As a teen, my relationship with my body was not so great. Despite being active and on my feet, I was never slim in my opinion.
As you may remember, this relationship with my body started in 6th grade (see that blog here). It is only natural that I wished my body looked like that of my peers. I hated my thigh size the most.
I was a size large when most of my age group was a size small or a medium. Adding spandex to the mix did not leave me feeling the best when it came to dressing for performances in school.
I allowed this frustration to lead me down the path of dieting and trying to “spot correct” my body. You know those thighmaster tools you used to see on info-mercials? Yea...I had one!
The positive in all of this frustration is that it did lead me to taking action. I tried and failed and kept at it.
While it did take me a lot of time to stumble, fall, and get back up, I kept redirecting. Including figuring out that I had PCOS was key in realizing that unlike most of my peers, this journey to feel good in my body was not going to be so simple.
I was going to have to change some of my perspectives as well as give myself some grace. In my youth, giving myself grace was not easy. Especially when I was comparing myself to others.
Having my PCOS diagnosis led me to a rabbit hole of figuring out what would work best for me. I was able to put myself on a fair playing ground. One that is much more complex than I first realized, but it helped being in a group of women that were more like myself.
As you go on a similar path, you will gather resources, people, and opportunities. Two mistakes many people make is we go for the “quick and easy but short term” result or we keep building up the pile of resources because we want it to be a perfect journey.
Imperfect, over time, action is necessary to utilize frustration and resentment to your benefit! Your journey will neither be perfect or quick and easy...real changes rarely are.
To create this action, we are naturally directed to utilize a tool called SMART. If you are not familiar it refers to Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Realistic, and Timely.
If I am real honest, the acronym makes me want to roll my eyes. For one, it does not always work. For two, it is so overused. For three, sometimes we do not always utilize it in a way that is most beneficial.
These loopholes and challenges can make you wonder why people set things up in this structure in the first place. Making lifestyle changes is not so ridge. So in this video, I run you through some tips and tricks to allow this format to be of service instead of frustration for you.
As you can see, making changes for a lifetime is more of a journey instead of a boxed acronym. Sometimes we forget these tools are guidelines instead of a strict method.
What we set to achieve does not have to be set in stone, but does require some inspiration, support, grace, and motivation. That is what gets us through the hard times. This is what gets us back up, opens the door to pivots and adjustments.
If reading this resonates with you and you would like to speed up your learning curve on thriving in your health, come join us in the Thriving with PCOS community. We have trainings in the guide section that will help you take action in determining which lifestyle adjustments will serve you best.
Though no matter what you decided about joining us, I wish you all a healing journey well traveled.
Terra
Losing the food battle once again...it can feel defeating! I feel you.
You work so hard to eat the right things. You finally make a little headway even and then BAM...it hits you like a freight train and the next thing you know, you are a pint of ice cream in and a whole bag of pizza rolls deep!
What in the heck did I just do? The shame takes over and you hide all of the evidence.
You continue to eat dinner with your family just so they do not know. Despite the fact that you are not hungry. You cannot let them know what you have done today.
You tell yourself, you will make up for it tomorrow. Yep that is it. I will restrict myself. I will not eat or I will really cut back on how much I eat to balance this out. Oh and I will workout twice tomorrow.
Yikes!!
Cravings can be challenging. Especially in this food-on-demand and high stressed world we live in today.
Once upon a time, food was meant to nourish us. It is also meant to be enjoyable. Otherwise, we would all starve.
Now many of us use it as a weapon or a way to numb ourselves...numb sounds cold does it not?!
Many of us struggle to control these cravings as we rarely understand why we go so crazy for the food we crave.
For me, I had to do some digging. I was “hungry” to control these cravings that were out of my control. As someone who likes to be in control of myself, it became imperative that I figured this out!
Here is what I learned...there are likely a few pieces that bring us to binge. However, working on them one piece at a time is very important to a successful outcome.
There is a chemical and an emotional need behind most if not all binges.
Now, I am not a doctor or a dietitian/nutritionist...I am someone who through many rabbit holes and research deep dives, found tools that have been successful to me.
I started with an elimination protocol that would not only help me with a condition called PCOS, but would also help me work through the foods I was “addicted” to.
Once I cleansed my system of foods that I learned no longer served me, I was able to see...okay actually notice...more clearly what foods I was craving. I was able to pinpoint the nourishment that my body was actually signalling for.
Now that I knew that my body was satisfied, with the right food and supplementation in place, I was able to see the last piece to my puzzle.
Emotional eating is sneaky! Most of the time we do it blind.
I am not even sure where I picked up this habit. However I learned it all the same.
If I was happy about something...food was the celebration of choice. If I had a bad day at work, it was time for a meal out with a cold one. This became routine for me whether I was surrounded by people or home alone.
Now after about 2 years worth of work to figure this all out on my own, I finally have a handle on this situation. The cycle is over!
No more hiding, no more blaming, and no more shaming myself!
It is wonderful to have not only control again of my eating, but so much more. My weight is more manageable, my lab work has improved, and confidence...that right there just feels so damn good!
My hope is that if you are reading this and thinking that this sounds a lot like you too, that you will reach out for help.
I believe that we all go through these moments in our life so that we are able to toss out the lifesaver to others to pull them to shore.
This is me, casting that line out to you…
Terra
Also...I have a group where I talk about these things and so much more at Thriving With PCOS. Come find the support you deserve!
