Celebrating the Fourth in October! On Four Years and 25 lbs. Down.

It’s been a while. My thought “Start somewhere, again!” If you are interested in a holistic approach when it comes to your beautiful brain, food that makes you feel good or weight loss you are in the right place. Welcome!

Today I’m celebrating my fourth year of losing weight for good! My friend, a nurse, a smart woman, someone that always makes me smile and also my sometimes tennis partner shared that self-efficacy is in the numbers. The number is five, maintaining weight loss for a period of five years means your chances increase substantially for keeping the weight off for good.

In 2019 I set a goal of losing 15.5 lbs. and I had no idea how I was going to do it? When I look back I thought it would be close to impossible, more accurate, impossible to do. And, I doubt I was thinking about how to keep it off because for me it was always impossible to maintain my weight.

I had years, decades of experience. I was really quite good at losing weight. And, I was fabulous at gaining it all back, again!

I wanted to be normal.

Losing 15.5 lbs. was going to make me “normal.” “Normal” according to the scale in the Dr.’s office and I will tell you that I absolutely dreaded getting on the scale at the Dr.’s office.

I don’t know much about numerology but I'm somewhat fascinated by the idea. I think about what I’ve done. Getting the promotion, moving to another state, getting married, moving to another country, the day I felt fluent in a new language, quitting a career that I wasn’t ready to quit, the babe, celebrating birthdays.The list is long of dates that are significant to me and how these dates. are tied to what I’ve accomplished in my life. One of my favorite dates is October 16.

For 30 years almost every morning I would wake-up and say to myself that I needed to go on a diet and there were a lot of other things I said to myself. Just to give you an idea, I would never speak to another human, the way I spoke to myself.

Now I don’t have to wake-up every morning and think about losing weight. Now, I have time to think about other things like “Why is it a struggle for me to write in general? To write about myself, my experiences? And, yet I have no fear of introducing myself to anyone in person. Hmmm?”

I have thoughts, for sure just ask any of my friends! I believe that weight loss is not only based on what you eat. No, I’m not always eating salad although, I do make a gorgeous and delicious salad! I believe that weight loss is also based on your psychology.

Sometimes people ask me what I eat. Sometimes people see me in the grocery and look at what’s in my shopping cart. Sometimes people order the same entree that I order when I’m at a restaurant. And, I want to whisper “It’s just not about food.”

I’d describe myself first as a human that is also a certified integrative nutrition and health coach. And, after a year of studying, coaching practicum clients, coaching master coaches and a final exam I’m now a certified life and weight loss coach too. Details soon!

Currently, my ability to smell is not very functional, last week I was not feeling well. I figured while I was feeling less than energetic I would make use of my time to experiment. Here’s what I noticed last week. I allowed myself to do a lot of things I don’t normally do. When I’m sick I like to eat bread and butter which is something I eat infrequently. I found myself watching a couple episodes from a series in the middle of the day. My guilty pleasures: We Crashed and Beckham. I have a thing, a rule for myself that I don’t stream in the middle of the day.

Last week I made a decision that I was going to be okay with my three days of refined carbs and day streaming.

What I want to share with you is that food tastes better to me now than it did four years ago. That is my experience. I don’t feel like I’m being controlled by food which is what I felt like for years. I didn’t want to be hungry but I always felt hungry. It was a loop. “I have to eat now. What will I eat next?”

When people find out what I do I often hear “I want to lose five lbs.” Followed by “And, I already want it to be gone.” I want you to ask yourself this question. Do you still want to lose five lbs. even if it takes longer? Longer than yesterday?

Are you in the same place you were last year? You know the place, you want to lose weight but, you’re just not motivated.

You want to lose five, 10, 15, 20, 50 or 100 lbs. but, you don’t feel like you have the motivation. What if motivation has nothing to do with losing five lbs. or 100 lbs.? Curious? Book a consult call.

I reached my weight goal prior to October 16, 2019. I weigh 25 lbs. less than I ever thought I would. In retrospect I wonder “Could I be just as happy losing five lbs. as losing 25 lbs.?” I remember losing my first three lbs. and how I felt, my psychology.

I always try to celebrate October 16 in some capacity. This year the celebration was simple. I took a walk and attempted to keep my eyes on the blue, blue sky and the trees slipping into their fall colors. I published my newsletter blog which I haven’t published in quite some time. It just felt good!

To your health!

xx,

Monica