Andrea Amador, The Juicy Woman Says, "Hi"

[thejuicywoman 0]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Andrea Amador and I'm an author, professional coach, body image and self esteem expert. I respect your policy on advertising and I want to offer some solutions by sharing my experience.

First and foremost I'm a gal who has struggled with a negative body image and hating my thighs for what seems like forever. No matter what size I was, I was never at peace with my body and I swore that as long as I was overweight, I could never be happy. For years I lived much of my life procrastinating, waiting and hoping for that day when I would be thin. Finally in 2001, after nearly 20 years of being an on again/off again member of Weight Watchers, I reached my goal. At 5'2", 162 pounds, I was a size 8. Weight Watchers pushed and they suggested that I continue to lose more weight, but I knew that I was where I wanted to be and I left.

Being in that place, with the size body I wanted, I thought all my problems would magically dissolve, but they didn't.

For five years I managed to maintain my 60 pound weight loss, but it was a tooth and nail struggle every step of the way. I expected it wouldn't be easy, but I didn't know it was as hard as it was. That marked the second time that I had gotten down to my goal weight. The first time five years earlier I became pregnant with my daughter and I instantly blew up and gained an extra 60 pounds.

In 2006, I took my 10 year old daughter, Cara to the doctor and there I came face to face with the truth that she, too was becoming an emotional eater.

Being raised by a diet-crazed fat phobic dad, I grew up thinking that I had no self control around food. My years of closet eating and binging seemed to reinforce that belief. Soon after my son, Paul started to gain weight, I handled it the same way as my dad with fear, deprivation and intimidation.

After recognizing that was killing my relationship with my son, I knew that I couldn't take my daughter Cara through that also. So with the support of a friend who was an eating disorders therapist, I made a decision to take a leap of faith and learn how to make peace with food and get thinner naturally without dieting. I began my Quest to learn how to become a normal eater.

It's been a rocky road, but I've learned so many wonderful things that I'm eager to share. The most, most, most important thing I've learned is that if we don't learn to love our heavier "before" bodies, we'll never be able to keep and maintain our slimmer "after" bodies. Basically I'm here because I want to help others to embrace themselves every step of the way.

In the process of doing the research for my book, I learned that our minds and bodies are connected and our thoughts affect our bodies. As an abuse survivor, I spent years feeling sorry for myself and blaming the world, especially men for my misery. It put me in a position of always feeling resentful and angry, never able to recognize any of my blessings. My inner critic kept me consistently feeling undeserving, less than, fat and ugly which made it hard to motivate myself to get unstuck from many of life's sticky situations.

Back in 2004 I faced a personal crisis and someone introduced me to a stress relief process called Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT. It literally changed my life. I've used EFT to deal with cravings, allergies, anger, sadness, pain, and any other stressful situation that comes from living in dis ease.

Working at the plus size women's retail store, Avenue, I get a lot of opportunities to speak with our female customers who are always eager to share bits and pieces of their life, and seek out an open heart and a listening ear. I've recently realized that the success of lap band surgery is dependent upon changing one's attitude and relationship toward food. In this way, I can help. I'd like to offer myself and my expertise as a source of inspiration and support.

Sincerely,

Andrea