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Hot Take: Don't Focus on Weight Gain to Get Pregnant, Do This Instead · Nourished Fertility

• 0:00
  Well, hey there and welcome to the nourishing women podcast, Victoria
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  Myers here, your host period recovery specialist and registered dietitian
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  here to help you get your period back, restore your fertility and get pregnant.
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  And today I want to talk about how much weight do you need to gain to
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  get your period back and get pregnant?
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  Because I know you, I know you so well, because I once was you.
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  And I know the reason you say that.
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  still haven't yet.
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  Restored your fertility is because you're scared.
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  You're scared to eat too much to gain weight, even though you know
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  that's how you're going to oblate cycle and conceive naturally.
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  You're also scared that if you cut back on exercise, you'll lose a part of yourself.
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  What you really need is a period recovery expert supporting you.
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  Every step of the way, so that fear no longer runs your body and your future.
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  If I'm speaking to you, you're like, Oh shit, knows me.
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  Today's episode is for you because we're going to focus on what specifically
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  you should be focusing on in order to get your period back and get pregnant.
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  I know you are like, I just want to know how much weight I need to
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  gain, but here's the honest truth.
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  Weight gain alone won't bring your period back.
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  With clients, we actually never, never track weight.
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  We instead focus on the actions of exercise adjustments and
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  nourishment and rest for the body.
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  And we just trust, we choose to trust the body that it will get to its healthy
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  weight through this process of period recovery and restoring your fertility.
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  Because the truth is, is your weight with a period Will be your healthiest weight
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  and what your weight will be long term in this process I can't really say how
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  much weight you actually need to gain in this process is truly different for all
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  people Some people need to gain a minimal some people need to get a moderate Some
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  people need to gain a lot of it where you're coming from your past history
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  your genetic predispositions, your body's set point ultimately
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  is different for each person.
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  So it would be so not only unethical, but just unfair for us to say, hey,
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  you need to gain X amount of weight, 5, 10 pounds, or even 20 pounds.
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  Heck, even if we said that, it just wouldn't be necessarily
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  true for all people.
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  Some people it's less, some people it's more.
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  We trust that your body has your back.
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  It knows what to do.
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  We focus.
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  Exclusively on the actions instead of the weight itself, and I hope that feels
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  relieving and reassuring for you that like you can just let that be to the side.
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  That's not necessary for period recovery.
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  You don't need to say, Hey, I need to gain X amount of weight to make this happen.
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  Instead, you need to say.
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  What are my habits?
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  What are my actions on a daily basis?
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  That is what I both have control over, but also that is what will
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  actively lean to my purity coming back.
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  Hey, if you're curious about set point, I had just mentioned that a little bit
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  more and how we all have a different genetic predisposition, what may even
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  be your long term goals with your weight in mind, reach out to me on DMs.
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  Let me know if that's an.
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  Uh, an episode that you may want me to record, because that is like
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  a whole different conversation, and we can have that for sure,
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  if that's something you would be interested in learning more about.
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  What I want to talk more specifically today, though, is to relieve you some
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  of this, this fear, this guilt, this pressure you're feeling about weight,
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  and focus instead on why it is okay that you are going to have some weight
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  gain inevitably throughout this process.
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  So I know I just said that we don't focus on weight and that
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  is a thousand percent true.
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  But for most people you are going to gain some weight in this process.
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  So I want to use this episode to instead like reframe your perspective on body fat.
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  Because that's what we're talking about here.
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  You know, fat gets a bad reputation, yet in reality, healthy body fat and
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  also just eating dietary fats for that matter, they're essential for hormone
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  production, especially estrogen.
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  The body needs enough fat to maintain a balanced menstrual cycle
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  for fertility and overall health.
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  So again, let's reframe our perspective on the role fat plays in our lives
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  and in our body specifically.
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  Our weights do not have to be our thinnest to be healthiest.
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  In fact, for you, that is doing the exact opposite of health and fertility.
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  What I think will help with reframing your perspective on gaining some body
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  fat in order to restore your health and fertility is the role fat plays
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  in supporting estrogen production.
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  Estrogen isn't actually just made in the ovaries, I don't know if you knew
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  this, but it's also stored and produced in fat cells, your adipose tissue.
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  So if body fat levels are too low, estrogen production can drop, and
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  this also leads to your irregular or missing periods, your amenorrhea.
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  So fat is very important.
