How wearing a bikini was like a getting a root canal with no drugs and what I did about it.

I just got a call from a friend of mine nearly in tears because her family just booked a trip to the Caribbean for Thanksgiving and she’s already freaking out.

“I know it shouldn’t matter what I look like in a bathing suit, but I just want to feel good in my body so badly and I’m worried that if I don’t lost twenty pounds by then I’m going to be so disappointed in myself.”

Sound familiar?

No matter what season it is, it seems we’re always freaking out about the frickin bikini.

I remember when I used to feel like

Bathing suit + thin women + water = worst nightmare

Anytime I’d book a beach vacation, I would start a diet right away and spend weeks panicking over looking like a fat, lazy idiot in my bathing suit.  I inevitably screwed up my diet at every turn.  Once the party or trip was a few weeks away, I’d just make up some excuse and cancel so I could save myself the embarrassment.

I’ve said “no” to so many things in my life because I was “waiting on the weight”. I’d skip dinner with friends because I didn’t want to be tempted to eat the bread or drink wine, I almost lost Jonathan when I refused to let him see me naked because I hated my body, I avoided going home to see my parents because I was worried about stuffing my face with too much ice cream, I cancelled a trip to the Bahamas. The list of things I missed out on is endless.

But I thought I could just stick to my diet for a few months, lose thirty pounds and THEN I would be able to skip around in my bikini without my body jiggling.  And as you know, it never happened.

Most weight loss programs encourage you to stay in, hunker down, press pause, say no.  Life gets pretty boring, and we soothe that boredom with chips, chocolate and ice cream.

I created Live More Weigh Less Mastery because I wanted to give you a program that inspires you to get out, create adventure, press PLAY, and say YES!

This fall I want you to rock that hot dress at your bestie’s birthday, strip down in front of your partner, join your friend for the hike and get psyched for that beach vacation.  Not because you’re thinner, but because this is what life is all about and you deserve to enjoy it.

When I got pregnant out of the blue, Jonathan and I decided to cancel our trip to Paris.  I had this vision of prancing around Paris in my skinny jeans and high heels, splitting a bottle of wine every night and making love with a view of the Eiffel Tower. My bump and inability to enjoy wine and soft cheeses made the whole experience seem lackluster.  We decided we would enjoy it more later.

After treating myself like an invalid for a few weeks I thought, “Sarah, you’re acting the same way you did years ago when you put your life on hold because of your weight, WTF is wrong with you?”  That same week, two of my Live More Weigh Less Mastery alums emailed me saying they just booked last minute trips to Paris; you can read one of their stories below.  I knew that if my clients were living more, then I really needed to get my sh*t together. 

Jonathan and I re-booked our trip to Paris and I’m going to be there during our Live More Weigh Less Adventure Week, a self-guided trip all of the women create and take as part of LMWL Mastery.  I can’t wait to prance around Paris in my skinny jeans, heels AND bump, eat buttery croissants and make lots of love with my honey.  Sounds like a pregnant woman’s paradise.  Taking a stand for not putting my life on hold for ANYTHING has reminded me how powerful it is to seize the moment and make fun, pleasure and happiness a priority NOW, no matter what. 

When our life is made up of all of these little joys and adventures we no longer need the sweets and the extra weight we’re holding onto melts away.

Live More Weigh Less Mastery is now open for Enrollment. If you’re sick of staying in and saying no, I hope you’ll check out this page, start living and say YES!

Live More Weigh Less Mastery Enrollment

Love,

Sarah

P.S.  I’m going to be NYC next week and I’d love to hang out with you.  I’m going to be at Nitika Chopra’s Natural Beauty Premiere Launch Party on Tuesday the 24th and I’m teaching a relationship workshop called “Getting Real About Love and Creating a Life Full Of It” on Wednesday the 25th. There’s nothing I’d love more than to meet you in person! You can get a tickets to the Nitika’s premiere here, and the workshop here.

From Martine:

I knew that I was holding myself back because I’d gained some weight in the last few years.  I wasn’t buying new clothes, wasn’t putting myself out there romantically, and didn’t feel confident – all because I weighed 10 pounds more than I used to. What I didn’t realize is how this “as soon as” thinking permeated all areas of my life. I’d already made big changes in my life by leaving a job that was unsatisfying and starting my own business as a life transition coach, teaching people to Love it or Leave it.  But I was still holding myself back, waiting for things to be perfect to really let my business take off.

LMWL taught me to take pleasure in everything I do, and that there’s no reason to wait to do anything. Through Sarah’s amazing lessons and journaling exercises, I noticed myself making different choices – from choosing foods I really enjoyed to doing fun activities now, not waiting for my (never-ending) to-do list to be finished. So when my sister jokingly said we should go to Paris for our father’s birthday, my first reaction was “why not?” Thinking about it, there really was no reason not to go. It was a dream of mine to someday be successful enough in my business that I could work from Paris if I wanted to. I realized, there was no reason to wait for “as soon as”, I could make it happen now. LMWL taught me that I have the power to choose what I want my life to be like NOW, there’s no reason to wait for anything – to lose the weight, to reach a certain level of success, or to be a different version of myself.