How I Got Myself Overweight 

Twenty-three years old, and I must have been insane, to try to lose weight on a healthy, slender body (5’6 – 126 pounds- with a rounded backside). As a teenager, I remember that my waist was so thin that I had to learn how to tailor my pants to take in the waistband and still have a size long enough for my extra long legs. Instead of a reputable doctor telling me I need psychiatric help to see and believe that my body was fine, I was encouraged to go on one diet after another. Each time I’d lose weight, after I went back to “normal” eating (I was never a binger), the weight crept back on; and added additional weight.

Doctors Didn't Believe Me

I’d go back to the doctors swearing that I wasn’t cheating, and insisting something was “wrong with my body”. But the doctors kept repeating the same ignorant line to me:

“EVERYONE loses weight if they eat less and exercise more”.

But I knew I wasn’t cheating, even though they insisted. Doctors were considered "Gods" when I was young, and contrasting what they said with my actual results made me feel even worse. I was caught in the yo-yo syndrome, eating a chronically small amount of food, skipping meals, exercising and frightened to eat more. I got to a point where I had very little appetite; and thought my stomach inside my body had “shrunk” while my belly fat increased!

No diet every made a difference; vegetarian, vegan, raw food, gluten free, dairy free, elimination diets, probiotics, exercise regimes, cleansing fasts, Jon Gabriel’s program, diets proposed by Naturopathic doctors, vitamins, Paleo…. I had the same results to each diet. I’d start by losing a little weight, and then it would practically stop; until I gave up in misery, went back to my basic under-eating, skipping meals, and gained back the weight + extra padding pounds.

Doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of INSANITY and a Diet.

It wasn’t until decades of chronic under-eating, feeling ashamed of, and hating my body, that I realized that I had unknowingly created my own problem. I developed Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, suffering from low body temperature, thinning hair, and a myriad of other symptoms. My HDL, LDL, triglycerides were not looking good. I wasn’t young anymore (in my 50s at that point), and I knew that what was happening to me at this point could shorten my life! I was getting scared, but didn’t want to start taking statins! I had read enough to know that these pharmaceuticals are dangerous and don’t even do what they claim!

Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease of the thyroid gland where the body mistakes the gland as an invader and attacks it. It is particularly sensitive to stress. So when I was stressed (from what was going on in my life- divorce, loss of a job, children sick – OR from going on another diet), the symptoms would be very pronounced. When things were better, the symptoms lessened.

Mind/Emotion/Body Medicine to the Rescue

Are you having trouble believing that I caused my own dis-ease, or that you have unknowingly created your own illnesses? That’s what Mind/Body Medicine is about. It’s not something that you do to get yourself sick deliberately, but it’s a physical reaction to your thoughts and emotions. An obvious symptom of how this works is by observing the direct correlation between anger, and physiological changes: your heart pounding, changes in your blood pressure, etc. in your body. When your negative thoughts and emotions are chronic, it causes continuous stress inside your body, that can cause or exacerbate any illness.

After years of dieting, and actually studying nutrition, reading hundreds of books, thousands of articles, taking to different experts, and making myself a guinea pig by trying all of these diet plans, I heard Matt Stone from 180Degree Health, interviewed on the Paleo Summit. I must admit I thought “what is with this guy? – and why is he on this program when he disagrees with what they are teaching?” But because the Paleo diet had ALSO failed me, I decided to learn more about Matt and what he was saying. I read his books, and scheduled sessions to speak to him directly.

That’s when the lightbulb went on over my head, and I finally realized that I was causing my own weight issues by chronic under-eating and depriving myself. It was like I was punishing myself for being overweight and causing the overweight problem by that very behavior. DUH!

But under-eating was only part of the problem. I had to understand the mindset that I had that created my need to do this to myself. I had to remove society’s conditioning that made me think that unless I was super skinny, I was unloveable. And I had to change the blame I had for my body with gratitude and appreciation. I had to re-establish a nurturing, positive relationship with my body and my mind to heal.

From speaking to so many other women, I learned that this pattern of chronic under-eating, over-exercising, stress eating and binging, body shame was a common problem and that their story was the same as mine.

My quiz was created to help women (and of course men) discover “your story” that started your weight gain, and re-write it. It will give you information that can have you stop blaming yourself for making yourself heavier than you want to be. It will teach you the foundational reasons that cause people to gain weight. I hope that it will also help you learn how to be your best friend and love yourself like your dog does: Unconditionally. And what could be better than that?

There’s no better way than to have a personal coach to help you get unstuck with a negative mindset. It will be a life changing event to reboot your relationship with your body, and food. It’s the key out of your self-imposed diet prison. Take the quiz and contact me with any questions.