ME: I am a 32 year-old female living in Nashville, TN, originally from Chicago. At this point, it is pretty hard to overlook the fact that I am very overweight. Some of the weight gain was out of my control (chronic pain issues) but most of the gain resulted directly from a combination of poor choices and bouts of depression and anxiety that led to complacency. I’ve been so complacent that now I am heavier and more out of shape than I have ever been. Well, complacent no more.
There are four prongs to my approach to losing weight: nutrition, yoga, meditation and movement. Briefly, here are my thoughts on each:
Nutrition: I currently avoid gluten and dairy because they do not agree with me. Dairy triggers my migraines and gluten does funny things to my digestion (though no, I do not have celiac). I’m also working on breaking the sugar addiction, but that is an ongoing struggle.
Yoga/Meditation: I try to make each of these a part of my every day life. They both bring me much more into touch with my body and aware of what’s going on inside of me. That kind of self-awareness helps me to make better choices about pretty much everything. Also, both are key in reducing my anxiety.
Movement: I know that diet is somewhere between 80-95% of what matters with weight loss, but this isn’t just about losing weight, it’s about being healthy. And I don’t feel healthy when I’m so out of shape. I used to be a runner and I want to be able to be a runner again. I currently wear a Fitbit to make sure that I get at least 5000 steps every day, with 10,000 being the goal.
First Steps to Forever 