“I need to lose weight.”

I remember this being the ONLY goal of starting a nutrition program. At 36, I still believed the ultimate goal was to be thinner and THAT would lead to being healthier and happier. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I had a fantasy of what I thought my journey would look like – spend a few months in the program, lose the weight, be happy, move forward with my new amazing life….. But that is not reality. Reality is figuring out (with the help of my extremely smart and thoughtful coach, Shiloh) that I was struggling with disordered eating in my mid thirties, that in order to break the cyclical pattern I would have to consume a much higher amount of calories than I was accustomed to, that there would be failure and weight gain and it would last months into the program. I had to relearn my eating habits. I had to find the courage to teach myself grace. Learning to trust the process was a challenge that I had not been prepared for but found the tenacity to keep going when in the past I would have decided it wasn’t worth the fight.

Being a part of this program has changed my life. Having Shiloh beside me every step of the way has been necessary for my success, it would have been impossible for me to have figured this out on my own or had the skills to build the foundation she has so graciously contributed to creating.

I have PRd my deadlift. I’ve had the best sleep of my adult life. I built new and more sustainable eating habits. My chronic anxiety has lessened while my joy has increased. My mindset has shifted and while I would like to make one of my goals a healthier weight, that is no longer the end game.

When I joined Cornerstone in the fall of 2019, Coach Brandon asked me “Why are you here? What do you want to gain from being a part of this community?” I told him “I want to learn to thrive outside of my comfort zone, that’s were all the LIVING truly happens.” Nutrition has been a unique and necessary layer of that for me. Trusting the process has been difficult but leaning into the uncomfortable has helped manifest a belief in my body, mind, and spirit to which I am insanely proud. #thrivingoutsideofmycomfortzone