Today starts my courageous midlife journey. I know I’m not alone in feeling like a stranger in my body, questioning my future and wondering when I lost the spark that used to be me. It sounds dramatic, yes, and it’s been a struggle. My body journey started as a very thin child with parents who were judgmental of people carrying extra weight (to put it mildly). I heard about it all the time in the form of jokes and criticism. When I was 18, I started gaining a bit of weight and by the time I was in my 20’s, I was sitting around 140 lbs consistently. For a 5 foot 7 inches woman, this was a “healthy” weight, but I struggled with it. I started a pattern of constant physical activity and diet after diet. When I hit 45, my weight started going up 5-7 pounds a year, and now I’m in the mid 180’s at age 51. I stopped following strict diets about a year ago and have been trying to eat intuitively and mindfully. I thought I had a great diet and I work out regularly. A common phrase that would come out of my mouth was, “I’m doing everything right, but nothing works!” In the past couple of weeks, I’ve learned a few things: 1. I am not doing everything right. There is a lot of room for improvement. 2. It’s not all about the weight. The number on the scale is loaded with emotional “stuff”. 3. My blood work needs improving. 4. I need to get my stress under control. 5. I need help. Number 5 is key – I always want to figure out everything on my own. This time, I have help. I finally found a doctor who listened to me and referred me to a lifestyle medicine clinic where “diet” is a dirty word (YAY!). At that clinic, I have 1) an MD, 2) A health coach, and 3) a dietitian. These professionals and a supportive partner comprise my dream team. This is the first time I’ve ever reached out for help and I am going to embrace it. I’m going to share my starting stats below and will update on some of them weekly. In 3 months, I’ll have my follow-up bloodwork and body fat analysis done and will report those improvements. Why is this a courageous midlife journey? It’s courageous, because change is hard and uncomfortable. You need to be outside of your comfort zone and have faith that everything will be ok. It’s courageous because all of the stats below are really just symptoms of things going on deep under the surface, and in order for the stats to change, those things will need to be addressed. I will start planning and building knowledge over the next few days. Next week will be my first full week with goals and a plan. Until then, here’s the starting line:
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2024
Categories |
Proudly powered by Weebly