Weightloss and Health Journey

I'm not sure I ever intended to show these pictures to anyone, especially not the first few pictures from the beginning of my journey to improving my health.  But I know there are a lot of you just beginning your journey towards health and vitality.  I hope this will inspire you.

I began my journey close to 175, which is quite a lot on my 5'4" small-medium frame.  I had zero energy, hurt all the time, wanted to sleep all day but never felt rested, and generally felt like I was living in a fog.  My younger children have food allergies, so honestly we ate fairly healthy all along (but I still found ways to sneak in way too much sugar.)

What changed?

I got down on my knees and prayed and I haven't stopped praying for God to grant me more energy so I could be a better mom and wife.  I gave up grains, sugar and processed foods.  I learned to rest instead of killing myself at the gym, to slow down, to lift heavy, and to feed my body well.

Having done a fairly strict elimination diet while nursing my youngest two children, I was pretty sure wheat and other grains weren't well tolerated by my body.  But what is easy to do for your children is HARD to do for yourself.  After roughly 4 years on that elimination, I added grains and dairy and various other things back into my diet and quickly gained a LOT of weight.  Exercise did nothing but wear me out.  Sprouting grains, grinding wheat, and cooking all from scratch did nothing to help me.  Pretty soon I was close to 175 and my blood sugar was out of control.  I was miserable, miserable enough to make a big diet change and I have never regretted it.

I checked out Primal and Paleo cookbooks from the library for food inspiration, found more inspiration at Mark's Daily Apple blog (although I don't buy into the old earth/grok stuff), and put myself through another elimination diet, this time for myself.  Through that elimination diet I found that I just can't tolerate grains, legumes, or very much dairy.  Interestingly enough, I can eat as much pastured butter and heavy cream as I want, but yogurts, cheese, and milks (even organic, raw, whole milk) do me no favors.  That's the benefit of an elimination diet; you can fine tune your own diet based on your own body.

After the first month of diet changes I noticed that I felt better and I was sleeping so much better, but I lost no weight.  The excess weight has come off slowly and in spurts.  I had a lot of healing to do at the cellular level before my body was willing to release even a little excess weight and inflammation.  The biggest benefit is that I have so much more energy, I don't have mysterious aches and pains anymore, I'm stronger, happier, and just feel good overall.

I hope this encourages you to choose a healthier path.
Michelle