Pauline Smiley

My Before and After Story: (Module 3, Training 6)

I am sitting at my kitchen table, drinking my morning coffee. The sun is streaming in warming my back and I am miserable.

What’s wrong with me? I should be excited about planning for my upcoming retirement. I spent over 30 years, planning, creating, organizing and delivering stories about animal tracks and scat, bird calls, leaf structure, tree growth and fish habitat. I spent years learning about animal behavior. I spent more years learning about human behaviour and I’m ready to move to a different chapter in my life, but I’m miserable. I’m frustrated and I’m fed up. I just can’t seem to figure it out.

I want to travel. I want to explore this beautiful country by car, and then I want to travel by air and ship and bicycle and foot and discover India, Australia, Africa, South America, Europe – so many exotic and interesting cultures and languages and foods. But I can’t; because I can’t fit in an airplane seat, I can’t bicycle, I can’t walk more than a few feet, I can’t sit in a moving vehicle for more than an hour at a time. I’m miserable, I’m frustrated and I’m scared for my health.

My joints are aching so bad I have to sit to do Tai Chi. I’m pre-diabetic, my vision blurs after a binge and I’m suffering from adrenal exhaustion. My heart races and it won’t be long before I have a stroke or heart attack. I’m scared and I’m frustrated.

Why can’t I do this? Why can’t I just lose weight – I’m smart, capable, professional. I’ve raised two amazing children, got myself out of a bad marriage; taught environmental college courses; coached fellow faculty in curriculum design and delivery, but I can’t keep the weight off.

I’d lose 30 pounds, then gain 50. I’d lose 40 pounds, then gain 60, then 100. I lost hope and gained another 50. I topped out at 347 pounds and gave up. I just can’t lose weight. No, I can lose weight; I just can’t keep it off.

I’ve tried the Atkins diet, the Pritikin high carb diet, Weight Watchers – several times, the Dr. Bernstein diet, prescription diet pills, private diet workshops; was evaluated for Bariatric surgery, Ideal Protein, Wheat Belly, Paleo and more. I just can’t remember them all. I gave up before Keto came along. I am persistent, but nothing worked. I was doomed to be a diet failure.

It was the summer of 2013 when it finally dawned on me that maybe it’s not me who is a diet failure, but maybe that diets just don’t work. Or that if they do work, it’s only for a short time, then the weight is re-gained.

So I began to research. I read hundreds of books and took many courses on human behavior, limiting beliefs, motivation, procrastination, neuroplasticity, energy psychology, hormones and finally learned the secret to lasting weight loss.

I’ve now lost 140 pounds and have kept it off. I’m continuing to lose weight slowly as I dig into deeper hidden emotional issues and move toward a healthy weight for my body.

I’m sleeping better. I made it through the stress of COVID and kept my weight off. I can play with my granddaughter. I’m able to do a full set of standing Tai Chi and I’m excited about this next chapter in my life.

As an Emotional Hunger Specialist, I am doing exactly what I learned: I show women over 50 that they are not “diet failures” and that they can succeed at keeping their weight off. I help people understand why they overeat and how to stop by connecting to the psychological baggage they’ve been carrying around.

If an unhealthy relationship with food is standing in the way of your long-term health. If you are tired of feeling like a “diet failure” and want to free yourself from overeating, visit _____________ and get your free copy of ___________________________.