Book a call

How to Maintain a Healthy Body Weight at Any Age

fitness after 40 mindset Aug 24, 2021
How to Maintain a Healthy Body Weight at Any Age

When I was 8  I played in slow pitch – I'd walk up to the plate “heavy-hitter'' I'd here and I was. I could smack that ball clear across the field but running Base to Base felt like cement blocks were tied to my legs and everything hurt. I couldn't breathe.

My mom told me that that was just the way I was built and that I was going to have to just learn to like it and love myself anyway. 

So that's what I did. I didn't worry about exercising, or eating right, I was happy just the way I was. Life was easy. and I was content to just stay the same forever.

Instead of playing sports I started smoking and hanging out in the smoke pit where everyone liked me.

I became a mom at 23 and I started caring more about my health but I really didn’t know how. I’d usually resort to starving, walking (which was good) and doing a day or two of “Sweating to the Oldies’ with Richard Simmons.

Nothing stuck.

At 26 I was diagnosed with IBS, Endometriosis, and massive gallstones which resulted in surgery.

When I was being wheeled into the operating room, a nurse commented “You are getting your gallbladder removed! Piece of cake, you will be better in no time. I had mine taken out a few years back.” _ I said, “Oh! How is life with no gallbladder? “

She said, “Get ready to be fat forever!. It’s impossible to lose weight” 

Oh Great , I thought.

After surgery, my doctor said, “Take it easy for a couple of weeks but now you can eat anything with no pain.

A couple weeks later while shopping for a dress to wear at a wedding, I slip on this emerald green floor length dress- and the saleslady goes “Oh it’s very slimming!”

That night I did my hair up in curls and I felt pretty and excited!

I ate dinner in that “slimming dress” Then I had Seconds. 

I ate wedding cake. Had Seconds. 

I danced. I drank wine. Lots of wine. 

The next day we went for breakfast 

I was so sick I thought I’d die. I could see the headline “Girl dies in bathroom stall, leaves behind 2 year old son” I can’t die on Jake

I had to learn how to eat 

So I told myself I could play this game, I could try, I mean I've been on so many diets before that didn't work. ( I didn't ever tell anybody when I was trying to diet when I was heavy. I had always told myself that it wouldn't work, so I didn't want anybody else to come up into my face and say I told you so. I did that to myself often enough).

The first 10 pounds came off  fairly quickly 

Then when 20 pounds was off, my mindset shifted..... Suddenly I was not the one destined to be the husky girl my entire life.

Suddenly I believed in myself..... And within a year I had shed 60 lbs 

Every new milestone was as much a surprise as it was a thrill.

I didn’t know I could until I did

When I did get to maintenance - I felt the desire to see success. 

The scale stopped moving- sometimes it would go up

I stopped dropping clothes sizes - I started dividing my clothes - skinny days- frumpy days- Oh Oh you are getting fat days 

It stopped being fun 

BUT I notice it’s easier to get promoted, easier to exceed my sales quotas, easier to get almost anything that I want. 

guys are asking me out. 

I’m living a dream and having nightmares that I’m gonna lose it all. 

If everyone only knew I’m counting individual blueberries to make sure I don’t exceed my calorie count. 

When the compliments stop I worry. Am I doing enough?

It took me a few years to figure out how to shift this yoyo of emotions and to know  what I want: I want to go back to the start. Where my only expectation was to feel better, not to look better. I have to get out of this place where enough is never going to be enough. 

Then I started running - and my life was filled with measures of fitness & strength instead of weight and size.

I was no longer victim of the monthly fluctuation in my new fit & healthy Abel frame

So How do You lose weight at any age and keep it off? 

It's different for everyone, but this is how I started, and the things I still try to live by today.

  1. Choose an activity that fits in your current season that you can stick to WITHOUT Accountability of anyone else
  2. Focus on smaller - Small changes amount to longer term success
  3. Eat whole foods - Less processed -Period - If it grows in the ground, runs around, or comes from a tree then it can be in me 

Pick up my free exercise guide 

Stay connected with news and updates!

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from me.
Your information will not be shared.

I don't email often :) But when I do I ensure you it's jampacked with goodness to get excited about opening :)