Weight Weight Just Love Me – Kick Off
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT
My youngest daughter recently became a practicing dietitian in our small town. Of course, I signed on to have her practice on me. I’ve after all been modifying my diet for her since I learned of her existence. When I was pregnant with her, during one of my routine pregnancy check ups early in my second trimester, I had elevated blood sugar. I asked the doc to give me two weeks to adopt a low glycemic diet and then to do the more rigorous four hour test to see if I had gestational diabetes. The one agreement I had to make to get this two weeks was I would need to stay on this diet for the duration of the pregnancy. I kept my word, maintained healthy blood sugar levels and had a healthy 7 pound 13 ounce baby girl.
Fast forward now 23 years later and here she is a licensed dietician encouraging me to adopt a very similar diet I did when I was pregnant with her. You see, I’ve gained almost five pounds a year since the divorce when she was three. Life was stressful for me as a single mom, then a business owner, then then then then. And yes, I’ve heard all the lectures. We were actually considering calling this series – Weight Weight, Don’t Lecture Me. But I realized I aspired to a much higher level of interaction with people then simply not to lecture me, I want to be loved for who I am.
While according to conventional medical thoughts of today, I’m significantly overweight. Yet, I’m healthy and active. Lab tests evaluating cholesterol, blood sugar etc. are normal. I became a registered yoga teacher last year, work out with a personal trainer, swim several times a week and walk an average of three miles a day. And I primarily only eat foods I make myself from organic produce and live stock – I do not eat anything processed. I’ve lived this way for almost a decade.
I have tried to “fix” this weight issue every way imaginable (those of you who struggle with a similar challenge I’m sure you know what I’ve been through). About seven years ago, evaluating the source of extremely high blood pressure, a CT scan found a tumor the size of a golf ball on my adrenal gland. After many tests, it was determined to be benign and not causing many problems. While this could be the source of excess weight, nope– my cortisol levels are “normal.” And since I’m so healthy, the last surgeon I saw for this a couple months ago suggested I learn to accept myself for how I am.
Since research shows it takes 66 days to change a habit (or create a new one), I’m going to spend the next 66 days adopting the habit of completely loving and accepting myself just the way I am, weight that I am and all. Yes, I’m still going to follow the program and the goals my daughter dietician and I have set out to follow – AND I’m going to do it with the good natured joie de vivre I pursue all of life. As she says, the program I am doing with her is NOT about losing weight, it’s about getting and staying healthy. And getting and staying healthy is loving and accepting myself exactly as I am.
Kate’s comment: I’m so excited to start this journey with you – thanks for including me! Lets get this love-a-pallooza on a roll.