#111 Victoria lost 30lbs, but that's not what changed her life...

Today I'm joined by Victoria, one of our amazing clients and now mentor within the LIVE360 program, which we'll explain later.

So Victoria, I'd love to hear a bit more about what made you reach out to us in the first place.

What was the situation for you when, um, you first were considering joining LIVE360 and getting some coaching?

Yeah, so I came from years and years and years of trying loads of different diets.

Um, I'd put some weight on after university, and from then on probably any diet you could come up with I'd tried at some point.

Um, but I just kept on putting more weight on.

And I had eventually reached the point where I understood that those diets weren't helping me, and I'd sort of tried to lean into more, understanding more about nutrition and intuitive eating, but it still didn't make any difference whatsoever.

It was a bit of a despair situation really, 'cause I just, I knew what wasn't working, but I hadn't got a clue what to do instead, and that's when I came across actually a podcast episode of yours, and suddenly you were saying things that made sense to me and I was like, oh, there was like a spark of hope I think at that moment.

Love that.

So you're another amazing podcast listener who is now ending up on the podcast.

I absolutely love that.

And yeah, I think I remember now you, like many women, it sounded like you went from, you know, dieting, restriction, d- you know, being very wrapped up in diet culture to actually then, I, I think being, correct me if I'm wrong, being more, uh, uh, in line with body positivity, as you say, intuitive eating, and that obviously I think potentially made you feel better in some ways, but then you were still stuck and the weight wasn't coming off.

Is that fair to say?

Yes, exactly that.

It, it made me feel better for a while because I wasn't in that endless cycle of losing weight, putting it back on.

But I wasn't losing anyway, and actually at one point I think there was a certain amount of feeling shame around wanting to lose some weight, so I kind of ditched it entirely for a while, but it, but was still really unhappy in my body and with my weight, how it was making me feel.

So yeah, I was just really stuck.

Yeah, and to be honest, I've had many conversations with women in similar situations, and actually one of my reels has gone vir- a bit viral for me.

It's got almost a million, uh, views.

It's got a lot more followers, is it's literally a p- uh, like a short video of me drinking a beer, and it says, "This account..." Uh, something along the lines of, "This account is for you if you don't want to diet, um, but equally you don't want to accept, you know, where you are now." And I think there are many women who are kinda trapped in between the two.

Like, they, they know dieting isn't for them, they know it isn't gonna work, but they don't really know what else to do, and they've kind of tried to accept it, but you know, fundamentally they are unhappy with the situation.

And there's nothing wrong with that, right? And I, the one thing I hear all the time from women is they downplay the kind of wanting to look better and wanting to, to be more confident 'cause they think it's vanity.

For me personally, I think how you feel within your own skin and being confident in yourself is fundamental to mental health and happiness, so I don't think it's vanity at all.

Oh, I completely agree, and I've experienced the positive effects of that now where, you know, and you want to look after yourself more when you feel good about yourself and you feel confident.

Exactly.