What kind of changes can you make that will help you not only lose weight, but also STAY healthy for the long-term? Honestly, none.If your mindset is that you want to lose weight so that you can eat pizza and cookies again in a few months, then you're screwed. You have to understand that this is not for a time, it's for life. But isn't that what we want? LIFE! I don't know about you, but I was re...

What kind of changes can you make that will help you not only lose weight, but also STAY healthy for the long-term?

Honestly, none.

If your mindset is that you want to lose weight so that you can eat pizza and cookies again in a few months, then you're screwed.

You have to understand that this is not for a time, it's for life. But isn't that what we want? LIFE! I don't know about you, but I was ready to have life again. If there were underlying problems, I knew I wouldn't be able to get to the bottom of it in a doctor's office, because their first thought would be all my problems were due to my weight. Truthfully, I thought all of my problems were probably weight-based, too.

I figured my depression, anxiety, swelling hands, fatigue, brain-fog, all of it was probably related to my poor diet and excessive weight.

Enter Karen, from This Mainer Mom on youtube.

She doesn't know I'm going to mention her in my blog, but she deserves it. She is a mom on youtube who was decluttering her house and who I found during my 2021-2022 decluttering journey. She is so down-to-earth and lovely and I enjoyed her slower pace and ability to see the joy in things.

But she was also overweight and having major knee problems. And she also understood that if she wanted to get something done about it, her doctor would first tell her she needed to lose some weight. So, she found Optavia (not sponsored, by the way). They are potentially a "fad diet" company for those who choose to use it, lose it, and quit it. But for her and for me, it wasn't. We were determined NOT to let it be that way. I watched her for months and saw her transformation. She was already a beautiful lady, but you could tell she was getting that sparkle back in her eyes as the weight came off. She was SO excited to be able to simply walk up and down her stairs without needing to hold onto the railing! It was the sweetest most genuine journey I had ever watched happen in real-time. And as soon as I saw her walk down those stairs, I decided I wanted in. I wanted this thing because this was the thing that would help me not only have the foods and the strictness I needed, but would also slowly teach me how to adapt it to my own lifestyle and keep the weight off.

I started my Optavia journey on May 1, 2023. I had already lost five pounds the week before I began, because I cut out sweet tea and coffee, knowing these wouldn't be allowed on my diet. Also, me and coffee had some bad history so I figured I should let it go.
By June 1st, six days before my 32nd birthday, I believe I had lost around 10-12 pounds. The people closest to me in my life were starting to notice.
Then by July, I had lost about 15-18 pounds. It was incredible! People at the gym were noticing and some of my family members were becoming concerned because I was "withering away". HA! I was SO glad to be withering off all the fat that was weighing me down for years!
By August, school had started back up, my two children were both attending public school for the first time (cue a million tears and all the feelings of failing them) and I was free to go to the gym as early as I wanted. So, I did, because I didn't know what else to do with all my new "free time".
By the end of September I had lost 25 pounds.
By the end of October, I was down 40 pounds. I was officially at the lowest weight I had been since having children. I was back down to 135 pounds. And it felt freaking amazing! I knew the holidays would cause me to back-slide, so I was mindful and I was pretty diligent to keep the weight off. I got sick once, my children got sick once, and overall, we have made it through the holidays and winter months and at my "worst" I had gone back up to 143 pounds. That was two weeks ago. Between that time and now, I discovered I had shingles on my head (OUCH!!!!) and that it had probably developed into a staph infection. And two days after getting on antibiotics for that, I started to sound like an 80 year-old chain smoker.

And when I weighed this morning I was just above 140 pounds.

Not bad.

By the way, I had officially stopped using all the "fuelings" on the Optavia diet on November 1st, 2023. I have been completely on my own foods, my own cooking, my own drinking since that time. I have a few of the fuelings left, but I only use them when I can't find a quick snack or when I don't feel like eating an entire meal. But that is maybe once ever two or three weeks.

All-in-all, I feel pretty good about my progress and am optimistic about keeping the weight off and continuing to lose more weight. I have goals in mind and I find that it keeps me motivated and encouraged to know how far I've come. I wouldn't mind being down to around 130 pounds. That feels like optimal healthy weight for me. However, I'm not planning to kill myself to get there. If there's anything this journey has taught me, it's that slow and steady really does win the race! But a little boost at the beginning is very nice and did help me to jump over some MAJOR mental blocks I didn't even know I had.

I say all of this because if you're in the same place I was and you truly don't think there is ANY way you can lose weight, or get back into the gym, or run the race, or make healthy meals consistently, I'm here to tell you YOU CAN! It's 1,000% possible and if you would like help with that, I'm happy to share with you what I've learned and my goal is to help you find that balance in life of living and eating healthy, while also not being afraid to have a brownie or a cookie every now and then. It's truly all about balance!

Final thoughts: If you don't love who you are NOW, you'll never love who you can become. The first step in your journey should include learning to love yourself RIGHT NOW. I did that for two years before I decided I was ready to try a diet plan. And I'm convinced that the love and appreciation I developed for my body within those two years is why I was able to stay consistent and intentional throughout the Optavia diet and beyond.

