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July 12, 2014 UPDATE: It is official. As of today, I have lost 100 pounds!
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Last Summer our family completely changed the way we eat. We did it for the good of everyone in the family, but especially because I hit my limit of being overweight. I was so tired of feeling uncomfortable in my clothes, feeling uncomfortable being in pictures with my kids, being upset by pictures of myself, tired of feeling tired, and tired of not enjoying certain aspects of my life merely because of my own body and weight hang-ups.
Diet
Steven is the main culinary expert at our house and he whole-heartedly accepted the challenge of feeding our family in a way that would be good for all of us, but also help me to hopefully lose the weight. And what do we eat? We eat Bacon. LOTS of bacon!!!! ;) And local pastured eggs cooked in the bacon grease! That's been my breakfast most of the time since we started on this new weight loss adventure. And I have lost most of these pounds while eating bacon and eggs every morning! Nothing low fat or fake. Bacon and Eggs! My point being, we eat real food. We eat unprocessed food. We eat meat, animal fat, butter, vegetables (cooked in animal fat or butter!), fruit, milk, and cheese. Plenty of homemade bone broth, plenty of good saturated fats, plenty of local raw milk (from a trusted farmer), and we also attempt to eat as much as possible from local sources. Pastured, grass fed, ethically-raised, non-gmo, local food is the ideal. We aren't always able to do that perfectly, but it's the goal. We cook with either butter or coconut oil. The kinds of fats that aren't made toxic by heat.If you wanted to put a label on our "diet" it would be closest to what is known as "Paleo" or "Primal." It's a grain-free diet focused on meat and produce.
What I Carefully Avoid
Anything "low fat." Unless it is naturally low fat such as vegetables and fruit, but God didn't make cows give us "low fat milk" and real milk from healthy cows does not make "low fat cheese." I do not consider "low fat foods" to be real food or healthy food. They are processed and modified from the way nature intended. Fat occurs in our food naturally for a reason. Fat is important. Taking it out is not healthy.
Exercise
I started doing Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred
last Summer (2012) and I've done it off and on with some regularity ever since. I find it extremely challenging, but effective and I love that it is just 20 minutes. Anyone can squeeze in 20 minutes. I started running in the fall and in November 2012 I ran my first half-marathon. I also ran an 8k later in November. I ran another half-marathon in February and a 5k in March. I enjoy running and walking and 30 Day Shred for my workouts most of the time. But honestly, the diet change has been far more important to my overall health, wellness, and weight loss than the exercise. The exercise has merely boosted my weight loss a bit along the way.
The Keys to My Success
- A very supportive husband/family. I couldn't have done it without his willingness to help at every step of the way and his being my biggest cheerleader.
- Real, permanent changes to my diet. It really is a lifestyle change.
- NOT feeling deprived by finding great and healthy replacements for all my old comfort foods.
- Finding out how delicious and satisfying real healthy food can be and learning how good I can feel while eating this way.
Now that I've lost 100 pounds I feel...
- Like a new woman.
- I don't hate pictures of myself.
- I am proud of my accomplishments.
- I feel healthy and strong.
I have gone from a size 20/22 to a size 6. I have gone from size XXL/1X down to size S/M.
Do I still have body insecurity issues? OF COURSE! I think it is a lifelong struggle to overcome those. But I do have much more confidence now. I feel much more comfortable in my own skin. I don't intend to be "done" by any means and I had hoped that this post would be a "100 pounds lost!" post, however - it is coming off so extremely slowly now that it could be another year before I'm able to say that I've lost 100 pounds. However, I am GREATLY looking forward to that and have every expectation that I will eventually meet that goal!
Now for the best part....
Before and After Pictures!!!
