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Summary
On episode 147 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Sharee Samuels, founder of the popular blog A Funeral for My Fat, who has been featured in People magazine and on Good Morning America, E! News, Extra, and OMG Insider.
Sharee lost more than 120 pounds over five years and shares the tools that got her through it, starting with a letter she wrote to herself in the voice she’d use to comfort a struggling friend.
The conversation covers finding a form of exercise you actually enjoy, why moderation doesn’t work for everyone, and the EFFORT acronym she built to diagnose the seven-month plateau that hit her at the midpoint of her journey.
Links
- https://funeralformyfat.com
- https://shereesamuels.com
Key Takeaways
- Writing a letter to yourself counters negative self-talk. Sharee talks to herself the way she’d talk to a friend having a hard day, then rereads the letter on days when she needs the reminder.
- Lasting weight loss is a long process, not a quick fix. Sharee lost more than 120 pounds, but it took her five years, and she frames that timeline as normal rather than slow.
- Finding your “fitness type” matters more than forcing yourself through a program you hate. Sharee dreaded personal training and bootcamp classes until she found Zumba, which she came to love enough to become an instructor.
- Moderation doesn’t work for everyone, and that’s not a personal failure. Sharee can’t eat just one chip or one piece of candy, so instead of moderation she relies on planning meals ahead and keeping trigger foods out of the house.
- Plateaus are guaranteed, not a sign you’re doing something wrong. Sharee’s own plateau lasted seven months, roughly the midpoint of her journey, and it’s the point where most people quit.
- Her EFFORT acronym gives a structured way to diagnose a stalled plateau. It stands for Exercise, Food, Focus, Organization, Rest, and Time, six areas to honestly evaluate before assuming you just need to eat less or work out harder.
- Exercise and Food need honest tracking, not guessing. A plateau can mean you’re under-training and need to push harder, or over-training without recovery; on the food side, writing down what you actually eat often reveals the real problem.
- Rest cuts both ways, and Time requires patience. Training seven days a week with no recovery stalls progress just as much as barely training at all, and since it took years to gain the weight, it’s going to take real time, not a quick fix, to lose it.
“You set out to change your life, not a pair of socks.”
Sharee Samuels
Another Episode You May Enjoy
Episode 148 – Breath and Breathing for Better Health and Fitness
