Recap: Personal Health Goal for 2023

Hey friends!!

Happy Tuesday!! How was your weekend?? Did you get an extra day off like we did? 

Well- Aaron didn't have off and my oldest daughter had school- but the other five of us were home!  Our weekend was a good mix of doing stuff around the house and having some wonderful family time at my mom's house!

Ok. We're 6ish weeks into 2024- and while most people have probably moved on from reflecting on the last year, I am still thinking about the goals I accomplished and how that is the setting the tone for this year!

Let me give a little background about me- I struggled with my weight when I was in high school, college and graduate school. At my unhealthiest point, I weighed around 190 pounds.

I wrote a series of three posts sharing about my health and wellness journey that describe in a lot more detail my "journey." 

You can check out Part One- HERE!

Part Two can be found HERE! 

And Part Three is HERE!

For many years of my "getting healthy" journey- I followed the Weight Watchers program. 

I stopped following that program in 2020. I shifted to focusing on my caloric intake- specifically making sure I was eating 110-130 grams of protein a day. 

And I continued to maintain the weight where I felt the healthiest for about 1.5 years. 

And then things started to shift for me..at the end of 2021 and through 2022.

 The amount of stress that I was experiencing in my life was intensifying at a pretty rapid rate. And with that stress- I fell back into habits of overeating when I felt stressed/tired/upset- which was A LOT of the time. 

Over that 1.5 year period, I gained 10 pounds. Which I know may not sound like a lot to some people- but I FELT every pound. My clothes were not fitting properly, I got an excruciating case of tendinitis and my plantar fasciitis flared up. I continued to exercise every day- but I was not feeling strong in my workouts. Overall, mentally and physically, I did NOT feel good

During this time period, as I gained the weight and felt terrible in my body- I came up with EVERY excuse as to why I couldn't lose the weight. I would "get back on track" for 4-5 days, lose a couple pounds (water weight) and then I would overeat and boom. The weight was back. 

So- I blamed my hormones. This was perimenopause's fault! 

I tried some crazy eating plans- that were NOT good for me. And basically- I just stayed stuck.

Cue the beginning of 2023. I told myself- "you are done with this bullshit." 

I was SO sick of myself and the excuses I was making for myself. 

The truth of the matter was- I was eating too much. Plain and simple.

And I was expecting a "good" couple of days of eating- to reverse a lot of days of over eating.

 

I started following Jordan Syatt and Susan Neibergall on Instagram. I joined Jordan's Inner Circle program and I told myself- I didn't care how long it took- I was losing the weight AND I was going get stronger in 2023.

And so that's what I did! It took me NINE MONTHS to achieve my goal. Some months were easier than others. There was many a time- I just wanted to give up. Most of the time- I stayed focused on the BIG picture. The growth that was taking place in my commitment to my health.    It was truly an awesome journey and I am so thankful for it all!!

To avoid being long winded, I am going to share a more detailed post of what I did to lose the weight AND build my strength on Wednesday (spoiler alert- it's not that complicated. HA!)

 I also want to share some pictures of my "results."

I thought about keeping this goal and my results to myself. 

At the very beginning of 2023, on Instagram, I shared that I wanted to lose 10 pounds (amongst a few other goals) and that was the last time I talked about it. 

But, the more I reflected on the changes I have made, the more I realized that someone else out there might benefit from hearing about my experience. 

I see A LOT of women struggling to feel GOOD and I also see the majority of those women spinning their wheels trying out every eating plan, diet, or special hormone protocol- to not really see anything results. 

And the truth is- I don't think most people want to own up to the truth (I know I didn't!!!)- which is- it's really freaking hard to be consistent- and not let life, emotions and all the other noise out in the world derail you from what you know you need to do!!

Thanks for checking in today friends! I hope sharing a recap of this particular health goal of mine, will reach one of you and possibly inspire you! Maybe you have been wanting to make a change- and were just waiting for a sign to signal that it's TIME TO GET STARTED!

Have a wonderful day! See you back here tomorrow!!