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Apr 14 2016

Self-care has more to do with setting appropriate boundaries than it does pedicures (but those are great too!)

by Marilyn McKenna

We are running on fumes, many of us. We work, we nurture, we tend, we manage, we attend to, we contribute, we perform, we do. We do all the things. And then we get up the next morning and we do it again. It’s no surprise we long for vacations and we crave some pampering. […]

Filed Under: Healthy Families, Weight Loss Tagged With: Anxiety, Boundaries, Eat Like It Matters, Good Girl, Obesity, Self-Care

Mar 4 2016

INTERVIEW: 425 Magazine

by Marilyn McKenna

I recently had the chance to chat with 425 Magazine (a local Seattle-area publication) about my journey from fat to fit after decades of obesity. Here’s the link and the interview. By Joanna Kresge | March 4, 2016 She had gone from a fat kid, to an overweight young mom, to a morbidly obsese adult until 2007, […]

Filed Under: Interviews, Weight Loss Tagged With: 425 Magazine, Eat Like It Matters, Interview, Media Coverage, Media Interviews

Feb 25 2016

Q&A: “Which is harder to lose, the first 10 pounds or the last 10 pounds?”

by Marilyn McKenna

The correct answer is … whichever one you need to lose. No seriously, it’s true. They’re both challenging, but for very different reasons. And wherever you find yourself on the spectrum, that’s the one that’s the most difficult. Here’s what I mean… Let’s say you are in your mid-40s and find yourself 50+ pounds overweight. […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Authenticity, Eat Like It Matters, Empowerment, First 10 Pounds, Fulfillment, Last 10 Pounds, Satisfaction, Weight Loss

Feb 23 2016

Unleash the ONE change that will transform your life

by Marilyn McKenna

A decade or so before I finally lost weight, in the midst of one of my more earnest attempts at dieting, I enlisted the help of a nutritional counselor. She was a sort of hybrid nutritionist and behavioral coach who had me record what I ate for the week and then take it to her […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Book Excerpt, Changing Habits, Eat Like It Matters, Life Transformation, Transformation, Weight Loss

Jan 21 2016

Book Review: Eat Like It Matters reviewed by ShapingUpToBeAMom.com

by Marilyn McKenna

When I’m approached by someone to review my book, Eat Like It Matters: How I Lost 120 Pounds and Found My Inner Badass (And How You Can Too!), I am always flattered. When Megan Tenney of ShapingUpToBeAMom.com reached out asking if she could review the book, I was thrilled! Megan’s dynamic, playful and informative blog focuses […]

Filed Under: In The News, Weight Loss Tagged With: Book Review, Eat Like It Matters, Megan Tenney, Shaping Up To Be A Mom, Two Tables Strategy

Dec 11 2015

Podcast: Healthy Holiday Gift Guide

by Marilyn McKenna

My elves have been busy rounding up lots of great holiday gift ideas for all the special people on your list! Listen in to find out what I’ll be giving and a few things that I hope I’ll find in my own stocking.

Filed Under: Healthy Families, Weight Loss Tagged With: Brooks Running, Eat Like It Matters, Healthy Holiday Gift Guide, Holiday Gift Guide, Immersion Blender, NutriBullet, Verismo

Dec 9 2015

Book review of Eat Like It Matters by PoweredByBLING

by Marilyn McKenna

When Cassandra Burke (aka “poweredbyBLING”) contacted me asking if she could review my book Eat Like It Matters: How I Lost 120 Pounds and Found My Inner Badass (And How You Can Too!) I was only too happy to ship off a copy to her. Even so, there’s always a moment of fear when an […]

Filed Under: In The News, Weight Loss Tagged With: A-Ha Moment, Book Review, Eat Like It Matters, Media Coverage, Powered by BLING

Nov 27 2015

10 Best Healthy Living Products

by Marilyn McKenna

Ready to start your holiday shopping? Me too! At the moment I feel pretty calm, but in a couple of weeks I know that I’ll start to panic, wondering whether I’m actually gonna be able to pull this off once again. So many special people to buy for! If that’s what you’re thinking, I’ve gotcha […]

Filed Under: Fitness, Weight Loss Tagged With: 10 Best Healthy Living Products, Best Healthy Living Products, Brooks Running, Cuisinart, Eat Like It Matters, Gift Ideas, Healthy Gift Ideas, Immersion Blender, NutriBullet, Popcorn Popper, Running, Running Shoes, Stability Ball, Suspension Trainer, Top 10 List, TRX, Verismo

Nov 19 2015

Book Excerpt: Chapter 12 “Spreading the Message: Changing Our Lives So We Can Change the World”

by Marilyn McKenna

From pages 194 – 195 of Eat Like It Matters: When people ask me why I decided to write about my struggle with my weight, I tell them that sometimes I secretly wish I could just sit down and shut up about it. Truly, I find it embarrassing to talk about my food demons, my unhappiness in […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Book Excerpt, Change the World, Eat Like It Matters, Transformation, Transformational Change

