My struggles with weight
It may sound a strange thing to say, but your money story isn’t just about money. Everything is intrinsically linked and, in addressing the story that has shaped you allows you to change how you show up in every part of your life.
How do I know?
Because it happened to me. By understanding my money story, I lost 16kg in weight.
I’ll never forget the shock of seeing myself in a photo at my son’s second birthday party and not recognising myself. “Who is that big woman in the red shirt?” I remember thinking. I had no idea I had become so overweight.
I’d always been slim until he was born but over the course of those two years I had been steadily gaining weight.
I joined Weight Watchers and, in doing so, became a part of the world-wide community of yo-yo dieters. I lost a kilogram and then gained back two. For a few weeks I’d measure everything, stick to the plan, buy the books and ‘be good.’ Then I would slip back into old habits and undo all my good work.
Feeling that weight watchers wasn’t for me, I tried a different diet. And another one. And another one. I even went to a diet coach (I called him the ‘food cop’) but still it was one step forward and two steps back.
I was overweight and exhausted. I was even falling asleep in the movies, I felt so tired.
“It’s not my fault!”
Advised by a friend that this level of fatigue wasn’t normal, I consulted my doctor. Blood tests revealed Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (a condition which sees the gradual decline of the thyroid) and I was put on medication to replace the function of my failing thyroid.
I was delighted! There was a reason for my weight gain – and now there was a ‘fix.’ As soon as the drugs kicked in, the weight would fall off me.
No such luck! I had more energy and felt better in myself but I didn’t lose a single kilo.
So I went back to the diets – Atkins, Juice Plus, Dash….
I thought back to my childhood, remembering how my parents had both had weight issues. “It must be in my DNA,” I told myself. “I was born to be fat.” Then, as I gained more weight, I decided, “I’m an emotional eater – I eat to comfort myself when I’m upset, tired or bored.”
In short, I saw my weight issues as an external problem and, if only I could work out what was causing it, I would be able to find the ‘fix’ to make it all right again for me.
Healing my money story
My relationship with food wasn’t my only issue and when I finally recognised the need to address my spending issues, I went to a money coach.
The personal journey I went on to understand and change my relationship with money showed me how I had been playing the victim in my life. I had been obsessed with giving my children everything that I had felt had been missing for me and over-spending to compensate. The victim archetype was there in my spending patterns and, I realised, in my food too. I was waiting for someone or something to ‘rescue’ me.
With this new understanding of myself and my behaviours I was ready to address my weight, once and for all. With the change in my mindset already in place I began to lose the weight that had been with me for more than 20 years.
No starvation, no crazy schemes, no abdication of responsibility to the diet or the system and no victim mentality.
Just a healthy relationship with food and the occasional expert advice of a nutritionist to advise me on good choices and to and help me set achievable, practical goals which gave me back my power when it came to health and nutrition.
This is an ongoing process, and I am still losing weight but this is no longer an issue for me. Just as I took control of the money issues in my life, I have become the solution to my own weight ‘problems.’ And it all began by understanding my money story and by asking for help.
If you are ready to ask for help and to understand your own money story, take the money quiz and arrange a free consultation.
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