Sorry to leave you guys on a cliff hanger there! My time got cut short by my littlest waking up from his nap.Anyways, where was I? Oh yes! There were complications...Did I mention I hadn't ran or done basically any physical exercise for nearly THREE months? Did I also mention I had eaten like a teenage boy during those three months? Those are NOT good combinations to have when you run a half-marat...

Sorry to leave you guys on a cliff hanger there! My time got cut short by my littlest waking up from his nap.

Anyways, where was I? Oh yes! There were complications...

Did I mention I hadn't ran or done basically any physical exercise for nearly THREE months? Did I also mention I had eaten like a teenage boy during those three months? Those are NOT good combinations to have when you run a half-marathon (in case you were wondering).

Like I said, I finished that dang race, but it wasn't pretty. I had chafed in places I didn't know I would chafe in (mostly around my underarms and the sides where my sports bra somehow was rubbing against me the whole time?? It's a RUNNING bra! WTF!!) Anyways, I had put on the runners lube in places I expected to chafe, so at least I was semi-prepared, but honestly the chafing wasn't even the biggest issue!

Around mile 8 for reasons my doctor and I still can't explain, my hands swelled up to the size of Mickey Mouse's! I mean, literally. I had people on the sidelines asking if I was ok! Even my support team, which consisted of my husband, sister-in-law, and a few friends from our church Core Group were there at the finish line cheering me on and even they noticed how giant my hands were, but they were trying not to freak me out so they just waited to ask me about it until I had crossed the finish line.

But freaking out I most definitely was. Not only were they hugely swollen, but they HURT! I can only compare it to being pregnant and the feeling I got when my belly was so huge it felt like the skin around my belly button would rip open. That's how my hands felt. It felt like I had little hands inside my big hands that were trying to break through my skin. It was weird and extremely painful.

So, from mile 8 until mile 13.1 I was doing everything I could think of to bring down my swelling. I would literally run with my hands over my head. Haha! I had to look like a complete maniac, but I truly didn't care at the time. I even contemplated calling my husband to see if he could come pick me up and rush me to the nearest hospital, BUT - and this is the moment I realized I was for sure finishing this race either by my own two feet or by ambulance - I COULDN'T UNLOCK MY PHONE! My hands were SO SWOLLEN that they weren't able to hit the buttons to unlock my phone!

So, I started walking. Walking was the only thing that seemed to reduce the swelling. Which, to someone who had a time to beat and just wanted to be done with this ridiculous race, felt like I was moving at a snail's pace. Yet, every time I would start to barely jog again, they would swell up. It was awful.

At last, I finished. I didn't feel accomplished, I didn't feel successful, and I didn't want to run EVER again. I had proven I COULD finish a race, but I had also shown myself it's probably not something I SHOULD ever do again. At least not until I was positive my health was in a better place.

That half-marathon happened in November of 2022. I stopped going to the gym that winter because my husband had a very painful surgery that ended up having an even more painful recovery. Plus, my two children decided to trade germs for about three months. No joking, THREE months! From basically mid-November until mid-February, someone in our house was sick. It was literally the worst.

When January 2023 rolled around, I was ready to be back in the gym. I'm not ashamed to admit that it was because they had 2 hours of child care available from 8-10a.m. every morning that's free for anyone who has a membership, which we did. And after being cooped up in our house for weeks and then months, I was taking advantage of EVERY single healthy day we had.

I was in love with the boot camp class our gym had from 8:30-9:30 every day and that was truly my biggest joy in life at that time. I wanted to get into shape and I never wanted to feel so unhealthy as I did after that half-marathon ever again. So I made a change.

NO MORE EXCUSES!!

I made very few dietary changes during this time mostly because I was just too tired and busy figuring out how to homeschool my two boys that I didn't have extra time to put into figuring out how to eat healthy and what foods were best for the kind of lifestyle I was living.

I maybe lost five pounds from January to May, but it was so back-and-forth with all the fluctuating my body goes through every month, that it never seemed noticeable.

I should also mention that this was all guessing at this point because I had refused to step on a scale after we had our second child. I knew I needed to let my body recover and not freak out too much over the weight I had gained because there was just way too much else happening in our lives around that time.

But, in May of 2023 I had a doctor appointment and unfortunately, they make you step on the scale for that crap. (haha, sort of kidding). I was 174.6 POUNDS!!!!! That hit me like an sippy cup thrown by a pissed off toddler! I was just five pounds less than what I had been at FULL TERM with my second kid. AND I HAD NO KID TO ACCOUNT FOR IT THIS TIME!!! No baby was about to pop from my womb!

When I saw that number it literally woke me up. I decided THAT day to make a real, lasting change. I didn't want to yo-yo diet, I didn't want to workout, then stop for the holidays, then workout again. No. Not this time. I would make sure I figured this out and found something that would STICK!

