About Me

 

I spent decades doing "Everything right" and still felt broken.

 

Now i help women over 50 stop the cyCle and finally thrive

 

 

Hi, I'm Laurel Parker

 

I am an active 60+ year old woman with three children, four grandchildren, two Master's degrees, and a career that included translator, day care manager, and mediator/human resources professional. I served as my parents full-time caregiver at their end of life.

I have had an active interest in health and fitness since I was a teenager.

My self-image and self-worth has been tied to the scale since I was 12 years old. I weighed 105 pounds. I was considered “fat” if I weighed more than 100 lbs. That number on the scale had been my goal ever since.

I lost weight, was praised, got my dessert, gained it back. I strived to eat less -- skipping meals, living on diet soda and “diet food” like low-fat yogurt. Then we would go on vacation or join the family for a holiday meal or go out to a restaurant and I couldn’t stop eating. 

I’d drop a couple of pounds, then gain them back. I started exercising every day to “make up for my appetite” -- I gained weight instead of losing. When I had my children, I was sick the entire time and could barely eat -- yet I gained 40 pounds throughout each pregnancy and was fat-shamed by the obstetrician’s nurses.

All around me, women were getting prescription weight-loss drugs, gastric bypass surgery, even getting their jaws wired shut in their efforts to eat less and lose weight. I had friends who took up smoking in college because it suppressed their appetite and allowed them to be thin. Bulimia was a common coping mechanism in college and professional life -- how appealing to think you could “eat all you want” and purge it in secret to “stay thin”. None of that appealed to me, fortunately, but I continued to feel shame for my size.

At 40, at a “high” weight of 120 and with a family history of heart disease and diabetes, I was told I had arthritis, and my doctor told me my blood tests indicated elevated blood cholesterol and blood sugar and wanted to put me on medication because I had “done everything” and developed these diseases anyway. Take daily aspirin, take statins, take metformin … I resisted, and insisted on seeing a nutritionist. Her advice was helpful -- reading labels of my food and discovering how much JUNK was in the “healthy food” I was eating -- and I managed to lower my blood cholesterol and fasting blood sugar by taking a much closer look at what my family and I ate. I started to realize how much artificial sweetener and other chemicals were in “diet food”. My weight dropped … a little …and my clothes fit better, my immune system was strong. Still, I was unhappy and ashamed of my body and myself -- I was nowhere near 100 lbs and it looked like I never would be. I was gaining muscle but my fat was still evident -- I never lost my “baby belly.” Stepping on the scale every morning told me I was a failure. Plus, my doctors told me my arthritis, elevated cholesterol and blood sugar was “genetic” and considered “a normal part of aging.”

In my 40’s and 50’s, I continued my journey for the “perfect diet” to get to that elusive weight goal of 100 lbs. I tried all the trending diets. I joined Weight Watchers. I joined Beachbody. I learned many positive habits from those efforts, but could not stick to their lifestyles. At 50, I gave up diet soda when my research taught me the body did not see any difference between real sugar and artificial sweetener -- ironically, my 40-year diet soda habit likely lead to my pre-diabetic state. I gave up gluten -- and my grass and pollen allergies disappeared, along with the joint pain I had felt since my 40’s. I began to learn more about what I ate and the effect on my body, even if it was considered "healthy".

Then my elderly parents became seriously ill. They were determined to remain independent, and they did that by not revealing the extent of their infirmities until they were in crisis.

When I ultimately left my full-time job to move in with them and oversee their care, they had baskets of pills -- each of them -- plus several different specialists that they saw on a regular basis. Neither of them were physically fit, and getting weaker rapidly. They had not been eating well.

I came in and began cooking real food for them but my parents’ health had reached the point of no return. My mother’s muscles were so weak from her strokes, her diet and inactivity that she was fully bedbound for the last two years of her life. My dad’s health decline progressed rapidly, despite my efforts to keep him engaged and feed them both healthy meals. They died a year apart.

I was determined not to follow that path. I did not want to leave this situation for my children. In addition to the rotation of activities I enjoyed for fitness (swimming, yoga, ice skating, group fitness classes at the Y) I joined a gym that provided a combo of strength and HIIT workouts, and began learning the importance of protein as an active person over 60. I learned that I was likely in perimenopause in my 40’s when I was first diagnosed with elevated cholesterol, blood sugar and arthritis -- and that hormonal imbalances likely lead to insulin resistance (a pre-pre diabetic condition) that was also likely the source of my stubborn belly fat and resistance to weight loss. It was not the first time I was told I wasn’t eating enough, but it was the first time I started to listen. A colleague introduced me to a lifestyle approach that involved BALANCING my protein, fats, and carbs and eating more frequently … and I resisted following the program. My dieting mindset was SO strong! I couldn’t POSSIBLY eat that much!!

Meanwhile, my A1C had risen to the point that my doctor told me I really had to seriously consider diabetes medication. Again, I resisted.

Then I heard a podcast episode that talked about set points and the effects of the dieting roller-coaster. How the body protects you during famine (or perceived starvation) by lowering your set point and conserving fat, and utilizing muscle for fuel. How the more you “eat less, exercise more”, the lower that set point and the more muscle you stood to lose. That got my attention.

Still skeptical, I signed on with a coach to guide me through that lifestyle approach… and learned to appreciate all that I was doing RIGHT for my health. I learned to catch those moments when the voice of that little girl shamed for “being fat” flared up. I learned to recognize emotional cravings as well as physical hunger. I learned to balance the ratios of protein, fats and carbs to address my body’s needs -- and eat more often than I thought I was “allowed” to eat. My sleep improved. My immune system became stronger. My hair, nails and skin are healthier than they’ve ever been. My “baby belly” is finally disappearing, replaced by strong visible muscle. My energy levels were up. And, at my next doctor’s appointment, my A1C had dropped to low-normal levels. “Keep up whatever you are doing!” he said!

My success inspired me to become a certified coach in that lifestyle program so I can help others avoid the shame and self-loathing I felt as a 12-year old, as a college student, as a pregnant wife, and as a mom, plus stay strong and healthy as I age -- something I wish my elderly parents had been able to do.

My Mission

 

I want to help as many active women as I can become their own nutrition boss. No fads. No extremes. Just smart, sustainable daily actions that lead to long-term transformation.

Because you are not behind. You’re not broken. And it’s never too late to start.

Start your Journey

 

 

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