Thank you for joining us for episode 523 of Live Happy Now.

When we talk about becoming strong women, we're often not talking about something physical.

But this week's guest tells us how reclaiming our physical power can also build our inner strength.

I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and this week I'm joined by Anne Marie Chaker, author of

Lyft, How Women Can Re Claim their physical power and Transform Their Lives.

Using her own life-changing experiences in bodybuilding, combined with a deep dive into research

on how we've been taught to view our bodies. Anne Marie provides a roadmap

to rethinking body image and discovering true power and confidence that goes well beyond our size.

Let's have a listen. And Marie, thank you for joining me on Live Happy Now. Oh, Paula, it's great to meet you.

The topic that you've written about is something that I've been really intrigued with for several

years, and I had never seen a book on it, because you have written a book about how strength

training can really change women, not just physically, but it really changes us from the inside

out. And can we start by talking about how you came to write this book? Yeah, yeah. So the book was born a really

difficult time in my life. I had recently had a baby and was really struggling, kind of surprised

with how much I was struggling with postpartum depression. And I was nursing my baby on the couch

in the living room one day.

When a neighbor came to my house and knocked on the door and said, my father had died suddenly

just walking the dog, had a heart attack. My folks slip a couple doors down. And the combination of

that and the end of my marriage just threw me for a loop.

Every truth I had imagined about my life was suddenly being upended. And I counted 11 days or something

ridiculous where I just could not sleep, which you probably know is a

sign of depression.

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