Success and Freedom

Sarah Jenks on weight

Pain Point: Lifelong struggle with weight
Tactic: Hit rock bottom and stopped blaming her weight for her unhappiness
Today: She loves her business and family, and has a healthy weight.

Since the age of 10, I was that fat kid taunted with “sumo, sumo!” on the bus. In my 20s, I was always the fattest woman in the office or at the gym.

It wasn’t just that I was overweight and unhappy about it. I was letting the way I felt about my body get in the way of my life. In high school I told myself, If I lose 20 pounds, I will get better grades, or, The boy I have a crush on will ask me out, or, I’ll have more friends. As an adult, I told myself, If I lose 40 pounds, I will go dancing with my friends and not worry about how I look naked.

Even though I went to a good college, was later successful at a New York City advertising agency and had a great boyfriend, I always felt my life would be better if I lost weight.

Then one day I hit rock bottom. At work I was responsible for marketing a chocolate company and found myself in a closet eating a bag of foil-wrapped chocolates. I ate all but five of the candies, which I threw in the garbage in a major exhibit of self-restraint. Next thing I knew, I dug those chocolates out of the trash and ate them.

That was when I looked at my life. I thought, OK, I have no control here. I also realized my life was really boring. I was waiting for my life to begin when I got thin. I thought I was miserable because of my body. But I was miserable because of my life. So I started living it.

I reconnected with my boyfriend and realized our relationship had suffered not because he wasn’t attracted to me, but because I had been ignoring him. Two months after we reconnected emotionally and romantically, he proposed. And I signed up for a dance class, which is a passion of mine.

Without making any major lifestyle changes, I stopped overeating and lost 30 pounds. I’ve since gotten married, had two babies, and changed my career to become a life coach. My business helps women live their best lives, regardless of their weight. The company slogan is really my story: Live more; weigh less.

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