Feature Story in Newsletter I, May 2010 - "Balance and Coaching Brings Youth ,
Weight Loss and Career Oportunity to Arizona Nurse" By Lori Phillips, R. N

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Eight years ago, I was an overweight, middle-aged health professional. And sadly, I was the norm. My peers looked much like me I started experiencing weight-gain after 30. I couldn’t get rid of the excess weight easily. I no longer could get away with eating anything and everything. Over sixty percent of all Americans, young and old were over weight, and thirty percent of that number was morbidly obese people.

I was 40, and I looked in the mirror and became determined not going to get any larger, and determined not to be like the typical American. I decided there was no need to go beyond my size 18 stretch jeans. I asked myself: “How did I get here in the first place?” I was out of shape, my menstrual cycle was out-of-whack and Ibuprofen had become my faithful every six-hour-friend due to my constantly aching knees.

My diet consisted of pizza, white cheese-dip and Diet Coke. Those staples were what I considered “the healthier foods.” I only ate three times daily—on my better days. Often, I waited five hours between meals. I would wake up in the morning and skip meals only to replace them with Diet Coke and a bag of M&Ms.

Moreover, I would ask myself these questions: What was holding me back? What was my excuse? There were no quick answers. I just knew I needed to make some changes.

The fact that my children were not little any more, stopped me from using them as an excuse not to exercise nor eat properly. And, looking in the mirror, I knew I would have to do something IMEDIATELY!

As a 40-year birthday gift, I bought myself a membership to a fitness center-- not just a membership to a regular gym-where I would show up and work out--but to a small personal fitness center with a private personal trainer. I knew I would need special attention from someone who would coach me with fitness and consistently monitor my progress.

I decided a regular gym membership would never work for me because, I would most likely show up for two or maybe three sessions, then all the excitement from the new experience would be gone. Before that time, I had never exercised my body, never lifted weights nor walked on a tread mill. The only time I moved my body was when I changed my children, working around the house, or during my hours nursing. So for the next year, I started moving. I walked more each day. I even rode a bike and went back-packing for the first time.

I continued working out. I eventually found two physical trainers and an exercise companion. With “my team,” I became consistent. After two years, all the exercise made me more aware of the way I viewed food and nutrition. I started eating different foods with different frequency.

I feel it’s important to mention here that I fell back on something I learned as a child. I was told; “If I wanted to accomplish something, I would be more successful if I worked together with a buddy. It started in kindergarten when we would walk to the park for school recess and practiced walking hand in hand. That rule stayed with me my entire life.

I would have never changed to the good shape that I am now without all my new buddies, the trainers, the coaches and the mentors. Having these coaches to help me track my meals and design a workout routine that would challenge me yet not injure me was the key to my success. I could call and vent with and when I experienced unhealthy temptations saved me from my own self-destructive behavior.

Early on, I still wasn’t completely ready to change all my eating habits. I continued my morning Diet Coke fix, I maintained a daily Hershey bar fix and topped it off by drinking a six-pack per day for several months.

Eventually, fast-food restaurants became a thing-of-the-past. Though my alcohol consumption continued, with each little change, I became more physically aware and more health-conscious.

Over the next few years, my meals kept changing. I started eating healthy rather than eating addictively. It seemed like Diet Coke (up to three liters per day) and Hershey bars and M&Ms would solve any problem that would came up in my world. Eventually I ended my soda and chocolate addition lasted more than 40 years. I stopped consuming those two things, which for me, were “pure poison.”

It was about that time when my trainer’s advice about eating healthy started sinking in. I began a change which would feel better with every step. I ate for the nourishment of my body rather than the gratification of my pallet.

Even then, the results weren’t immediate. Even with consistent coaching, training and a healthier meal plan, I still felt a sense of being unbalanced. I continued experiencing night- and day-sweats. I often felt distracted—catching myself looking off into space. My menstrual cycle had stopped at age 45.

I had considered hormone therapy for years and I felt it was time to test bio-identical hormones to see if adjusting my hormones would help my feelings of being unbalanced. I decided to test hormone creams-which I had considered for many years. I found bio-identical hormones work. Now I am hormone-balanced. My skin is glowing, and I am 60 lbs lighter and have muscles that show with definition.

For women who experience excessive middle weight gain, hot flashes and night sweats all in the name of Menopause or "the change". I'm here to tell you, none of these symptoms are necessary. Women can experience balanced hormones at any age—age is just a number. Old age is relative. When I started in-home-care 20 years ago, 80-year-olds were our oldest clients. They were usually bed ridden or confined to a chair. During those days, I rarely saw them going out to eat unless they were on a vacation. Now, 80 percent of my patients and clients don’t appear that old. The one-hundred-year-olds are the new 80s.

I never recommend anything I will not do my self. I feel a regiment of diet, rest, exercise and hormone-balancing is the most overlooked regiments. I have a client who, at 86, is experiencing more energy now than when she was 60. She made some of the same changes I made—shifted  to proper diet, exercise, rest and hormone-balancing—and experienced a similar change. I feel anyone can experience this change to better health.

Having 30 years of nursing, I have met many people of many ages, and have witnessed damage they have caused in their bodies. In contrast, I have also witnessed the renewal of their bodies after following my experience. I feel it is never too late to start reversing the damage regardless of one’s age.

Now, I eat six or seven small meals per day. I eat smaller nutritional meals with more frequency The way I eat now is often referred to as “grazing. Grazing changed my low metabolism to a high metabolism rate. Today, I diligently keep my meals balanced with carbohydrates, protein and “healthy” fats. I run four miles once per week outside in the desert. I take Hip Hop dance classes—both private and in group two or three times per week. I also kick-box and I lift weights each week.

My life has completely changed. Today, I enjoy physical fitness. My social life is full. I am full of energy both in my personal time and at work. I am constantly surrounded by hundreds of people—as friends and as clients. The change is so remarkable that clients and friends have started approaching me about the wonderful changes they see.

To reward myself, this year, I am traveling on vacation with friends for a two-week summer vacation where I will be back-packing in the Austrian and Swiss Alps.

I have had such a great response that I have made my success part of my nursing career. You can visit my newly formed business at: www.HormoneNurse.com.

Was it a quick fix for me? “No.” But it is a forever fix. I appear to have stopped aging. I am not regaining that lost-weight around my middle. Is that a huge statement? “Yes.”Can I back it up with evidence? “Most Certainly”

Balance and Coaching Brings Youth ,
Weight Loss and Career Oportunity to
Arizona Nurse By Lori Phillips, RN

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