Sandy's Story: From 235 pounds to 164 pounds in 1.5 years

Sandy has lost 70 pounds in the last year and half while receiving coaching and support from Heidi. The benefits have been tremendous. Today we get to hear from Sandy. In some ways, this is Sandy's oral "review" for Heidi Bradford Coaching. 

Sandy is 65 years old, lives with her husband, spends time with her children and grandchildren, takes care of her dad, volunteers her time to help in her community, and cares about her health.

Settle in to gain insights and be inspired about becoming a healthier version of you. 

Click here to WATCH the unedited video interview. 

Take Aways (Sandy's view)

• I have more energy. 
• I feel like there's not much I can't do at 65.
• My stamina has increased.
•  You can't control what others say or do. You can only control how you react. 
• My mother was so sick from diabetes. I decided that I didn't want to die like that.
• It's okay to mess up. Just try again.
• Be open-minded.
• My food list reminds me that there are a lot of foods I can eat.
•  Don't be afraid to tell how you feel because your feelings matter so much and they determine how you react.
•  It's just so refreshing and liberating knowing that there's no judgment with you.

Questions asked

•  Have you found that becoming healthier and losing some weight has helped in positive ways in your ability to volunteer and to serve?
•  Why did you decide to reach out for help with losing weight?
• What were your doctors saying to you about your health before we started?
• What are your doctors saying now?
• What do you think were some key factors in you losing weight?
• How did you lose weight this time without lots of shame and blame? 
• How did you feel about your overall health before hiring Heidi, and how do you feel about your overall health now?
• How did you feel about losing weight before life coaching with Heidi, and how do you feel about losing weight now? 
• What has been your favorite part of losing weight with my help?
• What would you say to another woman who was considering hiring Heidi to help them lose weight? 

Want more support? ❤️Click here to talk with me. I'm currently offering a free 20 minute consultation call to help you get clear on where you are and how to get to a better place. 

Free resources:

• Heidi's website
• Heidi's YouTube

Music 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello, this is the Living Well with PMDD podcast. I'm your host, Heidi Bradford, certified life coach, mom of five and PMDD Survivor. Happy to have you here. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be considered health advice.

Welcome, Sandy. Thank you for Hello. Thank you for joining me today. For those listening, we are with Sandy. She lives in Ohio and we've been working together for a year and a half. Sandy's gone from 235 pounds to 164 pounds as of today, which is a difference in 70 pounds. So kudos to Sandy.

How this [00:01:00] call's gonna go or this, um, podcast episode is: we're gonna hear from Sandy. She's gonna tell us about herself. And we'll let you know how we met too, how Sandy and I met, and then we'll do some q and A about some overall health, about losing weight, what her doctors said then and what they're saying now.

And then Sandy might add any of her favorite things about this journey and anything else. So Sandy, tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am, 65 years old. I've had a weight problem my entire life. Um, I think I used food as a comforting tool. I used it for just about everything, you know, family get togethers, when I was sad, when I was happy. I just enjoyed having the food around. I'm a Christian. I'm a wife, a mother, a grandmother [00:02:00] of six. I truly love serving others. It gives me great joy.

Tell us just a little bit more about that. Where do you volunteer at right now?

I volunteer at a women's shelter that help women that are in sex trafficking , addiction. The women can come in off the street and we give them food, um, new clothing . They can take a shower there and we have a, a sleeping room where they can know that they're safe and no one's gonna hurt 'em while they're sleeping. We pray for 'em and, uh, see however else we can meet their needs. I do that once a week

what's the name of it, Sandy?

It's called Women of Alabaster. It's a great ministry. Scarlet, the lady that runs the ministry, she actually is starting to go international.

It's really, it's awesome, but it's sad, but it's awesome that she's doing this, but it's sad that she has to do this.[00:03:00] 

Yes. So, yes. Okay. So that's one of your volunteer things. Yeah. But there are seven days in the week.

And Sandy, I know you so well. I've talked to you almost every week for a year and a half. Mm-hmm. Tell us some of the other ones.

So, I, I also volunteer at a therapeutic farm. It's called Hopeful Pastures. We use animals to reach children that have had a lot of trauma in their life. And we help the entire family, not just the children. It's just really neat. It's a really great program. So I volunteer there during sessions. We do sessions in the fall and in the spring.

