There were many things I didn’t like about my body when I was overweight. My thighs would rub together and I would get a rash during the summer. My larger frame could not do what I wanted it to do.

I felt very self conscious in my clothes and about myself in general. I hated being overweight. I was also sometimes mistaken for a little boy when my mother took me to the grocery store, which was also crushing.

I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I knew I didn’t want to live in the body I grew up in for the rest of my life. I started cutting back my portions in middle school and it started working. I later started intermittent fasting before I even knew what that was and before it was trendy. I started listening more to my body and focusing on eating more intuitively. I didn’t count macros and I still ate rich, delicious food when I first started my journey, and the scale started to go down.

The ironic thing was the more weight I lost, the more I enjoyed eating. I focused on stabilizing my weight at each stage over a period of weeks and months and adopting new habits as I went. This behavior has been one of the keys that has helped me sustain the loss over many years.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had set backs along the way. But I’ve continued to focus on maintaining a healthy weight so I could live the life that I wanted to live.

I know that you might be struggling with many of the things I have through the years, and looking for help. I know that you might feel like you are not able to each chicken breast and broccoli at every meal, or spend five hours on the treadmill every week. I know you might not like counting macros and weighing everything you put in your mouth. You might even feel like you might never reach your goal. Believe me when I say, I have been through many of the same things you have. And, I’ve learned how to overcome them to live a healthier life, in a body I’m proud of.

I still use many of the same strategies I used when I was losing weight as a child to continue to lose and maintain my weight. I've also developed new strategies to help me combat stubborn weight that finds women in middle age. I've found the weight definitely gets harder to take off in middle age.

If you’re ready to change, I know I can help. Because I’ve been in your shoes.

If you don’t believe in yourself yet, let my belief in you guide you on this journey until you do.