Your Sound is a Key

#120// Discussions about weight loss are tricky. Always have been, but over the past few years it seems like the "danger zone" around this topic has become much wider and a lot sharper. Is it just me, or are you sensing this, too?

I've been on both sides of the weight spectrum during my life. During my first pregnancy, at age 34, I gained over 100 pounds. And I was only 120 pounds to begin with! No matter what I did during that pregnancy, I couldn't keep from gaining weight. As I fought through borderline gestational diabetes, I remember being in literal pain from the amount of weight I was carrying on my frame. I felt powerless and ashamed that I had "allowed" myself to get this way. I had no idea my situation had absolutely nothing to do with willpower or self-control.

During my second pregnancy, I started out pretty good, but at around month six, things took an old, familiar turn. It was during my eighth month, at a routine check-up with a midwife I hadn't met with before that I was scolded for putting on so much weight and told, "It's as simple as calories in and calories out, dear. Control it." Again, I felt shame and fear that, no matter what I tried, I couldn't control my weight. I worried during those weeks that I was putting my baby in danger, and that I was a bad mom.

But after giving birth to my second son, I lost every bit of that pregnancy weight -- and then some! -- in less than two months. I spiraled into postpartum anxiety and dealt with almost-daily panic attacks. I wasn't eating or sleeping well, and I was constantly worrying and pacing. I dropped to a dangerously low weight. Others complimented me on my ability to get my "pre-baby body" back, but inside I was afraid. I knew something was very wrong.

Fast forward through years of pursuing foundational, holistic healing and I've come to learn something very important: Weight issues are rarely an issue of self-control and will power. Weight issues -- whether it's more than you were designed to carry or not enough to sustain you properly -- are always a symptom of a deeper root condition. Nine times out of ten, these issues run right through digestive and hormonal imbalances, and stress always plays a part.

On this episode of the Positioned to Prosper podcast, I wanted to open up a discussion about happy, healthy weight so we could deal with the shame and fear, once and for all, and find strategies to harness the power of God and bring it to bear on our weight loss (or weight gain) journeys. Is this a conversation you need to sit in on? If so, I want you to grab your Bible, your journal and a pen, and . . . Let's Go!
THE GBX BURN CHALLENGE STARTS FEB 27 · For years as a health coach, I avoided offering weight loss programs and products to my community because I found most of them to be toxic and trauma-inducing. Nearly every program or product I came across absolutely ignored the foundational health issues and root causes that drove the weight gain symptom to happen in the first place. Until now.

Amare, the company I proudly partnered with four month ago, just launched a new product and program that takes a foundational health approach to weight loss and healthy body composition. I'm excited to invite you into the GBX Burn 90-Day Challenge with me! To learn more about the Challenge, the program products and even the comprehensive plan we'll be following during the Challenge, head over to ericapyle.com/burnbrightly.