When we're not doing sessions, I actually do the gardening. , eventually I'd like to have the kids learn how to can the food preserve the food.

Oh wow. That sounds just so amazing.

I volunteer to help take care of the animals also.

Then you also on a weekly basis, do some [00:04:00] service at your AT church, right? Pardon? You also do some church service on a weekly basis?

I actually clean the church on Wednesdays. I volunteer to do that.

We recently opened a share center. It's been going on for six months now. We have food and we have clothing, and it's open to the public on Saturdays and people can come in and take what they need. We're there to help them, to pray with them, uh, to see what their needs are and to see if we can find it for 'em.

We're working on giving out, uh, Thanksgiving Day dinners for, for our families. So that's the push this week, trying to get everything put together for that.

On Sundays at church, I volunteer in our cafe where we serve coffee. I do that once a month, and then the other times I do, um, children's church. I actually work with younger elementary kids.

Okay. Well, thank you. That's I'm just so [00:05:00] glad that people like you and that you are in the world doing those amazing things for people.

Thank you.

This is an impromptu question, so it wasn't on that list of questions I sent you beforehand, but I'm just curious, have you found that becoming healthier and losing some weight, has it helped in positive ways in your ability to volunteer and to surf?

Oh yeah, it really has. I have more energy. It's just like I physically, I feel like there's really not much I can't do at 65. I do a lot of lifting, a lot of carrying that. I mean, it's just, it's amazing and I keep going. That's the main thing is that I don't tire as easy and, um, yeah, I just. I think it's just that my stamina has really increased, which I love.[00:06:00] 

Great. Awesome.

Because I feel like I can do more.

Yes. Okay. Yeah. And we'll get into more of that. So do tell us a few places you've been or maybe your favorite place 'cause I know you like to travel to.

For vacation i've been to Australia, New Zealand, South Korea. I think that's it as far as vacation outta the country. On mission trips, I've been to Peru. Uh. I've been to Mexico, I've been to Armenia. I'm getting ready to go back to, uh, Mexico City the sixth of this month. So, um, or December, I'm sorry, December 6th we leave from Mexico City.

And you also went to Israel?

Oh yeah, I went to Israel. Yeah. I was there when the war broke out. Yeah. Yeah , we got stuck there. For a little while anyway.

And you have some [00:07:00] cute grandkids too. Oh, I know. They're precious.

Do you remember how we met?

I do. My daughter, she was using your services. And she was just telling me about, well, Heidi says this and Heidi's telling me how to do this. And, and it was like, I never thought of it like that. It's like, I think I might need Heidi. ' She would tell me things, like, 'cause she has a heart of gold, bless her heart. She's had so many things in her life. She battled breast cancer at age 30, had double mastectomy, had a child at 35. Her last baby and. We didn't think she would be able to have another child. You just gave her tools to think of things differently. She always worries about what other people, like, I don't wanna, I, I, I wanna do right by this person or I don't know why this person feels like this towards me. And you told her you can't control. [00:08:00] And I, I think of this all the time. You can't control what others say or do. You can only control how you react. That was so profound to me. It's like, oh my gosh, I never really looked at it like that.

When I come into conflict with anyone or situation, it's like. Some things I have no control over. I can only control myself and that helps me so much.

The more Marcy would talk about how you were helping her, 'cause you were helping her with anxiety, you helped her with her weight loss.

I think Marcy talked to you about me and, uh, hooked me up.

Yeah.

And I've been, I've been with you ever since.

Yes. That's great. And if any of you listening, if you want to hear more from Marcy, she did an interview with me about a year ago, and the title of the podcast episode is: Interview with Marcy. That is Sandy's [00:09:00] daughter. She is gone through a lot and , she's changed her whole life. So you can listen to her story . We look at people and we think, oh, if they're gonna make this huge change, there must be something special about them.

I can't do the same thing. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. And I see you shaking your head, and the answer is no. Just ordinary people being more intentional and getting some of the support that we might need in a direction we wanna go. We can change so much if that's what we want. Okay.

Let's do our some q and a about health, right? Mm-hmm.

Why did you decide to reach out for help with losing weight?

