Episode 156: "I Don't Know Whose Body This Is Anymore" Michelle D's Story

What do you do when you're already doing everything the experts tell you to do and it's still not working? Michelle shares the turning point that changed her entire approach to menopause health. 💜

Check out my (free) workshop, How to Fire Up Your Metabolism in Menopause and Beyond right here: www.MindStrongFitness.com

Transcript

Becoming MindStrong Episode 156: "I Don't Know Whose Body This Is Anymore" Michelle's Story

Speaker 1  0:00  
I don't know whose body this is anymore, because nothing is working anymore. Nothing is behaving like it used to be, and I got into it. I would call a pretty despondent place a place of hopelessness, like I just am going to have to gain all the weight back and be heavy again. I was like, literally down to eating less than 1200 calories a day, and just desperately trying to not gain 60 pounds back. It's been quite a transformation, even the people around me have really noticed a big difference. There is hope. It is something that we can learn, and we can change it, and it's, it's really powerful when you, when you've experienced it.

Speaker 2  0:49  
Welcome back to the Becoming Mind Strong podcast. My name is Rachel, and I'm the founder and CEO of Mindstrong, where menopause is who we are and what we do. We only work with menopausal women because we understand this is a stage of life where we feel like we're doing everything right, everything that's always worked, everything even our own doctor is telling us, and the problem is getting worse. It does not mean you're broken, it does not mean all hope is lost. I love to say the tool bag of our 20s, 30s, early 40s doesn't work anymore. That does not mean nothing will work, it means we need a new tool bag for this menopausal body, and that is what we are here to do. And I'm starting with that today, because in today's episode, you are going to hear an incredible conversation I had with Ignite member Michelle. Michelle is a person who falls in that category, right? And she is not the exception, that's kind of the rule of what we see. She's like, Rachel, I have a lifetime of proof that says when I ramp up cardio, when I cut calories, I lose weight, and all of a sudden I'm doing the things that always worked, and not only are they not working, but the problem is getting worse, and it broke my heart to hear her tell her before story of I didn't even recognize myself, I was exhausted all the time. I felt like a shell of myself. I didn't recognize my body. The Michelle, on the other side, spoiler alert, is a different human being. She's back in the driver's seat, back in control, has hope, has the keys to the kingdom. She knows how to take control of her health for the rest of her life in this menopausal body that in which she's now living. So, if you are someone like Michelle, who feels like I'm doing everything right, not only is it not working, but it's moving in the opposite direction. You do not want to miss her story. I can't wait for you to dive in. Check it out. There's a beauty in hearing the real life story from people who are living and breathing this journey. It is very easy for me to preach this stuff till till I'm blue in the face, having done it for this long, and it's another to hear from someone who is in the thick of their journey, the pros, the struggles, the real life journey that they're on. So today I am super excited to have Ignite member Michelle here chatting with us and sharing her story. Michelle, thank you so much for joining

Speaker 1  3:00  
us. I'm so excited to be here,

Speaker 2  3:02  
so let's start from the beginning. Let's, let's take it back, going, going back quite a few weeks now. Can you tell us a little bit about what I'm going to call pre-ignite Michelle? So, what was going on physically, mentally, emotionally that just got you to a place of, like, I always like to say, not another day, minute, or second, like something needs to change. Can you tell us what, what, what you were experiencing that got you here?

Speaker 1  3:27  
Yeah, so I, I felt like about three years ago I started living in somebody else's body, I had lost a significant amount of weight, like 60 pounds back in like 2003 and for decades I'd been able to exercise and take care of myself, eat right, and maintain my weight without problems, until about three years ago, and things just started to change, and I remember telling my husband and my sisters, like, I don't know whose body this is anymore, because nothing is working anymore, nothing is behaving like it used to be, and I got into it, I would call a pretty despondent place a place of hopelessness, like I just am going to have to gain all the weight back and be heavy again, and, and you said it, you're like, not another minute, not another second, and that's how I felt, and the just felt like, yes, this is this is what I need to learn and relearn, I thought I learned my lessons, and living in that pre-perimenopausal body, I was no problem, but it started to be a problem.

Speaker 2  4:44  
Yeah, I don't know if you know this, but the word, when you watch my workshops, things like that, the word I always use is hope, right? Because it's that, it's what you just said, like when we're doing everything right and nothing is working, as you, it is human nature, of course, we're going to be like, well. Yeah, if I'm doing the things that I know to do and they're not working, why would I have any hope left? We, that is how we feel hopeless. So, right, just hearing you say that, I know hits me in the fields, and I know there's so many women who are still in that pre-ignite stage that are like, yes, that's that's my story. Yeah, so you get going, we kick off our 12 weeks. Yep. Do you remember any? I like to call them aha moments, so any initial moments where it was like, ooh, this might actually be different, like changes might actually be happening in my body. Do you remember any of those?

