That’s me crossing the finish line of my first marathon in June 2011, approximately four years after I set off on my weight loss journey. To say that it was a proud moment would be a colossal understatement, and I’m sure you can imagine that it was a huge milestone for me. Since 2007 I have lost 120 pounds and transformed myself from a fat, grumpy middle-aged woman into a fit and fearless middle-aged woman. Turns out, no matter how much weight you lose, you’re still the same age! Ah well.
I am not formally trained in nutritional science or fitness, but I have learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t as you’re making your way from morbidly obese to fit and healthy. And at least equally importantly I have learned that living authentically, by no one else’s rules but my own, brings me immeasurable happiness and pleasure, which is actually the secret to a healthy mind and body.
So now I get to have this fantastic life in this not-too-bad body because I decided that I wasn’t put on this earth to be fat and miserable. I learned and created strategies that I use every day to help me manage my environment and implement my goals.
But maybe the most important thing that I’ve learned in this process is that I’m not really all that exceptional. This isn’t false modesty here; I don’t deny that what I have accomplished is pretty extraordinary if by no other measure than statistical. The vast majority of dieters lose very little weight, or yo-yo up and down the scale, or occasionally lose a great deal of weight only to regain it all down the road. What I mean is that I’m not really all that different from anybody else. I had my reasons for gaining weight that may have been uniquely mine, but nobody who’s 100+ pounds overweight wants to be in that very uncomfortable place. I lost the weight, and I continue to keep the weight off because of something that is not particularly exceptional: I have courage. I have the courage to look hard at myself and make the sometimes (okay, often) difficult choices that have allowed me to transform my body.
I believe, no, I know, that we’re all capable of that same inner-strength. What we may not know is how to tap into it, how to channel it and how to use it every day to our benefit.
So my story is one of realizing my own potential, but it’s also very much about how to find your own. I want to help you unleash your own hidden potential so that you can become a fierce agent for change within your own life and redirect the trajectory of your family’s health and wellness.