Sometimes the stars align and the timing is just right. That’s what happened when Erin received an email invitation letting her know she qualified for Take Control. She had just turned 40, and wanted to be a good role model for her children. Erin was having a hard time with her normal routine, and had recently lost her pet. It was hard not having a trusty companion getting her outdoor for hiking and skiing. Stress at work had her mindlessly snacking, and when she got home the kids were her top priority.
Erin decided to put her trust in Coach Katie to help her navigate improving her relationship with food, finding work-life balance, and beating the “mom guilt” of taking time for herself to exercise. She knew this was the opportunity she needed to help her start making small changes in her life.
Before working with Coach Katie, Erin considered her mindset to be “one day I’ll lose weight…” During her monthly sessions, Erin learned the benefits of speaking kindly about herself and found herself developing a growth mindset. She says, “I changed my mind set to, ‘I AM losing weight, I AM eating healthy, I AM doing the best I can at balancing, and I DO like the way I look.” Being proud of herself, and finding small accomplishments in everyday situations was exactly what she needed to kickstart the change in her life.
Learning to manage the stress in her life was a game changer for Erin. Working at a bakery is fast-paced and overwhelming. Before Take Control, Erin would snack on cookies when she felt stressed at work, calling it a “crutch” for busy days. Now Erin has the skills to pause, take deep breaths, and let things go. She’s better at planning her days, focusing on the present, and delegating and relying on her coworkers as needed. Instead of viewing baked goods as comfort, she chooses to view food as a way to fuel her day, instead of as a coping mechanism.
Erin’s biggest obstacle to achieving her wellness vision was accountability. During her first few sessions, she didn’t know if health coaching was going to work. As the months progressed, she and Coach Katie referred back to Erin’s wellness vision and reviewed her monthly goals so Erin could see whether or not she was executing on the action steps. Erin says, “the accountability was great because I couldn’t lie about my progress. It helped me stick to my goals and once I accomplished them, it felt so good!” Her focus was no longer on the number on the scale, but on mindfulness and habit building.
With two young kids, Erin worried about finding the “me” time she needed to work on reaching her goals. She didn’t want to spend too much time focusing on herself, but she learned to build time into her day to set an example for her family. She now schedules at least 15 to 30 minutes of exercise before the kids get home. When they’re together, she lets them know that she has to exercise because it is a priority for her. Now that Erin builds that time into her day, she says exercise is “such a habit, it feels normal, it’s not extra.” Her kids will sit and watch, learning from her example, and sometimes join in and want to be active too!
Coach Katie says that carving time out of a day for yourself is always hard for working moms, and she hopes others learn from Erin’s journey how wonderful it is to make that happen for you AND your family.
Erin completed the Take Control program with a renewed sense of self-affirmation and respect for self-care. Her biggest takeaway has been to “accept where you are, even if it’s not perfect. See where that is and create a path forward with small changes.”
