I hope you were safe this past weekend and weren’t in an area that had to be evacuated due to wildfires or located in an area affected by Hurricane Hilary. The earthquake in southern California was almost a nonissue with everything else going on right now. It’s all hard to fathom, so many have lost everything…

After I announced my Menopause Reset Course, I had a few people ask what the goal of the challenge is. The question made me realize how programmed we are to participate in challenges to reach our goals. I’m prepared to be corrected but I think women have been groomed into a challenge mentality by media, especially social media.

One of my goals in life, especially after I lost my health, has been to live life to feel good physically, mentally, and emotionally. My lifestyle helps me to achieve these goals.

When I spent 8 months preparing for my bodybuilding competition, the goal was to create the best version of my body I could to present to the judges. I wasn’t focused on winning, although, placing third was a wonderful bonus. The goal was not a specific weight but to follow what my coaches were telling me to do and that would give me the best result I could achieve.

I shared with a friend of mine recently that prior to my bodybuilding competition prep at age 51, I had never been on a “diet”. I don’t ever recall my mom being on a diet either.

After doing the competition, I laugh when I see magazines with headlines like, 6-weeks to a flatter stomach for beach season or whatever they are promoting. I was in the gym 5 days a week for the first 4 months and 6 days a week for the last four months before stepping on stage. Saturday was grocery shopping day and Sunday was food prep day for the week, I had to eat 6 meals a day and I was given a very detailed meal plan. Trust me, you cannot build and reveal abs in 6 weeks if you haven’t been working out regularly and focusing on nutrition to help you achieve a goal.

I want to help women get off of the rollercoaster of lose “x” pounds in “x” number of weeks for a special occasion. How many of you have done that and then gained the weight back? In some cases, how many of you gained more after you reached your goal?

I have had clients who have been on the hCG diet. This involves taking a hormone to reduce appetite which causes weight loss. The person is limited to consuming about 500 calories per day. They do achieve weight loss and feel great about themselves. The issue is, this level of calorie restriction is not sustainable, the average body needs a bare minimum of 1200-1500 calories per day to sustain normal functions. After being on the hCG diet, very few have been guided on how to return to regular eating and most gain the weight back. This has a very negative effect on self-esteem, not to mention how hard it can be on the body.

My clients have shared with me how that makes them feel and many are afraid to try again because they don’t want to feel like they have failed once again. I don’t want them or you to feel like that either.

It’s okay to have goals in life and it is okay to fail at reaching goals, those are life’s lessons. What isn’t okay is how media and influencers play on our emotions to get women to sign up for programs that don’t provide the level of support and guidance to change old habits. Changing habits takes time and guidance, in my mind, that shouldn’t be done in an “x” number of weeks challenge.

That’s why my Menopause Reset course is not a “challenge”, it is a process to help learn new lifestyle habits which include nutrition, exercise, sleep, reducing toxins, and mindset. I’m here to provide insights, answer questions and support my participants. If someone needs accountability, I will be there to guide them.

When I was trying to figure out why my body was hurting so bad and why eating “healthy” foods were not helping, I needed ongoing support. I used quotes for healthy because I hear clients say, “I was bad” or “I ate bad food today”. How many of us hear about the people who live to be over 90 and they talk about smoking, eating bacon and fried food and never exercising and they have a clean bill of health? When I was so sick, my body was in a state of inflammation and a circle of constant reaction. I needed to figure out how to calm down what was going on inside of me. I tried challenges in the beginning because I was so desperate to feel better. I came to a point where no matter what I ate, my body reacted. I needed a step-by-step process and someone to help me through that process and, I needed time.

When my client says they have been bad, I gently say, you have not been bad, you ate something that may have an effect on your body but you have not been bad.

It’s the same with healthy food and unhealthy food, why do we need to vilify food? Psychologically, when we are told not to do something or can’t have something, it can make us obsess about it. When it comes to food, it can cause a person to binge.

My clients who have had the most success in changing their habits and continuing towards their goal of feeling good physically, mentally, and emotionally, are the ones who have implemented the advice and guidance I have given them over time. They ask questions to understand the benefits of the changes and realize it will take time.

After the 12 weeks, participants in my Menopause Reset course will continue to have access to all of the modules so they can come back and revisit them at any time. They will also get the benefit of content upgrades as the course evolves.

So, what will a participant achieve at the end of the 12 weeks? It will be different for each person depending on their current state of health. Some will release weight, some will have more energy, some will sleep better, some will have reduced menopause symptoms and some may be enjoying sex again. Hopefully, everyone will feel less alone in their journey through menopause and find the modules an ongoing beneficial resource.

Are you ready to get off of fad diets and challenges and ready to participate in a group program? A program where the focus is sustainable lifestyle changes you can follow for the rest of your life. Take the next step and email me to be one of the founding members of my Menopause Reset course.

I look forward to meeting you!

Thank you for reading my words.