I want to share a story with you. One I hope resonates and helps if you're feeling stuck in fear of what the future may bring...

I've just arrived to one of my fave places to vacation standing in the closet of the same house I rented over 3 years ago in Sunriver, Oregon.

While I stand there putting my clothes away I have this thought...

"This time over 3 years ago my whole life was different". 

Whoa. The realization hits me.

I mean, completely different.

At the time I was married, going about my career as I had for the past 17 years, raising my daughter, doing all the mom things, just living life "status quo". What I didn't realize at the time, I was in some serious denial of just how unhappy I was. Distracted by the busyness of life, one day flowing into the next, years passing by quickly.

You know, where you're doing all the things you think make you happy, following all "the rules", only to be in utter denial about how it all turned out. Not that any of the players...

Getting to the root cause of weight and symptoms should be the focus, not diets. Diets are surface level solutions to a more than likely bigger problem. Diets focus on the external results of those mechanisms the contribute to the whole reason for gaining weight in the first place, but don't get to what is causing the weight.

Now add to this the systematic messaging that you got the way you are because you cannot control your cravings, refuse to put out the effort, want to actually enjoy your food, or prefer a gentler way of moving your body than killing yourself.

I understand how you would think that dieting is the way to go. Restricting yourself, limiting yourself, denying yourself, counting, weighing, measuring, calculating points on and on and on. It's because like I've said before this is how the industry was built. You have been conditioned to believe that you require all of these things to lose weight and feel better because you cannot do it without them.

This isn't health....

Taking responsibility for your health isn't about shame, guilt or blame. If you find yourself triggered by it, more than likely those emotions are about something else - trauma. Being able to look at the state of your health objectively without self-judgement is what I'm talking about.

Accepting the state of things and accepting responsibility for your health as it is now and how you got here, is the gateway to being able to get real with yourself about what your next step should be. This isn't a blame game.

For some of you this may feel very uncomfortable. There is a reason, and it's completely understandable. It comes from a combo of negative degrading messages from the fitness industry and old unresolved trauma. If learning about how to be responsible was all tied up and associated with negative messages about your character as you grew up, in combination with the inaccurate message that overweight people are lazy and take no responsibility for their health, then hearing that you...

I'm going share something I LOVE with you today. That is, the unexpected consequence of living a healthier life. And when I mean healthy, I mean mind, body and soul.

In Pillar 2 of the M|body Method I explore with you how improving your health can impact more than just your pant size or reduction of symptoms. When you're healthier your mind is clearer, you have more energy and zest for life, and all of those dreams of living your desires returns from the dead.

Most people live in a state of tolerating feeling terrible. In fact most people have no idea just how bad they feel. It's become so familiar, they don’t even see or feel it. Yes there are symptoms that can be quite obvious, but a low level of terrible is unfortunately quite common place. 

Is this any way to live? I think not.

What is most common when women want to make changes, is the focus on one thing and one thing only - weight loss. And I get it because it's the visible, tangible part that you want taken...

You want to know the true key to changing your health and making it last? Go slow and take the time to build a solid foundation able to withstand anything life throws at you.

If you're truly committed to making changes to improve your health then run- don't walk away from "diets" or the latest trend that eliminates an entire group of macros (protein, fat or carbs), or workouts that expect you to jump into performing high intensity exercises without first building the stamina for it.

A forced get-through-it with-gritted-teeth-all-the-while-miserable restricted approach to improving your health is unrealistic, unsustainable, and will inevitably fail. 

The thing is, most people jump into the latest trend because they see how others have achieved great results, and I don't blame them. I've done it, and a few times if I'm honest, until I finally got it right by shutting out the noise, and started learning what I needed to become healthier and heal.

If doing something that...

Having extra weight on our bodies should be viewed as a symptom of something larger happening to our bodies, not a character flaw.

Since the dawn of the whole health and fitness industry, those who are overweight or classified as obese (having a BMI of 30+) have been characterized as being lazy, lacking willpower, unwilling to change, or not caring about their health.

But, look at how many people have gym memberships or go on multiple diets looking for that one that will finally work. There are countless books written about it, companies selling weight loss programs, hundreds of various diets promising the moon, and celebrity personal trainers with the latest and greatest exercise plans. If there wasn't such a demand, these things wouldn't exist and it's a $100 billion dollar industry.

The problem is that the industry continues to send the same message that your weight gain is a problem with you. It's somehow your inability to maintain some self-control or lack of willingness to...

Hormone imbalances are not the reason for the symptoms you may be experiencing. If you want to know what's really behind them, you have to get to the root cause of the imbalance to begin with.

It's totally understandable if you believe that at the heart of your symptoms is a hormonal imbalance because that's what has been talked about for ages. As women we're taught that having hormonal imbalances is "normal" and simply "part of being a woman". So many women have no idea what's going on or that there is even a problem! Many don't even realize that what they consider feeling "normal"  is actually pretty bad, and that there's a possibility for living a much more vibrant symptom free life. Typically when we go to the doctor what gets treated are the symptoms without time taken to dig deeper and find out the culprit behind your hormonal imbalance.

Here's the thing, if treating hormonal imbalances at the surface level with prescriptions solved the problem, then everyone would...

Calorie counting and restricting what you eat will not get you the results you're looking for when it comes to losing weight. This is a myth based on physics not physiology.

This blog post is a big one and an important one, because you're going to finally see how to lose weight and feel good by eating real food without having to count calories which is part of Pillar 1 inside M|B|M.

Most frustrated dieters attempt to lose weight by reducing the amount of food they eat. Pretty basic stuff and you're most likely thinking, "well yeah Shannon, that's how it works"!

Yes, the concept of calories in and calories out is what the industry has taught us for decades. It's the idea that if you want to lose weight you simply reduce the amount of calories you take in. But, often the result is binge eating, feeling hungry, succumbing to temptation, and continuing to eat the very foods that are causing the problem in the first place.

It totally makes sense that this is how you've approached...

How are some people able to deal with emotional triggers while frustrated searchers trying to improve their health succumb to their triggers and go off the rails?

You're about to learn one simple way in how to respond to emotional triggers in a productive and healthy way which is part of Pillar 1 in my M|Body Method. It's an important key in your health journey because most frustrated searchers reach for the comfort or quick foods when triggered. This leads to regretting those choices soon after and taking the trip down the black hole of feeling a failure, hopelessness, guilt, shame, negative self-talk, and self-loathing which only perpetuates staying stuck and possibly giving up all together.

Sound familiar?

I hear from so many women who tell me that if they could only find out a way to deal with their triggers when it comes to staying on course to improve their diet or incorporating exercise, it would make a HUGE difference in their ability to reach their health goals.

In...