FINDING MY NORMAL ...

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Overweight at 8, I was learning bad habits and setting the stage for an unhealthy future.

By my 20’s, at 5’3”, I was well over 330 lbs and morbidly obese. I remember how uncomfortable it felt, physically and emotionally. 

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I felt worthless, alone, and ashamed. I certainly didn’t feel normal, like (I thought) everyone else did. It would be many years before I understood that “normal” is ever-changing and different for everyone.

 

My normal today looks very different from my normal back then.

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Back then, my normal was driving when I could have walked, ordering take-out instead of cooking, and finding excuses to turn down social invitations because I was consumed with shame.

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The habits and corresponding behaviors I developed had become my coping mechanism. Happy or sad, I had trained myself to turn to food to quiet and soothe my emotions.

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After decades of diets and countless dollars spent, I finally figured out that I would need to change my habits in order to gain control over my weight. It was a slow and steady journey of retraining my brain to work with me instead of against me.

 

I gradually developed healthier habits and behaviors that set me up for success. I created a new normal. A normal equipped with the self-awareness and foundational habits that stop me from falling too far every time I do, inevitably, slip.​

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Katie Rowley is a Jay Shetty Certified Life & Success Coach with expertise in habit building, mindfulness & weight loss support.  

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