Well like I said, I've always struggled with my weight.

What do you mean by that? Like to you? I've always, what is struggling with weight?

I've always been overweight as a child. I was always overweight. After I had my children, I [00:10:00] really blossomed. Okay. I gained a ton of weight. I had gastric bypass and. 2001 after my first husband passed away from cancer. I knew I had to raise my children and I had to get healthy, and I was desperate. So I had gastric bypass, which I lost a lot of weight, was doing really well, and I got sick about a year later after I had it. And, um, had a seizure. They couldn't figure out why I had the seizure. It was one of those deals where they kept trying medication. I only had one seizure, but they took away my driving license. I couldn't go to work because I was afraid I'd have another one. It was just, it was crazy and I ended up gaining weight.

I never did get back down to, to my lowest weight, which was 1 [00:11:00] 75. I just kept going up. And then when COVID hit, it just seemed like I kept gradually gaining. And then when COVID hit I got back up to 2 85. I knew I had to lose weight.

Then my mother passed away. She was so sick and it was all from diabetes. Her blood pressure, her organs just started failing, her eyesight, her mind, and it was all contributed to those two diseases. I just I don't wanna die like that. I wanna try to keep as much control over my life as I can. And being healthy is one way of doing that.

I wanna be around as long as I can for my grandkids and my kids. It was one of those deals I know I have to get on track, I have to get healthy again.

So that's when I turn to you

you didn't come to me at 2 85. I [00:12:00] know you had already been doing something time. Yes, You were at about 2 35, right? Yeah.

I think that is So I amazing that you did that much just on your own too. Mm-hmm.

I made some great friends at church and we started going to a fitness center together and doing aqua aerobics and just working out and walking and stuff. I do think that helped. I had their support. But it's like I got to 2 35 and I just couldn't move. It was like it, I don't know there was just like a block there. I just couldn't get any farther.

Yeah. Okay. About that time, or maybe even between that 2 85 and 2 35, what were your doctors saying to you about your health?

Oh, gosh.

I don't say this. Like, there's no shame.

No, no. [00:13:00] I, I understand. Every time I would go to the doctor, my blood pressure would start going up. It would go up every time that I'd go. And it's like, if we can't get your blood pressure down naturally by, you know, diet and exercise, we're gonna have to put you on medication.

It was getting that high and I didn't want to go on medication. I wanna try to stay off as much medication as I possibly can. And with my mom being as diabetic as she was, and it just kind of runs on my mom's side of the family being diabetic. I didn't want to go down that path 'cause she was on shots, she was on pills. It was just not good.

I didn't wanna go down that path. Yeah. So, um.

They just said, you have to make some lifestyle changes. Then they found out I had a heart murmur. Turns out it's a leaky valve. It's not bad, but, you know, it's gonna get worse. My cardiologist said, the more weight you lose, the better it is for your heart.

I just went to the cardiologist. [00:14:00] He was so happy that, uh, I have been losing this weight. He says losing weight is the best thing you can do for your heart health other than exercising. Yeah, he was pleased.

That was my next question. What are your doctors saying now?

So your cardiologist is like, yeah. So happy. Oh, so happy. It was amazing. 'cause he, you could just see it in his eyes. He was just smiling. He is like, you're doing great. Whatever you're doing, keep it up. You know? And then my family doctor, I just went and seen her a couple weeks ago and I asked her, am I still considered obese?

She said you're still considered overweight. Maybe not obese, but you're right. I'm on that border. I kind of want to get down to 1 45.

I probably haven't weighed that since I was a kid, you know? So I wanna get to 1 45 just to see how good I feel. I can only feel better at 1 45.

Where are you right now? I go between one 60 and 1 65. Right now I'm at 1 [00:15:00] 64. And how tall are you, Sandy?

I am five two.

Five two, okay. Yeah.

What about blood pressure?

When I was at the cardiologist it was 1 0 8 over 54.

That's really good. Right?

That's really good. Yes. Especially for me. I was pushing like one 70 over 93 I think was the highest before I started losing weight.

And I was getting headaches and stuff and I knew it was per my blood pressure. I could tell. I couldn't walk up the steps. I mean, without getting out of breath. Now it's no prob I can carry stuff up the steps and not be out of breath. It's just amazing. And my balance has improved. I can't believe how much my balance has improved losing weight. It's, it's crazy.

