Meet Lori Griffin of The Nightshirt Chronicles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lori Griffin.

Hi Lori, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I moved back to Nashville in April of 2018! I gained 60 pounds in two years. I was running non-stop, Mach 10 with my hair on fire, trying to acclimate back into a community that I left 13 years prior. I was in the hospitality industry, selling during the day and working many evenings during the week, so my health got put on the backburner. I tell everyone I was eating like an unsupervised 6-year-old on a road trip with $100. LITERALLY. When the world stopped in March of 2020, I knew it was time to clean it up. Plus I felt terrible!!! I knew I was 75-90 pounds overweight and it was when I bought a nightshirt from Katie Kime that didn’t fit. It was too little, I couldn’t button it, it was monogrammed and I couldn’t return it. For some reason, that was the breaking point. So I started taking a $39 supplement and writing my own food plan. I had tried everything under the sun for years, I have always been a yo-yo dieter, and I had finally had enough. I had done Weight Watchers many times, I had tried medical programs, clinics and had read enough Dr. Oz and Oprah for five people, so I wanted to figure it out for good!!

Six weeks later, I slipped on the nightshirt and I couldn’t believe the difference. I had lost 25 pounds and 21 inches in six weeks. I knew I was on to something and viola, The Nightshirt Chronicles was born. I knew at that moment that I would continue to document the journey in the nightshirt and that the book that I had always wanted to write would be of the same title. The Nightshirt Chronicles is a book all about women, image, self-worth, menopause, sexual assault, addiction… you name it. I’m going there. It’s time to open up these conversations and kick down the doors.

Also, at the six-week mark, I realized that if a virus spreads when large groups are gathered that I would not be going back to work for at least a year, so I needed a job. I started selling the supplements that were changing my life. Everything catapulted from that one decision. It’s been a magical year for sure. I found a branding illustrator to bring The Nightshirt Chronicles to life. I started using a dear friend to be my graphic designer, I quickly became one of the top sales consultants out of 3,000 men and women. I now have 200 health clients, a website, a digital newsletter, a team of amazing men and women, and I’m starting to do more private coaching and speaking. The book is almost finished. More importantly, I lost 75 pounds and 48 inches in just over 11 months. I am only 10 pounds from the final goal!!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I have entrepreneurs ask me all the time for advice, and they’ll come to be with all of these amazing ideas, month after month, and finally, I started telling them all, THE REASON ENTREPRENEURS FAIL IS SIMPLY LACK OF ACTION. If you are not moving forward, then you’re not getting anything done. You have to start. Your business will never be perfect. You have to just start and keep perfecting it. If I had waited until I was “ready”, it would have never happened. I would be a year behind where I am now. I quadrupled my health income in a year. I am changing lives through health and self-worth. This is the most rewarding work I’ve ever done. I’m so thankful every day that I took the leap and made it happen.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Nightshirt Chronicles?
I am a wellness advocate specializing in weight loss and regaining your life/health! I try to make weight loss FUN!!!! I wanted to do this whole journey differently this time, and then I started sharing it with others!! Celebrating every five pounds, celebrating with non-food rewards, celebrating the non-scale victories like crossing my legs, being comfortable on an airplane, etc. Giving them the security they need to ask for help and constantly reminding myself and others to give yourself some grace!! This journey is not perfect. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You will not do it perfectly, I don’t do it perfectly every day, but we just get up and keep trying.

I have talked to hundreds of men and women this year, and there is SO MUCH guilt and shame over food. So many apologies and I want to redirect that conversation. I want to help them think about food differently. I branded my own food plan because I knew that is where I was struggling and I wanted to be able to provide myself and my clients with a livable plan. I had to practically relearn how to eat. Our society spends a lot of time eating, thinking about food and celebrating with food, so I just work with my clients to change some of these habits. I spend a lot of time on the phone with my clients, going over food journals, talking about nutrition and giving them great “hacks” to make eating more enjoyable and better for their health.

I am most proud of the relationships that I’ve made through this process. I had no idea it would grow into this magical journey where my life would be intertwined with men and women all over the country. I had no idea that my journey in the “nightshirt” would be so impactful that others would trust me with their next phase or next chapter. I have clients from 19-70, and they are in all stages of life. I have young women getting ready for weddings, I have postpartum women that want to feel better… postmenopausal clients that are struggling with weight gain, men who want to feel better in their own skin and individuals in their 60s that want more energy so they can keep up with their grandchildren. This is sincerely the most rewarding work I have ever done. I am so thankful for their stories, their encouragement and their courage to change their own lives.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
This is my full-time job. I branded my own food plan. I send newsletters to keep my clients motivated. I do private coaching. The Nightshirt Chronicles book is in the works. I am going to be a part of a women’s conference in Tulsa, OK on Sunday, October 3rd. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.thenightshirtchronicles.com
• Instagram: @thenightshirtchronicles
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Nightshirt-Chronicles-101035111809556

Image Credits
Every photo submitted excluding the nightshirt photos are by Kathy Thomas Photography.