Nov 12 2015

Book Excerpt: Chapter 11 “Taking the Lead: How I Helped Others by Helping Myself”

by Marilyn McKenna

From pages 180 – 181 of Eat Like It Matters: Raise your hand if you have an uncomplicated relationship with your mother. So nobody, right? Yeah, me either. This is one of the most complex human relationships there is. For those of us who are lucky enough to have our mothers in our lives, we may still […]

Filed Under: Healthy Families, Weight Loss Tagged With: Book Excerpt, Eat Like It Matters, Mom, Weight Loss, Weight Loss Motivation

Oct 30 2015

Book Excerpt: Chapter 10 “The Price of Change: What Price Will You Pay?”

by Marilyn McKenna

From pages 166– 168 of Eat Like It Matters: This may sound harsh. Certainly it’s a big ol’ serving of tough love with no holds barred. And the last thing I’m gonna say before I launch into it is that I made every one of these mistakes, to the nth degree, for decades. So the tough love […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Book Excerpt, Eat Like It Matters, Emotional Eating, Price Of Change, Weight Loss

Oct 29 2015

Book excerpt: Chapter 9 “Get Moving! How Exercise Helped Me Heal”

by Marilyn McKenna

From pages 151 – 153 of Eat Like It Matters: Does everybody have an inner athlete? I dunno. I do know that 120 pounds ago I would’ve told you that I didn’t have one. Turns out, I was wrong. I do have an inner athlete, and I have harnessed her strength and drive to finally put to rest […]

Filed Under: Cardio, Fitness, Strength Training, Weight Loss Tagged With: Athlete, Behavioral Change, Book Excerpt, Eat Like It Matters, Exercise, Fitness, Running, Strength Training, Transformation, Triathlon

Oct 20 2015

Book Excerpt: Chapter 8 “My Food Blueprint: A Formula for Eating”

by Marilyn McKenna

From pages 128 – 130 of Eat Like It Matters: Stilettos are sexy. Fast cars are sexy. Some say facial hair is sexy (though generally only on men). But let’s be honest, schedules aren’t sexy. Still, sticking to a schedule when it comes to your eating and exercise habits can make all the difference when it comes to […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Blood Sugar, Book Excerpt, Eat Like It Matters, Eating Plan, Food Blueprint, Metabolism

Oct 17 2015

Fast cars and freedom

by Marilyn McKenna

October’s a HUGE birthday month in the McKenna household. Of the six of us, three of us have birthdays in October. Rob’s is the 1st, mine’s at the end of the month (Ask me how many Halloween-themed birthday parties I had as a kid. Yeah, a lot.) and Connor’s is this coming week. And this […]

Filed Under: Newsletters Tagged With: Drivers License, Eat Like It Matters, Fast Cars and Freedom, Newsletter

Oct 16 2015

Radio Interview: Tom Douglas’s “Seattle Kitchen”

by Marilyn McKenna

What a kick to hang out with renowned Seattle chefs Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau on their weekly broadcast “Seattle Kitchen.” Listen in as we talk about everything from the role of exercise in healthy living to ordering “off menu” to keep your restaurant meals as healthy as possible. What fun!

Filed Under: In The News, Interviews, Podcasts Tagged With: Eat Like It Matters, Podcast, Seattle Kitchen, Thierry Rautureau, Tom Douglas

Oct 13 2015

Book Excerpt: Chapter Seven “The Solution to Willpower, Motivation and Other Things That Don’t Work: The Two Tables Strategy”

by Marilyn McKenna

From pages 119 – 122 of Eat Like It Matters: If dieting left me feeling like I was holding my breath underwater, it’s no wonder that I found it impossible to do it for very long. But this is what relying on willpower has always felt like to me: it takes so much mental energy […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Book Excerpt, Eat Like It Matters, Moderation, Weight Loss Strategies, Willpower

Sep 29 2015

Book Excerpt: Chapter Six “Creating a Food Sanctuary in My Life: Remaking the Family Food Culture

by Marilyn McKenna

From pages 105 – 107 of Eat Like It Matters: Finally!” the readers exclaim in unison. “She’s gonna get to the point about what to eat, how to eat, and how to actually lose weight!” Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch. Of course I was gonna get to it, but you can’t just […]

Filed Under: Healthy Families, Weight Loss Tagged With: Book Excerpt, Eat Like It Matters, Family Food Culture, Food Sanctuary, Healthy Families

Sep 28 2015

Radio interview: John Carlson KVI

by Marilyn McKenna

Recorded September 28, 2015

Filed Under: In The News Tagged With: Eat Like It Matters, John Carlson, KVI, Radio Interview

