Maybe you can relate…a love note to you from my client Candie.

#TransformationTuesday

I received the email below from a coaching client of mine, Candie Brown*.  She wanted to reach out to others to share her story. *Her real name, she is paying it forward, for someone shared me with her.

Candie has embraced the spirit of coaching.  She has transformed her life.  It hasn’t been just about losing weight.  It has been a journey to find her true self. This journey isn’t easy.  And going it alone compounds the difficulty.  There are days you want to throw up your hands…and quit.  That is where a trusted coach steps in to help you stay on course.  This is where I excel. 

I am in this for your transformation, not just to help you lose weight! 

We move the needle on your life together.    

Her words may resonate.  Maybe you’re in a similar place.  If you are, I’m here to help. 

Passing the keyboard to Candie…

“Dear Dr. Sam,

I feel compelled to write this story. I want to share it with the ROXOlution.

About a year ago (Fall 2017) I went to an endocrinologist because I thought I felt some lumps on my thyroid. He examined me and said it was “normal” for someone my age. He put me on some meds for insulin resistance.

For some reason, he retired suddenly and I had to find a new doctor.

Both doctors mentioned gastric bypass surgery, because let’s face it, I was fat.

The second appointment I had with this new doctor, she walked into the room with a prescription pad in hand and, literally, said to me, “what medications do you want?” I thought she was joking. She wasn’t.

I left there with 3 new meds for weight loss, for a total of 8 meds.

I had an appointment coming up with my Primary Care doctor for a med check. I complained to him about my experience with this other doctor. He said I wasn’t going to be able to do it by myself and had I thought about gastric surgery. (#3)

He also told me it would help if I adopted a vegan diet. 🙂 

I had already started working out. I had a gym membership and a personal trainer. I worked out and followed the trainers’ meal plan for a year. (February 2017 to February 2018)   

I lost 5 pounds.

It dawned on me that I was falling into a trap. I was already suspicious of all these pills advertised on TV, of all the prescriptions I was taking, and all the ones people I knew were taking.

I was also suspicious of the food out there that we had to eat, of the quality; and the “adjustments” that had been made to our food supply.

About this time I began seeing some Facebook posts from an acquaintance about diabetes, insulin resistance, the medical establishment and I took notice.  I watched him for several weeks.

He talked about coaching and changing his lifestyle.

One day I saw an invitation to a webinar.  I felt I had nothing to lose so I signed up. 

I was very nervous about listening to this webinar because I knew that I would need to commit; to some changes, a program, a different way of life.

A few days later, I got a call from Dr. Sam Graber. She was interviewing me to see if I would be a good candidate for her lifestyle program. Really, if Dr. Sam hadn’t approached it that way, I would not have accepted the challenge.

I joined her group and, I was kind of mad at myself for doing it. Especially when I received books in the mail.

I didn’t want to go there! I knew I had issues and I didn’t want to open that can of worms!!

The first two weeks, I was grumpy. I didn’t want to do this, but I was doing it anyway. I wasn’t grumpy because I was coming off of a sugar addiction (that was the easy part) it was because I had to face some things. (Funny! I didn’t have to open that “can of worms”).

I only had to figure out who I was.  AND only what I wanted out of life.

As I went down this path of figuring out who I was and what I wanted, my mood began to change, my FOCUS began to change. I realized that I could do this. The food was just a byproduct of everything else that was happening. 

Well, four months into this and I have lost 47 pounds. I am almost halfway to my goal and it has been easy.

I am a different person on the inside.  I don’t think as much about all the things I do wrong every day. I don’t think about how dumb I am, or about how fat I am.

I am down to taking 2 meds and hope to get rid of the other two sometime soon.

I go back to the doctor soon and you can be sure I will have some things to say to him.  I truly believe that there are people out there that want us all to be sick.  I truly believe that there are people who want us to rely on medication and want us to think that it is the only acceptable way to live, just because everyone is doing it.

I know people that just accept it. I will not accept it. I almost did. I began to get caught in the trap.  Not anymore.

Some of the extra benefits I have seen from this lifestyle change:

• My hormones are correcting themselves. I thought I was heading into menopause even though the blood work said differently.
• I can lay on my stomach and be comfortable, not feeling like I cannot breathe. 
• I sleep like a baby for several hours and wake in the morning on my own feeling rested and awake.
• Many of my aches and pains are gone.
• My emotions are in check.
• I have energy.
• My bowels are happy!
• My glucose is down from 102 to 88.  

Candie Brown