Speaker 1  5:35  
I do. There were.. I mean, I started to feel different, but for me the biggest thing was the people around me that started to notice things, and so I lead a fairly large team at a hospital, and there was one day I, a couple of my team members came back and talking to me, and they're like, "So, what is going on with you, because, like, you're so calm, like. okay. Well, I think I'm not starving myself anymore. I was like, literally down to eating less than 1200 calories a day, and just desperately trying to not gain 60 pounds back, because I didn't want to live in a size 22 body anymore, or ever again, not anymore, ever again. And boy, it was just that was like a big aha moment, like, wow. I think this whole thing of reducing your stress, controlling your cortisol, and like sleeping better was like people are seeing it. It wasn't just me, people were seeing it

Speaker 2  6:36  
real quickly. Before we keep going, in this episode, we are talking a lot about metabolisms in menopause in today's episode, so I want to offer you a chance to deepen your knowledge. If you haven't yet checked out my free workshop, How to Fire Up Your Metabolism in Menopause and Beyond, it is one of my go-to favorite pieces of content that I have out here in the interwebs. You can use the link in the show notes below, or go to Mindstrong fitness.com and you'll get a cute little pop up that'll get you straight into the workshop. Now let's get back to the show. That's hilarious, right?

Speaker 1  7:10  
Yeah, yeah, there were some very funny moments. I said, "I'm gonna go downstairs and buy some cream cheese in the cafeteria to dip my pretzels in, because I can't eat naked carbs, and they looked at me, they said that they looked at each other and said, Who was that? Because I would never eat cheese, I wouldn't eat fat. So, yeah, it was.. it's been quite a transformation. Even the people around me have really noticed a big difference.

Speaker 2  7:39  
Yeah, that's hilarious. That's one of those compliments where it's like, thank you. And what, what are you saying I was like before?

Speaker 1  7:46  
I know. Are you saying I'm intense? Maybe just a little. Yeah.

Speaker 2  7:52  
Oh, that's incredible. So, obviously, calmness was, it was a big one. Under fueling was a big one. Were there any other changes that you started to notice? I know before we started rolling here, you were talking a bit about sleep. Can you, can you speak more to that? Yes, what's changed for you?

Speaker 1  8:10  
Wow, I had such broken sleep. I think another word I could use to describe pre-ignite Michelle is just exhausted. I was just exhausted. I, I people say, you know, move more, eat less, like I can't get up any earlier to move anymore. I'm running six miles a day, I, you know, I'm getting five and a half hours of sleep, maybe, and it's not great sleep, because I was so paranoid, I mean, I had such a fear of, of gaining all the weight back, and it just was really, I was in a bad, I was in a bad spot, I was in a bad spot.

Speaker 3  8:44  
Yeah,

Speaker 1  8:44  
so, but sleep changed pretty quickly.

Speaker 2  8:49  
I love that. That's for me, it's always the low hanging fruit, right? You and I both know weight loss takes time, and especially in menopause, but when we tackle the big three: cortisol, gut health, inflammation, like sleep, energy, inflammation, those are the low hanging fruit, where it's like, yes, let's dive right in, because it kind of goes back to the hopelessness conversation, we need to feel that momentum that things are working, and sleep is one of those big ones, where it's like, let's, let's work on some cortisol, get that sleep kick in, so we can keep the momentum going,

Speaker 1  9:19  
huge, huge,

Speaker 2  9:21  
all right, here's my my, my last question, my favorite question. And I'm going to put you in the coach's chair for a second, okay?

Speaker 4  9:27  
Yeah,

Speaker 2  9:27  
I want you to pretend on the other side of this camera instead of Rachel, founder of Mindstrong. I am I am menopausal Rachel, who's feeling a lot like you were hopeless. I am doing everything right. I can't cut calories anymore. I can't wake up earlier to run any more than I am yet. Despite doing everything right, everything's going wrong. What do you coach Michelle say to hopeless stuck Rachel?

Speaker 1  9:55  
Yeah, it's they're not selling you. Anything but education, and it works, and you know when the you say when the work, when you do the work, the work works, and it's true, and I have not just my own experience, and what I perceive and feel in my own body, it's been so evident to the people around me, and so there is hope. It is something that we can learn, and we can change it, and it's, it's really powerful when you, when you've experienced it.

Speaker 2  10:31  
I can't tell you how many women need to hear that. Right, it's what I said in the intro, like I can preach that all day, every day, but when you have lived and breathed it, and you can go from hopeless to not just hopeful, like it's working, it, the proof is in the pudding. There is a power in giving other women that hope, that it's just, it's such a beautiful thing, and it is so needed.

Speaker 1  10:51  
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2  10:53  
Oh, Michelle, I can't thank you enough. I know that this is going to resonate with so many women like you, who are doing everything right, nothing's working, feeling hopeless. You are, you are instilling a lot of that hope in a lot of women. So, thank you. For more information on Mind Strong Fitness, or to apply for a free one to one strategy session with my incredible all-female team, visit www dot Mind Strong fitness.com

Unknown Speaker  11:23  
and.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai