I gained 20 lbs telling myself this story…
Vulnerable post alert!
For the past several years, my weight has been going up bit by bit every year. I’ve always been a petite person – just under 5’3” with a small bone structure – and for most of my life, I was always quite slender.
Then I started approaching 40. Then I had a nervous breakdown at 42. And for the last 5.5 years since then, I’ve been rebuilding myself.
Trying to get back to the directed, passionate girl with a fire in her belly that I’d lost too long ago.
But that doesn’t happen overnight when you’ve spent a couple decades selling out your true dreams and desires for the “safe” choice. And when you’re in the struggle – still trying to claw your way back to the light – the natural tendency is to latch onto comfort in some form.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but for me that became food and cocktails. Not in a crazy excessive amount, but enough in excess that I started packing on the pounds.
The thing is, I always worked out and 90% of the time I ate healthy. But my workouts had gotten less intense, and that 10% of the time I wasn’t eating healthy, I was consuming a LOT of calories without realizing it.
As my weight crept up year over year, despite my mostly healthy lifestyle, I brushed it off to, “well, I guess this is just my forties!”
That was the story I told myself.
In January of this year, as my jean size started edging from 8 to 10, I decided I better check this out. I thought that maybe I needed to make a few dietary changes, but I really thought most of the problem had to be hormonal or some other biological cause.
I mean, I was about to turn 47 and isn’t that just what happens in your late 40s?!
So I started seeing a nutritionist. And her labs confirmed everything was mostly normal. Yes, I needed to reduce my cortisol levels and continue working on my anxiety, as I was already doing, but other than that, my labs were great.
Ug.
That meant it truly was just my habits. That meant I couldn’t just pop a pill and fix it. I was going to have to get to work.
My nutritionist helped me shift a few things and drop some calorie dense habits – the weekly cheese and charcuterie plate my husband and I shared during Saturday movie night…the after-work cocktails that were happening a couple of times a week at home…and going almost entirely gluten free, which I should have been doing since 2018 when a test proved that my body has an inflammatory reaction to it.
Those dietary changes, along with some other small shifts, helped me drop 12 pounds over a few months.
Then I rediscovered my love of dance fitness (I taught aerobics for years in my 20s and 30s) and that kicked up my workout routine significantly. 2 months later and I’m down another 7 lbs. My size 6 jeans glide on with ease again, and I’m feeling stronger, leaner, and sexier than I have for 10 years.
This is my forties.
In fact, this is my late forties.
That’s my new story and I’m sticking with it.
Here’s what I’ve learned along the way: The stories we tell ourselves matter.
I spent a lot of time believing my old story that being in your 40s automatically meant gaining weight.
I believed this despite knowing many women in their 40s that hadn’t done so.
I believed this despite the fact that my mom maintained her slim figure through her 40s and beyond, and still looks great!
I chose not to see that evidence. I chose to see the evidence that said my story was correct.
So many of the ways we get stuck in life come down to just that: choosing a story and believing it.
Not everything, of course. Sometimes we do get stuck in craptastic circumstances. But I believe that our thoughts and stories are the root cause of most of our stuckness.
And even if it truly is our circumstances that got us stuck, the only way to move forward is to start telling ourselves a different story.
A story where we’re the creators of our lives and not the victims of it.
If you’re ready to look at the story you’re telling yourself around the area where you’re stuck, then I hope you’ll join me tomorrow, Wednesday, October 11th, at my next Bolder Women meeting:
===> Getting Unstuck from Your Story.
You’ll get the time to look at your current story from a fresh perspective, and create a new, more empowering story you can start living going forward!
Plus, you’ll be surrounded by a group of courageous, compassionate women on the same path, creating a tide that lifts everyone’s boat together!
If you’re in or around Boulder, CO, join us in person from 6:00pm – 8:00pm by RSVPing here ===> https://www.meetup.com/bolder-women/events/296359644
If you’re outside the area, or just can’t make it in the evening, join us on Zoom from 11:30am – 1:30pm here ===> https://www.meetup.com/bolder-women/events/296358610
Change your story, change your life
I can’t wait to see you there!
With Passion and Purpose,
Terra
P.S. Want to work with me 1:1 to shift your story? Want to do it at 60% off? Members of my MeetUp group can book 1 hour coaching sessions with me for just $79! Get the details here ===> https://soulfireshift.com/bolder-women
P.P.S. Seeing this post after Wednesday, October 11th? No problem! We cover cool topics like this the 2nd Wednesday of every month in my Bolder Women group. Find out more and join here ===> https://www.meetup.com/bolder-women
