Absolute.

I have made a lot of lifestyle changes over the past two and a half years.   I am incredibly grateful for all of the support and encouragement I have received from my family and friends as I have developed new physical, spiritual, and dietary disciplines.   I have earned quite the reputation for discipline and follow through.   I made another big change back in January but have not had many conversations about it, because even I was not sure that I would follow through.   I stopped drinking alcohol, indefinitely.   In a lot of ways this has been a long-time coming.   I had already significantly tapered my alcohol consumption in conjunction with Whole30 .   I knew God and my body were both encouraging me give it up altogether, but the idea of doing life completely alcohol-free was intimidating to this True Blood Texan.   So much like Jonah, I continued on in a different direction believing this strong of a commitment was just unnecessary. ...

When I started my “weight loss journey” I had no concept of what a realistic end goal was.   I was SO out of touch with the reality of where I was, that I had no foundation to imagine where I wanted to be.   I would kick around numbers in my head, trying to extrapolate from my high school weight what I thought a good weight goal was for myself.   I eventually settled that I could maybe get back down to the 150’s.   Knowing that my senior weight was 155 lbs. (with a LOT of muscle), even that sounded like a pipe dream.   I looked at recommended weights for my height, and thought “that’s never going to happen.”   And believe me, I had a whole series of solid justifications.   I didn’t know where to set my goal, but I looked in the mirror and I said- “I just want my belly button to be a circle.” (Not an elongated slit smashed between fat rolls.)   Yes, that is a detail but a detail that served as a metric and indication of where I was and where I w...

Here is the Full List of 70 Gains and Victories referenced in this blog post .        1.       One time, I saw my reflection in the window of a retail store and didn’t recognize myself. 2.        Having to retire my favorite pair of pants (that used to look painted on), because they would no longer stay up.   3.        I rode the zipline at my parents’ house.   I had tried to do it in the past but couldn’t support my own weight.   This was especially rewarding because it was on my list of reasons to get healthy. 4.        I took the kids to Urban Air and played dodgeball.   Not just as the parent who wanted to be out there to have fun with the kids, but I was able to COMPETE.   I did have fun, but as an athlete I reveled in having the ability to get out there and go head-to-head with the dads and high school boys. 5.  ...

Hey There! I’ve missed you, but don’t take it personal- I have missed out on quite a bit lately. We have had an exciting transition over here and an especially busy season of church involvement to go with it.   So, life has been crazy and I have not had time for lots of things.   Aside from not writing any blog posts, I have also not seen the three new episodes of my favorite television show, I am behind on my reading schedule, AND I have gone out to eat more in the last two weeks than I typically would in two months (out of rhythm).   If you have read a few posts on here you know, food is a heart issue for me.   Meaning, I have realized that my diet is directly tied to my relationship with God.   I am constantly battling to have a healthy relationship with food- not allowing food to become an idol, exercising contentment, and not placing my hope in food by expecting it to make my bad days good. For some people, food is just food .   I realize th...

I completed my third official round of Whole30 a few weeks ago.   Soon, 18 months will have passed since I started my first round.   At this point I feel like Whole30 is the new norm- I know what I’m doing, and I’m doing it because I know it works for me.   I committed to my third round simply because I had some lingering weight loss goals and my husband said he was ready for another round.   I did NOT expect to learn anything new about my relationship with food, but once again Whole 30 brought a surprise... My third round of Whole 30 shone a big spotlight on my personal issues with contentment.   This round should have been easy.   There would be no sugar withdrawals or detoxing headaches.   My husband was completely on board and home for most of the round.   He committed to the 30 days with me.   He consistently helped with the cooking and cleaning after dinner.   He even found several new recipes for us to try, one of which was del...

You may have guessed from the title- It has been 11 months since I started my first round of Whole30 and during these months I have lost a total of 61 pounds!   With every pound I learn more and more about my relationship with food.   I’ve been blown away as my body has begun to crave new things.   Spaghetti squash and cauliflower rice have taught me how much texture contributes to my eating experience.   I’ve been disappointed by foods that used to have SO much appeal to me.   But battling for pound number 60 brought the most shocking realization of them all: Food is My Drug.   I don’t know how I missed it for so long.   Even with recognizing all of the emotions that center around my diet.   Even with overcoming a serious caffeine addiction.   And watching my friend publicly share about her ongoing battle with a sugar addiction.   So many signs, but I missed them all.   It took me weeks to lose that likely over-valued pound to t...

I am starting my second official round of Whole30 tomorrow and I am super excited about it!   I have had a few people asking questions lately and trying to figure out whether or not they should commit to trying Whole30.   This post is an effort to help you better understand Whole30 and hopefully convince you to join me on my round 2!   Why did I decide to try Whole30? ·        I had tried working out.   Consistently pushing my body past its limits.   I did get stronger.   I did see improvements in my cardio.   I did not see anything change on the scale or in the mirror. ·        I was already suspecting some trends in my body’s response to breads.   Whole30 gave me a system to verify whether this was actually happening or was it just a series of coincidences resulting from other circumstances. ·        I was desperate.   I knew I was unhealth...