YLF: 049 Chat with Susan
Where’s the best place for listeners to connect with you?: Instagram
What’s one habit you do almost daily?: I work out nearly every day.
What’s one of your normal routines?: Every night I check in with my body and decide what kind of workout I’ll do the next day. Now that I no longer go to the gym, I have to be pretty deliberate about it.
How long did it take for the above routine to stick? : I reluctantly began walking on a treadmill nearly every day a couple of months after I began working to get healthier. I forced myself to do it for a very long time. It took at least 6months to stop hating it...but after a year, I was a convert and had begun to explore other parts of the gym.
Describe your weight loss journey.: It’s not been linear AT ALL...and I’ve had very different goals/needs along the way. I’ve learned a ton about myself!
I began just wanting to feel better. I was tired and run down and napping nearly every day and I’d read somewhere that sometimes people have a carb sensitivity that makes them feel that way if they eat too many carbs. Without any goal in mind beside wanting not to feel so lethargic, I changed what I ate and eliminated most sugar from my diet. It wasn’t Keto, really, but it was definitely low carb.
Within 2 weeks, I’d stopped napping. In a month, I could tell I’d lost a lot of weight (I didn’t weigh to start...Bc losing weight wasn’t my real goal).
With all these changes, I got really motivated. Was it possible to feel even better? I incorporated exercise slowly.
Over the next 14 months, I lost approximately half my body weight and went from a size 3-4X to a size 6. As I progressed, I confess that sometimes I was motivated by appearance, by the scale, by what size clothes I wore.
I kept my weight off for 3 years and accomplished some incredible (to me!) athletic feats along the way. I ran 5 mile races (I can’t tell you how much that still surprises me!) and I spent 3 days and 2 nights hiking the Appalachian trail for my 65th birthday.
And then...some stressful things came along (moving, a back injury for my husband, covid-19) and some of my old bad habits snuck back in. I’ve regained some of my weight — ugh — and I’ve also gained a more complete understanding of the idea that this wellness journey is a lifetime pursuit involving your body and your mind. I’m finally back focusing on nutrition, though, and I’m making progress on my goals. Again, my number one goal is connected to the way I feel and not the way I look.
What’s a skill you developed as a result of working through your weight loss journey?: The consistency of my workouts has been a life changer. I just kept showing up! I’ve also gotten much better at forgiving myself when I do slip up. I acknowledge what went wrong and I move on. I have accomplished a lot, and I’ve become less willing to take no for an answer!
What has that skill led to outside of weight loss?: Hmmmm not sure about this. My wellness journey — I don’t like to think of it as a weight loss journey because it’s been so much more than that! — has been so multidimensional that it’s hard to separate it all out. I will say that I think I’m more resilient and less prone to giving up (in any arena) these days.
What have you learned about yourself over the last year or so?: I can do just about anything I set my mind to! I just have to break the goal into small steps, pit my head down, and get to work!
What advice would you give to someone working through their weight loss journey?: Start small. For me, it helped so much not to think about losing weight at all — that was too overwhelming and I’d failed so many times before — and instead, to concentrate on taking baby steps to help me feel better. Healthier food, and a little less of us. Movement, done consistently.
What resources would you recommend listeners check out?: IG has been huge for me. I follow several kinds of accounts:
Food people — I’m always looking for new recipes/ideas to make my eating interesting and satisfying.
Exercise people — a few “influencers” but also a lot of regular folks who share the kinds of workouts they do. Exercise is new to me, and I benefit when I see what other people are doing and enjoying.
Successful people — I like positive stories of people who’ve struggled with their weight. What have they learned? What tweaks have they made along the way? I define success NOT by size or weight...but by authenticity and personal growth. Im less interested in a bunch of before and after pictures...bc this is a never ending project so there really isn’t an after!
What are you working on now?: I need to groove my approach to nutrition as solidly as I have grooved my exercise. I’m really digging in on this now, studying myself and my needs, and I work toward sustainability.
Is there anywhere else you’d like to point listeners to? Please provide link if possible: Can’t think of anything! ...I’ve enjoyed these questions. They’ve helped me think some things through...and that’s an important, sometimes forgotten, part of this whole experience. Reflection and introspection matter!
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