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  You need a certain amount of body fat in order to keep your estrogen
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  levels healthy and to have a period.
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  It's not just about the ovaries, but it's also about the fat cells itself.
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  I'll also add here that when it comes to dietary fats, cholesterol
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  is the building block of hormones.
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  Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone are all made from cholesterol.
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  They're all made from cholesterol.
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  It's actually the beginning process of cholesterol.
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  of the hormone cascade in your body, and this comes from consuming dietary fats.
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  Without enough healthy fat intake, the body can't produce enough estrogen, which
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  again, also leads to cycle disruptions.
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  Fat also helps with hormone signaling and absorption, especially certain
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  fats like omega 3 fatty acids, and this improves hormone receptor
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  function, helps the body use estrogen effectively, and fat soluble vitamins.
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  A, D, E, and K help support hormone balance, and we need fat to properly
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  absorb those vitamins, hence why they're called fat soluble vitamins.
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  Finally, body fat itself plays an important role in that
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  hypothalamus pituitary ovary axis.
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  We talked about that in last week's episode, With the role that each of
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  them play and creating your menstrual cycle each month, the brain through your
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  hypothalamus and pituitary gland monitors body fat levels to determine if you have
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  enough energy to support reproduction.
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  And if body fat drops too low, the brain slows go to go trap and releasing
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  hormone, which then slows the hormones we talked about again, in last week's
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  episode, this beginning hormones that start the process of your period.
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  FSH, LH, and estrogen production, which can stop ovulation, which
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  obviously is such a problem, right?
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  It's a problem for your period and it's a problem for fertility.
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  So then you may be wondering, well, how much body fat do I need to gain?
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  And I know I just started the episode off with saying, I
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  don't know, I can't promise you.
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  And what we do instead is focus on the actions.
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  But what I can give you just for a little bit of clarity here, as long as
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  you keep in mind and you remember that it's different for all people and that
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  everybody is different and everybody has a different need of body fat.
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  The general goal that we aim for with our clients is a BMI
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  between 20 to 25 for fertility.
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  Or a body fat percentage around 25 percent up to 28%.
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  I will say body fat percentage can be much more difficult to get.
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  So we often use the BMI scale to tell us where they are in their
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  fertility range for a healthy weight, therefore healthy body fat percentage.
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  now to be clear, the BMI scale is flawed.
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  We recently released an episode all about this called the BMI scale is bogus.
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  However, in the context of an underweight status, it's actually
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  very important to understanding how much weight you need to gain in
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  order to get to that fertile range.
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  For some, for sure, you will naturally get a cycle and get pregnant at a
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  lower BMI of 20, something like 18 or 19, that is again determined by your
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  genetic predispositions where your body just genetically gets a period.
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  However, in most cases, you'll need a higher weight, therefore a
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  higher BMI to conceive naturally.
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  So again, Fat plays an important role in the body.
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  Eating dietary fat also plays an important role.
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  We need body fat for adequate levels of estrogen.
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  We also need to be at a certain BMI in order to be our most fertile selves.
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  And if, through hearing all of this, you are like, oh my god,
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  Victoria, the thought of getting weight to get pregnant terrifies me.
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  Here's what I want you to do.
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  The first thing I want you to do is listen to a recently released episode
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  we had called The Five Stages of Body Grief and Period Recovering.
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  I then want you to think about, as you're listening to that episode and right
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  after listening to it, which explains the feelings that you have towards your
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  body right now, some true grief about your body and its need to change in
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  order to be its healthiest, fertile self.
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  I then want you to think about, what's the story?
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  that you tell yourself about weight gain.
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  The reason I say that is because more often than not, it is related to your
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  concern and worry about how others will perceive the weight change.
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  I have never not found this to be true with working with clients.
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  So yes, I want them to have the facts that we talked about, reframing their
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  perspective on the role body fat plays, understanding what's necessary
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  for the body in order to be fertile.
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  I want them to grieve and let themselves feel the feelings.
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  And I also want them to recognize that how you were.
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  Perceiving the weight change is more often than not being concerned and worried
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  about how others are perceiving it.
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  The only reason getting pregnant with no period feels hard is
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  because no one has shown you how.
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  This period recovery method that I'm about to share with you is going to change your
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  life and making getting pregnant with no period so much easier and quicker.
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  for you.
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  I've laid it all out for you in my new free training, restore your fertility
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  in 90 days or less without giving up all exercise or focusing on weight gain.