Sep 26 2015

Bellevue Reporter Newspaper: Eat Like It Matters

by Marilyn McKenna

by MEGAN CAMPBELL, The Eastside Scene Reporter Sep 29, 2015 at 4:12PM About 10 years ago, Marilyn McKenna was the largest woman in the room — and she felt invisible. The wife of former Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna often found herself at her husband’s side in social circles. “I was there to be […]

Filed Under: In The News Tagged With: Bellevue Reporter Newspaper, Eat Like It Matters, Newspaper Interview

Sep 15 2015

Media Interview: Barb Adams “Amerika Now Radio”

by Marilyn McKenna

On September 12, 2015 I had the pleasure of talking with radio personality and truth seeker, Barb Adams. Listen in as Barb and I discuss how healthy living is about so much more than following the right “diet.”

Filed Under: In The News, Interviews Tagged With: Amerika Now Radio, Barb Adams, Eat Like It Matters, Media Interviews

Sep 8 2015

Book Excerpt: Chapter Three “The Root of Emotional Eating”

by Marilyn McKenna

From pages 48 – 49 … While I disengaged from my physical body and pretended not to notice the damage I did to myself over and over again with food, the most destructive manifestation of my denial was the detachment I felt from my conflicted misery in my role as wife and mom. It’s extremely […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Book Excerpt, Eat Like It Matters, Emotional Eating

Sep 1 2015

Book Excerpt: Chapter Two “Where to start when you don’t know where to start”

by Marilyn McKenna

If there is one thing I’ve learned during my weight-loss journey it’s that I’m not terribly exceptional. Oh, don’t get me wrong. The fact that I lost over one hundred pounds and have kept it off for more than eight years is remarkable. And I’m not claiming modesty here. I work very hard, and every […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Book Excerpt, Eat Like It Matters

Aug 11 2015

Book Excerpt: Chapter One

by Marilyn McKenna

Chapter One MAYBE YOU CAN’T BREAK THROUGH UNTIL YOU ADMIT YOU’RE BROKEN I once weighed 265 pounds and had a body mass index of 43. To clarify, the National Institutes of Health labels as “overweight” those people with a body mass index (BMI) of between 25 and 29.9. Those who have a BMI of between […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Book Excerpt, Eat Like It Matters, Personal Narrative, Weight Loss

Aug 8 2015

Let’s get it on!

by Marilyn McKenna

When you hear “let’s get it on!” (if you’re of a certain age, anyway) you probably hear the sultry Marvin Gaye song playing in your head. Apparently I’m of a certain age, because that’s exactly what I hear. As I sit at my desk, stewing in my uncertainty, it takes on a different meaning. The […]

Filed Under: Newsletters Tagged With: Eat Like It Matters, Let's Get It On, Marvin Gaye, Newsletter

Mar 5 2015

Eat Like It Matters: The Lean Phase

by Marilyn McKenna

The third of the three phases of the Eat Like It Matters Program is the Lean Phase. When you’re within ten pounds of your ideal body weight, the details of diet and exercise become critical. The truth is, there’s very little wiggle room when you’re so close to your goal weight. Really, everything matters if […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Eat Like It Matters, Lean Phase, Weight Loss

Feb 3 2015

Eat Like It Matters: The Gear Up Phase

by Marilyn McKenna

The Gear Up Phase of the Eat Like It Matters Program is for those who would like to lose 10 – 30 pounds. This is the sexiest of the three phases of weight loss, as far as I’m concerned. It’s certainly the one that gets the most attention (shows like “The Biggest Loser” emphasize the […]

Filed Under: Fitness, Weight Loss Tagged With: Eat Like It Matters, Gear Up, Gear Up Phase, Weight Loss

Jan 20 2015

Eat Like It Matters: The Transformation Phase

by Marilyn McKenna

You may have heard my podcast recently in which I told the story about being on the treadmill – where much good thinking happens – when I realized that my own weight loss journey evolved through three distinct phases. I’m not sure why it never occurred to me before that my own patterns, behaviors and habits changed […]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: Eat Like It Matters, Fat to Fit, Weight Loss, Weight Loss Transformation

Jan 15 2015

How to Eat Like It Matters (when no one else is)

by Marilyn McKenna

A 20-something friend asked me the other day, “My social life pretty much revolves around going out for drinks with friends, watching football together and going out for brunch. All of our activities involve eating and drinking. How am I supposed to lose weight without giving up my normal hangouts? I’ve tried it before and […]

Filed Under: Healthy Families, Weight Loss Tagged With: Eat Like It Matters, Losing Weight While Eating Out, Weight Loss for Young People

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You should always consult a doctor before changing your diet or starting a new exercise regimen.