Stress out over being with family and withdraw

After a while of this "Diet"  I would begin to hear compliments...things like "Wow, you look great, have you lost weight? How did you do it?"

These feel good right?  Until they make you think and overanalyze them and say to yourself: "Wow, I must have gotten really fat" (THIS IS NOT QUITE THE FEELING I WAS LOOKING FOR!)

If I decide to accept my body and Reclaim MYSELF:

 

It would make me:

1. Feel Empowered
2. Allow me to move and exercise how and when I want
3. Have all the energy I need to do whatever I want to do 
4. Enjoy all foods with friends, family or alone
5. Not expect compliments from others (I used to thrive on this, it gave me a sense of accomplishment and pride and filled my EGO)
6. Understand and Empathize with the struggles of others
7. Feel Free from expectation
8. Be free from mirrors, scales, calories
9. Feel free to BE ME

I am 53 years old.  I have worked with clients from 18-94.  Some of them enjoy Christmas cookies and look forward to dinners out with friends, while others worry about fitting into their clothes of 30+ years ago and how many calories are "In that dessert"...

I want to grow older enjoying walks, drumming, dancing, twirling and moving my body with a childlike joy...
 

I want to enjoy a glass of wine, an ice cream cone, nachos, french fries and chocolate chip cookies.

I want to feel empowered and strong following my own rules, my own standards and be OK with it.

I need NOT "Reclaim my Fit Body" of yester-year...

My body IS STRONG, my mind IS FUELED, and I am now going to have leftover Chinese food for Breakfast...

3 Strikes

It was the ultimatum..."If you want to try out for the soccer team, you must hold at 110 pounds...end of story!" was what my dad had instructed.

That was what finally did it.  Somehow, with lots of adolescent growth, I finally found my place on the soccer field.  Playing through high school and most of college.

It was my junior year at Plymouth State. Our record was good, Big game day at Boston College, on the astro-turf.  I didn't have any turf shoes, so I decided on sneakers, they seemed to give me more traction than my cleats.  I played sweeper, the last line of defense. 

It was a close game, we were up 1-0, with about 20 minutes to go.  BC had a breakaway down the left sideline.  I was angeling back at full speed to support the Right Back....YES!  Our back beat her to the ball, and passed it quickly up field.  I stopped short, cut and turned up field.

POP, CRACK....THUD...down I went in a heap, pain shooting through my left leg.  Apparently every part of my body turned accept my left foot...stuck in place facing the wrong way on the turf.

Little did I know that would be the last competitive soccer game I would ever play.

April 1984, ACL Replacement Surgery.  My rehab took place in a Gym, right next door to the aerobic studio (think Jane Fonda era) in Danvers, Mass.  My future awaited me.

I stood on the side line my senior year and co-captained the team to an ECAC championship, unable to play.  Yet by winter I was able to start taking aerobics classes at the old gym at Plymouth.  I fell in love with the movement, music and sweat.  This was where I belonged.  I have been teaching aerobics ever since.  30 years now.  No wonder that left knee has had it.

I am scheduled for Knee Replacement Surgery on Monday, January 12.

It has been a struggle the last few years.  I continued to ignore the pain, until my right knee and hip began to object very loudly, because they were doing all the work.

A little over a year ago, I went for a second opinion...the first one was unacceptable to me.  "You can swim, and do the elliptical, you dont have to teach classes".  Ya...Right, maybe for you...not me.

The new doc gave me 4 options...
Heel wedge- Strike one; Orthovisc Shots- Strike two; High Tibialostomy- Strike three. Joint Replacement? You are UP!

I am happy and excited to get my new knee.  I am ready to respect my body and its limits, willing to make adjustments... I am not ready to give up the love I have for teaching group exercise classes.  Not for a long time yet.

There have been many years of my life that I have depended on exercise to get me through.  It has shut out pain, medicated my emotions, fueled my soul.  I am grateful for how it has helped me. 

Here is to my next chapter: Exercise for increased Joy, Health, and Growing Relationships...

Watch for upcoming posts...

-Conflict Comparison

-Divorce RX: Running to or away

-Exercise Friendships: the ones that really workout