I would be considered a person who was always trying to lose weight.
In the beginning, it was about how I looked and how I felt, but as life went on, I realized that seeing less of my family and spending countless hours owning a small business were causing my health to pay the price. The cool part was I lost 65 pounds*, but it was what I learned in the meantime that has changed my life the most.
I was not born in a healthy household. I thought the only way to lose the weight that I had was through exercise. The problem was that it wasn’t working. Even though I was gaining muscle, my waistline seemed to be growing, and the frustration began to build.
I would try anything that was easy. I tried countless diets. I counted points. If I was walking through a bookstore and there was a book about how to be skinny in ten days, I would pick it up. I reached a point to where I thought I was just cursed: I was always going to have the fat genes, and nothing was ever going to change.
One of the microHabits that has been so important to me was healthy motion and exercise. I thought that health meant I needed to be skinny, but it’s actually building health and fitness, and that has been the biggest difference in my life through the Habits of Health.
*In a clinical study, the group on the Optimal Weight 5 & 1 Plan® lost 10x more weight than the self-directed group. Average weight loss on the Optimal Weight 5 & 1 Plan is 12 pounds.
I reached a point to where I thought I was just cursed: I was always going to have the fat genes, and nothing was ever going to change.
Being a part of a healthy community has helped me thrive
I lived a fast-paced lifestyle, and I think most of us do. We’re getting up early. We’re heading to work, and running through the drive-thru grabbing something to eat that’s quick and easy, but not helping our physical health. A lot of the stress built over this time because of my life being out of balance. One thing that I discovered through this process was that the stress of my busy lifestyle was compounding with the habits that I already had in my life that I grew up with when I was overweight.
I knew that if I wanted to stay healthy, I needed to be around people who value their health as well.
One of the key things that has helped me thrive in my health over the last eight years is being a part of a healthy community and really changing my surroundings. Something the Habits of Health taught me was really to reintroduce a whole new set of habits, which can sometimes include our peer group and the places that we go. I knew that if I wanted to stay healthy, I needed to be around people who value their health as well.
We’re living in such a socially connected world, and what I value with the Habits of Health is that one of the key habits is community. I love how social media connects us all, and to be in a group with other people on the same journey as you, you know that you’re not alone. One of the best decisions I ever made in my health was about halfway through my original weight loss journey as I decided to pay it forward. When you assist somebody else to do what you’re doing, it actually compounds and cements the journey that you’re on.
I feel like I’ve been able to give, but also receive, the gift of life. The accountability that that has brought out in me and the people around me is that we’ve created this thriving community. Our surroundings are now at a healthier place because we started bringing people along the same journey. They were stuck before, and now they’re finding something with us that works so they can thrive in their health as well.