Lose Weight and Feel Great at ANY AGE with 7 Small Changes

me now, at 52!

Seven small changes to get strong, feel good, and lose weight. 


Over the past 2 years or so, I've lost 30 pounds and become very strong. This time I've actually been able to stay this way, and I'm sure it's because of these seven changes I've been able to make in my life. 

These changes center around: 

• improving digestion
• toning the core
• lowering stress levels

All of these things increase your metabolism and generally allow your body to function like it's supposed to.

I'm amazed at how much these changes have impacted my health and my life, so I wanted to share them with you. 

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Note:

I've been hesitating about doing this post for a few days. I don't want to participate in or be complicit with body shaming in any way. Women's bodies have been subjected to intense scrutiny and judgment, and comprise the primary tool with which the dominant power structure maintains itself. I won't go into all that here; we all know about it.
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High-school me (1982) on the far right in the rust dress and perm.
o my god, we're all wearing pearls like nice girls!

Body Image

My whole life, I've been struggling with body image, particularly my weight. I was convinced to my core that I was fat and ugly. I was actually convinced that the reason my band never made it to the big time was because of how I looked. (Looking back now, I see that was not true.) I would regularly make drastic changes to my (bad) diet, starve myself, exercise too much, binge eat, all of it. I was terrible to myself. I hated my body. I felt bad about it a lot. And nothing ever changed. My body remained relatively the same throughout my young adult life despite everything I tried.

As I've gotten older, I cared less about losing weight and more about how I felt. Working two jobs meant no time for exercise and too much time for coffee. I felt AWFUL - sluggish, lethargic, tired.

A few years ago...I don't look tired in this pic, but believe me, I was tired as HECK after!

Things are different now! 

My doctor and this TED talk inspired me to make a few small changes. 

***Everyone should watch that TED talk, by the way. BJ Fogg discusses how to implement small changes and make them habitual by giving yourself positive reinforcement. It works. At least it worked for me and I've never been one to stick to resolutions for long.

I've built muscle, shed extra pounds, and no longer feel yucky all the time. At first, all these changes made me actually lose too much weight, but I have since stabilized and feel freakin awesome.

Here's what I did:

Improving Digestion

1. Digestive enzymes. 

My doctor suggested that these might help with my exhaustion, and gave me a questionnaire to figure out which ones I needed. It was a LONG questionnaire with more than 200 odd-seeming questions about hair growth, sleep patterns, family structure, etc. She analyzed the answers and came up with a regime of supplements that was perfect for me. 

They are not cheap, but I don't take as many as they suggest on the bottles; rather than taking two or three of each per day, I take one of each per day. This stretches the bottles and seems to work fine. I felt an immediate and dramatic difference in how I felt and how my body seemed to be working. It was really amazing.

Here's a great Wikipedia article about digestive enzymes. I use Biotics Research enzymes. They've got a great, very informative website if you want to learn more. No, I don't work for them! :)

2. A green-food/multivitamin supplement.

To make sure my body has all the nutrients and vitamins I need, even if my diet is lacking that day.

3. Eliminate sugar.

I think we all understand this one!

Toning the Core

4. Ten incline pushups every time I go to the bathroom. 

I do between 60 and 90 pushups a day now! 

5. Planks. 

I started with a plank challenge. It was hard to do 5 seconds even though I'd been doing yoga for years. I worked my way up to 2 minutes! Now I do a couple of 1-minute planks each day. 

The planks and incline pushups have really strengthened my core and toned my arms. I think this has "stoked the fire" or something like that - my metabolism has gone up and my body is very very strong - the strongest it's ever been.

Lowering Stress

6. A half hour of yoga each night.

7. 10 minutes of meditation at least three times a week.

The yoga and meditation have definitely helped with stress levels. I've done yoga for years and I understand the value of meditation for overall well-being, but have never incorporated it into my life in a really long-term and meaningful way. Now that I've been doing it regularly I'm noticing a big difference. I believe it is crucial to my/our/your health.

Here's a great discussion on how stress/cortisol levels affect overall health and weight.

Playing bocci with my weirdo friends at my thinnest.

As a feminist, I believe that one of the greatest sources of inequality lies in the belief that women don’t own their bodies. Viewed as sexual objects, incubators or foils against which masculinity defines itself, they are seen as less than human, as things to be used, shaped and sliced. - See more at: http://www.feministtimes.com/tag/body-image/#sthash.Frjlgoit.dpuf

As a feminist, I believe that one of the greatest sources of inequality lies in the belief that women don’t own their bodies. Viewed as sexual objects, incubators or foils against which masculinity defines itself, they are seen as less than human, as things to be used, shaped and sliced. - See more at: http://www.feministtimes.com/tag/body-image/#sthash.Frjlgoit.dpuf

As a feminist, I believe that one of the greatest sources of inequality lies in the belief that women don’t own their bodies. Viewed as sexual objects, incubators or foils against which masculinity defines itself, they are seen as less than human, as things to be used, shaped and sliced. - See more at: http://www.feministtimes.com/tag/body-image/#sthash.Frjlgoit.dpuf

As a feminist, I believe that one of the greatest sources of inequality lies in the belief that women don’t own their bodies. Viewed as sexual objects, incubators or foils against which masculinity defines itself, they are seen as less than human, as things to be used, shaped and sliced. - See more at: http://www.feministtimes.com/tag/body-image/#sthash.Frjlgoit.dpuf