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.