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  In this free training, you'll learn our proven inside out formula, a Customized
• 10:17
  five step framework to get your period back and restore your fertility, how
• 10:21
  to repair your relationship with food and what that has to do with your
• 10:24
  period loss and your pregnancy goals.
• 10:26
  This free training is going to give you every single detail that
• 10:30
  you need to make your goals of starting your dream family a reality.
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  You can download and get started watching this free training today
• 10:38
  with a link in our show notes.
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  Now let's get back to today's episode.
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  In fact, I just had a client tell me the other day that she, when she went to
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  church and she walked in, she immediately thought to herself, Oh my God, everyone's
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  noticed that I've gained weight.
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  And what are they all thinking about me?
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  And have they noticed, are they talking about me?
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  And while.
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  Most likely, none of that is true.
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  Those stories that we tell ourselves are significant in understanding,
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  because that's often the reason that you are so scared of gaining
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  weight, but it's not a reason to
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  So by journaling, reflecting, and understanding these stories that we tell
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  ourselves and kind of the, the fears or perceptions and concerns from others,
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  it helps to identify this, because then we can say to ourself, like, hey, that
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  is not a reason to not gain weight.
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  What I also would encourage you to do after you identify the story that
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  you're telling to yourself and really seeing clearly with yourself, like,
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  okay, what is this actually about?
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  Like, am I worried about, you know, what that person is saying
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  or what they think about me?
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  Or do they think I'm not as athletic or as healthy as I used to be?
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  Then write out your values, your goals, your big dreams for
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  yourself and think to yourself.
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  Like I just wrote out all these reasons why I want to get my period back.
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  For my health, to not have osteoporosis when I'm older, to be able to get
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  pregnant, to have this dream family that I want, to feel good, to have energy.
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  I mean the list could go on truly forever.
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  I want you to think, do these values and goals and dreams for myself, are
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  they more important to me than how others may think of me gaining weight?
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  Which weighs heavier?
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  Letting others perception of me forever dictate how I live my life or
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  saying let them do their own thing.
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  Let them think whatever they want to think.
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  That's their life to live.
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  I don't have to worry about them.
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  We can let go of that people pleasing and instead choose to
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  live day in and day out based on our own values, goals, and dreams.
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  Okay, if you need help with that, I highly recommend the book, Let Them.
• 12:43
  Life changing book to read just recently read it myself.
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  Oh my God, mind blown.
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  . So, we went through a lot of different things in today's episode.
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  We talked about why we don't focus on weight gain with our clients,
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  but the reality is that it will happen, why it's important, how to
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  reframe and fact check with yourself.
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  Then going through, again, some tangible things you can do with
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  that thought terrifies you.
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  Listening to our episode on the five stages of grief, identifying the story
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  you're telling yourself, writing out your values, goals, and dreams, and weighing
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  them against these concerns that you have.
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  If at the end of this episode,
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  you know, that you are tired of timidly trying to eat more to get your period
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  back and being so If you look here, honestly, you're probably high key
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  afraid of constantly gaining weight and you're tired of letting that hold you
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  back from this dreams that you want.
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  Chances are that you need an approach that you can actually
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  stick to versus one you're counting down the days until it's over.
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  If 2025 is the year you get your period back and go on to get pregnant.
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  It is time you hire a team that will coach you every step of the way.
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  That way, you know exactly what to do to get results.
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  No more guessing, no more timidly trying to eat more or no more letting
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  fear of weight gain hold you back.
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  If this is you, I want to remind you three things you can do today to get started.
• 14:00
  The first is download our free training.
• 14:02
  how to restore your fertility in 90 days or less.
• 14:05
  That will tell you exactly the changes required to make this happen.
• 14:08
  Number two, you can purchase a tailored period comeback plan, which will give you
• 14:12
  the exact game plan of what to do with movement and nourishment in order to get
• 14:16
  your period back and get pregnant in 2025.
• 14:19
  And number three, our exclusive high touch One on one program, premier
• 14:24
  period recovery for fertility is actively taking new clients right now.
• 14:28
  As we speak, we have five spots available, but they go very fast during this time
• 14:33
  of the year as people are ready to get pregnant and have their babies in 2025.
• 14:38
  You can learn more and apply with the links in our show notes.
• 14:41
  Thank you so much for listening to today's episode.
• 14:44
  Until next time, love to each of you.