Here we are, the year 2022. Twenty-seven years after the World Wide Web was considered to be established globally. All this information at our fingertips – how to lose weight, gain muscle, get more energy, etc. Need the answer to a health question? Google it. Want to learn how to drop 10 pounds fast so you look good for summer? Type that in the search bar and have thousands of suggestions in seconds. What a fantastic thing, right?
Wrong.
Unfortunately, all this vast information hasn’t become an asset but a liability, a plethora of unrealistic suggestions that have actually led consumers to be worse off than their starting points. Why the negative outlook here? Because I’ve lived it as a former athlete, working woman in the fitness industry, mother of two athletic kids, having to run a household and try to be the best version of myself I can and want to be. I’ve searched online looking for answers despite my formally-educated brain telling me not to – to not fall into the trap of gimmicks and programs that if I recall what I learned in school, couldn’t provide me the permanent physical and emotional results I wanted so badly.
I know what it feels like to look in the mirror and not like what you see. To wonder, “What happened?!” as I try to put on a pair of shorts that no longer fit, and not because they shrunk in the dryer. Despite my background and education, I found myself wanting to look like that Instagram post, the women looking fabulous on the red carpet. Why can’t I be that?
And then my sensibility luckily crept back in a few minutes later and I remembered that it’s not attainable. Not because I don’t deserve it, not because I don’t want it bad enough. It’s not attainable because it’s not healthy or sustainable.
Here’s why.
Anyone can do anything for a short amount of time no matter how miserable the experience may be.
What we forget is that at some point, it can’t be sustained for a number of reasons. Not healthy, too hard, costs too much, excludes certain foods, etc. I work with people who have tried so many programs, diets, or supplements hoping it would provide that body weight or energy they longed for only to find it didn’t work despite their effort put in. They end up even more frustrated and, frankly, sadder than they were beforehand. I tell them, “I tell you here, it doesn’t have to be that way!”
You have to be willing to accept you are what you are from the things that compounded over time. You didn’t wake up one morning and BAM! You turned into something you disliked overnight. Keeping that in mind, realize it will take time to reverse what you feel like and look like. And if you want to do this in a way that you can maintain, FOREVER, you have to be willing to make small, consistent changes day after day, so these “changes” become permanent fixtures of your life – not a pill you take for a while or food you avoid temporarily.
Being a woman is hard.
Work, raising kids, volunteering, cleaning the house, let alone trying to find time to hang out with girlfriends, attend a concert, or even take a nap is next to impossible. There’s so much that can fill up a woman’s day. “How did I get here? Where did my energy go? What happened to the way I look?” Join me in restructuring, relearning how to live your life so you can look, feel and be the woman you want to be. Will it be easy? Will it be as fast as you want? Probably not; however, small changes compound, and by working alongside me (I’m doing it, too!), we can help each other not only return to a better version of ourselves but an even better version of something we never knew we could be.
Join me on this journey as I talk about changes every woman can make. Stay tuned!
