Theresa: Twenty Years Later

I have literally tried every diet and exercise routine on earth since the birth of my first child. And she just started college.

Some were just crazy things but I’ve also tried things like signing up at a health club and point systems and things like avoiding white foods.

I know that these all work really well for some people, but they never really clicked for me, at least not for long.

So I am definitely that person who thought “I just can’t lose weight. Nothing ever works.”

What’s working now is that everything I’m doing is in sync with what matters to me.

For example, I actually don’t like to cook. I was the oldest girl in my family and I cooked a lot growing up. I just don’t want to do it now.

But I always felt guilty about going out to restaurants. So we ended up ordering delivery a lot, which usually meant getting too much food, and not the most healthy stuff, either.

My wellness coach has really helped me think through this. Now, I just make sure I know how to make smart choices from the menu — and we eat out as often as we want. No more guilt.

I’m also thinking about fitness differently. I always used to think that the best thing to do was jogging, but I always got a stitch in my side and I would be so sore that for days I could hardly get in and out of bed. I just dreaded it.

I’m in the process now of figuring out how to make physical activity part of my regular daily routine in a way that actually makes me happy, instead of feeling burdened by it.

I feel like, if something makes me actually happy, that’s something I can keep doing.

(Stories represent typical situations based on the aggregated experiences of our providers and clients.)