Before & After #1

Thanks to my sweet sister for the encouragement to post this! Here's my "before" picture. I couldn't find a picture of just me since I shied away from the cameras at this size. This was Thanksgiving 2010. On January 1, 2011, I started a new journey, weighing in at 203 lbs.

This is today. 137 lbs. It's taken me 15 months to get here. That may sound like a long time, but it has passed in a flash! There are still times when I walk by the mirror, stop, and back up...to look again...to see if what I just saw was real. I still can't believe I've lost so much weight! I am at my high school weight, after 2 babies! If I don't lose another pound, I am okay with that. I feel great. I have lots more energy, and I feel so good about myself! And the best part? I haven't starved myself, at all. I eat plenty of food, and the foods taste SOOOO good. So what did I do? I took out the sugars, grains, and trans fats. I stopped eating the cardboard-tasting, sugar-laden, low-fat, and so-called "heart-healthy" foods like bread, pasta, chex mix, cheerios, butter substitutes, skim milk, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, turkey burgers, and yolk-less eggs. I replaced them with things like bacon cheeseburgers with lettuce instead of a bun; steaks; roasts; pork sausage; eggs WITH yolks, fried in butter and a side of bacon; blueberry ice cream; flour-less pizza; full fat cheeses; raw nuts; apple smeared with natural peanut butter, celery smeared with cream cheese; coffee with heavy cream, butter, and coconut oil; fried cheese; pork skins; and VEGGIES! LOTS and LOTS of veggies! Organic when possible, and as many dark, leafy, nutrient-rich vegetables as I can! I have gotten to know many new vegetables, thanks to my CSA shares each week. I have learned to cook, and LOVE, many new things like kale, beets, creasy greens, turnips, winter and summer squashes, different colored onions, eggplant, pumpkin, spinach, and so much more. That's where the swapping took place...we swapped low fat meats for clean meats WITH the fat (where the deliciousness is), swapped refined carbs/starches for fresh and organic vegetables, swapped junk food for nuts and fruits, and swapped low fat dairy for full fat dairy. Hard to believe? It certainly was for us...at first. But, we did our homework! We found what works for us. It is possible to be healthy and eat good foods. That's why I share this stuff...because we've been through the trials and errors, we've tried different things, and we chose this way of eating because it works for us. And if anyone is wondering about our cholesterol and triglyceride numbers? Lol...oh boy! We'll have to start a new post on that! Long story short, though, our numbers got worse on a low fat diet, and better on this way of eating. It's true. That's where Keith & I began this journey, scratching our heads after our tests. We had a lot to learn! And we are still learning. I hope I succeeded in making somebody's mouth water when describing what we get to eat. It is a delicious way to live!