I’ve been really nervous to post anything about this but I made it a month… and I’m very serious this time. So here goes. If you know me at all, you know I’ve struggled with my weight the majority of my life. Yo-yo dieting, losing the weight, gaining it back - I’ve pretty much done it all. You know the typical beginning of a weight loss story.
However, after I had my second child and last baby, Jeremiah, about a month ago I started wanting to lose the baby weight. I began tracking my weight and I noticed I was gaining about two pounds a week. This shocked me! I was feeling like poo and I was weighing more than I ever have, even pregnant!
I started to get nervous - realizing this isn’t normal and I knew I needed to see my endocrinologist. I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism right before I got pregnant with Jeremiah. My doctor had found a Thyroid Nodule which led to me finding out that I have Hypothyroidism (yearly physical exams are so important - don’t forget your physical!). I am also insulin resistant from having PCOS.
Basically, I have a bunch of craziness going on in my body particularly with my hormones. After Jeremiah was born, baby brain took over and I completely forgot that I should be on the medication I was on before getting pregnant.
I went and saw my endocrinologist and got on meds but something about having to be dependent on these medications made me realize I don’t want to live like this... I want to be around to play with my grandchildren. Yes, you read that right, my GRANDCHILDREN! Not only do I want to be around for my children but I want to have the joy of knowing my grandchildren. I knew if I did not get control over health and these conditions then I would not get that opportunity. Talk about God lighting a fire under my butt.
So I began to hunt - I searched the internet, gathered resources, went to see my therapist, talked to my closest friends, listened to my mentor, and figured out that it could be simple. The good Lord knows I need simple right now with small children, COVID and, well, you get the picture.
So often we think getting healthy - changing our eating habits, implementing exercise - has to be this big production. I am here to tell you it does not have to be. What I gathered from my resources and my support people is that the more simple it is, the easier it is to stick to it.
Okay okay.... reading that last statement you’re probably thinking, “well duh!” However, I didn’t realize I was making it so complicated with doing these crazy work out videos, creating meal plans that I never stuck to, searching for hours on end on Pinterest for ideas. No! All I needed to do was to eat God’s food (anything growing from the earth), move my body (get in at least my steps in daily) and drink my water! Pamela Crim, my mentor and creator of Big Life Mentoring, said it best, “food is fuel, water is life and movement is happiness.” Boy, did I ever cling to a mantra! This mantra was a game changer as Pamela would like to say.
I decided to finally listen and take those things to heart. I started tracking and focusing on how many steps I take and set a weekly goal for myself. At first my goal was 7,000 steps daily then I moved to 7,500 and now at the end of this month I am doing 8,000 steps working towards eventually 10,000. I also went back to my beloved gym, Curves, whom I’ve had a relationship with since I was 19 years old. I’ve always loved working out with a group for accountability but also it’s only 30 minutes and everything is already set up for you. You go and jump on the circuit and then you're done in 30 minutes! How easy, fun and fast! Plus, it’s about five minutes from my office.
Next, I started tracking my food intake and what I was eating. My husband y’all, gets a lot of credit for this portion because he cooks in our family (I am terrible at cooking unless it’s a crockpot meal otherwise it’s usually not edible.) He immediately jumped on board and began cooking me healthy dinners with leftovers that became lunches. We also decided to get rid of the junk in the house - junk is not God’s food! It’s processed food!
Lastly, I committed to drinking one gallon of water a day! Yes, I even brought one of those massive one gallon water bottles (which has created more laughs in my family then anything.)
That’s it - Simplicity at its finest. This month I lost a total of 5.5lbs with making these simple changes.
Now let’s be real...It wasn’t all candy apples and roses. At times it was a struggle. However the key is consistency! The steps seemed to be my bump in the road but I quickly realized if I’m just walking throughout the day it’s not that bad. I also decided if I had steps to do at the end of the day, after the kids went to sleep I would go for a quick 15 minute walk around my neighborhood and finish them up! This worked to my surprise! This wasn’t always able to happen because well, summer rain but I found new and creative ways of getting my steps in (check out my Wellness Wednesday video on steps) like walking in place while watching TV. Lapping around my house. I made it work.
The water... I started using a straw like a youtuber suggested and it made it so much easier to get that gallon down.
This is all still a work in progress and my point of telling you my beginning is to let you know that you can choose to be healthy and make small changes to your daily habits and those will turn into results, happiness and a sense of accomplishment. I mean let’s be real I’m just a real average Joe over here with two kids and a crazy busy life. However, deciding to change the steps in my story has led to positive change. You too can change your story, it’s all about just taking the next positive steps!
