It’s all progress

Like most women I know, I’ve struggled with what I thought was my perfect weight nearly my entire adult life. When I hit my teens, I went from a skinny, gangly, active kid to a chubby, inactive teen girl really quickly.


I remember the boys in my marching band making bets on my bust size when we were measured for new band uniforms because I was pretty well-endowed! (This was ironic since a couple years earlier, one of my guy friends gave me a silly t-shirt that read: ‘President of the itty-bitty titty club’ – it was awesome.)


But, those teen years were hell since I wasn’t comfortable in my new body and my dad would sing the Jell-o song to me when he’d see me in shorts. By the time I was in my early 20’s, I’d lost most of the extra fat, but still had it in my head that I was overweight.


Of course, now I look at pictures of myself when I was in my early 20’s and realize that I had a really great figure and would LOVE to have that body again!

At age 50, I worked hard to get back to a healthy weight by changing my eating and exercise habits and was the lightest I’d been in 15 years at 127 lbs. A friend and I had challenged each other to a DietBet online where you bet $25 per month over 6 months to lose 10% of your body weight. I won the bet, along with my friend, and won all my money back.


But the best part was, I had lost a lot of weight, had started building my physical strength, and fit in clothes I hadn’t fit in for years. And since I had changed my body so much, I had to buy some new clothes. I could tuck shirts into my jeans without a roll of flab showing around my middle.


I could wear a belt!


I felt strong, and I loved going to the gym to work out. My neighbor saw me running one day and commented on how amazing I looked. My niece told me how beautiful I was. (Full disclosure – she’d been drinking, and that “Aunt Mary, you’re so pretty” has become an inside joke between my husband, daughter, son, and me anytime I do something stupid!)


Later that year after I turned 50, I had foot surgery on both feet because I was in so much pain I couldn’t sleep. In late September I had the right foot done, then in December, the left. It was painful and the recovery took forever.


For over 6 months my activity level was nearly non-existent and it took a while to begin walking normal again – and running was out. I gained back all the weight I had lost, and got very soft around the middle, lost most of my muscle-tone, and as a result had aches and pains in my joints.


For a while, every time I complained to my husband about not being able to lose weight as quickly as I had before, despite working out regularly, eating clean (or Paleo, or Keto, or juicing, or trying another diet book/program), he would say “You should blog about that for your health coaching blog.”


I’m sure there are many who can relate to this –  the struggle to get back in shape, lose 20-30 pounds, eat healthy, start a self-care routine, and maybe even stop the aches and pains.


The other thing I’m learning and teaching is self-love and acceptance – which can be a tough nut to crack for most of us. I’m moving along in my health journey, and have lost some of the weight again along with building some muscle.


So that’s what you’ll find me writing about – mostly. There’s also my addiction to self-help books, or just books in general, and parenting a college-aged daughter and a high school-aged son. Oh, and taking care of my dad who has Alzheimer’s disease. And cooking! I love cooking.


I’ll also share how I got started as a health coach, and my own health struggles and health scares. And I’ll share lots of resources, recipes, inspiration, and mindfulness ideas. I hope to share some tools to help you find your own why and inspire your own path to better health and wellness.


So, I hope you can relate to some of my posts. If so, let me know. I’d love to know what you’re searching for and how I can inspire you to go after it.


But don’t judge my addiction to books…