My first memory of wishing for a thin body is when I was 6 years old. The day when I was brutally bullied on the playground.
Since then, I tried to lose weight many times. And I succeeded too.
However, the success didn’t last longer than a few days. In no time, I would regain all my weight and then some.
All of those attempts were well-planned and executed after much thought and deliberation.
The one weight loss attempt, the last one, that changed the course of my life came by when a straw broke ‘this’ camel’s back.
It was 10 pm when I stepped into my room and collapsed on the bed.
I was exhausted.
My feet were throbbing, and my back hurt. My neck felt stiff, and I was seriously debating soaking chickpeas before sleeping (home-cooked meals have been a life-long priority).
As tired as I was, I didn’t feel sleepy.
It was a routine for me to sleep in the wee hours, just because- I still had so much more to do – finish the articles before the deadline, pay the bills, answer emails and everything else that the rest of the world did during the day.
My mind was busy mustering the courage to get started, but somehow I couldn’t shrug off the images of the hospital. My mother who had high blood pressure and diabetes had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, and I was stuck in a phase of depression following my divorce.
My two-year-old’s disturbed face from missing me, the cries of agony and stories of despair I heard at the hospital floated in my mind the minute I shut my eyes.
I could feel the pain of an unhealthy mind and an overweight body every hour.
Even at night, my hurting back, and sore neck made it impossible to sleep. My knees threatened to explode if I continued living the life I did.
That’s when I KNEW that the key to my freedom (and my future) was in mastering my long-term health fundamentals.
That fateful day was the starting point of my decade-long journey of studying, exploring, learning, training, healing, practising and decoding the secrets of lasting emotional, mental and physical health.
Five years and counting into maintenance after losing 65 pounds, I am confident about the answer to the one question I am asked frequently.
When is the best time to start your weight loss journey?
In my work as a personal weight loss coach, I often hear women say how much they want to lose weight, but they believe that NOW is not the right time to start.
Well, the kids are going back to school, so I can’t start now.
Well, it’s the holidays, so I can’t start now.
Oh my God! It’s summer. You know, our schedules change, so I can’t think of starting to lose weight now.
Well, work is over-busy, can’t start now, perhaps next quarter.
So many of us are so caught up waiting for the right time and everything in our life to align before we can start caring for our health and dreams that we are forever NOT ready to start.
We are caught up in all the reasons why we can’t start up-levelling our health that we are blind-sided to what we could be doing that’s helpful.
I can’t emphasize enough that-
If weight loss is something that you know in your heart that will make you feel good, and will improve your health and life in general, then NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO START.
Today, I want to debunk the thoughts that might be keeping you from creating the body and health you deserve.
If you’re on the fence about whether you should get started, I can empathize because I know how painful it can be to sit on the fence.
One of the most important things to realize is – there’s never going to be a perfect time to get started. Ever.
!["They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." Andy Warhol](https://theerailivedin.files.wordpress.com/2023/08/timing-pin-the-era-i-lived-in-3.png?w=683)
However,
There’s going to be a time when you are willing to start.
There’s going to be a time with all the excuses and worries co-existing with your willingness to change.
When I started losing weight, it was for sure not the perfect time.
It was a time when I felt like I was stooping with the weight of sustained stress, trauma and distress from several different life circumstances (a divorce, career switch, ailing elderly parents to care for, single motherhood & more)
It was then that I realised-
- It’s in those tough, testing, hard times that we actually need to care for our needs more.
- Pay close attention to our self-care and better health.
In the hard times, when so many of us seek relief from food, we would benefit from the tools, mindset support and emotional guidance to survive life’s toughest tests… feeling alive and energised.
So many of us, think and say, now’s not the perfect time because it’s a hard time, rather than saying now is a good time. In fact, the right time.
I’ll show you how a tiny tweak in the perspective can make a big difference.
I’d like to offer, it is a perfect time to start today because if you start taking care of yourself today, it will make this time easier with these things.
Irrespective of your circumstances, I’d like for you to consider how would losing weight lighten the load on your shoulders.
What would it feel like to have less struggle going around, walking up and down the stairs, not having to stop often to catch a breath or having plenty of energy even in the evenings to play with the kids or to have the mood to enjoy going out for a walk later in the day.
A lot of times, we use our life as an excuse rather than trying to figure out how to problem-solve and get in the solution mindset.
For example – how would weight loss make my life easier even if nothing else changes?
If you’re someone who travels frequently for work and thinks it’s impossible to lose weight with such a schedule and lifestyle.
I’d say -No…it’s not impossible.
Imagine, wouldn’t it be great to learn how to travel for work and not eat our faces off every night when we are exhausted?
What if we had the framework and tools to save us from the regrets or worries around our clothes not fitting us for a meeting because we kept overeating on the road?
Wouldn’t it be better to learn how to navigate being able to eat on the road, versus thinking it’s too hard?
I have had women say, you know when you get to room service, I have hamburgers. If that’s your point of worry, let me assure you, it’s not hard to lose weight even in this scenario.
What’s truly hard is to choose the salad over the hamburger unless you change your mindset.
When you instead get to the point where you learn how to change your mindset instead of living in regret or the pain of not having the body you truly want.
If you are like me, caring for elderly parents right now – wouldn’t it be amazing to have more energy to take care of them?
Imagine how different your life would be, in whatever circumstances you are currently in. You knew you could survive this phase, caring for your own bodily and emotional needs without eating over them.
What if starting today, you had the tools, the mindsets and the support to have more energy for the needs you have right now?
Don’t get stuck in the idea that there’s going to be a better time, a perfect time, or a time when it’s not so hard.
It’s like just thinking about what makes this time in my life the time when-
I’m uniquely suited to go for the dream of finally creating the health I truly want for myself. And how could going for it make this time of my life easier. Not harder.
My life changed when I finally learned how to show up for it without needing to eat through it to survive.
To get through the day to feel good about myself, to relax.
Most of us have taught ourselves that, the only way we can feel good or relax or comfort ourselves is by eating because nobody’s teaching us how to do it using the power of our mind.
I teach mindset shifts and how to navigate through life with the powers of our mind that we have never been shown to put to our best use.
I teach tons of frameworks and a system that is easy to implement and adopt in the Be Healthy Be You Program.
I believe life’s hard, weight loss needn’t be so.
This belief has been my guiding light in simplifying sustainable weight loss for every woman willing to bet on herself.
Please never give up on yourself.
You’ll always be worth fighting for.
Even when the fight leaves you breathless and worn out and done in.
Never give up on yourself.
Ask yourself-
What is it costing you—financially, emotionally, and physically—to postpone action on your health?
If you don’t pursue those things that excite you, where will you be in one year, five years, and ten years?
If you zoom out 10 years and know with 100% certainty that it is a path of disappointment and regret, and if we define risk as “the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome,” inaction is the greatest risk of all.
What will you choose?
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If you’re at the start of your weight loss journey, begin with the foundational strategies that have helped me lose 60 pounds that I teach my coaching clients to achieve sustainable results. Take the FREE Weight Loss Ownership Course.