Improving Health

1 Comment / Mary's Musings / By
Content warning: weight, body image, health

For the last twelve weeks, I’ve been on a journey to improve my health. That journey did NOT involve counting calories, or following an exercise routine. I didn’t have to restrict how much I ate. My journey started by understanding nutrition and food psychology, and led to improving health.

Emotional Eating

Improving Health - image shows grid of nine squares: child pose in yoga, green smoothies, a woman sleeping, a woman playing with a border collie, the words Improving Health, a woman doing water aerobics, a picture of Mary smiling, fruits and vegetables, and the Walks Within logo

I’ve known for a long time that I am was an emotional eater. Or rather, a stress eater. As my stress level rose, I would crave junk food. Specifically, my weaknesses are have been Dr. Pepper, chips, and dark chocolate.

Over the past few years, my weight has slowly been creeping up. Then COVID came, and the stress meant lots of stress eating, and the creep became more of a saunter.

I know sugar is not healthy, and lots of sugar is really not healthy. Logic didn’t stop my mind from whining about having more, and it certainly didn’t stop my hand from feeding it to my mouth.

Every Body Is Beautiful

Despite feeling uncomfortable with my growing body, I did my best to love my body. After all, it is alive, and birthed three amazing children, ans supports me each day.

Looking at pictures of myself was really hard, though. They didn’t match the image of myself that I held in my head. The body dysphoria was unnerving. On one level, I could look in the mirror and see beauty, and then I would see a picture, and all I could see was how large my body had become.

I believe that large bodies can be just as healthy as small bodies. I’m a fan of the Health at Every Size movement. As much as I wanted to believe I was healthy, the truth was that I was experiencing pain, inflammation, poor sleep, and exhaustion. All that, and I couldn’t get the motivation to do anything about it, not for longer than a few days, anyway.

Improving Health

When my friend Michele told me about her positive experiences with WildFit, I decided to give it a try. This journey was really about improving my health. Releasing weight was a happy side effect that I was hoping for.

I am pleased to report that over the ninety days of the challenge, I have released about 25 pounds, and more than 13 inches. More importantly, I have more energy, I’m sleeping better, and most of the time, I have less pain. (I say most of the time, because chronic pain doesn’t always play by the rules. However, I have taken significantly less painkillers recently.)

Many of the things I have learned feel like long term changes. I haven’t had a Dr. Pepper for almost three months, and I’m not interested in cracking one open any time soon. I am eating healthier, and exercising more. Sure, I may not have reached my goal weight yet. That doesn’t mean I won’t. It’s certainly a lot closer than it was a few months ago.

Oh, and I feel a lot more comfortable in my body. I haven’t taken any full body pictures recently, and I know my reflection matches my body image better. I even got compliments on a sun dress I was wearing the other day!

Michele is going to be running another WildFit 90 Day Challenge starting in September. If you’d like to improve your health, consider scheduling a free information session with her!

Blessings,
Mary

1 thought on “Improving Health”

  1. Michèle Favarger

    You have played all out to get you well on the way to achieving your goals. I am so very delighted with your willingness to support yourself by trusting the program. Thanks for the shoutout! May I be blessed with more clients like you!

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