Another Ah ha moment in my life

With the advice of my good friend Charissa, I started listening to a podcast called Balanced Bites. This podcast has given me a whole new look out on the way I was eating. It has helped me understand some of the things that have been going on with my body. It has helped me learn what to look for when it come to food and eating. It's been amazing!!

I started out listening to the podcast Paleo 101, part 1 and part 2. They where so informational and so right on point. They made so much sense and made me understand this Paleo lifestyle that I am doing! They talked about the 'rules' of Paleo and how to 'navigate' through all the rules. Once I finished with those 2 podcast, I had to download the rest of them and listen to them all. I started at #1.... the best place to start, at the beginning! I listened and I listened and I was having 1 ah ha moment after another with what to eat, how certain foods affect you. Why these foods make you 'regular', why these don't, etc.

(this flow chart said it all!!!)

Then the big ah ha moment came just today. I was listening to the podcast while doing some grocery shopping (I always listen to my iPod in the store, keeps the screaming kids out of my head). Diane and Liz where talking about stress levels and how stress and huge life changes can affect what happens with your body. This immediately made me start thinking about when I started gaining weight, and I'd be damned!!! It was true in my case as well.

It was when I turned 19. I was a size 14, about 200+ lbs. I was just done with my first year of college, in a serious relationship, to a man that I was certain I was going to marry. Then my life turned upside down.... I found out I was pregnant and I had no idea what I was going to do, was I really in love, was I going to marry this man (NO!). I was 19, I was still in college and wanting to finish, I was wanting to travel. I wanted to do all those things. With some fast and vast decision making, I terminated the pregnancy and immediately was moved from Colorado to Washington to make a new life  (boy did I do that). My head was spinning.

I moved in with my bachelor uncle and fended for myself. I got a swing shift job (that I kept for a whole 3 months)!! I didn't know how to cook, so I just would grab something quick and easy, fast food, or junk food. I didn't care. I was into a size 16 before I knew it. By the time I was 20 I was getting into a corporate job and buying 'work clothes' and they were all 16 and 18. By the time I was 23 I was into a size 20, getting married, still really not knowing how to cook and doing a lot of take out and 'boxed' food for my new husband. By the time I was 25, I was into a size 22/24 and who knows how much I weighed? In 2001 my grandfather had a stroke and I moved from Seattle to a small little town of Moses Lake to help take care of him. Within 5 months I was pregnant with my son. Of course this is when the weight came in. I started my pregnancy weighing 274. I was in shock but I was having a baby, so all was good in my eyes.

I never got over a size 24 but as you all know (if you have read my past blogs) that I did get up to 299 pounds. I will get back to my point..... the podcast made me think about when this all started to happen... I wasn't overweight before that, I really wasn't overweight in High School. I had a mom who cooked home made meals, never out of a box and we always had our fruit and veggies. We very rarely ate out and when we did, it was the fancy nice restaurants, that had decent food at it.

I was in shock that I could trace it back to that point.... Almost 18 years ago!

Today, of course, is a totally different time! 7 months ago I took on the Paleo lifestyle and I'm not looking back!!! 72 pounds gone... 5 WHOLE pant sizes gone.... A whole new outlook on life... I feel 100% better then I ever had. Why? Because I'm eating right, I'm eating the way I'm supposed to be eating. I'm not sluggish, I have energy, I can keep up with my kids and not have to sit back and watch them. I feel amazing!

For me, the journey will continue for the rest of my life, but for the short of it, I still want to lose 52 more pounds. Once that is gone, I want to get my body fit and lean! I KNOW I can do this. I know this can be done. I have done many things in my life and when I put my mind to it, it will get done!!!

Till next time...