And the reason I want you to share these details is because there are women out there thinking. Well, her blood pressure was probably not [00:16:00] here. Oh, she's probably taller than I am. Or so it's good to hear these little pieces that different women can relate to.

Mm-hmm.

What do you think were some key factors in you losing weight this time?

You.

I will take that.

Because when we first started our sessions, I was doing an hour session or was a half hour. It was an hour, wasn't it?

It was either for 45, 45 minutes or an hour, I think it was 45 minutes. Yeah.

I don't know, you just gave me a new way of looking at things and tools to eat with. You know. We did the food list, things that I wanted to keep and things that I thought I could do without. I think the biggest thing was is that you told me it's okay if you mess up, it's okay.

You just start over. You just do it again. Because before I would, I would mess up and it's like, see, I did it [00:17:00] again. I'm done. There's no sense of me even trying. But because I had you to talk to every week, if I messed up, it was like I knew it was gonna be okay. Next day, start over. That's what Heidi would do.

You know how you say, what would Jesus do? I say, what would Heidi do? I'll just start over. It'll be okay. It's not the end of the world. How many times have you told me it's not the end of the world? Right. That's true. It's true. You know, it's okay that's the big thing. I need a shirt that just says it's okay. You know, because it is really, we put so much pressure on ourselves and we want everything right away. It doesn't work that way. You're gonna mess up. We're human. Things change. We just gotta remember, just start over. You know it's gonna be okay. You keep trying, you don't give up. And that's the big thing. I'm going to keep trying. I'm not gonna give up. I might [00:18:00] backslide a little bit, eat a piece of cheesecake when I shouldn't, but it's okay.

Yeah. Oh man, Sandy, that might be the best compliment I've ever gotten. What would Heidi do?

That's how I talk to myself when I'm not with you. It's like, what would Heidi say? What would Heidi do?

Well, good. I'm glad that helps.

It does help. It helps a lot. And it helped my daughter a lot too. I'm so thankful that she found you, because then I found you.

Oh. I love you both.

How did you lose weight this time without lots of shame and blame?

You kind of hit on that with the It's okay. Yeah. It's okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think the food list helped. We did the food list things that I wanted to keep and the things that I didn't, and actually there was very little that I didn't keep. You just kept reinforcing that, you know, eat it, but just eat a little bit, get a taste of it. [00:19:00] That helped a lot.

I don't know what it is, you can tell yourself that over and over again, but it's not quite the same when you have somebody else telling you that. It's different. I can say, okay, I'll just have a little bit and then I'll have a little bit and it's like, okay, I'll just have a little bit more.

It's weird, but when I think of with you telling me that, it's like I got my taste. I'm okay. That's all I need, and I just move on.

I think it's great.

How did you feel about your overall health before hiring me? And how do you feel about your overall health now?

Well, I think I've touched on that too quite a bit.

Yeah, it's true.

I was just tired a lot and scared. Mm-hmm. I was scared that I just never thought I would have a long life because of my health. I know we're all gonna die, but [00:20:00] it's how I wanna die and what I wanna accomplish. And I knew if I didn't get healthy and lose weight, I wasn't gonna be able to do that.

Now I feel like I can do just about anything I want. It's given me more confidence. Like I said, I'm stronger, I have more stamina. Um, and it makes me wanna help people that are overweight too. When I see someone it's my age that's struggling to walk or getting out of breath.

It's like, oh my gosh, I've been there. You know? So if somebody wants to talk to me about it or whatever, the women at church will say well, how'd you do it? , I, I talk to 'em and it's like, it's not easy. I know it's not easy. And so I try to help others. I can't do it the way you do it, but you know, I try to [00:21:00] do it in my own way just to tell him that there's hope you can do it.

I pray a lot to God too. I talk to God all the time about this 'cause you know, it's a weakness. It's a weakness. I just have to ask God to take it away. Take that herb away to eat that chocolate and that cake. It all helps me.

Yes. Okay. And then how did you feel about losing weight before life coaching with me versus how do you feel about losing weight now?

