This episode is different than my others. Heads up, my weight loss journey isn’t the type of episode where I’m giving you tactical tips, but more about my background.

I want to always produce blog posts and episodes about helping you live a happy and confident life. But I believe getting real about our backstories and sharing them with others is SO important. This shows us none of us are alone.

I’ve worked with clients who struggle with their weight, so that inspired to share my weight loss journey with you!

Listen in on the episode here

Click the button below to hear the episode version, or you can listen on your favorite podcast app like iTunes, Google Play or Spotify.

How my weight loss journey got started

My first motivation? I wanted to weigh less than my husband… That’s it!

I’ll back up a bit…

I always talk about self-worth and confidence in this show, so you may have thought that I always had it. Nope! Back then, I tied my self-worth to things like my productivity and my looks.

When the stress of my job lead to numbing myself with food, I noticed I looked A LOT different than my husband. He’s a muscular and lean guy (and taller than me). When I figured out that I weighed more than him, my flimsy bit of self-esteem fell through.

This is what first got me started on my weight loss journey, but it wasn’t strong enough motivation to keep going. It was about a week before I got back into the frozen mac&cheese and the inconsistent workouts again.

What I’ve learned along the way

I found that the motivation of weighing less than Andrew wasn’t enough to keep me consistent. I let the excuses and the negative self-talk get in the way constantly. Not to mention, I didn’t believe I could stick with a healthy lifestyle.

That’s when I got crystal clear on my motivations and created a rock-solid vision of where I wanted to go and how I wanted to feel. I needed to clearly see what my life could be like if I believed in myself to keep going everytime I backslid into an old bad habit.

After I nailed down strong motivation and crafted a vision, I stuck to healthy routines and actually looking forward to nutritious food.

I realized that I (and my body) not only needed healthy food to live, but I deserved it. I deserved to put nutritious food into my body! My body was a vessel for me to live my life by design instead of by default.

If I ever wanted to change my life for the better and create new life goals, then I needed a body that was healthy enough to take me there.

So, I imagined all the energy I had when I woke up and how I could go up the flight of stairs at work and not pant like an overheated dog. I created a vision board and put “review vision” into my morning routine.

I reminded myself of what was truly important to me so often, it was hard to forget.

where I’m at today

I’m not 100% a health nut. I still eat bread, sweets, and fried food every once in a while. But my motto when it comes to nutrition is “everything in moderation” and I live by it. The 80/20 rule is my guide when it comes to “unhealthy” food. About 80% of my food is lean, clean’n’green while about 20% is made of treats.

For example, if I really want a cookie, I’ll eat it because the majority of what I put in my body is clean nutrition.

I’ve come to a point where I now ask myself things like, “Do I really want the cookie? Or am I bored or emotional?” If I can’t answer with an honest no, then I put it down as I know eating it won’t serve me.

This practice has kept me healthy. I’ve had fewer cravings for sugar, and when I do, natural fruits or dates with peanut butter work like a charm.

I have energy and mental clarity to work on my dreams and that’s the BEST part about my weight loss journey.

The biggest overall impact? The way I view myself

I started this journey because I didn’t want to weigh more than my husband, but that was only the beginning.

I had NO idea wanting to lose weight would change the trajectory of my life! It was the catalyst moment that changed everything for me. I quit my job, changed my mindset and found what was actually important to me.

I realized that taking care of myself meant WAY more than meal prepping and hitting the gym.

The lessons I learned from my weight loss journey will stick with me for the rest of my life. Like how obsessing about a career that wasn’t aligned with who I was affected my health.

Or how I figured out I was going along with the path of my life because I was comfortably uncomfortable. Sure, I knew things could be better, but I was just fine enough I didn’t notice. But once I started focusing on my physical health, that led to me starting to focus on my mental, emotional and spiritual health, too.

After seeing that I could be consistent with this weight loss and a healthy lifestyle, I realized I could do anything if I stayed consistent.

I learned so much through my year-long journey that I wanted to help other women along on theirs, too. I now help other women see in themselves what I figured out, but in a lot less time.

My framework?

1. Self Discovery
2. Setting aligned intentions and goals
3. And taking daily inspired action.

Wanna see how that works in your own life? Book your first session for free!

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what about you?

Have you gone through a weight loss journey of your own? What have you learned? Or, if you’re on one now, let me know 3 things you learned so far in the comments below.

If you liked these tips and want more like overcoming limiting beliefs and sticking to your goals, make sure to sign up for email updates! Click the pic for updates and download the best resource for busting excuses and sticking to your goals fo’ FREE!

xo,

Monica

P.S. Lookin’ for a little extra love and inspo? Check out the free Imperfection with Intention Facebook Group!

In this group, you can ask for advice, find inspiration and be in a non-judgment environment. All you gotta do is answer “What does living with intention mean to you?” to join!