Gotta have that support system!

I have been eating relatively "Clean" for almost 4 years now. I was working a temporary position at Central Arizona Project shortly after we moved to AZ and was VERY luck to meet their wellness counselor that came weekly. It was a "perk" to the employees and had monthly meetings about various health topics, one-on-one sessions and a weight loss group - Be Lean! The wellness counselor is Romy Nelson!

Check out her sites: http://www.4naturalfitness.com and http://www.romynelson.com/

She is the one person that helped me on my way to where I am today! I participated in Be Lean and I was on my way! It is a 12 week weight loss program where we met once a week. We learned about how many calories we really need, what were good calories and about exercise! She has written a book "Be Lean" that explains her program and her adventures with weight loss! I attribute so much of my knowledge, passion and success about health, exercise and eating to her!


So what got me on this blog topic today is an email from Romy, innocently "Checking In" since I did not make my March show! And boy was that timely! I have been really, really disappointed in not doing the show and was really shooting myself in the foot with my eating and exercising by way of a pretty good pitty party! HA HA! In Romy's knowing way - from her own experiences - she knew what was going on :) So she offered to monitor my food logs for 2 weeks to get me back on track! Food log monitoring is the best way to stay on track, but requires a good dose of integrity! I am not a good liar! So I genuinely log everything that crosses my lips!

So I have committed and been sending! My only tweak so far is to lessen the gluten and keep it to Ezekiel bread being the only source. 3 days sent - so far so good! I am feeling more on track and better about self control!

My new favorites at her suggestions are Better 'n Peanut Butter from Trader Joe's - less fat than organic peanut butter, a little more sugar but tastes really good and Skinny Cow Chocolate Truffle bars! Yummy! Need I say more??? I did at her urging try some Greek yogurt, and while the taste is OK, the texture I cannot handle! I don't do slimy foods!

More on the exercise front later!!

A little of the past

This is a journal of my weight journey through the years! I am 5'8" and a medium build.

I was a slim younger child, chunky during those awkward pre-puberty age and finished high school a skinny size 8. I really thought I was fat - and looking back at pictures now, I wonder what fun house mirror I was looking in :)! Here is a photo of Senior Prom and my girlfriends Chris and Kim.


Having children seem to wreck my body. I was a slim 140 lbs at age 20 when I got pregnant with my first daughter. After gaining 37 pounds in the pregnancy, I never saw 140 again! I stayed at about 150 or 155 for years after that. At my height, that was not too bad so I enjoyed life. I ate and drank what I wanted and did not worry about it. I stayed at a size 10 to 12. Here is me when Taylor was little.




Rock along several years, add in the stress of being a single parent, stressful jobs, and meeting a great guy I started to fall apart! I started gaining weight and my health was iffy. After discovering a thyroid issue, possible chrohn's disease, appendicitis, and tons of food allergies I put my attention on getting well. I spent a year off of wheat, the appendectomy was good for two things - getting my appendix out and finding out that I really did not have chrohns! After all of that, a naturopath helped get me on the road to feeling better.

I took a break from all the supplements I was taking and gave my body a break - it was just hypersensitive to anything I put in it. I did the low carb thing - yea, roll your eyes, but it was suggested for treating excessive yeast - yeast loves carbs. It did help and melted a few pounds off as well. I continued to avoid wheat and added coffee, green beans, vanilla, eggs, dairy, and brewer's yeast to the avoid list. I lived off of corn tortillas, chicken and tea. I guess this was when I was 28-31 or so. I was getting rather large with my weight and did not really see it. There is where the bad fun house mirrors reappeared - this time I did not see how big I was getting. I was feeling better though!

I then was pregnant with my second daughter. My start weight with the pregnancy was 178 pounds. It was a struggle to get enough protein with all of what I had to avoid. So to my excitement, it was suggested that I try different foods and just eat what I could. The pregnancy shifted my system and I was ok eating all of the bad things I avoided. At delivery I was a whopping 219 pounds!

Postpartum I got down to around 200 and never really got significantly below that. I just ate (living in the south - lots of BAD for ya foods) and drank. Never gave much thought to what I was putting in my mouth and how many calories it was. I had a great time, but looked like crap! I played at exercise, but not consistently and had no idea of what I was doing.

Next blog...... Moving to Scottsdale and the motivation of the beautiful people!