Chronic Illness is not chronic
Hi Gorgeous,
My client Laurie had a wicked case of Lyme’s that led to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis, pain with any type of mobility, decreased mobility, and weight gain that left her over 200 lbs. Not to mention low energy, concerns about her health, and the sustainability of taking drugs that were very toxic to her liver. Her rheumatologist wanted to wean her off Plaquonil and try her on Methotrexate next–another nasty drug. She came to me as a way to create another option for herself and avoid the drugs altogether. So we changed up her diet to clean up her liver, quell her inflammation, and load her up on nutrient-dense foods.
Within 2 weeks, her morning joint achiness was gone, enabling her to drop her morning dose of Advil altogether. She had dropped a couple of pounds and was feeling better. Within 4 weeks she had dropped 8 pounds and was under 200 lbs for the first time in a decade–and she did this over the Christmas season. She was ecstatic and happy to see the shifts happening. We just spoke again last week and she had fantastic news: she had lost 20 lbs in just 11 weeks and her C-reactive protein (an inflammatory marker) went down from 15 to 7. For those of you math whizzes out there, this is a 50% reduction in inflammatory markers. That was HUGE!
Let’s talk about my next client, Marci. Marci came to me overweight with severe migraines 3-4 times per week. She is a real foodie and didn’t want to limit her diet too much, but wanted to get her life back. We created some shifts in her diet, did some digging around her bloodwork, and added in some supplements. Within 4 weeks, her migraines had decreased to 2x per week and she had lost 10 lbs. This was in spite of moving from a house to an apartment and being on the go. She began to work in long walks and kept up with her diet. We checked in two more times and in just 11 short weeks, she had lost 20 lbs of body fat and was down to 1-2 migraines a month.
Bazinga!
What do these women have in common? Is it a ridiculous amount of willpower? Do they each own a Wonder Woman costume? Do they both have personal chefs? Or sit around in saunas all day? For the love of God, what is it??
There is no big magic here at all. The answers are super simple – check them out:
1. Desire and patience. These women came to me with a long view of the future. They weren’t necessarily in a hurry to get the weight loss results, but they were willing to put in the time and stick with it while looking at the big picture of balance and healing. And as a result, the weight loss came.
2. They didn’t obsess over what they ate. We never once spoke about calories or portions or perfection. They ate cookies and drank booze as a treat. They fell off the horse and got back on. No big deal.
3. Getting healthy took priority over losing weight. Where you focus your energy will affect whether or not you have a positive outcome. For example, exercising to get stronger has a much different vibration than exercising to slim down. One is ripe with possibility; the other can be full of dread and feel like a tedious chore. Although this isn’t always the case, I have found with both myself and my clients that putting a positive spin on exercise makes it far more sustainable and inspiring in the long run. Imagine focusing on the pounds you can lift instead of the pounds on the scale
;-).
When we put our minds to creating change in our lives, we find ways to make it happen. I find envisioning my body as if it’s already where I want it to be is an incredible way to jumpstart the subconscious into figuring out how to get it done.
Live Gorgeously,
Esther