As June is coming to a close, I’ve been thinking about the past year quite a bit. June marks my one-year anniversary of improving my health through changes in my nutrition.
As you probably know I actually started my health journey in January of 2016. I was very overweight (yes, obese) and quite unhealthy. I had high blood pressure and my Dr. told me I was on a fast path to Type 2 diabetes if I didn’t make changes soon.
I wanted to start improving my health by eliminating chemicals from my diet. I started by eliminating diet pop. It was very hard to do, almost (possibly) an addiction. I decided to go cold turkey, you know, kinda like jumping into the deep end of the pool instead of walking down the stairs slowly and gradually. I started making homemade iced tea with stevia to sweeten it. I also stopped buying processed, convenient packaged foods from the grocery store.
The next month, after I was getting used to these changes, I joined Weight Watchers. For the most part, I followed their Simply Filling program that focused on eating fresh, unprocessed foods. I did lose weight but very slowly. I switched to the Smart Points program but wasn’t thrilled that many of the low point options were processed convenience foods. Then I kinda combined both programs into my own plan of calculating points on whole/fresh foods. Long story short, after a year and so much work, I lost 50 pounds … but only went down 1 size. I was so disappointed, and I was tired of weighing and measuring and calculating everything that I ate. I quit, but quickly gained some weight back … grrr ☹
I had a friend who was having great success following a different nutrition system and having great results. What I found most interesting was in her pictures on Facebook (yes, I stalked her … don’t judge ?). She was shrinking! I wanted to shrink too! I just spent more than a year losing weight (I was proud of those 50 pounds lost) but I still felt fat and bloated all the time. I wanted visual results too. I took a chance and called her. What did I have to lose?
That was last June. I’m thrilled to say I’ve lost nearly 40 more pounds, but more important to me, I’ve lost 51 inches (overall) since last June … for than 4 feet !!! I have gone down 4 pant sizes and no longer need plus size tops ?
Some of the other “side effects” of feeding your body with great nutrition are:
- Better sleep
- Less brain fog
- More energy
Oh, and my Dr. loves my new healthy lifestyle. All my bloodwork came back on the low end of normal, and no more blood pressure meds for me!
Best health decision I’ve ever made, my only regret was not starting sooner ? Oh, those empty hangers are from cleaning out my closet from all the clothes that were TOO BIG <3
I’d love to help you get started on your own healthy lifestyle … reach out so we can have a chat ?