Back in 2022 I made the decision to get back into running and fitness. My husband had just finished his biggest race ever after only training for a year in the Fall of 2021. I had been attempting to run again at different times and during the various seasons and it usually only happened on days when my husband was home from work. As a SAHM whose spouse is gone four days and then home four days, it...

Back in 2022 I made the decision to get back into running and fitness. My husband had just finished his biggest race ever after only training for a year in the Fall of 2021. I had been attempting to run again at different times and during the various seasons and it usually only happened on days when my husband was home from work. As a SAHM whose spouse is gone four days and then home four days, it was REALLY hard to get on a consistent schedule.
I also had off-and-on tried to eat healthier, but would always struggle with my portion control. Especially on the days when I ran! I would eat a whole hog if someone cooked it up for me! I lost about 10-15 pounds from January - August of 2022. I was feeling pretty good, but still wanted to do something I hadn't done since my pre-childrearing days: run a half marathon.

WHY??

Great question.

Pride. Stupid, stupid pride.

I had run two half marathons back in the days of being young and having no children. I guess I just wanted to prove to myself I could do it again.

I had run some 5k and 10k races throughout the summer, but I wanted to show myself I was ready for the big one again. So, in May of 2022 I started a program to help me train. It was going really great... until it wasn't. I was working very part-time for a curriculum company instructing educators via zoom. Prior to August, the amount of session I would be needed to work for were minimal. Maybe two or three a week. When schools began starting back up, they also started having online professional development sessions and LOTS of them. WE were swamped and I began working two 4-6 hour sessions every day. And since this company was international, the times for these sessions could vary from 4am-11pm.

My fitness and my health tanked.

I began eating like crap, drinking like crap (mostly sweet tea and coffee, but momma need some wine a few times a week to help me fall asleep some weeks, too), and my sleep was all over the place.

Did I do the smart thing and decide not to run the half-marathon since my training came to a screeching halt 3 months prior to the race?

No. Why on earth would you think that? Goonies never say die!

So, there I was on a cold morning in November. Fat, unhealthy, tired, and unprepared. I found the second slowest pacer guy/lady and decided to go just a little ahead of them.

ENTER SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS NARRATOR GUY SAYING "3 HOURS LATER"

Because it took me almost exactly three hours to finish that race. But finish it, I most certainly did. Only... there were some complications.

Alright stop! Collaborate and listen! Kaitie's back with a brand new...I'll work on finding a rhyming word later.For now, let's answer the big question: will the decluttering journey EVER stop??? I mean, the short answer is no. And also, yes, you can stop whenever you want. But then you'll have to start again in a few weeks or months most likely and you might hit that overwhelm point again and who...

Alright stop! Collaborate and listen! Kaitie's back with a brand new...I'll work on finding a rhyming word later.
For now, let's answer the big question: will the decluttering journey EVER stop???
I mean, the short answer is no. And also, yes, you can stop whenever you want. But then you'll have to start again in a few weeks or months most likely and you might hit that overwhelm point again and who really wants to go back to THAT feeling again so why not just keeping going and going like the Energizer bunny (and no this is not sponsored, it's only my second blog post! Are you kidding me??)?
Alright, sorry about the incredibly long run-on sentence. I tend to forget to breathe when I get worked up. Hence my need for medication to tell my brain to pause and take many MANY deep breaths.
When I first began decluttering I had the help of The Minimal Mom and Dana K. White motivating me and telling me to keep going. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.
I am not 100% sure of this, but I think the first place I started decluttering was in our kitchen. It was the biggest eye sore and I also had a LOT of big plans for that kitchen which included knocking out some overhead cabinets. Which I couldn't do if my cabinets were already overflowing because then where would the things in the overhead cabinets go?! So, my first goal was to declutter down to the point of no longer needing those cabinets to store things in. What was in these cabinets? Approximately 1,427,983 coffee mugs. We didn't even have a coffee maker or drink coffee for much of our adult lives at this point so I'm blaming this one on the many sweet gifts I got during my teaching career.
We also had our glass cups, plastic cups, and ceramic plates up in those cabinets. As well as tons of jars and medicines in another.
I narrowed our mug down to the "essential" (read: the sentimental ones I nor my husband could fathom letting go of). I also got rid of our plastic cups. Not all of them, yet, but a good chunk. Then we realized we had enough plates to feed 16 people at a time and yet we only had a 4-seater dining table. Haha! So the plates got whittled down. And so it went. I wish I could say I did this in one night. But just that s section of overhead cabinets that we would hit our heads on because they were hung over the bar, took me about a week or two to finally get cleared out. And then we lived with them for a few weeks to make sure we could actually survive without these things. And then we had a demo day and smashed thise bad boys to BITS! It was glorious!
My point in today's blog is this: put on someone who is on the same decluttering journey as you or put on a son that pumps you up and start getting xmthe crap out of your home! Because the only thing we "lost" from that decluttering were some butt-ugly in-our-fave cabinets! And now our kitchen/dining room feels SO much bigger and brighter!
Decluttering opens up so many new possibilities for your home!