The Body You Were Always Meant to Have with Sas Petherick [Body Stories Series #6]
EPISODE 323For many of us, the body has long felt like an inconvenient, separate entity. Our intellect does the heavy lifting while our physical selves get relegated to the background. You know how to think your way through problems, build a career, figure things out. But when it comes to looking down and asking your body what it actually needs, there's a tight ball of feelings most of us would rather not touch.
My dear friend and developmental coach Sas Petherick used to live that way. Over the past year, through a process she describes as one of the most vulnerable experiences of her life, Sas has gone through a complete identity shift in how she relates to her body, her marriage, and herself. She's lost 52 pounds and built her most developed muscle mass as an adult. But what surprised her most wasn't the physical change. It was that figuring out her body stuff required more growing up than changing careers, getting sober, or losing a parent.
In this sixth and final installment of the Body Stories series on Truce with Food, Sas returns to close out a year-long conversation about what it actually takes to change your relationship with your body. We get into why body image lives in the brain and not the mirror, how the padding she carried was protection against vulnerability she wasn't ready to feel, and what it means when your insides finally match your outsides. This is what it looks like to move from self-monitoring to true self-awareness and become more fully yourself.
7:21 – Why Sas ranks this body journey alongside sobriety, grief, and career change as one of the most identity-altering experiences of her life
13:00 – Difficulties of the journey and how much Sas’s relationship with her body has impacted her nearly 20-year-old relationship with her partner
19:08 – Highlights of the journey and what Sas noticed while watching a stranger at dinner that revealed just how far she's come
24:05 – The concept that changed everything for Sas about why this was the right time
32:50 – Why maintenance (which everyone says is the hardest part of this journey) has actually become easier for Sas
41:22 – How Sas avoids negotiating with herself when it comes to consistently working out
46:23 – Why Sas’s relationship with food is more difficult than her relationship with exercise, and how she’s learning to work through it
50:11 – Why body dysmorphia might have a root emotion that doesn't get talked about enough
52:52 – The unexpected connection between weight, physical safety, and vulnerability
1:00:07 – Defining body image, embracing the body positivity movement, and why grief isn’t just about loss
1:02:37 – Sas's honest take on GLP-1s: what’s missing from the conversation, what she'd do if she were taking them, and what everyone should be asking before they decide
1:09:12 – How exploring her relationships with food, movement, and her body are no longer tied to the scale for Sas
1:12:06 – Where Sas is in her body journey right now, preventative healthcare vs. medicalized care, and where she wants to go from here
Mentioned In The Body You Were Always Meant to Have with Sas Petherick
Body Stories Series episodes with Sas Petherick:
How to Lose Weight and Love Yourself (because you can do both!)
“We’re the Brave Ones” – Discipline vs Devotion, Macros & Being Sporty
Emotions & Embodiment for Sustainable Weight Loss
How to Hold Your Weight Loss Goals Loosely (for better results)
How to Finally Stop White-Knuckling Your Weight-Loss Journey
Sas Petherick | Instagram | Substack | Courage and Spice for Coaches podcast
The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling by James Hillman
Conversations with God, The Little Soul and the Sun, and other books by Neale Donald Walsch
The Body Confidence Book by Professor Phillippa Diedrichs
