![Picture](/uploads/6/7/5/9/6759200/6020786.jpg?195)
Last November 2014, I began a journey of health, healing and beauty. I was inspired by my friend Beth, who had begun her own journey of beauty the previous year. Her journey could totally be renamed: A Journey of Kickassery, as she grabbed the reigns on her health and personal life through diet, exercise, personal writing and more. Seriously. She lost tons of weight, went through major family changes, raised and home-schooled a child and stayed grounded in her faith. She is a passionate, super-fun person, and was able to take all that natural enthusiasm and focus it on improving the quality of her life. I knew I needed to bottle some of that kickassery and jump-start my own journey and proclaim my own fight for health and freedom.
So, I started by going to my doctor and a natural path. I got my diagnoses in order [more on those later] and made a promise to myself to be super diligent about taking my prescribed medicines and supplements. Folks, this was a biggie for me. I hate taking pills and have always struggled to maintain a daily habit of pill popping.
I also made a chart, old-school-style, on a big ol' piece of poster board to document my weight loss. I had no idea what a good starting goal would be, so I just marked the chart as far as the paper let me. That was my first goal: to make it to 271lbs by mid-July, 2015, which was about 25 pounds to lose over the course of at least nine months. A super-safe goal. [Nearing so close to 300lbs was a real wake-up call!]
I maintained taking my medicines throughout the winter, but saw no physical difference. My weight stayed fairly consistent, and clothes were no looser. I was pretty disappointed. I did notice changes in my mood, which I credited to my B6 supplement.
I needed to make another step forward, and when my friend Joy (you'll hear a lot about her too) shared that she was going to use the MyFitnessPal app to maintain a food diary, I said I would join her. This was mid-March. I added everything - EVERYTHING - to that app. A couple things became super clear to me: I didn't like to eat in the morning (so all my calories were in the evening when I was the most inactive) and my portions were all off. I also drank too much soda, specifically Diet Coke, and not enough water. I loved fatty, sugary foods and tended to binge when stressed.
I made a deal with myself to drink one Diet Coke per day. A little over a month later, I realized I hadn't had Diet Coke in several days. I looked up my last Diet Coke on the MyFitnessPal app and it had been over a week since I had consumed a soda. Almost on cue, I got a massive headache that lasted several days, but I maintained not drinking Diet Coke, or any other soda. I was determined. It's now mid-September and I have yet to drink a Diet Coke. Confession: I have had orange soda and Root Beer on occasion, but feel proud of myself for not giving in to drinking Diet Coke.
I remember years and years and years ago reading an article where Alison Sweeney talked about how when she gave up Diet Coke and sodas, she lost a lot of weight. I was hopeful.
I added tracking steps - first with a step tracker on my phone and eventually with the FitBit Charge HR. Tracking steps led to making it through two 10,000 steps a day online support groups, walking my neighborhood, and joining a gym. I also tracked water intake. After all of this effort, patience and prayer, by mid-July, I was down to 270.5. I made my goal! Clothes felt better, and people were noticing. To celebrate, I walked/ran my first 5k on July 11th.
What happens next? I was post-5k, post-meeting my first goal and, honestly, burnt out from maintaining everything. And, well, life happened.
IT was a busy season of youth ministry fund-raising (firework stand!), my 5-year anniversary, a week of camp, big events at work, turning 35, maintaining a home and caring for my hubs and cats AND, folks, it was simply being the hottest summer Oregon has experienced in, like, forever. Due to all of these excuses, my journey took a bit of a pause. I continued to wear my FitBit (though don't make the goal every day) and watched my food and soda intake. I've managed (by God's grace), to maintain my weight, but definitely need to get moving again and get busy on my next big goal.
Enter this blog. As I kick things up again, I am going to add keeping a journal - or well, a blog. I will share goals, ups and downs, and what I am doing to make it all happen. Let's make it happen!
So, I started by going to my doctor and a natural path. I got my diagnoses in order [more on those later] and made a promise to myself to be super diligent about taking my prescribed medicines and supplements. Folks, this was a biggie for me. I hate taking pills and have always struggled to maintain a daily habit of pill popping.
I also made a chart, old-school-style, on a big ol' piece of poster board to document my weight loss. I had no idea what a good starting goal would be, so I just marked the chart as far as the paper let me. That was my first goal: to make it to 271lbs by mid-July, 2015, which was about 25 pounds to lose over the course of at least nine months. A super-safe goal. [Nearing so close to 300lbs was a real wake-up call!]
I maintained taking my medicines throughout the winter, but saw no physical difference. My weight stayed fairly consistent, and clothes were no looser. I was pretty disappointed. I did notice changes in my mood, which I credited to my B6 supplement.
I needed to make another step forward, and when my friend Joy (you'll hear a lot about her too) shared that she was going to use the MyFitnessPal app to maintain a food diary, I said I would join her. This was mid-March. I added everything - EVERYTHING - to that app. A couple things became super clear to me: I didn't like to eat in the morning (so all my calories were in the evening when I was the most inactive) and my portions were all off. I also drank too much soda, specifically Diet Coke, and not enough water. I loved fatty, sugary foods and tended to binge when stressed.
I made a deal with myself to drink one Diet Coke per day. A little over a month later, I realized I hadn't had Diet Coke in several days. I looked up my last Diet Coke on the MyFitnessPal app and it had been over a week since I had consumed a soda. Almost on cue, I got a massive headache that lasted several days, but I maintained not drinking Diet Coke, or any other soda. I was determined. It's now mid-September and I have yet to drink a Diet Coke. Confession: I have had orange soda and Root Beer on occasion, but feel proud of myself for not giving in to drinking Diet Coke.
I remember years and years and years ago reading an article where Alison Sweeney talked about how when she gave up Diet Coke and sodas, she lost a lot of weight. I was hopeful.
I added tracking steps - first with a step tracker on my phone and eventually with the FitBit Charge HR. Tracking steps led to making it through two 10,000 steps a day online support groups, walking my neighborhood, and joining a gym. I also tracked water intake. After all of this effort, patience and prayer, by mid-July, I was down to 270.5. I made my goal! Clothes felt better, and people were noticing. To celebrate, I walked/ran my first 5k on July 11th.
What happens next? I was post-5k, post-meeting my first goal and, honestly, burnt out from maintaining everything. And, well, life happened.
IT was a busy season of youth ministry fund-raising (firework stand!), my 5-year anniversary, a week of camp, big events at work, turning 35, maintaining a home and caring for my hubs and cats AND, folks, it was simply being the hottest summer Oregon has experienced in, like, forever. Due to all of these excuses, my journey took a bit of a pause. I continued to wear my FitBit (though don't make the goal every day) and watched my food and soda intake. I've managed (by God's grace), to maintain my weight, but definitely need to get moving again and get busy on my next big goal.
Enter this blog. As I kick things up again, I am going to add keeping a journal - or well, a blog. I will share goals, ups and downs, and what I am doing to make it all happen. Let's make it happen!