My Story

Personal Story

My name is Polly Hamp, and at 52 years old, I had finally had enough! I distinctly remember beginning to think I was fat at age 8. I wasn’t, but most of us aren’t the first time we self-criticize.

That began a cycle of self-hatred and attempts to control food, my body and my habits. 

Like so many, I tried every conceivable diet, and made up a few on the way. I restricted, and I obsessed. I cannot remember an age where I did not simultaneously hate my body and connect it to my perception of myself. 

At a point in my life where so much, including food, seemed out of control, it finally hit me. Managing my weight through control had never affected the way I felt about myself.  

I hated my body at its thinnest. I hated my body at its largest.

This realization changed my understanding, and it changed the way I tried to change. I decided to love my body when I was the heaviest I had ever been. It took some work, but this change changed everything.

I began to care for my body, and my heart and they both began to change. 

Today I know, I had the whole process backwards. Weight loss is not the key to happy living. Doing the work to live happy is the key to being healthy and being healthy leads to weight loss. By focusing on loving and caring for myself, both physically, mentally and emotionally, I began to see changes. 

Happiness doesn’t come from losing weight; it stems from self-love and care, which in turn fosters health.