So I’ve lost 50 pounds two different times.
In two completely different ways.
The first time was when I was 21. I lost 50 pounds in 6 months by taking a weight loss pill prescribed by my doctor called Phentermine. It basically completely took away my appetite and gave me endless amounts of energy.
Because of this, I didn’t have to do any internal work to lose the weight. I just ate very little because I had no appetite.
So I didn’t learn how to stop buffering with food. I didn’t learn what foods work for my body. I didn’t learn how to keep commitments to myself or how to process negative emotions…you know all those things you need to master to maintain the weight loss….
I’m sure you can imagine what happened. I lost the weight, got off the drug, my appetite came back, and I immediately started gaining it back.
I was the smallest I had ever been and felt the worse I had ever felt. I was so anxious and frantic about the weight gain. I was constantly thinking about food. I thought of food as my enemy. I was in SO MUCH fear of gaining the weight back. All of this mind drama totally consumed me.
Not once did I actually feel more confident. All I wanted to do was lose more. Then I kept trying to figure out what doctor I could get to give me another prescription, even though you aren’t supposed to be on it longer than 6 months. I didn’t care about my health. I cared about being thin.
And that’s not a fun place to be in! It SUCKED!
As you can imagine, I gained all the weight back plus some within a few years.
Now let’s talk about the second time I lost 50 pounds.
After YEARS of dieting all through my 20’s trying to get back to that place I was taking Phentermine, I got tired!
Within a 10-year span I think I tried every diet under the sun. After years of this, I realized I had a torturous relationship with food and with my body. It was not healthy, and it totally consumed me.
I sought out help. I started going to Overeaters Anonymous meetings. I hired a body image coach. I started following body positive women on social media.
In the body positive community, I picked up the idea that restriction is bad. That restriction makes you binge. So I gave up all restrictions and allowed myself to eat whatever I felt like. At the time, I thought that was the most self-loving thing I could do.
But I continued to gain weight, and my PCOS symptoms were getting worse and worse.
It didn’t feel good at all.
What I realized was that for someone with PCOS who is extremely sensitive to certain foods, that eating those foods was the opposite of loving.
I realized that I felt SO MUCH BETTER being off of flour and sugar, so to me restricting those foods was self-love.
I also decided that I didn’t like being in a 200+ pound body. It wasn’t serving me. I love being active, and I was having some physical pain that was making it hard to do all of the things I love.
So I decided to drop it all. I dropped the crazy fad diets. I dropped the “eat whatever you want” mentality. And I dropped the story that there was something wrong with me.
I decided to go all-in with ONE approach, which was from a life and weight loss coach.
I loved the approach because I worked on my mindset, along with my nutrition.
I actually DID the internal work necessary to lose the weight permanently the second time around.
It felt SO DIFFERENT.
I loved my body along the way. I gained confidence by learning to keep commitments to myself through my 24-hour plan. I learned how to feel my feelings (which btw, I had no idea was an issue of mine until I started doing this work). I took control, rather than letting my impulses control me.
It changed everything.
Was it may more work than taking Phentermine? ABSOLUTELY! Was it worth it? A THOUSAND percent.
The skills that I learned by doing the internal work to lose weight are skills that I bring into every area of my life.
And they are the skills I had to learn to lose the weight and keep it off for good.
That’s why I love teaching this stuff. It’s LIFE CHANGING!
So if you’ve been yo-yoing and struggling with your weight, the internal work is the missing piece of the puzzle!
Ready to take the leap and do this kind of work? Sign up for your free strategy session below, and I’ll help you get to the bottom of your PCOS weight loss struggle.
In health & happiness,
Jamie