Hmm. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster. I would do good for a little while and then gain it right back. I would lose 10 or 12 pounds and then gain it right back. At times in my life I would gain 20, 30, 40 pounds and I'd have to work so hard to get it off.

It is crazy because now if I gain two [00:22:00] pounds. I weigh myself every day now. Before I didn't do that. I would like,

I think that's a key factor actually.

I watch my weight. It's like you can't change something if you don't know where you're starting at. Yes. I make sure that I check my weight every morning before I start my day, and it's like, okay, if I don't like that number, I need to change it. I try to reset my mind. You, yeah.

Do you feel more able to do that now versus before? Okay. Yes. I, I, I, I truly do. I feel like, I can make better decisions now since I've been working with you. When you write down all your food that you eat and you look at that list and it's on your fridge and it's like, wow, that's a lot of food. You don't need all that food. You know what I mean? And it's like, I need to eliminate this. And if I don't wanna eliminate that, then I [00:23:00] need to limit that.

Mm-hmm. It's a lot easier for me to do that now, before I couldn't do that. State one thing and I wanted more, I'd just go ahead and eat it. I find it easier to put limits on myself and, we talk, now we're talking about the times that I eat and how that affects my body.

, The older I get, everything changes. It's so weird. You think once you get a certain age. Your body just kind of stays the same, but it doesn't. I mean, your hormones are always changing and it's just crazy the way your body constantly changes through the aging process all the way through.

Yeah.

What has been your favorite part of losing weight with my health?

Mm, knowing that I get to talk to you every week. Aw. 

You know, how many times have I said, I've got this problem, or this is what I want to do, and you'll [00:24:00] say, I've got something i'll send you some paperwork on this, or I'll send you a form on this.

It's not just the sessions, it's the stuff after the sessions too that you gimme things to work on when we're not talking, or, um, you gimme different ways of looking at things, which is amazing because you get so focused on just seeing it one way and you helped me see things a different way. So yeah, it's been an awesome help. I just can't imagine not talking to you.

Yeah. Oh, okay. What would you say to another woman who is considering hiring me to help them lose weight? Maybe even they're just to do, thinking about reaching out, I guess it doesn't even have to Yeah. Specifically with me, but yeah, just to, uh, try it and be open-minded and listen.

You'll be surprised how much it helps. [00:25:00] You can talk to your friends and you can talk to your family about things. But when you talk to somebody that's not personally involved, you know, that really doesn't know your entire life or your history. It's different. It's kind of like refreshing. I don't know the right word for it, but yeah.

What would you say to a woman who kind of doubts that focusing on losing weight through and with life coaching could work for her? Is there anything you would tell her?

Be open-minded. Don't be afraid to tell how you feel. Because your feelings matter so much and they determine how you [00:26:00] react. And that's what I like about dealing with you is that when I tell you how that made me feel or something that happened to me that week made me feel. And you say, okay, well let's see how you dealt with it.

It's just so refreshing and liberating knowing that there's no judgment with you. You're gonna help me, you're gonna gimme tools to help me. I truly believe that you could help anyone if they're willing to reach out and be honest with you.

Thank you. Somebody needs to hear that encouragement, right? From someone who's been there, you've been there. Just easier when you hear from someone that's gone, the path that you wanna take, that you have never taken. It comes across differently than say, from me if I haven't had the same experiences.

Is there anything else you'd like to share? [00:27:00] No, I just feel like I'm still on this journey and I don't think it's ever gonna end. And that's okay. Yeah. It's the, the journey of life.

Yeah. And I'm blessed to have it, you know? Yeah. And I want to take care of it, so, and I wanna thank you for helping me.

I love that you say that without dread. Our life. It does change. It's kind of ever changing, and we don't know what challenges are gonna come. So it's good for us to be flexible and to have that kind of optimism of, yes, this is gonna be part of my life. I need to take care of my body for my whole life, and if I'm willing to put some effort in. It's going to be a blessing for me.

Well, thank you Sandy. You are an inspiration to me and hearing your experience. It will bless other women's lives. So thank you so much.

[00:28:00] Thank you for having me.

Thanks so much for listening to the Living Well with PMDD podcast. To learn more about life coaching with me, visit my website Heidi, H-E-I-D-I, bradford coaching.com. Until next time, keep hoping, keep loving, and remember that you are not alone.